Tay entered the room. He was all sweaty… Zac and I exchanged a look.

"Where have you been," I asked.

"Oh, um, I was out in the parking lot with Will," he replied pulling off his shirt, opening the drawers searching for some new clothes.

"Where's Will?" I pried.

"He had to go back home and get something to eat," Tay replied.

"Funny," Zac kidded, "I thought he'd done enough eating for the day.

"That's enough," I said, "Zac wanted us to listen to Freezer Burn's tape."

"Okay," Taylor mumbled as he changed.

Zac leaned over and pushed play. The music that filled the air was surprisingly good.

"Wow," Tay said.

"That's not bad," I added.

"Not bad? Ike that's amazing. Are you listening to the lyrics? That's exactly how I feel about Will," Tay said stopping quickly after the mention of 'Will.'

"Tay, it's cool. I told you that," I comforted.

"Zac, what do you think," I asked.

"Who do you think they wrote this for," he whispered.

"Huh," I replied.

"Wha? Oh, sorry, um, it's good. Of course we'll have to hear them in person," Zac said snapping back into reality.

"I agree. Taylor?"

"Yeah, let's see when we're all free, and just tell them to sing a little something for us," Tay answered, "God, I'm still feeling all sticky and sweaty. I'm going to jump in the shower, you guys, um, knock if Dad calls about dinner while I'm still in there…or if Will calls."

"Okay," Zac said as Tay closed the door to the bathroom.

"So, Zac, what's going on between Daphne and you? I know you're not big on chats about 'feelings,' but this is just really interesting to me. I want to help you if you have any questions."

Zac seemed to ponder this for a minute, and then spoke, "Okay, what does sex feel like?"

I nearly fainted.

"Uh, whoa, um, sex? Geeze, Zac ... uh," I stuttered.

"Ike, I was just curious. It's not like it's going to happen anytime soon. Well, Daph and I sort of came close, but we talked about it, and she's not ready for that…"

"And you are," I interrupted.

"Well, no, well, part of me obviously is, but another part… I'm just not sure if mentally I'm ready. I don't want to just fuck. I want to make love, if that makes any sense."

"It makes complete sense. You don't want to just have sex for the sake of having sex. You want there to be feelings."

"Yeah, and I ... never mind," Zac whispered.

"Zac, come on. I'm your brother."

"No, it's stupid," he snapped.

"Zac, if it's stupid than you shouldn't mind at least telling me what you were thinking..."

"How long does it take before you orgasm? I mean sex really can't be over in like fifteen minutes, right? Oh and how long does an orgasm last… you know, after sex?"

"Well, okay, um, I think it depends on the people involved, Zac. You can orgasm right away or it could be a few hours. Sex is hardly ever realistically over in fifteen minutes. Some people only take a few minutes and some a few hours. If you need to know how long it lasts, well, um, I'd think it would last pretty much the same as it does when you, um, jack off, but uh, you never know. "

"Oh," he mumbled.

"Zac with your stamina. I would make you at least a one-hour man. If you had the time."

"Heh, yeah," Zac said a devilish grin appearing on his face.

Oh no, I thought, what have I done…

*          *          *          *          *

"We listened to your tape, and it was really impressive. However, we are going to have to hear you just sing whatever you want to us right now acappella. If that's okay," Tay said.

"Just don't sing, 'I'm A Little Teapot' or anything," I teased.

"Okay, whenever you girls are ready," Ike said as we sat down on the couch.

The three of them stood before us. My eyes locked on Daphne and her reactions.

The three of them whispered real quickly, and then Daph nodded and the three of them turned toward us. Amber counted off, and the three of them broke into an acappella bit of one of their songs. The harmony was beautiful. Ike, Tay, and I exchanged a look.

Isaac nodded and as soon as they were done, he spoke up, "Wow. That was really good. If you want the opening slot of our tour than you have it. We would be honored to have you open for us. However, you pay for all the hotels, food, and transportation. In return you will be able to promote your group as much as you want, and we will do the same for you whenever we get the opportunity."

"Also you will be able to request free tickets and backstage passes for any family and friends in the area with a limit of 10 per show. You are not to sell the tickets or the passes though, and you must tell our tour manager how many passes and tickets you're going to need at least a week before the show because she's busy enough. If the show is already sold out then there's nothing we can do, but your family and friends are still welcome to come and see if they can find any empty seats or whatever. Our company will write up a contract and send it out to your lawyer. If there are any problems with it, you can modify it and send it back. We're willing to compromise with you girls. You are our friends after all, and we want to still be friends after this," he finished.

"Maybe some of us even more than friends," Tay added with a smirk.

I coughed loudly before my brothers embarrassed me any further in front of Daphne and her friends.

"Well enough of that, uh, so our first show is in Tulsa and it's about a month from now. You guys should be ready though, right? Because you've been practicing for this for a while. Oh, and we do request no dancing, please," I said.

