Chapter 25

A week later, Felicia and Denise were on a plane to Germany to visit the guys. Felicia was still wary of planes and had Denise take the window seat. Felicia managed to fall asleep for the entire trip, and before she knew it, they were there. The plane actually landed early, so they were going to try to surprise AJ.

“Felicia, why don’t you go visit AJ’s room while I take our stuff up. I’ll meet you there,” Denise said as they walked towards the elevator.

“Okay. What room is he in?” Felicia asked.

“Room 319. We are one floor above,” Denise said. The elevator arrived and they got on.

“Cool,” Felicia said. I really miss the guys. I can’t wait to see them again. The doors opened as they reached the third floor.

“Okay, I will be there real soon,” Denise, said. “Don’t get lost.”

“I’ll try to,” Felicia joked and kissed her on the cheek before going off to find AJ’s room.

Denise sighed. “She’s becoming more like her brother each day,” she mumbled before the elevator doors closed.

After a few wrong turns (after all, she promised Denise she would try to get lost), Felicia managed to find room 319. She knocked on the door and waited for AJ to answer.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” AJ said. It was slightly hard for Felicia to understand him because it sounded like there was an argument going on. The door opened and AJ looked at Felicia, not recognizing her at first. “Can I help…. FELICIA!” he exclaimed, seeing how much she grew up.

Felicia giggled. “Nice to see you too Al-“

Before Felicia could finish saying his name, picked her up and gave her a huge hug.

“Alex,” Felicia said in a whisper. “I need air.”

AJ sheepishly put her down. “Heh…sorry. I’m just excited! I thought you weren’t supposed to be in until much later.”

Felicia shrugged. “Our flight got in early I guess.”

“Well, don’t just stand there, come on in!” AJ said, stepping out of the way. When Felicia walked in, she saw Brian and Nick playing some type of video game.

“I’m guessing that was what all of the screaming was about.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” AJ said, shaking his head at the two guys. “Frick and Frack, their world is only made of video games.”

“Uh huh,” both of them said at the same time, not really paying attention to anything BUT the game. This caused everyone else, including Kevin and Howie who were watching, to laugh at their expense. Felicia went over to give Kevin and Howie hugs.

“Hey, you got taller,” Howie said as they all sat down on the beds.

“Yup, had a growth spurt,” Felicia said.

“I think you’re taller than Brian now,” Kevin said.

“Huh?” Brian asked, and then suddenly looked up. “Hey!”

Felicia giggled. “It’s the truth cuz,” Kevin said.

“I’m telling Aunt Ann on you,” Brian said and paused the game to go give Felicia a hug.

“Not cool man! I was winning!” Nick whined and saw Felicia was there. “Oh, hey,” he smiled.

Felicia returned the smile.

“Man, you are STILL winning. It’s not like I stopped the game completely,” Brian sighed and sat back down, ready to pick the game up again.

Nick stuck his tongue out at Brian as the game started and he started to win again.

Kevin turned to Felicia. “So, how is school going?”

Felicia shrugged. “It’s going. Still don’t like the kids. They started making fun of me cause I was already going on a vacation this early in the school year, but I don’t really care.”

AJ gave her a reassuring hug. “It’ll get better. And your still friends with Ian, right?”

Felicia smiled. “Yup, my only one. Better than none.”

“Hey, that rhymed!” Nick said, still very into the game. Only reason why he sort of paid attention was because he heard Ian’s name.

Brian smacked him on the back of his head. “And Nickolas Carter earned an A in poetry for the day class.”

Felicia giggled. “Oh, that reminds me. We had to write this poem for English class about our summer and we just got the graded copy back yesterday.”

“Whatcha get?” Howie asked.

“A B+. Mrs. Keys said I would of gotten an A, but since mine involved some non-words, she couldn’t give me an A. Doesn’t matter though, I still like it.”

“Sounds like a strict teacher,” Kevin said.

“Maybe you should go on a date with her,” Brian replied, still involved in the game. He earned a hard smack on the back of his head, while everyone else laughed at his expense.

“Ouch!” Brian said, letting go of his controls to rub the sore spot. Nick took advantage of this and won the entire game. “Man Kev, you made me lose,” Brian said as Nick did his victory dance.

“Sorry man, but you deserved. No way am I going out with a 50 year old teacher.”

“Um, actually, I think she is in her 30’s” Felicia replied.

Kevin rolled his eyes and laid back on the bed. “Everyone is out to get me.”

“Anyways….do you have it with you?” Howie asked.

“Uh, sure,” Felicia said, rummaging through her backpack. “Its in here SOMEWHERE.” By the time that she found it. Nick had finally stopped his almost-never ending dance, and he and Brian joined the others on the beds.

“Here we go. It’s called Mobile.”

“Wow, that’s good. What ‘non-words’ was she talking about?” Brian asked.

“The la’s” Felicia said.

“Makes sense.” Kevin said. ”I mean, they aren’t a noun, they aren’t an adjective, they aren’t an adverb, they aren’t a verb, they aren’t a prepo-“ before he finished, he was met by 5 pillows in his face. Gonna fix the formatting when i get home....gotta go to work....joy...rapsure lol....Happy July 4th!

~April 1996~

Since Felicia’s visit to the guys, she has gone back about once every two months. Unfortunately for her, Denise managed to schedule most of the visits on days Felicia’s school was off. Felicia started taking dance lessons at the beginning of this school year, and was even allowed to choreograph dances for the pre-school classes. Felicia and Ian were officially a couple, and after a few days, or weeks, Nick managed to get over it. Ian was still her only friend, but she was okay with it. This year, they had every class together, except for choir.

“Did you understand number eight in geometry?” Ian asked as they walked from the lunch line to their table.

“Sort of. I have the concept down, I just don’t get how to write out the proof for it,” Felicia said and sat down.

“Yeah, this one’s hard; probably our hardest yet,” he said and sat down next to her.

“Thank god its almost over though,” Felicia said. She looked up towards the lunch line and saw a girl looking around for a place to sit. “Is she new?” she asked Ian.

He looked up to where she was looking. “I think so. I know I’ve never seen her before.”

“Man, that’s got to be bad for her to move this close to the end of school,” Felicia said and waved to her to come over.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m letting her know she can come over. I don’t want her to feel like an outcast,” Felicia said. Ever since she came, she was the only new kid in her grade. The girl came over and stood by the table. “Hi, do you want to sit with us?” Felicia asked.

“Um, sure,” the girl said softly and sat across from the couple.

“I’m Felicia, and this is Ian,” Felicia smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Lenore,” she said. “All of my friends called me Lenni though.”

“That’s cool,” Ian said. “Where are you from?”

“Canada. And just so you know, it is so much warmer down here,” Lenni smiled and ate some of her food.

Felicia laughed. “Totally. I’m actually from Ohio myself. Just wait until winter; you will have a hard time adjusting to no snow.”

“Aw, so no more snow men?” Lenni joked, causing both girls to giggle.

“So, what are your classes?” Ian asked.

Lenni showed the two her schedule.

“Well, we only have gym together, but other than that, we have the same teachers,” Felicia said. “Just warning you, geometry is tough today.”

“Let me guess, proofs?”

Felicia nodded and showed her the homework. Lenni looked it over.

“Um, is our teacher, like, legally insane?”

Felicia and Ian laughed. “She could be,” Ian said.

The group of friends finished their lunches and went off to gym class. Even though Ian wasn’t in the same class with the two girls, he still had it at the same time.

“So, what are we doing today?” Lenni asked as they walked into the locker room.

“Dance-aerobics,” Felicia said. This was, by far, her favorite gym activity the whole year. Well, aside from basketball.

“Sweet!” Lenni said. “Will I still be able to do it even though I don’t have a uniform yet?”

“I don’t see why not. I mean, it’s only your first day,” Felicia said and went over to her locker. She changed and went back to Lenni as they walked out. “So, you like to dance too?”

“Sure do. Been doing it for eight years now.”

“No way! That’s how long I’ve been doing it too!” Felicia said.

“Freaky,” both girls said at the same time, causing both to giggle again.

“Lenni, I think this is the beginning of a be-u-ti-ful friendship,” Felicia said and put her arm around Lenni’s shoulder.

~July 1996~

True to Felicia’s words, Felicia and Lenni were best friends now. Whenever they could, they hung out together. Felicia was spending less time with Ian, but both Nick and AJ were happy with that. Even though AJ was happy his sister had someone, he didn’t really like Ian, but he didn’t know why. Maybe it was just his big brother senses. Lenni only met the boys once, and that was when they made a surprise visit home for Felicia’s birthday. Of course, it was a couple weeks late, but it was a surprise nonetheless.

Today was July 25, and Felicia wasn’t her normal, cheery self. She didn’t want to hang out with Ian or Lenni; she just sulked in her room. Denise was worried she was sick, but Felicia didn’t have a fever.

“Maybe you could cheer her up?” Denise asked AJ on the phone. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, but she won’t even tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’ll try mom. Put her on,” AJ said as he laid down on his bed.

Denise brought the wireless phone upstairs and knocked on Felicia’s door. “Sweetie? AJ is on the phone.”

Felicia moved faster than she had all day, even though it was still pretty slow, and opened the door. “Thanks,” she said softly and took the phone. Before she closed the door, she gave Denise a peck on the cheek. “Hi Alex,” she said as she laid down on her bed. Anyone could tell something was wrong.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” AJ said concerned.

“Nothing,” Felicia sighed.

“Felicia, I can tell something is up. I’m your brother, you can tell me anything. Or do I need to make Brian come on and give you a Donald Duck impression?”

Felicia giggled softly. “No, that’s not necessary.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong.”

Felicia sighed. “My sister would have been 12 today.”

“Oh,” AJ said. Now it was his turn to be quite. “Um, what’s so big about turning 12? She still would have been a pre-teen; not even allowed into PG-13 movies yet,” he joked, trying to get her to laugh. Felicia either didn’t think it was funny or didn’t hear it.

“It would have been her bat-mitzvah year,” Felicia sniffled.

“Oh…” AJ trailed off. Felicia explained what they were before, but never got emotional about them. “Why didn’t you get like this when it was your year?” he asked. He remembered her telling him that girls could either have them at 12 or 13.

“I never really wanted one. I didn’t want to lead the service. My sister was so into the idea of one. I made fun of her for it.”

“I’m sure she knew you didn’t mean it. All siblings make fun of each other. Look at us….hell, even look at Nick and Aaron,” AJ said. This time he received a giggle.

“True,” Felicia said softly.

“So is everything cool now?”

“As ice,” Felicia replied.

AJ laughed. “Good.”

“Thanks Alex,” Felicia said. “Do you wanna talk to mom again?”

“Actually, I should be heading out now. We need to record a new track.”

“Cool, good luck. Tell the others I said hi.”

“Will do. Love ya sis.”

“Love ya bro,” Felicia said and hung up. She felt better already.

a)the story about the dance teacher is true. i really did have a dance teacher named miss jen, and she really did have this connection. the only thing false about it is the tickets(i wish it could of happened) lol

b) the group at medival times is based off of the trip i took to florida this year with the band/orchestra. we were in the blue section, and we were REDICULOUSLY crazy. only thing false about it is that the blue knight didnt win....the yellow/red one did(our directors were in that section and wouldnt let the rest of us live it down lol)

c)"Down girl. heel, stay is from rent....i didnt mean for that to happen though lol

Chapter 28

~May 1997~

Another year has passed. Felicia, Lenni, and Ian had successfully made it into high school. Felicia and Ian were still going out, but like before, were not around each other as much as they used to be. Nick now had his own girlfriend, and Felicia was happy for him. The boys were still in Europe, but were coming home for Felicia’s dance recital. Felicia managed to convince Lenni to join her dance studio, and they had all of the same classes, along with helping the pre-schoolers. When Felicia was looking out into the audience from the wings, she saw her mom, the boys, but no Ian. I wonder where he is.

“Nervous?” Lenni asked, coming up from behind Felicia, causing her to jump.

“Don’t do that!” Felicia said. “I almost jumped on stage!”

Lenni laughed. “That would be too funny. But seriously, ya ready, fellow blues brother?” she asked, tipping her hat in front of her eyes.

This caused Felicia to laugh, and a stern look from one of the stagehands. Felicia and Lenni were about to go on for their first of five dances. This one was the Blues Brother’s “Gimme Some Lovin”, and it worked out that Felicia and Lenni were the only dancers in it. They’re costumes were just like the Blues’ Brothers; the hats, the suit jackets and pants, the ties. The only difference is that they had tap shoes on and they had unitards underneath the suits.

“Sure am! But really, it’s a good thing Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi didn’t wear these things.”

“Tell me bout it. It’s horrible!” Lenni giggled.

“Girls! Your on next!” Miss Jen called out to them in a whisper. She wasn’t the head of the dance studio, but Lenni and Felicia managed to have her be the dance teacher for all of their classes. The two girls were extremely good friends with her. Miss Jen used to be on the “King and I” on Broadway, and knew Taye Diggs from the new musical “Rent”. Miss Jen was able to get the girls tickets, along with a chance to meet the cast. Even though Denise and Lenni’s parents weren’t happy with the subject matter of the musical, they still let them go up to see it during winter break.

“Good luck Lenni! I’ll see you onstage,” Felicia said as she made her way backstage so she could get to the other side of the stage.

“It’s not good luck! It’s break a leg!” Lenni called out, a little too loud. “Whoops…there’s my big mouth again,” she mumbled sheepishly, receiving many glares.

After their jazz dance to “Vogue”, except for the finale, the girls were done. Felicia went back to the wings. There was still no sign of Ian. How could he not show up? He knew how much this means to me! Then her thoughts turned to the worst. What if something happened to him? I hope he’s okay.

“You okay girl?” Lenni asked, once again sneaking up on her. This time Felicia didn’t jump.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I mean, we made it, right?” Felicia smirked, trying to ignore her thoughts.

