Note: This chapter was all written tonight, and I have the idea for the next one too. Will probably just start it because it's bedtime. Will post it tomorrow maybe, if I still have the desire to write for this fic by then *g*.

Burning Holograms

Jem Makes An Effort. Stormer Questions Pizzazz.

The first order of business once everyone had arrived at Kimber's was to fix a stiff drink. True, alcohol wasn't always the best remedy for headaches, but it was the one with which the Holograms had become most familiar of late. Jem in particular seized the moment with gusto, cheerfully mixing everybody some of her stranger concoctions. Aja ended up with a Squashed Frog on the Beach With Mary, or so Jem called it – she sipped gingerly at first, and finally nodded her approval. Jem seemed almost…relieved.

When they were sitting in the massive lounge room in a circle around the coffee table, Jem set her drink down and rubbed her head with her hands. She clasped her hands together tightly, and still the silence endured – the others knew she wanted to say something.

Finally she sighed and said, "I know, I know… I'm a bitch. Sometimes I get carried away." She winced, and Aja wondered if she had a headache. It wouldn't surprise her – Jem usually had a headache. Aja felt sorry for the woman who she was reluctant to call a friend these days, and wished her comforting gestures would work as they had in the past. "I'm just…determined to get this thing right." She glanced at each of her friends in turn as she said, "We're on a really good roll, and I don't want to dam it now. We've got to roll with the momentum, you know? We've got to stay in tip-top shape."

"Particularly with the rave reviews flying in at us from every which way," Shana commented, and Jem nodded grimly. Aja was relieved that she hadn't exploded in anger.

"Yes, exactly," Jem said. "I know we've already discussed all this…but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm sorry. I'm aware of my faults…and that doesn't mean I'm going to be able to get rid of them. Just that I don't mean to hurt anybody."

"You're under the most pressure, I think," Kimber said softly from beside the lead vocalist, reaching out to squeeze Jem's hand. "We all understand what it's like to a degree."

"And that fucking Pizzazz," Jem muttered. "One of these days…"

Nobody said anything. It was clear that Jem's words of apology hadn't fixed everything, but no doubt everyone in the room appreciated her effort to make amends. She'd have to do more to get back into everybody's good books entirely, but at least she'd tried. Problem was, she tried rather often and never got anywhere. One of these days, surely, she'd take it further than that.

Aja sipped her drink and waited for the discussion to move on.

Jem hadn't forgotten about her concession back at the studio – she'd told them they could have their way and put "Twilight In Paris" out as the second single. But what Jem hadn't banked on was a concession from them in return.

Shana started up that particular thread of conversation when she said, "I think we do need to be a little more…varied."

"How do you mean?" Jem asked, sounding as if she was trying very hard to be open to suggestions. She looks like her head's about to explode, Aja thought with a tinge of fond amusement. But again…she's making an effort. It doesn't go unnoticed, Jem.

"Well, we've all given you our reasons for rejecting 'Set Your Sails' this time around," Shana continued, "but I never said it was a complete no-go."

Jem sighed loudly and flopped back in the chair. "Oh, Christ. What now? Haven't we already made this choice? Why are you torturing me like this?"

Shana had held up a hand in protest as Jem had begun talking, and now she leaned forward and said, "Wait a second. Yes, I want 'Twilight' as our single for the moment. But I think all the points you made in favour of 'Sails' were very valid. Why  not pen that down as the next single?"

"That's a risk," Kimber said. "Having that one as our last single. Remember Jerrica said it was going to be a total of four? More than that'd be swamping the market, etcetera?"

"I don't see how a little swamping could go astray," Jem muttered, but not loudly enough that anyone was meant to pounce on it.

"Yes, it's a risk," Shana said, and was about to continue when Aja interrupted, in one of her rare moments of outspokenness.

"…But since when have we been afraid to take risks?"

"Smart risks, that is," Shana agreed. "I think this is a smart one. What do you say, Jemmie?"

Jem said nothing, as a matter of fact – she just chewed on the end of her pen and stewed in her thoughts. The signs were good though – she hadn't rejected their suggestion outright.

Back at the studio…

"Why do you have to be such a pain all the time?" Stormer asked, watching Pizzazz fiddle with various level switches. Stormer leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, head cocked in genuine thoughtfulness.

Pizzazz rolled her eyes. "I'm keeping things hot and bothered. It's a marketing tactic."

"You're not a marketer," Roxy said absent-mindedly from a nearby couch where she lounged lazily.

"I don't have to have a fucking degree to be looking out for my band's interests, do I?" Pizzazz asked snidely.

"Your band's interests lie in pissing Jem off at any opportunity?"

"Not exactly," Pizzazz responded coolly. "Or, should I say, not literally. Jem isn't the Holograms, after all. She might think she is, but without the others she'd drown."

"Why do you hate her so much?" Stormer asked.

"She broke Pizzazz's jaw," Roxy quipped from the couch, giggling in amusement. Pizzazz stopped what she was doing and turned a thunderous glare on her band mate. "What?" Roxy asked innocently, for all the world as if she really didn't know how irritating she could be. Stormer wasn't a huge Pizzazz fan right now, but she could definitely understand the woman's anger at Roxy in moments like this.

"Sometimes I wonder why I have a moron like you in my band," Pizzazz said loudly, then turned back to her previous task. She seemed to be quite happy to waste time – after all, she wasn't a sounds expert, and she hadn't called anybody up to do the job properly, at least that Stormer could see.

Not waiting for Roxy to respond, if she had been planning to anyway, Stormer said to Pizzazz, "Want me to call up a sound tech?" Because I sure want to call one before you do a tonne more damage.

"Whatever," Pizzazz muttered. "And to answer your question from before… Jem's a stuck up brat. Once upon a time she was all goody two-shoes – sickening, really. But now she's just a bitch. I have no reason to like her, so why not dislike her with a passion?"

Stormer shrugged. "Point taken…I guess." She walked out into the next room and headed for the phone on the wall. Pizzazz is actually right, she thought in amazement. Jem has changed. But I still can't bring myself to hate her. Not yet.

She dialled Harry Lader's number and waited for the guy to pick up. He'd send only his best techs for the likes of the Misfits – especially considering how much Pizzazz had bribed him to steal the studio time from the Holograms.