Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:50:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kirk Landers <ilj4ever44@yahoo.com>
Subject: Phases- part 38

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.

Hey again everyone.  Here's part 38 entitled
"Justice."

'JUSTICE'

The night Nick was killed came racing back to Leo's
memory...

Kurt and Leo were both running as fast as their legs
could carry them to make it to Nick's apartment.

"What if we don't make it in time?" Leo asked worried.

"We will," Kurt said trying to be optimistic.  Finally
after what seemed like an eternity they made it to
Nick's place and quickly rushed up to his room and
began banging on the door.

"Nick you in there?" Kurt yelled.

Leo turned the door knob and it opened.  They both
quickly rushed in and looked around.  When they got in
all the lights were on, but it was quiet.

"Nick!" Leo called out, but they didn't get an answer.

"Nick!" Kurt called out.  Nothing.  They saw the door
to Nick's room closed, but the light inside shining
underneath the door frame.

They went into the bedroom and saw Nick lying on the
floor.

"Nick?  You asleep?" Leo asked as they entered the
room.  As they got closer they saw that Nick's eyes
were open starring blankly at the ceiling.

"Kurt-" Leo said with fear.

"Oh my God," Kurt sighed then ran up to Nick, "Call
911 Leo!"

While Leo was calling for an ambulance Kurt was
checking Nick's pulse.

"Come on Nick, don't do this to us," Kurt said trying
to wake Nick up, but Nick didn't respond. "Get up
Nick!"  He checked to see if Nick had any injuries on
him, he saw red marks around his neck, like he had
been choked.

"They're on their way," Leo said kneeling next to Kurt
and trying to revive Nick. "Nick wake up!"

"Don't you dare do this Nick!  Don't you dare leave
us!" Kurt screamed shaking Nick.

"Is he alive?" Leo asked.

"I don't know," Kurt replied.  He then started giving
Nick mouth to mouth resuscitation.  "Come on Nick!
Breath!"

"Wake up Nick!" Leo cried. "Come on, get up.  It's us,
we're here to hang out with you so please get up!"

Nick didn't respond, he just continued laying there.

"Kurt, he's cold," Leo said feeling the side of Nick's
cheek.

"No, no, no, no, no!  Come on Nick!" Kurt screamed,
"You have to get up.  An ambulance is on it's way!
You have to pack!  You're moving to San Diego with
Luke!  Wake up Nick!"

"Kurt I think he's dead," Leo said in shock.

"No, he's not dead," Kurt shook his head, refusing to
believe that, "He's fine!  Nick, wake up!  If you
leave us I swear I will never forgive you!"

Leo couldn't say anything, he just started crying
uncontrollably.

"Nick!  No!" Kurt screamed as tears poured down his
face.  He started to pound Nick's chest to try and get
him to breathe, "Don't you even think about doing this
to us!  You have to get up!  Nick!!!!"

"Kurt stop!" Leo said grabbing Kurt's arm before he
could pound on Nick's chest again.

Kurt then buried his face in Nick's chest crying.

The memory haunted Leo every day, and now he was
finally face to face with the man who killed Nick.

"Wayne," Leo said angrily as he tightened his fists.
"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you worked here," Wayne said getting
worried, "I swear."

"You son-of-a-bitch," Leo said.

"Now Leo, let's talk about this," Wayne said. "What I
did was an accident."

"An accident?" Leo asked. "You strangled my best
friend to death.  How was that an accident?!"

"I was messed up then," Wayne said backing away from
Leo as he slowly approached him. "I was on drugs and
didn't really know what I was doing."

"You murdered Nick," Leo said. "And you've been living
guilt free."

"That's not true," Wayne said. "I swear.  I regret
what I did every day."

"I hate you!" Leo shouted lunging towards Wayne to
beat him up, but Wayne jumped out of the way and ran
out the door.  Leo quickly started to chase after him.
"Stop him!  Somebody stop him!"

Everyone in the common room of the shelter was eating
and having a nice time when they heard Leo screaming
and everyone started to panic as they saw Wayne run
out and Leo running after him.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked.  He didn't see Wayne's
face, but just saw the back of him run out of the
shelter as Leo chased after him. "Leo!  What's going
on?"

"It's Wayne!" Leo shouted back still running, not even
bothering to slow down.  But it was all Kurt needed to
hear as he quickly got up from the chair he was
sitting in.

"Wayne," Kurt said in shock, he then stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked.

"I'm going after him," Kurt said as he started to run
towards the door.

"Kurt, wait," Ryan said.

