Title: Shards -- False Illusions
Author: Granitite Stone, granitite@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: If they were mine, would I be writing fanfiction?
Rating: R
Distribution: Ask and ye shall receive
Website: Choose Your Poison at my sister's site, who's nice enough to host my stories. https://www.angelfire.com/weird/cobalite/index.html
Author's Notes: This is an ALTERNATE ending to Strange Bedfellows. What occurred at the end of "A Picture Says A Thousand Words" was not a dream, or anything of the sort. This story was written for two reasons. Marshall and AJ are so fun to torture, and I couldn't decide which ending I liked better. So, I present Shards, which is not a happy ending, just a different one. Also note that for the first time, Marshall will be referred to as Marshall in this story.

Dream Sequence
******
He could feel eyes on him, but he was too tired to even look. Besides, he knew who it was. There was only one person who would dare try to wake him in this condition.

"And when did you get here?"

"Mommy dropped me off. She saw your car, said that if you were bad, I have to tell her."

He could feel sixty pounds of little girl crawling onto the couch with him. "I do my best to behave myself these days. How long is she letting you stay?"

"Until Sunday. I think Momma has a boyfriend." She leaned in close to his ear. "Don't tell Daddy."

"I don't think your Daddy would mind as much as you think, Hailey."
******

AJ sat up in bed, cursing. "Just a few more seconds, dammit. Who the hell was she?" He flopped back down onto the pillow, frustrated. 'Brian and Kevin don't have kids, and I'm pretty sure Nick and Howie aren't that stupid. I knew that little girl, but she isn't around a lot. Hasn't been since I got hurt.'

There were only two options. One: One of his friends did have a daughter, and they were hiding her for whatever reason. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that. They were brothers, they wouldn’t hide things like that, even if they had him on a Need-To-Know basis. A little girl was definitely need to know.

The other choice made a little more sense. He had no clue where that little scene had happened. But maybe… ' I don't think your Daddy would mind as much as you think, Hailey.' Marshall. Was it possible that was his mother's boyfriend's kid?

There was no way to be sure. Marshall avoided him like the plague, and it made AJ wonder. Why didn't they get along? He sure didn't hate the guy for dating his mom, at least he didn't this time around. It was aggravating.
-----
"Dre says you're lonely."

"Dre has a big mouth." He fumbled with the belt in the rental car. "Can you stop squirming?"

"Sorry." Hailey did her best to stop bouncing in place. "Are we gonna stay with Denise?"

"If she makes me, we will." Marshall finally got the thing to snap and he closed the back door. "Dre and Denise think they can save me."

"Mommy says you're beyond help." The car roared to life. "She says-"

"Your Mom says a lot of things about me, doesn't she?" He turned around, and looked at his daughter. She nodded. "She's probably right, but don't tell her that. We'll let Denise try."

"Okay." She smiled at him, and he pulled out of the parking spot. "Do you miss Alex?"

Marshall's hands tightened around the wheel. "Did you get that from Dre too?"

"Uhtnuh. I miss him. I wish he'd get better and remember us."

He managed to keep his eyes on the road. "Yeah, I miss Alex, but don't you go spreading that around."

"Okay." Marshall didn't see those little fingers cross.
------
"You're sure you want to watch her for me?" Marshall wasn't used to people volunteering for things. They always wanted something in return. He still couldn't figure what Denise wanted.

"You want to take her to the meeting?" Dre had drawn the line, said that if Marshall was going to go to Florida this weekend, he was doing some work done. Some group he had to go listen to, and Hailey would only be bored and get in the way.

"No." He turned back to Hailey. "You're gonna be good?"

She nodded. "I promise. I wanna stay with Denise."

"Alright." He handed her Hailey's backpack. "Don't do anything I would do, okay?"

"Okay." She let him kiss her goodbye, not knowing what was going on in the mind of that little girl.
-----
AJ did a double take walking in the door. A small, blonde child was sitting at his mother's kitchen table, coloring. She looked up, all smiles. "Alex!"

That voice. This could only be, "Hailey?"

"You know my name." She slid off the tall chair, and latched onto him. "Daddy said when you got hurt, you forgot all about us."

"Not exactly." He patted her head, and pried her off. "I get flashes. Had one of you not too long ago. You're Marshall's, right?"

"Uhuh." She climbed back onto her chair. "We're staying with Denise this weekend."

"Really?" AJ smirked. How long was his mother going to keep denying the truth? She was so dating this guy. He wandered into the living room, then upstairs. His mother had on headphones as she put linens on the bed in the spare room. "Ma? Mom? Mom!"

"Hmm?" She took of the phones. "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. What are you listening to?" He slid them on, and was jarred by the lyrics. //Just pull the plug.// "What the hell are you listening to?"

"Marshall gave it to me." She hit stop. "Help me with the sheets?"

