Leon's heart raced as Evie spoke to him in a hushed voice about walking home in the rain, and her hopefullness promptly became his own. His mouth twitched into an even wider smile, and his mind lurched around for some fictional method to somehow make the next couple of hours pass by instantly. He could have sworn the moment couldn't have been more thrilling, until he once again felt her soft lips against his. Reciprocating gratefully, he acknowledge the truth of what she said.

"Yeah I guess I'm not so good for your productivity." he chuckled, "I guess I could do you a favour and leave you alone...I just don't want to."

He parted with a wink, and looked around to see if there was anything he could amuse himself with. The second guitarist's instrument was propped up nearby off the stage, so he picked it up. It was an Ibanez Iceman...so took a little getting used to holding. It wasn't plugged in, so Leon just started running a few scales and licks. He noticed a little fret buzz as he went higher up the neck. Holding the guitar up, he saw that the action was clearly set far too low. So walking over to the guitar case where he'd found the pliers, he located an allen key and proceeded to raise the action slightly.

He wasn't quite sure why he was doing this guy a favour...perhaps a part of him felt sorry for him having to play second fiddle to a total arse. He chuckled as it occured to him that this was a pointless excercise; being Shaun's rhythm guitarist he would be unlikely to go past the eighth fret. Probably why he hadn't noticed the fret buzz himself.

He was just retuning the guitar after setting the action, when two slender arms slipped around him from behind. He smiled and turned his head just slightly. The more contact he had with Evie the less anything else seemed to matter. He almost regretted having tampered with the microphone, but he knew in realist that even though he'd broken the pin, it was still in place and quite possibly making contact. In all probability it would still provide grounding. And somehow, thinking that convinced Leon that if Shaun did recieve an electric shock, he wouldn't need to feel guilty about it.

"Is it that time already?" he said. "Sure thing I'll come help."

He set the guitar down where he'd found it and followed Evie onto the stage. As they set about the switches, he glanced across at the mic just as Shaun appeared, soaked to the bone. He shared the knowing glance with Evie, letting out a suppressed chuckle. But then looked back at the microphone. He felt a sensation of cold feet. He simply wasn't angry anymore...yeah he wanted Shaun to get what was coming to him, but Shaun was hanging around in tacky pubs while Leon had Evie to spend his time with. Wasn't that justice enough?

Taking a deep breath, he approached the microphone and tenatively tapped it oh-so-briefly with his finger. He recieved no electric shock, and the slight, dull thud which came out of the PA sounded perfectly normal. Obviously pin one was doing it's job...for now.

People were starting to fill the hall and Leon heard the voices of the band standing to attention somewhere backstage as their illustrious leader demanded their attendance. He rolled his eyes and went to stand in the wing again, waiting for Evie to come back over. (He didn't want to be seen to be beckoning her over, lest Louis well and truly lost his rag.)

So the next time she passed through the wing, he briefly stopped her with his hands on her hips.

"I think that's probably all I'll be needed for for the time being," he said gently, "and if I stick around I'm not gonna be able to help myself and won't let you get any work done, so I'm gonna go hang by the bar alright? Who knows I might even text Kyle, see if he can make it over, I'm sure he'll get a kick out of tonight's performance."

Click.. Pop.. Click.. Pop... echoed through the hall as Evie and Leon switched on the equipment on stage. Evie turned around to see Leon gently tapping the microphone to see if it was working. If only he worked here... She had thought to herself almost all afternoon. Dashing off the stage and behind the sound desk, she checked that each amplifier, microphone...everything was linked up to the sound desk and ready.

Evie left the sound desk as soon as she was convinced and certain that everything was in place and linked up. Heading back onto the main stage, she was briefly stopped by Leon as he gently placed his hands onto her hips. Such simple gestures made the redhead's heart flutter and her lips turn into a bright wide smile.

"Oh, alright then." Evie said as a reply to his gentle words, smiling lightly. "I'll come down if I have the chance, you have no idea how much I'd rather be down there than up here tonight."

One small yet meaningful kiss was planted onto Leon's lips by Evie before they parted for the night. The female stage hand went in her own direction to finish off setting up the stage for the upcoming show, her heart having sank a little at the thought of not being down at the bar with Leon. Two days ago, she would have given anything to be working on the set... But now with him in her life, it all didn't really seem to matter. How unlike Evie... This time, it seemed she was definitely in love.

