| Chapter 7 The guys sat backstage trying to fill the time before their meet and greet. Nick was asleep on the couch, while the rest of the guys occupied themselves with the normal before concert activities. The last two weeks had been quiet. The teams had come in and were now just a part of the crew. Nothing had raised their suspicions so far, and the guys were hoping that maybe they were wrong after all. Maybe the Angels wouldn't come after Nick. But as long as they weren't sure, they kept their eyes open. Brian had taken on some of Nick's habits, wanting to make it harder for them to tell who was who if they did show up. When they were in public, Brian would eat just as much candy as Nick, hoping to confuse anyone if they happened to be watching. So far all it had done was make him hyper, and he thought he was getting a cavity. But he was willing to endure whatever he had to, to keep Nick safe. Henry walked into the dressing room, "Guys Meet and Greet in thirty." "Alright, Henry," Kevin said, standing up and stretching. Henry started to leave, then noticed Nick on the couch, "He alright?" "Yeah, he's not sleeping much at night though," Brian answered. Henry shook his head, "Poor kid. I don't know why someone would threaten him like that." The guys glanced between them, knowing Henry didn't know what was really going on. "Because they are sick, that's why," Howie said. Henry nodded, leaving the room. Just as Henry walked out the door, Nick stirred in his sleep, mumbling. Brian walked over, looking down on him. After two weeks of sharing a suite, he knew what the mumbling was. Nick was having another nightmare. "Nick, wake up," he urged, gently shaking him. Nick moved away from his touch, already short of breath, "No ... please." The rest of guys came over. "We need to wake him up before he starts screaming," Kevin said, reaching down and shaking him harder, "Nick, wake up!" Nick brought his hands up, trying to fight Kevin in his sleep, "Let go!" "Shit," A.J. said, "If he starts screaming the whole place is gonna hear." "Nicky, wake up, it's just a dream," Howie said, touching his cheek as Kevin tried to keep Nick from punching him. A.J. watched as the three tried unsuccessfully to wake Nick up, and with each outburst Nick got louder and louder. Thoughts of the other morning when Nick woke up the entire floor of the hotel ran through his mind. "Oh hell," A.J. muttered, as he pushed the other guys away and grabbed Nick by the face. "I'm doing this to shut him up," he said as he leaned in and kissed Nick on the lips. Nick immediately stopped fighting as his eyes flew open. It took him a second to realize it was A.J. that was kissing him, and when he did, he pushed him off, "J are you nuts!" Kevin, Brian and Howie were in shock, and laughing so hard they couldn't breathe. Nick was wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, glaring at A.J. like he'd lost his mind. And A.J..... A.J. looked stunned. He was staring at Nick, blinking his eyes, like he'd been shocked or something. "J, why the hell are you kissing me?" Nick asked, getting angry. "I-I was trying to shut you up," he finally said. "Shut me up?" Nick asked. "Yeah, you were having a nightmare," A.J. answered, "I j-just tried to ...." he trailed off, turning and walking over to the snack table and getting a bottled water. "What's wrong with him?" Howie asked. "I dunno," Kevin said, staring at A.J. Nick got up, recognizing A.J.'s reaction to him, "I'll talk to him, I think I know what it is." The guys sat down as Nick walked over to A.J. "Hey," Nick said, nudging him with his elbow. A.J. looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion, "Nick, what just happened?" Nick sighed, "I'm not sure, but ... this isn't the first time it's happened." A.J. stared at him. Nick lowered his voice to a whisper, "All my life, anyone that's ever kissed me on the lips like that has the same reaction you just did. I don't know what it is, because I don't feel anything other than a normal kiss. But obviously you did." A.J. nodded, looking down, "It's like in that moment our lips touched, you took my soul. I can't explain it, but I feel like ... hell I don't know what I feel." "J, I'm sorry. I guess I should've told you guys that, but I never guessed one of you would try and kiss me," Nick laughed. A.J. smiled, "Sorry, it was the only way I could think of to stop you from screaming." Nick grinned at him, "If it's any consolation, it was nice for the half second I didn't know it was you." A.J. laughed, "No, that's no consolation at all." Nick put his arm over A.J.'s shoulders, "Thanks though. I really don't wanna have to explain to everyone why I was screaming." "You're welcome, I think," A.J. said, smiling at him. Nick searched his eyes for a moment. The confusion was still there, but it wasn't as strong. "You gonna be alright?" he asked. A.J. nodded, "Yeah, I think so. Have you asked the feds about that? Maybe its one of those Angel traits?" Nick shook his head, "No, I don't think I want to talk to them about my sex life. That's a little to personal ya know." A.J. laughed, "You have a sex life?" Nick shoved him, "Oh shut up!