Date: Sun, 06 May 2001 16:56:43 +0200 From: Sophie V Subject: Fate Will Gather Us Together: Chapter Seventeen Author's note: Hi there, this is the chapter seventeen! As always (and forever!) thanks to everyone who read my story and another thank to all people who send me mail in addition! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! ;D You know that thing: I don't know any of the BSB, Backstreet Band, Firm... and I don't know their sexuality and yadi yadi yada.... Don't read if you aren't older enough to, and if you don't like homosexual stories... are you lost or silly? I know that I like many stories but I can't help it! Anyway, I advise you these ones: "Nick and Brian", by JC Vascardi "Open Arms", by Carter "Because I love you", by Lucas Thompson "The Body Switch with Nick Carter" by Sher "The Project" by Adam "Any Path", and all the sequels, and "Interludes" by Dara Lynn "Star Crossed", "Sucks to Be You" and "I Need You Tonight" by Jo Beth Hill "It's Gonna Be Me" by Jamie "Say my Name" by Jo Beth Hill and Colleen "Heaven in yours eyes" by Beck "Chances are" by Red "Josh and Just" by AJ Shukla "Just One Call" by Sarah "Tearing Up My Ass" by Rick Chasez "Kevin and Dustin" by Nick Moore "Little White Lies" by Elly Iles "Calming Waters" and "The Debt" by NCfan "Devotion" by Angel1313 "The Real Nick" by Kevin Michael "God Must Have Spent" by AJ B. "Secrets", "Hands Of Time", "The Call" and "The Shadow's Riddle" by Kit. She had also written another one with Lum called "Through Another's Eyes". Check it out. "Shape Of My Heart" by MJ "Loneliness Knows Me By Name" by Cody "Before The Storm" by Gking "Blood Angel" by Nathan Wolf and "Backstreets" from Nike (go and see his great site too! www.geocities.com/writer_nike/) You can also check out my other stories "Together Again" (net chapter on Tuesday), "Porcelain" and the second part "Send Me An Angel", "Earth, Wind, Sun", "The Snow Will Be There", "Whispering Wind" and "Happy Birthday!" Remember that English isn't my first language! So sorry for the errors that I may did! Fate Will Gather Us Together Chapter Seventeen By Sophie V. (wind_phoenix@hotmail.com, wind_angel@myplace.com) **************************************************************************** "Don't ever leave me again, I want you with me forever... Promise, me, Jeff." "I promise." Said Jeff "I'd never leave you, even for all the money in the world." Gene sighed happily and closed his eyes, enjoying their embrace. While Nick and Brian were in the plane, Gene and Jeff were still outside, not too far from the plane. The wind blew softly and Gene shuddered from the cold. Feeling that, Jeff pulled away slightly, but Gene hugged him tightly. "Don't." he said, "I want to stay like that." "Honey, you're cold. It would be better if we went in the plane." Said Jeff softly "It's gonna be better after." "Mmmm..." mumbled Gene, closing his eyes one more time. He was tired because of this hard day and his lack of sleep. He only slept three hours last night. Jeff felt that and took him in his arms as he started to walk toward the plane. "Okay, so I must carry you." He said smiling. Gene smiled too and buried his head in his chest, just wanting to sleep. As Jeff walked toward the plane, two bodyguards stopped him. "Where did you find him?" one of them asked, pointing at Gene. "He's my boyfriend, leave him alone." groaned Gene, really tired. The bodyguards both nodded and let Jeff going, with Gene in his arms, in the plane. ***************** "This film had twenty one pictures, and all of you." Said John as he searched in his bag. "Some of them can be dangerous for you." "What do you mean?" asked Nick, worried "There's naughty things?" "Since you're both in a gay relationship, you and Gene, 'naughty' won't be a cute word for you." The management knew about the relationship between Nick and Brian. They told them a few hours ago. They weren't too happy about it, but they only said to them to be very careful in public because it could bring bad publicity. The couple wasn't too happy about it, but they knew that they had no choice. Brian put an arm around Nick, sensing his nervousness. Nick leaned against him, wanting to feel safe. "Here there are!" said John, holding a small plastic box. He opened it and took from it a lot of pictures "Here's the photos 'he' had." Nick took them and looked at them with Brian. There were pictures of Nick and Gene together, pictures of Nick and Gene alone... "That's what I thought." Said Brian. "He'd have won a lot of money if he'd sold this pictures." "I'm glad Gene found him." Said Nick as he looked at each picture. Then he spotted some pictures that totally shocked him. "What is it, Nick?" asked Brian seeing his face. Nick showed him the picture and Brian's month dropped opened. In one of the