Chapter 6

"And sit with me here by the firelight."

Later on that day, the Monkees were ready to start rehearsing. They had invited Angel to watch, and after much persuasion, she agreed. The guys were all setting up, and Angel was sitting on the couch in front of the bandstand. Finally, everything was ready.

"Ready?" Mike said. The others all nodded. He counted off to three, and they started to play their first song, 'Daydream Believer'. Davy was singing, and Angel laughed as he danced around on the bandstand while he shook the tambourine. Mike sang the next song, 'Sweet Young Thing'. 'He's very good.' Angel thought to herself. She also noticed Peter was getting quite lost in the music, and was trying very hard. 'He's doing a good job too.' She thought. They were all very talented, and a lot of fun to watch. She just barely noticed the others though, because she couldn't take her eyes off of Micky. The next song they played was called 'Sometime in the Morning'. It was so beautiful, Angel could feel tears in her eyes. Micky sang right to her the whole time, and it was obvious to the other guys that Micky had really fallen for Angel. It was funny for them to see him this way, since he had never really had a serious girlfriend. He had dated girls before, but never in a serious way. But the guys could tell that this was different. They finished up the set, and then Angel said she had to go.

"Go where?" Micky said, obviously disappointed. He had wanted to spend some time with her today.

"To work." She replied, avoiding his eyes and walking towards the door. "I'll be back around ten thirty. Bye." She said turning the doorknob. But Micky stopped her, and the others just looked on in fascination.

"To work? You mean with that boss that...?"

"Yes. I don't want to work there either, but I need the money for rent. I'm looking for another job right now anyway; I won't be working there for long. And I'll get off of work early or something, I'll have someone bring me home." This didn't soothe Micky's fears at all.

"Angel...please don't go. I don't want anything to happen to you." He said concernedly. She gave him a meaningful look that somewhat eased his concerns.

"Micky, if it wasn't safe, I wouldn't go." She said firmly.

"At least let me drive you." He said, and she agreed. "I'll be back in a few minutes guys." He said as he shut the door. They got into to the car, and were on their way.

"Will you be home when I get back?" Angel asked, she desperately wanted to spend some time with Micky.

"Sure," said Micky "what time will you be back?"

"I'm not sure...I can probably get off work early...I'll ask someone to drive me home so I don't have to walk."

"I can come get you." Micky said, he didn't like the idea of some stranger driving her around. He felt very protective of her, and didn't know what he would do if anything happened to her. He felt Angel's hand on his knee, and she kissed his cheek softly.

"Micky, I can take care of myself...really." She said kindly.

"I know you can, I just...worry about ya, that's all." He admitted, causing that beautiful smile he loved so much to spread across her face. It was a smile he didn't see often, and when he did see it, it was like a ray of sunlight shining through the dark. Of all the things he loved about her, that was one of the two things he loved most. The other was her expressive eyes. No matter how hard she tried to hide things from him, he could always see the truth in those sparkling brown eyes.

"Well I worry about you too." She said, earning a puzzled look from Micky.

"About me? Why?"

"Because," she said, shrugging, "I just do." This made Micky extremely happy. They had come so far in such a short amount of time, he hadn't ever imagined that getting the job at the hospital would lead to this. They pulled into the parking lot behind the restaurant, it was one that the Monkees had played at a few times before, he recalled. He wondered if she had been working there then, and racked his brains to remember; but he couldn't. Micky turned the car off and turned to Angel.

"Well, guess ya gotta go." He said. She nodded, but didn't move. He wanted to kiss her, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Angel sensed this, and leaned over to kiss him. It wasn't a long kiss, like the ones they had shared the night before; there wasn't time for that. She got out of the car and walked towards the entrance. When she reached the door, she turned around to see Micky looking at her. She smiled and laughingly blew him a kiss. He laughed; she gave him one last look, and then walked into the restaurant.

The second Micky walked through the door to the pad, all three of his roommates stopped talking. Micky was in too good of a mood to notice, and he smiled at all of them.

"Hey guys, how's it goin?" he said casually as he walked to the icebox and took out a soda. The others all looked at each other, then at Micky. All at once, the interrogation began.

