BACK		Breakdown

By Stephanie Lopes

Chapter 1

“I’m sure they’ll get another one before the end of the match…Ok then, bye, Shane…Yes, you have a good time too… I know, I can’t wait for it either…Speak to you soon…Alright bye!”
“Second half’s starting, Bry” Nicky called. Bryan put his phone back into his pocket. Nicky looked at him inquisitively.
“What was all that about?” He asked.
“ Shane getting excited about the tour and the interview already.” Bryan chuckled to himself. They still had a weeks holiday left until Shane, Kian and Mark would drive up to meet them in Dublin and then fly off to start their world tour.
“ God, if I was him I’d be getting as much rest as I could now. We won’t have much time for it while we’re doing the tour.” Nicky laughed. There was always this nervous excitement about the group before anything important happened. Nicky was laid out on Bryan’s sofa. Kerry had gone out shopping with Georgina, Nicky’s girlfriend, and the guys had been watching a football game, which had just finished with Liverpool fc. getting a 2-0 victory over Everton fc. not surprisingly.

Shane was happy about that though. He had been watching the game in Sligo with Mark and Kian. “Yes! We won, we won!” He chorused for about a minute before Mark and Kian cracked up, laughing at him.
“Shane, it was so obvious that Liverpool would win, they’re a much better team. You don’t need to get so excited.” Kian said, smiling at the happy look on Shane’s face.
“Yeah, well, it still gives us points, whether Everton are a crap team, or not.” Shane replied, sitting back down on the couch.
Mark shook his head. He was amazed at how excited Shane could get. “Michael Owen’s goal was good. Wasn’t it?”
“Yeah it was. It was really sneaky actually.” Kian replied.
“Well that’s his trick, you see.” Shane seemed to think he was an expert on Liverpool’s tactics.
“Yeah, yeah, Mr. Houlier.” Kian laughed.
“Haha, that’s so hilariously funny.” Shane said sarcastically.
Mark looked at his watch. “I’d better get going, Mam’ll kill me if I’m late for dinner.”
“Yeah, I’d better go too.” Kian added.
“Alright, well, have fun tonight.” Shane laughed “Don’t forget that we have to go to the TV studio tomorrow to do that interview and tell the world how excited we are.”
“We won’t.” The others chorused.
They walked into the hall and all said ‘goodbye’.

Back in Dublin, Nicky heard the front door open and called out, “Is that you, girls?”
“Yes” He heard Kerry and Georgina call back.
“Come on up and show us what you’ve bought then.”
“Bry, where’s Molly?” Kerry asked.
“ In her cot, asleep” Bryan answered.
“Ok” Kerry walked over to Bryan and kissed him. She was closely followed by Georgina, who did the same to Nicky.
“I’m just gonna go to the loo, but then we’ve got to go, Nix, or you’ll be late meeting the guys. You’re supposed to be there at 7:00” Georgina said.
“Ok, honey” Nicky replied flatly. Georgina walked out to go to the loo. “I’m supposed to be meeting Steve and Robbie for a drink. Do you want to come, Bry?”
“No thanks, Kerry will give me the whole ‘oh, but we’ve only got a few more days alone together’ speech”
“Hey! That’s not true.”
“But I’m tired anyway.”
“Me too. I’ve got a headache as well.” Nicky answered.
“I hope you’re not developing an illness before the tour.”
“Me too. It’s probably just because I’m tired”
Bryan reached out to kiss Kerry, but she pulled away, pretending to be hurt by Bryan’s comments. “Come on, I was only joking.” Georgina walked back into the room.
“Ok, bye then you two” Nicky said.
“Bye, Nicko. Bye, Georgina.” Bryan said.
“See you soon, you guys.” Kerry added.

“Can you drop me at the pub, honey?” Nicky asked.
“Course I can, Nick” Georgina replied. They were in the car, on the way home from Bryan’s.
“It’s not far away, I can walk home”
“It’s ok, you can call me and I’ll pick you up if you like.”
“No, I’ll be fine. Some fresh air might clear my head”
“Are you sure you’re ok to go out?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Anyway, I can’t call it off, I’m hardly ever here to see them”
“Alright, well here you go then” Georgina pulled up outside the pub to let Nicky out.
“Have fun, but don’t drink too much”
“I wont” Nicky said cheekily.
“Bye”
“Bye”
Nicky walked into the pub and smiled as he saw Steve and Robbie. He walked over to them, hugged them both, then sat down.
A couple of hours later, after having a few drinks and feeling worse for it, Nicky, Steve and Robbie walked out of the pub.
“Which way are you going, Nicky?” Steve asked.
“This way.” Nicky indicated left.
“Ok, well we’re going right so we have to split.” Robbie stated.
“ Ok. It was nice seeing you.”
“You too. Make sure you keep in touch with us when you’re living that fancy life that you fly away to, if we don’t see you before you leave.” Steve joked.
“I will, and thanks, guys. I know you’re always there.”
“We are” they both replied.
They hugged Nicky goodbye and then walked off into the distance. Nicky pulled his jacket closer round him. He was cold in the night air. It was pitch black. As he rounded a corner, he saw a group of four, or five guys. They didn’t look any older than twenty-five. They were all pointing at him, nudging each other and chuckling to themselves. As Nicky walked past them, one called out. “Hey, pretty boy, how ya doing?” Seeing they were drunk, Nicky kept his head down. “Keep on going, they’ll go in a minute” He told himself.
“Oi, don’t ignore me. What do I look like, a piece of shit or something?” Nicky tried to ignore him.
“You motherfucker!” One of the other men called.
Nicky still carried on trying to ignore the men.
“You won’t ignore this, you trussed up bastard” Nicky heard footsteps behind him, but because of the alcohol, his reaction time was slow. He felt a hand grab his arm and twist it, making him turn round. He felt a hard blow to his cheek and struggled to get out of the man’s grip. “You think you’re so good, eh, dancing around on stage with those gay arsed band mates of yours.”
One of the other men joined in “Yeah what do you do in all those hotel rooms? Fuck each other?”
“What’s your problem?” The guy just gave Nicky a chilling grin. Nicky swallowed hard and tried to kick the other guy in the nuts.
“Ohhh, big mistake buddy” The third guy said.
He punched Nicky round the face, hitting him in the eye. Nicky turned around and punched him in the stomach. “You asshole” The guy said, short-breathed after being winded by Nicky’s punch. The fourth guy joined in, kicking Nicky in the groin.
“Fucking hell! Get lost!” Nicky said as he fell to the floor. When he tried to scramble to his feet, one of them kicked him hard in the ribs, and he fell back down again.
“Why don’t you leave me alone?” Nicky asked.
“This is much more fun” One of the bigger guys replied. Nicky tried to push himself up, but his arm gave way, and he collapsed in a heap.
The four men all laughed at him. “You prissy, band boys are all such losers.” One of them said.
“Fuck off!” Nicky said through gritted teeth and again attempted to get himself off the ground. For this, he got a kick round the head from the tallest guy, and the others all joined in, kicking him all over his now weak body.
Soon, Nicky gave in to the pain and collapsed on his back, letting his mind drift off into the cold, deep black, not knowing whether he would wake again. Satisfied that they had done the job, the gang dragged Nicky’s body round a corner and into an alley so that no one could see. They all ran off pretty quickly after that in case anyone came.

