Previously...
Part 12 "Red Flag"
[Still the day before on the BSB's plane]
"Brian, I...?" Leighanne walked back in to the room intending to grab her purse before heading off to the others. "Brian!" She quickly ran to the side of her distraught fiancee.
[In a hotel lobby somewhere else in Tampa some half an hour earlier.]
"Shit. Shit. shit!" Dan scanned over the new papers and files David had just faxed him and he knew he had to do something fast. He quickly fished out his phone from his pocket and dialed Scott McGill.
Busy! He must try again. He has to, there was someone else's life at stake now. ...
[Nick's room 12:00 midnight]
He swalloped and opened the medicine cabinet. He just doesn't know how to feel anymore. He gingerly picked up the shaving creme with trembling and weak fingers when he saw it. His deliverance from all this pain. It was staring him straight in his eyes; his razor. He slid his fingers over the handle almost absent-mindedly. Staring at the metal edges of the blades themselves, he knew even now that he could do it. *******************************************************
------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimers: This is only a work of fiction and should only be taken as such. Any resemblances between the other characters to any real, living or dead, persons is highly coincidental. This does not reflect the lives of any of the Backstreet Boys or their family members. This is mainly a PG 13 story. Enjoy -------------------------------------------------------
BSBHAB2: Harmony Part 13a "Final Revelations"
[Day before at the BSB Plane in New York]
"Brian!" Leighanne ran to her distraught fiancee's side. "Baby, what's wrong?" She knelt beside him rubbing his back, kneading the tension slowly away.
"I-I-I can't do this anymore Leighanne, I just can't!"
Brian sobbed into her shoulder.
"Shhh, it's alright. Tell me what's all this about." Leighanne hugged Brian's head against her chest with one hand and kissed him on top of the head.
"It's Nick." Brian sobbed, burrying his face into her now tear soaked shirt.
"Oh Brian," Leighanne sighed, tears filling her eyes in the realization of her fiancee's still broken heart.
"I-I-I can't live like this anymore. I just can't!" Brian blurted out amidst his agonized wailing and his painful wretched heart.
"Brian, it's going to be alright."
"No it's not! Jane said she can bring him back, but I doubt it. He hates me, Lei, he hates me!" He groaned tears streaming freely down his face.
"Jane?" Leighanne leaned back to look Brian in the face. She had known what role Jane played in the original break up of her son and Brandon.
Brian broke apart and told her everything. Starting with the envelope up to their conversation just moments before his appearance in the room. He told her everything, skipping only the parts that involved his desperate sexual relations with Jane in his hopes of her cooperation in getting Nick back into the fold.
"So you are saying Jane was the one that orchestrated that whole thing with Aaron taking Nick's spot?" Brian nodded painfully. "Do you have any idea what was in the envelope she sent the reporters?"
"Just random things. I saw them myself. Just some harmless pictures of him and Aaron and Backstreet goofing off during rehearsals. That's all." Brian gulped down and inhaled deeply, letting it out through his mouth with a loud sigh.
"Mike has to know about this." Leighanne was about to stand, when Brian pulled her back down to him.
"No please, not right now. I need you," Brian whispered after a coughing fit. "I don't know what to do anymore, Lei. I just don't know anymore."
Leighanne bit her lower lip before embracing Brian to her again. She wasn't the type of person who gets into another mother's business with her kids, but she knew that there had to be a stop put to Jane before she could cause anymore damage. Brian was too far due for a break, and Jane was a definite cause of it.
Leighanne kissed Brian on the head and thought about what she was going to do. ******************************************************* [Somewhere in Tampa of the following evening.]
"Shit!" Dan cursed, giving up trying to reach Scott. He knew what he had to do -- there was only one place Scott could be at right now. He was going to the club, no matter what the other was going to do to him.
He might have the mortal sin of being a reporter, but he will not have another man's blood in his hands.
Dan slipped on his coat, headed out the lobby of his hotel and went straight for his rental. ******************************************************* [Back in Atlanta, Mike's temporary office in his hotel room.]
"Are you sure about this, John?" Mike peered wearily over some of his own paper work.
"Yeah, Mike, I'm sure," John sat anxiously in his seat. "I just need to take care of some family business, I promise I'll be back by the end of the week for Brian's wedding if you need me."
"Well, I don't really think we'd be needing you for that with the security and Nick not being here, you understand." Mike thought he saw something cross John's face all of sudden -- something he would've never thought of the smooth and soft spoken bodyguard ever -- must be the sleepiness he thought, and continued. "Sure go ahead. I'll give you a buzz when we need you again." Mike stood up behind his makeshift desk and shook the hand of the tall lean wolfish bodyguard.