"What 'append with Angel?" Davy asked.

"What were you doin' on the beach?" asked Mike.

"What did you say to her?" Peter asked.

"What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?" Micky asked with a laugh. The other three looked at him impatiently, waiting for him to spill about the night before. He finally gave in, and told them what had happened. "Angel and I were talkin' in here, and we decided to go talk outside 'cuz it was such a groovey night and all." He began; they waited for him to continue. "Well she uh...brought her guitar and she was playing it, and then I played it for her and umm..." he trailed off, and he could feel his cheeks redden. "Then we just uh, fell asleep." He finished, and the others eyed him curiously. They knew there was more to the story than Micky was telling them, but had the decency not to ask. "She's leavin' the day after tomorrow, so I'm gonna help her move into her beach house."

"Which house is it again?" Mike asked.

"The light blue one, about six houses down." Micky said without looking up from the magazine he was skimming through.

"The one with the little porch, right?" Davy asked.

"Yup." Micky said. He looked down at his watch, only ten minutes had gone by since he had seen Angel, and he already missed her.

The night moved just as slowly for Angel. She looked down at her watch almost every five minutes, hardly able to stand being there. Her boss hadn't shown up, thankfully. She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle him, and she couldn't wait to find another job. Today she got more stares than yesterday, and she wondered what the trouble could be. After a while, she got annoyed and asked a waitress why people were staring at her.

"Oh well Angel we heard about how you um, came on to Jeff." She said quietly. Angel couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"WHAT????" she exclaimed loudly. A hush came over the restaurant, but she didn't even notice. "That's such a lie!"

"I know he turned you down, but that doesn't mean you have to call him a liar." The waitress said sympathetically. Angel scoffed at her.

"Forget this, I'm sick of this place." She said harshly. "I'm sick of getting dirty looks, and I'm sick of you all talking behind my back. As much as I need the money, I quit!" she said. She tore off her apron and threw it at the waitress, who just stood there in shock. Then she stormed out of the restaurant, her face red with anger. She had enough problems without putting up with them as well.

Angel walked back to the pad in a hurry, but decided not to go in right away. She needed time to cool off, so she decided to talk a walk along the ocean. The sound of the waves crashing on the sand relaxed her immensely, but she was still upset. She needed to find a new job fast, she would have to go job hunting tomorrow. She sat down on the water's edge and took off her shoes, so that her feet would get wet as the water came up with the waves. It was a warm night, and the cool water felt good on her wary feet. She let her hair down from the clip that had held it up in a bun, and ran her fingers through it. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Just as she was exhaling, she heard an all too familiar voice.

"What are you doing out here?" Angel's eyes snapped open, and she quickly turned her head to see her ex-boyfriend, Billy, standing next to her. A wave of fear swept over her at first, but anger overpowered it. She shot him an angry look, then stared off beyond the ocean. There was no way he was going to get to her, no way at all.

"Don't be like this Angel, you know I love you." He said gently, reaching out to touch her arm, which she quickly pulled away.

"No, you don't." she said back harshly. "And I would like it if you just left right now, please."

"I'm not leaving without you." He said stubbornly. Angel laughed out loud.

"You'll be here for a long time then," she said wittingly "because I'm not going anywhere with you...ever."

"Where's all of our furniture, huh? And all of your things, they're all gone from the house!" Billy said angrily.

"That would be my furniture...and they're at my new place." She said.

"Your new what? Angel, we've gone through a lot together...you're saying that you're leaving? Well where are you gonna live? Huh? How are you gonna afford it? You may think you can handle yourself in the world, but you're nothing, kid. And you have no one, no one cares about you." He spat out furiously, grabbing her by her bad arm. She winced in pain, and slapped him hard across the face with her other hand. He let go off her, shocked by what she had done. She jumped up off the sand so that they were face to face.

"You're wrong!" she screamed at him, and she could feel tears of anger welling up in her eyes. "I have a lot more than I ever had when I was with you...I hate you! Leave me alone! And don't ever, EVER touch me again!" she yelled, and from the corner of her eye she could see Mike, Peter, and Micky coming out of the pad. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she stormed away, right into Micky's arms. He held her close to him as she let out her angry tears.