pictures were Nick and he kissing, another one with them shirtless and in each other arms, and another one with Brian lying on the bed, Nick on top of him, kissing each other. "Oh shit..." he said. "How... how could he have..." "He took them from the building in front of the hotel." Said John "There some troubles on the picture, and it's not because this is a bad quality picture. It was the window of your room. It's because he should have taken it from the building which was in front of your hotel." "Oh god..." said Brian "I remember now... there weren't curtains in this room..." "It's very smart from him... but also so nasty!" said Nick angrily "If I ever find him, he'll be dead!" "That won't be a good idea, Nick." Said John "First, we need to know who he is." "Perhaps someone who work in free-lance." Said Brian. "If he was from a paparazzi from a magazine, he would have published these pictures as soon as he had taken them. Even one of these would be enough for this type of pictures!" "What's wrong, guys?" said AJ as he walked in the room, seeing their faces. As they were about to answer, Jeff entered in the room with Gene in his arms. "Jeff!" said Nick as he saw him. He got up and stood in front of him "Look, it's my fault, I'm very sorry. If I had taken you with me to find Gene, you could have been together this night. And... Oh my god, is he okay?!" "Whoa, don't worry, Nick, it's okay." said Jeff smiling. "First, it's not your fault, and after all Gene and I are together now. That's all that matter. And second, don't worry about Gene, he's just sleeping." "Okay..." said Nick, smiling a little. "Wait a minute!" said AJ "You're Jeff? That guy that we lost yesterday night and was supposed to be dead for two years?" "Yes, that's me." said Jeff "I'm Jeff Dawner." "Oh... nice to meet you. I'm AJ." In normal time, he would have shaken his hand but with Gene in Jeff's arms, it was very difficult. Nick walked back to the couch and sat beside Brian. Jeff followed him and pulled Gene against him, so that he could put his arms around him. Gene sighed happily and leaned more against him. AJ sat on a chair beside him and Howie and Kevin joined them. "Hey guys..." as Howie was about to continue, he saw Jeff "Uh... sorry, but I don't know you." "I'm Jeff, Gene's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." said Jeff. Kevin and Howie were bother surprised but greeted him. "In normal time, I'd ask a lot of question about you." said AJ, nodding toward Jeff "But it seems that something looked wrong. What is it, guys?" "Well, it's very important." said Brian "So sit and listen." Kevin and Howie nodded and sat beside AJ on a double chair. Nick cleared his voice and started talking. "Earlier this day, Gene and I were playing basketball in the court of the hotel. As we were about to take a break, Gene saw someone taking pictures of us. He was hiding in shadows so we didn't see him at first. When he saw that Gene found him, he ran away and Gene ran after him." "I was out for some stuff, and as I was walking, someone bumped against me pretty hard. And then, he ran away. But because of the impact, he lost his camera. I saw Gene running toward me and he said that this man had taken pictures of him and Nick. We took the film from the camera and then we walked back at the hotel where we joined Nick. Then, we called John and asked him to know what the pics were." said Brian. "You have them." said Kevin, as he saw the pictures on the table. "Do you know what are they?" "Yeah, look." said Brian, sighing. Kevin took them and looked at them as Howie and AJ looked too. Their months went wide opened as they saw the pictures of Nick and Brian making out. "Oh shit..." they said. "What are they?" asked Jeff. He passed him the pictures and gasped too. He understood why they were so shocked. "Who is he?" asked AJ "Do you know something about him?" "No, nothing." sighed Nick "I have no idea." "Why does he have pictures of Gene, alone?" wondered Howie "If he was trying to show that you have a twin brother, well it's stupid." "Perhaps he wanted to see what the differences were." said AJ. "There's no differences between him and Nick." said Kevin. "I think Gene is a little more stronger than me but other than that, I don't know." said Nick. "Wait!" said Jeff, looking at the pictures. "Look at these two pictures. One of Gene and one of Nick." They looked at the pictures Jeff gave to them. They frowned, not understanding what Jeff wanted to show. They saw no difference. "I saw nothing." said AJ as the others nodded. "No, look. They both have their arms crossed and are shirtless." said Jeff. "And so?" Kevin said. "We can't see the differences with the muscles on them." "The tattoos, guys!" said Jeff "Gene has only one tattoo on his left arm but Nick has tattoos