Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 00:09:00 -0500
From: J <jaquarius214@hotmail.com>
Subject: "Back to Your Heart"    Installment 2

Well, this is the second installment to "Back to Your Heart". I've started
writing this long before Nifty has even posted the first, so I don't even
know if they will. I don't even know if anyone likes my story so far! I
plan to write a lot of short chapters frequently, that way I don't loose
interest, and readers don't get anxious, that's if I have readers...
	Ok, well I know the first one was pretty short, but this one will
be longer. My plants for this story will entail a lot of details... Nick
and Andrew are just meeting, and its not like people know everything about
each other the minute they meet.

Legalities (Which I was just informed MUST be here):

Fiction isn't real, so deal with it. As much as we all wish Backstreet
Boys, and N'Sync, and every other celebrity that we find attractive, was
gay, it is their business, and not ours. This work of FICTION, does not
imply that the REAL celebrities are gay, so don't go thinking that. Yeah,
well, on with the story:

Part 2: The meeting...

Chapter 3

	I felt a light tapping on my shoulders, as my eyes flitted open
from dreamless sleep. I shifted between the sheets, and wished for a moment
that Hospitals were a little more concerned for your comfort.

	"Time for lunch, hun!" Stacey's southern accent flowed into my
mind. She was my nurse, and a really good one at that. In the past two
days, I had really gotten to know her well. If not for her, my hospital
life may have been a catastrophe.

	"Lunch? Don't you mean breakfast?"

	"Andrew, honay, it's 10 after 12, I hope you don't want to be
eatin' breakfast at this hour." She smiled. My stomach growled.

	"Okay, pass it over, before my stomach gets loose and wreaks
havoc." I laughed.

	She placed the tray beside my bed, and I sat up. Soon I was downing
a large sandwich, followed by green jell-o.

	"When you're done, I'd like to take a look at your bandages. The
doctor will be in later to give you a full check-up. How's the memory
holdin' up?" She asked.

	"Unfortunately, not very good. But if I was to remember anything,
you would be the first to know, babe." She smiled, and I followed
suit. "Stacey, what will happen to me if I don't remember anything?"

	Her smile faded. "I don't know Andy, I really don't know... We
don't know who your parents are, if you have any... The latest I heard was
that y' didn't have anything on you... Not even a driver's license." She
sighed. There was a pause.

	"Where am I? I mean, geographically?" I asked.

	"Well, you are in Orlando... Florida, if that means anything to
you."

	"Disney world... Yeah, I do remember that much... I guess amnesia
doesn't make you stupid." She laughed, and it was my turn to sigh.

	"Ok , well, lets have a look at y' bandages, honay."

	She lifted the tray off my lap, and I sat forward, with my legs
dangling over the side of the bed. Starting at my head, she checked all my
bandages, the cast on my arm, and the bandages on my leg.

	"You know, you really were lucky to end up with only a broken arm!"
She exclaimed. "They say your car is completely totaled." She said.

	"You know, you tell me that everyday. Besides, the VW has the best
crash test standards out of any car its size." I laughed.

	"Thank you, 'Mr. Car Salesman', that's great that y' remember
that," she added with sarcasm.

	"Glad to be of service, ma'am," I mocked her accent.

	"I'm goin' now, Andy, I've other patients to attend to." She winked
at me.

	"Oh you know I am the only one you want to attend to!" I yelled at
her as she left the room.

	Back to silence. Silence wouldn't be so incredibly bad if you had
something to think about. Whenever you are alone, it doesn't seem so bad
when you remember a great moment in your life. Seeing as I didn't have any
memories to think about, I decided to see how much knowledge I could
remember. I got up to the 43rd state, when Nick came into the room. His
hair was rustled, and I noticed he was wearing the same clothes, wrinkled,
but nonetheless the same, as he was the day before.

I laughed. "Some one looks as if they haven't had much sleep in the past 24
hours! What's up dude?"

"Your real funny...," he faked a smile and walked over to the
bed. "Actually, my friends and I decided there should always be one of us,
at least, staying here with Brian.

Last night I stayed, as well as one of the other guys, Kevin. They
certainly don't provide comfortable sleeping arrangements in this place."
He sighed, and sat down on the bed.

