Brian and Me

Okay, to get the usual formalities out of the way:

If you shouldn't be reading this story, don't. Or do, I don't care and won't be held responsible. If you're allowed to read this story and yet it bothers you to do so, don't read it. Again, I don't care. If you're allowed, and you like it, welcome! :) Nothing that you are about to read is meant to imply anything about the characters portrayed.

Now that that's out of the way, I have a few people to thank, so bear with me. First, I have to thank Matt. There's been some trying times for him in this, the first crossover installment, and yet he's remained as wonderful as ever. :) I can't think of anyone that I'd rather work with. I just wish I could actually hear that sexy southern accent. ;P

JB and EG have got to be mentioned, just merely for putting up with me and for being so damned cool. :) While neither one of them have informed me of any sexy accents they might have, I like 'em anyway. :P They're both just so sweet and fun. Once again, I have bypassed the editorial process in order to get this one out faster, so they are in no way to blame for any errors herein.

And a general thanks to everyone who's taken the time to write and let me know what they think of the story, and to encourage me in the writing of it. As a few of you know, I had a death in the family that knocked me off course for a few days, but being able to talk about it helped a lot. You know who you are, and now you know how much it meant to me. Thank you.

Finally, stories to keep your eye on. Well, if my opinion means anything, that is. :P Be sure to check out "Search & Rescue" by Matt, of course, "Adam, Zach, and BSB" by EG, "Lucky Me" by Lauren, "Some Kind of Bliss" by Braan, "Lance in Shining Armour" by Scotty, and "Separate Lives" by Chris Taylor, in no particular order. All are great stories, and each of the authors has managed to weasel themselves a place in my heart. And I use weasel here in the best possible way. :)

Now, on with it before you start throwing things.

Enjoy!

PART 73

Waking up next to Brian was wonderful. Waking up under Brian was... different. While any sort of contact with him was welcome, I could do without my front being soaked in drool. Raising my head a little, I winced and vowed that next time I'd just wake him up if he fell asleep on the couch, no matter how cute he looked.

I looked around the room and realised that it was a little too early even for Kevin to be up. Before I could even begin to wonder why on earth I would be awake at such an hour, I had my answer. Nature had stopped simply calling and had moved on to using a bullhorn. My next step was to get myself out from under Brian without waking him.

Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have a deathgrip on me, so it soon proved impossible. Rubbing his back, I shook him briefly. He let out a little snore and hugged me tighter which, in my present condition, was the last thing I needed. Shaking him a little more forcefully, I finally got his eyes open.

He blinked in the sudden light and looked up at me, grimacing as he wiped the moisture from his chin. "Why..." he croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Why are we out here?"

I smiled at him, then shoved him off of me. "You fell asleep out here last night and so I figured we'd stay there rather than wake you up and get you to bed and now I really have to go to the bathroom and I'll be right back," I said behind me as I jumped off of the couch and ran for our room. There was a few seconds of silence while he processed, and then he started laughing.

He was still snickering to himself when I came back out into the room. "Feel better?"

"Much," I said, looking at him sourly. "I'd be pretty much perfect if I had a dry shirt on, though," I added with a smirk as I pulled the front of my shirt away from my body.

Brian's grin faltered a little bit until I started laughing, then it came back full force. "Sorry about that," he said. "But that's what you do to me."

"Oh shut up," I laughed, sitting down with him again.

"Why don't you make me?"

And so I did the only thing I could think of to still his lips. By the time we were through, he didn't have enough breath to be a smart-ass. Grinning, I sat back on the couch and put my feet up on his lap.

"Why don't we go somewhere a little more comfortable?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh, I'm pretty comfortable right here," I said, putting my arms behind my head and shifting on the couch. In truth, my head was at an angle that really amplified the pain in my neck, but I wasn't about to let him know that.

Grabbing my feet, he threw them off the side of the couch, forcing me to sit up. "How about now?"

"Well now I'm not nearly as comfortable," I laughed. "But we should still probably stay out here. Kevin's going to be coming after us soon, and if we go in there, he's liable to interrupt something we don't want interrupted."

"Who says we're going to do anything more than sleep?" Brian asked innocently. "But I suppose you've got a point. How about we just lay here for a little while?"

"Sounds good," I said with a smile. "But this time I'm sleeping on you. I've absorbed enough of your slobber for one day."

Brian laughed and grabbed me, his hands going for my shirt. In no time, he had it off of me and lying on the floor. "Now are you going to stop complaining and sleep with me?"

"Well when you put it like that," I said, smiling. Pushing him back on the couch, I lay down with him, running my hands underneath his shirt and putting my head on his chest.

"I didn't say you could tickle me," Brian laughed, slapping at my hands. I stopped moving them around and held him while he pulled the blanket back over us. Pulling it up to his chin, he completely covered me over with it.

While I couldn't see his face, I could tell from the way his chest was hitching that he was trying not to laugh out loud. Considering my options carefully, I decided that the purple nurple was the way to go. Grabbing his nipple and twisting it, I immediately noticed that his laughter stopped. He jerked into a sitting position with me still clinging to him, and the blanket fell down over my back.

"That's much better," I said sweetly, hugging to him and forcing him to lay down again.

"Oh yeah," he grumbled. "Much better." Putting his hands on my back, he relaxed under me and we were soon both snoozing happily again.

Until, that is, Kevin decided we needed to be up.

"Come on you two," he said, nudging us with his knee on the way to the phone.

"Uh." It was about the most coherent I could be with a mouthful of Brian's shirt and my eyes still closed. "Aruh."

"Yeah, that's great Nate," Kevin laughed. "But you've still got to get up at some point." I heard him pick up the phone and order us some breakfast. Judging by the quantity he ordered, he was obviously expecting the rest of the guys to get up to see us off.

"Don't count on it," Brian said, putting his arms around me and rolling on his side. I was now pinned between him and the back of the couch, protected from Kevin's prodding knee.

I was just nicely falling back asleep when Kevin put the phone down and walked by again. "I'll give you until the food gets here, and then you're getting up," he laughed. "And don't think I can't still get you Nate."

I smiled against Brian's chest, unwrapped my arm from around him, and gave Kevin the finger. I had apparently misjudged the distance between us, because in no time, Kevin had taken hold of my wrist and pulled me up over Brian and onto the floor in front of the couch.

"You think your tiny boyfriend can really protect you from me?" he asked, laughing as I stood up.

"Who you calling tiny?" Brian asked.

"Hey, I don't need any puny boyfriend for protection. Not from the likes of you, tall, dark and oogly," I responded, punching him lightly in the stomach.

"Excuse me, but I'm not puny," Brian said, sitting up on the couch.

"Better be careful," Kevin warned. "You don't want to start something you can't finish, even with the help of the wee man on the couch."

"Hey! I'm certainly not wee! You guys better stop it!"

"Listen to him Nate," Kevin grinned. "He may be little, but he knows what he's talking about."

"That's it," Brian said, standing up. "You two can bicker back and forth if you want, but I'm not going to sit here and catch the overflow." Stepping between us, he traced his finger across my chest. "I'm going to take a shower," he said. "I could use the company."

The smile immediately grew on my face as I took his hand and let him lead me away from the couch. I stuck my tongue out at Kevin - turning my head away from Brian to do so - and turned to follow him.

Behind me, Kevin made a whipcrack sound and started to snicker.

"Whipped, am I?" I asked, spinning and running at him. He wasn't expecting it, but he had lots of time to ready himself while I charged him. I jumped at him, meaning to knock him back into the chair he was standing in front of.

Kevin caught me and threw me on the couch instead. That boy was strong! Jumping up again I put him in a headlock and started to noogie him viciously. I barely heard Brian laughing, and the bedroom door close behind me.

Kevin managed to get free of the headlock and pushed me into the chair. Reaching out, he smacked me on the back of the head. "Had enough, young lad?"

"Listen old man," I grinned. "You may be bigger than I am, but that just means that there's more ass for me to kick." Jumping out of the chair, I went for his knees, bringing him to the floor.

Kevin laughed and rolled away, trying to get up. But my deathgrip on his knees wasn't about to let up, and he dragged me for a couple of feet before giving up plan A.

Plan B was apparently flicking me in the forehead until I had to let go. It worked after about the fifth flick, but I managed to catch hold of one of his feet again before he could crawl away. Pulling him towards me again, I jumped on his back and pinned his hands behind him.