Chapter 2

Shane sat down at the dinner table to a plate of his mum’s cooking. His brothers and sisters were all out, so it was just Shane, his Mum and Dad. "I’m so glad I’m home; I was getting really fed up of all that crappy hotel food." He said.
"Well you know, I don’t go flying all around the world, so I get this home made food most of the time!" Shane’s Dad, Peter replied.
Shane smiled back. "Well, you’re lucky then."
Mae went and sat down with them. "I guess this means that you like my food then!"
"It’s the best!" Shane answered.
"So what’s this interview that you’re doing with the lads tomorrow?" Peter asked.
"Well, basically, they’re going to get a video link from here to the studios in Dublin, so it’s like having all five of us there. It’s gonne be really cool I think."
"Sounds great" Mae commented.
"I can’t wait to see Nicky and Bryan. I haven’t seen them for two weeks. I wonder how much weight they’ve put on!" He joked.
"About as much as you have I should think!" Peter replied.
"Hey!"
"Well I don’t think Louis would be too pleased if I told him that you’d hardly had any exercise for two weeks right before a tour"
"I have had exercise"
"Like what? Cheering at the football game?"
"Ok, yeah but I worked really hard before hand."
"It’s alright, Shane. Your father’s just messing around."
"Hmmm!"

Kerry and Bryan were settling down on the couch in front of the TV. It was 11:30 and a movie was about to start. Bryan had just put Molly to sleep. It had taken him half an hour, but after a few songs, she had finally dropped off. The sound track started to roll. Bryan looked at Kerry. He sat there watching her for about 30 seconds before she noticed.
"Bryan, Why are you staring at me?"
"I was just thinking how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to have a wife as wonderful as you." Kerry smiled. Bryan could be such a romantic at times.
"I love you." He said.
"I love you too." She replied. "But shush, the movie’s starting."
Bryan smiled and put his arm round her. Kerry snuggled down into him, and rested her head on his shoulder. They were both quiet once the movie started.

Nicky was laid on his back. His eyelids fluttered open and he found himself lying on his back in the cold dark. He was confused, not knowing where he was, or how he got there. He could remember saying goodbye to Steve and Robbie, but that was it.
Nicky’s whole body was numb, he couldn’t feel anything, until he sat up and felt the huge pain. That was when it hit home. He remembered seeing the men, then being struck across the face. He turned and threw up. Nicky’s head was pounding. He put his cold hand to his forehead. He brought it down and looked at it. It was covered in blood. Realising how hurt he was, Nicky knew he had to get somewhere, but where? He couldn’t go home, or to Georgina like that. They’d all completely freak. There was nowhere else to go, except Bryan and Kerry’s. Nicky took a deep breath and held it in. He clenched his teeth and tried to pull himself to his feet, with the aid of a lamppost.
"AAAGH!" He exclaimed as he felt the immense pain on his body as he managed to stand. No matter how much pain he was in, Nicky knew he had to get inside somewhere warm, otherwise he would freeze. He was already shivering.
Luckily, Nicky hadn’t hurt his legs. He walked along the empty streets, slowly remembering the way. He had lived here since he was a kid and Bryan’s was only five minutes away. Nicky stopped every few metres for a rest.
Eventually, after about twenty-five minutes of walking, which should have been only five or ten, Nicky finally arrived outside Bryan and Kerry’s house. He slowly walked up to the gates and rang the bell.
"What the-? Who the hell can that be? It’s midnight for God sakes!" Bryan asked.
Kerry sat up. "I dunno, but you’d better answer it." She replied.
Bryan got up and pressed the intercom button. "Who is it?" He asked angrily.
"B, Bryan, pl, please, it’s me, Nicky."
"Nicky? What do you want? You’d better not be drunk and pissing about."
"Please, just let me in" Tears started to come to Nicky’s eyes. "Please." He choked.
Hearing how upset Nicky was, Bryan hurriedly pressed the button that opened the gate.
"Bryan, who is it?" Kerry called from the living room; she was still watching the movie.
"Nicky" Bryan called back anxiously, as he scrambled to open the front door. Bryan ran down the couple of steps that lead up to the front door, and saw Nicky standing in the gateway. Noticing how messed up he was, Bryan ran up to him.
"What the fuck happened to you?"
Nicky broke down into tears. Bryan embraced him and held him tight. Hearing the front door open, Kerry got up and walked through to the hall.
"Bryan?" She called and walked through the open front door. She saw Bryan standing there holding Nicky and jogged down to them to find out what was going on. As Kerry got closer, she saw the blood trickling down from a deep gash above Nicky’s forehead, and then mixing with the tears that were streaming from his eyes.
"Bloody hell Nicky, what happened?" She asked.
Nicky shook his head and buried his head deeper into Bryan’s chest.
"Come on, it’s alright, you’re safe now. We’re here, Nicky. It’s ok." Bryan said soothingly.
Kerry gave him a questioning look. Bryan just raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Nicky felt Bryan shrug and he looked up slightly and sniffed.
"Come on Nix, let’s get you inside, you’re shivering" Kerry said.
Bryan let Nicky lean on him as he stumbled up the steps. Nicky winced with every step he took. Bryan and Kerry could both see the pain he was in. Bryan helped him into the living room to sit down. He sat on the couch, the sobs still shaking his body. Kerry sat next to him and rubbed his back, trying to calm him down.
"It’s ok, come on, tell us what’s happened Nicky." She said. Bryan looked at her questioningly, as if to say 'what shall I do?’
"Go and get him a warm drink and a blanket." Kerry told him.
"Ok. What do you want to drink, Nick?" Bryan asked.
Nicky just shook his head. "I’ll go and get a blanket for you, then you can decide. You need something warm inside you, you feel like a block of ice." Nicky sniffed and buried his face in his hands.
"Come on, Nicky, you’ve got to tell us what’s happened, you look so hurt." Kerry tried to coax Nicky into telling her.
Bryan returned with a blanket that he put around Nicky’s shoulders. He sat down the other side of him on the couch. Nicky leaned back into Bryan’s arms. He obviously felt safer there.
"I’ll go and get something to clean you up." Kerry said in the hope that Nicky would tell Bryan what had happened while she was away.
Bryan sat there with Nicky in his arms. Neither of them said a thing, until Bryan couldn’t bear the silence any longer.
"Nicky, please just tell me what happened. It’ll be ok, we can sort it out." Nicky sniffed. "I got beaten up coming out of the pub."
Bryan waited for the rest, but after a few seconds he said, "That’s it, that’s all you’re gonna tell me?"
"There’s no more to tell, Bry."
"You look pretty done in, there seems to be a lot more to tell than 'I got beaten up coming out of the pub’."
Nicky wiped the tears from his eyes and Kerry walked back in, carrying a box full of antiseptic creams and some cotton wool balls.
"Here you go." She kneeled down in front of Nicky. "Let me have a look at you." Nicky winced as Kerry started to clean up all the cuts and scratches.
"Tell me if it hurts too much." Kerry told him.
"Ok… I don’t know who they were."
"Who who were?" Kerry asked.
"The guys that did this to me."
"Don’t worry about them. They’re just a bunch of losers who have nothing better to do." Bryan replied.
"I remember saying goodbye to Steve and Robbie, then being hit across the face. I can’t remember much else apart from the pain."
"It’ll be ok, Nix. I don’t think you’ll have any scars, it was a deep cut across your eyebrow though."
Nicky tried to smile. "Thanks, Kerry"
"Do you want anything to drink?" Bryan asked him.
"Can I have some water?" Nicky replied.
"Sure I’ll go and get it." Bryan walked off.
"Here, why don’t you rest for a bit?" Nicky nodded, so Kerry helped him to lie down on the sofa.
A couple of seconds later, Bryan walked back in with a bottle of water under his arm and a glass in his hand.
"Here you go!" He said.
"Thanks" Nicky replied.
"I’ll just go and put all the medical stuff away, I’ll be back in a minute" Kerry stated. Bryan nodded to tell her that he’d be ok with Nicky.
"Can you hold this for me, Nix. I can’t open the bottle." Nicky nodded, so Bryan handed him the glass. He then turned away to try and open the bottle, realising he’d been trying to turn it the wrong way. As he was concentrating on opening the bottle, he heard a soft thud, then a quiet crack on the floor… Bryan turned round. As soon as he saw what had happened, he yelled for his wife. "Kerry!"

