Authors note:
Before I get to the story I wanted to give some background on this story. This story is based on a BSB play/dialogue I used to write with friends. In the story I am Brian’s little sister because he was the one I related to the most at the time. Please remember this story is completely fiction and comes from my very vivid imagination.
It was right after the Holidays, and everyone decided to celebrate at Brian’s house. All of Brian and Leighanne’s family came up, as well as the guys. At this point everyone but AJ, Kevin, Kristin and Nick and Brian’s little sister Sarah were back at their homes. During this whole time Brian had been acting weirder than usual.
“Baby, is something wrong?” Leighanne asked her husband.
“No, why?” Brian replied hiding the truth.
“You’ve just been acting stranger than usual. You got winded while playing with Baylee, and I know you’re good at basketball but your baby sister beat you.”
“I just let her win to be nice.”
“Brian Thomas Littrell, tell me the truth!” Leighanne pleaded getting frustrated with her husband.
“Ok, it is something.” Brian answered, causing Leighanne to sit down on the bed because she didn’t like the tone of Brian’s voice. “Go On”. At this time Brian sat down beside his wife and took her hands. “It’s my heart again”. Leigh Anne’s eyes where starting to get misty as Brian began. “Baby, it’s ok, it’s not as bad as last time.” Brian said trying to comfort her then said under his breath “yet”.
“When did you find out?” Leighanne asked, trying to get all the facts.
“The European leg of the tour.” Brian answered, afraid of the response he would get.
“You have known for over a month and didn’t tell anyone!?” Leighanne screamed shocked by what she had just heard.
“Baby, calm down, I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want them to worry.”
“People are going to worry because they care about you! So, how bad is it?”
“Not too bad, the doctor told me if I overdid it I may need surgery again.” This was hard for Brian to say because he knew the love of his life was hurting, and he hated it was because she was worried about him.
“And have you over done it?” Leigh asked, now with tears coming down her eyes.”No ma’am, I haven’t.” Brian answered hoping that this would calm his wife down and end this discussion.
“You know you’re going to have to tell the guys, and Sarah.” Leighanne stated trying to convince her husband not to keep this to himself anymore.
“The guys I will tell, but not Sarah, I don’t want her to know, she’ll worry.”
“Worry about what?” Sarah, who was holding Baylee because he was crying, asked as she entered the room.
Leighanne thought very quickly and said “About me, I was feeling sick, but I feel better now.” trying to cover for her husband.
“Oh, I’m glad you are feeling better. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Baylee feel down and scrapped his knee; he wanted his Mommy and Daddy.”
“Aww, c’mere little man.” Brian said taking his son and for the first time Sarah saw pain in her brother’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing baby girl, I’m just worried about Leigh and Baylee.”
“For some reason I don’t believe you.”” I don’t know why not, but I am telling you the truth.” Brian said, trying to get his sister to give up on asking.
“Brian, if something is wrong tell me!”
“Nothing is wrong!” Brian snapped causing Sarah to leave the room a little upset.
“Brian, you have to tell her.” Leighanne said trying to convince Brian. “She’s stubborn, and if she thinks something is wrong, she’s not going to give up on finding out what it is so she can fix it.”
“I will tell her when the time is right.” Brian said as he carried Baylee to the bathroom to fix his knee.
Chapter 2
It was a few days later and from the urging of Leighanne, Brian finally decided to tell the others guys about his heart.
“Is everyone here?” Brian asked trying to stall as much as possible.
“Everyone but Alex, I can go get him” Howie volunteered.
“No, it’s ok. He already knows, anyways I have something important…” Brian started, then looked over and saw his little sister who he didn’t want to know.
“Sarah, will you please go and play with Baylee?”
“But your announcement”
“Go now!” Brian snapped. This shocked Sarah a little because Brian hardly ever raised his voice to her, but her stubbornness over-ruled her fear. “Why do I have leave? If you’re telling everyone else something I should be able to hear it too!”
“Sarah Michele Littrell go now before I send you home and refuse to let you come back and visit me ever again!” Brian yelled at his sister, which shocked everyone because Brian adored his little sister (especially when she’d come down on vacation and baby-sit Baylee so he and Leigh could go out).
“I hate you!” Sarah shouted running up the stairs crying, however instead of watching Baylee she went to pack her stuff.
Meanwhile in the living room the boys where getting very impatient...
“Brian, what’s this about? And why did you treat Sarah that way!” Nick said getting defensive because he had a little thing for Brian’s sister.
