When things finally work themselves out, a sort of freedom comes with it. It doesn't matter that only the smallest fraction has been sorted through, leaving a tangle of emotions and problems untouched behind, that feeling of the stones lifted off your chest is still there.

And that was something Keely had learnt.

Yes, she wouldn't dare think about her grandparents that had spoken their first words to her in years, but that didn't mean that the light sensation wasn't real.

Feeling quite calm, as if cut off from the rest of the world, Keely just remained in spot, strumming the acoustic guitar she'd brought in her trek about the city.

She didn't want to stay locked up in that hotel room for another day, and with the urge to write a song, she'd grabbed her notebook and guitar before heading out the door. Cities such as these were the best places to get inspired, you could see anything as you walked through it, there was everything from the great to the bad. It just depended where you looked.

At that moment she'd stopped wandering, and was sitting on a stone wall. Her jean clad legs were dangling over the edge above the stones that the ocean lapped onto, behind her a large grassy knoll with the a bench at the top where there was a couple in what had to be their eighties holding hands and looking at the gently swaying boats tied to the wooden docks. But they seemed far away, in fact everything seemed far away. No one was walking behind her on the little path, no one sitting near her and there was just salt water rippling in front of her until it lead to the gleaming buildings underneath the sun.

It was still rather chilly, but Keely found if she stayed in the sunlight, as she was doing now, instead of in the shade of the city buildings, she stayed much warmer. In the plain white sweater, she started strumming those few chords again.

Pursing her lips slightly when something was off, she brushed the lock of hair that had escaped the messy ponytail out of her eyes.

Being outside and writing a song was nice, it let her thoughts move easier than she could when locked up in a tiny hotel room or the makeshift dressing rooms that you could hear the music from the person on stage. Writing the bus wasn't easy either, especially when one of the boys always seemed to be doing something tremendously stupid.

She already had a title in mind, Keely couldn't say where it had come from, but it was stuck in her head. Breaking Time. Usually she would write the music, then the lyrics would come and finally the title, this was different. But she liked it, and wasn't about to push it away when song writing hadn't been coming so easily of late.

“I'd try going into a minor chord if I were you.”

Closing her eyes, she just shook her head, not needing to see Seth to recognize his voice. “You know, this whole thing with finding me all across this city is getting a little creepy.”

“I was actually designated to find you this time.”

“Hm?” asked Keely absently, “For what?”

“Doesn't matter.”

Hearing the movement beside her, Keely sent a hasty look to the side from beneath her lashes to see Seth swinging his long legs over beside her, his own guitar case in hand. Returning her gaze to the water as she strummed the chords again.

“So about your-”

Before he could even finish the sentence she hastily cut him off, “I don't want to talk about it.”

Careful not to get too in touch with her clumsy nature, Keely swung her legs over the thick stone wall so she was facing him. “You said a minor chord, right?” she asked, crossing her legs in front of her as she propped her guitar on her lap.

“Yeah, right after the F6.”

Frowning Keely looked down at the guitar. “You sure?”

Rolling his eyes, Seth leaned over to where he'd propped his guitar case, pulling a black Gibson acoustic from the depths before turning to her, crossing his legs as he looked at her. “Yeah, of course I'm sure.” As if for effect, he played the bar she'd played just moments before, though switching to that minor chord.

Biting on the edge of her lip, she grinned slightly at him, wondering how long he had been listening to pick the bar by ear. “Well, you can't blame me, you were lifting from Neil Young when we were in the states.”

“I didn't know,” Seth retorted, a tiny scowl gracing his face.

Grinning fully now, Keely propped her elbow on top of her guitar, leaning her cheek against her hand. “Still counts, rock star.”

Not bothering to answer her, Seth just shook his head, leaning over his guitar to pick up the pen that was laid across the songbook situated between them. He scratched out her previous notes she'd scrawled out, scribbling down the new chords.

“... we're just breaking time,” Keely finished, fading out her voice as she looked across the space the songbook provided between them.

