“Can I get you anything else, Mr. Carter?”

Those were the first words that she ever spoke to him and he never forgot them. Looking back he considered that moment to be the start of their relationship, even if she didn’t. While she was waiting expectantly for an answer he was thinking that this was probably going to be the girl he spent the rest of his life with, or at least the rest of the night with.

“I’m good for drinks,” he finally answered just as he passed the point of being able to stare at someone before they started to think you were either deaf or a weirdo, “but there is something I would really like.”

She straightened out the blue blazer that made up her uniform and gave him a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial, “Anything.”

“Your number.”

“Anything but that.”

In those days he rarely encountered a girl that would play hard to get and none had played harder than Peggy Renshaw. He was positive that had made her more attractive than she already was. He found her physically irresistible. She was tall and slender (but not skinny) and looked as though she had spent plenty of time in a yoga studio given the strong lines in her shoulders, arms and calves. Her dark brown hair was thick and long, hitting midway down her back and he imagined for a moment (a lengthy moment) what it would be like to hang on to it while doing her from behind. The colour of green in her eyes was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He didn’t think that hunter green eyes existed but she had them and he loved them.

Although he was one quarter of one of the biggest selling boy bands of all time it was pretty normal for him to fly on commercial airlines (first class of course) but as luck would have it he and the rest of the Backstreet Boys had missed their flight that day en route from New York City to a charity golf tournament in Los Angeles. As a result their record company was footing the bill for a private jet to take them from one side of the country to the other. There were only the four of them on board along with two flight attendants; Peggy and a flamboyantly gay man named Eric.

He hadn’t seen her until a few minutes into the flight but once he did he was hooked. She wouldn’t tell him her name, so kept asking until she did. She wouldn’t give him her number, so he asked again. He continued the playful back and forth until the wheels of the jet touched the tarmac at LAX. By the time he stepped off the plane he had a name, he had a phone number, and he knew that she was based out of New York but rarely home given her occupation.

His occupation is what kept him from calling her for nearly six months and when he did he had to go through the same playful banter to get her to go out with him. He managed to catch her on an layover in Los Angeles and they spent their first date enjoying dinner and getting to know one another while commuters rushed off to catch planes all around them.

One date turned into two, which turned into ten and soon Nick found himself travelling all over the country, not just for the current leg of the Backstreet Boy’s current tour, but to meet up with Peggy. They rarely had enough time together to venture any further than either the airport or the closest hotel but he was happy to simply be with her.

His tour finished, but he continued to keep packing overnight bags and booking hotel rooms. Their time off never seemed to coordinate - she was busy working when he was off and he always seemed to be in the studio or in the middle of a run of shows when she had vacation booked. He wondered at times if this was what his previous girlfriends had felt like every time he had to tour and they had to chase him around the world.

Time continued to fly and it eventually got to a point where Peggy was the only woman he was seeing and the only one he wanted yet he had never been able to introduce her to his friends or show her his home. It was the one thing that frustrated him most about their relationship. For the first time in his life he wanted to be as close to someone as possible but she was always far away.

“Happy anniversary,” he muttered against her skin as his lips marked a trail between her breasts. Sweat was glistening on her skin from the last hour of lovemaking and the salt tasted sweet on his tongue.

As soon as his feet touched the ground in Miami he had rushed off to meet Peggy at the swanky hotel he’d booked for them. She had taken the weekend off so they could spend their first anniversary together on the beach. Nick was fairly certain they wouldn’t actually make it to the beach but they always had the best of intentions. He didn’t even get a chance to say hello to her when he walked through the door of the hotel room because her lips were on his immediately. They had fallen into bed and used their bodies instead of their words to express how much they’d missed one another.

“Happy anniversary,” she replied, her slender fingers pulling at the small hairs at the nape of his neck, something he had always loved.

He kissed his way back up her body, stopping at her lips as his hips settled against hers. She always expressed to him how much she loved the feeling of his body weight against hers and he believed they fit together that way better than any woman he’d ever laid with. He smiled, feeling her foot run gently up the length of his calf as they just breathed together.

“I love you,” he whispered. “There’s something I need to ask you.”

He knew from the sudden look of excitement in her eyes that she thought the next question was going to have something to do with marriage but he still felt that it was too soon for that. He was still at the point where he couldn’t understand why anyone would need a piece of paper to validate their relationship and he did his best to not bring it up. He was positive that, just like all the girls before her, it would lead to a disagreement with Peggy and become something they couldn’t see eye to eye on. He hated to disappoint her, especially considering the day but he was hoping by the end of his question she would be happy with him.

“I was thinking about what you said last time we got together, about how much you missed your family and didn’t get to see your nieces enough. With your sister being sick and everything I know how hard it must be for you to spend the weekend here in Miami with me when you could be in New York with them. You can take some time to consider this and you don’t have to answer right away but...I want you to quit your job.”

