“I’m OK... I can’t believe that we didn’t find them.” She said still starring at the sleeping little girl that had her head in her lap. They had spent three hours trying to find Leigha’s parents with no luck. They had asked her last name but she said that she couldn’t remember the one that they were using. The police had tried to get her to go with them, but she wouldn’t leave Megan’s side. Eventually they had agreed that is was best if the girl stayed with them until they could get an idea of who and where her parents were.
“It’s OK.. they’ll find them. And look on the bright side. She has someone to take care of her now.” He smiled at her.
“I know... but I don’t want to get too attached to her because they are going to have to take her away eventually.”
“Don’t let that bother you. We are going to be here for a few days and they are going to try their hardest to find where she belongs before then.”
Megan looked up at him for the first time. “I hope she’s going to be OK. I really think that she doresn’t want to go back with her parents. And what about her last name. She doesn’t remember which one they were using. What’s that suppose to mean?”
“I don’t know what any of this means, but I do know that we have a lot of work to do tomorrow, we have to do some radio interviews and you are going to take Leigha down to the police station and stay there with her while they try to find her family.”
“OK...”
Nick got up and plopped down on his bed. “It’s gonna be a long week.”
“Don’t you guys have a gig while we are here?”
“Yeah, so club that technically I’m not old enough to get into.”
“That’s stupid!”
“You don’t have to tell me that. But it’s too late to say anything about it now.”
“Let me guess, it was Lou’s bright idea, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know... All I know is that we have to do the show.”
“OK... Well, I think that I’m gonna go ahead and go to sleep. I’m tired and Leigha and I are going to have a long day tomorrow if the police department here is anything like it used to be.”
“Ok, I’m gonna go check out what Brian and AJ are up to. See how many times Bri’s called Kaytee since we got here.” Nick got up from his bed and grinned.
Megan smiled at him. “Don’t you boys get into trouble now... I know how you all are on tour.”
“We won’t I promise.” Nick gave her a quick kiss before walking out the door. Megan sighed and looked down at the girl next to her. The poor thing. She looked around the hotel room. It was definatly different being back in Portland. She had been so caught up in finding out where Leigha was from that it hadn’t really hit her that she was back where she had grown up for the first four years of her life.
She got up, after carefully lifting Leigha’s head out of her lap, and grabbed her pajama’s from her bag before heading into the bathroom to take a shower.
As she stepped into the hot water, all the emotions of being back in that city washed over her. She had so many friends there, but it also brought back the memory of her parents and Matt. The water washed over her back as the emotions flooded her mind. She felt pain and grief and anger. She didn’t want to be there, but she wanted to be with Nick and that meant that she had to stay there. She thought about what she would be doing over the next few days. Taking care of Leigha until they found her family, but what after that... surly it wouldn’t take the police that long to find them, even with out a last name. How many mute girls named Leigha could there be?
‘Maybe I should call Kaytee’s mom while I’m here. I should go and see her. Maybe we could all go out to dinner one night.’ She thought as she washed her hair.
She closed her eyes as she rinsed her hair and the image of the house that she and her father had shared appeared in her mind’s eye. The large house on a hill that she had known for most of her life now haunted her.
Ten minutes later she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. She checked on Leigha before quickly changing into her pajama’s and grabbing her brush. She combed through her hair and braided it for the night.
Megan watched Leigha sleep for a minute. She was so small, her light blond hair was spread out on the pillow, and her hazel eyes weree closed tightly, as if trying to keep something out. She had been tossing around a lot while Megan had been in the shower, she could tell. Megan sighed and climbed into the bed next to the little girl. ‘Poor little thing. I hope we can do something for her.’ She thought as she closed her eyes.
The tossing was violent now. It was a nightmare.
Megan woke up to Leigha turning over and over with her arms flailing around, trying to get away from something... or someone. She sat up and turned on the lamp next to the bed. She looked at the clock. 3:30 am. She looked over at Nick’s bed. He was sleeping peacfully. ‘I’ll handle this... he needs his sleep.”
