Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 12:39:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kirk Landers <ilj4ever44@yahoo.com>
Subject: Phases- part 28

Copyright and Disclaimer:
1. This is a fictional story with fictional
characters.
2. No one is to steal this story under any
circumstances.
3. This story deals with relationships and not sex, so
if you're looking for a story with a lot of sex in it,
this isn't the story for you.

Here's part 28 entitled "Love Connection"

'LOVE CONNECTION'

It was late at night and Leo was sitting in the living
room of his and Kurt's apartment drinking a glass of
water.  All the lights were out and the tv was off,
Leo was just sitting in the darkness thinking to
himself before Kurt walked into the living room and
turned the lights on.

"Whoa!" Kurt hollered when he saw Leo. "I didn't see
you out here."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Leo replied.

"What are you doing out here in the dark?" Kurt asked
heading into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

"Just thinking," Leo replied. "I thought you stopped
eating in the middle of the night."

"Worked up a bit of an appetite," Kurt replied.

"Yeah, I heard you and Gabriel," Leo jabbed.

"Oh God, sorry," Kurt said embarrassed.

"Don't be," Leo replied. "You haven't seen him in two
weeks.  You two definitely needed a good night like
that."

"I didn't think I'd miss him so much when he left to
go film," Kurt replied. "I really love him."

"I'm glad.  Is he asleep?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Kurt replied sitting on the couch next to Leo
with a bag of chips. "So what were you thinking
about?"

"Nick and Luke," Leo answered. "I thought they would
get back together by now."

"Yeah, well it's been three weeks," Kurt said. "If
they haven't gotten back together by now they probably
won't."

"Then we need to help them," Leo said.

"What?" Kurt asked. "Since when did you jump on the
Luke bandwagon?"

"Since Nick told us about the break-up between them,"
Leo replied. "I realized that Luke was telling the
truth, he has changed and he really loves Nick."

"Yeah," Kurt replied.

"So we need to get them back together," Leo said.

"Leo, Nick already told us what would happen if he
gets back with Luke," Kurt said. "Wayne is just going
to keep interfering with their lives and he doesn't
want that type of drama in his life any more."

"But Nick and Luke love each other," Leo said. "If
that's not worth fighting for then what is?  Will you
help me?"

"Of course, but how?" Kurt asked.

"We have to get rid of Wayne," Leo replied.

"Oh and what are you going to do?  Kill him?" Kurt
joked.

"We just need to find out something on him that we can
use against him," Leo suggested.

"Only person we know that can help us there is Luke,"
Kurt said.

"Then you and I are going to go see him tomorrow," Leo
replied.

"All right," Kurt said. "After I drop Gab off at the
airport we'll go talk to Luke."

"Perfect," Leo said.

"Well I'm going to go bed," Kurt said getting up. "You
should get some rest too."

"I will in a bit," Leo replied.

"Is that all you were thinking about?" Kurt asked.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Were you having thoughts of Jesse also?" Kurt asked.

"Always," Leo sighed.

"Leo, you just have to be thankful he's awake," Kurt
said. "The memory will hopefully come back eventually.
 Until then just work on rebuilding a solid friendship
with him."

"We had sex," Leo revealed.

"What?" Kurt asked. "When?"

"A few weeks ago," Leo replied. "It was the first day
I spent with him."

"You guys had sex?" Kurt asked. "Leo, what happened?"

"I don't know," Leo replied. "I took him to his
apartment to try and help him remember, the next thing
I realize I was in the bathroom crying, he came to
comfort me and we had sex."

"Why didn't you tell Nick and me?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know," Leo replied. "I was afraid of what you
guys would think."

"Leo, I know this is really hard for you," Kurt said.
"How has he been acting towards you since you guys had
sex?"

"He doesn't act any differently," Leo replied. "He
just acts like I'm some person he barely knows.  Now
I'm just some person he barely knows who he had sex
with."

"Well what do you expect?" Kurt asked. "Leo, it's
going to take more then a few visual aids and sex to
get his memory back.  It's going to take time."

