"So they’re all taken care of then?" Chelsea asked as she and Faith walked down the long corridor, after wrapping up a long day.
"Yeah," she answered. "Finally." A smile was stretching across her face.
"Was it Jenny again?" Chelsea said.
Faith nodded. "Again," and she paused, laughing to herself for a moment, remembering the countless times Jenny begged her to stay, to read to her or to color Mickey Mouse with her in her brand new coloring book. She was a real cutie. She was one of those kids that made her job worthwhile, the kind of kid that made her want to come into work everyday. "She’s a real sweet kid, isn’t she?" she said, turning to Chelsea.
"She sure is. Makes me wish I was in pediatrics sometimes," she said, laughing. "Speaking of sweet kids, Faith, how’s Julian?"
"He’s great. Called me last night. He said his Dad took him to a football game the other day. Sounds like he’s having a blast. Almost as much fun as when I took him to see the Tigers back in August." She stopped, running her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breath.
Chelsea stepped toward her friend and reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder. Faith looked up. She exhaled slowly as her hand dropped back down to her side. "Oh God, C," she whispered. "I wish I could spend more time with him. He’s such a good kid. I wish I could do more things with him, take him places. I just have so much to do. So much is taking up my time. And plus, I don’t have the money right now. I’ve still got to get a new fence put up in front of the house for the spring. Those damn snow plow people never look where they’re going. I just... am I a good mother, C?" she finally finished as her eyes met with Chelsea’s.
"Faith Summers! Of course you are! How could you even think you’re not anything but a good mother to Julian?" she answered, gathering her in for a hug.
"I don’t know. I just wish I could be with him more. Do more things, that’s all." Faith pulled out of her embrace and continued toward the front doors.
It was silent for a moment, but Chelsea spoke up again, trying to lighten the atmosphere, "Did you decide on anything about that job for tomorrow?"
"I’ve thought about it," she answered simply. Chelsea’s attempts weren’t working.
"And?"
"And... I don’t know. The kids need me here," she said.
"But you’ll be back at the end of the day and, besides, it pays extra," she answered back, trying to convince her to go. "And it’ll be fun. And you’ll maybe even get to see a couple of good-looking guys." 'And besides that,' she thought, 'it’ll get your mind off Julian for a while.' She didn’t say it, though. She wanted to make her feel better, not set her off again.
When she didn’t answer, she continued. "Come on, Faith! I know you like them. Julian’s told me how much you listen to the music." She stopped and smiled. Faith was laughing to herself, grinning.
Faith turned to her, stopping in front of the doors. "You don’t quit, do you?" She was still smiling.
"Nope!" Chelsea said cheerfully.
Faith's smile grew. She looked at her and shook her head. Finally, she answered, "Fine, fine! I’ll go."
Chelsea hugged her again, saying, "I knew you would!" She was half-laughing, half-speaking as she repeated it.
"Yeah well, I’m going for the kids, not you, or them. The kids, okay?" Faith said and pulled away.
"Whatever you say," she said and looked down at her watch. "Holy smokes, Faith, it’s eleven-thirty! I’ve got to run," then she paused, cocking an eyebrow at her. "And so do you. Big day tomorrow. Call me when it’s over, okay?" She started out the door, not waiting for an answer.
Faith waved to her friend as she got into her car. She walked out into the parking lot and found her white Ford Explorer and, the smile still plastered to her face, drove off toward the house.
Howie let out a soft groan as he saw the bright lights of Detroit come into view. The thought of two more shows wasn’t too appealing. They had had to go out of their way to go back to Europe last week because their management decided to add five more shows in Germany at the last minute. Now, thanks to one of those famous midwestern, mid-October blizzards, they were back in Detroit to make up two shows at the Silverdome before heading home.
He sighed, slouching down in his seat next to AJ. He missed home. They all did. And this tour was so long and just... all over the place. They had been everywhere from Japan to Venezuela to Italy and back again. They were all so... homesick. They missed their beds, their friends, and their families.
He glanced down at his watch. It was one in the morning. He leaned his head back and sighed again, louder this time. He turned his head, looking across the aisle at Kevin who had fallen asleep a good hour and a half ago. 'Thank God,' he thought, 'He should be sleeping like a baby after tonight.' Howie looked away, fixing his gaze back out the window, letting his thoughts wander and all the memories of the evening come flooding back.
