Vanessa frowned as she watched the overhead sign come and disappear quickly. She did not feel like she was entering the happiest place in the world. Huffing to herself loudly, Vanessa folded her arms over her chest, and looked over at the spikey haired musician driving.

"Seriously, Jaime? This is the third time this month we've been here. Can't you grow up for two seconds?"

Jaime ignored the scowl in Vanessa's voice, not letting anything ruin his mood as he pulled into the special parking off to the side that was annual-pass holders like himself. He had Vanessa's ticket in his back pocket, right beside his pass. The brunette frowned and didn't budge as Jaime turned off his SUV and went to unlock the doors.

"Take me home."

Jaime blinked, surprised by Vanessa's demand.

"What?" he asks, frowning, letting his smile fall for just a few moments. Vanessa glares at him, her glossed lips pursing. Her arms tighten against her chest.

"I said take me home."

Jaime's brow furrows into tan wrinkles. "Why?"

Vanessa gives it her best try to not scream but she's obviously not happy and Jaime can see this, but he doesn't understand why she's so angry at him.

"You're such a child, Jaime! You are twenty-six years old, not eight! Call me when you start to act your age. Until then, good bye, Jaime."

She opens the door to his SUV and walks away, slamming the door shut as she goes. Jaime watches Vanessa as she walks away, over to the kiosk located just outside the gates, calling for a cab. He waits until she's in one of the yellow vehicles before sighing and dropping down the sun-visor overhead to drop her ticket into his lap. Attached to it was a laminate with her name printed across the bottom of it. If she had not reacted the way she had, Jaime would have asked her to go on tour with him for the next month and a half, but it didn't seem like that was going to be happening now.

"Oh, well," he murmurs with a shrug of his shoulders and tosses the pass and laminate into the center console. Vanessa will come crawling back to him by the end of the week, and by that time, Jaime will have had his sulk and gotten all of her things packed away for her to take when he tells her to hit the road. He'll be on tour starting next week and he doesn't want to deal with another long-distance fight with a girl that won't enjoy him for who he really is.

He needs another Jessica, but that won't be happening anytime soon, it seems.

Jaime smiles as he passes through a familiar pair of gates. The usual ticket woman, who he has become on a first name bases with, smiles and greets him with her usual happy grin. He returns it and walks through after scanning his annual pass. Taking in the sunny, early after noon sun, Jaime tries to calm his anxiety; Jaime can't stand doing things alone, but his want to go to Disney seems to beat that phobia in a quick battle of pros and cons.

Disney: 1, Phobia: 0

The smell of cotton candy, the bright colors of balloons and the sounds of small children laughing as they meet their favorite characters makes Jaime feel like his usual childish self. He knows when to be an adult, but Disneyland is not one of those times.

Disneyland will never be one of those times.

Almost as if it is a tradition, which Jaime is certain it is, he falls in line for the large Ferris Wheel that reflects the sunlight off its many rails. Mickey's grin can be seen from almost every edge of the park as it smiles down on everyone.

It's the symbol of the happiest place in the world, and that's why Jaime loves it so much. That's why he can do this one thing alone. He loves performing on stage with his three best friends, in front of all of their fans, but he couldn't do that alone.

He can do Disney alone, and even then he isn't quite sure of why, to be truthful. Something about the entire park calms that part of him.

Because of his pass, Jaime is through the line in seconds, and the crowds behind him disappear. Jaime takes one of the canopies by himself, and within a few steady moments he's at the top over looking a majority of the park, just as Mickey does. He can see all the new additions put in over the years, all the old rides that had been there when he had first come to Disneyland when he was eight years old.

He closes his eyes as he sits at the highest point in the ride, ignoring the constant ring and vibration of his cell phone in his pocket. More than likely Vanessa had complained about his trip to Disney to one of the girls, probably Frenchi, who complained to one of the guys, probably Mike, who was now calling him to see what was going on. Personally, Jaime just wanted to be alone and enjoy his time at Disney before he went onto another tour.

He loved touring, don't get him wrong, but he loved Disney just as much if not more.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Jaime's eyes opened quickly as he sat up. The poor worker looked half-scared to death.

"I'm going to have to ask you to exit the ride for the others in line, sir."