Chapter 3

Kerry came running in, hearing the worry in Bryan’s voice.
"Oh, God!" She exclaimed as she saw Nicky lying on the floor, totally out of it, and Bryan leaning over him trying to snap him out of his daze. Bryan looked up at her.
"What do I do?" He asked.
"Check to see if he’s breathing and if you can feel a pulse." Kerry instructed.
"Yeah, I think he’s just passed out." Bryan replied, feeling relief flood through him, as Nicky’s eyelids fluttered open.
"Nix, are you ok?" He asked.
"Umm." Nicky said drowsily, as he tried to sit himself up.
"No, stay there." Bryan told him, lying Nicky back down.
"Kerry, call an ambulance, will you?" Bryan asked. His voice was very shaky.
"Why do you sound so upset, Bry?" Nicky asked.
"What do you mean, Nix, you scared the shit out of me."
"Sorry." Nicky replied. Kerry was sat there watching them.
"Have you called an ambulance?" Bryan asked her.
"No, sorry I’ll go now." Bryan shook his head.
"It’s ok, I’ll do it." He replied. Nicky put his hand in his jeans pocket and pulled out his mobile, which he handed to Bryan.
"Nicky, if you had your mobile, why the hell didn’t you call us so we could get you?" Kerry asked.
"Err I completely forgot that I had it." Nicky replied.
Bryan got up and walked out of the room to make the call. He returned about a minute later.
"They’ll be about 10 minutes." He told them. "Do you want to sit on the couch?" He asked Nicky.
"Yeh. Thanks." Bryan helped Nicky up onto the couch, so that he was comfortable. Bryan sat down by him and looked at Nicky’s phone. He noticed the missed calls list which that said Nicky had 10 missed calls. Bryan had failed to notice the list before, as he was so preoccupied by pressing the 9 key three times. He checked the list. All the calls were from Georgina, who all three of them seemed to have forgotten about.
"Umm, Nicky, did you have your phone on?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I think it was on silent because you have 10 missed calls and they’re all from Georgina."
"Oh, shit. I completely forgot. I didn’t want to worry her. She’s gonna go absolutely crazy at me."
"Don’t worry. I’ll call her." Kerry said.
"Thanks." Nicky replied.
Kerry walked over to the cordless phone that was mounted on the wall in the hallway, picked it up and brought it into the lounge. She dialled in Nicky and Georgina’s home number. It rang three times before Georgina answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Georgina, its Kerry."
"Oh, hi, Kerry. You haven’t seen Nicky have you?"
"As a matter of fact, I have."
"Where is he? He’d better not be completely drunk."
"He’s here at home with Bryan and me."
"What’s wrong, why do you sound so hesitant?"
"Georgina, Nicky’s got beaten up. He just passed out and we’ve had to call an ambulance."
"Oh, God. Is he ok?"
"Yeah. He’s fine now. The ambulance will be here in a couple of minutes."
"Ok, thanks Kerry."
"It’s alright. Do you wanna talk to him?"
"Yes, if you don’t mind."
"Course I don’t. Here, I’ll pass you over to him." Kerry handed the phone to Nicky who, along with Bryan, had been listening in on the conversation.
"Hi Georgina." Nicky said.
"Hi, Nicky, why didn’t you call me?"
"I didn’t want to worry you."
"Well I’ve been pretty worried sitting here waiting and not knowing what’s happened to you."
"I’m sorry" Nicky started to get upset. Bryan sensed it and put a hand on Nicky’s shoulder.
"It’s ok, just call me next time, which I hope there won’t be."
Nicky smiled. "Well, you can say I told you so!"
"What?" Georgina asked, confused.
"That I should have let you pick me up."
"Well, yes, you should have done. Anyway, we’d better go. We’re running up a huge phone bill for Bryan to pay. Can you hand me to Kerry quickly?"
"Ok Bye." Nicky handed the phone to Kerry. "Georgina wants to speak to you." Kerry took the phone.
"Hello again!"
"Hi. What shall I do about the hospital?"
"Oh, err, well Bryan will probably go in the ambulance with Nicky. I’ll go up in the car ‘cause I’ve got to take Molly."
"Oh, yeah, of course. Where shall I meet you?"
"At the entrance."
"Ok"
"See you there."
"Bye, Kerry."
"Bye"
Just as Kerry finished on the phone, they heard a knock on the door. Bryan went to get it. It was the ambulance. Bryan had asked them not to put the sirens on, so as not to draw attention. The ambulance men were quick, and Nicky was soon being laid in the back of the ambulance. Bryan climbed in with him. One of the paramedics asked him exactly what had happened. Once Bryan had answered, they drove off. All through the ride, they kept checking Nicky’s vitals.