The show was great until the solos came. Howie knew there was something different, something... not right, about the crowd. Brian felt it too. They couldn’t exactly put their fingers on it, but it was something. They just knew it.
They all hustled off-stage to get ready for their solos and nearly ran over Fatima who was looking on from the side, taking notes on what they had to work on, like always. With a few excited and rather breathless, "Hey, what’s up, Fatima’s" they were about to walk past her when she stopped them.
"You’re not gonna screw up the order again, are ya?" Nick said, seeing what was coming.
She ignored his question. "I have to take a phone call and I want Howie and Kevin to switch. Everything else’ll be the same. I just need to keep an eye on you, Kev," she said, nodding her head in Kevin’s direction, and continued, "and Howie doesn’t have any real big moves in his song, so he can go first, while I take the call. Okay? Good. I should be back after he’s done."
They didn’t have any time to argue. AJ, Kevin, Nick and Brian took off to change, while Howie darted back onstage, not bothering to follow the others. They had wasted enough time already. The crowd was going to be getting restless. After the band was informed, Howie started up, cheerful and vibrant, covering up any worries or suspicions as his face lit up to the audience and began singing.
He moved from one side of the stage to the other, his eyes scanning the sea of people. There were screaming girls like always, but when he reached the left side of the stage and looked out, something different caught his eye. He looked again, not tearing his eyes away, wondering if he was seeing correctly. And he stopped. His feet wouldn’t move anymore. As Howie stood, rooted to the floor, he kept his gaze locked on what seemed to be a large group of maybe fifteen, no, not fifteen, more like twenty, men. They looked to be a little older than Kevin and definitely bigger than him, and they just didn’t exactly strike Howie as being a group of loveable fathers. He gained control of his feet again and quickly shuffled over to the other side of the stage, feeling safer there. He was nearly finished now and he watched as the group moved down the aisle, stopping close to the front. They were waiting for something. Were they waiting for him? No, it couldn’t be him. They wouldn’t have waited to come close if they were waiting for him. They were waiting for someone else, or something else, he didn’t know. His thoughts were jumbled as he finished, walking offstage as fast as he could, thankful that his solo was over.
When he was backstage, Howie leaned back against the wall, panting and sweating. He was jolted back to reality suddenly. Kevin stood in front of him whispering his name and shaking his shirtsleeve. For a horrid moment, he thought one of the men had followed him and come backstage, but when he looked into a pair of wide, worried green eyes, and realized it was only Kevin, he was relieved.
Kevin pulled him up and away from the wall, his hand still gripping his sleeve, and whispered, "Fatima’s not back yet. What do we do? What do I do?"
Howie looked around. ‘Nobody But You’ was already up and Howie looked back at Kevin and said, "Just go out, it’s not your fault. Just go on," forgetting about the mob for a second.
Wasting no time, Kevin hurried out. AJ, Brian and Nick ambled over to Howie, who was back against the wall again, and noticed the frightened look written all over his face. "Hey D? D, what’s wrong?" Brian asked, poking his friend playfully in the shoulder, trying to get him to cheer up.
Howie didn’t answer. He looked out at Kevin. He had just started singing and was making his way over to the far end of the stage. He was looking out at the upper rows of faces, his gaze missing the people on the floor. Howie looked back to his friends, but his mind wasn’t on them. "Yo, D! Howie!" AJ was saying.
Howie closed his eyes. He shifted his head towards the brightness of the stage and his eyes drifted open, watching as Kevin stood there, looking out over the audience. He saw him look down to the floor audience. Howie’s eyes grew wide, and he shot himself away from the wall, nearly trampling the guys, as his thoughts went back to his solo. He panicked as he watched Kevin inch closer to the edge of the stage.
He looked at AJ, gripped him by the shoulders and started shaking him, almost yelling out, "Doesn’t he see them?" He glanced back at Kevin. Closer, closer, almost near the edge now. His arms still shook AJ, back and forth, the chain around his neck bouncing up and off his chest and coming up, almost hitting him in the face. Howie was panicking, looking from AJ to Kevin and then back to AJ. "How could he not see them?" He shook AJ harder.