The crowd began to grow over the next twenty minutes, people already with drinks in their hands as they stood and took place in the audience pit. The lights dimmed on the stage so that Evie and Louis could run around the stage without being too noticed. It didn't really matter if they were... It was just something all theatres did.

Backstage, Shaun seemed to have changed into something dry and something suitable for the show. His band members seemed to have already received the 'pet talk' and were all ready for their performance. Poking her head around, Evie smiled to them all and spoke professionally with her headphones around her neck.

"Hey guys, you'll be up in ten minutes. If you need something done, now is the time to do it or ask a member of the crew." She waited a couple of seconds for a proper response, but all she got in return was a few nods and murmurs. Rolling her eyes, she left them to it and found Louis still badly tempered as he stormed around the wing.

"Hey Louis," Evie called, keeping her distance as if she needed to be somewhere. The truth was, she didn't like getting close to the big guy when he was in a bad mood. "Are we all ready? Do I have your permission to give all 'go' to the light techs?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Louis grunted, seeming to give up on what ever he was doing. Folding his arm, he leant up the wall with a deep sigh.

"Oh come on, Louis." Evie said kindly, advancing a little. "You did a great job with the speakers, I can't hear the feedback. Cheer up and enjoy the night. Oh, and could you tell the Flash that they are up any moment now."

With one last smile, Evie made her way to the sound desk, giving the light technicians the thumbs up to dim all lights. All Evie needed to do now was wait for the band to come up and pray that all went well. There was only so much a sound desk could do.

Leon nodded sincerely at Evie's answer and met her kiss with fervour, intending to somehow keep the feeling in his lips for as long as it would be until the next one. Reluctantly he made his way down to the bar. Certainly he would be bold enough to push his luck by sticking around back stage and catching Evie at every opportunity, but he was enough of a forward thinker to realise that if he pushed his luck much further he could end up getting Evie fired, which not only did he not want for her but it would also be bad for him since she's probably have to go out of town to get another job like this one.

So dutifully he left the stage area and walked through the growing crowd. They certainly were a colourful bunch. The sort of people he'd never had a problem associating with, but tonight they were associated that that ass Shaun, which created in him a certain malevolence towards them. He tried to water it down to passive indifference, and leaned up against the bar, pulling his phone out and rattling off another text to Kyle, suggesting he come back and check out the show and give him some company. He didn't mention Rebecca...it would probably go without saying that if Kyle came, she'd be in tow.

"What can I get you there my friend?" came the irritatingly cheerful and familiar voice from over the bar.

Leon looked up at Lucien with a straight face. That guy certainly had stones...did he think Leon didn't realise he was gloating? Still, it was going to be a difficult night, and a drink was a drink.

"Just a bottle of beer thanks." Leon said flatly. It seemed like a safe choice; at least it only had a predefined amount of alcohol in it...unless Lucien intended to jazz it up with whisky or something. Lucien made some sort of elaborate gesture of acknowledgement (or was it disappointment that he wasn't going to get to put on a cocktail mixing show?) and went off to get the beer. Leon held his phone in front of him looking for a resonse from Kyle, but one didn't come right away.

The filling of the hall intensified, as Leon could tell simply from the pressure of the bodies around him. Lucien returned with the beer, and Leon took it and paid without a word. Lucien retained that incorrigibly delighted smirk, and Leon read it like and open book. You watch yourself very carefully, he thought.

Just then the lights at the front-of-house dimmed,and a light came on at the rear of the stage to show up the silhouette of the drummer, who launched into a fast rhythm on the toms and bass. The crowd pressed to the front, and a cheer of anticipation went up. Next the second guitarist and bassist came on inauspaciously from the sides, and began a gritty rhythm line. All of it was, of course, nothing more than a build up for the main 'star' of the show, and the crowd went wild as Shaun made his way to the centre last of all.

Leon shook his head in bewilderment. If he'd attempted to spoof what he'd imagined Shaun's act would be like, it probably wouldn't have even been this extreme...

Evie watched how the band made their grand entrance onto the stage, Shaun obviously making the best impression to the crowd by entering last. The young redhead couldn't help but laugh at him. What a total piloc... She thought, rolling her eyes and setting her headphones onto her head. Evie made a few adjustments to the strip channels, such as lowering the 'vocal input' on 'microphone one' in the 'effects unit', so Shaun's voice didn't overpower the rest of the instruments. Admittedly his voice was very good, clear and unusual. It was a pity he had to ruin it for himself by being a self-centred prick.

