Date: Mon, 05 Jul 1999 10:04:34 PDT
From: keith lowell <keithlowell@hotmail.com>
Subject: Brian and Keith -- 7

Here is the seventh part of the story. Again, this story involves Brian
Littrell of the Backstreet Boys. Please remember that this is pure fantasy
and absolutely nothing is implied about the sexualities of any of the
characters in this story. All comments and suggestions are welcome and
appreciated at keithlowell@hotmail.com   Thanks. With that
said...........ENJOY...........

Author's Note: Hello everyone, I want to dedicate this part to a very
special friend that I have made through this story. He has taken upon
himself to name himself this story's #1 FAN. So my #1 FAN please write to me
and let me know that everything is okay.

Brian and Keith -- 7

"Lets give them some privacy," Kevin suggested as he stood to leave the
room. The rest of the guys followed his lead and soon Keith and Brian were
left alone to console each other.

Brian let Keith cry to get all his emotions out of his system. He soothingly
rubbed Keith's back for comfort. Eventually, Keith did calm down, but not
before soaking Brian's shirt. Keith lifted his head from Brian's shoulder
and wiped away the tears that were left on his face. He was all cried out.
His eyes were red and they started to sting.

'I guess after all the crying that I did through the last few days caught up
with my eyes,' he thought as he chuckled to himself.

"Are you feeling better now?" Brian asked as he wiped away the tears.

"Yes, thank you," Keith replied as he took Brian's hand in between his and
squeezed.

"Mention not," Brian said in the sweetest voice he could muster at the
moment.

Keith smiled and gathered Brian in a warm hug. They just stayed in the hug
because neither wanted to end the physical contact. Keith felt safe and
protected in Brian's arms.

"I'm sorry about all of this," Keith whispered as he reluctantly let go of
Brian.

"What are you apologizing for, none of this is your fault," Brian said with
a confused look on his face.

"Well! if we were not involved then none of this would have happened," Keith
sighed.

There was an eerie quietness between the two lovers right after Keith's
comment. Neither of them had ever brought up the question of how their lives
would have turned out if they would have never met. There was a lot of
negative tension between the two of them, but that did not last long. Each
knew in their hearts that they could not reverse time nor could they change
the things that came their way. That was only God's doing.

"I'm sorry I said that, I did not mean it," Keith said as he looked directly
in Brian's eyes. Brian just nodded but refrained from saying anything.

"I love you," Keith said with a smile as he kept staring into Brian's blue
eyes. 'I can keep staring into those two blue oceans for the rest of time in
this world. I see my future in those eyes,' he thought as he rubbed Brian's
hand.

"I love you too," Brian replied as he leaned forward and kissed Keith on the
lips. They continued kissing as if there wasn't anyone or anything in the
world besides them. But, alas all good things must come to an end.

Both of them were forced to stop kissing when they heard a knock on the
door. Both of them groaned that the person had to chose this time to come
and disturb them. They reluctantly let go of each other and sat side by side
on the bed. Brian let go of Keith's hand as he looked at Keith silently
asking his permission to tell the person to come in. Keith nodded as he
straightened himself a bit.

"Yes, come in," Brian said as he leaned back a little in the bed.

"Sorry guys, but we have to get going now," Nick said as he entered the room
followed by A.J. and Howie.

"So soon," Keith said sadly as he looked at Brian.

"Don't look so sad Keith, we are going to release you also so that they can
take you home," Dr. Rosenberg said as she entered followed by Kevin.

"Yippee," Keith shouted as he clapped his hands happily.

"You act like we didn't treat you right," Dr. Rosenberg said sadly.

"Oh it isn't that, I am just happy to return home and relax," Keith said.

Dr. Rosenberg decided to accept Keith's explanation on it's face value. She
brought over the release forms which Keith gladly signed. She informed them
that they could leave anytime they wanted. She gave them some instructions
on how to take care of Keith's scars and that to make sure to change his
wrappings everyday. Then she left leaving the guys to fuss over the
extremely happy Keith.

