Part 53:
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Rolling over in bed, Ty picked up Howie's ringing cell phone. "Hello?" she
asked with a yawn.

"Hi Ty. Its Jenn is D around?"

"Jenn!! How are you? D's in the shower right now."

"Tired, spent a lot of time thinking the past few days. Do you think he's
gonna be awhile?"

"I can check. Hold on." she laid the phone down and walked into the
bathroom, "D, Jenn's on the phone wants to talk to you. Do you want me to
tell her you'll call her back?"

He pulled the shower curtain back a little, "Tell her I'll be right
there."

Two minutes later, D walked out in his terry robe and took the phone from
his wife. "Hi Jenn...what's going on?"

"Howie I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, there's some stuff I want
to run by you..."

"I can be there in an hour."

She smiled into the phone, "Thanks D."



Glancing at the clock in the kitchen Brian sighed and pushed his coffee
cup away. "Its almost noon, wouldn't he at least be up and moving by now?"

Kevin shrugged, "Alec said he's gonna have a hell of a hangover. Maybe
he's trying to sleep it off."

"I just have a feeling he could self destruct...I mean the first time this
happened he was barely hanging on and now he's drinking..." he shook his
head. "I'm gonna check on him."

"You sure?"

"What else can I do?"


Hesitating only a second outside his friend's room, Brian opened the door
and stepped inside, making a face at the overwhelming stench of alcohol in
the room. Making his way to the bed in the darkness he saw Nick passed out
in the middle, still in his clothes from the day before. "Jeeze Nick,"
Brian said outloud as he went over and opened the balcony door, almost
tripping over the bottles. He kicked them away and threw open some of the
curtains.

Nick groaned as the light hit him and threw his arm up over his face to
shield his eyes. "Damnit close the curtains...my head..."

"Serves you right...Alec told me you wanted to be numb. Nick being numb
won't help you."

"Yes it will. It'll make me feel good, which will make me happy. A happy
Nick is a good Nick." he laughed softly. 

Brian sat on the bed, "Frack listen to me..."

"Don't wanna." Nick pulled a pillow over his head.

"Do you want Lis to see you like this??"

"She LEFT!! She doesn't wanna see me remember." Nick said his voice
muffled from the pillow.

"Well if someone tells her how you are don't you think she'll come over
to check on you. Six years together don't just fly out the window Nick."

"Brian if your gonna keep talking about my ex wife just get the hell out."
Nick moved the pillow and glared at his friend.

"She isn't your ex yet..."

"How long do you think she'll take to sign the papers?? Come on Bri, she's
probably there first thing this morning filing for divorce."


AJ looked in the mirror and straightened his jacket. He hoped he could go
through with this, damnit he had to. He smoothed back some of the more
unrulier hair and put his bran new mini tape recorder in his inside
pocket. Just a little insurance in case the big man got a little talkative
once he found out why AJ was there. "You can do this McLean...you can do
this." he said as he grabbed his sunglasses and keys and headed out of his
room.


David walked into the hotel lobby, a little worried about Lis. She'd
sounded awful on the phone and asked him to meet her there. Seeing her
sitting on a couch in the corner he headed over. "Hi." he said sitting
across from her.

"Hi David. Thanks for coming."

"Why wouldn't I when one of my friends calls?"

she smiled weakly, "I just need someone to talk to who isn't in the BSB
family you know?"

"Then I'm right here for you." he noticed a familiar jacket pass by. "AJ!"

He stopped and turned around, "Oh David...Lis! Hey." he walked over.

Lis looked him over, "Your looking awfully official."

AJ glanced down at his slacks and button down shirt which was open and his
wifebeater showing through. "Its the AJ business look I guess. Have a
meeting I'm going to."

"With who?" David asked.

Realizing he might as well tell David his plan, he sat down next to Lis.
"With Lou."

"Why?" David questioned.

"Nothing big. Look I'm just gonna do a few things, nothing illegal, not
going to get arrested so don't worry."

"Right."

J smiled, "Trust me, if this works it could be just what we needed. One
favor though, don't tell anyone what I'm doing."

"Course." Lis answered. 

"All right." David said slowly. "Call when your done though? Want to make
sure you got out okay."

AJ laughed. "Will do. Lis you free for dinner tonight?"

"I don't know"

"If you are, meet me at my room around sevenish. I'll treat ya. Gotta
run." 