"You ok?" he asked her softly, she nodded from where she had buried her head in his chest. He smoothed back her hair, and gently rocked her in his arms. "He didn't...hurt you, did he?"

"No," she said, "I'm fine." Micky looked over Angel's head and saw that Mike and Billy were having a heated conversation, with Peter standing next to Mike, looking rather angry. He smiled; it was good to know that cared about Angel too. He wished he could give Billy a piece of his mind, but Angel needed him here. He could overhear their conversation though.

"Who's that guy with Angel?" Micky heard Billy ask Mike.

"That's Micky...her boyfriend." Mike shot back. The words echoed in Micky's head, and Angel's too, though he didn't know she could hear them talking. Angel's boyfriend...and they had barley been together two days.

"Her what? No way buddy, I'm her boyfriend." Billy said.

"Not anymore you're not." Peter said, with a rage Micky had not ever heard from him before. "Just go man, just...go."

"I'm not going anywhere without her." Billy said.

"Then I guess I'll just hafta call the police...how does that sound?" Mike said sharply. Billy took a few steps back.

"No, I'll go. I don't want the police on my back again." He said, and he turned to walk away. He did not leave yet though, he first walked over to Micky and Angel. "I'll be back," he whispered to Angel, vindictively "I'm not giving up this easily." If looks could kill, Billy would have died right on the spot from the look Micky gave him. Billy stormed off then, leaving them all standing on the beach. Angel moved away from Micky.

"Thanks guys...for making him leave. I'm sorry about all this..." she said, looking down at her feet.

"Sorry for what?" Mike said, "It's not your fault shotgun." He said, touching her shoulder as he walked by.

"Sure you're ok?" Peter asked concernedly as he walked by. Angel nodded. He squeezed her hand and gave her one of his million-dollar smiles. Then he looked at Micky. "She's all yours." He said with a smile, then he too went inside the pad. Micky looked down at Angel, not knowing where to begin.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Mick." She said warily. "I'm ok, nothing happened. I really just want to go to sleep." She said with a sigh.

"That's ok, we don't have to talk about it right now, if ya don't want to. And if you want to go to sleep, you can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." Angel opened her mouth to protest, but Micky quickly put his finger to her lips.

"I like the couch." He said with a smile. She smiled back at him, and gently brushed her lips across his. Then he took her hand, and they walked back to the pad together.

When they walked in the pad, Peter was fooling around with his guitar and Mike was reading some sheet music. They looked up, but didn't give Angel all those weird looks she hated so much. They just smiled in their friendly way. Angel left the room to put on her pajamas, and Micky walked over to where Mike was sitting.

"Hey Mike, do ya mind if Angel sleeps in my bed tonight?" Micky said innocently, he didn't realize how it sounded until he had already said it. Mike chuckled as Micky's face turned red. "No, I mean...I'll be sleeping on the couch and she can sleep in my bed."

"Sure Mick, no problem here. As long as she doesn't snore." Mike laughed.

"Not as far as I know." Micky said with a grin, as Angel walked out of the bathroom.

"Well, goodnight guys." She said with a yawn. She started to walk up the stairs when she heard Micky's voice, and turned around.

"Oh let me make the bed up for you." He said with a wink. Angel rolled her eyes, causing Peter and Mike to laugh out loud. Micky turned to them.

"What?" he asked innocently. He walked up the stairs with Angel, and led her into his room. Micky walked to the center of the room to pull the chain to the light, but tripped with a loud thud sound. Angel rushed over to where he was on the ground.

"Mick, are you ok?" she asked concernedly. She pulled the chain to the light so that she could see better. Micky had tripped over one of his own boots that he had left on the floor.

"I'm fine babe," he said reassuringly. "Think I just twisted it. Nothing serious, doesn't really hurt." He said, but Angel could tell he was lying. He went to stand up, but she quickly stopped him.

"That'll just make it worse." She said, "Let me see your ankle." She inspected it, and agreed with him that it was only twisted. She helped him to his feet, and handed him her crutches, which were next to his bedside. Then she helped him to his feet. "Sure you're ok?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Just hurts a little, that's all."

