Secrets

Part Two: ATS -- Close

[October 2010]

Something roused Mike slightly from a light sleep. He didn't even open his eyes as his mind adjusted quickly to the feel of the plane in the air, recognizing that the sudden turbulence was to blame for awakening him. Chester's hand was still in his. The vocalist had shifted in the seat to lean his head against Mike's shoulder, and Mike could tell he was still asleep from the heaviness as Chester lay against him.

Turning his cheek into Chester's hair, Mike smiled faintly before almost immediately settling back to sleep. Just as he drifted off, the seatbelt light above their seats lit up and a chime sounded in the cabin. It was enough to snap Chester awake.

"Mikey?" he mumbled, squeezing the emcee's hand as he lifted his head.

"Shh, Ches, 's okay," Mike slurred back before he cleared his throat a bit, "just a bit of turbulence. Go back to sleep." He felt Chester settle back next to him and he squeezed his hand back. "I'm right here."

"I'm ready to be there," Chester whispered.

Mike hesitated for just a moment before he agreed, "me too, Ches." He was awake now, though he held still and let Chester fall back to sleep as he thought about the start of their next tour. There were just three South American dates and then they went to Europe, and Mike was excited about finally getting to enjoy all of the hard work that had gone in to the making of A Thousand Suns and the subsequent planning of the set list and tours.

The day before the deadline for Linkin Park's fourth album, Mike had breathed a sigh of relief when he and Joe walked down the steps of Warner Brothers Records. They had just dropped off all of the artwork for the album and met with their rep, and it was out of their hands. He clearly remembered the feeling- there would be no more changes, no second guesses, no turning back.

"Man, that feels good!" Joe had exclaimed enthusiastically before he slapped Mike heartily on the back as they walked. "This one has been quite the process, you know?"

He remembered looking at the deejay like he was insane, turning wide eyes in Joe's direction. "Are you serious right now?" he'd said before realizing Joe was messing with him. "Oh. Yeah. Yeah, this really has been something else. I'm glad to have the hard part behind us."

"The hard part? I guess so... I'm thinking the hardest part might still be in front of us," Joe had mumbled.

"What? No way anything left is gonna be harder than getting the six of us to agree on which tracks go on the album. Or harder than making it flow just the right way. I don't know what you're talking about." Mike had shaken his head as though the idea of anything being harder than the making of A Thousands Suns was just absurd.

I should have known better, he thought ruefully as he shook the memory from his head and opened his eyes. Not wanting to wake Chester who had gone back to sleep next to him, he thought about how it had almost been impossible to agree on a set list. He'd lost a number of arguments as they planned things. There were so many elements in the upcoming shows that weren't live, things Mike hadn't really thought about until they started to rehearse. Eventually they managed to figure out how to produce some of it live, and Mike found himself remembering the rehearsal when Chester had cooked up an idea to finally get to play the drums.

"You know, I'm gonna need, like, six arms to play all of this myself," Rob had said as they all listened to the track again. "You've added stuff I wan't actually playing at the time, Mike."

That was all it had taken for Chester to practically leap up from where he'd been lounging against Mike's legs on the floor. "I can help!" He'd exclaimed enthusiastically. "I've always wanted to play drums. Oh, fuck, yeah!"