"Wait?  Wait for what?" Kurt asked. "We've waited for
months for this.  We've waited long enough."

"We should call the police," Ryan said. "Let them take
care of this."

"No," Kurt said. "He doesn't deserve prison, he
deserves worse."  Kurt then quickly ran out the door
to chase after Wayne.

"Dammit!" Ryan said.

"Come on Ryan," Jesse said. "We have to stop them."

"What's going on?" one of the residents at the shelter
asked getting worried.

"It's nothing," Ryan said trying to keep everyone
calm. "Everything will be okay."

Outside Wayne ran as fast as he could with Leo trying
his hardest to catch him.  Wayne quickly ran down a
busy street trying to lose himself in the crowed.

"Move!" Wayne shouted as the people blocked him as
they were walking, "Get out of my way!"

"Someone stop that guy!" Leo shouted as he made his
way through the people as well.

Wayne saw an empty alley way and he quickly sprinted
down it.  Leo soon caught up to him and jumped on him
to tackle him to the ground.  He then got on top of
him and starting punching him with all his strength.

"You killed my best friend!" Leo shouted between
punches.  Kurt quickly found them and came to Leo's
side.  Kurt looked around and saw a rusty door, he
opened it up and looked inside and found that it was
an abandoned warehouse inside.

"Leo, stop," Kurt said. "Bring him in here."

Leo quickly got up and grabbed Wayne forcing him into
the warehouse with the two of them.  Kurt then closed
the door.  The found an old chair which the made Wayne
sit in and Kurt found some old wire that they tied his
arms behind his back with.

"You have no idea how long I waited for a chance like
this," Leo said seething.

"Look, I'm sorry," Wayne said. "You guys have no idea
how sorry I am."

"Sorry?" Kurt asked. "You killed our best friend.  Do
you think sorry is going to cover it?"

"I know that there is nothing I can say that will make
up for what I did," Wayne said. "So, just turn me into
the police.  I've run enough, I need to face what I
did."

"Oh, you're going to face what you did," Leo said.
"But we're not calling the police."

"What?" Wayne asked worried.

Meanwhile, Ryan, Jesse and Joey went off looking for
Kurt and Leo.

"Where do you think they are?" Joey asked, "You don't
think they'll do anything bad, do you?"

"They're two guys who found the man who killed their
best friend," Jesse said. "Who knows what they're
capable of."

"Yeah," Ryan said. "I think right now, all rational
thought is out the window."

"But they wouldn't kill him or anything," Joey said.
"Right?"

Ryan and Jesse both kept silent, neither one really
knowing what they might do to Wayne.

"We should call the police," Jesse said to Ryan.

"Lets find them first and then we'll call," Ryan said.

"Have you tried calling their cells?" Joey asked.

"Yeah," Jesse replied. "They didn't pick up."

"Please don't do anything stupid Kurt," Ryan prayed
quietly to himself.

"Listen Joey, we caused a lot of commotion at the
center," Jesse said. "Do you think you can go back
there and do some damage control?"

"But you two might need my help," Joey said.

"Don't worry," Jesse said. "We'll talk care of it."

"Are you sure?" Joey asked.

"Positive," Jesse replied.

"Call me if you need me," Joey said.

"We will," Jesse said. "Thanks."

Joey then turned and walked back to the center as Ryan
and Jesse continued to look for them.

"Do you think they'll do something to him?" Jesse
asked.

"I don't know," Ryan replied. "They're going to pass a
point of no return if they do."

Back at the warehouse Kurt punched Wayne across the
face causing him to spit out some blood.

"Do you have any idea what it's been like for us?"
Kurt asked Wayne. "Do you know what you did to Luke?"

"I'm sorry," Wayne said. "I don't know what else I can
say."

"Nothing," Leo said. "Just say nothing, because there
is nothing you can say that can make up for what you
did."

"Please, just call the police," Wayne said. "Let them
take me away and out of your guys lives."

"You think that by calling the police that it will
make everything all right?" Kurt asked. "You killed
out friend and justice is letting you spend the rest
of your life in a jail where you get meals every day
and a place to work-out and watch some tv?"

"You guys can't do anything to me," Wayne said.

"Oh no?" Leo asked. "You changed your name remember?
You're some guy named Russ.  You don't exist.  You've
been on the run for months now and no one has come
looking for you."

"You can't kill me," Wayne said. "It would make you no
better than me and you don't want that."

"Shut up!" Kurt said, "What you did was cold blooded
murder.  This right now, is justice."

"Do you think Nick would want you to do this?" Wayne
asked.