"Thanks, boss." John smiled down at Mike before heading for the door.
Mike was taken aback for a second, again he had thought that John looked almost wickely for a second, but it was far too quick to have really been. Again he chalked it up to his sleepless couple of days.
"Oh, sure no problem. I hope all goes well for you back home," Mike went back to his paper work. "Oh and John, could you please close the door behind you and put up the 'Do not disturb' sign on the knob? I have to get these papers done."
"No prob, boss. Nite, sir."
Had Mike been looking up when John had replied, he wouldn't have second guessed his eyes. ******************************************************* [Nick's bathroom in Tampa]
He knew he could do it. He ran his fingers delicately over the exposed blades of his razor head as to not cut himself up. He looked at the shining keen edges of the blades and looked up to look at his gaunt and tired eyes and he knew deep in his heart that he could take out one of the razor blades and cut his wrist right then and there and never be hurt again. He lightly turned the small knobs of the razor and handled the thin piece of metal in between his two fingers and sighed.
Behind him, his dog whimpered sadly, nudging the back of his naked thigh with his cold wet and loving nose.
Nick looked down at his beloved and loyal pet and a flood of emotion and sudden calmness flooded over his entire body. No, he couldn't do it even if he had wanted to. Even without Brandon in his life, he knew that he still had some remnants of the care that he had before everything else. His sisters, his friends -- or lack there of -- and most importantly Brandon himself. Brandon had given Nick up when he already knew in his heart that Nick was everything to him just because Nick had asked it of him. He had given his life for his love for Nick. Nick suddenly felt a deep disgust for himself and hurled the razor away into the trash bin and all thoughts of suicide away with it. Brandon had loved him, and Nick had loved him back too.
Brandon. Brandon. Brandon is dead.
Nick told himself. 'Yeah, dead as your heart has become these last few weeks.' The voice in the back of his head answered. That brought a cynical grin to his face and he turned almost cheerfully back to his dog and scratched the animal lovingly behind the ear.
"C'mon, boy." Nick kissed the dog on the top of it's head. ******************************************************* [Somewhere in a bar in Tampa]
"Have you seen Scott McGill?" Dan walked up bravely to the burly bar tender.
"Whazzit to yous little man?" The other towered over him ominously.
"I have a very important thing to tell him. Someone's life is at stake here."
"Yeah, one of those eh?" The bar tender gave him what would have been a toothy grin had there not been three to four empty spots. "'Ee's out back, drunk. That punk got in his last fight in here. Tell 'im 'ee ain't welcome 'ere no more."
Dan cursed Scott softly under his breath and proceeded to go around the back alley of the bar where he found Scott half buried in garbage and cursing himself.
"Scott?!" Dan scrambled over to him.
"Nick I'm sorry I shouldn't have..." Scott grumbled, trying to get up, but failed.
Dan pulled Scott to his feet, and slowly, but surely carried the other man to Dan's waiting car.
"Scott," Dan slapped Scott lightly on the cheeks to try and snap him out of his stupour. "Dammit, Scott I need you for this. Someone's life is at stake!"
"hey...didn't I tell you not to bother me here..." Scott grumbled an inaudible reply and drooled all over himself before drifting back to his drunken sleep.
"Dammit!" Dan belted Scott in his seat and headed back to his hotel. There was nothing he could do anymore tonight. ******************************************************* [Nick's bedroom 1:59 a.m.]
Nick settled onto his bed, cozily settling into his favorite spot thinking about all the happy and sad times he and Brandon had had in their short time together. Even now he couldn't remember a single time when he and Brandon had never got along on anything. Even now all he could remember were Brandon's soft smiles and loving praises for whatever Nick did. His heart warmed immensely with the image of Brandon's perpetually young beautiful face filled his mind.
He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, almost contentedly, with his dog resting his head on Nick's naked chest.
He opened his eyes once more to look at the time when he realised he was no longer in his room.
"Wha...?!"
{Dream}
"Shhhh!" Brandon laughed out loud while he sat on his own gravestone. "Don't get too excited, babe. This is only a dream." Brandon flashed Nick one of his boyish smirks and winked at him.
'Brandon,' Nick padded barefoot up to where Brandon had been. He tried to wrap his arms around Brandon, but unfortunately, the other immaterialized as they touched.
'Sorry, Nick. You can't touch. At least not yet.' Brandon made the motion as though he was stroking Nick's hair out of his eyes. 'I missed you.' Brandon's porcelaine-doll perfect face became the folds of his love.
