Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 12
By The Paperbag Princess and The Pumpkin Coach

Corresponding Sudden Silence Message Board Posts (Fictional!)

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"Aunt Rachel!" Katie said, flying out of the house as we pulled up. "You're late."

We'd had breakfast with her family, and Jon's family and her mom had left to go to the vineyard, but Patrick and his clan stayed, going out on the boat with us. We got back around one, which did not leave us much time for sex and a nap before we had to be out here to watch TRL with the girls.

So we were 15 minutes late. I knew they'd be number one today, we could have had sex again.

I loved her bed. I loved opening all the windows in the room and falling asleep with the breezes blowing over us. Could we stay here another week and spend every afternoon making love slowly and falling asleep afterwards?

"Sorry," Rachel told her, as I parked the car. "I fell asleep." This was such a great car. I had to get one of these.

"There's a new number one today!" Katie told her, excited. "Carson said so! Do you think it's you?"

"No, I doubt it," Rachel said, getting out of the car.

"Hey, Backstreet retired Friday," I reminded her, putting my arm around her as we walked into the house. "And we already know you can beat N*Sync."

Rachel rolled her eyes at me. "It's probably that pseudo-punk group."

"Sum 41 was number one last week," Katie informed her before I could. They beat us one day, and I was so pissed that Rachel couldn't stop laughing at me. If it had been Sudden Silence, I wouldn't have cared, but… I guess it was better than getting beaten by N*Sync.

"Oh, that's right," Rachel remembered, grinning at me. Yeah, she remembered that little fit, then.

"What if she is number one?" Katie asked, sitting down in front of the TV in the living room. Colleen turned around from hanging on Carson's every word to smile at me.

"What present does she get then?" Colleen asked.

"I don't know," I lied, sitting on the couch and pulling Rachel down with me. "I usually just make it up as I go along."

It was back at the house in the bottom of my bag. I knew they'd be number one today, but I didn't want to give it to her in front of everyone. It was diamonds again, and I didn't want to look like I was trying too hard.

"Did I tell you what we got for number four?" Rachel asked, and they turned around as TRL went to a video. They were number four last week, finally. I'd gotten that present ages ago, and they'd been every number except four since. "Leather jackets, for each of us in the band, so that was the four. They've got our spiral, like my tattoo, on the back."

Silver thread on black leather. I got Sean John to do them, and they were so freaking cool.

"Cool…" the girls breathed. "Did you bring it?" Colleen asked, and Rachel laughed, shaking her head.

"If I had known I was coming, I would have packed it, but it was a surprise, so no. I don't even have my number two earrings!"

"Those were pretty," Katie nodded.

Colleen looked back at the TV and hushed us as Carson said something. "And we'll be back with music news about the Backstreet tour."

They cut to commercial and the girls looked at me expectantly, and I just shrugged. "I don't know. I think they would have told me if it was postponed again."

I almost hoped it was. I could be with Rachel more.

But… I was looking forward to being the one on stage again. I loved every second I was with Rachel and her band, but I wanted to do my own songs and know all those screams were for me. If Rachel could just be there every night, my life would be perfect.

"Is AJ better?" Katie asked, and I smiled at her, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

"AJ is just as annoying as he ever was. He's great."

She giggled, batting my hands away.

I smiled, watching him play with my nieces and tease them about Backstreet. He was good with them, and they seemed a little less in awe of him every time they saw him. Still, I had to wonder what they'd tell all their friends at school in a couple of weeks. I'd made them swear this morning that they wouldn't tell their friends at soccer practice that he was with me, otherwise we'd have preteen groupies hanging around outside the house, and they really did not need to hear our screams as we made love a couple of hours ago.

I loved that, just lying there with him. If only I could stop thinking about the fact that this time tomorrow I'd be in another hotel room alone, and I had no idea when we'd have another lazy afternoon together.

"Where's your cousins?" Nick asked Katie, and she shrugged.

"Probably napping. I think they're coming over for dinner. Aunt Rachel, did you say you were sleeping before?" She looked at me like sleeping in the middle of the afternoon was freakish, and I laughed.

"I was. I am so tired, Katie, you have no idea. I take sleep where I can get it."

Okay, and sex with my boyfriend where I can get it, too, but she didn't need to know that.

"I know you travel all the time, but don't you have beds on the bus?"

"We do," I told her. "But they are very small." Especially small with a six foot tall Backstreet Boy sharing with me, but again, more information than the girls needed.

"And usually after a show, I'm wide awake, so I hang out with the boys for a few hours, and we watch videos and play cards and stuff. Then I might get a couple of hours of sleep before we get to the next city, but by the time we get there, we usually have to go on the radio at like, eight."