Chapter 4

As soon as the guys had left in the ambulance, Kerry jogged up the stairs and went to get Molly. Five minutes later, she left the house. When she arrived at the hospital, Kerry got Molly out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the hospital, where she saw Georgina waiting for her.
"Hi. Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah, I just hope Nicky is." Georgina replied.
"Let’s go in and find out shall we?"
"Yeah, ok." Georgina said nervously.
The two girls walked through the automatic doors that lead into the reception area. Kerry handed Molly to Georgina, then walked across to the counter. "Hi. My husband came in a few minutes earlier with Nicky Byrne. Could you tell me where they are please?"
The receptionist looked a little stunned. She was quite young and obviously had some knowledge of pop music, as she seemed very aware of Kerry and the name she had given her. "Err… Yeah, sure. Ill just check the computer for you."
"Thanks." Kerry replied. She turned round and saw Bryan come through the swing doors that lead through to the cubicles.
"Hi!" He called out. "I thought you’d got lost!"
Kerry turned to the receptionist. "Don’t worry looks like Bryan found us. Thanks anyway."
"Sure…" The girl replied.
Georgina followed Kerry over to Bryan and handed Molly back to her.
"Thanks" Kerry said.
"Bryan, how is he?" Georgina asked.
"They’re just checking him out in a cubicle through there" Bryan said, indicating to the doors that he had just walked through. "He’s asking for you and they asked me to wait outside, so I decided to come and see if they’d made you wait out here."
"Ok. Can we go through?"
"Yeah, probably I’ve been trying to get him a private room, but they said they didn’t want to move him until they’d checked him over fully."
Kerry raised her eyebrows and said; "That doesn’t sound too good."
"Umm… I know." Bryan replied.
"God, I hope he’s alright. I knew I should have picked him up."
"Don’t worry. Let’s just go through." Bryan said reassuringly.
Bryan held open one of the wooden swing doors that lead through to the emergency ward and indicated for the two girls to go through.
The ward was quite a large one. There were about 20 of these cubicle things. Nurses and doctors were everywhere, hurrying about and talking to the others in low voices so that no one overheard the patients’ private details. There were a couple of police officers hanging around by the drink machine with plastic cups full of coffee in their hands. There must have been an accident Bryan thought. A car crash, or something. Kerry distracted his stream of thought.
"So…Which cubicle is he in then?" She asked.
"Oh… Yeah, right… Sorry. It’s that one over there." Bryan replied, indicating to the one in the corner of the large room.
"I’ll wait out here." He said, sitting down on one of a row of chairs.
"Can you take Molly?" Kerry asked him.
"Oh, ok…" Bryan took Molly from Kerry’s arms and laid her out on the seat next to him. She was half asleep. Kerry started to walk over to the cubicle with Georgina. She shook her head at Bryan.
"He must have got a bit shaken up in the ambulance. He’s terrified of needles and things." Kerry said to Georgina.
Georgina smiled and shook her head. "They’re both big babies really."
"I know." Kerry laughed, and went to open the curtain round Nicky’s cubicle for Georgina to go in, but as she did, one of the doctors flung the curtain back. He looked very flustered.
"Sorry" He said, as he bumped into Georgina.
"That’s ok." She said. "How is he?"
"I’m sorry. We’re not allowed to disclose that information to any one but Bryan McFadden and my patient himself." The tall man replied.
"Oh that’s ok." Kerry interrupted. "Bryan’s my husband and this is Georgina Aherne, Nicky’s girlfriend."
"Oh right, finally, the lovely Georgina. I’ve been told all about you while I was cleaning Nicky up."
"Ahh." Georgina said. "Only good things I hope."
The doctor smiled. "I’m Doctor Adams. Nicky will be fine. Just a few cuts and bruises. There shouldn’t be any scarring. He just won’t look his best for a few days; he’s got quite a shiner."
"Ok. Can I see him?" Georgina asked.
"Sure."
"I’ll wait with Bryan." Kerry said.
"Ok. Thanks." Georgina replied.
The doctor led her in to see Nicky, and Kerry walked back over to sit with Bryan.
"Ok, Bry?" She asked.
Bryan lifted his head from the position it was in, resting on his hands. "Yeah, fine…I’m just tired, and worried about Nicky… The ride in the ambulance kinda freaked me. Actually, I was shit scared. They kept yelling things to the driver and testing Nicky with all these strange looking objects and, I know it sounds stupid, but I thought Nicky was gonna go any second."
Kerry hugged him. "Come on, he’s gonna be ok now. Shall we go and see how he’s doing?"
"Yeah, ok." Bryan replied, sighing deeply.
They got up and Kerry rested her hand on Bryan’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze to comfort him.
Bryan picked up Molly and laid her over his shoulder.
When they reached the cubicle, Kerry called through the curtain to ask if they could go through.
"Yeah, sure, come in." Georgina replied.
Kerry opened the curtain just wide enough for them to slip through, without anyone seeing Nicky.
He didn’t actually look that bad, now that the doctors had cleaned him up. He was lying on the hospital bed, and he didn’t look uncomfortable. He was covered by a thin blanket, to make sure he didn’t get cold. Plasters were covering up most of the cuts that they could see.
Nicky looked up as he saw Bryan and Kerry.
"Hi." He said slowly, not sure of how they would react to seeing him, as he didn’t actually know how he looked, but he assumed it was pretty bad.
"You ok?" Bryan asked.
"Yeah, I’m fine, the doctors have drugged me up so much, I can’t feel anything." Bryan smiled; at least Nicky was still his usual self, making jokes.
"Kerry. How do I really look? I asked George, but she’d say I looked fine if I looked like a monkey’s arse."
That comment sent everyone into fits of laughter. When Kerry had regained her composure, she answered, "You do actually look ok. There’s just a few small bruises and the strips across your eyebrow where the deep cut was. Did they have to put stitches in?"
"I can’t really remember." Nicky replied.
As if on cue, Dr Adams opened the curtain. "I’ve just come to tell you what’s going to happen." He said, before Kerry interrupted.
"Excuse me, can I just ask you a quick question?" She asked.
"Of course you can." Dr Adams replied.
"Did you have to put stitches in the cut over Nicky’s eyebrow?"
"No, luckily we just used the white plaster strips that you can see." The doctor replied.
"I’m afraid that Nicky will have to spend the night here, so that we can see if there has been any long term damage, or concussion, but if everything goes ok, then he should be fine within a couple of days." He continued.
Bryan looked worried. "Will he be ok tomorrow?" He asked.
"I’m not sure; he may have some bad pain…" He paused to look at Nicky. "And unless he has a very high pain threshold, then he may just have to lie in bed all day."
Nicky groaned.
"Fucking hell, why is nothing ever easy in our lives?"
"Have you got anything planned for tomorrow?" Dr Adams asked, ignoring Bryan’s bad language.
"Yeah… We have a live TV interview at 1 o’ clock." Bryan said, shaking his head in dismay.
"An interview? I don’t think there’s any way that Nicky will feel well enough to do that."
Bryan raised an eyebrow at Nicky. "What do I do? Shall I call Louis?"
"No, no, please…" Nicky looked down at his hands and wiped his eyes, trying to keep back the tears that were starting to well up in his eyes. "Louis’ll go mad if he finds out that I stayed out late when we had a live interview the next day." Georgina put her hand on Nicky’s shoulder to comfort him.
"I’ll leave you to sort this out. I’ll come back in a few minutes, shall I?" The doctor asked.
"Thanks." Georgina replied. Dr Adams made his exit quickly.
"Who shall I call then? Someone’s got to sort this out." Bryan reasoned.
"I don’t know, Bryan, I just don’t know. All I want to do is go to sleep and forget that this ever happened." Nicky shouted.
"Come on, it’s ok. The doctor said you’d be fine in a couple of days." Kerry said, trying to calm Nicky down.
"Well that’s not tomorrow, is it?" Nicky asked sarcastically.
Bryan’s mobile rang; he had forgotten to turn it off when he entered the emergency department. He answered it quickly, so as not to draw attention to that fact.
"Hel…"
"Bryan, what the hell’s happened?" Shane demanded as soon as he heard Bryan’s voice.
"What do you mean what the hell’s happened?" Bryan replied. He saw Nicky’s concerned frown and shook his head as if to say it wasn’t Louis.
"I’ve just got a phone call from Louis. He says that he’s had phone calls from three different tabloids, all asking him if Nicky really is in hospital and they’ve all given him different reasons as to why he might be there."
"Fuck." Bryan replied.
"Is it true?"
"Who is it, Bryan?" Nicky interrupted.
"Shane." He replied
"Bryan…BRYAN?" Shane called down the phone.
"Sorry." Bryan sighed. "Yes. It is true."
"What happened?"
"He got beaten up coming out of the pub."
"Jesus. Is he alright?"
"Yeah… I don’t think he’ll be able to do that interview though."
"Why didn’t you call anyone?"
"I only found out about an hour and a half ago. We’re still at the hospital."
"Oh God, sorry."
"It’s ok."
"When did this all happen then?"
"About 3 and a half hours ago I spose."
"Ok, look what shall I tell Louis? He wants me to call him back."
Bryan ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess you’ll just have to tell him the truth- that Nicky was out with his friends and he was walking back home and he got beaten up and now has to spend the night in hospital. Anyway what’s gonna happen with this bloody interview?"
"I dunno. We’ll have to see what Louis wants us to do. What time is it?"
Bryan looked at his watch. "Twenty past one. Why?"
"Just wondering. Is Nicky alright?"
"Yeah, but the doctors have given him loads of drugs to take away the pain."
"Umm… look I’d better go and call Louis."
"Ok. Call me back alright?"
"Yeah, don’t worry. Say hi to Nicky for me and tell him I hope he feels better."
"I will."
"Bye"
"Bye." Bryan put the phone down. "Shane says hi and he hopes you feel better." He said to Nicky.
"Ok."
Dr. Adams came back in. "Have you sorted everything out?" He asked.
"Yeah." Bryan replied.
"Ok. We’re going to move Nicky to a private room, and then I suggest you guys go back home and get some rest."
Georgina nodded. "Ok."
Once Nicky was settled in his new room, Bry, Kerry and Georgina all said goodbye and left Nicky to rest.
Thankfully there were no reporters outside the hospital. That was the last thing that they needed.
"G, do you wanna stay the night with us?" Bryan asked. "You don’t wanna be on your own."
"Do you mind?" Georgina replied.
"No, of course not." Kerry answered.
"Ok then, thanks."
"Do you wanna leave your car here? Kerry can go with you to see Nicky in the morning and you can collect it then."
"Yeah, ok."
They all climbed into Kerry’s car. Bryan looked rather put out about something.
"What’s wrong?" Kerry asked him.
"Shane was supposed to call me back."
"Call him then." Kerry suggested.
Bryan punched in the quick dial number on his phone. "It’s engaged." He said after listening for a few seconds.
"He might be trying to call you." Georgina replied.
"Yeah, or he’s still sorting things out." Kerry agreed.
"Ok. Let’s go home. I can ring him from there." Bryan turned the key in the ignition and drove off.