"Don't worry, when I get some coffee, and a nice hot shower, I will be back
up to my normal hyper self. You haven't experienced that yet."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't know if I was hyper, but I'm sure I am." I laughed,
and he smiled. "Right now, I feel like I want to be! Jeez, I'm bored to
tears! Want to play cards with me or something?"

"Sure, I would be happy to... Do you have cards?" He asked.

"Well of course, silly..." I got out of bed, and hobbled over a table that
held a single flower arrangement. There was a stack of cards lying there,
and I sat down and began to shuffle them.

"Are these the only flowers you got?"

"Well, actually... yes... My nurse bought these for me. If I have any
family, or friends, they don't know I am here, so I guess that's why I have
no flowers. Stacey, that's my nurse, says that when I got to the hospital,
I didn't have any sort of identification on me. The only way they found out
my name was my t-shirt. It seems to me I was running from something. They
had the police in here a few days ago... and they asked me some
questions. I didn't know the answer to any of them. My car, as well as its
contents, are being turned over to Stacey tonight... there isn't much left
of the car, and most of the junk I had in the back seat flew out of the car
when I hit the telephone pole... What game do you want to play?"

"How about Spades?" He asked, thoroughly engrossed in my story.

"Don't think I know it," I replied.

"War?"

I laughed. "Of course I know that one, doesn't everyone?"

"Just asking."

"Nick, do you have a girlfriend?" I asked him.

"What?" I had caught him completely off guard.

"It was just a simple question..."

"I know, I know... you just... surprised me. No, I don't... Do you?" he
asked.

"I'm not sure... I doubt it though... I can feel a gap in my emotion when
it comes to that topic. I was thinking about it this morning, and I don't
think I do."

He smiled. It was obvious he liked my answer.

"You're cute when you smile." I said.

He turned an amazing 5 shades of red.

"And even cuter in red." I giggled. We both threw out a king.

"Well I guess we are at war!" He laughed. We put down three cards, followed
by another. His was a 9 of hearts mine a queen of hearts.

"Looks like I won," I said.

"Not for long!" He stole all my cards, and ran out the door.

"HEY! No fair! You never mess with a cripple!" I half yelled, half giggled,
as I chassed him out the door. I had just about caught up to him, when he
ran into a tall man, with dark brown hair. They both tumbled onto the
floor, and cards went everywhere.

Stacey came running down the hall, as though there was an emergency.

I was laughing so hard I had to sit down. Stacey did not look happy.

"Don't you boys know there is no running in the hospital?!!" She sounded
really upset; so much so, that I stopped laughing.

Nick was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I was a little hyper,
and it got out of hand... It will never, ever happen again. I'm sorry,
really I am."

"It better not happen again, or else I will have to see to it that your arm
gets broken, and you end up suffering like all the rest of the patients!
Then you will know what its like to want quiet, and not get it because some
overgrown kids are running through the halls!"

I began laughing again.

Nick was shuffling around, playing 52 card pick-up. The dark haired man
stared at me curiously. I walked over to him, and grabbed his hand.

"Andrew, Andrew Grenoble... and you are?" I asked. He was half shocked.

"This is Kevin, Andrew," Nick piped in.

Kevin shot him a death stare, and Nick retaliated with a "trust me" stare.

"Yeah, I'm Kevin... Richardson," he was testing me, but I wasn't sure for
what.

"Hi Kevin, nice to meet you." Obviously, he was happy at my reply.

"How do you know Nick?" He asked.

"We met here in the hospital."

"How did you meet?"

"Well, we kind of ran into each other." Nick smiled.

"How long ago was this?"

"Is this twenty questions?" Kevin was shocked; Nick's smile grew from ear
to ear.

"Sorry, I just try to make sure I know what Nick gets himself into when I'm
not around." He attempted a smile; Nick rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's very paternal of you." I said. Nick nodded his head, AND
rolled his eyes at the same time. (I didn't know that was humanly possible)
"I try to be, since Nick gets into trouble quite often."

"Aww, not the Nick I've seen so far!  We couldn't possibly be talking about
the same person!" Nick smiled, AND rolled his eyes. He certainly was a boy
wonder.

"Well, Nick and I better be going, our dear friend is in need..." With
that, he grabbed Nick by the arm, and promptly dragged him down the
hall. At that point, I figured Kevin Richardson did not like me.


