Brian and Me

Okay everyone. You know all that stuff that's at the start of each story? The stuff that says that none of the characters are meant to portray real people, and that if you're not allowed to read this kind of thing, or you're made uncomfortable by it, don't read it? Well let's just pretend that I've said that, okay? :)

I'm going to go ahead and point to a few stories that are my favourites, both because of the stories themselves and because of the extraordinary people who write them.

"Search & Rescue" by Matt, "Lance In Shining Armour" by Scotty, "Adam, Zach, and BSB" by EG, "Lucky Me" by Lauren, and "Some Kind of Bliss" by Braan. Not only are the stories well-written and a lot of fun, but the authors are very cool people that I'm glad to be able to call my friends. Do check them out if you haven't already. :)

That being said, I've got to mention one other thing. A few of you have mentioned that there were more than the usual number of grammatical and spelling errors in the last installment. For the record, that was entirely my fault. In my rush to get the installment out, I completely circumvented the editorial process, and JB and EG (my sweet and wonderful editors) didn't get to read it over beforehand.

I'm doing so again this time, so any errors are, once again, entirely my fault. :)

And now, I think I'm done babbling. :) Enjoy!

PART 68

Waking up next to Brian was something that I could definitely get used to. His warmth, his smell, his very presence was enough to make me smile even before I opened my eyes. Yes sir, definitely something I could get used to.

Which was why it was rather disappointing to wake up and find him gone. I opened my eyes, wondering if maybe we had just separated in the night. But even before I looked, I knew that he wasn't there. Looking out the window, I knew that it was still early to be waking up. Kevin would be awake, of course, but Brian shouldn't have been.

I sat up, wrapping the blankets around my shoulders, and looked around the room. I was just about to get up and put some boxers on when the door opened quietly and Brian poked his head in. "Hey you," he said with a smile. "Don't you even think of getting out of that bed."

I grinned and sat back, resting my back against the pillows. "I was just going to put on my underwear."

"My orders stand," he laughed, nudging the door open further and walking in with a tray of food. "Hope you're hungry."

"For food?"

"Yes," he said with a grin. "For food. Now sit back and I'll hand you the tray."

I did as I was told, and soon had the tray of food sitting on my lap. I could think of at least one other thing in the room that I would rather have there, but the tray was okay too. Brian pulled off his own boxers (in the interest of fairness, after all) and climbed in with me. Throwing the blankets over himself, he snuggled up to me, his leg resting against mine.

Brian pulled the tray toward himself a little, so that it was resting across both of our laps. He had pancakes, toast, bacon, strawberries and cantaloupe slices, along with a pitcher of juice which he had set on the bedside table.

"I didn't know what you would be in the mood for, so I got a bit of different things that I knew you liked. Everything but eggs. You had enough fun with those already."

I grabbed a couple of the strawberries. "I seem to recall you having some fun with these," I pointed out, dropping them back into the bowl. "What's with that?"

"I ordered the food, we get what I order. When you order it, you can get as many raw eggs as you want," he laughed, kissing my cheek. "Now eat before it gets cold."

"I love it when you go all mother hen on me," I smiled, grabbing a couple of pieces of toast and some bacon.

"Quiet you," he said, pouring me some juice. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't like OJ, so I just drank it down and tried not to grimace too badly. Typical of Brian, he noticed. Taking my juice glass from me, he slid the tray back onto my lap.

He got out of bed and tiptoed to the door. I cleared my throat to get his attention just before he opened it. "You might want to put some pants on," I laughed.

Brian looked down at himself and blushed. Grabbing his boxers and sliding them on, he opened the door and ran out into the outer room. He returned a moment later with a carafe of coffee and two cups, humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

Once he was back in bed with me, he poured us each a cup and handed me mine. I took a sip and sighed. "Thanks sweetie. But why was there just a pot of coffee sitting out there? Where did you get this?"

"Don't ask," he said, smiling slyly.

"Why not?"

"Plausible deniability," he laughed, taking a drink of his own coffee and stabbing a pancake.

Figuring that I would find out eventually, I let it go and just enjoyed my time with Brian. I took a pancake to go with my bacon sandwich, lamenting the lack of apple butter, and began eating.

By the time we had eaten everything, we were sort of leaning on each other, and not entirely sitting up straight. It always amazed me how you can slide down in a bed without seeming to move. Brian had his head on my shoulder, and looked up at me with a smile.

"I got breakfast. You have to take care of the dishes."

Not wanting to get up, and knowing Brian pretty well, I just smiled and pushed the tray toward the bottom of the bed. Nudging it closer and closer with my foot from under the blankets, I had almost made it to the balance point when Brian jumped up and grabbed it.

"Fine, I'll take it," he laughed. "You're so lazy."

"Big difference between lazy and content, hon," I said, smiling and feeling quite happy that my plan had worked and I didn't have to get out of my warm bed.

Brian set the tray down on a chair, then came back over to the bed. "Yeah, but I don't feel much like putting my underwear back on."

"Well I don't feel much like you doing that either," I answered. "But that's the price you pay for getting up."

"But what if I was to just..." he took hold of the tops of the blankets and turned them down. I figured he was going to leave the tray and get back in. "Take these and wear them," he finished, ripping the blankets from the bed and leaving me naked and exposed.

"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing for the last corner. I missed it, and he soon had a King-sized bed's worth of sheets wrapped around him. Tucking the end under so that he didn't have to hold it, he grabbed the tray and headed for the door.

Brian being the height that he is, there was a lot of blanket dragging behind him. If nothing else, it gave me a good idea what Brian would look like in a wedding gown. It crossed my mind briefly to just step on his 'train' and yank the blankets from him when he got into the other room and hope that there were people out there. But I had a feeling that he would have tucked them in more securely than that.

Instead I jumped off the bed and grabbed my robe from the hook behind the door. Once it was around me, I sat back in the bed, waiting for Brian to come back.

He looked a little disappointed to find me covered up when he entered the room again. I could hear the rest of the guys in the other room, and started to regret not trying to yank those blankets away from him.

"You're not supposed to be wearing that," he said as he shut the door.

"You're not supposed to be wearing those," I countered, pointing to the blankets. "They're supposed to be on the bed, keeping me warm. Come to think of it, so are you."

He smiled and unwrapped the blankets, then climbed in with me. He tried to throw the blankets over us both, but I shrugged them off. "No no," I said, trying not to laugh. "You can't just take them away and then try to make nice again. I'll just shiver here in my robe." I rolled away from him, onto my side, and added some very dramatic - and worrisome if they had been real - shudders.

Brian laughed and rolled over as well, so that he was cuddled up behind me. "Suit yourself," he half-whispered. "But you don't know what you're missing. See how warm my hand is?"

Brian's hand found the opening in the front of my robe and started to run over my chest. It was indeed warm. I was doing fine until his hand dropped to my stomach, and then my resolve crumbled entirely.

"Okay," I surrendered. "But only because it's so warm," I added with a smile. Rolling back over, I grabbed at the edges of the blanket and tried to pull them to me. He pulled back.

"Sorry. Offer has expired. You chose your robe over your boyfriend."

I gripped the blankets tighter and pulled back, making him sit up. Then I planted my feet on his hip and pushed, sending him off of the side of the bed with a thump. The shocked look on his face was priceless. I took a moment to treasure it, and then quickly spun the blankets around me and lay back down.

"Hey!" he objected, standing up. "Now you've got the robe and the blankets!"

"Well if you knew how to share properly, you wouldn't be in this predicament," I answered, pulling the blankets up to just under my eyes.

"Suit yourself," he said, smiling. "But this means that you don't get any dessert."

While I seriously doubted that there was any dessert, I couldn't curb my curiosity. With a sigh, I unfolded the corner of the blanket, giving him a way in. His smile grew and he jumped into the bed.

He didn't so much wrap himself in the blankets as he did wrap himself in me. His arms were instantly around me. Not that I'm complaining.

"So what's for dessert?" I asked.

"Me."

"Oh, but I had you last night," I complained, laughing.

Brian looked at me in surprise, then started to laugh as well. His hand found mine under the blankets, and he rolled over a little bit, so that he was almost lying on top of me, his head resting in the crook of my neck.

"Well do you at least have any syrup or whipped cream to go with you?" I asked as he kissed my jaw.

"Oooh. There's an idea," he said, perking up. "I could make a phone call."

I laughed harder. "Let's save that for another time. Besides, don't you think they'd talk if a suite full of guys called down and asked for just a container of whipped cream?"

Brian relaxed against me again. "I suppose so," he agreed. "But we could have told them it was for Nick and Kev."

I tensed a little bit at that wondering if Brian had picked up on Nick's confusion, and then decided that it was an innocent joke. "So it's not okay for me to want either one of them because they're like brothers right?"

"Well, that's one reason," Brian laughed. "I'd like to think that your undying devotion to me is a good one too."

"Oh of course my undying devotion to you," I agreed with a smile. "But then why is it okay to create the mental picture of Kevin and Nick together?"

"Ewwww!" Brian said, smacking me. "I didn't have the mental picture until you mentioned it."

"Oh I don't know," I continued. "I think they'd make a pretty cute couple. Holding hands, snuggling on the couch. And then once they were behind closed doors..."

"Stop it stop it stop it!" Brian said, covering my mouth with his hand. "One more mental picture out of you, and I'm getting out of bed."

I stopped immediately.

Brian released his hold on my face, turning it to face him. "I love you," he said, kissing me.

The kiss started out relatively innocent. But by the time we were done with it, Brian was resting almost entirely on top of me and both of his arms were around me.

"Wow," I said, smiling. "I love you too."

Brian smiled back and rested his head on my chest.

