Millennium Love Scott 36

Nick returned a few minutes later, his jacket bulging. He pulled out three bags, containing hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes.

"Oh, Nicky, will you marry me?" I asked in my most girlish voice. "You're my hero."

We all laughed and devoured the food. I was happy to see Brian eating.

I wanted to stay awake and talk, find out how the tour was going, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. Nick sat quietly by the window, and Brian sat beside me.

"Go back to sleep, Angel. I'll be back tomorrow before we leave." He kissed my cheek and I hugged him to me.

"I love you Brian, my love, always."

"Love you too." He followed Nick out the door, turning off the overhead light behind him.

Chapter 36 - Scott

I woke up feeling strong and refreshed. I'd slept well during the night, and hadn't had any nightmares. The doctor arrived early to check on me.

"Well, Scott. You're doing very well. I think we'll have you go to physiotherapy today and see how well your muscles have withstood the past two weeks. If there are no major problems, I think we can send you home tomorrow. You'll have to work at it slowly to regain your balance and your muscles will hurt like hell for a while as they get used to being fully used again. You're lucky though, you are a very fit young man, so your recovery should go relatively quick and smooth." I was relieved to hear what the doctor had said. I needed to get back to myself quickly so I could join Brian and we could work everything out.

I was just finishing breakfast when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Brian and Nick walked in, no disguises. I was surprised. "What's going on?" I asked.

"The press found out we weren't with the rest of the band. Since everyone knew you had been travelling with us before the accident, management decided to let it slip that you had asked to see some of your friends, so we flew up here to pay you a visit," Nick explained.

Then Brian took over. "The local press latched onto the story and found out where you were. There didn't seem to be much use in trying to hide anymore. Everyone knows we're here." He looked down at his feet before returning his eyes to me. "So, you might get some phone calls or visits from the press, Scott." I knew he was worried; he'd been worried for a long time now.

I forced a smile. "Hey, I wanted to see how my friends were doing, to let them know I'm okay, and that I'm sorry for scaring them with the accident. I took off because I had forgotten an appointment and got careless." I sounded off a plausible cover story.

Brian met my gaze and I could see the unshed tears there. "I'm sorry Scott," he whispered.

I didn't mean to make him feel bad, so I held out my hand and pulled him to me. "I know love," I said, kissing him softly. "I know." I looked over at Nick. "So when do you have to leave?"

Nick looked at his watch. "Soon, fifteen - twenty minutes."

I hadn't realized it would be that soon. Brian and I just looked at each other. Nick silently slipped out the door.

"What are you going to do when you get out of here?" Brian asked quietly.

"I haven't really thought about it," I said honestly. I'd only been out of my coma for a couple of days. "I guess I'll go home with my parents for a while. I should be able to find someone to help with my rehab to get my strength back." Once I said it, it made the most sense.

"Then what?" he asked, even quieter. I realized what he was really asking.

I gently lifted his chin with my fingers. "Then I'm coming back to you," I paused. "If you still want me." I knew he did, but I wanted to hear it from him.

Brian leaned forward and kissed my lips tenderly. "Oh, I still want you, Angel. I want you more than I've wanted anything in my life."

I hugged him tightly and thought, 'If only that were true.'

Too soon Nick returned, indicating it was time to leave. I gave Nick a hug. "You take care of Bri for me, will ya?"

He grinned and nodded. "I always have," he said, receiving a light slap in the head from Brian.

"Yeah right!"

I turned my attention back to Brian. "I'll be back as soon as I can, love, I promise. Will you promise me something?" I asked him. He nodded. "You promise to call me at least once a day?" I kissed his forehead. "You're my motivation, okay?" I blinked back those damned tears again.

Brian smiled weakly. "I promise." He walked to the door. "Love you Angel," he said softly.

I smiled. "Love you too." I watched the door close behind him and felt my heart clench. I already missed him.

The next few weeks were busy. I don't think I've ever worked that hard before. We hired a private physiotherapist to help me regain the strength in my arms and legs, and regain my balance. The cast finally came off after ten days.

I enjoyed spending the time with my parents and Drew. I think he felt guilty for not being around after the accident, because he spent extra time with me, making sure I was doing my exercises and getting better. It was nice to just hang around with him and some of my other friends I hadn't seen for a while.

After two weeks I was basically back to myself but I wasn't ready to leave home yet. I was avoiding my life for a few days. I knew that it would be rough when I rejoined the band. Brian had promised to fix things, but I didn't see how he could. I was afraid things would go back to the way they had been and I didn't think I could live that way, no matter how much I loved Brian.