Chapter 4

"I cannot believe you just did that! I am so pissed at you now!" I
screamed. I could feel the heat rise up in my neck, and spread to my
cheeks.

"Nick, you are turning red, its not becoming," Kevin promptly stated.

"Fuck you! I like Andrew! He is a really cool guy! And now he probably
thinks I'm a pompous asshole!" I paused between each sentence, as if it
gave heat to my argument.

"Nick, Brian is in the hospital... the last thing we need is for you to go
off, making strange friends, people we don't even know... You are a
Backstreet Boy; I am concerned for your safety. End of discussion." Kevin
said.

"No, it is not the end of this discussion, because you have not given me a
fair chance to speak!" I stammered. "There is no reason to be concerned!
Andrew doesn't even know who the Backstreet Boys are! He has total memory
loss! Now will you please let GO of my fucking arm!"

"Sorry... Nick, you need to be more careful. You never know, Andrew could
be some serial killer, out to kill you. The memory loss could be a fake
out."

"You don't trust me! That's it! You don't think I can judge people myself!
You think I go throwing myself out at any ol' person that just passes me
by!" My arms flailed in sync with my yelling; Kevin was staring at me
blankly. "ANDREW IS NOT A STALKER!" I screamed "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A
BEAUTIFUL PERSON HE IS!" I was yelling so hard it hurt. I began to cry, and
I ran back to Brian's room. I know Kevin didn't follow me, because I saw
his blank stare before I turned to run.

* * * * * For hours it seemed, I sobbed outside Brian's door. He was
asleep, and I tried not to be loud. However, i'm sure the whole hospital
heard my and Kevin's argument.

I started to doze off in my arms, when I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

"You have feelings for Andrew, don't you?" Kevin asked, quite softly.

I didn't look up. "It's too early to say that... but I think I am beginning
to..." I said. "Kevin... I'm tired... promise me you wont tell the other
guys? Not because it's a guy that I like, but because its some one they
don't know. I don't want them freaking out on me, with Brian in the
hospital."

"They should meet him though, Nick." He sighed. "Nick, I'm sorry... I do
trust you... believe me... I trust you with all my heart. It's ok with me
that you are gay. Don't worry about it. I wont tell them, that should be
your decision, not mine"

"Promise me you will give him a fair chance..." I said.

 He paused for a moment; and then came his reply, "I promise."

"That made my day so much better." I sighed, and quietly dozed off.

* * * * * "Nick... NICK... Jeez bud, that couldn't have been a very
comfortable sleep you had there..."

"No, it... ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" My back cracked in a million places as I sat
up. "It wasn't very comfortable," I managed to get out. "How are you
Howie?"

"Good... I came down to take your place in Brian-sitting. Kevin says you
need a bath, so I guess you better go home and get one." He smiled.

"What a dork! He doesn't smell to good himself!" We both giggled.

"Well, why don't you go back to the house, get a shower, and new clothes,
and then come back here and we will all have some wonderful HOSPITAL FOOD
for lunch!"

He laughed. I gagged.

"If you say so... Oh... By the way, when you guys are all here, I want to
introduce you to some one I met here at the hospital... he's a really cool
guy." I was hoping Howie would take that lightly.

"No prob by me, Nicky!" He punched me lightly in the arm.

I rolled my eyes, and headed out for the car.

"Tell Kevin I said g'bye!" I shouted on the way out.

* * * * * In no time flat, I had taken a shower, and gotten fresh
clothes. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, and drove back to the hospital. I
by-passed Brian's room, hoping no one would see me. They didn't.

I continued on down to room 109, and paused. Will Andrew come meet the rest
of my friends? I wondered. Then I remembered how outgoing he was towards
Kevin. I high- tailed it into his room.

I quickly stopped, and my mouth gaped open in horror. Andrew's room was
bare.

Well, it was always bare; but now, the bed was made, and his flowers were
gone. All traces of Andrew Grenoble were gone.

I was on the verge of tears. I turned, and solemnly walked out of his room;
my feet dragged the whole way.

My head hand low, and I wasn't watching were I was going. Next thing I
knew, I bumped into Stacey.

"What did I tell ya'll about watchin' where you are goin'!" She
laughed. Then she saw my face. "What'sa matter honay? Why the long face?"

