"Yes," she agreed, turning her face to the vanity,  "I suppose he's mine, too."

Utterson looked up imploringly.  "Believe it."

"CUT!"

Out in the audience, a head of long blonde hair swished from side to side as long legs pulled together in a halt.  "Man, Cal sounds like he's in my kind of mood today."

Aaron fell off of his perch on one of the back-row armrests.  "Shit!"

From above him, there came a burst of raspy laughter.  Aaron noted with interest, however, that the raspy element had lessened a good deal.  He could hear traces of his brother's old girlish giggle, and the thought almost made him want to smile.

"Stop laughing!  You almost gave me a heart attack."

Nick arched an eyebrow in surprise at his brother's indignant expression.  "You mean you aren't used to me showing up at rehearsal by now?"

Aaron glanced over his shoulder long enough to level his brother with a breadbox look.  "In a word?  No."

"But I've come almost every day!"

Aaron frowned at Nick's angry tone.  "Man, you're in a mood.  What's going on?"

"Nothing," Nick muttered, taking his place in the seat beside Aaron.  "Bad day at the studio.  I had to get out of there, or I was going to go postal on our pretty little label artist."

Aaron sighed heavily.  "Who were you overseeing today?  Some cute little pre-pop star chick that can't sing?"

"No.  Rhine."

Aaron's brow furrowed in a frown.  "Really?  I thought you liked her?  Wasn't she the first artist you've ever signed?"

Nick's eyebrows rose appreciatively.  Man, he remembers well, doesn't he?  I hope to God he's forgotten what withdrawal looks like.

"Yeah, I like her, but she's having an off day, and I'm a perfectionist.  Add to that the fact that I didn't get much sleep last night, and..." His voice trailed off as he began to watch the scene unfolding in front of them.  "I just needed to get out."

"I'm sorry," Aaron offered plainly.  There wasn't much more he could say.

Nick shrugged.  "No big deal.  I have an hour of solitude before I have to go back, and that's good enough.  How's rehearsal going?"

Aaron chuckled as Cal stopped the scene again.  "Slowly.  Cal's in a mood.  He's picking on everyone today."

"But aren't y'all nearing opening night?  I'm sure he's getting antsy.  Perfectionism is understandable this close to the performance," Nick pointed out.  Aaron rolled his eyes.

"Understandable, yeah, but that doesn't mean it's not annoying.  Today, he's just being nitpicky.   He's made Cara run every musical number at least twice, and he won't let poor Trent off the stage.  At this point, everyone's so nervous that they're fucking up left and right."

"And you?" Nick asked pointedly.

Aaron shrugged.  "I'm used to pressure, but this is ridiculous.  He had me singing nonstop all morning, but he freaked out and sent me back into the audience when I started to go flat."

Nick looked up in concern.  "You started to go flat?"

Aaron dipped his chin in a scowl.  "Of course I started to go flat!  I was singing for forty-five minutes straight!"

"Chill out, Aaron.  I don't doubt your abilities as a singer, okay?"

Aaron heaved a sigh.  "I know.  I know.  I'm just...I'm just worried about this enough as is.  I know better than anybody that I was really, really sick just two days ago.  I don't want a relapse."

"You won't relapse," Nick stated firmly.  "We'll make sure."

Aaron looked up just in time to see his older brother wipe the sweat from his brow.  "We?"

"Cara, Theresa, and I."

"Oh."  He frowned at the way Nick's figure was shaking in the dim light of the auditorium.  "You okay?"

Nick turned in surprise at the simple question.  Granted, he and Aaron had been talking more of late, but his younger brother was still hard-pressed to discuss anything but work.  The personal inquisition was a welcome change, but an unexpected one.

"Yeah, I'm fine.  Why?"

Aaron swallowed the apprehension that was forming a lump at the base of his throat.  Just say it, Aaron.  "You're shaking."

Nick glanced down at his hands and flinched when he noticed his fingers trembling.  "Oh."  Fuck.  "I probably had one too many cups of coffee this morning."

Neither brother believed the lie, but Aaron was willing to stomach it.  "That's right, you said you didn't sleep well."

"Yeah, it's been a long week."

Aaron was just about to inquire as to why it had been a long week when Cal's voice rang out.

