"Where are we going?" I ask Brad as we step off of my bus.

"I'm hungry," he says as he leads me through the backlot of the Washington DC venue.

"We just ate."

He takes my hand and pulls me behind him.

We round the corner of the catering area and everyone yells, "Surprise!!"

I jump back and my hand covers my heart.

"Oh my God. What's this?" I ask, looking around.

I see a sign that says, "Good Luck Ana. We'll miss you. Love your Summer Jam Tour Family."

I hold back the tears that are stinging my eyes. Brad rubs my back and laughs.

"They wanted to say goodbye since this is your last show," he leans down and tells me.

"Oh, you guys."

I walk around and hug everyone I see.

"I'm going to miss you guys," I say to Kevin and Bert.

"We're going to miss you too," Kevin says.

"Yeah, we only have a few more shows but they won't be the same without you," Bert says.

"Well, we'll all be in New York for the VMA's, right? We'll have to go to the same after-parties or something."

They both smile and nod. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

A little bit later, Tony walks over to me. "You ready to go back to the bus?"

"Actually, I was hoping I could stay and watch everyone's performance one more time."

"I don't see why not. Just stick by Andre, okay?"

"I will."

Tony starts walking back to the bus as Brad makes his way back over to me. I glance at Sasha before Brad steals my attention. I'm sitting on top of one of the tables and he leans toward me, putting both hands on either side of me.

"Tony said you're going to watch the shows. You want company?"

I smile and nod. "I'd love it."

He quickly glances around and then gives me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Andre…will you take us to the VIP area?" Brad asks.

"Follow me," he tells us.

When the guys from KCB are up on stage, they see that I'm in the VIP area and they start acting like hams. I laugh so hard my sides hurt.

"They're such goobs," I say.

"We'd like to take this time to say goodbye to a really good friend of ours. Tonight is Ana's last night on this tour…you guys are the lucky ones who get to see her," Kevin says, pointing to the crowd.

They scream.

"So, we love you Ana. You've been a joy to be around. Don't change a thing…"

They start into their ballad called exactly that.

I wipe a tear away and Brad leans over and kisses my temple.

"That was so nice," I sniff once the song's over.

Sasha comes out to perform and I've only seen her show a handful of times but tonight it seems different. It's almost like she's got something to prove.

"This song is dedicated to all the new lovebirds out there. You know who you are," she says before she starts in on one of her ballads.

Brad looks at me. "Did she just point our way?"

"We're in the middle of the crowd, how can you tell?"

He shrugs. "Just a feeling I got. She's being weird tonight."

I look back at her and nod. "Yeah, I thought so too."

In the middle of her set Andre escorts us back to the bus area so we can get ready.

Once I'm on the bus, I quickly change and can hear Sasha's set coming to an end. I start stretching a little bit and open the door to leave my bus when I'm greeted at the door by Brad. I let out a little scream as he grabs me and pulls me off of the bus.

"You scared me," I laugh.

"So sorry," he says.

He glances behind me.

"Tony's already backstage," I giggle.

He gently pushes me so that my back is against the side of the bus and he moves in closer to me. Both of his hands are on either side of my head.

"We're getting awfully bold lately, aren't we?" I ask as I keep looking at his lips.

He nods. "Yes, but we don't have that much time left together."

He leans down and sweetly kisses my lips…the kind of kiss that leaves you begging for more. I moan when he starts to pull away. Both of my hands grab his shirt so I can pull him back. Our mouths find each other again and for some reason, I feel daring so I touch my tongue to his. I take it he likes that sign because he turns my head and deepens the kiss. I feel his body pressing against mine. At this point I don't know how we could get closer to each other without….

"Get a room," Sasha teases as she walks by with her bodyguards.

Brad pulls away and I look down. I had totally forgotten where we were.

"Have a good show you two," she says before she climbs into her tour bus.

"Oh God," I groan as I lean my head against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have started that," Brad says, trying to catch his breath.

I wipe the lipstick off of his mouth. "That's okay. I was enjoying it. We should get backstage," I say, nodding my head toward the venue.