Brian reached out, grabbing one of Howie’s arms, and pried him off of AJ, bringing him back to reality, back behind the curtain. Howie kept looking out at Kevin, who was leaning over the side of the stage to touch some fan’s hand. The song was about halfway through. Still looking out, he whimpered, barely audible now, "He doesn’t see them. He doesn’t even notice."
Brian looked down at Howie, who had fallen against him. "Howie..." he said, and trailed off. "D..." he started, but he couldn’t finish. He looked to Nick, who stood silently, a shocked, blank look on his face. They looked down at their friend again. He was still and quiet, so different from the hysterical, screaming Howie they had seen just seconds ago. It was almost as if he had just... given up.
AJ moved closer to Howie, putting his hand on his shoulder. "D, come on," he said, "What happened out there? Something’s wrong. You know you could tell us." He softly squeezed his shoulder. Howie didn’t look up. He just shook his head against Brian’s shoulder, messing up his hair.
Nick looked to Brian, hoping he would have an idea, but found his head turned away, looking at Kevin, trying to see what Howie was talking about.
Brian’s eyes scanned the crowd and moved back up to Kevin. ‘He doesn’t see them? Who? Who doesn’t he see? A girl? A group of girls? His family? Who?’ Kevin looked happy out there. What could be wrong? Kevin hadn’t looked that happy in months. What could possibly be so wrong to make Howie so upset? He couldn’t find any answers.
He turned back to Nick. He was doing the same thing. Looking for answers. He watched as he squinted. "I don’t see any... oh God," he said and his hand flew over to Brian and tapped his shoulder.
They all looked at Nick. "Do you see them?" Howie said. "Do you see them now?"
"Oh God," he repeated, running his hand through his hair. He couldn’t say anything else. He tore his eyes away, looking back at his friends, and pointed out at Kevin.
AJ and Brian looked, and suddenly saw what they had been missing. "See! I told you they were there!" Howie was saying, pointing along with Nick. "I told you!"
Brian ignored Howie’s comments and looked, terrified, at Kevin. He watched as he turned around and faced the band. He wore one of the biggest smiles Brian had seen in ages. For a moment, he couldn’t help but smile. But his gaze shifted to see three men at the front of the audience leap over the barricade, watching Kevin, waiting for him to turn back around. His heart jumped up into his throat. Brian took a small step forward, wanting to warn him, to get him off the stage. He didn’t see anyone else moving.
AJ saw Brian step forward and quickly reached out a hand out to stop him. It was bad enough Kevin might get hurt out there, he didn’t want to see anything happen to Brian. Brian whipped his head around to look at him, panic in his eyes. "AJ! Let go!" he said, his voice coming out so loud, he surprised himself. He shook his hand away and spoke again, his tone forceful, but much softer this time, "We can’t just... we’ve got to tell him, AJ! I’m not going to watch my cousin get ambushed by a bunch of Hell’s Angels out there! We have to tell him!"
None of them answered. Brian turned to Nick. If anyone was going to give him any support, it was going to be Nick. He looked at him, a pleading look in his eyes. Nick just stared at him. He was too scared to say, to do, anything. He just kept looking from Brian to Kevin, Brian to Kevin, eyes wide with fear.
"I never thought I’d say it, guys, but screw you," Brian said and took a few steps toward the stage, but was pulled back. "Bone, dude! Don’t you get it? Kev’s gonna get hurt if we don’t do something! Don’t you understand?" Brian yelled at AJ, who had a firm grip on his arm. "Let go!"
"Brian, man, come on," Howie said, who had calmed down a little. "Running out there isn’t going to help anything!" He was trying to reason with him, but Brian wasn’t listening.
"I can’t believe you guys!" he said, staring back at them. "Kev’s in trouble!" He was crying now. His hand flew up and roughly wiped his tears away. He looked at them, disgust and disappointment burning into them. He looked back out at Kevin. He was turning back around. "AJ, please let me go," Brian begged.
He shook his head. "We can’t risk it, Brian. Security will be here any second." For as calm as he was, he was horrified. The last thing he wanted to see was for something to happen to Kevin, he loved him, he was his brother. But he had to keep order. He didn’t want chaos and that’s exactly what would happen if they went rushing out to him.
