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"So, tomorrow, we're going to work on incorporating in some of the piano into 'Down the Road,'" Mike told Jade. She nodded, putting papers back into her folder. He sighed and stretched.

"Ahh," he moaned, and then ran a hand through his short, black hair.

"Thanks for helping us today," Jade muttered, looking at him. He grinned his bright smile.

"Don't mention it," he said, "I'm always up for a new project." She scratched her arm and smiled at him.

"See ya," she said, and walked out the door. Mike went to pick a few stray papers up from near the window. He sighed and looked out the window, watching Jade get into her car. Rick walked in and patted Mike on the shoulder.

"Hey, thanks for the help, Mike," he said, grabbing the papers from his hands. Mike looked at him.

"Wha--Oh, anytime," he muttered, looking down at the papers in his hands. Rick looked out the window and saw Jade pulling away. He smiled.

"She's a unique one," he sighed. Mike smirked.

"She's nice," he looked at Rick. Rick laughed.

"She's young, Mike," he said, "You're 30-years-old." Mike shrugged.

"So?" he asked, looking at Rick oddly. Rick laughed and shook his head.

"I know there's more than her being nice on your mind," he chuckled. Mike scoffed at him.

"She's a nice girl," he laughed. Rick laughed and shook his head. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Rick, I'm not that shallow of a guy," he muttered, "I'm not always thinking about sex." Rick nodded.

"Sure thing, Spike," he said and got up to leave. Mike growled and threw his pen across the room. Dammit, just because he was a rockstar doesn't mean that he wanted to fuck everything with two legs. He sighed and walked from the studio. He needed to get home and get a good shower, and a good bed. He got into his car and drove home.

~*~

Jade unlocked the door to her apartment. She walked inside, threw her keys on the end table and sighed, flopping down onto the couch. She looked at the clock. 1:24 am.

"What a day," she muttered to herself, running a hand over her face. And it had been for her, what with the fender-bender that she'd had in the gym parking lot and running into Linkin Park at the Laurel House. She checked her cell phone before throwing it loudly and carelessly onto the coffee table in front of her, and laid down on the couch. She turned on the TV, but didn't pay much attention to it. She was too tired. She sighed and her eyes got so heavy that they finally closed and she fell into a deep slumber. She didn't wake again until her phone rang. She groaned and turned over. She looked at the Caller ID.

"Rick?" she looked at it, confused. She flipped open the phone. "Hello?" she choked out tiredly.

"Jade, I didn't ask Mike to come and help us for you to sleep the day away," Rick muttered into the phone. Jade sat up quickly, gasping.

"Oh shit!" she said loudly, sitting up. "What time is it?" Rick laughed into the phone.

"It's 12:30," he told her. Jade groaned.

"Fuck, I'm sorry. I'm on my way," she said. Rick laughed a 'thanks' and hung up. Jade stood up from the couch, stumbled to the bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed.

"I look like shit," she croaked and walked into her bedroom. She didn't have time for a shower. She threw on tight, sandwashed, holey jeans and a blue Indianapolis Colts hooded sweatshirt. She combed through her hair quickly and threw it into a ponytail. She then slipped on her black and hot pink DC skateboarding shoes, grabbed her car keys, and walked out the door. She rode the elevator down, and left the building, shielding her eyes from the bright September sunshine. She started her purple Chevy Malibu and drove, as quickly as she could without getting a ticket, to the studio. Once there, she burst through the doors.

"I am so..sorry," she said, out of breath. Rick laughed.

"You're fine," he told her. She sighed and looked around.

"Where's Mike?" she asked. Rick looked at her.

"Hes upstairs working on some mixing and stuff," he said. She nodded. He laughed at her.

"Take a breather," he said. She sighed, swallowing hard.

"Is he mad?" she asked. Rick laughed.

"Who Mike?" he asked. She nodded. "Heck no. Mike never gets mad." She nodded.

"H-okay," she sighed, "Let's get up there." Rick followed her upstairs. She opened the door and looked at Mike who had his back to the door, bent over the mixers, working hard.

"Mike, I am so sorry," she told him. He turned toward them and smiled.

"It's fine," he grinned, "You're only human." She laughed and fell into a chair.

"I was just working on something for '17 Days,'" he told her, "You wanna hear it?" She smiled and nodded. He turned it on and the music blared out of the surround sound. Jade nodded her head with the beat and listened to the things that Mike had added in. She started to hum along with the music.

"See, I picked up the beat a little," he said. She nodded, in thought.

"Yeah, it actually sounds better like this," she said. She started to sing the words quietly with it. Mike watched her, smirking a little. The music stopped. She looked at him.

"That was really cool," she said. He laughed.

"Thanks," he grinned and turned back toward the screen, his back to her. Jade sighed.

"I was hoping to work on 'Black Roses' a little today," she told him. He nodded, not turning away from the computer, but punching a button. He sighed, and turned toward her, his face scruntched in thought.

"Guess we'd better get you in there then, hadn't we?" he muttered. She laughed and got up from her chair to go through the door and stand behind the microphone. She saw Mike searching around the mixers, his brow furrowed. He hit the conference button.

