| Chapter 36 Brian sat on the couch flipping through the channels on the TV. He wasn't really watching anything, more just changing the channels to be doing something. He had wracked his brain for the past week and had come up with nothing. Not one thing he could do to help with the war. He was stressed, knowing there wasn't much time, and whatever he did needed to get done fast. He sighed looking around the room. The place seemed so empty now that everyone had gone home. Brian smiled, thinking of how much he wanted them to leave so he could concentrate on his task, and now he was missing them. He looked up as Lyn came down the stairs with papers in her hand. She smiled at him, "Hey, whatcha doing?" Brian shrugged, "Nothing. What's this?" he asked, pointing to the papers. "They're for you. They just came over the fax," she said, handing them to him. Brian looked at the cover sheet, it was from his attorney. He thumbed through the papers, holding up the first page for Lyn to see, "It's my divorce decree." Lyn sat down next to him, looking at the papers with him. She watched as he read the decree, then sat it on the coffee table. Brian looked at her, "What?" "I dunno, are you OK?" she asked. He smiled at her, "I'm perfectly fine. We agreed to this, and I'm where I want to be, and so is she. All this does is make it legal." Lyn stared into his eyes, seeing only love there. She smiled, "I guess, but wont the media be all over it now?" He shrugged, "Let them. I never cared for having to explain my personal life to the world. What I do on my time should be mine, but it never is, so let them hype it up, I don't really care. All I care about is being here with you, nothing else matters." Lyn laughed shaking her head. "What?" Brian asked confused. "Nothing else matters? Bri you've been a nervous wreak trying to figure out what it is you're suppose to be doing. Don't say nothing else matters, cause I know it does," she said. Brian looked down at this hands, and sighed, "You're right, that one thing is the only other thing that matters to me right now." Lyn took his hand in hers and brought it over to rest on her knee, "Honey, maybe you're missing it. Maybe it's right in front of you and you can't see it because you've been looking to hard?" Brian looked up at her, "But I should know. Tracy said that I would know what it was. If it was in front of me, wouldn't I have recognized it by now?" Lyn shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know Brian. All I know is that you've been miserable trying to figure this out. You know that old saying..... how does it go? �You can't see the forest for the trees?' Maybe you should stop searching, stop making yourself miserable over it and trust that God will let you know when the time is right." Brian ran his hand through his hair and laughed, "Maybe you're right. I know what I've been doing hasn't gotten me anywhere." Lyn smiled at him, "OK, no more obsessing over this. Just relax and maybe it will come to you." Brian nodded, "Can't hurt to try I guess. OK, I'm not gonna think about it anymore, whatever comes, comes." "Good, now you relax and I'll go make us some dinner. Anything in particular you want?" she asked. Brian grinned at her, "Um yeah, but it's not food." Lyn rolled her eyes, "Brian! God, I swear you are incorrigible." He feigned shock, "Who me? Incorrigible? Naw never," he laughed. Lyn stood up heading for the kitchen, "I dunno what I'm suppose to do with you." "I have some suggestions," Brian called after her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tara stood on the balcony looking over the city. She and Nick had been given a beautiful home to stay in just outside the city. She could see the country side and the mountains in the distance, as well as the city itself. The home was like nothing she had ever seen on earth. The entire house was made of white marble that shown like the sun. They had everything they ever wanted inside that house. Tara smiled, running her hand along the polished banister. She then looked back out at the view. The training sessions had been going very well. They had been pushing their students hard all week and decided to give them a small break, resuming classes in the morning. Nick had been meeting with the counsel and the generals, getting prepared for the war in between teaching. Tara was waiting for him to return from just such a meeting. She still couldn't believe what Nick was doing sometimes. He amazed her at every turn. Nick possessed a knowledge that she couldn't fathom, and he used it in building the strategy for the war. She knew they would win, they always won in the end, but Nick's strategy was geared toward winning with as little blood shed as possible. She admired him for standing up to the generals for his ideas. It was hard to convince them, but Nick did a great job of it, and now they were working like a well oiled machine, planning and preparing for every possible event. Tara closed her eyes, letting the breeze flow over her face and through her hair. She smiled, "I thought you'd never get back," she said as Nick appeared beside her. "Sorry, long meeting today," he said, looking down at her, "How are you?" "I'm perfect now that you're here," she said. Nick laughed, "You know? I feel the same way." Tara took his hand leading him into the house, "I've got dinner ready, I know you must be starving." "I'm famished. Remind me never to get Gideon and Jarab started on the subject of battle lines again," he said with a laugh. They reached the spacious kitchen and Nick stopped in his tracks, seeing the table elegantly set for two. Soft music was playing in the background, while candles where set everywhere, adding their scent and light to the room. "Please have a seat Mr. Carter," Tara said, grinning. Nick shook his head, walking over to a chair and setting down, "I truly don't deserve you." Tara laughed as she sat next to him, "I think I should be the one saying that, not you." Nick took her hand in his, looking deep into her eyes, "I love you so much. I don't