She stood there, unsure what to do next. No phone, no pass, no ticket, and no bag, no money… all of that was still in the lounge. Two Italian ushers were looking at her like she was crazy, and she began to consider her options.

The only real choice was to go back to the door she left through and wait for someone to come out.

She walked back to that door and sat next to it with her back against the building. She calculated how long she might be waiting…

Leighanne knows I went to make a phone call, but she probably didn't think it would mean leaving the building, plus, basically lead her to believe I wouldn't be coming back anyway. Back to Your Heart is just about the middle of the show… was probably on with Becka for about fifteen minutes?

She looked out over the parking lot and sighed. Defeated. She hung her head, pulled her knees up to her chest, and curled her body into a ball. All of the exhaustion from the past week wrapped itself around her, and she felt heavy. Some tears began to pool in her eyes again, and she let them fall into her lap without caring. She was already too far gone.

There were only two thoughts that were able to sustain themselves as she sat there. The thought of waking up in the middle of the night to see Nick's body in her bed, providing the comfort and security she so desperately wanted right now. And the thought of Nick warning her: lose our mark, and you're screwed. That was true in so, so many ways.

The quiet stillness and warmth of the July air, along with the compounded fatigue, was the perfect lullaby. She fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

While she slept, a simmering panic had made its way through their entire operation. Several minutes before the show ended, Leighanne returned to the lounge and inquired with Billy and Tom about where Coll was, and that's when they realized she was missing.

"Haven't seen her," Tom said.

"Yeah, thought she was inside with you!" Billy replied, getting on his feet, concern evident in his voice.

"She left in the middle to make a phone call, she should be around somewhere."

Tom and Billy looked at each other then to Leighanne.

"The middle? She hasn't been through here … I've have been here since the show started." Tom said.

The three of them stood there quietly for a moment, unsure of what to do. Before Leighanne knew it, Billy was on the phone, and Tom was running out of the lounge.

"You stay here," Tom instructed as he left.

Leighanne waited anxiously alone in the lounge while the show wrapped, and the security team dispersed. For as long as Coll had been gone, Leighanne figured she could have encountered any number of issues.

Coll could tell Billy was trying his hardest not to express the full spectrum of his concern and anger to her as he walked her back to the lounge after finding her outside as soon as they checked every possible place she could be inside.

"You scared the shit out of us." He explained as nicely as possible.

Until now, he had only asked her if she was okay. He wondered what had happened and asked if she needed a doctor, to which she laughed. She had woken up, confused, to Billy shaking her shoulder, asking her if she was hurt and reaching to check her pulse.

"I don't know what happened, I had the pass you gave me. And that door locked behind me," Coll explained again. "Also, did you seriously think I was dead? Dead people don't usually sit."

"Let's not tell Nick this happened," Billy said, ignoring what Coll had just provided.

She looked at him curiously, she understood his request but knew Nick would find out anyway.

In fact, he already knew because the guys came off stage before Billy and Coll returned as Leighanne was unable to keep it under wraps that Coll had gone missing.

Before they even arrived back to the lounge, Nick was barreling out the double doors and into the hallway still fully in his stage clothes, ready to start a full-blown run when he saw them approaching.

"Holy shit." He sighed with relief, his shoulders visibly relaxing even as several new emotions were bursting out inside of him.

Coll smiled softly.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, exasperated. "Leighanne said you were gone for half the show."

"Sorry, I got locked out of the building, and my phone was dead."

"Why did you go outside?" He asked. "Why weren't you two together if you went outside?"

It's really not that ridiculous of a thing to do. "To make a phone call." She explained calmly, her whole body aching and tired. She ignored the part about why Billy wasn't with her.

"Without anything? No pass? No Billy?" Unrecognizable emotions scrambled to the surface and emanated out of his body - his hands open, his arms out, his neck tense, his eyes glinting. She looked at him and bit her lip. It has to mean something.

At that moment, looking at her in the hallway, sorting out if she was, in fact, okay... it happened.

Things boiled over.

He knew it without a doubt: he no longer saw her as just his friend, and he was terrified and inspired by that fact.

The truth was no longer avoidable. It had been that way he just wasn't ready to know it - but ready or not, he knew it now. He knew it then with complete, undeniable certainty. He was in love with Coll. Mandy was right.

The event of the night punched a hole in the canopy his defenses had woven around his feelings for her. Things in his cognitive darkness were becoming illuminated. The things that light touched were scary, and he felt the weight of them all in that moment.

Their friendship. The years they had invested in it and the fact that that friendship was comforting.

