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Chapter 10

Brian filled the sink in the bathroom with cold water and cupped the water in his hands and wet his face with it. He took in a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror, he looked horrible. He didn't get much sleep, he kept hearing the mans voice. Everytime he thought that he could put it out of his mind, the sound of the voice came rushing into his mind. Whoever this guy was, he had Brian more scared than he had ever been in his entire life. He emptied the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey Bri," Nick said as he watched Brian step out.

"Hey," Brian answered softly.

"What's up?" Nick asked.

"Nothing."

"You sure? It looks like you got something on your mind. You wanna talk about it?"

"Nick it's nothing, I'm just worried about AJ."

"Oh, but he's alright," Nick told him.

"I know, but I don't like how close we came to losing him. We shouldn't have told him about the phone call."

"We did," Nick laughed, he was starting to sound like Kevin, "can't change that. Just think, he's alright, he's still with us."

"Thank God."

"The calls stopped after the other night didn't they?" Nick asked. Brian knew he couldn't tell Nick about the call that he had gotten, he didn't want to risk putting Nick in danger.

"Yeah, that guy never called me back," Brian lied, hoping that Nick would buy it. He didn't want to lie to his best friend but he knew that he was protecting him in the long run. He did feel guilty but he knew inside of him that he was helping to keep him safe. He just kept telling himself that. This was the right thing to do.

"Maybe he won't call any more," Nick commented.

"Yeah."

"Weird though. I mean he just calls out of the blue looking for me and gets you. You talk to him a couple times and he goes after Howie and AJ. Then when he hurts AJ, he suddenly stops. He didn't even ask for anything."

"I know," Brian said soflty.

"You don't want to talk about this do you?"

"Not really. It's too weird for me," Brian answered.

"It's all good. We can talk about somethin' else," Nick told him, "so you wanna play some PS2? Ya know, to get your mind off of things." Brian laughed, and smiled at Nick.

"I'm up to a good distraction," he answered.

"Cool," Nick grinned, "but I bet you that I can beat you without even breaking a sweat."

"You're on Carter!"

AJ sighed as he stared out of the window in the hospital room that he was occupying. He was kind of angry at himself for not getting a good look at the guy. If he had, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. No one else would be getting hurt, but no, he had to totally miss even a small glance at this guy. Next time, he thought, wait, there won't be a next time he told himself.

"Wonder when the guys are coming by," he thought to himself. He didn't like being alone at this point. Having almost lost his life, he knew that he wanted to ebrace what he had and never let it go again because he realized that he could go at anytime. He shook his head at his thoughts, he really shouldn't be thinking like that. Slowly, AJ reached for the phone. He didn't want to make any sudden movements out of fear that he might cause himself emence pain. He dialed in a number and waited as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey D, how's it goin'?" AJ said, glad to hear someone's voice.

"Shouldn't you be relaxing?" Howie mentioned.

"I am. Just wanted to call my friends, got a problem with that?"

"Lonely?" Howie asked, knowing full well that AJ would never admit it.

"Who me? Nah, just thought that you guys missed me. I figured why cause them any more pain, call 'em up and let them know that I'll be back to normal before you guys know it."

"Almost there already," Howie commented.

"You know me, nothing can keep me down for long. I fall and then I get right back up and go after it all again," AJ smiled. He was glad that Howie wasn't babying him. He didn't want them to feel bad for him because there was nothing to feel bad about. They didn't do anything, this happened cause AJ was being AJ. Not like he would let anyone take unneeded blame. Nor was he the type to lay back and let everyone do everything for him, not now, not ever.

"Did the doctor tell you when you can come home yet?" Howie asked.

"Tommrow," AJ answered, "so which one of you guys are coming to pick me up?"

"I can drop over and get you," Howie told him.

"Don't forget to bring security with you," AJ reminded.

"I know. I don't think any of us are ready to go any place with out protection yet, at least not until they catch the guy that did this to you."

"Don't blame you D," AJ responded, "You know how they say that a paper cut is the worst kind of pain D?"

"Yeah, I've heard that."

"Well, I think they're wrong. This hurts a hell of a lot more," AJ laughed and Howie laughed softly with him. AJ was getting better, thankfully.

"I bet it does, but you have the doctors there to help you get rid of the pain," Howie commented.

"Yeah, whatever the hell they're giving me, beats the shit out of tylenol."

"Well, they are a hospital, of course they have stuff thats stronger than what you can get behind the counter. Besides, I don't think tylenol, was ment to help a gun shot," Howie added.

"Maybe they should reconsider their decision and make it for people who have gotten shot," AJ said jokingly.

"Yeah well, I doubt that they are going to do that anytime soon J," Howie informed him.

"Damn," AJ smiled, "so you guys droping by today or am I going to have to sit around here all alone all day?"

"We were going to swing by later on. I don't know exactly when though," Howie answered.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you guys."

"Why do you want us to come over so badly," Howie asked, knowing why, but just wanting to hear AJ admit it.

"Cause there is only so much that I can do alone and I'm running out of ideas quickly," AJ answered.

"Really? Or is it because you miss us dearly?"

"D, don't start with me man!"

"Admit it!"

"Admit what? I'm not hiding anything for ya D," AJ lied, he was actually scared out of his mind. No way he was going to tell anyone that though. That would be out of character for him.

"Alright man. I'll let you get some rest. We'll see ya later," Howie said and hung up.