"Don't you ever say his name!" Leo screamed smacking
him in the face.

Kurt cell phone then started ringing, it was Ryan.

"Don't say a word," Kurt warned Wayne before picking
up the phone. "Hey Ryan."

"Where are you?  We tried calling you guys earlier and
you didn't pick up," Ryan said.

"Oh sorry," Kurt replied. "Leo and I must not have
heard the phones ringing."

"Where are you?" Ryan asked.

"Just walking," Kurt lied. "Leo and I needed to catch
our breath a little bit."

"Where's Wayne?" Ryan asked.

"Wayne?  He ran off," Kurt replied. "We couldn't catch
him."

"Well tell me where you are so Jesse and I can come
get you two," Ryan said.

"We want to be alone for a bit, we'll call you two
later," Kurt said.

"Are you sure?" Ryan asked.

"Positive," Kurt replied. "Love you."

"I love you too," Ryan said. "Jesse wants to talk to
Leo real quick."

"Oh, okay," Kurt said. "Hold on."

Kurt then handed the phone to Leo.

"Hello?" Leo asked.

"Hey babe, are you okay?" Jesse asked.

"I'm fine," Leo replied.

While Leo was talking to Jesse Kurt leaned down so he
was face to face with Wayne.

"Kurt, I'm sorry," Wayne pleaded.

"Nick was my best friend," Kurt said, "Him and I were
friends since high school.  He knew me better than
anyone.  He knew about my issues with people coming in
and out of my life.  You added him on that list of
people who have left me."

"I'm sorry," Wayne said. "I don't know how I can say
it for you to understand how much I truly mean it."

"I know you mean it," Kurt said. "I know you're
sorry."

"So you'll just call the police and turn me in right?"
Wayne asked.

"No," Kurt said simply, "Because you see, you've
passed a point where no amount of guilt or remorse can
redeem you for what you did."

Wayne's stomach dropped, knowing that his life was in
danger.  Meanwhile, Leo was still on the phone with
Jesse.

"Are you and Kurt sure you don't want Ryan and I to
meet up with you two?" Jesse asked.

"We're absolutely sure," Leo said. "I'll call you
later."

"Help me!" Wayne screamed as loud as he could.

"What was that?" Jesse asked.

"Nothing," Leo said quickly. "I have to go."

"Leo!  Was that Wayne?" Jesse asked.

"Help me!" Wayne screamed again. "We're in a
warehouse!"

"Leo!  What are you doing?" Jesse asked.

"Can't talk now," Leo said hanging up the phone.

"Dammit!" Jesse said angrily.

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"They have Wayne," Jesse replied. "I don't think the
two of them are thinking clearly anymore."

"We have to find them," Ryan said.

"I heard something about a warehouse," Jesse said.
"How the hell are we supposed to find a warehouse?"

"We have to try," Ryan said as the two began to run.

"That was really stupid," Leo said as he approached
Wayne. "Really stupid."

"You two can't do this," Wayne said.

"Why not?" Kurt asked. "Give us one good reason."

"Because you two aren't murderers," Wayne said. "It
will haunt you forever.  Trust me.  I wish every day
that I could go back and undo what I did.  I hate
myself for what happened.  You have no idea."

"You killed our best friend," Leo said.

"I know," Wayne replied. "You two think that I've been
going around living a great life?  I haven't.  I've
been hating myself.  I tried to run from it, tried to
escape it, but I can't.  It haunts me."

Wayne remembered that night, every last detail...

Wayne approached the front door to Nick's apartment.
All his senses and everything were heightened due to
the drugs he was on.  He remembered how loud the
banging sounded when he knocked on the door.
Everything almost seemed to be in slow motion.

 "It's open!  I'm in the bedroom guys," he heard
Nick's voice through the door.  So Wayne slowly opened
the door and walked in.  Wayne looked around the
apartment, looked at everything that Nick had that he
didn't, but most importantly Nick had Luke and that's
what Wayne had wanted most at one point in time.  But
in that moment he was too filled with anger.  Wayne
then walked into Nick's room.

"Hey Nick," Wayne said as he walked in.

"Wayne?" Nick asked shocked. "What the hell are you
doing here?"

"Just strolling by," Wayne replied. "Thought I'd say
hi."

Nick looked at Wayne's face and saw how drugged out he
looked.

"Wayne, are you high right now?" Nick asked nervously.

"Shut up Nick," Wayne said as he closed the door to
Nick's room. "You have no idea what you've done to me,
to my life."

"Wayne, you really need to leave now," Nick warned.

