The stillness around her was absolutely stifling her. She couldn't stand it anymore. Throwing on a sweatshirt to protect her from the chill air, she carefully crept out of her room. She made her way blindly through the dark, feeling her away along. As soon as she made her way to the main stairway, the light from the moon illuminated her way, shimmering in through the paned glass above her.

In the dark, the house looked placid and calming. Almost comforting, she mused. But she knew that it truly wasn't. Shivering as she thought of it, she quickly ran down the stairs and into the room that had been her study. She had spent so many hours in that room, creating her stories and her imaginary worlds for her characters. It seemed apart from the gloom of the house, which is why she felt safe in that room.

Walking into the room was like the first time all over again. The air felt musty, like there had not been anyone in there for quite awhile, just like the first time she had seen it. The room had been considered off-limits, by the terms of the lease, and they had respected her wishes, and left it alone. She could tell by all the dust.

Walking over to her desk, she reached down and grabbed the object that had drawn her to that room in the first place. It was covered with a thin film of dust, brought on by eight months of lying, unused, on the table. She blew softly on it, and she could see a cloud of dust dance in the moonlight. She picked up the journal and went to the couch. Curling up like a child with a teddy bear, she read the words that had been written with such care and sentiment, and pulled it close to her. Her mind lingered on the words that he had meant, at the time. Love you always, Kay.

She fell asleep, comfortable in the memory of the greatest feeling she had ever known, the memory of the way being loved had felt, and she couldn't hear the footsteps which came in, awhile after she had come in the door. Walking over to the couch, he absorbed the picture-perfect image of her hair, caught in the moonlight straying in through the window above the desk. Illuminating her features, he felt his stomach twist with regret.

Reaching down, he brushed her cheek carefully, and noticed what she was holding her hands. A small glint of hope seemed to grow within his chest as he watched her sleeping form. She hadn't forgotten. Regretfully, he turned and left the comfortable image she projected, and returned into the cold atmosphere of the rest of Brickwood.

* * * *

Cairo woke with a startle. She was in her study, and she did not remember how she got there. She sat up slowly, stretching her cramped muscles a little. The pale morning sunlight greeted her harshly as her eyes were unaccustomed to the light. She could see it was still early, so she stood up, eager to return to her bed so that she could catch up on some more sleep.

Creeping out of the study, she began to slink up the stairs when suddenly the door opened. In came Lacey, who had had to stay in London for a meeting with another client before she could follow Cairo out.

"Cairo, you were not kidding me about this place," she hissed, her eyes wide.

"I know. I nearly shit my pants the first time I saw it. Quite the impressive piece of real estate, isn't it?" she said.

"Have you seen Nick yet?" Lacey asked very quietly, as if the walls themselves were listening.

"How did you know that he was here?" Cairo asked.

"I talked to Brian last night. Someone had to give me directions, and I know that you suck at giving them, so like I was going to trust you to give them to me," Lacey explained, joining Cairo as she mounted the stairs.

"Talking to Brian, huh?" Cairo asked, with a suggestive look.

"Shut up. It was just a phone call…that last three hours, but that's beside the point. You are going to have one hell of a long-distance bill," Lacey laughed, hoping to distract Cairo from embarrassing her.

"I'll take it out of you fee," she dismissed it, yawning as she finished the sentence. They had reached the top of the staircase, when she came face-to-face with a stone-faced Meagan.

"Exactly how many more people are you expecting to stop by, Cairo?" she demanded.

"When you need to know, I'll send a memo," Cairo said, brushing past her.

"You can't do this, you are exploiting the clause in that stupid lease," Meagan yelled after her.

"When you start to pay the bill, then I'll be concerned. Until Nick stops supporting your ass, your opinion means nothing to me," Cairo called over her shoulder. She hurried to her room, Lacey following close behind her.

"So that's the devil," Lacey said, when the door was shut securely behind them.

"Ahh…you've met Meagan," Brian said, looking up from where he was reading, in a chair by the window.

"What a pill. You handle her well, though, Kay. I guess it's practice after all those years with your sister," Lacey laughed.

"I can be a bitch when necessary. Okay, so this seems to be like a bonus package. We have the two of them in one spot. When do we break the news to them that we know everything about Meagan, and inform his Royal Blondness all that he probably doesn't know about her?" Cairo asked.

"I don't know, we should do it as soon as possible. We need Nick back, we start working on the new album in about a month. We need some definite answers as to whether or not he's still in, and he won't talk to us. Maybe if we work on him, with the Meagan aspect, he'll break," Brian said, seriously.

"Sounds good. Sooner we do that, the sooner we can get the hell out of here," Cairo said, shivering involuntarily yet again. In the day, the terrible atmosphere of the house seemed to manifest itself, making it all the creepier, despite the light.

"Okay. So how exactly do we get them to listen?" Lacey said, asking what they were all thinking.

"That, Lacey, is the million-dollar question," Brian said.