When things settled down again, Brian realised Lina had taken him back to his hotel room. She saw the puzzled expression on his face and laughed.
"It's not all special effects and fancy tricks, Frick. Even a special ops case like this one can get mundane at times."
"Could you not call me that?" he asked quietly.
Lina sobered immediately. "Sorry. I pick up a lot of his habits."
They were both silent for a moment. Lina roamed around the room restlessly, while Brian sat on the bed and picked at the counterpane. He was beginning to be aware of the sensation of being connected to Nick. His own thoughts seemed to echo a little and it was a little hard to focus. When he really concentrated, he could feel a peculiar buzzing in the back of his mind. Seeking a distraction, he opened his mouth to speak.
"So..."
"So..." Lina began almost simultaneously. They laughed. "Go first," she invited.
"So uh, why here?"
"If anyone comes looking for you, you can answer the phone or the door," was the simple answer. "Easy cover up. As to why so fast, the less you see of the people that are already feeding Nick emotions, the better; otherwise he'll get some stuff double. Also, Howie doesn't handle psychic activity well and you're in a really weird psychic place right now. So that was as much for Howie's good as for Nick's."
"Oh." Lina watched him digest this for a while.
"Well, that answers *my* question."
"Huh?"
"Remember? I was going to ask you a question?"
"Ummm."
"You're plenty spacey. A good sign, for now. If you need to focus, just talk it out. I won't mind."
"Why are you still here?"
"Waiting for you to be ready to talk about what happened when you tried to contact Nick. And... this is as close as I can get to Nick without hurting him." She turned to look out the window. Even spaced-out, Brian picked up on the fact that there was a lot going on he didn't know about.
"I won't ask. I probably wouldn't understand the answers," he told her, following her advice, which did seem to clear his head a little."If you're close to Nick, you're probably not going to like what I saw."
Her back stiffened, then relaxed. "I know," she replied softly. "But part of the point of having you go in there was to see how he was. And it's probably not as bad as my nightmares."
"All right. I could use some water." He walked over to the mini bar and opened it. "Want anything?"
"I'm okay."
He took a swig of water, then began the story.
A few hours later, Kevin, A.J. and Brian sat together in the hotel restaurant. Some of Howie's family had arrived earlier, giving A.J. a break from taking care of him. Lina had left not long ago, after a conference with Mindi. Dinner had been fairly silent, with everyone caught in their own little worlds.
Kevin put down his fork, and cleared his throat. The other two looked at him.
"It's just the five of us again."
"Huh?" A.J. looked over his sunglasses.
"Haven't you noticed? Even with Denise back with us, the Carters here, and Mindi mixed up with things.. all of Nick's team.. it's down to the five of us. Ever since we started this group, no matter what happens, it's like the world goes crazy around us and we've only got each other."
"I'm sure Kristin would be pleased to hear *that*."
"He's right... I think." Brian struggled to marshall his thoughts. Aaron had hung around his big brother for quite a while earlier, sending Brian a wave of Nick's emotions he hadn't fully recovered from. "The great thing about Leigh Anne, Kristin, and... "
"Amanda." A.J. supplied patiently. Brian's condition had been explained.
"Her. One of the good things about them is that they understand that. Leigh Anne is my life, and she knows that. But she also understands that when it comes to the group, there are some things that I share with you guys that she will never get."
"That's what I meant," Kevin agreed. "And here we are again. From what I can piece together, the only way to pull Nick out of this is to pull together, as a group. I bet you a hundred bucks not one of the other psychics will know exactly what goes on when we get into Nick's head."
A.J. held his tongue, but couldn't help wondering if Lina would somehow know. Fortunately the ringing of his cell phone saved him from making any kind of reply.
"Yo?"
"Bone?" It was Howie. "Pollyanna just left. I wouldn't mind the company..."
"Sure D, no problem. I'm on my way." He hung up. "He sounds fine. Maybe it's time to call Mindi again?"
"If one of you pays the bill, I'll go find her." Brian volunteered. "I'm not supposed to go near Howie right now."
"You're not supposed to go near us, and here you are." Kevin pointed out.
His only answer was a shrug. "Where else was I supposed to go?"
"Good answer." A.J. replied quietly. "Kev, you better follow him, make sure he doesn't space out and get lost or something."
"Right. We'll meet you at the hospital."