In the Shadows by starbeamz2
Story Notes:
So after thinking about it long and hard, Kelly (aka Honey) and I decided we wanted to write a story together. Being Brian lovers, and, more importantly Brian romance lovers, we wanted to give everyone a story that's different from most of the others you've probably read, one that will blow your fuzzy bunny slippers off. After much deliberation, we have begun this tale...We hope you enjoy it, and we'll try to write as fast as we can so that we don't keep you waiting too long either! Enjoy!

Photobucket
We're up for Best Action/Adventure, Best Collaboration, & Best Unfinished Thanks to whoever nominated us!
Prologue by starbeamz2
The streets were quiet as he drove down the boulevard.  It had rained a few hours earlier, and the pavement still shone with its remains under the streetlights.  The boutiques in West Hollywood had long ago shut down business for the day, and the occasional pedestrian strolled down the sidewalks.

Glancing over at the passenger seat, he smiled at the sight of his wife.  She was asleep, and the glow from the passing lights made her golden hair gleam.  Her lashes lay against smooth skin he had always likened to porcelain in his head.  To him, she was the most beautiful gift God had ever given him.  Well, one of, he thought, remembering their son.  He felt a stab of guilt at leaving their nearly five year old at home but tried not to feel too badly.  They’d be home soon enough.

They’d had a busy night, and he patted his belly, remembering the delicious dinner they’d begun their evening with.  Tonight had been one of their monthly nights out, leaving their son in the care of a babysitter.  It had also been a night for a more private celebration of the success of the Backstreet Boys album.  Unbreakable had been holding steadily within Billboard’s top twenty albums for the third week in a row, and he couldn’t have been more delighted.

In honor of it, Leighanne had insisted on going out for dinner at one of their favorite Thai restaurants in downtown Los Angeles.  From there, they’d gone to see a movie—a comedy because he’d been in the mood for one.  She’d wanted to go for a walk on the beach while the full moon was still up, and they’d spent some very memorable moments under the pier.  Grinning at the thought, he began to quietly hum “Under the Boardwalk”.

As he drove past a grocery store, he remembered Leighanne telling him that they needed to buy milk before they went home.  Baylee would demand milk with his Cheerios in the morning, and, thinking of his son, Brian pulled into the tiny parking lot of a convenience store.

Leaning over, he brushed his lips over Leighanne’s hair.  She didn’t move, not even when he got out of the car and shut the door.  With a glance around the quiet parking lot, he walked into the store.

There was an elderly man working the register, and Brian smiled at him as he passed by on his way to the dairy section.  Britney Spears’ travesty of a song was playing over the speakers, and he tried to tune it out.  Pulling open the door of the refrigerator where the milk was, he grabbed the kind he knew Leighanne always bought—the healthy kind, he thought, remembering the whole milk days of his teenage and early adult years.

Carrying it up to the counter, he dug out his wallet and waited while the cashier rang up the sale.  

When the sound of a single gunshot pierced the air, he felt his heart stop.  Forgetting the milk, his wallet, everything, he bolted out the door in time to see a masked man shove Leighanne out of the car.  She lay on the pavement, motionless, and Brian rushed towards her.

Even as he opened his mouth to scream for help, the impact of the bullet sent him flying back.  Pain exploded in his chest, and his ears rang.  Vision hazing, he struggled to stand.  He didn’t hear the sound of his car roaring off nor did he hear the panicked yelling of the cashier in the store.

Stumbling, his fingers sticky with his own blood, he tried to get to Leighanne.  

“Brian.”

He blinked, wondering if it was his imagination or if she’d just called his name.  Focusing his blurry vision on her, he could see her blue, pain-filled eyes.  Even as his lips formed her name, he saw death film those beautiful eyes over.  

Unable to make a sound over the pain that filled his body and his heart, Brian fell to the ground.  The sound of sirens and Leighanne’s blood pooling on the pavement were the last things he saw before the world faded to black…


This story archived at http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8626