"So when do you have to be at that interview Kevin mentioned?"

"I don't know. Not till this afternoon sometime."

"Is everyone else up?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're all out in the other room."

"You wanna go join them?"

"Nope."

I smiled and stroked his back. "Then what do you want to do?"

Brian thought for a minute, and then I saw a big smile cross his face. "I want to take a shower. And I want company," he added, taking my hand and sitting up.

Who was I to argue? What with all the waste in the world, it was practically my duty to conserve water by showering with him, right? With those lofty civic values in mind, I practically leapt from the bed, dragging him to the bathroom.

He waited in our room while I closed and locked the door to Nick's, then I went back to collect him. Taking him by the hand, I pulled him into the bathroom and then locked our door as well, just to be on the safe side.

Brian turned on the water, waiting for it to get to the right temperature, and then with one deft movement, removed my robe. It was already undone, so it didn't take a lot of effort to get it laying in a heap on the floor.

I turned to check on the water, and noticed his gaze drop. I was about to good-naturedly chastise him for it when I realised that he wasn't looking at what I thought he was looking at. He was looking at the scar on my leg.

It hadn't occurred to me that he wouldn't have seen it last night. With the soft light from the candles, it wouldn't have been all that prominent. Besides, he'd had other things on his mind at the time.

Brian looked at me, then back down, and I noticed that he was close to tears. I reached out and took his hand, forcing him to look up at me instead. Giving him a smile, I stepped toward him and pulled him into a hug.

"I didn't mean to stare," he whispered.

"It's okay," I said softly. "It still catches my attention sometimes, and I've seen it a million times." The scar was a jagged one, and it was obvious that the gash that had created it had been a doozy.

I held him for another couple of minutes, then released him and pushed him toward the shower. "Now let's try and have a minimum of 'distractions'," I said with a smile. "I would actually like to see the guys before they whisk you off for the interview."

Brian looked playfully hurt. "More than you would like to see me?"

"Sweetie," I said, kissing him. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I can already see a lot of you." I looked him up and down.

Brian sighed and stepped into the shower, pulling me behind him. He had made the water a little cooler than I would have, but it still felt good.

Brian held me for a few moments as we just let the water fall over us, and then he grabbed the shampoo and handed it to me, taking the bar of soap for himself.

Without discussion, we agreed on a system. I washed my hair while he washed the rest of me, and then we traded jobs. I noticed that he spent a little more time washing my left leg, and realised that he was trying to find the other scar I had told him about. Looking down at him, I noticed that he wasn't even close to it. It was a on the inside of my leg, just above the knee.

Reaching down, I pointed it out for him. "It's right here, sweetie."

He blushed a little as he looked, and then seemed happy to find that it really was just a small one, like anyone could get falling down or in any number of small household incidents. He leaned in and gave it a small kiss, then went back to work.

I smiled down at him, and then finished rinsing my hair. Brian pushed me under the water a little more, getting the soap off of me, and then he kissed his way from my knee to my lips, being careful to avoid anywhere that could distract us both.

Handing me the soap and taking the shampoo, he grabbed my shoulders and turned us around in the stall so that he was under the spray. Rather than let go of him, I kissed him instead, pressing my body against his.

Taking it a step further, Brian moaned and pushed back against me until we were leaning against the wall. His hand slid down my side until it was resting on my thigh, and his mouth quickly moved from my lips to my neck, to my chest, and on a downward journey that I knew would make the shower much longer than it needed to be.

"Sweetie," I whispered, looking down at him. His mouth stayed glued to my skin, but his eyes met mine. "This is definitely falling under the distraction column."

He answered me by kissing my stomach.

"What the hell," I sighed. "Who said distractions were a bad thing?" Conserving water was, at that moment, the last thing on my mind.

I was right. The shower was about a half-hour longer than it needed to be. But, we did both emerge clean and relaxed, so it was hard to be too worried about it. Drying off, Brian grabbed my robe and started to pull it on.

"Nuh uh," I laughed, pulling it away from him. "Get your own."

"But Naaaaate," he whined, pawing at it.

I backed away and started to swirl my towel around, preparing to snap it at him if necessary to defend the robe. Brian smiled and grabbed his towel again so that he could defend himself.

I made as if to snap him with it and he gave out a little yell and jumped back. Instinctively, his hand shot out, snapping my hip with a crack like a whip.

With my robe on, it didn't hurt, but it surprised us both. Neither one of us had actually intended to do anything but keep the other at bay.

Brian saw the look in my eyes and tried to run. He got as far as the door to our bedroom, but it was locked. That split second that it took to unlock the door was all I needed. My towel shot out, snapping him perfectly, right on the ass. Without a robe for protection, he yelped and jumped, throwing the door open and running into the bedroom.

I laughed and collected both of our towels, hanging them to dry, before joining him. My smile expanded when I saw him turned with his backside to the mirror in the room, rubbing his wound. He saw me smiling and gave me a scowl. I had to give him points for it. He almost seemed angry.

"What are you laughing at? That hurts you know."

"Hey! You hit me first," I defended myself. "And what do you want me to do about it now?"

"You could kiss it better."

I looked at the glint in his eye again. "Did you just tell me to kiss your ass?"

Brian just smiled back at me.

Rather than kiss it, I slapped it. Then, I ran.

Brian caught me as I reached the bed and threw me onto it. He jumped on with me, and we were soon wrestling. I took every opportunity I could to spank him again. We must have been making a godawful racket, because AJ was soon knocking at the door.

"Either the two of you keep it down, or come out and give us a show, but stop teasing us!" he laughed, and we could hear the other guys joining in.

Brian collapsed against me, laughing. "I suppose we should go out there at some point."

I nodded. "As much fun as it is, we can't just romp around naked all day."

Brian sighed and stood up. "Then let's get dressed," he said, heading for the closet. I got up from the other side of the bed and went to the dresser. Knowing that he wouldn't want to wear socks until he absolutely had to, I just pulled out some boxers for both of us, throwing them on the bed.

Brian followed my lead and started throwing our clothes for the day on the bed as well. I vetoed the chinos he gave me in favour of khakis, but his other choices were perfect.

Once we were dressed - still barefoot - I started for the door. Brian grabbed my arm and sat me on the bed instead. "Just a minute," he said, sitting down beside me.

"What's on your mind?" I asked, noting the serious look on his face.

"I just... I just wanted to make sure that you're okay with things."

"Things?"

"Last night," he said, taking my hand.

"You mean, do I regret it?"

Brian nodded.

"Not even a tiny little bit," I said, smiling. Reaching over, I cupped the side of his face in my hand, running my thumb across his cheek. "I love you. Now, are you having second thoughts?"

Brian smiled and took my hand. "Even fewer than you are," he said.

"So do you want to go say hi to the guys, or do you want to sit here and talk about this some more?"

Brian stood up, but put his hand on my shoulder when I went to do the same. "You stay there for a second. I brought something for you."

I looked at him dubiously, but sat quietly as he pulled a small suitcase out from under the bed. It wasn't one that I had unpacked the night before.

"I had some extra room without Erron's computer, so I packed these," he said. I was suddenly face to face with my bunny slippers.

"Oh no you don't," I said, putting my hands up and pushing them away. "I'm not wearing those. I only wear them when Erron's going to know."

"Ah, but Erron will know," Brian laughed evilly, pushing them at me again. "You see, I'm going to email him and tell him that you've got them on tour with you. And every day you don't wear them, I'm going to tell on you."

"You little bastard," I chuckled. "You think you're so clever, don't you?"

"Sweetie, you'll never win," he laughed, taking my left foot and sliding it into the slipper. "Now we wouldn't want to hurt Erron's feelings, would we?"

"He only bought them so that he could make me wear them!" I protested.

Brian didn't argue back, just slipped the other one on my foot.

"Fine," I sighed, knowing that I had lost this battle but vowing to win the war. "But don't be surprised if one of these bunnies gets the urge to jump up and bite you in the ass."

Brian laughed and stood back up, offering me his hand. I took it and let him pull me off of the bed. Looking down, I had to smile. The bunnies were cute, but just so undignified.

PART 69

We got a round of catcalls and whistles from the room as we emerged. Brian and I laughed and sat down on the couch.

"You guys hungry?" Nick asked. "We already ate."

"So did we," Brian said, smiling.

AJ started to giggle from his seat, making us both blush.

"We already had breakfast," Brian corrected himself. "It came when yours did, but you guys weren't up yet."

"Did they get everything right on your tray? They forgot our coffee and gave us OJ instead."

I turned and gave Brian a knowing look, but he avoided looking at me. Plausible deniability my ass. "Nope," he said. "We got everything I ordered."

Kevin gave us a look, and I knew that he knew what was going on. No one else seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary, though.

"Breakfast in bed," AJ smiled. "How romantic. Does this mean that you're going to be ditching us on a regular basis?"

"Nope," I answered before Brian could. "Just a special occasion sorta thing." It came out before I knew what I was saying. AJ's eyes got a little bigger and Kevin choked on his juice.

My face went red immediately, as did Brian's. At least we matched.

Nick and Howie laughed a little bit, but thankfully, no one said anything. From the bedroom, I heard my cell phone start to ring. With a thankful sigh, I jumped up to get it.

"Saved by the bell," AJ whispered as I passed him, and I swatted him in the side of the head.

Grabbing my phone from the dresser, I answered it quickly. It was Carrie. Taking the phone with me, I walked back out into the main room.

"So is this business or pleasure?" I asked with a smile. "Because if it's pleasure, I have to tell you that both of our boyfriends are in the room, so my end of the conversation is going to be edited."

Carrie laughed, and Brian and Kevin both looked up with a smile. "It's business," she said. "But doing business with you is always a pleasure."

