Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 19:06:56 +0000
From: Mike Rich <gridlinked@gmail.com>
Subject: Paranoia Chapter 7

Disclaimer:

The following story contains sexual content and deals with homosexual
relationships.
It is not for people under the legal age.
If you are offended by the contents of this story, or it is illegal in your
location to view this type of material, leave now.
This story is fiction and is not intended to imply anything about the true
sexuality of the celebrities mentioned or any personal knowledge about
their private lives.

Any comments can be send to gridlinked@gmail.com

I would like to thank Rich, for making me plunge deeper in the life of
Andrew Archer.


Chapter 7


A.J. couldn't stop looking at the newborn. They still hadn't settled on a
name. He felt that Andrew should name the child, after all it was his
sister's. He had awoke 2 hours previous with an unsettling dream. He dreamt
of Sarah. He just kept seeing her in the cab that day in Paris, asking for
Andrew over and over again, until she would stop, look intently to A.J.s
eyes, smile, and then she would scream in pain.  As soon as he had woken
up, he had gone and check up on the baby, his baby. That felt good.  His
baby.  Something troubled the singer today, he knew that in just 36 or so
hours they would have to leave to Florida. Andrew would be sad to see his
new nephew leave so soon, A.J. knew.  And what about Kevin? The guys had
been discussing the two last night after Andrew had bolted after the older
singer. They clearly had the hots for each other, what would happen if
Kevin left? Would they be able to maintain a relationship that far apart,
OK granted Florida wasn't that far, but still, it wasn't right next door
either.  Then there was Nick and Tommy, the cute almost sickeningly
adorable couple.

'God, how can two people never stop smiling?' he thought.

They were together... ish he knew, there was just the matter of if they
knew it too.  With them there was also the problem of the singers having to
go to Florida.  It worked perfect for A.J. though. As soon as the firm
found out that he was a father they had no problem in postponing the
schedule a bit. He was actually surprised. But like they said, "its a baby,
its not like you're married!" Yes being married could have ruined part of
his fan base.  It wasn't just a baby though, it was his baby.

He liked Niko, for the name, its usually short for Nickolas, but he knew
that the group had no use for another Nick. But Niko, just Niko, was cute.
He couldn't stop smiling down at his son, sleeping on a cradle that Brian
insisted on buying the first night that the baby had come with them to the
Hotel.  Brian loved the kid, you could tell. He had spent hours and hours
with him every day for the past 5 days.  He would make a great father. It
was just a matter of time.

Looking at Sarah's boy, he thought back to Andrew, the man that without
even blinking, had changed his life forever. Flashes of that night at
dinner at the Au Pied de Cochon restaurant in Paris filled his head.  The
look on his face when he had said all those awful things. The reaction
those things had gotten out of Nick, Nicky. One of his best friends, hurt
because of his own selfishness.

He was different now, he decided, and it was time to prove it.

"Maybe we can invite our new friends to Florida one of these days for a
small party, what do you think Niko?"

But his son was in dreamland, listening to his mother sing to him like she
would never be able to do.




"He is gonna freak" And she was already freaking out.

"Calm down Ally, we can figure this out." Rick had been trying to calm down
the woman for the last two hours.  Even freaking out she was beautiful.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? How do you want me to calm down? We slept together
Rick!" She said almost screaming, "And as if the thought of sleeping with
you isn't enough, I'll have to tell Andrew and he is gonna kill me."

"No he wont, he is one of the most calm people i know OK?" he was gonna say
it, he had been trying to say it for the last two hours "I think, though,
that we just shouldn't say anything" He said looking at Alicia who was
pacing the living room were they had been talking since she freaked out in
the bedroom. Seeing Alicia's face turn to one of complete incredulity he
quickly added "At least for now. Look why bother him with this right now?
He is trying to make things work with Kevin, i just think its not wise,
besides, its not like we're dating, we just slept together."

"Maybe you can hide stuff from him, lie to his face but i cant, his my best
friend, the father of my child OK? I owe it to him to tell the truth."

