Chapter 30:

 

Moving On

 

After his reconciliation with Brian, Nick threw himself into his physical therapy.  Nothing was going to stop him now. He and Brian were back to spending all of their time together, and causing general hell for the orderlies and PTs that worked with them. On one occasion they snuck into their break room and creatively rearranged all of their belongings, moving purses and bags all around the room. They also enjoyed wreaking havoc during therapy. In one particular session, Brian, as usual, had joined Nick and his therapist, a young woman named Audrey. In the middle of one of their exercises, Nick stopped cold and began to stare at her.

 

“Nick?” she asked anxiously. “What’s wrong?”  His reply came in the form of a completely deadpan expression.

 

“Am I original?” he asked, his voice low and husky. His bright blue eyes bore directly into her. She blinked in surprise at the question and looked over to Brian for help, only to find that he was wearing an identical look.

 

“I-I don’t know,” she stammered. “Sure. You are very original Nick.”

 

“Am I the only one?” Brian asked, sounding desperate and needy.

 

Audrey looked back and forth between the two of them, completely baffled. “What the…Brian, are you ok?” They had both gone off their rockers.

 

“Am I sexual?” Nick said seductively, leaning in towards her just slightly.

 

What?”

 

“Am I everything you need?” they said together, still speaking with that same eerie voice.

 

A.J. passed them at that moment, reading a sheet of paper. Without even looking up, he finished for them. “You’d better rock your body now.”

 

Realization dawned on her, and she gave her patients a dark look. “Funny,” she said flatly. “Very amusing.”

 

“You know you love us,” Nick said cheekily.

 

*    *    *

 

About three days after Brian and Nick made up, A.J. found them in the gym with a basketball. Nick had been freed of his crutches, and was trying to get along without them. Unfortunately, he was terrified of trusting his own legs to carry him, and wasn’t making the progress his therapists wanted him to. Brian had taken it upon himself to try and take his mind off of his fear by challenging him to a game of Gimp Basketball. A.J. gaped as he watched them mess around the court, shooting baskets (missing most of them) and hobbling around after loose balls. The entire time they hollered insults at each other, pointing and laughing as one or the other screwed up, and having a blast with their utter failure to play their favorite sport. Every now and then, A.J. caught words of encouragement, as each tried to get the other to do their best. To his delight, Nick gradually seemed to forget he had ever been so dependant on crutches, as he became more and more sure of himself. His confidence grew before their very eyes. A.J. smiled at the sight.

 

“Frick and Frack,” he murmured to himself. 

 

*     *     *

 

During the last few days of their stay in San Antonio, Brian sat everyone down to talk. They had been content to let events unfold without questioning, and it was time to acknowledge a few things.

 

“Okay everybody, I have something I need to share with all of you. Howie knows about this, because he was the one who was there when I came back after… sightseeing.”

 

Nick shifted uncomfortably, but Brian went on.

 

“I’ve kept what happened to me that day kinda quiet, but now I am going to show you what brought me back. As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t going to come back. The only thing I wanted was to get as far away as possible. I discovered though, that no matter how far I got, I couldn’t get away from what I was running from, because it was right in front of me.” A.J. reached over and put a supportive hand on his shoulder. Brian smiled at him briefly before getting up to drop a CD into the small stereo nearby, and selected a track. The chords for “Somewhere Someday” began to play, and A.J., Kevin, and Nick carefully listened to it.

 

“Hey, this is ‘NSYNC,” A.J. observed.

 

“Yes it is. Listen to the words.”

 

When the song was done, there was silence.

 

“Oh man,” Kevin said finally. “I can’t believe how perfect that is.”

 

“I couldn’t either,” Brian replied. “I just wanted to share this with y’all, because for me it made the difference.”

 

“You bet,” A.J. said quietly. “I think we all needed that.” He hummed for a moment, and then echoed the words that were in everyone’s minds.

 

Let this bring you peace…”

 

*     *     *

 

When the time came for Kevin to go back to the hospital to remove the rod from his leg, a little of the anticipation he had felt before was gone. Now that things seemed to be going so well for all five of them, there just didn’t seem to be as much to worry about. They were all optimistic and upbeat. In fact, the day after Kevin’s surgery, the other four were scheduled for a private interview for MTV. It was their first appearance since the press conference a while back, and Nick’s first appearance period. It was also their last day in San Antonio; after Kevin was released they were going to fly back to Orlando.

 

All four were present when Kevin went into surgery and when he came out. It went smoothly, and no complications were anticipated.

 

“Is he going to have any problems with that leg after all of this?”

 

“Nope,” the doctor replied. “After enough physical therapy to build the muscle back up and get back in shape, you won’t notice a difference.”

 

*     *     *

 

John Norris of MTV greeted the four Boys as he was brought in for the interview. The physical remnants of what they had endured had nearly faded. Their cuts and bruises had all but vanished, Brian no longer had his arm in a sling, and A.J. had had his cast removed. The most visible sign of what they had been through was the cane that Nick still used. There were still scars, and would be for a long time, but clothing easily concealed them. They were seated comfortably, and seemed ready to talk.