“Uh huh, sure you are,” Lenni said, but decided this wasn’t the time to talk about it. “Come on, we gotta get to our spots for the finale,” she said before pulling Felicia off to their spots.

Once the finale was over and everyone changed, Felicia and Lenni made their way out to their meeting spots to find their families.

“I know I said this after like, every dance, but we rocked girl!” Lenni said before giving Felicia a hug.

Felicia laughed. “I know, I know. It was so much fun!”

“So…. wanna tell me what was up before?” Lenni asked.

Before Felicia could respond, their families were coming to congratulate them. Thank god. Lenni’s parents went over to congratulate her.

“You were wonderful sweetie!” Denise said and hugged her tightly.

“Thanks mom,” Felicia replied before looking over at AJ who had two bouquets of roses. “Alex, which girls gave you those flowers?” she teased.

The other boys laughed at that as AJ have her a hug. “These are for you Miss Dancer,” AJ said before handing them over. “White ones are from mom, multicolored ones are from the five of us.”

“Aww, thank you guys,” she said, and then noticed Ian wasn’t there. “So, I guess he never showed up.”

“His loss,” Brian said, hugging her gently.

Felicia smiled. “Thanks. So, did you guys like the show?”

Howie came over and gave her a small hug. “Are you kidding? It was awesome! Fatima would be proud.”

Felicia laughed. “Oh yeah.”

Kev smiled before giving her his hug. “And I loved the model walk during Vogue. I wonder who your inspiration could have been.”

“I don’t know…. that’s real good question,” Felicia giggled.

“Oh, Felicia, we have good news,” Nick said smiling, coming up to her.

“What’s that?”

“Well…. Lou thinks we are ready to debut in the U.S. We aren’t going back to Europe,” he said.

“Really?!?!” Felicia asked before giving Nick a humongous hug.

“Down girl, heel, stay,” Lenni laughed as she came back over with her parents.

Felicia realized what she did when she heard that plus all of the laughing; she backed away, red in the face. “Sorry…. just got a wee bit excited.”

“So, are we still going to go out to eat?” Trisha, Lenni’s mom, asked.

Denise nodded. “Where do you girls want to go?”

Felicia and Lenni looked at each other, putting on evil grins before turning to face the group.

“Medieval Times!!!!”

“That was so awesome,” Felicia said as herself, Denise, and AJ headed back home. The rest of the guys would be spending time at home, except for Kevin and Brian. Before they came back over, they managed to find an apartment that they could rent, so they wouldn’t need to worry about spending nights at the other guys houses. Their group ended up sitting in the blue section, along with a fairly crazy group of band and orchestra kids. They won, and Felicia was psyched, still wearing her crown. She even managed to catch one of the roses the blue knight threw to the crowd.

“Totally! And you know who had the best spirit,” AJ said, smiling big.

Felicia giggled as they pulled into the driveway. “Those kids were just completely PSYCO!”

“The food wasn’t too bad either,” Denise said. She opened the door and checked to see if there were any messages on the answering machine.

Felicia and AJ brought her costumes up to her room. “Wanna bet I won’t wear these again?

AJ laughed. “yeah, why do they make you pay for them anyways?”

“I really don’t know.”

“Felicia! Ian called!,” Denise called up.

Felicia picked up the phone and dialed Ian, shoeing AJ out the door.

“I can see when I’m not wanted. Have fun talking to your boy toy!” AJ said while being pushed.

“Shaddup,” Felicia said, sticking out her tongue and closing the door. Thank god I have my own extenstion. As she made it back to her bed she heard someone pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mrs. Spreat. It’s Felicia. Is Ian there?”

“Sure, let me go get him,” Mrs. Spreat said while she put the phone down.

“Felicia?”

“Hi Ian,” Felicia said. Well, at least he’s okay. But why didn’t he show up. “Where were you today?”

“Uh…home?” Ian said, not really knowing what she was talking about.

Felicia sighed. “You forgot…”

“Huh?”

“My dance recital…. it was today…”Felicia trailed off.

“Oh…yeah….”

No apology?! Felicia was fuming, but decided not to let it show. “So, you called?”

“Uh yeah….”Ian said, getting nervous. “Felicia….I think we should stop seeing each other.

Felicia was floored. “Wh-what did you say?”

“I think we need to stop going out.”

“But why?!”

“You barely pay attention to me! And when you do, almost every conversation is about your brother and his friends!”

“Okay…f-first of all, not every single conversation is about them! I just talk about them when it comes up, then I drop it! Secondly, how am I not paying attention?” Felicia asked, crying.

“All you do is dance, write, and hang out with Lenni. There is never enough time for me anymore!” Ian yelled, exasperated.

This was making Felicia furious. “So, you think that just because you were the first friend I made, it means that I am only supposed to be with you? Is that it?!” Felicia didn’t get any response. “Well, then I’m glad its over!” she yelled before disconnecting the call. No sooner than she did that did she sob into her pillow.

AJ walked by her room towards the end of the call. He couldn’t tell what was going on exactly, but knew it was bad. “Felicia? Can I come in?’ he asked softly. Receiving no reply, he opened the door and sat next to her on the bed. “What’s wrong sweetie?”

Felicia sat up and leaned into AJ putting her face into his shoulder. “Ian dumped me,” she cried.

AJ rubbed her back. “I’m sorry sweetie…I knew there was something about him that I didn’t like.” Felicia was still bawling into his shirt. “I’m sure there is someone out there waiting for you.” Too bad he currently has a girlfriend right now. AJ got an idea. “Hang on, I think I might have something to cheer you up.” He kissed her forehead as he went to his room to get the cassette. He came back, and put in the tape.

“Alllll…Everything I have is for you,” the boys voices came over the stereo.

“W-whats this?” Felicia asked, wiping her nose.

“A conversation mix of All I Have to Give,” AJ said.

Felicia listened to it and giggled after every part. “It sounds like a cheesy dating video.”

“I knew that would make you happy.”

“Not happy, just better,”Felicia said as she snuggled into AJ, just like she was a little kid.

AJ sighed and hummed “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” as she fell asleep.

some 'disclaimers'

a) lely high school is a real school, but i believe in real life it is about 4 hours away from orlando. how do i know this? my old band director(stein-dog lol) moved to florida to teach there(well, not for that reason, but he got a job there and the reason why is too long). he came to visit us when we went down to florida, and he told us it took him 4 hours to get to orlando

b)any of the kids names are based off of kids in my grade. even lenni...partially lol...i needed a last name close to mclean alphabetically, so i looked in my junior yearbook(we dont get the new ones until october of the next school year, grr) for an m name hehe.

c) dr. deree was my principal....in elementary school lol. he retired this year, so i guess it goes out to him? lol

d)the events of graduation(robe colors, flowers, almamater on the back of the diplomas lol) are based off of my graduation this year. and just so ya know, lely's colors are gold and maroon i think, so these colors are not the real ones hehe.

Chapter 29

~June 1999~

By now, things were going great in everyone’s lives. The boys were ruling the U.S. pop charts. Nick was still going out with Amanda, even though everyone else he knew disapproved of her. AJ now had his own house, but Felicia was a frequent visitor, along with visiting the other boys’ houses. That is, when they were home. They were currently on their Millennium tour, and Felicia was worried that they wouldn’t be able to schedule a certain day off; her graduation.

Felicia and Lenni had finally made it. Today was June 1st, and in a few hours, they would be graduating from Lely High School. Felicia hasn’t had a boyfriend since Ian, but she didn’t care. It’s better than having another broken heart. But, it being their senior year, which included their senior prom, both of them wanted to go with dates. It helped that the boys had yet to start their tour. Kevin, Howie, and Brian were too old to escort them (the school had a rule saying no one older than 21), so Felicia went with Nick, and both of them convinced AJ to go with Lenni. Both couples were going as friends. Felicia managed to make all of her past tormenters, including dear old Ian, shut up when they came in with two of the Backstreet Boys. A few juniors came up to ask for autographs, which the boys obliged to sign, but other than that, it was a peaceful evening. Well, as peaceful as it could be for a party. But that was behind them now.

Neither of the girls were going to college. If they wanted to, they could. Both were in the top 5% of their class, graduating with honors, and both apart of National Honor Society. And both girls were on the dance squad. But dance was the reason why they weren’t going to college. Lenni was offered the chance by Fatima to be a dancer for them. She accepted, and after two weeks of practice, she would be joining them on the Millennium tour. However, Felicia wasn’t offered a chance to be a dancer. She was offered the chance to be Fatima’s assistant; a co-choreographer if you will. Felicia was ecstatic. It also meant that if another girl got sick, she would be able to fill in for them, whether it was for a performance or for a video shoot. And when Felicia wasn’t dancing, she would be helping her mom with management work.

“Can you believe it?” Lenni squealed, hugging Felicia as she came in the doors of the theater where the ceremony would be held. Their class was far to big for the gymnasium or the school auditorium, so the school rented out a theater in Orlando for the event..

Felicia hugged her back. “I know! I can’t believe we made it!”

Lenni pulled back and playfully slapped her arm. “Come on. You? Not making it? Miss National Honor Society President, goody too-shoes, dance squad lieutenant, show choir pres-“

“I MEANT” Felicia cut Lenni off, laughing. “I can’t believe we made it without going crazy!”

Lenni laughed. “And don’t we make these white gowns look oh so snazzy?” she asked twirling around.

Felicia laughed. “Oh, we do. We do. Dear god, I think we are FINALLY cracking” She started to cry, partly from laughter, partly because she was getting emotional.

Lenni hugged her again. “Why you crying girl? We made it. Just a couple of steps to get our diploma, and then we are free from this prison.”

Felicia gave a small laugh, trying to wipe her eyes without messing up her makeup. “I don’t know….a bunch of stuff really. I guess mostly I wish that my parents could be here.”

“I’m sure they can see the whole thing,” Lenni said pulling away, smiling.

Felicia smiled. “Thanks. It doesn’t help I’m nervous as all hell about tripping on the stage.”

“Just pretend that instead of walking, your performing your senior dance at the recital. Or you could pretend Nick is naked,” Lenni said, raising her eyebrows.

Felicia blushed. “That would NOT help. It would probably make my chances of falling down even greater” she giggled. “ Great, now I AM going to think of him naked. Do I look like I’ve been crying?” she asked.

“Nope, not at all. Your clown nose went away,” Lenni said.

Felicia laughed. She tended to get a red nose whenever she cried, even just for a millisecond, and it usually took forever to go away. “Come on, we should head to the back room so we can line up.”

“We have 20 minutes! Did I mention you were also Miss Punctuality?” Lenni joked as they headed to the room.

The orchestra played Pomp and Circumstance as the graduates made their way down the aisles towards the stage. Boys were in Blue, and girls were in white, holding a red rose. With no one in between Felicia and Lenni alphabetically, they were going to sit next to each other on stage. “Remember, no goofing off,” Denise told her before they left the house. As Felicia was walking down the aisle, aside from looking over to the other aisle to make sure she was walking with someone in step, she was also looking to see if the boys were there yet. They were coming in from Texas, and she was extreamly worried they wouldn’t make it in time.

“Yeah! Go Felicia!!” she heard someone yell. She looked over and saw all of the guys in disguise, cheering silently. Well, except for AJ, who she realized was the one who yelled when Denise smacked him playfully. Felicia just shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes, concentrating on not falling while she walked. Pretend it’s the dance recital…. pretend it’s the dance recital…. Pretend Nick is naked. NO!!! Don’t think that. Damn you Lenni for putting dirty thoughts in my mind. Well, it helped. Before she knew it, she was standing next to Lenni in their row, waiting for the ceremony to start.

“Thomas Matthew Liston,” Class President Carrie Forgione announced. Lenni and Felicia were standing up, waiting for their names to be called.

“Lenore Ann Marks.” With that, Lenni walked across the stage to shake hands with the school board president, receive her diploma, and shake hands with the principal. Oh god, I’m next, Felicia thought, getting nervous all over again.

“Felicia Anne Mclean.” Felicia made her way across the stage, the same way as Lenni. I can’t believe this is happening to me. Please AJ, don’t embarrass me. Felicia made it across successfully, without any interruptions from a certain family member. When Felicia and Lenni made it back to their seats, they were the last two in the row, so the whole row was allowed to sit down. Felicia looked over at Lenni and smiled. Lenni smiled back and they waited for the rest of their class to accept their diplomas.

“Jessica Marie Zucker,” Carrie said. The last student received her diploma and made her way all the way to the back of the stage. “Graduates,” Carrie said, turning around so she could see them and still talk into the microphone. “Please stand and move your tassles from left to right.”

As the graduates did this, the audience erupted with applause.

“Yeah Felicia! Yeah Lenni!” This time, Felicia’s five brothers were yelling and screaming for them. She didn’t mind this time, as it was happening to everyone around her. Felicia also saw Denise, crying happy tears. Carrie went back to her seat and Dr. Deree, the school principal, came up to the microphone.

“Please stand, and sing along as the Class of 1999 leads us in the school Almamater.”

Felicia looked around and had to choke a laugh as she saw every single senior, no, graduate, look at the back of their diplomas to see the words to it. You’d think the school would have the time to teach it to us.

As they were singing, both Felicia and Lenni started to cry. They saw each other and wraped an arm around the other, still singing. Once the Almamater was over, the band played the recessional. Felicia and Lenni were only in the second row, so they were out the doors of the building very fast.

“you know what this means, right?” Lenni asked as they headed to a meeting spot.

“No, what does it mean?” Felicia asked, holding her cap so it wouldn’t blow away.

“Paaaaartay!”

and, i know the casper slide was released after 1999, i just love the song lol. so much fun!

Chapter 30

That night, Felicia, Lenni, and all of the boys would be hanging out at AJ’s place for a going away party/ graduation party. The boys would need to leave the next morning to continue with the tour, so they wouldn’t be able to go to the girl’s graduation party in a couple days. It wasn’t going to be big anyways, just a party with their fellow dance squad members. But since they were the only seniors on the squad, they decided to have one party.