"Aaron Carter, get your ass onstage!  We can't do the murder scene without you, seeing as you have the fucking knife..."

Aaron turned to his brother with an apologetic smile.  "That's my cue.  Sorry, I've got to jet.  Theresa should be somewhere in here, though."

Nick shook his head.  "Nah, it's no big deal.  I'll move closer to the stage so I can watch."

Aaron shrugged.  "Suit yourself."  With that, he jogged up the aisle and ducked into one of the doors leading backstage.  Within moments, he emerged from the wings in a trench coat, a top hat, and a long, blonde wig.

Nick sat in the audience five rows from the stage, mesmerized by the visible changes in his brother's demeanor.  He realized with a frown that he'd never seen Aaron and Cara in a scene together before.  This should be interesting...

Onstage, Edward Hyde lit a match and grinned wickedly.  "Dearest Lucy..."

Lucy startled from her position on the bed.  "Oh!"

Hyde frowned, his eyes darkening against the light of the match and its accompanying stage light.  "What?  You weren't expecting me?"  He spat the questions with telling contempt and disgust, and his hostile tone caused Lucy's eyes to widen in fear.

"No, sir."  She spoke quickly and quietly, her shoulders rigid.

Hyde strode around the backside of the bed, his hands clasped behind him and his eyebrow arched menacingly.  His tone was eerily kind and calm, but there were sinister undertones that chilled the audience.  "Who else can I come to for sympathy?"  There was a precious pause as he rounded the corner and met Lucy's frightened stare.  "Tenderness?"  He sneered the word, then caught sight of the letter on the bureau and frowned darkly.  All kind pretense in his voice vanished.  "What?  You've had another visitor this evening?"

Lucy gave a little gasp and tucked her arms around herself in an attempt to shield herself from whatever ire Hyde was harboring.  "No, not really, sir," she answered hurriedly.  Hyde glanced at her again, his tone patronizing.

"It wasn't the doctor himself, was it?"  He paused to shake his head at himself.  "No, no, no.  Henry Jekyll's such a very busy man."

Lucy looked up in alarm, but her voice betrayed only quiet surprise.  "You know Dr. Jekyll?"  The absence of "sir" was barely noticeable.

Hyde smiled wickedly.  "Know him?  Oh, we're close Lucy."  He paused to lean in closer, watching in barely-concealed amusement as Lucy leaned farther away.  "Very close.  We share everything, he and I."  He chuckled bitterly, his deep laugh heightening the tension of the moment.  "Just as you and I do, my sweet." 

In the audience, Nick was frozen in fear.  He had never seen Aaron act the part of Hyde, and he was thoroughly impressed with his brother's ability to play the villain.  However, the wide-eyed look on Cara's face and the smug smile on Aaron's made the scene far too believable.  Man, I hope he never gets angry with me again.  He looks like he could kill Cara, and he's supposed to be in love with her.

"CUT!"

Aaron and Cara looked up in bewilderment as Cal's bark echoed through the auditorium. 

"Aaron, I know you enjoy tormenting poor Cara, but the laugh just sounds ridiculous.  We realize that you're patronizing her.  You don't have to giggle like a madman to make it blatantly obvious, okay?  And that `just as you and I do' line has got to go.  I know it was in the original script, but it fucks everything up.  That, and 'my sweet' just sounds fucking stupid..."

Aaron nodded, and Cara rotated her neck to loosen the muscles.  Prolonging the scene meant prolonging the tension, and her muscles had had enough.

"Start from the end of that line, but remember to take it out.  If I have to remind you tomorrow, I'm going to make you do the entire scene five times perfectly."

In the audience, Nick's eyes widened at the threat.  He'd been to enough rehearsals to know that Cal could be brutal, but he'd never been witness to such drastic consequences.

Onstage, Aaron sucked in a breath.  "Yes sir."

"Good.  Let's go from 'leave this place,' and I'll stop you when I'm ready."

"I have no doubt of that," Aaron muttered.  From the bed, Cara bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling at the comment.

"Action."

Hyde curiously snatched the piece of paper from the bureau, his eyes widening angrily as he read the note that Utterson had delivered only moments earlier.

"'Leave this place, I beg you'?" Hyde read in infuriated confusion.  He turned an accusatory gaze on a trembling Lucy, who was once again huddled in the far left corner of the bed.  "You weren't planning on leaving the city without saying goodbye, were you?"

