Birds In Your Garden: Chapter 8
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Kevin knew she wouldn't be home yet, but he called her house, hoping to talk to Leslie. She answered after two rings, her voice hesitant. "Leslie?" he asked. "It's Kevin."

"Uh-huh," she said doubtfully.

"No, really, Les," he said with confusion, "it is. I just had Carlos drop Jana at the airport and wanted to talk to you for a bit. Is everything okay?"

"I'm sorry. You wouldn't believe the amount of phone calls I've been getting," she said. "Reporters, fans, fakes… It's been ridiculous."

"You might consider changing your number," he offered.

"Yes, I am, but I wanted to make sure Jana got in before I did that in case she calls," she said. "How're you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine," he said softly. "Things okay with you? With your job? Jana said you were working out of a temporary office?"

"We're forging ahead, yeah." She said.

"You're doing okay though? With everything?"

"You're so sweet," she chuckled. "Yes. I'm handling everything all right. What'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Well," he started, "you already know things are getting outta control. She's been really upset an' all and I just wanted to give you my number in case either of you need anything, okay? And I do mean anything."

"You're such a doll," she cooed.

"I'm just sorry this whole thing broke like it did," he sighed. "It's not gonna be much fun for a few weeks, I'm afraid."

"Well, at least until J-Lo wears something else revealing or Madonna goes back into public," Leslie said. "Maybe Britney will wear a tank top or something soon and take the heat off?"

He broke a smile and laughed lightly. "I'm so glad she's got you to go home to."

"Me too," she said cheerfully. "I'll take good care of her, Kevin. I promise."

"I know you will," he said. "I just wanted to let you know I'm here if anything happens, okay? Just call and let me know, and I'll do whatever I can. She should be in in a few hours."

"Did you get reamed?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm catching some heat. Nothing I can't handle, but I'm a bit more used to dealing with the crap than y'all are, I think."

"Ah, she's a pro," Leslie said confidently. "She'll be fine."

"Well, take down my number and call me sometime, okay? Keep in touch?"

"Wow," she teased, "my very first phone number from a pop star! I'm so Hollywood!"

~

"I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry," Jana said when Leslie walked into her apartment.

"Yes, you will," Leslie said, spreading her arms open to embrace Jana.

"Yes, I will," she said, already feeling the tears and dropping against her friend.

"You're going to cry, and then you're going to sleep for a few days, and then you'll miss him…"

"I already do," Jana whined.

"You'll still miss him, and then you'll get pissed off about the press and come back fighting," Leslie said, rocking her side to side. "And somewhere in the middle of all that, you're going to get completely shitfaced with your friends. Now look at me." She pulled back and put her fingers under Jana's chin. "Yup, you've been crying and you look miserable."

"How else am I supposed to look? One day I was having a fairly private affair with a married man, and the next day I was in every tabloid known to man!" she said. "I had to quit before they kicked me out - and believe me, that was the second most hardest thing I ever had to do in my life!"

"What's the first?" Leslie asked, leading her over to the couch and sitting down.

Jana flopped into her corner and put her head on her arm across the back of the couch, stifling the tears. "Leave him," she said quietly, losing the battle, letting the tears slip down her cheeks.

"Oh, honey…would it make you feel better if I told you he already called to check up on us?" she asked, reaching her hand out to her. "We're changing our number, and then you're supposed to call him the second we have the new one to let him know what it is and that you got in okay."

"How awful has it been?" Jana asked full of dread.

Leslie cringed and attempted to lighten it with a smile. "Pretty awful. You'd think they'd be able to find Bin Laden with how quickly it took them all to find out who you were."

"Well, apparently, Bin Laden isn't having an affair with a pop star," Jana groaned, curling into herself sadly.

The phone rang and Leslie looked over to it. "We need to change the phone number now." She picked up the phone and answered, hanging up without comment and dialed the phone company. Ten minutes later, she hung up and sat back down on the couch. "We're officially unlisted and have a new number." She handed the cordless to Jana with a slip of paper. "Here it is. Give Kevin a call, and I'll go mix us some serious drinks. You'll be needing one when you're done, won't you?" Jana nodded, trying to smile, but barely managed one. "It's going to be just fine. He's a professional, remember? He knows how to deal with all this and he's not going to let you take all the heat, either. Call him. You'll feel worse, but you'll be relieved."

"I'm not going to cry," Jana muttered, dialing Kevin's cell and listening to it ring. "I'm not. I'm just not. I won't."

"Won't what?" Kevin said on the other end.

"I lied."

"Lied?"