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The guys walked into the meet and greet to the cheers of the fans. They all smiled and waved as they sat down at the table that was set up at the head of the room. Brian and Nick sat next to each other, both with a sucker in their mouth. The bodyguards stood behind them, watching the crowd as the line started moving. Nick finished signing his autograph and looked down the line. His eyes stopped on a young woman quite a ways back. She looked to be around his age, long blonde hair, golden tan and perfectly physically fit. "Nick?" the girl in front of him said. He smiled, "Hi, sorry. What's your name?" He signed the girls poster, but his attention kept going to the young woman in line. He felt strange, like a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knew he didn't need any more sugar, he was already on his second sucker since he'd sat down. He looked back at the woman in line. She was close enough now, that he could see her eyes. They were as green as Kevin's. Something in the back of his mind told him that she was the reason he was feeling like this. Brian leaned over and whispered in his ear, "You alright?" Nick nodded, "I feel a little strange." Brian looked at him with concern in his eyes. "I'll be OK," Nick whispered as the next person stepped in front of them. They both dawned their famous smiles and went on with the activity of signing their name and posing for pictures. Finally the woman Nick was staring at, was in front of them. Nick smiled at her, hoping he was hiding the way his stomach was doing flip flops, "Hi," he said taking the cd jacket she handed him, "What's your name?" "Ana," she said, in an accent Nick didn't really recognize. Nick signed the jacket and slid it over to Brian, "Ana, that's pretty. You aren't from around here are you?" She smiled, "No, I came over from Europe to see you." "Wow, just to see us?" Brian said. She nodded shyly, as she took the cd jacket from Brian, "Thank you." They both smiled at her, thanking her for traveling all that way just to see them. The rest of the meet and greet was pretty uneventful. After the guys finished signing, they mingled around with the fans for a few minutes. Nick noticed Ana in the group of girls he and Brian were talking to, but she hung back, content to just listen. He didn't get another chance to talk to her before they were ushered backstage to get ready for the show. "So what was going on out there?" Brian asked as they walked down the hall to the dressing room. Nick shrugged, "I'm not sure. I just felt strange." "Like how?" Tom asked, coming up beside him. "I dunno, like a strange feeling in my stomach," Nick said, "Am I getting sick?" "I don't think so," Tom said, looking concerned. "Then what?" Brian asked. "Nick, was the feeling associated with someone in the room?" he asked. Nick stopped walking, "Yeah, why?" "Because I know for a fact that some of the Angel's can tell when others are around," he said, pulling his radio out, "Who was it?" "Ana," he said, "But she didn't look like an Angel." "Tell me what she looked like," Tom said, relaying the information into the radio. "Alright, all the agents are looking for her," he said. Nick was suddenly frightened, "So what do we do?" "Act as if nothing is going on. You'll do the show and then we're going back to the hotel just like normal. The guards will be with you every time you set foot off stage," Tom said. "And I'll be with you too," Brian said. Nick nodded, trying to curb his fear. "What's going on?" Kevin asked, coming out of the dressing room. Brian and Nick walked over to him. "They think they're here," Brian said as Nick walked past the two into the dressing room. "Who the Angels?" Kevin asked. Brian nodded, glancing at Nick. He was getting into his costume for the show. "Shit," Kevin mumbled, "What do they want us to do?" "Act normal, but keep an eye out," Brian said. "Alright, I'll tell D and J, you stay with Nicky," Kevin said. "I plan on it," Brian stated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ana walked into the bathroom, going into one of the stalls. She shut the door and removed her wig, running her hand through her long dark brown hair. She reached behind the toilet and grabbed the bag she had left there hours earlier. Quickly she changed clothes, and placed a new wig on. This one was red. She then took out the contacts she had in and replaced them with a brown pair. Once she was done, she took out what looked like a cell phone and punched in a code. "Installez une antre equipe. Il y a de deux d'entre eax, et je ne peux pas dire le quel est lui," Install another team. There are two of them, and I can not tell which one is him, she said. "OK Ana, s�jour avec eux, nous serons l� bient�t," OK Ana, stay with them, we will be there soon, the voice on the other end said. She turned the device off and placed it in the purse she was carrying, stepping out of the stall. She threw the bag in the trash on her way out of the bathroom, heading into the arena to take her seat. Chapter 8 |