"Hey" Rick said getting up from the couch. "He's my best friend too you
know? And no i don't like lying to him but i'm more worried now, about how
Kevin would react if Andrew goes into a fit of jealousy because either one
of us."

Alicia stopped pacing, she knew what he meant.

"Look, Ally" Rick tried with a more calm tone "I know you don't want to
hide anything from him, but telling him now, would be stupid. Kevin is
still jealous of me, and he will be of you too if Andrew goes into his
protector mode." Alicia was just looking at him. "Last night was wonderful
for me, and i have you to thank, but you know i love you and you know i
wouldn't hurt you and Andy knows that too, so please Ally, lets just let it
be for a few weeks wile He and Kevin get to a more secure place in their
relationship OK?"

Alicia wanted to say no, she wanted to just dress and run to Andrew and
tell him what happened, but she had to agree with Rick, telling Andy would
do more bad than good. She knew that Rick loved Andrew, and that he would
never intentionally hurt him, and that made up her mind. "OK, OK i wont
tell him anything."

Rick felt relieved, the last thing he wanted was for his crappy decisions
to ruin the happiness of the man he loved. "Thank you Ally."




"So i was thinking..." Kevin started saying wile he gently brushed the hair
of his man to the side. They had been in bed cuddling for a few
hours. Neither one of them had wanted to sleep after the kiss. Instead they
talked. Talked about everything. Their lives, their hopes, everything, so
they could finally know each other.

"Yes?" Asked Andrew giggling a bit.

"Well i was thinking that maybe, in the spirit of getting to know each
other, you could come with us to Florida."

Andrew sat up a bit on the bed and turned to look at Kevin. "Are you
serious? What about Ben?"

"What about him? Bring him with you, i love him." Kevin said looking
hopeful.

Andrew thought for a bit. He could take a few weeks off, Philippe could
manage without him, and maybe Alicia could come with him and Ben, it was
the only way.

'Buddha, Hi, OK here's the problem, i need for Alicia to be able to take a
vacation right now, and i don't really know what are you're areas of
expertise since our relationship is so young, but lets say i would do
something for you, for instance if you do this for me, i will consider
being a dog in my next life time, i know how your people like 'em, so what
do you think? Oh oh, i could also promise to tell Ben how wonderful you
are, just imagine a two year old running around saying "Buddha", OK? Just
think it through.'

"Andy?" he heard Kevin say.

"What? hum?" Andrew said a bit confused.

"Come on Andrew" Kevin said, giggling now himself, "What do you think? Of
Florida?"

"I love it actually" he said as he watched Kevin's face turn even brighter
"I just have o talk to Alicia first."

"OK that's no problem, my house is big enough for everyone, even for Rick
if you want to bring him."

Andrew got a mischievous smile on his face as he talked "You want Rick to
come? Hum interesting, but tell me... since we're friends will i be just
watching you two?"

Kevin hit him in the arm playfully. "Jerk, no i just thought that maybe you
would want to bring him since you hadn't seen him in so long."

Andrew just looked at the man in front of him, and after a few seconds he
smiled. "You are so sweet. No Kevin i don't want Rick there, no offense i
love him, but i don't want to mix the past with the present, besides, i
really want you focusing on me when i take my shirt of, not the man you
think is, by your own word, perfect."  By the end of the sentence Andrew
couldn't stop laughing has he watched Kevin's face turn to one of
embarrassment. "Come on "Friend" we have to get ready" Andrew continued as
he started getting out of the bed, "i want to go pick up Ben and then, you
me and him will go for a walk in Central Park, well you, me, him, and those
nice bodyguards of yours!" He said smiling.

"Whats your obsession with the park?" Kevin asked as he too got out of bed.

Andrew just smiled for a bit at first and then spoke "If you're good,
someday, I'll tell you." With that he left for the bathroom.