"I wasn't going to cry, but I lied," she said helplessly.

"Oh, baby, no need for tears," he said gently. "How's everything going? Anyone give you a hard time?"

"No," she answered. "I haven't seen anyone. Leslie's changed the number. Do you have a pen or something?"

"Um…hang on."

"Where are you?"

"In my room," he answered. "We just got done with a group meeting about how to handle all this. Got the official lines worked out."

"What's the official story?" she asked hesitantly.

"We feel that certain aspects of our lives need to remain private, and we ask that everyone understand that although we have high profile careers, our personal lives are not high profile, basically," he answered easily.

"Neither defend nor deny, right?" she asked, sliding down into the couch, blinking back the tears.

"Jana," he scolded lightly.

"No, I know," she sighed. "It's business and it's the smart thing to do. Do you think many people will ask?"

"Some," he answered. "What's the new number?"

She rattled off the number and sat up slightly as Leslie returned with a tall glass. "Thanks," she said.

"Thanks?" Kevin asked.

"Leslie," she explained. "I have just been handed a large glass of alcoholic beverage."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I've had a bit of help chillin' out tonight myself."

"Have you now?" she asked curiously. "Is that why you're so calm?"

"Probably," he answered. "It's been a really crappy day over all."

"Yeah, I should stop crying about it anytime now," she said, taking a large gulp of the drink and gasping. "Geez, Les! What the hell is this?"

"Vodka something or other," she answered with a shrug.

"So, what're your plans for the rest of the night?" Jana asked Kevin.

"I'm going down to have dinner with everyone and will probably come back up here and sleep. Maybe I can dream of you being next to me so it won't be so awful here right now."

She felt the tears spring back into her eyes and whispered, "don't."

"Don't what?"

"I don't know…be sweet, I guess. I'm a puddle, Kevin." Leslie stood up and headed out of the room, and Jana put her drink down on the table, curling up against the couch. "I wish none of this ever happened. I don't want to be here right now. I miss everyone. I miss you and it's only been a few hours!"

"I missed you the second you walked off the bus, baby," he said quietly. "It's just gonna take some time to adjust again. I'm sending you tickets to come in the beginning of October, so try to keep it free."

"Am I allowed?" she asked, taking a calm breath.

"Hell, yeah!" he said firmly. "I'm spending my birthday with you, darlin'. And there's other days I'll have off that we'll get together even if I have to fly to you for an hour. We make this whatever we want to make it, Jan. I'll do whatever I can, okay?"

She sniffled and wiped at a tear. "Okay."

"I love you. Remember that whenever you can."

"You too," she sniffled again.

"You're crying again, aren't you?"

"No," she lied.

"Yeah, ya are," he said knowingly. "I wish I could make it stop, darlin'. I just can't right now. But it's gonna be worth it in the end, I promise."

"Okay," she answered, sniffling.

"Look, you go tie one on with Leslie and get some sleep. I'll call you from Minneapolis tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure," she said.

"I love you, Jan," he said.

"You too, Kev," she answered and clicked the phone off. She sat up and put it on the table just as Leslie came back into the room and wrapped her arms around Jana, letting her have the breakdown she'd been trying to hold back.

~

"Well, the whole world knows now, doesn't it?" Stacy asked snidely the following morning, waking Jana up from a horrific hangover. She curled up under the blanket and dropped her head back into the pillow, closing her eyes tightly and wondering if life would ever get back to normal.

"There's a new house number," Jana said. "Do you want me to keep it from you until you're over your little self-righteous sermon's or do you want it now so you can leave long, drawn out messages on the machine when I stop answering your calls?"

"Jana! Do you know what kind of nightmare you've created?" Stacy reprimanded angrily. "We have a new phone number too, thanks to you!"

"Not thanks to me!"

"Yes, thanks to you, because if you were able to control yourself, you wouldn't be involved with a married man!"

"Oh, dear God, Stacy will you get off it?" she bickered, sitting up and screamed. Someone was looking in her window and started taking pictures as soon as they saw her. "Get the fuck out of here!" she screamed, yanking the curtains over as quickly as possible.

"Jana?" Stacy asked, suddenly panicked. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Fucking photographer at the Goddamned window!" she answered furiously, storming into the hallway. "Look, Stacy, I'm in no mood to deal with a lecture, okay? I know you don't approve. I never asked you to approve. I'm in love with him whether you like it or not, and whatever damage has been done, I can't undo. I'm sorry if I've disrupted your life in any way, but it's just the way things are right now. At one point, you're going to have to deal with the situation, or lose a sister because I'm not going back without a fight. Make up your mind and call me back when you have." She rattled off her new number and clicked her cell phone off, fighting the urge to toss it down the hallway. Instead, she dialed Leslie's cell and slid down the wall. "How many people were outside when you left this morning?" she asked once Leslie answered.

