Disclaimer:

Here is chapter 60, the next chapter in an ongoing story about Stephen Gately from Boyzone and Eloy de Jong, formerly of Caught in the Act. I do hope you like this one, and please write and tell me what you think.

I have no contact with either of the gentlemen in question and such literature is the product of the author's imagination.

Cheers,

Musicfan

Louis called a meeting a few days later and the lads all trouped over to his office in downtown Dublin. Keith picked Stephen up on his way in and met the others outside the office.

"What do you suppose his nibs is up to this time?" Mike asked warily. He was also annoyed because Louis wasn't there yet and they were forced to sit around and wait for him to show up.

Shane slouched down on the sofa, legs stretched out. He shrugged, not really caring why they were there. Mikey turned away and looked towards Ronan. He usually had a good idea what Louis' latest and greatest idea was going to be, but Ronan just shrugged. Stephen sat down next to Shane and pulled his Gameboy out. He knew that they would have a wait and had planned accordingly. Shane peered over his shoulder and watched him play while the others waited restlessly.

"He did say he was on his way, didn't he, Frannie?" Keith asked, stopping by her desk to take a piece of candy out of the bowl and pop it in his mouth. She nodded, giving him an absentminded smile as the phone rang.

"Don't bother Frannie, she has enough problems without you nagging," Stephen said without looking up. Keith shot him a look before resuming his pacing again. Finally the door opened and Louis walked through.

"Ah, there you are lads!" He cried jovially. "Right on time!" He walked past them to his office door and opened it, waving them through. Stephen shoved his game in the pocket of his sweatshirt and followed the others through. A small smile crept across his face as they entered the room and he mentally compared it to the rattrap that Louis had some years before when they were just starting out. This new office was much more opulent, and most of the decorations were gold and platinum albums from Boyzone as well as the awards placed about the room. While Louis' stable of artists had grown considerably, none had achieved the same type of success as they had, though some were on their way. Louis was always looking out for new groups to sign and more often than not they got their feet wet as a support act for Boyzone.

"Sit down, sit down!" Louis said, waving to the leather sofas off to one side of his office. They sat down as he walked around the desk and rummaged for something. "Ah, there it is! Knew it was around here somewhere. Lads, have I a treat for you!" He walked back over to where they were settled and perched himself on the arm of the chair on which Ronan sat. "Feast your eyes on this," he said, passing the document to Ronan while the others leaned forward, eager to see what Louis' latest scam was. Amongst themselves, they referred to his schemes as scams because in the early days more often than not they used to be smoke and mirror ideas designed to get them exposure of some kind.

"What is it?" Mike asked, not wanting to wait for Ronan to tell them. Louis leaned back and crossed his arms with a smile as Ronan looked up in surprise.

"That is your ticket into every home in Europe!" Louis announced. "Lads, you were just chosen to be the Pepsi group for their charity. It means a commercial, a song for charity, which will always make you look good, and extra concerts."

Ronan passed the sheaf of papers along and each of them was able to read the contract for them to perform for Pepsi in a commercial as well as making promotional appearances. As they looked over the paperwork, Louis described how it was going to work.

"Lads, trust me, we can't miss with this. We can throw something together for you to sing, or dig up something you haven't done all that much and all you have to do is this one little commercial. What more could we want? There ya go, just pass the pen along, Ronan and then we can get this all sorted."

Each of them signed, though Mikey took a while to look more thoroughly through the contract, much to Louis' annoyance. There had been so many things over the years that they had signed that most of the time they just went along with the rest. By this time they all knew what to look for, and were savvy enough to catch things. This was one of the standard performance contracts, which is why the others hadn't been too bothered to go through the fine print.

"When are we supposed do all this?" Keith asked, thinking ahead to other things they had planned. Louis waved off the details, saying that none of it mattered too much. He said he'd get them into the studio to put something together, but he wasn't worried too much at the details.

"What about the next single?" Mikey asked, thinking about the promotion they were supposed to do for that in the next few weeks.

"People have been clamouring for No Matter What to be release for a while now, so I don't even think we need to worry about how that one is going to sell," Louis said blithely. "And this will be guaranteed to keep your names in the press. So I think this will be what does the job for you," he said, tapping the sheath of papers in his hand. He went on to talk about how Fran would be in touch once arrangements were made and then he ushered them out the door, holding Ronan back to talk to him about something. Stephen looked over his shoulder as he walked out the door, wondering what Louis was up to this time. Ronan gave him a wink and a shrug as the door closed and Stephen followed his band mates down the stairs after saying goodbye to Fran.

