Man what a night. I couldn't sleep for crap. I hope I don't have to sleep on this thing very often. It's horrible and whoever that is that keeps making all that noise is gonna get a surprise in his shoe if I figure out who it is. I wonder if that furry little rodent got in trouble last night. Damn, quit moving man, your making me sick.

"What's the matter little buddy? You don't look so good. Don't like riding on the bus huh?" Chris says holding Busta up.

Well, no duh. Of course I don't like riding on this thing. Who is that making all that racket? Tell him to shut up.

"Too bad I can't understand you little fella. You hungry? We should be stopping soon and then you can go to the bathroom. I hope you didn't go on the bus anywhere last night. The guys'll have a fit."

What? Like I could get my little ass of this bed to go take care of business. Where was I going? I wasn't the one out wondering around unattended. That was the rat.

"Damn, Joe. You gotta snore like that all the time man?" Justin shouted from his bunk.

"Leave him alone Justin," JC says from his bunk. "He's got a girl back there."

"Again?" Chris yells.

Hey, lets stop all the yelling. It's hurting my ears. "Hey rat. What you doing over there?"

"Hey guys why are you both in the same bunk?" Justin questions standing up and wandering to the kitchen.

"JC found Dirk running around last night and put him up here in the bed. I heard him talking to someone and we were talking, and I guess I just fell asleep up here." Lance blurts.

JC blushes and looks down at Dirk who is stretching and rolling around trying to burrow further into the boa. "I guess we did fall asleep didn't we? What time is it anyway?"

Man that guy gets any redder he's gonna explode. Hehe. Wonder what they were up to? I'm gonna have to corner the rat today sometime and see if I can get any answers.

"It's about 9:30. Shouldn't we be getting to the hotel soon?" Joey says coming in from the back.

"Yeah, dude you were seriously sawing some logs last night. What was up with that?" Chris jokes.

Soooo. You're the guy that kept me up all night. You're gonna pay for that buddy, just as soon as I figure out how to get down off this damn thing. Shit, that's a long way down. "Hey rat, you over there?"

"Yeah, what you want and don't call me a rat. I'm a ferret and I have a name damn it."

"Sooo. What's your name then smarty pants?"

"I could have sworn I told you this last night. (sigh) My name's Dirk. Ever figure out what your name is?"

"Yep, my name is…. Damn it. I just knew it. Hey you tall ugly guy with the fur on your head, what's my name?"

"Yeah, he's gonna help. He doesn't even know you're talking to him. Boy you are stupid aren't you?"

Man I hate that ferret. I wish I were bigger, then I could eat him. I might get in trouble but at least I wouldn't have to deal with his smart ass anymore.

"Hey, little man," JC says picking Dirk up. "You sleep well?"

"Jayce, you're scarring me. You talk to that thing like you think he's gonna answer you." Chris teases.

What do you know? You're just a human. I understand him just fine and I would answer if you'd shut up sometime. Yes, thank you I slept quite well. Dirk bobs his upper body up and down in answer.

"See Chris. He understands just fine. Ferrets are smart animals, not like that dog you got," Lance states with a smile on his face.

"What, you saying Dirk is smarter than Busta?" Chris glares.

Ah ha. That's my name. "Hey rat. My name is… Shit, what'd he say?" Damn, what's wrong with me?

"I know Dirk is smarter than Busta. You pick a time and a place and I'll prove it," Lance challenges.

Hey, wait a minute. You actually want me to go up against that idiot to prove I'm smarter than him. Hah. What a crock. Don't make me laugh. "Hey Busta, you hear that? They want to see which of us is smarter. I can't wait to see what their gonna come up with."

Oh, yeah. I get to go up against the egomaniac. I can't wait. I can't even remember my name and they want me to prove I'm smarter than he is. Oh, yeah. "Yeah, rat. I heard."

"Ok, so who gets to pick the challenge?" JC asks. "It can't be you or Chris because you're the owners. Justin you pick an activity, that way it's fair."

"Um, ok? How about you try to teach them both a trick and the one that learns the trick first wins. I guess it would have to be the same trick though to make it fair. Joe, you pick what trick they have to do."

"Whaa?" Joey says with a mouth full of food. "How'd I get roped into this conversation? I'm just sitting here minding my own business. Why doesn't lover boy over there pick?"

All eyes whip back to JC as Joey points to him. "Lover boy?" Chris questions.

JC just blushes and walks to the bathroom. "I have no idea what he's talking about."

Lance turns three shades of red as Joey quirks an eyebrow at him. "So, Joey. What trick should we teach them?"

"Well, since it obvious that I ain't getting out of this. Why don't you just teach them to beg or roll over and play dead? I don't think you can teach Dirk to sit since he's already pretty close to the ground."

Nobody realized as Joey was saying the tricks was over on JC's bunk doing them. "That sounds fair enough," Lance agrees. "You accept that Chris?"

Chris picks Busta up and looks at him, "Yeah, we accept don't we boy?"

Sure, like it matters what I say anyway.

"Ok. You guys have until we leave this city to have them trained. Whichever one has the trick learned first wins. Deal?" Justin says.

"Deal." Lance and Chris state together glaring at each other.

Ok, this is stupid. I already know these stupid tricks. I hope I don't have to spend a lot of time doing these stupid things. I got shit to explore. Hmmm. How do I get down from here? What's this? Hmm. Claws hold on pretty good. Lets see, if I shimmy down this thing I can jump on that bed down there and then to the floor and I'm off. I've gotta get over there by that guy with the weird hair so I can get some food. What ever he's eating must be pretty good. He's eating it awfully fast.