know how I got this lucky to have you with me, but I thank God everyday for it." Tara looked down at her plate, blushing, "I feel the same way. I'm so in awe of you, of who you are, and what you're doing. I can't believe that I'm with you sometimes, and that you love me." Nick reached out, lifting her face up with his finger so she was looking at him, "I will love you until the end of time. Nothing will ever tare us apart." Tara smiled at him, letting a tear fall from her eye. Nick brushed it away with his thumb, as he pulled her to him. Their lips meeting in a soft sensual kiss. After a few moments, Tara pulled away. Her heart pounding in her chest and butterflies in her stomach. Nick always did that to her. She smiled at him, "Now eat before it gets cold." Nick grinned at her, then turned his attention to the food. "Is it just me, or does everything taste better up here?" Nick asked, his mouth full. Tara laughed, "I think it's just you." Nick shrugged, taking another bite, "This is really good." "Thanks," Tara said, smiling at him. Nick looked over the table, "Um is there any desert?" Tara nodded, taking a drink. Nick's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning, "Oh? What is it?" Tara sat her glass down and grinned at him mischievously, "Me." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian tossed and turned in bed. No matter what he did, he couldn't get comfortable, and he wasn't tired. He finally gave up trying to sleep for fear that his constant movement would wake Lyn, and got up, walking into the living room. He felt anxious for some reason, like he could run a marathon if he needed to. He paced around the room and shook his hands at his sides trying to release some of the pent up energy he had. He looked over, seeing Lyn's laptop on the coffee table. He walked over, sitting down and booting up the computer. He smiled as a picture of him and Lyn appeared as the background on the screen. "I remember this," he said to himself, "Nick took this when we were on tour." Brian ran his finger over the image. He and Lyn were sitting together on a couch laughing at each other. Brian looked at the photo for another moment, then clicked the internet button. He didn't know what he was looking for, but this was as good a way as any to pass the time. He checked out a few fan sites, amazed at how much work these people put into their sites. "We should hire some of these people to run our website," he laughed. Brian went from site to site. Reading the latest gossip and rumors about the group. Each time he found a site with a link to fan fiction, he'd pass over it. He didn't like fan fiction, but each time he passed the link he felt like he should go back. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and clicked on the fiction link to the page he was looking at. He skimmed through the titles of the stories. Nothing really jumped out at him, so he went to another site. After passing a few more sites he found the mother load of Backstreet fan fiction. It really amazed him how many stories there were about him and the guys out there. Curiosity finally got the better of him and he clicked on a story. He read several chapters, letting the plot pull him in. Before he knew it he'd read the entire thing, and was looking for another. "Man this stuff is addicting," he muttered, clicking on yet another story. Brian lay back on the couch, placing a pillow on his lap and putting the computer on top of it so he could read comfortably while laying down. "I think I could write better than this," he said, leaving the story he'd just finished and looking for yet another. He closed his eyes for a moment, clearing the fog away from staring at the computer screen for so long. He found a story that looked interesting and clicked on it, yawning as the page loaded. He started reading, fighting to keep his eyes open to get to the end of the paragraph he was on. Brian closed his eyes, letting his body relax. His fingers slowly slid from the keyboard as sleep overtook him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn woke to find that she was alone in bed. She lifted her head, looking around the room. When she saw no sign of Brian she got up heading to the living room. She smiled as she approached the couch. Brian was asleep with her laptop placed on a pillow on his stomach. Lyn sat on the coffee table and carefully picked up the computer, placing it on her lap. The screen saver was on, so she hit the mouse. She looked at the page displayed on the screen, then looked over at Brian. "Fan fiction? You hate fan fiction," she whispered. Lyn then pulled up the history, curious as to what all Brian had been looking at. "Lord, you must have been up all night," she commented seeing the number of sites that showed up. She was skimming through some of the sites that Brian had visited when he woke up. "Hey, you get much sleep," she asked, peeking around the screen to look at him. Brian shook his head, "Not much." "So what'd you read last night?" she asked. Brian sat up, running his hand through his hair, "I really don't remember. Some story bout me and Nick fighting over a girl. Then there was one where I was dead and came back to haunt Kevin. That one was funny." Lyn laughed, "I bet. So why the sudden interest in fan fiction? You hate that stuff." "I dunno really. I got curious as to what was out there, then when I started reading I couldn't stop," he answered, standing up and stretching. Lyn sat the computer down and watched as Brian walked over to the windows. He looked out at the morning sun, leaning against the window and looking at the water. Brian let the waves mesmerize him, much like the stories had done the night before. He didn't notice Lyn walk up next to him. He was to lost in his own thoughts. Lyn cocked her head, staring at him. She watched as he jumped, then blinked his eyes a few times. The look on his face concerned her, "Bri, are you OK?" He looked over at her, a mixture of shock and joy in his eyes, "I know what it is I'm suppose to do." Chapter 37 |