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A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. This past week, I had my final exams and have been studying for them! They are over now, and I am on a break for a month, so it should be easier for me to work on updating more quickly. Thanks for being patient, and I can't wait to hear what you think of Chapter 6!!! Thanks to AjsSweety, SweetAngelicAngel, Anastacia, Anita, Stephanie and sta for reviewing Chapter 5! *smiles*

Chapter Six

The next couple of days went by quickly. Amber was held in the hospital for extra observation due to the fact that she still thought that her family would show up for her. Dr. Jones thought that if she came out of her denial state away from the hospital, that she would try to harm herself in some form once realizing she had nobody but the Boys, who she didn’t even know. He thought it best for her case to stay where she was until she knew what had happened to her, and knew what was going on.

The Boys visited every day for a little while, excluding Nick, who was still being held in prison. None of them knew what the hold up was, and it was infuriating them all. They all knew that Nick hadn’t done anything wrong, so didn’t know why he was being treated like he had. Kevin still had a chip on his shoulder about the whole thing, not even stopping to think of the fact that anybody could have done what Nick had. He just assumed that since Nick tended to lack common sense, that he was the only one who would do such a thing, destroying a piece of evidence that could have been used to find the real criminal of the case.

The real rapist still hadn’t been caught, but another rape had occurred two cities away, the rapist again, getting away. The police weren’t linking the two together, saying that they weren’t related. Kevin, on the other hand, believed that they were, as did the rest of the Boys who knew of it. Nobody knew who he was though, which was a scary thought. Somebody was roaming the streets, harming these young girls, scaring them for life without even thinking of what he was doing to them or the consequences he would face if ever caught. It sickened the Boys, Kevin wanting to get his hands on the man and strangle him for doing such a thing. It was because of what he was doing in general, for he didn’t know any of the girls except for Amber. Even her, he wasn’t on a personal enough level to want to hurt the man for her sake alone.

Sitting alone in the hall outside of Amber’s room, Kevin thought about all of the events that had happened in the last couple of days. Him and the Boys had yet to visit Nick in the place in which he was being held hostage by the idiots of policemen. He figured that they owed their blonde friend a visit, even if he was still mad at the boy. Kevin decide to suggest it to A.J, Howie and Brian later on. They were still in Amber’s room. Kevin needed a rest after lack of sleep, retreating to the hall after a good fifteen minutes to do so, or try to at least.

“You okay?”

Kevin looked up to see Brian standing above him. Sliding down the wall, he sat next to his cousin. He looked concerned, something that Kevin was used to the past few days. He didn’t blame him either. Kevin would be the first to admit that he was acting strangely. It was due to a lot of things. First of all, what they had seen days earlier. Secondly, Nick, enough said. They’d had to cancel everything, from shows to meetings to photo shoots because of the member who would be missing…and hiding from the press was a challenge in itself. He’d told management that Nick was extremely ill with the flu, not wanting to explain what was really going on. He had a lot on his mind, and it was stressing him out.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Kevin answered, “Just not getting enough sleep lately.”

That was the truth. Kevin couldn’t wait to get back to his regular schedule. As hectic as it may be, at least it was set in stone, and he had a certain time to catch up on his rest. He wasn’t very used to planning his own days, or having things come up at hours where he normally would be in bed, or shooting for a video at god awful hours. No, this was definitely something he wasn’t used to, nor did he ever think he would be again. It had been his lifestyle for over a decade and wasn’t something that could easily be turned around again.

“How’s Amber doing?” Kevin asked, embarrassed to admit he hadn’t really been paying much attention to what was going on while he had been in the room.

“Honestly, I think she’s beginning to come out of denial,” Brian answered, “Not completely, but she’s normally really positive and…um…perky. Now, she’s kind of glum and down on things.”

