Standing By

Mitch's Fall

(Tim)

OK, so that may have been a hell of a journey between the limo and Austin's room, but we were finally there. I had a killer headache, and now, unbeknown to anyone but me, a sore throat. I hoped it was just because I'd been shouting through the elevator door and that I wasn't getting sick. Guess I'd just have to wait and see. I had no freaking clue why I was the only one they could really understand through the doors. Apparently, they could sort of understand Chance and a little bit of Scott, but when it came to actual communication, it was me they were depending on. And just speaking wasn't enough—I had had to talk loudly enough to be heard by them, but not overwhelm and deafen everyone in the elevator. Mitch and Kirstie and the girls had been yelling their heads off, but Avi, Adam, and Kevin couldn't seem to understand any of them. I was halfway putting myself on a bit of vocal rest now, to save it for tomorrow. The last thing we needed was for me to be unable to perform.

Rob pushed past the rest of us and opened Austin's door. He was sitting up on the bed expectantly. "Austinnn!" he squealed, wrapping him in a hug.

"Rooob!" Austin cried back, then looked up at us pointedly. "I'd been waiting for you. How long's it take to—"

"Don't ask," Chance said tiredly, rubbing at his face.

"Oh God, Austin, we got stuck in the elevator for hours," Rob groaned, sitting next to him on the bed. "It was awful!"

"It was not that long," Kevin corrected.

"It felt like hours," Rob grumbled at him. "You weren't stuck on it."

"I might not have been on it, but believe me, it was no picnic on the other side of it, either," Kevin pointed out.

Avi leaned forward. "We didn't know if any of you were injured or anything!"

"Oh Lord," Austin mumbled, wide-eyed. "Tell me about it. Tell me all about it."

"Can we talk and walk?" Diaz suggested. "Go ahead and get you out of this hospital and move along?"

"Um," Austin began, watching him with a frown. He leaned over to Rob and hissed into his ear, "Who is that?"

"Diaz. Somebody Diaz," Rob told him. "Dave told us we had to travel with a security guard."

"Samuel Diaz," Diaz introduced himself, then gestured to Greene, who was closing the door behind him. "Tony Greene, KTL Private Security, Inc."

"Uh, nice to meet you?" Austin seemed unsure. He spun to Rob again. "Really? What do we need their security for?"

"Oh, believe me, we do," Chance groaned, still playing with his cap.

"Chance keeps having fans steal his cap," Adam told Austin. "I had some idiot try to remove my wedding ring from my finger. Rob had—"

"Oh hell no!" Rob burst out. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Adam shook his head grimly. "Nope. When they were playing with my hand."

"Sorry we could help you there, man—some girl was getting up close and personal with Kirstie," Greene apologized.

"That Christy Johnson girl," Kirstie groaned. "She kept trying to touch my ass."

"I got licked," Scott announced. "My hand got licked. By a teenage girl."

"Ugh." Austin looked disgusted. "Gross."

"Didn't realize you were having such problems," Diaz said apologetically. "I was dealing with that girl that was trying to disrobe Kevin."

"Disrobe Kevin?" Austin's mouth dropped open. "Oh my God."