Prologue

"The next destination on World Instant Star is London. Then after that will be Paris and then Amsterdam. I want those three cities to be the European finals. Europe will be the third continent on World Instant Star after North America and Asia. After Europe will be South America…" Darius droned on. Sadie stood next to Darius by the map that listed the cities on the World Instant Star Tour. Tommy wasn't too thrilled to be a judge. But he knew he owed Darius. Like always. When Darius said 'London', chills went through his spine. It wasn't the city itself that brought on feelings of despair. It was the person who was in the city at the very moment. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since she left. It had been four months since she left. Four months since he had talked to her. He hadn't spoken to her since the night before she left, when he walked out of her farewell concert. He had heard everything she said. And he agreed. Not at first, but in the end, he agreed that she needed to do things on her own and experience things firsthand without him holding her back.

The sound of scooting chairs pulled Tommy out of his reverie as he looked up and saw others walking out of the conference room. Sadie stayed behind to gather the maps and other documents that were lying at the head of the table.

"Tommy, are you okay?" she asked, putting the papers in a neat pile and putting them into a folder. He looked up at her and sadly smiled.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He stood up from his chair and gathered his papers and coffee cup and started for the door. He stopped in the doorway and turned around. "Sadie, when you visited her last week, was she doing alright?" Sadie stopped what she was doing and glanced at him for a moment before returning to her organizing.

"She's adjusting. I still get despondent phone calls from her in the middle of the night. But she's adjusting….." Sadie trailed off, giving him a side glimpse. Tommy nodded softly in reply.

"Well, next time you talk to her, could you tell her I say hi or something?" he asked sadly.

"Yeah, I will. She'll be happy to know that you're thinking about her." Tommy smiled sadly again and turned to leave, but Sadie's voice stopped him. "You know, she still thinks about you too. Every time we talk, she's always asking how you're doing."

"Thanks Sadie. I appreciate it." He said and turned again to leave.

After Tommy sat down at his desk, he rubbed his face with his hands and sighed deeply. He stared at a picture of himself holding her in his arms. What he wouldn't do now just to kiss her again. Hold her in his arms while she slept. Weave his fingers through her hair and listen to her moan his name in passion. Somebody cleared their throat to get his attention. He had spaced out again. He'd been doing that a lot lately. Tommy looked up to see Darius in the doorway. He walked in and sat down in front of the desk.

"Here's your plane tickets and itinerary. Aren't you excited? I'm giving you the chance to see the world again. You get to visit and see the same places that you did when you were on tour for Boyz Attack. China, Japan, Paris…..London." he said shortly. There was a diminutive silence before Darius continued on. "I'll be joining you on your trip to London. During that week is the Peace on Earth concert. I booked Karma on that concert. As her producer, I want you to be there for support and to promote the G Major name." Darius got up to leave until Tommy stopped him.

"She's going to be there, you know. She wrote and will be performing the theme song and debuting her single. I don't know what I'm going to do when I see her. How I'm going to act….." he trailed off.

"Don't worry T. Everything will be fine." Darius said as he was leaving.

"Yeah, sure it will." He said to himself as the door shut.