Brian looked back out. The entire group was over the barricade now, waiting for him to get just a little bit closer... "Kevin!" he yelled, making his voice carry out onto the stage.
Kevin turned his head to look at Brian. He was yelling at him to stop, to come backstage. Then, Kevin felt someone grab hold of his ankle and pull it out from under him.
He fell backwards, his microphone flying from his hand and across the stage. A startled cry left his lips as he was pulled down. He felt his back come crashing down against the edge of the stage as he screamed out for help.
Brian broke from AJ’s grip as Kevin disappeared into the mob of men. Tears stung his eyes as he ran out, the others right behind him. "Kevin! Kevin!" he was yelling, over and over, as he pushed past band members and back-up dancers that had gathered at the front of the stage. He heard him. He was screaming for help down there. He could hear him. "Kev! Kevin!" He turned back to the others. "We’ve got to help him. Please guys," he pleaded.
"Look!" Howie said, pointing down. Security was disbanding the mob, pulling men aside one at a time. He saw Kevin as he was pulled up and off the floor and taken away from the scene.
Kevin stood off to the side, trying to catch his breath, terrified, struggling to comprehend what had just happened. He was shaking, trembling with fright. He looked around, feeling uncomfortable standing by himself as security tried to get the situation taken care of. He looked up and scanned the stage, looking for one of the guys. He tried to take a step closer, but stopped, feeling a sharp pain rip through his ribs and a dull ache in his ankle. He tried again. "Oh God," he said, "This can’t be happening. Oh my God, oh God." He looked up. He saw Brian trying to shove his way past Howie, Nick and AJ, trying to get to him. He was yelling out to him, reaching for him, but he couldn’t hear him, the noise was deafening down there. "Brian, oh God, help me. Oh my God, Brian," he said, even though he knew he couldn’t hear him either.
"Let go, guys! Can’t you see he’s scared down there! What if one of those guys break away, what then? We can’t just let him stand there, not this time!" Brian wriggled out of the way, shooting past them and, ignoring their pleas to keep him where he was, jumped off the stage and headed toward Kevin.
He ran to him, arms outstretched. "Kevin! Oh God, thank you!" he said as he reached him, wrapping his arms around him and holding on tight. Kev was shaking like a leaf, and Brian hugged him harder. "Are you okay?" he whispered, pulling away from him so he could look at him.
Kev looked away for a minute. He didn’t know what to tell him. He knew he was anything but okay. His ribs were on fire and the pain in his ankle was beginning to intensify. ‘But’ he thought, ‘there’s only two more shows left. I can make it through two without anyone noticing, right?’ He looked back at his cousin, and nodded. "I’m fine, cuz," he said.
"Oh, thank God," he said, throwing himself against him again, patting his back. He pulled away quickly and looked around. The mess was starting to get straightened out, and the rest of the guys were standing over by the side of the stage, waving their arms, yelling to him to bring Kevin backstage. He turned back to Kev and leaned close to him, talking softly, "We should really get you backstage, Kevin. You know, away from all of this stuff." Kevin nodded. Brian smiled and laid a hand gently on his back. "That’s our Kev." He led him, slowly, away from the scene and up the stairs on the side of the stage. He walked him past the guys to the backstage area.
Backstage, Brian engulfed him in another hug, trying to get him settled down. He saw Nick, and then AJ appear behind Kevin. Howie was talking to Fatima, telling her what had happened. Brian still clung to Kevin as he watched Nick mouth the words, "Is he okay?" to him.
Kev was still trembling in his arms, his face was buried in the crook of his neck and he was softly crying. He looked back at Nick and mouthed back, "I don’t know." Brian ran his hands up and down his cousin’s back, trying to soothe him. "It’s alright, Kev. We’re here. Everything’s sorted out. Nothing’s gonna happen. It’s okay, Kev." Brian looked back to his friends. Howie had joined them and was talking to AJ.
"Is he alright?" Howie whispered to AJ, concerned. "Nothing happened to him, right?"
"He’s just really shaken up, I think," he answered, keeping his eyes locked with Brian’s. "God, I haven’t seen him this upset since..."