"It's just hard," Leo said. "It's hard to see someone
you know inside and out, someone you love more than
anything and for him to look at me and see nothing
more than a stranger."

"Just be patient Leo," Kurt encouraged. "You and him
will get through this."

"You really think so?" Leo asked.

"I do," Kurt answered giving Leo a kiss on the
forehead. "Now try and get some sleep okay?"

"All right," Leo replied. "Thanks Kurt."

"Always," Kurt replied as the two went into their
bedrooms.

The next day while Kurt was dropping off Gabriel at
the airport, Leo went to go check on Nick.  When he
got there Nick was sitting at his kitchen table with
tons of letters he was responding to.

"What kind of letters are you responding to this
week?" Leo asked picking up a letter to read, "Dear
Nick, I just recently broke up with my boyfriend and
am having a hard time moving on.  We were together for
three years and now I feel completely lost with out
him.  How should I get over him?  From, Lost in Los
Angeles."  Leo then picked up another letter, "Dear
Nick, I recently broke up with my fiancee, but I still
love him.  We broke up for reasons outside of our
control and now I have to face life with out him.
What do you suggest?  Sincerely, Broken Hearted in
West Hollywood."  Leo looked at other letters that
Nick was responding to and they were all pretty much
the same thing. "Pretty depressing column you're going
to have this week."

"It's therapy for me," Nick replied.

"Nick, do you want to talk about it?" Leo asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," Nick replied. "Luke
and I broke up.  End of story.  I figured you'd be
happy about it."

"Nick, I know I disapproved of Luke before, but I see
now that you two really loved each other," Leo said.

"It doesn't matter now," Nick sighed. "I just have to
get over him."

"You've never been able to get over him," Leo said.

"Well I'm going to have to try," Nick replied.

"Nick have you even tried calling him?" Leo asked.

"No," Nick replied. "What's the point?  We both know
how we feel, but I just don't have time in my life now
to try and put up a fight with Wayne."

"It's not even a fight since Luke obviously would
chose you," Leo pointed out.

"But it's not even that," Nick said. "Wayne would just
keep messing with us just for the fun of it, the
enjoyment he gets out of it.  I don't have time for
that in my life now."

"You don't have time to fight for the one you really
love?" Leo asked.

"Lately I've just been feeling like something is going
to happen," Nick said. "Have you ever gotten that
feeling?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just have gotten this feeling lately that I need to
start making the most of my life," Nick said. "Like
something inside of me is telling me that the time I
have now should be spent doing what I love to do, and
not worrying and fighting over things any more."

"I don't really follow," Leo said confused.

"I don't know," Nick sighed. "It's probably nothing."

"Nick, you're right, you should be making the most of
your life," Leo said. "And don't you think that making
the most of it would be by being with Luke?"

"What's the point of being with him if we're just
going to have to put up with Wayne all the time?" Nick
asked.

"Maybe you won't have to," Leo said.

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked.

"Nothing," Leo said. "I should get going.  I want to
stop by and see Jesse for a bit.  But I'll talk to you
later."

"Okay, bye," Nick said giving Leo a hug.

 At the airport Kurt was driving to the curb to drop
off Gabriel.

"I can't believe you don't have security with you,"
Kurt said as he pulled up to the curb.

"It's fine," Gabriel replied. "People usually don't
recognize me anyway."

"Well have a safe flight," Kurt said giving Gabriel a
kiss, "And thank you for coming down to visit me for
the day."

"Couldn't be away from you for too long," Gabriel
replied. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kurt said as Gabriel grabbed his bag
and got out of the car.

"I'll call you when I land," Gabriel said.

"All right.  Talk to you later," Kurt said as he
watched Gabriel walk into the airport.

Meanwhile, Leo was visiting Jesse.  The two were
sitting on his parents' front porch and talking.

"So how have you been?" Jesse asked. "I haven't seen
you for a few days."

"I've been all right," Leo replied. "Just been busy
with work."

"I've noticed that you've been acting a little
different towards me lately," Jesse said.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Ever since we had sex you've been a little distant
towards me," Jesse replied. "Did I do something?"