"Now how about you, old timer? Ready to give in?"

"All right, all right," he laughed, relaxing under me. "You win this time, but I'll get even."

"Say uncle," I insisted, giving his arm a twist.

"Uncle!" he yelled, still laughing. "Now get off of me before people start to talk."

"Kevin," I said, standing up and giving him my hand. "Sweetie, honey, baby. What makes you think I would settle for you? You have seen Brian, right?"

"Oh please. Just go have your shower and shut up," he grinned, swatting me again.

I turned around, seeing Howie, AJ, and Nick each standing in their doorways watching us. Nothing like a loud wrestling match to fill a room with boy band members. Taking that theory a bit further, it occurred to me that if we had been louder, we might have been able to reform the New Kids on the Block. As I thought about it, I was increasingly happy that we hadn't been any louder.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Howie asked, running his hand through his hair. I started to feel bad about waking them up, but figured that if I had to be awake, they could suffer with me.

"Kevin was just demonstrating how old age makes you slow and weak," I laughed, elbowing Kevin in the stomach.

"You're cruisin' for a bruisin'," Kevin warned, elbowing me back.

Nick laughed and vaulted the back of the couch, landing sitting up with his feet on the cushions. "Whatever you're doing, you're doing it loud enough to wake the dead."

AJ sat down in a chair and laughed. "Boy, never thought I'd hear someone saying that to you two. Nate and Brian, sure, but not you two."

"That's just sick on so many levels," Kevin grinned. "Not the least of which is Nate's being butt ugly."

"Oh I love you too," I laughed, patting his cheek and sitting down. Howie had joined us and seemed to be dozing in his chair, probably eagerly awaiting the arrival of coffee.

"Speaking of ugly butts," AJ said, looking around. "Where's your better half?"

"Two things," I smiled. "First is that I'm his better half, and second is that you obviously haven't taken the time to truly appreciate his butt."

AJ pretended to consider it. "True, and true," he finally said, smiling back at me. "But that doesn't answer the underlying question. Where is he?"

"Brian's in the shower," Kevin said. "Nate chose to wrestle with me instead of joining him," he added proudly and making me laugh.

"Are you crazy?" Nick asked, looking at me.

"Hey!" Kevin protested.

"I must be," I agreed soberly. "Maybe I'll go check on him. Just to see how he's doing. You know, see if he needs anything."

"Oh I'm sure he needs something all right," AJ laughed as I stood, blushing.

"Quiet you," I said, heading across the room. I gave them a brief wave and disappeared into our bedroom. Pushing the bathroom door open, I was just in time to see Brian pull on my robe.

"That was quick," I laughed, startling him.

"Well, there wasn't much to distract me," he smiled.

"Don't suppose you want to take another one?"

"Sorry," he said, passing by me and walking into the bedroom. "You chose to play with Kevin. You made your bed, now lie in it."

I grabbed him and threw him on the bed, then climbed on top of it. "Seems to me that we didn't even get to sleep in it last night," I said, opening the robe and kissing his chest.

"Seems to me that you're trying to make up for choosing my cousin over me," he grinned, urging me further up on the bed so that he could kiss me.

"Seems to me that it's working," I said, just as our lips met.

"Sweetie," he said, pulling away and smiling at me. "You have to get showered before breakfast gets here or you're not eating."

"But you could protect my plate for me," I tried, kissing him again.

"Who me? Your puny boyfriend?" he laughed. "I don't know about that. All of you big brutish men scare me."

I rolled my eyes and climbed off of him. "Fine, fine. You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"About as soon as I let you go," he said, grinning from the bed.

"Does that mean you're coming too?"

"I was speaking figuratively, not literally," he laughed. "Now go shower. You stink."

With a sigh, I walked to the bathroom, unbuckling my belt. Shutting the door, I started the water in the shower and stripped down, taking a minute to run my fingers through my hair. I was still debating letting it grow, but I was starting to lean toward chopping it off again. Letting it fall through my fingers, I stepped away from the mirror and into the stall.

It was quite possibly the fastest shower in the history of showering. Something told me that Brian really wouldn't protect my breakfast, and my stomach was now wide awake.

Turning the water off, I stepped out into the steamy bathroom again and reached for my towel. As I took it off of the hook, I noted that my robe was now hanging underneath it and smiled at Brian's thoughtfulness.

I quickly dried myself off and put the robe on. Walking back into the bedroom, I noticed my slippers sitting on the bed and laughed. I grabbed some boxers and threw them on, then pulled some chinos out of the closet, along with a black t-shirt and put them on as well.

When I got out into the main room, I found everyone eating already. There was one plate still covered, so I sat there. Through some cosmic coincidence, I happened to wind up beside Brian. He smiled at me as I sat and moved over a little bit so that our legs were touching.

"Can't you two go five minutes without rubbing against each other?" AJ laughed. He was sitting on the other side of me.

"AJ, if you could rub up against him too, you wouldn't want to stop," Brian said. I smiled proudly and began eating.

"Hmph." AJ grinned and crowded me on his side so that our legs were touching as well. "Doesn't seem so special."

"Maybe you're not rubbing him right," Kevin laughed.

"He better not be," Brian grinned. "You're gonna have to get your own." He put his hand on my knee. I took another bite.

"But what if I want him?" AJ asked, also dropping his hand to my knee. I looked at him and smiled, thinking he was playing a losing game. Brian was going to be willing to go a lot further than he was. Turning my head, I took another bite of pancake and waited for Brian's next move.

A couple of seconds later, I felt him lean toward me, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Too bad. He's mine."

"Oh please," AJ said. He leaned over as well, planting one on me as the other guys laughed. "You're going to have to do better than that." I grinned to myself and stabbed a piece of bacon with my fork.

Brian set his own fork down and turned back to us with a smile. "Fine," he said, reaching out and turning my head to face him. Tilting his head a little, he kissed me. Then he sat back, looking rather proud of himself.

AJ rolled his eyes and turned me to face him. With a sly grin, he also kissed me. I heard Brian laugh a little bit, and thought to myself that it was probably a good thing we were leaving the rest of the guys for a little while. In the last two days, two of the four remaining Backstreet Boys had managed to kiss me. I wasn't sure if I could take much more of this.

Thinking this, I turned away from AJ with a smile. Misreading that smile, Brian arched his eyebrow at me and leaned forward again. I was about to continue eating, thinking that they were done, when Brian took hold of my head again and pulled me to him.

This time, the kiss was far from innocent. Brian's tongue slipped past my lips as his hands worked through my hair. We continued until Howie cleared his throat. Brian let go of the back of my head and sat back again, licking his lips. "Mmmmm... pancakes."

Everyone laughed, and I looked around at each of them, particularly at Howie. He was grinning as well, and I felt a bit more at ease.

AJ tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to face him. As soon as I did so, he put his hands to the side of my head. I smiled, wondering if he was really going to go through with it. Every eye in the room was on us. It really looked like AJ was willing to take it as far as necessary. He smiled at me, took a deep breath, and...

Laughed.

While not too terribly good for my ego, I had to admit that it was funny. "Sorry man," AJ said, releasing me again. "I just can't do it."

Brian looked relieved when I glanced at him, then he smiled at me. "It's okay, AJ," I said. "You couldn't have done it better than Brian anyway." Brian's hand took mine beside me.

"But you were really going to let him," Kevin pointed out with a laugh.

"Sure," I said, shrugging. I took another bite of my pancakes, which were already getting cold and thus a bit beyond my ability to stomach them. "I figured that if he had the nerve to keep it up, who am I to stop him."

"You're my boyfriend, that's who," Brian said, jabbing me in the ribs.

"And you're my boyfriend, and you were egging him on," I pointed out, jabbing him back. I pushed my plate away and started in on the bowl of fruit that was sitting beside it. "Besides, as if anyone in their right mind would turn down a kiss from their favourite Backstreet Boy."

AJ laughed and moved away from me again on the couch.

"Come on guys," Kevin said, pushing his own plate away from him. "We don't have a lot of time to get ready. You two still have to pack too, don't you."

"We can't all be as uptight as you, Kev," Brian grinned. He must have decided that I needed help, because he started digging through my bowl of fruit as well.

"We'll be fine," I said, looking at Kevin.

"Well you just need to pack what you want for this week," he said, standing up. "I've arranged to have the rest of your stuff sent to your apartment in Toronto so it will be there when you get there next week."

