Chapter Six

Strange Encounters of the Celebrity Kind

"Liz, has anyone ever told you that you move really slowly?" Dak asked as he finished tying his shoes and stood up from the couch in his dressing room. He turned his attention to Lizzie, who was sitting in his chair, putting on makeup. "Like, really slowly? You know we're only going to dinner, right?"

"You can't rush me, I'm putting on makeup," Lizzie replied with a short pout as she continued to focus on her reflection.

"Riles and Rhubes wear makeup and even they don't take this long," Dak commented as he walked up behind his sister. "Not that you could ever tell apart from their eyes anyway." He let out a groan as Lizzie screwed up one cap and unscrewed another one. "Why do you all like to wear so much makeup anyway?" He started lightly tugging on the back of her ponytail.

Lizzie turned around in her chair and smacked at Dak's hands. "If I don't do this, then my eyes will sink in, which, in effect, with make my mouth disappear, and make my nose look too big and-"

"I'm sorry I asked." Dak commented as he held up his hands defensively.

Lizzie turned back to the mirror, the bright lights around the perimeter illuminating her face. "Just go read some of that fan-mail from New York and leave me alone." She murmured, opened her eyes and mouth wide as she put on mascara.

Dak shook his head and plopped down onto the couch and started to dig through his fan-mail once more. He pulled a few out and read some of them, setting them aside to reply to later. Even if he didn't have a lot of time to talk to fans, hardly getting a chance to go on his MyFace or ScuttleButter, he at least tried to respond to fans through their fan-mail. He also made sure to take pictures with as many fans that he could after shows, knowing that the moment that he took to acknowledge them made their day. Talking to DE and BTR, they all agreed that one of the best things about their job is that they were able to meet their fans and be able to make their day when they pose to take pictures.

"What's with that look on your face, Bro?" Dak looked up and noticed that Lizzie had turned around in her chair, making the final touches on her hair. "You look like you're concentrating really hard." She shook her head. "Are you stuck on a tough word? Sound it out and you'll get it." She giggled to herself as Dak rolled her eyes.

"It's not that," he replied lowering his gaze to the letter in his hand. "It's just another letter from Melissa, same thing that she sent WayneWayne." He slapped it against his palm. "I think that she sent it to my address in New York and in LA just to be sure that I got it."

"So what's the problem with that, she just wants to be sure she talks to you," Lizzie said with a shrug. She noticed that Dak's serious expression didn't change. "Are you thinking about when WayneWayne called you to talk about it a couple of days go?" She shrugged. "I'm sure it was nothing."

"You're probably right," Dak commented as he moved the letter over to the pile that he was going to respond to. "Might as well talk, it might make her life. Maybe she's lonely or something." He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and stood up once more. "Are you done yet?"

"Back off." Lizzie replied flippantly as she turned back around.

"Has anyone ever told you that you spend way too much time with Katie?" Dak asked after noticing that her short outburst mimicked her brunette best friend quite closely. "You don't have a stash of money hidden anywhere do you? If so, I'm going to have to be careful what card games you guys play when you're together."

Lizzie couldn't help but laugh. Even though a lot of the time he was overprotective (which probably went into the territory of being a brother in general) she knew that he was only doing it to show that he cared. She sighed as she shook her head. She couldn't even remember the last time that it seemed like her parents cared. They would always get so excited about her dance recital and promise that they could make it, but then they would disappoint her and not make it at all. It was nice that her brother was always there to support her; it was even nicer when her friends would surprise her to see her recitals as well. But it was nothing like knowing that your parents would take time out of their day to support you in what you were doing. When they didn't show up, it just made her feel even worse than the last time she thought that they would actually show.

"Do you think that Mom and Dad are going to make it to your opening show?" Lizzie asked as she finally finished putting on makeup.

Dak snorted. "I wouldn't hold my breath about it." He replied. "Why do you think that I took you with me instead of leaving you all alone back home?" He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and busied himself by looking through it, trying to avoid the conversation.

