Chapter 37

"Oh god, Nick," Kevin gasped in horror, as he began to crawl towards the blonde on the floor, dragging his broken leg behind him.

Jessica started laughing, and quickly maneuvered herself in front of Kevin, bending down to wave the gun in his face. "Nope, Kevin, don't move. Although," she turned around to look at Nick, shaking her head. "This is classic."

"Isn't it?" Tommy replied, walking into the room and stepping over Nick. "He just showed up here, all on his own. Too good to be true."

"Nick," Tara whispered, tears filling her eyes as she stared at him. "He's not moving."

"I do think that's what happens when you're DEAD," Tommy answered evenly, walking over to the table and picking up his knife.

"Oh god," Tara cried, cursing her own body for being so useless. "He can't be…"

"Sure looks to me like he is," Jessica remarked, kicking Nick with her foot. When he didn't move, she shrugged. "Dead as a doornail."

"You'll never get away with this," Kevin hissed, squirming away as Tommy walked towards him with the knife.

"Sure I will," Tommy replied, grabbing Kevin by his shoulder and lifting him into a seating position. "Now, how exactly are we going to do this," he bit his lip, looking Kevin over. "I had been thinking we'd just take your shorts off, but given, this," he touched Kevin's broken leg, smirking when the older man screamed in pain. "It'd just be easier to cut them off."

"Sure," Jessica agreed. "What should I do with her?" She gestured to Tara, who was shivering from head to toe, her eyes still firmly fixed on Nick.

"Make her watch this, not blondie," Tommy ordered. He rolled his eyes when Jessica walked to Tara with the gun, "not with that, idiot, you shoot her, she's dead. Get the knife."

"Ok," Jessica put the gun back on the table, and grabbed the knife. She sat down on the floor next to Tara, running the blade across the gauze on her cheek. "You're all bashed up, aren't you, Tara," she remarked, slicing through the gauze and pulling it off. "Oh, look at that," she laughed, touching the stitches running down her cheek. "That's gonna leave a scar."

Tara tried to pull her head away from Jessica's grasp, but the other woman grabbed her around the neck, holding her in place.

"You won't be so pretty now, will you," Jessica smirked, tracing her finger across the black stitches. "Although I guess Nick won't be around to care."

"Will you stop it, and pay attention?" Tommy barked, glaring at Jessica. "We have a PLAN here?"

"Well, the plan just went to shit anyway, didn't it?" Jessica snapped, gesturing to Nick. "Not to mention, did you look at his hands? You got HIM with that bomb too."

"You're the one who put it in there, idiot," Tommy retorted. "So what, he couldn't hit me with the bandages on his hands, all worked out for the best."

Kevin watched in amazement at the two quarreling, unable to believe these two people had managed to wreak such havoc on his life. Not when they were clearly such idiots themselves…

"Just shut up and kill him," Jessica groaned, yanking Tara's head around so she was looking at Kevin. "I want to hurry up and get to Howie."

"You will, I promised you would," Tommy replied, bending down and kneeling on Kevin's chest. He looked into Kevin's eyes and grinned, "I always keep my promises."

"Bastard," Kevin hissed. "Whatever we did to you, it doesn't justify this."

"Oh, it justifies this, and so much more," Tommy replied, sliding off of Kevin to run the knife along his hip. "Here we go now," he slipped the knife underneath the waist of Kevin's shorts, yanking up and cutting them along the seam.

"STOP IT!" Tara shouted, screaming when Jessica slammed her head into the wall.

"Won't you just shut up?" Jessica asked in annoyance, waving the knife in front of her face. "You're already bleeding pretty bad, you want more?"

Tara looked down at her stomach, gasping when she realized she was, indeed, bleeding through her shirt. "No," she mumbled, shaking her head. Funny, she didn't even feel pain anymore, not really, just…god…Nick couldn't be dead.

"Then shut up and watch." Jessica relaxed her grip on Tara's head as she turned around to watch Tommy continue to cut open Kevin's shorts.

Tara's eyes returned to Nick, and she gasped when she saw his head raise to look at her. "Nicky," she whispered, crying out when Jess returned the knife to her stomach for her comment.

"I told you to shut the fuck up!" Jessica said angrily, pushing the tip of the knife into Tara's belly. "I really have no desire to kill you, but jesus christ…."

"Stop that, Jess, I told you, she's almost dead as is, I need her alive for this," Tommy looked up from Kevin to glare at Jessica.

Nick's face contorted when he heard Tommy's words, and he stared at Tara, tears filling his eyes. Slowly, he lifted a finger to his mouth, signaling to Tara to remain quiet.

Tara nodded, her eyes wide as she watched Nick. "Hurry," she mouthed, gesturing with her chin towards Kevin.

Nick nodded, and mouthed, "I'm sorry," before slowly sliding along the floor towards the table. His movements were sluggish, and he had to stop every few inches to lower his head to the floor, fighting for breath.

