Chapter Six:
As soon as Nick had walked into the auditorium the guys immediately went right to work. They did sound check all morning and Ashley ended up falling asleep on the stage off to the side where she’s not in the way. Nick had gotten her a pillow and everything. Dakota was gone the entire time spying on Doctor Adams and Nick talked to her only once so far when he had contacted her through the walkie talkie and asked her if she was okay and where she was at. She told him she was still up in the air vent and she was watching him with patients in the hospital but he wasn’t doing anything suspicious or anything. Not yet anyway. She had only been watching him for an hour.
“So Nick…how are things going with you and Ashley lately?” Howie asked curiously, as everyone is taking a break. Nick is sitting on the edge of the stage not too far from Ashley and he is drinking some water from his water bottle.
“Better actually… I have gained her trust, finally. Infact next to Riley I am the only one who can handle her. She won’t let anyone else near her.”
“Well that is a good accomplishment. At least you’re getting somewhere.” AJ replied.
“Yeah…” Nick agreed and he looked over at Ashley as she still lay on the stage asleep where he had left her.
“I think last night’s incident is what got her trusting you,” Brian spoke up and Kevin raised his eyebrow toward his cousin in curiosity.
“What happened last night?”
“Some guy climbed through her window and started attacking her. We heard her screaming from Dakota’s room and Nick immediately jumped up and hurried out into the hall only to discover her door shut and locked. Nick, Riley, Doctor Johnson, Doctor Adams, and I all banged on her door frantically trying to get her to open it but she wouldn’t. Finally Doctor Johnson found a key and unlocked the door and we went in there to find the guy gone and she was lying on the floor covered in blood and crying. She wouldn’t let Nick near her at first but when she finally did he put her in bed and Riley cleaned her up.” Brian explained.
“Oh man…”
“Correction: Doctor Adams just stood there. He wasn’t in any hurry to get into her room at all. If I remember correctly, it was the four of us banging on her door and panicking and he didn’t seem very worried about her at all,” Nick replied bitterly. None of the guys were confused by Nick’s bitterness toward Doctor Adams. They were all clued in on what’s going on and are aware that Dakota is following him around as they speak.
“Nick got a little bit of information out of this guy too. She told him that he had a friend who died in a car accident. She told him his name was Thomas O’Ryan but she refused to tell him anything other than that. Riley and Doctor Johnson researched this guy and found out that he died in a much more brutal way. Ashley wasn’t told the truth - she was lead to believe that it was a car accident.”
“How did he die?” Howie asked curiously, and Brian explained to him the whole story.
“Holy shit that’s horrible…” AJ replied.
“Yeah…Doctor Johnson talked to the police about her connection with this and they said if we could get any more information out of her it would be great. Riley has left that job up to me,” Nick spoke up. Everyone sat there in silence for a few minutes until suddenly they heard Ashley whimpering in her sleep.
“Kori no…” they all looked at her curiously to find her tossing and turning as she lay there on the stage. “KORI NO! Please don’t hurt her, please don’t…NOOOOOO!” She screamed and then she began to cry and her eyes shot open in panic. Nick rushed over to her immediately and he scooped her up into his arms as he sat down Indian style on the stage cradling her.
“Ashley baby shhh, it’s going to be okay honey. It was only a bad dream. Shhh…” Nick soothed and he held her tight as he rocks her gently in his arms. “It’s okay sweetheart…Nicky is here.” After awhile when he had gotten her to calm down he wiped away her tears and he brushed her hair out of her face and delicately tucked it behind her ear.
“What happened honey? Can you tell me? Who is Kori?”
“M-my sister…” she sniffled.
“…You have a sister?” Nick asked curiously and he suddenly looked very confused. Riley never told him that she has a sister.
“She ran away just a month before my parents were murdered…”
“How old was she?” Nick asked after mouthing to Brian to go get Riley. Brian got up and left the room.
“She was thirteen when she disappeared. S-she just up and left one day and didn’t even leave a note explaining why.”