"Anything I can do to help?" Angel asked with such seriousness that Micky could not help but laugh.

"Well there's one thing..." He trailed off. She kissed him sweetly, until a pillow hitting her in the back of the head interrupted her. She turned around to face her attacker, Mike. She grabbed the pillow and threw it back at him.

"You got a good arm!" he said after the pillow had hit him hard in the face. Micky laughed at that, Angel had told him how awful she was at anything athletic. "I heard a crash, wondered what was goin' on up here." Mike said.

"Micky took a little spill," Angel said with a laugh "but he's fine, just twisted his ankle."

"You must be exhausted babe," Micky said to Angel "I'll let ya go to bed now. Goodnight." He said kissing her a brief but lasting kiss right in front of Mike.

"Goodnight Mick." She said sweetly. He left the room and she got all tucked into Micky's bed. It was warm, and smelled just like him, and she loved it. "Goodnight Mike." She said as she pulled the chain and turned the light off.

"'Nite, Angel." Mike said. Mike was glad that Micky had finally found a girl that he really cared about, especially one like Angel. Micky had always been the one to stay behind when the others went crusin' for chicks...they rarely bothered to drag him along since he always had such a miserable time. Mike knew that below Micky's crazy exterior lay a shy intellectual who loved music, and he figured that Angel was the same, only vice-versa. They were more alike than either of them realized.

Angel's body had drifted off into a deep sleep, but her mind was troubled. She tossed and turned in her sleep, and every so often murmured a few words aloud. She was having a nightmare of course, as she often did. This one was so real that it terrified her, and she began to cry in her sleep. The sound of soft crying from the bed next to him woke Mike up, and he looked over to see Angel asleep but tears rolling down her cheeks. Without a second thought, Mike got out of bed and went down the stairs to get Micky. Micky was fast asleep on the couch, and Mike had to shake him a few times before he woke up.

"What's wrong Mike?" he mumbled.

"It's Angel," Mike said "she's havin' a nightmare or somthin'." Micky quickly got up.

"Hey Mick, you can sleep in my bed." Mike said as Micky walked up the stairs. Micky nodded and entered his bedroom. He could hear Angel crying, and it hurt him terribly to hear her so upset. He sat down next to her on the bed and took her head into his arms. He brushed her hair off her wet cheeks, and she opened her eyes.

"Micky?" she asked in a tear clogged voice. He realized that she could not recognize him in the dark; she wore contacts, and she did not have them in. He nodded and she sat up.

"I'm here babe." He said softly, taking her in his arms. "You ok?"

"No." she said sadly "I had another nightmare, it was awful." He hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head. "I didn't realize it was a dream," she continued "I thought it was real." 'And I was so afraid that I had lost you.' She thought to herself as she saw the dream replay in her mind. Billy setting the pad on fire, causing her to lose Micky, whom she loved, and the others, who she loved as brothers. She shook her head to try to rid her mind of that awful image, and was successful. Having Micky there with her was making things better.

"But it wasn't, and everything's all right." Micky said soothingly. "It's 2:30 in the morning, you need to get some sleep." He said "I'm gonna sleep in Mike's bed, so I'll be right here."

"Thanks Mick." She said, her face still buried in his chest. "But I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep."

"The dream was that bad, huh?" Angel nodded. "Can I do anything for you? Do you want a glass of water or something?" she shook her head.

"Mick do you think you could just...lay here with me? Until I fall asleep?" Angel asked. Micky nodded, he would have done anything for her at that moment.

"Sure Angel, whatever you want." He said. She moved over so that there would be enough room for him in the bed, and he lay down next to her, taking her in his arms. There was not much room since it was a single bed, so they had to stay closer together. Angel felt safe in Micky's arms, and soon she fell back asleep. Micky did not sleep though; he wanted to absorb everything first. In the past few days, Angel had gone from not wanting to talk to him to asking him to sleep in her bed. 'She's very special.' He thought to himself. She was so different from any other girl he had dated, and he realized that he was falling in love with her. Something that he had never experienced before; he wondered if Angel had, if she was falling in love with him. He could not tell. Although she seemed to trust him, she still did not tell him things. Then he realized that he hardly knew anything about her, and that they had only known each other for a short time. It didn't matter though, he loved her anyway. The steadiness of her breathing told him that she had fallen into a deep sleep. Micky closed his eyes, and soon he was there too.

