Even now, years after the Backstreet Boys first made it big, the breakfast spread they got was impressive. Nick’s favourite meal was breakfast so it was practically euphoric to walk into the private dining room and see three banquet tables filled end to end with delicious food. If there was one thing that he had in common with the man he liked to call ‘the old Nick’ (prior to his change in lifestyle) it was that he loved to eat. He had just exchanged burgers and doughnuts for fresh fruit and egg white omelettes.

He had been up late taking care of the Lauren issue and was absolutely famished as he walked through the French doors of the hotel dining room. The other three, their women and the children, were already up and waiting for him as he came in and they watched him head straight for the food and start filling a plate.

One thing he realized while choosing what he wanted to eat was that there was no one there lurking over his shoulder judging whatever was about to go into his mouth. He felt a bit of relief at the thought and immediately added extra bacon, a cheese croissant, and a tall glass of chocolate milk to the mix.

Brian watched with concern as Nick made his way over to the table they were all sitting at and dropped into a chair with a heaping plateful of food in front of him, “Where’s Lauren?” he couldn’t help but ask, having noticed her absence as soon as the younger blond had walked in through the doors.

Nick shrugged his shoulders, loudly chewing a mouth full of pastry, “She left last night. I guess she’s probably landed in LA by now.”

Rochelle gasped and everyone assumed it was out of shock since she and Lauren were quite close. Her hand was covering her mouth and she was staring at Nick wide eyed, “Why didn’t she say goodbye?”

Another shrug and he continued to eat nonchalantly, “She seemed like she was in a hurry. Maybe she was late for her flight?”

AJ chuckled and raised an eyebrow at the other man, “She couldn’t have been in that much of a hurry considering the noise coming out of your room last night.”

Immediately Nick stopped eating, looking up at AJ curiously, “What do you mean?” he asked innocently.

They was always good natured ribbing any time one of them made their night time activities vocal to the rooms around them so AJ didn’t feel awkward bringing it up in front of the group, “Oh, I dunno,” he joked sarcastically, “it might have something to do with all the thumpin’ and bumpin’ that was coming from your bedroom.”

Nick realized then that the sound was likely the echoes in the bathroom. The plumbing between their rooms was probably connected. Thinking quickly he gave his friend a little smirk, “What can I say? Some people have make-up sex and some people have break-up sex.”

Leighanne rolled her eyes, reaching over to put her hands over Baylee’s ears even though it was too late to keep him from hearing the words, “Would you mind not using the s-e-x word at the table?”
Nick laughed, holding his hands out in defence, “Sorry, at least I didn’t say fucking.”

Both AJ and Nick snickered while the two fathers in the group looked on disapprovingly.
“You know,” Brian spoke sternly, “one day, when you have kids...”

The smile that had once covered Nick’s face suddenly dropped and was replaced with a forlorn expression, “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

Brian sighed, not wanting to upset anyone. He figured that Nick’s downturn was because he had finally thought he was in a relationship that would last for a long time and he had blown it. He couldn’t blame Lauren for leaving, but felt a little bad that Nick let his impulses get the best of him again. While Nick continued to eat his breakfast he caught Rochelle glaring at the blond, and Brian couldn’t help but wonder what that was all about. Something was starting to smell fishy, and it wasn’t the leftover crab cake on his plate.

~*~

Brian had originally been thankful to be staying in his own home while they were in Atlanta but it was becoming a bit of a pain in the butt. He had to get up earlier than everyone else to make it in time for group breakfast before they did press, and when he realized that he forgot his cell phone on his bedside table he had to make the trip all the way back to get it during lunch.

He would have asked Leighanne to go get it for him but she and Baylee had already left to go to the park, the seven year old needing more entertainment than watching his Dad talk to reporters provided. He pulled his car around the back of the hotel where their buses were parked and made sure he had everything with him before starting the walk back to the conference room where they were set up for the day.

As he crossed the parking lot he saw someone familiar standing by Nick and AJ’s bus. He sighed and turned to walk in the direction of the vehicle, thinking that a diehard fan was trying to stowaway before they left to move on to the next city after the show that evening. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt and would rather get the girl an autograph and a picture than have her spend eight hours in a baggage hold.