“What happened in your nightmare?” he asked as he finds Kori’s disappearance very suspicious.
“Kori was in trouble…” AJ raised his eyebrow and he gave Nick a look.
“What kind of trouble?”
“I d-don’t know…” she answered, her voice cracking as if she’s getting ready to cry all over again. Tear tracks from earlier are already rolling down her damp cheeks and she is trembling.
“It’s okay sweetie…it’s just you and me talking here. It’s just a friendly conversation between friends…relax.” He told her gently and he held her close as she rested her head against his shoulder.
“Can you explain to me what you saw?”
“It was very blurry…”
“It’s okay…just explain it the best you can.”
“There were two big guys… I couldn’t see their faces but I know that they were hurting her because she was screaming.” Suddenly Brian and Riley walked in and they went and sat with the others who were sitting there listening carefully.
“What were they wearing? Can you tell me that?”
“All black… and they were wearing black hats too.”
“Did you see where they were? Any of the surroundings or anything?”
“No…”
“Okay…well thanks for telling me honey…I know that was a big step.” He told her and he gently rubbed his hand over her back. She slid her arms around his neck and held onto him tightly and she closed her eyes causing her tears to spill out over her cheeks. He held her close to him for a few minutes, than he looked at Brian and Riley.
“I need to talk to Riley for a few minutes honey…do you think that you can sit in here with AJ for a few minutes? He is my best friend and he’s a very nice guy. I know that he will take good care of you.”
“Kay…” AJ got up and went over to Nick. He sat down next to him and Nick gently placed her in his lap so that he is cradling her instead. After doing this he got up and followed Riley and Brian out of the auditorium and he explained to them everything Ashley just told him.
“Okay well I can tell you one thing that needs to be done. We need to find Kori as soon as possible. She may be the answer to a lot of our questions.” Doctor Johnson announced when Nick had finished explaining the situation.
“Yeah and not only that but it would be great for Ashley to have a family member back in her life again… that’s the most important thing here right? Yeah it would be great to have some answers to everything… but Ashley’s happiness is the number one thing here.” Nick replied protectively.
“But she’s been gone for what… five years now? What if she’s dead? What if she didn’t even run away in the first place? In Ashley’s nightmare she was attacked. What if that really happened?” Brian questioned skeptically.
“Well we will never know unless we try, Bri.” Riley replied as she takes his hand into hers.
“We should ask Ashley if she wants this. She’s pretty angry with her for leaving I don’t want to do anything that will upset her even more.” Nick insisted, and he walked back into the auditorium and Riley, Brian, and Doctor Johnson followed. Nick went back onstage and over to AJ and Ashley and he sat down and took Ashley back into his arms again before hugging her tight.
“Hey sweetie… Riley, Brian, Doctor J and I were talking and we want to know how you would feel about us finding Kori for you.”
“No.” Ashley demanded, and she shook her head as tears rolled down her cheek. “Absolutely not…”
“But honey if they found Kori for you, you would have someone in your family to turn to. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?” Howie spoke up.
“She’s not family! Family wouldn’t have turned their back on me like that! She promised me that she would always be here for me… and then she just up and left! She was never here for me even when I needed her the most. She fucking walked out on me and I was left alone! I was left alone to deal with our parents’ death all by myself. She ran away, just let her be! She obviously doesn’t want to be found!” Ashley demanded, and she began to cry all over again.
“That may not be the case, honey.” Brian replied gently. “You just had a nightmare that she was being attacked. She may have been in some kind of trouble. Or maybe she’s in trouble now and that nightmare you had was a message. If we go looking for her we could be saving her life.”
“Did she come running back when I was I trouble? No she didn’t! She left me all alone to suffer. Now she can suffer too! Just let her be.” Ashley demanded, and Nick hugged her tighter as she buried her face in his shoulder. Everyone sat there in silence for a few moments, than Kevin broke it.
