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*sorry about the wait and thanks for the warm reviews. I SO love all of you guys!*



18
Once I got into Kevin’s room and sat down I just let everything out. He didn’t interrupt me at all; just kind of let me spew everything out at him. It’s funny because normally I would have saved this job for Brian but for some reason, when it came to the real heavy duty stuff, Kevin was the one that helped.
When I started to talk I was so emotional and I think at one point I might have even scared the guy. I tend to be emotional and moody but the utter helplessness that I showed in our conversation was making him uneasy. I could tell he felt like he was in a little over his head.

He sat and listened as I told him about my parents and the fights they would have. It’s funny what you find yourself remembering when your fake brother comes back into your life and then your fake father hangs up on you. The thing was…I still kind of believed that Mike really was telling me the truth. I mean he knew so much; too much to be lying. Posers aren’t that good.

At one point in our conversation, if you could call it that, Brian must have made his way into the room because when I looked up from the floor I saw two pairs of eyes staring at me instead of one.

“Nicky…” Kevin called me Nicky when he was about to call me stupid. “You are too naïve. I mean you have to think before you trust people” See? I told you

“But…he knew so much”

“Come on Nick, how many times have you even said the fans know more about us then we do?”

“Yeah but Bri, this is different”

“I know” he said, stretching over to where I was and patting my leg.

“I’m supposed to call him tonight. He wanted me to call him when I got back”

“Nick…I’m really sorry buddy. But aren’t you glad you found out now? I mean what if he had dragged you somewhere and had his way with you?” I laughed at the absurdity of what Kevin just said. He didn’t find it funny but Brian chuckled a little to.

“It’s not funny”

“I still kind of think he may be Mike” I said softly. I didn’t really want Kevin to start up again. I was happily surprised when he didn’t. He just stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know” I answered honestly. I really had no clue. Do I call Mike and pretend I didn’t talk to his Father? Or do I confront him about it? If he is my Mike, will that be the final straw to break the camel’s back? First he is interrogated by my band mate then he gets interrogated by me. I would probably be done at that point.

“What are you thinking professor Nickington?” I looked over to Brian and he was holding two of the hotel glasses to his eyes as spectacles. I laughed to make him happy.

“I don’t know Bri…what do you think I should do?” That’s what I needed, somebody to tell me what to do. While pondering the question he removed the glasses from his eyes and placed them on the bed, “You want to know what I would do?” I nodded.

“I would just leave things alone and call my Mom” I nodded because in his reality that’s probably what I would do to. But unfortunately this wasn’t his reality…it was mine. “I don’t know Brian”

“I’m not telling you to do that, I’m just telling you that’s what I would do”

“So you don’t think I should call him then?”

“It’s up to you, if you want to call him, I’ll support you, if you don’t I’ll support you. Either way…it’s your decision”

I didn’t want it to be my decision, so I looked over to Kevin who was sitting quietly just observing the two of us.

“You want me to call him?” Did I want Kevin to call Mike?

“I won’t be mean or anything; I’ll just simply confront him about things…that’s all. You can even stay in here and listen if you want” I could really tell Kevin wanted to make that call. Part of me thought that he still WOULD make that call whether I gave him permission or not.

“Kev…thanks for the offer but I think I am going to call him myself” Kevin reluctantly nodded, “you want me to stay?” I shook my head at him, which I don’t think he was too pleased at either; then I did the same to Brian, “I think I want to handle this by myself”

“You sure?” Brian asked me now all the playfulness gone from his voice.

“Yeah, but thanks guys…for everything”

“Not a problem…we’ll be right in the next room if you need us” I nodded again as I picked up the phone. Kevin stopped right before closing the door, “Oh and Nicky…” Here is comes again… “Don’t say you’ll meet with him again okay?”

I took a deep breath and once again called my cell phone.


~*~*~*~*~
Mike sat next to his father watching television, the entire time feeling a little guilty about wishing the guy was gone. He found himself glancing over to catch his father smile as he watched some random sitcom. Just the way it used to be when he was a kid. That was something he had in common with his father; the love of watching TV. The two of them would sit like couch potatoes and laugh about the stupidest things. Maybe that was why he had been picked to go with his father while Nick got to stay home.

“Dad...” He found himself saying out loud. He wasn’t even sure why. It’s not like he had any question in mind to ask the man, His dad glanced over to Mike, “Uh huh?” Half listening.

“Nothing” Mike shifted to more of an upright position and stared down at his watch. No wonder why he was so tired it was almost one o’clock in the morning. It was a good thing he didn’t have to work until later on in the day, otherwise he for sure would be late for work tomorrow.

He had asked Nick to call him as soon as he got in and having his dad show up had almost made him forget that. He glanced at the clock on the wall just to make sure he did have the right time, yup it was one o’clock and still no Nick. Maybe he had gotten caught up in traffic after all didn’t he say something about being in New Jersey? That was it; he thought to himself, he must be stuck in traffic.

“Something wrong son?” Mike looked over at his father, who had since shut the television off and was staring instead, at his son.

“Uh…no dad…I just …uh well I’m kind of expecting a call”

“Oh right…from your lady friend?” John Alexander said with a slight touch of sarcasm in his voice. Or from little mister moneybags?

“I think I am going to hit the hay for the night. Goodnight dad”

John got himself up off the couch and held his hand out to his son who grabbed it hesitantly. Once he did the father helped to pull his son up and then grabbed him into a hug. The gesture took Mike totally by surprise. “Wow! Thanks dad” He said as he moved away from his father.