“Hey, can I help you?” he called out but as he rounded the corner he realized that the girl was familiar because it was Rochelle, “Oh, sorry I didn’t realize it was you.”

She turned in surprise, her hand over her heart. Anxiously she moved to stand in front of a suitcase, trying to block it out of Brian’s view but from the questioning look on his face he had clearly seen it, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be inside?” she asked nervously.

“I forgot my phone,” he quietly replied, not able to take his eyes off the blue and pink argyle suitcase that was just behind Rochelle’s legs, “Please don’t tell me you’re leaving AJ...”

“No, it’s not like that!” she exclaimed, shaking her head quickly, her brown eyes wide.

Brian’s chuckle was tinged with sarcasm, “What is it with you girls? That’s what it looks like. You’re being all secretive, taking your suitcase out of the bus in the middle of the day...”

Rochelle sighed, running her hands through her dark brown hair, “It’s not my suitcase and I’m not taking it out, I’m putting it in.”

He had to admit he was confused, “I don’t get it.”

Slowly Rochelle pulled the suitcase from behind her over to Brian, tipping it so he could see the baggage tag on the handle. In perfect block letters the name Lauren Kitt and an address in Los Angeles was written on the tag.
 
Her eyes were filling with tears and she bit her bottom lip to keep them at bay, “I didn’t want AJ to see it. He’s having such a hard time with this whole thing that I didn’t think he could handle any more confusion. My head is so full of doubt, I don’t know what’s going on... but I do know that there is no way Lauren left last night to rush off to the airport.”

“Where did you get this?” Brian wondered, reaching out to put a supportive hand on Rochelle’s slim shoulder.

She inhaled deeply and let it out in a whoosh, “Lauren packed up while we were all at the dinner last night. She called me just after we got back and I met her downstairs in the lobby. I was going to go to the airport with her, just to see her off, but she wanted to go say goodbye to Nick first. She didn’t feel right about just leaving without saying anything to him, especially considering they live together. So I sat in the lobby with her bags, and waited. I chatted with some fans, checked my Twitter, read a magazine... I was down there forever and she never came back. I kind of assumed that she and Nick had fallen into bed together and made up so I took her stuff back up to my room with me and put it in the closet. AJ said he heard noise over there like something really dirty was going on so I didn’t think anything of it. But when he came down without her this morning and said that she left? Brian, she couldn’t have left without her stuff. She wouldn’t have left without telling me. I’ve been trying to call her all day but her cell just keeps going to voicemail.”

Brian didn’t know what to make of all that information. It did seem peculiar but there had to be some kind of logical explanation as to where Lauren had gone. Maybe Nick had been telling the truth and she had made a hasty exit, gotten all the way to the airport without her bag and just assumed Rochelle would bring it home with her, which is what she was ultimately doing. The past few weeks had been incredibly strange and stressful and never before had he had so much doubt in his friends.

“What are you trying to say?” he wondered, wanting to know exactly what Rochelle thought about the whole situation before he jumped to any conclusions.

A tear finally escaped and she was quick to brush it away as though it stung, “What if she went back down to the lobby after she left Nick’s room and someone did something to her? What if that psycho that killed that poor girl, Melissa, what if he got Lauren because I went back upstairs? What if he’s following us? I don’t know how I can tell Nick any of this.”

“Don’t say anything to Nick,” Brian said immediately, squeezing her arm uncomfortably tight for a quick second before letting go. He wasn’t sure how Nick would react if Rochelle went to him with that kind of information but for some reason he didn’t trust the younger man to be alone with any of the girls right then, “Just... don’t tell Nick. Let’s be absolutely sure before we start a panic, okay? If we don’t hear from her within the next day or so then we’ll go through the proper channels. Don’t blame yourself when we don’t even know what happened.”

Rochelle nodded, running both hands under her eyes. Her makeup had smeared slightly making it obvious that she had been crying and Brian reached into his pocket for the small packet of tissues he carried around in case of dirty Baylee.

“We’ll figure it out,” he assured her but deep down he knew that the words were for his own assurance.