Cora sighed and rolled over to face Yoongi. She ran her fingers gently across his chest.

"Yoongi..." she said, hesitantly.

He looked over and waited for her to continue, but she just studied his face. "Yes?" he finally asked.

"I'm... I'm glad you didn't drink tonight." She bit her lower lip. "I worry about you sometimes."

He stared at her, blank-faced.

"I know it's Korean culture to drink a lot... but I think I'm just kind of traumatized from living with my addict mom. And Ray."

He clasped her hand to his chest. "I understand that. When I'm not touring I don't drink every day, I promise. I think... it just... it feels like I need it to get up on stage by myself. I mean, not alone of course, but without the other members."

Cora nodded and patted his chest softly. "I'm glad it's not always every day. I don't want you to get liver problems like your dad, D." She sighed again. "I love you so much, Min Yoongi, and I want you to live to be a hundred. Stay with me, OK?"

He turned on his side to face her. "I want that too, Cora Hertshorn. I will not drink for a month after the tour is over, so you won't worry, OK?"

She smiled and ran her hand over his hip. "Thanks, D. We found each other, and I don't want to lose you." Her eyes filled with tears.

He cupped her cheek in his hand. "I feel the same." He smiled sadly. "I'm still bummed that Halsey and Alev didn't stay together."

"They seemed tight last time you saw them?"

He nodded. "I felt they were really in love. I was actually a little bit jealous, to be honest. And now they're just done..."

Cora turned her head to kiss the palm of his hand.

"I think that people these days give up too easily," he continued. "They have one little issue, and don't talk it out but let it grow, and then they decide they don't love each other any more."

Cora sighed. "It did sound like he resented her success a little bit, and felt like he was getting stuck with too much of the childcare and housework. I hope we wouldn't fall into a pattern like that, because you're always going to be much more famous than I am."

"Do you think you would resent me?" he asked, a worry line forming between his eyebrows.

She paused to consider. "No, I actually don't think it would be a problem. I don't want global recognition like you have, I just want to play music and get paid enough to live."

He chuckled. "Namjoonie told me once after he met you that he thought you were a true artist. He was right."

Cora grinned. "But if my career blows up big after this tour, I might change. I might get all arrogant. Would you still love me if I changed and got a big ego?" She laughed teasingly.

Yoongi puckered his forehead and gazed off into the distance. "I think... I will still love you. But we might have to talk that out!"

She giggled. "Would you still love me if I only had one eye?" she asked, squinting one shut.

"Yes, of course," he said, making his frowny face at her.

"Would you still love me if I stopped doing music and became a garbage collector?"

"Yes, as long as you showered often." They both laughed.

"Would you still love me if I sniffled all the time like this?" She sniffed like a bloodhound following a trail.

"Yes, but I will tell you to go to the doctor to find out why it's happening."

"Would you still love me if I always talked like an old-timey pirate? Argh, shiver me timbers! Avast, me hearty! Aar, I convict ye of your crimes, now walk the plank!"

"I don't know. Will you be doing it just to be weird, or do you have a head injury?" He laughed harder as he rolled over onto her and began to kiss her.

She disengaged for a moment to say, "It's good to know where your limit is, loverman." Their laughing mouths met again and she ran her hands down the smooth skin of his back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nana and Annaliese showed up half an hour before soundcheck started, and Cora escorted them backstage at the Kia Forum. They were dressed in their best old lady finery - bright floral dresses, lots of costume jewelry, and Shooky BT21 headbands. Cora chuckled and said, "Other than your Shookies, you two look like you're going to a tea party!"

"Don't give us any shit, Cora, this is a fancy occasion!" Annaliese snapped. Then she grinned. "I can't believe my own honorary granddaughter is going to play a huge concert like this!"

Cora smiled at her. "Honestly, I still can't really believe it, either. Would you like to meet the star of the show?"

Annaliese clutched her giant purse in front of her like a shield. "Really? We get to meet Suga himself?"

"I've already met him, and fed him dinner!" Nana reminded her loftily. "I'm practically his grandmother now, too." She nodded in a regal way as Cora scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, alright, I'm going to go get him. Try not to be too ridiculous, either of you!" she admonished, laughing.