on his two arms." They all looked closely the picture and saw that he was right. Gene had a tattoo on his left arm, but no one of his right arm. "It could be a good proof." said Jeff. "He only took pictures of Nick and Gene ALONE when they were shirtless. It's smart and... Very nasty." He felt Gene stirring and looked down at the brown beauty. Gene opened his eyes and looked in his eyes, smiling. "Glad that it wasn't a dream." he said. "Gene, look at that!" said Nick as he showed a picture of them playing basketball. Gene looked at it, frowning, and looked at Nick. "What is it?" he asked, confused. "It's a picture taken by the man you ran after today." he said, "We have his pictures." "Really?" said Gene as he sat up. "What are they?" "Well, there's pictures of me and Nick together, you and him alone, and pictures of you both together." said Brian. "Mmm... I see." said Gene "Can you show me the pics?" Kevin and Jeff gave him the pics and looked at them closely. Then, something caught his eyes. It was a picture of him, at the rehearsal of their first concert, in Fort Lauderdale. He was playing on his guitar, while Mark was sitting not far from him. "Wait a minute!" he said, frowning. "I think I know who he is." "Really?!" said everyone in the room. "Well, I don't KNOW him but I think I've seen him at the rehearse, for the first concert of the tour. Well, at least, I think it's him. He was looking darkly at me, as if he hated me before he walked out." "How he was?" asked Brian. "Well, he was about Jeff's height, maybe a bit shorter, and had long dark hair. It's all I know, he was too far from me, I couldn't see completely his." said Gene. Brian looked at the others, but they just shook their heads. "Honestly, this isn't enough." said Kevin "I don't know who he can be." "Me neither." said the others. They fell in a silence when John spoke up. "Why would he hate you, Gene?" he said "You don't know him, but he seems to know you. Perhaps he thought you were Nick." "But why would someone hate me, or Gene?" said Nick "What did we do?" "Perhaps it's because you're twins." said AJ. "That makes no sense, AJ." said Kevin "You can't hate two persons because they're twins. There's must be another reason." "But which one?" said Nick. Nobody answered. Brian looked at the pictures and sighed. "So what are we going to do?" he asked. For a moment, nobody spoke, trying to find a plan. A few minutes after, Kevin spoke up. "Well, I think I know." he said "First, it would be better, Gene, if you stay with your hair brown. So that, he'd have more difficulties to prove that you and Nick are twins." "That makes sense, I guess." said Gene as Nick nodded. "Second, Nick, Brian, you need to be careful. Be sure that the curtains are closed when you want to... do your stuff." he said, a bit embarrassed. They both nodded, blushing a bit, as AJ giggled. "Same for you, Gene, Jeff." he said, looking at them "You have to be careful." "We'll be, don't worry." said Jeff, as Gene nodded. "And last, we must say to the Firm that a photograph is following us and that he could be dangerous." he said "So that they could verify the identity of each photograph when they traveled with us or when they want to take a picture of us. Except the fans at some sessions and at our concerts, it must be this way for each photograph. Plus, Gene you have to leave when a photograph, reporter or fan comes to see us." "I hope it will work." said Nick, as Brian hugged him "I'm kinda worried." "Me too, Nick, me too." said Kevin as he got up to talk to the management. AJ took the photos and walked toward the bathroom. "I'm gonna burn these things." he said "Too dangerous to keep them. Someone can steal them." The others just nodded as he walked out of the room. Nick looked through a window and sighed. The situation was hard. Jeff's problem was over, but then a mysterious photograph is after them. "What happened? Why us?" he said, staring at the airport. He felt Brian hugging him from behind and sighed contently. "We'll face that together." Brian whispered in his ear. "Always together, baby." Nick turned around and leaned against his chest. Brian smiled and looked at Jeff, who was also holding Gene. "We're lucky, uh?" he said to him. Jeff smiled and nodded, ruffling Gene's brown hair. Gene sighed contently as he buried his head in his shoulder. Then suddenly, he sat up and looked inside Jeff's eyes. "Jeff... I want to know now." he said "Please tell me what happened to you during these last two years. I need to know, god I missed you so much." Jeff silenced him with a sweet kiss and looked at him seriously. Nick, Brian and Howie, who was still in the room, looked at him intently, wanting too to hear the full story. "I want to tell you too, you deserve to know." he said. Gene nodded and sat up