"Not many, one or two? Why?"

"Some asshole was just taking my picture through my bedroom window!" she yelled, kicking her heel against the wall of the hallway.

"I'm coming home," Leslie said.

"No, don't," Jana sighed. "There's no point in you getting stuck in here and hounded too. I'm calling the police and hopefully they can get them off the property. Just wanted to know what was out there because I don't even want to look out the window."

"Well go look while I'm on the phone," Leslie said. "Honestly, there may have been one or two people, and no one paid any attention when I came out so it might just be that one freak."

Jana inhaled deeply and walked slowly to the living room, pulling the curtain aside slightly to peer out. "There's about five people," she said. "Three have cameras. How do they find out these things?"

"Obviously your sex life is a lot more interesting than theirs," Leslie said dryly. "Keep your wits about you, call the police and see if they can do something, and I'll be home in a bit."

"Really, Les, there's no need. I'll be fine." I'm drawing the curtains and laying on the couch for the rest of the day and not answering the phone, so in case you call, don't panic."

"You'd better answer the phone if it's me! And what if Kevin calls? Or your family?"

"I already had the family lecture this morning from Stacy and told them to deal with it or fuck off."

"You didn't!" Leslie giggled.

"More or less in those exact words, yeah," Jana answered with her own giggle. "I have photographers sneaking pictures through my window, lost my job, ruined my credibility as a professional and am some kind of tabloid scandal, and my sister is bitching to me because she had to change her number? Please!"

"There's my girl!" Leslie laughed. "She's fighting back now!"

"Pissed because I'm not getting laid anymore!" Jana laughed.

"Careful, the reporters may hear you outside."

"They're making up stories anyway, I'm sure," Jana grumbled, dropping onto the couch. "And all this before coffee, Les! Wait till I've had some caffeine!"

"Kick some booty, baby!" Leslie urged playfully.

"Working on it," she said. "I'll talk to you later. Be careful coming home, okay? Who knows what the hell these freaks might do."

~

Kevin headed through the lobby, looking straight ahead as he maintained a calm exterior, doing his best to ignore the paparazzi but still interact with the fans. It was a fine line, however, most of the fans were too overwhelmed to ask him about the gossip, and he could just quickly sign his name and take on the next one without engaging the media. At least the hotel had been careful enough to not let most of them inside, and the one or two that had been were quickly escorted out by either Carlos or hotel security.

It was definitely too early to be dealing with any of this, although he had managed to sleep fairly well. He'd get back into the routine soon enough if he didn't dwell on Jana not being there anymore. So before he could, he decided to head down to the gym and have a work out before breakfast. He could meet up with someone afterwards, and then there were a few interviews and phone-in's scheduled, so the day would go pretty quick. It was having to go back out on the stage later that bothered him more. At least last night Jana had still been in the hotel and he could come back to seeing her, but tonight there wasn't anyone waiting for him, and everyone seemed to be at odds.

Nick was particularly grouchy and alternately depressed for whatever reason at this point, and everyone else seemed to be keeping their distance and he knew why. It wouldn't take much for him to fly off the handle right about now, which is another reason why he wanted a serious workout. The more he could manage this tension, the easier it would be on everyone around him. Poor Connie had gotten enough of it the other day when all she was trying to do was her job. Luckily he'd been able to talk to her and she'd merely smiled at him and waved him away. Sometimes people were too nice to him.

He pushed through the door to the gym and greeted Howie with a playful "Sweet Howie D., whassup, whassup?" as he made his way over to one of the machines.

"You're up early," Howie commented, keeping up with his leg curls.

"Yeah, well," Kevin answered with a shrug, starting to stretch.

"Nervous?"

"About what?" Kevin asked, sitting on the mat, putting the balls of his feet together and lowering his knees.

"What's going to be asked today?" Howie asked, looking over to Kevin as he shrugged.

"Depends on who and how it's asked, I guess. That's why I'm down here now." He grinned. "Work it all out now so I can stay calm and polite."

"Well, don't hurt yourself," Howie teased with a wink.

Birds In Your Garden: Chapter 8
Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35

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Read the companion story:
Oreos for Breakfast (Nick Fanfic)
by The Pumpkin Coach & Paperbag Princess

c. 2001, 2002 by Coriander
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