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Chapter 13

Apologies+stress= double headaches

"So let me get this straight," Kevin said, frowning. "You weren't supposed to tell us about the beeper?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. She didn't actually say, but I got the impression that I shouldn't." he gave them an apologetic look. "I thought you knew."

"So that's what you were talking about back in Miami," Howie nodded.

"Well, now we know how it works," Brian said lightly, "Let's hope we don't have to fix any more doors, shall we?"

"Very funny." Nick said flatly.

"I'm not joking. I'm sure the locksmith didn't find it hilarious either. The joke's blown in your face, man."

"Do you mind?"

The newly fixed door opened, and Remo came in. he glanced at the door and shook his head. "Jesus," he muttered.

"Remo- what's up?"

"Some nutcase took the bus's license plate." He said shortly.

"WHAT?!"

"it was there when you guys finished- Chris checked it. When he came back, the front was gone. The back one's been hacked out, but it seemed like they gave up."

They stared at him in stupor. "Uh…so what do we do?" Nick asked.

Remo shrugged. "Fix it."

"We don't have time."

"You wanna get fined? Go ahead." Mike came in, looking irritated. "Jesus, we don't need this."

" Mike, we'll be behind the schedule," Kevin protested.

"We'll be even more delayed of the police holds us down," Mike snapped. "A limo's coming. I suggest we take you back to the hotel, and you can get some sleep. We can start out early in the morning."

"and the bus?"

"We'll try to get a temporary license. For the back, well- I guess we have to fix it."

"Wonderful," AJ drawled. "Why don't we just hire a permanent Hardware manager?"

Nick decided to ignore the comment. He really didn't want to be reminded of the afternoon. It was only a matter of time before hell crashed down on him. Or worse.

Kevin turned to the others. "What do you think?"

Brian shrugged. "Seems like we have no other choice, Kev." The others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, guess so." Kevin turned back to Mike. "Okay. I guess it'll have to do, then."

"I'll tell you when the limo's here." Remo said, turning to go.

Nick half rose. "Hey Remo."

"Yeah?"

Nick hesitated. "Do you know where…you know…she is?" he asked in a low voice. Remo didn't have to be a genius to figure out who she was. He grinned. "Lonesome for her company already?" he teased.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What's she doing?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself? She's right outside." Remo shrugged.

Nick visibly paled. "Outside? As in-" he said, dismayed. Seemed like hell was going to crash earlier than he thought.

Remo nodded. "Yeah. She knows about the bus thing. She's waiting with me outside."

"Has she…you know…cooled off?" Nick asked cautiously.

Remo shrugged again. "I guess so. At least she's speaking English," he added wryly.

Nick breathed a silent sigh of relief. Maybe she'll be her reasonable self and listen to his explanation before she ground him six feet under…he shook his head slightly. He definitely didn't like the picture he just conjured up. He once again remembered the inhuman fury blazing in her eyes and felt his insides go cold.

Suddenly, there was a knock, and Rachael poked her head in. At the sight of her, all activities froze. She raised an inquiring brow, then said calmly, "The limo's here."

Her eyes raked the place, then she went out again, closing the door.

"At least she remembered to knock," Brian said dryly.

"Come on." Kevin said, getting up. "I'm stuffed."

Outside, the freezing wind blew, cutting rawly into their bones. They hurriedly stepped into the car, "Man, that's cold," Howie complained, turning up the heater.

The securities piled in- Marcus, Rachael, Carlos and Mark. The door closed, and the limo drove off in the midst of screaming fans that had waited in the cold weather. (how's that for a dedication?)

the drive was VERY quiet. Not only were they exhausted, but also the presence of Rachael added to the tension. Rachael herself didn't seem to notice. She was looking out the window, not paying attention to the small talk in the car. Nick glanced at her. God knew what she was thinking.

The shrill of a cell phone cut through the conversation. Rachael took out her phone and opened it. "Harrison." She said shortly, then listened. A small frown creased her brows. "What do you mean?" she demanded, then sighed. "All right. No, that's fine. Just send it up to the headquarters. I'll contact you later." She said abruptly, hanging up. The frown still hovered.

"Anything wrong?" Marcus asked casually.

Rachael shrugged. " some trouble with communication. They'll get it right in twenty years." She said indifferently.

"They?"