Seth finished playing the guitar track, shaking the neck of the guitar on the last chord to gain that wavering effect. For a moment he just looked back across at her, a slight frown appearing between his brows, in response Keely just bit the edge of her lip gently, sending him a questioning look. “Sing the last chorus again,” he ordered, beginning to play again.

Obediently she began singing, keeping her voice smooth for this one. It was a slower song than For You had been, that song had began with a slow guitar but the music had built power steadily as it moved along. The new song had a softer touch, making her think of acoustic guitars and only a tambourine with maybe a brushed snare, but keeping along the simple acoustic lines.

“Sing it again, but add another “breaking time” in at the end,” he told her.

Hauling in a deep breath, Keely began singing, looking at him evenly as she did so. There was already the darkening of a five o'clock shadow across his chin, his eyes were deep and focused as he played the bars again.

At that time they'd sorted through the music, but were still working on the lyrics, therefore she singing the ending chorus over and over again.

“And in the end, we're just breaking time, breaking time... Okay, good now?”

Blinking Seth looked back up at her. “For that part, but I was thinking about the second verse.”

“Guys-”

“Okay, how the hell did you two manage to find us?” Keely exclaimed, slightly frustrated as she looked to the side to see Marco and Colton making their way casually towards them. It was getting rather strange, it wasn't like the three boys had some internal compass that told them where the other was, no matter how close they were.

Seth sighed, letting his hand fall away from the sound hole, although his other hand kept it's grip on the neck even if his fingers fell away from the chords. “I told them where I was going, I was sent to look for you, remember?”

“Not until now,” she answered, arching her eyebrows at him.

He just grinned at her.

“You two are giving us whiplash, you know that, right?” asked Colton, eyeing them suspiciously when he and Marco pulled to a stop beside their perches on the wall.

Before either of them could answer, Marco was pointing at the hill, proclaiming, “Paparazzi.”

“Huh?” asked Keely, peeking around Marco's body that was in line with her sitting position to look where he was pointing. Sure enough there was a man half way down the high knoll, a black camera almost strapped to his face, the sight made a scowl come onto her face. “How long do you think he's been there?”

As if the man had just noticed all of them watching him with identical glares on their faces, he pulled the camera away from himself. There was a moment where he just stared at them, but then he quickly took his camera and set off in the other direction.

Shrugging Colton turned his attention back to them. “Who knows? A crowd of them once stayed outside of Seth's apartment for two straight days.”

“Really?” she snorted, her gaze snapping back to Seth.

He scowled, his expression appearing as if he was thinking back to the occasion and it apparently wasn't a fond memory. “Yeah,” he replied flatly.

“What were you guys doing?” asked Marco, sitting on the edge of the wall behind Keely.

“Writing.”

At Seth's short answer, Colton's eyebrows shot upwards to his bronze curls. “No Neil Young I hope?”

“Are you guys ever going to let that go?” muttered Seth.

The grin spread across his face easily, and he answered with a smooth, “Nope.”

Abruptly the scowl left Seth's face to be replaced by a smirk as he looked up at Colton. “Oh, you're more preoccupied with my issues, isn't it Marissa who's been pleading Please Please Me?”

Just as suddenly, Colton glowered at him, “Well, Hey Jude.”

In an instant Seth shot up from the wall, dropping the guitar clumsily into the case as he lunged at Colton.

For a moment Keely watched the fighting between the boys, but she didn't bother for too long, it wasn't serious as it happened on the bus every day. Leaning her head back so she could look at Marco who's gaze was following Colton and Seth disinterestedly, she asked, “What's with the Hey Jude thing?”

Marco grinned, shaking his head. “Ah nothing, just something we do to piss Seth off.”

Feeling her interest peak, Keely whined, “But why? Does he not like the song or something?”

“He loves that song, we've done it a couple times. He likes doing the shouting bit at the end I think, but always gets pissed because Colton can't sing and just me as back up doesn't-”

“You guys are assholes,” interrupted Seth, shaking his hand as he halted in front of their perch.