Suddenly, Jaime didn't feel like himself. And he knew why: he was alone. This is why he hated being alone, he felt horrible. He had only spent about half an hour in the park and already he wanted to go home.

Disney: 1 0, Phobia: 0 1

Jaime got off the ride and walked aimlessly away from it, but he kept passing by the exit gates. Something was holding him to the park though.

What was it?

He passes by a kiosk selling sweet little treats in the shape of the famous Mickey ears, and even in his slightly blue mood, Jaime can't say no to an ice cream. Jaime waits in line behind two families, both with extremely excited children as they take in all the colors and sounds. His turn comes. It's a familiar face.

"Hey, Hime, how're you?" asks the kiosk worker, a college student named Jake. He and Jaime were familiars just as he and the ticket woman were, plus he was a fan of the band. Jaime shrugs, not quite sure of how to answer. Jake frowns, handing over Jaime's ice cream and change. "Where's the guys?"

"Packing for tour," Jaime replies, adding more and more to his blue mood.

"And your girlfriend?"

Jaime shrugs again, no longer caring what Vanessa thought about him. He had put up with her fun-sucking ignorance for five months and now he was over her. Jake wishes him a quick goodbye and goes on to the next customer, leaving Jaime to walk around with a melting ice cream in his hand. Finally, when the chocolate started to drip down his arm, Jaime tossed the ice cream in the nearest bin and grabbed some napkins from the nearest kiosk to clean the sticky mess off. He was too tied into cleaning to notice the other distracted person.

They bumped, her back hitting his chest. He moved his arm just in time to miss her getting melted chocolate ice cream on her clothes.

"Oh my!" He looks up from his arm to the girl with the bubbly voice. He bumped into one of the Disney Princesses. "I am so very sorry sir! I'm still getting used to these clumsy legs. They are nothing like my tail."

He bumped into Ariel.

"No, it's okay, my fault, I wasn't looking where I was go-"

"Are you a pirate?" she asks suddenly, a certain twinkle in her green eyes. She winks to him before turning to the little girls hiding behind her large seafoam-blue skirt. "He does look like a pirate, doesn't he, girls? Peter told us to watch out for men with strange hair since they were always the pirates."

His tense shoulders relax slightly as he realizes its just improv and she's playing along for the kids. He knows that these girls aren't really princesses and that they have to audition to become one, but he has to admit she's good. Really good. Jaime doesn't mind playing along- actually, it wants to play along.

"Actually," he says, giving his arm one more wipe before stuffing the napkin in his shorts pocket. Jaime gives his best bow. "I am a Pirate hunter! I must blend in to not seem suspicious so I can sneak up on them and capture them before they do any bad!"

"Oh my! Do you think we should believe him, girls?" Ariel plays along with him, taking a step back to crouch down to the girls' level. The taller one of the two shakes her head.

"What if he's lying? Pirates lie!"

Jaime can't help his grin, but he tries to smother it to seem hurt. "What? Me? A pirate? Never! I am here to protect you princesses from bad pirates! If I was lying, would I escort you to your princes, making sure no pirates tried to harm you?"

Ariel looks at Jaime as if contemplating whether or not to trust him, before she quietly talks to the two girls. Soon, though, Jaime begins to doubt himself, because if a Disney Princess doesn't believe him then who will? The overpowering feeling of being alone hits once again. Finally, Ariel stands tall - he notices that she's extremely short, with only the top of her head barely coming to his chin - or as tall as she can and nods. Jaime grins.

Holding out his arm, she slips hers in his and uses her other hand to take one of the little girls'. They must be sisters, seeing as the little one grabs onto the older one's hand. He has no idea where they're going, so he allows the brightly haired Ariel to guide.

Now he's glad he didn't leave.

Ariel giggles with the two girls, their parents following closely behind so not to lose them in the crowd, with their cameras trained on the smiling faces. Jaime, suddenly, feels like on top of the world. Any male-Disney lover would die to have one of the Princesses on their arm, and here he has the curious little water-dweller happily walking with him.

Losing Vanessa was more than worth this once-in-a-lifetime experience. He has to tell the guys about this tomorrow when they do their going-away-for-another-tour barbecue.