“We should probably get back to work…” Nick carefully sat Ashley down on the stage beside him and he got up. Riley took his and Brian’s arms and pulled them out of Ashley’s hearing point. Doctor Johnson followed them.
“We’re going to look for her anyway. I know that deep down inside underneath all that anger she really needs Kori…now more than ever and we need her as well. Doctor Johnson I want you to go down to the police station again and tell them we need all the information that we can get on Kori Mortenson. If we have to go straight to a detective then we will.”
“Okay I will do that right now while I am on my break.” He replied, and he walked out of the auditorium. Riley looked at Nick.
“Nick if you can get any information out of Ashley about Kori’s home life before she ran that would be great. The kind of people she hung out with, everything. But whatever you do, don’t let her find out what we’re doing or you know she will shut you out.”
“Okay,” Nick replied, and she hugged Nick and kissed Brian’s cheek before leaving the room as well. Nick and Brian went back to work.
~*~*~*~*~
Later on that night it was time for the concert and Children and thousands of fans were piling into the huge auditorium. Since this concert is for them, all of the children in the orphanage got first dibs on the seats before they let any of the fans in. Riley and Ashley were sitting in the front row when suddenly Dakota came running over to them.
“Ashee can I sit in your lap?” She asked her sweetly, and Ashley smiled down at her.
“Of course you can sweetie.” She smiled really big and then crawled into Ashley’s lap. She sat so that she is facing the stage and Ashley wrapped her arms around her waist and rested her chin on her shoulder. Riley smiled at the sight of this. She loves how Ashley is with Dakota. She knows that Dakota looks up to Ashley just as much as she looks up to Nick and she also knows that Dakota hopes they one day end up being boyfriend and girlfriend. She sees the way she watches them and it’s the cutest thing ever. After a half an hour of waiting, and when everyone was in the auditorium and in their seats it was time for the show to start. All of the lights in the room shut off and the music to Larger Than Life began to play. Colorful lights and firework sound effects went off and all five guys popped up from under the stage making the fans go crazy with excitement. They all began screaming and Brian started the concert off with his part in Larger Than Life. All five guys stood on the stage in a row in their blue millennium outfits.
"I may run and hide when you're screaming my name, alright!" Brian sang, smiling at the fans who'd been let in after having had paid money for their tickets. The fans in response screamed his name. "BRIAN!!!!" Brian faked a scared look and did a funny run that wound him up on the other side of the stage.
"But let me tell you now there are prices to fame, alright," Nick sang next, doing a funky move to make everyone scream. The song went on, all the Boys singing their parts. Once Larger Than Life had ended they went on to sing, That's The Way I Like It, Hey Mr. DJ [Play That Song For Me], and 10,000 promises. During 10,000 promises, Nick made sure to make eye contact and sing to all his little 'wives' that were in the audience; this made the little girls even more excited than they all ready were. After 10,000 promises, they did a quick costume change, then came back out to sing Back To Your Heart, Show Me The Meaning, The one, and If You Want It To Be Good Girl. Soon the music for I'll Never Break Your Heart began to play. Kevin spoke his part, smiling at one of the pre-teens, who swooned and just about fell over. He chuckled softly, as A.J. took over with his part.
"From the first day, that I saw your smiling face, Honey I knew that we would be, together forever"
"Ooh when I asked you out, you said no, but I found out, Darlin' that you'd been hurt. You thought that you'd never love again....Well, I deserve a try Honey, just once...." Brian joined in, hopping down off the stage and moving to stand before Riley, as she was somewhere away from the crazy fans. Riley looked at him with her eyebrows raised. He wasn't really going to sing to her in front of everyone, was he? "I'll never break your heart. I'll never make you cry. I'd rather die, than live without you. Id give you all of me, Honey that's no lie," the Boys harmonized, Brian holding Riley's hand and staring straight into her eyes as he sang. While A.J. sang his next part, Brian leaned in and kissed her lips softly, smiling at her before turning and running to hop back up on stage to continue on with the song. The music ended and the guys ran off to change again, Howie returning shortly.
