"There's nothing to talk about, Jaim. Get some rest, you need it," said Kevin, smoothing the hair back from her face. She batted his hand away.

"What I need is not to be treated like a five-year-old child. I can't believe you, Kevin, what is wrong with you?"

Kevin stared down at Jamie, confusion clearly marked on his face. "Wrong with me? There's nothing wrong with me. What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about that little stunt you just pulled. What exactly did you think you were doing?"

Confusion gave way to anger. "Stunt? It wasn't a stunt. What I'm trying to do is keep you safe, dammit. I don't want you hurt anymore. I'll do whatever it takes to keep my family safe from harm."

"How about letting the police do their job instead of interfering?"

"They weren't doing their job, Jamie, and that's the point! If they won't watch over you, then I will."

"Kevin, it's not your place to watch me, it's the police's job. You haven't given them a chance. Let them do it," begged Jamie.

"What do you mean it's not my place? You're my wife, you are my responsibility now."

Jamie's eyes almost popped out of her head with that pronouncement. "I'm your what? I'm positive I didn't hear you correctly," she said in a low tone. Kevin appeared not to notice the anger in her voice.

"My responsibility. Now that we're married, I have to look out for you, make sure that you're safe. That's what I'm doing. If the police can't keep this woman from attacking you, then I will," he said slowly, as if explaining to a child.

Jamie started to speak, then closed her mouth, glaring at him. She tried again, "That is not funny."

"It's not meant to be funny, I'm serious about this," said Kevin, oblivious to her anger. "Jamie, you'll be safe if Carlos and I are around to keep an eye on you."

"I don't want you to keep an eye on me. You can't possibly think you'll do a better job than the police."

"If I had been here, she wouldn't have gotten to you!" Kevin's voice rose slightly, not understanding why Jamie was fighting him about this.

"And what exactly would you have done to stop her? Sing to her? Stun her into submission with some dance moves?" Jamie said sarcastically.

"Jamie," he sighed. "I can protect you better because I love you. She wouldn't have gotten near you. I would have made sure of that."

"If I wanted a bodyguard, I'd have hired one. I don't need a protector. I need you to just be Kevin, my husband. Why is that so difficult for you to grasp?"

"It's not. But you need protecting, and I'm going to do it. I've already said you’re my responsibility now."

Jamie was fed up with his attitude. "Get out," she said coldly.

"What?"

"You heard me, get out of this room right now." Jamie's body shook with anger, but Kevin mistook it for her being cold. He reached over to place a blanket on her, but she slapped his hand away. Stunned, Kevin dropped the blanket and looked at her.

"What the hell did you do that for?"

"Get away from me right now, Kevin." He didn't move, and her voice rose for the first time. "Get out!"

"I'm not leaving you, I told you that already. I'm going to make sure you're safe."

"Kevin Richardson, if you don't get out of here right now, YOU are not going to be safe. I am dead serious."

He finally noticed she was angry. "Why are you mad? I'm only doing what's best for you."

"I don't need you to do what's best for me," she snarled. "I don't need you hovering over me, watching my every move. I am no one's responsibility. I can take care of myself, thank you very much, I've been doing it for a very long time now."

"Obviously you can't or you wouldn't be in this hospital right now," he snapped.

Jamie gasped, unable to move or speak. They stared at each other for a moment, then she found her voice. "This is MY fault? You think I caused this to happen? I wanted to be shot?" she said quietly.

"No, oh God, no Jamie, that's not. . ." he said, realizing what he had said. He moved forward, reaching out to touch her, but she shrank away from his hand.

"Get out now, Kevin. I don't want to see you or talk to you right now."

"Jamie. . ."

"Now, before I say something you'll regret." She wouldn't look at him, but he knew all the same how much he hurt her. He stood by the bed for a minute, then turned and walked out. As he reached the doorway, he turned back to her, and said softly, "I'm sorry." She didn't move at all, and he walked out of the room. When she heard the door close, Jamie let out the sob she had been holding in, rolled over onto her side and began to cry.

Kevin leaned against the wall next to the door. He could hear Jamie crying and he felt heartsick. He knew he had said the wrong thing by blaming her for what happened, and he knew it wasn't her fault. He wanted to go back inside and make it up to her, but Kevin knew her well enough to know that if he went back in the room, she wouldn't forgive him anytime soon. He had to leave her alone for the time being, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. He stayed outside the room until he couldn't hear any sounds coming from inside, then opened the door slightly to peek in. She had cried herself to sleep. He watched her for several minutes, then closed the door quietly. Carlos walked over to him, retaking his post outside the door.

"You look like hell, Kevin."

"Thanks," said Kevin, annoyed.

"I could hear you two yelling, although I wasn't paying attention to what you were yelling about. You know you shouldn't get her upset like that while she's in the hospital," chided Carlos.

"Thanks, again."

"Just looking out for you. Since I assume she's not going to let you back in, why don't you go downstairs? I think AJ mentioned something about them sticking around for a little bit." Kevin hesitated and Carlos said, "I'll keep an eye on her. Don't worry, nothing will happen to her while I'm around."

Kevin smiled faintly, "Thanks, man. I'll be back up soon." Carlos nodded, and Kevin moved towards the elevators.

Stepping out of the elevator on the main floor, Kevin almost walked into Nick, who was trying to enter it. Startled, Nick stepped back, and let Kevin off.

"What are you doing here, Blondie?" asked Kevin.

