"I," Will stuttered staggering backwards.

"Taylor, wha," Daphne started as she saw what Will had seen.

"Oh my God," she muttered staring in confusion.

At that moment she noticed the girl standing slightly behind Taylor. A snide smile painted across her face, she smirked, lifted her left hand and waved the ring at the two of them.

"I'm," Taylor started as Will's eyes filled with tears.

"Don't," a representative started as he handed Daphne an envelope with the label emblem emblazoned upon it.

"You'll find all you need to know here," the man said as he began to push Taylor backwards.

"Taylor, I," Will tried to exclaim as his voice cracked and he grew silent.

Taylor swallowed hard as he began to turn away, a lone tear squeezing out the side of his left eye.

Daphne stared in shock as she watched Zac, eyes lowered, turn and walk away with the rest of them. Her mind scrambling to understand what had just happened, feeling as if she had suddenly stepped through a rift and entered another dimension.

Before either of them were totally aware, Taylor, Zac and the rest of the group were no longer in sight. Surrounded by the bustling and traffic of roadies and tech personnel they found themselves feeling as if they had been blindsided by a freight train.

"Daph?" Will's voice whispered, his hand trembling.

"Yeah babe," she whispered.

"Did this, is this, I mean, was that?" he tried to speak, his voice shattered, tears splashing down from his eyelids.

"I don't know," she muttered staring down at the envelope.

*          *          *          *          *

"How pathetic," Anthea sighed wrapping her arms around Taylor as they made their way towards the exit.

"Anthea," Tay began, out of breath, not from walking but from being emotionally drained.

"What, you seriously can't think you could stay with him, not with what you and I have now?" she smiled devilishly.

Taylor remained quiet, knowing that she was right.

"When do you think we should announce it?" she asked with an evil smile knowing she was dumping too much on him at once.

"What?" he almost gasped.

"Come on, you didn't seem to mind the fans knowing you were, and I say were gay, why can't they know I'm pregnant?" she asked casually.

"I am not, and never was gay, you know tha," Taylor tried to finish as she cut him off.

"Yeah right, everyone knew, besides that doesn't matter anymore, you're mine and we're gonna be together forever," she cooed as she rubbed her stomach.

Tay found himself backing down. It seemed useless trying to fight with her. No matter what he did, or how hard he tried, she'd get her way. That was already evident, with how his parents had handled everything. That, the label and Anthea combined, he knew he was better off just going along, little did any of the fans, or even his friends know just how much of a pinch he could be put in and how miserable his life could be made, even by those who claimed to love him most.

Daphne's voice hit his ears distantly as they neared the door.

"I want to thank all of you for coming, our friends and family, to you guys our fans. To be back here in New York, performing for all of you is a dream come true. I am very happy to announce that Freezer Burn has been signed to a lengthy contract with Columbia Records and you can look forward to our first single within the next few months. This final song tonight, I know isn't one of our own, but it just feels right. It fits, because in this happy moment, there is a bit of sadness. You know who you are, both of you and you'll understand this," she finished as she lifted an acoustic guitar and began to play Avril Lavigne's 'Complicated.'

Swallowing hard Zac tried to block out her voice. The very sound of it causing his heart to break as he remembered the look in her eyes as he walked away. If only he had been given the chance to explain.

"Vans outside," Walker exclaimed as he walked up.

Taylor felt himself actually start to break apart at the seams as the lyrics slammed into his heart, the words slicing through him.

"Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated? I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else, gettin' me frustrated..."

*          *          *          *          *

"Shh," she tried to quiet his sobs, running her fingers through his hair.

"I can't go through this again," he cried into her shoulder.

"I know," Daphne whispered quietly.

"No, you don't," he sobbed, almost yelled as he sat up looking her in the eyes.

"You don't understand," he cried, tears streaming from his green eyes which blazed madly with pain.

"I can't go through all this, again, it's worse this time, Daphne he's married, why in God's name? Why in God's name did he do it?" Will sobbed again falling against her.

Daph swallowed hard, tears welling in her eyes as she tried to search for the right words. Any words, that could help him. She glanced over head at the moon, shining brightly against the dark New York sky, a blue glow cast across the back garden.

"Babe, everything happens for a reason, whether we understand it or not," she tried to console him.

"There's no good reason for this, none," he whispered through his tears into her neck.

"Shh, we don't know what happened while he was gone," she tried to explain.

"Yeah we do, the bastard got married," Will began to cry again.

"Don't say that, you know you love him."

"My God, did I say I ever stopped? Daphne that's why this is killing me. Why!?" he screamed standing up throwing his head back towards the moon.

Daphne lowered her head and looked in her lap at the envelope. Will grew quiet and stood off to the side facing the wall, just out of the moonlight. She could still hear him sobbing quietly. Knowing it wouldn't do any good to ask him if she could read it, she tore the envelope open without warning.

"Taylor Hanson and long time sweetheart Anthea Bryant were married in a private ceremony in a small Pine Valley chapel in Georgia," she paused as she heard Will's breathing begin to quicken.

"We were surrounded by our family and friends, it was everything we ever dreamed it would be. Anthea and myself look forward to a long life of happiness together - Taylor Hanson."

"It really is over," Will whispered quietly from the shadows.

"My God," Daphne muttered quietly.

"Daph," Will squeaked as he flopped down next to her his knees knocking against the bricks.

"Shh," she whispered as he laid his face in her lap and began to cry.

Daphne swallowed hard, and closed her eyes, not in the years she had known him, had she heard Will sob like he did into her lap. She looked up at the sky and found herself asking as well. Asking how it had happened, what had they missed? But the answers didn't come. No calming reply to sooth her crushed heart. Why had Zac allowed himself to be lead away? Why had Taylor gotten married? None of it made any sense. Nothing she could think of would fit reason. Again and again she asked over and over. All that she was met in reply was the quiet sobs and muffled moans as they rose up from Will's mouth, buried against her leg.

*          *          *          *          *

As the tide rolled and the winds of change swept across the world yet another couple found that life and the element of free will can turn heaven into hell. While love, eternal and true can grow strong and beautiful, the presence of honesty and trust are needed to nurture it. While fate and destiny hold a small guidance on unbounded, true love, they also have the ability to destroy it.

Proving that without trust and honesty all forms of love are vulnerable. Love, in the presence of the prying, and judgmental eyes of the public. As well as those secret, private romances, where love grows in the shadows. Even they are not safe. This made painfully clear to two people. Against all their struggles, all their hope and strength, fate finally came one day and dealt a dark hand, to their love, a love incognito.

The End


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A Love Incognito is Copyright © 2000 by Taylor W. Quest.
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All applicable copyright laws apply. All individuals depicted are fictional with any resemblance to real persons being purely coincidental.

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