"Sure." The words echoed in his mind. "You still aren't doing the guilty conscience thing, are you?"

She looked at him, completely innocent. "Guilty Conscience is track six, dear. Bad Influence is track four."

"That's not what I meant." He pulled back the covers, folding them down. He hit open on the player. "Mom, a burned mix CD? Are you trying to aggravate who ever sings this?"

"I don't think it's copyright infringement if the artist burned the cd for you himself."

"That's… Marshall?"

"Yes." She threw him the dirty sheets. "Do I criticize your friends?"

"I don't remember. Do you?" A pillow hit him in the back of his head as he fled the room, sticking his head back in at the last second. "And he's not your friend. He's your-"

"If you say it, Alexander, you're doing the laundry."

"His daughter's like… five. How much younger than you is he?" He ducked a second pillow. "She's not yours, right?"

"Alexander James McLean! Get out of this room, and go keep Hailey company." She watched him retreat at the use of his full name. "And put the sheets in the wash!"

He wandered back into the kitchen after starting the washer. She was still coloring. "So… Tell me about our parent's torrid affair."

Hailey looked confused. "What's a torrid?"

AJ reminded himself she was just a kid. "Okay… let's try this again. How long have they known each other?"

She shrugged and turned her attention back to what turned out to be an Nsync coloring book. After drawing horns on Justin Timberlake, she spoke. "Daddy misses you."

"What?"

"He talks in his sleep sometimes." She gave her most innocent smile. "You should remember him."

"It doesn't work like that." She was wrong, she had to be. AJ could remember his mother telling him, ' Let's just say the two of you were never friends.'

"It should." Hailey spoke with all the determination of a child as she carefully ripped the page out and gave it to him.

"Okay, I'll give. What's your beef with Timberlake?"

Hailey stared at him before realizing yes, he had lost his mind. She dug into her backpack and pulled out an empty CD case. "Read them to me?" She shoved it in his direction.

"Why don't you just tell me what I'm looking for." There were almost twenty songs here, and AJ wasn't going to say some of them in front of a kid.

"Marshall Mathers." She thought for a moment. "Dre calls it a diss track. He says it's everyone Daddy hates."

"I'll have to borrow Mom's CD."

"You already got a copy. He gave you his CDs." AJ was more confused now than before.
-----
"You sure you aren't embarrassed to be seen in public with me?" Geraldine Halliwell, formerly Ginger Spice, was grinning at the man in front of her. "Sneaking around with me is one thing, but you're still a celebrity. You must be being watched."

"I'm always being watched." Marshall was crouched low in his chair, back to the wall of their booth. "I don't care what they see."

"You're dating a former pop singer. That has to be bad for your rep." She watched his expression change. "Marshall?"

"You act like you're the first pop star I've dated."

A smile split across Gerri's face. "Ooo! Can I guess?"

"If you're that bored, we can just go back to the hotel." Gerri was smart, and he was sick of hiding but not stupid enough to tell her. Marshall liked her and all, but she wasn't Alex. Dre said he needed a girlfriend, he'd gotten a girlfriend.

"Britney and Christina are too young for you. Same goes for Mandy." She looked thoughtful. "Beyonce?"

"So far off you wouldn't believe."

"Okay…" Gerri was running through the industry in her head. "Jennifer Lopez?"

"Try again, baby."

Gerri looked offended for a moment then laughed. "I'll have you know I was Ginger."

"Sorry."

 She picked up his hand. "I'm going to figure it out eventually, Marshall."

"I don't think you will."

"Hmm." She traced a finger over his palm. "I always figured you were a jerk. I can honestly say you surprised me."

"What'd I ever do to you?"

'Men and their short memories.' Gerri laughed. "Trying to get my head straight, but I can't figure out which Spice Girl I want to impregnate?"

"Fuck, that was a long time ago." Marshall almost jerked away from her touch. It wasn't having the affect she probably wanted it to. Her manicure was only a reminder that she wasn't what he really wanted.

"I take it you picked?"

He didn't say anything. He was thinking of the ICP version of that song. ' Trying to get my head straight, but I can't figure out which Backstreet Boy I want to impregnate.' Oh the irony.
-----

It had taken him a few days to find out where she lived, but checking the address one last time, AJ knocked on the door. It opened slowly.

"He isn't my problem anymore. What ever he said about you, talk to Dre about it."

AJ sighed, and pulled off his ski cap, exposing the scar from the bullet. "Ma'am, I'm Alex." He waited to see if the name struck a bell.

Kim's eyes widened in shock.

End of Chapter

Well, what do you think? Questions, comments, and concerns about my sanity should go to granitite@yahoo.com
Choose Your Poison at www.angelfire.com/weird/cobalite/index3.html 
~ When I look into the mirror, and see a face I don't recognize, I am no longer surprised.
AIM: Granitite2001