Lance wanders to the back of the bus, "Hey, Jayce. You about done in there?"

"Yeah, just washing my face. Come on in."

Lance opens the door and steps in; he leaves the door open because there wouldn't be enough room for them both with the door shut. "Can I talk to you later? When we get to the hotel?"

"Sure man. Just come to my room," JC says as he looks over his shoulder through the mirror. He sees the fear in Lance's eyes and smiles, "What's the matter, Lance?"

"Nothing. I just want to 'talk'," Lance responds, the worry evident in his voice.

Man, looks like my work with these two ain't done yet. I thought them telling each other would get the ball rolling, looks like maybe I was wrong.

"We'll talk back at the hotel. Ok?" JC turns around and places a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"We're here. Come on you two. Whatever you're doing you can finish it upstairs. We got animals to unload and stuff to do," Chris yells.

"Jayce. Thanks for last night. I feel allot better knowing." Lance smiles weakly.

"You don't have to thank me. I feel allot better knowing you feel the same way. As long as we don't rush anything we should be fine. Come on, or they're gonna start thinking something's going on and I'm not ready for that yet."

(Lance: He said yet. Maybe he is serious about this.) "Yeah, I'll just come down to your room in a bit so we can talk. Ok?"

"That's fine. Where'd Dirk go? I left him right here on my bunk. Shit Lance, you didn't see where he went did you?" JC panics.

"Relax man, I'm right here." Dirk starts climbing up JC's pants leg.

"Hey, there you are," Lance sighs as he reaches down and grabs him.

"Here, let me hold him while you gather your stuff. Then you can hold him while I gather mine, then we can go in." JC suggests.

"Sounds good," Lance agrees. "Thanks."

"Quit thanking me already."

(Busta: Yes, finally, we get to get out of this thing. Hey, over there. Some one take me over there. I gotta go. I gotta go. [He starts squirming.]

"Damn. Busta chill. What's up with you?" Chris asks. "Shit, I'm just like JC. Talking to you like you're gonna answer. Oh, you want to go over there huh? Alright give me a minute."

"Hey, JC. Don't forget Dirk's boa when you come in ok?" Lance yells as he steps out the door.

Holy crap. What the hell is all that noise? Wow. [He cowers into the liner in Lance's coat.]

"Shh. It's ok little man. You better get used to all that noise. It's everywhere we go." Lance soothes.

Ow. Ow. Ow. My ears. Make them stop please. Make them stop. It hurts.

"Wow. What a rush. Did you see all them girls out there?" Justin exclaims.

"What? You thought we came in a different way or something? Yeah, we saw them." JC states sarcastically. He looks from Chris to Lance, "How's Dirk and Busta doing for their first encounter guys."

"I don't think they liked it too much. Dirk's hiding in my coat and Busta looks like he's ready to barf or something." Lance replies looking Busta over. "He ok, Chris?"

"I don't think he likes crowds of screaming girls very much, but other than that I think he'll be ok. I think they hurt his ears a bit." Chris says looking Busta over.

"He'll be fine. Tiny used to hate the crowds too, remember." Joey says with reverence.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss him." Justin states.

"Alright boys, time to get you to your rooms," Lonnie orders, ushering them into the elevator.

"Ok, rat. You got any ideas what this thing is. Whoa. What the hell is going on? Shit. I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Calm down, Busta. You're gonna be fine. I really don't think 'they' would be in this thing if it was gonna hurt us. It would hurt them too, don't you think?"

"I don't know but I'm scared man. All that noise and now this crazy thing. I don't know what to do."

"Aww. Relax man. I don't think that Chris guy got you just so he could hurt you man. Just relax and see what happens."

"That's easy for you to say. You got two guys fawning all over you. Must be nice."

"Yeah it is. Oh. Look. The doors are opening. I'll see you later maybe."

"What, where you going? You can't leave me. No. We gotta stick together."

"Alright! Looks like we got the Penthouse again. I really love this job," Justin boasts.

"Great that means we gotta share rooms again." Joey complains.

"Relax Joe," JC smiles. "You can have the single room. I'll take Lance and Chris and Justin can room together."

"Why I always gotta room with Chris man?" Justin whines.

"Because, Curly. I gotta go through my stuff and see if Dirk here wants a different boa and Lance and I are working on a couple of things so us staying in the same room just makes it easier. Besides, at least you don't have to sleep with the human chainsaw, so quit whining already." JC answers. "Come on Lance, lets go set Dirk's cage up."

Busta jumps down from Chris' arms and follows Lance and JC into their room. "Hey, Chris? What's up with your dog man? He acts like he's terrified or something." Lance questions.

Lance hands Dirk over to JC and picks up Busta, "What's the matter, little fella? You want to hang with Dirk for a little while? That's cool. Hey, Chris. Is it cool if Busta stays in here for a while? I think him and Dirk are a little anxious and need each other for comfort."

"That's cool man. He starts bothering you just throw him back in here," Chris yells from his room.

Lance shuts the door, turns around and puts Busta on the floor. JC comes up to him and takes Lance's face into his hands. "I've been wanting to do this all day." He leans in and gently brushes his lips over Lance's pale pink lips.

"Hmm. That's nice. I've been thinking about that very thing too."