“What?” she asked, her voice flat. Her body immediately tensed up and he held her a little closer so she wouldn’t move away.

“Just hear me out, okay? You want to be closer to your family but you’re always travelling. I want to be with you but we can barely ever find time to be in the same place at the same time. We’ve been together for a year but I’ve never been to your apartment, and you’ve never seen my condo or met my dogs. I’ve never met your family or friends. We spend all of our time together holed up in hotel rooms desperately trying to cling to what little time we have.
I love you and that won’t change but I want to be with you. I want to show you off to my friends and go to dinner with you outside of an airport or a hotel room. I want to wake up next to you every morning in my own bed. I want you to choose me and leave your job. There are other jobs. Hell, you don’t even really need to work for a while if you want to just chill before I go back into the studio. I’ll pack up my place in LA and we’ll find somewhere close to your family in New York and live together.”

She wasn’t even looking at him and he sighed, having guessed that this was the way the conversation would go. He didn’t want to upset her on their anniversary but given the circumstances the only other option was to do it over the phone. If that conversation went like their other arguments it would have ended with him being hung up on.

“Baby,” he sighed, burying his face in the crook of her neck. “I just want to be with you.”

It was a long silence before he felt her start to stroke the back of his hair gently. He dropped a kiss against her neck and pulled back to look into her eyes.

“Okay,” she nodded. “You’ve given up so much by spending what little free time you have chasing me all over the country for a year. You’ve always been the one being flexible and accommodating for me so it’s only fair that I give a little for you. This was never meant to be my career and maybe I was only supposed to do it long enough to find you. I’m tired of this schedule anyway, I just needed a reason to go and I’m happy for it to be you. Are you sure you want to move in together though?”

“I’m sure,” he smiled. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

She smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly, “Okay,” she repeated, this time with excitement in her voice. “Let’s move in together!”

Nick knew there was some kind of famous quote about best laid plans. He couldn’t quite remember it exactly but was sure it had something to do with how no matter how great your intentions are sometimes things just don’t work out that way. That sentiment seemed to embody the beginnings of his house hunt with Peggy. Once they both got a chance to sit down and iron out the details it became obvious that they were both looking for different things when it came to a location to live. 

She had grown up just outside of the Bronx, in the same home where she and her family still lived, and had always dreamed of being able to live in Manhattan. She had a vision in her mind of an apartment overlooking Central Park, not too far from home where she could often be caught rubbing shoulders with celebrities in the elevator and having a doorman help with her bags as she hopped out of a Yellow Cab.

Nick on the other hand wasn’t interested in a cramped, overpriced apartment that looked out at another cramped, overpriced apartment. He couldn’t care less about other celebrities and would rather not have the paparazzi parked outside the door waiting to catch him walking to Starbucks in sweats so they could claim in big, bold letters that he was just like a ‘normal person’.

He considered himself to be a normal person and that wasn’t how normal people lived. When he envisioned their home it was outside of the city, close enough to drive downtown if they wanted, close enough to drive to Peggy’s family but far enough away that they could breathe. He wanted a yard for his dogs, some seclusion to hide away from prying eyes if he wanted, and a place nearby to dock his boat since he was suddenly only going to be able to get out on the water in the summer now that he was planning to live “up north”.

He wanted to build, she was happy to lease. He wanted en suite bathrooms for each room and she, having shared one bathroom for most of her life, couldn’t see the point in having four bathrooms for two people. They disagreed on everything down to whether they should pay for an interior decorator or just do it themselves. (Nick, of course, was the one who was happy to fork over the cash so he wouldn’t have to even think about paint chips and flooring samples.)

It wasn’t until Nick was packing up the last of his boxes in Los Angeles with the movers set to arrive the next day that they finally agreed on a place. In the end they had come to a compromise though he still felt somewhat slighted since Peggy ended up with more of her requests than he did. A wise man once told him though that relationships were about give and take and since she was the last to give it was now his turn. When he’d heard her voice on the phone animatedly talking about a place she had found he couldn’t help but be excited with her.

“I’ve got it narrowed down to two places,” Peggy boasted. “The first one though... it’s perfect. It’s in the area I had wanted, and it has a great view... not of another apartment building. Oh, babe it’s so great.”

“Why do I feel a ‘but’ coming on?” Nick wondered, putting down the tape gun in his hand on a random box while he waited.

“I know you said money isn’t an issue but this place is a little expensive.”

“Where is it? How expensive could it be?” he wondered. The condo he lived in now had cost a little over a million dollars and he had made a profit when he sold it. He had expected to use that money for the down payment on the new place, figuring he would spend about the same. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the money but his accountant always pressured him to look at the long-term and consider whether the same amount of cash would always be flowing into his accounts.

