A/N: Yep…already posting the next chapter. What can I say? It's the weekend and I don't THINK I have any homework, and well…I'm hooked on Spectacular! What can I say? Anywho, here's the next chapter. Please review! ^_^

Oh, and for the record, I have never been to WA, so I don't know what kind of hospitals or things like that are actually functioning, so I figured I'd use one that I had heard of on a website.

Chapter One: Wake Up Call

It had been twelve years since their mother disappeared and Elias turned on them. Twelve years, and Nikko still woke up screaming during a thunderstorm, the smell of alcohol and sweat surrounding him, smothering him. He had never gotten over it, not even when his brother had finally managed to get him away and send their father to prison when Stavros had turned eighteen. Nikko had been twelve (almost thirteen) years old at the time.

Taking a deep breath, Nikko reached up and pushed a strand of his brown hair to the side so it would be out of his face. It was morning, he realized faintly. He could smell pancakes cooking in the kitchen and could hear his brother humming some old Greek lullaby their mother used to sing, before she had abandoned them.

Bitterness welled up in his chest when he thought about Zoë and he had to willfully push it down; that was all in the past. He had a different life now. He had Courtney, and he had Spectacular, and they were all getting pretty popular. In fact, they had a small loyal fan base at their high school that always begged them to put on a show in the auditorium or at some fair or other. Nearly everybody had a copy of their single, and they were fast becoming famous even in neighboring towns and counties.

People from rival high schools came to see their shows, and even paid a bit of money, which certainly helped finance a lot of things; not that their record deal didn't pay for most of it, but they did have to give some of that money to Nels and the other members of Flux, and also had to give some of the money to the school (the principal claimed that Spectacular, as an after school activity, had to share whatever money that they earned with the school; they had tried to contest the fact, but eventually, the school won).

Even so, the success of "Everything can Change" was pretty unbelievable, especially considering that the single had only been out for about 2 weeks. Finishing the single had taken a lot more time than Nikko had thought, but it had all been worth it. In fact, it was downright exhilarating. On the day after their single came out, he remembered Courtney nearly passing out with surprise to see people wearing Spectacular T-Shirts, asking them to sign their copies of the single and telling them how much they enjoyed listening to it.

A soft smile came to his lips as he thought about Courtney. She was…amazing. So full of energy, so full of life. Sure, she still had moments where she was scared to take chances, but she was getting better and Nikko loved her for it. That's when he realized that he was supposed to meet Courtney for breakfast this morning at the café down the street.

Jumping out of bed, Nikko nearly fell face first onto the floor. His blankets were wrapped around his ankles and he had to hop around for a minute before escaping them. He was only wearing a pair of navy blue boxers and a band t-shirt, so he grabbed the first pair of pants he saw on the floor and pulled them on, then grabbed his favorite black hoodie and put it on. Quickly, he stumbled out of the room and ran towards the single bathroom that he and his brother shared in their apartment to brush his teeth. When that was done, he looked at his bed-head and just ruffled it a bit before leaving it alone; after all, bed-head was getting pretty stylish these days. That done, he rushed towards the front door.

Stavros, startled by the abruptness of his little brother, glanced at him. "Off so early? You know it's the weekend right? I made pancakes," he said, holding up a plate of the golden-brown breakfast food.

"Sorry, bro; I'm supposed to be meeting Court for breakfast," he said, grabbing his wallet (which he had left on the couch accidentally the night before), and stuffing it in his back pocket. "Later!" he called then, leaving his very confused older brother in his wake.

Stavros sighed. "Guess I'll be eating all this alone," he muttered, glancing down at the large plate of pancakes.

~*****~

"You're late!" Courtney said, not wasting any time in berating her boyfriend. She stood at the table she had been holding for them for the past 30 minutes, her arms folded disapprovingly across her chest.

Nikko had the decency to look abashed, but quickly recovered, flashing her a bright smile. "I was too busy dreaming of you," he said in perfect innocence.

Courtney tried her hardest to hold in her laughter and keep her stern pose, but his look was too much, and eventually she cracked and her laughter bubbled out of her, which only served to make Nikko smile even more brightly; he loved her laugh. Assuming he was done being in trouble, he reached across and pecked Courtney softly on her lips and then sat down; she followed.

"What were you really doing, Nikko?" she said, picking up her menu and looking over it at him.

"Just laying around, I guess. I really was thinking of you, though. Scout's honor!" Nikko held up his hand in a mock Scout-Salute, and then picked up his own menu. He quickly scanned over the choices, then looked up at Courtney. "I don't even know what half of this is! Don't they have anything that doesn't start with frappa-mocha-latte-chai-thingy?" he said.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Those are coffees, idiot," she said, reaching over and flipping the menu over to the other side, "Look at the food selection; I assure you none of them start with…whatever it is you just said." A happy smile lilted her lips even as she made fun of him, and Nikko was struck again by how beautiful she was. It wasn't that she was what every guy dreamed of; she didn't have a perfectly symmetrical face, or a make-up covered facade, but rather, she had a beauty that was all her own and completely unique, not to mention, natural; it was breathtaking.

Feeling that she was being stared at, she met his eyes again. "Take a picture, it lasts longer," she said.

Nikko laughed. "Sorry…Anyways, I think I'll have a simple omelet. What about you?"

