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Chapter 1

Amelia Davis strode down the hall of the production offices of the All Music Network. She walked into her supervisor's office and sat down in the chair across the desk from him. George was on the phone so he nodded at her, acknowledging her presence.

Let's get this over with, she thought, looking down at her work attire. She knew the jeans and sweater concept was not what would be called "business-like". George was constantly giving her grief about it, but what does he expect? She has to be comfortable. Following people around with a camera all day should allow her some leeway.

"Amelia," George sighed, "I got something I need to talk to you about."

"Alright, let's just skip right to it," she replied, sitting upright in her chair, "With all of the money I make her at AMN I should be able to afford appropriate work clothes."

"It's nice to see you've been paying attention to what I say to you," he countered dryly, "but that wasn't going to be it...this time."

Amelia looked at George with a wary look on her face. If it wasn't her clothes, than the only other thing it could be was...

"George, how many times do I have to tell you? I will not ask my parents to do an interview. My father's retired from music and my mother only wants to write her children's books," she stood up angrily, "You can forget it!"

"Amelia, this has nothing to do with them either," George called after her retreating figure. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face the short, puggish man. "Please sit down, Amelia. This is huge."

"What is it?" She asked him suspiciously. Something this big that had nothing to do with her parents had to be bad.

"I received a phone call from a friend of mine," he sighed, running a hand over his face, "You ever heard of the band the Coffin Dwellers?"

"Isn't that Trevor Rasnick's brainchild?"

"That's the one. He's decided to break tradition and allow a film crew to tour with them."

"So, you want me to get a crew together and go?" Amelia asked, forcing herself to remain calm despite the fact that she was dancing a jig of glee on the inside.

"Well, there's a catch," George sighed again, "it seems Mr. Rasnick wanted someone new and inexperienced, rough around the edges, for this project. His manager, Jim Compton, asked me for someone I could spare."

"So what exactly are you saying?" Amelia felt a little insulted at the back handed way George was talking to her.

"Well, if you take this job I'd have to give you an unpaid leave of absence,"

"Okay, seems simple enough,"

"But I can't guarentee you your job will be here when you get back."

She thought about it a little while longer, digested every piece of information that she had received regarding the possibility of losing her job for the chance of a lifetime, "If I take this I can establish myself without any help from my parents."

"You could," George agreed, "Amelia, this is an offer I wouldn't pass up."

"Can I think about it? Talk it over with Kevin before I make my final decision?" She asked hopefully.

"Certainly, this isn't something to be taken lightly," he said, "you should certainly talk this over with your husband. This is a big commitment, it'll require you to be away from home for a few months and could possibly force you to go all over the world."

"Alright, I'll definitely have to talk to Kevin," she nodded, "Who do I need to talk to about this? I mean, if I decide to take this offer who would I be required to inform?"

George tore a sheet of paper from his tablet and handed it to Amelia, "You need to talk to Jim Compton. He's the band's manager. Just give him a call and take it from there. And Amelia,"

"Yeah, George?" She turned to look at him before she left the office.

"This is an opportunity of a lifetime. You blow this and you blow your career; you nail this, and the film world will be your oyster." He looked at her knowingly.

"Of couse," she muttered, "I won't let you down."

Later that evening, Amelia returned to her home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. She entered the foyer of the front of the house and tossed her keys on the small table by the front door.

"Kev, you home?" She called, wandering through the house to the den.

"In the office!" Came the shouted response.

Amelia bounded up the stairs to the large room over the garage that they had turned into the office/workroom. This is where Kevin was able to balance the finances and other things while Amelia was able to put up story boards for her documentaries.

"Hey, Millie!" Kevin said brightly to his wife as she walked through the door.

"Hey," she replied, leaning over to place a light kiss on his lips, "You'll never guess what happened to me today."

"What's that, angel?" Kevin asked distractedly, returning to the business on his computer.

"George called me into his office today," she began as she sat down in her leather office chair.

"Millie, I told you to start wearing nicer clothes to the office." Kevin chastised, his voice taking on a condesencing tone.

"Actually he didn't mention that and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't try to tell me how to dress for my job," she spat out.

"I'm sorry, Millie," Kevin turned to her and spoke to her in a gentle tone, "now what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

Amelia looked at her husband of five years and wondered if she would ever be able to get him to stop calling her Millie. She sighed and shook her head, "Never mind, it's not that important."

"Now Millie," Kevin began, making Amelia feel like she was six, "if you have something important you want to tell me just go ahead and tell me."

"Alright," she said slowly, standing up and pacing around the room, "I received an offer for a major project from on of George's contacts,"

"Way to go!" Kevin crowed in excitement, "You're finally going to get a break there at AMN."

"Well, there's more to it than that,"

"What's that?"

"Kevin," Amelia turned to look at him with a pleased look on her face, "I didn't just catch a break, I caught the break."

He looks so confused, Amelia thought, I wonder if he'll understand the importance of this.

"Kevin, I got an offer today to be the head of the documentary crew for the Coffin Dwellers."

"Who?"

"They have that album Broken Sins. It's real big right now."

"Sorry, you know that the new stuff isn't my thing." Kevin apologized.

"Well, that's not important," Amelia dismissed his ignorance with a wave of her hand, "the important thing is that this job is something everybody would be after. The lead singer is one of the most mysterious musicians ever and he suddenly decided he wanted to do a documentary of his current tour. George called me into his office and told me they wanted someone new and a little rough around the edges, so he thought I'd be perfect for this job."

"I'm sure your parents' influence didn't hurt either," Kevin grumbled, sounding displeased with the direction the conversation was taking.

"God damn it, this has nothing to do with my parents!" She screamed, "I am so tired of people saying that. George picked me because he thought I'd be best for the job."

"Okay, angel. I understand," Kevin lifted his hands as if to fend her off, "So did you accept the job?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about," she sighed and returned to her chair, "I would be gone for a few months, I'm not sure when I'll be leaving or when I'll be back."

"Who from the network is going with you?" Kevin asked quietly, looking at the floor.

"I'd be taking a small crew with me and that's it," she replied just as quietly, "I would be on a leave of absence from the network while I was gone and George can't guarentee my job will be there for me when I come back."

"This is a bad idea, Amelia," he said angrily. Amelia blinked in shock, Kevin only used her full name whenever he was upset about something. "I don't want you going."

"Kevin, this is the break I've been waiting for my whole career. I have to do this."

"No you don't."

"If I don't do this then I'll be throwing away everything I've worked for. I need to do this."

"No you dont," Kevin whined, "I told you that you could quit your job at that stupid network and I'd be able to take care of you."

"Kevin," Amelia began.

"No," he interrupted sharply, "you said you wanted an average life after living in the spotlight with your parents and I'm giving it to you. Why can't you just be a homemaker? Why won't you start a family with me?"

"Kevin, that was low," she whispered, her voice cracking, "you know I want a family as well, but I want to have a career first. This is my shot at thgat. If I nail this then I'll be able to pick and choose my jobs from here on out."

"What if you blow it?"

"Then I come back as the miserable fucking failure you hope I'll be," she accused bitterly, "I'll come back and be your homemaker and raise a family."

Kevin sighed and stared at his wife. She wanted this more than anything right now. Just looking at her he could see how important this was, how much she needed this to get out of her parents' shadow and to have a limelight all her own.

"Give this contact a call and work out the specifics," he muttered, "let me know how long you're going to be and I'll adjust our schedules for the next several months."

"Thank you." Amelia responded in quiet graciousness before she left the room to place one of the most important phone calls she would ever make.