| Chapter 27 Brian sat on the floor next to the couch watching TV. He really didn't like what was on, but Tara still had the remote in her hand, and he was afraid he would wake her if he took it from her. He had walked over to the set, looking for the button to change the channel manually, but didn't find the right one, and gave up. He sighed, looking around the room for something to do to pass the time. Just then he heard a scratching sound coming from Nick's bedroom. He got up and walked over, slowly opening the door and letting Angel out. Brian peeked in, seeing Lyn asleep next to Nick, smiling at the sight. Angel looked up at Brian and softly whined. "What you want?" Brian asked. She whined again. "Angel, you have to show me, I can't understand you like Tara and Nick can," Brian said, smiling at her. Angel looked at him for a moment, then jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. "Oh, you want to play, huh?" Brian said, laughing. Angel wagged her tail, and barked. "Where are your toys at?" Brian asked, getting up and heading for the door. He figured that Kristin still had all of Angels stuff in her and Kevin's room. He opened the door and walked over to their room, tapping on the door. "Go away!" Kevin yelled from the other side. "Kev, I need Angels stuff," Brian said. Brian waited, hearing someone walking around in the room. The door flew open, and Kevin handed him a bag, "You have really bad timing, you know that cuz?" Brian took the bag, noticing Kevin was only in his boxers, "Sorry man, see ya later." Brian turned to go back in his room, hearing Kevin slam the door behind him. Angel was standing in the door, looking at Brian. "See, you got me in trouble," Brian said, trying to contain his laughter, but not being able to. He walked back in his room, and shut the door. "OK, lets see what you got in here," he said, digging through the bag. "Oh, here we go," he said, pulling out Angel's favorite red ball. Angel jumped at it immediately, and Brian pulled it from her reach. Instead of throwing it, Brian held on to the ball, and ran around the room, Angel on his heals. Before he knew it, he was laughing hysterically at their game of tag. Angel managed to trip him, and grabbed the ball, taking off in the other direction. Brian chased her, and caught her, getting ahold of the ball and playing tug of war with her. Brian was pulling with all his might, when Angel let go. Brian flew backwards, landing on his rear. He heard laughter and looked up, Tara was sitting on the couch watching. "Did you tell her to do that?" he asked, getting up. Tara smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "Um, maybe." Brian got up and threw the ball for Angel, walking over and sitting on the couch next to Tara. "You have a good nap?" he asked. "Yeah, you should have woke me up when you got back though," she said. "Naw, you need your rest to," Brian said. Angel walked up with the ball and dropped it at Brian's feet. He picked it up and threw it again, Angel running after it. "She loves that game," Tara said, smiling. "Yeah I know. She wears me out with it," Brian said. "So where's Lyn?" Tara asked. "Asleep, with Nick," he answered. Tara sighed, "I hate it that he's like this, the first time they've seen each other in weeks." "Yeah, well like you said, he'll feel better tomorrow, and then one of us is gonna have to get another room," Brian said, smiling. Tara laughed at him, "Is that all you think about?" "Um most of the time, yeah," he said, laughing. Angel walked up and dropped the ball again, looking at Tara and barking. Tara put her hand over her mouth, laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. "What?" Brian asked. "She.....she asked if.......she should go sit in the hall for awhile. Leave us alone.....so we could........" Tara said, still laughing. "I get it," Brian said, laughing, "No Angel, you don't have to leave. Just because we talk about it, doesn't mean we're gonna do it." She barked again and Tara almost fell off the couch laughing. "She says it does when Kevin talks about it," Tara translated. Brian shook his head, "Oh man, that's more than I wanted to know about him." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leighanne, Gary, and Tara Gail stepped off the elevator and looked down the hall. "I wonder which room everyone is in?" Gary asked. "I'm not sure, we'll just try one and see who we get," Leighanne said. "I'll go put the suitcases in our room," Gary said, heading down the hall to their door. Leighanne walked over to a door, and listened for a moment. She laughed, "Kevin's room, and busy." She walked across the hall, again listening. She didn't hear anything, so she knocked. The door opened, Brian seeing her and pulling her into a hug, "Hey, I didn't know you guys were coming." "Yeah, Kira called last week and asked us to come," Leighanne said, walking into the room. Tara got up off the couch and walked over, taking the toddler from Leighanne and holding her. "Hey there little one, you're really growing," she said. Tara Gail laughed, looking down at Angel. Tara bent down, "Angel, this is Tara Gail." Angel wagged her tail and barked. Gary came down the hall and into the room, Brian having left the door ajar. "Hey Brian, how are ya?" he asked, shaking Brian's hand. "Good, glad this tour is almost over. You guys staying for the last show?" he asked. "I am, Gary is gonna take Tara back after the wedding tomorrow," Leighanne said. "Oh, short trip," Tara said. "Yeah, I've got to be on set the next day," Gary said. "Another movie?" Brian asked. "Yeah, small independent film," Gary answered. "So where's Nick's room? I wanna go say hi," Leighanne asked. Tara and Brian shot each other looks. "Lee, Nick is staying with us," Brian said. "He is? Why?" she