They had gone to Andrew's apartment after getting ready. Tommy and Nick
were already up, with big smiles on their faces making breakfast. Andrew
reminded himself to talk to his nephew. Alicia and Rick had arrived with
Ben shortly after. The rest of the band was going shopping for the newborn,
according to a phone call Brian had made to Kevin, A.J. wanted to buy the
hole Toys R Us store in Times Square.  He though he had made a good
decision relying on A.J. with Sarah's son. The only thing left would be to
name the child.  His parents, his brother and his sister in law were going
back to L.A. today. Mathew still hadn't talk to Tommy and Andrew was losing
patience. His mother had called him shortly after he arrived at the flat to
tell him of their plans.  He had agreed on going to Florida, now it was
just a matter of convincing Alicia. He knew he would have to go to L.A. too
sometime soon to look at Sarah's stuff, but he was determined to postpone
it for as long as he could.

Ben was playing on the playpen, Kevin was with Sarah and the odd couple in
the Kitchen trying not to burn anything wile Andrew and Rick were watching
TV, pretending that neither one of them felt weird at all.

"You know He heard Rick starting to say "You guys look good together, you
and Kevin."

He turned to see that Rick was still watching the TV wile he said
it. "Thanks, it means a lot coming from you Richard." After a slight pause
he decided that it was time he faced the past. "How is... hum..."

Rick knew where he was going. "You never asked me his name Andy." He said
as he turned to face his ex boyfriend.

"I know" Andrew admitted, he had been too of a coward to ask. Rick had been
his, and at the time it just felt painful to know anything about the person
that made him want to leave. "I'm asking now though."

"Will, William." Rick told him.

"OK, how is William?"

Rick waited a little before responding. "He's fine Andrew, thanks for
asking." He said with a smile.

Andrew knew he was just asking about William because Rick was being so nice
about Kevin, but it still hurt.  Andrew was happy for Rick, that he had
found someone that loved him and that he loved so much.  But it still hurt.




"So will you do it?" Andrew asked her.

"I don't know Andy, I'll have to make a call to my boss." She told him.

'Buddha come on...' "Please Ally just try OK?"

She looked at her ex husbands face and she couldn't say no "OK, ill do my
best."

"Thank you" He said happily wile hugging her. He let go and watched as she
took her cellphone of her coat pocket and started dialing. All the time she
looked at his face.

"Yes hello" He watched her say into the phone "Mr. Reed, its me
Alicia... yes hi... Happy New Year to you to sir, i was just calling to
check on my vacation days... yes sir... well something came up of a
personal nature an i was wondering if i could take some now... yes?
Yes... well my ex husband isn't well and i need to assist him" Andrew just
looked at her with big eyes "yes yes he is very sick I'm afraid... no no,
nothing like that" she said smiling at Andrew who was just looking at her
incredulously "He just has some... hum... heart problems."  By then Andrew
was trying to take the phone from her. "OK, that's great sir, thank you so
much." Alicia said wile dodging Andrew. "You too sir, say hi to Mrs. Reed
for me, OK... bye."

"Heart problems?" Andrew spoke once she had turned of the phone.

"Oh shut up, it worked didn't it?"

"I'm sorry, what kind of values are you teaching my son?" he asked smiling
slightly.

"First of all i don't know what your talking about since i didn't lie, just
distorted the truth a bit..."

"Same thing Ally!" He said interrupting her.

"Second of all" she started pretending not to listen "If you want to know
what i teach our son, well, i tell him every day to try and be a little
more like me, but he insists on being exactly like you." She said smiling.

Andrew just smiled back.




"... well do you think you can take care of everything wile I'm gone, i
don't want you to feel like I'm slave driving you." Andrew said wile
talking to Philippe on the phone.

"You wont be, don't worry, go have fun in Florida, oh by the way, did Bruce
Manning call you? Do you know about Hallstatt?"

"Yeah i heard a message on my home phone a minute ago, i was gonna call him
after i called you, are we up for it?" Andrew asked wile he stood on the
entryway to the living room watching Nick and Tommy playing with Ben on the
floor.

"Well that's you're call isn't it?" Philippe told him.

He thought for a few seconds and looked at Kevin who was smiling at him. 'I
can do this!' "Yeah, yeah we can do this. I'll try to do a few more models
wile I'm in Florida. When is the show?"