"No," Leo replied. "No, don't even worry about it.
It's just some stuff that I'm going through."

"Leo, you don't have to walk on egg shells around me,"
Jesse said.

"I know, but it's just that you have enough on your
plate to worry about," Leo said. "You have to just
work on getting your memory back."

"Leo, I've accepted that it's not just going to happen
over night," Jesse said. "It's going to take some time
and until that happens you can talk to me."

Leo sighed knowing Jesse was right, "It's just that
since we slept together you haven't acted any
differently towards me.  I'm still just this random
guy to you.  I know it's irrational for me to think
that you should have felt something more, but I
thought maybe you would."

"I'm sorry," Jesse said.

"No, I don't want you to apologize," Leo said. "You
have nothing to apologize for.  It just is saddening
to me because when we had sex it was the greatest
feeling for me to be back in your arms to touch you
and have you touch me.  It was this special and
beautiful thing to me, but it wasn't to you because
you don't remember any of our history.  It's just
frustrating."

"Believe me, I know," Jesse said. "I really wish I
could remember all that has happened, all we went
through, our history.  I just need you to be patient
with me."

"Of course," Leo nodded. "I will.  But until you do
get your memory back I don't think I can be intimate
with you in any way.  My friends told me to try and
start a new relationship with you, but it's just too
hard when you don't remember our past.  So until you
do, I think we should just keep things strictly
platonic.  Okay?"

"All right," Jesse agreed.

"Well I have to get going," Leo said getting up. "I
have some stuff to do today.  But I'll stop by and see
you tomorrow okay?"

"All right," Jesse smiled. "Thanks Leo."

"No problem," Leo replied giving Jesse a hug.

Leo then headed to his car.  Jesse watched him drive
away before going back up to his room and laying down.
He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

****DREAM****

"Hey how are you guys doing?" Jesse approached a table
with Leo, Kurt and Nick sitting down, "My name's Jesse
and I'll be taking
care of you guys tonight.  Can I start you all off
with something to drink?"

"I'll have a beer," Leo said.

"Of course," Jesse said. "May I just see your ID
please?"

"Certainly," Leo said taking his ID out of his wallet
and handing it to Jesse.

"Thank you Leo," Jesse said after examining his ID.

"You're welcome Jesse," Leo replied with a smile.

"And what about you two?" Jesse asked Nick and Kurt,
but still glancing over at Leo.

"I'll just have a lemonade," Kurt replied.

"Water is fine with me," Nick said.

"Great, I'll be right out with your drinks," Jesse
said.

"Thanks Jesse," Leo said starting to get a little on
the flirtatious side.

"No problem," Jesse replied with a slight wink as he
left their table.


****END DREAM****

Jesse opened his eyes and looked around his room,
confused about his dream.  Was it just a dream, or was
it a memory?

 Leo and Kurt met up at the Gay and Lesbian Center so
Leo could pick up some work real quick.  While they
were in there Kurt spotted Ryan with Leo's co-worker
Dan.

"Kurt, hey!" Ryan said giving Kurt a hug.

"Hey Ryan," Kurt smiled.

"Kurt, this is Dan," Ryan introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Dan said shaking Kurt's hand.

"Back at ya," Kurt replied.

"Didn't think I'd run into you here today," Ryan said,
"Small world."

"Painfully so," Kurt mumbled.

"How's everything going?" Ryan asked.

"Great," Kurt said, he then yelled into Leo's office,
"You almost done!"

"Yeah," Leo said coming out of the office, he was
surprised to see Ryan and Dan together, "Ryan, Dan,
Hey!"

"Hey Leo," Ryan smiled.

"Hey Leo I wanted to talk to you about the mentor
program," Dan said, "You have a second?"

"Yeah sure," Leo said. "I'll be right back."

"Don't you dare leave me alone," Kurt mumbled to Leo.

"He's your friend, right?" Leo asked with a big smile
before he went off with Dan.  Kurt and Ryan both
shared an awkward moment together.

"So," Kurt began, "I see things are going well with
you and him."

"Yeah, I have to thank Leo for setting me up with
him," Ryan said.