'Why did you leave me?!' Nick cried out in anguish hugging the gravestone for a small level of comfort. 'I...I loved you. I came back for you!' Nick's adam's apple bobbed in his agonized state.
'Nick, I waited. I tried, I loved you more than life itself.' Brandon leaned in for a touchless kiss. Nick felt the cold wind brush his tender pink lips. 'But that's not what I came here to do.' Brandon once again flashed Nick a huge grin and hopped off the gravestone, light as a feather. 'I came here to say hi.' Brandon turned around and held his hand out to Nick.
'Hi' Nick smiled lovingly as he played along with their invisible dance.
'You look great, by the way.' Brandon leaned back to look at Nick from head to toe. 'You been workin' out babe?'
'Yeah, a little.' Nick shrugged, dancing along with Brandon under the silver streams of the brilliant moonlight.
'Nick, what have you been doing to yourself?' Brandon leaned in and kissed Nick lightly on the lips.
'Brandon...I miss you so much, I can't live like this anymore. I want to be with you again,' Nick whimpered.
'Whoa, there baby, don't you go there. Besides, you and I will always be together,' Brandon leaned back and kissed Nick lightly on the chest. 'We'll always be in our hearts Nick. Don't you ever forget that.' Brandon started to pull away gently, dragging Nick behind him by the hand.
'Brandon, I -- ' Nick was interrupted.
'Make love to me one last time, Nick, one last time...' Brandon led Nick into Nick's living room infront of the fireplace just like before on their very first time together. 'I love you Nick...'
Brandon whispered, before his image gave way to a kaliedoscopic view of their first night together.
{End of Dream and the bright morning of the following day}
Nick awoke feeling refreshed, like some heavy burden was taken off his shoulders, not knowing what his dream was, but Brandon's last words still rang lovingly in his mind. He smiled lovingly and looked out the streaming sunlight through his windows.
"I love you too, Brandon." Nick whispered into the house of their immortal love and got up to get ready for school. ******************************************************* [Back in Atlanta real time]
Jane scrambled from employee to employee trying to find any information on the tall bodyguard's location.
Her heart pounded like a drum with fear and anxiety. She must find him. She has to! Tears burned behind her eyes, but she held them back. 'There's no real reason to panic just yet,' She told herself.
{Flashback, yesterday at the Terminal in New York}
"I don't do idle threats, boy, you listening?" Jane was starting to lose her composure. John had just been staring at her while she made her litany. If she didn't know better, she thought that John was actually stifling a smile. "What is so funny?" Jane finally let her smile wilt at the ends and prodded John on his huge muscular chest with a finger.
John caught her hand in his. This time, he allowed his smile to show through. John leaned down and stared Jane in the eye and said, "Just try it, Jane. Go ahead and try it. Nobody here likes you more than I do. Try me Jane and you'll definitely see what not having your son around can do to someone like me." There was something in his voice that made Jane gasp. "Trust me, Jane, there really won't be a next time. You can count on that." His smile disappeared and was replaced by such an intense gaze from his deep jet black eyes, that it made Jane's skin want to crawl away and hide someplace.
{Today, 15 minutes earlier}
Jane started her frantic search only a few minutes earlier when she had arrived at the hotel where Mike was staying. One of the desk hands at the front had handed her a small stack of papers that had apparently arrived for her early in the morning. It had a large bold letters on it that announced its urgency. It was from David, the reporter who she had bought to try and coax Nick into either returning with the Backstreet Boys or handing the torch over to his younger brother, Aaron.
She had been annoyed at not being contacted the minute of its arrival through the fax, but the desk hand had told her that she just got it herself from someone who went off duty just before she walked in. Jane had taken the bundle into her hands grudgingly only giving a barely audible murmer of "thank you" to the girl before heading off to the elevators. She was a celebrity mom, and she wasn't just for anyone below her station to talk to on a regular basis. She had waited until the last passenger had gotten off before she decided to skim through the latest progress of their efforts. But after only a few minutes of skimming, she was already well aware that it was not about Nick's return that was the concern of this new fax. It was something else. Indeed, it did involve Nick, but it was deadly information and it was her son now who was in danger. She had hated -- and still does -- his choice of a lifestyle, but all of that had gone out the window the minute she read through the first paragraphs of the fax.
{End of short flash, back to real time}
Jane became desperate, finally reaching the doorstep to Mike's hotel suite. She burst through the door unceremoniously, stepping into an apparent meeting between Mike, Burc the head bodyguard, and Leighanne.
They all stopped whatever they were doing and looked belligerently at Jane. A moment of an uncomfortable fell over them like a veil with only the sounds of Jane's panting and her frantic heartbeat echoing over the entire room.