“The realtor emailed me the listing. It’s just along the Park, in The Dakota, it’s so beautiful. Three bedrooms, and three bathrooms just like you wanted. It’s all vintage inside and there’s this gorgeous wrought iron spiral staircase up to the second level where the bedrooms are. Really Nick, you have to see the pictures!”

“The Dakota?” he asked rhetorically, the name of the building seemingly eerily familiar. “Isn’t that the place where John Lennon lived?”

“Yeah!” Peggy replied excitedly, having hoped that the history of the building would be part of what lured him into getting the apartment.

“You want me to live in a building where a famous musician was gunned down in cold blood? The same building that Yoko Ono still lives in? That place will be crawling with paps all the time. Baby, cut me some slack here. I had enough of living the celebrity lifestyle when I lived in Hollywood.”

He could practically see the pout on her face through the phone and she let out a sigh. “But... it’s everything I wanted.”

“How much is it?” he asked, noticing that she had skipped over that part.

There was a long pause on her end of the phone and Nick resisted the urge to chuckle. He always found it amusing what Peggy considered to be expensive. She had been making decent money working for the private airline but she had a considerable amount of student debt and had focused all of her efforts on paying it down.

She hadn’t grown up with money and apart from a taste for designer clothes and shoes she was frugal most of the time. She was always on him about the fact that he never checked the price of anything before he bought it but it was just not a concern for him. He never wondered how much money was in his bank account he just assumed it was more than he could spend in a lifetime.

“It’s a little over five and a half million.”

This time it was Nick’s turn to be silent as he took in that amount. He grabbed his cell phone off the coffee table and immediately opened up the mortgage calculator app he had been using to work out monthly payments as they looked around for places. He punched in the appropriate numbers, his eyes going wide when the monthly payment was displayed on the screen.

“Absolutely not,” he said firmly. “I am not paying five million dollars for an apartment.”

“You said money wasn’t an issue,” she reminded him quietly.

He chuckled and shook his head, “Let’s put it this way. You keep saying you want to contribute, right? That you don’t want me to pay for everything? If you want this place that badly then I would expect you to pay half of the mortgage.”

Not wanting to back down so quickly she agreed, “Fine. How much would I owe you?”

“One hundred and twenty eight thousand dollars would cover your share.”

“That doesn’t seem like that much...”

“A month!”

That ended the discussion on living in Manhattan. In the end Nick had agreed to Peggy’s second choice. It was a house about 12 miles outside of downtown in a fairly desirable upscale suburb. The house was just over three thousand square feet, much smaller than Nick was used to, and had five bedrooms and four bathrooms but it had a backyard and was not far from a dock. At a more reasonable million and a half dollars he was happy to call the realtor and seal the deal.

The movers would be there to pick up his things the next day and start the drive cross country from Malibu to Beechhurst, New York. He planned to stay in California for a few days and tie up loose ends and by the time his things arrived they would be the proud owners of a home in Suburbia.

At the same time Peggy was packing her own things, having opted to rent a truck and move herself rather than hire movers. She had friends and family members that were willing to help and Nick didn’t argue with her. He wasn’t going to fork out money for every little thing she wanted and if she was willing to move her own things then he was going to let her. It had been a long time since he had moved anyone himself and thought it might be kind of fun to help unload the truck.

What neither Nick, nor Peggy could have anticipated was that the paperwork on the house would be held up while his things arrived a day earlier than expected resulting in both of them moving in on the same day.

He was beginning to feel like this little adventure was not meant to be as he watched the large moving truck with all of his belongings fight for space with the small U-Haul truck that Peggy had rented. He hadn't had a chance to meet Peggy’s family yet but knew they would be helping her unload her things off the truck and he was nervous to say the least.

It seemed odd to have been dating someone for a year and never met their parents, especially considering they were moving in together. What was stranger was that she was moving out of her parent’s home into the home they were sharing so there was a subplot there that increased his anxiousness.

There was only so much daylight to go around so it was going to be a scramble to get everything out of the trucks and into the house without getting in each other’s way. He watched out the front door as Peggy hopped out of the cab of the U-Haul and jogged up the path leading to the front door.

“Good morning,” she smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck for a hug.

“Hi baby,” Nick chuckled while rubbing her back. “You act like you haven’t seen me in weeks. Oh wait... you haven’t.”

“I missed you,” she said, pulling back to get a look at his face. It had been a few days since he’d last shaved and she rubbed her thumb over the beard that had grown in on his jaw. “You accidentally packed your razor didn't you?”

He could have lied but she knew him too well, “Yup! I could have gotten rid of it but I thought it would make me look more manly for when I meet your dad and brothers. I pumped some iron, grew a beard, started drinking whiskey straight out of the bottle in the hopes I might get another chest hair...”