"Yeah, Leo's a great guy," Kurt said trying to tone
down the sarcasm.

"So how are you and Gabriel Brocks?" Ryan asked.

"Good," Kurt said. "He's off in Canada filming."

"Cool," Ryan replied.

After another silent break between the two, Kurt
finally said what was on his mind.

"Who was I kidding?  We can't be friends," Kurt
sighed.

"It is kind of weird huh?" Ryan asked.

"Very," Kurt replied.

"But what else can we do?  I don't want to lose you
from my life," Ryan said.

"Well, until we can find a way to not have any sort of
romantic feelings towards each other, I guess there
really isn't another option," Kurt said.

"You still have feelings for me?" Ryan asked.

"It doesn't matter," Kurt replied. "All that matters
now is that you're with Dan now and I'm with Gab.
Whatever feelings we might have for each other we just
have to put away."

"You say it like it's easy to do," Ryan sighed.

"Like I said, it doesn't matter," Kurt said. "It's
just something we're going to have to do."

"Do you love Gabriel?" Ryan asked.

"Yes," Kurt replied.

"But I mean, do you really love him?" Ryan asked more
specifically, "Can you be with him totally and
completely and be yourself with him?"

"That's between him and me," Kurt answered
uncomfortably. "You were the one who originally wanted
this remember?  You're the one who told me that I
should move on and date.  If you didn't really want
that, then you shouldn't have let me go."

Before Ryan could respond to that Leo and Dan came
back to join them.

"Well I'm glad to hear that things are going well
between you two," Leo said to Dan and Ryan.

"Thanks," Dan said putting his arm around Ryan.

"Well it was nice meeting you Dan," Kurt said. "You
ready to go Leo?"

"Yeah," Leo replied.

"Bye," Kurt said glancing at Ryan before he left.
Ryan stood there with Dan watching as the one person
he loves more than anything walk away.

Outside of the center after Kurt was sure he was out
of Ryan's sight, he punched Leo in the arm.

"Ouch!" Leo exclaimed, "What was that for?"

"Leaving me alone with Ryan you jerk," Kurt scolded.

"I'm sorry, but I thought you were going to try and be
friends with him," Leo said.

"Yeah, that's never going to happen," Kurt replied.

"Why's that?" Leo asked, even though he already knew
the answer.

"Because, there's too much history," Kurt said.

"Or is it because you both still love each other?" Leo
asked.

"Leo, can it," Kurt said.

"Kurt, why do you insist on torturing yourself over
this?" Leo asked. "You're obsessing like usual."

"It's a difficult situation," Kurt replied.

"I get it," Leo said. "You're in love with two great
guys.  But Kurt, you're going to have to make a
decision at some point."

"The point of today is to focus on Nick's love life
remember?" Kurt asked. "So let's put mine on the shelf
for now."

"All right," Leo sighed, "But sooner or later you will
have to choose."

"I know," Kurt sighed as they both got into Kurt's car
and drove off to Luke's office.

Meanwhile, Nick finished up responding to a letter,
when he got a phone call from Joey.

"Hello?" Nick answered.

"Hey Nick, it's Joey."

"Joey! Hey how are you bud?" Nick asked.

"I'm okay," Joey replied. "Well, actually I'm not
doing so great."

"What's wrong?" Nick asked.

"Do you think you can come bail me out of jail?" Joey
asked.

"What?" Nick asked in shock.

 At Luke's office he was burying himself in work when
Kurt and Leo came in.

"Hey Luke," Leo said sitting down in a chair across
from his desk.

"Leo, Kurt, what are you two doing here?" Luke asked.

"We've come to talk to you about your break-up with
Nick," Leo said.

"Leo, if you've come here to gloat don't bother," Luke
said. "I already feel bad enough for what happened, I
don't need you telling me, 'I told you so.'"

"That's not why I'm here," Leo said. "Actually I'm
here for the complete opposite reason."

"I don't follow," Luke said.

"I want to apologize to you Luke," Leo said. "I know
now that you were telling the truth when you told me
how much you love Nick and how you've changed.  I see
it now."

"It's a little late though, don't you think?" Luke
asked.

