Hanson sat around a large wooden table in the studio downtown. They were trying to work out the final details of a song that they wanted to add to the album. Taylor couldn't stop thinking of Andrea. He didn't like her being so far away. Even if it was only a few blocks from where they were now. He felt better when she was near him.
Isaac noticed Taylor's distant expression, but he ignored it. He even ignored it when Taylor started missing notes. Hell, he even ignored it when Taylor started singing the wrong song!!! But Zac didn't.
"Just call her Tay. Call her at the payphone outside and ask her to come here. Then she'll get here and you'll realize you were being a retard, because there was never anything to worry about in the first place."
Taylor smiled, grateful for Zac's understanding. Which was actually just his patience running out.
Eric walked quickly to the studio where Hanson was recording. He had a friend who worked for Mercury and so he easily obtained the information. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew that it wouldn't be very pleasant for Taylor.
The cellular phone that Andrea always carried rang off just after she had gotten into her car.
"Hello?"
"Hi, can you come to the studio?"
"Right now? I was just on my way home."
"Where are you now? In relation to the studio."
"Um...I don't know a block or two."
"So then you're really close already. Just come. Please?" He was whining now. He knew Andrea hated that, and she'd anything to make him stop.
"Sure. Just don't whine at me anymore, you know I hate that."
Taylor placed the phone back in it's cradle and turned around. He decided he would wait right there for Andrea to arrive.
"You Taylor Hanson?" Eric walked around the corner of the building.
"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of a fan of yours. You might now her."
"Really? Who?" Taylor loved talking about fans. And since he'd gotten engaged, he loved it even more. It usually gave him a chance to think about how wonderful Andrea was.
"Do you know Andrea Sanchez?"
"Yeah. She's my fiance." He loved saying that. It was like she belonged to him now and he loved that feeling. The only thing that could be better would be getting to call her his wife. But he could wait a few more months for the album to get finished first.
Andrea's car pulled up into the parking lot and Taylor glanced away from Eric to greet her with a hug.
"So, what was so important that you need me here for?"
She hadn't even noticed Eric as she came and that was, pardon the cliche, the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Hi Andrea." Eric's voice was shakey and cold. Taylor gripped onto Andrea's waist, drawing her nearer to him as if that way he could make everything okay. "I didn't want you to be here. You weren't supposed to see this. You weren't supposed to meet anyone else."
"Taylor?" she looked at him for security, proof that this was not a typical 'somebody's going to die' speech. But Taylor's face was just as, perhaps, more frightened looking that Andrea's.
"You were always special. Better than every other girl. I never got you in bed, but I bet you would have been good. I wanted it to be me who got to marry you. It was supposed to be me. It was supposed to be my children that you carried. That's the way I wanted it. That's the way it was supposed to be. You don't realise how much I loved you. But it's too late for that. It's too late to save anything now." He drew a gun and fired only once before fleeing.
Andrea thought she had been shot. Her first impulse was to check her stomach, maybe the baby could be saved. But as Taylor's hand fell from her waist she realised that she hadn't been Eric's target.
Her scream was so grief stricen, so shrill that Isaac and Zac were out of the studio in seconds. Zac went to call an ambulance and Isaac watched as Andrea cradled Taylor's head in her lap.
"You were my angel," he choked. "Now I get to be yours."
He died in her arms, blanketed by her tears. Isaac knelt next to her opening his arms to hug her.
"Oh Isaac." she sobbed. "Bring him back. Please bring him back. I love him too much to lose him now."
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