Shaun began the show by doing the same song he had played at the sound check, taking it nice and easy to warm the crowd up. The audience didn't seem too wild yet. A few young chaps and woman jumping up and down as the adrenalin built up, the atmosphere building within the theatre. The older members of the crowd seemed to stick around at the bar, discussing Shaun's music in depth.

"I think their style of music is pretty different. Not something I would listen to on my music player, but it is alright night's like these." A man said leaning against the bar with a beer in his hand, discussing the music to his fellow friends.

"Really? I think it is great music. I'd definitely buy their album." His friend replied to his opinion, shrugging.

"If you ask me, I think they are wannabe's." The third friend answered, looking up to Shaun on the stage before returning back to the discussion. "Look here, all the youngen's have turned up to see them... They look like anorexic rejects for Dimmu Borgir.

Lucien heard the conversation between the three older men and approached them from behind the bar, leaning in.

"Gentlemen, I couldn't help but listen in on your conversation." He said with a cheerful laugh. "I happened to speak to Shaun, the leader singer of The Flash earlier. He informed me that his main inspiration is the group Napalm Death. Wannabes? I think so. But I must give them credit. They have certainly got their own style."

With one brief and cheerful nod, he left the men to it to serve a few other people as Shaun moved onto the next song. The microphone continued to work fine... But that wouldn't last long.

Leon watched the show nonchalantly. The more they played, the more familiar it all sounded. He could even swear that in places Shaun's music retained bits of songs they'd worked on together years ago. Nothing you could make a copyright law-suit over, but it was interesting nonetheless.

He checked his phone again for any reply texts, but there was nothing. He put his bottle to his lips and glanced back up at the stage again. Shaun had stepped back from his mic to launch into a frenetic guitar solo; lots of pinch harmonics and floyd-rose whammy action. It certainly got the crowd going.

Leon almost jumped out of his skin as a hand landed firmly on his shoulder. Whipping his head round, he saw that it was only Kyle, standing behind him with Rebecca hanging devoutly onto his arm.

"Hey buddy!" Kyle said excitedly, "Couldn't resist coming down and checking this out. Who are these guys, the supporting act?"

"No man," Leon replied with a smirk. Kyle looked up at the stage and his jaw dropped a mile.

"You've got to be shitting me!" he exclaimed, "That's Shaun Redman? Damn he's...changed!"

"Not so much as you'd think by looking." said Leon, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "He collared me for a drink earlier."

"That's a shame." Kyle said with a hearty laugh, which Rebecca joined in with even though she'd never known Shaun and couldn't possibly know why it was funny. Kyle pulled her up in front of him and held her around her middle by the bar; she seemed more than happy to remain there. "So, Evie here?"

"Yeah she's backstage workin' of course."

"Dude, sucks to have a girl who's on the job whenever the party's on."

"Tell me about it," Leon nodded and shrugged, "but I figure they can't work her every night; they gotta let her off some time."

The show had gone on for some time without anything untoward occuring; so much so that as the fourth song began, Leon had virtually forgotten about the disaster waiting to happen atop Shaun's mic stand. Once again, everything began normally, with Shaun singing a couple of verses and choruses, then launching into yet another opulent guitar solo.

But while Shaun was away from the microphone, Louis was on the near-side of the wing investigating a slight buzz coming from the rhythm guitarist's PA channel. He noticed that the mic which had been set up in front of that guy's amp was running through a DI box which had the ground-lift disabled. He wasn't sure whether Evie or Leon had done it; it wasn't strictly wrong but flicking the ground-lift switch would most likely eliminate the buzz, and would pose no risk at all as long as the electricity could find another path to ground...

All seemed to go well at the sound desk were Evie sat with her headphones on, listening to Shaun's performance from her comfortable leather chair. Every now and then, she needed to change a few of the output and input settings, along with a few channel strips... but apart from that, it was a very easy night for her. One thing annoyed her though. That continuous buzzy in her headphones. What was it? She couldn't figure out what it was exactly, even by trying to equalize the sounds. Removing her headphones, the redhead left her comfortable leather chair from behind the sound desk and made her way out towards the wings. She'd see if Louis knew.

Meanwhile on the stage, Shaun seemed to be singing his heart out. His cocky smirk stuck to his face like a permanent tattoo... Ugh, how he made Evie's skin cruel. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was Gothic... it was just simply he was a low life who dreamt of a non-existing high life. 'The Flash's' songs seemed to resemble one another, with the same sort of Rhythm and tempo. A few of the songs stuck out a bit, with an upbeat tempo whilst Shaun did a crazy shredding solo, making the poor rhythm guitarist look useless next to the star of the show.