“Ok, everyone sit down and I’ll tell you” Brian took a deep breath.
“That bad huh?” Kevin asked, picking up on his cousin’s facial expressions.
“Yeah… there’s no easy way to say it…” Brian began then stopped because he didn’t want to worry anyone.
“We’re listening, go on” Kevin said, trying to be an encouragement to his cousin.
“I found out on the European leg of the tour that my heart was hurt again, and if I keep on overdoing things and pushing myself too much I may have to have surgery again.”
Meanwhile, with all the drama downstairs, Sarah was being a drama queen upstairs.
“Aunt Sawah, what are you doing?” Baylee, who was playing hide-and-seek with Alex, asked while walking into the guest room, which was his favorite hiding place.
At this time Sarah had to wipe her tears away and put on a fake smile. “Hey Bay-Bay! Whatcha doing?”
“Pwaying hide and seek wif Unkie Alwix”
“Then why aren’t you hiding silly?””I am, why you putting clothes in bag?” Baylee asked tugging on Sarah’s pants leg and looking at her with his blue eyes and an adorable grin.
“I’m playing a game too, want to help?” Sarah asked and picked Baylee up and put him on the bed.
“I found you!” Alex said coming into the room, since he knew Baylee always hid there. “You going back so soon?” Alex asked Sarah seeing her stuff packed up.
“Yeah, I start back to school next week” Sarah responded trying to cover up what was really bothering her.
“Liar! You don’t start back ‘till the 11th because you already said you’d stay with us ‘till after my birthday, then you would fly back” Alex said. Since he knew Sarah just about as well as Brian did, he often stepped into a big brother role with her.
“Brian got mad and yelled at me, so I’m leaving!” At this Alex whispered something in Baylee’s ear who right after kissed Sarah and gave her a sad little puppy dog look. “Don’t leave Aunt Sawah. I’ll miss you”
“Using the child to get me to stay? That’s so not fair!” Sarah said, trying not to laugh at Alex’s attempt.
“Did it work?” Alex asked.
“I’ll let you know” Sarah responded giving a very sly smile. “I need to go clear my head.” And at this Sarah left and went to the lake.
Meanwhile back downstairs.
“Your… your heart?” Nick asked “Why didn’t you tell us sooner!?”
“Because I didn’t want everybody to worry.” Brian answered.
“We’re going to worry because we care about and love you Rok” Kevin said, trying to make his cousin realize he shouldn’t have waited so long to tell them. “What about your mom, dad and brother, do they know?””Yeah, I called them and told them this morning.”
“What about Sarah? Does she know?” Kevin asked, knowing how close Brian and Sarah were.
“Well, um kind of, she had a dream about it last night” Brian answered.
“So that’s why she was screaming all night” Alex said coming down the stairs. His original plan was to use Baylee to get Brian to apologize to Sarah, but after hearing this he decided to talk to Brian man to man. “Hey Baylee, why don’t you go see what your mommy or Tyk or Litty are doing.” At this Baylee ran off to go play, since that was one of his favorite things to do.
“You haven’t told her have you?” Alex asked, taking Brian aside.
“Not technically, but she already thinks she knows due to the dream she had””You need to tell her the truth Brian! She adores you and would fall apart if anything happened to her favorite older brother.”
“I’ll tell her when the time is right” Brian said, still not wanting Sarah to know.
“The right time is now Rok! You can’t hide it from her forever, you saw how she was when I went to rehab and then relapsed and I’m not even her real brother.”
“I guess I better go upstairs and talk to her.” Brian stated, finally realizing he had to tell her.
“She’s not up there, she left” Alex said in a know-it-all sort of way.
“And went where?” Brian asked, annoyed with Alex’s tone of voice.
“I have no idea” Alex said walking off.
“Hey Alex, is it true that you know about Brian?” Howie asked, hoping he wouldn’t have to be the one to break it to his best friend.
“Yeah, I know! And no offense D, but I need to go out and be alone right now”. At this Alex left and little to his knowledge ended up at the same place Sarah went to.
Ch. 3
After riding around for about twenty minutes Brian finally remembered that Sarah liked water, so he drove off to the lake him, Leigh, Baylee, and Sarah went to the first time she came to visit him in his new house. While looking for Sarah, Brian saw Alex sitting on a bench and smoking a cigarette so he decided to join him.
“Are you mad at me too?”