She carefully shook Leigha in an attempt to wake her up. “Leigha... come on sweetie... wake up. It’s a nightmare, it’s not real. Please wake up.” But the shaking only made her move violent, so she stopped. “Leigha...shhh... it’s OK... come on....wake up... please...” She picked the girl up and held her, trying to contain her flying arms. She stroked the blond hair and whispered to her, trying to calm her down. A few minutes later she felt tears on her shoulder. She was crying. The girls small arms wrapped around her neck and she pulled herslef closer to Megan. “Leigha, are you awake?” The girl nodded and continued to cry.
“What going on?” The question was posed by a very groggy Nick. “I hear crying.”
“It’s OK... Leigha had a nighmare.”
That woke him up. “Is she OK?”
“I think so... she’s just scared.” Nick got out of his bed and sat down on Megan’s, right next to the two females.
“Leigha? Are you OK?” Leigha released her grip on Megan’s neck and turned to Nick. Her eyes were red from crying. She shook her head and started to cry even harder. “Come here.” Megan handed the girl to Nick and he held her while she cried. Megan got up and went into the bathroom, coming back out with tissues. A few minutes later the crying quieted and Leigha pulled away from Nick. Megan helped her whipe her eyes.
“Are you ready to go back to sleep again?” Just at the suggestion of sleeping and returning to the world she had just escaped almost started the tears again. “OK... but it’s going to be a long day tomorrow... you need to get some rest.” Megan thought for a minute. “Would you try to go to sleep if Nick slept over here with us?” The girl thought about it for a minute, before nodding hesitantly. “Would you mind, Nick?”
“Let me think about that...” He teased. She rolled her eyes at him and pulled back the covers. All three of them climbed into the bed, Megan turned off the lamp and in a matter of minutes Leigha was asleep again, holding Megan’s hand and her head resting on Nick’s shoulder. It wasn’t long before Nick and Megan were asleep again as well.
“Are you ready to see where my best friend grew up?” Megan asked Leigha as they got off of the bus. It has been two days since the nightmare, they had spent the day before at the police station, but they still hadn’t found her parents. They had decided that it would be best if Leigha do something that would take her mind off of what was going on, so Megan was taking her to visit Kaytee’s mom.
They walked down the street and Megan began to remember all the times that she and Kaytee had done the same thing together. Now she was in Florida and Megan was forced to face her hometown on her own.
They reached the house that Kaytee’s parents lived in. “It still has that purple door.” She laughed. Leigha rang the doorbell with a smile, but her grip on the older girl’s hand tightened as the door opened.
“Oh my God.... Megan?!?” Nancy Mills was surprised to see her daughter’s best friend on her doorstep. The older woman hugged the girl and looked around. “Is Kaytee here?”
“Nope.” Megan said pulling away from her. “It’s just me.”
“Well, that’s great!” Nancy smiled.
Leigha tugged on Megan’s sleeve. “Oh! I’m sorry sweetie! Nancy, this is Leigha. Leigha, this is my best friend’s mommy, Nancy.”
Nancy knelt down next to the little girl. “Hi! Would you like some cookies?” Leigha nodded vigorously and Megan smiled. Nancy got up and looked at her. “You always did manage to come over when I had something baking.” She stepped aside so that the two visitors could come in and shut the door behind them.
Megan and Leigha followed her to the kitchen and sat down on the barstools at the counter. “Here you go sweetie.” Nancy said, placing a plate of cookies in front of Leigha. Leigha looked at Megan before taking one and biting into it. A smile instantly crossed her face.
“I think they passed the test.” Megan grinned.
“Oh good. Would you like something to drink?”
“Um... could I just get a glass of water, and I think that Leigha here could use some milk.” Leigha started to shake her head. “OK... we’ll both have water.” Leigha settled down and went back to her cookie.
Nancy got the glasses of water and left the room for a minute. She came back with a box full of toys that Kaytee and Megan had played with as kids. Leigha’s eyes lit up once more and she again looked at Megan. “Yeah, go ahead! Have fun!” She helped the little girl down from the stool and she was soon contently playing with Barbies that had not been played with in years. Megan watched her for a minute and then turned back to Nancy, who was getting another batch of cookies ready for the oven.