"Where's Andrew? Did he leave already? He told me he was going to be in
here a good week longer!"

"They upgraded his status, cutie. It seems his bones have set nicely. He is
in room 89... recoup room."

"Wow, thanks Stacey." I smiled, and quickly hustled off towards room
89. Then I stopped. Brian's room was 87. They were right next-door! I broke
into a run. Having Brian next to Andrew was a dream come true. It would
make life incredibly easier.

When I got to the door, he was watching TV.

"Looks like some one is a fast healer!" I surprised him.

"Hey Nick!!! I'm so glad you found my room! I told Stacey to tell you, but
she said she hadn't seen you... What's up? Why are you panting like a dog?
Am I that good looking?"

I felt my cheeks blush. "Of course babe! You are dead sexy!" I
laughed. "No, I was running. I found Stacey, and she told me you were
here. You almost gave me a heart attack." I paused to catch my
breath. "Hey, did you know you are right next door to my friend!???"

"The one who had the open heart surgery?" He asked.

"How many friends do you think I have in this hospital?" I joked.

"No, I did not know that, smarty pants! Can I go over and meet him??"

"Actually, I wanted you to meet all the guys! They are meeting up here for
lunch.

As a matter of fact..." I said, looking at my watch. "They should be here
now! Are you up to it?" I was really enthusiastic. I was hoping he was too.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!! I wouldn't miss it for the world!!!" I had to
smile at that.

I helped him out of bed; and laughed as he hobbled next door. We stood at
the door and I said, "Well... are you ready? I'm sure they will like you".

"And I'm sure I will like them."

I pushed the door open, and was met by 4 smiling faces.

"Hey guys... I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine... uh... his
name is Andrew, Andrew Grenoble..." They nodded.

"You can just call me Andy." He was smiling a mile a minute.

I pointed to each of AJ, Howie, and Brian, introducing each one. They
nodded, and smiled.

"And you already know Kevin." The guys looked at Kevin.

"Andy, how did you come to know Nick?" Howie asked, turning attention away
from Kevin.

"We met here, in the halls actually... I fell over Nick, I wasn't paying
attention...

and I kinda ran into him." He laughed.

"Oh don't take all the credit! It was really my fault! I was watching this
weirdo guy screaming, and I knocked Andy on the floor." I explained. "Andy
was in a car accident, that's how come he's in here..."

"Wow," the guys said, in almost unison.

"Yeah..." Andy looked down. "I have almost one hundred percent memory
loss... I retained some elementary knowledge, but other than that, I am
nearly all blank."

There was the sigh of 4 guys sympathizing.

"That must really suck," AJ piped in.

"The worst part, is that I have this void in my emotions, from before the
accident.

I know I was running from something... The police even said I had my
belongings in the car with me... I'm just not sure what scared me so
badly." Again he looked down.

"Do you have any family, friends in this area?" Brian asked from his bed; I
wasn't aware that he had been paying that much attention.

"I don't know... I get out of here in a few days, and I don't know where I
will go.

The police tell me they put up a bulletin, but I don't know how well that
will go." He sighed.

"You could stay with us!" Kevin said, simply, as if he had already thought
about it.

"WHAT??!!!" I think I sounded more surprised than I should have.

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea. With Brian recuperating, it would be easy
having him around. We could show him some sights, maybe even help get some
of his memories back!" Kevin bore the most evil smile I have ever seen.

"Cool idea Kev!" Howie said.

"That would be really nice. Thank you guys, you just scratched out one of
the problems I will have to deal with once I get out of here.... I don't
know how I will ever repay you." He said.

"Just keep our Nick in line for a few weeks, and I'm sure that we can work
out a deal over that memory issue you have. I mean who knows, maybe you
were driving up here to see the Backstreet Boys or something!" Kevin
smirked.

Andrew was overjoyed. If only he knew the terror that was to lie ahead.


Ok guys, due to the Hurricane Debby scare, I didn't get to work on this
chapter as much as I had planned. I tried to hint at some of the things
that Andrew and Nick will experience in the later chapters... If you want
to guess on some things, that would be really funny. The story line is just
developing, I hope you feel that this chapter helped with some character
development, because that is what I was shooting for. And, BTW, the plans
for this story tend to lean towards the scary side. I'm not used to writing
horror, so we will see just how weird it gets...