| Chapter 5 The guys sat on the couch, shocked. The agents had just finished explaining everything they had told Nick. Kevin opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, looking confused. "I got a question," A.J. said, "How come Nick looks like his family? I mean his little brother is his spitting image." "The Carter's were specifically chosen to take Nick in. We knew that if they were to have any children of their own, they would bare a striking resemblance to Nick," Tom explained. "Do they know where I came from?" Nick asked in a shaky voice. He still hadn't quite calmed down completely, a tear escaping every so often. "No they don't," Tamara answered, "They know you were in danger, but they don't know that you aren't human." "But why didn't they tell me I was adopted?" Nick asked. "They were instructed not to. We were afraid that if you knew, you might want to try and find your birth parents. We couldn't allow that to happen. The Angel's are a very advanced race, they monitor everything here. If you went looking for your parents, they would've found you," Tom said. "OK, if Nick's mark showed up in the lights, did the audience see him? What he looks like?" Kevin asked. "No, they only saw the mark. Which is to our advantage," Tom said. "How?" Brian asked. "You all were already under the stage. All they saw was a hand and the mark, which means they don't know it was Nick," Tamara said. "But it has to be Nick, they know he's blonde," Howie said. "Yes, and so is Brian," she said, smiling. Nick looked up at her, "Oh no, you can't." "Can't what?" Howie asked. "Use Brian as a decoy," Nick answered, "You can't." "Nick, we don't want to use him as bait, we just want to confuse them. Maybe it'll buy us time," Tamara said. Nick shook his head, "No. I don't want him in danger because of me." "Don't you think I should decide that?" Brian asked him. "What exactly are you wanting to do?" Kevin asked. "We want to put a guard on both of them. We have two teams ready to come in. They consist of another body guard for each of them, then we will place team members in as the crew and bus drivers. We don't want to be obvious that they are being guarded," Tom explained. "But it will be," A.J. said. "How so?" Tamara asked. A.J. sighed, "Look at you. You drip Federal Agent. Anyone that looks at you will know." "The teams will be undercover," Tom said. A.J. shook his head, "Doesn't matter, you can still tell." Tamara and Tom glanced at one another. "OK, if you can tell. How many people do you think work for us that are on tour with you right now?" Tamara asked. A.J. thought for a moment, "Two." They both looked surprised. "Name them," Tom said. "Harold with the road crew and Julie in wardrobe," A.J. said with a satisfying grin. "Is he right?" Brian asked. "Yes, but that's beside the point," Tom said. "No it's not!" Nick yelled, "You are not putting my friends in danger just to hide me!" Brian put his hand on Nick's arm, "Calm down. They aren't forcing me to do anything that I wouldn't already do. It'll be fine." "You don't know that Bri. You could get hurt. What if they take you and then find out they goofed, they might kill you," Nick worried. "We won't allow them to take anyone," Tamara said. "But you can't promise that," Kevin said, "You said yourself they were more advanced than us. How do you fool them? How do you fight them if they're smarter and have better weapons than we do?" "We don't," Tom admitted, "We deal with them diplomatically. The Angels are a very structured race. They are steeped in tradition and diplomacy. I don't believe they would forcefully take Nick, and we won't allow him to go." "So why are you guarding me if you don't think they'll take me?" Nick asked. "Because there is always an exception to the rule," Tamara said. "Um, why do they want Nick back anyway?" Howie asked. "Yeah, it's been twenty-one years. How do you know they still want him?" A.J. added. Tom sighed, thumbing through a file, "They are a hard race to understand, but we know they still want Nick. They've been sending search parties here since the begining looking for him. Even as recent as last month." "Oh my God," Brian said, looking at Nick, "The doctor. He said that a woman was here a month ago with your symptoms, that's how he knew what to do for you." Nick looked at the two, "Yeah, why didn't you guys tell someone what to do for me when I got sick?" "Nick, once we gave you to the Carter's we could no longer have any official contact with you. We didn't know much about your race then, and didn't realize they were allergic to something in the air until much later. You seemed to be doing alright, so we didn't risk it," Tamara said. "But I've been sick every couple months for my entire life!" Nick said, "You couldn't drop a line to mom and tell her how to stop it?" "No we couldn't," Tom said, "We told you before, they monitor everything." "So they know who we are, right?" A.J. asked. "Yes, they know who the Backstreet Boys are," Tamara said. "So why don't we know anything about them?" Kevin asked. Both agents laughed. "Could you imagine the chaos that would throw the entire