Brian kept his promise to call everyday, even when he was completely exhausted from a concert and an all night bus ride the night before. Every time we talked I was reminded why I fell in love with him and how good it was for the first few months. We needed to recapture that feeling somehow. At the end of the third week, Brian called early one morning.

"Hello," I said as I picked up the phone.

"Hi Angel," Brian said softly.

It was always good to hear his voice. "Brian! How are you? How was the concert last night?" I asked. Brian didn't say anything and I knew something was wrong. "Brian?" I asked softly.

"You're not coming back, are you Scott?" Brian asked quietly.

I almost dropped the phone. Why would he think that? "Brian! What are you talking about?"

"Scott, it's been three weeks now and we've talked every day, but you've never once said when you're coming back."

I realized he was right. "God, Brian, I am sorry. I've been taking a little vacation from life I guess and haven't thought how that's made you feel. Forgive me? Please?" I asked him, sorry that my selfishness had hurt him.

Brian sighed. "I do forgive you Scott. I just miss you so much," his voice dropped to a whisper and I could tell he was holding back tears.

"Brian, where are you guys right now?" I asked him as I made a decision.

"We're in the bus on our way to Washington. We play there tomorrow night," he said.

"Brian, you know I love you, right?" I asked and waited.

"Yes," he whispered.

"I'll fly down tonight or first thing tomorrow, okay?"

"You mean it?" he asked hopefully.

I smiled as I heard the little spark in his voice. "Yeah. I'll call the airport and book the next available flight. Where are you guys staying?"

Brian gave me the information, and we hung up. I called the airport and found a direct flight leaving that evening. I told my parents of my plans and went to pack. It had taken Brian's phone call to knock me out of my reverie. I'd been missing him like crazy, but had still been avoiding everything. Now we would get a chance to really talk.

My flight arrived at 9pm without incident. I picked up my luggage and decided to find a cab to take me to the hotel. I'd secretly hoped that Brian would be there to pick me up, but I never called to tell him when my flight was.

I walked out to the curb and tried to hail a cab.

"Need a lift?" an unmistakable voice said softly from behind me.

I turned slowly to find Brian standing there, grinning. He was dressed like a chauffeur. I tried not to smile. "No, that's okay. I'm on my way to visit my boyfriend. I don't think he'd like me accepting a ride from a stranger…no matter how cute a stranger."

Brian walked up to me and took my suitcase. He began walking towards a limo. "Well, this boyfriend of yours is very lucky to have someone like you," he said solemnly as he opened the trunk and put my stuff inside.

"Yeah, he is," I said with a grin. "But I'm just as lucky to have him too."

By now we both stepped into the car and closed the door. I felt the car begin to move. Before I could do anything, Brian reached over and grabbed me, pulling me to him. Our lips met. God, I'd missed his mouth and tongue and the feel of his skin and his scent. From the passion and intensity of the kiss, Brian had missed me too. We rediscovered each other until finally Brian pulled back. Both of us were flushed and out of breath.

He smiled sweetly at me. "Hi!" he said, making me laugh.

"How did you know when I was arriving?" I asked. Our hands were tightly clasped on the seat between us.

"I called your parents and they told me," he explained.

I brought his hand up to my lips and kissed his fingers. I couldn't believe I was back with my love and by his side. It had been over five weeks since my accident and I realized that no matter how much I fought it, I wasn't whole unless this man was beside me.

I leaned back against him and watched the city pass by outside. He folded his arms across my chest and held me tightly. Neither of us felt the need to immediately talk. It was enough to just be together again. As we approached the hotel, Brian leaned forward to kiss my ear.

"So how has the physical therapy been?" he asked softly.

I stroked his arm with my fingers. "I'm almost back to one hundred percent," I told him. "My leg still bothers me a little if I do too much. But aside from that, everything is great."

Another kiss to my ear sent a shiver through me. "That's good." Brian nibbled on my earlobe. "Because I do have a few plans for us tonight," he murmured.

I smiled to myself. "I can't wait," I whispered.

The limo pulled up to the back entrance of the hotel. Brian and I disentangled ourselves and walked into the building, keeping a discreet distance from each other.

We maintained a respectable distance from each other as we rode the elevator up to the floor the Boys were staying on. Brian opened the door to his room and allowed me to walk in, before following me. I barely had time to set my suitcase on the floor before he grabbed me from behind and wrapped his arms around my stomach.

I felt his lips kiss the back of my neck. "God I've missed you Angel," he murmured.

I turned in his arms to smile softly at him. "Missed you too," I whispered before leaning down and kissing his soft lips.

We both knew that we needed to talk, but it could wait. Brian moved his lips slowly over my face, relearning it. His lips reached my right ear and kissed it gently. "I love you, I want you, I need you!" he whispered intently.

