His eyes then fell upon his wife lying on his far left, next to Baylee also.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Baylee had shouted from his own room a few hours earlier. He had had an awful nightmare and was wiping tears with the back of his little hands on his soft cheeks when Brian arrived.
Baylee was sat up in bed; his pale blue night light glowed in the corner nearest his bed. Brian had not slept- Nick's troubles kept him away from sleep.
"What's wrong little man?" He sat on the bed and cradled his son, wiping his tears with a corner of his Mickey Mouse duvet.
"I had a nightmare…" Baylee bawled and clutched his Dad for comfort. "There was a monster, there was a monster…" Baylee stuttered anxiously, his eyes swiftly looking around the room checking for the monster of his dreams.
"Shhh…" Brian comforted. "The monster can't get you now." Brian kissed the top of his head in reassurance. "Do you think I'd let a monster get you." He said lifting Baylee from his lap. "Not me, because I'm super Dad!" Brian exclaimed, sporting a superman pose.
Baylee giggled, before yawning again. Brian giggled too, and tried to put Baylee back in his bed, but he started crying again.
"No, Daddy…" Baylee said, and Brian looked down at him. Baylee held his arms open wanting to be picked up and cradled. Brian picked him up and paced the room for a few minutes but Baylee would not settle down. "Do you want to come with me and Mommy?" Baylee nodded his head tiredly. "OK Baylee." Brian said reaching down for Baylee's stuffed toy rabbit called Bouncers. Brian sighed to himself. Nick had bought it for him. Nick would use any excuse to go into Hamley's or any toy store for that matter. Brian wondered how his friend was doing.
This thought still played on his mind when Baylee was sleeping and his wife also. It was 3 AM and Brian not only wanted to sleep but needed to. Being a full-time Dad and a Backstreet Boy was hard
work- but looking over at his adorable son, he knew he would not have it any other way. He slipped out of bed, and placed his pillow where his body used to lie to ensure Baylee would not fall from the bed. He crept over to the door, desperately trying not to wake his family, and walked downstairs. He was seldom awake at home at 2 AM but tonight was different. He had called Nick more than a few times in the space of the last couple of days, and he hadn't heard from him. His mind filled with anxiety as he perched on a chair in his kitchen drinking some orange juice he had retrieved from the fridge, which he had left open to provide him with some light. He told himself to dismiss the negative and mostly absurd thoughts from his tired mind. The cordless phone sat on its stand in the kitchen, near the door leading to the living room. He eyed it for half an hour before finally deciding to pick it up and call Nick.
The phone rang out and he was greeted by Nick's message on his answering machine. He wondered if Nick was asleep or out for the night. He waited for the beep, which Nick did not hear as he was so deep in his sleeping-pill-induced dormancy. He left a similar message to those he had left for the past few days:
"Hey Nick, I'm still up. I can't really sleep, `cause I want you to call me man-why haven't you called me? Or called anyone? Let her go, she was never good enough for you. I'll see you in a couple of days if I don't speak to you before then ok? See ya…" He clicked the button on his phone and replaced it to its stand. He had another swig of juice before putting the carton back into the fridge. He turned on the light switch nearby to view the pictures on the fridge door. There was one of himself, Leighanne and Baylee and their dogs, who were also snoozing in their dog baskets. Brian looked at them briefly and an overwhelming feeling took over him that many insomniacs face- he felt the whole world was asleep, but he strayed in the land of those awake, and he was the only one indeed awake. He focused his gaze back on the photos. There was a picture Baylee had drawn stuck to the fridge by multi-coloured, alphabet magnets. There was one photograph of the whole group, messing around the in the recording studio recently, and one of himself and Nick, with large, exaggerated grins on their faces. He flicked the switch back off and left the two smiling faces in the dark as he cuddled up to his son, and brushed his wife's elbow with his fingers as he attempted to drift off.
