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Hand in hand, Jamie and Kevin walked down the back stairs and into the kitchen. AJ and Amanda were seated at the table, eating a late brunch.


"About time you two showed up. It's only quarter to one," said Amanda with an exaggerated show of looking at her watch.


"Sorry, we had better things to do," replied Kevin.


"Each other, no doubt. You know where the food is, so help yourself," said AJ, pointing absently to the counter. Kevin immediately headed for the coffeepot, and Jamie inspected the remains on the counter.


From his seat at the table, AJ watched the two move about the kitchen. When all four were seated, he cleared his throat and sternly said, "Look, Kev, about this whole 'coming down late' thing. The first time was understandable, possibly even the second morning, but this has been four days you've been here in my house without leaving. I know we're close and all, but people are gonna start wondering about us. Could you possibly separate yourself from Jamie for one day and go bug your cousin or something?"


Jamie snickered, and Kevin looked over at her before replying, "Nope. Sorry."


"No, you're not sorry. You're enjoying this."


"Absolutely. I'm finally getting my honeymoon, Bone."


"Funny, I never thought of that spare bedroom as being particularly exotic, but I guess it could be. We'll just have to check it out, Panda, maybe even tonight," AJ said pointedly.


"I don't think so," said Kevin.


"Kevy Kev, this is MY house. Seriously, go find Brian. Like today."


"What about me?" asked Jamie. "I can't just walk out of here as much as I want to."


"You can stay," AJ replied eagerly. "I have no problems with you being here as long as you like, Jamie." Amanda and Kevin simultaneously reached over and smacked AJ. "Ow! Hey, no ganging up on the tattooed kid!"


"Then quit trying to keep my wife," growled Kevin.


"Yeah, no trying to keep her. I like you Jaim, but I'm not sharing AJ," Amanda grinned and leaned over to AJ, planting a wet kiss on his cheek.


"Not a problem. No offense, but I don't really want AJ anyway. He's all yours."


AJ clutched his chest theatrically. "Stabbed in the heart by my one true love. I am devastated."


Jamie giggled, "I'm sure you'll recover. I don't know how many times I've had to tell you, but unless you're a tall dark-haired Kentucky boy, I'm just not interested."


"I've got dark hair! Doesn't that count?" AJ asked.


"Today you do," she replied dryly, "but no dice, Bone. I'll stay with Kevin, thanks."


"A ringing endorsement of true love if I ever heard it, Jaim," said Kevin mournfully.


She leaned over and kissed him, "You know I love you."


"Please, if I can't have Jamie, I certainly don't want to see her kissing another man. Stop it," teased AJ. "You're killing me here."


Amanda tugged on AJ's hat, "Perhaps I should take you upstairs for a while and resuscitate you."


"There's a thought. I think I need some mouth-to-mouth," said AJ hopefully.


"I think you need to be hosed down, actually," said Kevin with a slight grin, while shoving nearly a whole pancake into his mouth.


"Coming from a man who spends all his time in bed with his wife, I really don't think you should be talking there, bro. Which brings me back to my original point about getting the heck out of my house. . .?"


"I'm not going if Jamie can't. And since we can't go to my house, looks like I'm staying here."


"What about staying with Howie? His family is big enough and there's so many people trekking in and out of his house all the time. No one would notice me if we were there for a while," mused Jamie.


AJ jumped to his feet, "Perfect! I'll just go call him now and set it all up."


"We really bothering you that much, Bone?" asked Kevin.


"Yes and no. I just don't know how I ended up being your babysitter, that's all. I'm more used to being babysitted."


"We know, Marcus complains whenever he can," smiled Amanda.


AJ grumbled, "Man, we need Nick here, I'm not liking this being picked on stuff. But first, gotta call D." He walked over to the phone and had just put his hand on the receiver when it rang. Startled, AJ picked up the handset.


"Hello? Oh, hey, Billy, whassup?. . .uh huh, yeah, okay. Sure, see you in a few." AJ hung up and turned around to face the others.


"Billy will be over in a couple of minutes. Logan called him, and he figured you'd want to know what Logan said."


They speculated on what their head of security would have to tell them, but tried not to get very excited. "Maybe they've caught her, and things can finally get back to normal," hoped Jamie.


Amanda laughed, "Normal? What's that? If you want normal, you never shoulda married a Backstreet Boy."


"No kidding," grinned Jamie.


"Hey we're normal! We just have an odd job, that's all," protested AJ.


"Says the man who dyes his hair unnatural shades at the drop of a cowboy hat," Kevin rolled his eyes. "As much as I'd like to say we're normal, face it, Bone, we just ain't."


The doorbell rang, and AJ's dogs began barking their little heads off in protest. AJ tripped over Vegas as he moved out of the kitchen to answer the door. He came back with Billy a minute later.


Jamie practically attacked Billy, "What did Logan say? Did they catch her? Can we go home now, what? Tell me!"


"Whoa, slow down, counselor," laughed Billy. "Yes, Logan called, but it's not really good news. That's why I wanted to come talk to you, I didn't think I should tell you over the phone."


"What happened?" asked Jamie, sitting back down and reaching for Kevin's hand for support. Kevin slid his arm around her and asked what Logan had said.


"Logan visited Stephanie yesterday, to see how she was doing and if anything had happened. He hadn't heard anything in a couple of days, and was a little concerned. She told him that nothing had happened, no one had come near her. She's bored to death, she says.


"As Logan was getting ready to leave, a nurse came into the room. Stephanie asked her how Mr. Peterson was doing. The nurse had no idea who she was talking about, and left. So when Logan asked her what that was all about, Stephanie told him all about some nurse carrying flowers who came into the wrong room. Logan checked out the story, and. . ."


