Her light snore echoed softly throughout the bunk. But no one could her it except for him. Because only he was trying to hear, straining to hear. Trying to hear Sam amongst the roll of the road beneath the wheels and the buzzing asnd whirring as cars and trucks zipped past them onthe four lane road. Zac had been jolted awake by Megan's sudden stop. He might as well stay awake now.

Suddenly her snore stopped and Zac immediatly noticed it, proppinghimself upon his elbows slightly in anticipation of the resumation of the soft noise. Instead, he heard her soft but clear voice.

"Zac, why are you up?"

"How did you know?" He couldn't see her through the darkness of the back bunk but he knew that she was turned to look at him.

"I just know. I can...I dunno. I can tell. My stomache is in knots like someone is watching me. If you were asleep, I wouldn't feel that." She explained carefully.

 "Oh. I get that sometimes."

Sam rolled her eyes as she realised how friendly she was being.

"Whatever Zac. Stop watching me and go to sleep." She ordered.

Zac smiled at her return to Princess Stick-up-the-Ass.

Leaning back relaxedly against the pillow he was silent. Waiting for either her to saysomething or fall asleep, Zac half held his breath in anticipation.

But instead of saying anything, she fell asleep gently.

Zac climbed down softly from his bunk and stood in the middle of the NARROW hallway between the two bunks. He remembered what Megan had said or asked about Samantha being a sound sleeper.

He pulled her curtain back slightly and surveyed her as she slept. Her face was peaceful and relaxed. Earlier she had been pretty like a hot chick in the roller-rena. Now she was pretty like an angel. No. She was beautiful.

Risking it, he held his breath and lowered his head, kissing her feather lightly on the cheek before closing the curtain and climbing back into bed.

She stirred softly as Zac stretched and tried to fall back asleep.

"Zac?" Her voice broke the silence.

 "Yeah?" Zac was scared of her. Of what she could do. The menacing look that Sam constantly wore made him instinctively stay on his guard.

 "You know, you aren't half bad." She finally said after a pause.

"So you were awake when I kissed you?" He asked.

"When you WHAT??!"

Zac heard the thump as she quickly bolted up.

"Oww!! Zachary Hanson! You are a DEAD boy." She threatened.

He could hear the smile that played upon her lips.

"Man." He corrected.

"Boy. And you will be a SQUATTING boy if you don't stop catching me off guard like that. It wasn't funny." She answered.

"I wasn't kidding." He told her.

All was quiet with the exception of the road under the wheels.

"Hey Sam?" He braved.

"Yeah?"

"You drive me crazy." He told her.

"I know. But I'm a damn good driver at that!!" She laughed. She was shocked with herself at how freely and open they were being without the ice. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"Zac?" Now it was her turn to ask.

"Hmm?"

"Why do you have autographed pictures in your bunk?" She asked.

"For emergency fan ambushes. It gets us through the crowd safely. I'll show you tomorrow when we get to the hotel."

Samantha knew she was being friendly and that just hours ago she would have cringed at the thought. But now he was cool. Now they were cool. With the exception of one thing.

"Hey MMMBop number three? Don't ever kiss me again." She informed him before he laughed and they turned to go to sleep.

The silence suddenly made Sam uneasy and once again, she reached up to turn on the radio.

The straining notes of that cool slow song she had heard started, the one whose performers she didn't know. Then her radio fritzed and the batteries went dead.

"Dang it!!" She exclaimed to no one in particular.

"What?"

"I really like that song." She told him. "And now there is no way I can get to sleep. I have to have music."

"You mean this one?" Zac started singing 'I Will Come To You' softly.

 "Yeah. How did you know it?"

"I dunno. I just thought it was a cool song." He lied.

"Cool. Can you sing it again?" Samantha urged.

"Sure."

Samantha was unkowingly getting her own private concert by the artist.

****************************************************************

Megan looked out of the corner of her eye and saw her new secret boyfriend dozing in the chair.

 She smiled to herself at his childish appearance and refocused her attention to the road.

Presently, she heard Diana's soft maternal voice beside her.

"Meg, about leaving the tour...we don't want you to go. In fact, we kind of need you to stay. As someone to watch the kids. I can take care of them most of the time, but sometimes Walker and I like to go see shows or museums while we are in town. Or when I'm schooling the boys. Do you think you could? As a favor to me?"

"Yes m'am." Megan answered, despite the odd feeling that churned in her stomache when she answered this. Something bad would come of this desicion, she knew it. But when she looked at Ike, the feeling was gone.

She shook it off as an Egg McMuffin that was going on strike as it passed through the intestines. Must not have gotten along with the orange juice she drank it down with.