"That's good. I was wondering how we were going to manage all of our stuff," I responded, noticing that my bowl was empty. I set it on top of my plate and added them both to the cart, where most of the guys had already put their things.

Brian put the last berry between his lips and smiled at me, taunting me with it.

"You better give me that," I warned him, turning back to the couch.

Brian didn't say anything, but jumped up and ran for the bedroom. I laughed and chased after him, my selective hearing kicking in and allowing me to ignore the four voices behind me telling us to pack.

I caught him as he reached the doorway, and I threw him inside the room. Closing the door behind us, I pushed him toward the bed, where he sat down, chewing contentedly.

I sat facing him on his lap, resting my knees on the bed. "You," I said, jabbing my finger into his chest. "Are going to pay for that." I pushed with my finger, forcing him to lie down on the bed.

"Oh boy."

Leaning over him, I kissed his nose. "And you're going to pay big-time."

"But we have to pack," he said, smiling.

"Your point being?" I kissed his cheek.

"That Kevin's going to come barging in here in a few minutes expecting us to be ready to go."

"Oh I'm ready to go," I said, pressing my lips to his. I let my weight settle on him and ran my hands up under his shirt. His hands came to rest on the small of my back, pressing me to him gently. I could feel Brian reacting favourably to the kiss.

"Why did you have to start this now?" he panted regretfully, holding me.

"Because I knew we didn't have time," I said cheerfully, jumping off of him and digging out the suitcases from beneath the bed. "Now let's get packed.

Brian sat up, gaping at me. "But what about..."

"Sorry, no time," I said, an evil grin spreading across my face. "Guess I'll have to catch up with you later."

Brian just continued to look at me.

With a laugh, I leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Told you you were going to pay for that," I said softly before moving toward the closet.

"Oh you bastard," Brian chuckled. "You little bastard."

"Sweet talk isn't going to get you anywhere," I laughed, pulling out some clothes.

"Yeah well you just wait and see how easy I am to catch up with later, mister," Brian said, pushing me out of the way to get to his own clothes.

"You? You're easy to catch. It's AJ that's the problem," I said, abandoning the closet for the moment and heading for the dresser.

I got about three pairs of boxers packed before Brian decided he needed to be there too and nudged me out of the way again. "You're having quite a time lately," he said, pretending to be hurt. "Yesterday you're making out with Nick on the bed, this morning you're wrestling around half naked with Kevin and kissing AJ on the couch. You're a hussy. That's what you are. A hussy."

I laughed and sat down on the bed, figuring that I wasn't going to get any packing done until Brian was finished. "A hussy? I guess you'd know, you little tramp."

"A tramp!" Brian said, loud enough that I'm sure the guys heard in the other room. "You're calling me a tramp?"

"Well what would you call it? I walk into the room last night to find you with three other almost naked guys, offering lap dances to every guy who walks into the room with a handful of dollar bills. If that's not a tramp, I don't know what is." I was really having a hard time keeping a straight face, and watching Brian's struggle didn't make it any easier.

"Yeah, well at least I'm not dating a tramp," he said, turning back to the closet.

"No, you're dating a hussy," I shot back, taking the advantage and packing a few pairs of socks before he came back. Which he did as soon as he saw me. With a sigh, I returned to my seat on the corner of the bed.

"But he's an adorable hussy," Brian smiled.

"Really? My tramp is beautiful," I laughed.

"And lucky," Brian said, sitting beside me.

"I think they're both pretty lucky."

"I think you're right."

"I also think they both have to finish packing before they do something to make them really late for their flight."

"Again, you couldn't be more right," he said, giving me a hand off of the bed.

"I love hearing people say that," I laughed. "Now, you pack the dresser, I'll pack the closet, then we switch."

"Agreed," Brian said, offering me a little salute before turning away.

About ten minutes later, we both had our bags packed and sitting in front of the door. Brian stood there for a minute, listening, then moved to the door and stuck his head out.

Closing it again, he turned and joined me on the bed. "Coast is clear. No sign of Kevin."

"Good," I smiled, pulling him to me and tipping us both over onto the bed. "That's just the way I like my coast."

"Me too," he said softly, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Let's go you two!" Kevin yelled, knocking on the door.

"How does he do that?" Brian asked, exasperated.

"I don't know but I wish he'd stop," I laughed, sitting up again. "Come on. We've got two weeks together. We can put up with the next few hours."

I offered him my hand and pulled him from the bed. I grabbed the bags that would be going to Memphis with us, and Brian took the ones that were heading north.

The guys were all in the main room again, to see us off. Nick was the only one coming to the airport with us, so he was the only one dressed to go out. AJ and Howie were both still in their casual morning clothes.

"See you in a couple of weeks, man," AJ said, offering his hand.

I shook it with a smile. "Not if I see you first. Try not to get anything pierced or tattooed without me, eh?"

"You wanna go with me?" he asked excitedly.

"No, he doesn't," Brian said smoothly, bumping me out of the way and hugging AJ. "Don't you be piercing my man."

I laughed and shook hands with Howie as well. "See you later, Howie," I said. It was still a little awkward talking with him. I hadn't yet learned to read him as I had AJ, Kevin, and Nick.

"Yeah, Nate. Have fun in Memphis," he said, smiling. "But not too much fun. One tabloid story is enough."

I laughed and squeezed his hand before letting it go. "I'll do my best. Besides, Kevin's going to be there to look out for us."

"I'm not cleaning up your messes," Kevin said as I stepped aside to let Brian say goodbye to Howie.

Nick started to put his arm around my shoulders, and then stopped. He looked a little embarrassed about it and let his arm fall to his side instead. I smiled to reassure him that things were okay, then put my arm around his shoulders instead.

Brian saw this and smiled, then stood behind me and took my other hand. Kevin finished his goodbyes and picked up his bag. Nick was helping Brian and I with ours, so we had a pretty light load.

"Okay guys, we're leaving," Kevin said, taking his fatherly tone. "Try to behave yourselves. Don't trash the room," he looked pointedly at AJ, and I wondered if there was history there that I wanted to know about. "And don't be having big parties," this time he looked at Howie, and again I had to wonder about the missing history behind the statement.

"What about Nick?" AJ asked with an innocent smile. "Doesn't he get warnings?"

"I don't need them," Nick said smugly.

"He's getting them," Kevin assured us all. "But I've got the entire ride to the airport to talk to him." This deflated Nick's bubble a little, and I laughed. Kevin turned to me and smiled. "And don't think you two are off the hook," he admonished. "But I've got you where I can keep my eye on you."

"All the time?" Brian asked sweetly, leaning over and biting my ear lobe.

"Ugh, get them outta here," AJ said, rolling his eyes at us.

"This morning you couldn't keep your hands off of him," Nick pointed out with a laugh as he picked up a couple of bags.

"Good point Nick," I said, patting him on the head.

"You know," Howie said with a grin. "If you never leave, we can't miss you."

"Whoa! Message received," I laughed. "We know when we're not wanted."

"Apparently not, or we'd only see you half as much as we do," Kevin said, laughing and pushing me out the door. "Now let's go before we miss the plane."

Brian and I grabbed our things and headed for the elevator, with Nick and Kevin right behind. AJ and Howie stood in the doorway until the elevator doors closed and we couldn't see them anymore.

When they opened again on the lobby, the first thing I noticed was that there weren't a lot of fans outside. I didn't see any security people standing around, and was just as glad. I didn't particularly care for being watched over.

I excused myself for a moment and ran to the front desk. "I believe that you have a package for Nate Healy," I said to the pretty young woman behind the desk. "It should have arrived late yesterday, I think."

She checked the delivery register and then went to a little cubby-hole behind her, pulling out a thick manila envelope. "Here you go, sir," she said. "Please sign here."

I quickly wrote my name and thanked her, then rejoined the rest of the guys.

"What's in the envelope?" Nick asked.

"That book I was supposed to get for Matt. I had Carrie send a copy for me."

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Kevin said, throwing the doors open and walking outside. He gave his things to the bellhop, who took all of our things and loaded them into the trunk, then disappeared back inside the hotel.

Checking his watch, Kevin turned to the rest of us. "We've got a few minutes until we have to be on the road. You guys feel up to signing a few autographs?"

I mentally left the conversation at that point, since these people weren't here to get my signature. Apparently, both Brian and Nick did indeed feel like signing some, though, because they were splitting up and each of them headed to a different part of the crowd and started grabbing pens.

