“Not a fun day in court today?” Howie asked when the three men came back to the house.

Kevin tossed the Latino a dubious look.

“When would standing in front of a judge be fun?” AJ rasped as he grabbed a bottle of soda from the fridge.

“I know…I know, I was just trying to lighten the mood,” Howie defended.

“Where’s Nick?” Brian said.

“Playing video games in his room with Aaron. So was there any progress in court?”

Taking a bottle of beer from the refrigerator, Kevin uncapped the beverage and took a generous drink before he answered. “Something like that. The judge gave us the green light to sell the Marathon house and terminate the leases in LA and some of the other places Nick had, so yeah I guess this is progress. The big one is putting the Tampa house up for sale.”

“I still don’t understand why this would be so difficult to do,” Howie wondered out loud.

“Psycho of a judge thinks that Nick will get better I guess,” AJ spat.

“But you went in with the documentation, right?” Howie said.

“Yes we did but for some reason the judge feels that when Nick does come around he’d need his home. We all tried to argue with the guy but he wouldn’t listen because we didn’t have an attorney standing with us,” Kevin replied.  “It was a dumb mistake on our part.”

“Freeing up the leases and selling the Marathon property should leave Nicky with better finances though,” Howie stated. “I can have my stock broker take care of the assets so that Nick’s money will work for Nick. I can also have my real estate agent work out on having this house leased until we get the green light for sale.”

“That could work,” AJ agreed. His face quickly soured. “I suppose this leaves us with the bigger question.”

Brian stared at the rebel. “There’s a bigger question?”

“Where is Nick going to live?”

Kevin shook his head and sighed. “I thought we already discussed this!”

Brian sighed. “It was a time share with Nick --- I know time share is a bad choice of words --- that’s the only way this will work. Each one of us will have Nick with them at their house for three months….do you get it?”

“You make it sound like he’s community property,” AJ grumbled.

“In a sense he is,” Kevin replied with sadness.

“No --- not property --- responsibility,” Brian corrected his cousin.

“Unless you don’t feel comfortable with this,” Kevin quickly added.

“I feel comfortable with this I suppose; the biggest question is how Nick would feel about all of this?” AJ asked.

“We could ask him,” Howie offered.

Finishing his beer Kevin reached into the refrigerator grabbing a fresh bottle.

Brian quickly tossed a dark look toward his cousin. “Is getting hammered going to give you a clearer perspective on the topic at hand?”

“It’s none of your goddamn business that I’m having a second beer!”

“How about we ask Nicky what he wants to do?” Howie asked, anxious to diffuse the impending argument between the cousins.

AJ shook his head. “We have to tell him to take a shower and brush his teeth,” he said sadly. “How the hell is he going to decide what he wants to do? To him, life is nothing more than video games and cartoons.”

“Maybe, but when parents get divorced they talk to their child about who they want to live with,” Howie defended.

“And upsetting the child in the long run,” AJ argued. “I remember a kid in school….Eric Wright…..his parents split up and the kid torched a building because his parents fucked with his head asking who he wanted to be with….”

“I doubt Nick would set a building on fire,” the Latino said with a shake of his head.

“Still, I am not putting the kid in that type of situation of choosing,” Kevin spat. “We’ll make the decisions for him. He has no idea what is going on and like AJ said, to Nick life is nothing more than video games and cartoons.”

“The only thing we have to decide is which months we take Nick,” Brian agreed.

“What about his brother?”

“Oh for the love of god Howie!” AJ hissed in despair. “His brother is welcome to visit Nick wherever he is staying.”

Kevin nodded in agreement. “Also, Aaron is only seventeen which is not a desirable living environment for Nick.”

“Nick will move in with me first,” AJ quickly said.

Kevin stared at the rebel. “Only if we gave you instructions would I feel comfortable with that.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I could see you getting fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner….”

“Yeah and your point would be?”

“You’d skip his meds and everything would go to hell,” Kevin continued.

“He would take his meds as prescribed, dickhead.”

“Nick’s body is more complex now. His sodium levels would sky rocket with fast food,” Kevin reminded.

“Do you honestly think I eat out all the goddamn time? I do know how to make delicious meals.”

“I’m just saying when I come to pick up Nick after living three months with you; I do not want to see him in worse shape mentally and weighing over three hundred pounds.”

“I really doubt either one of those things would happen, I am more responsible than what you give me credit for,” AJ argued.

Pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried calming his nerves, the Kentuckian sighed. “I know; it’s just that he’s come this far now and I hate to have things fucked up for Nick.”