Chapter 5

Bryan pressed the button on the control in his car to open the electric gates and drove right through. It had started to rain while they were driving, so Kerry and Georgina jumped out of the car and dashed over to the front door, while Bryan parked the car.
"Yuck! Why is the weather in this place always so awful?" Kerry asked.
"I dunno." Georgina replied. "I suddenly feel really drained of any energy." She said, as Kerry found the front door keys right at the bottom of her bag.
"I do too." Kerry agreed.
Bryan came running over to them with Molly in his arms. "I left the carry cot in the car so it didn’t get wet he explained. Anyway, haven’t you got that door open yet?" He asked Kerry.
"Hang on! I only just found the keys." She started to protest.
"Ugh… Give them to me." Bryan grabbed the keys. "We’re getting wet while you’re blabbing on." He said.
Bryan opened the door and walked straight through into the living room and collapsed on the couch, laying Molly, who was again half asleep, on his stomach. Kerry laughed. "Looks like you and I aren’t the only tired ones."
"Yeah…" Georgina yawned.
Bryan punched Shane’s number into his mobile for the second time that evening. This time it rang and Shane answered pretty quickly.
"Hi Bryan." He said rather dejectedly.
"What’s up? Why haven’t you called me?" Bryan asked.
"I’ve been on the phone to Louis and the others constantly."
"Ok. By the others do you mean Mark and Kian?"
"Yeah."
"What did they say?"
"Kian was a bit pissed off about the whole issue actually. First that Nicky was out that late and second that someone dared to even think about beating one of us up and Mark-"
"But Nicky wasn’t actually out that late. It was only 10 o’ clock. It’s just that he was out cold for about an hour and a half." Bryan interrupted.
"I know. That’s what I told him and then he shut up about it, but continued to fume about Nix getting beaten up. He even threatened to drive to Dublin and find the ‘scumbags’." Shane heard Bryan chuckle down the phone. "Mark was also pretty annoyed that Nix got beaten up, he didn’t mention the time."
"Ok. What did Louis say?"
"Ugh. Do you really want to know?"
"Yeah."
"I still have a headache from everything but, here you go. He first of all acted like Kian, yelling and asking why he was out late drinking, but I explained, so he let off a bit. He then went on yelling about the people who beat Nicky, saying what trouble they’re causing him and us. He then asked me to find out if the others still wanted to do the interview, so I had to ring Mark and Kian."
"What did they say?"
"They still want to do it, so do I but, you know, it might not be fair on Nicky."
"Well, I’m still happy to do it and if we don’t, then the TV people will get pissed off with us."
"I know. Louis said we should probably still do it, we just have to think of an excuse for Nicky not being there."
"Why do we need an excuse? Can’t we just tell the fans the truth?"
"Well, yeah I guess we should, but Nicky may not want everyone to know yet, ‘cause the press’ll all be trying to get pictures of him and stuff."
"Umm…I guess." Bryan agreed. "It’s probably best to say that he’s ill and then just do a press release of something in a couple of days, ‘cause he can’t hide out until all the bruising and swelling’s gone down."
"That’s what were gonna do I think."
"Ok, so we’ll go to the studio as usual, tell them he’s ill and do the interview with just us four."
"Yeah. I’ll ring the others and tell them."
"Ok. Thanks. I’ll ring you tomorrow before I leave."
"Alright. See ya."
"Bye"
While Bryan was on the phone, Kerry had made some coffee and she and Georgina were sat in the kitchen waiting for Bryan.
"Ok" He said as he walked in. "We’re gonna do the interview without Nicky, tell them he’s ill and then we’ll do a press release in a couple of days to say really why he wasn’t there."
Kerry and Georgina nodded. "Shall we go to bed, then?" Kerry asked.
"Yeah." The others agreed, so they all dragged themselves up the stairs. Georgina went into the spare room, while Bryan put Molly to bed in her room and Kerry climbed into the big double bed in Bryan’s and her room.

