Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 22:03:51 EDT
From: Jessica Taylor <midnight_violet18@hotmail.com>
Subject: Picking Up the Pieces Chapter 3

Picking Up the Pieces
Chapter Three

Author's Notes- Yadda... yadda... yadda... first Nifty posting... blah...
blah... blah...  Backstreet ain't gay unless they say they are...
dodedo... 18 and over can be here, under 18 can't...

..... Oh and I wanna thank the five people that have emailed me about my
story.  You guys rock!!  I could also tell you about some of my
favorites... but that would take a while.  Let's just say that if you don't
read:

	Beneath it All
	Running Thoughts
	Because I Love You
	Mirrors
	Loneliness Unmasked
	Tears in Your Eyes
	Heaven in Your Eyes
	Not Meant To Be
	Open Arms
	The Fragile
	Just the Truth

...You are missing out on some GOOOOD stuff.

	And if you have never read Escape and it's companion Choices,
Justin's Dark Angel, or 'N Sync Saga... then I am going to find out where
you live and do EVIL THINGS to you in your sleep because it is a crime not
to read those stories.

(Complains or compliments still go to the same place:
Midnight_Violet18@hotmail.com... Oh and if you haven't noticed, I don't
feed ANY fuel to the Boy Band Rivalry out there.  N Sync and Backstreet are
artists in their own right.  *In Forrest Gump Voice* "And that's all I've
got to say about that.")

Now you can read the story....(Don't expect me to do that again)

Chapter 3

	 I woke up to see the moon staring me right in the face.  Jeez,
what time was it?  By looking at the radio clock on the nightstand, I saw
it was 3 AM.  I also felt a pressure on my lower body.
	By looking up, I saw Kevin's sleeping face staring right back at
mine.  He probably didn't want to disturb me when he noticed I was asleep
and must have fallen asleep watching over me.  How sweet.
	Wiggling out of Kev's embrace I managed to get off the bed.  I knew
that sleep wasn't going to come anytime soon so I decided to go watch some
TV.
	Turning on the TV, I plopped down onto the couch and started
surfing though the channels, seeing if anything was on at 3 AM.
Infomercial, infomercial, dang there are way too many infomercials in this
world.  Then I finally came across the movie channels.  That's when the
tears started.  The first movie I saw had to be Austin Powers.  With how
crappy my day has gone so far, this is just the icing on the cake for me, a
reason for God to spite me yet again.
	Austin Powers is Zach's favorite movie.  Him and I have watched it
hundreds upon hundreds of times and we could recite the dialogue to tons of
scenes in the movie.  We had even see the sequel about a dozen times.
	I pulled my legs up on the couch and curled myself up into a ball
as fresh tears left my eyes.

**********

	Kevin woke up rather abruptly when he realized that the warm mass
that he had been using as a blanket was no longer there.  When his sleep
clouded mind finally registered that the warm mass was Nick, Kev shot up
from the bed immediately, frantically searching for his friend.
	"Nick?" Kev called out softly into the hallway.  He didn't get any
response but he heard soft sobs coming from the common room.  'That's gotta
be Nick.'
	When Kevin finally made his way to the common room, he saw Austin
Powers on the TV and Nick curled up in a ball on the sofa crying yet again.
"Come 'ere." Kevin said softly as he sat down on the couch right next to
Nick's crumpled form.  All Nick did was silently comply as Kevin left his
arms open for another welcome hug.  "What is it this time?"
	"The m... movie." Nick hiccupped through his tears.
	That's when Kevin realized that Austin Powers was Zach's favorite
movie.  'Aw geez, if it isn't one thing it's something else.' Kev thought.
"Do you want me to turn the movie off?" he asked Nick sweetly.
	Nick shook his head yes.  Then Kevin shifted slightly as he grabbed
the remote and shut the movie off.  "Is that better?" Kev asked softly.
	"Yeah." Nick said just as quietly.
	Kevin and Nick just sat on the couch for a few minutes with Kev
rubbing Nick's back muttering, "It's gonna be okay Nicky, it's gonna be
okay."
	"How'd ya do it?" Nick suddenly asked.
	"Do what?" Kevin whispered.
	"Get over Kristen."
	"I never really got OVER her Nick.  I just moved on."
	"How'd you move on then?  Cause you two were together for so
long..."
	"Nick, the thing about me and Kristen's break up was that it was
mutual.  Sure we still love each other, but we weren't IN love anymore.  Do
you get what I'm saying?" Kevin asked.
	"Yeah." Nick said softly.
	"What Zach did, was just wrong.  No one should do that to someone
as sweet as you, you don't deserve it.  But me and the rest of the guys are
here to help you get over it and move on, okay?"
	"Okay." Nick nodded his head into Kevin's shirt.
	"I mean that Nick.  You can come to us when ya need someone to talk
to."
	"Kay."
	Kevin kissed Nick on top of the head.  "You'll get over Zach soon
enough Nicky."
	The only response Kevin got was Nick snuggling further into his
body as he fell asleep in Kevin's arms for the second time that night.

