Chapter 22 – Pick Up The Pieces

Brian, Howie and A.J. decided to hold another press conference. Dr. Westin gave them the go ahead, so they contacted the Marriott to see if they were willing to host them yet again. Next, the three of them sifted through the local cards and letters they had received. They selected about fifty names and arranged for them to be invited to the conference. The suggestion had been Howie’s.

“They’ve stuck by us through all of it, we may as well do something for them,” he had said. All three agreed to have a small meet and greet for the fans they invited, provided it was short and sweet. The date was set for the end of the week. In the meantime, the three found an apartment that they could stay in temporarily while they started their physical therapy.

When the day came for the press conference, all three of them were shuttled off to the Riverwalk. A crowd had gathered in front of the building in anticipation of their arrival. Extra security was present to make sure they were not hassled on their way inside. This was no small task, considering none of them were capable of moving very quickly. Brian waved his good arm at the crowd, and they began to scream. A.J. tipped his hat in greeting, and Howie waved as well. Once they were inside, they were escorted to the room where the conference was to take place. As before, someone went out first to introduce them.

“Ok, everybody. The Boys are here,”

An excited buzz went through the crowd, especially from the fans who were present.

“But before we bring them out, let me say a few things. One is that the same rules apply as last time. These three are very eager to answer your questions, but they are still recovering and need their rest, so this can’t go on all day. Two, and this is for the fans that were personally invited by Howie, A.J., and Brian, they have told me to tell you that as long as things go well, they would like to do a short meet and greet with all of you.”

A cheer erupted form the small crowd. “They would just like you to remember to take it easy with them, ok? Well, I’ll not take up any more of their time. Please welcome Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean, and Brian Littrell.”

Howie walked out slowly towards his chair, with Brian and A.J. in tow. They took their seats while the audience clapped. Once they had quieted down, Brian leaned up to his mike.

“Hello everyone.” More cheers. Brian grinned at them, and nodded in greeting. “Wow, he said. That’s awfully nice of y’all. Thank you.”

Once the noise had died down, Howie began to speak.

“It’s nice to see everyone again,” he said. “Well, as you can see, I dragged along a couple more with me today. We are here to answer your questions, so shoot.”

“I think the biggest question that everyone wants to know is: are you still the Backstreet Boys?” someone called.

“Well,” Howie began, “We sat down and talked about that about four days ago. We started talking about where we all wanted to go, and what we wanted to do now that everyone’s life was out of danger and we were on the road to recovery. We haven’t made a final official decision yet, but as of right now we are planning on sticking things out and trying to make a comeback.”

The noise level increased significantly for a minute or so, and then died back down. Brian began to speak. “Now remember, this is not an official announcement. This is the way we all feel right now, but we have a long way to go. We’re going to give it our best shot, but it may take awhile. We are all very aware of how wonderful the gift of life is, and we don’t want to push ourselves beyond our limits. Nick and Kevin are still not out of bed yet, and as for us, well,” he chuckled a bit. “You can see what we look like. We are definitely not at our best.”

“A.J. and Brian, tell us about your recovery.”

A.J. fielded the question.

“It has sucked.”

The audience laughed, and he grew serious. “It has been and still is really tough. Nothing can prepare you for something like this, and none of us knew quite how to deal with it. It’s very frustrating, especially for people like me who like to be up and active and running around all of the time. I don’t have that freedom of movement, and I do not like to sit still.”

“He has been a holy terror,” Brian interjected. “The nurses can’t stand him.”

“The nurses love me,” A.J. corrected. Several members of the audience smiled, and some light chuckles could be heard. The light banter between them was a relief to hear. The rumors that had been flying about them told of the Backstreet Boys hitting rock bottom physically and emotionally. Rumors of Brian’s breakdowns spread like wildfire, despite the hospital’s efforts to keep everything quiet. Brian was unaware of this.

“Brian, we hear that you in particular had a rough time during this ordeal. Could you tell us a little about that?”

“Well, that’s getting a little personal. But yes, I did have a very hard time with this. I’m not perfect, and, uh, it showed. I was very lucky to have these guys there with me. They really did a lot to keep me from going off the deep end.”

“We hear that Nick Carter may not be able to perform again. Is that true?”

“Absolutely not,” Brian said immediately.

“Nick had surgery on his knee,” A.J. broke in. “They had to replace the kneecap. He’s going to need a lot of physical therapy, but his doctor said he would be as good as new.”

“Is there any justification to the rumors that Nick and Kevin suffer from memory loss?” Howie glanced sideways at his two companions. A.J. indicated that he should speak.

“Both Nick and Kevin do suffer from some short term memory loss, it’s nothing serious. We have been told it is a temporary thing. They hit their heads pretty hard, and their brains got a little rattled around, but it won’t be long before they are back to normal.”

“Yeah,” Brian agreed. “It’s not that big of a deal. They still know who they are. I was there when Kevin woke up and he knew who I was right away. He even did a little singing with us, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Brian did not mention that he had had trouble with the lyrics.

