"Is he asleep?" Brian whispered, speaking about Nick.

"Yeah, he pretty much crashed as soon as we got on the plane. Didn't look up even when we took off. Kind of unusual for him, isn't it?" she said softly.

"So what the hell happened last night? When I met you in the hall, you look scared shitless. So, what happened?" Brian asked, a conspiratorial note in his voice.

"He was almost sleep walking. Whoever he was last night, was not Nick. He was talking about having to leave, and when I said anything, it was like he wasn't hearing me, he was hearing someone else. It was horrible. To be with someone, but not have them be actually in the same place as you," she said nervously. She had been preoccupied and shaky every since the night before. She hadn't slept much, her mind in a constant state of thinking.

"Have you noticed that he hasn't really been himself lately?" Brian asked slowly, not sure how to broach the subject to her.

"Yes," she said, her eyes misting over slightly, a mix of exhaustion and hurt. The jealousy incident had not been forgotten, neither had his behaviour over her reaction to the journal he had given her.

"Hey, don't think that it has anything to do with you, sweetie. He's been like this for awhile. Ever since you came back from your book tour…things have been different. He's not Nick. Do you know, we haven't gone one-on-one together in four months? That has never happened before. He's practically ignoring me," Brian whispered, becoming aware that there was another pair of ears listening to the conversation.

"What's going on, you two?" Meagan's voice interrupted, as she peeked nosily over the seat.

"Nothing, Meagan, I'm just chatting with my good friend Carrie here," Brian said perkily, mocking her tone of voice.

"I didn't know that you and Carrie were such good friends," Meagan said.

"My name's Cairo," Cairo said darkly. Taking the hint, Meagan sat back down, hopefully to mind her own business.

"Don't worry, Carrie. I have never seen Nick as happy as when he's with you, and with all that you two have been through, nothing can stand in your way, okay?" Brian said, squeezing her hand before slipping back into his seat next to Stacey.

* * * *

"Okay, so when they were talked into coming to this benefit show, I thought that was a stretch. But to agree to do the press conference? What the hell is going through their minds?" Erika demanded, obviously annoyed.

"Hey, it sucks how they are always busy. We are irritated about that, aren't we? And we're taking it out on everything, including the innocent press conference," Cairo said.

"How is it that she always seems to be the voice of reason?" Stacey asked, smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm insane. That's why I'm so reasonable," she explained.

"Shh! My man's speaking!" Anna squealed, a touch of the BSB fever affecting her usual calm front.

"It's okay, dear, he'll still be speaking in an hour, and you wouldn't have missed much," Cairo said, earning a glare from Anna. After a few minutes of listening to Kevin's long winded answer, another young fan stepped up and asked the dreaded girlfriend question.

Cairo watched on as each Boy made reference to his special someone, and then felt her blood pressure rise as the blond member of the band gave a flat-out denial. She seethed. He had never once given a straight answer, had never said the public words that she wanted to hear: "Yes, I'm involved with someone and I'm very happy with her." But he had never denied it! She could feel the eyes of the other girlfriends on her, and tried to calm herself down as she felt the pound of blood rushing to her face.

"Okay, that's it. He's is so sleeping on the floor tonight," Cairo declared, marching out of the room.

"Shit. I hate it when those two fight," Stacey sighed.

"I know. I have never felt colder temperatures in a room before I've been with them when they've been mad at each other," Anna said.

"Well, the jerk deserves it. And he is going to get it. From her, from us and from those Boys. And if he doesn't get it from them, they'll get it from us," Erika decided. She noticed Meagan watching her intently.

"What?" Erika asked, with her diva-esque attitude that was the reason behind AJ's initial attraction to her.

"Nothing," Meagan answered back.

* * * *

"I'm getting drunk tonight. Who's coming with me?" Cairo asked. It was after their benefit show, and Nick was nowhere to be seen, which was a good thing, because she was ready to rip him limb from limb. He had denied everything that they had together. He was going to die.

"Carrie, you don't drink," Brian said, very matter-of-fact.

"Fine, I'll go by myself," she said, storming out of the room. Brian took one look at Stacey, and knew that if he didn't go with Cairo, then he would suffer because of it.

"Carrie, wait! Look kid, this isn't worth it. We have all done that at some point in time, okay? No reason to kill the bastard, even though he deserves it. He's been getting a lot of publicity lately, about having a mysterious 'girlfriend' that no one seems to be able to recognise. He's just protecting you, you know," Brian explained, running to keep up with her fast pace.

"This is me not caring right now. Does he even know I'm mad? Does he even know where I am? Where the hell is he? He's off with her! Forget that he just hurt his girlfriend, being with the tour manager - of a tour that is over might add - that no one can stand! Okay, so don't lecture me about him protecting me, because if he cared so damn much, then he'd be here, with me!" she raged.

So of course, Meagan picked just the right moment to appear. She stepped out in front of Brian and Cairo, smiling perkily.

"Hey, where you off to? Mind if I come? I'm feeling a little cooped up in that hotel room," she explained. Cairo saw red, but was shocked that Nick wasn't with her.

"Sure," Brian said, not wanting to be rude or mean to her, because despite his dislike for Meagan, she really hadn't done anything to warrant that behaviour.