 

“Good to see you guys,” Norris said cheerfully. “Glad to see you doing so well.”

 

“Thanks, man.” A.J. said.

 

“So how have you all been? The panic has died down a little bit, you got a little room to breathe and time to recover, so how has the healing gone?”

 

“Well,” Brian started. “As you can see we all look a lot better from last time. We are still not our old selves, but we’re getting there.” He pointed to Nick with both hands. “I’d say the fact that we have him here today, when you consider what kind of shape he was in not too long ago, says that we have done really well.”

 

Nick grinned.

 

“Any dancing yet?” John asked with a smile.

 

Brian chuckled. “No, no dancing yet. We’re not quite ready for that.”

 

“Where is your fifth member? What is Kevin up to today?”

 

Howie answered the question. “He just had what we hope is his last surgery. He had to get a rod taken out of his leg that was put in after the accident. He’s been doing really well.”

 

“That is great to hear. Nick, tell us what all of this has been like for you. This is the first time the world gets to see your face since this accident.”

 

Nick feigned fear. “That’s right, this is the first time. I hope I don’t scare anyone. I’ve been avoiding mirrors.” He grew serious. “Well, as they have all told you, this has been quite an ordeal. The recovery has been tough. I was not always the most cooperative of patients, but these guys are getting me through it.”

 

“So how is it coming?”

 

“Pretty good. I’m working on getting the full use of my knee back, I shattered the kneecap in the wreck and they had to give me a new one, so that’s been kinda tough. My surgery incisions have healed over well. I’m really happy about that, those really hurt.” He smiled a little. “My short term memory is a lot better now, but still not perfect. I’m still pretty forgetful these days.”

 

“But he does remember he is a Backstreet Boy,” Howie interjected with a straight face. “So, have no fear.”

 

“Thank you Howie,” Nick said sarcastically.  

 

“Do you guys have any goals that you have set as far as a return to your career?”

 

“We haven’t set any dates or anything,” A.J. said. “But we are more actively looking into working towards a comeback, especially since we are going back to Orlando tomorrow morning.”

 

“How long of a period do you estimate it might all take? A few months? A year? Longer?”

 

“Well, it will be a while,” Howie admitted. “Don’t start getting excited yet. We have a lot still to do, and that doesn’t even start until we are physically back up to where we were before all of this, and we are all still far from that. Then comes the work on the album that we’ve started, the work on our singing, then rehearsals, and just trying to get back in the game.”

 

“To do the kind of work that we do, you have to be very physically fit, and this accident took all of that away,” A.J. said. “We have to work ourselves back up to that point, and believe me, that’s not gonna be easy.”

 

“We’re just hoping that the fans are willing to wait it out with us,” Brian added. “They mean so much to us, and we don’t want to let them down, but when we do get back on that stage, we want to do it right. We want to be able to pick up right where we left off, and that is going to take time.” He reached over and batted Nick’s head. “Poor Nick here can hardly remember the words to half of our songs.”

 

Nick made a face. “I can too.” He grinned sheepishly at the camera. “I do slip up a lot though.”

 

“Have you all done any singing together?”

 

“You know,” A.J. said thoughtfully. “We have, but not all together. Brian, Howie, and I have messed around with a few songs here and there, Kevin and I did a number together not too long ago.”

 

“Yeah,” Howie interrupted. “Kevin was so worried about remembering words that A.J. sat down and coached with him for a few days until he was ok with getting up and singing for us.”

 

“And what did he sing?”

 

“Umm, ‘Nobody But You,’ right, A.J.?”

 

“Yup. It was pretty cool. So we have done some, but we haven’t really had all five of us sit down and work on anything in particular.”

 

They spoke for a while longer, and then called it a day. Kevin was ready to be released from the hospital that afternoon, and the following day they had a plane to Orlando.

 

“Now the work really starts,” A.J. said.

 

*     *     *

 

Once they reached Orlando, the five of them decided to take about three weeks to themselves. Brian and Kevin flew to Lexington for a few days to be with their families. Howie, Nick, and A.J. also decided to visit home.

 

“You miss one day of physical therapy, and I will FedEx Kevin down there to kick your ass,” Brian warned Nick when they said goodbye.

 

An idea had been forming in Brian’s head, and once he was home he began looking in to putting it into action. He made a few telephone calls to their management, and was delighted to get a green light from them to proceed.

 

“Do you want us to start making the phone calls that can make it happen?”

 

“Naw,” he said. “I want this to be more personal. I’ll do it, just give me his phone number. I want to ask them myself.”

 

Once he received the number he wanted, he hung up the phone, wondering if this crazy idea would actually work. The next day, he picked up his phone as he studied the number on the sheet of paper he held in his other hand. Drawing in a deep breath, he dialed it. After several rings, a deep voice picked up on the other end.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I’m looking for Lance Bass,” Brian said.

 

“You found him.”

 

“Hey, Lance, this is Brian Littrell. I have something I need to ask you and your band mates.”

 

***

 

 

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