"What do you suppose that's all about?" Mikey asked as they walked out onto the sidewalk. He was naturally suspicious of anything Louis did with one of them on their own and had a feeling that Louis was up to something else.

"Who knows with that one?" Shane said laconically. He leaned against the wall and watched the traffic go by while the rest of them stood around, waiting for Ronan to come out. After a few minutes Mikey gave up and headed for his car after waving to the others in farewell. Shane said he had better things to do than hold the wall up and took off as well.

"That leaves us, Steve. Need a ride home?" Keith asked. Stephen nodded and they walked down the street to where Keith had his Rolls parked. The white car was his pride and joy, something he always drove when he had the chance in at home. As they got into the car, Keith said he wanted to drop by the shop where Lisa worked. Stephen was fine with that, as he adored Keith's wife. They drove through the city with the top down, Keith practically preening as people admired his car. Stephen had to laugh to himself at Keith's expression.

They stopped briefly on Grafton Street to visit Lisa. She was busy on the telephone when they arrived and only had a little time to spend with Keith before heading out to a meeting with a designer. While they were in the back of the shop, Stephen stayed in the front chatting to the girls working there, content to give Keith some private time with his wife. When Keith and Lisa came out of the back office a short while later, Stephen was amused to see the silly smile on Keith's face as Lisa kissed him before heading off to her meeting. She gave Stephen a hug on the way out the door, and turned to tell Keith that she would be home early before leaving.

"She asked me to go pick up Jordan at her folks. You up for that?" Keith asked as they waved goodbye to the girls as they left the store. Stephen nodded as he followed Keith out the door. They got in the car and headed off to pick up Keith's son...

An insistent tapping on the tabletop made Eloy raise his gaze from the tabletop to see what was going on.

"Ah, you're back to the real world. Thank you for joining us," CITA's manager said dryly once he had gotten Eloy's attention. "As I was saying before Eloy drifted off, I'm a little concerned about the way the company has been shifting around the schedule. It hasn't helped us with promotion, and the fact that we're not getting airplay on the new single is their fault because they're not pushing it properly. So we need to do our own self-promotion and do it right. Now here's what I want to do..."

Try as he might, Eloy found he couldn't concentrate on what Johannes was saying. He had never been one for management details in the first place, and recently all he could do was think about Stephen. He ached to be with the other man, and at the moment, anything that interfered with that seemed to be a lesser priority. Including his career, which frightened him a little. Lee had to pull his attention back to the conversation a couple of times, but he was relieved once the meeting was over. He was just getting up to go back to his room when Johannes held him back while the others left. Ben shot a concerned look over his shoulder as he left the room and Eloy gave him a reassuring grin as the door closed.

"Eloy, I don't know who the hell has caught your fancy this time, but dammit we don't have the time for you to go off dreaming when things are this tight," Johannes said in a low voice, angry at having been blithely ignored by Eloy during the meeting. "One wrong move would really hurt the group right now and that's the last thing you can afford."

Eloy looked down; abashed that Johannes had correctly pegged the reason for his lack of attention. "I'm sorry."

"Ja, I'm sure you are," his manager muttered, turning to stare out the window for a few moments as he got his temper under control. "I don't know who he is and I don't want to know, but keep it under wraps. The last thing we need is the record company having to deal with that kind of news popping up. Okay?"

"Trust me, neither of us wants that," Eloy said, feeling slightly sick at the thought of what would happen to Stephen if the news came out about the two of them. It was something that they had talked about when they were together, and Stephen's stories of sleepless nights waiting for someone to ask the wrong question had struck a chord deep inside him.

"Then whatever you do, keep it discreet and don't draw attention to yourself." Johannes tiredly ran a hand through his thinning hair and turned back to face Eloy. "Go on now, you have a busy night and I want you to get some rest before you go on stage."

Eloy nodded and left without another word. When he came out into the hall, he saw Ben still lurking down the end, waiting for him to come out. He gave his friend a smile and nodded his head towards their rooms. Ben followed him inside and asked if everything was all right. Eloy told him that Johannes had just chewed him out for woolgathering and that he was fine. Still dubious, Ben let the conversation go at that and headed back to his room. Eloy collapsed on the bed with a sigh and stared up at the ceiling, thoughts whirling. After a few moments of debating with himself, he picked up his mobile and rang Stephen.

