When Nick finally awoke hours later, the sun was shining brightly through the windows and he could barely move a muscle. He stretched his arms high up over his head and twisted his body in a half-assed attempt to loosen up his stiff joints. He was definitely sore. Sleeping half the night on a hotel couch in an upright position, can do that to a person. He popped his neck and leaned back, shutting his eyes momentarily as he yawned.

"Mornin' lazy." He heard AJ's voice, barely a whisper from the corner of the room. He looked up to find AJ seated at the table across from Howie, munching loudly on a bowl of cereal as he read the morning news.

He glanced over to where his sister was still sleeping on the couch beside him, thankfully peacefully now, and covered her gently with the blanket, rising quietly from the couch careful not to disturb her. He yawned again as he made his way to the kitchen to inspect the coffee pot.

Empty.

He dragged himself to the table and took a seat, reaching carefully across AJ's plate of toast and jam to snatch the coffee cup out from under Howie's nose. He lifted it to his lips and took a long swig as Howie and AJ both stared on in silence. AJ shook his head and chuckled as Howie, muttering four letter words quietly under his breath, stood to put on another pot.

"Rough night?" He asked as he returned to the table still waiting for the coffee to get hot.

"You can say that again." Nick replied as he took another swig from the mug and wearily laid his head on the table with a groan. He pressed the mug to his forehead and closed his eyes.

"Headache?" AJ asked standing up and moving towards his room.

"Killer."

He emerged a few moments later carrying a bottle of aspirin. He placed two of them in front of Nick and put a hand on his shoulder. "Better take some dude... we've got a long day on the bus ahead of us."

Nick nodded in thanks and swallowed the pills with another gulp of coffee, cringing at the thought of having to spend the entire day on their tour bus. At least maybe he could get some quality sleep on the road. Not likely though. He looked up at the clock on the wall and groaned again, realizing how early it still was. "Damn it gets light early here," he mumbled as he stood and walked towards the door of his bedroom.

"I know." AJ grumbled back, peering out the window, "I woke up about an hour ago determined I was late for something!"

Nick laughed and turned towards Howie, "What time did my dad say he'd be hear this morning?"

"Um... he didn't really say. He just said you still have some things you need to talk about and that he'd be back before we leave."

"Ah... okay. Well I'm gonna go lay down for a while then, will you wake me up when he gets here or..." he shook his head as he looked at the sleeping figure on the couch, "or if she needs anything?"

"Will do man," Howie responded turning his attention to where Emily slept, "She looks pretty out of it right now."

"Get some sleep man. You need it too." Aj nodded.

The two men watched as Nick sauntered into his room and shut the door behind him. Then their eyes fell on the sleeping girl on the couch across the room. AJ looked over at Howie and sighed deeply. "She reminds me so much of myself D," he said as he shook his head, "and that fuckin' scares me."

"I know Aje." Howie sat back down at the table after pouring himself another cup of coffee. "I've never seen her this bad."

AJ shook his head and turned to look at her again. "I have a feeling there are a lot of demons hiding in that closet."