“Naw dude, why would I be?” Alex said looking at Brian like he was crazy.
“‘Cause I didn’t tell you.” Brian said giving Alex the same look he gave him.
“Well, I wish you would have, but I’m not mad.”
“I didn’t want to tell anyone, but Leigh made me” Brian said, changing his tone of voice.
“You’ve got a great woman Rok” Alex complimented, then suddenly changed his tone “You’re not gonna die, right?”
“No man! I’ve got a child to raise.” Brian said trying to be funny than finally saw Alex was serious. “I mean, I’m going to die someday, but not anytime soon.”
“Good to know.” Alex said smiling.
“So, any idea where my sister could be?” Brian asked, then to be funny added “And if so, think you can help me tie her arms and feet so she won’t run off again?” Alex couldn’t help but laugh at how goofy Brian was. “She’s over there.” Alex said pointing to the dock.
Brian playfully hit Alex’s arms “She was there the whole time and you didn’t say anything!?”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Brian asked, hoping Alex would bail him out.
“Go over there and slowly and calmly talk to her.” When Brian got to the dock he saw that Sarah had cried herself to sleep. “She’s asleep.”
“Let’s pick her up and go home.” Alex said. Brian picked up his little sister and started to carry her to the car.
“Are you ok holding and carrying her?” Alex asked a little concerned because he didn’t want Brain to push himself too much.
“Yeah, but if it would make you feel better you can take her.” Brian said being open to Alex’s concern.
“I’ll take her.” Alex said taking Sarah from Brian and carrying her rest of the way to the car. “You going to wake her up and tell her when you get home?” Alex asked.
“No, she needs her sleep, but I’ll tell her in the morning.”
“Promise?” Alex asked, thinking Brian may be lying.
“I promise.” Brian responded then they both went home.
Ch. 4
All that night and the next morning Brian was trying to think of how to break the news of his heart to his baby sister before he had to go to Rehearsal.
“Hey Rok! How is Sarah handling the news about your heart” Alex asked, planning on holding Brian to his promise.
“I’ll let you know once I tell her.” Brian answered and was going to continue before Alex interrupted him “Brian you promised me you’d tell her!”
“Calm down Bone, I told her I needed to talk to her this morning and she’s been hiding from me ever since.”
“Do you want me to help you find her?” Alex asked, since he could usually find Sarah rather quickly.
“No, that’s ok” Brian answered.
“No? You mean you aren’t going to look for her?”
“Nope!” Brian answered. “Sarah’s stubborn, she has to do things when she wants to do them and I know if I wait her out, she’ll give up and come to me.”
“Nice philosophy” Alex complimented “You know she had a dream about you again right”.
“She did, Are you sure?” Brian asked getting concerned since when Sarah has bad dreams she never sleeps, and she hadn’t slept in three nights.
“Yeah, I heard her screaming all night.”
“Ok, I’m gonna go tell her now.’ Brian said going off to find Sarah, who just so happened to be downstairs sitting by the door that lead to the pool.
“Hey itty bitty, why ya hiddin’?” Brian asked his little sister.
“I just need to be alone right now.’ Sarah answered, hoping Brian would pick up on the hint that she wanted him to leave.
“Well, it sucks that you want to be alone because I’m gonna tell you what’s going on.’ Brian responded in a tone that meant he was pulling out his “big brother card” as he called it (which simply meant the privileges he had as an older brother).
“I don’t want to know.” Sarah responded, still trying to hint to Brian that she was in no mood to talk.
“Baby girl, I have to tell you.” Brian started finally getting his sister’s undivided attention. “It might help you to calm down and sleep.”
“I already know ok?” Sarah said which shocked Brian.
“You do?” Brian asked.
“Yep, my dream and connect with you told me!”
“Then what is it?” Brian asked, not believing his sister.
“Something’s wrong with you and you’re gonna die” Sarah said running off again!
“Sarah get back here!” Brian shouted but it was too late, Sarah was already gone.
Ch. 5
“Woah buddy, where’s the fire?” Kevin asked as soon as Sarah ran into him.
“ Get out of my way!” Sarah shouted very hostelly.
“ Excuse me!” Kevin said raising his hand like he was going to smack Sarah since he hated when she acted like a brat.
“ Kev, don’t you dare hit her!” Kristin snapped “ She just found out about her brother and she’s a bit emotional.”
“But baby, she knows better than that!” Kevin said trying to make Kristin see things his way “ She knows not to act like a brat!”
