Angus P.O.V

I sat there shaking my head at Mal's words. He's mistaken, I thought. There were thousands of people out there tonight, and all of them were crammed together.

"I'm tellin' you, Ang, she was out there tonight. I saw her," Mal persisted. "Do you really think I'd mistake her for someone else?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinkin' because it's been four damn years since we've seen her," I said. They say time heals all wounds, but as the years keep going by, I'm finding that saying to be faulty. No amount of time was going to heal the wound that her leaving caused. Not a day went by where I didn't think of her, where I didn't miss her, and it was too much to hope that she'd shown up here at our show.

"Seen who?" Cliff asked, walking into the room looking between Mal and me.

Malcolm doesn't look away from me. He's watching me. Waiting to see who breaks first. I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction, not when I'm willing to bet he saw some other girl that looked similar to Amy. I have to fight down the old feelings that arise when I think of her name. I'd built a wall against it long ago, but I hadn't had to talk about her in years. Malcolm knew to leave me alone about it, and the rest of the boys followed suit after seeing an outburst from me. It hadn't been a big one, but that first year of her being gone had been a hard one. Especially after the letters had stopped. For a while it was easier to be angry and ignore the real reason why I was upset because while others chopped it up to be about her leaving, that hadn't been the whole truth, although it was certainly part of it. Only Malcolm knew everything and I planned to keep it that way. Unless it really had been her out there.

So what if it was? A voice asked in the depths of my mind. The question poised itself over me, making any attempt of distraction to be pointless. Forcing me to take a good look at the real answer. I turned a blind eye to it. Doesn't matter, I thought.

"It wasn't her, Mal," I huffed out, getting up and off the couch. I wanted out of this room. Away from Mal's knowing eyes and Cliff's questioning ones. I headed out the back doors and pulled out my pack of smokes. Usually, a good long drag off a cig would take the stress away. Not this time. My thoughts ran back to Amy. I missed her like hell, and I couldn't ignore my itch of wanting to see her. God did I want to see her again. I took another drag and then tossed the cigarette aside.

When I got back Phil had joined the mix and the three of them were laughing about something Bon had done a few years back. He was a hard one to think of too, although for very different reasons, yet retelling stories about him made it easier to remember him. Made it seem as if he hadn't passed away six months ago, but was just taking a very long holiday. Bon would've told me to get over myself. That if Amy was really out there, right this instant, to go get her.

Stop being a pansy and tell her how you feel, Ang, I could practically hear him say.

Well, Bon, it's a bit late for that, isn't it? I thought back. Plopping myself back down onto the loveseat couch. Malcolm saw me and smirked like he knew something that I didn't. I shook my head at him and joined in on the conversation. Bringing up the time when Bon was forced to buy a ticket into our own show because instead of riding into the gig with us, he'd gone off to ride the bus with the fans.

"Ain't there a picture of him pacing outside the place?" asked Phil, chuckling and taking a drag off his cigarette.

"I'm pretty sure it was printed on the newspaper," Cliff said, laughing into his mug.

It wasn't long after that Brian came in through the front door. He stood there like he was hiding something, cracking open the door just wide enough so we could only see him. I shoved it off as Brian being Brian. Maybe he had some groupie with him.

"Hey, Mal, I got the little lass you mentioned."

Now that caught my attention. Whatever Phil had started saying turned into white noise. Mal had Linda. He wasn't gonna fool around with some chick. So who the hell had he gotten Brian to get?

I wasn't the only one who'd gotten curious. Cliff was glancing off to where Mal stood to say something to Brian, and eventually, Phil was sparing glances towards those two as well. Our attempt to keep the conversation going was half-hearted. It all but ended the second Mal stumbled into the room with a girl clinging to him. Her long brown hair made my heart skip a beat. It reminded me of warm summer days spent with the only girl who I couldn't bring myself to forget. It couldn't be...

Mal turned her around, having her face me and I swear my heart did stop beating when I saw her. Amy. My girl.

I stood up in an instant. Catching her without thinking, as if it were second nature when she jumped into my arms and the sweet coconut smell of her hair filled my senses. My eyes fell shut. It felt like traveling back to a better time where the last four years hadn't happened.

I felt her take in a shaky breath and set her down gently, brushing away the tears I saw falling down her cheeks. My eyes traveled from them to her gaze. Her emerald green eyes were glazed from crying. My chest swelled with emotion, my heart hammering away in my chest.

"You kept me waiting a long time, love."

She smiled weakly, pulling me in for another hug. I was okay with that. I didn't plan on letting her go anytime soon. Whatever I was thinking before she'd walked into the room didn't matter anymore. Consequences be damned. Right now I had her in my arms and at this second that's all the mattered. The rest could wait.

She pulled back slowly.

"I missed you so much," She said barely above a whisper. "I didn't think I'd ever…" she trailed off and looked at Malcolm. "And you," she said with an edge of amusement.

"I couldn't just let you slip away," said Mal with a grin. "And Brian was willing to help me. I thought it'd be a nice surprise."

"I didn't think you actually saw me," she said.

Malcolm shrugged. "It was easy seeing you. How Angus missed you when he was standing right in front of you, I do not know," he teased.

"You know he doesn't see anything but his feet when he's up there," she said, amused. "But I did hope you would stop for a second and see me." She looked at me now, a small smile lifting her lips.

"I'll keep a better look-out next time, darlin'," I said.

Tell her how you feel. Come on, Ang. It was Bon's voice again. I ignored it once more. It'd been four years and all of what had been said and done was in the past now. It was too late for us. Even thinking about it made the ring on my finger feel like it weighed a ton.

I watched while Amy went and hugged Cliff then Phil, each of them bantering about being gone for so long as if we were back in school and it had been just a few days that she'd missed and not years. With her here now, it did feel as if she hadn't been gone that long. Everything fell back to how it had been when we'd been kids in school. If only the harbored feelings for her would go away, but things had changed. I was married.

"Angus?" Amy nudged my arm. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine, hon."

She didn't look convinced, but she was pulled into a conversation with Phil and I was left with Malcolm's gaze watching me carefully. If he saw or knew something that I didn't, he gave nothing away.

Well, what did he think was gonna happen? I found myself thinking. Nothing could happen. Not now, not ever. But when she leaned into my side and rested her head on my shoulder, I didn't stop myself from wrapping my arm around her. Acting on an old habit that had always sent butterflies through my stomach. It did so, now. That should've been enough warning for me to remove my arm, and yet I let it rest upon her shoulders, acting as if this was normal. As though she hadn't been gone for four years. It was all too easy to fall into that fantasy.

"Where you stayin' at Amy?" asked Cliff.

I felt her shrug before she said, "An apartment. It's a few blocks from here. Why?"

Cliff shared a grin with Malcolm and said, "If it's okay with you, would you wanna join us back at the hotel? We've got room."

"Yeah. Of course," said Amy. "I missed you guys too much to leave so soon."

It was on the drive back to the hotel when Amy had noticed the ring on my finger. We'd been talking and my left hand was resting on my leg. She'd look down in time for a street light's rays to flicker down on the ring. She'd paused mid-sentence, looking back at me with surprise (and had there been disappointment?) I couldn't be sure.

"When'd you get married?" she asked.

"Few months ago."

She nodded, but before she could say anything the car was being parked in front of the entrance to the hotel. We got out and Amy was walking beside Malcolm, saying something to him that I couldn't quite hear.

"Got your work cut out for you, mate," said Cliff, coming up from behind me. He sounded like he was trying hard not to laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "I got a way of seeing things."