"D called your mom to tell her what happened tonight. Brian answered the phone and we both came over. Is Jaim alright?" The two men turned and walked to join the others in the waiting room.

"She's fine, Nick. You didn't need to come over here tonight, though," he replied absently.

"Another attempt on her life, and you think we're just gonna sit at home and watch TV like nothin' happened?"

Kevin sighed, "No, I guess you wouldn't. Sorry." He sank down into the first chair he saw, and hid his face in one hand. The others stood around him, concerned.

"Kev? Is she alright?" asked Brian.

"Yeah. Although she's madder than hell at me."

AJ nodded thoughtfully, "I can imagine. I think I've seen that look on her face before, and all I can say is I'm grateful it wasn’t directed at me."

"You are a big help tonight, J," said Kevin sarcastically. He raised his head to look at the other four. His expression suddenly changed to forlorn, "I said something I shouldn't have."

"You also did something you shouldn't have. I'm almost afraid to ask what you said to her," Howie said.

The confused look returned to Kevin's face. "What is it I've done that I shouldn't have that everyone keeps talking about? I don't understand."

"That's obvious," said Nick. The irony wasn't lost on anyone, and all five of them started to laugh. "You know something's wrong when Frack knows what Kevin doesn't and it's not related to video games," cracked Brian.

"Well how about explaining it to me?" The others all looked at each other, unsure of how to begin.

"Kevin, you're being overprotective," started Howie.

"What do you mean overprotective? She's my responsibility now, and. . ."

AJ interrupted him, "Is that what you said to her? Good God, man, I'm surprised you're still alive. Don't you know anything about her after three and a half years together?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Jamie is an independent person, Kev. She's not real big on other people telling her what to do," said Howie.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm well aware of that, thanks. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you even listening to yourself?" asked Brian. Kevin turned towards him, unprepared for an attack from his cousin. "You just called her your responsibility. As if she doesn't have any common sense or the intelligence to look after herself. You've gotta see that saying that to her is not a bright idea, Kev."

"But it's true," insisted Kevin. "If I don't make sure she's alright, I'm gonna go insane."

"Some would say you already are," pointed out Nick, earning himself a black look from Kevin. "Whatever. The point is, you don't say those sorts of things to her, and expect her to take it in stride."

"But she didn't mind it before."

"Kevin, if you woke up with a bullet hole in you, you wouldn't mind it right afterwards either! A couple of days is fine, while she tries to deal with what happened. But you don't try it well beyond the point where Jamie's thinking rationally again. I knew I should have spoken up at the wedding," muttered AJ. The black look focused on him, but AJ shrugged it off.

Kevin closed his eyes. "Why is everyone against me?" he cried. "Doesn't anyone understand what I've been going through? I thought she was dead, why is it so wrong to want to make sure she's okay?" Brian sat down next to him and placed a hand on his arm.

"Kev, we do understand. You're scared to death about what's happened." Kevin nodded, relieved that he didn't have to say it.

"Then why are all y'all doing this to me?"

Howie said, "We're not doing this to you. We're doing this for you. We understand what you're doing, but Jamie doesn’t. She’s not seeing what you're hiding from everyone but us. She only sees what you're doing, and to her, you're smothering her. Hasn’t it occurred to you that she's frightened too?"

"Of course it has, that's why I'm doing all this. So she doesn't have to be scared."

"Fine, but maybe if you explained it that way to her, she might be able to deal with it better. You may think she's your responsibility, but she doesn't quite see it that way. Jamie likes things straight up; don't do something and then tell her it's for her own good without telling her why," said Nick.

Kevin ran his hand through his hair. "Great, Blondie knows more about my wife than I do. Does she tell you everything, Nick?"

"More than you'd like, I'm sure, but trust me, there are some aspects of her life I don't wanna know about. Especially the parts that involve you, no clothing and whipped cream," grinned Nick.

"Hey, those are the parts I wanna know about!" exclaimed AJ. Howie elbowed him in the side.

Ignoring AJ, Kevin said, "I don't get it. Why is it you know me so well, but she doesn't?"

"Look, just because she loves you, that doesn't mean she's psychic when it comes to you. It works both ways you know, you don't know her as well as you thought either. Or you wouldn't have said those things to her, at least not without ducking for cover," said Brian.

The others agreed. "Remember Kev, we've known you for about ten years now, and in that time, we've all been together more than we've been apart. We all know each other better than we know anyone else," explained Howie. "You and Jamie have known each other for three and a half years, and the first two years you didn't even live in the same state. You two aren't at that point yet where you know exactly what the other is doing, feeling or thinking without having to explain. It's the same problem that we all had with each other at first, but you just tend to gloss over that part of Backstreet history. You'll get there with her, but it takes time. That's all."

Kevin appeared to think about all of this. "Well how come you all know Jamie better than I apparently do?"

"Probably because we weren't looking at her with only certain parts of our anatomy," said Nick, grinning. "I don't know, maybe love blinds you to certain things. The point is we do see her differently, and we have a different relationship with her than you do. It's the same with Leighanne, Amanda, and Alissa. I think sometimes the rest of us understand the others better than we understand our own girlfriend." AJ and Howie nodded enthusiastically at that one, and one of them mumbled "Amen."

Kevin looked at them and smiling faintly, said, "Is it just me or does anyone else find it odd that Nick is the voice of reason here?"

Nick laughed, "You're just trying to avoid the one thing you should be doing."

"And what's that, Nick?"

"Admit that you're wrong, and apologize to her. And maybe even explain what you're doing and why."