Her eyes met mine and even caught in the glare of the spotlight I could see her clearly. Her chest heaving in panicked breaths. She was afraid but I wasn't sure what of. My eyes scanned her surroundings for a threat but the only person near her was Victoria's friend who was rubbing her arm and speaking rapidly.

Phoebe blinked and I saw her visibly relax. Relief rushed through me. If she hadn't calmed in a moment, I was going to have to go to her and I was sure the attention that would have brought would not have helped the situation.

I remembered when I spotted her earlier searching the room after emerging from the bathrooms. Her eyes wide and worried. It sent a rush of fierce protectiveness through me. I wanted to defend her. Comfort her.

Kiss her.

I wanted to again now, but I couldn't and reluctantly broke eye contact. I needed to avoid drawing attention to her. Victoria hushed the crowd after a moment, "Thank you. As I mentioned before, we will take four audience questions one for each of the boys. Erik, you pick first."

Erik smiled warmly at the clamouring crowd and took his time selecting a person to ask his question. The platinum blonde beauty he picked began speaking but my attention was already drifting back to Phoebe. Those intense eyes of hers a beacon in the chaos to me.

She stared back, blushing but not looking away. I nearly screamed in frustration as I tore my eyes from hers again and returned them to the situation at hand.

Chris was speaking now. Laughing and joking with the crowd with that same easy manner he dealt with everything with.

"Next we will take a question for Elliott." Victoria announced.

Hands shot up to grab my attention as though we were back in school and a clamour of voices and questions assaulted me. I randomly selected a tall guy with short, cropped hair and a diamond stud glimmering in one ear.

"Thanks Elliott," he said after the crowd had quieted down, "My question is who is the girl from the video?"

I knew it was likely coming but still, my stomach dropped. "We used a number of girls from a brilliant agency we work with." I said the rehearsed answer in a practiced tone.

"That's Perri People, right? I've got their catalogue here and she's not in it." He said smugly.

I looked at Victoria for help, but she looked as caught off guard as I was. "I don't see what the relevance is?" I said coolly.

"Was it really Madison or is she the girl who rejected you?" he asked.

The crowd broke out into a clamour of questions, all asking the same things. Who was she? Where was she? Were we in love?

God, they loved the drama, lived for it even. "I think you'll find that's two questions." Victoria called out with a nervous laugh. "Let's move on-"

Before she could finish a vaguely familiar voice shouted something "There she is." A hand in the crowd pointed to the back where Phoebe stood. Before I could find the face of the source, the crowd surged away from the stage and towards her. I screamed for the guards who ran up onto the stage to protect the band. "Not us. Her." My voice could barely be heard above the noise.

I looked desperately for Phoebe. She was near the back, pressed against a pillar, someone held an arm protectively over her chest, but it wasn't enough.

I had to do something.

Dodging round the bodyguards, I jumped off the stage and sprinted across the room.

Behind me someone shouted at me to stop but I didn't care to see who. Phoebe's fear was my priority.

I barged through the crowd, my fear and anger a potent combination that gave me strength I hadn't know was possible.

The crowd pushed and crushed me, holding me back. I was ramming into a wall of solid people. The flash of a camera went off, temporarily blinding me. "No cameras. We said no photography." Victoria's angry shout came from behind me.

I pushed forward again, seeing spots still but my single-minded determination to reach her overriding everything else.

I could see her now, cowering from the people, an arm up to protect her face. She looked so small. So vulnerable.

A flailing arm hit me round the head, and I stumbled back, dazed, nearly swept off my feet by the crowd but hands caught me.

I glanced over my shoulder, coming face to face with Red, one of our guards.

"We are going." He said grimly, pulling me back towards the stage.

I ripped my arm from his grip, "Not without her."

Then I dived for her again, this time I reached the small bubble of space between her and the press.

I touched her arm and she screamed. The sound hit me harder than any attack she could have launched. "Phoebe." I called out, "Phoebe, it's me."

I pulled the arm away from her face. Her eyes were wild with confusion and fear, glistening with unshed tears and staring at the crowd.

"Phoebe." I tried again more firmly, "Phoebe, it's me. It's Elliott."

My name caught her attention, a fact that brought me a smug sense of satisfaction. Her eyes met mine again finally and she seemed to sag a little in relief. "Elliott?" She whispered.

I pulled her into my arms, protectively, hiding her face from the crowds. "We need to get her out of here." Victoria's friend Cara touched my arm to get my attention.

I nodded, eyes searching for Red. He was furious as he lifted a reporter out of the way, finally reaching us. I could see the lecture in his eyes, but it was worth it. Any world where Phoebe was safe was worth it.

