A tiny pair of legs ran as fast as they could, pigtails flying behind the girl that ran along squealing with delight. She didn't see the long body in front of her until she was laying on the ground. Those squeals quickly turned into tears as the pain registered in the young brain.

The tall man picked up the crying girl and held her tightly in his arms, trying to comfort her.

"Hush little one, you're okay." Justin whispered rocking her back and forth.

Who was this little girl? He wasn't aware there were any children on tour, but then again he'd been so busy he hadn't paid much attention.

"There now, it's not so bad." he murmured rubbing her back.

"Danielle?" Shelby yelled nearly frantic when she couldn't find her daughter. She had heard Danielle cry out, but hadn't been able to locate her.

"I think your mama is looking for you." Justin said hearing a woman's voice.

Shelby stopped short when she saw Justin holding his daughter. It was a sight she never thought she'd see, it was something that made her heart flutter within her chest.

"Danielle, come here baby." Shelby said making her presence known.

Justin watched the little girl go willingly into her mothers arms and cling tightly to her. The young woman rubbed her daughters back soothingly soothing away her tears.

"What happened?" Shelby asked looking at Justin.

"She was running at full speed and ran into me then fell. Neither one of us was really paying attention. I'm sorry." Justin apologized sincerely.

"She'll be okay. She ran off while I was doing sound check, she's never done that before." Shelby explained knowing she was starting to ramble as her nerves took over.

"You're in Broken Angel?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, I play keys and have a few backup vocals." Shelby nodded.

"I'm Justin." He said putting out his hand.

Shelby stared at him unsure what to say. She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. "Have I changed that much?" she asked not really expecting a response.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm Shelby." she answered staring at him.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" Justin shook his head unsure if he had heard correctly.

"Justin, I know you heard me. I'm Shelby. I didn't realize I had changed that much. JC and Mike recognized me, but I guess you blocked me out of your memory or something. Granted I've lost a lot of weight, but I still look the same, or so I thought." Shelby explained rambling again.

"What are you doing here?" Justin questioned turning angry.

"I just told you, I'm in the band. Keys? vocals? listen, I don't want to sit here and argue with you. I just want to go." Shelby said shaking her head.

"Stay out of my way." Justin growled.

"Why is he mean mama?" Danielle asked in her child innocence.

"He's not mean sweetie, we were just having a fight. It's okay." Shelby answered kissing her cheek.

"Who is he?" Danielle asked in a stage-whispered voice.

"His name is Justin, he's an old friend of mine." Shelby explained.

"I'm Danielle-Nicole." Danielle said popping a thumb in her mouth looking at Justin.

"Nice to meet you Danielle-Nicole. I have to go before I say something I'll regret later." Justin smiled at the sweet little youngster.

"What's regret?" Danielle asked.

"Regret is when you wish you didn't do something, or you wish that you did do something." Justin explained.

Danielle just stared at him without saying a word until Gracie appeared at Shelby's side.

"That's my new sister." she said squirming to be put down.

"Really? A new sister?" Justin asked.

"Yes. Her mama died and she got to come live with us. I feel bad for her, but now I share my mama."

"You are long winded today my dear." Shelby laughed, feeling her tension drain away.

"Her name is Gracie." she said ignoring her mother.

"How are you doing Gracie? I'm Justin."

"Hi." Gracie replied shyly.

Justin found himself, to his dismay, intrigued by this little family of girls. Shelby loved the girls very much and it showed in her actions and her words. He cleared his throat along with his mind and focused his thoughts elsewhere.

"Have my eyes been deceived or are you two in the same room and talking civilly?" JC said coming upon them.

"Whatever." Justin said rolling his eyes.

"They're fighting." Danielle added.

"Are they? Guess I came at the right time didn't I?" JC winked at the little girl.

Danielle nodded then put her thumb back in her mouth.

"It's time for your sound check." JC told Justin.

"Thanks." Justin nodded thankful for a reason to leave.

"What was that all about?" JC asked when Justin out of listening range.

"Danielle ran away when we were in sound check. She ran into Justin and he was holding her when I came in here. Both of them were off in their worlds when they ran into each other." Shelby explained.

"So now that you've talked again are you going to stop trying to be invisible?"

"I haven't been trying to be invisible." Shelby denied.

"Yes you have. You avoid eating out when your band goes out, you don't stay and watch our shows, and when you're not on stage you are in your room. If you're not trying to be invisible, then you are hiding." JC chided gently.

Shelby knew he was telling the truth. She shrugged a response and knew not what else to say.

"Did you call Joey yet?" JC asked changing the subject.

"No. I haven't gotten the courage." Shelby answered honestly.

"Suck it up." JC pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Joey, how's it going?" JC asked smiling at Shelby who shook her head and backed up.

"Good, thanks. How are you?" Joey answered.

"I'm good. Tour is going good too. Listen, I have someone here that wants to talk to you."

"Okay."

JC handed the phone to Shelby who quickly handed it back to JC who again gave it back to her.

"Mama who's on the phone?" Danielle asked interrupting their cat and mouse game.

"An old friend." Shelby answered.

Danielle grabbed the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hello? Who is this?" Joey questioned clearly confused as to who he was talking too.

"Danielle-Nicole. Are you friends with mama?"

"Who's your mama?" Joey asked.