Deciding that I was more in the way than anything else, I headed for the car, figuring on waiting there until the guys were ready to go. I had just reached for the doorhandle when I heard Brian call my name. Looking back at him, he had an amused expression on his face.

"She's talking to you," he laughed and pointed behind me. I turned around and saw a young girl holding out a pen. She was indeed calling my name, but she was using my full name, which was why I hadn't picked her voice out of the crowd.

"Nathaniel!" she called again, seeing me looking at her. I mentally shrugged and headed over to see what she wanted. Probably wanted me to give something to the guys, or convince one of them to give her a hug or something. "Nathaniel!" she said when I got over to her.

"That's me, I guess," I laughed. "What can I do for you?"

She seemed really happy to be talking to me, though I couldn't figure out why. "Could you sign my copy of 'Blue Sky'?" She asked, sticking out both hands. In one was a gold pen, and in the other was a copy of my book. That was why she had been using my full name. It was written in bold letters across the bottom of the cover.

"Uh, sure," I said, still reeling from her request. Who was I to be handing out autographs? "No problem." I took the book and pen from her. "What's your name?"

"Katie," she said, looking at me eagerly.

Taking the pen, I thought for a minute and then started to write. 'To Katie, the very first person to ever ask me for an autograph. Hope you liked the book!' As I scrawled my name - my full name - underneath what I had written and added the date, I realised how lame my comment was.

'Oh well, too late now,' I thought, closing the book and handing both it and the pen back to her. "There you go," I said, smiling.

"Thanks! When's the next book coming out?" she asked, putting the pen in her pocket. She was still showing much more excitement than meeting me warranted, in my opinion.

I laughed. "Well, I'm working on it now, so not for a little while yet. Did you enjoy that one?" I asked, pointing to the one in her hands.

"Oh yeah, it was great!" she said, reaching out and touching my hand. "I read how much the Backstreet Boys liked it, and went out that same day and got it."

"Is that so?" I asked, my smile growing. I made a note to myself to call Carrie and tell her. I was sure she'd be as happy as I was.

Katie was about to speak again when I saw her eyes flick behind me and her mouth fall open. Seeing three shadows fall over mine, I knew that the guys were behind me. "Guys," I said, turning a little bit. "I want you to meet Katie. Seems she's lost her tongue somewhere." I laughed and pulled them over beside me. "Katie, this is Kevin, Brian and Nick."

They all shook her hands and tried to get her to speak, but she couldn't seem to make a sound. Her mouth was working, but nothing was coming out. In the end, they all signed a piece of paper for her (obtained from another fan nearby in exchange for autographs) and put it in the book.

"It's been nice seeing you all," Kevin announced to the crowd. "But we've got to be going. Thanks for coming!"

Brian put his hand in the small of my back and pushed me toward the car. I gave Katie a smile and a wave, then walked with him and got in. By unspoken agreement, Brian sat opposite Kevin and I. Nick, the last to get in, sat beside Brian.

Brian spent the ride to the airport chatting with Nick, and I was glad. I didn't like feeling like I was coming between their friendship, and it was obvious that Nick missed spending so much time with Brian. Seeing them engrossed in conversation, I turned my attention to Kevin.

"So you ready to see the girlfriend again?" I asked him with a grin.

"Ex-girlfriend," Kevin corrected me and laughed. "And yeah, I think so. I mean, things are pretty clear with us. We're just going to be friends. I told her about Carrie, and she understands."

"Then what is all this about having stuff to talk about?" I asked. I had long since stopped wondering if there was anything still going on between Kevin and Kathy. I was just curious.

"I'm not sure," Kevin said, shrugging. "She said that she wanted to talk to me about some things, and to bring you guys along with me. I guess she's just looking for closure or something."

I nodded. "Sure, I can see that. I mean, I can see where breaking up with a Backstreet Boy would be pretty hard to deal with." My gaze turned back to Brian, who was laughing about something with Nick, his head tilted back a little bit. I couldn't imagine actually breaking up with him. Being apart for a few days had been torture enough. I felt a hitch in my breathing just thinking about it.

Kevin followed my eyes and put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Nate. You're in love. I don't think Kathy and I were ever actually in love. I love her, and she loves me, but were we in love? I don't think so."

I smiled. "I do love him, you know."

Brian heard that and looked over at us, as did Nick. I watched as the smile broke across Brian's face. I blushed a little bit and smiled back. He winked, then turned his attention back to Nick.

"I know you do," Kevin said softly, squeezing my shoulder a bit. "We all know that. And that's why you can't think about stuff like that. You have to have faith that it's not going to happen to you."

"Faith isn't exactly my strong suit," I said. This was something that I had been thinking about in the back of my head for quite some time. It wasn't a secret that Brian was a spiritual person, and I was sort of waiting for it to come up between us. My heart had skipped a beat the night before when Brian had invited me into the group prayer, but nothing had come of it. I didn't think I had said it loud enough for Kevin to hear, but apparently I had.

"First of all, that's not the kind of faith I meant. Second, that's something that you're going to have to talk about, I guess. But I can tell you that Brian's not the kind of person who would give up on someone just because they had a different point of view."

"I know that," I said, lowering my voice even more and glancing to make sure that Brian wasn't paying attention. He was laughing again with Nick about something. "But it still worries me, Kevin. It's not like I'm just of a different faith than he is. I don't have a faith in the first place."

Kevin noted the worry on my face and sobered. "Everyone has a faith, Nate." I started to tell him that he was wrong when he put his hand up to stop me. "Not having a faith is a faith in itself, isn't it?"

I frowned as I thought about that. I suppose, in the loosest sense of the word, I did have some sort of faith. It was raw and unexamined, but it was there. I had to give him that much.

"Okay," I said, nodding. "I get your point. But who's to say whether or not my form of faith is compatible with his?"

"You are," Kevin said, leaning in so that we wouldn't be overheard. "Think about it. Do you think that your relationship is completely compatible with his faith?" It was something that hadn't really occurred to me, though it should have. I blinked at the thought before Kevin continued. "Brian's open-minded enough to know that faith isn't the only way to judge something. He knows that some things are beyond rational judgement. Trust him."

I looked over at Brian. He was wearing a grey t-shirt, but I knew that below that, there was a little gold cross dangling from a fine chain. Before he could notice that I was watching him, I looked back to Kevin's face and saw the certainty there.

"Okay," I said, nodding.

"You're still going to worry about it aren't you?" Kevin asked, smiling.

"Oh yeah," I laughed. "Oh yeah."

Kevin nodded his understanding. "If you need to talk about it, feel free to come to me," he said. "I like to think that I know him pretty well."

"Thanks," I said with a smile. "I might just take you up on that."

"Take him up on what?" Nick asked, and I noticed that they were both looking at Kevin and I.

"You propositioning my boyfriend?" Brian asked, winking at me.

"Sweetie, you have no idea," I laughed. Kevin looked at me with large eyes. "He's been coming on to me since we got in the car."

"I knew he couldn't be straight," Brian grinned. "He's too pretty to be straight."

"Y'all can stop that right now," Kevin laughed. "Before I have to kick your pansy asses all over the airport."

"Speaking of which," Nick said, pointing. We were just pulling up to the doors. "I guess this is goodbye."

PART 74

Kevin said a quick goodbye to Nick and got out of the car. Brian's goodbye was a little longer.

"See you in a week, right?" he asked Nick after giving him a hug.

"Yeah, I'll meet you in Toronto."

Brian smiled and punched him lightly on the arm before he got out and joined Kevin at the rear of the car.

"One week," I said, looking at him closely. "If you're not there I'm coming to Orlando to kick your ass north."

He smiled. "I'm not going to cancel on you."

"Good. Now give me a hug before Kevin drags me out of here by the ear." I laughed and hugged him, then climbed out and joined Kevin and Brian.

Nick closed the door and lowered the window. "Now you three behave yourselves!"

"That goes double for you!" Kevin said, starting into a rant about responsibility. "I don't want..."

"What was that?" Nick asked, putting the window up slowly. "I can't hear you Kev!" The window sealed shut and the car pulled away from the curb.

"Little bugger," Kevin mumbled under his breath while Brian and I laughed.

"Come on," Brian said, grabbing his things. Kevin and I followed him into the airport. They were both wearing hats and sunglasses. It seemed to be the disguise of choice among the guys. Looking at them both, I could see how it could be effective. If you knew who they were, it was more than obvious, but if you weren't expecting to see them, they would probably just appear to be two attractive young men.