"Hey," Stephen answered the phone on the second ring.

"Hey yourself," Eloy said, a smile crossing his face at the sound of his lover's voice. "You naked and ready to chat to me?"

Stephen burst into laughter at Eloy audacious comment. "No, not exactly."

"No?" Eloy responded, trying to sound disappointed. "You mean you don't just sit around waiting for me to call just to have a dirty conversation?"

Stephen was still laughing, shaking his head as Eloy continued. "No, love, I don't." He was sitting in the car waiting for Keith to come out with Jordan. "In fact, I'm sitting in Keith's car with the top down waiting for him to come out with his son. Hardly the place I'd want to be sitting around naked."

"Oh?" Eloy asked, a grin crossing his face. "I think you'd look ravishing if you did that." A snort met his comment and he laughed again. "No?"

"No," Stephen said firmly. "How are you," he asked, changing the subject before the conversation could degrade even further.

"Not too bad. Just waiting before a show tonight." Eloy admitted. "How about you, zusje?"

"Grand, hon." Stephen said. He went on to tell Eloy the news about being chosen as the Pepsi artist and the commercial they were supposed to do for it. "Louis seems to think that this is a treat, though what it really seems is more work in time we don't have already. I just hope it pays off the way he seems to think it will."

Eloy felt mixed emotions about Stephen's news. On one hand he was thrilled for his lover that he was going to be given the chance at exposure in countries they hadn't really had hits in. But another side of him knew that with the increased work, that they'd have even less time to call their own. He didn't let his thoughts colour the enthusiasm he voiced for Stephen's news though.

"How long is all that supposed to take?" Eloy asked. Stephen told him it hadn't been settled yet because Louis was still working at the details. Their conversation was cut short as Eloy heard the excited chatter of Keith's son as he got into the car and said his hellos to Stephen. "I guess I better let you go then."

"Yeah, I guess. I'll give you a ring later, okay?" Stephen said, turning in his seat to wink at Jordan as Keith buckled him into the car seat in the back. "Good luck tonight."

"Thanks," Eloy said. "Talk to you later." He hung up the phone, a little disappointed with the conversation. But the more he thought about it, the more he knew that there would always be a time when one of them wasn't free to chat. He chewed his lip, pensive. He also thought back to his conversation with Johannes, abashed at the way he had acted. He vowed that he was going to be more attentive in the future, and to not let it get in the way of his work. That decided, he got up and went to go find his friends so they could spend some time together before the evening performance...

As evening drew to a close, Stephen sat at the kitchen table at his house, putting some lyrics to paper. He really enjoyed having the evenings to himself with nothing to distract him. Keith had invited him over for dinner, but Stephen had demurred, wanting some time to himself. So, after making himself a sandwich, he sat down at the kitchen table with the notebook that he habitually carried his song ideas in, and fleshed out the lyrics he had been working on. It wasn't until he had gone through the pitcher of ice tea and his bladder began to complain that he realised he had been sitting there for hours. He had been so absorbed in what he was doing that he hadn't been aware of the passing time.

He blinked owlishly at his watch, finding it hard to focus after staring at the paper so long. Around him were piles of papers that he had put aside. He was slightly astonished with both the time and the amount of work he had gotten done. His back creaked as he stretched and he had to shake the tingle out of his hand, he had been holding onto the pen so long.

The insistent twinge from his bladder prompted him to move. He got up, wincing as the pressure increased and almost hobbled over to the downstairs bathroom. Afterwards, he cleaned up and headed upstairs to bed. He wondered if Eloy was going to be able to chat before bed, but considered just letting him relax for the night. Despite the joking earlier, there had been a bit of tension in his voice that worried Stephen. He chewed his lip thoughtfully as he shut off the downstairs light and climbed the stairs to his bedroom. By the time he had washed up in the bathroom, he had changed his mind again. He wanted to hear Eloy's voice again.

Having made his decision, he sat down on the bed and leaned up against the wall, pulling the telephone onto his lap. It was just after midnight for Eloy, so hopefully he was back in his apartment or hotel room. Wherever he was tonight. Stephen blinked as he realised he didn't quite know where Eloy was. So he dialed Eloy's mobile.

Eloy had just gotten back to his hotel room after the after show party when he felt his mobile vibrate. With a glance to his watch he smiled, knowing that it was Stephen on the other end.