“Night son and thank you for having me here. I promise I will try my best to get out of your hair as soon as possible”

“You can stay as long as you need to dad…it’s really alright” See? Palm of my hand. John thought as he layered one compliment on after the other, this one he genuinely meant though “I love you Mikey”

“You too dad”

As Michael closed the door to his room, he sighed, not really sure what that was all about but not fully trusting it either. His father was not exactly the lovey dovey type. It was sad that he had to think his father’s love suspicious but that’s the way it went. He immediately decided to go check his hiding place, the place where he put his passport; not that he would ever be able to afford to go anywhere, his birth certificate and most importantly his Save Mikey fund he started for himself. He learned to put money away a little at a time and forget it was there so this way if he ever WAS evicted or ever did lose his job he would have something to live off of. Not that $450 was enough to live off of mind you but it was a start. He had forgotten all about it in his rush to get to work, now he figured was a good time to check to see if the save Mikey fund had gone bye bye. He was relieved to see that the jug of money was still there; he decided not to count it yet. That could wait for another time. He had to trust his dad at least a little right? Yeah right…He said as he emptied his money on the bed and started to count it up.

Half way through, the phone on the bed rang, “Hey Nickers I was getting a little worried about you” He said trying to balance the phone on his shoulder while he continued to count his money.

“Hello? Nick are you there…unless…is this somebody else?” Mike suddenly dreaded the thought that maybe that Kevin nut job was at it once again, or it could have been someone actually looking for Nick, this WAS his cell phone.

“No…it’s me” Mike smiled when he heard his brother’s voice, “Hey kiddo. How did today go?”

“Who are you?” Mike tensed up at that question which caused the phone to fall from his shoulder and right onto the floor.He scurried to pick it up.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean who are you?”

“Why are we going through this again Nick?”

“I called before” He was trying to gauge what was going on with his brother; he sounded so hurt and angry but mostly flat.

“You did?”

“Yeah and your father answered” Mike bit his bottom lip, “He did?”

“Yeah and he said the funniest thing…he said you didn’t have a brother”

“Nicky he had no idea it was…"

“NO! Stop pulling this shit Mike; who the hell are you and what the hell do you want?”

“No, its dad…I swear, he had no idea you would be calling that’s all”

“Why would he say you had no brother?”

“Because he wasn’t thinking; he doesn’t know we have been talking” There was a very long pause in the conversation, then finally a “How come you didn’t tell him about me?” As he was talking to Nick, Mike made his way out to the living room, this was the last thing he wanted to do. “Because I didn’t entirely trust him” Now John was sitting up and watching his son curiously as he spoke on the phone.

“Why?”

“I have my reasons”

“That’s my father too then?” Now Mike was standing there glaring at his father who pretended he had no idea what was going on.

It was going exactly as he thought it would go. At first he was a little bummed that he had hung up on his son. If he had known he never would have, but then he got to thinking that eventually this very conversation that was happening would indeed happen and he would be forced to come clean to Mike and in the process get what he needed; his younger son back.

“Unfortunately yes…he is your dad too” John pretended to be totally surprised at what he just heard. He placed his hands to his mouth and tried to act as guilty as possible.

“Is that…could that be…Nick?” He asked in awe. Mike nodded and quickly turned away from his old man and continued to talk, “Nicky…you have to understand this happened so suddenly I haven’t had time to tell anybody let alone grasp it myself. He didn’t know; he is standing right here next to me as shocked as I was at first. As shocked as you were when I told you”

There was another long pause, during that time, Mike placed his hand on the receiver so Nick couldn’t here, “Dad why the hell didn’t you tell me he called?” Mike was seething.

“I thought it was a prank. Oh my God…I told him you didn’t have a brother”

“I know that”

“So…dad doesn’t hate me then?” When Mike heard that he turned his attention back to the phone, “No, of course not. He just didn’t know”

“Let me talk to him” John whispered while Mike bat his hand away from the phone.

“I’m sorry Nick. I accidentally left your phone here when I went to work today…”

“You told me you didn’t have to work today”

“Yeah, but I was called in…anyway, I asked him not to answer it but apparently he did. He just showed up today minutes before I left for work, I had no time to say anything to him…”

“It’s okay Mike. You don’t have to apologize. I’m sorry I doubted you”

“So, we all good now? I mean again?” Nick laughed but he still sounded a little hurt and more than a bit leery.

“Yeah…we’re all good”

“Excellent”

“Let me talk to my son” John insisted once again. This time he was vocal enough for Nick to actually here him so Mike had no choice but to hand over the phone. “Nick, dad wants to talk to you”


~*~*~*~*~
When I heard Mike say those words I tensed up. I really didn’t want to talk to my father. I was afraid of my father. I always have been. The man used to intimidate the hell out of me from what I can remember; hell he even scared the crap out of me when I didn’t know it was him.

But it was too late and before I knew it I heard his voice on the line, “Son…is that really you?” It didn’t sound like the same voice I had heard earlier. That one was a rough hate filled voice. This guy sounded nice, sweet, loving.

“Dad?”

“Yes…I’m so sorry for hanging up on you. I had NO idea…my God. I have missed you so much” My father…my REAL father, the guy I had made almost a fantasy hero in my mind just told me he missed me. I looked around the room wishing that Brian had stayed behind. I wanted to share the moment with someone who would have understood how important this was to me.

“That’s okay dad”

“Have you been well?”

“Yes I have”

“That is SO wonderful. I will let you get back to talking to Mikey but son…I love you” My father just told me he loved me, “I love you too dad”

There was a short pause when my dad handed the phone back to Mike, “Okay?” Was all he said.

“Yeah, I’m great now”

“I need to go to bed kiddo, but I can stay up and talk if you want”

“No, if you need to go to bed then…”

“No, let’s talk instead, I have the rest of my life to sleep” I smiled, God how I wanted him to say that. I lay on the bed and talked to my brother, telling him about my life, my friends and my world for almost the whole night.

I suddenly went from not having any family to having my real one back and it felt great.