Have You Seen Me?

By: Eboni

Prologue

5:30 in the morning and she wants chocolate covered pretzels... He thought as he stood in line at the convenience store. To pass time he spied the magazine rack located right alongside the line. Why was there a line? It was.. He checked his watch, 5:31 in the morning. The sun was still asleep! He should still be asleep! He should have made her get her own pretzels! She acts like being pregnant is a handicap, he thought bitterly as he yawned. He snatched a National Enquirer off the shelf and thumbed through it, careful not to drop the precious pretzels... He hated pretzels at that moment. Giant Lizards... he read, Space Alien from planet Zooma... Have You Seen Me?... Oh God! Why is he still doing this to us? Doesn’t he realize that he’s hurting everyone by keeping up with this charade? He finally reached the counter and slammed down the bag of pretzels and the magazine. The magazine was still folded back to the page he was reading...

Missing:

Name: Nickolas Gene Carter

Age: 20

Hair: Blond

Eyes: Blue

Height: 6'1

Weight: 180- 200lbs

Last Seen: Tampa, Florida on January 28, 1999

REWARD

CALL: ( 621) - 543 - 9970

He cursed to himself. Brian just couldn’t let it go. Nicky is gone... Alexander James McLean gave the vendor a five dollar bill and told her to keep the change. She wasn’t too impressed. ‘Wow, a whole 13 cents!’ her expression read. AJ ignored it and grabbed his purchases running quickly out of the store and to his car. This could not go on...

Chapter 1

“Brian, no one comes near you anymore. Everyone walks on eggshells around you. They feel uncomfortable, I feel uncomfortable,” Leighanne Wallace paced around the kitchen in her royal purple silk robe, “You need to stop this silly... no, I can’t say silly.” She stopped pacing and slapped her palm against the cool refrigerator door. She rested her forehead against the cool plastic before she gazed up at her audience of chairs again. Just how did you tell your fiancé that he needs help? That he either gets it... or... you’re leaving. Why wasn’t there a book for ‘Dummies’ on breaking things to people? The phone rang giving Leighanne a much needed distraction. She stared at the two different phones that were in the kitchen, each linked to a different phone line. One for us... and the other.. For him. Him, being Nick. Nick who is dead... Dead and Brian just couldn’t..

“Hello?” Leighanne jerked in surprise as her fiancé , Brian Thomas Littrel, suddenly appeared in the picture and had answered the phone. She eyed his scruffy appearance and wondered just how much sleep he had gotten the previous night. His sandy brown hair was tossled and curly, his face stubbly, and his blue eyes were sad and tired. “Yeah, I know,” his voice was taking on a defensive tone, “I had too!” He was silent, obviously listening to whoever it was on the other line, “But why? Why are you so ready to believe that he’s gone Kev? Huh? There was no... No I will not stop! He’s out there som... Fine, fine.. You know what, I don’t have to listen to this every freaking day from you guys!” He slammed down the receiver with such force that the phone fell from its wall cradle and struck the table. Brian cursed loudly. Tears of stress and frustration ran down his face. He turned slowly to face Leighanne, trying to wipe the tears away.

“What was that about?” she asked in her crisp way.

Brian barely glanced at her, “I don’t want to tell you. You’d only be on their side anyway.” He left the kitchen quietly to make up his bed, in the guest room, where he had been sleeping for almost two weeks. Their nightly arguments were just too much to bear for the both of them.

“Brian,” Leighanne called him. She followed him into the guest room, “We don’t even talk about the wedding anymore...”

“We don’t talk period,” Brian broke in harshly, “not anymore..”

“Because everything you say eventually leads to HIM!”

“To him, Leighanne, he has a name,” Brian yelled feeling his anger rise.

“I know his name Brian. I know it. And I loved Nicky dearly... but Brian he’s gone. He’s dead,” Leighanne reached for him but he pulled away, “It’s been a year Brian..”

“That’s right.. You know what today is.. It’s January 28^th. Today he’s twenty, baby. My baby brother’s twenty, and I’m not there,” He was sobbing. He collapsed on the bed hugging a pillow to his chest.

Leighanne watched him for a few minutes before she left the room. She felt bad about wanting to leave him, guilty, but she had had enough. It had been a year, one full year, and Brian still wasn’t any better than he had been the day the police had rang their doorbell. Leighanne stiffled a sob of her own, maybe if he didn’t feel like it is his fault Nick’s gone... Maybe if they had... if she had.. But no, it happened a year ago. There was nothing they could do then and still nothing they could do now, but face reality. Though she could remember the day like it was happening at the present moment...

Chapter 2

“Stupid, stupid.. He’s not answering his phone! If he’s gone out to the dock I’m gonna kill him!” Brian was raging pulling on his raincoat. He was searching the house for his car keys, “Tyke! If you have my keys you’d better bring them here! Daddy will make you sleep outside for a week if you don’t!”

“Honey,” Leighanne giggled softly, she tapped his shoulder and dangled his keys in his face. Brian smirked and kissed her quickly on the lips, “That stupid brat, I don’t care how grown he thinks he is now that he’s 19. I’m still gonna kick his...” The doorbell rang.

Leighanne grinned, “That’s probably him. I bet he forgot his key again.” She ran to the door to open it and drag Nick inside while Brian struggled out of his raincoat griping about first degree murder. Lil’ Tyke, his chihuahua, chose that very moment to come out and “play” with Daddy. “No Tyke! Get away! You’re gonna make me... Woah!” he toppled to the ground, “Oh that’s it, you’re gonna get it you little runt!” He was giggling.

“Brian...”

That stopped the laughter. That quivering chord in her voice frightened Brian. He rolled onto his side towards the door to see two uniformed officers standing there.. Two.. Two officers meant bad news. He jumped up, bushing himself off hastily and rushing towards the door. He put his arms around his fiancé’s waist, “May I help you officers?” he asked politely.

“I understand you are close friends with Nickolas Gene Carter?” The male officer asked, his face looking... remorseful. Like he didn’t want to be there.

“Yeah.. Yes, why what’s wrong? Is he hurt?” Brian tightened his grip on Leighanne’s waist. Police don’t come to the door if you were hurt...

“I’m sorry Mr. Littrell,” the female officer bowed her head and handed Brian a plastic bag, inside the clear bag Brian could clearly see Nick’s car keys, his wallet, and his prized anchor necklace, “Mr. Carter was reported being seen leaving the docks in Tampa Bay in his boat around 4:30 this afternoon...”

“In the storm...” Leighanne put her face in Brian’s shirt, “We told him not to.”

“The remains of his boat and some personal items were found washed along the shore..”

Brian wiped at his tears, “And his body?”

“We’re still searching, but at this point in time we’re looking for a cadaver,” the male officer said gravely, “I am so sorry. I hate delivering this type of news.”

“Today is his birthday, his 19^th birthday!” Brian was crying out. Leighanne held him trying to quiet his sobs.

“If there’s no body how do you know he’s dead? What made you jump to this conclusion?” Brian was yelling at the officers, “You are NOT doing your JOBS! You go and find Nick and bring him here! Bring him here! Do not come back here without him, or.. Or.. To tell me that.. That.. You’ve found a body..” He slammed the door in their faces. He slammed the door and locked it. He stood still his chest heaving for maybe 5 minutes before he broke down again, slowly sinking to the floor, “Oh Jesus...Please, Please Jesus save him. Bring him back Lord, bring him back to us... He can’t be gone, he can’t be...”

Leighanne held him as he wept uncontrollably for most of the night. The following day some very disturbing calls would have to be made, after Nick was never brought back, and his body was never found.... That was when it all began.

Brian didn’t attend the funeral claiming Nick wasn’t dead. He even got little Aaron, Nick’s younger brother into his crazy notions. He spent much time and money into efforts trying to locate Nick. People even tried to aid him in his attempts, thinking maybe it would help him to accept the fact that Nick wasn’t coming back... It only fueled his determination to find him more. Brian would never let go. He was going to drive himself and everyone else around him crazy as well. Leighanne needed to get out... She needed to breathe. With Brian, she was suffocating. She needed air, Brian, I need air.

Chapter 3

“Leslie are you ready to go?” Jane Carter asked her middle daughter. Jane was in the process of putting on lipstick while trying to find her car keys.

“I’ve been ready for 10 minutes Mother. We are going to be late!” Leslie paced nervously around the dining room table wringing her hands together. She had an important meeting with a record label today. She would know today if she would be signed to a record label.

“Damn!” Leslie was startled at her mother’s loud curse. She always refrained from cursing around the children. Leslie stopped her pacing, concern for her mother overriding any anxiety over a record deal... “Mom? Are you ok?” She walked from the dining room into the kitchen to join her mother.

“No, I can’t find my keys.. And I hate this shade of lipstick!” Jane Carter looked distraught over her perfect lip color and missing keys. Such small items... but Leslie knew that this was not what was on her mother’s mind. Leslie spotted her mother’s keys on the counter, “Mom. I found your keys.”

“Oh.. You found them. Silly me, that was where I left them..” She laughed softly to herself before collapsing in one of the kitchen chairs, and resting her head in her hands. Leslie watched in silence as her mother’s shoulders started to shake with soft sobs. Leslie sat beside her mother and offered her a comforting hug. It was weird, her mother was the one who comforted her, and now it was the other way around. Leslie looked up when she felt another pair of arms encircling her and her mother, into the face of her older sister BJ. BJ’s eyes were wet, she had obviously been crying earlier and now seeing her mother breaking down her tears were being replenished. Leslie felt a few tears of her own building, “He should have been 20 today.. I still think at any moment he’s gonna call... He’s gonna call and say ‘Mom, I miss you..’ I still walk around the house and want to suddenly pick up the phone and call him to make sure he’s awake, that he’s ok...”

“I do too,” BJ whispered to her mother, “It’s hard to believe...” The three women pulled away from each other, “...that it’s been a year. One complete year since he’s been gone.”

The room was filled with a somber silence, “Well, come on Leslie,” Jane Carter cleared her throat and wiped her eyes with backs of her hands, “we’d better be going, huh?”

Leslie nodded weakly, “Yeah...”

“Good luck Les,”BJ said with a small smile and a wave. The back door that fed into the kitchen crashed open revealing Aaron Carter, Jane’s youngest and an excellent view of the garage he had been cleaning out. “Dad says you guys had better get a move on, you’re going to be late for your own label signing.”

“We’re leaving,” Leslie said brushing past her brother. Jane tried to do the same but was halted by Aaron, his brown eyes looking into hers, “Are you ok, Mom?”

Jane swallowed and nodded briskly, “I’m fine,” she said throatily, “Are you ok, Aaron?”

Aaron stared at her, “No, I’m not. It’s my brother’s birthday, and I don’t even get to tell him Happy Birthday, cause he’s not here.”

Jane wrapped her arms around him, “I know it’s hard now honey, but it’ll get easier to deal with in time.”

“Yeah, cause by then, someone will find him, and he’ll be back with us. Where he belongs,” Aaron said flatly, and before his mother could comment he passed by her into the kitchen and out into the den. Jane stared after the path he made... He would never let go. He would never accept his brother’s death. He wouldn’t be satisfied until someone showed him honest to God proof that Nick was dead. Jane wished she could feel that way too. She wished she could believe her son was still alive, but that wish would be in vain. Her oldest son, her firstborn, had gone beyond his mother’s reach to never return. She bit back another sob, and took a deep breath. A parent could never be prepared for the loss of a child. There was no class you could take, no book you could read. You simply improvised. Jane and Bob Carter improvised beautifully, and would probably continue improvising for the rest of their lives....

Jane finally stepped into the garage and greeted her husband, Bob, and joined her daughter in the Volvo. She smiled and waved as she backed out of the driveway. Smiled on the outside, on the inside.... Happy Birthday Nicky.

Chapter 4

“Howie, you always say leave him be!” AJ sat across the table from Howard Dorough. Howie was nodding to the waiter letting him know that he wanted the check.

“That’s right, and I will always say it. If it makes Brian happy to think that.. That Nicky may still be here somewhere, then let him,” Howie thanked the waiter who laid the check down on the table.

“I’m not saying it’s wrong for him to play like maybe Nick ...survived, somehow. But Howie, he’s got a hotline, posting Nick’s picture everywhere... There are more Nick Carter sightings than Elvis sightings now! It’s time he stopped, the King is dead, and so is Nick!” AJ’s voice was rising and catching the attention of others people in the restaurant. He caught a few glares and lowered his tone, “It’s hurting everyone Howie, to see and hear...”

“I know, you think I don’t know! It hurts me to be reminded almost everyday that Nicky’s gone.. Especially today, his birthday,” Howie threw down a few bills to pay the check. He stood to leave, and AJ rose with him.

“I never implied that you didn’t care, Howie,” AJ pushed trying to catch up to Howie as he bustled out of the café away from AJ. “Howie!”

Howie stopped when he had reached the doors of the restaurant, “No AJ, I will not call Brian and harass him any further than you and Kevin are.”

AJ actually stomped his foot like a petulant child,and groaned loudly, “Fine Howie, fine. Don’t do anything about it. But you can sure as hell bet that I will. I’m gonna call the Carters and..”

Howie was on him in a flash, “Don’t! You know how this will affect...”

“Exactly!” AJ fumed, “How do you think they feel when they go shopping or something and see their son on the first page? The press gave up the ‘Nick’s alive’ charade months ago! The only person keeping it going is Brian. As long as he keeps feeding the wrong people his suspicions not one of us will ever get any peace!”

Howie stared at AJ, with indecision in his eyes. It was painful to be reminded of Nick almost daily.. But God what did it hurt to still hold onto a dream that he was still alive. Everyone was ready to let go, though. Even Howie... But Brian was another story, and right then, Howie was the only person who was still on non-hostile speaking terms with him. Howie sighed loudly, “Alright AJ, alright. I’ll talk to him. You win.”

“I knew you’d do the right thing Howie,” AJ smiled, his mood drastically changing. He wrapped an arm around Howie’s shoulders, “Thanks man.”

Howie nodded, glad to be pleasing AJ, but he knew what this was gonna do to Brian. He felt awful. Brian was slowly falling apart, the only thing keeping him together was making it his duty to find Nick and bring him home. Crazy. Howie wondered what would happen if Brian refused to listen to him too. Would he shut Howie out like he had done the others? It had been awhile since all four of the remaining BSB had been together, and Brian was the main reason why. Howie sighed inwardly, he didn’t want to, but it was time for it to stop. One full year was long enough, besides, if Nick was alive, wouldn’t he have called by now? Howie felt his grief hit him in the stomach. His youngest brother was gone... and his other brother was losing his mind, and he was caught in the middle. He needed a vacation...

Chapter 5

Brian sighed as he hung up the phone on yet another prank caller. How could people joke about such a thing? He retreated into the living room, checking to make sure Leighanne wasn’t in there first. Every time they were in a room together another argument sparked. The wedding, the wedding, was all she would talk about. When’s it gonna happen? Well Leighanne we can’t even have a decent conversation anymore, he thought, why should we be rushing into marriage?- it’s not going to make it any better! He settled himself onto the couch, he was just getting comfy when the doorbell rang. Brian rolled his eyes. No one came to their front door anymore for friendly visits... at least not for him. It must be one of Leighanne’s girlfriends. He knew why they came over, and he knew what they talked about. They all want Leighanne to leave. Brian didn’t know why knowing that hurt him so... Things just were not working, and maybe it would be for the better if she left. Then Brian wouldn’t have to dread waking up every morning in the guest room creeping around his own house to avoid her. Wouldn’t it just be easier for the both of them if she were to leave?

Brian sighed and felt a familiar stinging behind his eyes, tears... He still loved her. That’s why he cared. He never wanted her to leave, not really. He just wanted her to support him. The doorbell rang again impatiently. Leighanne entered the room, rolling her eyes at Brian, and stalking towards the door. Brian heard familiar voices filling the house.. Sounded like AJ... AJ, Kevin, and Howie. Howie? Brian stood up slowly and walked into the foyer.

“Hi Brian,” Howie greeted him with a tight smile.

Kevin and AJ simply stood where they were, staring at Brian coolly.

“Hi, Howie... Alex, Kevin,” Brian greeted them slowly. No smiles... Suddenly he knew what this was about. It was always about this! Why couldn’t they just leave him alone! And Howie, he had thought Howie was on his side! Brian whirled on his heel, putting his back to them, “I’m not giving up.” He walked back into the living room to resume his slouch on the couch.

“Brian, you can’t!” Kevin’s voice cut through the air as he stalked behind Brian stopping in front of him... and blocking Brian’s view of the television. Brian shifted his body so he could get a better view of the screen, “Don’t you realize that you’re making everyone’s life a living hell. Mine, AJ’s, Howie’s, the Carters, Leighanne! Do you even think about your fiancé anymore Brian? Do you know that she’s thinking about leaving you?”

Brian was silent, he slumped lower in his chair biting his lip, What can I do to make them leave me alone? Go away... he willed them silently.

“Have you thought about the Carters?” AJ demanded, “When they go to the grocery store don’t you think it hurts them to open a paper and see...”

“....that someone still believes in their son’s return. I’m trying to help them!” Brian jumped up from the chair and began to leave the room.

“But Brian what good is your help doing them if...” Howie had stopped Brian and was looking him dead straight in the eye, “if he’s dead Bri. He’s dead.”

Hearing the words from Kevin, AJ, and Leighanne was one thing, but hearing it from Howie was somewhat humbling to Brian. He felt his shoulders sag. Howie had been his neutral ground, now he wasn’t. Brian was at war with everyone now. But maybe they had a good reason to oppose him... maybe his search had gone on too long. He felt the familiar tingling sensation on his cheeks that let him know he was crying. He turned away not wanting anyone to see that they had gotten to him, “No.”

“Yes,” Howie said firmly, trying to turn Brian so he could look into his eyes, “He’s gone Brian. He’s dead.”

He felt the eyes of everyone in the room on him now. He could practically hear their raging thoughts of, “Is he going to let go?” “Is he going to give up?” He felt the room getting warmer and warmer and swerving faster and faster, their unspoken words kept getting louder and louder. He was shaking his head vigorously, “NO!” He yelled, “GET OUT OF MY HOME! I thought you were my friends... HIS friends... Friends don’t give up, and don’t try to convince others to either!”

“Brian we’re not giving up on anything, because there is nothing to give up on,” AJ exploded, “Nick drowned Brian. He went out on his boat, like the dumb idiot that he was...”

“Don’t talk about him like that!” Kevin interrupted, “he sometimes didn’t think things all the way through, but he wasn’t an idiot AJ!”

AJ flinched back at Kevin’s protective tone. Kevin hated when anyone spoke ill of Nick’s memory, but AJ couldn’t help it. What the kid did was just dumb, “He got caught in the storm,” AJ continued with a shaky voice, “And he drowned... Stupid kid.”

AJ ignored Kevin’s glare, and wiped away a stray tear. He hadn’t wanted to cry, especially not in front of the guys. He felt an arm around his shoulders, he looked over to see Howie next to him. All three of them, and Leighanne looked to Brian, who still had his back to them. They waited for his response, but none came. Brian slowly retreated out of the room, into the guest room and closed the door behind him.

“Damn it,” AJ cursed, “What are we gonna have to do, beat him over the head with stick? Take him to court?”

“Court?” Howie, Kevin, and Leighanne turned to look at AJ in shock.

AJ was patting himself down for a cigarette, he glanced up at them, “It’s gotta stop, and he’s not listening to reason.”

“But AJ, do you know how much negative publicity it would bring to us?” Howie was immediately arguing, “That is just what we don’t want or need! How would taking Brian to court be any better than what he’s doing now. It’ll kill everyone...”

“It’s gotta stop for good Howie! Sure everyone will hurt, but only for a little while, then it’ll be all over!” AJ said finding his cigarette then it was snatched away by Leighanne, “You will not take Brian to court, and you will not smoke in this house! We just have to... to...”

“To what Leighanne? What else can we do? We’ve done everything! I think it’s time to give the Carters a call, and get their perspective of the situation Then we can...”

“Get out AJ,” Leighanne said in a low voice. AJ stared at her a few seconds in disbelief, “I said GET OUT!”

AJ looked to his brothers for help, but found none, “Fine, fine, I’m leaving.... But just to make sure you know, I’m serious. He’s got two weeks to clean up his act and start acting like... well, like a normal person, or I’m taking serious action!” With that he headed for the door, making sure everyone saw him pull out another cigarette as he left.

“He’s serious,” Kevin said flatly, shaking his head.

“He’s just pissed off!” Leighanne argued, “One of you can go and talk to him...”

“No Leighanne, there’s no talking to AJ when he gets like this,” Howie shook his head, “He’s had it. He’s gonna open the gateway to our personal hells.”

Leighanne, Howie, and Kevin stood stunned, staring at the front door, then at the door Brian had disappeared through, only God could save them all now... or Nick.

Chapter 6

They are all against me... Brian sat stewing in his guest room. He tossed the stuffed basketball at the wall and sighed. Maybe I should give up. It has been a year. Brian cringed at the thought that invaded his mind. No, no, no! He could not let the others get to him. He never had before, so why now...? It’s been a full year.

NO! Brian tugged at his hair, he couldn’t let himself be discouraged, Nick needed him too much. There was a soft knock at the door. Please don’t let it be Kevin or Leighanne, or...” Howie.”

“Bri, I’m sorry,” were the first things out of his mouth. He made no moves to venture into the room, he simply stood in the doorway,” I know I hurt you more than everyone else by coming here, but I had to Brian. You’re going to kill yourself, and your relationships. It’s time to move on.” The door closed softly and Brian could hear Howie’s gentle footsteps walking away.

He shut his eyes and stared at the blackness of his own eyelids. Time to move on... He felt the weight of tears building up and collecting under his eyelids. As if angered by the very thought that Howie’s words had brought him to tears he rose in a rage and kicked over the night stand. Damn it! Why would no one help him? Why were they so against the fact that Nick was out there probably lost, scared, hurt, needing someone to find him and bring him home. Brian felt the familiar pang of emotion as he thought about his young friend all alone in a strange place. Nick hated strange places, and he hated being alone. But... but... Wouldn’t he have called by now? Wouldn’t someone have recognized him and have called for him, if he couldn’t do it himself? Could someone actually be holding him in a place where he couldn’t get any kind of communication device? Or maybe someone had... No, just stop Brian. Stop.

Brian paused in his temporary insanity tantrum as new feelings and thoughts flooded his brain like a news flash, It’s been too long. It’s time to listen to the others. You’re losing everything that you once held dear to you... If Nick’s out there, he’ll find you, eventually. But it is time for you to give up the search for him. It’s time for you to think that... well that if Nick is out there, maybe he doesn’t want to be found.

After hours of just quiet time, Brian had made up his mind. He wanted the life that he had put on hold a year ago back. He needed it back. He felt isolated and he had alienated everyone from him. Nick is his brother and will always be, and Brian would never give up his search for him... but it was time to back off a bit. He lifted himself from the floor slowly and stealthily made his way to Leighanne’s room, their room. He opened the door quietly and tiptoed in. He watched Leighanne sleeping on her side, her face seeming so sad, her blond hair fanned her pillow. Brian smiled slightly and reached down to caress her face, and run his fingers through her smooth hair. He carefully peeled back the blankets and crawled in bed beside her. He made himself comfortable, and was finally able to find peace. He felt her weight shift, and felt her arms wrap around him. He knew she was still asleep, and to know that she still longed for him, even in sleep, touched him, and saddened him. He had put her aside on a shelf, like a doll, and he would make it up to her. Somehow.

Leighanne woke up with her face nuzzled in soft curly brown hair, she pulled her face back and rubbed the body that was in her arms. Brian. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. To say that it was a pleasant surprise, would also be an understatement. To say his intentions of it was a most wanted explanation , would also be an understatement. She lie in bed quietly stroking his hair, waiting for him to wake up.

His blue eyes were hazy and hesitant to open until they looked at her, then they snapped open and stayed that way as the fog cleared. He smiled genuinely, “Good morning Leigh.”

“Good morning,” Leighanne said, with only a puzzled frown on her face. Brian’s smile faded and he sat up. She scooted back a little to make room for him. He took her hands and squeezed them, “Leigh, I want to talk about the wedding.... if that is, there still is to be one.”

Leighanne’s frown turned into a smile, the corners of her mouth reached for the sky, THE WEDDING! “Brian, what are you saying?”

“Leigh, will you still marry me?” Brian cracked a small smile as he released one of her hands and held the hand with the ring in between his two palms. Leighanne stared at him, searching his eyes for insincerity, and some reluctance... It’s happening, it has happened! He’s moved on. Leighanne’s answer was taking Brian in her arms and squeezing him until he was sure his ribs would crack. She kissed him on every inch of his face and lingered on his lips the longest....

“Well, I guess that,” Brian laughed, “was a yes.”

Chapter 7

“You’re what?” Aaron Carter held the phone to his ear in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“It’s over Aaron,” Brian’s voice said, “It’s been a year, AC.. It’s time to let go.”

“Brian what happened to you?” Aaron felt the hot tears building behind his eyelids. He took the phone to his room, “You are the only person I can talk to, depend on... Now you’re leaving me too! Why does everyone just want to give up on Nick?”

“Aaron I’m not giving up, I ‘m just... well...”

“You’re giving up... But that’s fine,” Aaron interrupted Brian before he could say anymore, “It’s ok. I’ll just find Nick on my own. I can do it!”

“Aaron...”

“I’ll talk to you later...” Aaron was preparing to turn of the cordless phone.

“Aaron, why don’t you come down here for a visit? We can talk about him,” Brian blurted out suddenly. That outburst kept Aaron from hanging up the phone.

“What?” Florida? Aaron hadn’t been to Florida since... since Nick’s disappearance. He felt the familiar pang of loss every time he thought of Nick’s disappearance. There was no body, how could anyone believe that Nick was dead. He simply disappeared. But Aaron was determined to find him, and up until that point, Brian had been with him.

“I’ll send you a ticket, you ask your parents.... and you come stay with Leighanne and I for a week or two. We can go places, and... and talk about Nicky, ya know,” Brian’s voice was soft and pleading for understanding on Aaron’s part. Did Aaron want to understand him? No. But he figured if he were there in Florida with Brian, maybe he could change his mind about giving up the search for Nick.

Aaron smiled quietly, “I don’t know Brian.... My parents might not....”

“I’ll talk to them.. Leighanne will talk to them,” Brian cleared up his slip of tongue. Ever since the funeral, Brian had become forbidden fruit to the Carter children, though he still kept in touch with Aaron secretly. But it was no secret that Bob and Jane Carter loved Leighanne Wallace, two words from her and Aaron would be flying first class to Orlando.

“Ok, Bri,” Aaron said with a sigh, “I guess it’d be ok.” Aaron could almost hear Brian’s smile through the phone, and it made him feel a little guilty. He shrugged it off quickly though, this was his brother they were talking about, “I’ll talk to them about it tonight.”

After they disconnected Aaron sat on his bed, just thinking. He thought about when they received the call telling them that Nick had drowned. Impossible, Aaron remembered himself yelling, Nick was a good swimmer. Nick knew what to do in a storm. But his mom had cried and fainted, and his dad, his big strong father, had buckled at the knees and cried like a baby. Nick was their firstborn together. BJ had to take the phone. Even through her tears and runny nose BJ managed to keep her voice somewhat steady. He remembered his mom and dad gathering the whole family together. Both Angel and Leslie had been at friend’s houses, but they were called back home. He remembered Leslie’s face. It went completely blank. She thought they were all playing a big joke on her. Angel had burst into tears. Aaron couldn’t recall his sister ever being that upset, and his mother was scaring him. Aaron sat through the midst of it all with a detached look on his face. He didn’t understand why everyone was so upset. So the police and coast guards were out looking for Nick. They’d find him. He’d be home in a few hours... Aaron had told everyone that too. His mother was hysterical, again. After that, Aaron decided to keep his notions to himself, but then Brian came along. He felt the same way Aaron had and was determined to prove that he was correct. Aaron had always liked Brian before, but now Brian was almost like his savior. Someone who would listen to him and understand. He counted on Brian to help him through the day when his mother walked around the house like a black veil had been pulled over her face, when his father forgot to make facial expressions. He needed Brian when BJ, his special friend, forgot her role in his life.