"Hey babe," he said in a low voice as he dropped down onto the sofa.

"Is that how you always answer the phone?" Stephen asked teasingly, trying to sound affronted.

"Yeah, because only my babes call me on my private number," Eloy responded, a grin sliding across his face. He kicked off his shoes and stretched his feet out, stifling a sigh.

"Is that a fact?" Stephen demanded. "And how many babes do you have calling you?"

"Hmmm, just one at the moment," Eloy admitted, deciding to let Stephen off lightly in his teasing.

"For the moment and for the future, buster!" Stephen threatened over the phone before giving into a chuckle. "You brat."

"Not me, honing. I am never a brat," Eloy said firmly.

"Hmmm, that's not what your mother said," Stephen joked, making them both laugh before subsiding into a comfortable silence. "How'd it go tonight?"

"Goed, goed," Eloy said, thinking back to their performance that night. "It was one of those good ones, where everything seemed to sync. You know?" Stephen murmured his response. "I made a resolution that I have to pay more attention at group meetings, too. Johannes had my head today for not paying attention to what he was saying."

"And why weren't you paying attention?" Stephen wanted to know.

"Because I couldn't stop thinking about you," Eloy admitted softly. There was a pause as Stephen digested that bit of information before replying.

"E, that's lovely, but don't let thoughts of me get you in trouble with the group," he said seriously. He was staring up at the ceiling, having lain down once they had started talking.

"Ja, I know. But sometimes something happens that makes me think of you and I'm off. That's what happened today," Eloy admitted.

"Was Johannes upset?" Stephen wanted to know, worrying about how much Eloy's fellow band mates and management knew.

"Ja, he was pretty upset. Especially as he was talking about a shake up at the record company and how they haven't been promoting us properly. But Johannes can be a worrywart a lot of the time, so I think its just more of the same." Eloy said, shrugging it off. He didn't want to talk about his manager, now that he had some time alone with Stephen. "Anyhow, what did you do with yourself after picking up Keith's son?"

"Hmmm, not much," Stephen admitted. "Keith dropped me off, I made some dinner and worked on some stuff I'd been playing around with for a bit. Then I'd thought I'd ring you, so here we are."

"Mmmm, here we are," Eloy agreed. "Let me get comfortable so we can chat. Tell me some more about this new gig." With the phone propped against his ear with his shoulder, Eloy listened to Stephen tell him Louis' plans for Boyzone as he got undressed. He turned off the lights and made the way over to his bed where he lay down in the dark. Lying like this with Stephen speaking softly into his ear was as close as he was going to get to having Stephen there by his side for a while. And while not the most satisfying experience, he made due with what he could get.

"Honing, I hope it works out for you. With all the hard work you do, you deserve a break like that," he said warmly. He could tell how excited Stephen was about it and wanted him to do well. He pushed his own problems back, not wanting to change the mood of their conversation.

"Enough about me, have you been able to check out what your schedule is going to be like?" Stephen asked, still wanting to make plans for when they could meet up in London.

"Sorry honing, I haven't had a chance," Eloy said. In truth, he had been afraid to ask Johannes, knowing how upset his manager had been earlier. In fact, it sounded like Johannes was going to do their promotion for them and get them even more work, since the record company had done such a poor job of it themselves. "There just hasn't been time."

"Don't think I'm pushing you, love, because I don't mean to," Stephen said, sensitive to Eloy's mood. "But maybe we can find some time when I get back, yeah?"

"Ja, I'd like that," Eloy responded. They went on to talk about little things and hopes for getting together. Stephen made sure that he let Eloy know that there was no pressure, but whenever he could find some time in his schedule. After a while the late hour got to them both so they decided to call it a night.

"Sleep tight, sweetheart," Stephen wished his lover as he tried to stifle a yawn.

"Mmmm, you too, honing," Eloy said, not bothering to hide his. "I'll let you know when I find out anything."

"You do that, babe. We'll make do," Stephen promised. "I love you."

Eloy closed his eyes as he savoured Stephen's comment. "I love you too, zusje. Goednight."