**********

	"And it's 7:01 on New York's number one hit music station Z-100."
The morning DJ said as Brian hazily woke up in Leighanne's arms to the
radio alarm clock.  Turning around, he shut the radio off, and wiggled out
from her embrace to go take a shower.
	"Bri?" Leighanne sleepily asked when her sleep had been disturbed.
	"Just go back to sleep baby." Brian said as he kissed Leigh on the
cheek.  She complied seconds later with a slight smile on her face.
	Brian took a quick shower and then put on his favorite pair of worn
blue boxers, a pair of jeans, and a loose t-shirt.  Him and the guys were
supposed to go on Rosie and do a photo shoot a little bit after that, but
with this latest break up of Nick's he didn't know what they were going to
do now.  All of the guys knew that Nick REALLY cared about Zach, and Brian
didn't know what they were going to do with him.
	Closing the door softly as to not disturb his fiancée even more,
he turned around and was met with AJ's less than happy face.  "Hey Rok." AJ
sleepily said as he rubbed more haziness from his eyes.  Of all the guys,
AJ was the worst in the mornings.  He took the longest to actually wake up.
	"Hey J." Brian said as the two of them went to the common room to
get some breakfast.  That's when they saw Kevin and Nick on the couch.
	"How'd they get here?" AJ asked as the two of them stopped in the
doorway.
	"Don't know J."
	"Hey guys."  Howie said as he came up on Brian and AJ.  "What's
going on?"
	"Oh, we're just wondering what we should do about Kevin and Nick
over there." Brian said as he pointed to the couch and Howie saw his two
sleeping bandmates.
	"My guess is we should wake at least Kevin up, see what's going
on." Howie said as he walked into the common room and started to shake
Kevin's shoulder to get him to wake up.
	"Wha?" Kevin sleepily said as he started to wake up.  "Hey guys."
He said softly once he noticed AJ, Howie and his cousin staring at him.
	"What's up with Nick Kev?" Brian asked as he looked at his best
friend and cousin.
	"Let's go in the kitchen." Kevin said as he broke his embrace from
Nick and gently placed him back on the couch.  The only response Nick gave
was to snuggle deeper into where he and Kevin had been sleeping.
	Kevin led his three bandmates into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes
from sleep.  He found the coffee in one of the cabinets and proceeded to
make them all cups of coffee.  Brian, AJ and Howie all sat down at the
table in the small kitchen.
	"So what happened yesterday Kev?" Howie asked minutes later as
Kevin handed his friends three cups of coffee and took one for himself.
	"Nick and Zach broke up yesterday." Kevin said simply as he took a
sip of the hot brew and sat down.
	"We know that." AJ said as he took a sip of his own coffee.  "But
we wanna know what Nick told you yesterday."
	Kevin took another sip of his coffee.  "Well it really isn't my
story to tell.  But basically when Nick ran down to see Zach at his loft,
Zach was being screwed by his girlfriend of about one month.  That's why he
took so much offense to J's comment."
	"That ass." Brian muttered under his breath, but everyone at the
table heard him and shook their head in agreement.
	"And now Nick's having what I guess you could call security issues
and now he feels shitty." Kevin said as he took another gulp.
	"Understandable." Howie said.  "I'd feel shitty too if I got left
for a fuck from someone else."
	"So what do we do?" Brian asked.
	"Well, I said that Nick could come to us if he needs to." Kevin
said as the other three shook their heads in agreement, "and then he fell
asleep a few minutes later."
	"But how'd you get on the couch?" AJ asked.
	"Oh.  Well Nick woke up in the middle of the night and tried to
watch TV, but he ended up flipping right to Austin Powers." Kevin said as
he finished his coffee, the other three knew what was so devastating for
Nick to turn to that movie, "then I woke up on D's bed and noticed he was
in the common room crying.  I comforted him there and we fell asleep in the
positions you saw us in a few minutes ago."
	The four awake members of the Backstreet Boys mulled over their own
thoughts before Howie brought up the question that no one really wanted the
think about at that time, "Um, what are we gonna do about the stuff that we
are scheduled to do today?  Is Nicky gonna come or not?"
	"I don't know.  On one hand, it would probably be a good idea for
Nicky to go to Rosie to get his mind off of Zach, but on the other, with
the way he was last night, I'm thinking maybe we should just leave him here
at the hotel and tell Rosie he's sick or somethin'.  We can always
reschedule the photo shoot for later in the week, we'll just have a free
afternoon today instead of on Thursday." Kevin planned in his head.
	"Okay Kev.  That sounds like the best idea we've got." Howie
agreed.
	"And we should ask Nick if he feels up to going on Rosie." Brian
supplied as he finished his own cup of coffee.
	AJ yawned as he too finished his coffee.  "I'm gonna go take a