"I thought she wasn't going to wear those clown clothes any more?" she heard Annaliese say to Nana as she walked toward Yoongi's dressing room.

"It's just her stage outfit now, she wears normal clothes the rest of the time," Nana said in a confidential tone.

Nana shrieked when she saw Yoongi walking up with Cora, and he gave her a huge gummy smile. "Halmeoni! How are you today?" he said, bowing from a safe distance. "And this must be Annaliese-halmeoni. Nice to meet you!" He bowed again and then advanced to give her a formal handshake.

"Ah, Yoongi, it's so good to see you again!" Nana said, drowning out Annaliese's "Nice to meet you, oh my goodness!" Nana grabbed him in a big hug and then stretched up to kiss his cheeks, and Yoongi blushed and laughed.

"Jesus Christ, Nana, chill!" Cora said. "Now his makeup is messed up!" She tried to wipe Nana's lipstick prints off of his cheeks, but gave up when she realized she was just smudging it more.

"It's OK, G, I'll just have Ji-hye noona do touch-up," he said, smiling at her and giving her a quick squeeze. He turned back to the grandmothers. "Feel free to watch soundcheck from back here, or from the front. You can sit in the stands if that's more comfortable, or you're welcome to stand in front of the stage, as you like! Cora, can you ask Kang Dae to escort them? I'm going to go check on that pulley that was malfunctioning. So nice to see you again, Nana halmeoni, and nice to meet you, Annaliese halmeoni!" He bowed one more time and hurried away.

Nana turned to Cora. "You are such a lucky little..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know! You keep saying that!" Cora laughed. "What do you two want to do for soundcheck?"

"How long does it last?" Annaliese asked, shifting uncomfortably on her one-inch heels.

"Hmm, around 15 minutes unless something isn't going well. Then maybe 20 or 25 minutes."

The old ladies conferred together, and announced that they would stand in front of the stage for soundcheck. Cora nodded. "OK, I'll go get your security escort," she said, winking.

"Ooh, my goodness!" Annaliese chirped, looking equal parts nervous and excited at the prospect.

"He's very nice and so handsome! Such a sweet young man! And his English is perfect, too!" Nana told her.

Cora saw that Kang Dae had placed the grandmas over to the stage left side, where they would be able to see her well. They waved wildly whenever she looked their way during soundcheck, cracking her up. She lost track of them afterward, but assumed that they were fine. While he was in the chair getting his final makeup and hair touch-ups done, Yoongi sent Jiwo out to make sure that Nana and her friend had found their seats and had everything they needed. Jiwo came back smiling and reported that they were in place and very excited.

"Oh lord," Cora said, rolling her eyes.

"The grandmothers are so cute!" Jiwo told her, and she shook her head at him.

"They seem cute, but they are crackheads!" she said.

Jiwo looked at Yoongi who translated, "She said they're crazy." Yoongi laughed, as Ji-hye the make-up noona 'tsk'ed at him and dabbed more foundation on his temple. Jiwo gave Cora a stern look, and she snarled at him, then they both laughed. Yoongi watched them in the mirror, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Cora, you make Jiwo hyung act like a crackhead, too!" he said, laughing and shaking his head. Cora smiled smugly at him and walked off to get her bass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the end of the concert, just before the encore, Yoongi introduced Cora as "Los Angeles' own Cora Hertshorn on bass!" and the crowd went nuts. Cora couldn't quit grinning as she played a funky little riff for them, and Yoongi beamed at her proudly.

Kang Dae brought Nana and Annaliese backstage again after the show. Both of them were too hoarse to speak much. "Just how much did you guys scream?" Cora laughed.

"It wasn't the screaming," Nana croaked. "It was the barking that did me in!"

Cora glared at her. "You were barking at my boyfriend?! Nana!!"

Nana lifted her chin defiantly and said, "He was my bias a long time before you knew him!" just as Yoongi walked over. "Oh, Yoongi! My goodness, the show was so amazing!" she croaked at him.

"Your poor voice!" he replied. "Please, protect your throat, Nana halmeoni!" He gummy smiled at her, and then frowned in concern.

"Go ahead," Cora urged. "Tell him how you lost your voices!"