Peggy couldn't hold back her laughter at his words and she pulled him back in for another hug. If there was anything Nick knew he could do it was make this woman laugh and he loved the sound of her giggle.

“Come on,” he encouraged, giving her a quick peck on the lips. “Let’s start bringing stuff into our house,” he gave her a goofy smile then playfully slapped her behind with a resounding smack. Once he pulled his hand away he realized they were still standing in front of the house where everyone could see them and he blushed crimson red.

“You know my parents just saw you do that, right?” Peggy teased and Nick nodded quickly. “I should have known you’d embarrass yourself eventually.”

“It’s what I do best,” he replied honestly, letting her take him by the hand and lead him down to the truck where her family was patiently waiting to start unloading her things.

Nick had always thought that his father was a bit intimidating. He was definitely a man’s man and was known to be both physically and mentally threatening when he wanted to be. Even though Nick was the same height and build as his father he still felt small when he was in trouble for something.

Nothing could have prepared him though for how small he would feel meeting Peggy’s family. He should have expected it given that he was just over six feet tall and she was only a few inches shorter than him, that her family would be on the tall side.

Her father practically unfolded himself from behind the wheel of the U-Haul and if Nick had to guess the man was easily over six and a half feet tall. Peggy’s brothers, Troy and Chad, were as tall as their father and both built like football players. At the opposite end of the spectrum her mother was about average height, making her appear to be petite in comparison to the rest of her family.

Peggy had a sister, Marilyn, but she had been sick with cancer for many years and rarely had an opportunity to leave her home. Nick had been assured he would get a chance to meet her in a more casual setting. Feeling as though he had more sway with women he immediately brought his attention to the older woman, sending her his trademark smile.

“Peggy didn't mention she had two sisters,” he charmed while sticking out his hand to shake hers. Although he knew it was a corny line he hadn't expected the eye roll he got in return. “I’m Nick.”

“Is that a nickname?” the woman, who he would later find out was named Patricia, asked and he raised an eyebrow curiously.

He wasn't sure what kind of question that was considering that he had a fairly common nickname but he answered regardless, “Yeah, it’s a nickname. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know if Margaret told you but I’m not much of a nickname person.”

“Who’s Margaret?” Nick asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He heard a voice clear behind him and he turned to see Peggy pointing at herself. His eyes went wide and he mentally kicked himself for how badly this first meeting with her parents was already going.

Here he was trying to show them how great it was that their daughter was moving out of their family home to move in with a man nearly a decade her senior and he didn't even know her real first name. They hadn't been in the same place when they'd signed the paperwork for the house so he'd never seen her actually sign her legal name before.

“Mom,” Peggy tried to intervene, “his name is Nick, you can call him that. I know you hate nicknames but just pretend that’s his full first name.”

“No, it’s okay,” Nick waved her off with a smile. In reality he was thinking how weird it would be to be called his full name considering his mother was the only one who ever did and only when he did stupid things but if it would make Peggy’s mother happy he would endure it. “You can call me Nickolas, it’s fine.”

That seemed to satiate the woman and he breathed a sigh of relief before moving to where Peggy’s father was leaned up against the truck. Again, he stuck out his hand, hoping for a better result than the last time. Wordlessly the bigger man returned the handshake, squeezing just a touch harder than Nick had been prepared for.

“Nice to meet you, Sir. I've heard a lot about you.”

“Call me Steven. I didn't hear squat about you so I looked you up on Google.”

“Oh. How’d that go?”

How’d that go? he repeated to himself silently, wondering what the hell was going through his head. He had never experienced this kind of discomfort meeting new people. He was usually great with new people, they always found him funny, charming and delightful and now he felt like he was about to be taken out to a shed and slaughtered.

“You spend an awful lot of time having your picture taken,” the older man replied, letting go of Nick’s hand so he could stick it back in his pocket. “Especially in police stations.”

“Signs of a misspent youth!” he laughed, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other. He had never really had to deal with this kind of experience in the past. The majority of his past girlfriends had been in the entertainment business or at least within arm’s reach of it. This was really the first time he had dated a so-called ‘normal’ girl, with parents that likely didn't understand the kind of background he had come from.

He knew it was pointless to assure the other man that he had changed, that he wasn't that person anymore, because regardless of how he was acting now he had still done those things in his past. His history of drinking and drugs would always follow him, it was just a matter of letting people know that he used his mistakes as opportunities to learn how to be a better man.

“When did you get arrested?” Peggy asked, her eyebrows coming together in curiosity.

Nick rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, a nervous habit he had never quite been able to rid himself of, and stared at her wide eyed, “Sweetie, I’m sure I told you about that.”

“I think I would have remembered that,” she challenged, putting her hands on her hips, “What could you have possibly been arrested for?”

“The amount of love I have for you is criminal,” he smiled cheekily, leaning over to kiss her forehead quickly, “It’s gonna be dark before we get the stuff off these trucks if we don’t get moving.”