"Hey Louis, I take it you've heard that noise too, huh?" Evie asked, trying to keep her voice down yet loud enough for Louis to hear over the music which was being produced next to them.

"Uh huh." Louis replied, messing with of the cables yet he seemed to know what he was doing as he looked towards the rhythm guitarist's PA channel. "Don't worry, I've got this one sorted. Make sure to mute Channel 7 after this song."

Taking orders from Louis was something Evie preferred to do. It didn't say it in a demanding tone, and it was reassuring to say that he was the boss for the new girl. The redhead nodded and made a gesture to say she understood, before quickly returning to the sound desk and waiting for the end of the song to finish before Louis could get to work.

Down at the bar, Lucien seemed to like to stick his nose in at every interesting conversation which occurred amongst the crowd near the bar. His charming smile and humorous ways seemed to go well with everyone... Well maybe not everyone. Leon had been the only person he failed to make crack a smile. Heading over to where he stood from behind the bar, he leant across and smiled both at Kyle, Rebecca and Leon.

"I believe there are no shows tomorrow. The theatre can not open every night. You and your lady friend should a relaxing day... It must be hard to work up there two nights in a row. It's hard enough behind here for hours, but then again, I enjoy my job." Lucien said in a friendly manner, before straightening up to look to Kyle with a grin across his face. "Can I get you and your pretty lady friend a drink?"

Leon's eyes twitched towards Lucien when he mentioned about there being no shows tomorrow. As irritating as that guy was, that news was music to his ears. Even if he did have to ruin it with a revoltingly trite admission as to how much he loved his work. Yeah, we can tell, Leon thought to himself.

Kyle, having had less exposure to the man, seemed unaffected and happily ordered a drink for himself and Rebecca, who seemed to well up with joy at being called Kyle's "pretty lady friend". Leon rolled his eyes, thinking watch it Kyle, the guy's not as harmless as he seems...

As they continued to banter among themselves, onstage Louis was waiting patiently for the present song to finish. He could throw the ground-lift switch mid-song, but there was a small chance it'd cause a slight pop and some singers could get real funny about that, even though it was one small thing in the entire song. Better to wait for Evie to briefly mute the channel in between the songs, then hit the switch.

Back at the bar, Leon had gone quiet and distant. He didn't really care much about the show anymore (it had all sort of blended into one for him anyway), he was thinking of nothing but how he could spend tomorrow evening now that he knew Evie wouldn't have to work. Unless, of course, that arse John would find something he 'needed' her for, even without there being a show on. He gritted his teeth against the thought.

Another song rolled in with a nauseatingly opulent guitar line from Shaun, during which he gurned and leaned back and stood with his legs wide apart. It sounded rather like a rock ballad; which caught Leon's attention mainly because he hadn't been expecting one. A few of the hardcore fans at the front started waving their hands from side to side above their heads in time with the music, which made Leon chuckled. Not very 'goth' or 'metal'...but still, he guessed it could be passed off as "versatility".

The intro solo ended and Shaun slid forwards to begin singing. But suddenly there was an almighty crack which made Leon jolt in alarm. The sound through the PA was loud enough, made worse by the shriek from Rebecca which went through his head almost as much. Up on stage a blue streak of electricity jumped from the mic to Shaun's lips, throwing the singer down onto his back, where he lay groaning for a few moments, evidently with no clue what had hit him.

Leon gaped in surprise. It was quite a legitimate expression, since he couldn't understand why the problem would only just have arisen, but fortunately it made it appear to those around him that he genuinely didn't know anything about what could have caused the problem at all.

"Holy...." Leon stammered, "...did he just....is he OK?"

The song ended which was Evie's cue to mute the channel to let Louis hit the switch. Everything had to perfectly timed so that it went unnoticed by the audience. It wasn't exactly rocket science though. Muting the channel, Evie waited for a sign to say that Louis had done his job, before unmuting the channel. All seemed to have gone very smoothly backstage for the sound crew. Louis gave a thumbs up to Evie, who turned her acknowledgement with a bright smile and a nod.

The next song had started and Evie relaxed into her leather chair, listening through her headphones. She soon jumped out of her chair as a large cracking noise almost deafened her through her headphones with was accompanied by the sound of the audience gasping, some girls screaming. Shit, Evie thought, what on earth happened there?