Lucy gave a nervous laugh.  "No, sir, I'm not going anywhere..."

Hyde's lips curled in a sinister smile.  "No...no!  You're not going anywhere."  He shook his head in agreement, moving to sit on the bed.  With one hand, he beckoned to the terrified Lucy.  "Come, come!"  He chuckled again at her fear, but his voice was anything but amused.  "Close.  No, no, no, closer!  Closer, yes..."  The last word was nothing but a low whisper, and the grin on his face was nothing if not maniacal.  He reached around Lucy's waist, pulling her closer to his chest as the music began.  When he sang, the words were angry and distorted, wide and laughing against the minor key.


Sympathy, tenderness
Warm as the summer
Offer you their embrace...


The melody was interrupted by a jerk of Aaron's figure, followed by a blood-curdling scream.  Nick looked up in alarm to see Cara's head thrown back, exposing the pale skin of her neck.  Her head rolled to the side as her back arched, and Aaron looked down in sadistic satisfaction as he yanked his hand back out into the open.  Appropriately, Cara's body curled forward from the forced of the motion, and Aaron jabbed his hand into her back again, sweeping her off the bed and onto the floor with the force of his actions.  She landed facedown with a thud, and he slid off the bed as her body spasmed.  Unfortunately for all involved, the God-awful singing continued.


Friendliness, gentleness
Strangers to my life
They are there in his face...


Hyde kneeled down by Lucy's corpse and checked her pulse, his insane smile widening when he felt nothing.  Satisfied that he had murdered her, he threw his head back and cackled as he sang the last lines.


Goodness and sweetness
And kindness abound in this place! **


The song ended on a scream, but Aaron's eyes were fixed five rows back, where his brother sat, still angry and trembling in the dim light of the house.  He could barely make out two beads of sweat on Nick's brow.  Fuck.  He's hot, he's pissed, he's talking a mile a minute, and he's shaking like a leaf.  The last time he looked like that...

Aaron didn't allow himself to finish the thought.  He didn't want to go there.  Hell, he didn't need to go there.  Especially not onstage.  With another cackle, he doubled over Cara's slumped figure, allowing his shoulders to shake with more bitter laughter.

"And that's enough of that," Cal hollered, leaping into a standing position.  With a watchful eye, he circled his two stars like a predator, unwilling to admit that he was mildly impressed by the intensity of their performance.

Nick watched in amusement as Aaron leapt to his feet and extended a hand to help Cara to hers.  Their microphones were off, but he was pretty sure he heard his younger brother ask their young friend if she was all right.

"You fell pretty hard..." Aaron continued with a frown, to which Cara laughed.

"Padded corset, remember?" she chuckled.  "It's like body armor."

Aaron seemed less certain, but was forced into silence when Cal began his usual rant about achieving perfection before opening night.  For the first time in a long time, neither star was listening.  Both were intently watching the former Backstreet Boy that had taken up a place in the audience.

"Cara?"  Aaron whispered, pulling her more closely to him to warm her shivering frame.  She leaned gladly into his embrace, her brow still furrowed at the sight of Nick.

"Yeah?"

He didn't want to ask because he didn't want to know, but there was a part of him that desperately needed an answer.  "Was Theresa right about Nick?"

She froze upon hearing his question, and the wide-eyed expression on her face was every bit Lucy's.

"And Aaron, I know you're supposed to be pissed as all hell, but you really can't throw Cara that hard or you're really going to kill her.  At least toss her at an angle where she can catch herself before she dies, okay?  Your attitude is right, but the positioning is all wrong.  I know we've choreographed this fucking scene before!  Now, get back on the bed, and let's see if you two can remember what we decided a few weeks ago."

Cara never got a chance to answer Aaron's question, but she didn't need to.  Her tense shoulders had told him everything he needed to know.  As he made his way back to the big brass bed, his eyes remained firmly on his older brother.

I could be wrong about this.  I want to be wrong about this.  But, dammit, if he's back in that boat, I need to be the solution and not the problem.

By the end of the scene's re-working, Nick had slipped out quietly, Cara had fallen gracefully, and Aaron had decided to find and attend the next meeting of Cocaine Addicts Anonymous.