"Well aren't you sweet," I said, sitting down and leaning against Brian.

"Don't you forget it. Now I was just calling because you mentioned last night that you were going to be going back to Toronto after Memphis, and I needed to know if you wanted me to set that high school visit up for then. That Principal Davis has called me three times already about it."

"Oh, I meant to tell you that last night, but I forgot. That's the main reason that I'll be going back."

"So I can set it up?"

"Yeah, as long as it's for the Monday classes. After that, we're on vacation. I've got something in mind."

"Okay, I'll give her a call. Do you have any idea how tempting it was to just give her your number?" Carrie laughed.

"That would be grounds for an ass-kicking," I said. "And your beautiful boyfriend wouldn't be able to protect you."

Carrie laughed again. "Speaking of beautiful boyfriends, put yours on the phone."

"Passing me over just like that?" I asked. "Just a sec."

I passed the phone to Brian, who seemed surprised but took it with a smile. I got up and wandered over to the little bar, where Kevin was sitting. I got myself a cup of coffee - it appeared that they had re-ordered some - and sat with him.

"So you think I'm beautiful, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you really want me to answer that? Most guys wouldn't want to know."

"I'm not most guys," Kevin said with a grin. "But you're probably right. We could both get in trouble."

I nodded and sipped my coffee.

"So how are you feeling this morning?" he asked under his breath with a knowing smile.

'A little sore, to tell you the truth,' was what my mind supplied for me, but I figured that was a little too much information than he was looking for. "Excellent," I answered instead. "Thanks for everything."

Kevin smiled and shrugged it off. "Not a problem. Glad I could help make it a special evening for you guys."

"Kevin, my friend, that's one of the things that make you beautiful."

He blushed a bit, but I knew that he had taken the words to heart, as they were meant. Brian walked over to us, ending his conversation with Carrie. Instead of passing me the phone, though, he gave it to Kevin and hugged me instead.

As Kevin started talking, Brian kissed me. His hands wrapping themselves around my neck, he tilted his head a little. I rested my hands on his hips as his tongue slipped past my lips.

To this day I don't know who threw the pillow, but it hit us in the shoulders, surprising us into separating. When we turned to look, everyone but Kevin was watching us with a smile on their faces.

Brian and I laughed and he rested his head on my shoulder. "That was from Carrie."

"That was from Carrie?" I asked with a grin.

"Well," Brian laughed. "She said to give you a kiss for her. I embellished it a bit."

"And what a good job of it you did, too," I said, drawing him into another kiss.

"Come on you two. Don't make us get the hose," Nick laughed.

Brian and I broke the kiss and rejoined them in the sitting area. AJ turned on the TV and we sat back, relaxing before they had to go for their interview.

I leaned back in my seat, putting my feet up on the table and pulling Brian against me, holding him close.

"Nice footwear man," Howie laughed, pointing at my feet.

I smiled. "You can thank your dorky friend here for those," I said, slapping Brian's shoulder.

"I think of myself as more 'hunky' than 'dorky'," Brian laughed.

"Well you can think of yourself any way you want. Public perception says dorky, though," AJ grinned. "So 'B got you them?"

"Actually, Erron, my other boyfriend, got them for me. He knew that I would have to wear them just to make him happy, so I was only wearing them when he was around. Brian here thought it would be nice to bring them along for you guys to see."

"But Erron's in Toronto," Nick pointed out. "He's not going to know if you don't wear them."

"Oh but someone in this room has threatened to tell on me," I said, squeezing Brian.

"Well, I think they're sexy," he said, rubbing his bare foot against my furry one.

"I'm not sure about sexy," AJ smiled. "But they're pretty cool."

I thanked him. "Just for that, you're my new favourite Backstreet Boy."

Brian looked up at me. "He tells you your feet look cool, and he gets to be your favourite?"

"Yep."

"Well what if I tell you about all the other parts that I think are cool?"

"Then you might be his favourite, but we'd all resent you," Howie laughed.

"It would be worth it," Brian shot back with a smile.

"Sweetie, you can't be my official favourite." I said, kissing his forehead. "It's too close to the truth. If someone asks, I have to have an answer. It can't be Nick either."

"Why not?" Nick asked.

"Because there is an appearance component," AJ said haughtily, trying to suppress a smile.

I laughed. "Be nice. You can't be my favourite, Nick, because the tabloids would latch onto that. So, the other three of you get to duke it out."

"How long do we have?" Howie asked, leaning forward.

"Contest closes the moment I'm asked for the first time."

"So we have to be nice to you indefinitely?"

I thought about it and smiled, nodding.

"Can we take ourselves out of the running?" Kevin asked, handing me back my phone.

"You damn well better not want to," I laughed, slipping it into my pocket. "I'm in high demand, you know. You should have seen the kiss Carrie gave me earlier."

Kevin just gave me a confused look.

"Never mind," Brian laughed, poking me in the stomach. "Just sit down and hang with us until we have to go."

And he did just that. We turned our attention back to the TV, Kevin motioning for Brian and I to scrunch together more to make room for him. It didn't take a whole lot of convincing.

PART 70

Brian and the guys left about an hour later for their newspaper interview. It really was a light day. I would have expected more, considering that they were going to do their best to drop off the face of the planet for the two weeks that they had off, but they insisted that management not pile on extra work, and for once, they seemed to have won.

As soon as they left, I grabbed my editing folder and set to work, determined to get as much done before the concert as I could, so that I would be able to show something to Carrie when she asked. I also wanted as much breathing room as I could get for the time Brian and I would be able to have alone during their break. The last thing I wanted to do was throw him out of bed so that I could write.

The editing went well, and there weren't near the number of revisions I thought there would be. Within an hour, I had them all done, and, being the self-proclaimed king of procrastination, I decided that I would call Jeff and Cindy back home.

Picking up my phone, I wandered to the bar and got myself a Coke, then returned to the couch as the line connected and started to ring.

"Hello?" I heard Cindy's voice answer. Jeff and Cindy had been two of my closest friends in university, along with Andy and Erron. They had met during frosh week, and had been engaged by Christmas of our first year.

While there was more than enough speculation on the condition of their mental faculties at the time, they had proven all of us wrong. They had remained engaged all through school, waiting to get married the summer they graduated. Within a year of their wedding, they had had a child, and everyone now used them as a benchmark for how marriages were supposed to go.

"How's the most beautiful mother in the world?" I asked, grinning. It had been far too long since we had talked.

"I'll have to ask her when I see her," she laughed. "To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice, Mr. Healy?"

"Okay, this is going to make me look really bad," I said, laughing in return. "But there is a favour that I needed to ask."

"Oh so that's it, eh? We only hear from you when you need a favour? There you are, hanging out with Erron and Andrea for the better part of a week only a few short blocks away, and you don't even drop by for a visit?"

I closed my eyes and decided that either Erron or Andrea needed a talking to. "Which one of them told you that?" I asked.

"Andy dropped by before she flew home. She left here about an hour ago."

"Look, Cin, I'm sorry I didn't drop by when I was home. There was a lot going on."

She laughed, hearing the embarrassment in my voice. "Don't worry about it, Nate. Andrea explained it to me a bit. As much as she could, anyway. She said that you'd probably tell me more about it."

"And I will, as soon as I see you next time. There's a lot we have to talk about."

"Like why on earth the world seems to think that you and Erron are together?"

The grin returned to my face. "Yeah, like that. There's been a few sweeping changes in my life. That's one of the bigger ones."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. You can tell us whenever. So what did you want to ask me about?" I could hear the baby in the background, shouting for something.

"Do you want to go take care of him?" I asked. "I can call back in a little while."

"No, he's just cranky. Norry's like that. He'll nod off in a minute." I mentally cringed as she mentioned his name. Norry. Against our strenuous objections, they had decided to name him Norton, after his grandfather on Jeff's side. Norry had been the only compromise they were willing to make. They seemed to think that, since he was the fruit of their loins, they should get to pick a name. "Now what did you need? Not that I don't like talking to you, but something tells me you have other things to do."

I looked at the computer screen, the cursor blinking rapidly at me, waiting for a burst of inspiration. "Yeah, I suppose I do," I agreed, smiling. "I was just wondering if you and Jeff still have that cottage that your grandparents left you."

"We've still got it," she said. "Though we haven't been there since Norry was born. Why?"

"Well, I find myself with a couple of weeks vacation, and I was thinking that I might take a trip up there, if you and Jeff didn't mind."

"Just you? It'd be pretty lonely. You've been there. It's kinda in the middle of nowhere."

"That's actually one of the things that makes it perfect," I said. "And no, I'll be bringing someone with me. A couple of someones, actually."

"Oooh." I could sense her arching eyebrows. "New love interest?"

"That, my dear, is one of the things we have to talk about," I said, hinting but not saying anything. "If, of course, you can bring yourself to forgive my not visiting while I was in town."

"You're forgiven," she said. "And you can have the cottage for as long as you want. As long as you come over for dinner when you get back, and fill us both in on what's going on. And bring the new boyfriend."

"Who said anything about a new boyfriend?" I asked innocently. "I'm just bringing a couple of friends along."

"Male friends?"

"Yes..."

"Good looking male friends?"

"Yes..."

"Good looking, pop superstar male friends?"

I had to laugh. "If you must know, yes."

"Which ones?"

"Brian and Nick," I said. "The rest of the guys are going home to visit family."

"So the tabloids had it right," she said with certainty.

"You're very sure of yourself," I grinned. "Like I said, all will be revealed when we get there."

"You're just going to make me wait, aren't you?" she sighed.

"That's right. All good things come to those who wait."

"Fine," she said, giving up. "When are you coming?"