"Right."

"What time does your family get in?" Brad asks me as we're sitting on the stage at Radio City Music Hall.

It's the day before the VMA's and it's the last day to rehearse this set.

"Sometime this afternoon, I think. I know they'll be here for dinner tonight."

He smiles at me.

"What?"

"I just love looking at your face when you talk about your family. It lights up."

"I've missed them, that's all."

"Where is Ana?" someone over the loudspeaker asks.

I stand up and brush off my pants.

"Right here," I yell.

"Okay, we're about ready for a run through. Everyone take your places."

Brad gives my hand a squeeze, winks at me and walks back to the band.

I turn around and look at the set design. This was Cody's idea…actually the whole theme of the set, my outfit and the vibe was all Cody's. And I love it. It makes me proud of him. He's going to get a kick out of seeing it actually come to life like this.

The music starts and I appear at the top of a stairway. I start dancing down the stairs to the beat of the remix. This was a hard thing to practice…I actually fell a couple of times in rehearsal. Thank God I didn't twist or break anything. By the time I make it down to the bottom, I stop along with the music, and look both ways. A group of dancers come out from both sides and the music starts back up. I smile and start singing the song.

I shake my head as I try to catch my breath when the song's over.

"Can we do it again?" I ask out into the direction of where the audience will be sitting. "That sucked," I mumble under my breath.

"Okay. Everyone, take your places again," the loudspeaker person says again.

I grab a bottled water on my way back up the steps. I'm really pissed at myself because I could tell I was off-key a couple of times and I know I missed a couple of dance steps.

"Come on, Ana," I mutter to myself as I move my shoulders around to try to loosen up again.

Once I'm in my place behind the top step, I close my eyes and concentrate on my routine and my voice. I have to clear my head of all other thoughts. Flashes of my parents' VMA performances flash through my mind. People still talk about their VMA performances to this day.

"We are with first time VMA performer, Ana…welcome to the VMA's," Rick, the VJ says to me.

We are just taping an interview today that will air tomorrow.

"Thank you."

"I just watched your rehearsal…first of all I loved the remix of that song."

"It's great, isn't it? I should probably record that," I kid.

"You should. But secondly, I thought you did a great job. We won't give anything away but it's got a different vibe to it than what your video has."

"Yeah, the whole theme of the performance is different."

"Do you feel more pressure when you come to something like this? I mean you changed up things a little when you performed at your mother's Icon special."

"Yeah it's fun to do different things. I've been doing the same set over and over on tour, ya know? So this is fun to change things up a little and see how people like it."

"It might catch someone's eye who might not know who you are yet."

"I hope so," I nod.

"Now, your parents' past VMA performances are still talked about to this day. Do you feel any pressure from that?"

I sort of chuckle. "I was just thinking about that today, actually. I try to use them as inspirations not really as pressure on myself. It just makes me want to go out there and do something better and different, like they did."

"So, in general, how are things going?"

"Things are good," I nod.

"You just finished your run on the Summer Jam tour…"

"Yep."

"How did that go?"

"It was great. I'm glad I got the chance to get out there night after night and perform for all those people. The cool thing about that audience was that they were there to see different people so it was cool to have them get a chance to see what I'm about too."

"The audience reaction was good overall?"

"Yeah, I felt like it was."

"Anyone from the tour you think you'll stay good friends with?"

I nod again. "Oh yeah…definitely the guys from KCB…believe it or not," I laugh.

"They're music is a little different than yours…" Rick agrees.

"Yeah but the guys are so nice. They made me feel really welcome. I'm sure I'll keep in touch with them. I really liked everyone on the tour though."

"No rivalries between you and Sasha?"

I laugh. "No…not that I know of."

"Okay, just checking," he laughs. "I mean two beautiful, single women on tour together…watch out."

We laugh.

"You have a date for tomorrow?"

"My mom and dad, of course," I smile.

"That's great. We're not going to keep you, I know you've got other interviews lining up behind me. Good luck and congratulations on the nominations."

