A.J. filled Howie in on the weekend's happenings tucked away in a corner at a diner they both liked. He only left out one thing. How do you tell your best friend, "Oh by the way, you're allergic to me too"?
"Ouch," was Howie's first comment when the tale was done. "So she hasn't explained or anything?"
"I dunno. Nick's in silent mode again, or trying to be," A.J. shrugged. "He might have talked to her by now."
Howie shook his head, "He said this morning he didn't know what he'd done."
"He talked to you?"
"A little. I did most of the talking - I think I surprised him," Howie smiled slightly.
"How?"
"I told him what his problem was."
"Huh?"
"You know he's in love with her, right?"
"That is getting to be painfully obvious, D."
"Yeah, but I knew five years ago," he waved off A.J.'s stuttering. "Not the whole psychic deal, or the name or anything, but Nick's been pining for *somebody* forever."
"Wow. His girlfriend's only started to clue in this month. She's going to be pissed if she finds out you knew before he met her."
Howie ignored this. "What do you think happened?" he wondered. "She fought like hell to get him out of that coma. Remember how she laid into us?"
"D, I will remember every second of that whole ordeal until the day I die."
"Remember how she broke down at the end?" Howie's voice softened. "It was killing her not to be able to help him."
A.J. nodded soberly. The angry young woman had come in with both barrels blazing and ended up in his arms, being consoled. "But y'know D... no one told us everything about what was going on."
"What do you mean?"
"There was something not right with Lina the whole way through. It was like people were afraid to mention her." A.J. stood up, "Mindi probably knows."
"Uh, Alex?" Howie couldn't help but grin. "Are you going to be messing around in someone else's love life *again*?"
"Just trying to help Nick out, he's miserable." Suddenly the Backstreet Boys' bad boy was the picture of innocence, "Besides, if he starts raising furniture on tour I think the secrecy thing kinda goes out the window."
Howie laughed. "True. Just remember, if you do this, you're messing around in a whole different world, with different rules. You're not just playing with Nick's heart."
"I am not *playing* with Nick's heart," A.J. managed to sound thoroughly offended. "I respect Nickolas one hundred percent, and I would never toy with his emotions."
"Alex..." It was the same warning tone Nick had used in his head the night before. A.J. covered his wince with a return to the serious.
"Honestly, I won't do anything that could make it worse," he promised. "But if I can at least get a *reason* out of Mindi, it might at least give Nick something to go on."
"All right," Howie conceded. "But finish your brunch first, huh? I paid good money for this!"
Suzanne?
Yes Nick?
House call.
Give me ten minutes.
That done, Nick finally got up and stared pretending he might have some reason to be active, if not actually happy. Panda and Bear trotted after him from the guest room to the bathroom, from the bathroom to the kitchen, never letting him out of their sight. He slipped them each a doggie treat for their sympathy. He was deciding what went well on toast when Suzanne arrived.
Problems? she asked in a kind but efficient voice, her doctor's voice. Nick ignored the toast and perched himself on A.J.'s kitchen counter.
"Two nights in a row I've lifted everything inanimate in this house three feet or so in the air. While sleeping."
"That's a problem," she agreed dryly. "Ever pulled this trick before?"
"First time on tour," he nodded. "Lina kept an eye on me for about three weeks until I was comfortable enough to stop. I can't wait three weeks this time."
Suzanne noticed he hadn't even winced at Lina's name. "You're pretty calm about everything."
"Not calm," he corrected her, "angry."
"Angry?" She wasn't feeling anger from him. Wasn't feeling much of anything from him actually - tight emotional sheilds, not a good sign at all, the physician side of her noted.
"I'm feeling a lot of things about this mess and I decided this morning that angry is the only one I can do and stay functional."
Suzanne shrugged. She wasn't ready to push Nick into some sort of cathartic outburst that morning. "Whatever gets you by. You'll let us know when you're ready to go on call again?"
That thought did make Nick wince. "Could be a while. About the floating furniture?" he prompted.
"Any recurring dreams?"
He shook his head. "Nope. I'm just generally upset." His detached tone warned Suzanne just *how* upset he might be, to be pushing things down so far.
"Then the only thing I can think of is to seal the room before you go to sleep. If that doesn't work, get someone else to seal it for you."
"That won't stop it!" he protested.
"No, but it will keep your telekinesis localised until you can deal with your issues." Blunt, but true. Nick nodded his acceptance. She pressed on with a bit of advice. "Try and move on, Nick. It's better for everyone."
"Do you know why she did it?"he asked, studying the linoleum on A.J.'s floor, swinging one leg casually.
"I promised I wouldn't tell you what I know." The leg slowed to a halt. "I *can* tell you I don't know the whole situation. Lina hasn't been bottling things up as much as you are, but she's keeping her whys all to herself."