“You’re avoiding the subject; I asked you a question.”

“And I don’t want to have this discussion in front of your whole family.”

They stared each other down, each with a smile on their face as to not show any annoyance on their faces. Nick was fairly certain he heard one of Peggy’s brothers sarcastically comment on how promising their relationship and moving in together seemed to be but he choose to ignore it. He had no intentions of backing down but an insistent throat clearing at his left finally made him turn towards the driver of the moving van that had been patiently waiting on the side of the road.

“Mr. Carter, I wanted to remind you that we charge by the hour. Would you like us to start unloading the truck?”

“Yeah, let’s do that!” Nick agreed, watching as the driver headed back to the van, calling out to the other men to start unloading his stuff. He turned back to his girlfriend and dropped another quick kiss to her forehead, not wanting to be too forward given her parents already seemed to hate him. “Let’s unload now, talk later.”

Getting the boxes and furniture moving into the house seemed to be a welcomed distraction for everyone involved. Nick had taken up a monitoring post near the door so he could direct his movers as they came in as to where to put his boxes. Peggy on the other hand was out by her truck helping her family haul in whatever they could carry. 

He watched in amusement as both his movers and Peggy’s brothers stepped off their respective trucks carrying mattresses. She shuffled ahead of her brothers with a box in her hands, dropping it just inside the door. He was slightly put off by the sight of her mattress. It definitely looked like it had seen better days.

It was a fairly simple double mattress in a colour he guessed was blue at one time but now appeared to be grey from fading. There was a strange stain in the bottom corner and a spring was bursting out the side. Nick wondered silently if it was older than the two of them because the only other option was that she had found it in a dumpster and brought it home.

Almost simultaneously the men with the beds asked where they were taking the mattresses and with equal synchronicity the new homeowners replied in unison, “Master bedroom.”

“Whoa!” Nick exclaimed, holding up his hands to stop the movers, ignoring the looks of annoyance on their faces as they continued to hold the awkward mattresses. He pointed to the strange garbage mattress and shook his head. “That thing is not going in our bedroom. I am not sleeping on that. It looks like something from a homeless shelter.”

Peggy gasped and punched Nick firmly on the arm, taking joy in the grimace of pain that crossed over his face, “That has been my mattress since I was in high school. It’s the most comfortable bed in the world. I’ve been breaking it in, getting it to the absolute perfect degree of comfort. Yours is... just... unreasonably big! Why do you have a King-sized bed when you lived alone?”

“Me and the dogs like to stretch out!” he defended, neither of them paying any mind to the looks of expressions of discomfort being directed their way by the men still patiently waiting for instructions.

“The dogs?” Peggy scoffed. “No way am I sharing a bed with your dogs. They can sleep on the floor.”

“It’s cold on the floor!” Nick defended before waving her off. “Besides, do you know how much that mattress cost? It was like eight grand! It’s special memory foam that like remembers your body and keeps it cool when you sleep and stuff. Space astronauts sleep on them when they’re in space!”

Peggy’s brother Troy suddenly burst into fits of laughter, fighting not to drop his sister’s mattress on the ground. She sent him a dirty look that clearly told him to keep his mouth shut and Nick looked between the two of them, confused.

“What?” he asked defensively.

“Space astronauts sleep on it when they’re in space?” Troy repeated, still chuckling. “Is that where space astronauts go? What other kinds of astronauts are there, Nick? Other than the space kind...”

“I don’t know,” Nick shrugged, oblivious to the fact that he was being made fun of. “I’m not a scientist.”

“That’s apparent,” Troy teased.

“Would you shut up!” Peggy snapped, still glaring.

“What?” Nick asked, annoyed. “I hate when people do this. Don’t talk about me like I’m not right here. What is it?”

Letting out a sigh she moved to wrap her arms around him, kissing him quickly on the chest through the battered t-shirt he was wearing. “Honey,” she cooed, reaching up to rub her thumb against his beard-covered cheek. “He’s just teasing you. It’s just... redundant. The prefix, astro, implies space. That’s why we call them astronauts.”

Nick rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to move her hand off his face, “Could you be any more condescending?”

“Wow you even used that correctly in a sentence!” Troy chimed in from outside.

“Fuck you, dude! You don’t even know me! Your Dad fucking looks me up on the internet and suddenly you think you know me? I’m not stupid! So I said something redundant, big fucking deal! Fact is, her mattress is a piece of shit and you couldn’t afford to put mine on layaway.” Turning from Peggy’s brother he addressed his movers, “That one goes in the master bedroom. Thank you.”