BJ was destroyed over Nick’s disappearance she blamed herself sometimes. Nick had wanted her to move in with him so badly he had offered to pay for her college and everything. He had been so lonely. BJ had chosen to stay in California with the family. She was always thinking that if she had been there, then Nick would still be here. He wouldn’t have gone out on his boat. BJ would have had him at a nice restaurant, or somewhere, anywhere but the docks.

Aaron felt bad for her, but he knew she knew deep down it wasn’t really her fault. He sighed and kicked his legs onto the bed. He curled up, and wondered if he would indeed be making a trip to Florida. Then right before he fell asleep, he wondered, as he always did and would until his brother was returned to him, what Nick was doing right then.

Chapter 8

The crisp air blew gently against Gillian Emilliano’s face as she lie luxuriously on the quilt that had been spread over the grass. Vacationing abroad was wonderful, especially to those who rarely leave their own hometowns. For Gillian this was her first solo outing away from the enclave. She laughed as she watched a young couple run by chasing one another laughing and yelling with pleasure. She smiled as she felt the strong arms close in around her shoulders. Inhaling of his fresh scent deeply, she lie her head upon his shoulders. He lowered his head to her forehead letting his dirty blond hair tickle her face, “What are you so happy about Jill?” he mused letting his lips wander up and down her neck.

“That I’m here with you...” she giggled trying to move away from his tickling kisses, “No parents, no spies...”

“And best of all, no bodyguards,” Skylar finished for her.

“Well Mr. Geovanni, after living your whole life surrounded by riches and protection one would think you’d be used to...”

He silenced her with an index finger to her lips. His gray blue eyes danced for her and he smiled at her in the way that drove her crazy.... and worst yet, he knew it drove her crazy! “Gill, this is the first time we’ve actually really been alone together,” he said in a breathy voice, “Do you think I enjoyed living a life where I was never left alone? No way. Now this, this is how it should be. And if it were up to me...”

“We’d be in bed 24-7, wouldn’t we Sky,” she smiled as Skylar’s smile vaporized with surprise, “Yes, you are predictable!” she pushed at his rib cage as he pouted. This was yet another one of his looks that drove her insane. She smiled with satisfaction as she predicted that he would then move in to kiss her, trying yet again to stun her with his impulsiveness. She moved slightly back to let him see she knew what he was planning, but to her surprise, he didn’t move toward her. He simply sat back sprawled on his hands smiling wildly at her. He laughed at her dazed expression, “Don’t quit your day job Jilly.” She grabbed him by his shirt collar and began reeling him to her. His eyes grew dark with his lust as he realized what she wanted.

His kisses were soft and chaste in places where they shouldn’t be. His hands brought to life places on her body that she never knew she had. She moaned with pleasure as soft Italian words, flowing in the arrangement of a song with a sweet melody, floated into her ears. She opened her eyes to gaze at her golden Adonis that loomed above her, with the voice of an angel.

“Sky...” she whispered softly reaching to stroke his face.

“Shhh...” he gently pushed her wavy smoke colored hair behind her ear, he continued to sing softly.

“But Sky...how come...”

He moved in closer to her face breathing the soft words gently onto her face. His breath was sweet and cool, “You never sang for me before...” She spoke her words softly, but he pulled back like she had yelled the words in his face. The spell of “the moment” was broken. Skylar lie back on his back beside Gillian, he nudged her gently in the thigh to let her know he wasn’t turned off or anything.

Gillian grinned at his childishness, “You never told me you could sing.”

Skylar chuckled, “I can’t tell you all my secrets... why then I’d become, gasp, predictable.”

She smacked him with her hand, “You’re despicable, Geovanni!”

“Hey, you’re gonna be a Geovanni too,” Skylar reminded her he grabbed her small hand in his large one and held the ring up to examine it in the sun. The band was intricately designed in gold and diamonds. The pure gold was woven and twisted around the diamonds chips taking on the shape of flowers in a beautiful hidden garden. “Mother’s ring looks even more exquisite on your lovely slender finger my lady...” Skylar said taking on an Old English accent and kissing her hand.

Gillian giggled, she had loved Skylar Geovanni since the day she met him. She knew she was to be betrothed since she was 15 years old. How she resented knowing that she wouldn’t even have the freedom to choose who she would spend the rest of her life with. She was bred by her parents to have good manners, to be feminine and polite. She had lived her life in a glass box it felt, segregated from the rest of the world by the island she lived on. Everyone native to the enclave was in the Business. Families were bred for power and continuances of the family name. Pre-arranged marriages were very prominent, especially within the powerful families that wished for alliances between one another. The Geovanni’s were the richest most powerful family on the enclave. They were direct Italian descendants, their ancestors were the founders of the enclave, a land set away soley for the kings and queens of the mafia, the heart of the business. They lived on the highest most secluded hill of the enclave. They were the recluses of the small population, hardly ever seen, hardly ever heard from... unit after Gillian’s debutante ball. That was when the proposal was transpired and pre-arranged. Gillian had been enraged to marry a man she had never seen before... but then the Geovanni’s appeared with a tall golden-haired man. Skylar Armand Geovanni.

How she wanted to hate him! How she wanted to spit in his face and make him aware that she would never make him a good wife, for she would never love anyone by force. But somehow, somehow in the means of telling him just that, she fell in love. Was it his blond hair, his good looks? Or was it his care-free personality? Safe from anything his parents must have taught him, safe from anything the private school abroad he had attended.... Skylar had the best sense of humor, the wildest imagination, and the greatest dreams. And Gillian had somehow become a part of them, though she had tried to resist she finally did have to yield to his unending charms.

“Look Jilly, you see that cloud up there,” Skylar pointed straight above him. Gillian smiled and nodded, knowing full well she wasn’t looking at the clouds, but at his strong profile. She loved the way he smiled and his looks of childish amazement. She took her fingers and traced his jaw-line. She felt the muscles of his face constricting into a smile, “Jill I get the feeling you’re not looking at the clouds...”

“Shut up and kiss me Geovanni,” Gillian said biting his ear. The growl from Skylar was anticipated and she lie back on the blanket waiting for his barrage of kisses... so far the whole two weeks abroad had been spent like this... Both of them showing their love for one another, and sharing the same bed for the very first time. Their parents would have their heads if they knew, but eating forbidden fruit had made their journey even more enjoyable and adventurous. She found herself sitting atop his stomach staring into his face which was flushed with exhilaration. “Your mother would...”

“Shhh.. There are no mother’s here,” Gillian soughed as she used her pinky to trace the fine outline of his lips, such sensuous things they were, before she brought hers down upon them again. She felt the unsettling feeling of eyes on her, on them, and she pulled back. She quickly arranged her messy hair and turned to face their new company. Three young girls, none older than 18 stood in front of them. They stood staring with their mouths hanging agape. Gillian looked from their glazed eyes to her fiancé, who was sitting up and brushing himself off. He shot them that killer smile that rendered everyone in its path defenseless. “Hi ladies?”

The girls stood stunned, looking star-struck? Gillian stared as their expressions of pure adulation deepened, “Nick Carter?” the tallest one with braces spoke up. She had a thick accent.

“Rick?” Skylar looked confused.

“Nick... Nick Carter?” the girl questioned again.

Skylar blinked, “Nick Carter....” he looked rather annoyed. How many times would he have to say no? Every time he was going to get some someone always interrupted wanting to know if he was...

“Nick Carter?” The girl repeated looking excited.

It was clear to Skylar and Gillian that the girl did not speak English. Skylar wondered to himself if he should just say “yes” this time. Maybe it would stop them from approaching him asking him that question. Who the hell is Nick Carter?

“No,” Gillian answered since it was very clear Skylar had drifted off into his own private land, “No Nick Carter.”

The girls looked very disappointed, much like the others had.. It seemed as if every other country they had been to in Europe had at least one girl questioning Skylar’s identity. Nick Cater? She had never heard of the guy, but he must be pretty famous.

The girls left in a single file line talking rapidly amongst themselves, leaving Skylar and Gillian to stare after them, the mood spoiled... for good.

“One day I’m gonna find this Nick Carter guy, and I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind!” Skylar was fuming, “He spoils my fun in every country! Maybe they’re spies Gillian...”

“Spies?” Gillian rolled her eyes with a smile, Skylar’s imagination never failed to amuse her sometimes, “What makes you think that honey?”

“Well they always show up at the wrong time! Like our parents! I bet our parents have hired undercover spies who look like little girls to keep tabs on us... and when we look like we’re going to do something they don’t approve of... Hi, are you Nick Carter? I don’t even see why they let us leave if they’re just going to follow us around like....” Gillian used her lips to silence him. Skylar hated to be shushed when he was on a roll, but this time... somehow it did not matter as much. She felt his hands move to be around her waist and travel up her back. “Now, where did we leave off...” Gillian laughed throatily, pushing him back down onto the blanket, and re-strategizing her conquest as she straddled him and crawled upon him.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to be interrupting, but are you Nick Carter?”

Spies! Spies, she knew it!!

Chapter 9

“Aaron it is so wonderful to see you again,” Leighanne hugged the slight blond boy in front of her. Brian took Aaron’s two duffel bags under his arms, “Is this all ya got kid?”

Aaron nodded.

“Then lets go,” Brian said cheerily. He and Leighanne chattered around Aaron discussing all the fun things they had planned for them all to do while Aaron was in town. Leighanne fussed about how much he had grown, and how handsome he was becoming. Aaron realized that there was no mention of Nick anywhere in the conversation. He stared at Brian occasionally just to see if maybe he’s send Aaron some kind of look, some kind of gesture... but there was none. If Aaron wanted to get the search back on, he had a lot of work ahead of him.

“I ordered a large cheese pizza, just the way you and Brian like it,” Leighanne said with a smile, as she hung up the phone, “Do you want to rent a movie later on?”

Aaron blinked, “Sure, I’d love to.”

Leighanne smiled and disappeared back into the kitchen.

“So Aaron...” Brian looked rather nervous, “How’s everything at home?”

Aaron gazed up at Brian... here it is, “It’s fine Brian. Everyone’s moving on with their lives.”

Brian nodded, “How about you?”

“Me?” Aaron looked down at his hands, “I’m cool.”

“Do you still...?”

“Yes Brian, I do, and I don’t care if you don’t anymore,” Aaron said flatly.

“Aaron, that’s not fair. I never said that I don’t think he’s....he’s out there. I’m just giving the search a break, for awhile. Aaron it is time for me to start thinking about myself, about Leighanne...” Brian said trying to catch the boy’s eye, but Aaron only turned away.

“Nick would never turn away from you, so why are you turning away from him?”

“I’m not turning away from him!” Brian interjected.

“Then why are you stopping the search... everyday you don’t send out a flyer could be the day that someone recognizes my brother’s picture!” Aaron shouted, “Everyday you don’t care... makes the day Nick comes home later than it could have been!”

“Aaron, I know. I thought that way for a very long time,” Brian shrugged,” but Aaron, we have to face facts. It’s been a year... and no one has contacted us about Nick, not even Nick himself. Aaron, I do believe he’s alive, but maybe Aaron, maybe he just doesn’t want to be found. Maybe he’s happy somewhere else...”

“NO! No, my brother would never be happy somewhere else away from me, away from his family! He wouldn’t do that to us... he wouldn’t make us worry, make us cry...” Aaron said his voice breaking.

“Aaron...”

“No, Brian you’re a lost cause, as was this trip. I only came to see if I could talk some sense into you and now I see that I can’t.”

“Aar...”

“Good night Brian, and tomorrow, I’m going home. I’m gonna start a search of my own,” Aaron slid from the chair and stalked off towards the guest room that had been designated as his.

“Classic,” Skylar was whispering mesmerized with the graphical novel he held in front of his face. Gillian simply groaned, “Unbelievable, the air to the Geovanni ‘throne,’ obsessed with Spider Man. I do not see what holds you so captivated in those things! Cheap drawings of men in tights and women in sleazy costumes. Why don’t you read a real book for a change Sky!” Gillian grabbed the nearest paperback book off the bookstore’s shelve and struck Skylar lightly with it over the head. He barely flinched. Gillian gapped at him, oh well, she sighed. She looked beside the comic book bins to the rack of magazines, a Cosmopolitan would do nicely in this situation. Glancing at her entranced fiancé she knew they would not be leaving anytime soon so she had better find something to keep her occupied. She walked past Skylar to the magazine rack and ran her fingers along the selections. Cosmo! She picked out her prize and began to flip through the pages.

She groaned and eyed her watch in vain, the aching in her legs told her just how long she had been standing waiting for Skylar. She glanced over at the blond who was now standing by a second guy, they looked to be discussing something. Great, comic book talk... perfect, she rolled her eyes. Now she was glad they were banned from the enclave, Skylar would vegetate on them. The first comic he had touched was a few weeks ago and now he was addicted. Gillian looked at her People Magazine that she had just read cover to cover, she had read just about everything on the rack now, even the highly annoying Teen Magazines. She shuddered thinking about having to stoop to that level out of boredom, Skylar was gonna get it later! Star.... Gillian eyed the trashy magazine. She had never read one before, these were also not allowed on the enclave and judging from the outrageously falsified headlines she knew why. She thumbed through the pages softly chuckling at some of the stories.. Aliens from planet Zooma... beware, teenage mutant ninja alligators... Have You... what? Gillian held the picture up to the light and frowned as she read the information. Nickolas Gene Carter... Gillian eyed Skylar, holding up the picture and then looking at him, “Excellent likeness,” she uttered, “Nickolas Gene Carter... Nickolas Carter, Nick Carter! That is the name the girls call Skylar!” Hmmm... Gillian smiled as she solved a mystery. Now, who was this Nick Carter for all these girls to know his name? Is he famous? Hmmn,.. Next time she’d have to ask, or maybe she could find out for herself, she was a smart girl, she could figure anything out. She smiled and closed the magazine dog-earing that page. She took it to the purchase counter and bought the magazine. She walked back to Skylar with the white plastic bag swishing and softly hitting her knees, “I am ready to go Skylar Geovanni!” she said forcefully.

“Huh?” Skylar looked up at her from his comic book for the first time in an hour and a half, “Jilly? Oh come on it’s getting good!”

“Then buy it! Let’s go,” Gillian tapped her foot angrily.

“But I...”

Gillian eyed the towering stack of comics behind him, he’d been stacking them, “Skylar you are not thinking of purchasing all of those...?”

“Oh come on, they’re for when we get home.. You know they don’t have comics there!” Skylar whined, “Jilly!”

“Skylar stop acting like such a.. Stop it, don’t look at me that way. I said stop it! Oh I give up, ok!” Gillian had surrendered to the “puppy eyes” again. Damn him. She pet his head affectionately as he smiled and gave her a quick hug. He carefully lifted his stack of comics and precariously walked on to the register trying to balance the small tower.

“Silly boy,” Gillian snorted, and to think in a few months he’ll be my silly husband. Scary. She waited impatiently for Skylar’s precious...comic books... to be rung up. Soon he was standing beside her holding multiple plastic bags and grinning, “You are so silly,” Gillian groaned pulling him along behind her.

“Where are we going now?” He asked, still looking very chipper about his new comic book collection.

“Shoe store,” Gillian said in a low murderous voice, she began to cackle maniacally as the expression on Skylar’s face drooped and his eyes widen in horror, “NOOOO! What have I ever done to you?!!”

“Come along, darling,” Gillian snickered and led the way to Skylar’s very own personal hell known as “Candies.”

Chapter 10

Enter... Gillian pressed the button on the keyboard. The small personal computer in front of her made a small whirring noise and a small green light on the CPU blinked. She had never really used a computer before, on the enclave computers were only used in school, and never were they connected to the internet. Gillian smiled as she marveled all the treasures she had gotten to see and use in the “outside” world. She prided herself in the quick way she had been able to learn how to use the computer to get onto the internet. She raised her eyes over the wooden terminal she was sitting at to gaze at the person at the next terminal, now what were they doing to make this thing work? The person caught her eye and grinned at her. He was a male, probably thought she was flirting. Oh well, may as well use it to my advantage. “Um, excuse me,” she said to him softly, for they were in a library. She had ditched Skylar and traveled alone to this place. Skylar would never stay still in here, and would surely get them kicked out. English people seemed very proper about certain things, a library being one of them.

“...and now all you have to do is type in what you need right here, and click this,” The boy moved the mouse mock clicking a button on the computer screen titled “Go.”

Gillian smiled and thanked him.

“You’re Italian aren’t you?” the boy asked. He obviously noticed her accent.

“Yes,” Gillian said typing in the name “Nick Carter.”

“I’ve been to Italy a few times myself,” the boy began to speak, “What part are you from?”

“My parents are Italian, I’m not from Italy,” Gillian replied curtly, she had gotten what she wanted and now it was time to get rid of this guy.

“Oh,” the boy looked taken aback, she had been pretty eager to speak to him earlier, smiling and batting her eyes... He looked at the screen, “Nick Carter? You an old Backstreet Boys fan?”

Gillian blinked, “Would you... Backstreet Boys? What is that? And you know this guy I’m looking up?”

The boy chuckled, “Backstreet Boys is.. Or used to be a group. The guy you’re typing in was the blond one that got in some kind of accident last year and kicked the bucket.”

“Excuse me?”

“He died.”

“Oh,” Gillian froze at the screen, “How terrible, do you know how?”

“I don’t remember, I didn’t like those guys, my old girlfriend did. I remember her crying over that Carter guy,” the boy said rolling his eyes.

Gillian frowned, “My boyfriend looks just like him, and people keep approaching him. We have both never heard of a Nick Carter, and had no clue as to what Backst...Boys was, until now. I just wanted to see the guy. I found this add in this magazine called “Have You Seen Me?” Apparently, unless this zine is out-of-date with the issues, someone still believes this Nick is still alive.”

The boy smiled warmly, now she was being friendly again, “One of his friends, the Backstreet Boy who could sing... He thinks the guy is alive, cause of the way he died... I think there was no body, yeah that’s it.”

“Hmmmn, and are you sure you can’t... well never mind. I’ll just look it up. I’m sure to find something about it on here,” Gillian turned back to the computer screen. The boy was quick to get her attention again, “I could help.... um... since you don’t seem to be too.... familiar with the software that is. If you’d just let me...”

Gillian stared at the boy as he made odd gestures with his head, oh, he wants me to get up so he can have my seat. She stood and straightened her skirt. The boy’s eyes had stayed fixated on it a little too long. He sat down and began typing, “My name is Peter.” Gillian nodded, his accent was cute, “I’m Jill.”

“Jill,” Peter said curiously, “Not very Italian.”

“Gillian,” she said in a clipped tone, “is Latin, and Italian is Latin based.”

“Ah,” Peter said, deciding not to make any more comments on the basis of nationality, “Ok, this is the old official site, it’s still up.... Here are some more pictures of the guy if you wanted to see some.”

Gillian leaned down to peer at the computer screen and there in between those four other guys was her Skylar... or rather Nick Carter. Damn, the resemblance really was uncanny, it sent shivers up Gillian’s spine, “Can you get any information?”

Peter nodded and clicked on the picture of Nick Carter and his four other companions. On the site was printed a notice in block letter, This Site Has Been Shut Done Due To The Tragic Death Of Nickolas Gene Carter. Gillian grimaced at the name, how horrible, she had thought Gillian Bianca Emilliano was bad. She began to read the article as Peter scrolled down. It told of Nick’s passing... Boating accident... drowning.... Oh my, killed on his birthday January 28^th. The 28^th of January 1999.... That was the year the Geovanni’s had gone on vacation. Yes, Gillian remembered, that was the first time they had ever left the enclaves...together. They had gone to the Americas... and they had gone to Europe, and returned with Skylar. He had gotten sick of British schools... funny how he didn’t make any friends that he and Gillian could go visit while they were here. Skylar was very friendly. Peter continued to scroll down and Gillian read on about how sad his band mates had been and how sad his family was... One of them claimed Nick was still alive, that there was no proof of his death. “A wallet and a necklace hardly make up for the appearance of a body.” He had a point, Gillian shrugged, he must be the one who put out the article. Brian Littrell. She would remember that. A large picture of Nick Carter graced the screen, he was a beautiful boy...and he looked so much like Skylar it scared her... Another picture popped up, it was a tribute to the fallen star, he was sitting on the beach in swimming trunks... She could picture Skylar in that exact same position. She felt arms around her waist, “Jilly...”

“OH!” Gillian nearly cried out and fell into Skylar’s chest, she gazed up at him to see his grin. Gillian smirked at him, “You big jerk.”

Peter turned his head to see that his latest catch was already caught by.... His eyes grew wide, they had just spent 20 minutes staring at this guys picture.

“Man, why are you staring at me like that? You look like one of those girls when they’re about to ask me if I’m...”

“Nick Carter?” asked Gillian, “Take a look at the screen babe.”

Skylar frowned at her and then glanced at the screen briefly, “So... hey... Jilly?” he smiled seductively at her wiggling his eyebrows.

“I didn’t do this you dummy. Do you remember me having you take those! Look down at the name under the picture!”

Skylar frowned again, but he looked, “Nick Carter? That’s that... ooooh! I get it now! I look like him! Damn, I look exactly like him.”

“Yeah,” Gillian said feeling butterflies in her stomach as she stared at the screen then back at her fiancé... even through the make up on Nick Carter’s face she could see the resemblance, they could be twins.

“That is too weird....” Skylar said scratching his head and stepping closer to the computer screen . He casually leaned over Peter to get a closer look at the screen. He wanted to scroll down and see more pictures.

“So... you two are dating?” Peter asked, he looked slightly hopeful, maybe they were friends.

“Nope,” Skylar said over Peter’s shoulder as he scrolled down the computer screen.

Peter grinned and was about to turn to Gillian when Skylar said, “We’re affianced.”

Peter’s grin evaporated and he sat cold trapped under Skylar’s arm over his shoulder fiddling with the computer’s mouse. Could this be any more uncomfortable? He sighed, “So Skylar, where are you from?”

“Same place as Jilly,” Skylar said absently narrowing his eyes at a picture of him and a woman. Who did that woman look like? He knew he had seen her before...

“And what place might that be? I noticed Gillian has an Italian accent... now your accent I just can’t seem to place.”

Skylar was no longer paying attention, but Gillian was. Peter was right, Skylar’s accent was a strange one, but Gillian found it to be rather cute, “I think it comes from being brought up in an Italian household in his critical imprinting years, then being shipped off to British boarding school for the rest of them..” Skylar had somewhat of a British accent, intermixed with an Italian one, with an American twang. His English was cute, but his Italian, though fluent, could be hard to decipher when he spoke quickly, as most Italians tended to speak.

“Ah,” Peter nodded, he was quiet again. Counting the seconds until he would be free again to find himself another girl to hit on...preferably one without a fiancé.

“Who are these people?” Skylar asked as he came to a group picture.

“Those were the Backstreet Boys. Nick Carter was in their group, they sang,” Gillian answered him.

“Were? Did they die too?” Skylar frowned, something about this picture bothered him.

“No, they just broke up after Nick Carter died, drowned..”

“Drowned?” Skylar blinked and glanced at Gillian briefly before turning back to the screen.

“Sky, you ok?” Gillian asked with concern, Skylar had a rather fair complexion which made him easy to read sometimes. Right then he was dead pale , “Do we need to get back to the hotel?”

Skylar was staring hard at the group picture, “I...” he swallowed and winced, putting his hand to his temple and leaning back, “Yeah, I’m getting another migraine.”

Gillian frowned and took his arm gently, pulling him towards her, “Come on baby....” She extended her free hand to Peter for a shake, “It was nice to meet you Peter, and I want to thank you for all your help.”

Peter shook her hand and just nodded, “Anytime...” he still looked dazed from finding out she and Skylar were engaged. Gillian smiled and turned herself and Skylar to leave, “You’re a lucky man Skylar,” Peter called from behind them. Gillian chuckled to herself as she led Skylar past the book shelves towards the door, “Yeah he sure is, and I’m a lucky woman too.”

Chapter 11

Gillian sat gently on the bed beside Skylar’s curled form. He had pulled his knees in to his chest and slept in a ball. She tapped his shoulder to wake him, his sleep was shallow, as it usually was when one of his migraines came on. She heard his soft moans, letting her know he was indeed beginning to rouse. She crawled over him so that she could be face to face with him. When his blue eyes came open they flew wide with shock then twinkled with weak pleasure at seeing her. His forehead wrinkled with his pain and sweat was beginning to build on his brow, “Hey baby, I got your pills out for you.” Gillian looked at the night stand where she had set the glass of water and Skylar’s prescription pills.

Skylar’s eyes narrowed, “I don’t want them.”

“Baby,” Gillian argued, “you’re in pain.”

“I don’t want them, they make me feel fuzzy,” Skylar complained.

“How do they make you feel fuzzy babe?” Gillian grinned, thinking it was time to hear another episode of Skylar’s Ramblings.

“I don’t know, but after I take them I feel strange and everything gets blurry... then I fall asleep... When I wake up, everything’s fine.. But... I just don’t like the way they make me feel right after I take them, and I tell my parents about it, but they don’t listen. They just want me to do what the doctor says,” Skylar shut his eyes and grimaced, “Please just let me sleep.”

Gillian frowned and smoothed back his sweaty blond hair. She supposed she should make him, but he looked so sweet lying there, just drifting off to sleep. She didn’t have the heart to wake him again, she just prayed that sleep would heal him. She gave him a soft kiss above his brow and pulled the blankets over him.

Now just what was she supposed to do with her main source of entertainment asleep? Maybe she should stay close by, lest something happened if she went away. Skylar’s migraines were severe and as long as she had known him, which in actuality wasn’t very long, he had been on medication for them. They didn’t happen as often as they used to, though. In fact, this was the first one he had had on their vacation, and she hoped it stayed that way. They only had 3 more days of freedom to go, and she didn’t want Skylar in bed, or herself stuck in a room near the bed. She glanced nervously back over to the bed, maybe she should wake him up and make him take the pills. She bit her nails as she contemplated it, then she remembered his sleeping face... nah. But if he was still suffering tomorrow she would make him take them.

She sighed and decided that it would be ok for her to leave the room, not for very long, but long enough to find something for her to bring back to the room so she wouldn’t die of boredom.

She returned hours later humming to the catchy pop CD her new portable CD player was playing into her ears. She couldn’t resist, she had to know what they sounded like. She had bought the three Backstreet Boys CD’s she could find from a music store near the hotel. She was halfway through the first CD humming along to “I Wanna Be With You” and flipping through an old Backstreet Boys biography book, when Skylar woke up. She actually found the Backstreet Boys entertaining and she could see why they had achieved so much fame, and aside from being talented, they were cute. Gillian wondered what other American pop groups were out. She had eyed another CD with 5 males on the cover as well... but they were rather odd looking and she left it on the shelf. She couldn’t recall the name... “N’... something.” It was one of those cliches.

She saw him stirring, rather than heard him because of her headphones. She removed them briefly, “Feeling better?”

Skylar’s pillow creased face nodded at her through sleep crusted eyes, “Yeah...” he said, he slid out of bed and into the bathroom. Gillian rolled her eyes and went back to her book. Nickolas Gene Carter was a water baby... Skylar never touched the water, wouldn’t even take his shoes off to let his toes graze the sand. Gillian grinned, she’s get him into the ocean yet.. But first, she’d have to get him into a pool. She wasn’t even sure if Skylar owned a bathing suit. She flipped to the next page of the book, and there was that face staring up at her again... Nick Carter. A younger Skylar with lighter hair.. She sensed that there was some artificial reasons for the hair color. It flattered his complexion though. She heard the toilet flushing in the bathroom and the sink water running.