Kevin tensed slightly. He was dreading her coming out of her denial state. That meant that she would become withdrawn and try to avoid them. Now, she trusted them. When she realized what had happened to her, he knew that she probably wouldn’t. Kevin knew that rightfully, the girl was old enough to be on her own. The thing was, she had nowhere to stay, probably no job, no money, nothing. Kevin and the Boys had talked it over, and decided that for her best interest, she should probably go with them whether she wanted to or not. It had bee three days, and her parents still hadn’t come. The chances of them changing their minds were dwindling down to slim to none. The fact upset the Boys, but it was the harshness of reality sometimes.

“We knew this would happen when we decided to be there for her,” Brian reminded him, “We could have just left her here without another word to anyone after the cops arrived in the alley.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kevin replied, sighing, then he stood up, “We’re doing the right thing.” Kevin paused for a minute as his shorter cousin stood up too, “What do we say we go and visit Nick today?”

Brian’s eyes bugged out of his head at the suggestion, “Did you just say that?” he asked in his southern drawl, “You, who is so mad at Nick you are blaming him for being there in the first place?”

Kevin chuckled, “Yeah, I guess I am. Poor kid, though. I guess I haven’t exactly been fair to him, and we do owe it to him, as dumb as he may be sometimes. We should go today, just so he doesn’t feel neglected.”

Brian shrugged, “Sure,” he stated, “Let’s go see Amber for a few more minutes and we’ll head over.”

The two walked in to Amber’s room to hear her mentioning her parents again, not coming to visit her.

“They’ll come,” A.J. stated with a forced smile as Howie jabbed him in the back with his elbow. A.J. jerked a little, startled by the gesture as Brian and Kevin walked up to them others.

“No,” Amber replied, “They won’t. They never will. I was dumb to think that they would.”

Tears glistened in her eyes, and she lowered her head to hide them. A.J. looked to Kevin for help, but not even he had answers for this one. There was no point in falsely telling her things that they knew would not happen. He decided now was the time to bring mention of their good intentions to her. She already was coming to grips that her family wasn’t there for her. The worst was still yet to come though.

“We’re here for you,” Kevin offered a small smile of encouragement, “I know right now that doesn’t help, when you’re still upset, but at least you’ll have some place to go.”

“How do I know if I can trust you though?” Amber asked, eyeing them up and down like she doubted their motives.

“Learn to,” Howie answered simply, jumping in, “Give us a chance, and we’ll prove that you can count on us.”

Amber hesitated. Even though she still wasn’t admitting that she was raped, trying her best to block out the thought, she wasn’t sure what to do. Something in the back of her mind was telling her that all men were bad, and here were five of them wanting to take her under their care. She was nothing but skeptical of the situation.

“I don’t know,” she said, “Let me think about it for a little while.”

“Not too long,” Brian drawled, “You’re being released in a day or two.”

Amber nodded, still not looking up at them. She knew that they were staring at her, and she didn’t want to catch their gaze.

“Well, see you tomorrow,” Howie said slowly, almost as if he were having second thoughts about leaving for the day. He hated to do so when she was obviously upset about something, but he knew that they did not want to crowd her, and she needed her space, so that was what they were going to give her for the time being.

“Bye,” Kevin called before they all filed out of the door.

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Nick sat in the corner of his jail cell, his head in between his knees, his arms over top, to block out any light that could get in. He was all alone, in his very own cell, and none of his friends had come to see how he was, which really upset him. They were supposed to be there for each other, no matter what. They had been for the other Boys who’d gone through rough points in their lives.

Nick drew in a ragged breath. Nothing made sense about all of this. The officers were dicking around, taking their time about doing things, leaving Nick in a place where he did not belong. He still could not believe that he was being accused of such a thing. Nick could not help but wonder if his band members, brothers, and also friends left without him, continuing on with their daily obligations and priorities. He felt to be forgotten, as if he had never existed in any of their lives. Nick wondered if he was going to be left there for the rest of his life, to die even. The thought scared him half to death. He wanted to be free again, going about his life as if this had never happened. One thing for sure was that he’d never tell his mother. She would have a cow.

