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I was even more distracted this time, but I forced myself to concentrate on the game. I was doing a lot better than I should have, but I realized that Kevin was probably a little distracted too. Agnes' mug shot kept flashing across my eyes and I shuddered against the thought. With any luck, she died in the fire. I was almost surprised at the severity of my thoughts, but this woman nearly killed us. "Kevin, what the hell was that?" I blinked as he moved his knight, leaving his king wide open.

"Crap. Well this game is over. I' ve got to go make some calls anyway. Howie, you wanna stay here?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Sure, no problem." Howie nodded. They exchanged looks and I frowned. Did they think I was gonna freak out on them or something? Just because Agnes dumb butt started a fire didn't put us in any danger. They were gonna put her in lockdown or something.

After Kevin left, I turned to Howie. "I'm not tired anymore. I want to go see Nick."

"Lizz, you have been pushing yourself too much today. You need to try to get some sleep." Howie pointed out.

"No way, I m not sleepy and I don't want to sleep anyway..." I trailed off.

"I thought the sleeping pills were helping you." Howie said, concern evident in his voice.

I groaned. "They aren't stopping the nightmares, just keeping me from spazzing out when I wake up from them. I'm more just groggy as hell."

Howie crinkled his nose. "Well that sucks."

I nodded. "So come on, let's go."

It was Howie's turn to groan. "You know Kevin is going to get onto me for this."

"Yup! I grinned." He helped me put Nick's sweatshirt on since I couldn't really raise my arms over my head. I was going to be really glad when this huge gash healed a little bit because right now I was pretty helpless to do much for myself. Slowly but surely, we headed towards Nick's room. My whole midsection felt a little fiery, but I tried to ignore it. I wanted to make sure he didn't see that news blurb. I think Howie knew that I was struggling because he kept a careful eye on me as we plodded down the hall. When we got to Nick's room, my heart skipped a beat. Nick was laying in bed, pale and sipping juice. Brian was standing by the side of the bed, pained expression on his face. And AJ was pacing back and forth across the small room.

"What's going on?" I asked softly.

Nick turned his head to me sharply. "What are you doing out of bed again?! You are supposed to be resting!"

"And you look like shit! I exclaimed back to Nick. And you two look a little more than freaked out...oh god. You saw huh?" I stared from AJ to Brian.

Brian nodded.

"It may be okay though, right? I mean, maybe it's even better this way. Maybe they will lock her ass up in lockdown or something? I mean, that's what they do when you cause problems and stuff, right?" I said, hopefully.

AJ stopped pacing. "You didn't watch the whole thing did you?"

" The-the whole thing?" I stammered.

"Lizz, Agnes escaped in the fire. The authorities have been unable to find her." Brian said softly.

"No...that-that isn t...no... I gasped, my knees getting weak." Howie immediately moved behind me and steadied me. Nick set his drink down and held his arms up for me to go over to him. Howie led me to the bed and helped me sit down. Nick put an arm around my shoulders and I laid myhead on his shoulder. "So she's out. I said quietly. She's going to come after us again."

"No, she isn't." A determined voice said from the doorway. We all turned to see Kevin standing there, two cops on both sides of him. My mouth gaped. He was in the room with me and I turned the TV off. How would he have known how serious it was? He seemed to know what I was thinking because he turned his attention to me. "I had a bad feeling and called Blake".

I nodded. Detective Blake was the one that was handled everything. He was there when the whole thing came down in that building that Vinnie was holding Brian and I in.

"Agnes started a fire in Carswell, as you know. During all the chaos, she and some woman named Marilyn killed a couple of the guards and managed to escape with a hostage. The hostage was someone that was visiting his wife that was also in Carswell. After they were in the free, they killed him too. Blake has some of his best undercovers on the floor in plainclothes. The hospital tightened security as well. There is no way she is getting anywhere near here." Kevin reported.

"What about Vinnie?" Brian asked.

"And Terri?" I added.

"They're still locked up. We aren't even going to worry about them. Agnes either."