"Next week, early. I'm taking a week off and going to Memphis, and then I have to spend a day in Toronto talking to a high school English class about being a writer. After that, we want to get out of there as quickly as possible."

"Well then give me a call when you know exactly what's going on, and we'll go out for dinner or something. I want to find out what the hell's going on with you."

I laughed again. "I'm surprised you didn't drag it out of Andy."

"I tried, believe me. But she's not budging."

"That's my girl," I said proudly. "Really, Cin, I'll tell the both of you when I see you. It's not exactly something for the phone."

"All right," she said. "I'll stop pressing for details. But let me just say, for the record, that I can't wait to meet him." I rolled my eyes, but she continued before I could say anything. "And I'll give the guy that takes care of the place a call and let him know that you're coming, so he can get it ready."

"That's perfect," I said. "Thanks a lot."

"Don't worry about it. Jeff's going to be kicking himself for not being here when you called. He went out to the store for a few minutes."

"Well, I should go. It would have been nice to talk to him too, but I guess I'll be seeing you both next week, right?"

"Sure, just call when you know what day."

"Okay then, I'll be talking to you in a couple of days. Thanks a lot, Cindy."

"No problem. Talk to you later."

"You bet. Bye."

"Bye," she said, and I hung up the phone.

Smiling to myself, I turned my attention back to the keyboard and set to work, thinking happily about the prospect of spending time with Brian at a secluded cabin. Long walks through the trees, holding hands, secure in knowing that there wasn't a reporter for miles. Of course, we'd have to make sure to take time to spend with Nick. He already felt like a third wheel sometimes.

Reading the last paragraph I had written over again, I bent my concentration to the story and started to type.

By the time the guys got back, it was about two hours and sixteen pages later. When I heard the elevator open outside the door, I saved my work and looked it over. I felt the smile form on my face as I read. The difficulty that I had had before leaving Santa Fe was completely gone, and the writing was coming easier than it had in a long time.

Brian sat down beside me, resting his hand on my knee. "How's it going?" he asked, kissing my cheek.

"Excellent," I answered him, shutting everything down. "I got a good bit done, and finished up my editing. And I managed to make some plans for us after I'm done in Toronto."

"Is that so?"

"So what are they?" Nick asked, joining us.

"We," I said, looking from Brian to Nick and back again. "Are going camping."

"Camping?" Nick asked, scrunching up his face. "Like in a tent and eating out of cans?"

"Well, I can't make any promises about the eating out of cans, but you won't be needing a tent. A couple of friends of mine have a cabin a few hours north of Toronto, and they've agreed to let us use it."

Nick looked concerned.

"What's with the look?" I asked him. "Don't you want to go?"

"No, it sounds great," he assured me. "I was just thinking that it's the kind of thing that a couple would want to do together, without dragging other people along. It sounds very romantic."

Brian stepped in before I could respond. "Well to me it sounds like something that a couple would love to have their friends come along for. We can just hang out and relax without worrying about people being around. Don't you even think about backing out on us."

Nick smiled. "Okay, but when you guys are wanting some romance, you just remember that you're making me come."

"Nick, it's a three-bedroom cabin. It's more like a home than a cottage. If we're wanting romance, there's lots of places to disappear to for a few minutes. I really want you to come with us," I said.

"Fine, if you two are going to insist, guess I'll have to force myself to join you," he laughed. He stood up, announcing that he was going to catch a nap before they left for the concert.

"Good," Brian said, standing up. "And I'm going to talk to Kevin for a minute."

I kissed his hand before it left mine. "Be sure to thank him again for everything last night," I whispered.

"That's the plan," he said with a smile, trailing his hand along my jaw as he turned.

Looking around, I noticed that I was alone in the room again. Brian and Kevin were in Kevin's room, Nick was in his own, and I hadn't even seen Howie and AJ come in. Gathering up my things, I stood and headed for our room to wait for Brian.

I put my things on the desk and opened the door to the balcony. Stepping outside, I could see for what seemed like miles. Looking straight down made me a little dizzy, so I concentrated on keeping my eyes on the horizon and just taking in the view.

"Nate?" someone said from behind me.

Turning, I saw Nick standing in the doorway, looking at me. I walked over to him and followed as he turned back into the room. "What is it Nick? You look strange."

"That's nice," Nick laughed, pushing me.

"You know what I mean. What's going on?"

"Is Brian still talking to Kevin?"

"Yeah. Now sit down and tell me what's on your mind," I said, making him sit on the corner of the bed. I sat down beside him and looked at him, waiting for him to start.

"What's ever on my mind?" he asked, sighing.

I nodded. "Have you figured anything out yet?"

"I think so, but I'm not sure if it counts as figuring something out."

"Nick, there's no score or anything with things like this. What did you come up with?"

Nick looked at me. "Well, I still don't know one way or the other," he said. "But I think I've decided not to decide. At least for right now."

I arched my eyebrow. "You lost me."

"Well," he said, "I've spent this long not wanting to think about it, right?" I nodded. "And now that I am thinking about it, I don't want to rush anything. I need to take my time. I'm still confused, but I'm okay with being confused. Does that make any sense?"

"Sure," I said, getting it. "You have lots of time to figure things out. You want to take a little time and play with it a little. See what feels best for you."

Nick smiled. "That's it. How come you can express it better than I can?"

I waved in the direction of my folders and computer. "That's what I do," I laughed. "And yes, it makes perfect sense. You'll figure it out. In the meantime, you can have a little fun experimenting."

Nick's smile grew. "Experimenting sounds fun." The smile stayed for a minute, and then it faded. "But how am I going to do that? Everywhere I go, people are watching me. If I go out somewhere with a girl, people cheer, but how would I go somewhere with a guy? How would I meet a guy?"

"Nick," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Where there's a will, there's a way. Besides, who's going to look twice if you and a guy go out somewhere with a few other guys? You've got lots of male friends all around you."

The smile resurfaced. "You just always know what to say, don't you?" He asked, hugging me. "Thanks for being here for me."

I managed to get as far as "That's what friends are for" before Nick was kissing me. It took me completely by surprise, and I jumped up from the bed.

"But that's not," I said, looking at him, my hand coming up and touching my lips. "Nick..."

"I'm sorry," he stammered, his eyes wide. It was obvious that he hadn't intended to do it. "I'm so sorry Nate."

"Nick..."

"No, don't say it Nate. I'm sorry. I won't bother you anymore."

"Nick sit down," I said, pushing him back onto the bed.

"I don't know what happened, Nate. You're just so sweet and you're always helping me, and I didn't know..." He looked about ready to cry.

"Shhhh," I soothed, sitting beside him again. "Listen to me, Nick. It's okay. It shouldn't have happened, but it's all right."

"No it's not. Brian's my best friend. You're my best friend. I shouldn't have done that." He looked into my eyes. "I have to tell Brian. Not just about this, but about everything."

"Listen. Why don't you go and have that nap you were talking about earlier, and then we'll figure all of this out. I won't say anything to Brian until you do. But you're right. He's got to know what happened. I'm not going to keep something like this from him for long."

Nick nodded and apologised again. In fact, he'd done so several more times before I had him ushered into his own room and lying down, despite my repeated assurances that things were fine between us.

Once he had finally settled down, I closed the door again and walked through the bathroom to our room. Sitting on the bed, I sighed. Then I just about jumped out of my skin when Brian spoke from behind me.

"So that's what his problem is," he said, stepping in from the balcony.

"Shit sweetie," I said, grabbing at my chest. Then it dawned on me what he had said. "How much of that did you see and hear?"

"I was about to walk in when I saw you talking. I started to turn and go back to Kev's room so that I wouldn't interrupt, but then he kissed you and I couldn't turn away. And I heard everything after that."

"So basically you saw and heard enough."

"Yeah. Why didn't he tell me he was gay?" Brian asked, sitting with me.

"He's not. At least, he doesn't know if he is or not. He didn't want to say anything to you and the guys until he was sure. Especially after the way Howie reacted to you coming out." I explained it for Brian as simply as I could, preferring to let Nick fill him in on the details.

"Poor guy," Brian said sadly, putting his head on my shoulder. "Do you think I should go and talk to him?"

"Let him rest for a while," I suggested. "He feels bad enough right now without finding out that you saw him a minute ago. But you definitely should talk to him later. He's going to be beating himself up about telling you, and you can save him the trouble."

"And that's what you and he were talking about that night in Santa Fe?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "He was really confused and afraid to talk to any of you about it, so he came to me. I thought it would help if I told him how I came to terms with being gay, and things sort of took off from there."

Brian nodded against me. "Thanks for being there for him to talk to," he said, kissing my neck.

"Geez, you see your best friend kiss your boyfriend, and all you do is thank me for being there?" I laughed, grabbing him and falling back on the bed.

"Oh trust me," Brian said softly. "If you hadn't jumped away like that, and I hadn't seen the look on his face when you did, I'd be plenty mad. But I've been there, Nate. We both have. What just happened with Nick is a lot like what happened with you and Jack that night."

I jerked a little at the memory, but Brian's hand was suddenly in mine, banishing all negative thoughts, and I knew that he was right.

"He's confused, like you said," Brian continued. "I'm not about to hold that against him."

"You're too much," I smiled, kissing him. "But you forgot one very important factor in all of this."

"And what's that?" he asked, nudging me further onto the bed so that we were resting on the pillows.

"My being so damned irresistible," I laughed, holding him to me so that he couldn't hit me.

"Your modesty knows no bounds," he laughed, cuddling up closer to me. His feet were gradually working my bunny slippers off of my feet. Once he had one off of me, he kicked it off the bottom of the bed.

"I'm telling Erron that you're kicking the bunnies around like that," I threatened as the second one went flying off the end of the bed, joining the first in a pile in the corner.