We got inside and checked our luggage, and then Kevin excused himself for a moment. Brian and I took a seat in the lounge and tried to keep from touching each other. We spent the time talking casually about what we wanted to do while we were in Memphis, and I answered a few questions of his about the cabin we were going to be staying in the next week.

Kevin came back about fifteen minutes later with another man in a suit. "Okay," he said. "I've arranged for us to board the plane first. That way we avoid any crowds, and no one knows that we're here until they get on. They're going to call ahead and make sure that we're last to leave the plane in Memphis for the same reason."

Brian and I nodded. "So when do we board?" I asked.

"Right now," the man said with a smile. "There's still about fifteen minutes before they call the flight, so you've got lots of time to get on board and get yourselves settled."

Brian and I stood and I grabbed my computer bag. It was the only piece of luggage that we hadn't checked.

The man directed us through the terminal quickly and we were soon boarding the plane. He personally took our tickets and showed us to our seats, which were in the front section of first class. I didn't see how most of the people on the plane would even get a look at us, unless we needed to use the washrooms.

Kevin smiled, obviously pleased with the seating arrangements, and thanked the man. He gave us each a smile and told us that a flight attendant would be over to see if there was anything that we needed before the rest of the passengers boarded, and then left us.

"So what do you know about this Matt guy?" Brian asked Kevin, sitting down beside me.

"Well, quite a bit, actually. But I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to know, if you get my drift. I'm not sure what I can tell you about him."

That aroused both of our interests, but Kevin refused to budge.

"Look," he said. "Here's what I can tell you about him. He's one of Kathy's dearest friends, probably her best friend. He lives in Memphis, and he's a nurse. She's alluded to the fact that he's financially stable, but she's never really said much about that. Aside from that, you know about his being with JC. Anything else you'll have to get out of him once we get there."

"He's a nurse?" Brian asked with a smile. "Talk about a stereotype."

"Be nice," I said, punching him. "Not everyone can be as butch as you are."

"Cut it out you two," Kevin said, looking around us. "Last thing we need is someone overhearing you two queens."

"Oh you're going to pay for that one," Brian warned.

"Fine, but I'll pay for it later. Just remember that we're about to be surrounded by people."

Brian and I smiled at each other and then sat straight in our seats, keeping our eyes away from each other. Kevin laughed. "You can look at each other."

"Can I get you gentlemen anything before we begin taking on the other passengers?" a young man asked us. From his uniform, he was the flight attendant mentioned earlier.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Kevin said.

"Can I get a pillow and a blanket?" I asked. "I like to sleep through as much of the flight as I can."

"That goes for me too," Brian said, smiling at him.

"Certainly," he said, smiling back.

Five minutes later, we were all settled in and they were beginning to let on the other passengers. Brian and Kevin avoided looking behind them, hoping to avoid being recognised, but I turned in my seat and watched as they filed into the plane.

"Any cute guys?" Brian whispered, leaning toward me a bit.

"Just the one, but he came with me," I laughed.

"Thanks," Kevin said, laughing. "You're too kind."

"It's one of my few faults," I laughed, turning around in my seat again. I adjusted my pillow and sat back, hoping that I could manage to get to sleep quickly.

Brian tensed as soon as the engines started to cycle up, which completely took my mind off of sleeping. I glanced at him and started to take his hand before I noticed Kevin frowning slightly.

Thinking for a second, I took his blanket and covered him with it, making sure to cover up his armrest and my own. Then I spread my own blanket over myself, covering the same area so that they overlapped. Sitting back, I reached over and pulled Brian's hand into my lap and held it.

Kevin scrutinised us, then smiled, so I knew that it looked completely innocent. Had there been any doubt, I knew I would be seeing the patented Kevin Richardson scowl. I smiled at them both and felt Brian's hand squeeze mine.

"It really is okay, you know," I said casually. "Flying is much safer than driving."

"How often do a hundred people die in a car accident?" he countered, still looking a bit tense. I could feel the sweat on his palm.

"Just try to relax," I urged him. "Once we're in the air, you'll be fine."

"If I can get a drink into me I'll be fine," he laughed.

"Well, once they start handing them out, we'll both have one. Then I'm going to sleep if I can."

Brian nodded and lay his head back. His hand was still in mine, but it wasn't as tense as it had been.

Once the plane was in the air and the seatbelt light had gone out, the attendants started making the rounds, asking if anyone would like a drink. The three of us all ordered rye and Coke.

Brian drank his a little more quickly than I had anticipated, but he did seem to relax a bit. I finished mine shortly after he did and sat back in my seat again. Brian's hand released mine and settled on my thigh.

"You going to sleep now?"

I nodded. Leaning over, I put my lips near his ear. "Unless you want to join the mile-high club," I whispered, licking his earlobe.

His hand squeezed my thigh, and he looked at me. "Do you really think that Kevin's going to let us both get up and go to the bathroom at the same time? He may be dumb, but he's not stupid."

I laughed. "Another time then, I guess," I said with a smirk. "But if you want me to stay up and talk, that's good too."

"No, you go ahead. I know how much flying takes out of you. I'll talk to Kevin if I get bored." He said it loud enough that Kevin overheard the last part.

"Gee, you guys sure know how to make a guy feel wanted," he laughed.

Brian rolled his eyes and squeezed my leg again. "You sleep. I'll wake you up before we land. There's no way I'm going through that without you."

I smiled and fought the desire to kiss him. "Okay." I leaned in again. "I love you," I whispered before settling into my seat and closing my eyes.

"I know," he said softly.

I was asleep quickly. As I'm sure you've noticed, it doesn't matter how much sleep you get on a couch, it's just not quality sleep. I was dead to the world almost as fast as I closed my eyes.

My dream found me in a garden. It only took me a second to recognise it as the garden that was becoming one of the central settings in my book. Looking around me, I saw every detail as it was in my mind while I was writing, though much more alive. The little pond with the artificial waterfall behind it, the flowers surrounding the small clearing I was standing in. Even the sound of the crushed white rock on the ground as I moved around, looking at things. Everything was exactly as I had seen it in my head.

Even the things that weren't quite right. Glancing around, I found my bearings and started down one of the three paths opening off of the clearing. The rocks under my feet ground together with a gentle sound until I was standing in front of the willow tree.

This was the part of the scene that had bothered me since the beginning of the book. There was something missing in the garden in my head in this very spot, and I now knew what it was.

Before me in the grass was a roughly cut stone bench. Really just a slab suspended by two smaller blocks of stone. But it was perfect. The top was worn smooth by the weather and through usage, and I knew that it belonged there just as much as the tree or the flowers did.

I just had time to think that it would be the perfect place to bring Brian when I heard a voice behind me and turned, knowing who I would see. I didn't normally dream, or if I did I didn't remember them. But while I was writing, I went through something very similar to this. A daydream of sorts, I suppose. I would wake up with pages written and not remember writing most of what was there. But it was never as vivid as this was.

Turning, I caught sight of a beautiful young woman in a flower-print dress. It almost caused her to blend into the flowers behind her. The effect was strange, almost as though her head, arms and legs were floating in mid-air. Her long black hair fell around her shoulders, framing her face perfectly. She was the epitome of beauty, and she was furious.

And I knew why. This was the scene that I had written the night before, while Brian had been trying to distract me. While I was happy with the scene itself, the feel of it was off, and I had been running it in my head ever since, trying to figure out where I had lost it.

I slipped behind the willow tree to make sure that she wouldn't see me. I didn't know if she could or not, but I was certain that I didn't want her to. The moment I stepped behind the tree, I knew what the missing piece of the scene was.

Looking down at my hands, I found what I was looking for. A large silver ring, with a dark green stone set in the centre. It was exactly as I had pictured it. I was Lady Jane.

Hearing the woman leave the gravel path, I glanced around the tree and saw her sit down on the bench that hadn't been there in my head. That added another piece to the scene that had been missing.

She had just started to speak the words that I had written the night before when I felt myself being shaken. Opening my eyes, I saw Brian looking at me. "We're landing," he said.

I had always been amazed by how disparate sleep time and real time were, but I had never been more disappointed by it. I looked at Brian and he frowned.

"What is it? Bad dream?"

I shook my head. "I need you to remember something for me."

"Nate..."

"Brian, just remember something for me, okay?"

"Okay," he said, unsure. "What is it?"