“ Calm down!” Kristin said to Kevin, then turned to Sarah. “ Would you like for me, you and Leigh Anne to go out and talk?” she asked knowing Sarah always liked them and could probably use some encouragement from females right now.
“No thanks!” Sarah said very rudely.
“C’mon Sarah, a girls night out may do us all some good. “ Leigh said trying to convince Sarah to go.
“ Leigh shut up!” Sarah said being rude again. “Your mind games will not work on me!”. Little did Sarah know that Brian was standing right behind her the whole time and as soon as Sarah started to run he picked her up.
“PUT ME DOWN!” Sarah shouted!
“No, and if you keep acting like this then you’re gonna be in big trouble lil’ lady!”
“No I won’t! You can’t do anything to me!” Sarah shouted while doing everything in her power to get loose.
“Wanna bet?” Brian said using his tone that let Sarah know that he meant everything he was saying and is she knew what was good for her she’d stop.
“Whatever! You’re a softie for me!” Sarah said still hitting and kicking trying to get loose.
“Not when you’re acting like a brat!” Brian stated, still using the same tone that Sarah hated.
“Brian put me down or else!”” Or else what?” Brian said, knowing he was much stronger than Sarah and she probably couldn’t hurt him too bad. After he said that Sarah hit Brian in the one very hurtful spot on him that she knew was the only way she could get him to let go. As soon as she got loose and started to run, Brian quickly recovered and grabbed her and brought her into another room and put her in a chair and sat right in front of the door.
“Now calm down before I pop your butt!” Brian threatened and of course with this Sarah had to push the limits and headed for the door, but instead of popping her Brian picked her up and sat with her on the couch and rubber the back and said very calmly “ Baby girl, please calm down. I’m going to be ok. Please stop acting like this and started acting like my sweet little sister.
“ Why should I”” Sarah asked still pushing “ You wouldn’t ever hit me!”
“Probably not, but I will ground you from the shows you’ll be at.” After hearing that Sarah calmed down since even though she was eight years younger than Brian and in her twenties, Brian sometimes took on the parent role while she’d visit him and her not being allowed to go to the shows was the worst punishment ever.
“ Please tell me my dream wasn’t true’ Sarah said, finally starting to calm down a little.
“ You mean the one about me and my heart?” Brian asked and Sarah nodded. “ It was true… but I’m not dying.” This caused Sarah to just start bawling. “ Can I please just be left alone?” Sarah asked.
“ Sure” Brian said walking out the door.
“ Is she ok?” Nick asked.
“ Yeah, I think so, she’s crying a lot” Brian answered realizing his best friend liked his little sister.
“Anything I can do to help?” Nick asked.
“Not really, she just wanted to be alone for a while and I think it’d be best to give her that space.”
Meanwhile Sarah had snuck at and as soon as she did Tyk went into frenzy and started braking cause her saw her leave.
“Tyk what is it”” Brian asked walking to the door. However this didn’t clam Tyk down, he kept barking and scratching at the door until Brian let him out and finally saw Sarah.
“Sarah Michele Littrell get back in this house right now!” Brian said sternly but Sarah just kept on walking which caused Tyk to run straight to her.
“ Tyk, go back to Brian!” Sarah said, trying to get Tyk to shush, however he just kept on barking like crazy.
“ Tyk go now!”” Sarah yelled and at that Tyk who was a smart dog and knew Sarah was doing something she wasn’t supposed to do so he bit her shoe, trying to get her to stay.
“Bad Dog Tyk!” Sarah snapped causing Brian to run out and come to them.
“ Sarah and Tyk both of you get back in the house.” At this Tyk went back into the house but Sarah didn’t.
“ I just wanted to go for a walk” Sarah said trying to cover up her getting caught.
“ You are full of it” Brian said getting annoyed.
: Then your stupid dog had to attack me!””Go in the hose now!” Brain said in the harshest voice she’s used towards Sarah in a long time! This cause Sarah to go back into the house and run up the stairs royally ticked off!
“ Why are you so ticked” Brian asked coming up right behind her. “ I should be ticked at you!”
“Leave me alone! “ Sarah yelled.
“No, you may run away again!”
“ I’m not that stupid! I already got caught once so I won’t do it again” Sarah said still yelling!”How can I trust you!” Brian yelled back! At this Sarah just exploded and said a few choice words to Brian and called him every name in the book. Brian did the only thing he could think of and started to pop Sarah’s mouth like he did when she was younger and she cussed, however, Sarah turned her head just when he was about to slap her mouth and he ended up slapping her cheek instead.