" NYPD." Her tone told them she wasn't going to say any more. They tactfully dropped the subject and talked about safer subjects. Nick studied her from the corner of his eyes. She looked…troubled. He wondered why.

A few minutes later, they were at the hotel. " Night, everyone," Kevin mumbled, opening the door to his room. The others followed suit, all looking tired.

"You two okay?" Marcus asked Nick and Rachael.

"Yeah. Get some sleep, man. You look overworked." Nick told the big guy.

"Since when I'm not?" Marcus chuckled, then went in.

Without a word, Rachael turned around and reached for her door. Nick was surprised, which was probably the reason why he did the next stupid thing.

"Rachael."

She turned around. "Yes?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How was he going to start this? "I-"

Rachael knew what was coming. Frankly, she didn't want to hear his half-hearted, grumbling apology. "Nick, no offence meant, but I really don't want to talk about this now, okay? I suggest you get some sleep." She said, turning to go again.

Nick knew that she was giving him the easy way out, but he was having none of that. Spending the rest of the night- or was it morning- thinking about the best way to approach her with it didn't appeal to him that much. So he told her. "If you suggest I get some sleep, then you'd better stay and listen." Okay, not a very good beginning, but she turned back, looking weary. She folded her arms and waited.

Nick took a deep breath. "Look, I know what I did was stupid, okay? It just…I dunno. The guys wanted to see it and it just popped into my head. I guess I wanted to see how…you'd react."

"You did." She replied coolly.

He hurried on. " Anyway, I had no idea what it meant- I mean, really meant. That guy- Frank- told me how dangerous it was, so…I guess I learnt my lesson." He swallowed.

Rachael said nothing for a while, just looked at him with calm eyes. Then finally she said, "You know, a simple 'I'm sorry' would have done."

He stared at her, stunned, then feeling sheepish. "Oh. I didn't- I mean-"

"You thought I was going to lose my head." She finished dryly.

"Worse. I thought you were going to kill me." He said ruefully.

"That thought crossed my mind a few times, yes," she admitted calmly.

He looked at her, trying to determine if she was joking or not. She looked perfectly serious. Seeing him frowning, she added wryly, "but I thought it would be bad story if a bodyguard kills his client, so I let go of the idea."

He looked up and saw a small smile curved up on her lips. It was a crooked one, but a smile nevertheless. Tentatively, he smiled back. He discovered two things then. Harrison had a blow-over temper. Once she exploded, she became calm again. The other thing was that she actually knew how to joke. The latter somehow seemed more significant than the first.

The smile dropped as soon as it came. "Anything else to spill?" she asked briskly.

He started to say something, but stopped. "No."

"Good. Get some sleep." She said brusquely, opening her door. He tuned around to open his, then,

"Oh, and Nick."

He looked up. "Yeah?"

Rachael stared at him, her eyes grim. "Don't ever do that again."

"You kidding? I don't think I'm ever going to touch it," he retorted.

"You know what I mean. Don't even think about doing that again."

"All right."

She went inside and closed the door. Shaking his head, he went in to his own room.

***************

Warning; usage of strong language!

the next morning, the wake-up call was earlier than usual. Feeling groggy with lack of rest, the guys got up and packed. Ten minutes later, the bus with the temporary license plate was pulling away from the driveway. Too tired even to talk, the boys climbed into their own bunks and slept heavily for the next six hours.

Nick woke up with a start. He wasn't always comfortable in bunk beds to begin with, and nowadays he could never sleep soundly. I wonder why, he thought sarcastically. Sighing, he sat up, completely forgetting that there was actually another bed on top of him.

"AWWW! FUCK!" he howled, grabbing his head. He could actually feel Brian- or whoever it was on the top bunk- jump about a foot. Then came another resounding crash, followed by a howl and a savage curse. Yep, it's Brian, Nick thought dazedly, falling back onto the pillow, his arms wrapped around his head.

Suddenly, bright sunlight flashed into his eyes as the curtains drew back. Rachael stood there, clearly unimpressed. "What did you do now?" she asked.

"Isn't- it- bloody- obvious?" Nick snapped out between clenched teeth.

"Nick! What the hell do you think you're playin' at- Goddamnit that hurts!" Brian gritted out, dropping on to the floor with a crash. Rachael looked down at him, perplexed.

AJ opened his curtain. "For God's sake, people, I was having a nice dream! Did you have to wreck it?" he grumbled.

