Disclaimer: Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Darren Hayes, Daniel Jones, Yvonne and Jack, Boyzone, and Westlife don't belong to me. Anything said.done.implied here is not real. I know nothing about their lives, sexualities, families, personalities, homes, habits....you get the picture.
Note: Title comes from a beautiful song called, duh, "You're My Angel" by Mikey Graham. Well, what do you know, he's a Boyzoner!!!
Ronan plopped himself down on the couch in his living room and clicked on the TV. After flipping channels for a moment, he settled down to watch the evening news.
"We return to our top story: Irish Air Flight 604 from Dublin to New York has crashed over the Atlantic Ocean. No survivors have been found, but the Coast Guard is working on a search and rescue. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available."
Ronan barely heard the rest. Flight 604 was his wife's flight. This was not supposed to happen. His wife and son had been on that plane. They were not supposed to die. They were supposed to get to New York safely, and then he'd meet them there. But a thought more disturbing caught up with him. He was originally going to go with them...on that plane. But when something had come up, he'd urged them to go then anyway. He could always meet them when they got there....
He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of his mobile phone. Cautiously, he picked it up.
"Yes?"
"Ro, it's Steve. I'm coming to get you."
"Don't." Although he was relieved to hear a familiar voice, he didn't want to deal with anything.
"I need to make sure you're okay. I heard it all, Ro. I know what happened."
"No, no you don't know. How could you know? They had a different plane...."
"Ronan, I went with you to the aero port. As bad as it is, that was there plane."
"No, no it wasn't. Stephen, you're lying to me. They're lying to me. Yvonne and Jack are on a different plane, and they're safe."
"Ronan..."
"Stephen! Stop doing this to me! You know as well as I do that they're okay! I'm gonna go see them in a couple of days, in New York, and we're all gonna be together, a happy family. And, and, and.... right?" Ronan didn't hear Stephen's answer, as the doorbell caught his ear. He looked at the door strangely for a moment before slowly going to get it. It was Stephen. Ronan just stood there and looked at him.
"Ronan..." He didn't say anything, but instead threw himself into Stephen's arms, his tears finally falling. And Stephen just held him.
The next few days were crazy for Stephen, who ended up taking care of all of Ronan's business. Ronan would talk to no one but Stephen, but he hardly did that. He did almost nothing but sit on the couch and stare at the wall. But every afternoon, he'd get up and walk to a small park near the city. There, he'd sit on a bench and just let the people walk by him, ignoring all of them. The death of his wife and son had been confirmed, but he made no press statement about it. He had no plans to go to the funeral. This became routine for him. Get up early, change his clothes, have a piece of toast, sit on the couch. Have another piece of toast, sit on the couch. Go to the park, have a piece of toast. Go to bed. But he rarely slept. He just lay there, not thinking, not moving. It was a wonder he'd eat the toast, he didn't touch anything else Stephen tried to feed him. Stephen was getting worried, but there was little he could do.
"You're not watching that guy again, are you?" Daniel asked from the bed of their hotel room. Darren just turned around and grinned sheepishly. "What's so interesting? So he sits there every day, big deal."
"Yeah, but he looks so...sad. And he doesn't do anything but sit, you know? No drink, no smoke, no food. And look at his clothes, he's no bum."
"So why watch him?"
"It's different, that's all." Daniel sighed and got up from the bed to join Darren at the window.
"Have you ever thought about going down to see him?" Darren jumped about a mile high, and smacked Daniel on his chest.
"You scared me!" Daniel just laughed. "But I couldn't do that."
"What...go see him? Why not?"
"It just wouldn't be...right."
"Whatever you say, mate," Daniel clapped Darren on the shoulder and went back to lie down again. But what Daniel had said would not leave Darren alone as he watched out the window.
Ronan could tell someone was approaching him, but still he sat. The stranger stopped and stood in front of him. Ronan waited for him to go away, but the stranger didn't move. And then he spoke.
"My name's Darren."