"Kat," Howie finished for him.
"Yeah," he said and made his way up to Kevin.
Brian was still talking to him and his soft words seemed to be helping. He had stopped shaking and stood quietly in his arms. "Everything’s fine, Kevin. I love you, cuz."
Kevin lifted his head to rest his chin on Brian’s shoulder. He held onto him, letting his tears fall and soak into his shirt. "Oh God, Brian," he said, so softly that if Brian hadn’t been so close, he probably wouldn’t have heard him. "I was so scared, Bri." Brian looked at AJ, who was standing right behind Kevin, looking like he wanted to say something. Brian squeezed him tighter as he continued. "When they had me down there, oh God..." he paused, sniffling. "I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared."
Brian felt Kevin’s tears on his shoulder and felt his own spill out onto his cheeks. He looked over at AJ, giving him a pleading look. AJ stepped forward and put a hand on Kevin’s back.
Kevin pulled away and turned around to see AJ standing there. AJ reached out to him, and Kevin stepped into his embrace. "We were scared too, Kev. We love you," was all he said. AJ gave him a soft pat on the back before he pulled away.
"Thanks Bone," he managed to say, choking back sobs. He fell back against him, breaking down, his body rocking with his sobs. "Oh God, J," he said, gathering enough breath between sobs to speak, "I don’t want to go back out there. I don’t want to go..." He tried to take a deep breath, but it didn’t work. He sobbed again, the sound of it making AJ wince.
Nick came up to him, behind AJ and reached over to put a hand on the back of Kev’s neck. He looked up at him. Nick leaned close and brought his hand back around to his face and wiped some of his tears away, only to have more spill out onto his finger.
Kevin broke away from AJ and hugged Nick. His sobbing had stopped and he was getting better, but he was still scared. Nick could feel it. "I don’t have to go back out, do I Nicky?" he asked, his words shaky.
Nick looked to the others. Brian shook his head. Nick pulled away shaking his head and said, "There’s no way in hell we’re gonna let you go back out." He led him over to a chair and sat him down. He crouched down in front of him and looked up at him, "You just relax. Everything’s okay now. We’ll be out of here before you know it." He patted his knee and stood up. "Everything’s okay." And he slowly walked back out onstage and joined the other guys.
Howie turned his head back to look at Kevin, and took a deep breath. He was awake now, after some much-needed rest. When they finally got onto the plane, he settled into a seat next to Brian. He didn’t say a word about what happened. 'And with good reason,' Howie thought, 'I’d want to forget about it, too.' He had fallen soon after. Howie had seen him pop three Tylenol before they took off. 'Must’ve been one killer of a headache if he had to take three,' he thought and quickly turned his head to look back out the window, realizing he had caught Kevin’s gaze.
Kevin looked thoughtfully at his friend. He had seen him watching him, saw him occasionally steal a sideways glance at him, and knew exactly what he was thinking about. 'I think that’s what all of us have been thinking about,' he thought. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. The dull, constant pain in his ankle wouldn’t let him. It had been one of those things that he never thought could happen, a nightmare, and it had happened, and left something for him to remember it by.
He looked over at Brian and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He was sprawled in his seat next to him, his head back against the headrest, mouth hanging open, one arm extended out into the middle of the aisle and the other resting on his open Sports Illustrated in his lap. He chuckled to himself softly.
He was startled as the captain’s voice came abruptly and loudly over the speaker, announcing their upcoming landing. Brian shifted next to him before raising his head to look at him sleepily. "We there yet?" he said, stretching.
"Almost," he answered simply, trying his best to smile.
Brian sat up straight in his seat. "Don’t force that smile on me, Kev," he said as he closed his magazine and leaned over to stuff it into his backpack that was lying at his feet, "I can see right through it." He straightened up again to look at him. He shifted sideways and leaned toward him, pulling him into a rather awkward hug. "Just get a good night’s sleep tonight. Things will look brighter in the morning." He paused to tap his shoulder and pull away from him. "I promise, Kev. They will." And he leaned back and strapped on his seatbelt.
Kevin turned forward, saying nothing, and pulled his seatbelt across him as well. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, waiting for the plane to touch down.