Tommy removed Kevin's shorts and sat back, admiring his work. He'd cut Kevin a little bit in the process, but for the most part, he was very proud of what he'd done. "Now this is going to be a little trickier," he slid the knife underneath the waistband of Kevin's underwear, ripping the silk with one quick yank.

Kevin's eyes were dark with fear, and he was silent as he watched Tommy continue to work over him.

Tara watched as Nick reached the table, holding her breath, watching him struggle to reach up and grab the gun. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him fall over, without the strength to fully extend his arm to the tabletop. Oh god, please let him do this, she prayed. She looked at Jessica and Tommy, and please god, don't let them see him…

Kevin groaned when he felt his underwear yanked away from his skin, staring at the ceiling as he resigned himself to his fate.

"And here we have, lil Kevin, in all his glory," Tommy remarked, touching his finger to the tip of him. "I remember this fondly," he laughed, his eyes glinting when Kevin's hips tried to move away from him. "No, Kev, you're not going anywhere."

"Just do it, and get it over with," Kevin said softly, closing his eyes as a tear rolled down his face. "You may get me, but you'll never get the rest of them."

"Right," Tommy snickered, driving the tip of the knife into the top of Kevin's tattoo. "And who's going to stop me?" He asked, as he began to pull the knife downward, as promised, carving out the characters printed in Kevin's skin.

"I AM," Nick growled, raising himself to his knees and firing the gun at Tommy. He watched as the man went sprawling to the ground, and struggled to push himself to his feet, unable to fire again from angle he was at on the floor.

"Drop the fucking gun, or your girlfriend dies," Jessica shouted, grabbing Tara's head and pulling it into her lap. She tried to remove the knife from where it was held by Tara's stomach, but found Tara's hand holding it in place, and herself locked in a tug of war with her.

"Let her go," Nick hissed, standing up and swaying awkwardly on his feet. He turned around to look at Tommy, frowning when the man moved. "Get the knife, Kevin," he ordered, watching as Kevin grabbed the knife from his pelvis, holding it tight between his hands.

"No," Jessica replied, still trying to regain control of the knife. How Tara could have so much energy, when she was clearly so injured, was beyond her…

"You do, and I won't kill Tommy," Nick said evenly, leveling the gun at the figure squirming on the floor.

Jessica laughed, "you think I care about HIM? Shoot him."

"Don't do that, Nick," Kevin said, shaking his head. "He's close enough as is, but you don't want to do that…"

"Watch me," Nick cocked the gun, and held it over Tommy, waiting for Jessica to react. "I'm gonna do it!" He shouted, his hand trembling as he pointed the gun.

"You can't kill him," Jessica mocked. "Such a little pretty boy, without the guts to kill."

"What happened to your promise, Nick?" Tommy groaned, rolling over onto his back to look up at Nick. "You can't kill me."

Tara threw her body into Jessica's, taking the knife and rolling away from her. "SHOOT HER!" She screamed, followed by a dull cry of pain as she stopped moving.

Nick whirled around and fired, watching as Jessica slumped against the wall, a red spot growing in her chest. He fell to the ground and dropped the gun, staring at Tara. "Baby? Are you ok?"

Tara lay on her back with the knife imbedded in her stomach, and she looked at Nick sadly, as her body shook. "I don't think so," she groaned, reaching a hand out to him.

"It's over, baby, we're gonna get you help now," Nick crawled over to Tara, running a hand along the side of her face. "Just hang in there, it's all over."

"You're alive," Tara began to cry, turning her head into his hand. "I can't believe we did it…"

"KEVIN! NICK!" A scream was heard from upstairs, followed by a loud crash, and the sound of splintering wood.

"We're down here!" Kevin shouted as strongly as he could, sitting up to look at the slash Tommy had given him. "Oh shit," he felt his head spin, and fell back down, pressing his hand to the bloody spot.

Brian ran into the room, followed by AJ, skidding to a stop when he saw the bodies sprawled around the floor. "Oh holy god," he gasped, running to Kevin and touching his shoulder. "Kevin, talk to me, please…"

"I'm ok, cuz," Kevin said softly, reaching out to touch his cousin. "I'm ok."

"Nick?" AJ fell to his knees next to Nick and Tara, staring at them in horror. "What the hell happened here?"

"She needs an ambulance," Nick was lying on the floor next to Tara, his hand over her chest. "She really needs an ambulance," he repeated, his eyes fluttering as he struggled to stay conscious.

"So do you, I think," AJ replied, before screaming for the FBI to get an ambulance, fuck, to get three, and NOW.

"Holy shit," Andy finally made it into the room after all of the FBI ran in, and looked around, his eyes wide. He gasped when he saw Jessica's body against the far wall, and covered his mouth with his hand, shaking his head. "You know, Bone, if this is the life of a Backstreet Boy, you can keep it," he said wryly.