“Nick has been a little more out of things than Kevin,” A.J. added. “For the first day or so we had to keep telling him that he was in an accident, because he couldn’t remember, but it sunk in eventually. He knows now. They both forget little things, we have to remind them a lot, but they’re being really good about it. We’ve all been told not to worry.”

“You say you’ve done a little singing?”

Brian grinned. “Well, we’ve tried. Our voices are not exactly their best. But we’ve had to sing A.J. out of trouble, and I think that our caterwauling is what woke up Kevin.”

“You sure woke me up,” A.J. grumbled. “I can tell you for sure that those two in particular need to practice.”

“It’s kinda hard to sing well with broken ribs. You can’t take very deep breaths,” Howie added with a grin. More smiles.

“What effect has this tragedy left on you?”

“A big effect,” Howie said.

“We are all very aware of our mortality right now,” Brian explained. “We came very close to losing two of our members,”

“Three,” Howie interrupted, without thinking. Brian looked over at him, confused.

“We almost lost you too, Bri.,” Howie informed him quietly. Brian stared at him for a moment. “Wow. That’s news to me.”

“I didn’t realize that they didn’t tell you about that,” Howie said somewhat uncomfortably. He had turned away from the microphone to try and keep the reporters from hearing.

Brian recovered a little and glanced out at the crowd, who had fallen silent. “I’m always the last to know,” he said, trying to make light of it. He got a few smiles.

“Could you elaborate on your last statement, Howie?”

Howie glanced over at Brian, silently asking his permission. Brian was visibly upset, so Howie declined the question. “We’re just thankful that we all came through it as well as we did.”

A.J. decided to speak. “I think that this is undisputedly the biggest trial that we have had to face. I’m not sure yet what still lays ahead of us, but I think it’s safe to say we’re not done with this yet, and that there will be plenty more hard times coming our way. Hopefully what we’ve already been through will help us with that. We’ve been saying a lot of prayers, and we’ve had a lot said on our behalf, and I know it has made a difference.”

“Can we take a question from one of our fans?” Brian asked, scanning the small crowd of young faces. A field of eager hands shot up. Brian pointed to a girl he guessed to be about 19 or 20.

“I would like to say that we are so happy that you guys are doing so well. Everyone was so worried about you. Seeing you is such a relief. We were all so scared for you.”

“Well thank you,” Brian said. “We really appreciate that. Knowing that you support us the way you do means a lot to us. Do you have a question for us?”

“Yes I do. Do you think that what y’all have been through will come through on your next album? I know you had begun work on that before all of this happened.”

The three of them looked at each other.

“That’s a good question,” Howie said. “We haven’t really given any thought to the new album, actually. We did have a few songs in the works for it, and we all have been doing more writing for it, so I’d say it’s probably a good bet that some of this will come out on our next album. As for when we will continue work on that, I can’t tell you that right now.”

“Thanks,” she said, her eyes shining.

“Anyone else?” A.J. asked. He pointed to another teenage girl. This one looked about 16.

“Do you think that this tragedy has brought all of you closer together?”

“Another good question,” Howie said.

“It definitely has,” A.J. told her. “I don’t know where any of us would be without each other. Howie helped me out a lot when I was at my worst. The three of us had to really depend on each other when Nick and Kevin were still unconscious. We all had to come face to face with the possibility of losing one or both of them, which, needless to say was unthinkable. Let me tell you, we were ecstatic when they woke up.”

“I think the fact that Howie is still here when he could have been released and gone home to Orlando should tell you something about how tight we are, especially right now. We all realize we need to be together to get through this,” Brian added.

“I think that most of us can say that we have now seen each other at our worst, emotionally and physically,” Howie said. “That doesn’t happen to just anybody, and it is something we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.”

After a few more questions, Brian signaled to Howie, and then motioned to one of the people in charge. A.J. leaned up to his microphone. “I think that’s going to about do it for us today,” he said. “Thanks again for coming, thanks again for thinking about us. Peace.”

The press was excused and the fans that were present were asked to stay behind. Once the room was cleared, Howie spoke.

“Ok, everyone. We are very glad you could come today. You are here because we wanted to try and do a little something for some of our fans who have expressed their sympathies to us over the last three weeks or so.”

“We only wish we could do more,” Brian added. “Unfortunately, we aren’t much good for signing anything for you, but if you come up here one by one we would like to meet you. If you leave your names and addresses with Randy over there, as soon as we get some of this plaster off, we will get you taken care of and send it to you in the mail. Does that sound ok?” The answer was a resounding yes.

One by one, their guests came up to the podium. The three Backstreet Boys gave out hellos and hugs, and handshakes where they could be managed. They were all touched by the genuine love and concern that the fans all shared for them. They received more cards and gifts. One girl handed a package containing a small foam basketball and a net that could be mounted on a door.

“For you and Nick, until you can get out and play some real basketball,” she told him with a small smile. Brian almost cried. Once all of them had come through, they said their goodbyes, and Howie, A.J., and Brian departed.

“I think that went well,” A.J. said.

“I’ll say,” Brian and Howie said together.

Chapter 23

Index