"Goodnight, baby," Stephen said softly in response. He kept the receiver to his ear until he heard Eloy hang up before reluctantly placing his phone down. While over the last couple of weeks they had been good about their chats, he still felt a sense of incompleteness. He knew that their schedules were going to conflict, but he still hoped that they would have fewer obstacles to their getting together. He sighed and moved the phone onto the floor next to his mattress. Shutting the light, he lay back in the dark and replayed their conversation through his head. He wasn't sure if he was just being paranoid, but it seemed like Eloy had been rather distracted. He certainly hadn't been as playful as he had been in the past, and that worried Stephen because he felt like Eloy might be holding something back. He chewed on his lip thoughtfully, but knew he wasn't going to find an answer staring at the ceiling in the dark. After a moment's pause he made a concerted effort to go to sleep. Perhaps with the coming day things would be clearer....

#

Such wishes didn't seem to be in the cards as Stephen made the mad dash to get ready for recording the commercial for Pepsi. The band had several meetings with Louis as new information came in about their promotion and since they didn't have a lot of time to put anything together, they pulled out the song they did when they hosted the Eurovision contest the year before and decided upon it as the single for the commercial.

The next few weeks were a blur as they rushed to London to film the commercial and then went right into a promotional tour that was already in progress for Pepsi. It did give them the chance to also promote their upcoming single, No Matter What, but the pace that was set for them was horrific.

One day lead to the next with no time for late night chats to loved ones, as they toured from one city to another, doing promotional appearances for Pepsi. They took a late night flight to Copenhagen for a show there, and each of them were looking pretty dazed by the pace that was set as they got off the plane and went out to their awaiting transport to the hotel.

"Lord, what a sorry sight we are," Ronan chuckled, glancing around the van at his band mates. Keith was all but passed out in a corner, hand over his eyes. Mikey was trying to stretch out a sore back that he got from sleeping wrong on the plane. He tried not to jab anyone near him as he winced and moved. Shane was asleep, resting his head on Stephen's shoulder. Stephen meanwhile, was just staring out the window. He hadn't been able to sleep on the flight over and was blinking blearily in the early morning light.

"Weren't we here just yesterday?" Mikey mumbled. Ronan nodded ruefully. The way their schedules had been, it did seem like it was only yesterday when they had arrived in the city to do a television show not too long ago. "What was that film me Mam used to love? 'If This is Tuesday, it Must Be Belgium?' I think I know how those people felt."

Ronan nodded in agreement. Often their travels from country to country and city to city were such a blur that they couldn't even tell where they had been afterwards. They never really had a chance to look around at the places they visited, their trips were so tightly scheduled. He kept on promising to himself that he was going to try to look around and enjoy the place that he was at, and never seemed to be able to do it. The only reason why they had seen as much of New York as they had was because they had been working on the album, and had been given a lot of free reign since it had been also a bit of a holiday.

They soon arrived at their hotel and gratefully stepped out of the van and into the lobby. Stephen had to shake Shane awake long enough to get out. After checking in, they were shown to their rooms, each of them weary beyond belief.

Stephen gratefully closed the door to his room after turning on the light. They didn't have to go to the racetrack where the concert was being held until the next morning so he was looking forward to just curling up in bed and getting some sleep. He was never the best at falling asleep on planes, and this time had been no exception to the rule. With barely a glance to make sure that his bag wasn't in a place where he'd be likely to trip upon waking up, he stripped and fell into bed.

It seemed like no time had passed before he was awake again, feeling only slightly refreshed. He stared up at the ceiling, groggily wondering what had woken him. A glance at the phone didn't reveal the tell tale light of a message, so he rolled over and blearily thought of getting up. Inertia weighted down his limbs and he lay for the longest time trying to get the energy to get out of bed. He was vaguely aware of an insistent pressure from his bladder, but it wasn't enough to wake him. A shadow in one corner of the room startled him as he thought he saw something move in the darkened area. Though he told himself that nothing was there, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. After a few moments of trying to ignore it and failing, he turned on the light, banishing the shadows from the room.

By this point the demand for the bathroom became more urgent, so he acquiesced to the need and made his way to the bathroom. Upon his return, he groaned. Only 5 hours had passed and he was still tired. He stared at the bed, wondering if he could get back to sleep, but a glance at the still dark corner of the room stopped him from returning to the inviting mattress. He tried to look at the clock and find out what time it was, but everything was too blurry to his sleep dazed eyes. He thought about ringing Eloy, but knew what pressure the other man had been under over the last few weeks as well, so he dismissed that idea, though he really wanted to chat with his lover.

With a sigh he turned to the tv, turning to see if there was something to distract him. He curled up on the sofa, the throw pillow on the arm and was soon back asleep with the sounds of the sitcom lulling him into dreamland....