"Maybe not," Leo said. "That's why we're here."

"We want to help get you and Nick back together," Kurt
said.

"That's really sweet of you two, but what's the
point?" Luke asked.

"What's the point?" Leo asked. "Other than the fact
that you two are still in love with each other?"

"Yeah, but Wayne-" Luke began, but Leo cut him off.

"That's exactly how we're going to help you two get
back together," Leo said. "We're going to get rid of
Wayne somehow, but we need to find out some dirt on
him.  You were with him for three years, you have
anything we can use?"

"You guys, don't mess with Wayne," Luke warned, "He's
back on drugs and I think he can get pretty
dangerous."

"Drugs?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," Luke replied. "Before I met him he had some
problems with drugs, but he broke the habit and he
didn't use at all when we were together, but after we
broke up he got back into them."

"What do you mean by dangerous?" Kurt asked.

"Oh please," Leo said, "I've seen the guy, I could
totally kick his ass if I needed to."

"Don't underestimate him," Luke said. "With him being
back on drugs, there's no telling what he can do."

"Well he messed with the wrong people," Leo said. "So
unless you tell us something we can use against him to
keep him away from you guys, then I'm just going to do
it by force."

"Does he deal?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know," Luke said. "I know he did at one
point."

"If he did once, maybe he's doing it again," Leo said.

"But we can only use that against him if we catch him
dealing to someone," Kurt said.

"Maybe not," Leo said. "We just need to find his
stash."

"You guys, don't go snooping around his place," Luke
warned, "If he finds you, he can hurt you."

"Luke, why are you so quick to give up on getting back
with Nick?" Leo asked. "You told me you would do
anything for him remember?  Well now's your chance."

 Luke took a minute to think about Nick and how much
he loved him.  Leo was right, if there was ever a
chance to prove how much he loves Nick, this is it.

"You're right," Luke said getting up from his desk.
"Let's go."

Later that day, Nick bailed Joey out of jail and was
waiting for him outside.  When Joey came out Nick gave
him a very disapproving look.

"Joey," Nick lectured, "You tried selling sex to make
money?"

"I need money," Joey said.

"Joey, I told you if you need help come to me," Nick
said. "You turned into a hustler?"

"It was just the one time," Joey said. "So much for
beginners luck."

"Joey, you need to get some direction," Nick said.

"You're right," Joey said, "I know.  I've just been
really lost since I left home."

"Why are you doing all this?" Nick asked. "You're a
smart kid.  You have a lot of potential."

"No I don't," Joey replied. "Nick ,you're the only one
who ever told me I could be anything.  No one else
believes in me."

"It doesn't matter who believes in you, only matters
is if you believe in yourself," Nick said.

"It's too hard to try and prove that when you need to
make money to live," Joey said.

"There's other things you can do to earn money," Nick
said. "You don't need to sell your tricks on the
street."

"Who would hire me?" Joey asked. "I have nothing to
offer."

"You have a lot to offer," Nick said. "You just need
some direction in life.  Come on, lets get you
showered and something to eat."

Nick directed Joey to his car and they drove back to
Nick's place.

Meanwhile, Luke, Kurt and Leo went over to Wayne's
apartment.

"How are we getting inside?" Leo asked.

"I used to live here with him," Luke said as they
approached the front door.  We always kept a spare key
under the doormat.  Luke looked under the doormat and
just as he thought, a key was there. "Perfect."

He was about to unlock the door when Kurt stopped him.

"We should check to see if he's home first right?"
Kurt asked.

"Call him," Leo said to Luke.

"I don't want to call him," Luke complained. "He might
take it the wrong way."

"Then give me his number and I'll call him," Kurt
said. "He won't recognize my phone number."

Luke gave him the number and Kurt called him up.  They
all listened carefully to try and hear the phone ring
or Wayne on the other side of the door.

"Hello?" Wayne answered the phone.

"Hello," Kurt replied.

"Who is this?" Wayne asked.

"Is this Wayne?" Kurt asked.

"Depends, who is this?" Wayne asked again.