Lizzie shrugged. "I don't know, I could have gone to Australia with the Jacksons, you know Ronan wouldn't have minded if I came with them." She shrugged again. "They have a lot of space back home." She added. She then gave a half smile. "Unless you would have been scared that I would spend all my time telling your girlfriend embarrassing stories about you when you couldn't defend yourself."

"You and I both know that nothing would stop you from doing that anyway," Dak commented as he put his wallet back in his pocket, ignoring her very unsubtle dig at him. "And I would have been more jealous of the fact that you got to spend more time with her than I would, than having to worry about you telling lies about me." He added pointedly.

Lizzie shrugged. "I mean, you don't typically take me with you, so why did you decide to bring me on this one?"

Dak's eyebrows lowered. "I knew that I wouldn't have time to look out for you with everything else that I've done and this one, I have more time to do so. Plus, would you really want to stay home in that quiet house by yourself?" He continued when Lizzie shook her head. "It's probably the only good thing about them knowing about our Mom and Dad." He said more to himself than her. "But I also didn't want you to impose on their vacation and the short amount of time that they get to spend relaxing."

Lizzie slowly shook her head as she looked at her brother. Part of her believed him, but part of her also believed that he was hiding something that he was too embarrassed to tell her or to admit in general. She wasn't going to pressure him into telling her though, if he wanted to tell her, he would have on his own time. Besides, it wasn't like she wouldn't be able to trick it out of him anyway.

"You finally ready?" Dak asked.

Lizzie reached over and grabbed her purse off of the floor. "Ready." She replied with a smile.

"That was a good dinner," Lizzie said with a sigh as she wrapped her arms around Dak's neck. "They really know how to cook in Denver. I don't think that I can move, my stomach is so full."

Dak rolled his eyes as he shifted his arms under Lizzie's legs and hopped once, pushing her further up his back so she wouldn't fall down. "That's probably the only reason that I'm carrying you back to the hotel. If I didn't offer to do it, I'd roll you back home."

"Are you calling me fat?" Lizzie let out a fake gasp as she hit her brother on the back.

"No, I'm just saying that you eat like a horse." Dak replied and then let out what was a cross between a laugh and a gasp of pain. Lizzie had let go of her brother with one hand and reached behind him to the waistband of his pants. With one sharp tug, she managed to pull his underwear and jeans up his ass-crack. "Ow! Ow! Lizzie, stop! I was kidding!"

Satisfied, Lizzie let go of her brother's jeans and leaned forward, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Dak smiled as he shook his head, continuing his walk back to the hotel that they were staying in while the Legally Blonde was being put on. It was one of the few perks of working in the show, he got the room for free, and it was big enough that he and Lizzie could both stay in it comfortably. The other reason that he brought her, not that he would totally admit it out loud, was that he knew that he was going to be lonely without her there. If she had gone with the Jacksons or just stayed back home, his loneliness would have increased and he would have probably fallen into what she called his 'depressive state' where he didn't do anything unless he was asked to hang out by his cast mates or he had a rehearsal to go to.

It must be the disappointment that I've felt, being let down by Mom and Dad so much over the years. It's starting to get to me. Dak thought to himself. It's also probably the only reason that I can't stand being in my house when it's empty. It's no wonder WayneWayne noticed it so quickly.

"You have that look on your face again," Lizzie noted, speaking quietly so she wasn't yelling directly into his ear. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Dak replied shortly. "And let's just leave it at that." He let out a yawn. "I'm too tired to talk about it anyway." He stood short as a dirty-blonde girl blocked his path. "Oh," Dak stepped back so fast that he almost dropped Lizzie off of his back. "Sorry, I almost walked right into you."

"You're Dak, right?" The girl asked, as if she hadn't noticed that she had almost been knocked to the ground. "Dak Zevon? You're going to be in Legally Blonde?"

"We're rehearsing for it now, yeah." Dak replied with a nod. He bent down and slowly slid Lizzie off of his back so he could address her properly. He held out his hand and shook hers vigorously. "It's nice to meet you, are you a fan?"