Chapter 6

The next day, Bryan was woken by the sound of dishes clattering downstairs in the kitchen. The sun was shining, and there was a shaft of light coming through a gap in the curtains.
Bryan stretched his arms and looked at his watch. It was 9:30 am. He yawned and sat up. Kerry must be downstairs he thought. He could hear her and Georgina talking. Bryan jumped up out of bed and pulled on his t-shirt and got washed up.
He rubbed his tired eyes as he walked down the stairs. Even the cool shower he had taken hadn’t been enough to wake his body up.
"Morning…" He called sleepily to Kerry and Georgina as he entered the kitchen.
"Morning, sleepy head." Kerry replied.
"Hi, Bryan." Georgina laughed.
Kerry was stood by the kettle, waiting for the water to boil. Bryan went over to her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Did you sleep alright?" Bryan asked Georgina.
"Yeah, thanks I did. I won’t even ask if you did, because Kerry’s already told me about your snoring! But it’s not surprising, the time of night that we went to bed." Georgina replied.
"I don’t snore." Bryan retorted.
"I’ll record it for you to listen to one day!" Kerry grinned.
"Ha-ha! Anyway, it wasn’t that late." Bryan replied, changing the subject before any more could be said.
"It was about 2 o’ clock." Georgina replied.
"Believe me," Kerry said. "That’s not late in Bryan time!"
They all laughed.
"What’s everyone having for breakfast?" Bryan asked.
"We’ve had ours." Kerry answered. "You didn’t expect us to wait for Mr. Sleepyhead did you?"
Bryan raised his eyebrow. "Hey, what’s with this Mr. Sleepyhead thing?"
"We thought you were going to sleep right through." Georgina replied.
"What do you mean we?" Bryan looked confused.
"Well, Kerry invited me into your bedroom because you looked so funny!"
"Kerry!" Bryan ran at her with a dishcloth, trying to smack her bum. He succeeded in the end, but soon Georgina was involved as well, and he was cornered. Bryan smiled cheekily. He had to give in, he couldn’t escape. He would just have to put up with his beautiful wife giving him a big smack on the bottom.
Kerry did just that, but smacked Bryan harder than he had expected her to.
"Oww!" He yelped, rubbing his bum.
"Sorry." Kerry said provokingly.
Bryan glared at her and went to get a yoghurt out of the fridge to have for his breakfast. He looked at the morning paper. At first glance, there was nothing unusual. There was some fighting going on in some city. Some minister had been somewhere. George Bush had spoken to another world leader about an ‘important issue’. Reviews on strange music albums that were obviously going to get nowhere. Some part of the royal family were having problems... What was that he had just seen on the next page? Had he seen right? He’d only seen a flicker of the headline as he shuffled the pages as he read. It couldn’t be…They wouldn’t know about it so soon, would they? Bryan cautiously turned the page.
"Oh God!" Bryan spat yoghurt out all over the page.
"What? Kerry asked.
"Shit! The bloody press. Can you get me my mobile?" Bryan asked with exasperation.
"Why, what’s happened?" Georgina started to get worried. She thought she already knew the answer to her question.
"I don’t understand. Louis was supposed to have put a stop to this."
"Don’t understand what?" Kerry asked, handing Bryan his mobile phone.
"This…" Bryan read the headline from the newspaper. "Westlife star in drunken pub brawl: Nicky Byrne of Irish pop band Westlife was admitted into hospital late last night with some minor injuries after being involved in an incident outside a pub in Dublin… The fucking press! Bloody arseholes, why can’t they just leave us alone?!"
"Great!" Georgina said. "Bloody great!"
Bryan started to angrily punch Louis’ number into his phone, then thought better of it. He was supposed to ring Shane anyway.
"Hang on." Kerry said. "What else does it say?"
"Just some shit about how he had been loud and rowdy inside the pub with his mates, yelling provoking things at people. It’s complete bullshit if you ask me."
"Umm." The others agreed.
It was 11:15 by now. Only about an hour before he would have to leave for the interview.
Bryan used the speed dial to call Shane. What would he think about it?

Chapter 7

"Shane? Hi, it’s Bryan."
"Hi." Shane said sleepily. "I thought you were only gonna call later."
"Well, things change and anyway, it’s 11:30." Bryan replied arrogantly.
"Ok, ok. What’s up with you?" Shane asked.
"Have you read the papers yet?"
"No, I’m still in bed. Don’t forget that I was up till late last night trying to organise things between everyone."
"Yeah, well, the fucking press have got hold of the story and make Nicky look like a bloody prat."
"Oh, god… You’re joking?"
"Yeah, Shane I’m joking. Really funny this is!" Bryan said sarcastically.
"Just tell me what they’ve said." Shane replied, ignoring Bryan’s sarcasm. Bryan read the article to Shane, who sat there getting more and more annoyed and irritated at every word that Bryan read out.
Shane yelled an outburst of rage, shouting "They can’t say that!" down the phone at Bryan after hearing one particular statement about his and Bryan’s behaviour on an evening in Dublin a couple of months ago.
"They don’t even know the story behind what happened. The bloody guy was abusing us. He was the one that had a go at me. We were just standing up for ourselves, it’s not our fault we didn’t have a minder with us. But, oh no, it was our fault as usual. The bloody press take everything the wrong way!" He continued.
"That’s not the point, Shane. It’s Nicky I’m trying to look after here." Bryan interrupted
"Ok, I’m sorry. What are we gonna do about the interview then?"
"I don’t know…Hang on a minute; the house phone’s ringing…"
"Kerry, Georgina can one of you get that?"
"Got it Bryan," Kerry replied.
"Thanks." He called back. "Sorry Shane, uh what were we saying?"
"It’s ok. We were talking about what we were going to do about the interview."
"Oh yeah… right, so what are we go…?" Bryan asked. He was interrupted for a second time by Kerry calling his name. "What?" He snapped.
"I just thought you’d want to know that Louis’ on the phone." Kerry replied. "Ohhh, ok, I’ll be there in 2 minutes." Kerry went off into the lounge to talk to Louis.
"Sorry again, Shane." Bryan said.
"It’s ok. What’s happening?"
"Louis’ on the house phone he wants to talk to me. Probably about the papers."
"Ok. I’ll let you go then."
"Alright I’ll ring you after I’ve agreed something with him."
"Ok, bye."
"Bye" Bryan got up and jogged into the lounge. Kerry and Georgina were sat on the sofa looking very confused and worried. He frowned.
"What’s up?"
"We’re trying to figure out what to do about this interview." Kerry replied.
"I’ll sort it out ok?"
The girls both nodded slowly. Bryan took the phone from Kerry.
"Louis?"
"Hi Bryan." Louis replied
"Hi. Do you mind if I call you back in a couple of minutes? I just need to sort something out with Georgina and Kerry."
"Ok, sure. Make sure you do though; this is important."
"Ok, bye for now." Bryan put the phone down.
"Have the hospital called yet?" He asked.
"Yeah. They called my mobile a couple of minutes ago." Georgina responded. "Nicky’s just woken up."
"Ok, well you two go down there. He’ll want to see you. I can sort this out."
"Are you sure?" Georgina asked.
"Yeah, it’ll be fine. I’ll call you if anything happens that concerns you or Nicky."
"Ok. Thanks Bryan." Georgina replied.
"Take the spare key with you in case I’m not here when you get back."
"Ok, thanks honey." Kerry gave Bryan a kiss on the cheek, and then went to find the spare key. Soon, they were out of the drive and on their way.

