Part 182
Nick made his way through the cameras and cables, heading for Howie's dressing room. His hand was poised to knock, but the door opened suddenly and his knuckles nearly made contact with AJ's nose.
"Damn, Frack-" he said frowning.
"Oops, sorry 'J!" He winked at Jesse, who was giggling in AJ's arms. "Hey peanut, I was just going in to see your mom."
"She's sick," Jesse said sadly, resting her head on AJ's shoulder.
"I know, sweetie. Aunt Becca wanted me to see how she's doing."
"Not too good," Alex said. "Her fever is still pretty high. Besides, you can't go in there."
"But-"
"No *buts* Nick. You can't afford to be carrying any of her germs back to Becca. Sarah specifically asked us to keep you and Becca away from her."
"Who's in there with her?"
"Raoul’s here but he’s about to leave. I was going to look for some ginger ale for her."
"You stay here, I'll go get it. Then I need to go watch the taping." Nick grinned.
"Can you take Jesse back out too? She wants to watch Howie."
"Sure…come on, ‘Peanut’," said Nick as he took Jesse from Alex’s arms.
"So, does Bec have any clue what we're doing?"
"Not yet, but she will soon." Nick smirked, heading off to search for Sarah's ginger ale.
* * * * * *
Howie was in place when Becca returned, and the director called for silence. He stood center stage, balancing on some sort of padding that was about four inches thick. Covering the floor was a thick, plastic drop cloth with raised edges to catch the water. On cue, the music began to play and as he reached the refrain, the 'rain' began to fall. It soaked his hair and his clothing, and as his newly-shortened hair got wet, it began to curl sexily. God. At this rate, she'd never make it through Nick's turn.
*************
With Nick looking for the ginger ale and Jesse gone, Alex settled onto the couch behind Sarah and she settled into his arms as they watched the video.
It was now that Alex realized how hot she was. With concern in his voice, Alex asked, "Sarah, you aren’t keep anything from ‘D’ are you?’
"No…he knows how bad I feel. Isn’t Ali with you?"
"Yeah, but she’s caught up in the taping. You trying to get rid of me?"
"NO! I just thought you should be with her, not keeping me company….that’s all."
"Jeez…I know when I’m not wanted."
Sarah laughed as Alex pretended to pout. "You know I love you, Alex."
"Yeah, I do," he said hugging her. "One question though. You call me Alex all the time now. Why not AJ?"
"Cuz…AJ is my party pal…who you are onstage. Alex is who you REALLY are…one of my bestest buddies that knows me almost as well as my husband…Alex is the man you’ve become."
"You know, I have you to thank for that…sticking by me the way you did. You could very easily have turned everyone against me. I know your opinion kept Howie from killing me."
"Trust me, Alex…right after it happened, if Howie HAD gone after you,
I wouldn’t have stopped him."
Alex laughed remembering what happened in Pittsburgh the next morning. "You DID stop him though…on the elevator. Why didn’t you tell him right after it happened though?"
"Believe me…it was NOT to protect you. The group didn’t need the bad press."
"There wouldn’t have been any bad press."
"Yeah, there would have been. Howie would have killed you and the show would have been cancelled. Then the others would have had to explain. And on the elevator…I could have EASILY prevented the fight in the first place. Now stop it…you’re better, you’re back…and we’re cool."
Alex hugged her. "Thank you," he whispered.
Sarah settled into his arms and was asleep in not time at all. As Alex held her, he felt her fever rising. She was restless and he could tell she was having nightmares by the way her body shook and she was mumbling incoherently. His concern began to grow the longer he held her. He felt helpless though because he was afraid to move not wanting to wake her.
To Alex’s relief, Kevin came looking for him. "We need you…" started Kevin but he stopped when he saw Sarah asleep in his arms. Lowering his voice, Kevin asked, "Is she okay?"
"I don’t think so. One minute, she’s sweating like crazy and the next, she’s shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. She feels really hot to me, Kev."
Kevin reached over to feel her forehead. "This can’t be good for
her.’
"We need to get Howie."
"I’ll go get him."
"Before you go, get a cool cloth so I can hold it on her head. Maybe that will help cool her off."
Kevin got the cool cloth for him and then went in search of Howie. He was extremely concerned but he didn’t want to alarm Howie. He knew Howie was already worried.