planet in?" Tom said. "Our world isn't ready to find out that there is life on other planets," Tamara added. "So the government keeps this from us for our own good?" Brian asked. "Yes," they both said. "Well that sucks," A.J. said. "Yes it does," Tom agreed, "But I'd rather it be this way than the alternative." "Which is?" Howie asked. "Our world thinking we can expand and take on some new territories. We aren't ready to be in a war with any of the worlds we know about. They are all well advanced of us. It would be utter suicide," he said. "So what keeps them from coming here and taking us over?" Nick asked. "You and others like you," Tamara answered, "As long as a race can slip into society unnoticed, we will take them in. That's what keeps us safe. None of the worlds we've come in contact with want to start a war, for fear of hurting their own people here." "So are there other Angels here?" Nick asked. "No, just you," Tom said. "They don't like it here. It's too dark and if they stay here for any period of time they get sick," Tamara added. Nick sighed, leaning back against the couch. Brian glanced at him, knowing he was mired in emotion, even though he was doing a good job of hiding most of it. Howie looked at Nick for a moment, then to the agents, "Um, if they get Nick back, what would they do with him?" Nick looked up, not sure he wanted to hear the answer. "Most likely, they would study him. Find out why he's not like everyone else, and then ..." Tom trailed off. "Then what?" Brian asked. "They would kill him," Tamara finished. Nope, definitely didn't want to hear that answer. "Alright," Kevin said, "Bring your people in. We'll do whatever we have to to keep Nick safe." "Should we cancel the tour?" Howie asked. "No, keep on as you normally would," Tom said. "If you cancel they'll know you're hiding," Tamara added. Kevin nodded, standing up, "We've all had a long day. Let's go back to the hotel and rest, we can talk more in the morning." "Good, idea," Tamara said, "We'll call our team up and get them in place." "What are you gonna tell Henry?" Brian asked. She smiled, "We'll take care of him, don't worry." The guys got up and headed for the door. Nick walked over to the agents, "Um, can I have that?" he asked, pointing to the hologram machine. Tom picked it up and handed it to him. Nick smiled weakly, "Thanks." Tom nodded, feeling sorry for him. Nick had just had his entire life turned upside down and all he asked for was a cheap hologram machine. The least he could do was give it to him. Nick clutched the box to his chest, as if it was his most prized possession, as he left the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian knocked on the bedroom door, peering in, "Hey, can I come in?" "Sure," Nick said. He was laying in bed staring at the ceiling. The lights were off and the machine was on. Stars and planets hovered in the air. Occasionally a comet would streak by. Brian had moved into Nick's room, taking the extra bedroom, not wanting to leave him alone. He walked over and sat down on the bed, "This is pretty cool." "Yeah," Nick said, still staring at the planet on the edge of the galaxy. Brian watched him for a moment, "You wanna talk?" Nick shook his head. "You want me to leave you alone?" Brian asked. Again he shook his head. Brian sat back and watched the stars, knowing Nick would talk when he was ready. After about ten minutes he finally spoke. "It's not fair," he said softly. "What?" Brian asked. Nick sighed, "I don't belong there either. I can't believe they exiled me because of the way I looked! How vain are these people anyway?!" Brian shrugged, "I don't know." Nick looked at him, "Am I that bad of a person?" "No! Not at all. Don't ever say that," Brian said. Nick looked back at his planet, "Where do I fit then? I don't fit here, and obviously I don't fit there. Is there ever going to be a place I fit? A place that I belong?" "Nick, please don't. You know you belong here with us. We love you," Brian said, his heart breaking for his friend. "I know, I love you guys too," Nick said, "But ..." Brian held his hand up, "No buts. I've been thinking since we got back, and I'm not sure they're telling us everything. Maybe it's not exactly what they're making it out to be." "You think they're lying to us?" Nick asked. Brian shrugged, "Maybe. I mean look how long the government has been lying to all of us. We've only heard one side of the story here." "Yeah but to hear the other side, they have to find us," Nick said, "Then what if we're wrong, and they were telling us everything? Then I'm screwed." "True," Brian agreed. The two were quiet for a moment, then Nick looked at him. "Bri, I need to ask you something," he said, "When you saw me, were you scared of me?" Brian smiled at him, "No, I was shocked, surprised, but not scared." "Why not?" he asked. "Because I knew that no matter what you look like on the outside, you're still my best friend on the inside," he answered. Nick smiled, that was the answer he was hoping for. "Bri, I'm scared," he admitted. Brian put his arm around the younger man's shoulders, "So am I Nicky, so am I." Chapter 6 |