She removed her headphones for a second time and made her way to the bathroom. She knocked lightly before letting herself in. Skylar was splashing water on his face, trying to wake himself up, “You hungry Sky?”

He shook his head as he continued to apply cold water.

“Not at all,” Gillian frowned, “Skylar, I really think you should take your medicine. You’re still pale, and you don’t have an appetite.”

Skylar stood up straight and pushed water from his eyes, “I’m fine Jill, I’m just not so hungry.. But I feel good. Wanna go for a walk or something, I feel like getting some fresh air?”

Gillian continued to frown at him, but after looking at his face, and those lips.. Which were starting to pout... she gave in, “Ok.”

“Alright!” Skylar said smiling brightly, “And maybe then I’ll work up an appetite.”

Gillian nodded running her fingers through his slightly damp hair, “You’d better, cause I am starving, and I will be dragging you to the nearest restaurant after our little walk. Now come on Geovanni, get your shoes!”

“So do you think Aaron’s enjoying his stay?” Leighanne asked Brian. Brian was sitting across from her helping her dig through wedding catalogues. Brian was frowning over a particular wedding gown that he wouldn’t mind seeing Leighanne in... He would much rather being looking for the after the wedding, honeymoon lingerie, but Leighanne had taken that catalogue away from him.

“Hmm? Aaron?” Brian felt disturbed, he and Leighanne were talking, really talking, like they used to do before... before Nick’s disappearance. Should he tell her about the problem he was facing with Aaron.. Or should he stay quiet about it.. Not wanting to spoil Leighanne’s wonderful mood by reopening a closed chapter of their lives. But Nick was not closed, Brian remembered. He did not believe Nick was dead, he just wanted to delay his search, relax it a bit. He would do it in a quieter way, out of the public eye. Maybe private investigators that wouldn’t mind some extra money could look into it for him. But maybe he wouldn’t let Leighanne know about that. Maybe he could pretend that he was like her, like the rest of them, and still continue on with his search in private. It would be best for his social life and his love life he believed. So maybe he should keep quiet. Maybe he shouldn’t tell her about Aaron... Keeping Nick out of things is what was going to get his life back on track with Leighanne and his friends. He nodded to himself, keep Nick out.

“Brian?”

“He’s a little homesick Leigh. He was talking about going home in a few days,” Brian said softly. Leighanne frowned looking displeased, “Oh... I though the was going to stick around for at least the week. I had some fun things planned for us to do. Maybe you could convince him to stay Bri.” Leighanne winked at Brian, “He loves you, and I can’t imagine him wanting to leave here after only getting to hang out with you for a few days.”

Brian shrugged, “He’s grown up Leigh. It’s been a year since I’ve spent time with the little guy. He’s not as attached to me as he used to be.”

“It’s because of Nick isn’t?” Leighanne said gazing up at Brian and catching his bewildered expression, “Brian... We can still talk about him you know. It’s not a taboo, just...just don’t go crazy about it, ok?”

Go crazy about it? Crazy is what they all thought he had been..and would still think he was if he didn’t play it cool. Brian nodded, “I know.. It’s just hard to think that my relationship with Aaron will never be the same again, because Nicky’s gone.”

“And he probably came here to see if maybe being with you could bring back all those good feeling he had with his brother,” Leighanne said and sighed, “Poor baby. But Brian maybe we can help him. We can take him to Disney, get him out of the house and just have fun. Then maybe he’ll understand that though he misses Nick, we all do, he can still have fun with you, and look up to you.”

Brian smiled at his fiancé, she really was wonderful.. But what would she say if she knew the real cause of Aaron’s anger.. If she knew Brian was in the process of scheming a new way to locate his little brother with out her knowledge of it. They were getting married, no secrets should be kept, but damn it she would never understand. If she couldn’t understand him, then should they really be married? He settled back down with the catalogue. Was he making a mistake, and if he was which was his mistake? Would it be marrying Leighanne, or would it be hiding things from her? He sighed inwardly feeling the sinking sensation in his stomach, as he realized he would never know which was a mistake until it was too late. He was prepared to dig his own grave, but he wasn’t prepared to dig Nick’s... and in that instant he knew that he was going to dive head first into a world of deceit for he had chosen double or nothing. He would choose both scenarios and take the chance of making two mistakes. He would marry Leighanne, and he would hide from her... He swallowed hard as solidified his decision “Hey Leighanne how about this one?” He held out the magazine on the page he wanted her to see. It was a dress he had been pondering for a long time...the bodice was made of sheer white silk with a flowing chiffon skirt, white silk roses were delicately braided into the skirt...A dress fit for a queen, his queen.

Her breath caught as she stared at the pure beauty of the dress, “Brian...” she took his hands, making him drop the magazine onto the coffee table, “That’s the one.” She gazed at him lovingly, “You’ve found my dress...”

The dress fit for a queen... And she would be married to a King... a King of Lies and Deception. He felt ill at the very thought, but at that moment he could do nothing more than squeeze her hands in his and smile... You wouldn’t marry me if you knew... You wouldn’t accept me... Please don’t let this be a mistake.. Please. He kissed her hands, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Chapter 12

“Next time I’ll pick the restaurant,” Skylar was groaning as he held the door open for Gillian to pass through. A cool breeze hit them on the way out lifting Gillian’s smoky curls directly into Skylar’s face, “AAAAH! Alright, alright I’m sorry. The food wasn’t that bad!” He tried to thwart the ambush by gathering up all her hair in a large pony tail with both his hands. Gillian giggled endlessly at his antics, “Aha! I’ve got it now! I take it back! That was the worst seafood I have ever tasted!”

“Skylar...” Gillian twisted around entangling herself in her own hair which he held, “you ordered chicken.”

“Hmpf,” he uttered, “Well that chicken sure did have a fishy taste to it.”

“I think you’re just weird,” Gillian said, “Now let go of my hair.”

“Who’s to make me?” Skylar began to grin wickedly, “Now you’re my captive and you’ll be forced to let me have my way with you, woman.”

“Skylar!” Gillian blushed as she realized passers-by were glancing at the two of them with smiles of amusement on their faces, “Surrender?” Skylar purred in her ear. Gillian narrowed her eyes, well if the people were going to look she might as well give them a good show. With a battle cry she seized his shoulders and leapt upon his back tangling them both in her long hair. Skylar cried out lost in the raven waves, “AAAAHH! Unfair fight! I can’t see!”

“Will you give up?” Gillian called from his back, she also couldn’t see, but it wasn’t bothering her since she had a free ride, who by the way, was as blind as she was at the moment. Hmm... this could pose as a problem. She felt her hair being released as she swung her head, swinging her hair behind her back. She began to tickle him, “You lousy cheater!”

“Me the cheater?!” Skylar wrestled to get her off his back as he giggled helplessly, “Stop it Jill I can’t breathe!” Gillian smirked at him, he was so ticklish, “Say it again?”

“Say what again?” he asked as she relented on her attack on him.

“Cheater say it again, it sounded so cute!” Gillian mused, he’d said “Chee-tah.”

Skylar scowled at her, “No I will not say ‘cheater’ again just so you can wrinkle your nose and tell me how cute I am.”

Gillian giggled at him, “You said it, Chee-tah!” she laughed out loud victoriously, “I always win!”

“Cause you cheat!” Skylar shot her down, “Now get off my back, you’re heavy.”

“Oh I am not!”

“Yes you are too, you should lay off the cheesecakes dear before you become so heavy I shall not be able to carry you over the threshold,” Skylar chuckled.

“Carry me over the threshold? Is that one of those strange English traditions?” Gillian frowned at him, not familiar with his statement.

“Hmmn..” he frowned too, “I’m not sure... It may be.”

“You’re not sure? You said it!” Gillian smirked at him yet again, “Well it sounds English to me, and for your information I can eat all the cheesecake I want!”

Skylar made a face at her, “I shall need a crane then...”

“You won’t need anything you big strong man you, for I will never be fat, and you will never have to carry me over any thresholds,” Gillian said leaning her head on his shoulder as they crossed the street on their way back to the hotel.

Skylar smirked at her, “No, I don’t think you’ll ever be fat either.” He kissed her cheek lightly, “What in the world are you humming?”

Was she humming? She stopped mid-tune. She hadn’t even realized it. “Just something off the new CD’s that I bought.”

“When’d you buy CD’s? Was I with you?”

“No silly, you weren’t. You were in dreamland... Come to think of it, how do you feel baby?”

“Good,” Skylar nodded, “Really good.”

“So what is the purpose of those pills... it seems that you didn’t need them?” Gillian frowned and brushed Skylar’s hair off his face.

“I don’t know,” Skylar looked equally as puzzled, “Maybe it was just something to please my mum, you know how she can get.”

Gillian giggled, “I still can’t get out of my head, when we were 7, and you fell off your swing in the playground. You were only about 2 ft in the air and you landed on your bum.. And she took you to the doctor. Made a big show and everything, screaming and carrying you and all...” Gillian was shaking her head, “I think a few weeks after that you went away to school.” She lifted her head to see his expression, knowing that he would be blushing... But he wasn’t. He instead looked thoughtfully blank, “I don’t remember that...”

“Oh surely you do.. We laughed about it a few months ago,” Gillian squeezed his arm. Catching the lost look on his face, she frowned, “Honey, are you sure you’re ok?”

“I’m fine,” he said simply, he still look a trifle disturbed though,”Why don’t you keeping humming your song?” That was how he nicely said, mind your business, I’m thinking woman.

“Well,” Gillian said in a haughty tone, but she did go back to humming her song.

“Never mind don’t hum the song, it’s distracting,” he said grabbing her around the waist and pulling her in front of him, “Are you insulting my singing?”

“If I answer that will you hit me?” Skylar said.

“I’ll hit you either way Mr. Smart Mouth!” she smacked at him playfully. She began to hum again louder this time and winking at him to let him know she was aware that she was getting on his nerves.

They walked under a street lamp, “I’ve heard that before.”

“Heard what?”

“That song... I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it,” Skylar was nodding to the tune.

“Maybe you have, you are the privileged one who got to live in England,” Gillian said, she skipped along in front of him, “Who’s it by, do you know?”

“Haven’t the foggiest,” Skylar said, not missing her smile at his use of the English expression.

“Backstreet Boys... I do believe I’ve become a teeny-bopper... if that’s what they’re called. I went out and bought all three CD’s, and a book.”

Skylar chuckled, “Should I be jealous? You wouldn’t buy all that if it was about me.”

“I certainly would not!” Gillian said, “How boring would that be?”

“Hey, I’m not boring!” Skylar said with a giggle catching her hair again and pulling her back to him. Gillian continued to hum her song, “Jill, I’m not boring!”

“Stop with your whining Skylar, it doesn’t become you. Now let me hum my song in peace.”

“You’re telling me to shut up...” He looked at her and realized that she wasn’t going to respond to anything else he said,” Ohh but Jilly...! Jilly? Jil-lee?! Come on...You’re so mean! Fine, fine, be that way, I’ll just go and find someone else to talk to... Pooh on you...” He veered away from her for maybe five seconds before turning back and realizing she was still content on humming and walking to the hotel without him, “OH JILLY!!”

“Skylar, you are such a baby,” she caught his arm and pulled him to her. She wrapped her arms around him, “What am I going to do with you?”

“You could stop humming?” he said in a small voice, head buried in her hair.

“Not a chance, deal with it,” Gillian snickered as she heard him groan. They entered the hotel still bickering softly, the doorman held the door open for the both of them as they passed through.

They entered the darkened room still bickering, the words changing from accented English to fluent Italian. Gillian found herself being propelled backwards onto the unmade bed below her as she began to unbutton her fiancé’s shirt. She relaxed her body on the bed as she began to slid further onto it. She freed Skylar from his shirt and tossed it onto the floor and started on his pants as he continued to speak to her in a rush of words kissing her breasts as he slowly uncovered them. Oh.. She laughed with pleasure as she felt him blow on her belly, such a silly boy. She rolled onto her side away from him still laughing, “I can’t believe you did that. That was so unromantic.”

“What? I wanted to see what kind of a noise it would make,” Skylar said in a taunting voice, “I won’t do it again.”

“Oh do it again,” Gillian laughed, “I liked it.”

“Then why’d you roll over?” Skylar scowled. He sat up on the bed and sighed, “In 3 days this will all be over.”

Gillian sighed as well, “Yes it will... our fantasy get-away... But think, in a few months, this will be more than just a fantasy. It’ll be our life.” She turned her face, her dark grey eyes staring into his deep blue ones, “And your mother may not move in with us,” she said in a soft sexy whisper.

“And neither can your father,” Skylar said equally as soft, their lips connected briefly before they moved apart from each other, “Do you think they’ll let us alone after we’re married?”

Gillian lowered her head, “I hope...I’m tired of living under their scrutiny. You’ve had it easier, you weren’t there all your life.”

Skylar rubbed her shoulders, “But I could always feel their influence on me Gillian, it never left. I would do things and still think...”

“Think what?” Gillian asked, he had paused and never completed his sentence.

“I guess I would still...” Skylar sounded very confused.

“What Sky?” she turned to look at him. His face was so blank, he closed his eyes, “I...don’t know.”

Gillian snorted, “Trust you Skylar...” She slid off the bed and went to retrieve her walkman and grab her book. Skylar shook his head, shaking off his confusion, “I think I’ll go back to sleep Jilly.”

Gillian gazed up from her novel in concern, “What’s the matter Sky?”

“I don’t know, I just feel a little weird,” Skylar said in an odd voice, “I want to sleep it off.”

“Maybe you should take your pills honey,” Gillian was standing and about to head for the table she had placed the pill bottle.

“No,” Skylar said gently, “I don’t want those.. I don’t have a headache again. I’m just.. Maybe it was that terrible fish I ate.”

“Chicken, you had chicken,” Gillian rolled her eyes, “but it was pretty terrible... you don’t think it’s food poisoning do you? Are you sick to your stomach?”

“No, I just feel strange, light-headed, I’m just gonna sleep ok,” Skylar was already curling up on the bed. Gillian frowned at him... he always sounded so funny when he was tired. His accent relaxed a bit, and what she heard wasn’t British... nor was it Italian.

My Skylar... she thought softly. She slipped her headphones back on and pressed play on her CD letting the chords of another pop song fill her ears. She found her page that she had left off on in her biography and began to read again. So far her favorite Backstreet Boy happened to be the very blond Nick Carter, and she knew in her heart that if she wasn’t with Skylar, she would definitely be trying to sink her teeth into that beauty.. If he was still alive, that is. Such a shame that all that beauty and talent had to leave this world. She gazed at Skylar but she supposed she could find her Nick Carter in Skylar Geovanni... or was it the other way around.. Maybe she was in love with Nick Carter, because she was finding Skylar Geovanni in him. Hmm.. Something to ponder, she bit her lip and continued to concentrate on the small words of the book and move her head to the music.

Chapter 13

“I booked you a flight for the day after tomorrow, is that soon enough for you?” Brian asked with a sigh. He leaned his head on his hands, elbows resting on the table, he gazed at Aaron sadly with a small smile. Aaron barely even looked up to meet his gaze, “It’s great. Gives me more to time to pack, and find some more of Nick’s things to take with me.”

“Aaron, you can’t take that stuff!” Brian was off his elbows and standing up straight in seconds, “”It’s...”

“...not yours,” Aaron finished, “It’s my brother’s stuff and I’m afraid to think of what you might do to it now that you’ve...”

“Aaron, for the last time I do not think that Nick is...” Brian let his sentence fall dead as Leighanne came into the kitchen. She greeted the two as she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottled iced tea. She left to go back into the den and look at wedding napkins. Brian shuddered just thinking about the thick books of designs, “I don’t think Nick is dead.”

Aaron nodded, “But you don’t think we’ll ever find him.”

“I didn’t say that either Aaron, I only agreed that it was time for me to have a life too,” Brian said, exasperated, “I am tired of having this conversation with you!”

“So you’re glad I’m leaving?”

“In a way, yes,” Brian said gravely, “But in another way it’s almost like...like losing Nick again.”

Aaron simply stared at him, “You never lost Nick, but you will be losing me.” He left the kitchen then, leaving Brian to stare after him. He guessed it was for the better. Maybe Aaron trying to keep up the search on his own and realizing how hard it actually was would set him straight, make him see how Brian had what all he was missing out on. He could still be waiting at home with open arms when Nick returned, and he also wouldn’t be alone because everyone close to him had abandoned him. He hoped Aaron would be a little quicker than him at figuring that information out.

Dreams of weddings and white doves were interrupted by dreams of labor and pain. The baby was kicking her, Gillian screamed out and gasped the hand of the person sitting beside her. The person next to her sang...sang a song that she recognized as “I Want It That Way.” That had become her new favorite song after listening to the third CD. She had only gotten half way through it though, she supposed that..ow! The baby kicked again, she turned to face her partner. Skylar...Skylar was to blame for this, after all he had done it, he should be the one screaming! She opened her mouth, when she realized it was not Skylar but Nick Carter, the blond Backstreet Boy from her book and CD. Interesting...she wondered where Skylar was. Trust him not to be there when their first child was born... She felt a kick of pain again and had a thought...this isn’t dream pain... It’s..it’s... “Ow, damn you, Skylar, wake up!” She sat up in bed letting the blankets fall into her lap. Her fiancé was not only talking in his sleep, but kicking her as well. Well aimed kicks as a matter of fact. She shook him, “Wake up!”

“I’m ready I’m ready!” Skylar shot straight up in bed, his blue eyes wide open and slowly beginning to become alert, “Huh?”

“Ready for what?” Gillian smirked, “You were kicking!”

“I don’t kick!”

“You were kicking and talking in your sleep and woke me from a very nice dream.”

Skylar pouted and folded his arms, “Well you woke me from a very.... well, interesting dream.”

“I must hear this one, all the kicking and impressive nighttime vocabulary has intrigued me to know just what interrupted my sleep,” Gillian unfolded his arms then poked his belly.

Skylar made a face at her, “You’re kind of angry when you’re woken up aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Gillian said, imitating the funny accent he had never failed to lose even in his sleep. Why did he always sound so funny at night? Well, he sounded funny all the time, but that was a mixed accent, this was a different accent all together, “Wake up will you, you sound like a silly American when you’re half asleep!”

Skylar snorted, “Do not.”

“You do so,” Gillian seethed, “Now what of this marvelous dream?”

“It wasn’t marvelous,” he muttered rubbing his eyes.

“Well you had better lie and make it so, for waking me up for anything less than marvelous will result in a serious maiming...of you.”

“For the love of God Gillian, you certainly aren’t very pleasant when awakened,” Skylar observed frowning, “I shall make note of this and tuck it away for future reference.”

“Why am I stuck in bed with such a silly boy that kicks and talks in his sleep while I’m trying to sleep?” Gillian moaned. She looked her fiancé over, he looked every bit as tired as she felt, and a fine line of sweat was formed at his hairline. He looked...disturbed. She sighed and moved closer to him, putting an arm around him and running a hand through his hair, which was disgustingly damp, “Tell Mama what happened?”

“It wasn’t a bad dream.”

“But you’re disturbed by it?”

“It was just odd, Jilly. It felt like... I don’t know. I was somewhere very crowded. There were so many faces, most of them female, young looking. And I know that there were people with me...4 or 5...I think 4. I only got to see one of them though...strange looking fellow. I remember there being music but it was so loud my head was pounding, the music and the screaming from all those girls was driving me insane! Everything was swirling, and then the strange fellow took hold of my arm and called me a funny name that I responded to. It was very confusing... I didn’t know who I was, where I was..and all that bloody noise was not helping! Then you shook me...right when I was going to ask a question.”

Gillian grunted, “Cause you were kicking me. I dreamt that I was pregnant and in labor, and it turned out to be because of your sleep kicking!”

She rolled her eyes as Skylar giggled, “Pregnant Jilly...you trying to tell me something?”

“I most certainly am not!” Gillian said, sounding horrified, “Children and Gillian do not belong in the same sentence.”

“But you just put it in the same...”

“Do shut up Skylar,” Gillian said curtly, “Do you think you can go back to sleep and not kick me, love?”

“Who’s to say I won’t kick you now for telling me to shut up?”

“I am,” Gillian said firmly. She rolled over and curled on her side and pulled the covers back over to her side. “Jilly you’ve taken all the blankets! Jilly roll over! Jilly!...Fine, fine, be that way. I’ll just go sleep on the couch then. And I’m taking all my pillows...and that little squiggly thing you put between your legs because it is on my side of the bed!” Gillian felt Skylar getting out of bed and gathering things. He did this noisily pounding the bed often to get her attention. He was waiting for her to yield and toss him more of the blankets, he’d be waiting a while. After a few minutes she heard him groan loudly and 3...2....1....”Oh Jilly! Jilly come on! Jilly I’m cold! Jilly!”

She threw the blankets at him, and giggled at the muffled curses coming from the struggling bundle. “Get back in bed Geovanni!”

“I want pizza,” Skylar was adamant on getting what he wanted that morning.

“Oh Skylar why?” Gillian was groaning, “You can at all the pizza you want on the Enclave! Italian food out your ears!”

“But the pizza doesn’t taste the same on the Enclave...it’s weird,” Skylar was saying, his tone taking on a familiar pitch, one that let Gillian know he was about to start whining,

“Fine, fine, whatever just don’t start with your whining this early in the morning!” Gillian said, she finished brushing her hair and turned to him, running her brush through Skylar’s hair as well.

“Ew!”

“Stop squirming,” Gillian instructed, “There. Now we can go out in public.”

“My hair was perfectly fine as it was,” Skylar was pouting, but left it alone as he opened the door to their hotel room to let Gillian pass through it. “So soon to be husband, where are we going to eat and please do not say a pizza restaurant.”

“I didn’t say it,” Skylar said grinning. Gillian was rolling her eyes and groaned as the large cheesy mound was set down in front of her by her fiancé.

“I cannot believe you brought us here!” Gillian said watching as Skylar sliced into the pizza with the pizza cutter, “Don’t be shy Jilly come on.”

“I’m not shy, I’m disgusted,” Gillian remarked, “Pizza in the morning.”

Skylar winked at her before biting into the humongous slice he had cut for himself. She watched in amusement as his sunny expression faded into a puzzled one. He chewed and swallowed, then blinked, smacking his lips and looking down at the remaining slice. He frowned then puckered his lips thoughtfully, “What’s wrong Love?”

“It tastes weird,” Skylar said in a quiet way, as if unsure of his words, he took another timid bite and set the slice down again sipping his beverage.

Gillian raised an eyebrow and reached for the cutter to cut herself a small slice. She lifted the pizza with both hands taking a small bite. True it was different from the Italian pizza she was used to, but it was decent. Skylar acted as if he had bitten into battery acid. She looked up at him, “Tastes fine to me.”

Skylar blinked and looked at her frowning, “Its does taste fine...but it’s not..what I expected. It...it tastes different.”

“Different from home? Well what did you expect?”

“No, not that either. I wanted to eat pizza here because I knew it would taste different from home...but not like this. I remember it tasting differently.”

“Well different pizzerias have different ways of making pizza,” Gillian shrugged, “You know that.”

Skylar scowled at her, “Yes, I do.” He sighed, “Well...I don’t suppose you’d want the rest of this?”

“Skylar, there are starving children in Ethiopia, and here we are throwing food away!”

“Well then, we should take it to them,” Skylar said dryly looking at her through his lashes. He laughed as she pulled her straw from her soda and flung room temperature soda at him, “So soon to be wife, what did you have planned for us to do today?”

Gillian replaced her straw in her soda glass, “Shopping?”

Skylar groaned, “Anything else, Love?”

“I thought we’d see a movie,” Gillian smirked at him. He smiled, “Wonderful, what show shall we see?”

“Runaway Bride?”

“Suggesting something to me Gillian?”

“Eat your pizza Skylar,” Gillian rolled her eyes at him. “Silly boy.”

“Now lets see what we can...happy birthday to me...” Gillian smiled as her eyes fell upon the video collect on the third shelf in front of her. She was in yet another popular store. After spending an hour looking through CDs with Skylar, who had the most absurd taste in music, she had wandered over to the videos. “Backstreet Boys In Concert, Coming Home, Tell All...” She grinned at the videos wondering if the store offered baskets to carry goods in, because she would need one.

“Look what I’ve got Jilly,” Skylar bounded up behind her, grabbing her around the waist. Gillian nearly jumped out of her skin, “Sky do not do that!”

“Do what?” He looked absolutely clueless as to what he had done, he shook his head and raised one plastic bag of CD’s, “I bought Nirvana, Metallica, Offspring, and...and....Journey. Now I have music for the plane ride back home! And...” He raised the larger bag in his other arm, “in this bag I’ve got a CD player, a portable one, and a video game system...Nintendo. I’ve been dying to get one. It came with a few games, but I suppose I should buy more to take home with me..”

“Skylar, since when have you been interested in video games and Nirvanas?” asked Gillian, removing the video cassettes from their shelves and piling them into her arms along with the new picture/ biography book she had acquired. She just could not get enough Backstreet, they were so cute. Or rather, are so cute...Well her favorite was so cute. She frowned...Maybe her new found hobby wasn’t very healthy. Shrugging it off she snatched the last video off the shelf, she would watch one of them that night.

“That was such a chick flick,” Skylar was muttering, he took another lick of Gillian’s strawberry ice cream cone. Gillian rolled her eyes at him, “Eat your own ice cream Skylar, and what may I ask is a ‘chick flick?’”

“A girl movie,” Skylar explained, “Get with it Gillian, you’re too old fashioned!”

“I’ll show you old fashioned!” Gillian swung one of her shopping bags to smack Skylar in the rear, surprising him so much that he jumped smacking himself in the face with the chocolate ice cream cone he was holding. He slowly peeled the cold gooey delight from his nose, lips, and chin, then turned to look at his fiancé incredulously. Gillian giggled at the chocolate stains on Skylar’s face, he looked like a blond dalmatian puppy, stupid look and all.

His tongue peeked from his lips and he proceeded to lick the ice cream from his lips when her suddenly impulsive lips stopped it. “Stop, you’ve gotten to taste my ice cream. Now I get to taste yours, amante.”

She felt his body tensing with pleasure as she pressed against him, letting her shopping bags rest on the back of her legs as she savored the luscious flavor. In a moment, she would drop one of her bags... Perhaps she should..

“Skylar? Skylar Geovanni! I thought that was you!”

Moment spoiled yet again by another person who seemed to know her fiancé, but at least this time the person calling has gotten his name right. They both turned to greet the red haired young man approaching them with a broad smile on his face. He was quite handsome in Gillian’s eyes, he was nicely tanned and his red hair shone in the sunlight. Sunny days were a rare thing in England and Gillian was grateful for the good weather that day.

The young man embraced Skylar like an old friend patting his back and trying to do some sort of a hand shake with him. Gillian grinned watching Skylar’s clumsy fingers interacting with the strong hands of the red haired gentleman. “Come on Geovanni, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the handshake!” He spoke English with a slight Spanish accent, his dark blue eyes glinted in disappointment, but widened with curiosity as he looked into Skylar’s face. Gillian too looked up, wondering about the change in the young man’s facial expression, to see what was written on Skylar’s expressive face... Shock...confusion... Gillian took his arm and gave him a small shake, and he blinked,

“Have I made a mistake?” the young man asked, beginning to look embarrassed, “You look just like my old friend from middle school. I could have sworn that....but now that I look at you...I don’t think you’re him. Sorry...”

“No,” Skylar frowned at him, still looking very confused and somewhat dismayed, but he held out an arm to stop him, “You asked if I was Skylar Geovanni, and that’s who I am.”

The young man frowned, and stared at him, “You look like him, you look like him a lot, but...”

“Who are you?” Skylar asked him, interrupting him, “I just can’t seem to remember who you are.”