Brian got out some clothes for Keith to wear. Kevin, A.J., Howie, and Nick
excused themselves so that Keith can dress in the room instead of the
bathroom. Soon Keith was dressed and sitting on the bed with a huge grin on
his face.

"You look so goofy sitting there with that grin," Brian commented as he
finished clearing up the room of Keith's things.

"Well! I'm happy, safe, and in love, so why shouldn't I have a big old goofy
grin on my face," Keith replied with an even bigger smile.

Brian could see laughter in Keith's eyes. Keith's eyes were lit up like a
kid visiting Disney World for the very first time. There was so much
happiness and so much love when Brian looked into those precious eyes. Brian
walked up to Keith and embraced him in a warm hug.

"I love you, my knight in shining armour," Keith said as he hugged Brian
even tighter.

"Say it again," Brian whispered.

"I love you," Keith said a little louder.

"Say it again, and this time a little louder," Brian whispered again.

"I love you my knight," Keith said a little louder.

"Say it again," Brian whispered again as he kissed the top of Keith's head.

"I love you," Keith shouted as he managed to hug Brian even tighter.

"I can never hear you say that enough times, don't ever stop saying it,"
Brian said as he reluctantly let go and looked into Keith's eyes one more
time.

"I don't plan on stop saying it any time soon," Keith whispered as he once
again was entranced by those crystal clear blue eyes.

Brian leaned a little forward and just as his lips were about to touch
Keith's lips, Nick walked in.

"Brian, Keith, we have to ...........," Nick stopped in mid sentence as he
realized that he walked in the middle of something.

Brian groaned as he backed away from Keith. 'We were so close,' Brian
thought as he looked at the intruder. Keith's face turned beet red as he
looked at the floor. He felt so embarrassed that he could not even raise his
gaze from the floor.

"Yes Nick," Brian said as he straightened himself.

Nick was extremely uncomfortable standing there at that moment. He stood
there looking at the floor while twiddling his thumbs. "I'm sorry, I should
have knocked," he said as he tentatively looked up.

"Don't worry about it, I was only about to kiss him, that's all," Brian said
as he looked at Nick with a smile.

Nick saw the smile and relaxed immediately. 'Boy, am I glad that Bri is not
mad at me,' he thought. The last thing he needed was to have Brian mad at
him again. There friendship was still on shaky ground. He wanted to prove to
Brian that he was still worthy of that friendship and trust like they had
before.

"Yo! Nick, you were saying," Brian said as he waved his hands in front of
Nick's dazed face.

"Oh yeah, we have to get going soon, the limo is here. The rest of the guys
are already in it, and they sent me to get you guys," Nick blurted out all
in one go. He gasped as he tried to bring his breathing back to normal.

"Okay then let's get out of here," Keith said as he stood up. Keith had
recovered from his embarrassment. He thought that sooner or later someone
would walk in on him and Brian while they were kissing. He decided to shrug
off his embarrassment and act like it was no big deal.

Keith walked out of the room followed by Brian and Nick. Brian had Keith's
overnight bag and some balloons with him. The flowers and the rest of the
balloons were left to Nick. Nick looked like he was carrying thousands of
balloons. He could hardly see where they were headed. He trusted that Brian
and Keith would not leave him behind.

All three of them walked out the hospital entrance and to the waiting limo.
They all got in one at a time while struggling to keep the balloons from
flying away. The limo was on it's way to Keith's apartment as soon as Nick
managed to get in with all the balloons.

Keith was sitting quite comfortably with his head on Brian's shoulder. All
the rest of the guys kept glancing in their direction every once in a while.
All of them were thinking the same thing, 'How are Brian and Keith going to
say good bye to each other after tomorrow's concert.' Keith felt that all of
them kept glancing at him from time to time but was unsure of the reason
why. All the old fears came back to him that he would not be able to
continue his relationship with Brian because the guys would object. He
certainly hoped not because Brian was the best thing that could have
happened to him in a long time. He did not want to give that up. But, if the
decision ever came down to that point, he would have to step back. The group
came first in Brian's life, as it should.