The next morning, Micky had to get up early to go to work. He did not want to leave Angel alone all day; he wanted to be with her. It was, after all, her last day living there. Tomorrow morning she would move into her new beach house, and Micky would really miss her. He knew that she would only be a few houses away, but he would still miss having her under the same roof as him. He wouldn't be able to go to her when she had those nightmares, and what if Billy went to her house and bothered her? Micky was getting really worried. He looked down at his bed before he left, and saw Angel still sound asleep. She looked so peaceful and serene, her hair falling over her face, her full lips curved into a tiny smile. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. Her eyelids fluttered open.

"Oh sorry, I didn't meant to wake you up. I'm just leaving for work, bye." Micky said, kissing her quickly.

"Bye Mick." Angel said sleepily. She heard the door shut as Micky left, but she could not go back to sleep. Angel decided to spend the day job hunting. This time not for some stupid waitressing job, she was going to get a job doing what she loved to do; photography. She got out of the bed and walked quietly down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she realized there was no reason to be quiet. Peter had already left for work, and Mike and Davy were already up. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was eight o' clock.

"Good mornin'!" Davy greeted her brightly.

"Mornin' shotgun. How'd ya sleep?" Mike asked. He gave Angel a concerned look.

"Good morning to you both. I slept fine after..." Angel trailed off. She did not want to tell them what had happened with Micky.

"Aftah wha'?" Davy asked. Mike poked him in the ribs with his elbow. It was obvious it had something to do with Micky, and that was personal. "Ow!" Davy exclaimed. "That 'urt!" Angel laughed and gave Mike a thankful look. Then she walked over by the couch to where her bag was, and took out a photo album. She began to take pictures out and sort through them. Mike walked over and sat next to her on the couch.

"Are you sure you're all right? You seamed really upset last night." He said. Angel looked up, and it occurred to her that Mike had told Micky how upset she was and that was why he came upstairs.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for getting Micky, it really helped." She said with a grateful smile.

"No problem." Mike said. "So are these the pictures Mick was talkin' about?" Angel nodded.

"I guess so. Wanna see them?" Mike nodded and she handed him one of the albums. He looked through it and saw that Micky was not biased, she really was talented. He spotted some pictures of Micky that really impressed him.

"Wow, these are really great. I've never seen any picture of Micky like this...you know, where he wasn't bein' all silly. You're real good at takin' pictures." He said. Angel smiled, she'd never really been complimented on her photography before. Billy had thought it was a waste of time, and she had never had the courage to show them to anyone else.

"Hey, can I take your picture? Yours too Davy." She asked, hoping they would agree. Davy agreed instantly, but Mike was reluctant.

"Well I don't know...I'm not really good at getting' my picture takin'." He said. Angel took his hand and dragged him off the couch.

"I've never taken a bad picture, and I'm not about to start now. Anything can look good if it's set up right. Pleeeeeease!!!"

"Alright, alright. You can take my picture." He said, and Angel smiled triumphantly. She thought for a minute, and looked around the pad, then back at Mike and Davy.

"Ok. Davy, I'll do you first. Go stand over there." She said, pointing to the bandstand. He did, and smiled his 40-watt smile. "Don't smile." She commanded. She laughed to herself, she always had to say that to her "models". Davy looked confused, but went along with it. She walked over to Davy and had him sit so that his back was to her. He was looking out the picture window, but half of his body could still be seen by the camera. "Now put one hand on the window, like you want to get out." Davy laughed, but did what she said. "Now hold that, don't move, don't smile. Perfect." She said as she shot a few pictures. "All done." She said with a smile. Davy got up and looked at Mike.

"Did that look so bad?" he asked jokingly. Mike rolled his eyes at Davy, and Angel giggled.