Removing her headphones from her head immediately, the redhead ran onto the main stage to find Shaun on the floor and Louis rushing around to deactivate all which was link to the microphone before examining it himself. Evie knelt down besides Shaun and look down at him.

"Shaun," Evie said, her voice filled with urgency and concern. "Are you alright? Where are you hurt? Can you move?"

Shaun continued to groan, though his lips didn't seem to want to move correctly. He struggled to try and get up before it was obvious he'd been shocked and numbed.

"Stay where you are." The redhead said, placing a hand on his shoulder to push him back down. "We'll call for a hospital to check you over." Looking around, Evie saw another member of the crew already on the phone to call for an ambulance.

"Alright! Shows over people! We apologise for the inconvenience! Please exit via the back doors, thank you!!" Louis bellowed through the theatre , members of the lighting crew opening the doors at the back of the theatre to allow people to exit.

Some of the audience muttered in concern and nosiness as they tried to get a good look at Shaun on the floor of the stage... Others groaned and shouted at the theatre staff. "We want our f*cking money back!!... This place is a shit hole...!"

Evie rolled her eyes as they exited, looking down at Shaun as he lay in pain. She ran her hand through her hair nervously, looking at Louis with worry... It was their fault... They were the ones who set up the stage... Not the lighting crew.. but them What was John going to think? He was meant to come down sometime this evening, to find that they had completely messed up the night! It was only Evie's second day too... Was he going to think that she had done this? Was she too inexperienced to be in this line of work?

Standing up, Evie closed her eyes ran outside to wait for the ambulance but also to get some air. There was no doubt what it, she was worried.

Leon and Kyle stayed by the bar, not wanting to contribute to the panicked crushing towards the front that seemed to be taking place among the rest of the crowd. They watched as Shaun’s band members approached him nervously, before Louis and Evie attended the stage also and proceeded to make the area safe. Leon craned his neck to look at Shaun. He wasn’t being a ghoul, but he felt a suspended anxiety in his chest about how badly hurt Shaun was. Phantom power was only meant to give him a little zap...but that shock had seemed a bit nastier than Leon imagined it would be.

As it became apparent that Shaun was not critically injured, and that the show was not going to continue, Leon fought to surprise a satisfied grin. At last...some kind of poetic justice. He leaned back against the bar, and Kyle looked across at him quizzically.

“Do you think we should go up and help?” Kyle said.

“No, no.” Leon shook his head, “The last thing they need is more people crowding the stage. Look, he’d trying to sit up, he must be OK.”

“Shit,” Kyle said, looking back at the stage. “you think that could have happened to me last night?”

“No way,” Leon said with suspicious haste, “look he’s using his own goth-ed up mic. Got knows what pointless bits of metal he’s added on there, probably created a short circuit or something. There’s nothing wrong with the sound system here, and the staff know what they’re doing.”

Kyle looked at Leon cautiously, conscious of the fact that the “staff” who were in question right now included Evie.

“Yeah...” he said hesitantly, “...you must be right.”

Leon said nothing more and watched on, until he spotted Evie hurry off-stage. And all of a sudden the malice against Shaun paled once again as he considered how the situation must look to her. She didn’t know about the broken grounding pin in the microphone; hopefully that would become apparent on investigation, but for now she probably felt guilty that she’d done something wrong.

He patted Kyle on the shoulder and made his way towards the side door to the stage area, and through on to the stage door. Poking his head out he looked around for Evie.

“Hey are you alright?” he said with concern, stepping out and towards her, “Goddamn, Shaun’s just gotta take trouble wherever he goes. What was it, his microphone? I’m just glad nobody else got hurt.”

Rain continued to pour down outside of the theatre, the sound of many unsatisfied members of the audience whining about the weather and the lack of show as they exited the theatre on the other side of the building.

Evie stood outside of the theatre with the main road in sight as she kept a look out for the ambulance. She closed her eyes for a few long moments whilst taking in a deep breath, trying to rid herself for a moment the worry which had built up inside as to whether or not she would be the blame of this incident. There was nothing she could do about it now... All she could do was make sure Shaun arrived at the hospital safely and pray that he wasn't seriously injured.

A few minutes past before Leon had found her to give her a look of concern as he approached. Evie smile lightly, letting the rain splash onto her crew t-shirt and hair.