"Hello everyone! We hope you're having a good time tonight!" He paused a moment as everyone screamed their response, making him smile. "I'm sure you all know the next song, so join in and sing along!" The kids - mostly the fans - shrieked shrilly when they heard the music for Quit Playin' Games. Brian started singing and had everyone singing with him long before the end of the song. After Quit Playing Games, they performed Get Down, We've Got It Goin' On, Spanish Eyes, and Don't Wanna Lose You Now. They paused then, as Nick smiled at the crowd.
"I have a special surprise for someone now. Dakota, come up here please." Dakota's eyes went wide, as Kevin came down to retrieve her for Nick. She let him pick her up and carry her up onto the stage, where she was handed over to Nick. "This is my little Angel," Nick beamed. "The guys and I are going to sing Dakota's favorite song to her." He set her down upon the stool Brian had brought out, and the Boys began to sing as they all surrounded her - though, they also made sure to interact with the audience now and then too.
"I'd walk halfway around the world, for just one kiss from you," Brian smiled, singing. "Far beyond the call of love, the sun, the stars, the moon."
"As long as your love's there to lead me, I won‘t lose my way believe me. And even through the darkest nights you know....." Once the song was over, Nick helped Dakota down and made sure she got back to Ashley okay. He then hurried on backstage to change yet again, returning shortly as All I Have To Give began. All I Have To Give finished, and they went right on into As Long As You Love Me, and then Just Like A Child. During Just Like A Child, Nick made sure to make eye contact with Ashley every time he sang, "Girl don't stop, the sun from shining down on me. 'Cause I can't take another day without your smile...." After Just Like A Child, the Boys said their good-byes.
"Good night y'all, we hope y'all have a fantastic time!" A.J. exclaimed.
"We hope we can do this again sometime soon. Have a safe ride for those of you driving home, and have wonderful dreams to those of you staying here," Kevin smiled.
"I'm Howie D. and this is how we do it. Good night everyone!" Howie winked.
"We love you all! Good night!" Brian added.
"And remember," Nick smiled devilishly. "Backstreet's Back!"
"Alright!" Brian said in his funny 'alright' voice. The five of them ran off the stage then and the lights dimmed, and all you could hear was the murmurs of the crowd for the next few minutes. After about five minutes or so - but before anyone had the chance to leave - the Backstreet Boys came running back out onstage, as Backstreet's Back began to play.
"Y'all thought we'd left, didn't yah? Ha!" A.J. remarked, as they took their places and began to sing. After Backstreet's Back had finished, they finished the concert off with I Want It That Way, then said good night once more before leaving the stage for the last time that night.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Later on that night when the concert was long over Nick walked into Ashley’s room to find her sitting on the floor with a poster board and some paint and she’s painting a picture. Riley had put a bunch of newspapers on the floor so that she doesn’t make a mess and she is sitting there with her because Nick was downstairs. Him and Brian were being interviewed by a news reporter about their jobs at Ramsey and they had a bunch of kids with them. Since the concert was a charity for the children they wanted to do an article on it in the newspaper and they agreed to it. One of those kids being Dakota and five others. After the interview he returned Josh and Mackenzie's toys back to them since they had both finished their papers and turned them into him, and they did a good job on them AND behaved during the whole day. When he was finished talking to them he played play dough with Dakota for awhile and then put her to bed. Ashley smiled at his appearance and he smiled back at her.
“You did a great job in your concert tonight Nick. The kids really enjoyed it and so did I,” Riley told him.
“Yeah I bet you did. That was some surprise Brian gave you eh? Singing ‘I’ll never break your heart’ to you and then kissing you. What was that all about?” Nick teased, making Riley immediately blush.
“He didn’t mean anything by it… he just got caught in the moment.” Riley insisted.
“Right…uh-huh.” Nick replied with a knowing grin and he went and sat next to Ashley on the floor and he sat there watching her paint.
“What about you sweetie? Did you like it?”
“I loved it Nicky. That was my very first concert…” Nick now looked very shocked.