"Yes," The girl replied with a bright smile. "My name's Lissa."

"It's nice to meet you, Lissa." Dak replied with a smile of his own. "It's always nice to meet a fan. They're what keeps me going."

"And trying to impress your girlfriend." Lizzie added shortly. Dak shot her a look, but Lizzie ignored him as she continued to look at Lissa. She studied her carefully; there was something off about this girl, she could just tell. She had a…for lack of a better word, hungry look in her eyes as she looked at Dak. Lissa must have noticed Lizzie's staring, for she turned to the younger blonde girl and gave her a smile, her eyes flashing.

"Oh and this is my sister, Lizzie." Dak said as he put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her into his side. Lizzie didn't say anything in reply, she just continued to study the girl. "We were just having dinner at this nearby restaurant."

Way to tell her our life story, bro. Lizzie rolled her eyes. Sometimes she hated how he moved into 'Teen Icon' mode after he met a fan. It made him talk a lot, trying to the make the fan feel comfortable. While there were times this was an admirable quality, other times Lizzie wanted to kick him because of it.

"Oh," Lissa's smile cracked a little. "You have a girlfriend?" Dak nodded slowly, as if he wasn't sure that he wanted to tell her that. "That's nice, how long have you two been together?"

Dak hesitated for a moment. Lizzie knew that he was torn with how much detail he should give about it. Patrick and Noah had given him and WayneWayne friendly advice not to say too much when it came to their relationships, knowing that back home they were still waiting for the right time to tell their fans about their abuse. Anything that a boyfriend or a date said could be linked back to it, so they now were very cautious over interviews, interviewers, and questions they were asked. Ronan, showing his dual role of a father and their manager said that no matter what happened he would help the best that he could, but in essence it was really their decision what to say if they were flat-out asked if they were with someone.

"Not long," Dak replied finally.

"Would I know who you're going out-"

"No," Dak quickly shook his head. Lizzie looked up at him, oddly. She knew that Dak and Rhuben had come to an agreement that if he was flat-out asked if he was dating her, he could say that they were dating, and if he wasn't asked, he wouldn't say anything about it. But he had just been asked and didn't say anything, although with everyone else, he was almost bouncing off the walls to tell them, since he had waited so long. "You wouldn't know her; she's someone I know from back home in Wisconsin."

"Oh, ok," Lissa's smile widened and she took a step towards Dak, looking him up and down. "But you haven't been together for long, that doesn't mean that you won't-"She stopped when a group of people suddenly walked over, pushing her out of the way a little bit. They obviously recognized Dak from one of his old movies, as they were bouncing around and squealing about Varsity Vampire.

Lizzie actually hated that movie and made fun of her brother about it all the time. After it came out, she went around for a month taunting him with a game of basketball as well as throwing chunks of garlic at him, making jokes about how he wasn't melting from it. She was probably 11 or 12 at the time that it came out and thinking about it now, she was sort of a brat about it. But she really hated the movie and she was never afraid to tell her brother what she thought.

Lizzie pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed speed dial 5, watching as Dak started to sign as many notebooks and iphones that were shoved into his face. She waited for the ringing to stop.

"Hello?" Patrick's voice came onto the line.

"Hey," Lizzie said quickly. "I'm sorry if it's really late or really early where you are, but I need to talk to you guys." She paused. "But make sure your sisters don't hear you." She added.

"Hold on," Lizzie heard the sound of pounding feet for a few moments and then the sound of people grunting in pain. There was silence, muffled voices, and then she heard Patrick's voice on the phone once more. "Hey Lizzie, we're all here." Patrick said. She could hear the slight concern in his voice. "What's up?"

"I need you guys to do me a favor," she replied.

"Done." Patrick said simply.

Lizzie blinked and pulled the phone from her ear, looking at it in surprise for a moment. She spoke slowly as she put the phone back to her ear. "You don't even know what I was going to ask." She didn't even know why she said that, she knew that every time she needed help on something they would be there to help her even before she had to say anything.

