Danielle looked through the magazine section of the small bookstore that Kroger provided its shoppers. She quickly glanced at the cover of a "TeenBeat" magazine, walking down the rows of magazines. Then she stopped and backed up slowly, thinking, Who WERE those three adorable kids? She picked up the "TeenBeat" magazine. This wasn't normally the kind of magazine she usually got. 'They sort of looked like brothers, even,' Danielle thought. She was desperately curious for some reason. She had to find out the background of these guys on the magazine cover.

Danielle held the magazine close to her chest and went down the rows of magazines again. She spotted more and more of magazines with weird names, like "TigerBeat" and "16", and with the 3 boys on the cover. They had very sweet faces, all of them. Nice, shoulder-length, blonde hair. The tallest and shortest ones had brown eyes; Danielle had looked closely. But the middle one had blue eyes. She picked out a couple more and a "Seventeen" magazine, hurrying to her mother who was already in the checkout line.

She smiled sheepishly as she gave the pile of magazines to Donna. Her mother looked a little surprised at first, but then smiled almost knowingly. They later walked out of the store, Donna carried 2 full paper bags, and Danielle carried her magazines in a plastic bag. Danielle helped her mother put the bags into the back of their van, including her magazines. She would get to look at all of them on the trip, no doubt. They drove home in silence, but, of course, that was usually what it was like for Danielle. Silence. Her whole life. She exhaled heavily, dangerously close to tears. Danielle was always frustrated with her disability. She was told how great sound was. Music especially. Donna seemed to notice her daughter's change of mood because she tapped Danielle on the shoulder and asked her, "What's wrong, honey?"

Danielle read her mother's lips. She wiped her eyes quickly and looked at Donna. She said in sign language, "Nothing. Just thinking."

Actually, thought Danielle, that was pretty close to being all true. Her mother decided not to bother with it much, so they sat in silence again.

By the time they got home, Danielle's spirits weren't as low and Donna had mostly forgotten all about it. She stopped the car and they both got out. Danielle opened up the back of their van and took out her precious magazines first. She then carried a bag of groceries into the house, while her mother carried a bag as well. They met Ralph inside, lugging numerous suitcases down the stairs. Danielle smiled at the sight. Donna laughed. Danielle could tell her mother laughed because of the way she opens her mouth wide and shows her perfect, white teeth. Danielle had her braces taken off a year ago, but her teeth still weren't as perfect as Donna's. They helped Ralph by taking a suitcase each. He was actually carrying 4 stuffed suitcases, Danielle smiled at the thought.

Within 45 minutes, Danielle, Donna, and Ralph had gotten all 8 suitcases packed inside the van in some way. Donna and Ralph were supposed to sit in the front, that was sort of like a family rule, practically, unless one parent wasn't in the car. So Danielle had to take a back seat. Not in the very back with most of the suitcases, but between those and her parents. She would have all 3 of her suitcases by her in the van in case she needed something. Especially her magazines, which were on top of one nearby suitcase.

They put the food they were going to eat between pit stops in the front passenger seat, near Donna. All that time, and basically the whole day, the moving van was getting loaded with their furniture. It was done, now, and so was Danielle's family. Ralph looked the house over just in case they'd left anything, while Donna and Danielle sat in their green van.

He came back out and said that there wasn't anything left. Danielle suddenly remembered the heart-filled goodbyes that she and her closest friends had exchanged yesterday. She knew she'd be too busy with packing up today, so she'd gone to a party that all of her friends had thrown for her. A sort of going away party. There was plenty of crying involved and while remembering that party, Danielle's beautiful green and blue eyes began to get blurry. Her father was in the van, now. He started the car and pulled out of their driveway. Drove down the road. Danielle saw the large moving truck following them, and behind it, her house, getting smaller and smaller. A single, solitary tear slid down her cheek. She left it there.

Zac Hanson arched one of his eyebrows, turning to Isaac. Ike knew he was doing that because of the typical pilot's intercom voice. Pilots' voices always seemed abnormal when they spoke to the passengers on the plane. Zac said to Isaac, "Uh, think he, uh, said 'uh' too, uh, much?"

Isaac replied, "Nope, not at all," and grinned. Ashley was still in the seat next to Taylor, in front of Zac and Isaac. Ike was about to say something to Tay, when he saw that Taylor had gone to sleep while Isaac and Zac were playing cards. Isaac found that Ashley was entertaining himself with a boring airplane catalogue. "That catalogue any good?" inquired Isaac to Ashley.

Ashley looked up at Ike and smiled. He shrugged and joked, "Ahh, not too bad. Hey, wanna get a Mr. Coffee?"

Ike chuckled and sat back in his seat. Nothing to do, nothing to do, he repeated in his mind. He looked over at Zac struggling with his seat belt. Isaac realized, looking out the window, that they were really close to the ground. He glanced at the seat belt sign and found that it was on. Oops, he thought. He quickly fastened the seat belt and leaned back, watching the ground come closer through the tiny airplane window. It being so cold, Isaac found that there was a little snow on the ground.

Zac was still struggling with his belt, so Ike helped him buckle it. Zac looked at him and frowned, saying that he didn't need any help. Isaac said, "Sure, Zac," and started tickling him incessantly. They laughed hysterically. Zac finally cried for mercy and Ike let him go. Taylor sat up groggily and looked back at his two brothers. He yawned and said quietly, "You guys are too loud."

Before Isaac had a chance to reply to his complaint, Zac joked, "Yeah. We shouldn't have woke ya up, Tay. God knows you need your beauty sleep!!"

Ike and Zac laughed again. Taylor said sarcastically, "Ha ha, now shush. We're almost at the gate."

Surely enough, Isaac noticed that the ground was just feet away and the pilot was ordering to “keep the chairs in upright position”. He thought of finally getting the chance to actually be home. With his family. His wacky, good ol' family. He smiled. The jolt of the airplane touching the ground broke through his thoughts. Zac yelled, "We're HERE!!", interrupting and awakening the nearby people.

The plane stopped at their gate. The 3 brothers and their tutor gathered their luggage and managed to be four of the first people off the plane. They walked the long hallway and into a huge mass of people. Uh oh, Isaac thought, fans. Even Zac was amazed at the number. Taylor began flashing their fans that honest, sparkling smile, and they were hooked. The mostly female group of fans surrounded them. Bodyguards pried the girls off of them and tried to contain the group. The Hanson brothers and Ashley quickly found Walker Hanson, the father of Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. He was waving them over. They ran over, carrying their luggage, and followed him to the parking lot.

Their fans must have followed them because after they'd managed to get into their white van, they all heard pounding on the windows. Although the brothers enjoyed this very much, they knew that it could get out of hand. Walker drove out of the parking lot as quickly as he could without hitting a fan because they were flocked all around the large car.

Once out on the road, Zac started laughing hysterically and even Ashley was smiling. Taylor remarked, "Gosh, that was crazy."

Walker replied, "You can say that again."

Zac started, "Gosh, that wa--"

"Zac," interrupted Ike, "it's just a figure of speech." He smiled.

Everyone started chuckling. Walker declared, "Half-an-hour 'till we get home."