"He'll just thank me," Brian said confidently, rubbing his feet against mine.

"And why is that?"

"Because no innocent bunny should be forced to see this," he said, pulling me into a kiss and climbing on top of me all at the same time. His hands found my shirt buttons and started to undo them.

"Uh, Brian, sweetie," I said, starting to laugh. "That's pretty much what bunnies are known for."

Brian's smile surfaced, and soon he was laughing with me. His hands didn't stop moving, though, and soon my shirt was pooled at my sides and his hands were running over my chest.

As much fun as I was sure it would be, I wasn't sure that I was up to another romp in the sack quite yet. As witty and risqu‚ as my soreness comment to Kevin earlier would have been, it would also have been the truth.

Brian's shirt joined the bunnies, and he started tugging at my belt. "Brian," I said, putting my hands on his. "I'm not sure I'm quite ready again yet." I was desperately hoping that he wouldn't need me to explain further.

His hands stopped working at my buckle, and he looked into my eyes. I'm not sure that he precisely read my thoughts, but he definitely saw the uncertainty there. Leaning forward, he gently rested his weight on me, his mouth meeting mine.

"Okay," he agreed. "I don't mean to rush things."

I kissed him back before shaking my head. "No, it's not a question of wanting to," I explained. "It's just that I'm... um... well let's just say I'm still recovering from last night." I could feel the blood coming to my face.

Brian looked confused for a moment, and then it clicked for him, and an expression of worry crossed his face. "Did I hurt you?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

"No," I said, brushing my fingers across his cheek. "Well, yes. But not the way you're thinking. But maybe next time we might want to have a little help from the good folks at KY," I added, laughing through the embarrassment.

Brian smiled and nodded before taking my hand away from his face and leaning again for another kiss. "Ok, but there's nothing saying that we can't make out," he whispered.

"Nothing at all," I agreed, wrapping my hands around his neck. I brought my legs around his, crossing them around his knees as we kissed.

"So how was your interview?" I asked about half an hour later. Brian's pants had joined his shirt. I still had mine, but my belt had gone flying somewhere out of sight about ten minutes earlier.

Brian rested his head on my shoulder and kissed my jaw. "Same as most others, actually. 'What's next on the agenda?', 'Why do you hate NSYNC?', 'Are you seeing anyone?', 'What do you look for in a girl?' That sort of thing."

"Whoa. You guys hate NSYNC?"

"No, but they insist on harping on it anyway," Brian said with a sigh. "They can't believe that we would be able to be friends and be in direct competition with each other."

"Well that's pretty stupid," I said, looking at him. "No one asks other groups if they hate someone."

Brian just nodded.

"Well it's a good thing you don't hate them," I said with a grin. "Or this next week would be really rough."

Brian laughed and nodded. "I actually can't wait to talk to JC. And find out all about this Matt guy."

"What do you know about him?"

"Nothing, really. Just that he's a friend of Kathy's. Aside from that, he's a complete mystery."

"Well you're a step up on me. I don't even know Kathy. Okay then Mr. Litrell, to change the subject. 'Are you seeing anyone?'" I asked with a smile.

"Official answer?"

"Sure."

Brian looked at me for a moment and then sighed. "Yes, I'm seeing a wonderful woman, and we're very happy." Brian recited it in a dry monotone. I sincerely hoped that he put a bit more emotion into it when an interviewer asked.

I just nodded wisely. "That would be Leighanne. I was wondering when she was going to come up."

Brian jumped a little and looked at me closely. "You know about her already?"

"Sure," I answered, smiling at his surprise. "What self-respecting fan wouldn't know about your aged girlfriend?"

Brian smiled in response. "She's not aged. And she's not my girlfriend. You are."

I laughed and punched him in the arm. "Watch it. So when do I get to meet this wonderful woman with whom you're very happy?"

Brian shrugged. "Next time we're in Orlando, I guess. We have a house down there. It's essentially hers. I just stay there when we're home for a little while, for appearances."

"Can't wait," I said. "Does she know about us?"

"Not yet," Brian said.

"Don't you think she's going to be a little upset about it when we show up on the doorstep?"

"I don't think so," Brian said, laying his head down on my shoulder again. "She knows that there's nothing going on between she and I. She'll be surprised, sure, but I don't think she'll freak about it."

"Okay then," I said, letting it drop until we had to worry about it. "Is there an unofficial answer to the dating question?"

Brian smiled and kissed my cheek. "I'm seeing the man of my dreams."

"All right then. 'What do you look for in a girl?'"

Brian laughed and grabbed me gently. "One of these."

"Good answer," I said, rolling over on top of him. "Very good answer."

PART 71

Kevin ordered dinner for everyone before knocking on our door. Brian had been lightly dozing against my shoulder, and I was absently running my hand through his hair, thinking about where I was going to take my characters next when I started writing again. Kevin's knock woke Brian, who sat up sleepily.

I ran a hand down his back as he stretched. "Dinner."

Brian nodded and swung his feet over the side of the bed. "I can't wait until tomorrow. Two weeks, just you and me."

"And Kevin, and Kathy, and Nick, and JC, and Matt..." I added sitting beside him.

"Well we'll just have to make sure that we steal some time away from them," Brian said, smiling. "Because there's no way I'm wasting this time."

I nodded and kissed his temple, standing up from the bed. "You got yourself a date," I laughed. "Or rather a series of little dates. Now get dressed. I'm starving."

Since I still had my shirt and pants, I decided I was dressed enough for dinner. Watching Brian sorting out his clothes, I opened the door and walked out into the main room. AJ was already there, and Kevin was sitting in his usual place at the bar, talking on the phone.

I sat down with AJ to wait for the food to arrive. "How's my favourite Backstreet Boy?" I asked him, dropping down in a chair beside him.

"If you're going to be a fan, shouldn't you start saying 'fave' instead?" he laughed.

"The day you hear me say 'fave' is the day they break out the ice skates in hell," I laughed back. "So what did you do all afternoon?"

"Sleep, mostly," he said, a grin breaking out on his face. "The couple in the next room kept me up half the night making the strangest of noises."

I felt the blood rise in my cheeks. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," he agreed soberly, before laughing at my embarrassment. "Relax, it wasn't that bad. If I hadn't heard you when I went in to get into bed, I wouldn't have heard a thing. It's cool."

I smiled back at him. "You guys have got to start staying at places with thicker walls."

"Tell me about it," Kevin laughed, joining us.

"Come on!" I protested with a grin. "There is no way you heard anything last night."

"Yeah, but I had to hear AJ complain about it," he laughed.

"Complain about what?" Brian asked, walking out from the bedroom.

"It appears we had a bit of an audience last night," I said, pulling him into my lap. "AJ was just telling me all about it." I kissed Brian's rapidly-reddening cheek.

AJ explained again that it was okay, and soon Brian was laughing about it as well. Howie joined us just as the food arrived. AJ jumped up to get the door.

"I'll get Nick," Howie volunteered.

"Don't bother," Kevin said. "He said he wasn't hungry."

Brian and I shared a look. "Why not?" I asked.

Kevin shrugged. "I'm not sure. He came to talk to me a while ago and said he wouldn't be here for dinner, and to call him before we had to leave."

"That's strange," Howie said. "Nick's usually the first one to the table."

Kevin just nodded. "He seemed a little upset about something, but he didn't want to talk about it. He backed out of going to Memphis this week too, so it's just the three of us," he added, looking to Brian and I.

We shared another look, then I unwrapped my arms from Brian so that he could stand up. Neither one of us said anything, but we were both thinking the same thing. Brian got up and started for the door to Nick's room.

"What's that about?" AJ asked as soon as the door was closed behind Brian.

"Don't ask," I said. "Let's just go ahead with dinner. I have a feeling that they're going to be a few minutes."

"Is Nick okay?" Kevin asked, concerned. "He's not sick is he?"

"No," I assured him. "Not that I know of. He's just not feeling himself today. Give Brian a little while to talk to him, and then we'll see where things stand."

Seeing that they weren't getting anything else out of me, they just nodded and started to pass out the food. Kevin didn't look happy to be out of the loop, but he didn't say anything.

I ate slowly, torn between waiting for Brian and placating my stomach. The rest of the guys had all finished, and I was almost done, by the time Brian came back out of Nick's room.

I was expecting Nick to follow him, but he didn't appear. I put down my plate and grabbed Brian's, taking the cover off of it. He sat back down on my lap, and I put the plate on his knee.

"Well?" Kevin asked. He looked like he was about to burst if someone didn't tell him something soon.

"Nick's okay," Brian said, more to me than to Kevin. "But he's still not coming to Memphis. He wants to go visit his family instead."

"What about Toronto?" I asked, putting my cheek against his arm.

Brian smiled. "It took some convincing, but he's still coming. He's going to meet us there."

I nodded and just held Brian while he ate.

Kevin sat watching us, rapidly running out of patience. "Okay one of you is going to tell me what's going on here, or I'm going to go in there and find out myself."

"You won't do that," Brian said, not looking up from his plate. His arm was brushing against my stomach each time he took more food onto his fork and it was starting to drive me crazy. Feeling that, Brian shifted against me with a smile, knowing what he was doing to me.

Kevin waited for more but, seeing that Brian was finished, he stood and started for Nick's room.

"Sit your ass down," Brian said, raising his voice a little.

AJ's eyes widened a little at the tone, and I have to admit that it caught my attention away from his hand. Judging from Kevin's expression, it seemed he wasn't expecting such a forceful reaction from Brian either.

"Then tell me what's going on," he said, turning back, but not sitting down.