"Ok Mike, your turn." She said sweetly. She had decided to take a few different shots of Mike, the first would be similar to Davy's. She had Mike sit on the seat near the same window, and told him to look down. She snapped a few pictures of that, then switched angles so that she could see his face. Mike had that melancholy look down pat, his pictures were going to come out great. Next, she decided to take another set of him in a different pose. She thought for a second, then had an idea. "Mike, get your guitar and come over here." She said. Mike did, and joined her by the picture window. "Now sit on the seat again, but hold the guitar like your playing it. You can play if it helps." Mike did play, and Angel was happy to see how serious he looked while he was playing. "Mike, will you sing?" He gave her a questioning glance, but decided to sing. Angel recognized the song, it was called 'Nine Times Blue'. Mike looked very solemn as he sang and played the lovely song that he had written. Angel shot the last few pictures, then put her camera down and listened to the rest of his performance. "You wrote that? It's very good, wish I could write like that." She said with a smile.

"Well I hear that you're not so bad at it yourself." He joked. Angel froze, how much had Micky told them? She hadn't thought Micky would do that to her, and she didn't want to make any accusations. "Oh really? Who told you that?" She said, trying not to sound angry.

"Well Micky did of course...he just said that you were a really good writer." Mike said, sensing Angel was upset about something. Angel was relieved to hear that, and she smiled at Mike.

"Oh. Well I have to go look for a job, I'll see you two later." She said, and then she left.

For her first stop, she went to a darkroom where she got her pictures developed. They came out better than she had hoped, and she decided to bring them along with her as part of her portfolio. After leaving the darkroom, she began her search for a job. She went to anyplace she could think of that could possibly need a photographer. Everywhere she went the people seemed very impressed, but didn't seem as though they needed to hire anyone. The last place was for a new music magazine, called Rolling Stone. She'd overheard one of the people in the darkroom talking about it, and saying that they were looking for photographers. When she approached the building, she took a deep breath. This was her last shot, she had to try this. She walked in to see a young woman with glassed behind a desk. The woman looked up at her and smiled.

"Good morning dear, what can I do for you?" she asked sweetly. Angel took another deep breath.

"Hi, I'm looking for the person in charge of photography. I heard there were jobs available." Angel said. The young woman smiled.

"Oh yes, you're looking for Brian. He's in the first office on the left."

"Ok, thank you." Angel said politely. She walked to the hallway and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" She heard a man's voice bellow from behind the door. Angel took a final deep breath and turned the knob. She was surprised to see a young man sitting behind a desk, he couldn't have been over thirty years-old. He smiled at her, and she politely smiled back.

"Hi, I'm Angel Carlisle." She said shaking his hand. "I heard you were hiring photographers."

"Nice to meet you Angel, I'm Brian Geller. Yes, we are hiring photographers. You're interested in the job?" Angel nodded. "Well sit here and we'll talk about it." He said, pointing to a chair across from him. Angel sat down and waited for Brian to continue talking. "How old are you Angel? If you don't mind my asking."

"No, I don't mind. I'm nineteen." She said nervously. Her young age was usually a turn off to executives, who wanted to hire someone with more experience. But Brian's reaction was totally opposite.

"Nineteen? That's great, we're looking for young photographers with a more...fresh vision. Do you have any of your work with you?"

Angel nodded and handed him her photo album. She said a silent prayer as she did, asking God to please let her get this job. Brian looked very impressed by her pictures, and he complimented her left and right.

"Wow, this is some really great stuff." He said honestly. "I'm definitely interested in hiring you. I'm terribly sorry though, I have to go to a meeting right now to discuss the positions for this job. Can you write your phone number down for me, and I'll give you a call about the job?" Angel wrote down the number to the pad, seeing as though she didn't have her own place just yet. "Can I borrow this album? I'd like to show it to the board members, I think you'll be perfect for this job. I'll be calling you soon. Nice to meet you Angel." Brian and Angel both left the room. Angel was on cloud nine, she was going to get the job!

