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Pete lifted his head up from his damp, tear-stained pillow. Slowly he crawled down from the top bunk and dragged himself into the kitchen area. He had hardly slept so his eyes were sore and he made him feel shitty. Lana was still sleeping in the bunk below him and thinking about her even made him feel more shitty.

"Hi there, Petey." Joe said from his seat, trying to hide his smile. "Want a muffin?" he asked, offering him a basket.

Pete shook his head as he slipped into one of the booths. He dropped his head on the table and stared blankly into the air. Joe stood up and moved into the seat next to him.

"Guess what?" Joe asked, thinking of a way to get Pete's mind off Lana.

"What?" he replied back. His head was still resting on the table so the simple word was muffled.

"We're staying in a hotel tonight!" Joe said, giving a huge cheesy smile.

"Cool." Pete replied without a hint of enthusiasm.

Joe sighed as he lifted Pete's head up. " Just go tell her." He suggested in a low voice. "Trust me, the sooner she's gone the better." he added the last part with a sort of half-smile.

Pete looked down and gulped. "I can't." he blurted out.

"Why?"

"I need her." he said slowly. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked up at Joe.

Joe frowned and shook his head. "Pete, you don't need her. You're better off without her."

"I'll forgive her." he said, not meeting Joe's eyes. "I need her."

"Pete, didn't you say you had asked her to marry you?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you say that she said no?" Joe asked. He wasn't sure whether or not Pete knew what he was getting at.

"Yeah."

"So, then why did you stay with her?" He asked, raising his hands to emphasize the sentence.

Pete shrugged, feeling like if he said the wrong thing Joe would yell at him. "I don't know.." he mumbled. "I just guess.. I mean.. "

"You just guess, you mean what?" Joe asked, cutting in. He was trying his best to get his point across and he wasn't going to stop talking until he did.

Pete shook his head. "You know what Joe, don't worry about it. I'll forgive her and trust her again." He said ending with a sigh. I'll stay with her and who knows, maybe one day we will get married and then we'll have a little Lana's and little Pete's running around and then maybe the little Pete will be labeled emo too and then..."

"Pete, stop!" Joe said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Stop. alright. Now I'm going to tell you why everything you just said is fucking wrong."

He closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath. "Go ahead."

"Alright for one thing, when this little Pete comes, emo will be well and truly over." he smiled weakly. "And secondly, you can't just go and forgive and trust somebody again."

Pete brushed a tear away from him. "Why not?"

"Because, you just can't. It's humanly impossible." he looked down at the table away from Pete's eye. "Believe me, I've tried." he added quietly.

"Oh." Pete bit his lip. A wave of guilt washed into him. Here he was sulking to Joe about something he had put the poor guy through. "Joe.." he stated, nervously. "Did you feel how I feel now?"

Joe nodded his head. "Pretty much."

"I'm really sorry. I mean, I know I've said it a million times before but I am, really."

Joe half-smiled. "I know you are." he glanced over at the closed door, he wasn't sure but he thought he could hear somebody getting up."Now, what are you going to do about Lana?" he asked, quietly.

"I really have no fucking idea."

"Well, you better think about it." Joe said as if he had summoned for Lana to enter the room. She swayed her hips as she walked over to Pete and thew her arms around him.

"Morning baby." she said softly.

"Hi." Pete replied flatly, looking away from her.

"Sorry again, I couldn't make your show last night." she went on, not noticing how Pete wasn't even looking at her. "I was with some old friends. Hopefully, I'll see your next one."

"Yeah."

Joe glanced from Pete to Lana and then back to Pete. "Alright, I'm going to shower." he said simply giving them a smile. He raced off and closed the door behind him.

"So, how long do you reckon Joe's going to be in there for?" Lana asked, biting her shiny bottom lip sexily.

Pete shrugged. "Could be short, could be long."

"Want to hope it's long?"

"Not really." he replied, getting up from his chair. He went into a different part of the bus. Inside was a mini fridge and a few kitchen counters.

Lana followed him and closed the door behind her. "What are you doing?" she asked, curiously.

Pete knelt down and opened up a cupboard. "Making a sandwich, want one?" He pulled out a plastic plate and placed it on the counter.

"Yeah."

"Want do you want in it?"

"Umm, cheese, lettuce, tomato." she listed.

He opened the min-fridge and got out a block of cheese, a fresh tomato and a lettuce stork. "Lana," he said bravely. "We need to talk."

"O.K...about what?"

"I just don't really think we should see each other anymore." he said weakly, losing all his confidence.

"Why not?"

"Because," he cut the tomato in half. "I don't think we're right for each other anymore."

"W-why?" she asked her eyebrows crossing together in confusion. "How can you say that?"

Pete sighed, putting down the knife that was in his hands. "Look, I know you cheated on me..." As he said that, Lana's whole body and face froze. "And I just don't know if we can be together after that."

