Chapter 43
The next morning, Tyler and Kevin both woke to the phone ringing. Since it was on Kevin’s side of the bed, he answered.
"Hello."
"Is Tyler there?"
Kevin was half asleep but he still recognized the voice and said, "What do you want her, Joey?"
"Just let me talk to her, Kevin."
Kevin looked at Tyler covering the mouth piece with his hand. "Do you want to talk to him?"
"Yeah, I’ll talk to him. I can always hang up."
Kevin handed the phone to Tyler.
"What’s up, Joey?"
"I heard the news about Mr. Burton and I called to make sure you were okay. I knew how much you thought of him."
"I'm okay, Joey. Still in shock over it."
"Is it true all five of you lost your jobs?"
"Sort of. Lex and I had already quit but Sonja, Kryss, and Fiona all got fired. What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. The reason I called was I thought you’d be coming back to Orlando for the funeral and I wanted to see you."
"I’m not coming back," said Tyler. "Joey, do you know who Lou’s partners were?"
"No, I didn’t know he had any partners. Why?"
Kevin shook his head and whispered, "Don’t tell him anything, baby."
"No reason, Joe. Thanks for being concerned though."
Joey was quiet for a minute and then asked, "How’s the baby?"
"Just fine. He’s moving around a lot," said Tyler as Kevin rolled
over and moved down to put his head on her stomach. Tyler smiled and put her
hand in his hair.
"Have you had any more problems?"
"None. Everything is fine."
"Cool. Well, I guess I’d better go."
"Thanks for calling, Joey."
Tyler hung up the phone and Kevin pulled her shirt up. He put his hand on her stomach and placed light, tender kisses all over.
"Hey, little one. You know something? You’ve got one FANTASTIC mom."
Tyler laughed, "What are you doing?"
"Hush, woman. I’m talking to the baby," said Kevin playfully. "You know, sometimes, she can be kinda nosy so just stick with me. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get too nosy."
"Oh, thank you," laughed Tyler.
Kevin tilted his eyes up to look at her and grinned, crinkling his nose. "Don’t worry, baby. We won’t keep any secrets from you. So, what’s the ‘little one’ doing?"
"Well, he was moving around until you started talking to him."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"How about I sing to him?"
"I don’t know about him but I sure would like it."
Kevin sang ‘Crocodile Rock’ to Tyler and the baby and then moved up to hold
Tyler. "Did you like that?"
"I love it whenever you sing to me but you’re really going to have to learn some lullabies," said Tyler as she took Kevin’s hand and wove her fingers with his.
"I’ve got another song for Mom," said Kevin softly.
"Really?" asked Tyler.
"Yeah, baby," said Kevin. He sang softly, ‘Still’ by 98 Degrees, as Tyler snuggled next to him.
Tyler closed her eyes as she listened to Kevin’s smooth voice and the words he was singing. She relaxed and as he finished, she said, "Mmmm, that was nice."
Kevin kissed her hand, "Anything for you, baby, and I meant every word
of it."
"You think the others are up yet?"
Kevin reached over to get his watch off the bedside table and looked at it. "It’s almost eleven. I’m sure Brian and Howie have been up for some time but AJ and Nick may still be in the bed."
"Reckon we should get up?"
"I don’t know, baby. Do you REALLY want to get up?"
Tyler sighed, "No, not really, but I would like to check on Kryss."
"She did look rough last night."
"I know and you need to call Jeff to tell him about all this."
Kevin thought about it for a minute and then said, "Baby, why don’t we just let it go? You and Lex have jobs and I’m sure Kryss, Fiona, and Sonja can find other jobs."
"But Kev, what if it’s Lou trying to hurt us?"
"He can’t hurt us, baby....not now that we’re together."
Tyler looked at Kevin and was immediately put at ease. She kissed him and aid, "You always make HUGE problems seem so minor."
Kevin ran his finger down her nose, "That’s because most of the problems aren’t really that big, baby, especially if you have a friend to face it with."
Tyler laughed, "And I definitely have some very good friends."
Tyler and Kevin were interrupted by someone banging on the door. Kevin said,
"Nick’s up. I swear, that boy doesn’t know how to knock like a normal
person."
Tyler laughed, "I’ll get it, ‘Boo’."
Tyler started to get up but Kevin pulled her back to him to kiss her as Nick continued to bang on the door. He let her go and watched as she pulled on the bathrobe provided by the hotel and then go into the living room.
Tyler opened the door and Nick fell into the room. It was all four of the couples and they were wearing their bathing suits.
"Where’s Kevin?" asked Brian. "Or should we even ask?"
Tyler laughed, "He’s still in the bedroom. We just woke up a little while ago."
Kevin came in. "I’m up. What’s going on?"
"Well, a lot," said Howie.