Fucking morning radio. I hated morning radio. I hated the hyperactive DJs and the inane call-ins and I hated answering the same questions over and over.

I had both girls hanging on my every word, so I went on. "We get out of the radio station around ten or eleven, and either go back to the hotel and do more interviews for a couple of hours and then get a nap before going to the venue for soundcheck at five; or sometimes after morning radio, we get to sleep for a while, but have to go to the venue early to do press before soundcheck. Then we do soundcheck, and hang out and have dinner, and a then do a thing called a meet and greet where we meet a bunch of fans. And then the show. And then we always have to socialize at the aftershow, with boring industry people and radio station people and stuff."

"And then we get on the bus and start all over again," Nick finished for me, and the girls sighed.

"That sounds very tiring," Colleen nodded, and I grinned at her.

"It is. It's fun, though. I don't mind." I'm just fucking sleep deprived. "I just wish I could stay here for a week and sleep in my bed every night, but I've got a show tomorrow, and Nick has to go back to Backstreet Land."

They giggled at that phrase, and asked Nick about the tour after John Norris teased that Backstreet were spending the week in rehearsals gearing up for their first show back this weekend. We spent the next hour watching TRL and teasing the girls about their little notebook of statistics. They wrote down the top ten every day, and knew everything about every video. Freaks. My nieces were obsessive freaks, not that it ran in the family or anything.

Number two was N*Sync, and we all screamed when it started playing. "Aunt Rachel!" Colleen said, jumping up and down. "They haven't played you yet!"

"Maybe we're gone."

We'd been number three on Friday, under Backstreet and N*Sync. We couldn't have just disappeared over the weekend, could we?

"No," Katie asserted. "They didn't say that anyone left the countdown. You're the only one left."

The phone rang and I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Rache?" Patrick asked. "Ask the TRL junkies if anything fell off the countdown today."

I laughed. "Are you watching TRL in the store?"

"Duh!" he said, in his best Katie impression. "Every day. So, if N*Sync is number two, and no one left, and I know we didn't miss your video, are you number one?"

I loved my family. "I dunno, Patrick. Maybe? I won't believe it until I see it."

"My little sister's number one on TRL," he said, and I could feel his grin. "That is so cool."

"Stop!" I yelled. "You're gonna jinx it."

He laughed. "Whatever. I'm sure you'll hear the screams in a few minutes when they announce it."

Indeed, there were. Carson looked into the camera and said "Today we've got a brand new number one… Sudden Silence, with 'Come On'," and all hell broke loose. The girls shrieked and Nick kissed me and I almost didn't believe it. Maybe they just counted the votes wrong?

Two months ago no one knew who we were, and now we were number one on TRL? Our album and the single were both in the top 20? What the hell was wrong with the world?

Mom and Patrick ran up to the house, and there was so much yelling I didn't even hear the phone until I realized Katie was holding it out to me. "Aunt Rachel! It's James!"

I started to take it, then ran into the kitchen, where no one was screaming. "Hang it up, Katie!" I yelled, laughing as I heard James yelling at me.

"Why aren't you answering your cell?"

"It's dead, and the charger's on the bus somewhere."

"You must be watching, I can hear the screaming. Rachel! We're number one!"

We shrieked in excitement, then giggled at each other.

"James… how did this happen?"

"We fucking rock, Rache. Jeremy and Darien and Lola agree." He must have held out the phone, I heard them screaming, and I think that was a champagne cork popping. "Hey, I wish you were here," James said, coming back to the phone.

"I know," I admitted. "I sorta wish I was."

"You do not," he laughed. "You are so happy to be home."

"I am," I sighed. "Still, this is band stuff, and I'm not there. What are you doing?"

"Well…" he said, and it got quieter, he must have gone into the other room. "I slept until noon, and then I dragged myself down to the pool, where I laid there for about two hours and read my book and had lunch. Then I decided I really should do something with my day off, so I got a massage."

I laughed. "The life of a rock star, James."

"Totally, darling. It's tough. I hadn't seen the boys until ten minutes ago, they played N*Sync at two and suddenly Jeremy was on my phone and Darien was at the door with champagne. Lola showed up when the screaming started. Perhaps we'll have dinner later. What about you? Are you having a fantastic time?"

"I am, yes. I haven't had any sleep, or a massage, but I cooked waffles for my family, and we went out sailing, and we're having dinner here at the vineyard. I think Jon's making steaks. It's been a great day, James, I so needed this. Thank you."

"Thank Nicky, it was all his idea."

"You helped, he told me so."