shower.  Tell me what Nick decides to do when I get out." He said as he put
his coffee cup in the sink and went to his room, passing the still snoozing
Nick.
	"I can't believe Zach did that to Nick." Howie said as he shook his
head and finished his coffee.
	"Yeah, that was kinda heartless." Brian agreed.
	"Well, we can't do anything about it now.  We just gotta pick up
the pieces." Kevin said as he collected his, Brian's and Howie's cups and
put them in the sink.  Taking out another cup and filling it with coffee,
he said, "I'm gonna go wake up Nick."
	"Okay." Brian and Howie chorused as they stood up and followed
Kevin to the common room.
	Kevin placed the coffee cup down on the end table next to the couch
Nick was sleeping on.
  "Come on Nick, get up." He said as he shook Nick's shoulder slightly.
	"Mmn.  Don't wanna." Nick said childishly as he turned away from
Kevin into the pillows of the couch.
	"Come on Nick, you need to get up." Kevin said sternly as he shook
Nick's shoulder a little harder.
	"Ugh.  Fine." Nick said as he sat up and encircled his long legs
with his arms.  "You happy now?" He said somberly as he looked at Kevin
with his bed head and red eyes.
	"Here." Kevin said as he handed Nick the cup of coffee off the
table to wake him up.
	"How ya feelin' Frack?" Brian asked Nick as he sat down next to him
on the couch.
	"Shitty pretty much sums it up I think." Nick stated as he took a
sip of the lukewarm substance.
	"Well we're here for ya, like Kev told you last night." Brian
responded.
	"Mmhm." Nick nodded as he took another sip.
	"Do you wanna tell us what happened Nick?" Howie asked as he sat
down in the recliner and looked right at Nick.
	"Kevin never told you guys?"
	"Nope.  I figured it was your story to tell, not mine.  You tell
them what you want."  Kevin stated.
	"I'm gonna wait for AJ to get here.  Where is Bone anyway?" Nick
asked.
	"He just got out of the shower." AJ said as he walked into the
common room and was rubbing his hair dry with a towel.  "So what's up Nick?
What happened yesterday?"
	"Well, you guys saw that I hurried to Zach's right?"
	"Yeah.  It was hard not to see how happy you were that you were
gonna see Zach." Howie supplied.
	"Well I went to his loft and when he opened his door he was
surprised to see me.  We started to do a little talking but he wouldn't let
me in, that's when Sarah came up to the door.  She was just wrapped in a
sheet and she wanted Zach to come back to bed with her.  That's when I
kinda went overboard and Zach admitted that Sarah was his girlfriend, of
how long I don't know, I kinda ran out crying before that." Nick finished
as he took a long sip of his coffee to calm his shattered nerves.
	"Geez." Howie, Brian and AJ said.
	The five member of the Backstreet Boys sat in silence as Nick
finished his coffee.  When he placed his cup on the table in front of him,
Kevin said, "I'll take that to the kitchen."
	"Thanks Kev." Nick smiled as Kevin got up and took the cup to the
kitchen.  When he returned he asked Nick, "Okay, we need to know if you're
gonna go to Rosie or not today Nick."
	"That's today?" Nick asked as he rubbed his eyes to get the final
sleepiness out of them.
	"Yup.  So are you coming?  Or are you conveniently sick today?"
Kevin asked as he sat back down on the recliner he occupied a few minutes
ago.
	"I'll go.  It'll be good to see Rosie again."
	"Okay.  Then why don't the two of you go take a shower and get
changed?"  Howie said as he eased back into the chair.  "I can call Artman
studios."
	"Okay, thanks D." Kevin said as he and Nick went to their rooms.
"Nick your stuff is in the second room on the right.  That was originally
supposed to be your room, but be careful, Amy is sleeping."
	"Okay, thanks Kev." Nick said as he slowly opened up the door and
took out his two duffels and put then in room he spent most of the night
in.
	Taking out a pair of boxers and a pair of jeans, a wifebeater and
his favorite white button down shirt, he placed them out on his bed and
went to go take a shower.  Coming out about ten minutes later he got
dressed and towel dried his hair.  He threw the towel back in his bathroom
for the maid to pick up and walked back refreshed into the common room.
	"Hey Nicky, ya feeling better?" Howie asked as he saw Nick sit down
on the couch with Brian and AJ.
	"Yup." Nick nodded his head.
	The phone rang just as Kevin walked in from finishing his shower.
"I'll get it." Kevin said, since he was the closest to the phone.
	Kevin's face considerably paled as he listened to the person on the
other end.  "One minute please." He said in a falsetto voice.
	The four other Backstreet Boys gave weird looks to Kevin when they
heard him.  Kevin covered up the receiver on the phone and said, "It's
Zach.  What'd you want to do Nick?"

**********

Ooooohhh.  what is Nick gonna do?  I guess ya'll are just gonna have to
read the next installment to find out.  On a musical note... Who else
thinks that 'Black and Blue' is gonna kick ass when it comes out on
November 21?  Adios mis amigos.  Jess.