I laughed softly, delighted to hear his desire, and pulled Brian towards the bed. "Want you too Love," I murmured as I sat on the side of the bed and began to unzip Brian's pants. Brian stood quietly allowing me to undress him as he ran his fingers through my hair and over my shoulders. Finally I stood and pulled off the white t-shirt. Brian unzipped my jeans at the same time.

We both kicked our pants and boxers away. I yanked my shirt off and then pushed Brian back onto the bed before crawling up beside him. I leaned over him, gazing down at the love of my life. I traced my fingers down his cheek following the trail with my lips. I was afraid that I was only dreaming, dreaming that I could feel his skin beneath my fingers and smell his scent surrounding me.

Brian's arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer, his lips found mine and kissed me forcefully. I could feel my arousal pushing against Brian's thigh and couldn't stop myself from gently thrusting against him. Brian pulled back and met my gaze. "Scott," he sounded breathless, "Make love to me Angel, please?" he pleaded.

I smiled tenderly at him and glanced around the room for supplies. I looked back to Brian. "Do you have any lube?" I asked as I began to nibble on his erect nipple. Brian gasped and waved his hand in the direction of the bathroom. I grinned and pushed off the bed. "Right back Love," I said as I dashed to the bathroom. I dug in his shaving bag until I found the tube then rushed back to the bedroom. I had to pause though as I looked at the bed and saw my naked lover spread wantonly over the bed, waiting for me. His skin was flushed and he was panting softly. He looked incredibly delicious. I knelt on the bed beside him and stroked his heated flesh. "It's been too long Love," I murmured. Brian smiled up at me sweetly and pulled me to him. We quickly began to make up for lost time.

We were wakened the next morning by AJ pounding on the door.

"Hey, sleeping beauty, wake up!" he shouted and then banged the door a few more times. "Don't make me tell Mom!" he whined. That did it. Bri and I both knew whom he was talking about and neither one of us wanted to sit through a Kevin lecture.

I was closest to the door so I rolled off the bed, grabbed a pair of boxers from the floor and padded to the door. I flung the door open just as AJ raised his hand to bang again. I glared at him. "Anyone ever tell you, you're a tattletale?" I asked.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry," he said, and waltzed into the room past me. I sighed and closed the door before following him.

Brian was still in the bed and glared at AJ. I laughed. "Don't bother love, he's immune to glares, I already tried," I complained and flopped down on the bed beside him.

AJ sat in one of the chairs. "Its good to see you Scott," he said seriously.

I had to smile at that. "Thanks AJ, its nice to be back," I admitted and gave Brian a hug and kiss.

"Well I won't keep you both, but I was sent to get you up Brian," AJ admitted as he stood. "We have some press interviews this morning, and then rehearsal. Fatima wants to change one of the routines, so its going to be a long day."

I heard Brian sigh beside me, but managed to hold back my own. We were right back into the daily grind and still hadn't had a chance to talk. I gave Brian a comforting squeeze then crawled off the bed again. "Okay AJ, we'll get ready," I said as I led him to the door. I pulled him into a hug. "Its good to see you too, by the way," I said before shoving him out the door. I heard him laugh as I locked the door and turned back to Brian.

He was staring up at the ceiling frowning, but looked at me when I reached the side of the bed. "Sorry Angel," he murmured.

I shrugged and smiled slightly. "Not your fault Love. I know your schedule is hectic." I reached for his hand and pulled him up. "Lets go shower," I said. "We'll have more time if we share," I added with a leer. Brian grinned and dragged me into the bathroom.

We managed to be only five minutes late to Kevin's room. He must have been happy to see me though because he just gave us a dirty look and began to talk about the band's schedule. I gave Nick and Howie a smile and little wave before listening to Kevin. I quickly realized that the schedule had become even more hectic than it had been. I snuck a glance at Brian wondering when we would get a chance to talk. I snapped back to attention when Kevin spoke my name.

"Scott, management would like to go over the final version of the web pages with you before they go on-line," he said. "Are they ready to go?"

I thought for a minute. "Yeah, I spent some time on them while I was at home, just fine tuning. But I wouldn't mind a couple of hours to do one last check before presenting them to the bosses," I added.

Kevin looked at his appointment book. "Okay, could you meet with Mike and Jeff around three today? Someone from the label will be there as well."

I shrugged. "Sure, no problem. But what about you guys?" I asked and they all looked at me in wonder. "Don't you want to see and approve the final versions of your personal pages?"

Nick answered me. "Aw, Scotty, we trust you," he said. I gave him a dirty look.

