| Chapter 72 Lyn, Tara, and Leighanne walked into the house, their arms full of shopping bags. Gary was sitting on the couch watching TV. There was no sign of the rest of the guys. Lyn dropped the bags she was carrying on the kitchen counter, "Where is everyone?" Gary looked over at her, "Um, they went upstairs right after you guys left. I haven't seen them since." "How's Nick doing?" Tara asked. "He's still sleeping," Gary answered. Leighanne walked over and sat down next to Gary. He leaned over and kissed her, "You find anything good to buy?" "Oh, I found the cutest little baby stuff," she said. "Really," Gary said smiling. "Yeah, let me show you," Leighanne said, pulling one of the bags over and digging through it. Lyn headed upstairs, looking for the guys. All the doors were closed except one. She walked over and stood in the door, watching them look through her stuff. "Hey guys, whatcha doin?" she said. They all jumped. "Oh Lyn, we um, well we um," Brian started, looking embarrassed. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, "Somebody else wanna try?" "Lyn, we're sorry. We shouldn't have snooped through your things," Howie said. "Yeah, it's my fault. I wanted to come look, and they just followed me up here," A.J. said. Lyn smiled, "A.J. the only thing you're sorry about is that you got caught," she teased. "So you're not mad at us?" Brian asked. "No, not at all," she said. Kevin was sitting in a chair looking through a photo album. He was oblivious to the fact that they had been caught. Lyn walked over and sat down next to him. He had found some old pictures of Tracy. "Kev?" Lyn said. He jumped and looked over at her, "Oh Lyn, I'm sorry...." He started to close the album. Lyn stopped him, "You can look at them if you want. In fact I'll look with you." The other guys watched as they thumbed through the pictures. Every now and then Lyn would point at one and tell the story behind it. Tara walked into the room, "What's goin on?" Brian put his arm around her, "Lyn is showing us some pictures of Tracy." Tara walked over to Lyn, "Can I see?" "Sure," Lyn said getting up and letting Tara sit down and look. "I'm gonna go down and check on Nick," Lyn said. She walked out of the room and down the hall towards the stairs. "Man, I thought we were toast there for a sec," A.J. said. "Well, we still shouldn't have been up here, even if she is OK with it," Brian said. "So what all is up here anyway?" Tara asked, knowing that they had to have gone through every room to have been up here so long. "Well there's a computer room/office; an exercise room, and a room just filled with boxes," Howie said. "And this room, and another bedroom and bath, ohh and a music room," Brian said. "Music room? What's in that?" Tara asked. "You name it, its in there," Kevin said, "That's why we've been up here so long." "Well let's go see it," Tara said getting up. The guys led her down the hall and into the room. Tara looked around, there were various types of instruments and recording equipment everywhere. "Did you guys notice all this stuff is signed?" she asked. "Yeah I noticed some of it," Kevin said. Tara looked around, "No, all of it is, look." She pointed out autographs on everything around her. "Damn, do you guys know how much just the stuff in this room would be worth," A.J. said. "Yeah, more than all five of us put together have," Howie said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn reached the bottom of the stairs and walked through the living room. Leighanne was still showing Gary the baby stuff she got. Lyn laughed to herself, Poor Gary. He was trying to look so interested in all the things Lee was showing him, but he probably didn't know what half of it was. Lyn grabbed one of the bags from the counter and went into Nick's room. He was still asleep. The sun was setting, and shining brightly through the windows. She walked over and pressed the button to lower the shades. As the shades slowly came down, darkening the room, she pulled some clothes out of the bag and cut the tags off them. She then folded them and put them away in the closet. She turned around and walked over to the bed. She sat down on the edge of it and reached over and touched Nick's cheek. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. "How long have I been asleep?" he asked. "For about three hours," she answered. "Really?" Nick said surprised he'd slept that long. "We're gonna start supper soon if you wanna get up. Me and the girls went and got you some clothes that should fit, they're in the closet if you wanna change," she said. "OK," Nick said sitting up. Lyn got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Nick got up and turned on the light. He didn't remember ever seeing this room when he was here before. It was big, with it's own bath and walk-in closet. And of course the windows where the entire wall facing the ocean. Nick walked into the closet and looked at the clothes. The ones he had brought with him were hanging in there too. He smiled, Tara must've picked this out, he thought holding up a shirt from Roots. He changed clothes, looking in the mirror to see how they fit. Of course they fit perfectly. He ran his fingers through his hair and walked into the living room to join the others. Tara and the guys were just coming down from upstairs, and Leighanne and Gary were sitting on the couch. Lyn was in the kitchen. "Hey man, have a good sleep?" Brian asked. Nick nodded his head and sat down in the recliner. A.J. walked up to him, "Oh man you gotta go upstairs and check it out. There is some seriously awesome shit up there!" Lyn laughed from the kitchen. "A.J. slow down," Nick said, "All I got was up stairs and shit." Everyone