Joey got out of the bus, and searched with his eyes among the small crowd reunited at the station. It wasn't that there were many people outside, between the snow storm the night before, and the fact that it was December 25, most stayed home, enjoying the company of family and beloved ones.
And that was exactly the reason why he was there. To spend Christmas with his beloved. His original plans had been to arrive the day after Christmas, but his mother had convinced him otherwise. Seeing Joey so down all the 24, she had bragged the truth out of him with nice words and not so empty treats, and then had smacked him on the head for being a fool.
"I've had 23 Christmas with you, Joey." She had told him. "She hasn't. So go and kiss her and hug her and tell her she's welcome here anytime."
Well, so maybe Joey hadn't told his mom _all_ the truth. But it was pretty close to it. He just hadn't been clear that Chris was short for Christopher, and not for Christina. Somehow, Joey was sure that Christmas wasn't the best time for coming out in front of your mother, especially not when she was so happy with the idea of having grandchildren.
Of course, there was the little problem that Chris wasn't expecting him until the next day, but he hoped that Mrs. Kirkpatrick wouldn't mind if he stole her son for a couple hours before dinner, and then in the morning again.
* * *
Chris looked at the smiling faces of Taylor and Emily as they opened the presents 'Santa' had brought them. It wasn't much, because his salary didn't allow for it, but he had managed to get presents for everyone, and the small sacrifices he was going to make in the following two months were worth the happiness he was witnessing.
The girls and his mother had also had a present for him, and he had blushed when he discovered Emily's treasured first *N Sync video under the knitted gray sweater his mother had given to him. It was the closest thing to what he really wanted under his tree, and he thanked his younger sister with a kiss on the cheek.
It was then when the doorbell rang, and he went to open it, wondering who could it be, on Christmas morning.
And almost fainted
when he saw Joey leaning against the doorframe, covered in snow, holding
five bright boxes in his hands.
"Jo…
Joey?!" He sputtered, trying to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming.
"Merry Christmas, Chris." The singer said, smiling. "Can I come in?"
"What are you doing here? We didn't expect you until tomorrow…" Chris began saying, at the same time he moved over to allow Joey in the house.
"I couldn't spend one more minute without you." Joey answered, kissing him briefly on the lips.
"Chris? Who is it?" Kate came out of the living room, wearing her new scarf, and her eyes opened wide as she saw Joey standing next to her brother. "Joey?! WOW! Emily! Molly! Come here!"
A female hurricane came over the two men, as Joey handed everyone their gifts, not listening to the protests of Chris and his mother.
"You didn't had to…" Chris began saying, as Emily squealed with joy at seeing her new Playstation 2, and Kate showed her new Discman. Molly was unwrapping a beautiful blue sweater and Taylor was giggling with joy, playing with the box of her new Barbie doll.
"You're too kind, Mr. Fatone." Chris' mom said, shaking her head. "You will spoil my girls… Even more than their brothers does!"
"Sorry, Mrs. Kirkpatrick…" Joey blushed a little, making the woman laugh. "And please, call me Joey. Mr. Fatone is my father…"
"You can call me Beverly then. And come to the kitchen, I'll make you two something for breakfast." And with that, Joey was accepted into the heart of the Kirkpatrick family.
* * *
After breakfast, when the girls left them alone and Chris led him to his bedroom, Joey handed Chris his gift. He had spend weeks thinking on what to give him, and at the end, he had settled for a silver necklace. He had seen it on the store, and immediately imagined how good it would look on Chris, either barely showing under one of the teacher's sweaters, or right in everyone's view over one of his dark shirts. Later, when it was wrapped and in his pocket, he had agonized hours over if Chris would like it or not, if it was a good present, if it was better to forget the whole thing.
But when Chris opened it, and his eyes lit up upon seeing the silver beads, all doubts were erased.
"It's great, Joey!" Chris said, leaning down to kiss Joey lightly. They hadn't kissed in front of Chris' family, and after three months not seeing each other, those brief contacts were heaven. "I'll never take it off…" Adding action to words, Chris put it on, letting Joey see that all his fantasies didn't do justice to the effect the necklace had: it drew his attention to Chris' beautiful neck, and he wanted nothing more than kiss, nibble and love the skin under the silver beads. But suddenly, Chris' smile disappeared, and the young teacher sighed. "I'm afraid my gift isn't as good…"
"You didn't had to get me a gift, Chris!" Joey said, smiling as he accepted the small box Chris was handing him. Inside, resting on a small cotton bed, there was a small pendant made of wires, in the shape of the Superman logo. Joey held it with care, noting how fragile it was, and the way the wires were twisted, carefully and with love. "This… this is handmade…"
"One of Emily's friends does them. She taught me how…" Chris said, blushing. "I… I know you have tons of Superman stuff, but I thought… you might… like it?"
