Chapter 31

The next morning, Tara awoke to the feeling of a hand gently rubbing over her back. She opened her eyes and smiled, seeing Nick watching her closely. "Morning," she said softly, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Morning," Nick replied, bending down to kiss her lightly. "You snore," he remarked with a small giggle.

"Oh, shut up," she laughed, shaking her head. "What are you doing awake, anyway? Didn't you sleep?"

"Well, it's morning, so it makes sense that I would be awake," Nick told her, gesturing to the light streaming in the windows.

"Did you sleep, though?" She asked, her expression growing serious.

Nick shrugged, and got out of bed, stretching his arms in the air. "Somewhat," he replied, fighting back a yawn.

"Nick," Tara stood up and hugged him from behind, pressing a kiss to his back. "You need to sleep."

"I slept more than I've slept in a while, isn't that something?" He shrugged off her arms and walked into the main room of the suite, grabbing the room service menu off of a table. "Want breakfast?"

Tara's eyes widened, and she grinned. "Hungry?"

"Yes," he replied, returning her grin. "I feel like I haven't eaten in ages."

"Probably because you haven't," she laughed. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Don't you want?"

"Order me something, I don't care."

"Ok." Nick examined the menu closely, before picking up the phone and ordering.

An hour later, Nick and Tara were freshly showered, and surrounded by empty room service trays. Nick was slumped down in a chair, his hand over his stomach. "I don't feel so good," he mumbled with a groan.

"Aww, poor Nicky," Tara said soothingly. "You didn't eat for so long, it's no wonder your tummy has issues with the amount you just plowed through."

"Yeah, well, I was hungry," he grumbled.

"Come here," Tara grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the couch, pushing him down and snuggling up against him. She slid a hand under his shirt and rubbed his stomach slowly, gently pressing on the soft skin. "Feel any better?"

"Still hurts," Nick pouted, looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

Tara fought back a laugh at the expression on Nick's face, and bent down, kissing his stomach. "My mom always said, kiss it, and you'll make it all better."

"Lower."

Tara did laugh that time, and she sat up, making a face at him. "Well, yes, Nick, I imagine that would make you feel better."

"Much better," he grinned. "But you can keep rubbing my tummy too."

"That I can do," she said, smiling at him as her hand continued to run circles over his stomach.

"We gotta talk anyway," Nick said slowly, biting his lip. "I want to know what you meant about Jessica."

"What I meant? I think she may be behind all of this."

"But why, I mean. You said she has a better reason than Andy. What's that?"

"Oh," Tara made a face, and sighed. "Well, she's said some pretty mean things to me about you guys, about how much you keep stuff private, stuff like that."

"We are pretty private, that's not mean," Nick gave a start when Tara's hand stopped moving, and shook his head. "Don't stop," he mumbled, smiling at her.

"Someone likes having their tummy rubbed, do they?" Tara said teasingly, leaning over and kissing him lightly.

"My tummy hurts," Nick replied, following up his answer with another pout. "See? Pain face."

"Cute face," she retorted, kissing him again. "But fine, forget the fact that my hand's falling asleep." She resumed her strokes across his stomach, laughing when Nick let out a contented moan.

"So what did Jessica say that was mean?" Nick asked, reminding her of their topic of conversation.

"Well, for one, she asked me if you'd hit me yet," Tara said cautiously.

Nick's eyes widened, and he looked at her, his brow wrinkling. "What?"

"She said you have one hell of a temper, and I should be careful."

Nick stared at her for a moment, before frowning. "You know I'd never hit you, don't you?"

Tara nodded, "don't worry, Nick, it's not like I'm taking anything she said seriously."

"Yes, I have a temper, and yeah, I guess I've gotten in a few fights in my life, but jesus," Nick made a face. "I would never, EVER hit a woman. Especially not someone I was in love with."

"I know, Nick," Tara said softly, bending down and kissing his stomach. "Feeling better yet?"

"Getting there," he smiled. "Just don't stop. What else did she say?"

"Not what she said, Andy said," Tara bit her lip, and sighed. "But he made me promise not to tell you."

"Why not?" Nick asked in astonishment. "You can tell me anything!"

"Because…." Tara's voice trailed off, and her hand stopped moving along Nick's stomach as she considered the ramifications of telling him.

"Tara," Nick's hand covered hers on his stomach, and he squeezed it lightly. "You can tell me."

"It's about one of the guys, though."

"Who'd she sleep with?" Nick asked, a harsh tone to his voice.

Tara's eyes widened, "what?"

"It has to be that," he sighed, and let her hand go, shaking his head. "We're not supposed to get involved with staff, that's a pretty serious offense, in management's opinion."

"Oh."

"So who?" Nick's eyes narrowed when she didn't reply, and he bent down to stare into her eyes. "He didn't say she slept with ME, did she? Because, I swear to god baby, I never, EVER…"

"No!" Tara interrupted, laughing at Nick's vehement argument. "I know, I know."

"Who, then? AJ? Howie?" Nick gasped, and shook his head angrily, "oh god, don't tell me she slept with Brian or Kevin, they're fucking married…"

Tara sighed, "Howie. But it's more than she just slept with him, from what Andy said. It sounds like she really fell for him, but he wanted to keep it quiet, and she got hurt."

"Of course he wanted to keep it quiet, she would have been off the tour if anyone found out," Nick said angrily, rolling his eyes. "Doesn't she understand that?"

"I didn't exactly ask her about it."

"Goddamn, Howie," Nick said softly, running a hand through his hair. "We gotta talk to him."