"Will you guys shut up? I'm trying to sleep here!" Howie snapped from his bunk.

"Hey, you think it's my fault? Man, that kills! I'm gonna have a lump-"

" Nick, what the hell did you do now?"

"I didn't do anything! I just bumped my head!"

" Oh, yeah, that was just soooo smart-"

" ALL OF YOU! SHUT UP!" Kevin thundered, cutting all talk. After a while they shuffled back into their pillows, curtains closed, and things became quiet again.

Rachael walked back out to the kitchen, nonplussed. After a moment, she asked,
"What was that?"

Mike chuckled. "It's called touring on the BSB bus. Get used to it. you'll be hearing that a lot."

"He's going to get a headache," Mark mused.

"They're going to get a headache," Remo corrected, chuckling. "Angie better get some ice ready, or they'll look like they have two faces." They guffawed at the joke.

Rachael just shook her head and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes. Her rest was disturbed, however, when AJ, Nick and Kevin came out of their bunks fifteen minutes later and trudged into the living area. "I couldn't go back to sleep," Kevin muttered.

"Me neither," AJ agreed plaintively.

"Not my fault," Nick grumbled, rubbing his forehead tenderly. "You know, how about we changed the bunks to inflatable? I think it'll be safer."

"Uh-huh. And the next day we'll have to replace them cos you blew them up." Kevin said flatly. "No, thank you. Bunk stays." He reached into the fridge and took out a soda. "Coke, anyone?"

"Yeah. I need to wake up," AJ muttered, catching a can and popping the top. He took a sip. "D's in the toilet again. He's probably throwing cold water on his face."

"That would help. And 'Rok?"

"Suffering from concussion. What else?" AJ shrugged.

"Hey, I survived," Nick protested.

"That's cos you got a thick head, man."

"That's a lot coming from you, bone head."

"Hey, stop it." Kevin said firmly. "When everybody wakes up, we have to talk. There's some business to do, and we don't have much time left before we're in Dallas."

"The day-to-day?" AJ asked.

"That, and some proposals. Julian's got the schedule ready. We'll pick it up at the venue. He said he'll be there." Kevin frowned. "By the way, where is he? I haven't seen him for the last 24 hours." he asked Mike.

He shrugged. "Some business he had to attend, that's what he told me."

Brian came out. "Any aspirins around here? I think my brain's knocked out." He groaned.

"Here. You okay?" Mark handed some to him.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" Brian snapped, shaking his head slightly. "Now I know what 'seeing stars' mean."

"You're never too old to learn," Nick shrugged.

"Oh, thank you, Nick," Brian drawled sarcastically. "You just had to show me, didn't you?"

"Demonstrations are better than words."

"Somehow, I prefer the latter."

"Okay," Kevin interrupted. "Since we're all here- well, nearly all-"

"Four-fifth," AJ said absently.

"Whatever," Kevin snapped. "Let's get down to business."

"hey, don't leave me out," Howie came out. "What's going on?"

"Well, Brian's suffering from concussion, Kevin's grumpy, I need more sleep, and Nick's suddenly gone all know-it-all," AJ supplied dryly. "Isn't this a great day?"

Rachael got up and left the area. She didn't want to hear any more. All she wanted was peace and quiet after the upheaval yesterday. That just reminded her- she never found out what Frank exactly wanted. he wasn't the sort of type that just 'pop in'. she shrugged to herself. What Frank did was exactly that- it was what he did. He always had obscure reasons behind his actions. And he made sure that nobody knew what he was up to. It was quite a challenge when Rachael joined CIAB- she was nearly tearing her hair out trying to figure him out. He claimed that the thinning of his hair resulted from the same reason.

But that was right at the beginning. They had learned to compromise- she kept her nose out of his business, and he out of hers. Somehow, she had the suspicion that he wasn't keeping to the rules. But than, he was the boss.

It all comes down to that, she thought wryly. Behind all mind wrestling between employer and employee, at the bottom of it was the simple fact. Boss above employee.

She closed her eyes again, listening to the heated discussion, sometimes accompanied by bursts of laughter and comical comments from various members, wondering what time it would be good to start the questioning. He seems to grasp the footings between himself and her, but just the extent of it was the question.

She drifted into a doze. Further down the bus, she heard the guys arguing over the CD player.


Chapter 14

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Pooky