laughed as A.J signed to Nick what he had just said. "Oh, I'll go up later," Nick said. Tara and Leighanne went to the kitchen to help Lyn. The rest of the guys sat down and surfed through the channels. "So Gary," Nick asked, "You guys thought of any names yet?" "Well, we haven't talked about it yet," he said. "I have a good one," Howie said, "If it's a girl Renee Ann, and if it's a boy Brock Lee." "Oh my God D! You wanna name your kid after a vegetable?" Brian laughed. "What? It's not my kid, and it's not broccoli it's Brock Lee," Howie said. Everyone laughed until they had tears in their eyes. "Howie, it sounds the same," Kevin said. "Hey, I'm just throwing them out there, you don't have to like them," Howie said. "Well you guys have plenty of time to decide on names," Tara said from the kitchen. "Yeah, we wanna take our time with that," Leighanne said. The girls finished supper and everyone sat down to eat. They all made small talk at the table, and when they were done, everyone helped clean up the kitchen. "Guys, we should be getting over to the house," Kevin said, "It looks like there's a storm coming." They all looked out the windows to see lightening dancing through the clouds. "Oh, before you guys go," Lyn said, "I called Connie, and we won't be having a lesson tomorrow. She felt like Nick needed to have a day to rest and get acclimated to the house." "That's a good idea," Kevin said looking over at Nick on the sofa. "So we have a free day tomorrow," Brian said. "Yup," Tara said, "Let's go see the city. We haven't had a chance to do that yet." "OK," Brian said. "Yeah, I wanna get some shopping in," A.J. said. "Oh, I'll go with you. I wanna find something for Kira," Howie said. "And there are some restaurants I wanna try out," Kevin said. "I'd like to go to the park," Leighanne said. Lyn smiled, "Well, it looks like you guys have your day planned." "What are you and Nick gonna do?" Howie asked. A.J. elbowed him, "After all this time with Kira and you still have to ask a dumb ass question like that." Lyn blushed, "Um, I think we'll just hang around the house." Kevin walked up behind A.J. and Howie and grabbed each one by an arm, "Say good-night guys." "Night guys," they both said as Kevin ushered them out the door. Leighanne and Gary followed them. Brian walked over to Nick and told him good-night. Nick turned around and waved at Tara. She waved back, then hugged Lyn, "See ya tomorrow." "OK," Lyn said and walked with them to the door, shutting it behind them. Lyn walked over to the couch and plopped down. "We are finally alone," she signed. Nick smiled, "They mean well." Lyn laughed, "I know. They are the best of friends to come here and stay and go through the classes with you." Nick leaned over and kissed her. As they kissed, thunder sounded, and Lyn jumped. "What?" Nick asked. "It's storming," Lyn said pointing to the windows. Nick got up and walked over to the windows and watched. Lightening was dancing across the water. The wind was blowing, making the waves bigger, and it was just starting to rain. "Pretty," Nick signed. Lyn jumped with another boom of thunder. "And loud," she signed. "You don't like storms?" Nick asked. "They're OK, it's just the noise," she said. "Oh, I guess I don't have that problem anymore," he said smiling. She looked at him for a moment, not able to tell if he was trying to be funny or just feeling sorry for himself. He walked back over to the couch and sat down. "Do you need anything?" she asked. He smiled, "Just you." Lyn smiled as he leaned in and kissed her again. Just then the electricity went out, leaving them completely in the dark. Nick felt Lyn get up, and with each flash of lightening watched her rummage through the kitchen until she found a candle, and got it lit. She carried it back into the living room and started to set it down on the coffee table. Nick reached out and took it from her, getting up he took her hand and led her to his room, shutting the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Damn it!" Kevin said as he stumped his toe for the second time. He was searching through the kitchen for a flashlight, candle anything. A.J. was walking around with his lighter, looking for something to light. "A.J. come here with that so I can see what I'm doing," Kevin said. A.J. walked into the kitchen and in a few minutes Kevin had found three candles. A.J. got them lit, and they carried them into the living room where everyone was sitting. "Alex, I thought you quit smoking," Tara said. "Well I did, but I still carry this with me. You never know when you might need it," he said smiling. Brian laughed, "Yeah, A.J. is our resident boy scout." Everyone laughed. Gary and Leighanne got up. "Well, we're gonna go to bed," Gary said. "You wanna take a candle?" Howie asked. "Naw, we don't need one," Leighanne said, taking Gary's hand and leading him down the hall. "Well, well," A.J said with a silly grin. "Bone, I swear," Kevin said. Brian and Tara got up and went to their room. "I don't see any lights at Lyn's," Howie said looking out the window. "They probably don't need any," A.J. said smiling. "Good God A.J. go call Sarah or something and get that outta your system," Kevin said. "What? I'm just stating the obvious," A.J. said. "Well the rest of us don't wanna hear about it," Kevin said, rather annoyed. A.J. got up acting hurt, "Fine. I'll just go to my room, see you in the morning." Howie and Kevin watched as he took a candle and walked down the hall. They waited until he shut the door before they spoke. "Ten bucks he's on the phone to Sarah," Howie said. Kevin laughed, "I'm not taking that one, I'd lose." "We sleeping out here then," Howie said. "Yup," Kevin answered. Chapter 73 |