“She’s a cute little thing.”
“She sure is.”
“She doesn’t talk much, that’s for sure.”
“She can’t.”
“She can’t?”
“She’s mute. She can’t speak at all. She can here perfectly, but she just can’t talk.”
“Oh, that’s awful. The poor little thing. What an awful that to have happen.” Megan nodded. “Where’d she come from? Jane and Bob have another that you forgot to tell me about?”
“Oh no! They are done with having kids!” Megan laughed and took a drink of her water.
“Is she yours?” Megan almost spit the liquid out of her mouth. “Cause, well, you know, you’ve been spending do much time down in Florida and Kaytee told me that you and Nick were together....”
“Nancy! I’m only 16! Nick’s 17... there is no way that Leigha is ours. We haven’t even gotten past the cuddling, kissing, and holding hands phase of our relationship. We have definitely not crossed that line yet. Not only that but Leigha is four years old... that means that I would have been 12 and Nick would have been 13... yuck!”
Nancy laughed at the last remark. “OK, I get the point, but I had to make sure. You know you are like a second daughter to me and I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t getting yourself and Nick into something that would be bad for both of you.”
“Thanks for the concern, but Nick and I haven’t crossed that bridge yet, and we probably wont for a while.”
Nancy smiled at her. “Well, if she isn’t Jane and Bob’s and she isn’t yours, than who does she belong to?”
“Kaytee.” Nancy just about fell over. “I’m kidding! I’m only kidding!”
“Megan Michele Bradford, don’t you ever do that to me again!”
“Sorry, but you should have seen the look on your face. No, she’s not Kaytee’s, and don’t worry, Shayne and BJ haven’t been together that long. Come to think of it, the wont even admit that they are together, so I don’t think that you will have anything to worry about in that department. At least not for a while.”
Nancy recovered a minute later and tried again. “So who does she belong to?”
“The truth is that I have no idea. We found her at the airport. She was lost and we spent three hours one night talking to her and trying to figure out who she belonged to. All we could come up with was there is a good chance her parents were con artists. When the police asked her last name she said that she couldn’t remember which one they were using at the time. We spent all of yesterday at the police station. Today they said that it was a good idea if I tried to get her mind off of the fact that they can’t find her parents while they keep looking.”
“Good old Portland Police Department. Never could count on them for anything.”
“Well, I’m just hoping that it’s different this time.”
“So, what brings you back here?”
“The Boys. What else? They are doing a show here and promoting the album. I’m just kinda tagging along.”
“Kaytee called and told me about what happened with Matt and the note. I’m so sorry sweetie.”
Megan looked down at her glass for a minute. “So am I. That’s part of the reason that I’m on the road with the guys. If they can’t find me then they can’t sent me threats.”
“I’m so sorry that it has come to that. Who would have thought that something like this would happen just when you are finally happy.”
“Well, the way that my luck has been running the last few months, I’d say I’m lucky to be alive right now.”
Nancy was quiet for a minute and they both watch Leigha play. “Have you gone back up to the house?”
“Nope. I probably will, it’s mine, and I need to go through some things, but with Leigha... well, I don’t think that I can do that right now.”
“I understand. It might take you a while to even get up the courage to go up to the hill, let alone into the house.”
“I don’t know. I kind of want to go back and see everything. But I can’t do it right now, not with everything that is going on.”
“Maybe now is the best time to go and look. Not today, but before you go. It’s the house that you and you dad shared for a long time and no one has been there since it happened. It needs to see life, even if only for a few minutes.”
Megan thought about it for a minute. “I’ll think about it.” Nancy smiled at her.
“So when is everyone coming over for dinner?”
“I thought that you would never ask. I don’t know, I’ll have to check the guys’ schedule, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make it out one night. It’s been a while since Nick has been out and you’ve never met the rest of the guys. I’m sure you’d like to meet Brian.”
