I'll Take A Stab At It -1-

I'll Take A Stab At It

Summary – James is stabbed. Gustavo is murdered. Big Time Rush is framed for the crime. Now they have to race to find out who is behind these attacks and why before it's too late. NO SLASH.

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01

If James knew that he was going to be stabbed on stage that night, he would have made sure that he looked his best. Even in the face of death, he wanted to be sure that no one could say that he didn't look good. But that was just James, he could probably have a gun sitting in his face and his first thought would be who would get his lucky comb. Nah, that's not true, everyone knows that it's not true. He would have tried to make sure that everyone else around him was safe; he would make sure that he was the one that got hurt and no one else. And ironically, that's what happened to him. He was just making sure that someone didn't fall and hurt themselves when it happened. That one moment in time threw our lives into a tail spin and it wasn't going to end anytime soon.

James waited offstage with Kendall, Logan, and Carlos as they waited for their opening call to be brought out onstage. Like he usually did before the show started, he was off by himself, trying to keep his nerves down. He was bouncing up and down on his toes, shaking his hands out, psyching himself up for the concert. All around him, stagehands were running back and forth, making sure that things were ready for the show.

Wires were hanging all over the place, pumping electricity into the stands that they were going to be on, as well as to the floor of the stage; it was going to power the floor to open so the trampolines could be lifted from underneath the stage. This tour, it was bigger than anything they had ever done before, they were going to take all of the energy that they put into working as Big Time Rush into that show and they were going to give it to their audience. That energy was already coursing through James' body, amplifying his nerves that much more.

But it seemed that everyone was nervous, for things were being checked and triple checked that night. It was the first night of the tour, so that was understandable. It seemed like the whole stadium was filled with nervousness, as if it knew what was going to happen before anybody else did.

James looked up as a stagehand came his way, moving so fast that he didn't notice a wire on the ground in front of him and he tripped over it. He pitched towards James, his hands out, and James quickly moved to catch him before he hit the ground. "Hey, dude," James grinned as he grabbed the guy's shoulder, making sure the two of them were steady. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," The man stood up and nodded, quickly touching the brim of his hat, his ring flashing in the dim lights as he did so. "Yeah, I'm good, thanks." He patted James on the shoulder. "Have a good show, tonight."

"Thanks," James smiled and nodded back before he started to shake out his hands once more.

He waited for their names to be called and started to jog out onstage, but he stopped mid-step, a confused look crossing his face. His pain hurt, like really hurt. If he had to explain it, it felt like his side was on fire. He looked out towards the audience and saw horrified expressions looking back at him. Slowly lowering his gaze, James gaped as he looked at the red spot on his shirt that was starting to get bigger with each passing second. His mouth hanging open in shock, James slowly inched his hands towards the bottom of his shirt. He noticed that they were so pale that he could see each of the veins in his hands. His fingers shook hard as the grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it open, letting out a choked cry as he saw the stab wound on the side of his stomach.

The first thing Carlos noticed was that there were only three people on stage and the audience in front of him looked confused. He tore his eyes away from the crowd and the blinding lights to look over at his band mates and best friends. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched James sway on the stage, his hands holding his side. He could see something slipping between James' fingers and splatter onto the stage floor. Carlos turned and broke into a run, grabbing James as he fell. He looked into James's eyes and all Carlos could see was pain and shock mingled with fear. He felt James's grip on his arm as he struggled to stay standing; his nails scraping into his skin.

"Carlos," James rasped. "Car-"

"James," Carlos screamed as James's eyes rolled and he collapsed into Carlos's chest pulling them to Logan's knees. By this point, Kendall and Logan were at Carlos's side. The lights around the arena were coming up, just as bright as the stage lights.

Stagehands were running around and barking orders at each other, the audience had started to scream or murmur amongst themselves, the nervous energy hitting the guys in waves, causing their adrenaline to spike even higher. But Carlos couldn't hear anything other than James' gasps for air. Somebody touched his shoulder and he looked up to see Logan beside him. His face was pale and his brown eyes were trained on James. Behind him paramedics were pushing their way through the stage hands and security to get to James. Carlos scrambled to his feet as he was pushed away and stood beside Kendall who had grabbed onto Carlos' elbow. Carlos felt his elbow go cold as Kendall moved his arm to round his shoulders pulling him into a hug. Carlos breathed deeply and realized with a start that he was crying. He couldn't remember crying it just occurred to him. Carlos suddenly felt embarrassed, having started to cry, and he tried to pull away but Kendall just pulled him back again.

Carlos relaxed as Kendall squeezed him tightly.

"Carlos, it's gonna be fine." Logan whispered as he moved to Carlos' other side, placing a shaking hand on his shoulder. "James will be fine."

Backstage, a shadowy figure pulled off his hat, coat, and sweat pants, street clothes on underneath, and tossed them into a trash can. He was sure to hide his clothes under some trash, before slipping out one of the emergency exits and into darkness…

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A/N: This story can also be found on our profile on FFN.

Cheers,

-Riles