Isabelle knew she was dreaming the minute the chase started.  She was chasing someone down the street; she couldn’t see their face even though they looked back multiple times to see how far away she was from them.   She smirked as she gained on them.  It was stupid that they thought they could outrun her, she would catch them and it would be over.

The person she was chasing turned onto a busy street and got lost in the crowd. Izzy ran through the crowds for a short time before realizing that it would be futile to expect to catch the person in the mass of people that was now surrounding them.  

She moved to the side of the walkway and tried to act casual.  Only a few people had noticed her running and none of them appeared to realize she had been chasing someone.   She leaned against a brick building and pulled something out of her pocket.   Looking at the device, Izzy felt comfortable with it in her hand but she admitted the device looked unusual. A small screen was at the top with some numbers below it, the closes thing she could equate it to was a cell phone with a large picture screen. 

She punched in what appeared to be random numbers and waited for something to happen.  A small dot appeared on the screen that was now showing an image of the streets around where she was.  The dot was moving towards an intersection.  Izzy smirked and started to walk down a nearby alley towards the blinking dot on her screen.  

She made sure the shadows covered her as she stood in the shadows waiting for the dot to finally reach the intersection.   She smiled when the person she had been chasing appeared in the intersection.  She put the device back in her jacket pocket and fell in step behind the intended target.  She managed to keep hidden as she walked behind.  She still could not see the person’s face when they turned but she knew it was who she was supposed to be following. 

Her target turned down an alley and she laughed to herself.  Stupid move, she thought as she noticed it was a dead end.  

The person turned to face her completely.  His face was still blurred but she could tell he was talking.  She could not hear what he was saying either, but she knew it was because she was ignoring what the man had to say.  There was nothing he could say or do to convince her to not do what she had been sent to do.   She said a few words back, but they sounded like the teacher on Charlie Brown. 

Frustrated with her own dream she tried to replay the last few minutes so that she could hear what was being said but her dream would not rewind.   Instead she watched herself pull another strange device out of another pocket and aim it at the man.  His hands flew up into the air but he quickly changed into a large green beast.   She tried to move away but he lunged forward.

Izzy bolted up in the bed half expecting the beast to be towering over her.  Her breaths were quick and she could feel the sweat dripping from her forehead.   She felt the body next to her stir.  Brian sat up and reached for her, pulling her into his embrace.   He leaned her head down on his shoulder and started to brush his hand through her hair.  He was singing a song softly to her, she couldn’t make out the words of the song so she didn’t know if she was familiar with it or not.  She didn’t care.  The song was still calming her, his voice was soothing her and she could feel her eyes become heavy again.  

Brian helped Izzy lay her head back down on the pillow.  She gave him a tired smile as he brushed a few strands of hair from her face.  She was almost asleep again when she felt his lips press against hers.  Her heart beat rapidly in her chest and her eyes flew open.  She was shocked but his kiss was so soft that she didn’t want him to stop.  She felt his fingers trace her arm the way it had on the bus that day but instead of stopping at her shoulder, he continued from her should back down.  Her stomach flipped and she felt tingles as his fingers brushed over her breast and down to the hem of her shirt.  

Brian’s hands moved under her shirt and started to move back towards her breasts.  She couldn’t believe what was happening, not that she really wanted to stop it.  What had come over Brian that he was being so bold with her? He really did not come off as a man who would make a move so far so fast. 

“Isabelle!” a female voice shot through the room and Izzy rolled over, shocked to find that Brian was not in the bed next to her.   Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she saw Megan leaning on her elbow across the small aisle on the other bed.   “What the hell were you dreaming about?” The other girl asked.

Izzy hesitated for a moment before she went into a description of chasing the man and how he turned into a large, hulk-like beast before her eyes. 

Megan lay listening to Izzy describe the dream, her face full of doubt.  “Sure, what else did you dream then?” She asked in barely a whisper.   “With the noises you were making I’m glad Brian gave up the other bed so I could be over here.”  Megan let out a small laugh before rolling onto her back.