"I'll be fine." The redhead replied quietly, her voice still remaining sweet as she smiled lightly. Leon's presence seemed to make the situation seem 'not as bad'. "Yeah, trust it to be him to have this sort of accident... And yeah, it was his microphone. I'm not sure what happened, but me and Louis shall figure it out once the stage has been cleared of people."

Within the theatre, John had arrived from the main entrance of theatre to find everyone exiting, leaving him puzzled.

"What in hell's name is happening here?!" John exclaimed as he made his way over to the stage where all was explained. "This is typical!" He shouted at Louis as his eyes scanned for Evie too around the stage so she could hear what he had to say too, but she was no where to be seen. He carried on anyway. "I leave you and the new girl here for one day and you can't even get that right! Are you both useless?! Where is Evie, I want a few words with that girl."

John seemed to be fuming as he shouted, making all people surrounding him go quiet.

Louis looked down like a naughty school boy and murmured to John. "She is waiting outside for the ambulance..."

"She'll have a lot to answer for when she gets back in here, I tell you!" John exclaimed in his raised voice before storming towards the sound desk to stabilise the channels and outputs.


Outside, the ambulance finally arrived after fifteen minutes of waiting and Evie jumped up in rain, signalling for them to park up near back entrance and make their way straight to the stage.

"Go through that door, up onto the stage. You'll find a man, in his early twenties, I think, who has had a serious shock from a microphone. He can hardly walk." Evie said professionally to the Paramedic, following them back inside after them with Leon. She really didn't want to be alone. She was in big trouble... Hopefully John wasn't here yet..- Oh. He was.

A few faces turned to Evie's as she entered, Louis shaking his head as he bit his lip, warning her it wasn't good news for either one of them. The redhead felt her face turn pale as John stepped out back onto the stage. Oh dear...

Despite her words Leon could tell that Evie was worried. It made his stomach tie up in knots to think about what she must be going through, after having had her head chewed off by her boss only the previous night, and now this. He had to grit his teeth trying to figure out what he could and couldn’t say. Obviously he couldn’t make it too obvious that he knew what had caused the short, but at the same time he couldn’t just sit back and watch Louis and Evie take the rap for it from the ever unreasonable John.

Leon stuck close behind her as they went back into the theatre. He saw the look on Louis’ face, and wondered if it would be better for him not to be there at all. But it was too late, John quickly emerged and shot a glowering glance at the two of them. You could almost read his thoughts through his eyes; he was assuming that Evie hadn’t checked the electrics properly because she’d been too distracted by having her ‘boyfriend’ around. Leon’s brow creased a little. John had better not make this personal...

The paramedics dutifully proceeded past the theatre manager and started tending to Shaun, who still looked stunned. Leon couldn’t help but think that he was perhaps being a bit of a malingerer; he obviously wasn’t seriously injured. Though the shock must have hurt like hell.

“Tell me Evie,” John hissed, “why is it that after only two nights I’m starting to feel like hiring you was the biggest mistake I’ve made since I took over here?”

“Oh come on John play fair...” Louis cut in, before being cut off by John whipping his hand up to shush him.

“Eight years I’ve been here Evie,” John went on, “and we’ve never once had someone electrocuted through a microphone.”

“Evie set up our microphones,” Leon interrupted, unable to tolerate the way she was being spoken to. “and everything was fine then. Why don’t you give them a chance to find out what went wrong before trying to pin the blame.”

John scowled at Leon. “Look pal, you and your band are welcome to play here any time. You put on a good show. But right now, you’ve no right being on this stage.”

“Actually,” Louis chimed, “Leon did help us set the stage up. We were short-handed and we needed the help.”

“Is that so,” John said, looking at Leon with wide eyes, “well in that case I insist you do stay. And hope that it’s not your handiwork that caused this, because the theatre’s insurance won’t cover you for the consequences.”

As John made his appearance, heading towards Evie in obvious anger, she looked down to the stage floor cringing at each word he spoke. Her own anger and upset filled up within her chest yet she retained it even though she was ready to burst. In fact, she was starting to wonder whether taking the job had been a good idea in the first place. She listened in silence, feeling all eyes on her at one point until Louis and Leon tried to defend her. The redhead lifted her right hand to her forehead and sighed as she eventually looked up at John. She couldn't let Leon take responsibility if it had been his handiwork. It had been her idea to let him help out, after all.

"Listen, John." Evie said quietly, shaking her head with disapproval. "It is my fault... I shouldn't have let Leon help out in the first place. I realise he isn't qualified. Besides, as he said... We should probably find the source to the problem before pointing the blame."