"That's okay. We're going to play instruments when we open for you, and we will be ready. We just need the preliminary tour schedule so we can make hotel reservations, and how long we'll be opening for you and when we start opening so we can rent a bus," Daphne said.

"Okay, we can have that to you by the end of the week," Tay said with a smile, adding, "and hey, who knows, if the fans seem to really warm up to you…you might get to open for the whole tour."

"Great," Daph replied.

"We have to go make some calls though. We'll see you guys later. Thank you so much," Cristin exclaimed before the three of them left our hotel room.

*          *          *          *          *

I opened the door to my condo. Daphne was glowing. She rushed by me into the house.

"WILL, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED," she exclaimed.

"What," I asked closing the door behind me.

"I HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS HAPPY IN MY ENTIRE LIFE," Daphne told me.

"Okay, so ... what happened," I repeated.

"Guess," Daphne demanded.

"Zac and you kissed again," I replied.

She stopped for a second, and I almost swore I saw a glimpse of regret in her eyes, but then the smile returned.

"No, and that would have made this day really kick ass, but - FREEZER BURN IS GOING TO OPEN FOR HANSON," she screamed.

"That's great," I replied giving her a huge hug.

"You're coming with us."

"What?"

"YOU HAVE TO! I don't care what Amber or Cristin say! If it wasn't for you inviting me to stay over the day they stopped by, well, I wouldn't have saw them again until they were already on tour and had an opening band. Maybe not even then, because my band would be to busy touring with someone else. OH MY GOSH! Do you know how many more fans we can get? How many more people will learn about our band? This could really be the final big break for us!"

"I'm so happy for you guys. I really am, but Taylor already asked me to travel with them, and no offense Isaac, Taylor, Zac or Daphne, and... ugh, Cristin, and Amber."

"I see your point," she whispered, "but that's cool! Because we'll still be able to hang out, and you'll be able to take naked pictures of Zac for me, mention me every five seconds -"

"Daph -"

"I'm kidding," she said.

"No," I replied, "I was going to tell you that I don't think you need my help with Zac. You're doing a good enough job as it is, but you know that you're like a sister to me, and Zac is becoming day by day more like a brother, and I will do whatever I can to see both of you happy."

"Thanks, Will," Daph said.

There was a knock at the door just then. She gave me a confused look. Daphne went and opened the door and smiled when she saw Taylor.

"Hey, Tay! Anyway, Will," she said turning back to me, "I have to get back to the hotel. We have a lot of planning to do. Later!"

*          *          *          *          *

"Someone's stoked," Tay grinned as Daph ran out the door.

"Yeah, she's totally stalked," I laughed as he sat down on the couch.

"So, what's up," I smiled.

"Nothing really, Jammer is supposed to be at the hotel today, and I wanted to be as far away from him as possible, something about him just kinda gives me the creeps," Tay said shivering slightly.

"Same here, it's, pretty vague but he's just weird," I thought out loud as I pulled Tay close.

"Do you think there is anything else we might be able to find, that you know, could help?" I asked.

"Nothing, I searched all my files on my computer, on everyone's; the oldest files date back no earlier than this time last year," he sighed.

"So 'Eternal Night' is the only thing that dates back the farthest," I asked.

"Yeah, but I read it again, and I know we went to Paris, I just don't remember the details, every time I try to strain and think about it I get a pounding headache," he frowned.

"You too, God, then it isn't just me," I said sitting up.

"Huh," Tay asked confused.

"Everytime I try to wrack my brain and concentrate on the stuff about you and me my head starts aching at the back of my neck, then it just explodes up through my entire brain, the worst headache I've ever had," I exclaimed.

"And you feel like you're gonna pass out, right," Tay asked, eyes wide.

"Exactly, so I just forget about it, and try to let it go," I sighed.

"Me too," he groaned as he fell back against the couch.

*          *          *          *          *

"Mulder," she exclaimed over the slight static of her cellular phone.

"It's Evan, I've run into some problems, the memory file seems to be degrading," I exclaimed as I watched the hologram crackle and scramble.

"Degrading," she asked.

"Yeah, it seems the more recent I get the worse the quality gets, it's like a bad reception, like 1950's television, it gets all snowy and fuzzy," I explained.

"Have you located anyone in the memory that might have something to do with this directly?" she asked.

"Not yet, all though, they're fully a couple now, it appears that everyone knew too," I said glancing over the notes I had written down.

"Everyone, meaning," she replied confused.

"Everyone, they professed their love for each other on MTV not too long after the earthquake, everyone seemed supportive, at least from their viewpoint," I yawned.

"That's rare," she replied distantly.

"Well, of course Hansons management wasn't pleased, their manager got decked out by Taylor," I exclaimed as I noticed another side note about that.

"Who's their management?" she asked.

"At the time it was Chris Sabec, but that doesn't fit with the general opinion of the guy, everyone seems to like him a lot," I exclaimed.

"Who's memory is it that shows Sabec as the one against the relationship?" Dana asked.

"Only Taylor, so far, remember I couldn't fit Will's memory onto the chip yet," I reminded her.