"No! Nick, please, no," Tara said quickly, shaking her head. "Andy said you'd kill Howie if you found out, please don't do that!"

"I'm not gonna kill him, although, fuck, how stupid could he have been," Nick said, frowning deeply. "But we need to know his side of things, if this really is her."

"I guess," Tara said softly.

"We're all heading to the hospital in a few, but maybe later, after we bring Brian back?" Nick thought out loud, before letting out a groan. "Dammit, Howie!"

"Nick…"

He sighed, and nodded. "I know, I can't blame Howie, not if Gayle is still involved with this. THAT is all my fault."

"You can't blame yourself for that, either."

"Sure I can. Even Jessica knew I had a temper," Nick said angrily. "And why? Because I've taken a swing at someone just one too many times in my life."

"If this IS Jessica and Gayle, you couldn't have known Gayle would have gone overboard anymore than Howie could have known Jess would have," Tara said firmly. "Not to mention, I don't know what the deal is with this Gayle guy, if he'd been with Kevin before you, surely he knew you were in a group with Kevin. Did he ever mention it to you?"

Nick's eyes narrowed, and he shook his head slowly. "I never thought about that….no."

"So what was Gayle's agenda, then?"

"He said he was in love with me," he said softly. "I believed him."

"Maybe he was," Tara said, resuming her hand's movements over Nick's stomach. "Or maybe he was out for something else."

"What?"

"What he's getting now. Revenge."

"Against Kevin?"

"Maybe. His target just grew larger, and he got help."

"Maybe," Nick said doubtfully. "Maybe."

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

"How are you feeling?" Kevin asked, handing Brian a glass of water.

Brian smiled wryly, and shifted on the couch. He'd been discharged from the hospital just hours before, and had immediately returned to the hotel, his exhaustion apparent to everyone. "Been better."

"You gave all of us a scare," Kevin said softly, sitting down next to his cousin and looking at him closely. "I can't believe he got so close…"

"It's like he knows our schedule," AJ said angrily. "We're off tonight, we were off last night, and Brian will be ok to perform tomorrow night. Despite everything that's been going on, we've never missed a show. Pretty strange timing, isn't it?"

"Nice coincidence," Howie said softly.

"I don't think it's a coincidence at all," Nick said, sitting down across from Brian. He pulled Tara into his arms before continuing, "Tara thinks she knows who one of the people is doing this, and I think she's right."

"I heard Palmer took you in for questioning," Kevin looked at Tara, his eyes conveying no emotion at all. "I'm assuming she didn't find any answers, or else you wouldn't be here now."

"Tara didn't do this!" Nick said emphatically, glaring at Kevin. "How could you even think…"

"I don't know what to think anymore, Nick, a fucking priest poisoned my cousin!" Kevin shouted back, gesturing at Brian. "How the hell could that have happened?"

"We know how that happened," AJ said firmly.

"You know what I mean, Bone."

"Who do you think is doing this?" Howie asked, looking at Nick curiously.

Nick turned to look at Howie, and sighed. "Jessica."

Howie sat back in his seat, his face turning white. "Jessica?" He asked in a shaky voice. "Why her?"

"Who's Jessica?" AJ asked, frowning at Howie. "And what's with you?"

"Ask Howie," Nick said angrily.

"Fuck," Howie cursed, running a hand through his hair. "She's unstable, yes, but, goddamn, you really think?"

"She said some stuff to Tara, and she has access to us," Nick explained. "Not to mention…you…"

"That was nearly a year ago," Howie said, shaking his head. "You really think so?"

"WHAT was nearly a year ago?" Kevin asked, staring at Howie. When the other man didn't reply, Kevin groaned, rolling his eyes. "Shit, Howie, you didn't…"

"You fucked her?" AJ asked, disbelief written all over his face. "She works for us, man, you know better!"

"Must you be so crude, AJ," Howie grumbled, making a face. "I genuinely cared about her, for a while there."

"But…."

"But, she's not the most stable of people, as I said. Things fell apart."

"And yet you still see her everyday here, and she's fine with that," AJ said doubtfully.

"I thought she was, yes."

"According to Andy, Jessica was in love with you," Tara said softly. "She was supposedly really hurt when you broke it off."

Howie sighed, "yeah. So she said."

"There's motive, and access," Kevin said, shooting a glare at Howie before continuing. "What's Palmer say?"

"Palmer thinks Tara did this," Nick said with a frown. "We need to find proof that this is Jessica before telling Palmer, otherwise she'll think this is just Tara making stuff up. Which she's not," he added firmly.

"So what do we do?" Brian asked softly. When everyone turned to stare at him, he laughed, "look, I'm tired, but I'm fine, you heard the doctor."

"Yeah, but you should take it easy for a while," Kevin insisted. "Let us play detective."

"Right, because getting up on stage tomorrow night is going to be very relaxing," Brian said sarcastically. "Let me help."

"I think we need to keep a very close eye on Jessica from now on," Kevin said, ignoring Brian's comment. "Where does she go, who does she talk to, all that kind of stuff."

"We'll be in LA tomorrow, she lives there, it might not be so easy," Howie said, frowning.

"You know where she lives?"

"Sure."

"Then we watch her."

Howie snorted, "what are we, detectives?"

"Looks like it, D."

Nick looked at Tara, and grinned. "Ok, so we may not have gotten Agent Scully in the first place, but it looks like I get to play Mulder. Wanna be my Scully now?"

Tara laughed, and kissed Nick. "For you, Nicky, I'll be anything."

***

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