Chapter 8

Bryan got home at about 3 o’ clock in the afternoon. He walked in the door, draped his jacket over the handle of the lounge door, walked into the room, flipped the button on the screen to turn on the TV, then went and sat straight down on the sofa. He picked up the remote and flicked through the channels. There was nothing on that particularly interested him. Day time TV was useless now, he thought. Even Sky Sports had nothing particularly great on. There was tennis on Sky Sports 1, he didn’t know either of the players and got thoroughly bored after about twenty seconds. On the second Sky Sports channel, there was teleshopping. They obviously hadn’t found anything interesting enough to actually show on the television. On 3, there was football match between Manchester United and Leeds. Bryan was sure that they weren’t playing today and it took him about 5 minutes to realise that it was a replay of the match last season. He remembered the game but couldn’t be bothered to watch it.
He switched the TV off in annoyance and put the control on the table in front of him; he couldn’t concentrate.
He had a huge headache; the interview hadn’t gone terribly well. They were meant to be talking about the tour that they couldn’t wait to get started, but all the interviewer kept asking were stupid questions that no-one really wanted to know the answer to.
Louis had told them to try not to talk about Nicky too much, to give him time to discuss what would happen about the press with him, but that subject had (not surprisingly) kept popping up, too.
When Bryan called him back, Louis had told him to just tell the interviewer brief bits of information to keep them quiet and, at first, they all did, but it was clear that she wanted much more than brief facts. They didn’t want to lie, but the whole truth could just have caused more trouble for Nicky.
Just thinking about the interview made Bryan’s head hurt. He rubbed his temples; his head was thumping. As he got up to get a glass of water, he noticed that the answer phone machine was flashing. Bryan pressed the button and listened to the recorded message. It was Kerry. The sound of her voice settled Bryan a bit. She was just telling him that Nicky was ok and could leave the hospital. She said they would be home at about half past three. It was nearly that now.
Bryan went to find his mobile to text the others and phone Louis, who was very concerned, and considering flying into Dublin to make sure that everything was secure. He was in England sorting out some business.
His mobile was right next to Nicky’s on the kitchen table. Nicky’s mobile had been left on overnight, so the battery was low.
Bryan saw that there was a missed call and a text message in Nicky’s inbox. He picked up the phone, thinking that it was probably one of Nicky’s mates ringing to wish him well. He didn’t recognise anything about the number, other than that it was a Dublin number and it wasn’t in Nicky’s phone book. Bryan decided to look at the text; it could have been from the same person. It was the mobile network telling Nicky that he had "One new voice message."
In a complete intrusion of Nicky’s privacy, Bryan rang the number to get the voicemail; the strange number had his mind wandering. A recorded message told Bryan to press 1 to listen to the new messages and two to listen to the saved ones.
Bryan looked cautiously towards the front door to check that no one was coming; the others would be home any minute. After he was sure that no one was coming, Bryan pressed 1 on the keypad. He heard a deep voice with a strong Irish accent. Just as the message started, he heard a car door slam and footsteps on the gravel. He was so preoccupied watching out for Kerry that he only caught parts of the message, but what he got was threatening.
Another door slammed shut, more footsteps on the gravel… a key turned in the lock of the front door, which was then pushed half open. Bryan looked towards the front door to see Kerry struggling with Molly and Georgina helping Nicky along the drive. He shifted himself so that they couldn’t see him: that would give him more time to listen to the message and give him less of a chance of being caught.
Kerry’s struggle gave Bryan time to listen to the end of the message… "You’re not safe, Nicky…no one around you is. I’ll find you in the end and your fate will be in my hands and life will take an early turn for the worse… much worse." A bleep sounded to signal the end of the message and Bryan hung up. He made his mind up not to tell anyone about the message. It would only worry them, probably unnecessarily. Bryan thought it was probably just a joke, all be it a sick one, by someone who had heard about the assault last night and wanted a bit of fun at Nicky’s expense. Even so, it was better to be safe than sorry. Bryan drifted off into thinking what the message could mean if it was to be taken seriously. He thought of calling Louis, he would know what to do, but then Nicky would have to know… maybe not…
"Bryan," Kerry called, interrupting his train of thought. "Can you come and help me please?"
"Err, Yeah I’m coming…" Bryan replied. He was just about to erase every trace of the message when another bleep sounded and the battery went dead. He had already erased the text, but the missed call and voicemail would still be stored.
"Shit!" Bryan whispered under his breath, before slamming the phone down on the table and running to help Kerry.

Chapter 9

"What were you doing, Bryan?" Kerry asked, looking annoyed as she pushed the buggy into the living room.
"Err…" Bryan stalled, looking for an answer. "Umm I was just on the phone to someone."
"Who, and you could have brought the phone through, it is cordless."
"It doesn’t matter, ok!" Bryan replied, wishing her to shut up.
Kerry went and put Molly upstairs: it was time for her nap.
Bryan stepped out the door to help Georgina with Nicky, who he hugged, then helped him inside. "What happened with the interview?" Nicky asked him.
Bryan got him settled down on the sofa, and Georgina sat down by Nicky, who took her hand. Bryan then sat down on the sofa opposite. "I’ll tell you in a minute; you’re more important." He said to Nicky. "What did the doctors say?"
"Basically that I should just rest for a couple of days and then I’ll be fine."
"Ok, great!" Bryan replied, keeping his eyes on the gate; the message had him worried.
Kerry walked in with a glass of water and painkillers for Nicky. She handed the glass to Georgina and crouched down in front of Nicky. He winced as he sat forward. Bryan’s gaze was still fixed on the gate.
Nicky took the glass from Georgina, then swallowed the tablets.
"Ok?" Kerry asked as she went to sit by Bryan. Yeah, Nicky answered, sitting back into the seat.
"So what about the interview?" He asked.
Bryan didn’t move.
"Hello?!" Kerry waved her hand in front of his face.
"What?" Bryan asked, his eyes finally leaving the gate.
"Nicky wants to know about the interview…" Kerry replied, shaking her head. "What’s wrong with you today?" She asked.
"Nothing, I’m just tired." Bryan replied, then began to tell them about the interview.
Kerry still looking worried, put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze as he explained what had happened.
Ten minutes, a few "bloody hells" and "oh, greats" later, the conversation about the interview was over.
"Where’s my mobile?" Nicky asked Bryan. "I want to check if any one called and speak to my parents."
The question shook Bryan a bit, but now he was glad the battery had gone.
"Err…It’s in the kitchen." He replied.
"Can you get it for me?" Nicky asked.
"Yeah, but the battery’s dead; we left it on last night."
"Oh, ok."
Who ever left that message could have left another one for Nicky to find and that wasn’t what he needed right now. With the battery dead, Bryan could get to the phone before Nicky and check to see if there was another message.
"Use the house phone, you don’t need to use your mobile in this house, any way." Bryan passed the cordless phone to Nicky, who rang his mam and dad to tell them that he was out of hospital and would be fine.
Molly started to cry, so Kerry and Georgina went upstairs to see what was wrong. Bryan stayed with Nicky.
"What’s up with Bryan?" Georgina asked as they were jogging up the stairs.
"I’ve got no idea. He probably is just tired."
"Yeah, he looks really nervous though. Do you think something happened at the interview that he didn’t tell us?" Georgina reasoned.
They reached Molly, Kerry picked her up and began to comfort her, then replied. "I don’t think so; he’s rubbish at hiding things.
"Ok." Georgina said, and helped Kerry change Molly.
Down stairs, Nicky had finished on the phone and Bryan began to talk to him. He moved and sat beside him on the sofa. "Nix, I think you and Georgina should stay here with me and Kerry until we go."
"Why?" Nicky asked.
"I…I just think it would be better; we could help Georgina look after you and … it would be a bit…"
"Safer?" Nicky filled in.
"Well, yeah." Bryan replied.
"What’s happened?" Nicky asked in a concerned, knowing voice.
"Nothing, I just think it would be better. Please… just say you’ll stay? It’s only for a couple of days."
"Ok" Nicky replied. "If it makes you happier."
"It does." Bryan replied, hugging him. "We can go and get your stuff after we’ve had a bit of lunch."
"Ok." Nicky agreed.
Georgina walked in, followed by Kerry, who was holding a smiley Molly.
"Hello, my baby?" Bryan said, taking Molly. He sat back down. "Oh, and by the way, Georgina, you’re moving in!"
Georgina looked at Nicky.
"Until we leave on the tour and you go and stay with your mum." He informed her. "Bryan thinks it’ll be better. We’re gonna get our stuff after lunch."
"Oh, ok… great!"