Ch. 6
After Brian hit her cheek, Sarah was fed up that she decided she didn’t want to be near Brian ever again, so she ran downstairs.
“Nicky!”
“Yeah?” Nick asked, hoping Sarah was going to ask him something nice.
“Take me to the airport right now!” Sarah said.
“What are you talking about?” Nick asked, completely confused by how Sarah was reacting.
“Please take me to the airport.””Why?” Nick asked
“I don’t want to stay here!” Sarah shouted. “I Want to go back home”
“So, you’re going to leave your brother when he really needs you?” Nick asked.
“He doesn’t need me!” Sarah said, trying to hold back her tears. Nick had no idea what to say so he just looked at her.
“I can tell me being here is going to make it worse”. At this Sarah cried her eyes out.
“No it’s not going to make it worse?” Nick said trying to comfort Sarah. “He adores you.”
“But I’m stressing him out, and that’s going to kill him that much faster” Sarah said still crying.
“He’s not going to die” Nick said in a very comforting way.
“He will if I don’t leave because I’ll be the one that cause him to overdue his heat!” Nick knew that Sarah’s emotions where doing most of the talking at this time so he did the only thing he could think of and just hugged her.
Meanwhile upstairs Brian was in his room beating himself up for slapping his sister, even though it was an accident.
“Hey baby what’s wrong?” Leighanne asked.
“Now do you see why I didn’t’ want to tell people?” Brian yelled.
“Baby, you had to tell them.” Leigh said trying not to raise her voice.
“I shouldn’t have told Sarah! Look how she reacted” Brian said still beating himself up!
“Brian quit beating yourself up! It’s completely normal to react like she did.” Leighanne said, trying to stay calm. “When you hear something like that about someone you care about it is a scary thing!
“I smacked her” Brian said finally coming out with the truth.
“You Smacked her?” Leigh said shocked, “Where!?”
“On the cheek, but it was an accident” Brian said. “ She was cussing me out so I meant to hit her mouth like I did when she was younger, but she turned her head at the time I was about to hit her mouth.”
“Oh, well I suggest you apologize to her and realize that she is letting her emotions do the thinking right now!” Leigh stated trying to come up with the thing she knew would cause the least amount of drama.
Meanwhile downstairs.”Will you tell Bri I went out for a little bit?” Sarah asked Nick.
“Out? Out where?” Nick asked trying to make sure Sarah wasn’t running away from her problem.
“Just to walk around.”
“I should probably come with you” Nick offered, trying to protect Sarah.
“I’d rather be alone… I’ll stay around her and just walk around.” And with that Sarah went to the pool, sat down, wrapped up in Brian’s jacket and just cried.
Chapter 7
After giving himself a few minutes to calm down, Brian went to talk to his sister, who was still curled up in his jacket and crying.
“Baby girl, please don’t cry” Brian said reaching out to comfort Sarah, which just made her turn away.
“Sarah, talk to me, it may help, and if you don’t want to talk then just listen”. Brian didn’t get another word in before Sarah interrupted him.
“I’m going home tomorrow, my plane leaves at noon.”
“I wish you wouldn’t leave.”
“Why’s that?” Sarah asked.
“‘Cause then all of the money I put into adding on to my house to make you your very own apartment would go to waste.” Brian answered.
“You made me an apartment?”” Of course, you can stay as long as you’d like.” Brian said smiling.
“How much would I have to pay for rent?”
Brian chuckled then jokingly said “$500 a month!” At this Sarah’s eyes got huge. “I’m kidding! I wouldn’t charge you anything! You can stay as long as you want and take care of Baylee; have a relationship with Nick, whatever you wish.”
“What about school Brian? And Nick lives in Florida; I couldn’t possibly do a long distance relationship!”
“You can transfer to the college here.” Brian offered.
“Bri, it’s my senior year at Carson-Newman! I love it there! I couldn’t just pack up and leave!”
“Well, you’ll have a place to stay when you graduate, and as for Nick, he visits a lot, he practically lives here, I’m surprised he hasn’t moved in yet, therefore it wouldn’t be long distance. What do you say? Stay here for your vacations like you planned then move in after you graduate.”
“All right” Sarah said “And I’ll think about a relationship with Nick.” After saying this Brian and Sarah hugged and walked back into the house.
The End.
Notes: Copyrighted 2005