“We could sit down and write out a schedule for Nicky and everyone gets a copy and we just follow this,” Howie suggested.

“I like that idea. That way everyone knows the mediation schedule and nothing will be compromised. When Nick has a doctor appointment, we are all kept in the loop so to speak. I would make the time to be there even if it wasn’t my turn to be with Nick,” Brian said.

“Do you think he’d forget anyone of us when he’s away for three months at a time?” Kevin questioned.

The rest of the group sat in silence as they digested the question. It was something that none of them could answer.

With a loud sigh, Kevin added, “This is why we need to keep Nick on a strict schedule. Keep everything routine for him.”

“Yeah, touch base with him and talk to him on the phone. He won’t forget any of us. If we keep pushing the issue, he can and he will get better,” AJ rasped.

“AJ---“

The rebel quickly interrupted Kevin. “I know…I know. I just want him to be all better again.” 

Brian wrapped his arms around his band brother as he cried with him.

***

“Did you pack everything that Nick wants to take?” Kevin asked the rebel.

AJ scowled. “Do you take me for a moron?”

“Don’t fight,” Nick grimaced as he wandered into the living room.

“Sorry kiddo, we’re not fighting…Kevin’s being a asshole.”

“You said a bad word,” Nick replied wagging a finger at AJ.

“Skip it,” Brian replied.

“I hope you clean your language up for three months,” Howie advised.

“Like you’re innocent,” AJ spat.

“I don’t cuss around my nieces and nephews,” Howie defended.

“You planning on taking Nicky to mass every day when you have him?” AJ challenged.

The Latino folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe I will.”

“As if you go….”

“Please don’t fight,” Nick begged as he covered his ears.

Kevin instantly could tell that Nick was starting to go towards a panic attack. He looked over at AJ to see if he would address the situation, he was quickly rewarded at how the rebel took charge.

“Nicky, we’re not fighting just having loud adult conversations, that’s all. Are you ready to go to my house?”

The blonde immediately smiled, forgetting the tension that erupted a few minutes ago. “Yeah!”

“Do you have the inst---“

“Kev, I have everything that you gave me,” AJ interrupted. “I know how to dial the phone if I have any questions. Relax everything will be alright!”

Brian put a hand on his cousin’s arm. “Everything will be okay. AJ’s a pretty capable person. It’s not as if he’d be taking care of a baby.”

“And I’ll drop over to AJ’s from time to time,” Aaron chipped in.

“Which makes me feel soooo much better about this,” Kevin muttered under his breath.

Brian opened his arms up to hug his best friend. “I’ll call you every day.”

***

Nick’s new chapter of his life began. Although everyone hoped that he would return to them the same person that he was before the accident he never did. At best, he was left with a mental capacity of an eight year old.

Kevin Richardson to this day still blames himself for losing the Nick that had been returning when he elected to take him off the medications that been helping. The small glimpse of Nick returning until he had the panic attack when confronted with the inability to read never did come back.

AJ McLean never forgave himself for leaving Nick alone after he discovered him drunk in the hotel room. The whole scenerio of what could have been if he had stayed constantly tortured the rebel. He stubbornly shrugged off the suggestions by the rest of the group to have counseling; he told them that he was able to deal with this in his own way.

Brian Littrell cherishes the three months he has each year with his best friend. He has helped Nick relearn simple tasks such as tying shoes and writing his name. Although he still misses the old Nick Carter he is happy that he still has Nick around.

Howie Dorough buried himself into Nick’s finances and real estate since that seemed to be his forte after Backstreet Boys were no longer. He shared his three month responsibilities willingly and enjoyed them as much as the rest of his former band mates. One of the favorite things he has done with Nick was sing together in his basement on the karaoke machine. At first the blonde had been reluctant to sing but after a few times, Nick did mini concerts for the rest of the guys when they came over to visit.

Aside from Aaron, sadly, the rest of Nick’s family did not get involved in his life, it was as if they were embarrassed at what their sibling and or son had become. That suited everyone else fine. The pieces that they had to pick up after anyone from the Carter family had left from one of their short visits with Nick took days if not weeks to fix.

After four years, the judge had given clearance to sell the Tampa house but the guys all decided against the idea; it worked better for Nick to gain the lease monies to help with his medical care. Which suited them fine because to Nick, Tampa didn’t exist. Just Florida, Georgia and California. His former life was no longer there. He lived in the moment as AJ said, 'just video games and cartoons.' This was all that existed.

Nick was gone --- never to come back --- all because of the mistake of mixing drugs and alcohol.