Darren arrived at the doors to the rehearsal hall (really a converted gymnasium) at the same time as Ben, the guitarist for the backup band.

"Dazza! Long time no see!" Ben greeted him.

"Hey Ben! How's it going?" Darren replied. "Shall we go in and see the others?"

"No, lets stand out here and see how long it takes before they come looking for us!"

"I see you haven't out grown your cheekiness!" Darren smiled, knowing that in another day and age, it would have been him making that suggestion. Taking the initiative, Darren allowed the door's sensors to pick him up and the doors parted, revealing Dan and the rest of the back up band. Lee was the first to notice Darren and Ben enter the room.

"Oh look, the Lieutenant has decided to grace us with his presence" he said, sarcastically. The others looked up to Darren sticking his tongue out at Lee.

"Thanks a lot Lee - nice to know I'm appreciated around here!"

"Oh, don't worry! Some of us still care!" Anna-Maria glared at Lee, and proceeded to give Darren a big hug. Nicole followed suit.

"It's so nice to see you again!" Nicole said "You really had us worried there for awhile!" Karl decided to join in the conversation at that point -

"Oh, you know Daz - he's not going to let a silly phaser wound get him down!" Darren felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Dan grinning impishly at him.

"Glad you're okay, buddy" he said.

"So am I!" Darren replied. "Actually, I just came from sickbay. They had to run some additional tests, but other than a few neuro-something or others running through my system, I'm fine."

"And we're glad to hear it" Anna Maria replied. "Are you ready to get back to work?"

"Of course! Although, with all I've been through lately, I'd hardly call this work! Besides, we have a lot of catching up to do - how long has it been, anyway? Five months? Six?"

"Too long" Daniel responded, "but don't worry - I'm sure we'll be able to pick up right where we left off!"

The group spent some time debating the set list, eventually deciding to play "Universe" for the closing of the opening ceremonies, and "To the Moon and Back" for the closing ceremonies. After that had been decided, the other songs just sort of fell into place. They ran through a few numbers after that, finally coming upon "Mine". Darren recognized the first couple of notes of the song, and began to sing the chorus, as they usually did in live performances.

"Just a twist in time" Darren belted out, already getting into the mood and feel of the song. It came time to sing the next line, "Just a sip of wine", but for reasons that even he didn't understand, he repeated "Just a twist in time", again ... and again ... and again. He became so caught up in that one line he just kept singing it - even after the band had stopped playing. Daniel walked up to him and touched Darren on the shoulder. Darren jumped at the touch.

"Darren, what are you doing?" Daniel asked him, his concern obvious.

"I don't know" he replied. Just then the two were interrupted.

"Riker to Lieutenant Hayes" Commander Riker's voice was heard through the communicator attached to Darren's chest.

"Hayes here"

"Lieutenant, could you and Mr. Jones please come up to the conference room."

"Yes, sir. We're on our way. Hayes out." Darren glanced at the rest of the group, "Sorry guys, I guess we'll have to finish this later." Darren and Daniel then exited the makeshift rehearsal hall and headed towards the nearest turbolift, leaving behind a room full of worried people.

Chapter 6

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