Chester laughed madly, running around the stage with Brad's drumsticks. Mike watched from the side, talking quietly with Darren.

"God, looks like he's got enough energy to light up LA for a month."

"Mike, don't worry about him...You won't even recognize him in the morning..."

"What? You did not just tell me that you are...after..."

Darren nodded slowly, a grin spreading across his face. Mike pulled him further into the shadows as Chaz dashed by, Brad hot on his tail.

"Dan didn't tell you?"

"What kind of people are you? Isn't that considered cheating?"

"Not if you both agree on it, and it's not forever...Just to settle you two out."

"You are horrible..."

"Tell me what you want me to do with him, and I'll make sure he wants you like he did when you first got together. And my dear Danny..."

Darren started to chuckle under his breath.

"Danny likes bondage and...pain...He'll be putty in your fingers."

"What kind of pain, Darren?"

"Whips...Just no blood, he can only take so much."

"I'll keep that in mind. Just mess with Chester's mind a bit...I'm sure you can handle that. He'll let you know what he likes, if you want to go by what he says or not."

Darren licked his lips as Chester came close again, only to finally be tackled by Brad.

"Let's hope he keeps that energy level up."

**

Daniel sat backstage, holding his head in his hands, fighting off what was promising to be one monster of a headache. He groaned slightly as Ben flopped down beside him, bouncing him a little to the side.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, Danny Boy?"

He opened an eye, trying not to glare or scream at the guitarist. He dropped his hands, sighing.

"Headache...Just too much going on much too soon for my liking. This whole mess with Dub, and Darren exploding earlier...I just want dark and quiet away from all of this."

"I'll get you some pain relievers, and then we'll get this show going. I don't want to be here all night either."

Ben got up, patting Dan on the back gently as he went on search for something for the headache. Just as he was slipping back into his thoughts again, Phoenix sat lightly on the other end of the bench. He sat in silence, tapping his fingers together and looking at his feet. Daniel glanced at him, noting the expression on his face.

"Hi Dave..."

"Hi Dan..."

"What's going on?"

"Chester's on a rampage, and I couldn't handle it anymore. He's hyper as hell tonight, and I wish show time would roll around to he can throw it out to the fans. I'm sure you and Darren never have these problems..."

"Mate, if you could have seen him on the To The Moon and Back tour when we were in the US, you wouldn't be coming to me. It was almost like Darren would store up all day just to explode on stage, and saying he was raunchy would be an understatement. Lord knows how many times Karl had to watch his drum kit getting humped to death while Darren would moan into that mic. Drove us all nuts."

"Darren would hump the drum kit during the show?"

"And do as many crotch grabs as possible. What the fans didn't know wasn't going to hurt them, but I was about to kill him. Very sexually frustrating when you know he's doing it for you, though you can't show what it's doing to you, and by far not shag his brains out on stage."

"They never learn, do they?"

"Nope, never ever. Doesn't matter how much you warn them, or...punish them..."

Dan blushed slightly, coughing lightly to cover for it.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Anyway, I hear we all go on at the same time?"

"So I've been told. I guess we're all doing a new version of My December, but you know me, back to keyboards again."

"That's alright, I get the honor of playing cello up there, so you're the lucky one. How do you think the three of them will get on?"

"Well, I can safely say that Darren and Chester will probably have it out, and Mike will be trying to get out of the way. That's how I can see it anyway, no telling what will actually happen though. Guess it's all up to them."

Phe stood up just as Ben was coming back with Dan's pills and a bottle of water. Dan took them quickly, ready for the pain to end.

"Alright then, time to get ready!"