"Yeah, that's right," she replied over a short crackle.

"Anyways, about Chris, he drops out of the picture. He's not seen or remembered by either of them, leading all the way up to them returning to Tulsa, preparing for a trip to Paris, there is no trace of him, a few other people seem to have dropped out as well," I said looking around for my soda.

"Who vanished?" she asked.

"Numerous people, crew members, best friends, tour managers, everyone slowly seems to fade out, leaving the close family, but it appears, just as things get really fuzzy that an individual pops up, but the quality keeps degrading, audio, visual totally drops out it's a real mess," I exclaimed frowning as I tossed the empty can into the trash bin.

"You would think MTV would have some record of this," I said.

"How do you know they don't?" she asked.

"I called, I've got a friend there in the archive department, none of them have heard of a Will, or have any record of the event in Taylor's memory," I said glancing over at the screen as it cleared momentarily.

"Then whoever is behind this used the MAST to wipe out memory through general cable and network TV transmission," Dana replied.

"That's what I thought, which would explain why we might not even remember them, Dana you and I could actually be affected by this, and just not remembering it," I said.

"I don't watch much television, but it's a possibility," she replied as her signal got worse.

"I'll see what I can do from here," I said wincing as the static grew louder on the phone.

"Thanks, keep trying to decipher it, if you can, the second you know anything else, you call me, Fox and I are about to leave for Miami," she exclaimed over more static.

"They won't be of much help, especially if the answers you're looking for are sitting here in this failing shadow of their memories," I exclaimed as the signal died and the phone hung up.

"Damn cell phone," I growled as I turned back to the computer.

"Ok fatso, whoever you are, I'm gonna figure you out," I laughed out loud at the frumpy outline of the new individual to be introduced to the memory of Taylor Hanson.

"File read error, synaptic flow degrades below 10% clarity, data refresh required for optimum evaluation," the computer exclaimed.

"Hmm," I glanced across at the computer Fox had used and slid over.

"Please have left a trail," I muttered as I clicked a few keys and opened the connection.

"Connection route being mapped," the screen read.

"Pathway remapped, do you wish to return?"

"Hell yes," I laughed as I clicked the 'ok' button.

"Do you wish to replace synaptic file JTH with new copy?"

"Oh, crap, um wait," I barked rolling back to the other computer.

"Time index, great," I laughed rolling back.

"Let's just refresh it from where it gets fuzzy," I smiled as I clicked a few keys and began the overwrite of corrupted data.

*          *          *          *          *

"Damn-it."

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Service must be low here," Dana replied clipping her cell phone back to her hip.

"So what's the good word?" I asked hoping there actually was a good word.

"Zilch, seems the memory file is degrading the closer it gets to the information we need, but I think he can fix it," she said as she threw her duffel into the trunk and closed it.

"So how do you want to do this," I asked.

"Do, oh, well we can't just walk up and say 'FBI' we have nothing to base our questions on," she replied sitting back against the side of the car.

"I think we've got enough," I started as she cut me off.

"Everything we need to know is sitting in those files, what we're going there for is to see if Will and Taylor are back together, to see if anything looks strange," she exclaimed walking towards the driver side door.

"I wanted to drive," I exclaimed as she stopped her reach for the handle and continued around the front of the car.

"So do you just suggest we be fans, or admirers, or something?" I asked as we buckled up.

"We're going to need to brush up on our Hanson trivia," she smiled.

"What's there to know, mmmbip?" I asked.

"That's MmmBop, and obviously we need to know what a fan would know, so we can compare it to what we already know and what we're going to see when we get there."

"Why do I get the feeling this trip isn't going to consist of a 1 hour plane flight?" I asked hoping she'd tell me I was wrong.

"Because we're driving, I've gotten enough stuff on them, music, media, magazines, we need to look over everything," she said as she thumbed through a teen magazine.

"It's going to take us a few days to get there," I groaned.

"There are worse things," she replied not looking up from the magazine.

I had to agree, at least these weren't aliens, demons or mutants from some biological freak show. Then again, this was Hanson. I shook my head as she slid one of their CD's in.

"Aww cheer up," she smiled as the first chords of 'MmmBop' played over the car stereo.

"How come I keep thinking of the Borg?" I asked.

"Huh," she asked, honestly confused.

"Look at you, the music hasn't even been going for fifteen seconds and you're already half way there," I smirked.

"I don't follow," she replied.

"We are Borg, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile," I said in a monotone voice, trying not to laugh.

"Fox, I know there's a teenybopper in there somewhere," she smirked as she jabbed me in the side.

This was going to be a long drive.


On to Chapter Twenty-Three

Back to Chapter Twenty-One

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Memories ... Of A Forgotten Past is Copyright © 2000 by Taylor W. Quest.
This work may not be duplicated in any form – physical, electronic, audio, or otherwise – without the author's written permission.
All applicable copyright laws apply. All individuals depicted are fictional with any resemblance to real persons being purely coincidental.

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