"If we don t have to worry about them, then what's with the cops?" AJ demanded.

"Just added protection, Mr. McLean." One of them said.

"Great." Muttered AJ.

I had to smile at him, knowing how he felt around cops. There was a time in my life when I didn't feel all that comfortable either, so I could relate.

"Relax AJ, they are mostly going to be keeping an eye on who comes and goes off this floor." Kevin said, rolling his eyes. He turned and said something to the cop that had spoken before and the cop nodded before he left with his partner.

After they were gone, Kevin came in and stood at the foot of Nick's bed. "There's something else we need to discuss, now that all of us are together." He stopped and frowned at me. "You're supposed to be laying down, by the way. What are you doing in here again?"

"I uh..." I started, knowing that I was still going to get busted. Nick squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

"She just couldn't stay away." AJ snickered.

Nick flipped him off in return and Kevin bit his lip to keep from smiling. "Alright, since we all need to be here for this, you can stay. But after we are done, you are going to bed missy."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Nick turned and said softly, "don't argue. You need rest."

I made a face at him, but kept my mouth shut.

"What is it that we need to discuss, Kev?" Brian asked, still standing by the side of Nick's bed.

"A press conference."

There was a collective groan from everyone, but Nick shook his head. "Why do we need another freakin press conference. We just had one!" He exclaimed.

"Just had one?" Kevin furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Yeah, before the..." He stopped. "Nevermind, that was in that damn dream. Yeah, it didn't go all that well. Lizz, you got really nervous and were barfing all morning and Brian, you were about as bad."

I laughed. "I don't throw up remember?"

Five heads turned in my direction, giving me a funny look. "Okay well sometimes, but rarely at all. I' ve got a complex against it."

"Anyway," Kevin continued, shaking his head, "there are a lot of rumors starting to fly and we need to tell them about Nick."

"Oh my god, they still think I'm dead?" Nick's eyes widened.

"Nick, it was only four days ago that everything happened. When have we had time to set up a conference to tell everyone?" Howie pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Well where did all these balloons and flowers and stuff come from then?" Nick gestured to his windowsill and any other available space.

"Your family, our families, management, and etc." Brian smiled.

"The conference is scheduled for Monday morning." Kevin stated, bringing us back on track.

"Whoa Monday! Kevin, that's the day after tomorrow. Do we really need to do it that soon?" Nick moaned, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"You know the longer we put it off, the bigger risk we are taking." Kevin pointed out.

"Am I going to be there?" I asked in a small voice.

"Yes. A lot of questions are going to arise when they find out that you and Nick were in hiding together for those couple months." Kevin nodded.

"Yeah, questions we still haven't gotten any answers for either." AJ grinned.

"Knock it off, AJ." Brian said quietly.

AJ's eyes widened. "You know something!"

Kevin and Howie didn't butt in, but looked interested as well. Brian shook his head.

"No questions got answered because nothing happened!" Nick burst out, glaring at everyone.

"Yeah, better not tell them about the baby's room." I whispered to Nick.

He laughed softly, remembering how shocked he was when I explained why our apartment had been set up the way it had.

"See! Look, they're laughing about some little private joke!" AJ exclaimed, jaw dropped.

Okay, come on. We still have another things to discuss. The tour..." Kevin started

The smile dropped off my face. The tour? It's not like I didn't know that this was coming, but so soon? I wasn't ready. What was I going to do?

"How soon?" Howie questioned.

"As soon as you guys are in good enough shape. Nick, you've got a ways to go before you will be ready to be up and dancing again. Same with you, Brian." Kevin said.

"Hey! I've been released. I'm good to go." Brian protested.

"Just because you have been released doesn't mean that you are good to go, Brian. You are still pretty bruised up and you need to be taking it easy for awhile longer." Kevin said, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm fine, really." Brian insisted.

"My ass. You pulled this crap way back when this whole mess began when I first started having the seizures and stuff. You hardly ate and you never slept. You passed out cold in the hallway because you were pushing yourself too hard. I'll be damned if I am gonna let you do that to yourself again! If I have to keep resting, then so do you!" Nick said, pointing a finger at Brian.