"Jane, I was just about to --- " Mike was the first to decide and break the silence, but Jane quickly interupted him.
"Where is he?" Jane gulped down a big breath of hotel room air.
"Who 'he'?" Mike looked at his co-conspirators.
"John. Where is he?!" Jane cried out, finally managing to scramble closer to the threesome.
"Um, well," Mike looked at Burc and said. "Well, he took the week off, Jane. He left late last night. Why?"
"Where?" Jane looked up at Mike pleadingly.
"He said he was headed home to deal with some family problems." It was Burc who replied, taking the hint from his boss. "I believe he lives somewhere in the northwest? Why?" Burc asked frostily.
"Home?" Jane looked at Burc for a moment, feeling a slight relief in her chest.
"Yeah, he went to the airport like around 3:00 to catch their earliest flight out." Burc suddenly frowned. "Although, I did think he said he might Nick a visit in Florida sometime soon though."
"NO!" Jane cried loud, finally thrusting the small bundle of papers in her hands into Mike's surprised chest. "No..." She cried underneath her breath before she was overcomed by sobs and tears.
Mike took a look at the papers and paled. "Burc, get me the police." He finally said his eyes sunken suddenly with the realisation of a new fear. ******************************************************* [Airport: Police]
"Sorry, but they said they haven't seen him at all. Infact, even the last witness who saw him leave said he didn't come this way at all." Mike came back to the group looking somewhat regained from his fear.
"Oh God, this is all my fault..." Jane cried again.
"They said these were the only things they found in his belongings." Mike handed a small manila envelope to Jane.
Brian took the message with numb fingers. He had immediately recognized it as the same envelope that had earlier contained the information to bribe Nick into returning.
Brian swallowed when he realised that his instant reaction had been correct. "Shit." Brian cursed under his breath. This was no time to be the wreck that he had been since Nick left. Why had they all missed all this before?!
"Shit!" Brian cursed again, this time for everybody to hear, before he himself was off running towards the closest gate that had a flight to Florida.
In his haste, he had dropped the manilla envelope, scattering the pictures all over the floor.
Leighanne picked up the pictures and explained them to Mike and the others what they had been intended for while Burc made a dash after Brian. *******************************************************
[Some minutes later]
Nick bounded down the steps and headed cheerfully to the kitchen for breakfast. He noticed the light on his answering machine was blinking, and was just about to make his way to it when the door bell rang.
"Just a minute," Nick checked his watch to see if it was as early as he had thought. 'Hmm, who could it be this early in the morning. I thought my gates were locked?' Nick thought that the security guard must've opened the gates already. "Who is...," Nick opened the door to a pleasant surprise, "JOHN!" Nick threw his arms around his old bodyguard and friend in a tight embrace and lightly kissed him on the cheek cheerfully. "What brings you here? And sorry 'bout that." Nick smiled warmly at his friend.
"Oh, just in the neighborhood, thought I'd drop by say hi or something. Mike didn't really need me stumbling around up there without you anyways," John returned the hug but declined on the kiss. "How have you been?
You going somewhere?"
"To school actually," Nick released John and welcomed him into the house. Something seemed a bit off. "Hold on, I have to check my messages real quick, maybe school's out and you and I can do something fun instead." Nick smiled and winked at John boyishly and headed to the machine. "Must've been while I was in the shower. Make yourself comfortable." He called over his shoulder, seeing John shut and quietly lock the door.
"NICK! Nick, oh God, pick up honey, pick up!" Jane's frantic voice erupted after the beep. "Oh God, baby if you can here this, pick up! John's ----" The message was suddenly cut off.
"Mom?" Nick picked up the phone and started to press speed dial, then looked up. "Phone's dead..." Nick whispered, he was starting to feel like something was terribly wrong when police sirens suddenly blared from some few blocks away. "Cops?" Nick was stunned and walked over to the window. He was starting to get scared.
Nick sensed John walk up behind him.
"John, what's -- " Nick couldn't finish because John's huge hand was suddenly around his mouth and nose holding a handkerchief that reeked of something.
"Nick, I'm sorry..." John wrapped his strong arms around Nick and braced himself from Nick's struggling.
Nick's eyes suddenly went wide when he realised that it wasn't just plain anxiety he saw now in John's eyes but a desperation. A mixed emotion of loss, regret, and confusion.
"I'm so so sorry, Nick..." Nick remembered John whispering sadly before the world and everything in it suddenly spun around him and he went crashing down into darkness.
TBC in Part 13b "Final Revelations II"
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