“Really?”
“Yes… and you made it very special for me.” Ashley answered softly and he smiled at her lovingly before taking her hand in his as she isn’t painting at the moment and he gently rubbed his finger over it.
“Well I’m glad because that was my goal.”
“Nick I’m going to go talk to Doctor Johnson and then go find Brian. Are you going to stay here now?”
“Mm hmm, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay thanks,” she replied and she got up and left the room. Nick looked at Ashley to find her sitting there just staring at her painting.
“What are you painting, huh? Can I see?”
“It’s nothing special…” He scooted closer to her and took a look at her painting.
“Wow… that’s really neat. You’re a very good artist.”
“I picked it up from my mom…”
“Ooh.”
“I can’t seem to paint very good clouds though… mom was going to teach me but never got the chance to.” Ashley replied softly as tears threatened to fall from her sad brown eyes. He sat there just watching her as he thought for a couple of minutes.
“Do you want me to teach you? It’s really simple…I’m a bit of an artist myself.” She looked at him for a couple of minutes and then nodded.
“Okay… come here,” he told her gently and held his arms out to her and she crawled over to him and sat between his legs with her back to him. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled the poster board in front of them before taking the paint brush into his hand as she holds onto it too and he helped her paint some clouds. When they finished they had a picture of a field with tons of flowers and the clouds for the sky. There are a couple of butterflies flying around in the field too. She rested the back of her head against his shoulder smiling and he smiled down at her in return.
“Is it finished?” he asked her softly and she looked down at the painting just thinking for a couple of minutes, than she shook her head.
“It’s missing something…”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know yet…”
“Hmm…well I’m sure that you will think of something. You have a creative imagination and you’ve got yourself a beautiful masterpiece here.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you…” she replied while looking up at him again and she rested the back of her head against his shoulder.
“That’s nonsense. All I did was help you with the clouds.” He insisted as gazed into her brown eyes lovingly and she continued to look up at him not saying a word. After a few minutes a playful smirk suddenly formed across his lips and he put the paint brush that he still had in his hand to her nose leaving blue paint on it.
“Hey!” she whined and then giggled and he just chuckled. She then grabbed the red paint bottle and she poured some of it into her hands before rubbing them together and she placed both of them to each of his cheeks as she still sat so her back is to him and she beamed up at him in satisfaction. He only laughed and shook his head in amusement, than as she still had her hands placed to his cheeks she brought his nose down on hers giving him an Eskimo’s kiss and he rested his forehead against hers and smiled into her eyes as she smiled back mischievously.
“You’re evil you know that?” he asked her and she just giggled.
“You started it.”
“Yeah, yeah.” he replied, before grabbing another poster board and pushing her other one to the side and he handed her the brush and took her hand into his and the two of them began to paint a picture together. A half n hour later Riley walked back in and she laughed at the sight of them.
“Wow… you two had a lot of fun while I was gone.”
“She decided that she wanted to paint me instead of the poster board.” Nick explained.
“Nuh uh! Nicky put the brush to my nose as it had blue paint on it so for revenge I poured red paint in my hands and stuck them to his cheeks and put my blue nose to his so that we were even. He started it.” Ashley replied defensively after giggling and he smiled in satisfaction as he loves to hear her giggle. Riley smiled and shook her head.
“Well anyway, it’s late Nick. Why don’t you two get cleaned up and her in bed?”
“Okay,” Nick replied and Riley left the room. Nick helped Ashley clean her paint mess up, than he got up cradling her and he brought her over to her bed and sat her in it. He covered her up and went and got a wet wash cloth. He brought it over to her and wiped her nose with it. When he finished he wiped her hands, than she took it and gently pulled him onto the bed with her and she cleaned him up in return. When she finished he crawled under the covers with her after bringing Dakota in there and lying her down in the middle again and he turned off the lights. They lay there talking for awhile until they had both fallen asleep. It’s been a very long day.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Riley, it’s 2:00 in the morning. You should have clocked out and gone home by now.” Doctor Johnson demanded lightly, as he walked into the lobby to find her going through papers at the front counter and Brian sitting on the counter watching her.