"March, but Bruce wants every model by the end of February."

"Yeah i was expecting he would. No problem, I'll send them to you and you
can work on them."

"OK that's fine... Andrew?" He heard Philippe starting to ask something.

"Yeah?"

"How's Kevin?"

Andrew stood there watching his son giggling like he always did and thought
back to the moment in Paris when Philippe had seen he and Kevin
kissing. "He's fine, Philippe, we're fine."

"That's good to hear my friend, I'll let you go, Luis sends his love, have
fun in Florida."

"Thank you, and thank him, bye." With that he hung up, crossed the living
room and sat down on the floor near Kevin's feet, to play with his son.




Andrew had been watching the interaction between Nick Carter and his nephew
with interest. He was surprised of how the two were around each other. He
knew there was something there, and he was worried. Kevin had gone with
Alicia and Ben to Central Park before they had to leave to meet the guys at
the Hotel. It would be awhile until Ben saw the park again and Andrew
wanted him to catch a little sun. So there they were. Tommy looking at
Nick, who would pretend that he wasn't looking at him, and Rick that seemed
just as amused by the two as Alicia had been a moment before she left.
Andrew suddenly stood up.

"Thomas" That got Tommy's attention "Can i speak for a second before i have
to leave, my room." Without waiting for Tommy's answer he walked out of the
Living room and into his room. There he waited.  A few seconds were enough
and Tommy was there looking everywhere except at his uncle.

"I think" Andrew started, going to the room door and closing it "That we,
need to talk." he saw the look on Tommy's face and he knew he was
right. They needed to talk. "So you have something to tell me?"

Then Tommy completely surprised him. "That depends" he said looking up at
his uncle "Do you have something to tell me?"

Andrew just looked at his nephew for a minute before he smiled
slightly. "OK that's fair. I'll tell you, and then you'll tell me."

"Fine." Tommy said enjoying the wining moment.

"Kevin and i decided that we needed to know each other a bit more before we
took any kind of steps. OK that's it now you go." Andrew said smiling.

"Hum... What? That's it?"

"Your uncle might be gay. but he's not easy. Now come on, your turn."

Tommy just blushed. "OK, hum, well, me and Nick... are... kinda... dating."

Andrew just thought for a bit wile Tommy looked at him waiting for a
response. He could see his nephew getting restless, so he spoke. "OK, well,
are you sure about this? I mean, it just surprises me since, you know, Nick
is a... guy."

"Yeah i know, I'm surprised myself, and i though about our fight a month
ago..." He was interrupted by Andrew.

"It wasn't a fight..."

"Whatever look, i though about it, i though about it all night, and i still
don't know how i feel about dating a dude, but the bottom line is that i
like him Andrew, i do."

"OK... well as long as you take it easy you should be OK. I'm here for you,
you know that right?" Andrew asked.

"Yes i do Andy." Tommy said wile he reached for his uncle and hugged him.

The only thing Andrew thought about wile they were hugging was what Mathew
would think about his son's new relationship, if he ever found out.

'Please watch out for him, whoever is up there.'




"Again, and I'm telling you I'll kill you, no parties."

"Andrew, for the last time, don't worry." Tommy was getting exasperated.

Andrew just let out a small laugh "I'm not, i just like to make you
squirm."

"Just go!" Tommy said smiling.

"OK well, we're going, I'll miss you Toms" He said holding his nephew.

"Me too Andy, me too."

They hugged for a awhile, then Tommy let go and, taking Ben from Alicia,
who had been holding him, hugged his cousin all he could. "I am gonna miss
you so much little guy. I love you."  All it took was for Ben to say
"Tommy" and he was crying.

"You see" Andrew started facing Kevin "total sap."

"Shut up!" Tommy voiced through the tears, "I am just gonna miss him,
that's all."

All of them smiled at the two cousins hugging.

"OK we better go" Andrew started again "we still have to meet A.J. and the
others at the Hotel before the bus gets there." Then turning to Nick he
said "you're catching a plane later right?"

"Yeah" he said "If you don't mind, I'll just stay here a bit more with
Tommy before i have to go."

