"So what's up with this bad news?" Kevin asked as she opened the door. Surprised, Cairo let him into her hotel room.

"Where's my favourite Backstreet Boy?" she asked. Nick would normally be back by now.

"Nick went out with Megan. Something about a drum set."

"We were talking about Nick?"

"I get it. You're mad at him. Anyway, what's up with the bad news?" Kevin asked.

"My grandmother died."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, she was a hundred and three, and a nasty old women who lived by herself, refusing to stay with family. She died a bitter old woman, the only people at her funeral was her servants," Cairo brushed off his sympathy.

"Whoa."

"The old bat just couldn't accept the fact that I actually made a career for myself, while she just dreamed about actually publishing her stories. So she made it her goal to send me her own personal review of my stories, completely destroying everything that I loved about them. She was the greatest grandmother," Cairo spewed out.

"What?"

"She tortured me ever since I was sixteen, and then she croaks, leaving me her monstrosity in England, just to plague my life even more. In England! What the fuck am I going to do with a house in bloody England? So now I have to fly all the way there to sign a shit load of paper work and look at this house and figure out what the hell I'm going to do with it, and is it possible for you to answer in anything other that monosyllables?" Cairo raged, pacing around in anger.

"You know, most people breath between sentences," Kevin suggested.

"And most people talk faster than a snails pace, but you don't seem to mind defying conformity, don't you?" Cairo retorted quickly.

"Low blow."

"I try. This sucks. I finally finish that stupid promo tour, and now I have to leave all over again."

"Long distance can be hard, I know."

"But Samantha is an easy going person, not an uptight shrew like me. And this wasn't supposed to be long distance. I live next door to Nick! Wherever he goes, I go. And suddenly, it's long distance because of some bitter woman who, in the moments before she finally dies grows a conscious and decides to atone for treating me like crap all my life?" Cairo felt like ranting and she enjoyed talking to Kevin because she could almost always get a word in edgewise.

"How are thing with you two?" Kevin asked.

"Don't tell me you can't see it? Just the fact that I told him I have bad news to tell him, and he's out with Megan over some drum set, should be enough of an indication. Don't tell me you can see it!"

"Yup, sorry kiddo."

"I told you not to tell me that. I don't know what's going on. He's distant lately. I was hoping it was because of the distance, but now that I'm back, it's still off somehow. And now I have to leave again!" Cairo groaned.

"Cairo, I wish I had something to say, or advice to give…anything. But I don't. Just don't give up," Kevin said.

"Aren't you supposed to be the fatherly-big brother figure?? All you have to say is don't give up?? What good are you?" Cairo demanded.

"Hey! Well, in that case, talk. That's what makes you guys so strong, You were friends before lovers, so you can talk about anything. Take advantage of this," Kevin advised seriously.

"I'm guessing you pulled that straight out of you ass, because that's some actual good advice. Now you may leave," Cairo laughed, as Kevin had been inching his way slowly out the door. "I don't smell, do I? That could be the problem."

"No…it's just that when you start ranting a million miles a minute, you get this look in your eye that if anyone interrupts you, they will die. It scares me."

* * * *

"And the bad news is? I thought that you hated her," Nick asked later. The two were cuddled together, and Cairo was breaking out the bad news.

"Nick! Just because I hated her doesn't mean I wanted her to die…peacefully in her sleep, instead of through torturous means….the bad new is that she left me this ancient house somewhere in England and I have to go take care of business there," she sighed.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"No, you're not leaving again."

"Nick, need I remind you what happened to the last guy who told me not to go somewhere? Brad's dead. Don't be a Brad," she said, her eyes blazing.

"Cairo, no! You can't leave. You just got here!" he complained.

"Do you think that I want to leave? This is the last thing on earth that I want to do right now, but I have to go, otherwise the house goes to my sister, and no one wants that. If she gets it…."

"So, what you're saying is that you don't want it, but you are willing to take it just so that the sister you hate can't get it even though she wants it?"

"I'm so glad you understand. Look Nick, despite the unwelcome complication this bloody house presents, I do want to see it. I'll probably sell it or something. Hey, do you want a house in England?" she asked.

"No."

"But it just seems important that I at least see it, before I make my decision."

"How long will you be gone?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know."

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter that much, baby. We hit Europe at the end of the month, so it be too long without you around."

"Nick, is everything okay with us?" Cairo asked suddenly. The question hung in the air for a second.

"Why wouldn't it be?" he asked gently.

"You've just been…off for awhile. It's like you have no interest in us anymore. You are so distant," Cairo explained, searching his face as if to find the answer there.

"I know. But it's not you, I swear," he said, kissing her palms.

"Then what is it?" Nick sighed.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that it's so weird, I don't want to freak you out," he explained.

"Remember, it's unconditional. You can tell me anything," she reminded him of the promise she had made so long ago.

"It's just really weird…I've been having these dreams…they're really weird and realistic and when I wake up, they're all I can think about."

"What are they about?"

"See, I don't really know. I'm in this field or something and then I just run off and eventually collapse. It's so realistic, it stays with me all day, even though I can't even remember half of it. It has me very preoccupied."

"Wow. That's…really cool. I've never known anyone with recurring dreams before," Cairo explained to Nick's surprise.

"Not really Kay. It is all I can think about and it controls me. It's freaking me out," Nick said, sounding worried.

"It just means you're worried about something, sweetie, that's it. It's causing you stress which is transferring itself into your dreams. I'm sure that's all it is. Stop worrying about it and it'll all go away."

"Kay, it sucks that you have to leave again. You are my sanity, you realise that, don't you?"

"Attributing me to sanity is the biggest oxymoron ever stated. But I do try," she said.