“How can you not, if you are Skylar. We’ve only been room mates since we were 10! You spent your holidays with my family Skylar....until you ran away. Where did you go anyhow? You didn’t keep in touch, I thought you’d died, or rather been snatched back by your parents and forbidden to write... Obviously you didn’t die, so your parents must have gotten to you,” the young man spoke stiffly, his eyes still scanning Skylar warily. “Skylar...you look as if you don’t remember me...don’t know what I’m talking about...”

“I ran away?”

“Skylar?” Gillian rubbed the arm she held, “Skylar are you alright?” He looked pale again to Gillian, the paleness of the other day was returning to his face, “Maybe we should go...”

“No.”

“What is your name?” The young man asked of her.

Gillian wanted to roll her eyes and snort in his direction, but that would make a rather rude first impression. Just what was going on? Was someone playing a trick on her and Skylar....If they were it wasn’t very funny, Skylar looked scared to death. He probably thinks he’s losing his mind, Gillian mused.

“I am his fiancé, Gillian Emilliano,” Gillian spoke evenly, “And you are?”

“Ramon Cortez....Skylar should have introduced us....” Ramon was narrowing his eyes at Skylar who stood still, face dead white, staring at Ramon. “You are different...”

“When was the last time you’ve seen him, Ramon?” Gillian asked looking squarely at Ramon.

“Four years ago....his 16^th birthday,” Ramon said, he frowned, “You never invited me to go with you. Why?”

Skylar’s mouth open and closed and he began to shake his head, “I don’t remember that....and I don’t remember you, at all...”

“Skylar... how can you not remember your friend? You haven’t told me anything about your school life, but that you hated it...I refuse to believe you had no friends. Skylar?”

Skylar began to wring his hands together, his body beginning to shake, a light sweat breaking out on his forehead, his eyes showed his distress, “That’s because....it’s because....I don’t...I can’t...I went to Trinity School for Boys....I made mediocre grades, and because of my disappointing midterm grades my parents sent for me to come home...I ... they picked me up and I continued on with them for the rest of their trip...”

“Skylar, calm down bambino...”

“I...would remember you if I knew you and I don’t remember you so I don’t know you! What do you want? Who put you up to this?” Skylar backed slowly away from the bewildered Ramon, “It’s not funny! It’s not!” He brought both hands up running them through his hair nervously as he continued to stumble backward. His eyes were large saucers of confusion and turmoil, he looked like a man gone mad. Gillian frowned and began to take swift strides to get to Skylar as she said his name softly. Skylar’s wild eyes left Ramon and flew to her, and by the heavens and earth he looked as if he had no recollection of who she was either. He’d had enough, she read it on his lips, which were pale and trembling, and suddenly set in a straight line. He ran, he turned and darted away.

“Maledire!” Gillian cursed under her breath, she felt a hand on her shoulder preventing her from running after her panicked fiancé. She whirled out of the hand’s grasp turning to face Ramon. She wanted to be angry, to look stern at him... he’d done this....but Ramon wasn’t taking any pleasure in the situation visibly, in fact he looked hurt, terribly hurt.

“What’s wrong with him?” Ramon ask, concern evident in his voice. His eyes searched Gillian for answers, “I’ve never in my life seen him act this way... Why would he not remember me...or tell you any stories of school....He practically ran it. He hated the place and always dreamed of escape, but he was always so afraid he’d be caught, and taken back to his home. He said at home he would be a prisoner and enslaved to do his father’s work. A few days before I never saw him again...until now, he had gotten a letter from his parents that had upset him, scared him...he was very strange that day...but not like this. And on his birthday he left, he left in the night and caught a boat... What’s happened to him since I’ve seen him last? What did his parents do to him?”

Gillian blinked, now she was confused, Skylar had been holding back from her, “Skylar has been vague about his life outside the enclave....he only says that the life on the outside is better... I... I don’t know what’s going...I’m sorry Ramon...I have to find him!” With those parting words, Gillian freed herself from Ramon and gathered her shopping bags as well as Skylar’s discarded ones and fled in the direction Skylar had disappeared in.

She couldn’t find him...not anywhere. She was stumbling inside the hotel doors trying to hold in her tears. She hated to cry, especially in public...but she was so scared. Where was he? Where could he be? Acting as he was, he could have done anything, be anywhere...have had an accident. She glared at anyone shooting curious glances her way and headed for the elevator. Once she got to her room she would call home and tell what had happened.... As she rode in the elevator she wondered just what had happened.... Skylar had had a breakdown of some kind... He was always so vague about his past, was it because he couldn’t remember, was it because he had had a traumatic experience he didn’t want to remember...or was it....he hasn’t taken his pills. Maybe that was it, he needed his medicine. She could have struck herself, idiota! She knew she should have made him take it! Now it was costing him his sanity...maybe even his life. She shuddered at the brutal thought and stepped out of the elevator as the doors opened to her floor. Her shoulders ached with the pain of carrying too much luggage at once. She had thought of abandoning her shopping goods as she walked the third of fourth block in her failed search for Skylar, but then she remember how happy he had looked when he made his purchases... and now that she thought about it, though she was worried sick about Skylar, she was rather happy that she still had her cargo. Maybe she could use it to take her mind off of reality... She sighed and set down the bags to open the door to the room. It was cold inside, small gusts of coolness snaked around her body as she almost tumbled into the room dropping her bags and reaching for the light switch.

“Please don’t turn it on...” a soft voice said.

“Sky?” Gillian’s eyes went wide, the door closed behind her. She scanned the room to see Skylar curled up in a tiny ball beside the bed. He held his head and rocked back and forth, “Skylar, bambino...what happened? Are you alright?” She got down on her knees and crawled to where he was, reaching to hold him. He immediately took to her touch and launched himself into her arms, “Oh Jill....oh Jill....I don’t know what happened, or what’s wrong with me...”

“Sky..maybe you need to take your medicine...this has never happened before...”

“No...no not my medicine... Jill, I never thought about it until now, it was never important...”

“What was never important Amore?” Gillian cooed stroking his hair away from his face gently, his body was cold and damp and she held him tighter to warm him feeling the stickiness of his sweat on her bare arms and legs and through her clothing.

“My life Jilly, my life before you....I .... remember I was here. I remember I went to school here....I remember my grades and my room number and my teachers names and faces and classes they taught...I remember my favorite subject...and letters home... But I don’t remember the other stuff. The things people usually remember. I don’t remember having friends...just know that I did. I don’t remember answering questions in class, I don’t remember why I liked my favorite subject. Jilly, it’s not the pills, I’ve never known that stuff.... And I feel fuzzy now...”

“Fuzzy how?” Gillian rested her lips on his forehead, checking for fever, he sounded delirious. His breathes came in forced sobs and he shuddered uncontrollably, “I try to remember, I tried to remember Ramon, and I saw...saw someone else’s face...I remember water, lots of water and darkness, and lightning.... And that face...”

“Water? Skylar, Ramon says when you left you took a boat,” Gillian was starting to get excited, she was helping, maybe he was just simply remembering something his mind wanted to forget.

She’d heard about that sort of thing, repression.

Skylar frowned, and hiccupped, “What else did he say?”

“Only that you ruled your school, and the night you left you were very upset.”

Skylar groaned, “Jill....I don’t remember...why don’t I remember? What happened to me? What’s wrong with me?” He held his head again.

“Sky? Your head hurting? I know you hate it, but I want you to take your...”

“NO!” Skylar jumped up, “I don’t need them...”

“Strange things are...”

“Strange things have already been happening inside my head and I am just now starting to realize that! Something happened to me and I’m going to go insane if I don’t figure out what it was! No pills!” He began to pace the room rubbing his temples angrily.

Gillian watched him fearfully, Skylar was sick... But he wouldn’t listen to her...for the first time in her life Gillian wished she was back home....at least there someone could take care of Skylar. She bit her nails nervously and her gaze fell upon the shopping bags...her video tapes. She went to retrieve them and inserted on into the tape player. She turned on the television. Careful to note Skylar’s reaction of it. He remained indifferent towards the added noise and Gillian went on about her business. She pressed play, and smiled as her Backstreet Boys danced onto the screen before her.

Almost an hour later Gillian was so deeply into her videos she’d forgotten about Skylar until he planted himself right in front of the television, “Hey! What’s the big idea! You are not made of glass!” Something about the rigidness of his body made her stop in her tirade, “Sky?”

“That’s the face...that’s his face...” Gillian was at his side and staring at the screen as well then back to Skylar with a frown... Why for the love of God would he be remembering Nick Carter’s face?

Chapter 14

Aaron Carter zipped up his last bag and shifted it into a position to where it could be dragged into the foyer. He placed that bag next to his other two bags. He’d initially only brought two suitcases, the third suitcase belonged to his brother. It was filled with some of his precious things. His basketball jerseys, his lucky socks,, his sunglasses, and baseball hats. His CDs...Offspring, Journey, Metallica, Nirvana. The bag wouldn’t fit any of his video games machines or more than one pair of shoes... Aaron sighed, realizing that he’d only been able to take barely a fourth of the things he wanted... He didn’t want pictures and journals and finished sketches...those were things you took to remember the dead... Nick wasn’t to be remembered for he wasn’t dead...Aaron wanted to simply take things he’d need or want when he came home. He took sketches that Nick had yet to finish, so when he came home he could get back to them. He took back his wallet and keys. He’d found a few comic books, pages dog-eared to where Nick had left off.

He sat beside the bags ready for Brian to drift down the stairs and stare at him as he had for the past few days as if cross-examining him. He never said a word but his silent manner never failed to infuriate Aaron. He couldn’t wait to get back home, at least there no one stared. They worried about him...his mother and father were trying to make him see someone...a shrink.... They thought he was going insane. What would they say when he appeared home a full week early with one of Nick’s old suitcases full of Nick’s stuff. Aaron chuckled as he thought about them watching him go around the room that he and Nick shared whenever Nick came to visit with Nick’s things as if he were going to walk in the next day. Aaron expected him to...he would never stop expecting him to. He’d toss some of his jerseys on the floor and put the shoes near the stairs where someone could trip over them like Nick always had done. He chuckled remembering the time their dad had fallen down the stairs after tripping on one of Nick’s shoes...He didn’t get hurt but he was so mad he turned red in the face. Nick’s expression when it had happened was priceless, it was one that said “I shouldn’t laugh, this is bad...” and “Wahahahahahahaha!!!” Their father had read the expression on Nick’s face clearly and practically blew steams from his ears, he’d grounded him...forever. When he made that statement Nick couldn’t hold it in anymore and he bursted out laughing, almost falling over and rolling on the floor. Bob couldn’t stay angry for long at Nick as the humor in the situation finally struck him too and they laughed together. Aaron had actually seen Bob fall down the stairs, he had tripped and rolled like a log, it looked like a commercial for a law suit. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh because his father really could have broken his neck, but the sight of Nick and his Dad up there laughing their heads off was too much. Soon he was laughing too.

He missed that... But he would have it back soon enough he nodded with satisfaction. He heard steps being taken down the stairs and he gazed up briefly to see Brian’s face before looking back down. He was staring again, he walked right past Aaron into the kitchen, never failing to turn his head and study Aaron like he was a science project or something. He could hear Brian rummaging around in the kitchen... He was hungry, he realized as he heard the fridge open and close. He didn’t want to go into the kitchen if Brian was going to be in there though. So he sat listening to his stomach gurgle from hunger.

A minute later Brian came back out of the kitchen to stand in the doorway and stare at Aaron again, “It’s too early for us to leave you know. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable.”

“I haven’t been comfortable since I got here,” Aaron snorted.

“That wasn’t my fault,” Brian shrugged, “Would you like something to eat?”

“No,” YES! Aaron had to fight his urges, he didn’t want Brian to get him anything...the traitor...

“It won’t kill you to be civil, for at least today Aaron. You get to go home in a few hours...could you at least pretend to like me until then?” Brian asked, he was attempting a joke that even he couldn’t even manage to laugh at.

Aaron glared at him, “I’m no liar Brian. I can’t pretend to like people I don’t... And I can’t pretend people who are alive are really dead..”

Brian was fighting to suppress a growl and Aaron could see it, good he’s angry. He wanted him to be angry.

“Aaron I’m not even going to start with you again this morning,” Brian said with a final sigh and disappeared into the kitchen again. And Aaron sat on his suitcases tapping one foot, ready to go.

He had a lot of things to do if he was going to take over the search and operate it all by himself. He would find his brother, and when he did, he would show everyone...

“Just one more game Jilly, then I swear I’ll give you a go at the telly,” Skylar was saying, his eyes never leaving the vividly flashing world of his video game on the television screen in front of him. He sat Indian-style hunched forward with his elbows almost to the carpet, his tongue poked slightly out of his mouth in concentration. Gillian groaned, he had been saying this ever since she had woken up that morning and found him planted in front of the screen. He seemed to be back to normal, he was as cheerful and as excitable as always. But his eyes, his eyes looked so dark and tired, like his brain was running on overtime trying to figure out an answer to his dilemma of faulty memory. She supposed he hadn’t slept at all that night. She gazed at the level he was on in the video game and confirmed her suspicion. He was using the games as a form of transference...so now she was stuck watching flying motorcycles and scantily clad digital females with more artillery than the Russian mafia. She smirked thinking about that, “Skylar...you are going to ruin your eyes!”

“I won’t..”

She was tempted to pull the plug, but she could already hear the whining that would stem from it. She sighed loudly and went back to the large photo-book she was reading. She was enjoying the details and large spread out photos inside the Backstreet Book...but nothing on paper could ever compare to the video footage she was just dying to watch some more of.. She gazed at Skylar quizzically, “Skylar, how do you know just how to play these stupid games anyway?”

“I don’t know...” he muttered playing on feverishly.

“You’re so good at it,” Gillian commented watching the screen where Skylar never failed to miss a move.

“I know...” it wasn’t a brag, he didn’t sound conceited when he had said it...it was simply a stated observation that he had made about his playing skills. “It seems like I’ve played this game dozens of times before and know all tricks, doesn’t it?”

“Skylar don’t go all weird on me again, Amore,” Gillian said cautiously, “Why don’t you turn that thing off. Come get back in bed.”

“No, not until I win...” his voice was quiet and final.

“That could take all day, bambino. Today is our last day...”

“It won’t take all day, I know what I’m doing,” Skylar said brushing her away, “Why don’t you take a shower and go down and get yourself some breakfast.”

He was telling her to leave. He was actually telling her to leave! Of all the nerve! She threw the covers off herself and stalked towards the television. Skylar looked up at her in surprise, “Jill what are you doing? Jill no!”

She pulled the plug, “Now you will talk to me.”

“Talk to you about what?” Skylar sighed dropping the hand held controller and stretching his arms and legs.

“What’s happening with you,” Gillian said, “We both know something strange is happening.”

Skylar sighed and shut his eyes, “Look Jilly, why don’t we just forget about the whole thing and move on...” He stood slowly, shaking himself, “Come on, you said it yourself its our last day here, might as well enjoy it. Come on, I’ll let you take me to a shoe store or museum or whatever other places of torture you like to go to.”

Gillian almost grinned, there was the Skylar she wanted to hear...but he was false. There was absolutely no feeling behind his words. He simply just wanted to let the topic go, though it still ate at him on the inside. She frowned and went back to the bed, picking up her book of pictures to pack away in her suitcase, “You and your precious American group..what are they called again?”

“Backstreet Boys,” Gillian said with a sweet smile, “Surprised you don’t know them Skylar. You might have liked them.”

“Poo.”

“Oh come on, your favorite member...”

“The one you drool over that’s dead?”

“The one that looks like you.”

“He does not look like me.”

“The one you dreamed about...”

“Jilly what?” now he was annoyed and starting to sound more normal.

“He loves video games too, and he has to have beaten that one you’re playing billions of times,” Gillian teased.

“Yeah, well maybe I’m channeling his ghost or something, cause I feel like I’ve beaten the game you so rudely ended billions of times too.”

“You were certainly playing it like you had.”

Skylar shrugged, “I don’t’ understand it Gillian, and it bothers me...a lot. Ramon...the games...the dreams... I don’t feel right Gillian. Something is wrong with me...I’m not sick, but I’m not right.”

Gillian frowned and patted the bed for Skylar to sit beside her, “Not right, Amore?”

Skylar shook his head, “My head feels so muddled... I know who I am, I know what I remember...but I feel like there’s so much more...I know other things as well, but I just can’t tap into them. It’s like my brain is only letting me see half the picture. I bet if I can look at the whole thing, I’d remember Ramon. Gillian, what’s happened to me to where I’d forget whole chunks of details of my life? And I never wondered about it before...like I just came into being when I met you...”

Gillian ran her hands through his hair, “I don’t know what to tell you... You should tell your doctor when we get home...”

Skylar nodded, “I suppose, and I also suppose he’ll find yet another miracle pill to give me to make my mother happy. You think it’s the pills Jilly? I didn’t start feeling this way until I stopped taking them.”

“That’s why I think you should take them...”

“No! I think this is a good thing! They’re trying to hide something from me I know it! It’s not right!” Skylar’s blue eyes narrowed, “They think they can control my life...I bet...I bet they’ve had me brainwashed! Ramon told you how terrible I was at school...maybe...”

“ Skylar, that’s crazy...”

“I’m going crazy Jilly, and there has to be a reason for it! I’m not taking another pill until I figure it out.”

“Are you going to talk to your doctor?”

“No,” Skylar said, “No way.. I’m going to tell him I’m fine and am taking my medication as prescribed.”

“Skylar, that may not be...”

“I don’t care Jilly, you don’t’ know how I feel...”

“Tell me...”

“I can’t! I tried to, but I can’t put into words how I really feel,” Skylar groaned and flopped back on the bed, “It’s...it’s like I’m two people. There’s a whole different side of me I don’t know, and all of a sudden my body’s trying to know it. I see things from two different perspectives. I have cravings for things I’ve never tasted before...but I know what they taste like, and I know I’ve had them...but I haven’t! Oh Jilly!” He rolled onto his stomach, “And those CD’s I bought...I’ve never heard of any of those people, but I knew all the words to all the songs and sang along. Jilly, what is wrong with me, what is this?”

Gillian stared at Skylar, he certainly sounded like he was going insane...but that’s only by listening, Gillian had actually seen the events transpire. She knew he was telling the truth, but what could she make of it. She sat on the bed rubbing Skylar’s back running all the possibilities through her mind and growing tired as she could come up with no conclusions. Her mind wandered to other things, her shoes, her outfits, Skylar’s hair color, Skylar’s new hobbies...Someone else shared those hobbies with him. Someone she rather liked...What a wonderful coincidence. Not only were Nick Carter and Skylar practically twins, but they had the same hobbies...Hobbies that Skylar had just recently developed. He could have learned at school, she reasoned with herself. Although he doesn’t remember school...and Ramon, Ramon looked at him closely and said that he wasn’t...wasn’t Skylar. Not one he remembered anyway. Before Gillian had been reintroduced to Skylar just about a year ago, the last time she had seen him was when he was 7. A time he seemed to remember off and on now. She thought about her relationship with Skylar and how wonderful it had been...and how now in a total of two days it was like rooming with two people..her Skylar, and the stranger that was threatening to take him over....

Something bothered her...The day she met Skylar...it was perfect, but she didn’t want to remember the events just the date... February, February 21^st 1999... Why did she need to know the date....When did Nick Carter drown...January 28^th .... Scarcely a month after Nick Carter had drowned at sea, Skylar Geovanni returned after not having been seen for 12 years. Coincidence, she dismissed it. “Have You Seen Me?” popped into her mind...one of his friends thought he was still alive...There had been no body...no body.... Skylar remembered water...water and lightning...there had been a storm. Gillian shuddered, she was being stupid, she knew it. She could not be thinking that her fiancé was a different man entirely. How could it be...he’s Skylar Geovanni, he lives with his parents, he loves them, he remembers.... he remembers facts, not emotions or anything in real detail from when he left the enclave.... he knows...only things his parents could know.... But how?

The Geovanni’s...the rich family on the hill, the ones who ran the enclave and, and had a hand in every project....Maybe they had a private project of their own... She shook her head, that was crazy. Crazy...but as she looked at Skylar who still lay face down she began to think more.

Ramon says he’s not the Skylar he knew...

Skylar doesn’t remember his life in England.

Skylar feels like he’s two people.

Skylar remembers things he couldn’t possibly know.

Skylar appeared after Nick Carter disappeared...

He looks just like him....sounds like him.... and at night..God...that funny accent.. American. Nick Carter was American...Nick Carter is American...She was sitting next to what was left of Nick Carter. She knew it right then, in that instant... He dreamed about being on stage, he dreamed of AJ, the strange fellow with the tattoos...he’d seen Nick Carter’s face in a dream...The website...he’d recognized...he’d recognized Nick Carter’s mother.... That’s when he got his first headache...and hadn’t taken his pills...then he started to remember...Oh God...Oh God.... What have the Geovanni’s done....How do I tell him what I suspect? Should I tell him? Would he believe me? Would he be angry? What would he do? She slid off the bed and popped in a Backstreet Boys interview that she hadn’t watched yet. She watched the five men all crowded together on the small couch, her eyes lingered on Nick, who could have been Skylar a few years ago. She studied him, his movements, the things he would say, his laugh... She also saw how much he loved the people sitting around him, she felt tears coming to her eyes...she saw the love the other Backstreet Boys felt for him....They had this person taken away from them, that wonderful person that was lying on the bed behind Gillian. They think he’s dead, she thought, her heart constricting. They are grieving for him...they think he’s dead...and he’s not. She wiped away her tear of empathy. Skylar Geovanni is Nick Carter. Nick Carter is Skylar Geovanni....What had the Geovanni’s done? Did they know? Did they know who they had taken? She held her head, anyone listening to her know would believe she was crazy...but her intuition told her she was right. Told her that the person lying on the bed behind her was not Skylar Geovanni...not the real one anyway.

His friends think he is dead...dead...dead....No...One still believes he’s alive. The one, Brian...Have You Seen Me? She smiled sadly, oh Brian. Your article has just served it’s purpose. Without it, I never would have, we, never would have discovered this. Gillian never would have wanted to learn more about Nick Carter after seeing his face on the add, she never would have been in the library, Skylar would have never seen the web page... She shuddered. Was it bad? Maybe it would have been better if she never would have found it. She and Skylar would be happy now, out in a restaurant somewhere or a museum... They would be getting married in a bit...they would be happy...and they would also be, a lie. A terrible lie. One that would soon fold in on itself over time and it was better for it to come out now. Now, while she could still do something about it! Yes she could still do something about it, but she would have to hurry. The more she thought about it, the more she knew she had to do it...she’d never get this opportunity on the enclave where phone calls to the outside were forbidden to her, and if allowed they would most surely be monitored.

What did she have to do??? She searched her bags coming up with the magazine full of tall tales and found the page she had dog eared a few days ago. Have You Seen Me? A plain picture of Nick Carter, not dressed up, not glamorous and dazzling, just a regular photo. She looked down at the number to call and took a deep breath. She would call it. She turned off the interview and went to get the phone from the table. She carried the phone carefully stretching out the cord until it reached into the closet and she shut the door. She couldn’t have Skylar over hearing and maybe trying to stop her. He was too confused to know what was best... She calmed her shaking fingers and began to dial...she hung up after the operator came on the phone...Oh God...She sat clutching the phone to her chest, she was opening the pandora’s jar, she knew it. Could she do it? She looked down at the article one last time before shaking out her hands and dialing the operator again.

“I’m so sorry you’re leaving so soon,” Leighanne was kissing Aaron, “I can’t even spend the day with you...”

“I’m sorry Leigh, something just came up,” Aaron apologized to Brian’s wife and gave her a hug, “Maybe I’ll come visit again.” When pigs fly.

“Yes, you’ll have to,” Leighanne said sadly. She smiled as she brushed past Brian who was whistling. He sat down at the kitchen table across from Aaron with a doughnut and began to eat. Aaron rolled his eyes at the man and sighed...he should have booked an even earlier flight out.

The phone rang and Brian’s head rose slowly. Leighanne’s eyes narrowed, “Brian?”

Aaron watched the looks exchanged between Brian and Leighanne and realized for the first time that...the main phone line, the phone on the counter wasn’t ringing...it was...it was...

“I thought you had that line turned off,” Leighanne frowned at her fiancé.

Brian sighed, “I’m going to have it shut off Leigh..I just forgot.”

“Just forgot?”

“Is anyone going to answer the phone?” Aaron asked trying to interrupt their argument.

“I’m sorry, I’ll have it shut off today...”

“You better, I’m not going to...”

They were all silent as the answering machine came on, and someone was actually leaving a message.

“No one leaves messages..” Brian said softly... He stood to go to the phone, “Brian, it’s a prank call...where are you going?”

Brian walked to the small table in the kitchen where the private line had been installed and listened to the message, “Hello...My name is Gillian Emilliano, I know this may sound crazy...In fact it is crazy. I don’t even know if...,” she breathed...she sounded young, “Listen I...I think my fiancé, I think he’s your friend...your Nick. I...I can’t go into detail now, I’m not in a good place right now. I...don’t really know how you can get back to me by phone. This is strange, everything going on around me is strange... The only way you can reach me is physically. You’d have to come to me. I’m in Europe now, but I leave with my fiancé tomorrow to return home. Where I live is...it’s hard to describe to an outsider, I’d have to give you special instructions...How I wish you were home...”

“Brian answer it!” Aaron was beside him.

Brian was shaking, he felt tears building in his eyes...”Brian!”

“It’s the call Aaron...it’s the one...” How did he know? He just did. Her voice, the way she spoke...her words were evasive, but he knew...

“Answer the phone!”

Brian blinked and lifted the receiver, “Hello? Hello I’m here? This is Brian. You know where Nick is?

Chapter 15

The black car was waiting for them outside the small airport. Gillian sighed at the familiarity of the terrain. Home again. The air was warm and sweet, the trees and flowers fully bloomed, the sky blue and inviting...but the atmosphere. The feeling the enclave gave to its inhabitants...cold. She shuddered and rubbed her shoulders, frowning as her fiancé moved towards the black car to open the door for her. Before he could reach the handle the perfectly groomed chauffeur dressed in his traditional black jacket was there to open the door for him. The chauffeur bowed curtly and waited for Gillian to walk to the car. She sighed yet again and allowed the chauffeur to take her hand and help her inside of the limousine. The soft leather interior sank to greet her weight and she scooted over to make room for Skylar. She knew it was improper. A lady wasn’t to move over, Skylar should enter on the opposite side. Gillian was not in a traditional mood, too much was on her mind. Had she been wrong or had she been right...

She didn’t even look over as she felt Skylar sliding in beside her. They’d been in two different worlds all day. Gillian worrying over the trouble she had started...well not exactly worrying... She was dreaming... She thought of it all like a romantic fairy tale. Brian Littrell would fly in from the enchanted lands of Florida, Skylar would take one look at his face and transform back into Nick Carter and whisk her away with him back to his glorious life of fame in America. She’d be gone from the accursed enclave forever. Imagine her, Gillian Bianca Emilliano, a rock star’s fiancé. She’d definitely have to change that name...she’d just be Jill. That sounded like the suave name of a rock star’s wife. No matter how rowdy the star they always seemed to settle down with the cool sophisticated type. She was that type, or rather she could be when she wanted.

Skylar, Skylar had been brooding all morning. So many questions were rampaging through his head at such a fast pace it made him dizzy. What is the matter with him? What is going on? Why? There were so many “why”’s he couldn’t place questions with them all. Why couldn’t he remember his own past, but was starting to remember the past of another. And who was that other he was trying to remember? He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to focus...bad idea...his vision began to go blurry as it always did when he focused too hard...His head pounded and pleaded for rest, but he couldn’t let it go. He would ask his parents as soon as he got home. He would tell them what was going on. He knew they had something to do with this! He just knew it! Carolina and Marcello Geovanni were under attack, they just did not know it yet.