A lump had formed in her throat as she tried to stick up for herself in front of her new boss. Her eyes remained on him with caution as she watched his top lip curl with disapproval and irritation.

"Let's just hope he doesn't sue..." John hissed, almost spitting on Evie as he walked past her, knocking her shoulder.

As soon as Evie's boss left to head outside to the ambulance, the redhead closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her hands. What a terrible night. It was her second day and she had already messed it.

"...I should, switch everything off.." She said in almost a whisper to both Leon and Louis, forcing a weak smile before heading into the sound quarters. She really didn't know what else to do.

Louis nodded and began to examine the microphone. It wasn't long until his eyebrows lowered as he started to pick away at the microphone. "Wait a sec... What is this.." He muttered, noticing a pin had been bent and snapped off. "Here is the problem.." he said a little louder, shining in the light. "This surely isn't Evie's fault, this is obviously been done by hand!"

Leons balled his fists up tightly as John shunted past Evie. Hadn't that guy learned a little humility yet? Or did he need another lesson... He soften his scowl to a look of sad reassurance as Evie wandered up to the sound desk to power down what remained switched on. It didn't need to have gone that way! It was John's fault...if that guy wasn't such an ass.....

Even so, he remained silent with his arms folded. Evie was right, he technically shouldn't have been on stage helping out. He wasn't qualified - even though he'd not performed any tasks that he didn't understand perfectly well - but more to the point he wasn't insured, as John had pointed out with so much gusto.

And then at Louis' words he felt a kick of dread adrenaline. He looked up slowly, keeping his expression suitaly flat, parting his lips slightly in surprise. He walked closer and took a look at the broken pin.

"That'd explain the short." he said, "But how do you know it was done by hand? Maybe it was just bent already and broke when it was plugged in?"

Louis shook his head. "No. I mean yeah I've seen that happen to MIDI leads and foot-switch leads....but not an XLR lead. Those pins are too thick just to snap by themselves."

Leon clenched his jaw nervously, his mind racing trying to figure out how to safely deflect the blame away from anyone he didn't want it to land on. Just then, a devious idea entered his mind.

"I can't see anyone breaking one with their bare hands either. But hey look at that," he said, pointing at the bottom of the mic casing, "you're right there's some sort of tool marks. Y'know...Shaun's rhythm guitarist had a miniature multi-tool in his guitar case, I saw it open earlier and it was just laying there. Probably uses it to cut strings when he changes them but...the pliers on it would be small enough to grab one of those pins, don't you think?"

"How did you end up seeing it there?" Louis said with a suspicious squint.

"I borrowed it to use the screwdriver bit to open a battery compartment on one of the DI boxes." Leon said, thinking quickly, realising he'd also need a reason his fingerprints would be found on it if the police ended up checking.

"Right...." Louis said, looking down thoughtfully. "Well it doesn't matter anyway. Important thing is we've found what caused the short. I'll go tell John. You and Evie better steer clear until I've explained to him that it wasn't either of you."

"Understand." Leon said with a nod. He watched Louis go an exhaled a breath he'd been holding for some time. That had been a close one. He was sure Shaun would live to fight another day; probably be out of hospital before the night was out with nothing injured worse than his pride. Leon looked up towards the sound desk, where Evie looked thoroughly crestfallen and despondant. With a sigh, Leon made his way up there.

"Hey..." he said softly, approaching her, "...we found what caused it. Pin-3 on Shaun's mic was broken. It wasn't our fault, it was his dodgey gear."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "John's an ass. That's twice now he's blamed you for something that wasn't your fault. Don't let it get you down. Why don't you all finish up here and I'll walk you home. Maybe a night like tonight calls for a fat pack of chips on the way home, eh?"

Evie flicked the switchs within the sound room, her mind seeming elsewhere as she absent mindedly stared into space as she did so. The young stagehand felt pig sick about the events of the night. Knowing that many unhappy fans had to leave early when they payed good money to see a show, that Shaun had been eletricuted by some sort of fault of which she hadn't seen or prevented and that Leon or Louis, for that matter could possibly be in serious trouble made her feel guilty because it seemed like it was entirely Evie's fault. Had she just done the job properly without Leon's help, she could have maybe prevented all the events of the night from happening. She was kicking herself and felt majorly guilty.