"I won't. Neither will Nate," Brian said, putting his fork down and setting his plate on the table. He finally looked up at Kevin. "I know you don't like it much, Kev, but some things that go on with us are just none of your business. This is one of them. Nick's got something on his mind. If there's anything we can do, Nate and I will do it until he's ready to talk to you guys. Until then, leave him the hell alone."

Kevin was obviously taken aback. In the time I had been with them, no one had ever spoken to him like that. I had a feeling that, since they were cousins, Brian was the only one who felt he could get away with it.

"Just drop it Kev," Howie said softly. "As long as we get this concert over with, you've got two weeks without having to worry about any of us."

"Nick will be fine for the concert," Brian added, obviously trying to appease Kevin somewhat.

"To hell with the concert!" Kevin said, dropping into a chair. "I want to make sure that Nick's okay now."

"I told you he was," Brian said, looking at him.

"What if I don't believe you?"

"Then things must have really changed between us," Brian said. I heard a hint of sadness in there at his honesty being challenged. "Because you should know that I wouldn't lie to you."

Kevin sighed and wiped a hand across his face. "All right, that one was uncalled for, and I'm sorry," he said. "But Nick seemed really upset when we talked earlier, and now he's holed up in his room..."

"I know," Brian consoled. "I was worried too. But I went and talked to him, and he's going to be fine. He did something stupid today and he's a little embarrassed about it. Just give him some time and he'll be fine. He said he'd be ready for the concert."

I was hoping that this would be the end of the discussion. The tension was a little thicker than I liked. But AJ dashed my hopes. So much for being my favourite.

"Then why the sudden change in plans? Why isn't he going with you guys this week?"

Kevin looked up at that. Apparently he hadn't thought about it closely. Brian shrugged, and I thought he looked pretty convincing. "Beats me. Maybe he really does want to visit his family instead. He doesn't see them that often. Maybe he just wanted to give me and Nate some time alone." He ended it by shrugging again.

This time it was Howie that lost points. "Why would he not go when you're going to be surrounded by people anyway, but tag along to a secluded cabin?"

I felt Brian's weight shift as his shoulders slumped a little bit. "Look, I don't have all the answers, okay? I just know that Nick is going to be fine tonight, and he wants to go home for a week, then meet us in Toronto. If you want more details than that, you're just going to have to wait until he's ready to give them to you."

Kevin still didn't look happy about things, but he didn't look ready to charge into Nick's room either.

"How much time do we have before we have to leave?" I asked, hoping to derail this little conversation.

"About an hour and a bit," Kevin said, checking his watch.

"Then I'm going to get a bit of writing done, and I'm taking my muse with me," I said with a smile, rubbing my hand over Brian's thigh.

Brian looked at me closely. "You want me there as you write?" I nodded. "But I thought you didn't want anyone to see it."

"I said you were my muse. That doesn't mean that you get to read anything," I laughed. "You'll just have to keep yourself busy as I suck my inspiration out of you."

"You'll never get any writing done that way," AJ said, grinning wildly.

I thought back over what I had said and slapped his knee. "You know what I mean."

"Well, considering that you only need your hands to write," Brian said seductively. "What if I busy myself with other parts of you?"

I arched my eyebrow. "Well," I said slowly. "I can only think of one way to find out what would happen."

Brian was off my lap like a shot, grabbing my hand. "I love an experiment."

Howie rolled his eyes, but smiled at us. "Just try and keep the... um... typing down, okay? I don't need to hear you getting that inspiration you talked about."

I laughed and followed Brian to our room, leaving the rest of the guys smiling after us.

Brian's hands were up my shirt as soon as the door clicked shut. I enjoyed it for a moment before putting my hands over his and stopping him. "I'm going to run and check on Nick," I said, kissing him softly. "I'll be back in a minute."

Brian nodded and moved away. "I'll turn on your lap top," he said, kissing my cheek.

"You certainly will," I smiled at him and then took the short cut through the bathroom to Nick's door. I knocked quietly, but didn't get a response, so I gently turned the knob. Finding it unlocked, I pushed the door open and glanced around the room. It was neat as a pin, and as short a time as I had actually spent with the guys, even I knew that was abnormal.

Nick was lying on his bed, fully clothed and snoring slightly. I smiled and walked over to him, grabbing a blanket off of the back of a chair.

I looked down at him, sleeping peacefully. He seemed much more at ease than he had earlier in our room, and I was glad. Spreading the blanket over him gently so I wouldn't wake him, I tucked him in as best I could. Reaching out, I carefully brushed the hair away from his eyes, smiling even more as I did so.

Nick sighed a little in his sleep and shifted position. Fearing that I was going to wake him, I tiptoed back to the bathroom door and shut it quietly behind me.

As I stepped back out into our room, I saw that Brian had relit all of the candles in the room from the night before, and he was sitting in one of the chairs in a shadowy corner. On the bed sat my computer and, as promised, Brian had turned it on. Let me tell you, there's nothing like the cold light of a computer monitor to kill the warmth and romance in a room full of candles.

I had just finished thinking this when Brian stood and put all the warmth and romance back into the room. As he stepped out into the light, I saw that he was completely naked. "You like?" he asked, spinning as though he was wearing a new suit.

"I like," I said, nodding my agreement. "You're not going to make writing easy, are you?"

Brian laughed and stepped closer, putting his hand once again under my shirt and rubbing my stomach. "Oh, I promise not to touch your hands."

I grinned and pulled him against me. Putting my forehead against his, I looked into those deep blue eyes. "But I'm going to need some of the blood in my body to stay in my head," I whispered.

"That's exactly where I was thinking it should be too," he whispered back, grabbing me.

"You know what I mean," I laughed, kissing him. Brian ground against me, and I sighed. "You're not giving up, are you?"

"Nope," Brian said cutely, unleashing the dimples.

I mentally steeled myself and took a step away from him. Two could play at this game. "Then I'm just going to have to ignore you," I said, hoping that there was more conviction in my voice than there was in my head. Making a pact with myself to withstand his torture, I headed for the bed.

Sitting down, I quickly opened my word processor and pulled up the chapter I was working on. I had just settled my fingers on the keys when Brian sat down behind me on the bed.

"Sweetie," he cooed, running his fingers through my hair.

"Mmm hmmm?" I said, pretending to be really into the story already. In truth, I was about five seconds away from pushing the lap top off the end of the bed and ravaging him.

"Do you know what I would rather do than sit and watch you write?"

"What's that sweetie?" I asked, forcing my fingers to start typing. I knew that the writing was garbage as soon as I started, but I wouldn't give in.

Brian leaned in and started to whisper in my ear. True to his word, he didn't touch my hands, but his words touched just about every other part of my body.

"That sounds like fun," I said. "But where are we going to get a silk scarf and a feather?" I continued to type.

"Well we could improvise," he said in his soft accent. Snuggling closer behind me, he put his hands over my eyes with a snicker, thinking I had to stop now.

But when you've typed as much as I have, you learn to touch type, and my fingers continued to dance across the keys. In some ways this was easier. True, Brian's hands on me were enough to distract me, but they weren't nearly as bad as seeing his reflection in the screen.

Brian sighed again and removed his hands, leaning back a little. "Fine then," he chuckled. "I'll just sit right here and miss you."

I had to honestly wonder how he was going to miss me when he wrapped his hands around my waist and rested his head against my shoulder, pressing his body against me. I shivered a little at the contact, but continued to write.

Brian continued to come up with new distractions for the next hour, but I think he had quickly realised that he was fighting a losing battle. The more I got into the story, the less I noticed him. He finally contented himself with resting against me and watching my expression as the thoughts passed from my brain to my fingers.

Finally, he reached out and pressed the save button. Then he gently folded the screen down on my still-moving fingers.

"What are you doing, sweetie?" I asked, finally blinking my way back to the bedroom and out of the garden in my story.

"Kevin's going to be knocking on that door in about ten minutes, and I wanted some us time before we have to head out." The apologetic expression on his face puzzled me for a minute before I realised that he was worried about interrupting my writing. Leaning back against him, I rubbed his bare thigh.

"You can interrupt me for us time anytime," I smiled. "Why don't you throw on your robe and go wake Nick up while I write my nextnote."

Brian smiled and stood up. I noted that he threw on my robe before heading to Nick's room, and laughed. Raising the screen again, I quickly typed in a paragraph to give myself direction, then saved it again and shut everything down.

I had just put it on the desk again when Brian re-entered and threw the robe on the floor again.

I pointedly looked him up and down as he stood before me. "You really are beautiful," I said softly, pulling him into a hug.

"Shut up and kiss me," he laughed, placing his lips on mine. He unbuttoned my shirt and pushed me onto the bed, climbing on top of me. I sucked gently on his tongue as his hands worked on my belt. He undid my pants but fell short of actually pulling them off of me. We both knew that we didn't have time to get into anything too involved.

We kissed for a few more minutes, both of us dreading the inevitable knock at the door. When it finally did come, we were just lying in each other's arms, enjoying our time. This time, Brian jumped immediately when Kevin knocked, going straight to the closet.

I was puzzled, since normally he needed at least one more warning before he moved. I was about to ask him about it when he turned back around and faced me, and the answer became clear. His eyes were practically dancing in his head. He was gearing up for a concert.

He was dressed almost before I was even out of the bed. Thankfully, I still had most of my clothes on, and I just needed to rebutton everything and make sure I didn't look like too much of a slob. I grabbed some socks out of the drawer and threw them to him, taking a pair for myself as well.

With a quick stop in the mirror to check my hair, we were out of the room in record time. AJ and Howie were both still sitting in the main room, and looked up in surprise when they saw us emerge ready to go.

"We thought we'd have to wait for you guys," AJ said, smiling. "Should have known. Only a concert can get him to move like that."