They reached Keith's apartment building. Everyone made their way into the
lobby with the balloons and flowers in their hands. Kevin, A.J., and Howie
got into the first elevator since there was not enough room for all of them
to fit in one elevator with the balloons. Nick, Brian, and Keith made their
way up in a second elevator.

Soon they were all sitting inside Keith's apartment. Everyone was relaxing
in the living room while Keith was in his bedroom resting.

"Brian, what are you going to do after the concert?" Nick asked tentatively.

"I am going to spend some time with Keith for my break and then meet up with
you guys in about a week," Brian replied calmly looking down at the floor.

"Have you told Aunt Jackie and Uncle Harold?" Kevin asked looking directly
at his cousin.

"NO I haven't had a chance to do so, maybe I'll do it after the concert,"
Brian replied with a sigh. "Ofcourse the hard part will be explaining
Keith's past experiences and how we met," he continued saying as he ran his
hands through his hair.

"You mean you are going to tell them all the details," A.J. gasped as he
looked at Brian with surprise.

"Yes, I think that would be best, besides they can always tell when I'm
lying to them," Brian said while he chuckled.

"I think that you should take Keith there and let them meet him," Howie
suggested. "It will be easy for both of you and also for them to accept once
they see how much in love you two are," he continued as he made his point.

"Yeah, that would probably be best," Nick added his opinion also.

"Don't you think that might be too much to handle at one time?" Brian asked
no one in particular.

"No I don't, I think that they could be able to handle it just fine," Kevin
answered for the group. The rest of them didn't voice their opinion, but
nodded their heads to show that they agree with Kevin.

"Okay, then its settled, that is what we are going to do," Brian announced
with a big smile on his face.

The rest of the guys also smiled to show their support for Brian and also to
show their excitement that Brian had finally possibly found "the one". No
one believed that Brian would be the first one to get involved in a serious
relationship. But then again, one does not plan to fall in love. When the
love bug bites a person, that person has to go with it.

"Okay guys, we have to get to rehearsal," Kevin said once again taking
charge of the situation.

Everyone groaned that after all that has happened, they still have to go to
rehearsal. No one was happy about that, after all they were all tired
already.

"Okay, I know no one wants to do this, but today is the last rehearsal and
then the concert tomorrow and then we have our week off," Kevin said trying
to get everyone motivated. He knew from experience that if the group was not
motivated, then the rehearsal would drag on for all hours. It was best to
get in, rehearse, and then leave happy. No one bought Kevin's idea, but
everyone decided not to be too difficult.

"Let me check on Keith, and then we can be on our way," Brian said as he got
up and walked up to the bedroom door.

Keith had been in bed resting this whole time. He had not heard any of the
guys' conversation because he had his Backstreet Boys CD in his cd player
and had headphones on. He had the volume just turned up enough so that the
music would be soothing. He had his eyes closed to help him relax.

Brian knocked softly. He received no reply. He knocked a little louder, but
still no reply.

"Keith," Brian as he knocked again. 'Maybe he went to sleep,' he thought to
himself as he gently opened the door. He stepped into the room quietly and
shut the door behind him. There he saw Keith lying in his bed with his eyes
closed and his fingers tapping on his cd player. 'God Almighty, he looks so
precious lying there like that. I don't know what I did to deserve him, but
I promise that I will take care of him till the day I die,' he thought as he
leaned against the door and took in the sight before him.

Keith did not hear the knocking and did not even notice Brian stepping into
his room since his eyes were closed. He felt a presence in his room and his
eyes flew open in nervousness. He sighed with relief that it was only Brian
standing there.

"Hi," Keith said with a smile as he removed the headphones from his ear and
stopped the cd.

Brian walked up to the bed and sat down next to Keith. He leaned forward and
lightly kissed Keith on the lips. Keith returned the kiss with enthusiasm to
say the least.

"How are you doing?" Brian asked as his lips let go of Keith's lips.

Keith sighed and replied, "Not bad."

"That's good to hear," Brian said as he rubbed Keith's cheek with his
finger.