"Or what?" Wayne asked. "You couldn't do anything to
hurt me more than you already have.  But I could hurt
you."

"Wayne, you're high right now," Nick said. "Why don't
you just go and sleep this off."

"No, I think I'll stay," Wayne said getting closer to
Nick.

"I'm warning you," Nick said. "Back off!"

"Are you scared?" Wayne asked. "Am I making you
afraid?"

"I'm calling the police," Nick said trying to get past
Wayne to go out to the kitchen to grab his phone, but
Wayne grabbed Nick and threw him on the ground.

"I don't think so," Wayne said, "You took away the one
thing that was good in my life!  Maybe I should do the
same to you."

"Don't you threaten Luke," Nick said.

"Oh? What about your friends?  What if I threaten
them?" Wayne asked.

"You hurt my friends and I'll kill you," Nick said. "I
will kill you if you even touch them."

"Oh?  Hit a nerve huh?" Wayne asked kicking Nick while
he was still on the ground and then straddling him.
"Well don't worry.  Only one I really want to hurt is
Luke.  And the best way to do that is through you."
Wayne the wrapped his hands around Nick's neck and
started choking him.

"Don't do this," Nick said trying to get Wayne off of
him, but Wayne chocked Nick harder and slammed his
head against the floor so he was woozy.  Nick just
laid there, helplessly, trying to take Wayne's hands
off of his neck.  "Stop.  Please."

Wayne didn't listen, he was too far gone to even fully
understand what he was doing.

"I loved Luke," Wayne cried.  Nick's hand slowly fell
to the ground and Wayne soon saw the Nick was no
longer breathing. "Nick?"  Nick didn't respond, "Oh my
God."  Wayne quickly got up to his feet and ran out of
the apartment as fast as he could.

Wayne then looked up from the chair he was in at Leo
and Kurt.

"You have to believe me," Wayne said. "I didn't mean
to kill him.  I wasn't myself.  It was the drugs.  I
stopped doing them that night."

Kurt and Leo stood there, horrified to hear a first
hand account of their best friend's death.

"Asshole!" Leo screamed as he lunged at Wayne,
knocking him over in the chair and began kicking him.

"Stop!  Please!" Wayne shouted.

Outside Jesse and Ryan were walking when they heard
the commotion down the alley way.  They walked down
and saw a door and heard screaming going on inside.

"Please stop!" Wayne hollered.

Ryan and Jesse quickly rushed in and saw Leo beating
Wayne up as Kurt stood by watching.  Ryan quickly
grabbed Kurt while Jesse grabbed Leo.

"What are you doing?!" Ryan asked holding Kurt by the
arms.

"Let me go!" Kurt shouted struggling against Ryan.

"You don't understand!" Leo said trying to get out of
Jesse's grasps.

"He killed Nick!" Kurt said.

"Stop it Kurt," Ryan said. "You don't want to do
this."

"Yes I do," Kurt said angrily.

"Let me go Jesse!" Leo said.

"No, you two are both going to calm down," Jesse said.
"You two lied to us.  Both of you are going to go
home."

"Go back to our apartment," Ryan said. "And wait for
us there.  We'll take care of things from here."

"No," Kurt said. "We're not going."

"Yes you are!" Ryan barked. "Now get out of here
Kurt."

"And if we don't?" Leo asked.

"Then what?" Jesse asked. "You two going to smack him
around? Kill him?  You two do that and Ryan and I will
have no choice but to call the police on all three of
you."

"You wouldn't," Leo said.

"You want to bet?" Jesse asked. "Now both of you, get
out of here."

"This isn't right," Kurt said. "He does not deserve to
get off this easy."

"Just go," Ryan said.

Kurt and Leo didn't say anything, they just both
glared at Ryan and Jesse and began to walk out.

"Wait," Wayne called out to them. "I am sorry for
everything."

Kurt and Leo barely stopped to acknowledge Wayne, they
just continued to walk out of the warehouse.

"Thank you guys," Wayne said weakly.

"Don't thank us," Jesse said.

"Lets get something straight," Ryan said. "We hate you
just as much as Kurt and Leo do.  Just because we
stopped them from hurting you doesn't mean we have any
sympathy for you or what you did."

"We're turning you into the police," Jesse added.

"Fine," Wayne said. "That's fine."

"What are we going to do about Leo and Kurt?" Jesse
asked.

"I don't know," Ryan sighed. "I don't know."

After the cops took Wayne away Ryan and Jesse went
back to the Center where Joey was waiting for them.

"Did you find them?" Joey asked.