"Shut up," AJ shot back, rolling his eyes at Andy's remark. "Come here and help your friend."

Andy's eyes fell on Tara, and his knees buckled, as he walked to her. "Tara? Baby?"

"She passed out," Nick told him weakly, turning to AJ. "She's gonna be ok though, right?"

"You're all gonna be ok," AJ reassured Nick. "You'll all be ok."

Andy took one more look around the room, shaking his head slowly. He mumbled, "this isn't really happening," before his hand went to his head, and he slid to the floor in a dead faint.

Well, he'd always said he would pass out the first time he saw AJ. So he did.

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

Tara snuggled into the arms holding her tight, and smiled, pressing a kiss to Nick's chest. "Morning," she whispered, opening her eyes to look at him.

"Good morning," Nick's blue eyes opened, and he looked down at her, his heart soaring at the expression on her face. "God, it's morning, and you're still here," he said in awe, tangling a hand through her hair.

"I'm not going anywhere, Nicky," she replied, sliding an arm across his waist to hold him tight. She had spent the last two weeks in the hospital recovering from the stab wound that had nearly killed her, but now she was out, and didn't intend to ever go back in again. They'd all spent a fair amount of time in the hospital, Nick recovering from his concussion, and the ribs he'd broken falling down the stairs, and Kevin, for his broken leg and stab wound. Even Andy had spent a night in the hospital, he'd banged his head pretty hard when he'd passed out, something that had completely humiliated him. But hey, AJ had visited him in the hospital, so that made it all right… The tour had been postponed until everyone was back at full strength, and the mess that had been created by Jessica and Tommy fully dealt with.

And what a mess it had been. The press had gone wild with the story, Nick Carter shooting his two captors, saving the lives of Kevin and Tara in the process was too juicy a story for anyone to turn down. As the days had progressed, the entire story had leaked out down to the most miniscule detail, after all, it was something out of a movie, and the fact that it had happened to the Backstreet Boys just made it all that much better. Jessica and Tommy were both charged with a slew of offenses, and had been moved to jail after doing some time in the hospital recovering from their gunshot wounds. The Backstreet tour would be postponed until after their trial, as every member of the group would be required to appear, having more than enough stories to tell of the hell they'd been put through.

Tara's old company had even publicly announced that they had made a mistake in firing her, and understood she was only trying to do the right thing by telling the group about the threats. What else COULD they do, after she nearly died trying to save them. As of yet, Tara had yet to give them an answer, but she was pretty positive that answer would be no. After all, there was only one place she wanted to be these days…

"I love you so much," Nick said softly, placing a delicate kiss on Tara's lips.

"I love you too," she replied, curling a hand through his hair.

"You know, we haven't talked about something yet," Nick remarked, pulling away slightly to look into her eyes.

"What's that?" She asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Your job," Nick said lightly, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tightly against him. "You're not gonna take it back, are you?"

"I can't, Nick," Tara shook her head against his chest, laughing when he giggled from the movement. "So ticklish," she kissed him, before continuing. "I don't ever want to feel that helpless again."

"Well, you know, we have a job opening on our tour, whenever that starts again," Nick said slyly, grinning down at her.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. We kinda need a webmaster for the tour," he smiled, and kissed her forehead. "Know anyone who's qualified for the position? Our old webmaster, she's kind of," he laughed. "Detained."

Tara's eyes widened, and she looked at him in astonishment. "Me?"

"You're qualified, aren't you?" Nick replied, laughing at her surprise. "And you'd get to tour with us."

"Oh my god! Yes!" Tara squealed, rolling over on top of him and kissing him deeply. "Like you really had to ask? Of course!"

"Just thought I'd check," Nick smiled at her, and cupped her face in his hands, pulling her back down for another kiss. "Now, can we stop talking, and do something else?"

"And what something is that?" Tara asked with a smirk, grinding her hips down on him.

"Something we've been able to do far too little of," Nick replied breathlessly, sliding his hands down her body to cup her rear. He pulled her firmly down against him, and grinned. "Gotta make up for lost time, you know."

"You got it, Carter," Tara replied, smiling when he moaned under her. "As I said, I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, baby, actually, you're going everywhere," Nick corrected, grinning when she wrinkled her nose at him. "You're just gonna go everywhere with me."

"Anywhere, everywhere, as long as you're there, I don't care," Tara said, before laughing loudly. "Hey, that rhymed!"

"Next thing you know, you're gonna be writing song lyrics."

"You know, Nick, I'll be quite happy if I don't hear any more lyrics for a long time," Tara replied softly, a solemn expression crossing her face.

"Yeah," Nick nodded, before rolling her over in bed, crawling on top of her. "No lyrics. Just music," he kissed her deeply, and smiled. "We can make that music ourselves."

And together, they made beautiful music.

No lyrics needed.

***

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