Lana blinked her watery, brown eyes an unnecessary amount of times before gulping. "Pete, Petey, I'm really sorry but, umm, I really didn't ummm, mean it but I don't know umm..." she rambled on before stopping herself. She took a large bite of the sandwich on her plate to shut her up.

"You're a really special person, Lana, I just think we should move on."

"Please don't blame this on Joe." she blurted out. "I kissed him and he didn't want anything to do with me. I swear, he pushed me off, both times. And, the second time I was pretty sure he was high and he still told me no...."

Pete cocked his head to the side. "What does Joe have to do with anything?"

"When I kissed him and he yelled at me." she said in hysterics, fighting back tears "I'm sorry, I'll go. My parents live somewhere around here, you know I could go stay with them..." she went on but Pete had stopped listening.

"Rewind." He said. "When did you kiss Joe?"

"Th-the other day." she said in between sobs. She stood up and walked towards the door. "I'll just go pack, now."

Pete nodded as he got up and followed Lana out of the room. Although, instead of going in the direction of the bunks he turned to the closed bathroom door and pounded his fist against it. "Joe, it's Pete. Open up."

"Just a sec!" Joe called back, pulling on a pair of boxers and grabbing a shirt. He quickly unlocked the door and let Pete in the small, tiled bathroom. Joe's damp towel was spread out across the floor in the middle of all the watery mess.

"I talked to Lana." Pete explained, while watching Joe dry his messy hair.

"Really?" Joe replied, excitedly. "What happened?"

"She's packing her bags as we speak."

Joe's eyes went wide. "Seriously?" he tried to hide the excitement on his face even though Pete could already see it.

"Uhh, yeah." Pete laughed as he slapped Joe's hand for a five. "So, how was the kiss?" he asked, trying to remain casual.

"What kiss?"

"When Lana kissed you." Pete teased, smiling.

Joe's face went pale with fear. "Umm, Pete, ummm, she kissed me!" he said, quickly.

Pete patted Joe on the back. "Look Joe, I know that and I just want to say thanks."

"Thanks?" Joe repeated, letting himself relax a little bit more. "I should of told you, why are you thanking me?"

"If you had told me, what do you think might of happened?"

"We might of broken up again." Joe replied wincing, tensing up again.

"Exactly!" Pete said, smiling. "You didn't tell me because you didn't want to risk it, I respect that."

Joe pulled Pete into a hug. "I love ya', Pete." he laughed

"Love ya' too, Trohaman."

**- After the other Illinois concert in Champaign.

Joe raced through the hotel doors and found a spot in the hotel lobby. He watched and waited while the others walked in after him. Pete headed towards the reception desk to retrieve the room-keys that Mel had organized.

Joe waved the others over, giddily. "I won, I got here first." he said proudly as he did some sort of 'happy-dance'.

Cameron nodded his head and let out a huge yawn. His eyes struggled to stay open as he clung to Andy. "O.K..." he murmured before letting out another yawn.

Andy frowned. "Joe, did you make another bet with Cameron even though you can see how tired he is?"

"Andy, it's not my fault your son is very easy to deal with." he said innocently.

"Joe, please don't take this the wrong way but I fear for your children." Patrick said, nodding his head to prove his point.

Joe glared at him, about to shoot back with a comeback when his face softened. "You know, I think I fear the same thing."

Pete came walking back to them and threw each one tier own set of keys. Andy flinched and dropped his keys on the ground.

"So, what rooms did you men get?" Pete asked as entered the elevator. He pressed the button as the door's shut. "I got 168"

"164" Patrick replied staring at his key set.

"166." read Joe.

"167" Andy read as they stepped out of the opened doors and headed towards their own rooms.

"Why is there a room in between Joe and me?" Patrick asked.

Pete shrugged. "Anyways, I'm going to sleep, night all." he waved before entering his room.

"Yeah, see-you guys in the morning. I don't think this kid should stay up any longer." Andy said, motioning to Cameron who was yawning again.

"Night, Trick" Joe called as they both entered their rooms.

Patrick placed a bag of his stuff on a bedside table before getting ready to go to sleep. He was about to shut his eyes when the door knocked.

"Joe, what do you want?" he asked groggily.

"It's not Joe." a familiar female voice called back.

Curiously, he ripped open the door and smiled wide-eyed. "Amy!" he cried, reaching out for a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Your friend Mel got in contact with me and arranged for us to share the room next to you guys."

"So, you and Mel are the ones next to me?" he smiled happily, holding her hands in his.

She nodded as she wrapped her arms around him.

"How's my super-star?" he asked, excitedly as they went into Patrick's room hand in hand.

At the end of the night as Patrick climbed into his bed he wrapped his arms around his pregnant fiancee and smiled. Just knowing she was lying next to him, made him fall peacefully to sleep.