AJ shifted nervously in his seat on the bus. Kevin’s hard glare hadn’t let up from the time he nailed Nick on the plane up to this point. He already had given his speech and AJ blew him off, trying to sound cool about the whole thing telling Kevin that Nick was in control of his own self and nobody put the extra whiskey in his mouth.

AJ couldn’t help but grin despite himself at the way Kevin over reacted to the situation; raking his hands through his hair, collaring Nick and literally pulling him from the aircraft. It was once they were clear of the plane and from Johnny and Lou did Kevin light into AJ, Nick standing beside him the whole time, his eyes half mast and his body swaying from side to side, hiccuping every so often.

“How could you let this happen?” Kevin demanded, his jaw set.

AJ stared the older man down, shrugging his shoulders. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about AJ! How could you let Nick get so drunk?”

“Since when was I elected to be his personal bodyguard? The kid has a mind of his own. Take it up with him.”

AJ smirked wondering what expression Kevin had on his face when he turned away from the conversation leaving Nick in his care. He was sitting in the seat next to Nick who managed to be safely passed out for the moment, escaping Kevin’s wrath.

You’re dead meat, Kevin mouthed at AJ. AJ’s mature response was cupping a hand to his ear to say he didn’t hear what Kevin said. Kevin mouthed the words again and AJ simply held his middle finger into the air, grinning at his older brother and mouthed the words ‘fuck you’.

AJ’s smugness suddenly evaporated when the bus roared to an unscheduled stop in a city parking lot. His face paled when the bus driver announced that they would be stuck there until the cause of the engine trouble had been found and fixed. His dark brown eyes met up with the staring green eyes of Kevin’s.

Reacting quickly, AJ nudged Howie. “Dude, unscheduled shop, let’s go check the stores.”

Howie’s eyes fluttered open and he looked around the bus with a disoriented look on his face.

AJ jerked on Howie’s arm. “We’re in Germany, our bus is broke down, let’s check out the shops to kill some time.”

Kevin stood up and approached the two men. “I’m coming along with you.”

“We don’t need your help Kev, I think we can manage,” AJ replied as he slid out of the seat.

“I’m not going for your help AJ, besides, I can do what I want,” he hissed.

“Whoa, I think I’ll let you two go by yourselves, I sense a little tension here,” Howie stated as he sank back into the seat.

AJ grabbed the Latino by the arm. “Nope, you’re coming with me,” he urged and then added after he looked at Kevin’s face, “I need you along with me for protection.”

Howie looked back at Nick and Brian sleeping. “What about those two?”

“I’m sure they’ll be okay, let’s go,” AJ sighed.

A few moments later, Nick stirred in his sleep. Looking around, he wasn’t sure if it was Brian’s snoring that woke him or the fact that the bus was no longer running. At any rate, he decided three things: 1) he had a headache 2) his stomach was killing him and 3) he was thirsty.

Looking out the window, he saw that they were near several stores. Although the words were German, Nick figured he could find what he needed easily. Making sure he had his wallet in his back pocket, he slipped off the bus without waking Brian up.

The first store he spotted had dark windows and the sign above the door was in bold black letters: SamtNote. As he opened the door and looked inside, Nick immediately turned around. He knew by the rows of pornographic video tapes that this was not a pharmacy. In the back of his mind he wondered if AJ would be in there.

Nick walked a few blocks away, and discovered what looked to him like a Walgreen’s. The name Honsowitz was over the top of the double doors leading into the building and the word Drogespeicher in smaller letters below.

Relieved when he saw the endless rows of medications was quickly short lived when Nick discovered everything was labeled in German. A language he had zero comprehension of.

“Okay, find something that looks like Tylenol and you’ll be safe,” Nick coached himself as he wandered down an aisle. Spying a bottle that looked relatively familiar, he quickly scooped it up, trying to sort out the German wording on the label. Narrowing his eyes at the phrase ‘entlastet das Einzwagen’ Nick thought he recognized the word relief and decided it was what he wanted.

Now he needed some Pepto Bismol for his stomach ache. A few shelves below there was a pink box that was liquid. Assuming since it was in the same section it was what he needed for relief. Barely looking at the label he walked up to the counter and placed his purchases next to the register. The pharmacist looked at the items and placed a slight smile on his face.

“gutes Gluck zu Ihrem Freundinsohn,” he grinned as he took the money.

“Yeah, thanks,” Nick mumbled in reply, not knowing that the man said he hoped that his girlfriend felt better.