Anyways, after graduation, Lenni’s parents and Denise went out to eat while the boys took Felicia and Lenni to AJ’s place.

“I can sense a repeat of prom, I just know it,” Felicia smiled. At prom, it was the best night of her life. There was no Amanda, or as she liked to be called, Willa, to stop her from dancing with Nick. Of course, Felicia didn’t have feelings like that for Nick anymore, but sometimes she just wanted to hang out with him, and Willa would try to stop that at all costs. At prom, he and AJ were going crazy with the dancing, something Felicia and Lenni wouldn’t let them live down; they took pictures and showed them to the guys.

“Uh….don’t think so girl,” AJ said, giving her a noogie.

“Hey! Watch the hair! Its frizzy enough already!” Felicia giggled. Luckily, they were at a stoplight, so she didn’t need to worry about him crashing while doing this. Felicia, AJ, Brian, and Nick were in one car, while Howie, Lenni, and Kevin were in another.

“I can’t believe we hafta go tomorrow. At 6 am too,” Nick complained as they pulled into AJ’s driveway.

“We can sleep on the plane Frack, don’t worry about that,” Brian said as they stepped out of the car, Kevin pulling up behind them.

“Lets get this party started!!” Lenni squealed, running up behind Felicia and jumping on her back.

“Hey guys, remember this?” AJ asked as he put in another cd.

“Funky, funky…..funky, funky…..everybody clap your hands…” the stereo played.

Felicia and Lenni squealed as the Casper Slide came on and started to dance. “And I thought you said this wouldn’t be a repeat of prom,” Felicia scoffed.

“So sue me, this dance is fun!” AJ said as he and Nick joined the girls. Brian, Kevin, and Howie just gave them a look that said ‘what the hell is this?’.

“Come on guys! It’s the easiest dance to do. They tell you every move you need to do,” Nick said, stomping his feet.

“Yeah, if Nick can do it, you guys can definitely do it,” Felicia joked.

Everyone laughed but Nick, who swatted her arm. “Yeah, yeah, pick on the uncoordinated one. Laugh it up,” he said as he continued.

“Slide to the left,” the stereo played. Felicia was standing on Nick’s right side, and managed to correctly slide to the left. Nick, however, went the wrong way, and collided into Felicia, causing AJ and Lenni to laugh more so than the other three.

“Nick, didn’t you learn your left’s and right’s from last time?” AJ asked, referring to prom. Nick did the same thing then, and obviously history is repeating itself.

Even though Nick was bigger than Felicia, he was the one who ended up on the floor, rubbing his arm. “It’s not my fault the dude changes around when he says left or right,” Nick mumbled.

Felicia helped him up and saw his arm was scrapped pretty badly. “Come with me, I’ll get you a band-aid for that.”

“No, really. It’s okay.”

“Nick, do you really want it to get infected before we go on tour?” Kevin asked. “Go with Felicia and clean it up.”

“Yes daddy,” Nick mumbled before Felicia dragged him into the house.

“I know the antiseptic is around here somewhere,” Felicia said to herself as she looked in the medicine cabinet. She found the gauze and medical tape, and decided to use that cause band-aids would be too small for this. Nick was sitting at the kitchen table with a wet washcloth over the scrapes.

“You don’t hafta do this,” Nick said, holding the arm.

“Found it! And yes I do,” Felicia said, sitting down with all of the supplies. “Roll up your sleeve.”

“Do I hafta?” Nick whined.

“Yes.”

Nick sighed and reluctantly rolled it up, showing more scrapes from the fall and other brusies. Felicia noticed this as she was cleaning his arm. “Nick Where did that come from?”

“What?” Nick asked before looking down at his arm. “Oh, those…..the fall,” he said, not too convincingly.

“Nick,” Felicia said seriously. “I know what bruises look like from when you fall. Those are not ‘falling down’ bruises, those are something else. What are they from?”

“How do you know what ‘falling down’ bruises are?”

“Because I always fell when I started dancing. And don’t change the subject. What are they from?” Felicia asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Willa,” Nick said softly, looking down at his feet.

“What? Oh god,” Felicia said softly. “Does she do this a lot?”

Nick nodded, not saying another word.

“Nick….I think you should break up with her,” Felicia said, looking into his eyes. Maybe this time he’ll listen to me.

“Already did….sorta,” Nick mumbled, avoiding her look.

Felicia was now confused. “Huh?”

Nick sighed and looked up. “This morning…well, she dumped me. Said she didn’t need me anymore. I didn’t tell the guys yet, figured they would play the ‘I told ya so’ game.”

Felicia sighed and gave him a comforting hug. “You know they wouldn’t do that. But I’m sorry about this Nick. You deserve better than that bitch.”

Nick looked up at her, shocked. “Felicia, did you just swear?”

Felicia giggled. “Yeah, I am AJ’s sister after all. Had to start sometime,” she joked.

Nick shook his head slightly before returning the hug. “Thanks.”

“Your one of my best friends Nick, I will always care about you.”

Nick smiled and pulled away. He looked down at his arm and back at Felicia. “um, wanna finish cleaning the scrape? They might think we did more than that if I go out with nothing on my arm," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Felicia laughed and worked on it. “You wish.”

workman's circle cemetery is real. it is where two of my great-uncles are buried there, and its next to the cemetery where my bubbie and other family members are buried. i would of used that one, but i dont know the name of it.

two yiddish words/phrases are used. ~~~Danken got= thank god ~~~goy= non jew. not exactly the nicest way of saying it. my bubbie was known for saying it in a very negative way very often.

cain park is a beutiful amplitheater, i always used to go to yiddish/hebrew/jewish choir concerts there. as far as i know, bsb has yet to perform there, so this concert never happened lol.

Chapter 31

~August 1999~

The “Into the Millenium Tour” was swinging in full force. Lenni and Felicia were having a wonderful time being on tour. Felicia’s job was coming together in terms of what she needed to do. When it was just her and Fatima, they watched tapes of what the boys and dancers were doing to see if there was anything they needed to improve on. When it came to new dance moves, Fatima was the one to teach them, while Felicia reviewed dance moves with the other group. Right now, they were in Akron, Ohio, and Felicia just finished up her rehearsal with the boys, in preparation for tomorrows show at Cain Park. Felicia was now sitting on the grass, watching as Fatima was getting frustrated with the dancers.

“I’m glad I have this job instead,” Felicia mumbled. She opened her laptop and went to map-quest and started her search.

“Hey kiddo,” Kevin said, sitting next to her.

“Hey….daddio,” Felicia smirked, typing in the name of the place.

Kevin rolled his eyes and saw her computer screen. “Whatcha doing there?”

“Oh, nothing interesting,” she said as she scanned the screen, looking for the right address. Once she scrolled to the bottom, she found it. “Got it.”

“Got what?” Kevin asked, looking at the address. “Workman’s Circle Cemetery? Why do you want to know the address of that place?”

Felicia sighed. “If you come with me, I’ll explain on the way.”

Kevin stood up and held out his hand to her to help her up. “Come on, lets go.”

“Okay, so now that we are almost there, explain,” Kevin said as he was driving down I-77.

Felicia sighed and looked up from her laptop. She brought it with her because it was the only directions she had. “It’s where my family is buried,” she said softly.

“Oh…” Kevin said, looking at the road. “When was the last time you were there?”

“Their funeral. After that, I was moved to the home. I had no say in what their headstones had on them, and I wasn’t able to go to the unveiling either,” she said starting to tear up.

Kevin put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

Felicia sniffed and wiped away the tears before they could fall. “That’s okay. It’s not your fault or anything. But it is also why I brought my camera,” she said, holding it up. “Since I don’t know when I’ll be back, I want to take a picture of them so I can always have it with me.”

Kevin gave her a small smile. “That’s a good idea. Um, you mentioned an ‘unveiling’. I know we didn’t have one for my dad. What is it?”

“It’s a Jewish custom. Basically, when the headstone is ready, it is put on the grave with a cheesecloth over it. Then some family members come with a rabbi and they take the cloth off. It’s also like second funeral,” Felicia said. “I’ve only been my mommy’s cousin’s, and I didn’t even know the guy. I wish I could of gone to this one instead,” she said softly.

They got off the freeway and drove down the narrow road. As they got closer, Felicia turned off the radio. The cemetery was really off the beaten track; only those who knew about it would be the ones going there. They pulled in through the gates, and Kevin parked in the car.

“Do you want me to come see it with you?” Kevin asked.

“Well, I want to see it first, but then you can come up,” she said, stepping out of the car. “Could you help me find three rocks though?”

“Yeah. Why?” he asked as he followed her to the wooded area.

“Another Jewish thing. You put a rock on the headstone to show someone was there,” she said as they picked out the rocks.

“I’ll be at the car if you need me,” Kevin said as he walked back.

Felicia sighed and took out her camera from the case, looking for the headstones. Now, where was it…. Rosenthal, Steinberg, Wolfe, Levine…. She stopped as she saw two headstones; one for both her parents, and a separate one for her sister. She took a deep breath and walked up to them, reading the inscription on each before putting a rock above them. She stood back and took a picture of each, before going back to talk.

“Hi guys. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come any sooner. I just want you to know that I miss you all so much, and I always think about you. If you don’t already know, I was adopted. They aren’t Jewish, but they care about me, and I think that’s all that matters. Denise, my mom, is really cool and down to earth. And I have a brother; his name is Alex, but likes to be called AJ. I don’t call him that though. He will always be Alex to me. Aside from that, I have five great friends. Four of them are in a singing group with Alex. Kevin, he’s the oldest, he took me here today. And I have a friend named Lenni. She’s a dancer just like me,” she paused before going towards her sister’s stone more. “I still dance, and I actually have a really cool job. I am an assistant choreographer for my brother’s group. It’s really cool. I know you would be so jealous of me if you could,” she smiled softly before going back to her original spot. “I know you guys have watched me for eight years, and I hope I made you proud. I just miss you so much,” she said before she had to turn away, as if that would hide the crying from her family. She waved for Kevin to come over as she saw a green mini-van pull in behind them.

“Are you going to be okay?” Kevin asked, wrapping an arm around her.

Felicia nodded as she wiped away her tears. “Yeah, I think so. Thanks for coming with me. I don’t think I could of come alone.” She saw an elderly couple step out of the van. She thought she recognized them, but just shrugged it off. Even though, she did see them look at her funny too.

Kevin looked over at the headstones. “They are beautiful. Now, we should probably head back before everyone goes ‘did Kevin kidnap Felicia?’”

Felicia giggled softly. “No, they’ll say I kidnapped you,” she said as they walked back, going by the couple, who were still watching them.

“F-Felicia?” the woman asked, sounding like she was going to cry.

Felicia turned around. Now I know I know them, but from where. “huh?”

“Esther, lets leave her be. You always think you see her.”

Esther…. that was my bubbie’s name. “Bubbie? Zaydee?” she asked hopefully.

“Danken Got! You came back to us, you finally came back,” she said as she pulled Felicia away from Kevin and nearly suffocated her, but Felicia didn’t care as she returned the hug.

“I-I thought I would never see you again!” Felicia exclaimed as she cried in happiness. Her Zaydee joined the hug as well, as Kevin looked on with mixed emotions.

“Let me look at you,” Bubbie said as she pulled back to see her granddaughter. “Oh my, you have grown so much! The last time we saw you I was barely taller than you, and now you are a giant compared to me.” Felicia giggled at the comment. “How old are you now?”

“I’m 18,” Felicia said, wiping away her tears again.

“18!!! Has it already been eight years?” Bubbie stated and looked over at Kevin. She saw the cross around his neck and held onto Felicia. “Who is this goy?” she asked, giving him the evil eye.

“Bubbie!” Felicia exclaimed and went over to Kevin to pull him over. “This is my friend, Kevin Richardson. Kevin, if you couldn’t already tell,” she said, laughing slightly, “this is my Bubbie and Zaydee, Esther and Leonard Rudnick.”

“Its nice to meet you, sir, mam,” he said extending his hand to shake. Zaydee accepted it willingly, while Bubbie, being the Yiddish woman she was, shook it like it was poison. Felicia just rolled her eyes at that, chuckling at her Bubbie’s antics.

“So, what are you doing up here?” Zaydee asked Felicia and Kevin.

“Well, Kevin and my brother are in this singing group. They are performing at Cain Park tomorrow, so I decided to come up and visit mom, dad, and Erica,” Felicia said.

“Do you think you will be able to come home with us? Just to catch up?” Bubbie asked hopefully.

Felicia sighed and looked at her watch. “I don’t think so. I want to and all, but we didn’t exactly tell anyone where we were going. We should head back before anyone worries too much.” She suddenly got an idea and looked at them. “Do you think you could come to the concert tomorrow?” she asked.

“Well…..what type of music is it? I doubt it’s a Yiddish concert, correct?” Bubbie asked.

Felicia laughed. “No, not at all. But we would be backstage while they perform. It’s really insulated back there, you can barely hear anything.”

Bubbie was about to protest, but Zaydee spoke up first. “We would love to toots,” he said, calling Felicia his nickname for her. I missed that.

Felicia looked at Kevin. “Do you think we can put them on the list?”

“I don’t see why not,” he said, trying to remember if the backstage list was full. “Yeah, I think there is still room.”

Felicia smiled before giving hugs to Bubbie and Zaydee. “The show starts at 7:00 pm, but we will be there the whole day. You can come whenever you want.”

“I love you so much,” Bubbie whispered before letting go.

“I love you too. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Felicia said before she and Kevin headed back to the car. She got in and buckled up. “I can’t believe that happened.”

“I know, that is just, so crazy,” Kevin said as he pulled out of the cemetery.

“Man, I just realized something,” Felicia said, hitting her forehead.