asked. Brian motioned for them to all have a seat, which they did. "Nick's trials started just after we got on tour. He has to stay close to Tara so she can help him after they leave," Brian said. "Oh man," Gary said. "So is something wrong now? Why isn't he here?" Leighanne asked. "He's asleep right now. Well more like knocked out at the moment," Tara said, "It's a long story, but he spent all of his energy keeping them from hurting the guys during the show last night." Leighanne shook her head, "I can't believe he's been going through that the entire tour." "It hasn't been that bad, until just recently," Brian said. "Can we help in anyway?" Gary asked. Tara smiled at him, "You can pray, that's all any of us can do." "You can't help him with it?" Leighanne asked. Tara looked saddened, "No, I'm not suppose to." "Hey, we just ordered room service, you guys wanna stay and order something?" Brian asked, changing the subject. "Um, naw that's OK," Leighanne said, "It's been a long day, think we'll just go back to our room and get settled." "OK, then I guess we'll see ya in the morning," Brian said. "Yeah, I can't wait to see Howie tomorrow. I know he has to be excited about this," she said. "Excited is an understatement," Brian said, smiling. Tara handed Tara Gail back to Leighanne and walked them to the door. "I'll tell Nick you're here when I wake him," she said. "Thanks, see ya in the morning," Leighanne said, leaving the room, Gary right behind her. Tara shut the door and looked at Brian. "Well that was a surprise, I didn't know they were coming," Brian said. "Yeah, Kira thought of everyone," Tara said, walking back over to the couch and sitting down. Brian pulled her into a hug and held her there, "I say when this is all over, we go away, just the two of us for a long vacation." Tara laughed, "I'll second that thought." Just then a knock came at the door. "I'll get it, has to be room service," Brian said, getting up and answering the door. Indeed it was room service, the man pushing the cart in and placing it next to the table in the room. Brian tipped him and let him out the door. Tara stood up, "I guess I'll go wake Nick." Brian walked with her into the room. Lyn was still asleep next to him. Tara stood there looking at the two. "They are cute together aren't they?" she asked. "Yeah, they are. I'm glad they found each other," Brian said. Lyn smiled, opening her eyes, "So am I," she said sitting up. Tara walked over and hugged her, "Good to see you." "You to," Lyn said, getting up and stretching, "Man how long did I sleep?" "Couple hours," Brian answered. "Felt like days," she said, straightening her clothes. Tara sat on the edge of the bed and reached up, placing her hand over Nick's eyes. He moaned, and moved around a little, finally opening his eyes and looking at her. "It's time to get up and eat," Tara said, "And someone wants to see you." Nick blinked a few times, sitting up and rubbing his face, "Who?" "Me," Lyn said, stepping out from behind Tara. Nick's face lit up, "Lyn!" He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her down on the bed, hugging her, "God, I missed you." Lyn was laughing, "I missed you to baby." Nick kissed her like it was the last time he'd ever get to, "I love you so much." Brian and Tara smiled at each other, wondering if they should leave the room, or make Nick get up and eat first. Finally Tara cleared her throat, "Um, you need to eat." Nick looked up at her, "Party pooper." "Come on, we'll eat and catch up on things," Lyn said, getting up and pulling him off the bed. Nick followed her into the living area, and found a place at the table. "We ordered for you, hope you don't mind," Brian said, looking at each plate and passing it to the right person. "Cool, my favorite," Nick said, digging in. Lyn took hers, looking at it, "Brian, you remembered." He smiled, "Yup, never forget a friends favorite food." Tara laughed, "But you forget your wife's." Brian looked over at her plate, "OK that is not what I ordered." "It's OK, I like this to," she said, waving her hand. Brian sat down and started on his own meal. The dinner conversation was filled with the happenings of the past few weeks. Lyn caught Nick up on all the business dealings, and he shared several incidences from his trials with her. He didn't go into much detail, knowing it would hurt her that he had endured it. Nick was hungrier than he thought, eating all of his meal, and what Tara and Lyn didn't eat of theirs. Finally everyone had finished, miserably stuffed. They all moved over to the couches, resting. "Oh Nick, Lee and Gary are here," Tara said. "Really? Cool," Nick said. "How are you feeling?" Lyn asked, looking over at Nick. "Much better," he said, "I'm not as tired as I was." "That's good," she said, grinning at him. Nick smiled at her, seeing that look in her eyes. "Nick, go ahead. You're well enough that I don't have to knock you out anymore if you don't want me to," Tara said. Nick took Lyn's hand and stood up, heading for his room. When they entered and shut the door, Brian looked over at Tara, "What'd you say to him?" "Just that he was well enough that I didn't need to knock him out anymore," she said. Brian smiled, "Well I guess we know what that means now don't we?" Tara laughed, "I guess so. Think it's to late to get another room?" Brian laughed, pulling her close and kissing her. Tara breathed into the kiss, putting her hand on Brian's chest. A scratching sound pulled the two from their kiss. Angel was rased up on the door, pawing at the door knob. She finally got it open and whined at Tara before she walked out into the hall. "Let me guess," Brian said, "She'll be in the hall when we're done?" "Yup," Tara said, waving her hand towards the door, and shutting it. Chapter 28 |