between his legs, looking in his eyes. Jeff looked at the others. They nodded, showing that they're interested too. Jeff nodded and started. "Well, I only remember what happened during the storm a few months ago." he said "So I'll start with that." "We're listening." said Brian as the others nodded. "Well, during the storm, Gene and I were during everything we could to go back to the coast but we were far and the storm was strong. I wanted to reach a robe on the boat when a big wave pushed me toward on of the edge of the boat. I screamed for Gene, and as he was about to reach me, a very strong wave pushed me on the water. I was only able to go to the surface only a few moments after. Luckily I had put my life jacket before the storm. But it was hard to swim because the storm was strong. I wanted to go back to the boat but I couldn't. The sea was way too strong. All I could do was to look at the boat moving away from me, bringing Gene with it." Gene snuggled closed to him and shuddered at these terrific memories. "The wave, which pushed you in the water, pushed me against the mast of the boat and knocked me out." he said. "I feared that... I'm glad you're okay sweetie." said Jeff, as he kissed his forehead. "Because of the storm, the boat was seriously damaged. A few moments, while I was still swimming, I felt something hard falling on my head. Hopefully, it didn't knock me out but it injured me anyway. I looked and saw that it was a part of the mast, and not far from it, was a life buoy. I got it and I hung on the mast during the storm. With my lifejacket, the life buoy and the mast, it was a way lot better. I didn't remember when exactly but as the storm was almost over, I lost consciousness." "Probably because of your injury." said Brian. "Yes, I supposed, as I was bleeding." said Jeff "When I woke up, I was in bed with a headache. I was wondering where I was, how I got here... I saw that I was a small house in wood and I could hear the sea not far from here. Then, I heard someone saying that I was finally awake. It was a man in the forty. He said that he was Gregory Hire and that he found me on the beach, injured and unconscious. When he asked me who I was, I couldn't answer coz I didn't remember anything. He said that I had an injury on the head and that I lost blood so that it was because I had amnesia. I was very confused. When he asked me if I remembered something about what happened or about my life, I tried hard to remember something... then an image appeared. The smiling face of a blond young man, with bright blue eyes. But I couldn't remember his name... it's only later that I remember his name, and it was you, Gene." "Oh, sweetie..." said Gene, sniffling "I'm so glad, this man found you. You'd be probably dead if he didn't." "I thought that too. We talked and he gave me some medicine for the head. He was a fisherman who lived not too far from the city. His wife knew some things about medicine so that she could heal me. I didn't know how to thanks them so he proposed to stay and work with them during my convalescence, until my memory is back." "He didn't bring you to the police station or a hospital?" asked Howie. "No, I didn't even want to. I only trusted them, I couldn't trust other people. I guess that if I went to a police station they would have helped me, but... I'm sorry, I can't exactly remember why I didn't want to." "I guess that if you'd have gone, we'd probably be together for a long time... but I don't care anymore. You're here and that's all that matter to me." said Gene, smiling a little. Jeff smiled a little and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "But who were they, exactly?" asked Brian. "Well, Gregory lived with his wife near a small village, near the coast. They weren't too rich and didn't have the television and the radio. So they never knew, like me, that everyone was searching me. They both took care of me as if I was their son." he said "A few weeks later, I started to remember some stuff. My age, where I lived... but not my family and friends... until a night, a few months ago." "What happened?" asked Gene. "I made a dream where there was you. We were together." said Jeff "The next morning, I had all my memory back. The accident, my name, my family, you, everything." "And what did you do?" asked Nick. "I said my good-byes to the couple and promise them to come back and see them later. Then, I went in Los Angeles, where my family and Gene's one lived. But I found out that they moved. Then, I went to a police station where I said who I was. They hardly believe me at first, but my physic and some details about me were very strange to them. So they made some medical tests and found out that I was really Jeff Dawner. I stayed a bit for some administrative stuff, and they contacted