Kevin hobbled up and down the hospital corridor, pacing on his crutches. He'd been going for about fifteen minutes and the night shift barely looked up as he passed the nursing station again. Action always helped Kevin think. Normally, he would have cleaned house, or the bus, or the hotel room. There wasn't much to clean in a hospital, so he'd taken to pacing.
His world had gone topsy-turvy that morning. To the other Boys he presented a facade of anger at Nick's lies, but it was partly a cover for the fear that had seized his heart. What he had seen and heard at the crash site was evidence of what was probably the world's biggest conspiracy. There had been perhaps twenty or thirty people there, all psychic, from what he had gathered, and they weren't mysterious super-heroes.
Anyone not an EMT, or part of the fire brigade, is getting ready to pull out.
One ambulance is ahead of the pack, driven by one of us. We're gonna pretend the EMTs here came with that one and are just dealing with you now.
Marge? You on the fire truck up there?
The Backstreet Boys just had a lucky escape, let's make it look real!
At least some of those people were qualified emergency personnel. They had day jobs. They could be anyone. They could be the saxophonist who had been on two tours with you, or worse, the guy you thought of as your little brother. The one you had watched grow up, the one you thought came to you with all his worst troubles. Suddenly he was a stranger, with strange abilities and a secret life. If Nick was in on it, who else might be? The doctor who was monitoring them? The people on the management team? His wife? Who could he really trust?
But in one moment, Nick had managed to throw him yet another curveball. That was like Nick, to keep everyone guessing until the very end. No matter what his public persona of the moment, the real Nick was much different, a person known only to his four groupmates, his brothers. Kevin shook his head. No. They hadn't known him at all. Except...
Legal guardian. When the chips were down, Nick had turned to Kevin for help once again. Brian was his best friend, but when things got so bad that he didn't want advice, or friendly commiseration, it was Kevin he always turned to for hugs and a shoulder to cry on. Homesickness was something to grouse to Brian about. Trouble at home would find him hanging about Kevin silently, waiting for the older man to turn to him.
Kevin finished a game of pool with Howie and waited as his friend made a sour face and counted out ten pounds. The blonde head over in the arcade section caught his eye. It was bent over one of the consoles, apparently concentrating on a game, but the lanky frame it was attatched to was still, instead of thrashing about with every move as Nick was wont to do. He waved Howie off at the offer of a movie and went to join the youngest member.
Nick didn't look up at his approach, just kept staring at the brightly-lit screen.
"Out of money?" Kevin asked gently.
"No," was the sullen reply.
"What's up then?"
"Nothing."
"You sure? Most people don't stare at video games in hotel game rooms at 4 in the morning."
"Most people don't have to deal with my mom."
"Oh." He waited, having some idea what the problem was already.
"Lou thought it was a good idea too. I thought he'd tell her how stupid it was."
Lou's not perfect, Nick. Not by a long shot. "What'd he say?"
The teen shrugged. "I'm popular. Fans want to know me. It'll help the group. Boost the family image. The same old stuff. Stupid stuff." He sighed, finally looking up to face Kevin. "You know how I thought things were getting better? All those long phone calls and talks we were having when she was on the road with us? I thought..." he closed his eyes, pain evident on his face. "I thought she was finally listening to me," he gulped. "I thought she was starting to understand." Tears trickled down his cheeks at last. "She was taping it all."
"Oh Nick." It was all he could say. What else was there? Without a word he reached for the young boy and hugged him close, letting him cry.
Kevin leaned against the cold metal doors separating the waiting room from the ICU. Somewhere in there lay both a stranger, and one of his closest friends in the world. "Who are you, Nick?" he whispered.