“You two are done already?” she asked surprised, turning her gaze back to Seth, usually the internal band fighting sessions lasted at least five minutes.

Not waiting for an answer since she knew very well she'd never get a satisfactory answer from them, the kings of elusiveness, Keely shoved her guitar into Marco's hands as she spun herself about, straightening her legs and standing up. But she hadn't factored in the fact her legs had been crossed on that stone wall for hours causing them to fall asleep, and she stumbled forward awkwardly.

Thankfully when she'd been getting up, her eyes had been on the dark haired boy, making her tumble against him instead of a painful face first into the ground. As she bumped gracelessly into him, Seth hastily gripped her forearms before she could simply bounce back, pulling her up straight against him.

Laughing breathlessly, Keely tipped her head chin up to look at him, blowing her bangs from her eyes.

He just smiled slightly in response, not letting go of her arms, not that she noticed anything besides the golden glow beneath the darkening sky.

Why was her heart always giving those weird leaps?

“Oh, could you two just get a room or something?”

At the sound of Colton's jokingly annoyed voice, Keely took a hurried step back, breaking her arms from his hands.

Her arms felt rather cold without his grasp, but she shoved that thought from her mind when the back of her knees smacked the stone wall and she could feel a blush working its way to her cheeks. Instantly she grabbed the guitar from Marco's grasp, and leaned down, busying herself with snapping it inside it's case carefully. By the time she raised her head, the heat had fled from her cheeks and the boys were talking normally amongst themselves again.

“You ready to go now?” asked Marco, sending her a vague glance from where the three boys stood relaxed.

Nodding, she sent him a little smile.

In unison they turned down the path, forming a straight line with Keely finding herself between Marco and Colton.

“You missed sound check today,” Colton informed her, nudging her with his elbow.

Frowning at the words, Keely hastily checked the time, it was already six at night... she hadn't even realized the time passing, her mind being completely involved with the song. When she'd escaped the hotel, she'd had a plan in mind for writing and still making it on time.

“He missed it too!” Keely pointed out, pointing around Marco to where Seth was strolling casually, his free hand tucked into his jean pocket.

Seth just shook his head, smirking, but didn't speak. But the blonde boy who was separating them did feel the need to pipe up. “But Seth hadn't ever done another sound check until this tour, we're used to it by now. You're doing the same set list as the one you played in Boston by the way, your back up band isn't too happy with you.”

Shrugging she just brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Whatever, my back up band hates me already.”

Keely found it very strange that just being in the presence of her favourite boys could make her smile, and at least push issues to the back of her mind. But just twenty minutes without them could allow her to sink much too deep for comfort into her own thoughts again.

From what she could understand, Seth was fighting with Marissa's father about the fact he wanted to shorten the rest of the acts' length in order for Marissa's to be longer, all while Marco and Colton watched. Apparently the latter two were taking bets on if Seth punched Mr James or not. Yet that had just come from Colton in the passing as they hurried past her dressing room while he shouted at her as she peeked her head from the doorway at the commotion.

She would have followed them, but there was only so much time before her set started, meaning she was having to get ready for the stage.

Unlike Marissa, Keely was more likely to wear something she'd wear any day on the street on stage, something that she'd heard very much bothered Mr James. But she couldn't have cared less, preferring to be in the jeans, sneakers and grey long sleeved shirt that hugged her body closely, the top buttons loose. She wasn't about to wear a spandex body suit out there.

But in those few minutes that she'd changed, Keely began pacing around her dressing room, her thoughts moving back to the graveyard. Her head felt as if it was spinning in every direction, not making sense of anything.

Why had her grandparents even bothered to talk to her after all these years of nothing but silence? It wasn't logical. Why hadn't they just ignored her presence? Was it just because she was there, or had they actually wanted to speak to her about something? That couldn't be it... could it? She was getting far too used to silence from her family. Her mother couldn't exactly speak to her, her grandparents hadn't bothered and her father just didn't care.

Why?