my family who lived at Salt Lake City. They came to search me, we came back to Salt Lake City and I stayed at their house for a moment. Later, I decided to leave and find you... I wanted to do it since the beginning, but my family needed me, and I needed them too." "They remembered where we lived, I guess." said Gene. "Yes, so I went to Houston and your family had welcomed me. My mother called them before about me. They hardly believed her, but they did. At your house, I ask where you were, and they said that you became the new guitarist of the Backstreet Boys. I wanted so badly to find you, so your sister gave me all the dates of their tours. Then, I took for Orlando and when I arrived, I took a bus for Ford Lauderdale. I stayed at a hotel under a pseudonym and I wrote a letter to you, so that you'd know that I'm here if I couldn't see you." "Management is very strict on that." said Brian "Nobody can sees someone from the group or the band without pass." "That's why I wrote the letter, I feared that I wouldn't see you." said Jeff "After the concert, Nick found me and said to stay in a room while he searched you, Gene, but a bodyguard found me and kicked me out. He didn't believe me when I was saying that I was there for you. I didn't have any pass." "I was mad at him because of that." said Nick "Now, I guess I can forgive him." "Yes, you can." said Jeff "So I went back at the hotel, almost desperate because I thought I wouldn't be able to see Gene again. So, I decided that the easiest way would be to wait at the airport. That's what I did today. Then, someone went to me and asked if I was Jeff Dawner. I said yes and he led me toward Gene. You know what happened next." "That's a crazy story." said Nick. "Yes... and I don't want that to happen ever again." said Gene, clutching at his boyfriend. Jeff smiled and kissed him. "It won't, baby, I promise." said Jeff. Gene smiled and kissed him on the lips. The two lovers continued to kiss and Nick started to kiss Brian also. Seeing that, Howie coughed and decided to leave. "Um... I'm gonna say... what happened to the others." he said, leaving the room. The two couples didn't answer and just continued to kiss. ***************** "Phew! That was a long flight!" said Nick, plopping down on the bed of the hotel room. Brian smiled as he put their bags beside the bed. "Yeah, but it wasn't boring." he said, "Jeff is very kind, by the way." "Yeah, I like him." said Nick "I'm sure, Gene will be happy with him." "Sure, they were together for three years, after all." said Brian. Nick just nodded and mentioned to Brian to sit with him. Brian did so and Nick started to kiss him on the neck. "We have time off before the SuperBall..." he whispered. "So, we could play..." "Play what?" said Brian, escaping a moan as Nick started to move his hands under his pull. "A hot game, Frick..." he whispered in his right ear "We have time to explore our bodies... mine is hot for you..." Brian pulled away and looked at him, unsure. He was sure that it'd be safe, as the walls aren't thin and that the curtains are closed, but he wasn't sure about having sex right now. "What's wrong?" asked Nick, worried "You don't want to?" "Nick... it's not that. It's just that... this is the first time that I date a guy and I have never done something like that before." "You and Gene didn't..." "No, we did nothing." "Well... it's the same for me, I had never been with a man before. But we have to discover." he said. "But if you're not ready, we can wait." "No, it's not that, I'm ready." said Brian "Remember that we almost did it, the other day. And I thought it was Gene and we were only together for a few days." "Then what is it?" "I want it to be special." said Brian "I want you to love it. But, for that, I want to do some special things." "Like a dinner with champagne and some dance on romantic music?" asked Nick, smiling. "Yeah, like that. It would be perfect." said Brian as he kissed him lightly on the lips "And we'll do it soon." "Really?" said Nick, grinning "When?" "You'll see later. Don't worry, you won't have to wait for too long." "Cool! Can't wait, babe." he said, grinning. For hours, they just lay on the bed, in each other arms. Gene and Jeff were also doing that, both feeling happy. ***************** In a dark room, in another building, a man with long dark hair was working on a desk. He looked at the letter he wrote and smiled, satisfied. He turned toward his long bag, opened it and took off a long gun with sights. "Soon..." he said, grinning at it "Soon..." **************************************************************************** To be continued! As always... feedbacks are welcome! :) E-mail: wind_phoenix@hotmail.com OR wind_angel@myplace.com (write FWGUT or the entire title, as you wish) See ya! :) Sophie V.