Micky was relieved when he could finally go home from work. The day had been long, and the patients had been moody. He realized that the only reason he had liked this job was that he got to see Angel, but now that he could see her anytime he wanted he no longer enjoyed going to work. 'Oh well,' he thought to himself 'I'll only be working here until we start getting some gigs.' The guys had all decided that they would be quitting as soon as they starting getting steady work again. He knew no one else wanted to go to these tedious jobs either, and hoped they would get a break soon. When he walked into the pad, the first thing he saw was Angel, talking on the phone. She looked really happy, causing Micky to smile. She looked up at him, and smiled brightly.

"Thank you very much Brian." She said, "I'll be in on Monday." She hung up the phone and ran to Micky, hugging him enthusiastically. He laughed to himself.

"Did you miss me?" He asked, laughingly. She let go of him and smiled cheerfully.

"Well yeah, I did. But that's not why I'm so excited. I got a job!"

"Congratulations!" Micky said, feeling really happy for her. "Doing what?"

"Being a photographer...for Rolling Stone!" she said excitedly. He looked at her in awe, Rolling Stone was the music magazine.

"Wow...that's great!" Angel smiled her incredible smile at him, and he could only smile back. He leaned down to kiss her, but Peter walked into the pad, who groaned loudly.

"Gees, you two..." he said kiddingly.

"Peter, I got the job at Rolling Stone! I'm going to be a photographer!" Angel said excitedly. Peter smiled, and his dimples carved into his cheeks.

"That's great! Congratulations." He said sweetly.

"Thanks Pete." Angel said. "Listen, what do you guys like for dinner?"

"Dinner?" they said in unison. Angel giggled.

"Yes, dinner. I thought I would make you all something since it's my last night here. You know, to thank you." She said. Peter and Micky thought for a minute, then decided.

"It doesn't matter." They both said.

"Ok then, I'll make something...different." She said. Peter and Micky both looked at her in alarm. "Don't worry, it's really good. Even Billy liked it, and he was a carnivore through and through." Micky laughed, he remembered that Angel was a vegetarian.

"As long as it's not poisonous." Peter said. Angel laughed.

"Guess that means I'll be cooking alone." She said looking at Peter. He clutched his heart and stumbled backwards, Micky laughed hard. "I'm just kidding Peter." She said affectionately. "I'd better start cooking, hope all of you like it."

The dinner went well, all of the guys liked the green bean casserole, baked cheese potatoes, and plain Ceaser salad. Right after dinner, they got a phone call asking if they could make a gig that night. The man said that he would pay them double because it was on such short notice. Of course, they agreed. While Angel washed the dishes, they picked a set list. They added a new song, called 'As we go Along' that Micky had written.* He wanted to play it for Angel, and he invited her to come and watch. Of course, she agreed to go.

The club turned out to be the one where Angel had worked, and she was apprehensive about going there. But Micky assured her that he would be right there with her. The first person she saw was the waitress she had told off. Angel groaned, she was not in the mood for a confrontation. Then she saw Jeff, and decided maybe it would be better if she just left. But that thought quickly dispersed when she heard Micky say:

"Hey everyone, we're the Monkees and this first song is called 'I'm a Believer'." He looked right at Angel as he began singing the song. She had heard him play it before, but it was different this time; and she did not know why. They played a few more songs, then took a five-minute break.

"Hey babe." Micky said to Angel as found her across the crowded club. He leaned down to kiss her, but was interrupted by a loud cough. He turned around to see Mike tapping his foot impatiently. "Guess I gotta go." He said, giving Angel a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he went with Mike and joined the others on stage.

"This next song is a new one I wrote for a very special chick." He said, looking at Angel who rolled her eyes at his introduction, but anxiously awaited hearing the song.

"I can tell by your face". Micky sang, remembering the first time he saw Angel's face. How sad she had looked, how alone. He looked at her now and saw a totally different girl. Her eyes were no longer sad and alone. "We'll make up our story as we go along". The words were so appropriate and beautiful; Angel was deeply touched by them. When the song was over, Angel had tears of happiness in her eyes. For the first time in a long time, she was truly happy. She had a job she loved, her own home, and three brothers she never had. But most of all she had Micky. She wasn't sure how things would turn out, 'But I guess we'll just make up our story as we go along.' she thought.

*Words and music by King & Goffin