“It would be nice to meet the man that caused my only daughter to move all the way across the country.”
“He’s a great guy. He’s like my older brother and I cant think of anyone that would treat Kaytee better then he does. You should have seen them when we had to leave. I thought that they were going to die. Kaytee would have come with us, but she was behind in school already because of the MTV Europe Music Awards and then my being in the hospital.”
“Well, she’s going to have to get used to the idea of him travelling a lot if they are going to be together in the long run. I’ve seen how much they have progressed in the last few months and they aren’t going to stay small in the U.S. for much longer.”
“You don’t have to tell me about it. I mean it was hard enough dealing with Nick being gone when we were just friends, but now, when I have to go back to school next year and they go back on tour it’s going to be really hard, even if we go back to being just friends.”
“You are going back?”
“Yeah I wanna do my senior year with my friends and hang out with BJ for one more year. I can’t stay on the road and be tutored for the rest of my life. I wanna go to college and do something with my life.”
“That’s very understandable. So how is the rest of the Carter Clan doing?”
“Well, Jane and Bob are doing well, trying to keep everything under control, but they are handling everything very well. Aaron has started working on music, he want’s to do what Nick does. BJ is becoming interested in modeling, but she hasn’t really done anything about it yet. Angel and Leslie are just busy being kids and I can’t say I blame them.”
“No kidding. With everything that is going on in that family right now it’s amazing anyone has their sanity.”
“Oh, I never said that any of us were sane. We are all going crazy. But we are all dealing with it right now.”
“How did Bob and Jane respond to you and Nick getting together.”
“Their exact words were ‘It’s about time!’. But really, I think that the only people who were surprised by it were Nick and I. Jane and Bob trust the both of us. We’ve been sleeping in the same bed since we were 5 and 6, and everyone knows that. Right now, like I said before, just the two of us being together is enough. And even if it wasn’t there is no way that we would do anything in his parents house, or anywhere where any of the kids could walk in on us.”
“I know that you are both smarter then that. I’m kinda surprised that they haven’t forbidden you to sleep in the same room alone.”
“Why should they? We slept in the same room for a long time before we actually came out and said that we had feelings for each other. And it’s not like we are ever really alone. Aaron and Nick share a room, I share a room with BJ, and the guys are always around. Jane and Bob know that they have nothing to worry about.”
“That’s good. So... tell me about this Brian boy.” Megan laughed. Leigha came over to them and grabbed another cookie before going back to the toys.
“Well, he’s 22 years old. I’ve known him since he was 18. He’s from Kentucky...”
“Yes, I know all of that. Kaytee has told me all of that and it’s not hard to find that kind of information about him. After all they are pop icons in Europe. I want to know what he’s like.”
“He’s a sweetie through and through. He would do anything for someone that he cares about and he loves Kaytee. They really are perfect for each other. I couldn’t have picked out a better guy for her if I had tried. And they are so cute together.”
“Does he really make her that happy?”
“I think so. They are always together and they never get sick of each other.”
“Well, I’m glad that she has finally found someone that makes her happy. And I’m glad that you and Nick are happy together. I’ve only met him a few times but he seems like a nice boy.”
“We will definitely have to come over for dinner so you can meet everyone. You will not believe how much Nick has grown in the past three years.”
The two women talked for two more hours, about the last tour that Megan went on, Megan’s parents, and Leigha’s situation. It was 3:00 in the afternoon before Megan glanced at her watch and realized that they needed to leave. “I really hate to do this, but we gotta go. We need to go down to the station and check things out down there and then the Boys have a meeting with road management. I wanna be there because I have a few things I’d like to say to the Wrights.”
Nancy smiled. No one had ever been able to pull Megan down, and she always went after what she thought was right. “That’s OK, dear. If you don’t fight for these guys then no one will. But please remember that you are invited over for dinner one night this week.”
“I don’t think the guys will let me forget.” Megan told Leigha to get ready to leave and the little girl began to put the toys she had been playing with away.