Gillian sighed as the black car began its journey through town. It was small and modeled authentically after the traditional Italian city of Naples. Gillian found it boring and ugly while others found it classically beautiful. Gillian neglected to find anything beautiful about buildings made to look centuries old. In Europe she had seen actual historic buildings and found them exquisite, what was it about home that turned her away from its art. The landscape began to pan out into a green hilly country smothered with trees and rich plant life all cultivated and pruned neatly. As the car began its ascend up the largest hill on the enclave...Geovanni hill...on the horizon the ocean could be seen, stretching vast and green for miles....she turned her head forward and watched as the grand Geovanni castle grew larger, it’s gargoyles and stone pillars intimidating to strangers. The car drove into the circle drive stopping at the large wooden double doors.

Both Gillian and Skylar sat tense inside waiting for the chauffeur to come around and open the door. Normally Skylar would have just bounded out of the car, but today neither one felt too eager to leave the sanctuary of the car. Gillian studied Skylar’s pale face as he stared straight forward at the back of the leather seat. She looked down to see his hands balled into small fists with his knuckles going white. She lie one of her hands over his and squeezed. They looked at each other. It was the first time they had really looked at each other all day.

Skylar pulled her close so suddenly that she tumbled upon his lap and he hugged her, “Gillian, will you stay with me?”

“What?”

“Stay with me...I don’t know what’s wrong with me...and I want to know...And I’m going to tell my parents. I just know they have some idea of what’s going on with me but won’t tell! Gillian you must be there to tell them I’m not crazy, to stand behind me!”

“Sky...Sky... calm yourself bambino... How long have you been thinking about this, all day?”

Skylar nodded.

“You really want to tell them what you suspect if you think they have something to do with it?” Gillian felt fear rising in her stomach, the Geovanni’s are behind this! They know this isn’t there son! And Skylar senses that they’ve done something to him...if they did it once they’ll do it again.. If he tells....she may never... She choked back a sob and grabbed Skylar’s hands, “Skylar listen to me...don’t tell them.”

“Huh?” Skylar gazed up at her in surprise, “Don’t...why?”

“Skylar...you can’t...” She couldn’t tell him not to trust his parents. But then again, they might not be his parents. Could she tell him that? Could she tell him what she had done? No...no...her plan was not well thought out...her plan was a dream. She dreamed that she could smuggle Brian Littrell in and once Skylar saw him... She dreamed of it being a surprise, but surprises and real life sometimes didn’t work out. She would have to tell him...and tell him soon. The conversation she had with Brian Littrell let her know that he was coming to them and soon. She’d told him how to get to the enclave, told him what to say, how to dress, what to bring...Then she would bring him to Skylar. She had heard the tremors of excitement, of happiness, in his voice. All the while on the phone her heart was in her throat..Hang up...Hang up..Close the door...Don’t let it out! But she had remained on the line, keeping her voice low so Skylar would not overhear and become curious.

“I can’t what?”

“Skylar don’t tell your parents just yet Love,” Gillian said softly, “We’ll talk more later, but please just tell your parents we had a wonderful time.”

“We did,” Skylar breathed gazing upon her as he had in London..under the trees where they had...she blushed, and pushed him away as the door came open. Skylar groaned and got out of the car extending his hand toward Gillian and assisting her from the car.

Gillian stared into his eyes, she saw the storm brewing there, but also saw with relief that he wouldn’t tell..not just yet. Oh Gillian, what have you gotten yourself into?

“Shirts....shoes...” Brian was muttered tossing random things into his suitcase, “Oh God...” he stopped to run his hands through his hair..Nick..Nick...Nick...Nicky! He was coming home! He stared at the huge pile in his suitcase and wondered how he was ever going to close it. He shut the suitcase then threw his body weight upon it to lock it. He grinned as he slid off...Nick...Nick..Nick... He gazed at the plane tickets on the bed to Milan, Italy. That was where he would catch the plane to retrieve his Nicky. What was he doing so far from home? Brian shook his head, not really caring, as long as he was alive and Brian could hug him. He would never let him go, never let him out of his sight. He would be on the boy like white on rice. He chuckled. He danced around the room on a giddy high arranging and rearranging things, wondering if he brought enough. He wouldn’t be staying for too long. After all he was only going to get his Nick back.

He shut his suitcase and locked it, then tucked his plane ticket in his jacket pocket. Whistling he headed for the door.

“Grazie,” Armand Geovanni was shaking hands with three large men dressed in expensive black suits. They left the room after politely greeting Gillian and Skylar, “Buon giorno.”

“Buon giorno, Skylar, Gillian. How was Europe?” Armand sat back in his large black leather recliner.

“It was sensational,” Skylar said gracing his father with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Armand studied him carefully. In the Business one must be especially skilled at reading the expressions of others.

“Is something wrong?” Armand asked, he looked from his son to his future daughter- in- law. Skylar shook his head, “Just disappointed at having to come back.”

The cynicism in his voice made Armand relax in his chair again. “My flippant heir. How was Europe for you Gillian?”

Gillian smiled, “It was wonderful. I hope to go again someday.”

“One day, when all of this is yours, you will my dear,” Armand said nodding at her curtly. He looked at them both in an appraising manner, “ And you will have many children, boys, to continue on the legacy.”

Gillian felt Skylar stiffen next to her. They hadn’t talked of children, but they both knew it was the sole reason why the two were brought together. The line of Geovanni must be preserved.

“Tua mama voglia vedere tu. Lei e in la sua stanza,” Armand waved a hand in their direction. That’s it, they were being dismissed. Skylar let out a snort that was nothing short of contemptuous, “ArriverderLa.” His voice was cold as he bid his father goodbye in the formal way.

“Did he even look at me this time Gillian?” Skylar asked in an off hand manner. “I get the feeling he was looking through me. Probably trying to see if Mr. Yokamoto was just behind us ready to be let in. Can’t upset the Business, now can we?”

Gillian grimaced at the bitter tone Skylar spoke in. Their hard heeled shoes clicked against the gray marble of the hallway. Large windows framed the walls, but large expensive drapes captured the light from outdoors so the hallway remained dreadfully dim. Statues and portraits lined any walls void of the windows.

The place looked like a museum, Gillian thought with a shiver. She shot a look at Skylar under her lashes, what would it be like to grow up in a place like this. Such a cold manor, filled with people who treated you as a possession to be polished every once and again. She could imagine the frigid environment, the Business deals always in negotiation, the neglect.

She reached to find Skylar’s hand. Her warm hand closed over his and she felt his eyes on her. He smiled lightly, “You don’t have to worry about me telling my parents about anything. It’s not as if they could actually make the time to listen to me anyway. I’d more than likely have to call and make an appointment.”

Gillian tweaked his noise, she wanted to offer some encouragement, but what he had said was probably true. Gillian and her parents didn’t exactly have a close comfortable relationship either, but they were not glaciers to one another like in this family. She blinked....the Geovanni’s only had one child to be their heir. They didn’t bring Skylar into the world to love, but to repopulate. And if they ever lost him.... They’d lose their heir, they wouldn’t have anyone to continue on with the legacy, and the dynasty of Geovanni would end with Armand and Carolina. Just what would they do, how far would they go... If somehow, in some way, they lost their heir...

She shivered again, but this time not from the chilly atmosphere, but from a premonition. Something was going to happen soon, and it was going to change everything. She only hoped the change would be for the better. Please don’t ruin him. If it did, it would be all her fault. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself, and she didn’t expect Skylar to either. “If I’m wrong about this...I’ll lose him, forever.”

“Your gate is that way Aaron,” Brian was waving the youngest Carter boy away in another direction. Brian had volunteered to drive Aaron to the airport on the account that he as going to the airport himself. He whistled happily to himself once again checking his plane ticket. It took him five minutes to realize that Aaron Carter had not moved an inch away from him since he had gotten to the airport. He had practically ignored and forgotten about the boy, his mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of Nick being somewhere waiting for him. He probably would have driven off without Aaron and not even noticed until he was on his plane thirty-five thousand feet up into the air.

Aaron was staring intently at Brian, waiting for him to notice him. He rolled his eyes when Brian simply waved him on. He sighed loudly and dropped his bag to the floor with a loud thump.

“Brian, wake up will you!” Aaron almost shouted. Brian’s dreamy expression faded as he gave Aaron his full attention, “Aaron? Oh my God, what time is it? Your plane...”

“I missed it.”

“Aaron! What are you trying to do? You KNOW where I’m going! I can’t miss this plane, and now I have to go with you to the desk to make sure you can get another plane. And we’ll have to call your parents...”

“Brian..Brian, chill. No we won’t... Now, about my flight,” Aaron’s previous confidence was beginning to falter. “Ah..ya see...” Brian’s steely blue eyes bore into him like hot pokers, “Um...I had my ticket...I had it changed.”

“To?” Brian’s eyes were beginning to narrow and his brows were drawing together.

“Uh...I ... I’m coming with you!” There, he’d said it. He studied Brian’s face, my oh my, did he ever look angry.

“YOU WHAT?” Brian roared totally oblivious to all the attention he was bringing to them. “You DID WHAT? When? How?”

“I did it when we first got here. You came to your terminal and just spaced out, so instead of going to my gate, I went to the desk. I have money Brian.”

“Your parents...”

“I called them. I told them I would be staying longer with you after all. I told them we were going on a trip too.”

“Aaron! What have you done?” Brian was running his hands through his hair. “You can’t come with me. Who knows what’s going on where I’m going! I mean, what if it’s not Nick.”

Aaron gave Brian a look, “Brian, you know it is. You know it’s him, or else you wouldn’t have even considered going on this trip.”

“This is no mission for a child..”

“I’m not a child, and dammit he’s my brother! My REAL brother Brian!” Aaron felt tears stinging in his eyes, “Now you either let me go with you, or I’ll find my own way to get there! I’m going to find my brother!”

Brian blinked, taken aback. He stared at the blond child in front of him red faced and breathing heavily. His hands were balled into fists at his sides. There was a silence, on lookers slowed to watch the strange exchange between the young man and the boy.

“Boarding Flight 1188 nonstop to Milan, all passengers line up at the terminal...Boarding Flight 1188 nonstop to Milan,” rang out over the loud speaker.

They stared at on another, each sizing the other up. Finally Brian lost the battle of wills and sighed, dropping his blue eyes to the floor. He stood and began to gather his bags. Aaron still stood where he was with his fists at his side watching Brian’s every move. Brian started towards his terminal, he moved about 2 steps before he stopped and turned. “If you’re coming you better come on. If we miss this flight there won’t be another.”

Aaron’s mouth fell open. Dumbly he nodded, and bent to pick up his one suitcase. With shaking hands and legs of jelly, Aaron Carter followed Brian Littrell to the terminal. This terminal would lead him to the airplane that would take him to the end of the rainbow. At the end of this trip he would find a pot of gold, at the end of his rainbow he would find his brother. Nick would be coming home, and once he was there Aaron would never let him leave it again.

Chapter 16

“SKYLAR!” Skylar braced himself for his mother’s shriek. The elegant Carolina Geovanni rose from her seat at her vanity and began to walk toward the couple. She was dressed smartly in a two piece business dress. She had probably been plucking her eyebrows, or reapplying her make up. The woman was perfect, and intimidated Gillian in every way imaginable. Carolina was tall, almost 6 ft, with the build of a model. She had Skylar’s coloring, fair with blue eyes, and held the beauty of a Grecian goddess. She always seemed to be looking down her nose at Gillian, when she regarded her. She came to Gillian and Skylar smoothly, she gave Skylar two imaginary kisses on his cheeks. She then turned her head so that Skylar could plant a real kiss on hers. Skylar kissed his mother lightly and greeted her, “Ciao base. Spero che siate stati buoni mentre ero assente.”

“Sono stato buono il mio figlio. Come era il vostro viaggio? Avete goduto Europa?”

“We enjoyed Europe greatly,” Skylar answered for them both, since Gillian always got so tongue tied before his mother. “We wonder when it will be when we will get to go abroad again?”

Carolina smiled, “All in good time my son. Well, I am sure you two are exhausted, I’ve had Minerva air out your room Skylar, you may go and rest until dinner. Gillian, Minerva and I have seen about preparing a guest room for you. It will be where you shall sleep until you and Skylar are wed. Your parents, and Armand and I, feel it’s time you move from your parent’s home. Do not look so troubled my dear...Your parents will be dining with us tonight. You’ll see them soon.” Carolina gave Gillian a light impersonal hug. Gillian almost shivered in her grasp. Carolina was so cold...as was Armand..as was this house...How had Skylar possibly come about in all this? She shot a glance at Skylar to her right under her lashes. He looked ill at ease and ready to retire to his quarters as his mother had suggested. He cleared his throat, “Mother...Gillian will rest in my room with me. We will be married soon, so perhaps it is time for us to learn to share a room...and...”

“Quello è inammissibile! In nessun circostanze volerli base due nella stessa stanza fino dopo alle nozze!”

“Would you look at what you’ve done, Love?” Gillian uttered under her breath. Carolina was steaming from the ears. Skylar looked amused.

“Well surely mother, you should know what we’ve been doing all those long weeks in Europe. A new bed to conquer every night,” Skylar grinned as his mother’s face turned scarlet.

“You live to mock me don’t you child? What a flippant arrogant son I have!” Carolina said staring at Skylar crudely.

“Well with the way you raised me, what did you expect of me?” Skylar snapped. “Well it certainly is good to be home again mother, indeed. We will see you at dinner.”

The flight to Milan was long and uneventful. They had stopped over in Washington DC for a short lay-over before boarding their non-stop flight to Milan. The only words spoken between the sullen blond passengers in seat 15 row M, was, “Do you think the online film will have subtitles?”

“I hope not.”

The plane touched the ground roughly 10 hours after leaving the United States. Aaron was so glad to stand on solid non-moving ground again, he did a little dance. He knew he must have looked incredibly silly, because a few of the passengers snickered at him as they walked by. He made a face at them, the pilot had announced it was 2:00am in Milan. It was not even 10 o’clock in Florida yet. It felt so weird to be so out-of-synch with the time. He stood next to his suitcase gazing around at the foreign airport. The sky was pitch black, and the crowd was scarce. He supposed this was a rather odd time to fly. People normally tried to time their flights from the US to Europe, to where they would end up in the country at a decent time. They, unfortunately, were following strange instructions. They were to catch a special shuttle, one that would take them to the docks to catch a small boat. This boat trip would reunite Aaron’s family.

He jumped as he felt Brian’s hand on his shoulder, “We’ve got 5 minutes to meet the shuttle, Aaron, come on.”

Aaron jogged behind Brian. He was walking so fast Aaron thought he would lose him if he blinked. Soon they were outside, standing on a small curb outside the building. There was no booth or marker labeling their pick up location, but Brian stood certain of where he was. A small white car arrived not a minute later. The driver asked no questions as Brian opened the door and told Aaron to get in while he put the suitcases in back. Aaron sat in the white car gazing around at the lush interior. The outside may have been plain, simply starch white with no identifiable logo...but inside, the seats were leather. The door handles looked to be made of silver, real silver. The driver’s compartment was cut off from them by thick black glass, like in a limousine. This was an inconspicuous, small, limousine. Obviously some very rich, or important people traveled this route, often, and did not want to be recognized. Why didn’t they want to be recognized? What was his brother doing in a place where everyone who traveled there wanted to remain faceless...they were unquestionably rich, but alias. What did they do in this place? He shuddered thinking of the deeds one could do to get rich, and not want anyone to know you or what you did. Who were these Geovanni’s?... They had kidnaped his brother, made it seem like he was dead... What kind of people would do such a thing... People who were rich, but wanted to remain faceless. What had they done to want to remain hidden from the world? What would they do, when they found out they weren’t as hidden as they thought? Aaron gulped, and felt real fear for the first time since he’d left Brian’s house knowing what his plans would be. What if they ran into something they couldn’t handle? What if Nick had turned into someone else? He shook his head and whisked the thought from his mind. His Nick, was his Nick, no matter where he was. Why did he leave them? Why had he stayed gone for so long? These were all questions he would find out the answers to. Maybe Nick thought he had done something terrible...maybe he was hiding there with those people. Whatever it was, Aaron was going to let him know it was ok to come home.

Gillian sat up in her large bed feeling sadly alone, and disconnected. The riches of the room were masked in the darkness, along with her confident facade. In the dark, with her confidence only a shadow, she shivered. If everything went as discussed, if Brian went through with the voyage that had to seem like pure madness to him, she would be meeting him tomorrow. Or rather, she would be meeting him today, at 2 o’clock, in the Café Marcella by the docks. She would have to go in secret, and veil her face, for everyone knew her, and would surely question her strange visitors.

What would Fate serve her tomorrow...would she find out her life was a lie? Was she marrying a man who wasn’t who everyone said he was? Or would she find out she was a fool, a fool who would be crushing the hearts of the loved ones coming later in the day? Would she, Gillian Bianca Emilliano, be uncovering the one of the greatest scandals this decade on the enclave? She could be famous...but in the aftermath, where would that leave her?

She would be without a fiancé...unless he chose to take her with him. But why would he, once he remembered who he was... Who’s to say Nick Carter would like her? Maybe Nick Carter had someone out there waiting for him, and she would be a rock in his shoe. She loved Skylar with all her heart, she never thought she would find anyone that she could care so deeply for... She literally opened her eyes these days for that man. She would never go to college or be destined for anything great, the only future she had was to be his wife. And she loved her future as much as she loved him. Once her life seemed bleak, she was doomed for an empty marriage, and then he stepped into her world and opened her eyes. To think of her future without that creature left a void within her. She felt a tear slide down her face, if Nick Carter was ever awakened inside of Skylar Geovanni, could he find a place in his heart for her? She was doing what was right...if he was Nick, then she was doing what was right! That was why she had called, to end their grief...to be right. But why now, did she feel so damn wrong! Cause then it seemed a romantic fairy tale...now, the cold harshness of the reality that would befall them if it were all true, if Skylar really and truly belonged to the outside world, closed in over her head. She was drowning, suffocating. She covered her mouth with her small hand to stifle another whimper. What was she doing to herself. They believed him dead...they were about to bury him... Why couldn’t she let them just do it? Why did she have to be so good? Why did she feel the need then to be right? For once, she wished she were selfish. She wished she was a selfish, cold- hearted, bitch. Selfish, cold-hearted bitches kept their husbands....bleeding heart fools didn’t.

She wouldn’t go. That was it. She just wouldn’t go. This was her mistake, and now she would fix it. Let him die, let Nick die within Skylar... But, then Skylar would be forced to continue living a lie. A lie that could destroy his sanity. The last few days of remembering and not understanding had been torture for him. She couldn’t force him to be in pain. She could trick him, get him to take his medication...tell his parents she knew and would help them. But then who’s side would she be on? She’d be on the side of the parents that Skylar hated. If he ever were to find out, he’d hate her as much as he hated them, his parents. She shuddered just thinking of being an object for Skylar’s condemnation. He’d run away for good, and be lost and confused. She’d lose him forever in a lie...but she could also lose him forever in truth. Which did she chose? Which was the lesser of two evils? Either way she could lose him, but in one way she was moral, in the other way...she was dumb. She was a loser in both games... But maybe it was time she quit thinking of herself.

She was doing this for Skylar... she loved him, or said she loved him. This was a way to prove it, to show it. He was her only, her sense of being, her earth, moon, and stars, and in his happiness, she was content. Even if he found a life that he could not make room for her in, if he was happy, then she would be too. She loved him that much. She loved him that much and more.

She felt an odd sensation in her chest, a feeling of extreme pain, and extreme warmth. Her heart had broken... she’d felt it crack, and she’d felt its life giving substance leaking, flowing away from it into the void... If he left her, she would die, but she would die fulfilled. Maybe she wouldn’t die a mortal death, but after Skylar, there would be no other.

She was young, naive...she spoke such convicting words too soon. She feared that even now as she thought she would never love again, her heart was already looking for means to repair itself. Months, years... she wished to never get over Skylar, to forever hold him to her, but if his destiny was elsewhere... She sighed, she prayed to remain faithful to her love... She would never forget him and how he made her feel...but sadly no, there would be life after Skylar.

So when the time came to have to give him away.... She could, and she would. She would do what was right, even if now in her heart, her want for Skylar and his security and passion, she felt wrong. Skylar would have his answers, and so would she. Though her answers would be different, for her mind and body asked different questions. What was her real destiny? Where did her future lie? Could she really and truly say goodbye?

There was faint hope against hope that Skylar would take her with him, if he left. She saw that rock star dream. She saw the large house on the shores. She saw herself on television at an extravagant award show, wearing a dress made of diamonds and emeralds. Jill....being just Jill. It would be a new life for her... The fantasy glimmered in her mind, making her smile. Maybe, maybe she would be irreplaceable in his life. Maybe Skylar, could make room in Nick’s life for a “just Jill.” Who was to say Skylar would not be going through the same emotions she was going through then if the moment came and it was revealed he was indeed someone else.

Gillian knew at that moment she had truly convinced herself that Skylar was not who he believed he was, and that he would be leaving once he realized that. She felt she’d had a premonition, it told her Skylar would be leaving never to return. What the premonition failed to mention, was if Gillian herself had any traveling plans, as well. She sighed, she would just have to wait and see. She had the patience... she was doing the right thing... She had to be doing the right thing.

She’d know this afternoon. Everything, her life, her family, her dreams, her future, all centered on what was to transpire that very afternoon.. Gillian found it very hard to sleep with that sort of pressure on her body, and simply got up. No use in wasting time. She turned on her light, and began to prepare...for the rest of her life.

“Who are you getting so pretty for Jilly, certainly not for me?” Skylar looked hopeful as he gazed at her through her vanity. He leaned on her shoulders as she brushed out her black hair, and pouted at the lack of attention she had been showing him that morning. She could feel another over-dramatic collapse onto her peach colored canopy bed coming on, so she decided to answer him. “No, I’m getting so pretty to meet with Jean-Pierre, the gardener. We’re going to make hot passionate love to one another, and in the process I’m going to forget all about you.”

“Oh, I knew it! I knew it was that damnable Jean-Pierre. I shall have his head! Which one is Jean Pierre?” Skylar looked vicious, then clueless. He giggled, “Where are you really going, Love? And, why can’t I come with?”

“I’m going to meet some girlfriends, Skylar. We’re going to talk about dresses and flowers.”

“What makes you think I don’t want to talk about dresses and flowers?”

“Because of the face you made when you said it,” Gillian said waving her blush brush at him. Skylar let out a squeal, as if he’d been stabbed, when the brush struck his cheek. A spot of pink flowered his face, and he laughed, “I look like I’ve been slapped. Jilly, the help is going to think I’ve been letting you beat on me!”

Gillian grinned dangerously, “Well...I could beat on you for real, and let their thoughts be reality. I bet I could take you, Geovanni.”

“Bet you could,” He began kissing her neck. She giggled lightly and pushed him away. He moaned, “Jilly...I wanna taste you.”

“Taste me later,” Gillian said briskly, “You’re going to spoil my make up.”

“Oh Jilly!” Skylar exclaimed, and she rolled her eyes. Here it came. Skylar stumbled backward in an impressive display of mock swooning, then flung himself onto the bed. “You’re killing me!”

“Good, maybe I can finish getting ready then.”

He grunted, and rolled onto his stomach, staring at her in the vanity mirror, “When will you be back?”

“Sunrise tomorrow, Jean-Pierre and I like to see the sun come up together.”

Skylar chuckled, “Jean-Pierre should be informed to enjoy this sunrise, for it will be the last one he shall ever see.”

“I’ll tell him,” Gillian said snidely. She shot a coy look at Skylar, who was gazing at her still through her mirror, “I’ll be back around 7, Love...” She could not tell him where she was really going, what she was really doing... She couldn’t let him know at all who he was to be meeting. But...but, if it were all true, he would need to see them. She needed him to be somewhere alone, and private for when he met them.

“Oh?”

“Yes...and when I return, I’m not coming back here,” She made her voice purposefully seductive.

“Oh?” now Skylar was taking the bait. He sat up, gazing at her with interest. “And just where will you be going?”

“Oh..I don’t know...the cottage maybe..”

Skylar got a Cheshire cat grin on his face, “The cottage, aye?”

The cottage, a small house rented out in the name of Gillian’s good friend Victoria. It was a special haven for she and Skylar to venture to when their parents were bothering them to the brink of insanity. Strangely enough, though they’d slept together there many a night, they had never shared the same bed... This time around, however...she felt herself blush. She might not be Christening the cottage that evening. She thought of the events that would have to happen there, and realized that the cottage would always be a symbol of their virginity. She sighed deeply, “Yes, the cottage, Love.”

“I’ll be there...I’ll make dinner!”

“Skylar, please...”

“What? I can cook!”

“You can ask others to cook for you,” Gillian tittered.

“So, same thing,” Skylar shrugged. “So...is there anything in particular you would like to dine on my lady?”

Gillian shook her head, feeling guilty, Skylar wanted a night of love...what she might give him would either be a night of forgotten love...or misery. “No, Skylar, bring what you like. I will manage to choke down anything you serve.”

He grinned, “You make it sound as if I eat horrible things like bat’s wings ,or something, Amore.”

“Some of the things you can stomach Sky, never fail to astound me.”

Skylar flushed with pride, “I do my best to disgust you, la mia signorina.”

“I bet you do, Amore,” Gillian said. She gazed at herself in the mirror. Did she look presentable enough? After all, she was to be meeting with a celebrity. She patted her black tresses, and Skylar commented, “You look radiant, Jill. So radiant, I am jealous of the friends who will get to see you sparkle when you meet with them. Save some of that radiance for me la mia amore della signorina, per favore?”

“Io volont¿ bambino.” Gillian murmured. She stood and removed the towel from around her neck. She had draped it over her clothing to not get her clothes dirtied with make-up. She had chosen to dress semi-formal. She wore slacks and a deep crimson blouse that accented her coloring well. Skylar looked appreciative, “You gonna wear that?”

“And what is wrong with my choice of dress, caro uno?” Gillian raised an eyebrow, he loved when she wore red.

“If you wear that...you’ll never get out of this room...That is, until you take it off...” His smile was devilish as he pulled her quickly onto the bed and closed the curtains. “You might be a little late.”

“Yes...” Was all she could say, as she was lost into the dark blue ocean of his eyes.

Brian stepped onto the wooden dock inhaling the fresh sea air, and taking in his new surroundings. They were on an island, uncharted...but it was so civilized, and beautiful. The gardens and landscaping were done like something out of a Greek romance novel. Short trees, tall trees, flowers of uniform colors lining the sidewalks. The buildings all looked authentic, yet shone clean with no signs of age. Men and women in business suits hurried by. They were boarding the boat. They didn’t speak English...it sounded like Italian. Why hadn’t be thought to ask what the native tongue of this land would be?

He felt someone pulling on his sleeve, “Brian, these people are speaking Italian. Do you know any?”

Brian shook his head, “Not much, Aaron. Come on, we have to get a cab.” He wasn’t exactly sure of what time it was, but he knew they probably shouldn’t waste anytime in getting to where they needed to be.

Aaron followed Brian, his head turning to stare at everything they passed. “Why are people looking at us so strangely?”

“Probably not used to strangers,” Brian muttered quickly with a shudder. They were the object of several rather observant stares. He pressured Aaron to walk faster. They reached the street. Few cars drove past, none going very fast. The passengers of the cars, mostly children stared at Brian and Aaron as they zipped past.

“How do we find a cab?” Aaron asked.

Brian, for once, looked blank. “I would put out a thumb or something...but people are already staring at us. Maybe we could ask someone?”

Aaron shrugged, “Ok...” A woman passed by looking at her watch. She had gotten off the boat with them. “Excuse me madam?”

The woman gazed coldly down at Aaron from under the brim of her white hat. She wore matching white gives, “Yes?”

