He wondered why they were all screaming...every one of them was bouncing up and down while he was singing his heart out and trying hard to understand what they saw in someone like him. With one (seldom) free hand he brushed his blond ahir out of his eyes.

Strobe lights echoed crazily through his pale eyes, and his forehead was glassy with the sweat of heat and exhaustion. Thank God this was the last song, and yet it still wasn't over. There were those with backstage passes, and he knew they would be eagerly expecting an autograph written in flourished hand. "With love, Taylor" was his monumental phrase. Ike always came up with somethign artistic and poetic, and Zac....well, his phrase was usually crazy and somewhat absurd. But hey, hadn't Taylor been that way at twelve? He shook his head, smiled at the fans, and walked offstage, Zac jumping around like there was a bee in his shorts or something. Isaac, cool and sohpisticated as always, was clearing his throat.

Backstage they handed him a towel and water, and no sooner had he taken a sip when the three backstage fans came up. Two of them were about twelve, judging from height and the fact that they looked young. The third, probably their sister....

Taylor thought there as he saw her that he was going to, literally, wet his pants. She was shorter than he, and he almost giggled if it hadn't been for her eyes. They loked like his own, glassy blue, only hers had, well, charisma. Her hair was fair colored, with thick curls, and around her neck he saw the image of his own necklace, the controversial Star of David and a cross, both on rough leather string.

"Hey." Her voice was high, but not ditzy, and she looked awed to just be near him. Instantly, he felt his face go red as did hers. Isaac cut through them to talk to Zac, who was caught in between two adoring girls. That broke the ice.

"What's your name?" Taylor seemed to not be able to say anything intellent tonight, not after seeing her. "Ashley," she replied, not taking her eyes off his for even a split second. "Ashley," he repeated. She laughed and again, he blushed. "Don't be shy, after all, I'm only a fan. You get us every day, don't you?" "None like you." She stopped laughing and smiled. "Where you guys headed to next?" she asked "Beats me. I thought he said Ohio." "But that's where I live! That's so great!" "If you live in Ohio, why are you way down here in Pensacola?" "I promised my aunt I'd take my little cousins. She's waiting for them outside." "Well..." he trailed off, unable to ask her what he wanted to. "What?" her voice wasn't sharp, but curiously awed. "Why don't you come with us to Ohio? We can take you home. And t'll be a safe trip, I promise." "You mean bus trips are actually safe with Zac?" she asked incredulously. He laughed. "Yeah, he mellows out sometimes. Whadya say?" What do I say? She was thinking, absolutely yes!! "Well, I'd have to ask my aunt," she answered cooly, dying inside. "Hey, that's okay. Let me get some BG's and we'll walk out there," he asnwered, surprised he could talk in her presence.

After summoning some bodyguards, the two walked out there, promising they'd be back in minutes. Thrilled to see her niece so incredibly happy, she consented, and Ashley boarded the bus with the three.

Zac and Ike, after polite conversation, drifted off to sleep, but Taylor remained wide awake, watching Ashley sleep, despite his exhaustion. She felt him watching her as she woke, and went to join him in his seat.... To Be Continued..... PART 2 She heard his sharp in take of breath as she reached for his hand, but withdrew nothing. He just pulled her into his arms and she leaned against him. It was two am, but they talked for hours. Or rather, he talked, and she just listened, just like he had always wanted someone to do. Just listen.

He told her of his stress, how some days he couldn't take it, of how some days he wished he was still doing homework at his kitchen table at home. He told her how worn out the band was getting, how even Zac was affected with weariness.

After it was all said and done, when his voice was weary and his mind unburdened, he found that sleep came easily for the first time in months.

"How odd," he whispered to himself, "that it took a blue-eyed girl with a heart of gold to make me sleep." She murmured sleepily, "What?" But he just shushed her with a gentle kiss, and she drifted, like he, back into dream-filled sleep.

Taylor woke up around noon, wondering where he was. He faintly remembered sleeping, and then the night rushed back to him as he desperately searched for the girl who haunted both his dreams and his arms. Sitting up, he noticed Zac watching a movie at the end of an enormous bed.

"Hey animal. Where are we?" Zac began to giggle. "We're in a hotel, last I checked." "Well duh! But where?" "Uh, Georgia, I think." At that moment Isaac walked in, clad in his swimming shorts and a towel. "Rise and shine, lover-boy," he snorted. "What?" Taylor asked warily. "You've forgotten her already! When we stopped, you two were so closely wrapped together, we thought we would have to find a scalpel and amputate!" There went Zac's crazy giggle at Isaac's comment. "So it wasn't a dream?" Taylor asked happily. The other two shook their heads. "Where is she?" "In the next room over. I invited her to come down swimming, but then I remembered you dragged her here without any other clothes, much less a swimsuit," Zac commented. Taylor hurriedly pushed the covers of his bed back, cramped from sleeping in his blue vinyl pants. Rushing through the shower, he towel-dried his hair and then cautiously knocked on the door.

"Housekeeping," he called in a high, sing-song voice. He could hear her laugh and called for him to come in. Taylor pushed the door nervously and saw her there, looking as she had the night before, although her thick curls were a little flat from sleep, and her mascara slightly smudged.

She opened the door wider, allowing him to come in. At the availability, he took her hand. "Thanks, Ashley." "For what?" "For last night. You really let me vent my feelings, and it ffelt good to feel someone listen to me again." She shook her head. "Trust me, I loved it. How many girls get to listen to you do that? I guess I'm one in a million." "You sure are. Listen, we have about thirty bazillion states to travel through before we get to Ohio. What are you going to do about clothes?" "That's already been taken care of by Isaac. He sent some woman up named, oh let me think, Annie?" "Oh, she's our wardbrobe designer." "She's so nice." "Yeah. Hey Ashley?" "What?" Not a word was spoken as he kissed her, softly, meaningfully, innocently.

****six days later**** The bus stopped in front of a white two-story house in Ohio. Sadly, a girl exchanged hugs with Isaac, and then another with Zac, who by now wanted a big sister. Stepping out of the bus, Taylor followed her, tears forming in his eyes as he promised to see his brothers in the hotel the next day.

No one was home in her house, as they had no idea about her disappearance from her aunt's house and were on their way driving to Pensacola, Florida to pick her and her little sister up.

With saddened steps he followed her to her room and there she set down her bags and turned to him. It was late everning, and the last rays of sunshine dipped in her window as they both heard the bus drive away. Tears in his eyes, Taylor pulled her to him and hugged her, and soft but audible sobs resounded from her. He would miss her too much.

Their hugs turned to kisses, and kisses to a gentle love mete. She fell asleep unwillingly, and when she had, he left a note, promising to he'd be "With her in her dreams." When she found it, when he had gone, Ashley cried. The posters of him on her walls seemed to echo his love, but they were cold.

Three days later, Taylor wrote a new hit single. "One Quiet Moment" became at the top of the charts, bigger than "MMMBop" had ever been.

He never saw her again. She of course knew the song was for her, the last gift he could give. Four months later, she attended a concert, where the song was the last to be sung. The last few lines echoed as she heard his strong voice sing. "In one quiet moment, I left her sweet side, And in that one moment A part of me died. There was nothing else I could do Our parting had come I know that one quiet moment My true love came from.

***lyrics to "One Quiet Moment" were written by Katie Liddel, not by author of story.