"Sarah's on the bench under the tree, Lady Jane's behind it."

"What?"

"Sarah's on the bench under the tree, Lady Jane's behind it," I repeated.

"All right, but what does it mean?"

"It's for the book. That's what I was dreaming about. I don't want to forget it, like most dreams."

Brian looked at me closely and nodded. "Sarah's on the bench under the tree and Lady Jane's behind it," he recited back to me.

"Okay," I smiled. "Thanks."

"What does it mean?"

I arched my eyebrow at him.

"Come on," he said, smiling. "That doesn't constitute talking about the story, does it?"

I continued to look at him without speaking.

"Well then maybe I should just forget it," he said, grinning. "Something about a tree or something..."

I sighed and laughed. "Okay. Remember last night when I excused myself from the room to write?" I was being very careful about what I said, conscious of the many pairs of ears that could overhear. "And remember how I kept getting distracted?"

"Yeah," Brian said, smiling.

"Well, the part that I got written was good, but it was off a little bit. It didn't feel right. Probably because of all those distractions."

"Maybe you should have just given in to them then," Brian laughed. "If they were that hard to ignore."

I grinned back at him. "Maybe I should have. Maybe I will next time," I laughed. "But it's a moot point now anyway, because I just figured out what was wrong with the scene, and I know how to fix it."

Brian smiled happily. "So let me guess. You're going to be in front of that computer as soon as you possibly can get there."

"You know me too well," I said with a smile. "But it should only take me about an hour or so to work everything out and get it right. Surely you guys can entertain yourselves for that long without me."

"I suppose we can try," he agreed, still smiling. "Wouldn't want Carrie upset with us for screwing with your book."

"Carrie would be the least of you worries," I said, raising my own fist and starting to laugh.

"I think I can handle you," Brian said, slipping his hand back into my lap. "Yes sir, I think I can handle you just fine."

Kevin cleared his throat beside us and Brian's hand left me alone. I had forgotten about Kevin for a moment in my excitement about the dream.

The plane managed to make it through the landing without any major catastrophes, and they were soon ushering the passengers off of the plane. Brian, Kevin and I stayed in our seats until another man in a suit joined us.

"If you gentlemen will follow me," he said with a smile. We stood and let him lead us from the plane, Brian and Kevin putting on their hats and glasses again. The rest of the passengers were nowhere to be seen, and it appeared that we had arrived completely without fanfare.

"Matt's supposed to be meeting us at the gate. He glanced around briefly before pointing. "There he is."

"I thought you didn't know him," Brian said.

"I've seen his picture," Kevin answered. "Now let's just get our bags and get out of here before we run into a fan," he added below his breath.

Brian and I just nodded and followed him as he approached the man he had pointed to. "Not bad," I whispered to Brian, earning myself a nudge in the ribs.

Kevin said hello and gave Matt a hug. It didn't appear that the hug was expected, but Matt returned it with a smile.

"This is my cousin Brian, and this is Nate," Kevin said, turning back to us and making introductions.

"A pleasure to meet you," Matt smiled, shaking each of our hands. "How about we get your things and get you out of here?"

All three of us smiled and followed him to the escalator which, I presumed, led to the baggage claim area. I was walking between Kevin and Brian and was preparing for the escalator trip (I'm always nervous stepping onto them. When I was a child, my father told me a very inappropriately gory story about a little boy who had wandered off on his own and been sucked into the escalator, and with my imagination, it got gorier as I got older) when Brian suddenly bumped into me.

"Hey sexy," I heard a woman say. Turning, I found Brian smiling and being mounted from behind by some strange woman. From the smile on his face, I narrowed the possibilities down to two. First, he mistakenly thought it was me, and second, this was the infamous Kathy.

"Hey girl," Brian grinned, and I threw the first possibility out the window.

"Could you please attract a little more attention to us?" Matt said in mock frustration. "I don't think everyone in the Mid-South was watching."

When Kathy stuck her tongue out at him in answer, I half-expected Brian to reach out and grab it. Then I realised that both of his hands were busy keeping her on his back. "No one's paying that much attention. Besides, they're not as noticeable without everyone being here," she responded, climbing down again.

Looking from Matt to Kathy, I got a very clear impression of their relationship. Kathy was Matt's Andrea, and I liked her immediately. While I was thinking about this, I missed a little exchange between her and Kevin.

"And you must be Nate," she said, shaking my hand. "I've heard some very good things about you."

I smiled as I shook her hand. Brian stepped beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. "They're all true," he said, squeezing my shoulder.

"He's a little biased," I laughed. "It's nice to meet you Kathy."

"You too. Now let's get out of here before someone starts to wonder where your other hand is."

I jumped a little and removed my hand from Brian's leg. With all of the people around, no one could tell that it was actually cupping his thigh rather than just brushing against it. No one but Kathy, apparently. I felt the colour rise in my cheeks.

She grinned. "Ooh. Another shy one. With him and JC around, this could be a fun week."

Matt looked about to say something, but Brian beat him to it. "Don't worry about him. He'll hold his own just fine."

Kathy arched her brow, but didn't say anything more. Matt cleared his throat to get our attention again. "Now if you don't mind," he said, looking directly at Kathy. "We should get the luggage and get home before someone recognises you guys."

Kathy just smiled and followed us as we stepped onto the first step. As always, I was relieved when I was finally moving and hadn't been sucked into the machine. I relaxed for a moment and then started worrying about getting off of the thing again.

Brian was watching me quizzically. "What are you doing?" he whispered with a smile.

"Trying not to die," I whispered back, dramatically stepping over the place where the stairs disappeared again into the floor.

I heard Brian and Kathy laughing at me as they stepped off.

The wait at baggage claim seemed to go on forever. We sat there, watching the rotating luggage for any sign of anything that belonged to us. I was sitting with Matt on one side of me and Brian on the other, my eyes glued to the carousel.

"Kathy lent me your book," Matt said, leaning over a bit. "I read it last night. I thought it was fantastic."

"Thanks," I said, smiling shyly. I still wasn't used to taking compliments. There was a part of my brain that insisted that this was a good thing. I was inclined to agree with it. "I guess you don't need a copy anymore," I added.

"Oh no. You're not getting out of it that easy, he laughed. "I see great things in your future." The blush was back in my face in full force. "Call it a hunch, but I think it will become one hell of a collector's item. Besides, consider it payment for room and board."

I smiled back at him and tried to will the blush away. "Well thanks, but doesn't something have to be rare for it to be a collector's item?" I joked. "Each of the guys have signed copies, and Kathy's got one, and my family, and my editor, and my agent, and my agent's kids, and my limo driver's wife..."

"JC said he's got a copy as well," Matt laughed. "Though I don't think he's got it with him."

I grinned.

"Where is JC, anyway?" Brian asked. "I thought he'd be here with you. I don't let Nate out of my sight if I can help it." He smiled and I felt his hand brush against my knee.

"He's in the car," Matt said with a smile. "We thought it better than having a mob scene."

"You left him in the car?" Kathy asked.

"I cracked a window," Matt laughed.

"Did you crack a window?" Brian asked, at the same moment. They looked at each other and then we all laughed.

Kevin spotted his suitcase and got up to retrieve it. When he bent over, I heard Matt whisper to Kathy that Kevin had a nice ass. I smiled to myself and tried to remember to tell Brian about it later. He always enjoyed hearing about how hot his cousin was.

Kevin got his bag and sat down again as we waited. Matt looked around, then frowned slightly. "Why don't you two go with Kathy to the car," he suggested, indicating Kevin and Brian. "Nate and I can stay and grab your things for you. I assume that he can recognise Brian's bag?"

Kevin started laughing, and soon Kathy joined in. Brian looked from one of them to the other, then to me, and then we both blushed deeply. I just nodded to indicate that I could.

"Yes sir, this is going to be fun," Kathy laughed as she led Kevin and Brian away. Brian looked back at me and waved before he was around the corner and out of sight.

About fifteen minutes later, there were no more bags on the carousel, and we had only retrieved my suitcase. Luckily, I had taken my computer as carry-on. "What do we do now?" I asked Matt.

Matt told me to report the loss to the baggage office, and said that while I was doing that, he would go tell the guys what had happened. He was going to get the car and meet me again, and we could go shopping for some things for Brian. I wasn't sure, but he seemed pretty certain, so I shrugged and agreed to meet him out front, then wandered over to the office to find someone to help me.