"A concert or a boyfriend," Howie corrected, grinning at me.

"Yeah yeah," Brian laughed. "Now go get ready. I don't want to have to be waiting around for you."

"Listen to you talk!" AJ said, getting up. "Once you get holed up with Nate, we're late for everything."

"Well then I would think that you'd want to take advantage of every opportunity not to be late," Brian pointed out smugly, dropping into a chair and pulling me into his lap.

AJ and Howie mumbled good-naturedly as they headed for their rooms.

"Now where were we?" Brian asked, turning my head to face him.

"Well, let's see," I said with a smile, leaning in toward him. "This is always my favourite place to start."

"I like the way you think," he grinned as our lips met. I opened my mouth for his tongue, and turned my body a little more in the chair so I could face him more comfortably.

His hand ran up my back and started to play with my hair, but I put my hand over his. "No way," I laughed, breaking the kiss. "I just settled that down. You're not messing it on me again."

Brian just smiled and kissed my neck, running is lips along my jaw and around to my chin.

"What the hell are you two doing ready already?" Kevin asked from behind us. I grinned as I felt Brian jump under me.

"You knocked on the door," he pointed out without looking around.

"I know I did, but I made sure to knock early so that you would have time to get yourselves out of bed."

I laughed. "What makes you so sure we were in bed?"

"That's right," Brian chimed in. "It just so happens that we were on the bed."

Kevin just laughed.

"I told you I was going to get some writing done," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but if I know Brian, he did everything he could to take your mind off of the story."

"That I did," Brian laughed. "But it didn't work. He just kept on typing."

"You really did write in there?" AJ asked, entering the room.

I sighed and sat back away from Brian. "Why is that so hard to understand? I said I was going to. Admittedly, there's probably going to be some rewriting of the last few pages, since I was a little distracted, but I did get some finished."

"That's some willpower you got there," AJ laughed, joining us.

"Tell me about it," Brian whispered, running his finger between the buttons on my shirt and stroking my chest.

"Oh it wasn't that hard," I joked, smiling at Brian. His finger stopped stroking and started flicking my chest instead.

We sat around talking for a few minutes before Howie rejoined us and sat down. Kevin started for Nick's door to wake him up.

"He's up," Brian called to him. "I went and woke him a little while ago. He's getting ready."

"Correction," Nick said, opening his door. "He is ready."

"Hey man, how you feeling?" AJ asked as Nick sat down.

"Much better," he said, smiling at Brian and I. He did indeed look better than he had that afternoon. A little worn down, but much better than before. I just prayed that everyone would leave him alone about what was bothering him.

Whatever deity that is in charge of such things must have been listening, because no one mentioned anything about it. We just hung out for a few minutes until the front desk called to tell us that the limo was waiting.

On our way out the door, Nick grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the room. Brian and I had been holding hands, but when he saw what was going on, he released me and followed the others.

"I just wanted to say thanks," Nick said, closing the door.

"No thanks needed," I replied. "Friends are there for friends. Lord knows I've learned that the last little while. I'll be here if you need me, and so will Brian."

Nick nodded. "I know."

"Did you tell him everything?" I asked.

"Pretty much. He understands what's going on now, at least."

"Good. Now how about we get out into the hall before Kevin blows a gasket?"

Nick laughed and nodded, opening the door again. He held it for me as I left the room, then he followed and closed it behind him. Brian and the guys were standing at the elevator, holding it open and waiting for us. Nick and I gave them smiles to let them know that everything was okay, and we piled in.

PART 72

The venue was practically surrounded by fans when we arrived. The limo pulled around the back and through a security checkpoint, and we were ushered in a back door.

Brian handed me another backstage pass to hang around my neck, in case I decided to wander around again, and then we were in the dressing room. A stage hand informed them that they had half an hour to warm up before they had to get dressed and ready.

AJ began to hum one of their songs, and soon each of them had picked it up, gradually building their voices into the song. As beautiful as their voices were, there wasn't a whole lot of excitement in just watching them stand there, so I kissed Brian gently on the cheek and excused myself.

Entering the chaos that was backstage, I made sure that my pass was prominently displayed and walked around, checking out whatever happened to catch my interest. I found myself standing beside Duke, the large man who had nearly torn my arm off the last time I went wandering.

He was considerably friendlier this time, knowing who I was. "Nate, right?" he said, shaking my hand. "Haven't seen you the last few shows."

"I had some business to take care of back home," I answered him, trying desperately to extricate my normal sized hand from his behemoth one. "But I'm back now."

"Glad to hear it," he smiled. "The guys all seemed a little down when you left." I smiled back. The guys. Not just Brian, but all of them. It made me happy to know that they all cared about me. "Of course, you came back just in time to catch the last concert for a while."

I nodded. "I heard. But at least you get a couple of weeks vacation out of it."

"I wish! The band gets the vacation. The rest of us get a couple of days off and then we have to figure out how to fix this damn mess. But, that's what they pay us the small bucks for."

I laughed and decided not to tell him how much I was looking forward to the vacation time. It just didn't seem prudent at the time. Duke and I chatted for a few more minutes before he was called away to check out some lighting problem.

I watched him disappear across the stage and turned back for the dressing room, almost running into Howie in the process.

"Hey man! You seen Duke anywhere?"

I nodded and pointed in the direction he had gone, and Howie thanked me and took off again. I continued my way to the dressing room and walked in to find the rest of the guys in various stages of undress. Whistling, I jumped into a chair and dug out some dollar bills from my pocket, waving them around in the air.

Kevin laughed and pulled his pants up. AJ just laughed, still searching through the rack of clothes. Nick blushed a little and finished getting dressed. Brian, however, was apparently feeling frisky. He came over to stand in front of me.

"Lap dance mister?" he asked, standing there in just his boxers.

"Thought you'd never ask," I grinned as he sat in my lap and kissed me.

"Come on you two. I don't want to have to explain to the audience that Brian's late because he's screwing his boyfriend in the dressing room," AJ said, throwing Brian's clothes at us.

Brian laughed and stood back up. "Yoink!" he said, snatching the money out of my hand.

"That was the crappiest lap dance in the history of lap dancing," I protested, trying to grab the money back.

Brian jumped away and started getting dressed. "It's not my fault that you waited so long to ask for it. Next time work it into the schedule better."

Howie came back in a minute later and started to change as well.

"So what did you need Duke for?" I asked casually, sitting back in my chair.

"Oh, we changed the order of one of the songs, and I had to make sure that he knew about it. There wasn't anyone handy to track him down, so I did it."

I nodded and waited for them to finish dressing. When they had, they were all standing before me entirely clad in black. I noticed my bills disappearing into Brian's sock and laughed. Hearing me, he smirked and came to stand beside me.

"I'll make up for the dance later," he whispered in my ear, making me smile.

"Okay guys, group prayer," Kevin announced. They formed a circle, and Brian held his hand out to me, waiting for me to join them.

"You go ahead," I said quietly. "Group prayers aren't really my thing."

He looked a little disappointed, but didn't argue. Kevin said a few words that I didn't really pay much attention to and then they were heading out the door with me in tow.

Once again, Brian left me standing just off stage so that I would have a good view of the concert, then joined the guys. We shared a smile, and then the lights started flashing and his attention was diverted back to the audience.

About twenty minutes into the show, Duke reappeared beside me. Tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention, he jerked his thumb back toward the dressing room. "Someone wants to talk to you," he yelled above the music.

I gave him a questioning look, but he didn't answer, just directed me once again to the dressing room. With a shrug, I turned and headed that way, curious about who could possibly have tracked me down backstage at a concert.

None of my questions were answered when I opened the door and stepped back into the room. I was faced with a man in his late twenties whom I had never met before in my life. He was wearing a very uptight charcoal grey suit, and my mind immediately started screaming 'lawyer'. I had time to notice that someone had been in here and neatly folded the guy's clothes before he spoke.

"Mr. Healy?"

I nodded and shook his outstretched hand. "Call me Nate, please," I said.

"Okay Nate, I'm Andrew Copeland. I'm part of the Boys' management team."

Well, at least that settled the question of how he had found me. "What can I do for you Mr. Copeland?" I asked, sitting down on the couch and giving him the opportunity to tell me to call him Andrew.

He didn't take it. "Actually, that's exactly what I'm here to talk about," he said, sitting opposite me. "We're sort of wondering what you are going to do for us."

"I'm not following."

"Well, you and the guys have told the media that you'll be touring with them in part to write a tour diary for release to the fans. Quite frankly, that's the first we'd heard about it."

'Shit,' I thought. 'We should have thought about that.' Thinking quickly, I smiled. "I'm glad that you found me, then," I said. "I was thinking I would have to track you down on their break."

He didn't smile back, but nodded, apparently believing that I had been planning such a thing. "Then you have started the diary?"

"Not exactly," I said slowly, trying to come up with something plausible. "You see..."

"Nate," he said, cutting me off. "I'm not sure if you realise this, but these guys have a job to do. I don't know exactly how you managed to get invited along on this tour, since you obviously aren't working, but we don't need anyone distracting them." His tone was icy, business-like, and very condescending.

I was quickly developing an intense dislike for the man before me. "Andrew," I said, making a point of adjusting my tone to fit his. "If you will give me a moment to explain, I'm sure we can get to the same page with all of this."

"By all means," he said, his expression not changing at all.

"Like I was saying, I haven't started on the tour diary yet. I talked it over with everyone, and we thought that, since I joined them well into the tour, I couldn't write about the entire thing anyway."

"But there's no reason that you..." he started.