"Listen, we have to go to rehearsal now, but I will be back tonight to spend
the night here, okay," Brian said as he straightened up on the bed.

"Okay, that's good, but before you go, could you help me into the living
room," Keith asked as he got ready to get up.

"Are you sure?" Brian asked hesitantly. He did not want Keith to exert
himself too soon.

"Yes, I am feeling a little better, besides I noticed the answering machine
button blinking," Keith said as he sat up in bed. "I also have to call Carol
because I am sure that she must be worried sick by now," he said as he got
out of the bed with Brian's help.

Both of them made their way out of the bedroom, and Brian escorted Keith
over to the chair that he had been sitting in before. Everyone got up and
smiled as Keith sat down.

"Wow! guys I am not royalty, you don't have to stand when I come into a
room," Keith said jokingly and waving his hand as to motion that the
subjects could be seated now that the monarch has sat down.

"Dream on buddy, we have to get going to rehearsal," A.J. said with a huge
smile on his face.

"Oh! okay, I see no respect for the monarch, heh," Keith said as he
pretended to pout.

"I'll show you respect for the monarch!" Nick exclaimed as he reached over
and started tickling Keith a little. He did not want to tickle too hard
incase he accidentally hurt Keith more.

Keith laughed out loud obviously enjoying the tickling. Brian looked over
him like a mother hen would brood over her baby chicks. But after a while he
noticed that Nick was not hurting Keith, only making him laugh.

Nick finally stopped tickling Keith and held him in a close hug while both
of them calmed down. He untangled himself from Keith and sat down on the
floor in front of Keith's chair. "I am so glad that you are okay," he said
as he held Keith's hand in his own.

Keith looked up shyly at Nick and said, "thanks." He looked up further to
see the rest of the guys standing and laughing at the two of them.

"Okay, enough fun guys, we have to get moving," Kevin said in his serious
tone.

Everyone groaned but one look from Kevin and they all started to get their
things together to leave for rehearsal. Keith looked at them happily and
thought about how lucky he was to have friends like these.

"Got to go babe, I will see you tonight," Brian said as he quickly kissed
Keith on the lips and joined the rest of the guys waiting on him.

The rest of the guys waved their goodbyes to Keith before they stepped out
of the apartment. Soon they were gone, and Keith was sitting there in the
quietness. God, how he hated these moments. Then all of a sudden he felt his
lips form a smile. That had never happened before. He tried to think why the
smile had decided to appear this time. Brian's face appeared in front of
him, and he had his answer. He sighed and leaned back as he thought about
how great it would be to spend the rest of his life with Brian. 'Yep he is
the one for me,'he thought to himself as he managed to smile even wider.

He snapped out of this daze as he sat up in the chair. He stood up slowly as
he glanced at the wall clock. It said that the time was 5 pm. He just had to
wait till 8:30 for Brian to return. They would not spend that much time
rehearsing because they were probably tired from everything that has
happened over the past couple of days. 'I hope Brian brings us something to
eat,' Keith thought as he rubbed his stomach a little.

Keith made his way into the kitchen and saw the answering machine. He could
tell that he had four messages by the way the light was blinking on the
machine. He made his way to the sink to get a glass a water. After he had
his water, Keith pushed the blinking button.

'Keith, where are you. I have been calling since the funeral. Please call me
back as soon as you can. Bye,' Carol said. Keith sighed as he got ready to
listen to the next message.

'Mr. Littrell, this is Dr. Rosenberg. I wanted to call to let you know that
Mr. Lowell has regained consciousness. You can check him out when you come
and see him tomorrow. Bye.' Keith smiled as the notion of Brian checking
Keith out. 'I think he has already done that Dr. Rosenberg,' he thought as
he chuckled.