PART 75

I got outside just as Matt pulled up, and jumped in with him. Leaning in my seat a bit as Matt turned out of the garage, I reached for my seatbelt and secured myself. Feeling safer, but a little self-conscious, I turned my head and watched the city pass by as we drove. I felt guilty not talking with Matt, but I didn't really know what to say to him. Basically, I was in a car with a total stranger who already knew the biggest secret in my life, and heading to the mall to shop for my famous boyfriend. If that's not an awkward situation, what is?

Matt accelerated quickly, pushing me back a little into my seat, and I began to wonder whether or not I would live to see Brian again.

"What are you thinking?" Matt asked suddenly, pulling my attention away from the concrete rushing past the car.

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you," I said, turning to look at him with a smile. I was relieved that he had taken the first step of conversation. "Aside from wondering whether or not all Americans drive like this."

Matt looked at me for a moment and then laughed. "As a whole, probably not," he said. "But Memphis drivers more than make up for their lack of driving skill with sheer velocity."

I laughed at that. "Oh, good, we are still in Memphis. For a minute there, I thought I was on the autobahn."

"Actually, it's not that bad," Matt said.

"What?" I asked. He had lost me somewhere.

"The autobahn."

That surprised me. "You've been to Germany?"

Matt grinned and laughed softly for a minute. "Don't seem so shocked. I realize I sound like a big hick, but not all Southerners sit on the porch drinking mint juleps and iced tea talking about the good old days when Jeff Davis ran things the right way."

I held up my hands to show him I was on his side. "Whoa. Didn't mean to offend. After all, my boyfriend's got that sexy drawl too."

Matt waved it off with a smile. "You didn't offend me in the least," he said. "It might hit a nerve with some people, but I try to use it to my advantage. We talk slower than most people, so most people instantly assume we're not too bright. Therefore, they tend to underestimate Southerners as a whole and me in particular."

"A mistake I'd wager they make only once," I said.

"Sorry, that came off bad. I'm not making a very good first impression, am I?"

"Oh I don't know," I said, ticking off his points on my fingers. "You extended an invitation for Kevin, Brian, and me to stay with you free of charge, and when Brian's luggage came up missing, you take me shopping to pick up some things for him. I'd say you're doing pretty good so far."

"Thanks," Matt smiled, then shook his head slightly. "I guess in getting back to your original question, I have been to Germany. All over Europe in fact."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My father was stationed in Europe for a while, and even after we moved back to the states, we took vacations there every summer. It's a tradition I've kept with my own children."

If his being to Germany had surprised me, his having kids shocked the hell out of me. He looked my age! "You have kids?" I asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep the stunned tone out of my voice.

Matt looked like he wanted to laugh, but to his credit he managed not to. "Good," he said. "Kevin seems to know everything about me, but I get to have a few surprises." He paused for a moment to enjoy the look on my face before explaining. "I got a girl pregnant in high school. There were complications, but two of the girls lived."

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, hoping that I hadn't opened an old wound.

"Don't be. I'm glad they made it."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean..." Jesus Nate! That was smooth talking!

"I know what you mean," Matt assured me with a smile. "I meant I'm very fortunate. Being a father has been one of the few consistent good things in my life."

"I can't imagine what it's like," I confessed. I had often wondered if I would ever be a father, or even if I wanted to be. The jury was still out on that one.

"It's unique, that's for sure," Matt said, his voice trailing off.

I decided to give him a few moments before starting with the questions again. It was obvious that his mind wasn't in the car at the moment. I wondered for a moment about the safety of that, given the speed with which we were travelling. "So," I finally asked him, "how did they like Europe?"

"They love it, but they like France best. I can't say as I've minded their wanting to go back there every year, since my German is a lot worse than my French.," Matt laughed.

I smiled and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, parlez-vous Francais?"

"Un peu," he answered with a grin.

"C'est bon savoir."

"Je suis d'accord," he answered. "I guess I didn't even think about the fact that you're Canadian."

After our discussion of my presumptions of Southerners, that struck me as a little funny. "And what, pray tell, does that mean?"

"No offense," he said quickly. "I just forget that a lot of Canada speaks French."

"Yeah. Like you, though, I only speak a little. I guess you're not the only touchy one with stereotypes," I laughed. "There are more than enough people that think that Canadians spend all their time playing hockey and hunting seals for food and clothing."

Matt laughed at that and nodded his agreement. "I think I'd rather be sitting on a porch drinking mint juleps."

"You and me both," I grinned.

"So how long have you and Brian been an item?" he asked, diverting the conversation.

I smiled to myself. "That's not as simple a question as you might think. I first met the guys at a concert in LA over a year ago. I had backstage passes, and I went out for coffee after the show with Brian and Nick. Brian reacted to me funny when he found out I was gay, and I thought he hated my guts."

"So what changed?"

"It was when we were both on Rosie a few months ago. I just about had a heart attack when I found out that he was there. We hadn't spoken since LA, and I was still pretty upset about it." Matt nodded his head, letting me know he understood how I would be. "He explained that his problem had nothing to do with me personally, and then he came out to me. That was about six weeks ago, I guess. We started off just as friends, but we soon realised that there was more there."

I noticed Matt smiling, but he didn't say anything.

"Oh, no, you don't," I laughed. "You're not getting out of this that easily. What about you and JC?"

"I took care of him after he was in a car accident that killed his fiance."

"Holy shit," I said quietly. "That's horrible." At the moment, my mind didn't process the fact that JC had had a fiance, just that the accident had taken him.

"Yeah. It hit Josh pretty hard," Matt said, nodding. "But he seems to be handling it okay for now. I'm honestly concerned that he hasn't been through the worst of it yet, since that was only a week ago."

"I thought Kevin said JC and Justin were both in an accident," I said, seeing that Matt didn't really like the thought that JC might not be completely over the accident.

"Another long story," he smiled. "He got hit by a car in the parking lot at the hospital and broke his leg."

I frowned and looked back to the buildings flying by us. "Are you sure it's safe to be in the car with you? It sounds like you're bad luck."

"Very funny," Matt said, giving me a serious look that quickly turned into a smile. "We're here."

Once we had parked the car and wandered over to the building, I realised that I recognised less than half of the stores. "Okay, where to first?" I asked.

"This way," Matt answered, leading me into A store called Goldsmith's. "This is a local department store that's been around forever."

As soon as we got into the store, there was a woman wearing too much perfume and spraying more at us. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it didn't matter if she had liquid gold in those bottles. We still weren't going to buy any for our girlfriends.

Matt didn't seem to impressed at all about being spritzed liberally with some sort of awful aroma, but I took it in stride. They were everywhere, after all. We both coughed for a moment after the woman finally realised that we were lost causes, and moved further into the store.

"This is nice," I said, checking out one of the shirts on display. It was exactly what I would have wanted for cuddling up with Brian on a cool evening. It had an interesting texture to it. Soft, almost fleecy.

"I know it's pretty much fall," Matt said with a smile. "But since we're getting him something to wear while he's here, I'd go with something a little cooler. It's probably going to be in the 90s until December."

90s! What kind of ungodly place had I come to? I was used to warm weather in LA, but it still struck me as unnatural. In fall, you broke out the heavier, long sleeved shirts and started getting ready for long nights in front of the fireplace. That was just the way the universe worked. With a sigh, I put the shirt back and started looking around again, after noticing the smile on Matt's face.

I stopped in front of a sale rack and saw the perfect shirt. It was horrid. Quite possibly the ugliest shirt in the store, as a matter of fact, and it was going to be Brian's. Teach him to lose his luggage. I turned around with it just in time to see Matt's face. To his credit, he refrained from telling me what he really thought of it.

I debated whether or not I should tell him that I was buying it as a joke, then decided against it. I just smiled and put it over my arm as I kept looking.

I wound up with two other shirts that were nice, and I thought Brian would like. I added a pair of pants and a pair of shorts before deciding that I had found all I was going to in this particular store. I was still rather proud of the first shirt.

The salesgirl gave me a strange look as she rang it up, given the stylishness of the rest of the clothing that I was getting. At least I knew that she wouldn't be thinking I was gay. No self-respecting gay man would be buying such a monstrosity.

When she had finished ringing up the clothes and given me the total, I went to grab my wallet. Noticing Matt doing the same thing, I stopped his arm. "What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Um, paying?" Matt said, taking his wallet out of his pocket.