Hearing Leon's voice made her jump ever so lightly and brought her back to reality as she powered down the speakers from the sound desk. A soft smile appeared across her face and she looked over to her shoulder to see her man approach her and place his hand gently on her shoulder. The redhead tilted her head so it would rest on his hand lovingly as he spoke comforting and releaving news which was music to her ears. Her smile grew slightly and she sighed with relief.

"That is great news... I mean... Not so much for Shaun but I'm glad it wasn't our fault." Evie said softly, trying to get her reasoning across. She knew Leon would understand what she meant. Suddenly, something clicked in Evie's mind and it didn't seem right. "Pin-3 was broken you say? When I set up his gear at the beginning of the afternoon, I didn't notice it..." She fell silent for a moment, trying to think of a reason why she hadn't seen it. "...You don't think someone deliberately broke it, do you?" Evie questionned, turning to face Leon and look at him in the eyes. Shaking her head quickly, she decided to let it go for the night.

"A bag of chips sounds exactly what I need. Listen, why don't you meet me by the exit... I shouldn't be too long. I'll finish up here and grab my coat." Reaching up on tiptoes, Evie's lips met Leon's once again for a sweet and brief moment before they parted. That was the one place she loved to be the most.

Leon smiled back seeing that the news had brought Evie some degree of comfort. Not that it made the situation as a whole any more comfortable, but all he really cared about was making sure that things were OK for her.

He could see her working things out in her head as she no doubt went over the set-up procedure piecemeal, and nodded when she asked the perceptive question. He'd clearly underestimated everybody's propensity to noticed details...

"Actually I was speaking with Louis and we did wonder about that." he said gravely, "I don't wanna go making wild accusations, but I figured the multitool in the guitarist's case could have been used to do it. Hell, if I was Shaun's second guitarist, I could imagine getting to the point where I'd wanna see something bad happen to him."

He held up his hands and shrugged 'I don't know', reiterating that he wasn't trying to point the finger unduly. The reality, of course, was the very opposite. He was seeding suspicious towards the rhythm guitarist in every way he could. Either way, in the absence of witnesses it would be extremely difficult to prove exactly who tampered with the microphone.

"Awesome," Leon replied, recieving her lips with a broad smile, resisting the temptation to scoop her up and deepend the kiss, on the account that it would only delay them being able to get out of here and go somewhere else where they could be alone, "I'll see you down by the stage door then."

He made his way down past the stage, glancing from one person to another. He thinned his lips and nodded at Louis, who had a curious look on his face which was difficult to read. Leon wasn't entirely convinced that the big man trusted him, but again, in the absence of hard evidence he didn't have much to worry about. Shaun had long since been taken away, and again Leon wasn't worried. He'd seemed alive enough the last time he caught a glimpse of him. A zap of AC to the lips was all it was. Painful, but no serious. That's what Leon figured.

Avoiding John, he went and leaned up against the wall outside the stage door, looking down, his face hidden by the shadows, along with the sly grin it carried.

Evie finished off in the sound room, checking everything had been powered down before heading down to the backstage area and grabbing her jacket. Leon's assumption that the rhythm guitarist was a likely suspect of causing the accident seemed like a fair one in some aspects, yet in others it made no sense at all. If Evie was a rhythm guitarist in a band which had a lead singer with terrible controlling issues and attitude problems then she'd most probably just resign and find another band. It wasn't too hard to get a place as a rhythm guitarist, especially if one had talent.

Putting on her jacket, she began to make her way out of the theatre but she was called over by Louis who looked slightly concerned and suspicious. He summoned her to one side of the stage and looked down at her and spoke with slight concern in his voice.

"Listen, tonight was a close call... But just be careful of Leon, alright? I'm not convinced.." He said uncertainly, looking down at the small redhead infront of him.

"Please, Leon is a good guy. He wouldn't tamper with anything if he knew the risks and he just isn't that type of guy. Trust me." Evie said sweetly yet she kept Louis' words in mind. After all, Shaun had been a slight dick earlier on to both Evie and to Leon. They weren't exactly the bestest of friends. "Have a nice night, I'll catch you later!"

On that note, the redhead left Louis and the stage to find Leon's outline as he waited in the shadows. It looked rather freaky at first glance but a smile appeared to her face as he moved out of the shadows. She wrapped her arm around his own as he had his hand in his pocket and began their walk to the local chippy.

The torrential ran had finally calm down, only a light drizzle still lingering. "So are you free tomorrow? I believe I have the day off" She said as they walked, a smile appearing across her face at the thought of not being around John. Maybe it was for the best after everything that had happened... It gave him time to cool down and sort things out.