"What track is it? I can't find it," he said.

"4," she replied. He looked, muttered an 'oh,' nodded, and hit the button.

"Playback," he said, and the music started to play. Jade started to sing, and got through the first verse before she messed up on the first bridge. She groaned.

"Let's try that one more time," Mike told her, and played it back again. She tried again, and messed it up again. She sighed, and pulled up her sleeves when the music stopped. She licked her lips and threw her head back.

"Can't seem to get that part right," she told him. He nodded and sat in thought for a moment.

"Why don't you try this? Instead of 'and then that's the way that you,' say, 'and that's the way you.' Might help you not have such a mouth full," he said. She nodded.

"Playback," he muttered and the music blared again. She sang through the first verse and finally got through the bridge, not stopping, but nodding and smiling at him when he gave her a thumbs up. She finished the song and walked back out of the room, into the studio, sitting down beside him. He smiled.

"Great job," he grinned, turning back to the computer. She sighed and laid back in her chair. Mike looked back at her. "You know, it looks like you and Rick have finished a lot of stuff on here," he said, "Have you started to think about cover art and name?" She looked at him for a moment.

"No, not really," she laughed. He smiled at her, knowingly. He knew from experience that it was hard to write the songs and music for an album AND pick out the album name and art.

"I'll help you," he grinned. She smiled at him.

"Thanks," she said. At the end of the day, after the two had sat down and talked about it, they chose everything. The album would be called, "Down the Road," after the name of her favorite track. As far as cover art goes, the pictures were chosen after the name. Mike took Jade outside after dark and took a picture of the yellow lines on the road, and then one more of her feet standing on those same yellow lines. While the bottoms of her jeans was covered in water and dirt from the rain, the second picture was an awesome fit, stating that not everything that was beautiful was perfect. One picture would be used for the front cover, and the other for the back cover. They went back into the Laurel House, and sat down. Jade sighed.

"Thanks Mike," she said. He took a swig of water from a water bottle and looked at her nodding.

"No problem," he smiled. She shook her head.

"No, really, thank you," she looked at him. He looked at her seriously. "For everything." He sighed, nodding, looking down at the floor. His heart had suddenly wrenched. The only person that had ever given him the look that she bore was Anna. He'd thought that he at least GETTING over her. Why was he feeling like this now? When everything was going alright? When he was sitting here doing what he loved to do? He sighed.

"I should probably get going," he said, staring at the floor. She looked at him, oddly.

"Uh..okay," she said. He looked up at her.

"We'll try to finish up tomorrow," he told her. She nodded. They stood up at the same time. He smiled at her.

"See you tomorrow," he muttered, and gave her a one armed hug. She smiled at him and muttered a goodbye, watching him walk out the door. She sighed. Something was bothering him. She didn't know him well enough to be positive, but she felt that there was something wrong. She shook her head and walked out of the Laurel House to get into her Malibu. She looked over and saw a white SUV sitting a few spaces down. The engine was running. She glanced from her car to the driver's side window. She saw Mike sitting behind the wheel, his head bent low. She saw his back rising and falling. She sighed. He was crying. Now she KNEW something was wrong. She thought it best not to bother him. She got into her Malibu and started it. She looked over at Mike one more time. He got startled from her car starting and looked over at her. She smiled awkwardly at him and backed out of her space. That was embarrassing. She hadn't meant to catch him at such a...weak moment. She drove home in thought. What could make him cry like that? She couldn't think of anything that would make a man cry unless someone had died or...left him. She remembered then. She'd read it in a magazine at the beginning of the summer. Anna and Mike Shinoda had gotten a divorce. She sighed. That had to be a horrible feeling. She knew what it felt like to break up after a long relationship. She couldn't imagine what it must feel like to break up after being married. She walked into her apartment. It was 2 am. She was exhausted. She grabbed her phone and set an alarm on it to get up at 10 am to be back in the studio. She sighed and fell into her bed, smashing her face into the feather pillows and covering herself up. She was out like a light in no time.

Mike kicked open the door to his house, holding a box of papers in his arms. He sighed and dropped the box in the kitchen. His eyes were red and puffy. He groaned at himself. Why had he broken down? He didn't miss Anna anymore. Why was he hurting so badly? He drank a full glass of water and walked into the living room, falling face first on the sectional sofa. He hugged a small couch pillow under his head, laying on his stomach, and closed his eyes. He started to think about the tour that Linkin Park had just ended. He thought about the crowds of people and how amazingly they reacted to Linkin Park's new album. Then he started to think about Jade's album. He knew that it would be taken well among Linkin Park's fans when she started to tour with them. She was an amazing singer. His eyes flickered. He knew that she would have male fans right away. She was very pretty, after all. He grunted a little bit. He was finally asleep. He dreamed about moshing crowds and loud music. But he wasn't the one on the stage. He was staring up at Jade who was dancing around the stage, singing, with Anna by her side, laughing. He moaned. He heard a ringing. Why did somneone have a cell phone at the concert? It took a moment for him to realize that the ringing wasn't part of his dream. He rolled over on the couch, looking around.