“What’s that?”

“She’s gonna freak when she finds out mom and Alex aren’t Jewish!”

Kevin chuckled as they made their way back onto I-77.

and i discovered this last night....felicia grew up REALLY fast lol. alot of the stuff that i wanted to go down was when she was really young and really old(well, not really old, like early 20's lol), so thats why i didnt write much about her teenage years, just the occasional stuff so it wasnt too big of a time jump. if i come up with an idea of something that i wished i had put in originally, i might add the concept of a flashback hehe.

oh! and jono is another name from my yearbook hehe....i actually had a crush on this guy in 8th grade(he sat at my science lab table). and, like the character, he is really big and on the high school football team....even tho, i know he didnt play center, i just forgot his actual position heh.

and why did i pick white russian? cause it is one of the only drinks i know of hehe(aside from margaritas and pina colatas)

Chapter 32

~June 2000~

At the Cain Park Concert, Felicia and her grandparents caught up on everything they could think of. They met AJ and Denise, and surprisingly, Bubbie thought that they were an excellent family, despite their religion. They exchanged phone numbers and addresses, and even email. Considering Bubbie’s old-fashioned ways, Felicia was sure surprised when they said they had a computer. Since Cain Park, they have kept in touch whenever necessary, but not too often.

Felicia also had a new boyfriend, Jono Novak. He is four years older than Felicia, one of AJ’s good friends, and was a roadie on Millennium. He was a fairly big guy; he was a center in high school, but that was the extent of his football days, unless you count tag football while on tour.

Today was the day of Kevin’s wedding to Kristin. Over time, Felicia had become best friends with Brian and Kevin’s fiancées and she was going to be a bridesmaid for Kevin and Kristin’s wedding. Felicia, Brian, AJ, and Howie would all be going with their significant others, while Nick and Lenni would be going solo. Lenni heard of people meeting their future husbands and wives at weddings, so she planned to try that. Nick was just going though to be there for his brother; he didn’t care about being in a relationship or trying to start one there. After Willa, he just wanted to be solo, even though he did start to have feelings for Felicia again. But he knew she was happy with Jono, so he didn’t want to ruin that for her.

At the reception, everyone was having a good time. Jono went to get himself and Felicia some drinks, and she had to keep reminding him that she wanted a Shirley Temple, NOT a White Russian. One of the downsides to the big age difference I guess. While he was gone, Casper Slide came on. Felicia didn’t notice at first because she was looking at the doorway, waiting for him to come back from the lobby with the drinks. Nick saw this and pulled her to the dance floor.

“This song sounds familiar, I wonder where I’ve heard this before,” Nick joked as he started to dance.

Felicia listened and started to dance as well. “I know, must be a new dance,” she giggled. Happily, no one was injured this time. The songs came and went with toast’s in-between, then I Turn to You came on. Felicia saw Jono wasn’t back yet and was about to go sit down before Nick grabbed her arm.

“May I have this dance?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

Felicia got a chill when he said that. She hasn’t felt like this since the first time they met, and she didn’t know why. He just asked you to dance girl, get a grip. Felicia nodded as he pulled her close to dance. They didn’t mean to, but she rested her head on his shoulder, and he rested his head on her's. No one noticed this except for a man standing in the doorway, and he wasn't too happy with the picture.

bagel the beagle is named after my friends dog.

Chapter 33

The next day, Jono planned to get to the bottom of this; if Felicia loved him or Nick.

“Did you have a fun time at the wedding?” Felicia asked as she sat down next to him on the couch. Felicia bought her own house after the Millenium tour was over with, but it was within reasonable distance to her friends and family’s houses in Orlando.

“Uh huh,” Jono replied, turning on the baseball game.

“Is something wrong?” Felicia asked, wrapping an arm around him.

Jono sighed and looked over at Felicia. “Do you like Nick?”

Felicia laughed. “Of course! He’s my best friend! How could I dislike him?”

Jono rolled his eyes. “Not like that! I mean, do you like him as in LOVE him,: he said, getting annoyed very fast.

“What?! Of course not! I mean, yeah, I used to have a crush on him, but I was 12 at the time!” Felicia asked, withdrawing her arm. She was completely shocked that he would even think that she had those feelings. Then again, I did feel something last night.

“Then what was going on at the reception? I saw you two dancing together.”

Felicia gave him an aggravated sigh. “We were just dancing as friends. I was by myself, he wanted me to have fun, so we danced. That’s that.”

“Didn’t look like that. Sure looks like you have feelings for him, and I bet he feels the same way,” Jono mumbled, staring past the tv.

Felicia sighed. “What do I need to prove to you that I love you more than him?”

Jono thought about it for a little bit, looked at her with a gleam in his eyes. “Have sex with me.”

“WHAT?!” Felicia yelled, standing up and backing away from him.

“Have sex with me, and that will prove that you love me more than him.”

“No way, nuh uh,” she said, shaking her head. “I told you when we started this relationship that I want to wait until marriage. I’m not going to have sex with you to prove a point! You said you would respect that!”

“So then you do love that pussy,” Jono snickered.

Felicia glared at him before slapping him hard across the cheek. “How dare you say that about him!! I thought you were his friend! I want you out of my house….NOW!”

Jono stood up and grabbed his coat. “Fine. Have a nice life….bitch,” he said before heading to the door.

Felicia helped him though when she shoved him outside and slammed the door behind him. Instead of crying though, she went back to the couch to think. Her beagle puppy, Bagel, climbed onto her lap and Felicia pet her as she thought about what just happened.

Thank god he doesn’t live here. I can’t believe he acted like that. Nick and I are just friends, he had no reason to doubt me. I mean, I had that dream so long ago, we were just friends in it. Then the mistletoe….but we grew up…..and it’s been so long. Felicia remembered one part of her dream, the hallway. A never ending hallway…. maybe it means something…..I need to find out for myself. She stopped thinking about the whole ordeal and called Nick’s home phone.

“Hello?”

“Nick? It’s Felicia.”

“Oh, hey girl! What’s up?”

“Um…. are ya busy?” Felicia asked, giggling when Bagel licked her ear.

“No…what’s going on? Jono up to something?” he joked, not missing the giggle.

Felicia tensed up when he said Jono’s name. “Um, no. That was just Bagel. Do you want to come over?”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll be there in 15,” Nick said, not picking up the change in her tone.

“I’ll see you then,” she said.

“Later,” he said before hanging up to get ready. Felicia hung up as well and kissed the top of Bagel’s head. “Hungry girl? Come on, let me get you some food,” she said before going to the kitchen.

Felicia put Bagel in the backyard and was coming back into the house when she heard the doorbell ring. “I’m coming!” she yelled before running to the door. She was so nervous about what was going to happen. I have nothing to lose now. She opened the door and saw Nick brought some McDonalds with him.

“I figured it’s dinner time, why not bring over some food for ya while I’m hungry,” he smiled as he walked in.

Felicia smiled back and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks Nick,” she said and lead him to the couch. She took her bag from him and looked inside. “Yummy, I love my chicken nuggets,” she said and took them out.

Nick made a gagging noise. “But from what part of the chicken are they from?” he joked.

Felicia laughed. “Hey, chicken is healthier than red meat, that’s my motto. Its not like I’m eating chicken livers or anything,” she shuddered and popped one into her mouth.

“Girl, don’t make me lose my appetite! I haven’t even had my food yet,” Nick laughed as they continued to eat and make jokes.

Once they were finished, Felicia and Nick subconsciously cuddled on the couch like when they were younger.

Might as well get it over with, Felicia sighed and looked up at Nick. “Nick? Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah…. something else or was that your question?” Nick joked.

Usually, Felicia would of laughed or elbowed Nick for being a smart ass, but she was too worried about what he might say to care. “I’m serious Nick.”

Nick wiped the smirk off his face and looked at her concerened. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

I hope not. “Nick….. do you love me?”

Nick just stared at her. “Why does it matter? You have Jono.”

“We broke up, just before I called you,” Felicia whispered, looking down at her lap.

“I’m sorry,” Nick said before looking past Felicia, out the screen door.

Felicia looked back up at him. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Nick continued to stare out the window.

“Oh…”Felicia said, looking back down at her lap, feeling rejected.

Nick looked down at her and tilted her chin up. He gazed into her eyes before kissing her. After what seemed like an eternity, they broke apart, their eyes never leaving each other.

“Is that a yes or no?” Felicia asked.

Nick chuckled before they kissed again.

Chapter 34

A week later, all was good in Backstreet Land. Kevin and Kristin were still on their honeymoon, Brian was planning his own wedding with Leighanne, Howie was working on his new club Tabu, AJ started working on his JNN project again, and Nick and Felicia just relaxed. When they told the others of them being a couple, they wouldn’t let Nick and Felicia live it down. AJ said he had a pool running, and that he lost. While Nick thought it was hilarious, Felicia wasn’t too pleased. She paid him back though. Lets just say his goatee was trimmed a little too much.

Felicia was going to have a cookout at her place that night. All of the guys, minus Kevin for obvious reasons, were invited. It was going to be the first meal she cooked for them that wasn’t her specialty: take-out.

“Bagel! No! Put the steak down!” Felicia said, running after her dog in the backyard.

Bagel ran with it in her mouth through every single thing it could, causing Bagel to become a complete mess. When Felicia caught her, Bagel was getting Felicia completely muddy.

“Great, just great,” she mumbled. Felicia threw out the steak in her rubbish bin and washed Bagel off. “You owe me so much missy,” Felicia scolded the puppy as if she could actually understand her owner. Felicia was rewarded by more puppy kisses. “Ew…. steak breath,” Felicia laughed and put Bagel in her pen by the front door. “Stay, Mommy needs to change now.” Felicia said as she headed upstairs.

She thought she heard something, but figured it was the house creaking. She made it to her room and private bathroom. She went in, took off her glasses, and washed her face to get rid of the steak smell. “This is my new reason why I stay away from red meat,” she mumbled. She put her glasses back on and saw Jono looking at her in the mirror, apparently very drunk.

“Ahh!!!” Felicia yelled then turned around. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I looove you,” Jono said, his words slurring.

“We are over with! Don’t you remember? I’m with Nick now!” Felicia said, trying to back away into her room.

“I knew it. I knew you and that pretty boy were together. How could you do this to me?” Jono yelled, very drunk and not understanding anything.

“We got together after you and I broke up!” Felicia said, in her bed room now and trying to get to the phone.

Jono ran over and pulled the whole thing out of the wall. “Nuh uh. Your mine. No calling for help. That would ruin all of the fun.”

Felicia was officially freaked out now. “Fun?” she asked, going over to her bed, where she kept a baseball bat.

“Fun,” Jono nodded, not noticing what she was doing.

Felicia managed to pick up the bat. “Why?”

“Because I want you!” he yelled. Right then, Felicia swung at him, but he managed to catch the bat and push it against Felicia. She was pushed up against the wall, the bat against her neck, choking her. “Now this is fun,” he smirked.

Felicia managed to kick him where it hurts, causing him to scream in pain and drop the bat. Felicia wasn’t worried about catching her breath, she was more worried about getting out of there alive. She saw she had the chance to make a run for it, so she did. When she got to the top of the stairs, she was hit from behind, causing her to fall down. She landed at the bottom unconscious, right next to a sleeping Bagel. Jono came up and started beating the crap out of her, using his bare hands and the bat.

“You little bitch! You deserve this! I’m better than any pretty boy!” Jono said, causing her face to bleed all over. “Didn’t want to give me any before, did you? Well, now you will,” he said as he started to undo her pants. However, he was interrupted when he heard a car door. “Shit,” he whispered. He didn’t even bother to pull her pants back up, he just hightailed it out of there through the backyard before he was caught.

“I still can’t believe what she did to my face,” AJ complained as he got out of the drivers seat.

Nick laughed. “You deserved it man.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t place bets on your sister. I know that now,” AJ chuckled. He went up to the door and rang the bell.

Nick looked at his watch. “I wonder whats taking Howie and Brian so long.”

“Well, Howie is probably working on his hair, and Brian is probably having too much fun planning a wedding,” AJ joked. When no one came to the door, he rang the doorbell again. “Feliiiiiicia…..you have visitors,” AJ yelled through the door. The only response was a hyper-active dog barking back at him.

After a minute, Nick decided to try. Usually after Bagel barked, Felicia was down there in a flash. He took out his cell and called Felicia’s phone. Sorry, I’m not available at the moment. So,um, as they say in Rent….Speeeeeeeeek. Nick didn’t bother leaving a message and just shut off his phone. “Answering machine,” he told AJ, who was looking around for the spare key.

“Got it,” AJ said as he pulled it from the hanging plant. He opened the door and was greeted by a very panicked Bagel. “Hey girl, where’s your mommy?” he asked, rubbing Bagel behind the ear.

Nick looked past AJ and saw Felicia. “Oh god……”

AJ followed his gaze and put Bagel down before running to Felicia. “Oh no, oh no…” he said before taking her pulse. “Thank god.” He mumbled and turned to Nick. “Get on your phone and call 911.”

Nick didn’t budge from his spot in the doorway. He just stared as his girlfriend lay in her own blood, with her pants around her knees.

“Nick! Call now!” AJ yelled at him, crying.

Nick came out of his trance and dialed 911, starting to pace.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“I-It’s my girlfriend. Sh-shes bleeding badly everywhere, and her pants are pulled down, and we don’t know how long she was like this, and-“

“Sir, where are you calling from?”

“Her h-house.”

“What is the address?”

Nick gave her the address along with other information she asked for.

“Get some blankets so you can keep her warm, but other than that, do not touch her. Understood?”

Nick nodded, then realized the dispatcher wouldn’t be able to see that. “Y-yes,” he said shakily, pulling some blankets from the linen closet.

“Do you wish that I stay on the phone until the ambulance arrives?”

Nick was back with AJ, helping to put the blankets on her. “N-no, that’s okay.”