Relieved to finally be able to move the large mattress and get away from the family drama unfolding in front of them the movers hurried into the house. As soon as they were on their way up the stairs Nick broke away from his girlfriend and headed into the kitchen where he grabbed a beer from the fridge. It was one of the few things he had been certain to have on hand since he thought he was going to have an opportunity just to chill with Peggy’s brothers and father once they got their stuff in. Instead it seemed as though they had arrived with preconceived notions of what he was all about and it definitely wasn’t positive.

The green bottle was still pressed to his lips when Peggy entered the kitchen, leaning against the large kitchen island with her arms crossed casually across her chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Are we making a mistake here?” he cut right to the chase.

She watched him as he used his short nails to pick away at the label on the body of the bottle and sighed, “I don’t think so. I love you and I want to be with you.”

“I want to be with you too,” he said, not looking up from the work he was doing to the bottle. “I moved across the country to be with you. I would hope that would mean something to you.”

“Babe,” she said softly, moving to embrace him. “It does mean alot to me. Today is just stressful. There’s too much going on with both of us getting our stuff in at the same time.”

His arms looped around her shoulders and he pressed his forehead to hers, “Plus your family fucking hates me and thinks I’m a total idiot.”

“That’s not true!”

“Really? Your brother made fun of me and your father brought up my criminal record. Couple that with the fact that I didn’t even know your name was Margaret, I’m sure they think you’ll be moving back home in a week or so.”

Peggy sighed, hating that he was right. Absentmindedly she pulled the back of his t-shirt up so she could rest her hands against his warm skin. There was something about Nick that always reminded her of warm climates and it started with his skin. No matter where they met up whether it was 80 degrees or 20 degrees he was always warm to the touch while she had no temperature regulation. At the same time he somehow managed to maintain a tan throughout the winter even when he was touring and not able to get out in the sun. He was her sunshine boy and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Once they get to know you they’ll like you,” she assured him. “You just need to keep that temper under control in the meantime. Give them a chance to warm up to you. Think about it... you’re this guy that I’ve been dating for a year that they’ve never had a chance to meet until now, when we’re moving in together. They’re testing you to see what kind of guy you are. Don’t give in to them! I’m sure in no time you’ll be talking about football and Nascar and drinking together. Just hang in there.”

He nodded, wordlessly agreeing to mind his manners. “You really hurt me when you punched me, you know.”

“Wimp. What would make you feel better?”

He weighed his options, pursing his lips dramatically as he thought. “Can I touch your tits?”

Peggy chuckled, “Of course you can.”

He quickly put his bottle down on the counter then, smirking, pressed his lips to hers, the tip of his tongue running along her bottom lip until she granted him access to her mouth. He backed her up against the kitchen island, both hands coming up to her breasts with a satisfactory sigh. He teased and squeezed until he could feel her nipples hard against him palm and he smiled against her lips.

“Margaret are you coming to help?” her mother’s voice suddenly joined them in the kitchen followed by an exclamation as she stumbled upon the two, “Oh! Sorry!”

Nick couldn’t believe his luck. He mentally cursed himself as he watched Peggy’s mother dart back out of the kitchen. Reluctantly he dropped his hands from her chest and silently wished he was still in California because the odds of the ground opening up and swallowing him and his embarrassment whole were marginally better.

The piles of brown boxes kept growing in every room of the house and Nick wondered briefly just how much space Peggy had at her parent’s house because she seemed to have a copious amount of stuff. His boxes piled neatly against the wall since they were all similar in shape and size while hers were a random mishmash of boxes she’d picked up from cardboard recycling bins tossed haphazardly on every surface.

A pile of pizzas had been delivered shortly before the last of the boxes had been brought into the house and Nick fought to find a place in the kitchen to put them. The second he did though everyone started throwing open the lids on their free dinner, piling pizza onto paper plates.

“What the hell is this?” Peggy’s father asked and Nick walked over quickly, concerned that there was something wrong with what had been delivered.

He looked into the pizza box, seeing only the vegetarian thin crust he planned on diving in to at any moment, “Pizza?”

“Don’t tell me you eat that!”

A confused expression was planted on Nick’s face and he merely nodded at the larger man, not knowing how else to respond, “I’m a vegetarian.”

“Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more useless...”

“Dad!” Peggy exclaimed loudly. “That was so rude! Apologize to Nick for that.”

Her father scoffed, piling another piece of pepperoni pizza onto his plate. “I’m not going to apologize for pointing out the obvious.”

“How am I useless?” Nick asked defensively, not able to bite his tongue any longer. He couldn’t understand what this guy had against him, he had never done anything to hurt Peggy and had been nothing but nice to her family. He couldn’t believe this guy was slagging him off while helping himself to a free dinner.

“There must be something wrong with your hands, right? Because I didn’t see you lift a finger all day to help. You just stood in here calling out orders.”

“I didn’t have to lift a finger, I hired movers! If Peggy wanted help with her stuff she would have asked me and I would have helped!”