Kurt looked in panic at Leo and Luke, not sure what
else he should say.

"I was told you might be able to help me out," Kurt
said winging it.

"Are you in need?" Wayne asked. "Oh, are you the
friend of Rodney?"

"Sure," Kurt replied, "Yeah."

"So I assume you want to same stuff he got," Wayne
said.

"Absolutely," Kurt replied.

"Well you're not going to get it as cheap as Rodney
got it," Wayne said. "I need to make sure you're
legit.  So I'll need four bills."

"That's fine," Kurt said.

"I'll call you later with a meeting place," Wayne
said.

"Sounds good," Kurt said.

"You never gave me your name," Wayne said.

"Puck," Kurt said making up a name.

"Puck?" Wayne asked. "Wrong answer.  Rodney's friend's
name is Morgan.  Who the hell is this?"

Kurt quickly hung up not knowing what else to do.

"Did you guys hear anything in there, is he inside?"
Kurt asked.

"No," Luke replied. "What was he talking about?"

"I don't think we have to question whether or not he's
dealing," Kurt said.

"Did he think you were a buyer?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Kurt replied. "Too bad he didn't buy it, we
could have caught him in the act."

"Doesn't matter," Luke said, "If we can just find his
stash in here then we can use that."

"How exactly?" Kurt asked as the three entered the
apartment to look around.

"We're just going to take pictures of it here and if
he doesn't back off then we'll show the photos to the
police," Leo replied.

"And what if he gets rid of it?" Kurt asked.

"We'll hide some somewhere for the police to find if
it comes to that," Luke thought up.

"My thoughts exactly," Leo said.

"Wow, you two are a good team," Kurt said.

"Well, we have a long history together," Luke said.

"Very long," Leo added.

"Okay, let's get looking," Kurt said as they split up
to look through the place.

After Nick took Joey to his apartment to clean up the
two went to a burger place close by to get Joey
something to eat.

"Thanks for feeding me," Joey said as he took a bite
of his burger.

"You're welcome," Nick replied. "Now let's talk about
you."

"I guess," Joey sighed.

"Have you found a more permanent place to live or are
you still going from place to place?" Nick asked.

"A few buddies and me are living together," Joey said.

"Do these buddies of yours also sell sex?" Nick asked.

"No," Joey replied. "They're male strippers."

"Huh?" Nick asked. "What sort of people do you hang
out with?"

"Nick, not everyone can go out and get a well
respected job," Joey replied. "Some of us have to work
with the hand we were dealt."

"Okay, enough with the poor me attitude," Nick said.
"Only person who can raise you up is yourself."

"I don't think I can," Joey sighed. "It's too much
work."

"Welcome to life," Nick replied. "You're going to have
to d a lot of work in order to get anywhere."

"How?  I have no money, I'm not in college, I have
nothing to offer," Joey said.

 "You have yourself to offer," Nick said, "And that's
a pretty remarkable thing.  You're a very smart kid.
You just need to stop having such a low self-image of
yourself.  You need to give yourself more credit."

"Well what can I do?" Joey asked.

"You can start going back to the Gay and Lesbian
Center," Nick said, "They can really help you out
there.  My friend Leo works there now and he can help
you."

"I guess," Joey said.

"Joey really, you need to start taking control of your
life," Nick warned. "I don't want to see anything
happen to you."

"All right," Joey said. "Thank you Nick."

"You're welcome," Nick replied. "Have you ever thought
about what you would want to do?"

"Not really, no," Joey replied. "Never thought I'd get
anywhere, so I figured, what's the point in dreaming?"

"Well, let's try and figure out a passion of yours and
go from there," Nick said.

"Sounds good," Joey replied.

"Okay, so I want you to and pick up some things and
you can come and spend the night at my apartment so we
can go over a plan for you," Nick said.

"All right," Joey replied nervously, not really
wanting to think about his future.

Later that day Kurt, Leo and Luke were hanging out at
Luke's place drinking beer together.

"Finding his cocaine was surprisingly easy," Leo said
taking a sip of his beer.

"Well, he lives by himself so he doesn't exactly have
to hide it from anyone," Luke replied.