Brian's eyes rounded to saucers. "How did you know I passed out?"

"Kyung told Lizz about it and she told me. See, you can't keep shit from me any better than I try to hide it from you." Nick said smugly.

"Okay, alright. Kevin, when are we looking at here?" Brian said, giving in.

"Management is aiming for two weeks. I know that seems really soon, but they were insistant about it." Kevin said.

"Go figure." Nick grumbled. "I don t know how much dancing I will be able to do in two freakin weeks."

"They know that. You, and probably Brian for awhile, will be taking it easy on the choreography until you are better. They seem to think it would be good for us to get back on track. The longer we put our lives on hold, the harder it will be to get back to normal again. I kind of agree with them, even if it does seem soon." Kevin added.

"I'm ready." AJ stated.

"Yeah, I figured you would be." Kevin smiled. "So, after the conference I think we need to...Lizz? Lizz??" Kevin stopped mid-sentence. "What s wrong? You haven't said a word this whole time. I don't think I have ever heard you so quiet."

I sat up, pulling away from Nick. "Nothing, it's my problem to worry about."

"What s wrong, Lizzard?" Nick shifted so he was facing me.

I shook my head, trying to fight the tears that were burning behind my eyes. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Lizz, come on, tell us." Brian coaxed. "It's just that, I um, I don't have anywhere to go now." I whispered. "I mean, last time you guy left and went on tour, I just went back to my life with Kyung. I mean, it sucked, but they gave me my job back and I was able to get caught up in my classes. But now, I'm screwed. Kyung left me, I have no apartment anymore, lost my job. And I know they won't take me back again, it's been too long. And the semester ended. I don't think I could go back there again anyway. Too many people know me and know what happened. It wouldn't make a difference anyway because I don't have the money to go back right now. And I shouldn't be crying to you guys about it. You guys have your own stuff to deal with and you aren't responsible for me or my problems." I stopped, angry with myself. Angry that I just made my problems, their problems. Angry that I was so scared to be alone. Angry that I made myself a burden again. And angry that I was crying.

"Lizz, look at me." Nick said softly. When I didn't listen, he tipped my chin up so I was looking at him. "You aren't a burden. Do you really think that after everything that has happened, we would just throw you out there all by yourself? Come on, you can barely even take care of yourself in your sorry shape right now." He leveled his gaze at me. "You think I am going to let you out of my site, anyway? Especially now that Agnes is out?" He paused. "You re gonna come with us."

My jaw dropped. I looked around the room, holding my breath. Going with?! Brian was nodding and smiling. Howie was grinning too. I looked at Kevin. He looked thoughtful, but then nodded. "Nick's right. That's the best decision for everyone. I don't like the idea of you trying to struggle to get back on your feet again after everything that has happened. And I want you to be close so we can make sure you are safe. Plus, I don't want to hear Nick's constant bitching after you guys have been apart for more than five minutes. And I wouldn't want to subject any other poor soul to the same fate from your bitching." Kevin added the last part with a smile.

"Hey!" Nick protested.

"Oh god, do we really have to?" AJ had a look of horror on his face. He pointed to Nick and Brian. "You guys pull enough shit and now I have to put up with Lizz adding to it?!"

"Hey, I resent that!" Brian exclaimed.

I laughed. "I have nothing but love for you AJ." My smile faded. "Are you sure...I mean, I don t know what to say. I don t want to..." I stammered.

"Lizz, you're coming. End of story." Nick said again.

"Oh my god..." I murmured, wrapping my arms around Nick. Okay, now I was in a state of shock. I was going on tour with the guys?! I mean, I knew it wasn t always roses, but whoa...Before I had ever met Nick, a big portion of the chatting we did was while he was on tour. One of my greatest passions in life, one that I didn't know if I could ever fulfill was to get to travel. Now, not only was I getting to do that, but I was going to get to stay with everyone, especially...whoa, not gonna even finish that thought.

"Thank you, guys." I grinned, my eyes shining.