~ Chapter Sixty ~

"Here's the pitch to Carter..."  Niehaus started.  "And that pitch is hit DEEP to left field... Reyes is going back to the track... to the WALL... he makes the leap... and..."  He paused, trying to see if the Dodger left fielder had caught the ball.  "And that is..."  Niehaus was yelling so loudly that the rest of his sentence was unintelligible, but anyone listening knew the ball had gone over the fence, and the Mariners had taken the lead. 

~*~

AJ slowly jogged in from the bullpen, humming under his breath, and trying to decide if the fact that he had started warming up before the Mariners took the lead really played any important factor at all.

Probably not, except for the very important fact that the entire bullpen now thought he was psychic.  He'd have some fun with that one before the trip home. 

"Hey, AJ."  The backup catcher greeted him on the mound.  AJ wasn't even sure what the guy's name was.  Keith or Ryan, or maybe it was Shawn. 

He hadn't talked to him very much in the two weeks that he'd been with the team. 

"Where's Kevin?"  AJ demanded sharply.  Maybe that wasn't an especially friendly greeting to the mystery catcher, but Kevin had started this game, and AJ wanted to know why Kevin wasn't on the mound. 

"I don't know.  He left." 

"He left?"  The warning bells in AJ's head started going off.  "Where's Buddy?"

"In the dugout?"

AJ sighed.  That was a catcher for you - sharp as a tack.  "Get him out here."

"Why?"

"Just do it!  Do whatever it is you catchers do!"  AJ was jumping up and down now, much to the amusement of the rest of the infield as they warmed up.

Keith, or Ryan, or Shawn, sighed, then turned and waved his arm at the dugout, until Buddy stood up, and made his way out towards the mound, glowering the entire way. 

"What?"  He gave AJ an especially evil glare.

"Where's Kevin?" 

Buddy shrugged, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket.  "He left in the eighth."

"Why?  Was it Brian?"

"I don't know.  He got a phone call - I haven't heard anything else."

AJ frowned while he thought about what Buddy had just told him.  Any way he looked at it, it wasn't good.  The only reason Kevin would leave the game would be if something had happened to Brian. 

"You okay, AJ?"  Buddy wondered.

"Yeah... I'm fine."  That was a flat-out lie.  Now AJ had a nagging little feeling that something was wrong in the bottom of his stomach.  He watched Buddy slowly wander back to the dugout, hands still shoved in his pockets, before turning to the equipment clad man in front of him.  "Okay, dude, get back behind the plate, let's get this over with."

"But..." The nameless catcher started to say something.

"Don't argue with me!"  AJ barked.  "I'm crazy!  Don't argue with crazy people!"  He smirked as he watched the catcher bolt for home plate as fast as his shinguards would allow.  The only thing better than alienating the rookies was alienating the coaching staff.

~*~

"Now in the game for Seattle, AJ McLean.  The Mariners ace closer throughout the regular season and most of the postseason as well, McLean had no ERA until last night's game, when in the bottom of the eighth, he gave up the game winning home run to the Dodgers Christiansen, who the Mariners hope he will not face this inning."  Stan Morgan found his last comment to be particularly amusing, since Christiansen was due up sixth that inning. 

"Here's the postseason stats on McLean, ERA of 2.79 after the home run last night, no wins, one loss, and five saves."  Bob Carter read off the statistics displaying next to AJ on the TV screen.  "He has a mediocre fastball, a fairly good change-up and one of the best forkballs I've ever seen."

"The Mariners have back-up catcher Jamie Flaherty behind the plate now." Morgan said in surprise.  "We're going to go down to Larry Greene, who's been listening in on the dugout conversations for the Mariners this game."

"Hey, Stan, Bob..."  Larry's voice started playing, as the TV screen showed the first Dodger hitter coming up to the plate.  "No one is really sure of details right now, but Mariner catcher Kevin Richardson left the stadium at the end of the eighth inning for personal reasons.  The Mariners aren't commenting, and it hasn't been confirmed that this situation has anything to do with Richardson's cousin, Brian Littrell, but one would assume it does.  We'll keep you posted if we hear anything."