"Thank you."

I wave to the camera as it goes off.

Rick leans down. "You're getting to be an old pro at this," he winks.

"I've done a few of these since that first one I did with you a few months ago."

He kisses my cheek and Tony gently grabs my arm so we can move on to the next interview.

"Your mom and dad landed about fifteen minutes ago. They said they'll see you at the apartment," he tells me.

"Cool, thanks."

I do a few more interviews and finally get to go back to the apartment.

Brad's waiting for me backstage.

"Hey you," I say as I walk up to him.

"Hey. Rehearsals went well."

"Yeah…after the first one they did."

"You're too hard on yourself," he says touching my cheek.

"Come on, let's get going," Andre tells me.

He starts to usher us toward the back door where the limo is waiting.

"What are you going to be doing tonight?" I ask.

"I haven't decided yet. Probably not much because tomorrow is a big day."

"Yeah. I think we're having a few people over, but I'm not sure."

We reach the limo. "Can we drop you off somewhere?"

"I'm catching a ride with Uncle George. I just wanted to see you."

I glance at Andre and he takes the hint and gets in the limo on the passenger's side.

I wrap my arms around Brad's waist and breath in his scent.

"I don't want this to end."

He wraps his arms around my back and kisses the top of my head.

"Who says it will?"

He lifts my chin up with his thumbs. "Look at me."

As I do, he leans into me and gently tastes my mouth. Our tongues slightly touch and that will have to be enough for now.

"See you tomorrow," I whisper.

"Bye. Get some rest."

We hold hands until we can't reach anymore and he closes the limo door.

I lean back and sigh.

I get off the elevator at our apartment building and rub my eyes as I walk to the door. I get out the key and as soon as I open the door I hear Ashleigh crying and Cody asking questions.

I walk into the family room where they're all gathered. Ash is sitting on the floor by mama's feet and daddy is sitting next to mama on the couch, rubbing her back. Cody's sitting in the chair next to them. He's the first to spot me so he comes running over.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Mama got sick and Ash is all upset."

"Sick, how?" I ask. I feel a lump in my throat.

"You know, morning sickness. Dad wants me to get Ashleigh out of the room because it's upsetting mom."

I walk over to them.

"Hi guys," I say.

"Oh honey," mama says, looking up at me with watery eyes.

"I'll get Ashleigh out of here…come on baby," I say as I bend down to lift her up.

She wraps her arms around me and starts mumbling something as I take her to her room. I lay her down on her bed and wipe away her tears.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Mama's sick…she's gonna loose the baby," she says starting to cry again.

"Shhh, no she's not. Pregnant women get like that…it's okay," I say rocking her in my arms.

I glance over and see Cody standing at the door with a helpless look. I raise my hand for him to walk over and he does. He gets on the other side of Ash and starts petting her hair.

"Adriana's right…she used to puke all the time with you…"

I laugh and slap Cody's arm. "Nice. Did this all just happen right before I walked in through the door?"

Cody nods. "Yeah…mom got sick and when she came back in the room, dad walked over to her and hugged her and Ash just lost it."

"I did not," she hiccups. "I was scared."

I look at Cody. "Go get one of them and bring them in here, please."

He leaves and in a minute comes back with daddy.

"Hey snowball," he says leaning down and kissing the top of my head.

"Hi daddy. Mama's fine, right?"

He lifts Ashleigh up and sits down on the bed, setting her on his lap. He pulls her close to him as she snuggles closer to him.

"Yes, your mama's fine. Sometimes the baby doesn't agree with something she ate…that's all that happened."

"I thought she was going to loose the baby," Ashleigh says as she starts to cry again.

I look over my shoulder.

"Where's mama now?"

"She's upset so I told her to stay out there, that I'd handle this," daddy says.

"I'm going to go talk to her."

He nods as I stand up and walk back into the family room.

"Mama?"

"Come here, sweetie," she says holding out her arms.

I walk over to her and kneel down on the ground, next to her feet and lay my head in her lap.

"It's good to be home," I say.