“Good luck Doctor J… I have already tried talking her into clocking out but she just won’t listen.”
“I still have a lot to do. I’m fine.” Riley insisted. Doctor Johnson sighed as he knows exactly what Riley is doing and why. He looked at Brian, giving him a look. Brian understood right away.
“Come on Ri, it’s 2:00 in the morning. You’re going home.” He ordered, and he jumped down from his spot on the counter and took her papers from her and she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Brian give those back! I wasn’t finished looking at them yet.”
“You can finish looking at them in the morning. Your shift is done you can go home and sleep now.”
“What’s the point in going home when there’s nothing to go home to?”
“I’m coming with you. And I’m going to make you dinner and I am going to spend the night there with you. Will that make you feel better?” Riley looked at him for a couple of minutes. To be honest that would make her feel a whole lot better. She nodded her surrender and he took her hand in his and squeezed it gently before looking at Doctor Johnson.
“Go ahead and take her home Bri. I will clock out for her.”
“Thanks,” Brian replied and he led Riley out the door.
“What are you making me Bri?”
“Anything your heart desires honey.“ Riley smiled a little bit as she looked at him and this caused him to smile back.
“Spaghetti?”
“Mm hmm I can do that.” He told her and he took her hand into his lacing her fingers with his own.
“Please don’t over work yourself Ri…he really isn’t worth all the trouble.”
“Bri please don’t start.”
“Okay, okay…I’m sorry…” he apologized softly and he let out a small sigh. Riley looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Bri? You okay?”
“Yeah… fine…” he answered. She continued to look at him quizzically for a couple of minutes, than she looked down at the ground as they walked back to her apartment in silence. By the time they got there and Riley had unlocked the door and brought him inside he was in a slightly better mood and once again had a grin on his face. He led her into the kitchen and he got right to work on making her the best dinner he could possibly make her and she sat on a bar stool to the island and watched him as he did. After a couple of minutes of thinking, she went into the living room and turned on the stereo and country music began to play out of it. She went back and sat down again. By the time he almost had dinner finished he got out two plates and began to set the table for two and when he finished doing that it was done. He brought the pot of spaghetti over to the table so they could serve themselves.
“Do you have a lighter?” he asked her, as he noticed that there is a candle in the middle of the table.
“Yeah,” she answered and she went into the kitchen and opened up one of her junk drawers and she pulled out one of Chase’s lighters. She held it out to Brian and he took it and began to light the single candle sitting on the table. When he finished he went and dimmed the lights and he looked at a curious Riley.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she answered softly and she shook her head and gave him a weak smile. This romantic setting is going to drive her insane. The two of them sat at the table, her in one chair and him in the other across the round table and the two of them sat there and talked as they ate.
“So…do you maybe want to do something tomorrow? Like outside of the orphanage?”
“I have to work Bri… and so do you.”
“Not all day… we work in the morning and then we have the entire afternoon off until 5:00 when we have to be back there for our night shift. I asked Brooke Ry so don’t even tell me you have stuff to do. She says you’re there too much and if you don’t take a break she’s going to be forced to make you do it.”
“What would we do?” Riley asked softly, as she knows she’s not getting away with working the entire day tomorrow whether she would like to or not.
“Well…maybe we can go have a picnic on the beach for lunch…and walk around the mall too. How long has it been since we’ve done that?”
“Forever…it does sound kind of nice.”
“Then let’s do it. Please? You know that you want to.” Brian begged and Riley nodded her approval making Brian grin in satisfaction at his accomplishment. She couldn’t help but feel a little glad that Brian had talked her into it. She hasn’t been able to really do anything fun at all since he’s been gone on tour. Her husband never wants to do anything with her. It will be kind of nice to get out for a change.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
It was co-written with Lenni
Enjoy =)
It was co-written with Lenni
Enjoy =)