"That's fine, i like having you here" Andrew said smiling. "OK, well, we
better go, I'll call OK?" He said turning one last time to his nephew who
just nodded.

They reached the Hotel fast enough. Rick said goodbye to Andrew first, then
to Alicia and then to Kevin.  Andrew watched as the two men actually
hugged, he though he had to ask Kevin how the hell the two had become
friends so quickly, then again he knew not many people could escape Rick's
charm.  Rick would keep Alicia's car wile he was in Town and then he would
leave it with Tommy who had been advised by his uncle, not to touch it.

The 3 of them plus Ben on Alicia's arms reached the floor the Backstreet
Boys had rented in the Hotel, and as soon as they did, Andrew was being
helped to carry all of his things by 3 big men in black suits.  He turned
to Kevin who just smiled.  They reached the 3011 room door and Kevin
knocked.  When the door opened, all Andrew though was 'Toys R US.'

"Hey guys" said a smiling Howie that immediately turned to Alicia to greet
her.

"Hey D" Kevin said starting to get in, and looking at all the toys he
smiled "A.J. i suppose?"

"Yeah he did go a bit overboard." Howie admitted.

"Where is he?" Andrew asked looking around still not believing all the
toys. There was just too many, on the bed, on the floor, he was surprised
there weren't elves packing them.

"In the bathroom with Brian" Kevin's eyes got big. When Howie saw this he
laughed "Changing the baby Kev."

"Get you mind out of the gutter Kevin, not all of us have the hots for
Brian." Andrew said looking into Kevin's eyes who just smiled.

"And i don't have any idea why not!" Brian said smiling as he and A.J. came
out of the bathroom with the newborn, "I mean look at me, pure heaven."

"Hum... he is hot." Everyone turned to Alicia. She just smiled. "Well he
is!"

"See!" Brian said smiling.

"Cuz, shut up." Kevin told him and then turning to look at A.J. holding the
baby "So Alex, did you got everything or does the my size G.I. Joe action
figure still missing?"

"I guess i went a bit overboard." A.J. admitted, still looking at his son.

"A bit?" Andrew snickered "I think if you don't watch out, that boy will be
more spoiled than you are."

For a moment A.J. said nothing, until he looked at Andrew. "I hadn't
thought about that, what do i do?"

"Well" Intervened Alicia who had given Ben to Brian, the two were
immediately on the floor playing "You could store the toys, and just give
him one from time to time. That way he wont get tired of them all, and he
wont become a spoiled brat."

"Hum... that's a good idea thanks."

"Hey" Andrew started "We are parents, we have to look out for each other,
or these little guys will eat us alive."

A.J. just smiled.

"Actually i do have a question Alex" Andrew said wile A.J. looked at him
again "Have you thought about a name yet?"

"Er... what do you mean?"

"For the baby." Kevin explained.

"NO! i know that he meant that" A.J. said looking at his band mate and then
back to Andrew, "I mean, i thought you would want to name him."

"Me?" Andrew said surprised, but then he understood, A.J. thought he owed
him "No Alex, he's your son, you get to name him."

A.J. just stood there for a minute, everyone waiting. Then he picked the
newborn, walked over to Kevin and gave him the baby. He then turned to
Andrew and hugged him tight. "Thank you."  Andrew said nothing, he just
hugged back, and over A.J.s shoulder, he smiled at Alicia.

"So" He finally said breaking the embrace, "Have you thought of a name."

"Niko" A.J. said instantly.

"Hum... I like it. Its original, well we wouldn't expect anything less from
you Alex." Andrew said pointing to what the singer was wearing. "What do
you think?" He asked Kevin.

"As long as it isn't Nick, I'm fine with it, i don't think i could take
another one."

A.J. turned to Kevin and took his son from his arms. The baby just said
something inaudible wile he adjusted to his father's embrace again, and
then closed his eyes."Yes" A.J. said after a moment "Niko Archer, i like
it."

Andrew just smiled.


One more. Well again i hope you liked it.

Any comments can be send to gridlinked@gmail.com