Leaving the store with his medicines in a plain white bag, Nick headed off in search of a store to buy water or a soda. The fact that he was thirsty coupled with the fact that he needed something to wash the asprin down with, led Nick on his quest.

Wandering a few more blocks, Nick finally spied something that he could read. A symbol that he embraced as ‘home’. It was a Coca~cola sign inside a window of a store. Without a second thought, Nick rushed into the store and grabbed a bottle of the soda. Standing at the counter next to the cash register, he laid down a crumpled D-mark. As he turned to leave, the store keeper called out to him.

“Hey!”

Nick jerked around. “Huh?”

“Sie gaben mich zuviel!” the woman stated as she waved several bills in the air.

Redfaced, Nick smiled sheepishly and accepted the money from the short, stout woman. “Um, thanks.”

“Auf Wiedersehen.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Nick repeated, “Ralph Weederson to you too.”

Smiling, the woman shook her head as she wiped her hands off with her plaid apron. “Amerikaner.”

“Hey, wake up!”

Brian jerked in his seat as he opened his eyes to see Kevin, AJ and Howie’s face staring at him. Rubbing his hand over his face, he sighed. “We there already?”

“Where’s Nick?” Kevin demanded.

“Huh?”

“I said, where’s Nick. He’s not on the bus,” Kevin pressed.

“I-I don’t know, isn’t he with you guys?”

“Oh this is just lovely,” AJ rasped. “The bus is good to go and no sign of damn Carter.”

“Well I’m sure he couldn’t have went too far being hungover,” Brian replied, gazing at AJ for good measure when he mentioned the word hungover.

AJ threw his hands up in the air. “Why does everyone blame me for this shit?”

“Because you thought it was funny getting the kid drunk,” Brian growled.

”ENOUGH! STOP BICKERING!” Kevin yelled. “We need to find Nick. Let’s branch out.”

AJ peered out the bus window. “Fan out? Where the hell to? This is a freakin mall in a freakin foreign country. Hell, I can’t read a freakin thing on the signs.”

“God AJ would you stop with the freakin word?” Howie hissed, finally losing his calm persona.

“Everybody go ahead, it’s pick on AJ today I guess. It’s your turn now, right Kevin?”

Brian closed his eyes and moaned. “Oh for the love of God, would you stop being so paranoid?”

AJ spun around to face Brian, his eyes wide. He started jabbing his pointer finger repeatidly into his own chest. “You talkin’ about me being paranoid? Me?”

“AJ calm your ass down, now!” Kevin ordered as he raked a hand through his hair. “We’re not gonna find Nick arguing over who did what. Okay, Howie you go south, lets say two blocks, AJ, go north two blocks and Brian east, I’ll take the west. We’ll meet back here in an hour.”

The three separated and went off in the directions that Kevin told them to go, AJ shaking his head

“God, why does this kid put me through so much hell?” Kevin muttered as he shoved his hands into the front pocket of his jeans. He shook his head as he thought about the millions of times that Nick played his little hide-n-seek games or any of the number of pranks that he loved to pull. This time it was different, Kevin theorized, because Nick was still a little drunk, he thoughts wouldn’t be clear but also the fact that they were in Germany and Nick had zero comprehension of the language.

Kevin was the only one in the group that had no difficulty with understanding German, he spoke it fluently and figured once he laid his hands on the wayward boy, he was going to make good use of the colorful aspects of the German language.

“Where would he have possibly gone?” Kevin wondered as he stood in the center of the parking lot, looking at the various shops that lined the streets. “Well, if dumbass hadn’t been drinking I would figure he was hungry,” he mused as he looked at the name of the restaurant directly in his line of vision.

“Shit.....shit...shit,” Nick whined as he looked at his unfamiliar surroundings. Clutching his stomach, he fought the urge to vomit, tears filling his eyes. Turning in a complete circle, Nick tried to get his bearings, looking for a landmark that would hopefully point him back to the safety and the security of the bus.

“How could I get lost?” he moaned as he looked around. He decided he couldn’t ask anyone for help or directions anymore because the last time he asked, they only spoke German and that was of no use to him at all.

Sitting on the grass with his medications and the bottle of soda at his side, Nick grabbed the package of “asprin” and tore it open, spilling two white oval tablets into the palm of his hand. With his stomach knotting and unknotting, he decided he should drink some to the German made “pepto-bismol.”