Nana and Annaliese both narrowed their eyes at her.

"Well, I hope that you enjoyed the show, but let's save the full review for later, when your voices recover," Yoongi told them. "You took an Uber here, right?" They nodded. "Alright, Kang Dae will drive you home, OK?"

"Oh, goodness, thank you!" Annaliese said, her voice very scratchy. "You were amazing! Cora was pretty good, too!"

Cora laughed and stuck her tongue out at her, then walked over to give them each a hug. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. See you tomorrow, if you're recovered enough to come to the show!" she said, smirking.

"We'll be here!" Nana croaked, kissing Cora's cheek and then tucking her hand under Kang Dae's arm. Annaliese took the other one, much to his amusement, and they walked away like debutantes at a ball.

"Crackheads," Cora said fondly, and Yoongi chuckled.

"Nana's friend is almost as wild as she is!" he said. Cora sighed and laughed, nodding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't quite 10 am when Cora awoke suddenly to a brisk knock at the door. She shook Yoongi awake and then pulled on pajamas so that she could open the door for Jiwon. "Sorry to wake you, but the FBI is in the lobby, and they want to talk with you both," he said, looking worried. "I have a Hybe USA attorney on the way. She and I will be with you during the interview, just in case. They want to ask you a few questions about your encounter with Mr. Stark in New York. They will also interview Jiwo-shi."

Cora blinked at him, then looked at Yoongi, who was squinting and yawning.

"The lawyer will be here in about 15 minutes, so we will go down then, OK?" Jiwon said. "I'll let you get ready." He showed himself out.

Yoongi was still just sitting up in bed, looking half asleep. Cora walked over and sat down beside him on the edge of the mattress, turning her head to kiss the scar on his shoulder. "We really don't know anything useful, so I wonder why they are here?" she said, bewildered.

"It's strange," Yoongi said, his voice hoarse. "Maybe there's more to the story? I hope that they will give some information, not just ask questions." Cora nodded and stood up to put on some clothes. Yoongi groaned and hoisted himself off the bed, as well, heading to the bathroom to wash up quickly.

The agents took seats in the conference room after introducing themselves as Agent Zhao and Agent Villanueva. "Big fans, sir," Agent Villanueva said to Yoongi, who looked surprised but nodded in acknowledgement.

Cora described her encounter with Ray in New York, and Yoongi told them about happening upon the scene with Jiwo. The agents asked Cora about Ray's background and her childhood experiences with him, and she answered as best she could. 'I know he had a rough time as a kid, but I don't know much about his adult life before he married my mother,' she thought, suddenly curious.

"What is the purpose of these questions?" Ms. Artanion, the Hybe lawyer, asked. "Ms. Hertshorn and Mr. Min are not under suspicion in any way, are they?"

"No, no, not at all," Agent Zhao responded. "We are investigating his death. Ms. Hertshorn, are you aware of any links between Mr. Stark or your mother, and organized crime?"

Cora looked at him in surprise. "Nooo?" she said. "I mean, they are both junkies, so I'm sure they've done a lot of business with criminals, but... I don't know anything about that." She searched his face and then Villanueva's for clues. "What kind of organized crime?"

Villanueva cleared his throat. "There is some indication that they may have links to organized crime in either Taiwan or Russia, but the investigation is still in its early stages. Do you have any information about that?"

Cora's eyes were huge. "No," she said, glancing at Yoongi uncomfortably. "Did they buy drugs from international gangs?"

The agents just frowned at her and then looked at Yoongi. "We will let you get back to your day. Thank you for your cooperation." Cora and Yoongi stood up, and Yoongi bowed slightly. Agent Villanueva turned to Jiwon. "We'll speak with Mr. Nam next, so if you could have him come down." Jiwon nodded briskly and pulled out his phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stepped quietly into the elevator, and Cora reached over to take Yoongi's hand as soon as the doors closed. He squeezed her hand gently and scanned her face. "Are you OK, G?" he asked.

"Yeah, mostly just confused. Organized crime?" She turned to look at him. "What the hell?"

Yoongi grimaced.

"I think Nana knows more than she lets on, though. Every now and then she says something that makes me suspicious," Cora said.