I tried my best to ignore AJ as he kept pacing around the green room, like a panther on a prowl. The sound check had gone okay; at least I didn't have any more screw ups for them to add to my growing list but for some reason AJ kept bringing up the luncheon disaster.

"You should have seen that guy when that hot soup got dumped into his crotch," AJ snickered.

"You've repeated this story oh, I dunno how about seventeen times already. Don't you think it's getting a little old by now?" I snarled as I pushed the walkman into my back pack. I threw a glare in his direction hoping he would get the hint but the look on his face told me he wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

"And that waitress.....oh god and the look on Train's face!"

I was beginning to wonder if Kevin left me alone with AJ just to punish me. At least Brian and Howie would come to my defense...well maybe not Brian in this case but at least I could rely on Howie Dorough to come to the rescue. He can be pretty mature about things. "Why don't you shut up about it?"

"Because this is never gonna get old," AJ laughed as he perched on the arm of the couch.

"At least for you but some people actually move on AJ," I hissed as I delibertly walked away from my tormentor. "Kevin said they'd be back in a few minutes...." I muttered as I looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Hitting yourself in the eye.....now that is a classic Nick Carter move there!"

I wanted to wring his boney neck just as soon as look at him. Who the hell does he think he is? I can remember a few times where he wasn't so graceful on stage! "Yeah well you fell in front of about 10,000 people a month ago!"

"Yeah but at least I didn't split my pants in front of 20,000 fans!"

I closed my mouth. Shit....he did have me there.....when is Kevin coming back? Why is he leaving me here alone with AJ? Is this my punishment? The answer to my prayers came when the door opened and the rest of the guys filed in. "Where the heck were you guys?" I asked. My voice sounded pretty pathetic, hopefully I was the only one that noticed.

"Geeze Carter, you sound like you're gonna cry," AJ teased.

Okay the worst possible person noticed but I wasn't gonna let that get to me. "I was not!" There, that should shut him up.

"I was not!" AJ repeated in a whiney voice.

"AJ stop picking on Nick," Kevin directed as he smacked AJ on the back of the head.

AJ scowled as he placed a protective hand over the offended area. "What the fuck did you do that for?"

"Stop getting Nicky all worked up," Howie agreed softly.

"Yeah we want a happy Frack onstage," Brian said as he placed an arm around my shoulder.

"What about me? I didn't do anything and Train smacks me up the side of the head. My ma never did that to me!"

"Probably cause your foul mouth is never within ear shot of the woman," I informed with a toothy smile.

"NICK....drop it!" Kevin growled as he narrowed his eyes at me.

Why do I always get blamed for things I didn't do? "Everyone else can say things to AJ but me?" I pouted.

"Just take a seat and relax before the show, okay? We don't need you worked up before you have to work," Kevin said as he pointed at the couch.

I know I had been sitting on the couch sulking for at least 45 minutes, ignoring anyone's attempts to cheer me up but dammit, I always get blamed for stupid little things and when I try to join the adults in their conversation it's always 'Nick keep quiet or Nick you don't know what you're talking about' some days I wish they would see just how important I can be to a conversation!

I watched as AJ flirted with some girl that was a friend of a friend of a friend in the business - a nice way of not calling her a whore if you ask me, but anyway I was used to being ignored when we were told that it was time to get ready to go onstage. It was also the time that my bladder announced that I should go use the facilities since this was going to be a long show.

As I walked down the dim corridor toward the bank of rest rooms, I couldn't remember if I told someone where I was going or not. Thinking back, I did remember that no one really seemed to care and that Howie sort of waved his hand at me as if I was interrupting his conversation with some dark haired woman. Screw them! Another cramp went through my stomach and I gritted my teeth as I tried to will it to go away. If only I hadn't drank that little bit of tap water.

I passed the rest rooms that were by the green room. With my luck my body would make noises and AJ would hear them for sure and have something new to pick on! And because of that too, there was no way in hell I was gonna ask a body guard to come with me. No way! This would be too embarrassing!

It probably wasn't a smart idea using the public rest rooms but geeze, 99% of our fans are female so I think I'm pretty safe using the mens room. It would be as safe as being in my own bathroom at home, right?

"Where the hell is Nick?" Kevin questionsed as he looked around.

"He was here two seconds ago," Brian replied.

"Figures.....Kaos goes AWOL before the show," AJ rasped. "Let's just go, he'll figure it out, he was here when we were told to get ready to go on."

I had just opened the door to leave the rest room when I realized I was in trouble - BIG TROUBLE. A sea of fans were standing in the hall. I could feel the panic rise as I smiled nervously at the excited fans. Before I had a chance to react, it happened......they rushed me! I suddenly found myself being pushed backwards into the mens room. I kept trying to yell at them to calm down but my yells were apparently falling on deaf ears since they were pushing me more and more.

The next thing that happened was a jolt of white light as my head made contact with the hard tiled bathroom floor.

Then it went dark.

At first the girls went into a frenzy when their idol had slipped to the floor. Being able to touch his hair, his shirt and even his face was more than they could possibly hope for. It went on for a few moments before someone realized that Nick wasn't resisting, infact he wasn't struggling at all!

"Oh my God! Nick is dead!" a girl screamed. This caused more pandemonium as the young women tried even harder to reach their fallen idol. Some girls burst into tears and others ran screaming from the rest room. This caught the attention of the body guards that had been dispatched to find the young teen.

"Ladies....step back!" one of the men yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd. The girls obediently stepped away from Nick, forming a tight circle around him.

"He-he's dead, isn't he?" a dark haired girl cried.

The man knelt down beside Nick, pressing a finger into the side of his neck. "He's unconscious. EVERYONE GET OUT!"