"Um, why?" I repeated after him with a smile. "He's kind of with me."

"Because Brian lost his things coming to my home," he answered.

"That's not exactly your fault," I assured him, taking my wallet out and handing the girl my credit card.

"I know, but I can't help but feel partly responsible," Matt explained.

What a gentleman. At least some of the Southern stereotypes seemed to be true. "Fine, then pay for part," I conceded.

"Okay," he agreed. "You get this. I'll get the next one."

I nodded my agreement, then gathered my purchases together and followed Matt out of the store. He led me to a store called American Eagle, and I just had time to roll my eyes at the out of control patriotism before he was dragging me inside.

I picked out a couple more pairs of pants there, which Matt paid for before we headed back out into the mall again. We looked in a few more stores, but nothing really jumped out and screamed 'Brian!', so I didn't get anything.

Matt nodded in the direction of another store, and I looked. It was Abercrombie & Fitch, and I had to admire the advertising. We walked through the doors to find a huge picture of a marvelously undressed group of a dozen or so young men. I looked at Matt with a smile on my face and found it mirrored on his. We stood like that for a moment, then by unspoken agreement, we turned to check out what they had to offer in clothing.

We were checking out some shirts on a rack when I felt Matt nudge me and indicate a handsome young salesclerk on the other side. "Cute," Matt said quietly with a smile.

I checked him out as well as I could without being too obvious about it. "Very," I agreed.

We wandered around the store for a few more minutes, checking out the different things on display. We were both stealing glances at the clerk, who was still folding sweaters and seemed completely oblivious to us. I noticed Matt giving him a good going over and nudged him, making him laugh and blush.

I found another pair of shorts that I thought would really show off Brian's assets (he's got great legs, people :P), and a few more shirts. I was just rejoining Matt again when the clerk we had been eyeing appeared beside us with a smile.

"Is there anything I can show you?" he asked innocently.

I smiled and tried to keep from saying anything embarrassing to any of us. I could see Matt doing the same thing, but he apparently was losing the battle because he just turned and left the store, abandoning me to try to keep a straight face.

"No, thanks," I said politely in the straightest voice I could muster. "I think I'm done, actually."

"Okay, I'll ring that up for you," he said, giving me a strange look and glancing toward the door where Matt had disappeared. I gave him a polite smile and followed him to the register.

Matt was still grinning when I rejoined him outside of the store. "That was mean," I pointed out. "Deserting me like that."

"Couldn't be helped," he smiled.

I scowled as best I could without laughing, then walked with him as we continued through the mall. Matt turned suddenly and disappeared into Victoria's Secret, which completely confused me. I hesitantly followed after him, and found him standing at a display of silk boxers.

He smiled at me as he selected some and headed for the cash register. I just laughed and followed him, laughing when we were outside again. "You know that she probably thinks we're together now," I said. "Not many straight guys go shopping for silk boxers together."

Matt laughed and shrugged it off. "I'm sure we're not the first pair of guys to shop there together."

I nodded my agreement and set about shifting my bags around so that I could carry them more easily. I was just beginning to wonder if maybe we should have brought Brian after all, as a packhorse, when Matt took one of the bags with a grin.

Wondering why he was smiling at me, I gave him a questioning look. He just pointed. "Should we enter?"

I turned to look in the direction that he had indicated. We were standing outside of the Sears store, and directly in front of us was a display advertising the Backstreet Boys contest. Apparently, if we were lucky, we could win tickets and backstage passes to a concert. I took a moment to consider the seat that I already had at the concerts, then shook my head. "Nah. That would be a step down." We laughed together and continued past the store.

As we walked, I started to think about how easy it was becoming with Matt. Granted, I didn't know a whole lot about him yet, but I could tell that I was going to really like him already. JC was definitely a lucky guy. Not as lucky as Brian, of course, but lucky enough. I was just smiling to myself about that when he pushed me.

I had time to note the name of the store - Dillard's - and wonder who on earth would name a store that before we were inside. Wandering around, I decided that Brian needed something dressy, just in case. That, and I just loved the look of a guy dressed up.

I kept my eye out for any cute salespeople so that I could embarrass Matt and abandon him like he had done to me, but the store apparently only hired unattractive people. I smiled at Matt, but he didn't seem to be able to read my mind. Pity, since it was sometimes such an entertaining place.

With a sigh, I went back to shopping, and managed to find a nice, dressy outfit for Brian that I thought he would like. I quickly paid for it while Matt was checking out a stand of shirts, and joined him at the door again.

We started to head back for the car, when Matt suggested stopping at the food court. I shrugged and followed after him, figuring that we didn't really have anywhere pressing to be. He led me to a coffee shop and we picked up some cookies and cappuccinos, then headed for the exit again.

I munched away on my cookie and let my mind wander as we walked. Just before we got outside, we walked by a music store, and Matt stopped us again. He headed inside with me right behind him. Reaching the Backstreet Boys display, Matt grabbed several copies of Millennium.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, confused.

"My daughters are huge fans," he explained, "so I can get some major dad points if I talk Kevin into getting the guys to autograph them."

"If Kevin balks at the idea, I have a bit of influence on Brian," I laughed. "But why do you have three CDs? I could have sworn you said you have two daughters."

"Okay, the third one's for me, so shoot me," he said with a smile.

"Actually," I began, holding up a finger to get him to wait for me while I disappeared down the aisle. I ran my finger across the CDs while I looked for what I wanted. Finding it, I grabbed four copies of *N SYNC's CD, then rejoined him. "Not a bad idea at all."

Matt laughed. "So who are the others for?"

"Some friends of mine," I answered. "What do you think my chances are of getting the guys to sign them?"

"That'll be tough," he mocked, scratching his head, "but I'll see what I can do."

"You use your influence, and I'll use mine," I smiled.

We quickly paid for the CDs and then finally escaped the mall. Jumping into the car, we threw our bags on the backseat and pulled away. A few seconds later, I spotted a drug store and asked Matt to stop. He seemed surprised by the request, but he pulled in, and I ran into the store.

Slightly embarrassed, I wandered the aisles briefly until I found what I was looking for. With a grin to myself, I made my selection and headed for the front. Not wanting to just go up there with one purchase, I headed for the stationary section and checked out the pens, looking for one that I didn't have yet. I'm a sucker for interesting pens. I finally settled on a gold and a silver gel-ink pen and headed for the cash.

I picked up some gum as a last minute impulse buy and set my things on the counter, taking my wallet out again. The clerk gave me a friendly smile and rang it up, then put everything in a bag and handed it to me. I thanked her, then ran back out to the car.

"Okay, let's go," I said with a smile, putting the drug store bag inside the Abercrombie & Fitch one.

It took us about a half hour to get to Matt's house. The conversation was much less stilted than on the ride to the mall. We were clearly more comfortable with each other, and settled into a good discussion. We began with the obvious. It was interesting to share notes with someone else who was in a relationship with someone famous and couldn't talk about it. Someone else who was going to have to deal with not getting caught.

The ride was a quick one, and I wondered how long it would have taken in a car without a lead-footed driver. I was actually starting to be glad that the airport had lost Brian's things. It had given Matt and I time to connect with each other before we had to deal with everyone else being around. There was a part of me that was sad that our shopping trip was over, but that part didn't seem to be all that upset once I remembered who was waiting for me back at Matt's house.

To Be Continued...

Okay, there it is. I know that it took longer to get up here than you were expecting (and I know this from the emails you guys sent just to make sure that I was still alive :P), and I hope it didn't disappoint.

As I mentioned earlier, this was the first part of a collaborative effort with Matt ("Search & Rescue" for all those who skipped my little blurb at the front :P). The next couple (we haven't really planned out how many) are going to be completely collaborative. Now, while we're going to try our best to make the story make sense if you read only his or only mine, I must tell you that it will be a much more complete picture if you read them both. So there's your warning. Whether or not you heed it is entirely up to you. :)

Some of you have been inquiring about how much longer I'm going to keep the story going, and whether or not it's going to be a happy ending when I do decide to end it. To be completely honest, I sense an ending coming up, but not for a little while yet. As for it's happiness, I make no promises, but nothing's written in stone yet. The story comes as it comes, and I'm not going to force it. You'll know when I do. Well, not exactly when I do, but soon enough. :P

Anyway, you have better things to do than listen to me. As always, comments and suggestions are more than welcome! Email me at dls_stories@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading!

~D~