"That sounds good…I think I'll have the same," Courtney agreed and held up her hand to signal that she was ready to order. When the waiter came over, she quickly told him exactly what she wanted in her omelet. She did this with complete attention to detail; Nikko found it hilarious that, even in food, Courtney still liked things folded neatly in a box, not even touching the corners, as Janet had said.

When the waiter finished taking Courtney's order, he glanced at Nikko. "And what would you like in your omelet, sir?" he said.

Nikko smirked. "Surprise me," he said, and Courtney kicked him under the table, letting him know that she got the joke.

The waiter smiled, asked if they needed anything else and then took the menus away.

"Ow, what'd you have to kick me for?" Nikko said, trying to sound scandalized but managing to sound amused instead.

"Nikko Alexander, I can tell when I'm being made fun of! Are you going to tell me that now I have to be spontaneous when I'm eating, too?" she said jokingly.

He shrugged. "It couldn't hurt," he said, and she kicked him again before both of them settled down to wait for their food to arrive.

~*****~

Stavros sighed; his stomach was killing him, so he had decided that it was time for a trip to the store to get some Pepto Bismol. He also decided to get a few groceries so he could make Courtney's favorite food for dinner; she had called and asked if she could eat with them that night and Stavros loved cooking for people, so he had immediately agreed. Now seemed as good a time as any to get all of the ingredients he needed. Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on having such a hard time finding the perfect spinach for his much-loved Spanakopita.

"Oh!" an exclamation behind him caused Stavros to turn around, his curiosity immediately taking over. His dark eyes came to rest on two women, one was older, with a pale blonde bob; she looked to be in her late 40s, early 50s. Something about the woman triggered something, but he hadn't quite figured out what it was when the woman suddenly moved towards him. The younger woman, who Stavros figured was a nurse of some kind, tried to grab hold of her. "Zoë! Please, you're confusing the poor gentleman," she cried.

Stavros immediately dropped everything he was holding and stared at the older woman. No…it couldn't be…it was impossible. She couldn't be… "Stavros!" Zoë cried, wrapping two arms that looked like they were made of nothing but bone around him.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir; you see, she thinks that you're her son. The poor woman's mind has been ruined by drugs, and she doesn't really know what she's doing, so please forgive her," the nurse said, trying to pull Zoë off of him.

"M-mom?" he whispered, ignoring the nurse and holding the blonde woman out at arm's length. She looked terrible; her dark eyes were sunken and her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in a long while. At the corners of her eyes, pronounced crow's feet marked the passage of time. She wasn't wearing decent clothes; just a fluffy pink bathrobe. Even though only twelve years had passed since she had walked out on her family, Zoë Alexander looked like it had been thirty instead; age had not treated her well. And yet…yet, Stavros knew it was her. There was a kind of recognition in her eyes.

"What happened to you?" he said, his voice cracking as he took her in.

"Um…excuse me, but are you saying that you really are her son?" the woman said. Stavros looked up at her and only managed to nod.

The nurse heaved a sigh. "Oh, thank god! We've been trying to find her family for ages---ever since she stumbled into our sanitarium five years ago, in fact. Oh, my name's Quinn…Quinn McCarthy," the woman said, holding out her hand.

Only now did Stavros allow himself to actually look at the younger woman; she was quite beautiful, with long, wavy red hair, grey eyes and a dusting of freckles across her pale cheeks.

"I…um…my name is Stavros; Stavros Alexander," he said, taking the proffered hand and shaking it, mechanically. His day had become incredibly confused. "Did you say…that her mind has been ruined by drugs?" he said, meaning, of course, Zoë. To himself, he thought, 'How far have you fallen, mom, since you left us?'

A sad look crossed Quinn's face and she nodded. "When she came, she was hugely addicted to heroine and crack. We managed to get her to quit, but by then, her mind had already been broken so we decided it was safer for her to stay with us. We tried to find her family, but she never told us her last name. Just said that her name was Zoë and that she needed to find her boys. It's really…well, incredible, that we actually found you. This wasn't the first time that she claimed a stranger was one of her sons; I never expected that you would actually be him," Quinn stated.

Stavros felt his heart break at her words and he looked at his long-lost mother, who was gingerly picking around in the produce isle, completely oblivious to the fact that he and Quinn were talking about her.

"How the hell did this happen?" he muttered, rubbing his face. He then looked at his watch. Nikko was bound to be home soon. He wondered how he was going to explain all of this to him. Stavros knew that Nikko still held a grudge against their mother for leaving them; he didn't understand the sort of pain their mother had gone through, or how hard it had been for her to leave them as she had done…this was made painfully evident by the addictions she had fallen to.

Quinn suddenly looked at her own watch and a look of alarm passed over her face. "Oh, no! I'm sorry, but we have to go. If you want to see your mother, just come by the Western State Sanitarium, in Tacoma. Ask for me at the reception's desk and I'll lead you to your mother," Quinn said and then took his mother by the arm and pulled her gently away from the food. She protested weakly and tried to latch onto Stavros.

"I'll come see you, Mom," he assured her, then planted a kiss on her sallow cheek. Quinn smiled at him, then looked at his mother.

"Come on, Zoe. We have to get back to the hospital now. Don't you want to see Ginger and Trevor?" Quinn coaxed, pulling her down the isle towards the door. Stavros watched her go, then picked up his basket and went about the process of finding the rest of his ingredients, his stomach ache all but forgotten now.

~*****~

A/N: That's it for this chapter. Thanks for reading and I look forward to any reviews I can get! ^_^