They spoke English too... What a relief, “We need to call a cab. How would we go about doing that?”

The woman gazed from Aaron to Brian, then at their luggage, “Whom are you boarding with?”

“Boarding?” Aaron looked confused. He looked to his travel companion.

Brian blinked, he had heard the question too, “We are not sure...we were sent for, for a meeting.”

The woman seemed to accept that as a decent reply. “You may ride with me. Where is your meeting to happen?”

“At the Café Marcella.”

“Ah,” the woman nodded. “Fine place.” She nodded to a car that was about to drive past them. It stopped, and the woman looked expectantly at Brian.

Brian’s southern hospitality kicked in immediately. He smoothly walked to the car door and opened it. The woman thanked him, and ducked into the car. She left her luggage on the side of the road, and Brian grinned. The driver of the car kindly got out, “Buon giorno,” he spoke curtly before nodding to the suitcases Aaron and Brian held.

“Oh...um, buon giorno,” Brian spoke, butchering the accent terribly. The man bit his cheek on a laugh, and he stooped to gather all of their luggage. Aaron hadn’t noticed that the car’s trunk had opened. The driver carefully stacked the luggage, and slid back into the driver’s seat. Aaron slid into the car followed by Brian. The insides of this car was as lavish, if not more lavish, than the car they had rode in to get to the boat.

The woman made no small talk as they drove. She did remove her fine satin gloves to reveal fingers decked out in rich jewelry. Aaron had to avert his eyes, so he wouldn’t ogle her. This woman had to be loaded! Or have a loaded husband! Maybe she was a black widow...in this setting it seemed highly likely. Aaron occupied his time by letting his imagination run wild. By the time the cab had stopped, Aaron was in the middle of being kidnaped by the Godfather himself, and dangling over a vat of acid. A beautiful heroine, that resembled Tyra Banks, was swinging in to rescue him.

He was shaken out his dream by Brian, “Aaron, wake up...we’re here.”

We’re here.... Aaron heard, and his insides froze. Brian thanked the woman for her kindness, and tried to pay the driver. The woman would have none of it, she waved with her rich hands after they got their luggage from the back, and wished them well. The car drove away, leaving them alone in this strange place.

Marcella’s, the large sign at the top of the building proclaimed. This was it....Aaron thought feeling himself trembling anxiously, this is it...

This is it, Gillian told herself as she entered the café. This was it. She walked to the front of the café, hoping she looked alright. Skylar had scarcely let her leave before 2 o’clock. He had begged her to cancel, actually. She practically had to beat him off. She emerged from the canopy a disheveled mess, and only had minutes to fix herself before rushing to her car. She had a wonderful story planned to tell anyone who crossed her path before she left, that she no longer had time to say as she dashed from the house. She was late...would they be there? Would they leave? Would she care?

The waitress pointed to a booth near the back, away from the large window. Two shapes sat there...men... One was smaller, maybe a boy. She gulped, there was only to be one. Could she deal with two strangers taking away her fiancé? She slowly made her way to the table, feeling self-conscious. Were people really staring at her, or was she imagining it?

She brushed it off as nerves and neared the table. The two men looked up at her as she arrived and she held her breath. It was him, it was Brian. His blue eyes drank her in, he smiled politely, and offered her a seat. She was ecstatic to be seeing and meeting with him, but he was not who took her breath away. The boy....the small blond child with the brown eyes...the one that peered at her with her fiancé’s features. She nearly gasped aloud when he spoke...he sounded like him. “Are you Jill?”

Gillian hesitated, she could say no. She could still walk away...but she knew she had stood there too long. “Yes, I am Jill.”

Chapter 17

Aaron sat in the back seat of the small black Ferrari, quietly contemplating what was to go on in the next few minutes. What would he do when he saw Nick? He had to take into consideration that Nick wouldn’t know who he was... But that was ridiculous... How could Nick not recognize Aaron.. In fact, Aaron felt confident that after Nick laid eyes on him, his memory would come rushing back. He smiled to himself, then they would all go home, Aaron, Nick, and Brian. They’d show everyone... First they would go to California, and he’d show his parents, then back to Florida where Brian could show AJ, Howie, Kevin, and Leighanne. Aaron glimpsed Brian in the front passenger seat beside the beautiful woman who was taking them to reunite with Nick. Brian looked giddy, he cracked his knuckles constantly and gazed out of the window. A festive light was on in his blue eyes, and he gave a small absent smile to nothing in particular. The car began to climb up a hill, and Aaron felt his body falling against the soft leather seat. It seemed they would never get there, when in all actuality they had only been driving for 15 minutes. Aaron felt the car veer to the left and slow. He looked out of his window to see the small outline of a cottage. The lights were on, and a car was parked outside, a Jaguar. Gillian guided the car into the narrow driveway, and stopped. She had put the car in park. They were there.

They were there.

Aaron quickly unlocked his door and bound from the car. He was expecting to run up, throw open the door, and see Nick standing there, smiling at him. He would lift him up and spin him around, “Thank you for finding me,” he would say.

“Woa, there,” Brian caught his shoulder and pulled him back to him. “We can’t just go barging in on people like that. Remember, this might not be Nick.”

“It is!” Aaron said firmly, “I just know it is!”

“He may not remember us right away if it is...”

“He’ll remember us when he sees us!” Aaron said stubbornly. He turned his head to see Gillian staring at them.

“Come,” she said, her voice weary. She had not warned Nick, she was afraid of how he would react. Aaron wanted to assure her that Nick would be so busy embracing them that he would forget about her. But then he thought, how would SHE react to that? She’d be losing a fiancé, because certainly his brother did not belong in such a place. Kindly, they followed a few paces behind her. She put a small silver key into the lock and turned.

They stepped onto a small wooden landing upon entering the house. Gillian took off her gloves and laid them upon a small shelf just by the door. “It is safe, this house will not swallow you up.” From the landing extended the small cozy living room. The room was lined with thick navy blue carpet, a fire crackled in the small fire place, separated from their world by a clear screen. Gillian smiled light at seeing the fire, “You may sit in here, while I find Skylar. I will try to explain to him who you are first. Then I will bring him out.”

“Ok,” Brian said, fighting remain calm. “Thank you so much.” Gillian left the room, taking a back hallway.

“These people have gotta be loaded,” Aaron commented softly. “Look at this place!”

The cottage was like a luxury suite in the finest of hotels. Everything they had seen on the island had been so lavish and refined. Aaron couldn’t imagine anyone sitting around a table eating potato chips, belching, and watching a football game. How could Nick live here? No one wore sneakers or t-shirts. Aaron glanced down at his choice of dress subconsciously. He had probably been the reason so many people stared at them when they first arrived, he realized. Brian, was dressed finely, in slacks and a nice button up shirt. Aaron wore a black t-shirt with the words “Do or Die” on the back, and blue jeans. They sat patiently, clicking their hands against the polished dark wood of the coffee table in front of them. The couch was fine black leather, large and expensive. Aaron relaxed against it, and watched the fire. The walls were a deep blue, and the large windows were covered by large drapes that gracefully swept against the floor. Paintings that were probably originals were hung on the walls. A large portrait stood just above the fireplace, a young woman with a long mane of red hair was featured, holding an extremely fat white Persian cat. They stared solemnly at their visitors, as if waiting for an introduction. Aaron shuddered, he hated pictures that stared, with eyes that seemed to follow him all around the room.

Brian grinned at Aaron, “They must be.” He gazed around, “You notice all the crystal and antiques?”

Aaron nodded, this was a house he, himself, would never want to live in. He’d be too afraid he’d break something.... How did his clumsy goof-ball of a brother stay here? “I wonder what they have for dinner? I bet it’s a real big deal around here, ya know. Everybody having to get all dressed up, and come down at a certain time. Then I bet they have like 7 courses, where you get that little lemon dish, or sherbert in between the servings. Bet they all drink wine too.”

Aaron nodded, “Can you imagine Nick here?”

Brian chuckled, then shook his head, “No, I can’t. And if he is here, I bet he’ll be glad to see us. Even if he doesn’t know who we are, he can rest assured we’ll take him back to real civilization. I mean, can you see these people eating hamburgers, and pizzas?”

Aaron shook his head, “I’m afraid to burp. Like if I do, some secret service will come out and interrogate me or something.”

Brian ruffled Aaron’s hair, “Now you’re being silly.”

Aaron rolled his eyes, then looked to where Gillian had exited the room, “They sure are taking a long time.”

As if on cue, they heard the sound of two voices raised in anger, a male and a female were shouting at each other. They were yelling to the tops of their lungs in Italian.

Brian shot a look to Aaron, “I don’t think Skylar’s too happy about us being here.”

“He’s not Skylar, he’s Nick...and of course he’s upset.”

Brian blinked as the bickering in the back rooms went on. “Hey Aaron?”

“Yeah,” Aaron too was drawn into the yelling taking place behind closed doors.

“Does Nick speak Italian?”

Aaron’s eyes immediately flew to Brian, “Not any that I know of.”

“Me either...” Brian frowned and sank back into the leather couch. “What if it’s not him? Would we be fools for traveling all this way?”

Aaron was shaking his head, “No...No we wouldn’t be fools, because it IS him!”

They heard heavy footsteps coming towards them, suddenly a tall shape emerged and charged for the door. He paused in his exit to stare inquisitively at the Brian and Aaron, he glared almost immediately, and started on his way out again.

Aaron and Brian both gasped, he was thinner...he was a bit taller, his hair darker...but it was Nick. “Nick! Nicky!” Brian had sprung from the couch to try and move closer to the blond man that was frowning at him. Aaron ran around the couch and was throwing himself at the man.

“NICK! I KNEW IT! I knew you weren’t dead!” Aaron hugged Nick’s waist fiercely, weeping into the fine silk of his dark green shirt. “They tried to make me believe it, but I wouldn’t..if you had died I would feel it!”

“Nick,” Brian was still staring at the man.

The man stood rigid in the youngsters embrace, he did not hug him back. He looked down at the blond child in shock. The boy certainly did look like he could have been related to him, but who was he? Did he look familiar? He gave the boy a gentle shove away, “Excuse me, but you do have me mistaken with someone else. My name is Skylar, not Nick Carter, Skylar....Armand...Geovanni.” He spoke with an accent, one that sounded British, with a soft Italian purr.

Aaron blinked at him as he spoke, and took a step away, gazing up into his face, “You’ve got to remember me, Nick. I’m your brother, your little brother.”

“I am an only child. The only heir,” Skylar said confidently. “And if you’ll excuse me, I must be going.” He glanced thunderously back at the darkened corridor he had emerged from. He began his exit again, and was stopped by Gillian’s voice.

“Skylar talk to them!” Gillian pleaded, “Won’t you please talk to them?!”

“Ed apena che cosa gradite affinche mi diciate a loro, Amore?” The last word was said so bitterly, that Brian’s eyes flew to Gillian’s face to see her reaction.

“Sono venuto tutto questo modo parlare appena con tu. Quello e tutto!” Gillian fumed.

“Allora erano venuto per niente, dato che non posso dire loro qualche cosa che abbiano voluto sentirsi!” Skylar began to walk again.

“Per favore, Amore, per me?” Gillian rushed to him, crushing herself against his body and looking into his eyes.

“Cio e stupido, ma per tu....” He sighed, stroking her dark hair away from her face.. “Approvazione. bambina, Comunichero con loro, ma se lo fanno arrabbiare andro!”

“Grazie, bambino,” Gillian whispered, and hugged him quickly and pulled away. “I will leave you alone with each other.”

Brian and Aaron were staring at the couple as if they were from Mars. What in the hell had just been said between the two? Skylar was obviously furious, and with a few words she had been able to tame him, and now he was going to talk with them.

Gillian left the room, retreating into a different area of the cottage. Aaron and Brian watched her leave, then turned their eyes to Skylar, who stared at them in turn.

“Look,” he spoke first, “I know what she thinks, and I know what you think, but she’s wrong. She... We went on vacation, and some strange things happened to us. People in those countries called me by your friend’s name, I know I bear an uncanny resemblance to him. She got a little obsessive when it came to finding out who this Nick Carter was, since she found your add. She did research on the lad, then went crazy for your little singing group. Made me listen to her sing your songs over and over... Then she suddenly got this wild notion in her head that I was your Nick.”

Brian blinked, this man certainly looked like Nick, his voice was even the same, but his accent, his choice of words...the look in his eyes as he talked...

“You really don’t remember us, do you?” Aaron’s voice shook. “You don’t remember us at all. How can you forget me?” Aaron rose from the couch to approach Skylar, who took a step back. “Look at me dammit! I’m your brother! I look like you! Don’t tell me you can’t see it!”

“I see it, but it’s a simply coincidence! This is all one of those things that could appear on that show...that silly American show.... Believe It Or Not. I choose not to. I am dreadfully sorry you had to come all this way. I know the trip wasn’t easy for you...”

“I’m dreadfully sorry too,” Aaron said, tears in his eyes. “I imagined me coming here, rescuing you. You telling me how much you missed me..instead, instead you tell me you forgot me! You forgot ME?”

“Please, I never knew you. Understand, believe me....”

“How can I understand you, if you’re looking right back at me, pleading this through my brother’s eyes! With his voice!”

Skylar actually shook he was so disconcerted with Aaron’s whirlwind of accusatory emotion toward him, his wild blue eyes darted to see Brian’s unchanging face. He looked to Aaron again, his lips parting as he stared at the young blond. Flashes of mental imagery invaded his mind. He saw a young blond boy beside a girl of the same age with dark hair. They both were smiling at him.

He shook his head clear of the images blinking in confusion. His eyes looked at the boy again, recognizing him as the boy in the picture his mind had just shown him. He was going insane! He had to get out, and away from these people. The man with the curly hair spoke, asked him if he was ok. Skylar’s eyes fell upon the man, suddenly the curly haired man was not wearing dress pants and shirt...but a tank top and loose shorts. He was bouncing a basketball and saying something to him with a wide grin.

“Il mio Dio,” Skylar uttered before rushing from the room, not failing to knock over a small end table in his desperate attempt to escape the massive wave of confusion that spanned the living room and was threatening to drown him. Air, he needed it. He burst through the sliding glass doors to the patio and collapsed to his knees breathing hard. Stop it...he didn’t want to remember anything if it was going to cause him so much distress...stop it. He no longer wanted to know.

Stop, go away... I don’t want to remember you!

Aaron stared as his brother broke from the room as if the Devil himself was chasing him. Brian stared as well, his mind working a million miles per second. What had just happened? Was that Nick? Could it be?

There was a rustle of clothing as Gillian reentered the room, her hand to her face, “That did not go very well, did it? I should have warned you better, he... I really made a mess of things, didn’t I? Maybe he really isn’t the one you are searching for. I’ve made a horrible mistake. I’m so sorry... I’ll compensate you for your trip here, and back. I’ve..”

“Shhh..” Brian shushed her. He smiled at her kindly and excused himself. He headed in the direction the blond man had taken. He had to know the truth...

He heard someone moving the sliding door aside. “Go away Gillian, I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

“I’m not Gillian,” the soft voice said as it came nearer to him. Skylar slowly turned his head to see the shorter man with the sandy hair moving toward him. Strangely enough, he didn’t feel the need to move away from him, as he had from the boy inside. The man emitted a peaceful air about him, there was something comforting in his presence.

“You ok?” He had an accent, a soft drawling of his vowels. Skylar couldn’t say that he was familiar with it... but somehow, he felt that he was. He chose not to answer the question with words, a half smile that looked more like a grimace graced his features instead.

The man chuckled, “I’ll take that as a ‘no.’”

“Take that as a hell no,” Skylar chuckled back. He sighed deeply, “I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I was getting married to a beautiful woman, I was inheriting a prominent business... Now I’m.... I don’t know.” He shook his head. “You come, and with you, you bring so many questions to my mind. But they are questions I don’t understand, and they come at such a magnitude that they drive me batty.”

Brian nodded slowly, “You had your whole life in front of you on a platter huh? Then we ruin it.”

Skylar nodded sadly.

“Wonder why we ruin it? Does it make you wonder if you...maybe had another life out there on a platter for you, huh?”

Skylar looked away from the man, he stared out onto the horizon. The sky was growing darker, taking away his light. The sun was setting, but setting on what? Did he want to know? Did he care to find out? He didn’t answer the man’s question again.

The man stayed beside him a minute longer, before Skylar felt the air about him shift. He was leaving, taking away the slight and curious comfort Skylar had felt with this man by his side. He heard the door sliding away again... Did he want to know? Did he really want him to leave? Without thinking he called out to the man, to stop him from leaving... “Frick...”

“What’s up Frack?” was the reply.

They both turned to stare at one another incredulously, “Nick?” the man asked, his voice so hopeful, his eyes filling with tears.

“No!” Skylar said roughly, bolting from his position. He pushed past the man, through the house, and out the front door. Get away, get away!

He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to find out! So stop it! Just stop!

Chapter 18

“Sky? SKY!!” Gillian screamed as she saw her fiancé departing in whirl of turmoil. She ran after him getting to the door seconds behind him. She ran into the cobblestone driveway where she was nearly run over by Skylar pulling his car around the circle drive and racing on down the hill. Gillian screamed, screamed for her life and his. “I did this...”

The two mistakes she’d brought there appeared in the doorway, they came out to stand by her, “Gill...”

“I’m sorry,” Gillian breathed to them, as she dropped to her knees. “I’ve made a horrible mistake... You’ll have to go home. As I told you before, I’ll pay for everything. I’m so sorry...I’m sorry Skylar...”

Brian opened his mouth to speak, but held his tongue as the woman broke down in tears. Slowly he knelt down staining the knees on his fine pants to hold her. He felt her tense in his arms, before relaxing and letting him console her as she sobbed.

He drove home...to the house on the hill...the place he’d always known as home. Or thought he knew as home, he saw flashes of a different place now when he thought of home. He saw those blond people again...he saw that little boy that he had just seen at the cottage. He saw the curly haired man, along with three other people. What was this? He felt as if he were tearing in two...Skylar and the separate entity that had invaded him were finally completely separating themselves from one another, and it hurt! He threw open the front door, and nearly collapsed into the arms of their startled butler, Alonzo.... Alonzo...his face faded. Who was Alonzo? His mother, Carolina was coming, she looked so concerned...His mother concerned?? But suddenly, she wasn’t his mother, but a stranger. Who was she? Who was Carolina?

“What’s happening to me?!” He yelled to no one in particular. A man was rushing towards him, he kept calling him “son,” but who was he? This wasn’t his home, it wasn’t his home! People were speaking to him in a foreign language, they spoke so fast. “I can’t understand you! What are you saying, speak English! “

”Call the doctor...” was the last thing he heard before the scene went black.

“He’s Nick, Gillian,” Brian was saying to the calming girl. Aaron had brought her a glass of ice water. “He’s really Nick...He called me by my nickname out there. Did you mention it to him, about our nicknames for each other?”

Gillian shook her head as she sipped her water. Her head was throbbing from all the tears she had released and her throat was still tight. She didn’t trust her voice.

Aaron sat beside Gillian rocking back and forth. He’s Nick, he’s really Nick. The girl beside him was devastated, but he was overjoyed. So what if he didn’t remember him, he remembered Brian with a little push. Aaron felt confident that another round with Nick would make Nick remember him. The only thing he was worried about was...where was Nick now?

“He’d...he’d probably go back home... To..to the Geovanni’s.”

“So we go and get him.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Crouching like a tiger waiting to pounce he was approached from behind. He turned in wild shock, who had managed to creep up behind him like that? His footsteps had been so soft... He had been watching...but for how long? And how had he managed to creep up behind him like that?!! His eyes focused in the dark on the tall blond man, who’s blue eyes narrowed as they gazed at him. The man had his face! He was coming closer, grabbing him, choking him, as if he were trying to seep inside him, get into his body.... Getting BACK into his body. The man seemed familiar, someone he’d wanted to be. Nick? Was it Nick Carter? Was he trying to force him out, and take back his life. He fought, he fought him hard. He knew nothing of this stranger other than his name, he was sure of. He was staring into the purposeful gaze of Nick Carter, and Nick was trying to take over.

He was losing, he felt himself being forced to the soft ground, soft like leather.... He felt himself becoming detached, the scene was growing smaller, and the pressure of Nick’s hands around his throat lessened by the minute. Soon he was free floating through a void, a void of memories.... Pictures of people, faces, places.... Voices speaking in so many languages.... He saw his father, Armand, his mother Carolina...... The foreign language became clearer to him, he understood what was being said to him now. Siamo la vostra famiglia, questa siamo la vostra sede. Rinvii noi.

“We are your family, this is your home. Return to us.”

His eyes opened to find themselves staring at the large ceiling fan above the king sized bed in his room. He blinked, and turned his head...he felt groggy. How did he get here? He had a vague sense of his limbs, and decided to test them out to see if they were still responsive, he wanted to sit up. Right arm....after a moments hesitation it waved at him. Ok, one arm functioning, let’s try the legs shall we? He grunted and forced his body to the end of his bed, it was a slow process. He was damned stiff. Why? He tried to recall where he had been before this. Where the hell had he been? Hadn’t he been with Gillian? Was he supposed to have met her somewhere? Oh no, what if he had stood her up. He sat up feeling the world around him spinning in nauseating circles.

“Maledizione!” As his head cleared he realized what had probably happened. He’d simply had another episode, as his parents liked to call them. He groaned loudly, looked like those pills were actually good for something. He hadn’t had an episode so severe it incapacitated him when he was taking the pills as directed. He could hear his mother now.... He rolled his eyes and stood slowly, gripping the long frame of the bed, holding himself steady as he let the disorientation pass. He would call Jill before he would let his parents know he was awake. He dressed in the dark, and moved to the door quietly, opening it and peeking out cautiously. There was no phone in his room. There were only two telephones in the whole mansion, one in his father’s office, and one in his parents bedroom. He’d have to go out into the guest house, that was where he usually made his calls from. The coast was clear, he slid out quietly closing his door, and quickly making his way down the gloomy corridors. He took the servant corridors as he reached the second floor, they would lead him to the small maids’ quarters over the garage. The maids were used to seeing him sneaking around, and were hardly shocked to see him doing it then. He smiled at them, nodding in greeting, before making his exit. He stepped outside onto the stone grotto and took a deep breath of the warm island air. It smelled sweet, he could feel its energy flowing into him. He traveled down the stone steps that would lead him to the gravel path with a spring in his step. The gravel crunched under his feet as he jogged across it to the guest house. He kept his eyes peeled for a sudden emergence of his parents, but was sure that they wouldn’t come out.

He punched in the code to unlock the door, turned the knob. He shut the light wooden door, securing the curtains over the small windows. Though he was certain his parents wouldn’t come out, he didn’t want to take a chance of them noticing someone was in there, and being the terrific people they were, listening in on his phone call. All the phones had their own separate lines, and of course every phone in the house was tapped. His parents could listen into his conversations all they wanted when security reviewed the tapes in the morning, as long as they weren’t on to him, and listening to him then! He avoided the main lights of the cozy little house and went for the small lamps resting on the end tables. He gazed around at his surrounding in the soft lighting. There was small white sofa and two recliners, a moderate fireplace, and a few green plants. The house was no where near as extravagant as the manor, and he was glad of it. He had considered asking his parents if he could have this place to himself, but decided against it, they would really be monitoring the place if that was the case. They’d probably jump at the idea, that way they could watch him in every way. Sometimes it’s easier to keep tabs on someone when they don’t live right under your nose.

He found the phone in the kitchen along with some cookies that had been in the pantry since his last stay there. He munched on the cookies as he dialed Gillian’s number. Swallowing the first cookie down, he suddenly realized how ravenously hungry he was, he and Gillian would have to make a dinner date. Was it dinner time? He gazed at the clock sitting mounted on the wall, 6:00 pm. What day is it, he wondered. The phone rang and rang, before someone answered, a maid, “Posso parlare prego a Gillian?” He frowned at the response he received, Gillian wasn’t in. She’d gone out with friends, and for once in her life... no one knew where she and these friends had gone to. They didn’t even know the names of the friends she had gone with. How many people could Gillian possibly know to where her selection of company for that evening could be unknown? He didn’t know if he liked that, he wasn’t too comfortable with the idea. He sighed and left a message with the maid, for Gillian to call him back at the guest house number, or better yet, come to the guest house. He’d just wait for her, there was nothing else for him to do. He didn’t really have an friends on the enclave, since he’d hardly been left with anytime to make any since he arrived home from school, and swept Gillian off her feet. And he certainly didn’t want to go back inside the big house. He’d sooner throw himself off the bluff. The bluff... he hadn’t been out there in a while, maybe he could take the jag out, get his sketch book or something. He hadn’t done a landscape in a while...did he have any acrylic left?

Aaron had been up before the sun that morning. Gillian had let he and Brian stay in the cottage. She informed them that there would probably be no food in the fridge, or pantries, being that it was a simple get-away home. People brought food as they came to it. It didn’t matter about the food much to Aaron anyway. He didn’t feel he could eat, he was too excited. His stomach was too full of butterflies for any food t fit inside of it. He remembered going out and sitting on the veranda watching the sun rise, and thinking to himself about the plans they had made for the day. First of all, they were going to have to find Nick, and get him to listen to them. Somehow they were going to have to convince him that they weren’t insane, and make him believe in who he was. They’d have to make him remember. He had remembered Brian the night before, he could do it again, and maybe he would even remember Aaron too. Then after they got Nick to trust them, they could go home. Gillian said she would cover for them, find a way to get the off the island with Nick, and have no one follow them. He smiled thinking about that. Leaving with Nick, bringing him home to Mom. The looks on everyone’s faces! He couldn’t wait.

But then he thought about Gillian. She was a very nice, very pretty lady, and it seemed she would be getting the raw in of the deal. In helping them, she would be losing a fiancee that she loved, and would be stuck on the island with no one would ever understand her the way Nick did. She was ruining her life to give Nick back his.

Aaron bit his lip, as he thought, his brows furrowing together. Suddenly he had it, it was as if a light went off in his head. She would simply have to come with them. She was smart enough to get them there, and she felt confident enough she could get Nick, Aaron, and Brian off...so why couldn’t she get herself off as well? Why then, she’d have a whole new world to explore... and maybe, maybe she would fall in love with Nick Carter, instead of Skylar Geovanni. Maybe she and Nick, and Brian and Leighanne could have a double wedding!

Ok, so he was getting ahead of himself...but he knew for a fact that he was going to suggest that Gillian come with them. She was a nice lady, and didn’t deserve what she was going to get in return for helping them. He’d gone inside after that, and took a peek into the room Brian had slept in. Brian was curled up like a baby in the king sized bed, the first rays of dawn illuminating his figure. He looked so peaceful, like he was truly resting. The lines in his face relaxed, he had been so tired. Aaron wondered how long it had been since Brian had a decent night’s sleep. He felt bed for ever yelling at him, knowing Brian had had it harder than anyone when Nick disappeared, and he continued the search for him long after everyone had given up. Now he could rejoice, his search was over, Nick was found. He could finally relax and stop having to defend himself. Aaron sighed for Brian, feeling a great weight being lifted from his small shoulders as well. He was tiptoeing back out of the room, with Brian snorted and rolled over. One blue eye opened and focused on Aaron, “Nick?”

Aaron stood still, he was leaning in the open doorway, in the dim light he must have looked exactly like his brother, “Um no Bri... it’s me, Aaron.”

Brian gave a soft moan, and sat up rubbing his eyes. He took in his rich surroundings, his eyes going wide, “So it wasn’t all just a dream. We really did it?”

Aaron smiled, “Yeah, we really did it.”

Brian fell back onto the pillows giving a great hoot of victory, “Eat that AJ!” He let out a loud guffaw and slapped the mattress a few times. He leapt up and jumped down from the bed, running to Aaron and twirling him around in an odd happy dance, he had just made up as he whistled a lilting tune. “How long have you been up? How come you didn’t wake me sooner?” Brian had wanted to know as he dashed into the large adjourning bathroom. He left the door open and Aaron could hear water running.