"And let me guess, no Mr. Peterson," interrupted Jamie.


"You got it, counselor. Stephanie had a basic description of the nurse, didn't match anyone on staff, but did match the sketch of the stalker."


"Great," Kevin groaned. "So now what?"


"It's pretty much a given this stalker isn't in Lexington anymore, now that she knows Jamie isn't in the hospital. Wanna guess where Logan thinks she is?"


In unison, all four replied, "Orlando."


Kevin turned to Billy, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted the police with this. Alright, how can we increase security around us without making it obvious?"


"Slow down, Kevin," Billy held out a hand, while he reached into his windbreaker and pulled out several sheets of folded paper. "First of all, you should know Logan is coming down here and working out of the Orlando PD. Secondly, the police have started to watch the airport and bus stations, specifically for a single woman arriving from Lexington. Officers have these sketches of her with brown and blond hair, so maybe they can catch her as she's coming off transport." He passed around the sketches so they could look. "I think you've seen these before, but in case she's already down here, and you see anyone cruising the neighborhood that looks like her, call the police, okay?"


"No, actually, I haven't seen these before. I've been busy recovering. So this is the crackpot?" asked Jamie, inspecting the sketches closely. "She doesn't seem harmful looking at her, does she? I've been picturing this terrifying monster, but I guess my imagination took over."


Amanda patted Jamie's shoulder sympathetically, as Kevin took the sketches and stared hard at them. He had seen the first one, the one of the girl with brown hair, but not as a blond. Something nagged the back of his mind, but he couldn't figure out what it was.


The others continued talking as Kevin placed the sketches side by side on the table and compared them. He vaguely recognized her. . .kind of. Something was off, something was missing. Whatever it was, it was enough to make a positive ID elusive.


Come on, think! Where do I know this woman from? thought Kevin, angry with himself for not being able to identify her. Maybe blue eyes instead of brown? Green? No, that's not it.


Kevin sighed, and ran his hand over his face to clear his mind. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on the faint spark of recognition. It took a while, but slowly an image formed in his mind. Long black curly hair. . .


"That's it!" Kevin shouted, interrupting AJ in mid-sentence. The others looked at him in surprise.


"That's what, darlin?" asked Jamie.


"Bone, you got a black marker around here somewhere?" Kevin got up and at AJ's direction started opening drawers and rummaging around. Amanda got her purse and came up with a black Sharpie. "Will this work, Kev?"


"Yes! Thank you." Taking the marker from her, Kevin sat back down, took one of the sketches and began drawing curly hair on the head.


"What are you doing?"


Kevin finished drawing and held up the sketch. "Yes, that's her!" Turning the sketch around, he showed the others. "I know this girl somehow, I just can't quite remember. Billy, tell whoever is watching the airport, to look for this woman." The older man nodded and picked up the phone.


"I know this girl, I know I do. God, it's right in front of me. Let me think." Kevin closed his eyes again. "A bar. I met her in a bar, I think."


"That narrows it down," said AJ sarcastically. "How many bars have you, me and D been in together over the years?"


"Well, do you recognize her then?" asked Jamie as she pushed the altered drawing to AJ. "Maybe Kevin met her while he was out with you." AJ picked up the drawing and shook his head.


"Nope, not really. But maybe Howie would. I'll call him and tell him to come over."


"You might as well call Brian and Nick too, so that everyone knows what's going on. Maybe they've seen her recently," suggested Amanda. The calls were made, and they talked quietly while waiting. Kevin stayed in his trance, eyes closed, trying to pull the memory of this woman out of his head.


Suddenly Kevin reached over and tugged on Jamie's hair. His eyes opened again. "I pulled on her hair, I did it several times. I'm this close," he sighed loudly. He shook his head, and sat back, but with his eyes open this time.


Howie, Nick and Brian arrived within minutes of each other. Jamie greeted Howie by sticking the sketch in his face, "Does she look familiar to you?"


Howie pulled back slightly, "Hi, nice to see you too. Let me see this." He took it and looked. "Yeah, actually she does. And I'm supposed to know her from where. . .?" He looked at the group questioningly.


"That's what we want you to tell us, D," said AJ. "Kevin said he thinks he met her in a bar a while ago."


"A bar, a bar. Met her in a bar. No, I don't. . . wait! I don't know what city, but it was one of our first tours, because you and I were the only ones who could go out to the clubs, Kev. Ally, Amber, Amy. . ."


"Ashley! That's it! Her name is Ashley. Don't know her last name, I don't think I ever did, it was one of those one-night things. You think that's enough though?"


Jamie raised an eyebrow. "A one-nighter, huh?"


"Jaim, please, it was WAY before I knew you," Kevin groaned.


"I know, relax. I'm not mad. I'm just glad you think you know who this is. And yeah, it's enough. All the police have to do is check the manifests for a single woman from Lexington named Ashley, or a variation of Ashley."


"You wanna fill us in with what all this is?" asked Brian. "I'm a little confused." Billy repeated the story for them.


"If she's here, she's going to come after you, Jaim," said Nick, after absorbing it all. "Maybe we can draw her out one last time."


"How? Why? Shouldn't we let the police take care of this?" asked Brian.


"You mean like they have so far?" sneered Kevin.


"Kevin," Jamie said warningly. He shook his head.


"No, they haven't been able to stop her yet. Nick's right, maybe it's up to us to end this."


"And I have an idea," said Nick. "I'm not saying it'll work, but it's worth a try right?"


"If it gets Kevin out of my house, I'm all for it," said AJ. "What's the plan?"