"I love it." Joey punctuated his words kissing Chris, who smiled at the gesture. A few minutes later, they were interrupted by Emily, who announced they were going out, and they had the house for themselves.
Which meant that for the first time since they had meet, they were truly and completely alone.
Chris must had been entertaining similar thoughts, as the shorter man blushed, looking down at the bed. Joey smiled and let his eyes roam the small room, finally settling on the box in the nightstand. The doll that had been part of Chris' 'prize' when he had accompanied Emily to the dream date, three months ago, was there, still in it's box.
"I thought you had sold those…" He said, trying to ease the mood a little. "I didn't see it last time."
"I thought it would be creepy." Chris admitted. "It _was_ creepy for me the first week… They look too close to you guys…"
"Have you seen the video?" Joey laughed, remembering the painfully
long hours in make-up, as they tried to make the group look like the dolls
which were supposed to look like them. "That makes them even creepier…"
They kept talking
about those unimportant things: the group, Chris' job, how things were
going… Everything but the subject Joey really wanted to touch: When
was Joey going away again, and if Chris could come with him, even if it
was only for a few weeks.
* * *
Chris couldn't believe how lucky he was. He and Joey had spend most of the morning talking, then cuddling, and then, because Joey was very tired from the bus ride, and Chris hadn't felt safer in his entire life, they had fell asleep in each other's arms.
And that had been how his mother found them, when she went upstairs to tell them they were back and that it was time for dinner.
"I'm afraid I'll have to ask Joey to use the guest room, Chris." She said, with a warm smile. "You know the rules."
"Yeah, mom." Chris grinned, thankful once again that his mother was so understanding. He had never hid anything from her, and she was the one who always had had a word of advice, no matter how difficult the situation. When he had told her about his breakup with Danny, about Joey, she had only smiled, a smile very much like the one she was showing Joey now, and told him that she was happy that he was happy. If she had any doubts, she had kept them to herself… And perhaps now that she had meet Joey, there would be no more doubts.
"Rules?" Joey asked, turning to see Chris, rising one eyebrow in a way that made Chris' insides burn.
"No boyfriends allowed in the bedrooms…" He explained blushing.
"Although I might be the only mother in America who installed it thinking about her son instead of her daughters." She laughed, and waited for both of them to leave the bed and the room. When Joey was near the stairs, however, she stopped Chris. "He does look like a nice guy, Chris. Just don't rush things… o.k?"
"Promise, mom." Chris kissed her cheek, before bouncing downstairs to keep his boyfriend company. He knew that Joey would be leaving in the morning of the 27, as he had to return with the band, and their time together would end too soon, so he didn't want to miss a second of Joey's warm presence in his house.
In their e-mails, Joey had more than once invited Chris to go to Orlando, and every time Chris had dodged the invitation. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend more time with Joey… if it was up to him, he would be spending all his time with Joey…The trouble was that he was sure he wouldn't fit in Joey's world. One thing was a couple of nights when the group had been relaxing, and other, completely different, was to be hanging around while the group was trying to work. There was a new album coming, a new tour, and Chris couldn't be in the way. Not to mention that he couldn't leave his work just like that. Even when money wasn't as tight as it had been when he was a child, he knew that his mother still needed all the help she could get.
Once, around Thanksgiving, he had called Howie, hoping to talk a little about his doubts. But Howie had troubles of his own, because apparently there was a rift between him and Kevin, so Chris had kept his worries down and tried as hard as he could to help Howie with his problem. The result was that even when apparently the rift among the Backstreet Boys was in their way to mend, Chris still was assaulted by self-doubts, most of them seeded by the missing Danny.
But if Joey asked him now to go with him, he couldn't dodge the question. And he was afraid that Joey would be angry at him, angry at his doubts and fears.
* * *
"C'mon, answer the phone…" Justin looked towards the door of his room, ready to hang up if his mother or any of the guests happened to come upstairs. He didn't want them to know he had disappeared from their Christmas reunion to call his best friend.
"Justin?" Nick's voice came to him through the cell phone, amused and a little bit blurred.
"How did you know it was me, man?"
"You're the only one who calls this number." The younger Backstreet Boy chuckled, and Justin wondered if AJ had been left to handle the beverages in their party. "What's up?"