Unconsciously Keely reached up, but when her fingers grasped for her mother's necklace that she'd always fiddled with when thinking, they just met air.

Shivering as she remembered where the necklace was now, she let her hand drop to her side, pulling in a shaky breath. She'd gone to her mother's grave, she'd given her the necklace, what more did she have to do to receive even the slightest amount of closure?

Would she ever get it?

“Keely your band is going on stage.”

Her gaze whipped to the door at the sound of one of the roadie's voices, and answered in a croaked tone, “Yeah, um, thanks.”

Trying to rid herself of the quivering that was happening when she breathed, Keely brought herself to a complete halt, dragging in one deep breath. But she didn't linger long, just grabbing her Stratocaster from where it was propped against the wall and pushed through the door, knowing her acoustic would be waiting in the guitar stand on stage.

The moment she walked on stage, her stomach clenched roughly at the sight of the packed stadium, people moving as shadows throughout the crowd. Swallowing obviously, Keely put a smile on her face as she walked out on the stage to the excited cheers that sent shivers of excitement up her spine, but the almost painful clench of nerves in her stomach didn't leave. No, it was just as potent as ever before, she was just getting better at hiding it.

Slipping the guitar strap over her shoulders, she plugged a wire into it, quirking an eyebrow in the direction of John, the lead guitarist, who was glaring at her. He wasn't too fond of her, anyone could see it. She suspected that the thirty something man just wasn't too happy about backing up an eighteen year old girl. But it didn't bother her, the music sounded great, that was enough. Not spending another moment on him, she smiled at the crowd again, walking up to the microphone stand that stood alone at the front of the flat stage.

“Hey guys,” she said loudly into the mic, her voice the perfect sound of calmness even when her stomach was jumping at each separate shout. “I'm Keely Staub.”

When the cheers swelled again, Keely looked over her shoulder to send a nod to the band before beginning to play the beginning guitar. Her fingers moved familiarly over the strings, having played the song in every city they stopped in, her eyes focused down as her left foot kept the time. But she never got tired of playing it. If there were two things that could keep her distracted, it was music and the boys.

As always the crowd paired with her music gave her a high that was uncontested as the best thing she'd ever felt, at least so far. And even though thoughts of her mother, death and silent families were hanging around the edge of her mind, she was able to focus solely on the music. It didn't matter if she had put down her guitar and was just singing with the mic or if she was taking over a solo that John glared at her for, she was focused.

But that was until the last song of the night. It was supposed to be a cover of Van Halen's Panama, after all she didn't have that many songs to play yet, but when Keely stopped playing for a moment, her mom came slamming into the forefront of her mind.

Dragging the electric guitar off of her shoulder and musing her already messy hair, Keely moved towards her lead guitarist, dropping the guitar off as she did so. “I want to do a different song,” she shouted at him over the crowd.

“What? But that wasn't in the set list!”

Restraining the urge to roll her eyes, she gripped the only other guitar waiting on the rack, her acoustic. “Yeah, I know that, you guys don't have to play. I'll do it on my own.”

For a moment John just looked down at her, but then with a wave, he and his band departed the stage. Maybe they did it a bit grudgingly, but they did it all the same. Not bothered by the behaviour whatsoever, Keely just turned back to the crowd who were still being quite loud, but still quieter in their confusion.

When the noise became high pitch squeals, her eyes widened as she stood in front of the microphone stand, she couldn't understand what she could have done to receive that kind of reaction. Glancing about the stage, her gaze caught the sight of Seth strolling onto the stage nonchalantly caring a stool she was sure she'd seen one of the roadies sitting on before she'd gone on stage. If Marissa or someone else had just walked on her stage, she probably would have been seething, but oddly she found she didn't really mind.

Hearing some shrill girly voice screech, “I love you!” over the rest of the cheering made a smirk touch the sides of her mouth, but Keely found her mind still preoccupied.

Seth just set down the stool in front of the microphone.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to hear her over the screaming girls and shouting guys in the crowd, Keely just mouthed, “Thank you.”