"We'll look at our own pages once they are up and let you know if we want anything changed," Kevin said. "But what Nick said is true, we do trust you Scott." It made me feel good that I had their trust. "I'll have someone call you with the exact time and location, okay Scott?" he asked. I nodded.

As soon as the meeting ended, the guys had to get ready to go. They would have breakfast at the first interview. I was a little frustrated that Brian and I didn't have more time, but I remained silent, knowing Brian had little control over the schedule.

Once the singers left, I returned to the room I was sharing with Brian and popped open my laptop. I immersed myself in proof reading and checking links to make sure everything was perfect. Brian called me at lunchtime, breaking my focus, so I ordered some lunch from room service. Just as I finished eating I heard from the label rep. We were meeting in a conference room downstairs in the hotel.

Before I knew it, It was time for the meeting. I packed my laptop and gathered some notes I had made and found my way to the room. I smiled at Jeff and Mike and introduced myself to the label guy. I didn't particularly like him, so I tried to ignore him as much as possible. I set up the laptop, attached it to the overhead machine and began my demonstration.

When I was finished, I waited for questions. The label guy had some comments but nothing that warranted any real changes. I was thankful for that. Finally Mike looked at me and spoke up. "I guess the only thing I have to say Scott," he began, "is would you like to remain in the employ of Backstreet and overhaul the official website?" he asked. That stunned me. I never expected anything like that.

I was quiet for a moment. No matter how much I would love to take on that job, I knew I couldn't without talking to Brian and the others, assuming they didn't already know. I looked at Mike. "Do the guys know about this offer?" I asked.

Mike shook his head. "No. It was something Jeff and I were talking about earlier, but we wanted to see what you had done first before suggesting it."

I nodded. "Do you need an answer right now, or can I have a couple of days?" I asked.

Mike looked at Jeff, who nodded. "We'll give you forty-eight hours Scott, okay?" Mike said.

I smiled and stood up. "Okay, that's great. Thank you for the offer by the way," I said and walked over to shake their hands. "You'll hear from me soon."

The three men left and I gathered up my things before returning to the room. I found I was exhausted when I got back because I still wasn't one hundred percent recovered from the accident, so I laid down for a nap.

A light tickling over my face woke me. As I blinked the sleep from my eyes I found myself staring into two gorgeous blue eyes. Brian was smiling at me and I matched his expression. "Hello Love. When did you get back?" I asked as I stretched on the bed.

Brian lay down beside me and gently stroked my cheek. "A few minutes ago. You looked so peaceful yet so delicious I had to wake you. Sorry," he apologized insincerely.

I grinned. "I forgive you. So what time is it? How did the interviews and rehearsal go?" I asked.

"Its about six thirty. We just stopped back here for a few minutes before going to the arena. Everything went okay today. How about for you?" he asked.

I nodded. "Good. They liked the sites." I sat up and looked at him. "In fact, Mike and Jeff offered me the job of overhauling the official Backstreet site," I told him.

Brian was surprised. "Really? That's great! You going to do it?" he asked.

"I want to. But I wanted to talk with you and the other guys first," I explained.

Brian nodded. "Okay. We can all talk tomorrow. But I know they will want you to do it too," he said excitedly. He crawled off the bed and walked to his suitcase. "Are you going to come to the concert tonight?" he asked.

I thought about it, and realized I was still quite tired. I shook my head. "I don't think so. I'm feeling really tired. My body isn't used to regular living again. I think I'll try to catch up on some sleep."

Brian walked back over and leaned down to kiss me. "You okay?" he asked, the concern evident on his face.

I stroked his cheek and smiled. "I'm fine Love, just tired. You go sing and dance your ass off. I'll be here when you get back."

He grinned, kissed me again and walked to the door. "Love you Angel," he murmured back to me.

I blew him a kiss and he walked out the door.

Before I had time to really adjust to being back on tour, I noticed an ugly pattern returning to our lives. I accepted the job offer and began working on the official BSB site. As the tour continued, Brian spent more and more time with some of the band members and other writers, working on new songs for the next CD. By the end of the first week, Brian and I barely saw each other except at night when we crashed onto the bunk in the bus or a bed in a hotel. Things had been so crazy, we never had a chance to talk about all the issues that had sent me home for two weeks before the accident. I'm not sure if we were both avoiding the talk on purpose, but we just never found time. The other guys tried to pick up the slack, inviting me out to the movies, or for a basketball game. But I found I couldn't enjoy it. Perhaps Brian's paranoia about the media had rubbed off on me. I found I was worried whenever strangers were around. I would stare at them, trying to determine if they were just a person on the street or a reporter trying to dig up dirt. The stress began to affect me and I knew something would have to give. I only hoped that no one got hurt too much when it did.

To be continued...