Keith was brought out of his trance as he heard his brother's voice in the
next message. 'Keith, this is Brad. How could you be so selfish as to turn
your back on your mother's funeral to spend some time with your friend. I
mean come on, how could you be so stupid. Well, you have made your choice,
now I am making mine. I do not have a brother anymore. You are dead to me,
and I am dead to you. Think that I buried you with mom. Have a good life and
bye.' Keith could not believe the words that he just heard. He was not that
surprised since he knew that Brad would have a reaction like this, but to go
this far was beyond Keith's understanding. 'Oh well! if that is what is
supposed to happen, then so be it,' he thought as he wiped some tears from
his cheeks.

The next message was from Carol again. 'Keith I do not believe father about
what he said about you. I want you to know that I will always love you and I
will always be there for you. I talked to Brad and he doesn't want anything
to do with you. He made his choice on who to believe, but I am only going to
believe you. Please call me.'

Keith felt a little better after hearing the last message. But, he still had
to wipe away some more tears from his face.

"God, why is this all happening to me again, I cannot handle this," Keith
said aloud as he shook his head.

Keith was shocked out of his little outburst as the phone rang. He
immediately picked it up and said, "hello."

"Hi babe, how are you doing?" Brian asked in his most chipper voice.

"Hi," Keith sighed.

"What's wrong?" Brian asked become extremely serious.

"Nothing, I was just about to call Carol. I just finished hearing my
messages," Keith informed him with a whimper.

"Oh babe, don't cry. Remember I will always be there for you no matter
what," Brian said.

"I know and I appreciate that," Keith said as he managed not to cry anymore.

"Okay, on a lighter note, what do you want for dinner?" Brian asked in his
chipper voice again.

"Yes, I was hoping that you would pick something up on your way back," Keith
said with excitement.

"Haven't we just changed our mood in a matter of seconds," Brian joked as he
laughed.

"Okay, Mr. Littrell, if you rather prefer the depressed Keith, then you
shall have it so," Keith replied in a depressed tone.

"No, no, no, please anything but that. I don't think I can see my baby
depressed and upset with me, please don't put me through that," Brian
pleaded with desperation.

"Okay you have convinced me, now stop whining and tell me what you are
bringing me for dinner," Keith laughed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you," Brian breathed out all in
one go. "How does chinese sound?" he asked hopefully.

"Sounds good, but remember nothing with pork," Keith reminded. Since Keith
was raised in a society where pigs were not eaten because of religious
reasons, he never actually got used to eating any part of a pig. It's not
that it disgusted him, but since he was not raised on it, he felt that he
could do without it. He had nothing against it, infact his whole family ate
ham, pork, and sausages often, but somehow those things just did not agree
with him.

"Okay babe, I will remember," Brian said. "Oh! I better get going, they are
waiting for me, and the sooner we get finished, the sooner I can come home
to you," he continued speaking.

"I like the sound of that, have fun and see you soon," Keith replied.

"Yeah, see you soon, I love you babe," Brian said.

"I love you too, bye Brian," Keith said.

"Bye," Brian said as he hit the end button on his cell phone.

Keith hung up the phone and sighed. 'Oh well! now for the hard part,' he
thought as he flipped his rolodex to find Carol's number. He was not sure of
what he would say to Carol, but he did know that he should definitely call
her back. 'She's probably out of her mind with worry by now,' he thought as
he found his sister's number.

Keith dialed the number and waited for the call to connect. After four rings
Carol picked up the phone and said, "Hello."

"Hi Carol, how are you doing?" Keith said calmly.

"Oh My God, Keith, thank God you are okay," Carol gasped.

"Well! I wasn't okay there for a while, but now I am recovering," Keith
answered.

"I know, after mom's funeral, i don't know what's going on, I feel like I am
in a daze," Carol said while starting to whimper.

"Carol please don't start crying, I am physically not able to handle anymore
crying," Keith said while he started to whimper also.

"Okay, what do you mean though?" Carol asked calmly.

"I had a run in with Pete yesterday," Keith replied also as calmly as Carol.

"No!" Carol gasped loudly.

"It's okay Carol, I am doing fine now, or atleast on my way to being fine
soon," Keith said trying to calm down his outraged sister.

"Okay, tell me what happened, start from the beginning and don't leave
anything out," Carol said as she brought her breathing back to normal.