After about a ten minute walk, Jaime suddenly realizes where Ariel had taken them - it's Couples' Court, and it's time for all of them, the characters, to get together for a small show. Ariel waves a goodbye to the two girls as they go back to their parents, and then she turns to Jaime after releasing his arm. Jaime does another bow, continuing to play along with Ariel.

She grins, flashing her pearly whites and letting her green eyes twinkle in the sunlight. A light dust of freckles are faintly hidden by creamy make up. Ariel does a small curtsy.

"Thank you so very much, Mr. Pirate Hunter, for escorting to my dear Prince Eric. I will gladly put in a good word for you with the Royal Guard."

"El placer es todo mío, princesa," he tells her in fluent Spanish, but with the slight furrow of her brow, he can tell she has no clue of what he said. "The pleasure is all mine," he repeats, but this time in English. Her smile returns, she nods her red-head to him, and then walks over into the open arms of her 'prince'.

Jaime watches, wishing he could have gotten her name. Jake would know wouldn't he?

When the small show is over, all the couples wish a quick goodbye to the crowd as they go to get ready for the parade that will take place in about an hour. That gives Jaime enough time to figure out her name, doesn't it?

He goes to find Jake, but the kiosk is closed and he has no idea where else to possibly find the teen. He could go to the information desk, but with the hundreds of workers here, he doubted that would be much help to him. Jaime sighs, stuffs his hands in his pockets and then cringes. The sticky napkin he had used to wipe off the ice cream was still in his pocket. He threw it away quickly, frowning at the mess he knew was now going to be on the inside of his pocket. At least his phone was in his other hand.

Jaime groaned; his phone. He probably had around twenty texts and at least ten calls. It had been a good hour, though, since he had entered the park, and it seemed like that was a good amount of time of being 'alone'. Jaime took out his phone and opened the first bunch of messages. They were from Mike.

'Hey, V called Frenchi and all I heard was crying, what happened?'

'You going to answer me, Hime?'

'Jaime what happened why aren't you answer our calls.'

'V is pissed off and ranting to Frenchi.'

'Dude, now I see why you left her. She's annoying as fuck.'

Jaime laughed to himself. Mike was either high or drunk, because his texts were in full sentences. That never happened unless he was one of the two, or both. Vic and Tony had left simple 'what happened?' and had called the majority of number he had.

He stood in the middle of the large street, half listening to the voices of all the others in the park, and half trying to figure out what to tell the guys in the least about of words he could. Finally, Jaime replied to them all in a group message and turned off his phone:

She dissed the Diz. No one disses the Diz.

Jaime spent the rest of the next hour standing in line for a few of his favorite rides and getting another ice cream to make up for the one he had let die earlier. It disappeared off the wooden stick within minutes, and as Jaime licked the last of the chocolate from his lips, he heard the beginnings of the music that started the parade. He had been hoping to get a good spot near the front of the crowd but now he was going to be stuck in the back. Jaime ran to try and get there in time.

It was the same parade there always is, with just a few changes in music and float line up, but by the time Ariel's came, he realized it was a different girl. This one was in a shiny mermaid-tail suit and her hair was much more red than his Ariel's hair had been. And she just didn't have the same smile.

Well damn, now what was he supposed to do? Jake was gone for the day, that wasn't the Ariel he was looking for, and he needed to get back home to finish packing, and making sure all of Vanessa's things were packed too when she came crawling back for him, but he would just push her away and lock the door and get on his tour bus. Jaime might as well leave now. The feeling of being alone was back.

"Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Pirate Hunter."

Jaime spun around quickly, looking wide eyed at the short girl behind him. Her auburn hair was a big frizzy, but it fell neatly just past her shoulders, and her make up had been cleaned off for something more natural looking, but her smile was still the same. The same, stunning smile.

He doesn't know what to call her since he doesn't want to ruin the experience for the kids around him, so he just stands there awkwardly, but thankfully she catches on.

"Sorry! I'm Winnie."

She holds her hand out for him, and he shakes it. Her hand is small and soft in his, large and calloused from years and years of playing music, but it is also warm and that makes him smile. Her voice is still the same, but not so bell-like. It's bubbly and smooth and friendly.

"Jaime."

Winnie smiles, repositions the strap of the bag she has on her shoulder and nods her head to the side. "Want to go get a smoothie with me, Jaime?"

Jaime's grin looks like it could blind the world. "I'd love to."

Notes

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