“Carter,”

At the sound of his name, Nick looked up, his thoughts distracted, to see an officer he hadn’t noticed around before. Standing up, Nick slowly walked to the metal bars.

“Yeah,” he asked, half-heartedly.

“You have visitors,”

Nick’s heart leapt at the sound of those words. Somebody had actually cared enough to come and see him. He figured that it was probably Aaron and someone else. He didn’t care who, as long as he saw a familiar, friendly face inside of the wretched place where he was being kept, cooped up like some sort of animal.

“Do you wish to see them?” the officer asked

Nick nodded, “Yes, please,” he asked, “Send them back.”

The officer disappeared then, and less than a minute later, four men that he recognized very well took her place before his eyes. Nick was thrilled to see them, but acted like he was less than that. He rolled his eyes instead, deciding to act mad for a little while.

“So,” Nick said, “You finally decide to come.”

The guys looked to one another, knowing that there was nothing that they could say for taking so long to get there. There was no excuse, for they had been a full twenty minutes away the entire time.

“We’re sorry,” Brian offered with a light smile, hoping that he’d find forgiveness in his best friend.

Nick tried not to smile, but a huge goofy grin broke out on his face. He couldn’t stay mad at the guys for long. They were family to him, and the point was, they were there now. That was all that mattered to him.

“Did you come to bail me out of here,” Nick asked, his eyes full of hope.

“Um, don’t think that’ll be happening,” Howie answered, “Don’t worry though. They’ll figure out that they were wrong, and let you go.’

Nick stuck out his lip in a pout. He wanted out right then. The place was horrible, filthy, and the air was stuffy, making it almost impossible for him to breath. The appearance was drab, in a dark grey color…the walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything around him was grey. It was boring and depressing, setting him in en even worse mood than he was already in to begin with.

“Anyways, how’s Amber?” Nick asked, wondering if they were still even bothering with the girl, or if they’d decided against their first good intentions.

“Fine,” Brian answered, “She’s…um…we think that she is starting to accept what happened. In a few days…I don’t know what she’ll be like. One thing’s for sure though…we’ll all have to prepare ourselves to stay strong and patient with her.” Howie spoke as if the girl had already made up her mind to take their offer.

Nick laughed at that. He hoped that they could stay patient, for her sake, and was pretty sure that they could if they set their mind on it to be sympathetic.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that so far, everything is going good,” and then Nick frowned, “I want out of here so badly. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why don’t they believe me?”

The guys all shrugged, not sure why they were doing this. The only thing that any of them could think of was that they were just taking every precaution possible, even if that did involve suspecting the least likely candidate just because of a simple, stupid mistake made by him. Kevin told him these thoughts, even though it wouldn’t change anything or make it better.

“Well, it really sucks,” Nick answered.

As if on cue, the Boys all turned their heads hearing a door clicking shut. They saw an officer walking towards them. Nick’s heart hammered in his chest, wondering what they were going to say to him.

“Mr. Carter,” Nick noticed it was one of the officers that had thrown him in to the cell days before. He’d learned his name, but hadn’t made the effort to remember it. He didn’t care to, “You’re being released. There is no longer need to hold you here any longer.”

The thick, iron-gate was unlocked. The officer unlatched it, swinging it open. Nick took no time to bolt from the cell as the gate was being held open for him. For the first time in days, he was standing right next to his friends, nothing separating them. It felt so good to be free, and not encaged.

“So, why are you releasing Nick?” Kevin asked, and then smirked, “Find that his fingerprints didn’t match the one’s on Amber after all.”

The Boys all looked at the man expectantly, waiting to see what kind of excuse he would come up with. The officer paused before speaking. There was no easy way to say this, but he opened his mouth, saying it anyways, not even worrying about the effects that it would have on the older man, or any of the others, “No, Nick’s didn’t match. But yours did."