His arm wrapped round me, grabbing the collar of my shirt and dragging me back through the crowd I stumbled over Phoebe before moving her away from my chest, so she was by my side.

It would be a pretty terrible end to my rescue mission if I fell and squashed my target.

Moving through the crowd was a lot easier with a six-foot seven bodyguard but it was still challenging. We burst out the other side, but the crowd moved with us, following as we made our way to the hidden door at the side of the stage.

Red pushed us ahead of him and I fumbled for the door handle only to have it ripped from my grasp when it opened from the inside. Victoria's relieved face greeted me as we stumbled inside, and the door slammed behind us.

The silence that fell was deafening as I looked at the shocked faces of my bandmates.

"Of all the god awful, stupid, dangerous things-" Red roared, spinning me to face him.

The concern I had briefly seen on his face melted into fury when he realised, I was unhurt. Phoebe whimpered and cringed into my side at his raised voice and I held her tighter in response.

"Not now." I told him firmly, raising a hand to silence him.

It was rude but after what Phoebe had just been through, I didn't want to risk scaring her further.

I moved towards a chair and gently detached her from where her fingers had curled into claws gripping my shirt. At first, she wouldn't let go, still frozen in fear.

Tugging her hand gripping my front popped the top two buttons of my shirt off but I didn't care. It was a horrible shirt anyway.

I briefly considered making a joke about her trying to undress me but then I noticed how badly her hands were shaking. I eased her back into the chair, dropping to my knees beside her, "Hey hey, you're ok." I soothed, rubbing her back, "Can someone grab her a drink?" I asked glancing up from her.

"You're ok hun." Cara dropped down at her other side, grabbing her trembling hands and rubbing them together.

"Cara?" she whispered, looking up. The fear in her face had somewhat faded, replaced by exhaustion as the adrenaline wore off.

"Yeah babe? What do you need? What can I get you?" she sounded guilty, leaning in to listen for a response.

"I want to go home please." Came the whispered reply.

"Ok. I'll arrange something. Just hold on, you're not getting the train in this state." She stood, whipping out her phone and beginning to speak into it rapidly.

I gazed intently at Phoebe. "I'm so sorry about that." I apologised.

I knew it hadn't technically been my fault, but I had dragged her into all this.

Phoebe didn't meet my eye. "It's ok."

"It's not. I should have known better. I'll organise protection for you until this blows over." I knew it didn't matter to her right now, but it would when they camped out on her lawn. I knew that for a fact.

"Until it blows over." She murmured and then dropped her head into her hands.

Was she crying? Ah God, I couldn't deal with crying. Where was Cara or Victoria?

I looked desperately over to them, but they were deep in conversation. Luckily Chris came to my rescue. "Oh dear. Looks like your girl is leaking." He joked, prodding my shoulder.

"I'm not." Came the muffled response.

"Ah so why are you hiding that pretty face?" he asked.

I shot him a sharp look at the word pretty, but he just shrugged. Even comforting became flirting for him.

"Because this is so ridiculous." She lifted her head and I realised she was laughing and crying.

I wasn't an expert on shock, but I was pretty sure she was going into it.

"I've spent my life in that tiny town. Only been on one crappy date. Worked hard. Never done anything worthwhile and then you burst in with your stupid smile and stupid songs. Now I'm not even sure what I am. Why did you do this? Why did you pull me into this? Why Elliott?"

Her voice rose as she spoke, slowly becoming more and more hysterical.

My shoulders dropped in defeat, "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Well I'll let that reassuring fact comfort me." She snapped, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself.

"I-I'm sorry." I said again.

What else was there to say? I was guessing kissing her wouldn't go down too well right now.

She needed time to calm down and understand although it was partly my fault, I wasn't the enemy here. She needed time to recover from tonight but looking at her I couldn't see when she would be ready to talk to me again.

The idea that she might never want to see me broke my heart. That was not a feeling I was used to. She was given me all kinds of experiences I hadn't had before.

"Can I borrow your phone?" I asked innocently.

She looked suspicious and I could see she was on the verge of saying no but something in my face changed her mind and she handed it over. I typed my number in quickly and called it, so it buzzed in my pocket. Then I saved the number on her phone. "There. Now you've got my number in case you need anything or want to talk." I said handing it back, "I would like to get to know you more. If you're up for that?"

"Okay." She said softly.

Okay? Was it okay that I wanted to get to know her? Or okay that she had my number?

"Okay?"I asked but she didn't respond as she stared down at the phone.