"Doesn't mean we won't help you." Noah said, solidifying her thoughts.

"Alright, so, you know that Melissa chick that's been sending letters to Dak and WayneWayne?" Lizzie asked. She looked over her shoulder at her brother, who was still signing autographs. "I know that they've only gotten one so far, but, I don't know, I have a weird feeling. I was wondering if you'd be able to find out anything just by analyzing her handwriting or something."

"Analyzing her handwriting only gives you her personality," Sydney commented. "Not anything else that you'd want to know, like," he paused. "Her full name for a background check or something." He laughed along with his brothers, and Lizzie could almost see the dimples that were probably put into the younger boy's cheeks. "Wait," Sydney paused. "That's what you want, isn't it? A background check on this girl?"

"Well, Riley was the one that said that they have to worry about a fan being a fanatic." Lizzie replied slowly.

"Yeah, only 1 out of 10 times," Noah said, sounding confused. "Most of the time they just emotionally invest themselves into the celebrity."

"Yeah, but there's still the chance," Lizzie insisted. "You remember that one story of that girl that committed suicide because she heard that Justin was dating Britney? You know, the girl that thought that Justin really liked her."

"You know that was a hoax, right?" Patrick asked.

"I do know that," Lizzie was starting to become frustrated.

Obviously they couldn't see how this could be something that they needed to watch out for. Granted, they knew how fans worked better than she ever could, having been around them ever since they started working on music. But they never had the potential to be stalked, as they had (somewhat) heavy security, especially after their father had gone to jail. They didn't have to worry about it anymore; they even had a security officer that was a friend of theirs continuously visit them when they were back home. So if a fan ever tried to get to them, it would be over and done with pretty quickly. But Dak and WayneWayne were different. Admittedly, since Big Time Rush came onto the scene, Dak wasn't as famous as he used to be, she and her brother had both mentioned it a few times. And if Lizzie had to guess, Dak was a bit jealous of it, but knew that fame went in waves, and she also knew that he was enjoying his run with musical theatre. And WayneWayne was only popular amongst young kids, so he didn't really have to worry much, save for the few cougars that had gone after him.

"Listen, he's my brother, I just want to be sure that he's ok." Lizzie continued.

"Oh don't worry, we get that," Patrick reassured her. "You should see how anxious we get over Ri and Rhu when it comes to meet and greets. Did you know that a lot of fans could be really grabby? It's like they don't know personal space boundaries."

Lizzie smiled a little bit. "So can you do this for me, if I scan it to you or something?"

"It'll be easier if we do it when we go to Denver next week." Sydney replied. "But I can do my best with what I have so far."

"Thanks guys," Lizzie let out a relieved sigh that she didn't know that she was holding. "That makes me feel better."

"No worries. Peace."

"Bye." Lizzie hung up her phone and turned back to her brother.

She continued to wait patiently as he stood around, gave autographs, took pictures with, and chatted to a bunch of fans. Lizzie's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked over at Lissa, who was still standing by Dak, grabbing his attention every once in a while. When his attention was turned to someone else, an angry scowl would cross her face. But it would melt away each time Dak turned back to her.

"Back off, bitch," Lizzie muttered under her breath as she waited for her brother. "He's with someone and I'm not going to let you screw that or his life up."

A/N: Alright, the things that I've said about Dak responding to fans is from what I've observed with his Facebook and Twitter. His FB page (which I'm sure is run by someone in his family or something) is updated more than this Twitter, and I know that he always takes pictures with fans after shows, so that's where that came from. Sorry that most of these chapters are dialogue driven, I'm working on it for the next ones as things pick up. Also, there will be more Della and Wiley before the story finishes.

This is the chapter where Lizzie, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney solidify their parts of the story and how they help drive the plot along. I still don't know how long this story is going to be, it might be a bit shorter than I anticipated (maybe 15 chapters), since I'm already sort of getting to the point of the story, but who knows. Let me know what you guys think.

Oh, and to those that asked, chapter five is about two weeks after chapter four.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles