Birds In Your Garden: Chapter 8
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By the time they arrived back to Kevin's room, Connie had come in and laid the morning tabs on the coffee table:

Backstreet Boy, Kevin Richardson, Just Another Player?

He Wants It That Way, and That Way, and That Way…

Tell ME Why…

Asks wife of BACKSTREET BOY Kevin Richardson…

Don’t Stay Up and Wait For Me…says BACKSTREET BOY Kevin Richardson

BACKSTREET BOY HASN’T QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH WIVES HEART

Howie walked in behind him, looking over his shoulder. Kevin looked up at him and shook his head. "And these are the ones who say we're cliché?" Kevin scoffed, motioning to the papers.

"How's Kristin doing?"

"Haven't talked to her since I ran down how we were handling it," he said. "She's home, you know? We're pretty secluded. I'll call her after breakfast to see how it is." He glanced at one of the papers and shook his head. "You'd think they'd find a recent picture. Lookit that! That's from like, 1996!"

"Oh, yeah, and British tabloids are all about accuracy, Kevin," Howie said sarcastically, picking up the paper and hitting Kevin over the head with it. "Loser. Maybe we should be happy they still have pictures of us in England?"

"Yeah, that's a bright spot." Kevin nodded, scowling sarcastically and reaching up to punch him in the stomach playfully. "Get the hell out of here. Don't you have to go get your hair in line or something?"

"Oh, nice, Kev!" Howie laughed.

~

After showering, Kevin picked up the phone and dialed Kristin's speed dial. She answered after a few rings and sighed heavily when she heard him. "How's things by you?" she asked. "I'm never going out again!"

"I have bodyguards," he answered. "I was checking up to see how bad it was by you."

She sighed in exasperation. "I can't believe I was so damn stupid," she said angrily. "Have you seen some of the papers?"

"Yeah, they're right in front of me," he said. "Tomorrow they'll be in the garbage."

"Replaced by the garbage they come up with today," she finished.

"You're holding up okay, though?" he asked, sitting back and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"What if I wasn't?" she asked. "What would you do?"

"See how I could help," he answered easily.

"What if I went out there and said that I made the whole thing up?"

"Not a word, Kristin," he said, shaking his head.

"No, I don't mean…" She sighed. "Look, I know she's out there, but they don't need to know that something's really happening."

"They already do, Kris!" he scoffed. "She's going to be hounded just as much, if not more, than either of us. They don't know anything about her, and she's not living in some secluded section of LA."

"How is she dealing?"

"I haven't talked to her yet," he said. "I just wanted to call you quick and see if you were holding up."

"So there is still some loyalty to me?" she asked lightly.

"Kristin," he started, "don't start on this now."

"Now that she's not around, are you having second thoughts?"

"She's barely gone a day, Kris!" he laughed in shock. "Even I'm not that fickle!"

"I can hope," she said quietly. "I don't believe this is it. You may be free to be seen with her in public, but you can't file divorce papers yet, can you?"

"Kris," he started.

"The Firm would highly advise against it, am I right? They want you to wait until the tour is over to try and keep it under control, right?"

"You're okay? Because I really need to call her."

"Jana Williams," Kristin interrupted. "I know her name now, Kevin. I know lots about her now."

"I really need to call Jana now, Kris," he said softly. "I am trying to do this kindly, okay? I don't want to fight. It's not my intention and I don't think you want that either."

"I don't want to lose my marriage, Kevin," she said. "I think you can figure out that I'm not going to take it kindly." He closed his eyes and quietly took a deep breath. "One of us still loves the other, and obviously it's not you."

"Don't say that, Kris," he said.

"You can't love me and do this," she said reasonably.

"I don't hate you," he interjected.

"Then don't hurt me like this," she told him. "I get it now, okay? I understand that we have some things to work on, and I'm ready to start working on them. You have to give me at least that chance. You were more willing to give me a chance when we weren't bound by marriage. I just don't understand how you can be so final now when it's more work to get out of it."

"If the situation had happened sooner, I would have walked then, too, but it didn't. It happened now. You can't tell me I haven't tried to work on this with you. You can't. Our problems have been just as serious all along. I'm sorry you didn't get that sooner, but that's the truth."

"I don't want to be the stark, raving bitch here, Kevin, but I can't just roll over and give up on you either," she said. "We need to sit down face to face and actually talk. There are a lot of details to be worked out."

"I know," he agreed. "And when I have more than five minutes, I'm willing to do that. But I don't have the time to give to it right now."

"But you have it to share with Jana."

"Jana's not here anymore, Kris," he said. "How am I giving her more time?"

"By hanging up with me to call her," she said pointedly.

"Okay, you got me," he sighed tiredly. "I'll call tomorrow and see how it's going."

"You can't be both a husband and a boyfriend, Kevin," she told him. "You're going to have to divide yourself eventually. I'd also like to point out that you're still my husband."

"And I'm still her boyfriend," he answered. "If you want me to not call, I won't."

"Call," she sighed. "That's fine."

"Then I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said gently. "Call if you need something."

"A husband?" she said with a dig.

"Bye, Kris."

He clicked the phone off and dropped his head back, staring up at the ceiling. He meant what he said. He didn't want this to become angry and bitter and mean. There was a close history between them, but it was history and he didn't want to keep making a new one with her. Just thinking of Jana being with him made everything seem right. Thinking of Kristin made him think of fun summers in Florida and vacations. It wasn't the same complete feeling he had with Jana, and that was what had made him pursue her in the first place. It wasn't necessarily lust or desire, although he had both for her, it was that sense of all the pieces fitting around him when she was around. It was almost like Kristin and Jana's roles were reversed in some twisted logic.

He jumped when his phone rang and he answered with a quick 'hello.'

"Well, I'm officially famous, I think," Jana said with a grim chuckle. "I had the police here to get freaks off my property. I've had someone take my picture through my bedroom window, and someone spray painted my front door with 'slut.' I feel so glamorous!"

"I was just about to call you and see how it was going," he said sadly. "Dang, I was hoping they wouldn't be bad on you."

"I'm corrupting a Backstreet Boy, of course they're going to persecute me!" she said cynically. "How's your day going?"

"Have you seen any of the tabs?" he asked.

"I'm avoiding all media."

"Good plan," he said. "I haven't even read the articles. The headlines are enough of a joke."

"We did say we wanted this, right?"

"It won't last forever," he said.

"Just checking. What's going on there?"

"Not much right now," he said. "Had a work out with Howie, came up here and showered…"

"Baby!" she teased.

He chuckled and shook his head. "You just want me for my body."

"Well, it doesn't hurt that it's attached to your personality," she teased.

"Good to know," he chuckled. "You sound like you're doing better today."

"I guess," she said. "There's not much I can do about this for awhile is there? I'm not pleased, but it's not going to help bitching about it to you. You can't do anything either. So… I'll deal. Maybe they'll give me some fun kind of nickname too. You know, like Amy Fisher being called the Long Island Lolita?"

"No offense, but I doubt it's that big of a story," he chuckled. "Besides, they're not that clever, going by the headlines in front of me."

"Oh well," she sighed playfully. "I'll settle for Jezebel. Call me tonight when you get back from the show? Tell me how it went today?"

"Sure," he said. "You going to be up?"

"Probably," she said. "Call the cell, though. I might go out with Leslie if we can sneak out. They want to go to the Dodger tonight and get me drunk."

"I'll talk to you later then," he said. "Just be careful when you go out."

"I will. I'll have Leslie with me. She'll whack 'em if they get out of line."

~

Kevin and Howie sat in the opposite booth as the DJ's jabbered on about traffic and weather, mentioning their appearance coming up next before breaking into commercials. One of the managers came in to welcome them and confirmed there would be no discussion on the part of the radio station about the dancer, but they wouldn't be able to guarantee one of the callers wouldn't mention it once they got through the screening. Kevin nodded in understanding and looked over to Howie. It was going to be tiring having to dodge this topic.

"Okay," the manager said, "have a good time and thanks for stopping by."

The DJ's chatted with them briefly before going back on air and introduced them with a track of applause. "Well, let's ask the first question on everyone's lips," Steve, one of the DJ's, said. "How is AJ doing, and how great is it to have him back?"

Howie leaned into his mike with a smile. "AJ is doing great."

"He's happy and healthy and back to being 100%," Kevin added.

"Thanks to all the fans out there for their support, too," Howie said.

"The support, we've heard, was amazing," Steve said. "Did you have any idea they'd react like this, or was it a surprise to you?"

"We've always had really supportive fans," Howie said. "They've all been pretty amazing, but no, I don't think even we expected such an outpouring of love."

"It was nice to know that they let us all be human," Kevin said.

"It's pretty hard to be human in this business, isn't it?" Steve asked. "With media attention and people being around you all the time."

"Not really," Howie said with a shake of his head. "Because we don't see ourselves as anything else. I don't think any of us really understand what the big deal is about most of the time."

"Well, you do realize that you're both highly attractive, talented men, don't you?" Mariline, the other DJ interjected. "And yes, girls, for the record, if it's possible, they're more attractive in person."

"Thank you," Howie and Kevin both said modestly.

"Wow," Steve laughed, winking at them. "I think they're blushing. That's pretty human, I would say. But really, people have to tell you that all the time. Don't you just get immune to it?"

"We consider it a compliment," Kevin said with a shrug. "I don't think anyone should be immune to a compliment. That's when you know you're losing touch."

"Do any of you ever lose touch?" Steve asked.

Howie and Kevin laughed. "Yeah," Howie said, "once in awhile, but there are a bunch of people around to bring us down when we do."

"How often does it happen?" Steve asked.

"Not much," Kevin said with a shake of his head, looking to Howie for confirmation. "We're really just…"

"We're just regular guys to each other," Howie jumped in. "We pick on each other and joke around. We don't look at each other as 'oh, he's a Backstreet Boy', you know? He's just Kevin, or Nick, or Brian or AJ. We've known each other for years."

"But there has to have been some changes, hasn't there?" Mariline asked. "I can't imagine that this sort of success doesn't alter someone in some way. I mean, take what happened to AJ for instance."

"Well, it has to, really, just because the rest of the public doesn't treat you the same way," Kevin said. "We've had to be a bit more careful with choosing who our real friends are, and you do have to wonder sometimes whether or not people want to be your friend for who you are or for what you do and who you know. What happened with AJ really wasn't about him changing who he was, because he's still the same guy to us. It was more about learning how to cope with what's changing around us and learning how to handle the things we don't have control over. We all came from really stable backgrounds and supportive families, and when AJ's grandmother passed on, he lost one of the main stable forces in his life. Coming from someone's that's had to face that myself, it's hard to do. Hard to get a handle on."

"That's right, you lost your father, didn't you?"

"In 1993, yeah."

"Wow, so he didn't really get to see all this then? All your success and how you've conquered the world?"

"Well, not personally, but I like to think he's watching me up there and is proud," Kevin answered.

"Well, the phone lines look like Christmas, so why don't we take a call…Hello, Kara? You're on with Howie and Kevin."

"Hi, Kara," they both said.

"Oh my God!" Kara squealed, her voice shaking. "Oh my God, I love you so much!"

"Thank you."

"What's your question, Kara?"

"Well, I have two…first one, could you tell AJ that I just love him and I'm so glad he's back?"

"We can do that," Howie said.

"And Kevin, I read in the paper that you're divorcing Kristin. Is that true?"

"Now, see?" Mariline jumped in, looking to Kevin and Howie. "I can't imagine not being able to have a private life like that. Do you ever get tired of having to answer to the rumours that the media make up?"

"Well, the media's out there to do a job and sell papers, so they're going to use whatever they can to do that," Kevin said. "Not everything we do gets reported because it's really up to us to make it into a story. Our story is about being a vocal group. We wanted to tell AJ's story because we felt that what he was going through was important enough and might help someone out later on. It was something that impacted our shows and our fans. When it affects our music, we discuss it so our fans don't feel cheated."

"Our next caller is Miranda," Steve said. "Miranda, you're on the line with Howie and Kevin..."

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

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Oreos for Breakfast (Nick Fanfic)
by The Pumpkin Coach & Paperbag Princess

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