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Six hours later and he was still trapped on the bus, They had went through countless cities and states and AJ was beginning to think that they would never going to arrive at their desired destination. He had run out of things to do early in the first hour trapped on the bus alone.

He had showered, not once but twice, just because he was cold. He had eaten, read a magazine, surfed the internet, watched TV and tried to sleep. He was running on pure caffeine. He had lost all of his energy and got restless after attempting to go to sleep but never quite getting there. He had downed an entire twelve pack of Mountain Dew and had started in on the second.

He was tired of thinking about Brian and not being able to sleep because of Brian. He was tired of the nightmares of what had happened that night, most of all, he was just plain tired of everything.

He sat at the table in the middle of the bus and played around on his laptop. He looked carefully to see if he could find the side effects of over the counter sleeping aids. After several hours of fighting sleep he had decided that the best was to finally get the sleep he needed would be to get some sort of over the counter pill to knock him out. He jotted down the names of the sleeping aids he thought he could handle and jumped a little when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen first to see who was calling.

"Hey D, what's up?" he said grabbing another Mountain Dew out of the fridge.

"Nothing really. We're going to be stopping in a little bit so if you want to get off the bus and wander around for a few minutes you can. We'll be stopping at a gas station so if you need to get anything for the remainder of the trip now would be your only time. It's still another few hours before we will arrive at the venue."

AJ hung up the phone with a faint smile on his face. It was as if Howie had read his mind. He grabbed his shoes and waited impatiently for the bus to stop. He watched out of the window as the gas station came into view. He bounded off the bus and stopped short when he saw Brian and Leighanne. It made his stomach turn to see her wrapped in his arm and kissing the man that should belong to him. He couldn't believe how Brian was throwing it all in his face. On some level Brian must realize how much it hurt to see them together. Why didn't he care? Better yet, why did AJ still care?

He tried to keep calm and keep his tears under control. He fought with himself. He would not cry over this right now, where Brian and his wife could see it and use it against him later. He spun around fully prepared to re-board his bus and wait till they got to the venue before he resurfaced. He turned too quickly without looking and collided hard into Nick's chest. He began to lose his balance and almost fell to the pavement before Nick reached out and wrapped his arms around the smaller man, keeping him upright. AJ fell against Nick thankful for not hitting the ground.

Nick looked at AJ carefully before saying anything. He could tell that AJ was all worked up again but couldn't figure out what it was that could have upset him so. "Let's go get some junk food J," Nick said releasing him from his hold and trying not to draw too much attention to the fact that AJ was near tears.

In the distance Brian's eyes darkened as he watched his lover wrapped tightly in his best friend's arms. He wasn't sure why the sudden urge to break both Nick's arms was bothering him so badly, but he tried to push the feeling away and place his attention back on his wife.

Nick and AJ made their way inside the gas station grabbing a cart as they went. Going through the aisles they filled the cart with chips, cookies, soda and candy.

AJ walked away for a moment to look for the sleeping aids he'd written down. He found the shelf that they were on and was amazed by all of the choices. He grabbed a couple bottles and went to find Nick. He found him flipping through a magazine at the back of the station.

Nick glanced up and smiled as he saw AJ approach, but didn't question where he had went. AJ was thankful, he didn't want to explain to Nick why he needed sleeping pills. He wasn't really sure how Nick would respond if he knew the real reason why he couldn't sleep. Nick had a short temper and AJ wasn't sure how Nick would react to the way that Brian had treated him.

AJ placed his items in the cart and stood beside Nick trying to peer over his shoulder at the magazine he was looking at. The bell rang on the station's front door drawing AJ's attention to the front. Brown eyes met blue as Brian and AJ locked eyes for the first time since that night. AJ looked away first trying to concentrate on the article that Nick had been reading. Nick noticed the change in AJ's demeanor and had saw Brian enter the store. This cemented in Nick's mind at least, AJ's distress at being anywhere near Brian. He wondered again what could have happened between his two friends to cause such a thing to happen.

"You Ok J?" Nick said softly, looking at AJ carefully.

AJ nodded, "I'm just ready to get back on the bus. I'm kinda tired"

Nick wrapped one arm around AJ's shoulders and took the cart with the other hand. He placed all the items at the register, not paying any attention to the pills that AJ had selected. He quickly paid for everything and grabbed up the bags. He led AJ by the arm and together they left the store barely throwing a glance in Brian's direction.

Brian's heart fell watching his best friend taking such good care of his lover. No one should be touching AJ that way but him. He hated the very idea of Nick being anywhere alone with AJ. Alex belonged to him. It wasn't supposed to be Nick and AJ together. That was his job, to be tender and loving, taking care of Alex. He closed his eyes and tried to keep his tears at bay. He knew his thoughts were wrong. He loved Leigh and wanted nothing more than to love her unconditionally forever, but his heart still, and would always belong to Alex. His heart was breaking all over again and there was nothing he could do to soften the blow. This was all his fault and he deserved everything that was thrown at him.

Brian forgot the reason for coming into the gas station to begin with. He no longer had an appetite to digest any more heartache or the list of food that Leigh had ordered him to come back with. He couldn't even handle the thought of food. He left the station and threw the list in the trash on his way outside. He got back to the buses in time to see Nick boarding his own bus alone. Brian wasn't sure why this simple act made him feel twenty pounds lighter. He was thrilled that Nick wouldn't be spending the remainder of the bus ride on AJ's bus. Maybe this would give him the much needed strength to get back on his own bus and deal with the shit that Leigh was going to throw at him for not getting the items she had requested.

~*~

AJ boarded his bus mentally kicking himself for talking Nick out of staying with him. He had no idea how he'd managed to make himself alone again. He was so fucking tired of being alone. He was afraid that if Nick stayed that he would begin to figure out what was going on, so instead he had sent away his only companion.

He was thrilled he'd managed to get the sleeping pills. He was more than ready to try anything. He popped the top of a couple bottles and tossed the little blue pills in his mouth. He downed a glass of water and curled up on the full bed in the back of the bus. He waited patiently for sweet sleep to overtake him and take him to a place far away from nightmares, Brian, and his loneliness.