Their different lives. She had college and her life in Boston, he had tours and albums and photo shoots all over the world.

His past compared to her future. He had what now felt like a mess of mistakes behind him that he'd have to come clean about if anything were to happen with Colleen, while he had made it clear she was looking for something more substantial to take things further.

Her normalcy - the thing he found most fascinating and relieving about her - how could she be both normal and something more than his friend? Was finding out worth the risk?

It all felt heavy. But alongside those risk factors were infinite, thrilling possibilities. For every part that felt scary, there were things that felt so right.

The scare of loving her bumped up against the fascination and thrill of loving her. His eyes caught hers, and they looked at each other for a moment.

"I was nervous." He admitted.

As he came closer to her, she tensed. After days of convincing herself Nick did not feel anything toward her that resembled what she was feeling toward him; the way he was looking at her in this moment threw her off. The way he was acting threw her off, the way he was talking threw her off. It has to mean something. She was a nobody who sat in an empty parking lot, and this was throwing him into an emotional tailspin. He was a superstar who, just a couple of weeks ago, went out without security into a major metropolis, and that was fine. His eyes were flashing dazzling shades of blue at her - expressing more concern than the incident warranted... why?

She shook her head with a small smile. It was sweet that he cared, but she was tormented by it.

"I had a pass, or… I thought I did." She said. "Didn't seem like a threatening situation … it's an empty parking lot."

He was still sweaty and pumped up on adrenaline from the show. She hated him for it - for standing there, looking at her like he cared, for being gorgeous while sweating, for tormenting her. Why does it feel so good to be tortured like this? Her spine felt weak.

"What happened to her pass?" Nick asked, looking specifically at Billy as he wrapped his arms around Coll's shoulders in an all-consuming hug.

Billy shrugged. "I have no idea, it was a temp, maybe the closure came loose, we will check everyone's tonight."

The tension in her body eased as she stood there with her arms around his waist. She relaxed into his embrace and enjoyed it while it lasted.

He had wrestled with the way his feelings appeared to be changing for several nights, even before Mandy came around. He hadn't made much progress as his subconscious mind was doing an excellent job keeping things suppressed. But little by little, the barrier was compromised. No boyfriend facade, no desire to sleep around, feeling unidentified things with her even when totally sober… But this incident had blown it open.

He couldn't deny it, but he couldn't act on it either. He stood there, doing the most he could do, holding on to her.

"It's not his fault, Nick. Look, I'm fine, so we can just forget this whole night ever happened." She said as she pulled away to look at him. His arms loosened around her, and she hated him again for making her want things she didn't think she was entitled to. She looked up at him, still sweaty and gorgeous, still concerned. It has to mean something. Her stomach flipped.

I could never forget this night.

"I take full responsibility for this," Billy stated plainly. Coll looked at him like he was crazy but didn't have the energy to argue with either of them.

"I thought I was going to have to call your parents and explain this to them and -"Nick began, looking Coll over to be absolutely positive she was okay. It was a thrill that he felt throughout his body to look at her, but he noticed she looked tired and puffy-faced. "Are you seriously, okay?"

"I'm totally fine. I fell asleep." She nodded. "Just my butt hurts from sitting on the pavement." She giggled. "Are you okay?"

"I thought something bad could have happened!" He explained with a sigh. "Look, come back in here and don't move." He placed his hand on her back, leading her into the lounge where everyone was relieved to see her. Even through her clothes, she could feel the warmth of his hand on her back, and it made her feel dizzy.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She said before anyone could ask. She rolled her eyes as Nick continued to lead her to a couch and instructed her to sit there and wait for him while he went to change.

"Sure, great, I'll be here." She said as he walked away, still watching her. Leighanne came over and inquired about what happened and asked if the call to Becka was worth it. Now that everyone knew she was okay, they went about decompressing from the show in their usual manner. Soon enough, the lounge was quiet again, and it was just the two of them sitting there and Billy and Tom, joined by A.J.'s security, Q, outside the doorway.

"Thank God you are fine," Leighanne said, gently placing her hand on Coll's shoulder.

Coll looked at her with her eyes heavy from fatigue and nodded. It took most of her remaining energy not to cry.

Leighanne wrapped her arms around Coll and laughed, "If you ever need a stand-in sister, I can be that."

Coll sighed into her shoulder and nodded. "Thanks."

"You can tell me anything," Leighanne explained as she pulled back from Coll to look at her again. "Anything." She repeated for emphasis, raising her eyebrows at Coll.

There was something in her look that Coll knew to mean she was on to her.

Coll covered her face with her hands as the room began to spin. Should have stayed out for the night.