"Yeah," Ryan replied.

"What happened?" Joey asked.

"We found them just in time to stop them," Jesse said.

"Stop them?  From doing what?" Joey asked.

"I really think they were going to kill him," Ryan
said seriously.

"Wow," Joey said shocked. "That can't be right.  They
don't seem like they would ever do anything like
that."

"You could see it in their eyes," Jesse said. "The
hate, the anger.  They weren't themselves.  They were
something else."

"But to attempt to murder?" Joey asked.

"And they lied to us," Ryan said. "They tried to keep
us away.  To keep us from finding out what they were
doing.  What they were going to do was premeditated."

"So what happens now?" Joey asked. "What's going to
happen with them?"

"We have to talk to them," Jesse said. "What we saw in
them tonight was scary."

"I've never seen them act like that before," Ryan
said. "It's like it wasn't even them."

"It wasn't," Jesse said.

Later that night Kurt and Leo were both sitting on the
couch in Kurt and Ryan's living room, neither one
knowing what to think or how to feel.  Ryan and Jesse
then walked in and sat down across from them.

"The police took him away," Ryan said. "He's in
custody."

"And that makes everything okay?" Kurt asked.

"No, of course not," Ryan said. "But it's a start."

"What were you two thinking?" Jesse asked.

"Spare us a lecture," Leo said. "You two wouldn't
understand."

"Enlighten us," Jesse said.

"There's no point," Leo said.

"You two are not the only ones who lost Nick," Ryan
said. "We all did.  We all cared about him.  I know
that we may not have been as close as you two were
with him, but we still loved him."

"You two just lost a friend," Kurt said. "We lost
family and the guy who caused it is now just sitting
in jail.  That's not justice."

"Well if you guys killed him it would have been
murder," Ryan said. "You two would have been just like
him."

"If you really think that, then that's just more proof
that you don't understand," Kurt said. "And for the
record, we wouldn't have killed him."

"You say that now, but I don't think that's true,"
Ryan said.

"I think you two might have gone all the way with
punishing him," Jesse said. "I really think you two
were going to kill him."

"Well even if you thought we were going to, we
didn't," Leo said. "You two came to his rescue."

"Yeah, you two were his heroes," Kurt said. "What
about us?  Where were our heroes?"

"I think stopping you from doing something you'll
regret was a rescue," Ryan said.

"You two lied to us today," Jesse said. "If we didn't
hear Wayne over the phone, if we didn't find you both
with him, you two would have past a point of no
return."

"We understand that you two are very angry," Ryan
said. "But the fact still remains that you both lied
to us."

"So what are you two saying?" Leo asked.

"We know that you two are mad at us right now," Jesse
said. "And Ryan and I are both very upset with you
guys."

"I think that Leo, you should come and stay here with
Kurt for a while," Ryan said. "And I'll stay with
Jesse.  I think it will be good if we just spend some
time away from each other to cool off."

"Just like that?" Kurt asked. "After everything,
you're just going to leave?"

"I don't think we should be around each other right
now," Ryan said.

"Fine," Kurt said too upset about the day to even
care, he then went to his room and slammed the door.

"Whatever," Leo added. "And for the record Ryan, you
just once again abandoned Kurt.  If that's really what
you plan on doing when the going gets rough, then
maybe you should just leave him alone for good."

"He's not trying to abandon Kurt," Jesse defended.

"It doesn't really matter what he's trying to do," Leo
said. "Kurt is going to see it as Ryan leaving him
again."

"I guess we should go," Ryan said getting up.

"I'll bring some clothes over for you," Jesse said to
Leo.

"Don't bother," Leo said. "I'll just borrow Kurt's."

"Fine," Jesse said.

Ryan went into the bedroom to pack up some clothes.
The entire time Kurt and him didn't say a word to each
other.  After Ryan was done he headed out the room,
but before he left he turned to Kurt who was sitting
on the bed.

"Will you be okay?" Ryan asked.

Kurt didn't say anything, he just went to the bedroom
door and closed it on Ryan.  After Ryan and Jesse left
Leo went into the bedroom and sat next to Kurt.

"What just happened?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know," Leo replied. "I never felt anger like
that before."

"You know, I never knew what I would do if I saw Wayne
again," Kurt said. "I played the situation over and
over in my head since Nick died.  I would imagine
myself seeing Wayne and then going up to him, but I
never was able to imagine what I would actually say to
him or how I would act."

"I guess now you know," Leo said.

"Yeah," Kurt replied.

"Do you regret what we did?" Leo asked.



To Be Continued...

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