Chapter 17 - Aftermath
Nick groaned. His whole body ached. He slowly opened his eyes, wincing against the bright light.
He looked around, seeing a white room. He blinked a few times. Becky was asleep in a chair across from him. Beside him, Howie was asleep in another chair.
"Howie?" Nick whispered. "Howie."
Howie stirred and slowly opened his eyes. "Nicky! You all right?"
"Shh, don’t wake her up," Nick answered, nodding towards Becky. "What happened? Where is everyone?" He winced and looked at his shoulder, the source of the pain.
"You’ll be all right," Howie told him. "Didn’t hit anything too important. You want anything?"
Nick shook his head, still extremely tired. "Brian?"
"He’s fine. They’re taking care of him," Howie answered.
"Wh-What happened after I was out?"
"AJ ended up shooting Silvanus," Howie said simply.
Nick’s eyes widened. "Is he dead?"
Howie shook his head. "He’s badly hurt, but he’ll live."
"Is AJ okay?"
Howie shrugged. "I’m not sure. The others are with him. They’re probably all asleep at the hotel."
Nick looked back at Becky. "She all right?"
"She was pretty freaked out, but I’m sure she’ll get over it. Your family’ll be here in the morning, okay?"
Nick nodded, yawning.
"Get some sleep, Nicky. You need it," Howie said, brushing a strand of blond hair out of his face.
Nick half-smiled. "Yes, mother."
~~~
The next day . . .
Hazel slowly approached AJ, who was rocking back and forth. "AJ?"
AJ didn’t answer, just stayed with his knees to his chest, rocking.
Hazel slowly sat down next to him on the bed. "AJ, what happened?"
"S-S-Silvanus . . ."
"What about him?"
"H-He’s . . ." The BSB took a deep breath and spat out the word. "Paralyzed."
Hazel put a hand to her mouth. She quickly pulled herself together and hugged AJ. "It wasn’t your fault. He would’ve gotten away if it wasn’t for you."
"I should’ve just left him for the police."
"They might not have found him! He has to be punished for what he’s done!"
"As if paralysis isn’t punishment enough!" AJ shouted, pulling away and standing up. "He’ll never walk again because of me!"
"AJ --"
"NO! It’s my FAULT!"
"You didn’t mean to paralyze him! You were just trying to stop him from getting away! What if he’d gotten away and tried to hurt other people?"
AJ leaned his head against the wall, tears streaming down his face.
Hazel hugged him from behind. "You weren’t intentionally trying to kill him. You just wanted to stop him. You’ve never even fired a gun before, AJ. How could you have possibly have aimed?"
"Stop making so much sense, girl."
Hazel laughed. "Sorry."
He turned around and returned the hug tightly.
"This may not go away right now. But it will over time. I promise."
"Hazel?"
"What?"
"St-stay with me. Don’t leave. Please."
Hazel was a little taken aback. "I-I’ll try, AJ." She paused. "What does that stand for?"
"Alexander James," he answered.
She smiled. "That’s pretty. Alexander James, I promise to stay." No matter what my parents may think . . .
~~~
When Nick woke up again, he was surrounded by his family. They hugged and embraced him, telling him how worried they’d been, how horrified they were when they found what was really going on."They had to tell people to stop sending letters and flowers," Aaron said. "The fan club was just getting swamped!"
"Everyone was just wonderful to us," his mother added. "They were all so sympathetic. The fans were really great. Everyone wanted to help."
Nick looked up and saw Howie and Becky in the doorway, looking awkward.
"Um, Mom? Could you guys excuse us for just a sec?" Nick asked.
Mrs. Carter looked up, seeing Howie and Becky. She was puzzled, but did as her son asked, after kissing him on the forehead. The rest of the family followed suit.
Howie let Becky go in alone, closing the door after her.
Becky approached slowly. "How are you?"
"I’m fine," he answered, motioning for her to come closer.
She sat beside him on the bed. "You saved my life."
"I know," he replied.
"Why?"
He tried to shrug it off. "It seemed like a good idea at the time?"
"Tell me."
He finally force himself to meet her eyes. "I don’t know why. Maybe I’m in love with you, I just don’t know."
She burst into tears. "Well, I know I’m in love with you! And I can’t believe this is happening!"
Nick hugged her carefully. "Shh, don’t cry. I’m not gonna let you go. My fame is not going to pull us apart, okay? I’ll stay with you . . . if that’s what you want."
She pulled away from him from a minute. "I just told you I loved you. You figure it out."
He laughed and pulled her down for a long kiss on the mouth.
~~~
One week later . . .
The Backstreet Boys sat down at the table, surrounded by cameras and microphones.
They looked at each, then Brian cleared his throat. "If we could have your attention please." The murmur from the swamp of press died down. "First, we want to say that we have no intention of ending our singing career as a group. However, we are obviously going to take some time off."
"Second," AJ interjected. "The people we were kidnapped with had absolutely nothing to do with the situation. It wasn’t their fault."
"Third," Nick continued. "The remaining tapes will not be released to the public."
"Fourth," Kevin jumped in. "Our actions against our captors were in self defense."
"And finally, our relationships with the girls will remain a private matter," Howie concluded. "We won’t be answering any questions about them."
Brian looked out at the crowd. "I think that’s about everything. Any questions?"
The crowd was silent, having had all their questions answered.
"Good," AJ said, standing up. "Have a nice day."
~~~