I could just feel his shrug. "I did. How was the private jet?" he asked, excited, just as Jon came in, kissing my cheek and beaming at me.

"Let me tell you tomorrow, darling, my brother just walked in. I love you. Am I meeting you in Raleigh?"

"Yeah, we're debating when to leave. We might go tonight and just be there. But I think you get in at noon or something, we'll be there by then. Early soundcheck, three o'clock, press at the venue."

I sighed. I didn't want to think about work yet. "Tell me later. See you tomorrow, kiss everyone for me." I hung up the phone and let Jon pull me into a hug.

"How the hell did my stupid sister get so cool?"

I stepped away from him, blowing him an air kiss. "I was always the coolest girl in the world, darling."

"I've got pictures that prove otherwise. What are we doing to celebrate?"

"You're grilling me a steak!" I insisted, and he laughed.

"I think you should take everyone out to a nice dinner, now that you're rich and famous."

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back against the counter. "I might be famous, but I'm not rich yet." It might be months before I saw any royalty checks, and even then we still owed EMI money… I didn't want to think about it. It would just confuse and depress me. "No, grill steaks. What time do we close tonight?"

"Six, and I should get back, Pat's down there alone, I think." He kissed me again. "I love you, baby sister."

I hugged him tightly for a second. "I know, stupid brother. Now go and work, I'll start dinner."

He waved and left me alone in the kitchen, and I just stood there for a minute, listening to my family in the next room. I loved this room, the windows that looked out into the fields, the way the breeze smelled coming in over our grapes. I'd made so many meals here, with my grandparents and parents and friends, and now I'd be making one to celebrate my success. It might just be little, it might just be a one-hit wonder, but I'd just about given up on even having that.

Mom and Vanessa went back down to the winery, and I knew Sarah would be showing up with the little ones soon. The girls were bugging Nick about what my present would be for being number one, so I went out and saved him. "Girlies, stop torturing Nick!"

"Don't you want to know what your present is, Aunt Rachel?" Colleen asked, and I shrugged.

"I think it's that I got to be here today. Now, go and pick some vegetables for dinner."

They gave me identical pouts and I had to laugh.

"You don't have to eat them. But I know we have beans and tomatoes and stuff. Just go pick a bunch and bring it back, and I'll make dinner."

"Why are you cooking so much today?" Katie wanted to know, and I kissed her forehead.

"You'll see our tour bus when we're here next month. The kitchen is only this big!" I told her, holding my arms out in front of me. It wasn't much bigger than that. "I love having a big kitchen to play in. Now go, we'll still be here when you get back."

I had to push them out the door, and when I knew they were around the corner, I took Nick's hand, pulling him towards the stairs. "What?" he asked, looking confused.

"Bunny, I was just number one on TRL," I growled at him, squeezing his hand in mine.

He grinned, he knew how excited I got by success. "Here?"

I ran up the stairs, and he followed me up to my old room, the one the girls now shared and was plastered with posters and stuffed animals. "I figure we have about a few minutes before Sarah shows up with the kids, or the girls come back with veggies." I shut the door behind him. "We might have time for a quick grope."

He pulled me into his arms, kissing me deeply and making my head spin as I felt him moan when I pulled him against me. "Better than nothing, right?" he whispered, continuing our conversation. "I tried very hard not to paw at you with the girls in the room."

I giggled. "I was doing the same thing."

I kissed him again, sliding my hands in the back pockets of his shorts to cup his ass and pull him against me. I could feel him growing harder through the thin fabric, and I pulled away from his lips, nipping at his neck. Maybe we could have ten minutes, we could have sex in ten minutes, couldn't we?

Suddenly he laughed, pushing me away a little. "I can't do this. Kevin is glaring at me from the wall over there."

I smiled against his neck. "Oh, like you've never done anything with Kevin in the room?"

"No!" he wailed. "That's gross, Rache."

I shrugged at him. "Hey, Jeremy and I lived with James for a while. It was a small apartment."

He definitely pushed me away this time, shaking his head. "I so don't want to know."

"Come on, Nick. Like you never heard any of the others having sex?"

"That's just listening! That's not watching!"

Then he looked completely caught, and I cracked up. "We're so having this conversation later. But right now…" I reached out for him again and then heard Sarah's voice.

"Rachel? Nick? The girls said you were in here."

I held my breath, putting my hand over Nick's lips. "Shh…" I whispered, then heard her again.

"Billy!" she yelled, and I could hear him giggling. "Don't go up there…"

I sighed, defeated. Billy loved the girls' room, he liked all the bright colors on the posters and their bedspreads, and they had a million toys. It was a two year old's paradise. Nick laughed at my dejection and I whacked him before opening the door.