Izzy’s eyes had adjusted to the dark now and she looked around the room finding Brian asleep on the couch where he had said he would sleep for the night.   “Not like we could share a twin bed,” Izzy shot back at the other girl.  Somehow they had managed to find the one hotel that had only one room left and it had twin beds.  What hotel had rooms with twin beds anymore? 

There were a few moments of silence as the girls lay in their beds, both staring up at the ceiling. 

“This is wild.  I am in a hotel room with Brian from the Backstreet Boys.” Megan’s voice came across as a whispered squeal. 

“Megan,” Izzy admonished her.  They had discussed Megan keeping her calm around Brian when they had flown out to see him in the first place.  They didn’t want him to think they were silly fan girls making something up to be near him. 

“Sorry, fan girl moment.” Megan apologized and then reached next to her.  She had grabbed her IPod and put her headphones on.  “Okay, you can go back to your sex dream now.” She was no longer speaking in a whisper since she was talking so she could hear herself with her ear buds in.

Izzy could tell she was blushing as she turned to look at the couch where Brian was still sleeping.  The man was starting to stir though and she hoped he hadn’t heard what Megan had said.

“Hi,” he whispered when he saw her looking at him.   The sun was starting to peek through the curtain and it would soon be time to start the day.  Izzy didn’t feel like she could fall back asleep, and now that Brian was awake she wanted to stay awake too.  

Brian sat up and looked at Izzy, her hair was a mess.  She must have realized that her hair was sticking out; she blushed and started to brush her hair down with her hands. 

“So what’s next? Do we just hide out here and hope people stop chasing us? Hope we remember who we are so we can continue with our lives?” Izzy wondered.

“As much as I would love to stay here with Pastor Mike and hide out, I don’t think we will be left alone and I don’t want any danger coming to him.  Mike said he could manage to get us alternate identities for traveling.  We can stop by later today to pick those up, then I think we should leave.”

“Where can we go?”

Brian brushed his hair forward and moved to sit next to Izzy on the bed.  “I thought about that before falling asleep last night.  I want to see if we can get a hold of Howie, if we can capture him somehow.  He’s bound to have information we can use and with your skills, we should be able to capture him.”

Izzy nodded.  It was a good idea.  They knew Howie was one of the nine, he hadn’t been hit with the forgetful serum and Brian knew where he lived.   She turned and looked back at Megan who looked to have fallen asleep again to her music.   She lowered her voice and leaned in close to Brian.  “Maybe we should take Megan home?”

Brian mulled it over for awhile.  If Nick was with them he would have the same feelings.  Send the person who is not involved home so that they will stay out of danger.   He almost agreed with Izzy but a thought struck him.  “No, she should stay with us.  Whoever is after us may use her to get to us.” 

Izzy looked back at Megan then turned back to Brian.  She felt his hand on her leg.  She didn’t want to speak, she didn’t want to make any sudden moves afraid that if she did he would remove his hand and she didn’t want him to.   They sat in silence listening to Megan breath.  Images from her dream flashed through her mind and she felt herself growing warmer.  She found herself wishing that Brian would take hold of her and touch her like he had in her dream, kiss her like he had in her dream.

“We should get ready.” Brian broke the spell and Izzy nodded in agreement with him. 

Silly fan girl dreams, Izzy chastised herself for even thinking those thoughts.    

Brian splashed cold water on his face as he cleaned himself up in the bathroom.  It was all he could do not to go back into the room and take Isabelle in his arms and hold her close, kiss her, and caress her.  He wanted to, but something kept holding him back.  Leighanne, he thought.  She had admitted she wasn’t really his wife, but he still had feelings for her that he could not dismiss as easily as she seemed to be able to leave him. 

By the time Brian emerged from the bathroom the girls were both sitting waiting for their turns to clean up before heading out.  Brian assumed Izzy had told Megan where they were going, she still had her ear buds and was lip synching words to the song that was playing in her ears. 

Brian opened the curtains and sat on the couch looking outside to see if he could see any signs they had been followed to the hotel.   He couldn’t see anyone.  When they were all ready, they headed down and got back on a bus to the church where Pastor Mike was waiting with three new identities for them, then it was off to find Howie.