Uncapping the pink bottle, Nick sniffed the contents tentatively, wondering if it was what he thought it was. Shrugging his shoulders, he tipped the bottle back and immediately realized his mistake when the soapy tasting fluid burned his mouth. He quickly threw the bottle down and started spitting out what he hadn’t swallowed.

”God! arrrgh.........god!”

Coughing and gasping, Nick quickly uncapped the bottle of coke, desperate to wash out the foul taste in his mouth. After several attempts, he finally was succesful.

Suddenly feeling lost and vulnerable, he leaned back against the shade tree, folding his arms tightly across his chest. He decided to rest before he tried to retrace his steps, hoping that maybe someone would be out looking for him. It didn’t take too long before he started to doze off.

After walking in and out of a few shops, Kevin was beginning to wonder what happened to Nick. All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind ranging from kidnapping to Nick getting hurt. Shaking his head, he tried to dismiss the negative thinking from his mind.

“One last shop and I’ll turn back,” Kevin decided as he entered the store. Clearing his voice, he approached a woman that stood behind the counter.

“Hello, I was wondering if you could help me find someone,” Kevin asked in perfect German.

The woman smiled. “I’ll try.”

Pulling out the picture of Nick that he carried in his wallet, Kevin showed it to the woman. “I’m looking for---”

The woman’s face lit up. “Yes! I saw him! He bought a cola! I couldn’t understand him, that I remember,” she interrupted.

“Did you see where he went?”

The woman shook her head. “No, but maybe my son Mikal saw him, he was outside sweeping the walk earlier. Let me find out.”

After a few moments, the woman returned, a broad smile on her face. “He said your friend went north.”

“How long ago?”

“Oh I would say it’s only been maybe a half an hour.”

Kevin smiled, thanking the woman before he quickly left the store. His excitement in getting closer to finding Nick was short lived when he realized that he wasn’t any better off than what he had been when he entered the store.

Looking towards the north, his eyes scanned the horizon, looking for anything that would point him in the direction of where Nick went.

“Johnny is going to kick my ass when I come back and tell him Nick’s missing,” Kevin sighed. Just as he was about to give up and turn back, he saw a body laying in the park across the street, nestled up to a large tree.

“Thank God! I’ve found him!” Kevin cried out as he rushed towards the street towards Nick’s sleeping form. In his excitement to get over to the park, Kevin was nearly hit by a car as he crossed the street. The driver screeched his tires, honking his horn. As he drove off, he shook his fist in the air.

“Aww, Nicky,” Kevin sighed as he looked at the young boy sleeping on the grass. Beside him laid his soda bottle and the meds he had purchased. Kevin’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he read the names of the products next to Nick. He suddenly started to laugh.

Nick jerked awake and stared at Kevin’s face, a blank expression in his eyes. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and it took a few moments before Nick realized where he was.

“Kev, god, I’m so glad to see you,” Nick smiled wanly as he scooped the pills and the bottles up and shoved them into the white pharamcy bag.

Kevin offered a hand to pull Nick into a standing position. He put his arm around Nick’s shoulderas he led him back to the bus. “Why did you take off without telling anyone like that?”

“I had a headache and a stomach ache,” Nick sheepishly explained, “so I thought I’d go get some asprin and a bottle of pepto.”

“That stuff right there?” Kevin asked as he gestured to the white bag Nick carried.

“Yeah.”

“Did you take any of it?”

“Nick’s face turned red. “Well, um, I figured out that the pink stuff wasn’t what I thought it was.”

“But you did take it, right?” Kevin pressed, a smile was tugging at his mouth.

“Yeah, but I spit it out,” Nick confessed.

Kevin chuckled. “Do you know what you drank, better yet, do you know exactly what you took?”

Nick could sense this was going to lead towards information he didn’t want to know about.

“Nick, you took Midol and you drank some woman’s liquid vaginal cleansing soap!”

“Oh god,” Nick breathed, a shocked and humiliated look crossed his face.

“Don’t worry, you won’t die from it,” Kevin reassured.

Nick suddenly realized his life would be pure hell if AJ found out about what he did. He quickly grabbed his older brother’s arm. “P-please, j-just don’t tell anyone, okay? Please?” Nick begged as he threw the bag into the nearest trash bin.

Laughing, Kevin patted Nick on the back. “I won’t, but just remember, I now have one up on you for future blackmail!”

“God my life sucks,” Nick moaned.

Kevin chuckled. “Yes it does Kaos, but at least now it’s spring flowers clean and free of cramps!”