Chapter 17

Tara stepped out of the bathroom after her shower dressed in clean clothes, finding AJ, Brian, Kevin and Howie all gathered in the living room of the suite. "Hey," she said softly, taking a seat next to Brian.

"Palmer just called, she'll be here in a few minutes," Kevin told her, sighing heavily. "Do you want to go get Nick?"

Tara stared at Kevin for a moment, considering the question. Yes, she did, but….she didn't think she could handle hearing him yell at her to get away again. Not after everything, god…he'd said he'd loved her. She hadn't thought about that very much in the last day, but now, in the shower, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. She wondered if he still did. "I don't know if I should."

"You better than anyone," AJ said, smiling weakly at her. "He trusts you, that much is clear."

"He trusts all of you too," she pointed out, looking around the room at them. "And you guys didn't have to…." She bit her lip hard, not able to finish the sentence.

"Oh." Kevin sighed, and nodded. "Brian, will you go?"

Brian looked from Kevin to Tara in confusion, having not been in the room when Tara found Nick, he hadn't seen everything that had transpired. "Sure, I guess." He got up and knocked on the bedroom door, opening it slowly and disappearing inside.

"While Brian's in there, I guess I should tell you," AJ turned to Tara, a sad expression on his face. "He put up Brian's bit."

Tara just looked at AJ dimly, feeling as if it wouldn't be possible for her to get any more upset, any more afraid, than she already was. "And?"

"It was 'maybe your faith is gone,' and that Brian should make sure he 'truly' knows those around him," AJ sighed. "Does that make any sense to you?"

Tara shook her head slowly, "what song of yours is that?"

"It's True," Howie said, frowning. "Kevin, we really need to cancel the rest of the tour, this is getting nuts…"

"I talked to Palmer about it this morning, and she said no," Kevin said firmly. "We're more of a target at home."

"We're gonna BE home next weekend, with or without the tour," AJ reminded him. "We play Orlando, remember?"

"We're not staying at our houses, though," Kevin said.

"We're not?" AJ's eyes widened, and he shook his head rapidly. "Oh no fucking way, man, I'm going HOME, I miss my dogs, my bed…"

"It's not safe," Kevin interrupted. "We're all staying in a hotel."

"In ORLANDO?" Howie said in disbelief. "This is bullshit, Kevin!"

"This is what we have to do."

"I still say we cancel," Howie insisted. "So we don't go home, we all go away somewhere. How the hell is Nicky supposed to get up on stage and perform like….like…"

"He will," Kevin said bluntly. "He has to. We're off tonight, and he will be fine tomorrow night."

"HOW?" AJ stared at Kevin, his eyes wide. "Kevin, Nick was RAPED, do you get that? He needs some time to himself, not on stage with thousands of girls expecting him to sing and dance and be normal!"

"Nick needs…"

"Why don't you let ME be the judge of what I need?" Nick interrupted, walking out of the bedroom with Brian's support.

"Oh, Nicky," AJ breathed, wincing at his own loud mouth. "I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to hear…"

"Forget it," Nick hobbled over to a chair, sitting down carefully. "I heard."

"Your face," Howie's eyes widened as he looked at the bruises on Nick's cheeks. "You were hit?"

Nick shrugged. "Among other things."

"We didn't see them hit you," AJ frowned.

Nick's eyes widened, and he looked at AJ in confusion. "What do you mean, you didn't see?"

"The camera, we didn't see them hit you…"

"Yes we did, in the stomach, they sucker punched him," Howie interrupted AJ with a wave. "I remember."

Nick's face turned green, as he turned to stare at Howie. "What do you mean, you saw?" He asked slowly.

"There was a camera in the room, Nick, didn't you know?" Kevin asked softly, his own eyes widening when Nick's face crumpled. "Oh god, you didn't know…"

"You saw…everything?" Nick looked at Kevin in horror, before turning away, staring at the floor in front of him. "Oh god."

"We didn't want to see, Nicky, but we had to…" Kevin tried to explain, but Nick waved him off angrily. "It was online, we had to see!"

"On line," Nick repeated, his shoulders slumping. "Where online?"

"It was on his website," Tara said softly. "He had a webcam."

"So the whole fucking world saw?" Nick's voice took on a harsh tone, and he looked up to glare at Tara. "Your goddamn website let the whole WORLD see me?"

Tara stared at Nick for a moment, before bowing her head. "I'm sorry, Nicky."

"Yeah, so am I," Nick replied.

"Hey Nick," Agent Palmer picked that moment to walk into the room, smiling lightly at the group. "Ready to tell us what happened yesterday?"

Nick looked at her dully, before rolling his eyes. "Sure. This can't get any worse, now, can it?"

Palmer replied with a soft chuckle. "Nick, don't ever say that. Because, well, sure it can."

And it would.

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

"How long can she talk to him?" Kevin paced back and forth impatiently, kicking at the carpet. Agent Palmer had thrown the group out of the room when Nick had started to cry, saying that he would have an easier time telling her what happened without them there. So now they could only wait, and wonder what he was telling her.

"Nick's face is a mess, do you think they beat him?" Howie asked softly.

"Sure looks like they did," Brian said sadly. He looked at Tara curiously, his eyes narrowed. "You look like you were a little beaten too…"

Tara shrugged. "It's nothing."

"It's a shiner," AJ told her with a small grin. "Been boxing?"

"Nick, she explained, touching the bruise on her face. "He didn't mean to…"

"Damn," AJ shook his head. "You know Nick would never intentionally hit you…"

"I know," she interrupted him with a wave. "He was sleeping, he had a nightmare."