They watched him go and David moved over beside her, "Does this worry you
at all, whatever he's doing?"

"A little. But I don't really care about that whole situation anymore."

"Why's that?"

"I left Nick last night."

For the first time David noticed her wedding ring wasn't on her hand.
"Why?? Did something happen?"

"We went to Alannah's. She's pretty clear on the fact they did sleep
together. And he introduced me as his assistant."

David groaned, "The assistant deal, that's why you left him?"

"Part of it, why?"

"Your gonna hate me. I said she may not know what you look like so if you
wanted to tag along to the meeting, instead of introducing you as his wife
he should call you his assistant or something. She'd be more likely to
blab about Lou if she didn't know."

Lis laughed softly, "Thanks David, thanks a whole lot."


Jenn answered the door, "Hey D."

He smiled as he walked in. "Thanks for calling me. After the other night I
wasn't sure..."

"I'm sorry about that Howie I just...I couldn't think and AJ wasn't there
to lash out at and you were so...anyways I'm really sorry."

"Forgiven, forgotten. Now what did you need me for?"

They walked into the living room and sat down. "I don't know whether to go
through his office or not. I've been thinking, reviewing everything in my
mind, watching home movies, the concerts, footage...D I think he's right I
can't see anything that points to him being back to the drugs."

"So you believe him?"

She stared at her hands for a minute, "I'm close to it. I just want
definite proof one way or the other. And I think it would lay in his
office if there is any..."

"You want me to help?"

"I want to know if its right for me to go through there."


Brian relayed to Kevin what had happened in Nick's room and the older man
groaned, rubbing his hand over his face. "I don't know what we're gonna do
Bri. If he won't listen to you, who could get through to him?? Or do we
just let him go through this himself."

"And watch him turn into an alcoholic." Shan added. "There has to be
someone who'd get through to him. Maybe his family?"

"His family doesn't know what's been going on, if we clue them in it would
take forever just to tell them everything." Kevin shook his head, "He's
gonna treat all of us the way he acted towards you Rok."


AJ took a deep breath and stepped into the receptionist area of Lou's
office. He gave the woman behind the desk his name and took a seat in the
corner, picking up a nearby magazine. The cover was the Backstreet Boys
and the headline read "Gone Forever?" he groaned to himself and started
flipping through it, not paying any attention to the articles.


Lou's office door opened and a young woman strode out, smiling as she
walked past him. AJ dropped his magazine and watched her, there was
something overly familiar about her but at the moment he couldn't place
her. Just as he was about to contemplate going after her he heard Lou's
voice. "AJ!! What a surprise to find you here."

Slowly he rose to his feet, "I figured it was time."

"Well come on in." he waved AJ in and shut the door behind him.

AJ took a seat across from the desk and studied Lou for a minute. It took
all he had in him to control his anger. This man had cost each of them so
much and he took pride in the fact he had.

"So what can I do for you?" Lou asked, resting his elbows on his desk. "I
haven't heard much out of the Backstreet camp lately."

"I wondered if you're still interested in handling my solo career?"

Lou smiled, "Well of course I am Alex. Nothing would thrill me more than
to have my boys back with me."

"Well its just me. I've had enough of those others for a lifetime."

"Did something happen?" Lou asked, a look of concern on his face.

Oh god acting Lou, almost damn believable if I didn't know what you had
done to us AJ thought to himself. "There's just a lot of shit going on
internally with the former Backstreet family. Personally I've decided not
to have anything to do with them again."

"Time can heal things Alex."

AJ laughed, "Not where this is concerned."

"Don't be too rash."

"Well considering I told them I never to see them again and regret the
fact I know them I'd say chances for a reunion tour a few years down the
road are slim to none."

Lou tapped his pen on the desk. "Well then...all of you boys feel the same
way?"

"Pretty much. The last straw was Brian attacking you, I mean we didn't
need to have the Backstreet name and our own slandered with his during
that whole altercation. So that probably was the last nail in the coffin
so to speak. Do we need to keep on this topic Lou?"

"Oh no not at all. So I'll get a contract drawn up and we'll see where it
takes us. Your planning on using the Johnny persona I assume?"

"For the time being. Could change my mind between now and then."

"Whatever you decide, your both welcome here."

"Thanks Lou," AJ smiled, "Ya know I almost want to thank you for what you
did...without you I probably wouldn't have realized just how sick and
tired I am of those other four idiots."