"Mama." Danielle answered.

"Can you give her the phone?"

"It's for you." Danielle said handing the phone to Shelby.

Shelby grabbed the phone and took a deep breath. "Hey Joey."

"Hi. Who is this?" Joey asked seriously confused.

"Um, Shelby."

"Sh-Shelby? Is this a joke?" Joey stuttered.

"No, it's me. How have you been?" She asked nervously.

"Good. Where did you go? Do you know how worried we were? You just disappeared." Joey said demanding many questions of her.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry." Shelby answered.

"That's not the point Shelby." Joey retorted.

"Sorry. This is not a conversation I really want to have over the phone."

"You're right, let's meet up and have this conversation in person." Joey suggested.

"I'm on tour." Shelby answered.

"With JC and Justin? My word that must be rough." Joey replied.

"Yeah, pretty much." Shelby nodded.

"Where are you now?"

"Buffalo, New York."

"Where are you going next?"

"Um, let me ask." Shelby got the information she needed from JC then answered, "We'll be in Philly tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll meet you there. We really need to talk." Joey said.

"Okay, if you want to."

"Of course I do. I gotta get going, but I'll see you tomorrow. I'm not sure what time I'll be there, so make sure I can get into the show."

"I can do that. So I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yes ma'am, see you tomorrow."

Shelby hung up the phone and handed it to JC. "He's coming tomorrow."

"I figured he would." JC nodded.

"This is too stressful. I don't know if I can deal with both Justin and Joey this soon." Shelby said rubbing her temples.

"You'll be fine. Whenever he comes and you get ready to have your big chat, come find me and I'll watch the girls." JC offered.

"You'd do that?" Shelby asked surprised.

"Yes ma'am, of course." JC nodded.

"Thank you. I would really appreciate it." Shelby smiled brightly.

"You're welcome, anything for you." JC nodded with a smile.

"So are you ladies having fun so far?" JC asked turning his attention to the little ones.

"I am." Danielle nodded.

"It's big." Gracie whispered.

"It is isn't it. I remember the first time I went on tour, everything was a bit overwhelming, although I wasn't as small as you are. Do you think we could talk your mama into letting me take you across the street to get an ice cream?" JC winked.

"Please mama can we?" Danielle pleaded.

"Yes, can we?" Gracie asked in her polite quietness.

"If JC promises to take good care of you, and he has to take one of the mountains with you." Shelby smiled at them.

"Don't worry mom, I need security wherever I go anyway." JC assured her.

"You kids have fun."

"We will, Uncle Josh throws the best ice cream parties." JC said grabbing the girls' hands.

"Can I call you Uncle Josh?" Danielle asked, they're voices fading as they walked down the hall.

Shelby took a deep breath then looked around. Alone. It was the first time in a very long time that she was completely alone. She grabbed her IPOD and journal then went to sit in the very back of the arena. She sat down and opened up her journal, trying to ignore the sound check that was going on onstage. She turned on her IPOD and set it to shuffle and grimaced when it automatically played Hero by Enrique Iglasias. She didn't have the heart to change it, so she let the music encompass her and began to write.

September 9, 2006

Dear Journal,
I can't believe I'm on tour with him again. It's been so long since I've seen him and already I have the old feelings coming back. I'm listening to our song right now. It makes me wanna cry so bad, I wanna run into his arms and feel him surround me. I don't know if that'll ever happen again. He hates me so much, I'm pretty sure he would have gotten ugly if the girls weren't with us when he talked.

I love him. How can I stop, he was the first man I ever loved. He gave me the best gift in the world. I tell you, when I saw him holding her I wanted to laugh, and cry, and jump for joy. I really never thought I'd see them together. Ever. He has such a hate for me, even worse than when he made fun of me because of my weight. This is personal.

Hold on, someone's standing over me.

Shelby looked up and saw someone standing there.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"You can't be here miss. The show doesn't start til later." he told her, thinking she was a stray fan.

"Oh, I know. I can be here. I'm in Broken Angel." Shelby assured him.

"Where's your ID?" the man asked.

Shelby pulled her pass from her back pocket and the man stood down instantly.

"Sorry to bother you Miss Murphy."

"It's okay." she nodded.

Justin watched what was going on from the stage, and the moment she was getting interrogated, he wanted to go defend her. Why? He was not supposed to be having these feelings for her. Dammit, why did she have to be here now? This was HIS tour, not hers. But she looked good, and those darling children. How was he going to stay mad at her with them around, this was going to be a long tour. Cameron would be joining them tomorrow, he could focus his attention on her. Cameron didn't even know about Shelby, he knew that there was a girl that hurt him in his past, a girl that he was so very much in love with that he had thought about marriage with her. Cameron just thought it was Britney.

Shelby turned back to her journal and picked up her pen. She glanced at the stage for a moment and made a moment of eye contact with Justin that sent her world spinning. She had to get out of there and she had to get air. Now.

Grabbing her stuff, Shelby stumbled into the hallway and out the door and leaned against the wall of the building inhaling the much needed cool air. The look that Justin sent her wasn't one of hatred or anger. Oh, it was, but for a moment she saw a look of fear, and of regret. Yes, they were a across the building from each other, but she could read his face like it was part of her.

"God, Help me." Shelby whispered a prayer, hoping he would hear her.