Chapter 10

Kerry and Georgina went into the kitchen to get lunch ready, leaving the lads with Molly. Georgina saw Nicky’s mobile on the table and thought to take it to him so that he could charge the battery, forgetting that he didn’t have the charger.
"Here’s your phone, Nicky." She said as she walked into the lounge.
Bryan jumped up. "Err… I’ll take it upstairs and charge it for you." He offered.
"Ok. Thanks, Bry." Nicky replied.
Bryan took the phone and went upstairs.
As he left, Georgina asked Nicky if he knew what was wrong with Bryan.
"How do you mean?" Nicky replied.
"Well, he seems really edgy. Has anything happened?" She asked.
"No, no that I know of. You know him, he’s probably just a bit nervous about everything that’s happened."
"You think?" Georgina asked sincerely.
"Yeah, don’t worry." Nicky answered, and gave her a hug.
Meanwhile, Bryan was hurriedly plugging Nicky’s phone into the charger upstairs. He turned the phone on and punched in Nicky’s pin code, which he had remembered from last night. The screen flashed up, saying that Nicky had & missed calls and a message was in his inbox telling him that he had 4 new voice mail.
Bryan wondered whether he should check to see who they were from. He checked the missed calls. They were all from the lads in Sligo. Bryan just hoped that all the voice messages were as well. He sat there looking at the phone in his hand, asking himself whether he should check to see who they were from and what he would do if he found that they weren’t from the lads. Would Nicky mind him listening to them and checking his phone?
Bryan shook his head and rang the number to check the voice mail. The first one was from Shane, just asking how Nicky was and asking him to ring back. The second was from Mark, saying that he had tried to get Nicky at home, but no one answered. Again, he asked Nicky to ring him and tell him how he was. The third was from Kian. He was asking very much the same thing as the other two. All the lads had called and left messages, so who would the last voice mail be from? Bryan’s heart was pounding and he looked nervously towards the door, hoping no one would come upstairs. He pressed 1 to listen to the message. Shane’s voice came on and Bryan let out a huge sigh of relief. Shane sounded worried. He said that he had tried to phone the house several times and no one had replied and all of their mobiles were off. Bryan wondered where Georgina’s was. He knew that his was in the car and Kerry’s would probably be in her handbag somewhere.
Shane carried on, asking Nicky to call him back as soon as possible.
The message ended and Bryan turned the phone off and left it to charge. He went downstairs and went to go and sit back down with Nicky.
"I’ve left it up there charging for you." He said.
"Thanks." Nicky replied.
"You better ring and speak to the guys. They left loads of messages on your phone. I think they were worried because they couldn’t get hold of any of us."
"Oh! Ok." Nicky answered. "Can I borrow the phone again?"
"Yeah, sure. I’d ring Shane first. He sounded worried." Bryan said as he handed the phone to Nicky.
"Ok. I will." Nicky dialed the number and Shane picked up almost straight away.
"Bryan?" He answered.
"No, it’s me, Nicky."
"Oh! What the hell have you lot been doing? We’ve been worrying that something else had happened."
"No, It’s fine. Who’s 'we’ anyway?" Nicky asked.
"Kian, Mark and I. They’re b
oth round here."
"Oh, right." "What’s wrong with all of your mobiles and why aren’t you at home?" Shane questioned.
Nicky explained about all of the phones and told Shane about Bryan wanting them to stay with him and Kerry.
Georgina called them in for lunch, so Nicky told Shane that he had to go and that he would ring back to speak to the others later. Mark and Kian just came on and said a quick hello, the Bryan helped him through into the kitchen.

Chapter 11

Georgina and Kerry got up and started to clear the dishes. Bryan started to help, loading everything into the dishwasher. Nicky just had to sit there feeling helpless. Bryan noticed him.
"Don’t worry, Nix." He said. "You can do it next time, and I’ll make sure you do!"
Nicky smiled. "Cheers, Bry."
"Why don’t you go and ring the others back?" Bryan suggested.
"Ok." Nicky tried to push himself up out of the chair. He grimaced in pain and sat back down.
"Need some help?" Bryan asked.
"Yeah. I hate this. I can’t do anything on my own." Nicky replied.
"It’ll get better soon." Bryan pulled Nicky out of the chair and they walked through to the lounge, Nicky leaning on Bryan the whole way. Nicky sat down and Bryan handed him the phone.
"Here you go. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I’m just gonna help the girls finish clearing up."
"Ok. Thanks, Bry." Nicky said, sighing.
"Are you sure you’re ok?" Bryan asked him. "Have you got any pain?"
"Yeah, but I’m just pissed off. I did nothing wrong to those stupid people and I end up in a state like this."
"I know. Well, I guess that’s just life. You still don’t remember anything?"
"Nothing." Nicky answered, shaking his head. He leant back and rested his head on a cushion.
"Come on," Bryan said, trying to cheer him up. "It’ll all be ok soon. We’ll go on tour and you can forget all about this."
Nicky forced a smile. "I hope so."
Bryan wondered who he was trying to kid, himself or Nicky? It’ll all be ok. Would it? He really hoped that the call was just someone’s idea of a sick joke, but something in his mind told him that there was something more behind it that that.
"When can I take another painkiller?" Nicky interrupted his thoughts.
"Well, you only took the last one about an hour and a half ago, so probably after we’ve been to get your stuff."
"Ugh. Ok."
"You’re not in that much pain now, are you?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"Ok, do you want some pillows or something, or you could lie down."
"I’ll probably be ok."
"Alright. Well, call me if you need anything."
"Ok." Bryan walked off into the kitchen. Georgina turned round as he walked into the room.
"Is he alright?" She asked.
"Yeah, I think so. He’s just a bit down. I don’t think he’s in too much pain, though. He’s just phoning the others back."
"Ok." Georgina turned back to the sink and they all continued washing up all the dishes they had used at lunch.

Nicky dialed Shane’s number. It took three rings for someone to answer. It was Shane.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Shane."
"Hey, Nix! How’s everything? Did you have a good lunch?"
"Yeah, it was good."
"When are you gonna get your stuff?"
"In a bit, I think."
"Bryan has everything under control, then!" Shane laughed.
"Yeah, seems like it!"
"Hi, Nicky!" Mark and Kian yelled down the phone. They must have just come in the room, Nicky thought.
"Hang on." Shane said. "I’ll just put the phone on monitor so we can all talk." There was a bleep, and then Mark’s voice came in.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Not great." Nicky said flatly.
"You sound down." Kian replied.
"Well, yeah. I can’t do anything but bloody loll about. I hate those shit headed idiots!"
"You still can’t remember who they were?" Shane asked.
"No." Nicky answered. "I don’t think I actually saw."
"Yeah, maybe." Mark agreed.
Bryan walked in; he’d been released from dishwashing duties so he could talk to the lads. He went and sat down by Nicky. Shane began to say something, but Nicky stopped him.
"Hang on a minute, Shay." Bryan was trying to tell him something.
"What?" Nicky asked; he’d been concentrating on the phone conversation.
"I said is everything ok?"
"Oh yeah, fine."
"Give me the phone a sec." Bryan said.
Nicky handed it to him. Bryan flicked a switch so that they could both talk and listen. The phone bleeped.
"What was that?" Shane asked down the phone.
"Me." Bryan replied.
"Hi!" The others called.
They carried on talking for about twenty minutes, then Bryan finally said, "We’d better go and pick up Nicky and Georgina’s stuff. We don’t want to catch the afternoon traffic."
They all said goodbye quickly and wished Nicky well. They’d be seeing each other the day after next, when the three of them would come up to Dublin for the start of their tour.
Bryan put the phone down on the coffee table. The girls were in the kitchen chatting. He called them. "Come on, we have to go."
"Coming." Kerry called back.
Bryan just took his car. "You may as well leave yours here." He told Georgina. She agreed.

more to come soon