"Billy!" I called out, running down the stairs to the second floor landing, where he was just scrambling up, followed by his mom. "Where are you going?"

"Upstairs!" he said proudly, and I had to pick him up and hug him. I'd spent half the day with him, but he was so damn cute, all chubby cheeks and giggles. My stupid brothers had produced the most adorable children. I tended to give credit to their excellent choices in wives.

I talked myself out of my erection, staring at the O-Town posters on the walls. I needed to talk to the girls about that. N*Sync was one thing, but O-Town?

I could hear Rachel talking to Sarah and cooing to Billy, and I went out into the landing, watching her with the baby in her arms. She looked good with a baby in her arms. I could just see her here, the entire family gathered around, handing our baby from person to person, drinking wine and celebrating and…

I was so getting ahead of myself.

But we'd have really cute kids. I'd seen her baby pictures, she was beautiful. Maybe they'd get her curls and my blondness, wouldn't that be adorable?

Rachel turned around, smiling up at me when she caught me staring. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," I shrugged. "I was just thinking that I need to get the girls some more Backstreet posters and force them to take down O-Town."

"Dunno, bunny, I think they might have every poster of you guys."

"I'll give them baby pictures. Anything."

She laughed, starting up the stairs, but then the door downstairs slammed and I could hear three little girls calling out for Aunt Rachel. Sarah offered to go down and get them, but Rachel shook her head. "No, I told them we'd start dinner. Can we start dinner, Billster?" she asked Billy. "We'll go play in the girls' room later?"

"Cookies?" he asked hopefully, and Rachel laughed, kissing him.

"Yes. Because I am fun Aunt Rachel who lets you get away with murder. I'm only here for a day, your mom can deal with the sugar high."

"Hey!" Sarah whined. "I think I like it better when you're on the road."

I listened to them bicker as I followed them down the stairs, and the next thing I knew, I was cleaning green beans. I hated green beans, but I liked hanging out with the nieces and teasing them about O-Town and watching them blush. Maybe half an hour later, everyone else came in, and Jon set a box on the table, pulling out two bottles of wine and presenting them to Rachel. "Is number one on TRL good enough for your wine?"

She stopped what she was doing, looking at the bottles for a moment and then nodding, blinking back tears. I got up from where I was sitting and went over to her. She had her own line of wine, of course this was big enough, right? We drank her wine all the time, she had a case or two on the bus.

But these bottles were different. It was the same logo, the grapevine she had tattooed around her bellybutton, but it didn't say 'Rachel' anywhere, just 'Connor Vineyards'. Jon caught my look and smiled.

Shit. He smiled at me?

"The year each of us was born, Mom and Dad set aside two cases of wine, one red and one white. We drink them on special occasions. Graduations, the birth of children, things like that. These are Rachel's, I think this deserves celebration. And these are Dad's."

He pulled out two more bottles and Rachel covered her mouth with her hand, moving against me. I put my arm around her as Jon explained those to me. "The year they started the winery, Mom and Dad put aside two cases for each of them. Again, special occasions."

"Jon…" Rachel started, and he put the bottles on the counter in front of her firmly.

"Rachel," he said back, mocking her tone. "Remember when we first heard the single on the radio? You wouldn't let us drink yours, but Dad insisted on drinking a bottle of his that night."

She nodded, taking a deep breath. I could feel her struggle to not cry. "I told him it was nothing, getting played on the radio, but he was so excited. His wine, he got to decide when it was drunk."

She shared a smile with Jon, and I could tell that was the sort of thing her Dad must have said all the time. "I know he would be drinking this wine tonight," Jon told her. "Hell, he would have drunk it the day you were premiered on TRL."

Rachel laughed. "And the day we were live."

"He probably would have gone through the case by now, just on you! She was always the favorite," he teased, looking over at me.

"I was," she admitted, making all of us laugh. She reached out, holding on to the bottle in front of her. "You're right. He would have insisted on this wine tonight, so okay."

Jon smiled, kissing her cheek, before gathering up the bottles and going to put some in the refrigerator. I wiped a tear off Rachel's cheek, kissing her quickly, and she smiled up at me.

"My stupid brother can be really sweet sometimes."

"I think he was right, your dad would have wanted this."

"Yeah, he would have."

Her eyes were so sweet, happy and sad, all at once, that it took my breath away. I leaned down to kiss her, but then I got pelted by a carrot, and I looked around to see Vanessa laughing at us. "Get a room!" she yelled, and Rachel took my hand, pretending to drag me upstairs.

Chapter 12:
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