“I’ve only been up for an hour or two. I went outside for a bit,” Aaron said. “I didn’t mean to wake you just now. You looked like you really needed the rest.”

“Yeah....Mrrph muphm,” Brian’s words were garbled by the mound of toothpaste he was pushing around in his mouth with his toothbrush. He spat, “I was really tired. Tonight was the first night I actually slept through the whole night, with no dreams of... well. I’d rather not talk about them. We’ve found him now.”

Aaron nodded. He smirked at the sound of Brian gargling, “What time did Gillian say she would be here today?”

“At 10,” Brian answered. The shower started, “Ooooh...nice towels.”

Aaron laughed, he himself had appreciated the large fluffy red towels the night before when he had showered in the massive bathroom. He hadn’t wanted to use anything in there. He was afraid he would dirty the place just by looking at it. Once again he could say he had never been in a home so fine.... and he was rich! He never wanted or lacked anything, but he knew he would probably never be able to afford even one of the handcrafted throw pillows in this place. These people were loaded. The whole island was lavish, there were no small houses...except the houses behind the ones as large as castles used for servant’s quarters, or the ones in the country area, like where they were then. These were summer houses, resorts sort of. He went back into the living room to give Brian his privacy, and sat carefully on the couch. The leather wilted under his weight, accommodating for his size and providing just the right amount of comfort to suit him. He leaned back to relax, he could never live here, but he would certainly enjoy his short stay.

He probably fell asleep for a little while, he didn’t know, but he was opening his eyes to Brian standing over him fully dressed, “Hey wake up, it’s almost 10.”

Aaron blinked, “Already?” He bolted up, nearly knocking Brian over in the process. “Do you see her car? Is she here yet?”

Brian shook his head, “No...I hope she doesn’t have any problems getting out today.”

Aaron frowned, he hadn’t thought of that. This place was strange, and the rules Gillian had to live by were very strict. She might have gotten in trouble from the night before when she had been with them. He sat back on the couch, “Me too. She’s really cool.”

Brian nodded, “She’s got a lot to lose, and she’s willing to lose it. You know Aaron...” He sat down on the couch beside him, “I was thinking about asking her to come with us. I mean, what does she have here? She obviously doesn’t like it much.... and she’s in love with Nick.”

“No, she’s in love with Skylar.”

“They’re the same person to her, Aaron. And.. Well maybe if she agrees to come, then we won’t have such a hard time convincing Nick to come along either.”

“You still think he won’t remember by that time?” Aaron pondered. “I mean, I think he might remember some things, us at least. He called you Frick. He should know he can trust us.”

Brian shook his head, “Gillian says he probably went home to those people... In the condition that he was in there was no telling what they may have done with his mind since we saw him last.”

“What do you mean done with his mind? You think they hurt him?”

Brian shook his head, “I don’t know Aaron. But they obviously had to have done something to make him forget all about us, and believe he’s this new person.”

Aaron frowned deeply, “The more I hear about the people on the hill, the more I don’t like them. They give me the creeps. I mean who would do that to somebody? And I wonder how they came across Nick.... and why everyone so readily believed he was their son? According to Gillian, Skylar Geovanni did exists... did he look enough like Nick for Nick to be able to pass as him?”

Brian shrugged, “I’d love to see a picture of the kid.”

“Me too.” Aaron stretched out his back giving a lazy cat yawn, “So, you think she’ll come with us, if we ask her too?”

“Gillian? I don’t know Aaron. I hope she will. I’d hate to think of what might happen to her if those crazy people find out she had anything to do with all of this.”

“When we leave.... what if they follow us?”

“They can’t know where we’ve gone, if we leave the same funny way we came here.”

“Gillian says what they do here is called ‘the business.’ This is like a big mafia town hidden from the law... The mafia never loses anyone.”

“Then how did they lose the real Skylar Geovanni.”

“He’s probably dead.”

“Probably,” Brian nodded. “But what would their motive be to taking on an imposter to pretend to be their son?”

“We could ask Gillian,” Aaron suggested.

“We could ask Gillian,” Brian repeated. He smiled and slapped Aaron’s knee, “Enough with the scary talk... we just found Nick. Let’s be happy, and think about how we’re gonna approach him when we see him again.”

Gillian left her house at approximately 8:00 am. She arrived at her hair dresser’s at 8:15 sharp, and had a trim and wash. Then she stopped in Lucia’s to pick up a few pastries, and a tall bottle of milk. She was meeting Darlene Carillo for a small breakfast picnic at the shores.

No one thought to question the frivolous young girl about her plans. If they had, they just might remember that she and Darlene Carillo despised each other, and Darlene didn’t even plan on attending Gillian’s wedding. She had told the entire Beauty Parlor just that, while Gillian sat under the dryer trying to blend into the scenery so she could hear just everything Darlene was going to say about her.

At 9:45 am she made a left turn taking her down the path that led to the country estates leaving the sandy shores and Darlene, if she happened to be waiting for her after all, behind. She pulled into the circular drive and put her car into park. She walked into the house confidently, if anyone saw her they would probably presume she was meeting secretly with Skylar again. In a place so small everyone knew each other, it was a surprise at how well a secret could be kept...a nice secret, like lover’s meeting. Gossip spread faster than the plague that wiped out most of Europe.

She left her hand bag in the back seat of the mercedes and gathered the box of pastries and the milk. She would have gotten coffee, but Aaron didn’t look old enough to drink coffee just yet, and she hadn’t wanted to tempt the boy. She entered without knocking, and found both young men snoozing on the sofa in the living room area. She smiled at them and shut the door quietly. She set the food down in the kitchen, placing the milk in the fridge. She got down three plates and set them up around the table, before finally joining the sleeping men in the lobby to find them awake. They smiled when they saw her, “We heard noises in the kitchen... I figured it was you. I prayed it was you, and not someone else that had come home early. You did say this wasn’t exactly your cabin, right?”

Gillian nodded, “It belongs to a friend of mine. But you don’t have to worry about them coming back. They’ve gone abroad. No one comes back early from going abroad.” She gazed at the men, two familiar faces to her since she had made herself so acquainted with the Backstreet Boys. “I’ve brought something for us all to eat. We eat and make plans for the day.”

Brian nodded and stood, Aaron following his lead into the kitchen.

The three munched on crusty Italian pastries and sipped their milk while staring at one another in turn. Some plans they were making, Brian wanted to roll his eyes. They were still a little nervous around each other, but that was to be expected. They were after all strangers to one another. Brian cleared his throat, getting both Gillian and Aaron’s attention, “So... Did you find out where Nick went last night? And where he might be today?”

Gillian scrunched up her nose, “He went to the Geovanni’s, I told you he would. And... he’s still there. I called this morning inquiring on him....”

“What was he doing? Did you speak to him?”

“No...” she looked troubled. “He... he had... You see, his has this condition where he gets these horrible headaches. He can feel when they’re going to happen, because he says he starts to feel strange, fuzzy, you know? He takes some prescription medication for them, but on vacation...the one where he started having the memories... he didn’t take his medicine. He claimed the pills made him feel groggy and disoriented, and he didn’t like the feeling.”

Brian’s eyes narrowed, “So has these headaches and he takes medicine for them.... and the one time he doesn’t take the medication he starts to remember..well us. You don’t think those pills are some kind of memory suppressant, do you?”

Gillian’s lips formed a perfect “o.”

“Woa, this is straight out of the movies,” Aaron breathed.

“Why would they do such a thing? We have to give them a motive to make this make sense. What would make them want to take someone and mold them into their son Skylar? What happened to the real one? And most importantly, you saw the real Skylar...does Nick bear in resemblance to him?” Brian set down his glass and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Gillian frowned, “Well the last time I saw who I know definitely had to be Skylar, he did look like he could have grown up to be.... well the Skylar I’m engaged to. He was blond with blue eyes that changed with his wardrobe as well. And he looks like he could be the Geovanni’s son.”

“They’re blond?”

“Yes, with the clearest blue eyes I have ever seen. Honestly,” Gillian leaned in as if she were telling a secret, lowering her voice, “I think they’re related. Some of these old families have resorted to imbreeding to keep their blood pure.” She sneered at the idea. “They may be cousins.”

Brian giggled a bit at her antics. “So...what do you think their reasoning would be to abduct someone who looks like they could be their son.... assuming something’s happened to the real Skylar.”

“Well Skylar’s an only child... Carolina has problems carrying babies to full term, and so far Skylar is the only one that made it. Lucky for Carolina he was a boy, or she would have been cast aside.”

“Why?”

Gillian smirked at him, “Men make legacies and pass them on to their sons, not their daughters. Their daughters they marry into other men’s legacies to make male babies to pass on their husbands’ legacy. This world is run by men. The Geovanni dynasty is the greatest of the enclave, they own and have influence on just about everything here. To not produce an heir of his own would mean the dynasty would fall.... Armand Geovanni is the only male heir left of Geovanni. If he were to pass without a mail heir, control of the dynasty would go to Armand’s sister...and women may not rule, so the business would be left in the hands of her oldest son... and well... she left the enclave and much to her family’s disgrace, married a Welsh. Her son is not of pure blood, and it would be an outrage and insult to the business. Why the enclave might fall apart... so that is why Skylar’s well being is so important to the Geovanni’s.”

“To where if something happened to him, they’d go to any lengths to hide that and have him replaced by a believable look alike. Say some one washed up on a beach somewhere with no memory of who is or where he came from. Take him in, give him a meal, give him a new identity...” Brian leaned back in his chair his hands together in an arch where his fingers met. “My God... That’s it isn’t it? It’s far out...but then this whole place is far out...and everything that’s happened within this past year has been far out....” He gazed up at Gillian, then at Aaron to see their faces. Gillian had a hand over her mouth, Aaron was staring wide eyed. “This is so TV movie!”

“Yeah,” Brian said softy, it is, his eyes resting on Gillian. “You think it’s possible?”

Gillian blinked, her hand still over her mouth. What a terrible idea. To kidnap someone, and to steal their identity from them. Could the Geovanni’s have done it? Were they really those kind of people?

She thought of Carolina’s cool air of indifference, she saw Armand’s stern face and hard ice of ice.... Yes... her body went cold, they were.

“We have to get to Nick,” for the first time since Brian and Aaron’s arrival, she had called her precious Skylar by what could possibly be his real name, Nick.

“But how do we do that?” Aaron asked, “You said he was at the Geovanni’s house...”

“And they have guards and spies everywhere,” Gillian concluded. “But,” her face brightened, “Sky...er...Nick, he hates it there. The minute he comes to, he’s going to find the first way out of that place. Sometimes before he escapes he’ll call me from the family guest house. Nice place that guest house, though not very private at all. All telephone conversations are taped,. And I’m pretty sure there’s a surveillance camera in there somewhere.” Gillian bit her lip as she appeared to be in thought, then shook her head. “Anyways, once he’s awakened, he’s sure to leave the estate, and from there, there are only so many places he can go. He shouldn’t be hard to find at all.”

“Ok....so finding him is no problem. The only thing it sounds like we have to do is wait,” Brian said with a sigh. “And I swear the waiting is the hardest part.”

“Oh come on Brian, you’ve waited a year for this to finally happen, what’s waiting a few more hours?” Aaron teased, he gave Brian a small push. “So Jill...what do you guys do around here for fun?”

“Fun? Here? Hah,” Gillian looked incredulous, “You’ve got to be kidding me. This, here, what we’re doing now. This is fun.”

“You’re joking?”

“I’m serious. Why do you think the first chance any of us gets to leave, we go and stay gone...”

“Like Skylar Geovanni...”

“Yeah, like him.”

He’d just finished mixing the colors for the perfect sky when he felt the first drops of rain. He blinked in shock, here he’d been staring at the setting sun on the horizon, and hadn’t noticed any rain clouds rolling in. Points to Skylar for being observant! He sighed in annoyance and began to pack away his paints and brushes. Too bad, the picture might have been perfect. If only he had a model to stand in the sand just before entering the tide. Gillian would fit perfectly there, wearing maybe a sun dress. As he lifted his large spiral of weighted paper, a strong wind caught the edges of the spiral blowing it open in his face, and scattering the paintings Skylar had carelessly tucked away inside of it for safe keeping. He cried out as he watched his precious works of art being blown toward the sea, and he dropped the spiral in the sand to chase after them. He caught two that had landed in the sand, but there were three bound for the sea. He quickened his pace, don’t let them touch the water... not THAT water! He plucked one from the air, and went as close as almost touching the tide to catch the others, but ended up sadly watching them both make soft landings in the surf. They hadn’t submerged yet, if he just took a step in her could still save them...just one step. But that would mean to touch that water...Not THAT water. He blinked back tears as his precious paintings began to sink into the salty tide. Ruined... He lowered his head, and stared in the swirling sea before him. It was so beautiful, so hauntingly beautiful... the waters called to him... The mysteries of life, death, and rebirth were all there, waiting for him to ask it the questions so that it may give him its answers. It called him by name.... Did he have the courage to ask it the questions? It called him by name...

“NICK!!”

He took a step forward.

Chapter 19

“What’s he doing?” Aaron asked Gillian as they watched Nick’s form walking into the water, his face was distant. He walked further and further into the water until it was up to his neck.

“I don’t know, he hates the water! I don’t even think he can swim! SKYLAR!!”

“NICK!!” Brian was running, he was going to get to him long before Gillian and Aaron could. He wadded through the water to try to catch hold of Nick before he totally submersed himself. “The current is really strong...especially at this time of day...” Gillian held her hand to her chest over her heart as she gazed at Brian fighting the waves reaching for Skylar, and Aaron just entering the water to aid him.

They had spent the day in the cottage. Gillian had gone out twice, once to check in at home, and the other time to pick up more food for Aaron and Brian. She had gone to the market this time, they would be staying in the cottage for one more day, and she figured it’d be kind to get them groceries. Besides, buying groceries gave her something else to do. She had come to like the two men who were occupying her time, but couldn’t let herself be too comfortable around them. They, after all, were the ones about to ruin her life. A life founded on lies, she had to remind herself. If they could accomplish what they set out to accomplish, and she intended to help them in every way she could, it was the right thing, they would be leaving tomorrow. The next and only boat out for the next month was leaving then. They’d extended an offer for her to go with them... it was tempting, so tempting...she wanted to go so badly. She wished they hadn’t of asked, it would make her life in the enclave even more unbearable...but if she and Skylar were to leave, they would never let go. Skylar did not belong there, he was someone named Nick who had a family elsewhere... And with Nick’s fame, his return would be highly televised and it would be extremely hard for the Geovanni’s to call any claim on him and bring him back.... especially with Gillian ready to expose the scandal to the entire enclave... And if they were to try to silence her, the Emilliano’s would retaliate, creating an all out civil war. She had it planned nicely, yes Skylar could safely disappear again, as long as she was left behind to oversee it. No, Gillian Bianca Emilliano could not go anywhere. She was doomed to spend her life trapped on the enclave, probably dying an early death at the age of 27 when she drowned herself in a bubble bath.

She’d gone back to the cottage after grocery shopping and prepared an easy meal for Aaron and Brian, much to their protest. She didn’t mind, she was no chef, it was unheard of for a Lady to slave over a hot stove, but it was expected of her to know how to make simple pasta dishes and how to choose wines for the meals. After they’d eaten they spent a few hours in the pool, before she called her home again to check her messages. There was one from Skylar, he’d said to meet him in his family’s guest house. Knowing Skylar as she did, she knew he had left the guest house 15 minutes after he’d made that call. She informed Brian and Aaron of this, and then they all got into her mercedes and drove to the two locations Skylar would be at. He was either at the docks, or on the beach... for someone who hated boats and water, he had a curious obsession for them. He was always drawn to their locations, and was never hard to find when he ventured out on his own.

They’d gone to the docks first, then to the beach.

She gasped when she saw him go under. His head just slipped beneath the surface of the water and he didn’t come back up. Oh God, he was probably panicking. He’d undoubtably stepped off into a dip on the ocean floor. She saw Brian dive under, and she saw Aaron’s form swimming towards the area Skylar has disappeared in. She held her breathe.

Brian resurfaced his arms leaden with the extra weight of Skylar’s struggling body. He was fighting the rescue! Gillian hollered out to them in vain, knowing no one would be able to decipher her words. Slowly but surely Brian, now aided by Aaron, was dragging Skylar to shore. Gillian was there to receive them. She grabbed Skylar rather roughly, in anger and in passion. For some reason the fear of losing someone you love becomes an irresistible turn on when they are returned safely. She laid kisses all over his face, letting herself fall into his arms, he was soaked to the bone and covered with mud, contact with him ruined her designer clothes but she didn’t notice that. All she noticed were his hands, which were quick to respond to her impulses.

“Guys!” Aaron erupted, destroying their moment of passion. Gillian had forgotten they were there. For those 2 seconds they, Gillian and Skylar were the only two people in the world. They sprang apart like they had been caught by their parents. Gillian blushed at the public display of affection they had shown, Skylar simply sat looking absolutely clueless. He stared at his saviors oddly, then down at his soiled clothing. He had not been dressed to go for a swim, and it was hardly the season for one either. He frowned as he shivered, and looked at Gillian, “Jilly?”

“Yes?”

“I.... Why am I all wet? And...who are these people?”

Gillian blinked, Aaron gasped, and Brian sighed loudly. Skylar’s blue eyes were crystal, multifaceted, yet showing her no indication that he knew at all who the two strangers standing before him were.

“Skylar, you met them yesterday.”

“I did?” He stuck out his lower lip and ran a hand through his damp hair. “I don’t remember yesterday, I don’t think...in fact I don’t seem to be able to recall much of what happened this afternoon either...” He scratched his head, letting locks of wet hair fall into his eyes. He grumbled in annoyance at his insolence and tossed his head back. “Well this is dreadfully embarrassing.” He stood slowly extending his hand to Brian, “You’ll just have to reintroduce yourselves old chaps. I do believe I am getting old before my time. Imagine just meeting someone the day before, and already forgetting who they are.”

They all stared at him, Brian and Aaron confused, Gillian in horror, “They really are doing things to your mind.” She covered her mouth with her hand, she was witnessing it first hand...

“Jilly?”

“Our trip, tell me of our trip...” Gillian reached to gasp his shoulders. Skylar gave her a sly smile, “We had so much fun. I cannot wait to go abroad with you again, Amore.”

“What did we do Skylar?”

“Why, we went to Italy, and Greece, and England, and Finland, and Denmark....we traveled everywhere, and ate everything. The freedom was fantastic!”

“What else? Who did we meet? What did we DO, Skylar? What did we buy?”

“We went to museums, and plays, and movies, and took many tours, Gillian. Why are you asking me so many questions? Do you not remember these things?”

“You’re only telling me facts Skylar...just like before...just like before....” She ran her hands through his hair, then took them back to pull at her own hair, “They’ve taken our memories away from you. Skylar, we... we made love for the first time in Rome... We made love in the temple of Athena too.... We...”

“Gillian? Why...?”

“Do you remember Skylar? I wore a white dress to mark the occasion, and you gave me the red rose? In the temple, remember how we were discovered and security chased us out? Skylar, remember...”

“I know they happened...”

“But can you remember it! What were you wearing? You swore you’d never forget! What were you wearing?” she was beginning to get hysterical. No, no, no! This was not happening, it was one thing for him to forget Brian and Aaron, it was something entirely different for him to forget her! “Skylar Armand! Tell me what you wore!”

Skylar actually gulped, he stared at her, “I....”

She stared back intently.

“I...”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I don’t know. Why don’t I know Gillian? I don’t even remember us making love...I just know that we did. How could I forget something like that? Did we burn candles?”

“Yes, Amante, white candles... all in a ring....”

“And you wore white...” he breathed in her face, he had been advancing on her, and she was succumbing to his strong masculine presence, arching her back as he began to massage her buttocks with one hand, and undo her buttons with the other, “Make me remember...”

“Si...” she purred, she moved to begin unbuttoning his shirt.

“Hello!! Guys! Once again, you are in public!” Aaron hollered to the both of them, who pulled back from each other looking rather annoyed, “Chi sono ancora questa gente Gillian? Stanno cominciando ad ottenere sui miei nervi.”

Gillian sighed, “Skylar... we need to talk bambino.” She took his hand, and he frowned at her, “About what?”

“Skylar... the night we lost our virginity...”

“You were wearing white, there were candles.”

“I just told you that!”

“You did?”

“Yes! Il mio Dio!” Gillian gapped at Skylar, and turned to look at Aaron and Brian who had remained quiet. They stared at Skylar.

“You don’t remember us anymore Nick?” Aaron asked, his voice small and quivering. Gillian felt sorry for him, he probably felt as if he was losing his brother twice.

“Nick?” Skylar stared at the little boy, leaning forward a bit and squinting, “You look...like me. Why? Who are you? And who is Nick? Gillian... just tell me what’s going on. I want to know.”

“Then come on, bambino. We will go back to the cottage, and we will try to explain to you what’s happened.”

Skylar hesitated a bit as he looked at the strangers again, before nodding, and agreeing to go with them.

“You are all batty!” he exclaimed blinking at everyone in the small room who dared to catch his eye. “Skylar, you agreed to listen to us with an open mind...”

“And listen to you I have, but to believe this nonsense would be absolute ludicrous on my part. I haven’t been taking my medicine properly, that’s all it is. If I ask Dr. Dominicci he’ll tell me exactly that. What are you trying to do here Gillian, and who are these people really?” He stood and began to pace the room, “Is it my parents? Are they putting you up to this? Is this some kind of strange test? My father always does like to play games with his enemies.... am I to be his enemy now? And Gillian, you’d work with him?”

“Skylar, we have nothing to do with your parents... We have to do with you, and who you really are. Please... you’re my brother, ok? I’d be willing to do a DNA test just to help prove it to you. Yesterday, yesterday you were starting to remember, but today, after you went back to them...”

“Skylar, don’t you feel strange, not knowing what happened on our vacation, not remembering ever meeting Aaron and Brian?”

Skylar blinked, and stood as far away from them as possible, “It’s all crazy.... If you’re telling the truth, you’re telling me I’ve been kidnaped. Kidnaped, poisoned, and brainwashed! This is not a novel! I am Skylar Armand Geovanni. You have the wrong person....there is a such thing known as a Doppleganger phenomena... maybe this is one! Your Nick, if he’s been gone this long and is not dead, doesn’t want to be found. And you know this! I know you know this, and you can’t accept it! You cannot accept it so you try to make others into him! How many households have you disrupted with this nonsense?”

“Skylar!” Gillian was shocked at what had come from her fiancé’s lips, “That was uncalled for.”

“So is this,” Skylar said coldly, looking from Gillian to Aaron and Brian. “Anything else before I leave?”

“Nicky please...please..I can’t lose you again, I can’t. We came to bring you home, you have to come with us! I can’t live in that place any longer without you...” Aaron was breaking down before their very eyes. Brian reached to hold the boy, but Aaron shook him off, and began to approach Skylar, “You said you would always take care of me, and look out for me... You were gonna teach me everything you know.”

Skylar tried to back away as the youth approached him, but felt the hardness of the stone wall behind him, “I never said anything to you....”

“You promised to never push me aside, or leave me behind... you promised Nick, you did!” Aaron was directly in front of Skylar now, his tearful brown eyes boring into Skylar’s anguished blue ones, “You’re a liar, that’s what you are! A liar, and I hate you!” He struck at him, punching him in the chest, beating him over and over with his smaller fists, until Skylar caught his hands and held them stationary. “Let go of me you creep!” The younger cried struggling to free himself from the older’s grasps. Brian was moving in to help, when Skylar pulled Aaron to his chest, he pulled him in and closed his arms around the smaller angry blond child. Aaron eventually stilled in his hold, letting his head relax against Skylar’s body as Skylar began to stroke his hair. Gillian watched with a hand over her mouth in awe, Brian watched with his heart in his throat, thudding with hope.

After a moment Skylar released Aaron, and Aaron stepped back at bit to gaze up at him. He didn’t flinch as Skylar gently used a thumb to wipe a tear from his cheek, “Don’t cry for him... he’s not dead,” was what he whispered, before he slipped past Aaron, past Brian and Gillian, and headed for the door that would take him onto the driveway.

Aaron’s eyes were wide as he turned to stare at Brian and Gillian, new tears were rolling down his face, “My brother still loves me.”

“Of course he does,” Gillian breathed, she tensed as she heard the engine of a car starting in the drive.

“So what do we do now... We don’t have much time. Our boat leaves in a few hours. I thought he was ours, I thought we had him yesterday! And now.... why is he going back to them?” Brian’s voice was quiet with confusion and anger.

“Maybe he’s right...maybe our Nick doesn’t want to be found,” Aaron said solemnly... “But...but he loves me still.”

“And he shows it by picking them over you,” Brian sighed deeply. “This was a mistake. Maybe not finding Nick at all, was better than finding a Nick who doesn’t want us.”

“No.... no!” Aaron shouted at Brian, “Don’t say that! We know he’s alive now...and that he’s ok, and that he’s got Gillian...and that...that he still cares.”

“But not enough.”

“He’s confused, he’s so confused, don’t judge him.”

“I cant help but judge him now Aaron, it’d be different if we could stay and reason with him, but time’s up. He made his decision, he doesn’t want us.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t even know that he’s not coming back. Who knows where he’s gone to? He’s my brother, I know him better than anybody...and he’s coming back. He didn’t choose yet! He’s still got time, we’ve still got time.”

“But...”

“Aaron is right, Brian. Maybe all he needs is a little space, and a little time. He’ll come around once he opens his heart and sees what’s inside... I pray that he’ll find me, but if his heart is in the right place, he’ll return to you.”

“So what do we do in the mean time?”

“We wait.”

“Until the boat comes?”

“Until the boat comes.”

“And what if he doesn’t come back?”

“Then you’ll know what he found.”

Chapter 20

Skylar Geovanni was careful not to run over his father as he stood in the driveway with his arms folded over his chest. My did Armand Geovanni look displeased. Had Skylar actually been the cause of his displeasure? He parked the jag, and sat behind the wheel of the car not even bothering to remove his driving gloves. A violent sea of turmoil washed over him, as Armand began to approach the driver’s side door. That man out there might not be his father... and though he claimed to hate him, this was the man he’d believed helped in creating him. He was so confused...

By then he felt sure there was a connection between him and the boy, Aaron... he could almost remember him, and when he’d held him... He shut his eyes briefly on the emotion that threatened to seize him. He had to know the truth, and the only people he felt that could tell it to him were his parents... They would either tell him he was their Skylar and he was to marry his beloved Gillian...or they would tell him everything he knew was a lie.

The lie made perfect sense, after sitting down and listening to it. It actually explained some of his episodes, the ones where he felt he was in the wrong place. There was a knock at the window, and Skylar lifted his eyes slightly to see Armand peering in through the tinted glass at him. Skylar took a deep breath, it was now or never... and he opened the door.

Armand stepped back to allow him out of the car, and waited to seize his arm until after he had gotten completely out of the car.

“Skylar, dove sei stati? Sei stati malati. Non dovreste lasciare la casa !”

“English please, Father, I’m finding Italian harder and harder to understand, especially when you speak it that quickly,” Skylar held up a free hand to halt his father’s tirade.

Armand stared at him, his eyes narrowing, “We need to call Dr. Dominicci again then.”

“No, no we don’t. I’m fine...in fact I’m better than fine. Since you’ve made yourself free to venture out here and scold me, then perhaps we can use your new free time to talk. Shall we go in? I have quite a few things I need to say, and I’d rather be sitting when I say them.”

Armand’s blue eyes delved deeply into Skylar’s...so deep Skylar almost stepped back to avoid the invasion of privacy. Armand cleared his throat, and tightened his grip on Skylar’s arm, “We will go inside... and I will call the doctor.”

“I do not need...”