"Are you sure he won't find some of the stuff we hid?"
Kurt asked.

"No," Luke replied. "I'm positive.  He would never
look in the places we put them."

"Well, all we have to do now is confront Wayne," Leo
said. "I'm looking forward to it."

"He should be here any minute," Luke said looking at
his watch.  As if on cue there was a knock on the
door.

"I'll give him one thing," Leo said. "He's punctual."

Luke opened the door and let Wayne in.

"I was so surprised to get your phone call," Wayne
said as he came in, he was then surprised to see Kurt
and Leo glaring at him as he came in. "What's going
on?"

"You remember Leo, right?" Luke asked.

"Hi," Wayne replied unsure.

"And I'm Kurt," Kurt said, "We're Nick's best
friends."

"I see," Wayne said.

"We all wanted you here so we can make something
perfectly clear," Luke said. "You're not going to take
me away from Nick."

"Luke, I already told you what I'll do if you get back
with him," Wayne said.

"But we haven't said what we'll do if you try to
interfere with their relationship," Leo said, "We'll
make life hell for you."

"And how do you propose you'll do that?" Wayne smugly
asked.

"We got a little tip from 'Puck.'" Kurt smiled.

"Oh, so you're the one who called me earlier today,"
Wayne nodded. "So what are you going to do?  Tell the
police you talked to me on the phone about dealing
drugs?  There's no proof in that."

"You really think that we're stupid?  We know you have
all your stash at your apartment," Luke said as he
showed Wayne pictures he took with his camera phone.

"You guys snuck into my apartment?" Wayne asked in
shock which quickly turned to anger.

"You bet your ass we did," Leo said.

"So go ahead," Wayne said. "Tell the police, I can
just easily get rid of it."

"Maybe not," Leo said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wayne asked.

"It means leave Nick and Luke alone," Kurt chimed in.

"You mess with me or Nick then I'll make life hell for
you," Leo said. "I promise."

Wayne looked at the three of them, not sure what he
should do next.

"I suggest you leave my life," Luke said. "And stay
far away."

"You may have won for now," Wayne said, "But this
isn't over."

"Oh, I'm counting on it," Leo said. "Because I don't
want you to get off this easy.  I personally want to
ruin your life."

Leo then shoved Wayne against the wall.

"Leo," Kurt warned, "Be careful."

"You do not want to mess with me," Wayne hissed.

"Please, I can take you down like nothing," Leo
retorted.

"Just get the hell out of here," Luke said. "For
good."

"I'll be seeing you," Wayne said as he left the
apartment.

"Bastard," Leo said.

"Thank you guys for your help," Luke said.

"Your welcome," Kurt said.

"Well, I figured that I owe you considering how I
treated you lately," Leo said. "I am sorry Luke."

"It's okay," Luke replied. "We friends again?"

"Definitely," Leo said giving Luke a hug.

"All you got to do now is go get Nick back," Kurt
smiled.

"Go get him tiger," Leo encouraged.

Luke smiled at the thought of being back with Nick.

That night Nick was sitting in his living room reading
a book when there was a knock on his door.  He went to
answer it expecting to see Joey, but no one was there,
instead there was a letter left on the ground.  Nick
looked out in the hallway but didn't see anyone.  He
went back into his apartment and opened the letter to
read.

'Dear Nick,

     I can't thank you enough for helping me out today
and for offering to help me out with my future.  I
will always be grateful that you believe in me so
much, I just wish I could believe in myself as well
too.  I'm not going to be anything and it's a reality
I've come to accept.  I don't want you to waste your
time on me.  Maybe this is me just wallowing in self
pity, I don't know.  Take care Nick.  Thank you for
everything.

Your Friend,
Joey'

"Aw Joey," Nick sighed in disappointment.  As much as
Nick wanted to help, he knows that Joey needs to help
himself first and realize his self worth before anyone
can do anything for him.  Nick then turned out the
lights in his living room and went to his room to go
to bed.


To Be Continued...

With any comments, questions or feedback please e-mail
me at ilj4ever44@yahoo.com.  Thank you all so much!