"Gotcha." AJ sighed, and turned to Kevin, a sad expression on his face. "So, Kev, we still haven't finished talking about what we're gonna do…"

"Do with what?" Brian asked, looking at AJ curiously. "Tour's still on, we decided that."

"Not the tour," AJ said sadly. "About Nick."

Howie's eyes widened, and he stared at AJ. "What do you mean, about Nick? He's going to be fine!"

"Not that," AJ shook his head rapidly. "About what happened. The chatroom, I was in there, the girls saw. They're still questioning if they really saw Nick, but one girl took captures, and was sending them around…the whole story will be out in no time."

"I think we should speak with Palmer, have her work up a statement for the press, leave it at that," Kevin said slowly. "None of us need to talk about it, and certainly not Nick."

"We're finally going to admit that some psycho is after us? That's something, at least," AJ grumbled. "About time we stopped pretending everything was dandy."

"Something like that," Kevin said, sitting down with a heavy sigh. "I wish we could keep what happened to Nick out of it completely, but…you said those girls are pretty sure?"

AJ nodded, "they were looking at his tattoos."

"Webcam images aren't that clear," Tara frowned. "How in the world could they have a good enough picture to make out his tattoos? We couldn't, on the image we were seeing."

"What?" AJ stared at her in confusion.

"If those pictures that these girls have are clear enough that they can see Nick's tattoos, they were taken with another camera," Tara explained. "Webcams just don't take good enough pictures for that."

"What was the nickname of the girl who had the captures?" Kevin asked, his eyes growing wide.

AJ gasped, and shook his head slowly, "I don't know, I wasn't paying attention to their nicknames, I couldn't believe she had pictures!"

"Think, AJ, that could have been one of them!" Howie told him, sitting down next to him and patting his head. "Use those dead brain cells."

"Oh, bite me," AJ shrugged off Howie's hand, before sighing. "I don't know. All those nicknames look the same to me…it's bonebaby this, and kaos that, broks lover, I don't know. Gibberish."

"Dammit," Kevin muttered.

"Hey," Agent Palmer stuck her head in the door, gesturing to them all to remain seated. "I'm taking Nick to the hospital. We'll be back in a few hours, I just didn't want you all to worry."

"To the hospital?" Brian stood up, his face conveying his alarm. "Why? What happened? Is Nick ok?"

"He'll be fine," Palmer looked behind her into the hallway, before stepping into the room, and closing the door behind her. "He's just, um," she looked at everyone's worried faces, and sighed. "he's still in a great deal of pain, and, well, a little hysterical at the moment."

"Hysterical? What the fuck did you do to him?" Kevin stormed towards the door, but she raised a hand, warning him off.

"I'm going to get Nick some proper medical treatment, like he should have had last night," she glared at Tara angrily. "He'll be better off in the long run for it."

"I'm coming with you," Brian stood up and walked to her, staring at her expectantly when she didn't move. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

"I really think it's best if none of you come," Palmer said slowly. "He is all too aware of what you saw last night, and rather humiliated by it. I didn't see him, which makes me the best person for him to speak with right now."

Kevin's face was flushed red with anger, as he glared at her. "I'm sure you will understand, Agent Palmer," he spat out the name. "That under the circumstances, we do not want Nick going ANYWHERE without someone we trust going with him."

"I will be with him," Palmer said with a shrug.

Kevin just stared at her, his green eyes cold. "Yes. As I said. Someone we trust will go with him."

Palmer took a step back, finally realizing what Kevin was saying. "I am a member of the FBI, how dare you suggest…"

"Look, I know you mean well, but you haven't been so much help to Nicky so far, ok? Brian's going with you, and that's all there is to it," Kevin said firmly, giving Brian a push towards the door. "We'll see you when you get back."

"Fine," Palmer held the door open for Brian. "We will see you later, then."

"Bitch," AJ hissed as the door closed. "Where the hell does she get off? She gets Nick all hysterical, and then tells us that SHE'S the best person for him to be with right now? My ass…."

"Bone, calm down," Kevin sighed, rolling his eyes at AJ's dramatics.

"No I won't fucking calm down!" AJ stood up and began pacing the room, shaking his head angrily. "How do we know she's not part of this? Or that she's taking advantage of this situation to put the moves on Nick? This is just wrong, Kevin, and I don't like it one bit."

"She's an FBI agent," Howie said softly.

"So? They get horny too," AJ shot back.

Tara shuddered, and stared at the floor in front of her, not able to listen to AJ's rants about Palmer hooking up with Nick. Nick had said that he loved HER, and she, god…she loved Nick….she figured she must, why else would she be such a mess right now, all because of how much he was hurting? She wanted to turn back time, and make it all better. Back before this crazy thing ever started, before she ever saw that person in chat for the first time. So WHAT if she met Nick because of it, this wasn't worth it! Not when he hurt like this….

"Tara?" Kevin sat down next to her, looking at her closely. "You ok? You kinda zoned out on us there."

Tara looked up at him, startled, and smiled weakly. "Just thinking."

"Thinking what?"

"Nothing important."

"I think we should eat," Howie offered, grabbing a room service menu and throwing it at AJ. "We got a while until Nicky gets back."

Kevin groaned, "Howie, only you could think about food right now."

"Hey, a man's gotta eat, right?" Howie shrugged, and waved to the menu. "Come on, we got a long night ahead of us. Look. Eat."

"Fine, we'll eat."

***

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