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That weekend, Nick panicked all weekend. He was in pain from the gun shot in his arm but it was superficial, Nick on strong pain medication after discharging himself from hospital against medical advice to be with Mark more.

On the Saturday he had everyone over to spend time with Mark just in case. The only one Nick knew he could count on was Brian knew everything that was going on.
Mark was fretting for Brianna. If Mark didn’t end up in Nick’s bed, Nick often spent nights with Mark getting him to sleep. It had been 3 weeks since Mark had seen his Mother, not even hearing her voice except for listening to her music. Mark needed more than this. Nick felt helpless that he couldn’t do anything. On that Saturday night Nick stayed awake all night long, watching Mark try and get to sleep, finally just before the sun was rising.

Brian arrived around 9am that morning on his own. When Brian arrived, he heard Nick in the kitchen. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Nick was sitting on one of the chairs at the dining table, his head buried in his arms, crying.
“Nick.” Brian whispered.
“I need her man. I need Brianna.” Nick sobbed.
“We’ll get her back soon.” Brian tried to assure her.
“What if we don’t? How do I tell Mark hey? How do I tell his Mom’s not coming back? I’ve flaming told him that she was on tour and busy doing things.” Nick outraged.
“Here’s hoping today will get some more leads. The police are going to be there and at the pier. Everything is set up.” Brian said.
“I need her here now. I can’t take much more of this man. I truly can’t.” Nick broke down, his head resting in his hands. The only thing that Brian could do was to out his arms around Nick and comfort him.

“When was the last time you had some real sleep?” Brian asked as Nick calmed down.
“Before Brianna and I broke up.” Nick replied quietly.
“You go upstairs, I’ll look after Mark, get him some breakfast and everything. You need your rest man. We aren’t on tour.” Brian told him.
“I can’t. Mertz is coming over around 10 o’clock to discuss about this afternoon.” Nick sighed leaning back on his chair.
“Well at least do you a decent breakfast then hey?” Brian offered.

Around 4.30pm, Nick and Mark set off in his car. Nick told Mark they would go to Santa Monica pier and watch the sun set and have some fun by the pier. Nick put on a brave face for all of this. He was heartbroken.

As they walked to the pier, Nick held onto Mark’s hand even tighter. “Don’t let go whatever you do alright. There’s a lot of people.” He instructed Mark.
“Ok.” Mark replied getting some grip of Nick’s left hand. Undercover police were along the pier witnessing everything giving their nods to Nick or some signal to say they were there. There would also be police underneath the pier at all angles in case of anything happened. Nick’s chest tightened as they walked to the end of the pier. At the reserved sign, they stopped. Mark wanted to go further.
“Can’t go any further, it says reserved. Someone has booked this place for something.” Nick told Mark.

Right on 5 o’clock a person turned up. With a black baseball cap and big black sunglasses disguising them they stood to the right of Nick.
“Let him go to the edge. Talk.” The person said. Nick almost didn’t want to but he let go of Mark’s hand and allowed him to the edge.
“Doing fine Carter. You have done what you have been told to do. Very good. It is known that the police are involved, it just wouldn’t be same without the police. Every kidnapping or drama has to involve the police.” The person said.
“What do you want now?” Nick asked calmly, not looking at the person.
“This was just a test. To see if you really care for Brianna and her son. Did a good job. The next stage you will be informed. You won’t know how, you won’t know when, you won’t know where but you will be told.” The person replied and walked off.

That was it. Nick’s heart rate beated more than it could. All Nick wanted to do was just get home and Mark safe and sound. Back to the car park Nick carried Mark, not wanting to let him go. He wanted Mark close to his heart.

As Mark watched TV that night, Nick called Brian. “You are kidding me.” Brian could only say.
“I’m not. The police were able to have some description of the person. I just hope that whoever has Brianna or wherever Brianna is, she doesn’t know anything like this has happened. Promise me that all of this will never be told to Brianna.” Nick replied.
“I would like to but it is going to have to come out sometime Nick. This is connected with Brianna and Brianna will have to tell everything that has happened.” Brian told him.
“Even what happened Friday night?” Nick asked.
“Even what happened Friday night.” Brian repeated.
“When will this end man? When?” Nick sighed.