Nancy walked over to her. “You know Leigha, if you would like to pick out a toy, you can keep it. So you have something to play with.” Leigha once again looked at Megan, who gave her the go-ahead. She picked up a stuffed lamb that had never really belonged to either Megan or Kaytee, it had just ended up in their toys. Nancy smiled again. “Good choice.” Megan and Leigha finished grabbing their things and Nancy walked them to the door. “Have a safe trip back to the hotel and I’ll see you later.” Megan nodded, and gave Nancy a hug. Then Leigha surprised them both and hugged the older woman around the legs.
“I think that’s her way of saying ‘Thank you.’.” Megan grinned.
“Bye sweetie, I’ll hopefully see you again when everyone comes over.” She gave the child a quick squeeze and then they were both walking down the street, towards the bus stop.
Nick looked around the room. Brian looked depressed, and bored. AJ was trying not to listen as he was warned once again about his hair. Howie was trying to calm Johnny down so that they could make a compromise and Kevin was listening intently, taking in everything he could because he knew that no one else was listening.
He looked at Megan, who was sitting in a chair against the wall near the door. Leigha was sitting on the floor playing with a stuffed lamb that he had never seen before.
Johnny finished talking to AJ about his hair and returned to the reason for the meeting. “OK... as all of you know, you have a show to do while you are here. It’s going to be in the Crystal Ballroom, and the radio station that is sponsoring it will be there.”
Megan knew about the Crystal Ballroom. It was a club for those 21 and over. “Which radio station?” She asked.
“Z100, I think.”
‘Oh great. This should be special. But why would they have the Boys play there. They understand that they people who listen to their music are teenagers. They know that it’s the kind of music played at the school dance, not in a club while drunks hit on women.’ She thought to herself. “Whose idea was it to have them perform at the Ballroom? It wasn’t the stations, was it?”
“Well, not exactly. But it wasn’t my idea either. It was Lou’s. He was thinking that if they played for an older audience they might reach more people.”
“Have you even gone out in public with these guys over in Europe?” Johnny looked at the guys before nodding. “Who are the people who come up to them and ask for autographs?”
“Young girls?”
“Good. Now what about in Orlando, when they go to the mall?”
“Young girls.” He was starting to get the picture.
“OK... so what makes Lou think that it is going to be any different here. Sure was are 3,000 miles away from Orlando, but I know some of the girls around here and this is the kind of thing that they are looking to listen to. You seem to forget that I lived here for more then half of my life.”
“OK, I see that you have a point, but what am I going to do about it?”
“You’re the manager, manage! Call the station and tell them that you want to move the show to a school somewhere.”
“I can’t just call-” He was cut off.
“Johnny, do you want this show to flop, or do you want it to build a fan base here in Portland?” Kevin cut it.
“Well, of course we want it to be successful. But what if they won’t reschedule it for a school. How are we going to find a school that will let us do it?” Donna spoke up for the first time since the meeting had started. She had been going over papers in the corner.
“Wilson will do it. I’ll talk to the principle myself. We don’t have to do it during school, it can be a concert inside the auditorium for those that want to go. Charge them $2 to get in and see if they don’t flock. I can call my friends and tell them to go and bring everyone they think would like to come.”
Johnny and Donna looked at each other for a minute. “OK... we’ll try. But don’t blame us if Lou doesn’t buy it.”
They got up and left the conference room to go make all the arrangements. “Wow... you really thought that through, didn’t you?”
“Well, come on... you guys playing in a place where legally two of you can’t get in... That sounds a little wrong to me. If you aren’t suppose to get in then how are the people who want to listen to your music suppose to get in?”
“Good thinking. Well, we have the rest of the day off. Who want’s to go see a movie?” AJ asked.
“That sounds good. Guys ‘d like to run something by you. I went and saw Kaytee’s mom today, with Leigha. She invited us over for dinner one night this week. How does that sound?”
“Sounds like a home cooked meal!” Brian laughed.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Ok, now that we’ve got that figured out... lets go find out what’s playing downtown!”
