AN: Only a few chapters left, okay? Oh, and double update, yay!

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The next week was one of the most awkward and lonely Momoko had ever experienced. She continued to live with the boys, continued to interact with them, but gone was the warmth, the camaraderie of before. She usually went to her room after dinner. And she had to live with the nearly daily rehearsals that they had with Marshall, listening to him sing the songs she'd worked on with the boys for months. She had to admit, he was a good singer, though she didn't think he was as good as she was.

"Momoko, have you seen my purple jumper?" Jude called plaintively. "The one with the planets all over it? I can't find it, and I've looked bloody everywhere--"

Momoko turned to him from her place at the washer and dryer, holding it up, neatly folded.

"Oh, thanks loads." He took it from her, smiling.

"I had to run it through the dry cycle twice on low heat so it wouldn't shrink," she explained.

"And it still feels soft as well," Jude noted, smiling in appreciation. "Ta, Peaches--I mean--"

"It's okay," she said, swallowing. "I miss it, to tell you the truth."

"I miss it as well," he said, stepping closer. "I miss you, Momoko. We all do." He tentatively reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Why do you disappear into your room after dinner every day?"

Momoko shrugged. "It's too hard. To be around all of you. You must understand that." Her chin quivered. "I feel so hurt, so rejected--" she took a deep breath and got herself under control.

Jude nodded. "I agree. I think what we're doing is bollocks. If it were up to me, that wanker Marshall would be out on his arse."

Momoko stepped into his arms and hugged him. "Thank you for that, Jude. Thank you for that." She turned back to the dryer. "Don't forget the rest of your clothes."

"Thanks, love."

Momoko turned to the washing machine and put in the next load, stopping from time to time to sniff the guys' shirts. She shook her head at herself.

"Guys?" She heard Sullivan call. "Marshall got some time off from work, so he's coming over for a session, okay? In about an hour?"

This announcement was met with surprisingly little enthusiasm.

"Come on, guys, we have five days until BoB, we need all the rehearsal time we can get." Sully said.

"We don't, Marshall does," Dane corrected from where he was lying on the sofa, reading a book.

"Don't be an asshole, we all want this, right?" Sully paused in the kitchen.

"You know what?" Dane sat up, his book on his chest. "No. No I don't want this. I think this is complete and utter bullshit. Bollocks, as our English buddy is wont to say. I don't want Marshall back in the band. He's a perfectly fine singer, I'll grant you that. But there's no magic without Momoko, and you all know it." He closed his book and set it on the end table. "So no, I don't want to go to Battle of the fucking Bands with Marshall fucking McLoskey, okay?"

Sullivan was staring at Dane in surprise, a water bottle half way to his mouth.

Jude came out of his room, pulling his purple sweater on over his head, and Tommy emerged from the yellow bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth.

"Was that Dane?" Tommy asked through his toothpaste. Jude, too, was blinking at Dane, his head sticking out of his sweater.

Momoko had turned from her place at the washer and dryer.

"I'm with you, mate," Jude said with a grin as he finished putting his sweater on. He sat next to Dane on the sofa and clapped him on the back. "I don't want to do it, either. At this point, I'd rather do the Battle with Momoko and take a two year break while she goes to law school than do even one gig with Marshall fucking McLoskey, and that's the truth."

"What?" Sully looked shocked. He set the water bottle on the counter, never having taken a drink. "I thought we were all in agreement, that this was the best way to go?" He approached Jude and Dane. "You both feel this way?"

They nodded up at him from where they sat.

Sully sat in the easy chair with a bounce.

Tommy disappeared back into the bathroom, where everyone heard him spitting his toothpaste out. He reappeared almost immediately, however. "Second," he said succinctly. "Or third, or whatever. I never wanted to do it, either. I only agreed because I thought all you guys wanted to do it." He put an arm around Momoko, who'd approached the group in the living room.

They all looked at Sullivan, who shook his head. "I never wanted to do it, I thought you all did." He looked around in amazement. "So we just let Kay push us into it?"

"It would seem so," Jude said, reaching to put a hand over Momoko's where it rested on the back of the sofa.

"Well, this bullshit stops right now." Sullivan said.

"What if she doesn't want to manage us anymore?" Tommy asked.

"It won't be the first time a band and a manager split up over creative differences, will it?" Dane said with great energy. "All the best bands have done it. We'll just be one of them."

"You guys, you really want to do this?" Momoko asked, her face lighting up like a Jack-o-lantern.

"Hell yes," Jude said with a huge grin.

"I'd better call Marshall and tell him not to come," Sullivan said, reaching for his phone.

"I love you guys," Momoko said, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

"And we love you right back, Peaches," Tommy said, hugging her tight.