“Dominicci will come.”

Skylar resisted his father’s pull, but the man was stronger than he, and pulled him toward the house. The French doors were held open by Armand’s bodyguards, both cloaked in black looking stiff and formal. They entered the foyer of the large house to be met by Carolina who delivered a crisp slap across Skylar’s face, “Ragazzo insolente! Tu di essere la causa delle mie grinze e capelli grigi! Come osili? Dove siete andato? Chi ha visto? Tu e Gillian siete avuti sesso? È quello perchè ha colato?”

He found he could only understand every other word.... but he did catch that last sentence, Were he and Gillian having sex? Well according to Gillian yes they were... He shook his head trying to recall just one of the occasions as she told him there had been many.

Nothing. In his mind he was a virgin. He felt a flush of anger rinse away what was left of

the disabling confusion tormenting his mind. He pulled himself free of Armand’s hold and stood apart from his parents with his feet shoulder with apart, his eyes blazing with a passion that made Armand hesitate in trying to reestablish his hold on Skylar’s arm.

“I don’t understand you anymore. Italian, I don’t speak it, do I? I’m no more Italian than a pure blooded Frenchman!” He stepped back toward the door, “You’re not my parents, I wasn’t born here, and I am not Skylar Geovanni. Am I right?”

“Call Dr. Dominicci,” Armand said brusquely to his wife, who nodded and was turning to leave the room.

“No don’t call him. He won’t do anyone any good. I know now that I don’t belong. I always felt it...but now I know, and I don’t know what you’ve done to me to make me forget, to make me remember only you... but I know it’s all false now. I know this is false...but now I don’t know what’s real. So many memories plague me now, conflicting memories, and you’re the only ones who can help me now...”

“Then please let us call the Doctor,” Carolina said to him in English. She spoke it with a horrible accent, had he ever noticed before just how bad her English was?

“Your doctor will only lie to me more. I want truth, and you can give me that. Am I your son?” Skylar stared the both of them down awaiting their answer nervously, but keeping his outer composition firm.

“Yes,” Armand said, his voice cool, “you are our son. You are Geovanni, and for you to question that tells me, your father, that what would be best for you is to...”

“I’m not taking anymore pills!”

“Skylar...” Carolina objected, tears in her eyes. Skylar stared at her feeling a frown forming on his face.... If what Armand had said was true, then that was his mother he was rejecting... How it must tear her in two to have her only child questioning his parentage. Maybe he was sick, very sick... but how did that explain the two strangers he met, who oddly didn’t seem like strangers? Should he tell them about them?

“Skylar...”

Skylar gazed up to find both Armand and Carolina watching him carefully, “Are you telling me the truth Father? Please...I need to know, for the sake of my sanity. I’ll go mad if I don’t know for sure...”

“You are Geovan....”

“Armand!” Carolina interjected before Armand could finish confirming Skylar’s origin. “He...”

Armand silenced her with a withering look, “You are Geovanni...”

Skylar felt himself tumbling into a black hole of questions....if they were indeed his parents why would Gillian believe they weren’t? Why would those two young men believe they weren’t? They had come from the outside to claim him.... he KNEW them as he didn’t know his family. His own native language was becoming a distant memory, his accent was changing, his English sounding more American...

But the people before him...they said he was theirs. They claimed him. His mother had tears in her eyes. Why would a mother weep for someone else’s son? He brought his hands to his head as it filled with tremendous pain, a tearing...he was being torn in two.

He watched as the woman, his mother rushed forward to take him in her arms. Had she ever showed him such genuine warmth? He couldn’t remember.... She ran her fingers through his hair and put her lips to his ear, as she comforted him physically she whispered the words, “I don’t know what has become of my Skylar...but you... you look just like him.”

He pulled away from her staring at her with wide eyes, “What?”

“We found you...I found you... You had nothing, no money, no home, no memory of who you were. We gave you a home, we gave you an identity, we gave you a life! You look so much like us, so much like our Skylar...why can’t you be him? Where else do you have to go? You remember no one. Who else will take you in and clothe and feed you, give you the life of a prince, and an inheritance of a King?”

“What about my old life...what if people were looking for me?”

“None looked for you. You were without claim.”

“So.... I’m not Skylar, I’m not your son?”

“You are Skylar. You remember what he remembers, you can do what he was to accomplish, be what he was meant to be. This is the chance of a life time, Skylar! You do not have to take any more pills to suppress your nightmares or pains, you will not have to see Dr. Dominicci anymore since you now know... but this must be kept a secret.”

“You’ve been lying to me all along...”

“Skylar...”

“That’s not my name!” he shouted. What was his name then? He’d been Skylar for as far as he could remember. The others had called him Nick, but he wasn’t sure if that was his name either. He tugged at his blond hair, “You’ve made a mess of me!”

“Sky...”

“A mess I plan to clean up!” He whirled on his heel and bolted for the front door, once he hit the drive he ran straight to his car, and jumped in. Armand came barreling out after him yelling at the bodyguards standing posts to stop him. They were too slow, and too far away. He’d already gunned the engine and was whipping out of the circle drive. He sped off the property with fantasies of past lives weaving about him, where should he go now? What should he do? He just needed to think...what was best for him, stay, or see what else was out there for him? He drove faster, and more importantly he needed to figure out who he was.

“We can’t just leave him...” Aaron was tugging on Brian’s arm as they waited to board the ship that would start them on their journey back home.

“Aaron we can’t disappear for a month, and that’s when Jill says the next boat is coming.”

“You go then, and I’ll stay and wait...”

“Aaron your parents...”

“They’ll miss me for a while, but will forget all about it when I come back with Nick.”

“Ok...how about me? The police will throw me in jail for taking a minor out of the country and then not returning with him. Nick had his chance, he made his decision. And you said it yourself, at least now we know he’s alive and not hurt somewhere and scared. He’s got a good life here.”

“He’s got a good lie here.”

“As long as he’s happy.”

“He’s not happy! He can’t be.”

“He’s got Jill, Aaron. She’s amazing, and she’ll take care of him... The love she feels for him is...incredible, and I envy him. Leighanne will never love me like that. Leighanne’s a little selfish when it comes to keeping me to herself... Gillian, Gillian is always looking at what’s right for him, Skylar...”

“So you’re going to call him that now?”

“That’s who he is, Aaron, and who he wants to be.”

Aaron glared at Brian and turned away from him. He had given up once, and now he was giving up again. He stared out at the clear blue ocean waiting to call them out to sea by boat. “You don’t belong,” it sang, “let me take you home.”

A tear was shed, and Aaron breathed a sigh, “Do you think he’ll ever come back to us?”

Brian placed a hand on Aaron’s shoulder and squeezed him tight, his face wet as well, “We’d better get on board, we’ll miss the ship. Leighanne’s gonna be livid.”

Gillian sat on the couch in front of the fire place, there was no fire but she stared into structure as if something was burning there. She had come back to the cottage. She hadn’t gone with Aaron and Brian to the docks, she hadn’t wanted to know if Skylar joined them. She would simply find out on her wedding day when his place at the altar was empty. She planned to never venture outside of the cottage until then. Oh they would try to drag her out, but she’d barricade herself in, and live of pastries and coffee until her date of holy matrimony. She supposed with living off of pastries she’d be too fat to fit into her wedding gown, and her mother would faint at the sight. She giggled to herself just thinking about it, and opted to grab a few pastries and get started. Skylar was rubbing off on her...

She sighed sadly...she couldn’t go on thinking about Skylar. What if he had left her? She lie down on the couch flat on her back with her hands on her stomach trying to calm herself and swallow the large lump in her throat that was bringing water to her eyes. No more silly comments, no more clueless blank looks from under hoods of golden lashes, no more big childish grins, no more fun.... and no more love.

She shut her eyes tights and remained still breathing evenly and deeply, there was nothing she could do about anything in her life. She was a pawn in her father’s dynasty, she was a doll in her mother’s play set.... and now she was a figment of Skylar’s imagination, a false memory. Oh...she sat up abruptly, where were those nice fattening pastries? She’d eat 12 of them, maybe she’d die of a sugar overdose.

There was a heavy knock at the door, and she jumped. Her parents? The Geovanni’s? The knocking lost its strength and soon became weak frantic taps, and she stood slowly edging towards the door. When she arrived she placed her hands on the cool hard wood and peered through the peep hole. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw who it was, and she threw open the door to behold him.

He stood looking ragged, haggard, and short of breath, his body filled with nervous energy, and his frame shook vigorously, “Jilly...”

“Skylar.”

She held open her arms waiting for him to rush into them, to purr that her loved her in Italian....but he stood rooted in the doorway, he appraised her sadly, “No... not Skylar. Someone else.”

“Oh no....”

“I don’t know who else to turn to Gillian. You have to help me. I have to know who I am.”

Gillian stared at him tears in her eyes, heart in her throat. Slowly she finally swallowed the lump that had been in her throat from moments earlier.... and let out a breath. A small shaky smile that barely touched her teary eyes graced her features, and she nodded. She offered a soft hand to him, which he hesitantly took, and let her pull him inside.

Chapter 21

They drove back to the house in silence. Brian gripped the wheel apprehensively, wanting desperately to bite his nails. Leighanne was gone...he just knew when he unlocked the door to his home it would be dark and empty. He might find a note explaining to him why she had left him, or he might not. Maybe she just left without saying goodbye. After all, he had. He told her he was taking Aaron to the airport, and then he was boarding a plane himself. He couldn’t even tell her exactly where he was going, then he’d left.

Aaron wondered if Leighanne had called his parents to make sure he had gotten home ok. That certainly would have caused a mess, since Aaron never told them he was coming home in the first place, he had told them he was going on a trip with Brian for a few days. Would Leighanne have told them she didn’t know anything about those plans? He hadn’t really thought about any consequences...he’d only thought about Nick. Any trouble they could get into would be nullified at the sight of Nick smiling at them all. But Nick hadn’t chosen to come home with them. Now thoughts of consequence plagued his tired mind. Jet lag was weighing heavily upon him, but he would have to stand up strong and tall to face the angry music the symphony known as Mom and Dad might be ready to perform for his listening pleasure.

They pulled into the driveway of Brian’s house and sat staring. The lights were on inside, some one was home. “You want to get out and go in first?” Brian asked.

Aaron shot Brian an incredulous look, “Oh yeah right. This is your house! You go in first!”

“Hey... I wouldn’t be in this much trouble if you hadn’t of stowed away. You need to go on and tell everyone it wasn’t my idea to take you!”

“Are you scared of your fiancé Brian?”

“Damn straight I am....But I’m kinda not sure if she’s my fiancé anymore. We were going over some rocky waters before you came Aaron. We were just starting to fix things between us when all this craziness happened. She was thinking about leaving...and now I think she just might. I’m afraid I’m going to go in there to hear her say good bye.”

“If she’s gonna leave you, for this...for going to make sure your best friend didn’t need your help, then she’s not right for you Brian. What if it was her that was lost...wouldn’t she want you to pull out all the stops and go looking for her?” Aaron tapped the dashboard, “If she leaves you, then she’s selfish, and you don’t need a selfish woman...You need a...a... Gillian!”

Brian smirked rolling his eyes over to Aaron, “A Gillian huh?”

“Yeah, she’s great. She loves Nick more than anything, and she was ready to send him back with us, and be unhappy for the rest of her life.”

“Yeah, she was huh?” Brian smiled. “She’s a good woman, and it’s good to know if Nick’s not with us, he’s with her.”

“He should have come with us and brought her. I don’t care about what she was afraid of. She could have hid out, got a new identity. She would have been so much fun to have around. BJ, Leslie, and Angel would love her.”

Brian smiled sadly at Aaron, “Well... I think whoever it is inside has noticed the car. Looks like its time to face the music.”

There went that music metaphor again, Aaron hung his head and then opened his door, “Lets leave the bags in the car, we might have to make a quick get-away.”

“Good thinking,” Brian nodded taking the keys out of the ignition. They walked to the front door together, Brian putting his key into the lock and opening the door. He stepped inside followed by Aaron and nearly screamed at the reception party. He jumped back falling into Aaron, who’s eyes bulged from their sockets. Not only was Leighanne there, but AJ, Kevin, Howie, and Aaron’s parents.

“Brian..let’s go. Let’s go right now!”

“Aaron Charles Carter!” Jane Carter erupted surging forward to grab him by the collar of his shirt. “Mom I can explain...”

“Brian Thomas Littrell!” Leighanne stood with her arms folded over her chest. Brian just looked at wide- eyed, “How...when...how long have you all been here?”

“Oh... since yesterday when I called the Carters to see how little Aaron was doing, and they told me they wouldn’t know because he had gone on a trip with you!” Leighanne stabbed a finger into his collarbone, then smacked him, hard, “How could you do that? You kidnaped a minor! And when we had your flight traced...you left the country!”

“We have a perfectly good explanation for...”

“Some lady called claiming she’s marrying Nicky in some foreign country and you went to see!” AJ Spat, “We all heard the message...and it’s one thing for you to be crazy and fly off to exotic places, but it’s another thing to take Aaron! What were you thinking about? And don’t yo dare say Nick, or I swear to God I’ll hit you!”

“It was my idea!” Aaron yelled, trying to quiet his parents as they fussed over him, “I knew where Brian was going and I conned my way on board with him. I bought my own ticket and copied his plans. Even if he refused to let me go with him, I would have gotten on that plane and I just would have been alone! So don’t blame Brian for what I did! I wanted to find my brother!”

“Aaron, you have to let go of these fantasies that Nick is...”

“He is! He is! We found him! If you would just let us talk you’d know by now that we found him!”

“You found him?” AJ said, his eyes going wide, his expression comical, “Oh really, you did? Well, where is he little man? Hmmm? He in the car? He waiting outside waiting for you two to drop the bomb and then he’s gonna pop in and scream HEY!” AJ clapped his hands together, “Lets go see shall we!” He jogged to the door to throw it open and call in the long lost Nick.

“AJ..please... Brian, Aaron, tell us the truth. Where did go? And what happened? No one here is angry with either of you..”

“Oh the hell we aren’t!” Bob Carter fumed. “Aaron when we get home you’re grounded forever! No TV, no phone, no comic books, no nothing! And Brian, you’re not allowed to come near our son ever again! You’re lucky we like your fiancé so much, or else we’d be pressing charges!”

“Brian I’ve looked into some excellent therapists for you,” Leighanne was saying as she calmed, she held Brian’s shoulder tightly. “This is hard for me, because I love you. But if you don’t get therapy it’s over, I’m leaving.”

“Brian... I think you should don what she says,” Kevin spoke up for the first time. He looked shaken, “When I heard what you had done, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Brian, I wanted to have you committed when you got back, all it takes is a family member to do it. Leighanne talked me down...”

“OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!!” All heads jerked to AJ who stood at the front door. It was wide open, a cool breeze blowing in. “OH MY GOD!!” He kept shrieked he backed into the living room, breaking through the throng of startled people, “Oh my God...” he ran out the back door.

“What the hell?” Kevin blinked.

“Hello?” a voice called into the house. Brian and Aaron froze....the accent. “Ni...Nick?” Aaron spoke, “Nick is that you?” He walked to the front door, Brian stood stock still until he heard Aaron’s gleeful cries, “NICK! You came home! How? I thought you said you wouldn’t! Oh Nick I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”

Brian brought his hand to his mouth.... Nick had come.... he was here. He looked to the faces of Nick’s parents, to his brothers, to Leighanne. They were still as statues. Kevin’s head was pointed in the direction Aaron’s screams of delight were coming from, Howie stared straight at Brian, his eyes asking him...could it be true? Bob and Jane Carter stood shaking, Bob supporting his wife. Leighanne’s eyes were closed but she held her body rigid.... Slowly she began to walk, she turned the corner to enter the front foyer to see who was at the door herself. At her first shriek, everyone bounded into the foyer. Aaron stood aside as Leighanne had herself draped around a tall masculine figure kissing his face, “Oh my God...” her voice was tearful, “Nicky...” she whispered, “but you were dead....Oh I thought you were dead...”

“Nicky?” Jane was letting go of Bob, practically shoving Leighanne aside, once Leighanne was peeled off the room gasped. Nick.... It was Nick, standing there in the foyer looking at them all like they were aliens...from planet Zooma. Jane didn’t hug him, she simply stared, everyone simply stared, except for Aaron and Brian. Aaron took Nick’s hand, Brian crossed the wooden floor, and took Nick briefly in his arms, hugging him tightly and pulling away, “I thought you wouldn’t come.”

“I have to know who I am, and I wasn’t him...” he said simply. His voice soft and exotic, still muffled by a quasi British accent.

“So you left?”

“So I left., and....eccomi,” he shrugged.

“Eccomi?” Jane asked, it was the first word she had spoken to him.

“It means ‘Here I am,’” Nick said simply staring at the woman he so resembled.

“Eccoti... Here you are,” Brian said with a smile, he stepped to the side of him, and extended his hand, “Nick, this is your family. This is your mother, Jane, that’s your father, Bob.... And those are your brothers Kevin and Howie. This is my fiancé, if she’ll still have me, Leighanne.... and the guy that went ballistic and ran from the room screaming, is your brother Alex.”

Nick frowned, “They don’t look like me.” He stared at Kevin and Howie oddly as they gawked at him like he was some new creature.

“Why do you have to introduce him to us?” Jane asked staring at Nick in awe...he was an angel to her. She was afraid to touch him, he might disappear. Aaron shut the front door after Nick, pushing him forward, “Why don’t we go talk in the living room..we’ve got a lot of catching up to do...starting with me and Brian’s trip.... and someone’s got to bring AJ in and tell him he’s not being haunted by the ghost of Nick.”

There were light chuckles at the crack, the crowd parted like the Red Sea to let Nick pass with Brian and Aaron behind him, pushing him into the room. He looked around like a man lost in a dream, “I’ve lived here before?”

“Practically,” Brian said, “You want anything to eat, drink?”

Nick shook his head as he continued to walk the length of the living room studying his surroundings. “Nicky...” Jane was whispering as she hung onto her husband’s arm, “Look Bob, it’s him, it’s Nicky.”

“Yes I see...” Bob said, he was still shaking his head in a daze.

“Well if everyone will have a seat, we’ll begin the story, oh and Howie, why don’t you run out and get AJ, it’s a little nippy out there tonight.”

Howie nodded casting one last glance at Nick and leaving the room stiffly with his arms to his sides. Nick sat alone on one couch while everyone gathered on the other to stare at him... they still weren’t sure what to make of him... was he real? Nick stared back at them, would he ever remember them?

Brian shook his head, he hadn’t pictured this kind of homecoming. He’d expecting joyous shouting and people hugging Nick to death and congratulating Brian for proving to them that he wasn’t crazy. The stunned silence was too much. AJ was brought into the room by Howie, he walked as if he had been wounded, and when he saw Nick again he hurled himself at him, hugging him and running his hands through his hair, “My God you’re alive...My God...thank God...you’re alive. You’re real...I can touch you, talk to you and you’ll talk back...you do speak right?”

“Yes,” Nick said, his eyes wide as he stared at AJ. Brian chuckled realizing how funny AJ would look to someone who didn’t know him....or just couldn’t remember him.

“Guys, it’s Nick..why are you all over there?” AJ stared at the bunch on the couch in tearful disbelief, “It’s our Nick guys...he’s come back to us. Brian’s brought him back to us! Come touch him, he’s real! He’s real!”

Nick looked ready to blend into the couch and disappear as the people who’d been stunned by his appearance now got over their shock and rushed at him like a stampede of mad cows. He was bombarded by hugs and kisses, and people ruffling his hair and cooing sweet nothings to him. He remained silent, trying to smile at the entourage, and appear polite, although he was ready to bolt for the door screaming for his cab to return and take him home.

Home, but that place wasn’t home, was it? Maybe this place, and these people would be home.... He had to know, and to know he had to stick around to learn. He returned the squeeze to his hand the woman who looked so much like him, that Brian had said was his mother gave him as she sat beside him. He was surrounded on both sides now, everyone including himself ready to hear a story.

“A year ago on January 28^th...”

Epilogue

“It’s a shame the trash they’ll let people print in the newspapers now-a-days,” a man grumbled as he thumbed through his newspaper and his eyes fell on the title of the fourth page. He sneered, “Silly Americans and their garbage.” The man let the paper fall from his hands onto the warm sand of the beach. A hand reached down to retrieve the paper. The article that had disgusted the man holding the paper before him immediately caught his eye... “What in the bloody hell..?” he turned and began to jog across the sandy beach to where his companion lie on a towel on the sand shaded by an umbrella. A tall frothy margarita sat beside him with a lime and small umbrella of its own floating in it.

“I think you’d better take a look at this one old chap,” the man handed the newspaper to his companion, he pointed to the article.

His companion sat up with a groan removing the sunglasses from his blue grey eyes and raked sun bleached hair off his face as he took in the article. He yawned lazily before the headline and more importantly the picture caught his attention. He let out a short gasp, “What?” He looked at his identical friend who shared the same expression as he had, shock,“Nick Carter.. Lost and Found. On February 12, 2000, the hearts of teeny-boppers everywhere were lifted as Nick Carter was pronounced alive and well, and returned to his family and friends...”

The newspaper was taken back, “Now, I know who you are... and you very well know who I am... so my question is.. Who in the bloody hell is that?” His companion looked blank, “I have no idea, but I would love to find out..” the newspaper was snatched back and further read, “Well he’s really played the field.”

“Our fields... Look, I don’t know about this. Maybe it’s time for this game to end. We should go back.”

“No,” the blond man smiled cunningly, “Don’t you see? The game is far from over now... It’s more interesting, there’s a new twist. No, no, now the game is just beginning. What do you say Amico? How about another round?”

“I don’t know, I mean who is this guy? Who does he work for?”

“Maybe we’ll just have to find out, maybe that’s the new game we’ll play. But for right now, he’s our ticket for another one way trip to total freedom... Adesso tell me amico, what do you say? Are you going to accept the further challenge or not?”He smiled removing his sunglasses revealing eyes just as blue as the man on the towel.

“I don’t know if I ought to trust you again Geovanni, but what the hell. It’s not as if we have to hurry back, well at least not any more,” he grinned devilishly, “Besides, I hear Belize is beautiful this time a year...”

“I like the way you think Carter, but this time, let me go about the travel arrangements. Americans really have no sense when it comes to style,” Skylar Armand Geovanni tossed back his head and laughed wildly.

Nickolas Gene Carter grinned back just as wildly, after taking a long sip of his margarita he spoke,“Let the games begin.”

Several Months Later...

David Keller turned the key in the ignition of his white porsche. He slowly pulled away from his large home that almost seemed to straddle the horizon. He smiled softly seeing the reflection of his modern castle-like home in his manmade lake. Fit for a king... The king of the chess board, that is. He smiled wickedly and shifted his gears into drive. He pulled up into the parking lot of a small convenience store and parked. He got out removing his dark sunglasses. It was not quite bright enough for the tinted lenses, but David didn’t wear them for protection from the sun. They were simply for style, for he had the money to burn. He gazed back at his gleaming white prize car that he hadn’t even bothered to lock.. Plenty more she came from... He smirked and entered the store. He nodded to the familiar store clerk and went to the coolers removing a six pack of beer and trotted up to the sales counter setting his drinks down on the table. Clink... was the sound of a wine cooler hitting the table just in front of his beers. David turned to face a lovely young woman with head full of smoky waves that hung down her back, “Hey.. Aren’t you... Nick Carter?” the woman questioned looking quite curious.

“No...I’m not. David Keller,” he extended his hand and smiled at her, “And you are...?”

“Patricia Grey,” the woman answered with a smile of her own. David stepped back, and allowed her to purchase her drink first, “So...”

“So..?” David smiled eagerly, a woman like this was definitely suitable for a ride in his porsche and maybe even dinner on his boat.. In his lake, he grinned thinking about that, “You’re awfully young to have that look in your eyes.”

“What look?” David asked intrigued by this woman, he paid for his beers and followed her out of the store. She opened her wine cooler and took a small sip, she gazed at him with her smoky irises, “The one that says you have experienced almost everything you’ve ever wanted and more.”

David laughed, “But what if I have..?”

“Then you’re life would be mighty boring, wouldn’t it?” she quirked.

“Maybe...” David grinned mysteriously, “Maybe not, being bored is not part of my game.” With that he opened the door to his white porsche and slid into the driver’s seat. He closed his door, and opened the one on the passenger side. From his wink one could only assume that he wanted Patricia to get in. She sauntered up to the door and leaned inside the car slightly, “It’s not part of mine either...”

David smiled lustfully and put back on his sunglasses, “You coming along for the ride?”

“Depends...”

“On what?”

“What time is your rendevous with Skylar?”

David’s sunglasses came back off immediately, his blue eyes wide with his pure shock. He stared at her, “Who... Who are you?”

Patricia smiled and slipped inside the car, closing the door behind her, “I am Gillian Emiliano, and Patricia Grey has decided not to take up your offer.. But I have. Now, young man, who are you?”

“I’m...I’m Nick Carter, or rather I used to be. I haven’t said that name in so long it’s unfamiliar to me,” David leaned back in his black leather upholstered seat, “How do you know Sky?”

“Why, I was his fiancé... though I must say I never got to meet the man. But I did once know a really nice young man who used to go by that name.. And then by yours.”

“You knew him as well?”

“Well, for a short time, he was my fiancé too...” Gillian said a little wistfully, “He shouldn’t remember me now...”

David grinned, “All the better, you can’t play this game with ties to the real world Jilly.”

“Say it again.”

“Say what?”

“Jilly.”

“Jilly,” David said softly, “Miss your name?”

“No, I just missed you saying it,” Gillian purred. David looked confused.

“But I’ve never said it before...I just met you..”

“You just met me.. But that other Nick, my lover...”

“I’m not so sure I’m comfortable with that,” David sighed slumping lower in his seat, “What do we know about that guy?”

“Hey... he’s just a player in the game, just like we are, Nick,” Gillian said softly, “You surely don’t think Skylar Geovanni was the person who created this game do you?”

David, or rather Nick looked stunned, “Of course not...”

Gillian chuckled at him and purred something to him in Italian, “Drive driver, drive...and where we end up only the puller of the strings will know.. For we’re all pawns in this game, no one is king. Not Skylar Geovanni, not David Keller, nor Patricia Grey, Gillian Emilliano, or Nickolas Carter. Turn the key, crank the gas.. And who knows.. Maybe we will all one day meet our maker!” She calmly opened the door and vacated the car.

Without another word Nick shifted the car into drive and sped out of the small convenience store parking lot as fast as he could... Crazy woman.. But who had she been? Had she really been Gillian Emilliano... Skylar Geovanni’s old fiancé? Or was she just another player.. Meeting other players was always interesting, but she had strange, with connections to his past life. He accelerated his ears popping he felt as if he were breaking the sound barrier. His past life...sure he felt guilty for leaving it behind, but he couldn’t just go back, couldn’t stop the game and go back to his old life now. Someone else was there, playing his part...playing his old game. A games, that’s all life really was, just a bunch of little games coinciding inside one great big one. But no one would ever know the rules of that big Game, no one. Not Skylar Geovanni, not Gillian Emilliano, not David Keller, the playboy, nor Joshua Phelps, the jet skier, Trenton Micaela, the model, could never hack into the program of the Game, Wesley Carrington, the college student, couldn’t do it either. So what could Nick Carter, the performer, do? The only thing he knew how... He’d start a new round, play a different pawn in the game now. Maybe he’d be Gabriel DeWolf... or Robert Carlisle. No, no... maybe he could go back to being a Nick.. A Nicholas this time, Nicholas... Well he’d have to think about the last name. One sharp turn to the left led David Keller towards his own personal bank, where for a few minutes he would transform back into Nick Carter, into...someone else. This had become his life, his game, and he liked it. He also welcomed anyone to join him.

Would you care to take the ride?

Welcome to the Game.

The End

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