“Okay sir, the ambulance is en route and should be there A.S.A.P.”

“Thank you,” Nick mumbled before hanging up. He stared at Felicia, trying not to cry. Please god; don’t take her away from us.

Also, remember to read my short fan fic, Miracles Happen. It's not on the front page anymore, but there is a link to it in my profile. Feedback for this story and that one is much appreciated :)

Chapter 35

After Nick hung up the phone, he called Denise to tell her what was going on and to meet them at the hospital. While he was on the phone with her, the ambulance and a few police cars showed up. As the police were talking to AJ and Nick, Howie and Brian arrived, panicked when they saw the flashing lights in front of their friend’s house.

“What happened?” Brian asked, concern apparent in his face.

“Felicia didn’t open her door. We found the spare key, came in…and…and she was just there…all bloody….she had a pulse, but it was weak,” AJ said, no tone apparent in his voice, staring off to where she was laying on the stretcher. The police were now conversing with the EMT’s, determining what to put on the police report.

“Oh god…did you call Denise? Or Lenni?” Howie asked, looking at AJ and Nick.

“I called Denise, but I didn’t have a chance to call Lenni. I was going to call you guys next, but they came right after I hung up,” Nick said. His eyes were red and puffy, and his cheeks had tearstains on them.

“I’ll call her,” Howie said before stepping outside with his cell phone. He was afraid that if he stayed in the house any longer, he might get sick, or get too distracted to tell Lenni what was going on.

Nick sighed and put his head in his hands. Brian wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his back. AJ just stared at Felicia as an EMT worker came over to the trio.

“Mr. McLean, Mr. Carter. We are going to take her to the hospital now. Incase she wakes up on the way there, we would like her to see a familiar face,” she explained.

Nick looked over at AJ. “You go with her man.”

AJ didn’t even need Nick’s permission; he was going with her no matter what. He patted Nick on the back and ran over to the ambulance. Once he was gone, Lieutenant Root, the policeman who talked to Nick and AJ, came over with a female detective.

“Mr. Carter, this is Detective Vinton. She is with the Special Victims Unit,” Root said before going back to dust for prints.

“Special Victim’s Unit? Isn’t that basically sex crimes?” Nick asked, his voice trembling. Thanks to Felicia, Nick was now a Law and Order: SVU fan, and thought he knew everything about it.

“Yes, in most cases it is. I was brought in because of how Miss McLean was found,” Vinton said, referring to the pants. “There are just some questions that I need to ask before you can join her and her brother at the hospital.”

“Go ahead,” Brian said.

“And what’s your name?” Vinton asked, taking out his notepad.

“Brian Litrrell.”

Vinton wrote it down and continued with her questions. “Did Felicia have anyone who was an enemy?”

“Well, she just broke up with someone, but it was mutual. At least that’s what she told me…” Nick trailed off.

“What is his name?”

“Jono Novak,” Brian spoke up, realizing Nick wasn’t going to answer.

“Do you know his contact information?”

Brian nodded and took out his palm pilot. He read off the information to the detective.

“Thank you both. I’m sure we will find out who did this to her, especially once she regains consciousness,” Vinton said sympathetically. “You can go to the hospital now. If we need anymore information, we will you ask you there.”

“Thank you,” Brian said, helping Nick off the couch. Vinton gave them both a quick nod before joining the other detectives. “Come on, let’s go grab Howie and go there.”

Nick nodded, but he didn’t really hear Brian. Brian led him to the car, and Howie came over to them.

“Lenni will be there as soon as she can. She was just getting out of her workout class,” Howie said. Nick opened up the back door and got in, not saying a thing. Both Brian and Howie sighed and got into the front seat, with Brian driving.

“Jono did it…” Nick whispered as Brian pulled out.

“You don’t know that for sure Nick,” Howie said, looking at Nick through the rearview mirror.

“Trust me…. I know.”

“We should be arriving in five minutes,” the driver shouted out to the back.

Five minutes my ass, AJ thought bitterly. It has only been ten minutes, but to AJ it seemed like an hour. Aside from AJ in the back with Felicia, there was another EMT to make sure Felicia’s stats were going back to normal, and another SVU detective, incase Felicia woke up and had something to say. Felicia was hooked up to a bunch of wires and tubes, making her seem like a nine-year-old. Just like when I met her. I can’t believe it’s been so long. AJ heard the heart monitor go fast and he looked over at her. It looked like she was struggling against something, and it seemed that her breathing was becoming labored, even though she had an oxygen mask over her face.

“Shh….Felicia, you need to calm down,” AJ said, patting down her hair, trying to stay calm.

Suddenly, her eyes bolted open, and she looked around. She started to freak out when she realized she couldn’t move, and she thought AJ was Jono.

“It’s okay, I’m right here,” AJ said, making sure his face was in her view.

Once Felicia realized it was AJ, she calmed down, and soon drifted back to unconsciousness.

I’m gonna kill that bastard. Whoever he his, he’s toast.

and its the name game! lol....dr karno is named after this girl i met at orientation....as far as i know her dad isnt a doctor, so its not the same guy lol. and detective gray is named after....the color gray lol. no interesting story there.

Chapter 36

Once the ambulance arrived, Felicia was whisked into the ER, and AJ saw Denise and Lenni huddled together, so he joined them. Not long after, Nick, Brian, and Howie arrived.

Thirty minutes later, a doctor came out in green scrubs. “Felicia McLean?”

AJ looked up. “How is she?”

“She is going to make it,” he said, resulting in big sighs all around the waiting room. “However, her injuries were severe.”

“How….how bad were they?” Denise asked.

“She had some internal bleeding, but we managed to fix that up. She had many broken bones from the baseball bat, plus her collarbone. Her face has many bruises, but she only managed one cut.”

“Then why was there so much blood?” AJ asked.

“Whoever did this to her opened her up very badly. She needed 15 stitches to close it up. And because of the amount of blood lost, she is very pale, and going to be very weak. But other than that for the face, she just has bruises, scrapes, and some splinters. She was also strangled, both by the bat and by hand. You can see the different bruises on her neck. They aren’t very pretty,” he said, warning the group. “She was moved to her own room, not long ago, its room 214. Do you have any other questions?”

Nick looked up. “Was….was she raped?” he asked softly.

The doctor smiled. “Thankfully she wasn’t. It appears the man who did this was going to, but he was interrupted, as her panties were still on. And we didn't find any traces of semen.” The detective who was with AJ in the ambulance was with them now and wrote down that bit of information.

AJ looked over at Nick. “That was probably when we got there,” he whispered.

The doctor didn’t miss the comment. “Then it’s a good thing you got there when you did. If you need me, my name is Doctor Karno.”

“Thank you so much,” Denise said, smiling slightly.

“Your welcome,” Doctor Karno said before heading off to work on another patient.

“We should head up….so we’ll be there when she wakes up…” Lenni said softly. Howie went over to her and wrapped a comforting arm around her as she stood up. The whole group, including the detective, went up to 214.

“I’ll be out here. I want to talk to her as soon as she wakes up so we can work on the case,” the detective said, standing next to the doorway to Felicia’s room.

AJ nodded and led the whole group inside. Felicia was hooked up to the same type of machines that were in the ambulance, along with a few extra ones. Denise rushed over to the chair next to the bed and sat down, taking her hand. AJ sat down next to her. On the way up, Nick was holding onto Lenni instead of Howie, so they sat on the other side of the bed. Howie and Brian both pulled up some chairs and sat at the end of the bed.

After a couple minutes of silence, Felicia’s eyes fluttered open. She looked around, confused with why everyone was sitting around her, and why she ached all over. Seeing this, Howie went to get the detective from the hallway.

“Hey sweetie,” Denise said, kissing her forehead.

Felicia tried to talk, but the oxygen mask made it muffled. When she realized that she had one on she started to panic.

“Shhh. Calm down,” Nick said.

“If you calm down I think we can take it off,” AJ said.

Felicia took a couple of deep breaths and nodded, indicating she wanted it off. Nick gently took it off and put it next to her.

“What…what happened?” Felicia asked, her voice hoarse.

AJ was concerned. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Felicia tried to think back. “I…I was getting ready for the cookout. Bagel made a mess, and I went to my room to clean up,” she said before realization hit her. “Oh god…..”

“Would you mind if I speak to her alone?” the detective asked as he came in. Felicia didn’t notice him come in, still in shock about what happened to her. The others stood up and went to leave. When Felicia noticed this, she grabbed AJ’s arm.

“Is it okay if I stay?” he asked, not really wanting to leave anyways.

The detective sighed but nodded. “Okay, but only you.” He looked as the others had already joined Howie. AJ sat back down and smiled softly at Felicia.

“Miss McLean, I’m Detective Gray. I would like to ask you a few questions about the attack.”

Felicia nodded softly, playing with AJ’s fingers.

Gray took this as a signal to continue with the questioning. “Do you know who did this to you?”

Felicia continued to play with AJ’s fingers, starting to tear up.

“Sweetie,” AJ said, bending his head down some. “Please, if you know who it was, you need to tell him.”

Felicia continued to stare at AJ’s hand. After a moment, she spoke. “Jono…” she said softly.

Gray wrote it down as AJ’s face paled. “Jono? Jono roadie Jono?” he asked, not wanting to believe it.

Felicia nodded softly as one of her tears fell on his hands.

“What’s his last name?”

“Novak,” Felicia said, finally looking up, still crying silently.

“Can you give me a physical description?”

“He’s…he’s about 6’3”. Very big, very muscular. He has blonde hair, almost brown. Hazel eyes……” she trailed off, gripping AJ’s hand even tighter.

“Could you tell me what he did to you?”

Felicia drew in a shaky breath but nodded. “I went up to my room to get ready for a cookout. I washed off my face, and when I looked up, he was in the mirror. He was telling me how he still loved me, and he was very drunk.” She paused for a moment, trying not to break down.

“You said he said he still loved you? Were you going out at one point?”

Felicia nodded. “We broke up last week,” she said before continuing. “I made it to my bedroom, but he tore the phone out of the wall. I..I went over to my bed, I keep a bat there in case someone breaks in. I tried to swing at him, but he grabbed it and pinned me against the wall with it,” Felicia said, now crying, but trying to finish. “I-I kicked him, and r-ran to the stairs. H-he either pushed me o-or hit me, but that’s the l-last thing I remember.”

AJ was silent during the whole thing, still in shock that it was Jono who did it. I thought he was my friend.

Detective Gray nodded and closed up his notebook. “Thank you, we will be sure to ask him about this,” he said before making his way out.

Finally, AJ spoke up. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Felicia looked at him confused. “W-why? It’s not your f-fault he got drunk off h-his ass.”

“I introduced you to him.”

“That doesn’t m-make it your fault,” she said, pulling him into a hug. Once she did that, she sobbed into his shirt. AJ joined her in crying and the two stayed like that.

As Detective Gray left the room, he was asked by the other’s if she said who did it.

“A Jono Novak. If you will excuse me, I need to catch up with my partner,” he said before going to the elevator.

“I knew it,” Nick said coldly, not particularly to anyone.

Everyone just sat there, processing this bit of information. Once Felicia was heard crying in her room, Lenni snapped. That son of a bitch is toast.

and lenni, i know last night i said i was going to be on till 10, but tonight i decided 11, just cause i realised i usualy stayed up that late when i went to school anyways....but you werent on at 10:40, so i got off so we wouldnt lose track of time or anything if you got on lol.

Chapter 37

“Did anyone call Kevin?” Lenni asked, playing with her food. Felicia had fallen asleep, and after a heated ‘discussion’ with Denise, the others went to get their dinner at the cafeteria. But there’s a difference between getting dinner and actually eating it.

“Can’t. He didn’t give us a number to contact him,” Brian mumbled.

“Do you blame him?” Howie asked, pushing his food away.

“No, not really,” AJ said, resulting in a minimal amount of laughter. But soon after, it was silent.

After a couple minutes, Lenni stood up abruptly. “I’m gonna go to the nursery.”

“Why?” Nick asked, slouched in his seat.

Lenni just shrugged. “I like babies.”

“Mind if I come with you?” Howie asked. It’s not that he didn’t want to stay with the boys, but he was worried about her. After they saw Felicia the first time, she didn’t say more than one word in a sentence, until dinner.

Lenni shrugged. “Why not.”

Howie stood up and the two made their way to the nursery. They were going by the front lobby when Lenni thought she saw a familiar man. He brushed past them, head down, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. She thought nothing of it as they were almost at the maternity ward. Suddenly, it clicked. She turned around just as he took off his glasses off, which confirmed her suspicions. That son of a bitch, she thought before running towards him, leaving behind a very confused Howie. By the time he realized who she went after, she had already started to ‘beat him up’.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!! I CAN’T BELIVE YOU!!!!!” she yelled, forgetting there may be little kids around. “YOU PUT HER HERE, AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO COME!!!!” By now, she was sitting on him, trying to hurt him, and crying her eyes out. Howie came over and pulled her off, having her cry into him instead.

“I….I deserved that. I didn’t realize what I did until I got home,” Jono said, looking down at his feet. “I wanted to see if she was okay….”

“You son of a –“ Lenni said before Howie covered her mouth with his hand.

“I suggest you leave,” he said coldly. “Before we tell the cops you’re here.”

“They….they know its me?” Jono asked, paling. Sure, he was sorry he did it, but he didn’t want to get in trouble for it.

“Yeah, now leave, or else we will put your sorry as-, er, behind, in jail now,” Howie said, changing his words when he saw a child nearby.

Jono didn’t need to be told twice as he scrambled out of there, bumping into everyone he could.

Lenni was pissed, this time at Howie. “Why’d ya do that?!? We could have had his sorry self in jail now!”

Howie sighed and hugged her again. “I don’t want him near Felicia at ALL. And I don’t want the commtion to upset her or anyone else. They will find him at home, don’t worry.”