"Fuck!" he yelled, sitting up, looking outside at the bright day. He grabbed his iPhone and punched a button, shoving it to his ear. "I'm on my way," he practically screamed. Jade laughed into the phone.

"It's okay, take your time," she muttered. Mike heard people bustling around in the background.

"Where are you?" he asked. She sighed.

"I'm at the hospital," she told him. His attention was caught.

"What happened? Who's hurt?" he stammered. She groaned.

"I'm hurt," she sighed, "I have a tendancy to not be so poised in the mornings," she muttered, "I fell in the shower." He sighed.

"How badly are you hurt?" he asked her.

"I broke my arm," she said, painfully. Mike's head fell into his hand.

"Well, are you okay at least?" he asked. She laughed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, "I just wanted to tell you that I won't be to the studio for a little while, and I was wondering of you could call Rick for me."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Mike said. Jade laughed.

"Thanks," she muttered, "Ow," she groaned. Mike laughed.

"You need some company over there?" he asked. She laughed.

"No, I'm alright," she chuckled.

"No, really, I insist," he said. She laughed.

"Okay, if you want," she said. He chortled.

"Yeah, I want to," he smiled, "I'll be there in a little while." She laughed.

"Okay," she hung up. Mike laughed and hung up his phone. He walked to the bathroom, and shed his clothes to take a quick shower. The hot water felt good. He got out and toweled off, brushed his teeth, did something with his hair, dressed, threw on some cologne, and left the room. He sat down on the couch to slip on his shoes. He tied them and looked around for his keys. Finding them, he left the house and drove to the hospital. Jade was laying back on a white bed when he walked in. He smiled, shaking his head.

"Friend of yours?" the nurse asked. Jade laughed and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. The nurse smiled and left them. Jade looked up at him embarrassed-like. He laughed.

"How's it feeling?" he asked. They hadn't casted it yet. She shrugged.

"They gave me some pain medicine," she muttered, looking down at her swollen, purple wrist. He winced looking at it as well.

"I remember when Chester broke his wrist in Melbourne. It looked so gross," he laughed. She smiled at him. She was glad he was there. He sighed.

"How did you get here?" he asked. She laughed.

"That's a funny story actually," she grinned. He laughed.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, so let's hear it," he smiled at her. She sighed, smirking at him.

"Well, obviously, I fell in the shower, so I had no clothes to speak of," she laughed. He chuckled. "So, I had to go into my room, crying, mind you, to get something to wear. Thus, resulting in this," she gestured to her clothes. Mike then realized that she was wearing ugly pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt. He laughed loudly. She continued with her story. "I had to drive one-armed to get here." She smiled. "And to top that off," she sighed, "I'm a lefty." Mike groaned.

"You broke your left wrist," he muttered. She smiled sadly. He shook his head.

"Well," he sighed, "Looks like your first few autographs are going to be sloppy," he grinned. She laughed and slapped his arm. He smiled at her. A male doctor walked into the room.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. Jade smiled at him. "Let's see what we have here," he sighed. He lifted Jade's arm and looked at her wrist, examining it. Mike could tell from the look on Jade's face that she was fighting back tears. He wished that the doctor would just stop. Finally, the man laid Jade's hand back down and grinned again. "Looks like we're going to need a cast," he told her. She nodded. "Any particular color that tickles your fancy?" he asked. Jade thought for a moment.

"Pink?" she asked. The doctor laughed.

"I can hook you up," he laughed, and walked away. Mike smiled, watching him go and then looked at Jade.

"Pink?" he asked, laughing. She looked at him.

"What?" she smiled, "I like pink!" He laughed. She pointed to her shoes. Hot Pink and Black DCs. He chuckled again.

"You want to see something cool?" he asked. She nodded. He reached down and slipped her left shoe off her foot. She looked at him oddly. He brought the shoe closer to her face, and pointed to a small formation of letter written in red. She looked at it.

"What's that?" she asked. He smiled.

"That's my signature," he smiled. She looked at him, dumbfounded.

"You mean you--" he cut her off.

"Yup," he laughed, "I designed these." She smiled and shook her head.

"Small world, isn't it?" she asked. He laughed and slipped her shoe back on her foot. The doctor walked back in soon after, and began to wrap Jade's wrist. She winced in pain every few seconds. Mike found himself feeling horrible for her. He sat down next to her and tried to distract her but to no avail. He finally just snaked his hand into her's and let her squeeze when it hurt. The doctor finally finished and smiled at her newly pink arm. Jade smiled, muttered a thanks, and watched the doctor walk away. She sighed and looked up at Mike.

"Not very gentle, is he?" Mike asked. She shrugged and laid her head back. She was obviously in pain. He sighed and left the room for a moment, coming back with a glass of water for her. She smiled and took it from him, sipping on it every few seconds. The nurse brought Jade her discharge papers and follow-up instructions and they left. She smiled at Mike.

"Thanks for meeting me here," she said. He shrugged.

"No problem," he said, "It's not like I have anything else to do." She laughed.

"I'll meet you at the studio," she told him. He nodded and watched her get into her Malibu. He sighed when she drove away. He was starting to fall for her...