They all took seats on the couch and the chairs in the living room. Brian said, "We called Jeff this morning and the girls all have jobs with us. Fiona is going to join Lex and Tyler with the dancers. Kryss is taking over in costuming since Maggie is leaving after Mexico."
Tyler said excitedly, "That’s wonderful but what about Sonja?"
"I’m going to be working with Linda."
Kevin said, "That’s great."
"We also mentioned the situation at Disney," said AJ. "Jeff’s going to check into it. We also asked him to send flowers from all of us."
"Thanks, AJ," said Tyler. "Kevin and I were just talking about it and there’s really no reason to find out about what’s going on with Disney. All five of us now have jobs with y’all which is where we REALLY want to be anyway. What Mr. Burton did with the books doesn’t involve us either so we’re safe there."
"What if Lou is behind all this though?" asked Kryss.
"Then he did us a favor," said Lex. "I think we will all be happier being with the guys anyway. I know for one, that I’ll be much happier being with AJ."
Kryss leaned against Howie, "I guess you’re right. Tyler, we need to get started on your dress."
"I’m all for it," said Tyler happily.
Nick said, "You two need to get your bathing suits on. Billy and the guys are securing the pool area for us and I’m sick of being cooped up."
Sonja said, "Ty, I packed some more of your stuff along with your bathing suit."
Kevin said, "Baby, it’s been forever since I’ve seen you in a bathing suit."
"And after this time, it’s going to be forever again unless it’s a one piece," said Tyler.
Sonja and Tyler went to Sonja’s room to get the stuff while Kevin went to change. Brian waited for Kevin, Tyler, and Sonja while the others went on down to the pool.
When they were ready, the two couples headed down to join the others.
On the elevator, Tyler asked, "Is Kryss okay, Sonja?"
"I think so. She seemed to be this morning but she and Howie stayed in their room for a long time after breakfast."
"What about you and Fiona?"
"We’re fine," said Sonja as she hugged Brian. "We’ve got the guys."
Tyler looked up at Kevin and squeezed his hand as she said, "Yeah, we do have the guys."
Kevin brushed her hair back, "And we’ve got our girls."
Outside, the other three couples had already gotten an area of the pool and their bodyguards were with them. AJ, Nick, and Howie were signing some autographs so Kevin and Brian joined them while Tyler and Sonja joined Kryss, Fiona, and Lex.
When Tyler sat down, Lex noticed the tattoo on her leg and asked, "When’d you get that, Ty?"
"Get what?"
"The tattoo."
"Oh, before Kevin left for the tour. That seems like forever ago though."
"Not really," said Fiona. "It’s only been a month."
"But so much has happened in that month. Hopefully everything will settle down now," said Tyler.
Lex was watching the guys and said, "Yeah, about as normal as it can be with Kaos."
They all looked over to see Nick clowning around and then Kevin push him into the pool. They had to laugh too. Kevin looked towards Tyler before going back to signing autographs and in that one look, Tyler knew everything was going to be okay.
"You know, I love watching them with their fans," said Sonja.
Tyler smiled, "They are good with them."
Fiona had taken Nick a towel and he now had her by his side as they talked to a couple fans. Tyler decided she’d go over with Kevin.
As Tyler walked over, Nick grabbed her and picked her up while Brian, Howie, and AJ grabbed Kevin.
Tyler said, "Nick, put me down."
"Nope! You’re bait," said Nick. "Okay, Mr. Body Beautiful...time to get wet!"
Kevin looked at the other guys and said, "Nick, put Tyler down."
Nick was standing near the pool. "Sure," and he started to throw Tyler in.
"You’re going in too, Nick," threatened Tyler.
"I don’t think so."
Tyler had her arms around Nick’s neck so she tightened her grip. "Nickolas, don’t you dare throw me in."
Kevin said, "Nick, I’m going to kick your butt if she gets hurt."
"Then go in," said Nick. "And I won’t have to throw her in."
Kevin fought the other three and Nick dropped Tyler into the water but she managed to hold on pulling him in with her. AJ, Brian, and Howie also managed to get Kevin in as well. Kryss, Sonja, Fiona, and Lex had moved behind the guys and shoved them in too.
All five guys and Tyler were in the water while the girls stood on the side laughing at them. Nick said, "Oh, so you think this is funny?"
"Yeah, we do," said Fiona. "First of all, you thought Tyler couldn’t take you in."
"And the other three ganging up on Kevin was cold," said Lex.
Tyler swam over to Kevin and they sat together on the steps of the pool, as they watched the four guys go after their girlfriends. They caught them and threw them in as well.
Despite the mood of the previous night, all five couples had a wonderful afternoon at the pool. It was the first time in what seemed like forever since they’d been able to relax and enjoy themselves. This was also the first time they had been together as official couples. Before, Kevin and Tyler had been dating others but now, they were together and truly happy.