“Let’s change the subject,” Peggy’s mother said loudly, acting every bit the traditional soccer mom as she spoke over all the other voices in the room.

“Yes, please,” Nick muttered. He had convinced himself a long time ago that his family was the most dysfunctional family in the world. Ever. His belief was starting to falter slightly the more time he spent with Peggy’s family. The majority of the hostility seemed to be directed towards him though, with the exception of Peggy’s brother Chad who seemed to be somewhat apathetic and void of an opinion on most topics.

“So Nickolas,” Peggy’s mother said as she sat down in front of a random box with her plate full of pizza. “Do you have any siblings?”

When she first said his name he had been terrified as to what she was about to ask but given the way the day had been going that question was on the tame end of the scale. If he acted like the asshole that he knew he was deep down he would have come back by asking if she had missed that section on his Wikipedia entry but his Backstreet brothers had raised him better than that.

“Yes, I do. I’m the oldest of five - three sisters, one brother. I also have an older half-sister, she lives upstate, a younger half-brother and a younger step-sister.” he rattled off, noticing the look of surprise on the faces of the others in the room by the number of siblings he had mentioned. “My dad has always wanted to start his own basketball team,” he joked.

“Hey,” Chad spoke up between bites of his pizza. “I noticed the movers bringing in some heavy bags with all your gym stuff. You box?”

“Yeah,” Nick nodded, smiling. “I just got into it a couple of years ago but I got a trainer and I fell in love with it.”

“Nick’s going to teach me some moves once he gets his gym all set up,” Peggy grinned, leaning up slightly to kiss his cheek.

“Gotta love a girl who knows how to take a punch!” Nick chuckled but the look on Peggy’s face made him think back to what he’d just said. “Oh! I didn’t mean it like that!” he tried to clarify but the awkward silence had returned only to be again broken by the matriarch of the family.

“What is it that your parents do?”

That was a tough question that Nick never really knew how to answer. In a strange role reversal his mother had been the one to end her dependency on the money that Nick and Aaron had brought into their household while his father still lived fairly comfortably without doing much of anything.

Nick ran his hands over his short hair as he took a moment to think of the best way to answer, “My mom owns a little diner just outside of Tampa, Florida where I grew up. My sister helps her out with it, she’s a cook. It’s kind of a little hole in the wall but they love it. My dad is... retired. He’s retired from...working.”

“His father seemed to be a pretty busy guy,” Peggy’s dad suddenly spoke and Nick wondered what was going to be thrown at him next. “He had just as many mugshots on the internet as your boy here. Big fan of beating his wife it seems.”

“That’s enough,” Peggy told her father firmly.

“That kind of thing is hereditary, that’s all I’m saying!”

Nick stared at the older man totally wide-eyed, his mind completely blown, “Is that why you seem to hate me so much? You think I’m going to hit your daughter? The whole taking a punch comment did not come out the way I had intended. Yes, my dad used to hit my mom. He used to hit me too so I know how much it sucks. I wouldn’t do that to anyone else and despite what you may have read on the internet I haven’t done that to anyone. The media, of course, is going to run with accusations like that because of who my dad is but it’s not true. I have too many sisters to ever lay a hand on a woman.”

“No, it’s because I didn’t know who the hell you were before suddenly my daughter was moving in with you. You come out of nowhere throwing your money around on million dollar houses, bringing my family into some kind of celebrity lifestyle where everything you do ends up online. Your reputation, which is not flattering, precedes you. Practically the first time we hear your name is when Margaret tells us you’re moving in together. I can’t help but wonder what your motives are!”

“We’ve been dating for a year,” Nick told the older man before turning to his girlfriend. “We’ve been dating for a year,” he repeated to her. “You just told your parents about me recently?”

“Just him,” Peggy rolled her eyes, “because I knew he would be like this. My mom knew.”

Nick just shook his head, “Well... I don’t know what you tell you, then. When we met I made it very clear who I was and what my intentions were. Peggy knew I was famous, she has a laptop so she could have Googled me then ran away but she didn’t. I didn’t think that I was throwing my money around, especially considering that I opted for the cheaper option when it came to buying this place. I’m sorry I am who I am but I’m in love with your daughter and I plan to live in sin with her for a long time to come.”

“Nick? Peggy?” a voice called from the front of the house and Nick had never in his life been as happy for a distraction as he was just then. He smiled at the sound of jingling fast approaching them and got ready for the excitement that was about to come barrelling through the door.

“It’s my boys,” he said happily as two dogs ran into the kitchen, tails wagging. The pair of canines were comical when standing side by side. The larger of the two, a jet black Doberman, was being circled by a black and white Boston Terrier, both dogs ecstatic to see their owner.

“Hi Charlene,” Peggy greeted the woman who had brought the dogs in since Nick was obviously distracted with doting on the animals. Turning to her family she introduced the woman as Nick’s personal assistant who had flown out from California with the dogs. “Charlene takes care of Nick’s schedule so she and I have had plenty of time to chat over the past year,” she quipped.