Lenni nodded. “Still wanna see the babies?” she asked, not wanting to dwell on this topic.

Howie nodded and the two headed over.

An couple hours later, Detectives Vinton and Gray came into the room. At this point, the only other people to know of Lenni and Howie’s encounter were the other boys and Denise. They all thought it would be too much for Felicia if she knew he was in the building, despite all of the security. Felicia got nervous when she saw their faces. She knew something was up, but was having a hard time telling what it was.

“Did you find Jono yet?” Nick asked, holding Felicia’s hand. She had regained some color, but was still fairly weak.

Gray sighed before looking towards her. “We went to his house, but he wasn’t there. He left in a rush though, everything is a mess, and some of his clothes are gone.”

If Felicia looked like a zombie before, now she looked like a sheet. “W-what? You mean…..you mean he’s out? On the loose?”

Vinton nodded his head slowly. “I’m sorry. We are putting every available agent on this case, including the Orlando Police Department. We even added some of our own security gaurds to this floor, to go along with the hospital’s and the groups,” he said, referring to the boys body guards. They were lucky none of the fans found out they were there, even if none of the boys themselves were admitted to the hospital.

“Did Jono try to contact any of you since the attack?” Gray asked, taking out a notepad.

Howie looked over at Lenni. “We ran into him here….on the way to the nursery…” Lenni spoke up, trying to avoid her best friend’s eyes.

Gray wrote this down, and Felicia gave Lenni a scared look. “He…he was here?!?!” she asked, breathing heavily.

“Sh….sweetie…take deep breaths,” Nick said, trying to coach her.

“Did he say why he was here? Or where he was going next?” Gray asked, writing something down.

“He…he said he wanted to see how Felicia was,” Howie said, leaving out the part of him being sorry, which he didn’t completely believe. How could anyone be truly sorry for something like that? “After he found out the police were onto him, he ran out the doors. We thought he was going to get caught at home, so we didn’t tell anyone here….” he said, feeling bad that they didn’t do anything at the time.

Vinton nodded and turned his attention. “We will update you once we have some more information. And don’t worry, we have our best men on this,” he said before he and Gray went to go find Jono.

Felicia was still very very pale from the news, and still grasping Nick’s hand. Everyone was silent until AJ spoke. “I’m going to get some water, I’ll be back,” he said, and before anyone could offer to go with him, he was out the door. He went to the nearby restroom instead, once he was sure no one else was with him, and started to make calls.

10 minutes later, he came back into the room. Everyone but Nick was asleep.

“Well, either you were really thirsty, or you weren’t getting water,” Nick said, giving AJ a look. “Now, since I doubt your bladder can hold that much liquid, what gives?”

“Wanna go on a road trip?” AJ asked, looking happy. Well, happy mixed with revenge.

“What? Why, of all times, would you want to go now?”

“Lets just say, I want to pay an old friend of mine a visit.” AJ smirked.

Chapter 38

“Okay, so how….no, why do you think you know where Jono is? Especially when the police are still working on it,” Nick asked, sitting in AJ’s passenger seat. The duo left a note on Felicia’s side table saying they went home to shower real fast. They told the same story to their bodyguards, who only helped them get out to a taxi, but stayed behind. Once they arrived at AJ’s house, AJ just told him that he knew where Jono was, and led Nick to the car.

AJ sighed. “The police are thinking criminally, I’m thinking logically. They think he’s fled the state by now. I know Jono. He’s a lazy bum and tries to rest whenever he can. I figured that driving wise, he was probably at the max, three hours away, since that was when Howie and Lenni ran into him.”

“We are going to be in this car for three hours?!”Nick asked, slightly peeved. “I want to kill him, but not that bad. I’d rather be with Felicia right now. She needs us.”

AJ rolled his eyes. “You didn’t let me finish. I called every hotel I could that would be in that area. He’s only 30 minutes away.”

“Is he that stupid?” Nick asked.

“I guess so.”

“So….did Felicia get you hooked on Law and Order too?” Nick asked after a pause.

AJ chuckled. “I got HER hooked on it.”

Even though AJ said it was 30 minutes away, it was more like 15. For a normal driver, it would have been 30. But this is AJ who was driving.

“Ya sure this is the place?” Nick asked as they walked through the hotel. Or, if you want to be more specific, a two-story Motel 6.

“Positive. Told ya, he’s lazy, and cheap.” AJ said, going to the room they were told.

“You didn’t tell me he was cheap,” Nick said.

“Yeah, well, I’m telling you now,” AJ said as they found the room. “Thank god we don’t stay in these places anymore. Our fans would be able to find us too easily,” he mumbled and knocked on the door.

After a couple minutes, they heard someone get to the door. “Who is it?” the man asked.

AJ knew it was Jono immediately, even though he sounded drunk. “Uh….pizza’s here!” he called out, using a surfers voice. Nick gave him a look. “What?” he whispered. “He’s too drunk to remember that he or-“ AJ was cut off by the door opening, revealing a very hung over Jono.

“How much…..hey, I didn’t order….why are you here? Aw….shit,” he slurred together, and once he realized who was delivering his pizza, he backed away from them. But, being drunk did not do him any good. He tripped over his backpack, letting AJ and Nick come after him, beating him up good.

“LIKE THIS?!?! YOU SHOULDN’T DO ANYTHING YOU WOULDN’T WANT DONE TO YOURSELF!!!!” Nick screamed, punching him in the face. Before he could finish with him, AJ pulled him off and beat him up even more, kicking him as well.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!!!! I TRUSTED YOU WITH FELICIA, AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO HER?!?! YOU ARE A DISGUTING PIG, WHO SHOULD ROT IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!!!” AJ yelled, drawing blood. Once he was done with him, AJ stood up, leaving Jono on the floor. “When the police find you….and they will….tell them you were in a bar fight before coming here. Got it?” he said through clenched teeth.

Unbeknownst to AJ, that scenario was already going on in Jono’s very drunk mind. He thought he was in a bar at the moment, listening to very loud music, and on the floor for hitting on some guys girlfriend. He just nodded as he closed his eyes.

“Come on man. Lets get out of here,” Nick said, pulling AJ out the door and back to the car. They got in silent, and made their way back to the hospital

In hopes that they would get back before anyone woke up, AJ broke his previous record and arrived in 10 minutes.

“Man, your lucky you didn’t kill us,” Nick said as they walked in the back door of the hospital, not wanting to deal with the fans.

“Yeah, yeah. Felicia says that too,” AJ said. They made their way back to Felicia’s room and snuck in, seeing everyone was still asleep. They sat back down next to Felicia when she woke up.

“Hey you two,” Felicia mumbled, smiling softly.

Nick kissed her head before taking her hand. “Hi there sleepy head.”

“How are you feeling?” AJ asked.

“Like I was run over by a truck,” she said honestly. “But it’s a major improvement from before.”

Nick sighed and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry, I don’t think you will ever feel like that again.”

Before Felicia could ask what he meant by that, Detective Gray came in, this time with a happy look on his face.

“What’s up?” AJ asked, even though he had a feeling what it was.

“Would you like the rest of the group to be awake for the news? Or just tell them later?” Gray asked, his smile never fading.

Felicia needed to know what it was, now. “We’ll tell them later. Please, tell us.”

“We found Mr. Novak. He was in a motel, fairly beat up. He claims it was from a bar fight, which seems okay since he was also drunk. He is in custody right now.”

Felicia breather a sigh of relief before smiling at Gray. “Thank you,” she whispered before closing her eyes and going back to sleep, still very weak and tired.

“Boys, could you come out here with me for a moment?” Gray asked.

Nick look at AJ confused, but both men got up and went outside the room.

“Just so you know, your secret is safe with me,” Gray said, smirking at the two.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” AJ asked.

Gray pulled out their driver’s licenses. “Next time you plan on getting revenge on someone, make sure you leave with your ID’s.”

ATTENNTION LENNI!!! lol....i can stay on till 2, were leaving at 11 ish tomorrow, so...yeah lol...dont know when exactly ill get on tonight cause i hafta pack...gotta go, dads home lol

Chapter 39

Because Felicia was so weak, she was forced to stay in the hospital for a week. During this time, Gray and Vinton made a few visits to have her look at a photo line up and to get her statement for evidence in court. Because of her attorney and statements made by the boys, the jury was able to find Jono guilty within a day, resulting in Felicia not being able to attend.

“It’s okay,” Felicia told Nick a couple of hours before the verdict would be read. “I don’t need to be there. I don’t think I would be able to handle seeing him again.”

Three days later, Felicia was going home. Lenni was going to take her home while the rest of the gang would be prepping her house.

“I can’t wait to get out of here,” Felicia said, slowly putting on her clothes with Lenni’s help.

“We can’t wait to have you back either,” Lenni said, tying Felicia’s shoes. “Especially Bagel.”

“Are you sure she wasn’t any trouble?” Felicia asked. “I know when she wants to, she can be a little terror.”

“She was an angel. Especially with Cream Cheese watching after her,” Lenni said, referring to her own Golden Retriever.

Felicia rolled her eyes. “I still can’t belive that you named her that. Especially after I named my dog Bagel,” she said, slowly getting into the wheelchair with Lenni’s help.

“Hey, they are best buds, just like their momma’s. Might as well have their names go together. It’s like the Frick and Frack of the dogs,” Lenni said, pushing Felicia outside.

Felicia laughed. “Man, if they hear that they are like Bagel and Cream Cheese, they will freak.”

When the girls arrived at Felicia’s home, Lenni ran around to the trunk to get the wheelchair out. Felicia wouldn’t need to stay in it all of the time, but the doctor didn’t want her walking or standing, unless she absolutely needed to.

“Is Kevin back yet?” Felicia asked as she got into the chair.

Lenni nodded. “He got back late last night. He said next time, he’s giving a contact number.”

“Next time?” Felicia asked as Lenni wheeled her to the backyard. “Does that mean hes going to get married again?”

Lenni rolled her eyes. “And sometimes I wonder if going out with Nick made you an honorary blonde,” she joked.

“Hey! I have my own blond highlights, thank you very much!” Felicia laughed. “I don’t need assistance from Nick in that department.”

Lenni laughed and pushed her into the backyard, leading her to a ramp into the house.

“Wow…since when have I had a ramp?” Felicia asked.

“Dear god,” Lenni laughed. “I’m not even gonna answer that.”

“Meanie,” Felicia pouted, folding her arms across her chest.

Lenni just shook her head and pushed her into the dark dinning room.

Felicia knew this scene all too well. She helped plan AJ’s surprise party for his 21st birthday, but decided to play dumb for this. “Maybe we should turn on the lights. Ya know, so ya don’t run me into a wall or anything like that.”

“You know I would never do that,” Lenni joked, jerking the chair some just to scare Felicia.

“Lenni!” Felicia squealed, holding onto the arm rests for dear life.

Lenni laughed before patting Felicia on the shoulder. “Sorry, it was just too tempting,” she said before going over to the wall to turn on the lights. But not before running into something.

“OW!” Lenni and a mystery voice yelled, soon followed by a loud thud, most likely Lenni hitting the floor.

Felicia couldn’t hold in her laugher. “That’s what you get for scaring me like that,” she said, not letting the group know she heard someone else yell.

Lenni rolled her eyes, not like it mattered though because Felicia couldn’t see her. Before heading to the wall one more time, she lightly kicked who she ran into. All of a sudden, the lights went on, revealing a room overdosed on streamers and balloons, all of Felicia’s friends around her, and AJ on the floor, holding his arm and glaring at Lenni.

“Heh…surprise?” Lenni said sheepishly.

Felicia laughed. “Aww…thanks guys.”

“No problem babe,” Nick said before going over to Felicia and kissing her softly.

“Awww.”

“How cute!”

“Get a room!---HEY! Now both my arms hurt!”

After a lot of laughs, a lot of food, and more bruises on AJ, the party guests had died down just to the five guys, Lenni, Leighanne, Kristin, and Denise.

“Man, it’s a good thing I have the tattoo’s to cover up the bruises,” AJ said, inspecting himself. “Management would NOT be happy with a beat up AJ.”

Felicia laughed. “well, if you just stayed hidden in the first place, you would be short one bruise.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” AJ rolled his eyes.

Felicia yawned and covered her mouth, hoping the others wouldn’t see she was tired. But nothing can get past a mom.

“Sweetie, I think we should head out now. You need to rest,” Denise said standing up.

“I’m not….tired,” Felicia said, having to pause to cover another yawn.

Denise chuckled and went over to hug Felicia. “Have a good night sweetie.”

Felicia sighed in defeat. “Night mom.”

As everyone was saying their goodbyes, AJ pulled Nick to the side. “Are you sure you don’t mind staying with her?”

“Of course not man, why would I mind?” Nick said. While they were decorating the house, the whole gang decided it would be best if Nick stayed with her until she was 100% better.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just making sure. If she needs anything, call me,” AJ said.

“Man, you really are being a protective older brother,” Nick laughed. “We will be FINE. Now leave, before you stay too.”

AJ laughed. “Okay okay, I’m good as gone.” He went over to Felicia real fast to give her a hug. “Don’t keep Nick up all night, okay?” he joked softly.

Felicia hit him, again. “Alex!!” she laughed before kissing his cheek.

AJ laughed and rubbed his arm. “Okay, I’m gonna go before I need to go into traction. Have a good night you two,” he said before letting himself out.

“Finally, I thought he would never leave,” Nick laughed and sat down next to Felicia, wrapping an arm around her.

Felicia sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“But I do want to,” he said, kissing her head. Felicia yawned. “Maybe I should get you upstairs.”

Felicia’s heart skipped a beat when he mentioned upstairs. She was freaked out about going back to her bedroom, but she didn’t want to let Nick know that. “Okay,” she said after a pause. She tried to stand up on her own, but quickly fell back into the chair.

Nick chuckled and kissed her softly. “I’ll carry you up there. And no, I don’t mind,” he added when he saw she was going to say something. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to her room.

“Thank you,” she said softly, wraping her arms around his neck. As they made their way into her room, Felicia closed her eyes, thinking if she opened them Jono would be there, ready to attack again.

Nick sat down on her bed with her in his lap. “Are you okay sweetie?” he asked, seeing her eyes were closed and the look on her face.

“Is he here?” she asked, so soft Nick almost couldn’t hear her.

“Is who here?”

“Jono….” she said, opening her eyes.

Nick sighed. “No sweetie. Remember, he’s in jail.”

“He could of gotten out, and no one told us yet, and-“

Nick placed a finger on her lips. “Shhhh. He’s in jail, for good. He won’t ever bother you again. I won’t let him.”

Felicia nodded and hugged him tightly. “Stay with me?”

Nick nodded and returned the hug. “Of course.” He laid down with her, never letting go.

“I love you,” she mumbled, finally letting sleep take over her.

“I love you more,” Nick said kissing her softly, watching her sleep

Chapter 40

A couple of weeks later, Nick was still staying with Felicia, helping her improve both physically and mentally. Felicia was pretty much able to walk around the whole house, she just needed there to be a chair nearby incase she tired quickly. Felicia’s mental state hasn’t improved too much though. She had nightmares nearly three times every night, so she didn’t get much sleep. And even though she knew Nick was just going to shower , she freaked out in her head when he left her alone, afraid that would be the moment Jono would break into her house again.

Today, Nick and Felicia were curled up together watching The Empire Strikes Back. When Hans Solo was being carbon freezed, he heard a sniffle coming from Felicia.

“Felicia? Are you okay?” Nick asked.

“Uh huh,” Felicia said, grabbing a tissue.

Nick realized Felicia why she was crying. “Felicia, it’s not that sad. You know he comes back in the next movie, right?”

Felicia nodded. “But it is sad! Leia is all alone now!” she explained, receiving a chuckle in return. “I’m a girl, be quite,” she said, hitting him playfully as Chewbaca made a sad noise. “Even he’s upset about it!”

Nick laughed and gave her a hug. “I love you so much.”

Felicia smiled softly and melted into the hug. “I love you too.” All of a sudden, the phone rang. “Stupid phone, interrupting my Star Wars,” she mumbled, not really wanting to get up.

Nick laughed and kissed her head before moving her so he could get up. “I’ll be right back.”

“Want me to pause it?”

“Naw, I’ve seen it already,”he said before going to the other room to pick up the phone. Felicia was to into the movie to notice how far away he was. “Hello?” he asked, leaning against the table.

“This is Detective Vinton, is Miss McLean there?”

Nick was surprised to hear him on the phone. The police haven’t talked to anyone since the trial. “Dectective Vinton, this is Nick Carter. Felicia is busy right now. Is something wrong?” he asked, lowering his voice in case Felicia could hear him.

Vinton took a deep breath before he spoke again. “Mr. Novak has escaped.”

“What?!?!?!” Nick nearly yelled, remembering to keep his voice down. The last thing I need is for Felicia to worry. “How…how could that happen?” He asked, pacing the kitchen.

“It appears that while he was being taken to the restroom, he over took the guard. He nearly killed him, and took his gun before he left,” he paused, worried how Nick might take the news, along with what he had to say next.

“Oh god,” Nick breathed. “There’s….there’s more, isn’t there?”

Vinton sighed. “Mr. Novak’s cell has been examined and his cellmate interviewed. He claimed that for the past two weeks, Mr. Novak has become emotionally unstable. He said he kept mentioning Miss McLean and yourself. And under his mattress, we found pieces of paper, describing how he was going to attack you both.

Nick looked at Felicia from the doorway, to make sure she was okay. “When did he escape?”

“Not long ago, but it has been enough time for us to examine the room. I am having a few officers come over to watch you both, and we contacted your management so they can send your bodyguard. That way there is a familiar face. Until they show up, lock all the doors, and don’t leave each other alone, okay?”

“Okay,” Nick said softly before hanging up, not wanting to discuss this anymore. He checked Felicia real quick before locking every single entry way into the house. On his way back down from her room, he heard glass shattering.

“AHHHHH!”

Chapter 41

Nick ran down the stairs after hearing the scream, hoping he just got her confused with someone screaming in Star Wars. Sadly, he was met with Felicia shaking against the wall and a very angry Jono pointing a gun at her. Felicia glanced over at Nick with terror filled eyes. Jono turned to face him with an evil smirk.

“It’s about time you showed up Nicky boy,” Jono said before grabbing Felicia and putting the gun to her neck.

“LET HER GO!” Nick screamed, moving forward. Seeing this, Jono put more pressure on Felicia’s neck, resulting in a whimper.

“Not so fast. I know you don’t want me to get jumpy and shoot her, do you?”

“Why….why are you doing this?” Nick asked, moving back some as if that could help the situation anyways.

“Why am I doing this?! Why am I doing this?!?” Jono growled before dropping both Felicia and the gun to the ground before pinning Nick against the wall. “Why the fuck do you think I’m doing this? The two of you fucked up my life, that’s why I’m doing this!!!” He yelled in Nick’s ear and started to choke him. “YOU got away with beating the crap out of me, and Felicia there just HAD to not die when I left her that night!!!”

While Jono was busy at yelling and hitting Nick, Felicia was trying to grasp what was going on. He wasn’t supposed to get out! How did this happen?! However it happened, it SHOULDN’T of happened. When Felicia looked up, she saw Jono viciously hitting Nick. Why does he have to involve Nick? That isn’t fair! It’s not his fault, its mine. I need to help Nick. Felicia looked around franticly, looking for something, anything to help them. That’s when she saw Jono’s gun, and without thinking picked it up. She never held one before, and was worried she would shoot the wrong man.

“STOP IT!” Felicia yelled, however it came out in a squeal. “I-I’LL SHOOT!” she yelled again as she pointed the gun at Jono’s back.

Jono stopped beating Nick, his eyes going wide as he turned around. However, once he saw who was holding the gun, he gave a soft chuckle and ‘tossed’ an unconcious Nick to the side.

“Now now now, isn’t this interesting. Felicia, I know you won’t shoot me. Your too much of a softy,” he said, coming towards her

“Don’t move,” Felicia said, cocking back the gun, finally able to control her voice. “I WILL shoot.”

“Yeah. Right,” Jono said, still moving forward. With that, Felicia pulled the trigger.

* CLICK *

Felicia’s eyes went wide when Jono was still standing up and not bleading. She kept trying to shoot him while he was coming towards her, the smirk growing on his face.

“That was unexpected. I really didn’t think you would try to shoot me. So much for you being predictable,” he said before pushing Felicia against the wall, holding her with one hand and trying to get the gun from her with the other.

“No…” Felicia whimpered, still trying to shoot him.

“Luck was finally on my side when the gun jammed. Don’t you agree?” he hissed in her ear, fighting with her for the gun that was sandwiched between them.

* BANG *

Nick woke with a start when the gun was finally fired. “What in the…” he mumbled, rubbing his head, trying to remember what happened. “What was the bang….oh no,” he paled when he remembered Jono having a gun. He looked around hysterically, praying it was all one big dream. Please, let me have just drifted off during the movie. Please, please, PLEASE! He looked around, and saw both Jono and Felicia on the floor, both covered in blood. Nick ignored his killer headache and ran to Felicia. “Baby? Are you hurt? Please say something,” he begged extremely fast, not noticing Felicia was shaking. He was startled when Felicia sat up and hugged him; this is when he noticed that Jono was the one who was bleeding, and very much dead. “What…..what happened?” he asked, rubbing her back.

“Is he dead?” Felicia asked softly, not hearing his question.

Nick nodded. “I think so. Now, what happened?”

“I…I picked up the gun, and t-tried to shoot at him. It jammed o-or something, so he came over and tried to t-take it from me. I kept trying to shoot him, and I-I guess I did. He fell on top of me, and I h-had to push him off,” she explained tearfully, not letting go of Nick.

“Nick?! Buddy?! Are you okay?” Nick’s bodyguard, Mario, yelled as he banged on the front door.

Nick kissed Felicia’s head. “Sweetie, I’ll be right back. I need to let Mario in, okay?”

Felicia nodded and reluctantly let him go. Before he could leave though, she grabbed his leg. “Will….will Jono attack me again?” she asked, sounding like a lost child.

Nick sighed, bent down, and kissed her softly. “No sweetie. You don’t need to worry about him ever again,” he said and went to let Mario in.

While Nick was gone, Felicia kept staring at Jono, as if he would suddenly come back to life. Felicia couldn’t take it anymore, and decided to see for herself if Jono was dead or not. “I think so” doesn’t mean anything. She went over to Jono and tried to find a pulse, and to her relief couldn’t. She went back to where she was sitting with Nick. No more Jono, ever again.

and the jono saga, has ended....it doesnt mean its the end of the story tho :) however, now that this part of the drama has ended, i will be taking a break from the story. not that i am going to try to, but i do need to read both my summer reading books. once i get those done and get settled into college life, i will update again. i will keep reading fan fic tho (maybe not as often as i would like), but i am going to try to concentrate more on school now. i will never forget to work on this story (especially with lenni on my case lol)

Chapter 42

~May 2001~

Since the Jono ‘saga’, Felicia has never been better. Mario was soon followed by the police officers that were promised to come. They called it self-defense, so Felicia never had charges brought against her. She hasn’t had a nightmare since the incident, and she’s not complaining. Especially because Nick has unofficially moved in with her, but he claims its because she knows how to do laundry better than him.

At this point in time, the boys are on their Black and Blue tour. Lenni was back as a dancer, and Felicia was back as a co-choreographer. However, one of the girls had mono, so Felicia is more of a dancer this time around.

Somewhere in the U.S., for unknown reasons, the gang has an off day, and Felicia managed to take out her guitar for once.

“That doesn’t sound right,” Felicia said as she erased what she just wrote before writing something else down and strumming her guitar again. “There we go,” she said before someone knocked on the door.

”Felicia? Are you in there?” Brian asked through the door.

“Yeah, hang on,” Felicia said. She finished writing something down before she went to let him in. “What’s up?”

“Um, did I leave my wallet in here?” Brian asked, both sheepishly and nervous, glancing around.

Felicia shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t look for it. Go ahead and look around though,” she said before returning to her bed and picking up her guitar once again.

While Felicia played around with whatever she was working on, Brian checked every inch of the room. “Phew! Found it!” Brian said, standing up from behind the chair with wallet in hand.

“Where was it?” Felicia asked not really paying attention, strumming her guitar. “Damnit,” she mumbled, not happy with the results and erased the work once more.

“Behind the chair. What was worth the ‘damnit’”? Brian asked, walking to her.

“Nothing,” she said absentmindedly, looking down at her paper.

“Uh huh,” Brian said and looked over her shoulder. “Doesn’t look like nothing.”

Felicia looked up suddenly, realizing he was looking at her work. “Promise you wont make fun of me?” she sighed, turning around so she could face him.

“I’ll always find something to make fun of you,” he joked. “But it wont be about this.”

“You know my journals? From when I was younger?”

“Who wouldn’t know about them.”

“Ha ha,” she said dryly. “Anyways….I thought I would try to make songs out of them.”

“Really?”

Felicia just gave him a look. “No, I made this all up just because I could,” she replied sarcastically.

“Okay okay,” he chuckled, holding his hands up. “No need to get an attitude.”

“Sorry. I think just working on it is getting to me. It just…I guess the chords just don’t sound right.”

“Let me see it,” Brian said. Felicia gave him the staff paper and looked down at the bed, afraid of what he would say.

“This is actually pretty good,” he said after a minute or two.

“Seriously?”

“Uh huh. The chord progressions look good, and so do the melodies, rhythms and all that other technical stuff. I think its just a matter of writing down the right chords.”

Felicia gave him a confused look. “I thought you said the chords were good.”

“What I meant to say, was that you have the right idea, but you wrote them down wrong on the staff paper.” When Felicia’s look didn’t change, he continued. “Here, let me show you.”

“I suspect…” Lenni said while looking at her cards. “That it was Mrs. Peacock, in the study, with the rope.”

“Are you sure this time?” Howie smirked as he picked up the black envelope from the middle of the board.

“Yes I’m sure. I mean really, who has ever heard of someone loosing “Clue” five times in a row because they kept predicting it wrong?”

“Actually….Aaron does it all the time,” Nick said, smiling cheekily.

“Just read the verdict Howie,” Lenni said, closing her eyes tight.

“It was Colonel Mustard, in the kitchen, with the lead pipe,” Howie announced proudly as Lenni sulked back.

“Damn. Well, at least we aren’t betting on this. I would be in debt to you two now.”

“Actually…” Howie smirked, “you might not of been betting on it, but we were,” he said before turning to Nick. “Pay up.”

“Well, that’s the last time I play board games with you two,” Lenni pouted as Nick handed Howie his money.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Felicia asked as she followed Brian into the living room of the suite.

“Felicia, your boyfriend bet on me,” Lenni pouted.

“Hey! I lost, remember?” Nick chuckled and pulled Felicia down on his lap.

“Sorry Lenni. My theory, as long as he doesn’t HIT on you it doesn’t matter what he does,” Felicia said before kissing Nick quickly.

“Some best friend I have,” Lenni joked. “Anywhos…. what were you and Brian up to in there?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Lenni!” Felicia said before whacking her upside the head.

“For your information, we were working on a song,” Brian said, trying to ignore the bickering between the two girls.

“Lets hear it Brian,” Howie said, cleaning up the game board. “I think Lenni can use a break from losing.”

“Actually, it’s Felicia’s song.”

“You wrote a song?” Nick asked, causing Felicia and Lenni to stop fighting over something only they could fight about.

“Uh huh. Brian helped fix it up though,” Felicia said, leaning back into Nick.

“Well….go get your guitar girl! I wanna hear it,” Lenni said, laying down on the floor.

“You are so demanding Lenni,” Felicia laughed before getting up and going back to her room to get the guitar.

“So, where are Kevin and A.J.?” Brian asked.

“Kev went to call Kristin, again. And A.J? Who knows,” Nick sighed.

“He’s really been out there lately. Think everything’s okay with him?” Brian asked.

“He’s probably just in a really big mood,” Howie said.

Before they continued on their conversation of A.J., Felicia came back out with her guitar and the sheet music and sat down on the floor next to Nick.

“What, is my lap not comfortable enough now?” he joked.

“Nope, not at all,” Felicia replied, smilng cheekily.

“Come on, lets get on with it,” Lenni whined, getting antsy.

Felicia laughed. “Okay okay. Here goes nothing.” She took a big breath and held out her hand as if she was going to strum, but didn’t. “And I want you guys to be honest, okay?”

“We will,” Howie said.

“Okay….maybe I should wait to play it until Kevin and Alex get here…”

Nick chuckled. “Just play it sweetie.”

“Yeah, its good, just play it,” Brian said.

Felicia took another big breath. “Okay,” she said softly and started to play her song.

Once she finished, she looked up, expecting the worse, even though Brian said it was good when they were working on it.

“Wow….”Nick said, in shock.

“Yeah….”Howie said the same way.

Felicia looked over at Lenni, hoping to get a clearer response. “Lenni?” she asked hopefully.

“THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!”

Felicia blushed and took off the guitar. “Thanks, even though I don’t think it’s THAT good.”

“But it is,”Nick said before pulling her back into his lap. “Some of us just know how to control ourselves.”

“Felicia, you better keep your boyfriend quiet,” Lenni threatened playfully.

“Don’t worry, I will,” she said before kissing him gently.

if you read it, please please please review :)

~July 2001~

By now, the gang had seen their fair share of bad luck for this tour. The pyrotechnics didn’t work every night, Felicia sprained her ankle and had to go home for a month, and Nick just broke his wrist. Not to mention AJ has been getting worse with his drinking and drugs. The rest of boys know something is up but don’t know the extent of it. Felicia was coming back to the tour today and decided to surprise them at the hotel. She already dropped her belongings in her room and went to the room she was told was Nick’s.

“Hellooo,” Felicia knocked. “Anyone in there?”

Nick opened the door and smiled at her. “Your back!” he said before pulling her into a kiss.

Felicia kissed back, not realizing there was a small audience behind Nick.

“Ow ow!” Lenni cat called as the other guys rolled their eyes at her.

Felicia broke away from the kiss and blushed. “Lenni, I think the only way to cure your obnoxiousness is to find you a guy,” she said, not letting go of Nick.

“No objections here. Anyone in mind?” Lenni asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Not yet, give me time and I’ll find someone for you,” Felicia laughed and looked at Nick’s arm. “Sweetie, what happened?”

“Huh?” Nick asked before looking at his arm. “Oh, that. I just got mad when I played basketball.”

“Aww,” she said and kissed his cheek before looking over at the table seeing many playing cards and poker chips. “Oh oh oh! What game are you playing?” she asked as she and Nick sat down.

“Omaha eight,” Howie said, reshuffling the deck.

“Aww…I suck at that version,” Felicia pouted and looked around. Hm….Alex is M.I.A. “Guys, where’s Alex?”

“Probably his room,” Kevin said. “Are you in for this hand?”

Felicia shook her head. I think the receptionist said he was in 510. “I think I am going to go bug my big brother,” she smirked before kissing Nick and going to search for room 510.

Brian looked at his cards and folded. “Do you think that was smart letting her go by herself? What if A.J is in one of his moods?”

Kevin sighed and raised the pot. “Well, I think she can take care of herself. And maybe she is what he needs to snap out of it.”

510, here we go. I hope this is the right room otherwise I will look like such a dork. Felicia knocked on the door, bouncing on her heals. She heard things falling and breaking, along with some cursing going on before a disheleved A.J. opened the door.

“Hey Felicia,” AJ said before hugging her.

“Hey big bro. I missed you,” Felicia smiled, returning the hug. She couldn’t help but notice the smell of alchohol on him, but didn’t mention it. “Why aren’t you with the others?”

AJ closed the door and brought her inside to his little suite living room. “I didn’t feel like it. Have a seat,” he said as he sat down. “When did you get in?”

“Oh, about an hour ago. But I just got to the hotel,” Felicia said, looking around. She saw that there were things thrown around with more than the occasional empty bottle of Jack Daniels.

“That’s good, that’s good. How’s the ankle doing?”

“It hurts every now and then, but I can dance on it.”

“That’s good. Hey, I’m going to go get something to drink, do you want anything?” AJ asked, standing up.

“Naw, that’s okay,” Felicia said, leaning back on the couch.

AJ shrugged before going back to the mini bar. Felicia glanced around, still shocked by all the empty bottles. AJ never drank that much before…Maybe someone else was here and he just didn’t clean up. She saw the remote to the T.V. stuck between the couch cushions and went to get it. When she pulled it up, a small bag of powder came up with it. “What in the world….” Felicia mumbled, looking at it.

“Mm….gotta love the JD,” AJ said as he came back, not noticing what Felicia was holding.

“Alex, what…what is this?” she asked, afraid of what she thought it is.

“Hey! Put that down! That coke cost me a lot of money!” AJ said, looking pissed.

No, no, no… Without thinking, Felicia took it with her to the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet.

“What the fuck did you just do?” AJ asked coldly, taking up the bathroom doorway.

Felicia shuddered when she heard him speak in that tone. She turned around and for the first time saw the real condition he was in. The disheveled look she first saw now looked even worse. His eyes were glazed over, and instead of the usual shade of chocolate brown, they were almost jet black. He had extremely large bags under his eyes, and the way his cheeks sunk in made it look like he hasn’t eaten in days. What happened to Alex?

“What, the fuck, did you just do?” AJ asked harsher, coming closer to Felicia, causing her to jump out of her shocked state.

“A-Alex….why?” Felicia asked, trying to find her brother thru his eyes.

“Because I god damn felt like it, okay?!” he yelled, stepping on her bad ankle by accident.

Felicia bit down on her bottom lip, trying not to cry. “What happened to you?”

“Stop with all the questions!!!!” he yelled, pushing her into the wall.

Felicia winced when her shoulder went into the towel rack. Because of the setting and the drunk man, Felicia flashed back to when Jono attacked her. I’m not going to let it happen again, she thought, forgetting that this was AJ and that Jono was dead. Before AJ could hit her again, she kicked him with her good foot.

“AHH!” AJ screamed before falling to the floor and holding himself.

Felicia saw this as the perfect opportunity to run out the door, not caring about the pain in her foot as she put pressure on it or the swearing coming from the bathroom. She made it to the elevator to go back to the floor Nick’s room was on. As soon as she pressed the button inside she collapsed to the floor, sobbing in pain from her ankle and what AJ is becoming. I want my brother back.

“Hey Nick, do you have any more Sprite?” Lenni asked as she stood up from the table.

“Nope, that was the last one,” Nick said, nodding to Lenni’s empty can.

Lenni sighed and grabbed her wallet. “I’ll be back then. I gotta have my Sprite.”

“It’s aaaaalways about your Sprite,” Brian said while looking at his cards.

“Ha ha, not,” Lenni said before smacking him upside the head and leaving. “So what if I love my Sprite? Its good. And now I’m talking to myself, oy,” she sighed. She was walking to the vending area when she saw the elevator doors open with Felicia sitting against the wall of the car, crying her eyes out. “Felicia?” she asked concerned before running over to check on her. “Felicia, what happened?”

Felicia looked up, her eyes red and puffy. “AJ,” she said softly.

AJ? She never calls him AJ. “Come on, lets get you out of here,” Lenni said pulling Felicia up.

“Ow…” Felicia whimpered, trying to take the pressure off the ankle.

“Shit…Come on, wrap your arm around me,” Lenni said, trying to give her support while pressing the door open button.

Felicia managed to do so and Lenni helped her off the elevator. Lenni pretty much carried her back to the room and knocked on the door very hard. “Guys! Let me in!” she yelled.

“You should have taken a key with you,” Kevin chuckled as he opened the door. “Are you ha---what happened?”

“I don’t know. I was going to get my pop and the elevator opened and there she was,” Lenni said as she moved faster to the now empty couch as Brian, Nick, and Howie all stood up when they saw the condition Felicia was in. She managed to lay Felicia down with a minimal amount of pain and put a pillow under her foot.

“Felicia, sweetie, what happened?” Nick asked, kneeling down next to her and taking her hand.

“A-AJ,” she said, her ankle getting worse.

“I’ll go get some ice,” Howie said before leaving the room.

“AJ? You never call him AJ,” Brian said, confused.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Lenni said. “I’ll be right back, I have an Ace Bandage in my room,” she said before making her exit.

Kevin kneeled down next to Nick. “Felicia, what happened with AJ?”

“D-did you know h-he is d-doing drugs?” she asked, her back acting up on her now. Howie came back in with the ice and handed it over to Nick.

“WHAT?!?!” Kevin yelled, now standing up. Felicia winced when he did so. “I’m going to kill him….” he said before storming off to AJ’s room.

Felicia started to cry again. “Nick, what happened to my brother?”

Nick hugged her gently as to not hurt her anymore. “I don’t know baby,” he said kissing her lips softly. “Come on, lets get you to the bed. This couch isn’t big enough,” he said before picking her up and carrying her to his bedroom with the others following him.

* SLAM *

“Bastard,” AJ mumbled under his breath, holding his head from the killer headache he had. Most of it was from the drinking he was doing, while some of it was from the yelling Kevin just did from the other side of the door. “He can’t tell me what to do. It’s my god damn life. Why does everyone need to butt into it. Thank god I have the second door, he would of killed me.” AJ started to pace, trying ro remember why Kevin came to yell at him. He knew it was because he was drinking, that much was obvious. “He said I hurt Felicia. I would NEVER hurt Felicia. Maybe he’s the one doing dru- AH!” AJ cried out in pain, his headache coming back even stronger.

“A-Alex….why?” Felicia asked, trying to find her brother thru his eyes.

“Because I god damn felt like it, okay?!” he yelled, stepping on her bad ankle by accident.

Felicia bit down on her bottom lip, trying not to cry. “What happened to you?”

“Stop with all the questions!!!!” he yelled, pushing her into the wall.

“Shit…” AJ trailed of, sinking to the floor when he realized what he just did.

Thirty minutes later AJ was heading to Nick’s room, thinking he had the right number. 710, 710….maybe it was 720…no, it was 710. Before he left his own room, he called a rehab place in Arizona and his mom, leaving out the details of hurting Felicia. When he reached room 710, AJ knocked quietly and looked down at his feet, ashamed of what he had done. After what seemed like a few minutes, the door opened and looked up at Howie who gave him a look.

“You really screwed up man,” Howie said, not sure if he should let AJ in just yet.

“I know. I’m…..I’m going to get help,” AJ said softly.

Howie gave him a smile and hugged him tight. “Good.”

AJ smiled back before frowning again. “Felicia probably hates my guts.”

“No, she hates AJ’s guts. She wants Alex back,” Howie said pulling him into the living room where the other boy’s were. Nick glanced up before glaring at him and then looking back at his magazine.

AJ sighed. “I’m sorry guys…I really am. I’m going to get help. I know this means we need to post-“ before he could finish the four other guys pulled him into a big group hug.

“That’s okay, we will let you take as much time as you need to,” Brian said.

AJ smiled back. “Thanks, that means a lot to me. Um….do you think its safe to see Felicia?”

“Felicia, yes,” Nick said while leading AJ to his bedroom area. “Now Lenni on the other hand…” As Nick opened the door AJ saw Lenni and Felicia chatting softly. He also saw Felicia’s ankle wrapped and iced, as well as her shoulder being iced as well. When Nick and AJ walked in both girls looked up with two different looks. Felicia looked like she had been crying and now looking at AJ, looking for her brother. Lenni on the other hand looked like she could kill him right there.

“What do you want?” Lenni asked coldy, standing up in front of Felicia.

“Can I talk to Felicia?” AJ asked.

“As long as you don’t hurt her again, asshole,” Lenni mumbled. She turned to Felicia. “Do you want him to be here? I mean, I will be glad to kick his sorry ass out of here.”

Felicia looked at AJ real fast. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said.

Lenni bent down to give her a hug. “If he does ANYTHING, just scream.”

Felicia sighed. “Okay, I will.”

“Come on Lenni,” Nick said standing at the door.

“Yeah yeah,” Lenni said before pushing past AJ.

Nick sighed. “Told ya man.” With that he left and closed the door behind him to leave brother and sister alone.

AJ just stood there, not sure of what to say. The chances of her forgiving me are slim to none…

“So, are you just going to stand there?” Felicia said, bringing him out of his trance.

AJ sighed and sat next to her on the bed. “I am really sorry about what I did to you. That…that wasn’t me.”

“I know…”Felicia trailed off, trying to read face again. He still wasn’t the same Alex she loved, but he looked better, even if it was only thirty minutes.

“I’m going to Arizona tomorrow. To get help,” AJ said, for the first time crying since this whole thing started.

Felicia gave him a small smile before bringing him down into a hug. “So is Alex back?” she asked, starting to tear up as well.

AJ smiled sadly and hugged her as tight as he could without hurting her. “Not completely, but he will be, very soon.”

I am SO sorry for the wait, i just had, once again, a bad case of writters block. I have a quick favor to ask, and it is very short notice. Go here http://www.angelfire.com/celeb2/mbsbfcfanficawards/vote.html . I am nominated for an award, and TODAY is the last day of fan voting. I wanted to get the chapter out earlier but I just couldnt. So if ya can ya can, if not, its okay, its my own fault. Now i must go to services, so ttyl!