"And so we decided," I said, overriding his voice. "We decided that I would take a little time to adjust and get to know the guys and have them get used to having me around before I started on the actual diary. Since we got started late, we decided that the New Year was the perfect, and most natural, place to start it. January first is when everyone starts a new diary or journal. Until then, I'm hanging out with the guys and gathering background information for the book."

He sat looking at me, trying to come up with an argument against what I had said. I looked back at him, very much hoping that he couldn't do it. It seemed that he couldn't.

"Fine," he said, standing again. "We'll be expecting regular reports on how it's progressing. That is, once it gets started," he said coldly.

"What exactly is your problem with me?" I asked, unable to hold my tongue any longer.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit."

"Think what you want, Mr. Healy," he said. "As long as you do what you've said you will do. I'll have the contracts ready for you to sign by Monday."

"Contracts?"

"Regarding the book. You don't honestly expect us to just take your word for it that you'll do it, do you?" Again the condescending tone.

"Of course not," I said, getting very angry now. "Mr. Copeland, you may not like me, but I'm far from stupid, and it would be good for you to remember that." I reached into my wallet and pulled out a business card. "This is the number and address for my agent. You can have the contracts sent to her. We'll discuss them and get back to you with any changes that need to be made."

"Changes?"

"Andrew," I said. It was my turn to be condescending. "You don't really expect me to just sign anything you put in front of me, do you?" He just glowered at me and didn't say anything. "Have the contracts sent to her. Like I said, we'll discuss them and get back to you. Shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks?" he asked. "That's not acceptable."

"Best I can do," I said. "I'm taking time off with the guys while they go on vacation. I won't be able to meet with her for at least a week, maybe two."

Again the glowering, but no response.

"Well," I said, standing up again. "If you will excuse me, I have a concert to watch. It's been fun." I turned and walked to the door. Looking back at him, I smiled. "I'll tell Celia to be expecting your call." I walked out the door, leaving him staring daggers at my back.

'Arrogant little prick,' I thought to myself as I crossed the backstage area. A smile came to my lips, though, as I realised that he was probably thinking the same thing about me.

"Everything settled?" Duke asked me as I rejoined him.

I nodded. "Just a little business to take care of," I said. Searching the stage, I found Brian glancing at me. It was obvious that he'd noticed my absence.

"He's been looking for you ever since you left," Duke laughed, seeing the change in my demeanour when I saw Brian.

Startled, I turned my attention back to Duke. He just winked and didn't say anything else. He hung out for a minute, and then went to check on some sort of effect for the next song. I smiled to myself and looked back to the stage.

The concert went off without a hitch, and all of the guys seemed to be in good form. Nick was a little off, but that was understandable. No one in the audience noticed, though, if the noise was any indication. I was amazed by how much of the screaming was blocked out from backstage, though, and thankful for it.

When they finally came off stage, I followed behind Brian, walking beside AJ. Once again, I felt like the rose in the group. They were all drenched in sweat, and I realised that if they were cartoon characters, they would have those stink lines coming off of them.

That got me laughing, which drew all of their attention. I couldn't think of a way to explain it without sounding insane, so I just waved their attention away.

When we got to the dressing room again, no one ran for the bathroom like last time. Brian looked as confused as I did until Kevin spoke up and told us that they had decided to let Brian go first so that he and I could hang out together while we waited for the rest of them.

Brian and I smiled as he ran for the shower. Sitting downwind from the guys, I realised that none of them seemed at all rushed about things.

"You guys done for the night?" I asked.

"Yep," Kevin said.

"No whatchamacallit? Meet and greet?"

"Nope."

"Then we're just going back to the hotel?"

"Yep."

"You're quite the conversationalist," I laughed, making him smile.

"I just want to hit the sack," Howie said, stifling a yawn.

"Sounds like a plan," Kevin agreed.

"I'm not tired at all, actually," Nick said smugly. "Maybe the rest of you guys should have taken a nap like I did."

"I did take a nap like you did," AJ said with a grin. "You up for some video games or something?"

Nick jumped at the chance. "What about you and Brian?" he asked, turning to me.

I shrugged. "Can't speak for Brian, but I'm not all that tired. Can't say I'm up for having you whip my ass at video games, but I'll probably hang out for a while."

"Sounds good," Brian said, coming back into the room dressed in the clothes he had been wearing when we arrived. The concert clothes were thrown in a bin in the corner to be washed for the next show. What time is our flight out, Kev?"

"Nine," he said, smiling as we groaned. "You sure you don't want to come along, Nick?"

Nick just shook his head and got up to take his shower. "I'm just going to hang around home for the week," he said. "Give me a chance to catch up with everyone."

Kevin nodded and let it go as Brian came over and sat beside me, resting his hand on my knee. "So where did you disappear to during the show?" he asked, rubbing my leg.

"Oh, I got to meet one of your management people," I said, rolling my eyes.

"What's with the look?"

"Oh, nothing really. He was just a little more business-like than I would have liked."

"Who was it?"

"Andrew Copeland," I said, smiling.

Kevin groaned. "I don't like dealing with him either. He treats everyone like a little kid."

I nodded.

"What did he want to talk to you about?" Howie asked.

I filled them all in on what he had wanted, and how our meeting had gone. I felt a little bad about treating one of their management as rudely as I had, but they all smiled when I told them, so I figured that it was okay. Kevin seemed downright proud.

"He must have blown a few circuits on that one," he laughed. "I don't think anyone talks to Andrew like that."

"That's Mr. Copeland," I corrected, making them all laugh harder.

"Well if he gives you a hard time about the contracts, let me know," Kevin said. "I'll have a word with him."

I nodded and smiled. "I think Celia's more than up to the challenge, but you can be the second line of defence."

"Be sure to take us for all that we're worth," Brian said, snuggling up a little closer. Nick walked back into the room and Howie disappeared.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"In the contract. Make sure that you're getting paid well."

"I don't want to get paid at all," I said, sitting up."

"Why not?" Kevin asked. "You're doing a job, you should get paid."

"For one thing, I get just as much if not more out of being with you guys. I get the time to write, the experience of being on the road, and the advantage of having my name associated with yours. For another, it would feel like I was being paid to be with Brian, and that would just make me feel a little cheap."

"That's not what it would be," Brian said, pulling back from me a little bit.

"But that's how it would make me feel," I insisted. "And that's what counts. I'm not going to be paid to be along with you guys. Besides, the tour diary shouldn't be that hard to write. Especially with my five co-authors helping."

"Co-authors?" Nick asked.

"Sure. Think about it. You guys can help with some of the stuff that I don't know about, like what it's like to step on stage for the first time, or perform a song for the first time in front of an audience. Stuff like that. And that way, your names are on the cover too, and you'll sell that many more copies of the book." Now that I was actually thinking about the book, the ideas were coming pretty easily, and I was pleased with what I had in mind.

Kevin didn't seem to have heard my last comment. Turning his attention back to me, he squinted a little before speaking, trying to pull his idea together. "How about if you didn't get paid, but you still drew a salary?"

"What?" I asked. "How can I do that?"

"Well, you don't want the money, but you should still be compensated. And let's face it, you don't need the money, right?"

"Right."

"Then how about if we set it up so that you still draw a salary for your work, but instead of issuing it to you directly, the company issues it in your name to a charity? That way, you're compensated, the charity gets he help, and we look good all at the same time. Someone can leak the arrangement to the media, and we all come out smelling like roses."

I thought about it for a minute and nodded. "I like it. I'll have to give some thought to what charity I want it to go to, but I like it."

Kevin seemed rather proud of himself for thinking of it. "Then that's what we'll do. Be sure to tell Celia about it, and we'll all gang up on management if they balk at it."

Brian rested his head on my shoulder again, and I lay my cheek against the top of his head.

Kevin and AJ quickly showered, and we were soon being walked by security back to the limo. The ride back to the hotel was quiet, with a little idle discussion about what Howie, AJ and Nick were going to do while they were in Orlando.

By the time we got back to the room, Howie and Kevin were more than half asleep and excused themselves. Kevin promised to get us up in lots of time for the flight, and I had faith in him.

Brian and I intertwined ourselves on the couch while Nick and AJ set up the system and decided on what game to play first. They settled on some sort of boxing thing, by the look of it, and were soon pummelling the crap out of each other on the screen.

Brian yawned and rested his head on chest. Before too long, I heard his breathing even out and knew that he was asleep. I just shifted under him to make both of us more comfortable, and put my arms around him.

About an hour later, Nick succeeded in beating AJ to a pulp once again, and declared himself the champion of the universe. I smiled at him and put my finger to my lips, indicating the sleeping angel on my chest.

Nick smiled back and asked softly if I needed help getting him to bed. I just shook my head. "Could you just get us a blanket?" I asked. "We'll be fine here for the night."

AJ grinned and said goodnight, ruffling my hair on his way by. I told him I'd see him in the morning and heard his door shut behind me. Nick came back with the comforter off of our bed and spread it over us.

"Goodnight," he whispered, tucking it around us.

"See you in the morning," I whispered back, smoothing the comforter over us without waking Brian.

Nick nodded and headed for his room while I gently kissed Brian's forehead and closed my eyes.

To Be Continued...

Okay, there it is. Sorry that it's taken longer than normal to get this one out, but it was a bit of a challenge to write. I knew what I wanted to say, but was having a lot of trouble saying it.

Oh, and just so that you're all prepared, the next one may take a little longer as well. It's going to be somewhat of a collaborative effort with Matt (author of "Search & Rescue") and we can only communicate through email, so it may take a bit more time to get finished. I promise, though, that you'll get it as soon as I have it. :)

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on the last installment, particularly Part 67. My mind is much more at ease now. :)

Comments and suggestions are more than welcome! Email me at dls_stories@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading!

~D~