"Guess who is not in Brooklyn." Justin told him, closing the door to be able to have some privacy. When he did that, his mother thought he was in the phone with Britney and thus, left him alone.
"You, I hope." Nick sounded puzzled for a second, and Justin could almost see the light bulb appearing next to the other blonde's head. "Why isn't Joey in Brooklyn? How do you know he ain't there?"
"I called him to wish him a Merry Christmas, and his mom told me he had gone to see his new girlfriend. In Albany."
"You think he went to see Mr. Kirkpatrick?"
"He must have." Justin paused, almost sure he had heard a noise near the door. Even when now everyone knew he was a very good friend of Nick Carter, he still didn't want anyone hearing their private conversations. "I mean… He told us he wasn't coming back until the 28, and I know he and Chris have been writing each other ever since we left Albany. Maybe he'll bring Chris with him this time…"
"They must have it bad." Nick laughed, then lowered his tone. "What does JC thinks of all this?"
"I don't know." Justin shook his head, forgetting for a moment that Nick couldn't see him. "But he has also been e-mailing him."
"How do you know that?"
"He's got Chris' address on his address book." There was a long pause, and he could heard Nick talking to someone else. "Who's there?"
"AJ says hi. Look, can I call you back? AJ wants me to help him plan a New Year party, in time for Brian and Kevin's return…" For a moment, Nick fell silent, as if he was thinking. "Hey! If Joey does manage to get 'Chris' here, why don't you guys bring him? He's a friend of Howie's after all and… well, I think Howie needs a friend right now…"
"Kevin's still giving him grief?"
"Yeah… I'll tell you later. Bye J."
"Bye, Nick."
Justin hang up, and decided to return to his mother party, wondering exactly what was wrong between Howie and Kevin, and what was Joey doing in Albany, and why JC had changed his opinion on Chris so radically… And how was he going to explain to his mother that he wasn't marrying Britney, no matter what she said…
* * *
Roberta Loughride, better known as Bobbie to her family, friends and fiancée, re-read the fax that she had received the day after Winter break began. It was a little late, in her opinion, but even so, it was good enough. Her Danny was going to appreciate the surprise gift, and that was all that mattered.
Sure, she had had to move a lot of her father's influences to get a school to accept a teacher with the school year so advanced, and to get the Emerson High to accept to loose one of their teachers, but the sooner Christopher Windsor moved with his daughter to L.A., the sooner Danny would stop making those long trips to Albany and her father would see that he really loved her.
Plus, little Emily was going to love L.A. and her new Aunt, Bobbie was sure of that. Danny had told her how much Chris' had to pay to his ex-wife in order to keep her away from his daughter, and how little they had… And Bobbie was not going to let any brother in law of hers to suffer from lack of money. That's why she had gotten him a job in a private school in Beverly Hills, and why she was going to give Emily a new wardrobe as soon as Danny gave her his niece's measurements. She just wanted Danny's family to be happy with her.
If she had Chris' phone number, she would have called to give him the great news. But Danny had never given it to her, so she would have to trust Mr. Zeck and the Emerson Board to handle things on that end.
In the meantime, she needed a little vacation. L.A. could drive one insane if one stayed there for too long. And with Danny away, there wasn't much for her to do. Maybe it was time to make that long delayed trip to Orlando she had been planning for months.
* * *
It was very early in the 26 when the bomb dropped on the Kirkpatrick family. They were having breakfast together, and Joey was amazed at the warmth that the family displayed. Beverly soon warmed her heart towards the young man who was her son's lover, and Molly, the elder sister, couldn't find anything wrong with him, not even the fact that he sang in a boy band. Kate and Emily were still in the giggling, 'ohmygodmybrother'sboyfriendisfamous!' stage, and Taylor simply loved to play with Joey's beard.
It was the perfect morning, until Mr. Zeck arrived.
Professor Neil Zeck was everything that Chris had descried, and perhaps a little more: a short, aged man with big glasses that made him look like a frog, an old gray suit that had seen better days, and a tedious, monotone voice that Joey was sure had put more than one student to sleep at school.
A man like that couldn't be the bringer of good news.
And he wasn't. He simply handed Chris a letter from the Emerson High board, reprimanded him for not letting the Faculty know that he had been looking for another job, and then told him that he was thankful for the fact that someone else was going to deal with Chris' childish behavior. Then, he was gone.
Leaving a very
shocked family who just learned that Chris was no longer part of Emerson
High' faculty, and thus, he didn't need to go back once the winter break
ended.