The others came and hugged her, too, enclosing her tight in a warm cocoon.

"We probably should rehearse, though," Momoko said, her voice muffled.

"Sounds ace," Jude said. "Let's rehearse."

They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening going over their charts, tightening up some songs, cutting extraneous material, making some solos longer. Momoko, overjoyed to be back with her boys, sounded extra good and full of joy.

At one point she gave a little laugh and a twirl. "I can't even tell you how happy I am, you guys," she said.

"Us too, Peaches." Tommy spoke for everyone. "Us too."

"Let's get sushi for dinner and watch a movie, okay?" Jude suggested as he unplugged his bass.

"Yes! Yesyesyes!" Momoko clapped her hands. "I'm going to take a bath and get my jammies on! But first--" She lunged at Jude and kissed him full on the mouth. "This is for having that wonderful idea, my handsome Englishman!"

She sashayed off to take a bath, leaving the four guys grinning stupidly after her.

"Come on, let's get a move on!" Sully said, making the other three jump. "Dane, you order the sushi, I'll get the wine, you two, ten minute showers, okay?"

After everyone was full of sushi and on their third glasses of wine, Dane, who was sitting next to Momoko, spoke up. "Wow, you're carrying a lot of tension in your shoulders, Peaches."

"I've had a very tense week," she responded. "It's been horrible, all cooped up in my room, listening to you rehearse with Marshall."

"You want a massage?" he asked. "With that stuff from my grandma again?"

"Ooh, sounds great," she said.

When he came out of his room with the tub, he found her lying on a towel in her underwear, head turned sideways so she could watch the movie.

Tommy, Jude and Sullivan, predictably, were no longer watching the movie, but rather were looking at the practically naked girl lying on the floor in their midst.

"Work your magic, Dane," she said, wriggling in expectation.

He scooped out some stuff and began rubbing it into her shoulders and back, once again admiring how beautiful it was. He straddled her for easier access, enjoying the feel of her round bottom under his thighs as he worked.

"Good lord, this is so unfair," Jude murmured. "I've been dying to see this movie for ages, and this is the most exciting part, but I can hardly be expected to ignore the soft core porno happening practically under my nose here, can I?"

"I know," Tommy agreed, leaving the easy chair and flopping down on the floor at Momoko's feet. "Fuck it, I can watch the movie any time. Gimme some of that goo, Dane." He began rubbing Momoko's feet.

Momoko let out a moan of ecstasy. "Oh my god, Tommy, that feels amazing. Now if someone could mess around with my calves and thighs you'd see before you a perfectly happy girl," she said hopefully.

Sully and Jude practically vaulted out of their seats and began massaging her legs, rubbing and kneading with Dane's Chinese grandma's magical ointment.

Dane moved out of the way so they could rub her back as well.

After a while, Momoko asked, "Anyone else getting turned on?"

"Yup."

"Yeah."

"For sure."

"Definitely."

"You want to do something about it?" she murmured, turning over on her back.

"This is all for you, Peaches," Tommy said, his voice gentle.

Someone peeled her undies off her, but Momoko, feeling so good and relaxed after three glasses of wine, didn't bother to open her eyes to see who it was. Her hands were lifted over her head and held there, while someone sucked on one of her breasts. Then she felt another mouth on her other, and she arched her back, letting out a moan of pleasure.

Someone penetrated her, but other than spreading her legs and lifting her hips slightly, Momoko didn't do anything. She felt a finger on her clit, rubbing, and came almost immediately, gasping and arching her back into the mouths that were sucking on her even more, legs tensing.

"Oh god, this feels so good," she moaned. Then a mouth was pressing down on hers in a gentle kiss as the first person left her and she was penetrated by fingers this time. She kissed back, opening her eyes to see that it was Dane. He cupped her cheek and plunged his tongue into her mouth, pressing her head into the towel as he kissed her over and over.

She looked down and saw that it was Jude whose fingers were inside her, making her feel so good. He was using his other hand on her clit as he smiled at her, making her come over and over, making her tense her legs again and again as Sully held them down.

Tommy was kissing her across her midriff and tummy, sucking on her, leaving a string of pink and magenta blooms on her pale skin as he went. He pressed her breast up so he could kiss and suck on the tender skin underneath it, then moved to her breast, sucking and biting the nipple.

Eventually, the boys went back to simply massaging her, and slid her undies back on her, after using the towel to wipe between her legs. They pulled her nightie over her head while she sat like a wobbly, life-sized doll, and Tommy lifted her and carried her to her room. Dane walked slightly ahead to pull her covers back, the others followed behind.

They tucked her into bed, and all took turns kissing her good night.

Momoko fell into a deep, relaxed sleep with a smile on her face.