~*~

Kevin had a word to describe a situation like this.  AJ wasn't quite sure what the word was, but it had several syllables.  Preposterous or maybe paradoxical - AJ was far from a vocabulary whiz.  He was sure of one thing - as soon as he got three batters out, he could get in the clubhouse and find out what was going on.  Therefore, simple logic told him, the faster the batters were put out, the faster he would be enlightened. 

Four pitches and three ground outs later, AJ decided to rethink that strategy.  Apparently he had forgotten to take into account the fact that they would have won Game Seven and his teammates would mob him on the mound.

"No!  No - cut that out right now!"  AJ swung his glove violently at Terrance Davis as Davis lifted AJ off the ground until he was sitting on one of Terrance's rather large shoulders and several other arms and shoulders.  "Damn it - if you drop me..."  AJ gave up and started praying he didn't end up crashing to the ground and breaking something important.

He ended up on the ground before they reached the dugout, but as usual, didn't seem to break anything.  It wasn't until the team was in the clubhouse, in the midst of their fourth champagne celebration that year, when AJ remembered the two people who had wanted this the most, Brian and Kevin, were both missing.

~*~

Larry Greene carefully picked his way through the plastic covered chaos that was now the visiting clubhouse, microphone in hand, the live camera crew following him closely.  He was looking for the late inning hero of the game, the one that had given the lead back to the Mariners - the one sitting in front of his locker with a towel over his head, trying to stop his teammates from spraying him in the face with champagne. 

"Hey, Nick..."  Greene started, kneeling down until he was in the same camera window as Nick and holding the microphone out.  "You were a little under the weather before the game today - how're you feeling now?"

"Pretty awesome, dude."  Nick pulled the towel down around his neck and gave the camera one of his patented ditzy smiles. 

"What were you thinking when you came up to the plate in the ninth with two outs and a guy on?" 

"Nothin', really."  Nick shrugged and wiped his nose with the towel.  "I was pretty out of it for most of the game - I can't really tell you a whole lot.  I didn't even know I hit the ball fair until everyone started yelling at me to run."

~*~

Nick tried to focus on the questions that Larry Greene was firing at him, but he couldn't concentrate.  All he could really hope for was the answer coming out of his mouth didn't sound completely stupid.  Right now, he really wanted to lay down and sleep for a couple days.  His nose was plugged, his throat hurt, and if his head became anymore stuffed up, Nick was pretty sure the pressure would knock his eyeballs loose.

Through the fog his mind was in, and the bright lights shining right in his face from the live television camera, Nick thought he heard Greene say something about Brian.  "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, there's rumor going around that the reason Richardson left in the eighth was because of Brian Littrell - have you heard anything about that?" Greene repeated his question.

Nick took quick inventory of the clubhouse.  Greene was right, Kevin was missing.  Nick hadn't even noticed he was gone.  Now he was starting to feel queasy.  The lights shining in his face didn't help matters any, but there was no way Kevin would leave the game unless something was wrong.

"Nick..."  AJ appeared from nowhere; reminding Nick once again that AJ really should wear a little bell so people could hear him coming.  "Dude... Buddy needs to talk to you, okay?" 

AJ turned to give the camera his infamous glance over the sunglasses - minus the sunglasses.  "Excuse us, okay?  I'm sure Mr. MVP Dorough would love to have a word with you."

"What's goin' on?"  Nick weaved unsteadily after AJ, following him towards the little office in the back of the clubhouse.  Buddy and team trainer Rich Ankel were both sitting in the cramped room, along with a couple front office officials that Nick didn't recognize. 

"Nick..."  Rich started.  "You heard Kevin left, right?"

Nick nodded carefully, trying not to jar his head loose. 

Rich shifted his perch on the edge of Buddy's desk.  "This went out to the press just a few moments ago, and AJ and I both thought it might be easier if you found out from us.  Brian passed away in the seventh."