Keith started to tell Carol the whole story about the things that happened
over the past week or so. Carol knew about Keith's walking the streets. She
did not approve, but she never said anything to Keith about it. She knew
that since his own family could not be there for Keith, they had no right to
question his choices. She also had known about Pete before this incident.
Hence her response to hearing his name before. Keith ended his his narrative
by telling her that he was waiting for Brian to come back with dinner. He
glanced at the clock and noticed that he had been on the phone for about
forty-five minutes. He was sure glad that he talked to Brian already because
otherwise Brian would probably never be able to get through.

Carol sighed out loud after hearing Keith's story. She could not believe
what Keith had to go through in a matter of days. It all seemed like a bad
dream to her. But, it must even seem worse to Keith. He was the one that
actually had to go through it.

Keith was not happy about explaining what happened to him twice in the same
day. But, he knew that talking about it would be the best way to heal
emotionally. He knew that if he kept his feelings bottled up then they would
cause other problems later on.

"So, tell me about this Brian character," Carol asked shyly.

"Oh! Brian! Well! he is my knight in shining armour!" Keith exclaimed with a
sigh.

"Okay, I get the picture, now what's his last name?" Carol asked.

"It's Littrell, he is Brian Thomas Littrell of the Backstreet Boys," Keith
replied.

"Oh! My God, you are dating Brian of the Backstreet Boys!" Carol screamed in
the phone.

"Carol, calm down, you know that you have to keep it a secret, even from
father and Brad, no telling what they would do with info like that," Keith
said trying to calm Carol.

"Okay, I know, Boy! this is a lot to digest at one time," Carol said as she
laughed.

"So, when are you introducing me to your better half?" Carol asked
snickering.

"See, that's a problem, he is leaving after tomorrow's concert, and I don't
know when I will see him again," Keith replied sadly. He wiped aways some
tears because just thinking about Brian leaving started the water works.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I do wish you guys the best of luck, and I hope that
everything works out fine," Carol said sincerely.

"Thanks, okay dear, I think I have eaten your head enough. I'll let you go
now," Keith said.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Email me daily with updates of your health
and your love life. I want to know everything," Carol said while laughing
her head off.

"Yes ma'am, will do. Bye," Keith said.

"Bye," Carol said and hung up the phone.

Keith put the receiver back in it's place. He looked at the wall clock for
the time, and it said it was 8 pm. 'Just another half hour to go till Brian
comes back,' he thought as he sat back and sighed in his chair.

Just then the phone rang. Keith was surprised that the phone would ring so
soon after he hung up. He did not think twice about picking up the phone. He
picked it up and said, "Hello."

"Hi Keith," a man's voice said.

Keith froze in his place. He knew exactly who it was, but was shocked to
hear his voice. He thought that he would never hear this person's voice as
long as he lived. Infact, it would be better if he never did hear this
person's voice ever again.

"Keith, it's me, Chris," the man said.

"Yes, I know it's you Christopher. What do you want? And why in hell are you
calling me after what happened?" Keith asked angrily.

"I heard that your mother passed away, and I wanted to call to pay my
respects," Christopher answered.

"You have no right to, and you damn well know that," Keith answered again
angrily.

"Now is that any way of speaking to someone who is paying their condolence
over your mother's passing?" Christopher asked jokingly.

"Can the ham, what do you want?" Keith asked.

"Now, what makes you think that I want anything," Christopher replied.

"Because for all the time that I had the misfortune of knowing you, you
never did anything if it did not benefit you somehow," Keith said again
getting angry.

"Calm down Keith, people can change," Christopher snapped.

"Yes, Christopher, people can change, but not animals like you," Keith
snapped back.

"Now come on, why in God's name would you call me an animal?" Christopher
asked innocently.

"Don't start that with me, remember I know better," Keith said.

"Do we have to live in the past?" Christopher said hotly and hung up.

to be continued.............

Who is this Christopher? Find out in the next installment when it comes out.
I have no idea when that will be. Have fun and remember to send comments.