“Took care of, not take,” Charlene clarified. “I’m based out of Los Angeles so someone else from my company will be taking over for me as Nick’s PA. My final duty was bringing George and Ringo here out to New York.”

“George and Ringo?” Peggy’s mother wondered aloud. “Out of all of The Beatles why would you choose to name your dogs George and Ringo?”

“He lost Paul and John in the divorce,” Charlene said with a chuckle while everyone else looked on, confused. “His ex... she has the other two dogs.”

“Thanks Charlene, you’ve been awesome. I’ll be sure to give you a bonus for all your hard work,” Nick said firmly, sending her a look that clearly said ‘shut up’. He was going to have to write down this day so he would never forget it. That way should he ever assume that he was experiencing the worst day of his life all he would need to do is read about the events of that day to know that nothing could ever be worse.

Nick had always found packing to be pretty easy. Get a bunch of boxes, put them together, throw all your crap into them and seal them up. He never really considering at the time of the packing that eventually all of those boxes would have to be unpacked. He also forgot to consider that there would need to be some kind of order involved that would help him through the unpacking transition. 

When he was back in California he had kind of thought that this might be the last time he would have to pack up all of his stuff. The more he thought about his relationship with Peggy he couldn’t see it ending. He always had a tendency to think that way for all of his girlfriends and he’d always been able to come up with reasons why they would eventually break up.

With his last girlfriend he could see the pressure building every time one of his fans said something hateful to her and he knew that eventually she would leave him over it. He had been right, too. One day he’d come home and all of her things were gone from the home they’d shared for three years, including the dogs, the 60-inch flat screen from the living room and strangely, the dishwasher.

Electronics and kitchen appliances were easily replaceable but over the years they had rescued the dogs from shelters around the Los Angeles area and he was unable to just let go of them. It had taken two lawyers but eventually he got custody of two of the dogs and in some sort of twisted Sophie’s Choice moment he had to decide which ones he wanted. He had gone with George and Ringo, despite being the less desirable of the Beatles they were named after, he felt a special connection to the two.

They were the breeds he liked better and the dogs he got along with better. John and Paul, appropriately, were beagles. They were brothers that couldn’t be separated and had always taken a bit better to his ex than to Nick. For the year leading up to meeting Peggy the dogs had been his only companionship and he only hoped that his new partner would get along with them as well as the last one did.

After opening up another box with a bunch of things tossed inside randomly Nick sighed and closed the box top again; he needed a break. He and Peggy had managed to get rid of her family shortly after dinner and once he had settled some things with Charlene she had taken her leave also, leaving them to deal with the mess. He laid back on the hardwood floor, smiling when both dogs immediately came over to try and lick his face.

“Where’s your new mom?” he asked the pair, chuckling when both their heads tilted to the side in curiosity. “Is she downstairs?” he continued to question them, getting a kick over how excited both dogs were getting though they clearly had no idea what he was going on about.

Nick pet both dogs for a bit before getting up to find Peggy and see how her unpacking was going. One thing he had noticed when walking around the house was they would need to get rid of some things that they had in duplicate. There seemed to be way too many bookcases in the living room and apart from the ones that would go in his office he wasn’t sure where they were going to end up.

He padded out barefoot into the hallway, shaking his head at how many random boxes had ended up there with no labels on them. “Babe?” he called out loudly, assuming that Peggy was still down in the kitchen where she’d been when he’d left her.

“In the bedroom,” her voice called out softly in return and he turned in surprise, not having expected her to be so close. As he and the dogs made their way down the hall he figured she was likely diving into boxes of clothes or organizing the bathroom but what he saw when he swung open the door was something entirely different. Peggy had obviously sought out the box with the linens in it and although everything else in the room was in shambles the bed was made and she was lying face down against a pillow on his side of the bed.

He chuckled and hopped on the bed, laying himself flat on top of her. She groaned at the weight but he ignored her pleas for him to move, instead opting to playfully wiggle his hips against her behind. “You call this unpacking?” he joked, kissing behind her ear.

“I call it suffocating,” she mumbled into the pillow and Nick rolled off of her back with a laugh.

“You’re in my spot.”

“The whole bed is your spot,” she said while rolling over onto her back. “Wherever there is a warm spot on the bed you find a way to steal it.”

“I’m cold blooded, baby,” he teased, giving her a toothy grin. “Have you been up here long?”

Peggy shook her head and moved over until she could rest her head on Nick’s chest. He played with her hair absentmindedly and the two just enjoyed the quiet for a moment. “I knew we were going to need the bed made,” she finally spoke. “Then once I got up here I realized how exhausted I am. Today was something else!”

The clock on Nick’s cell phone showed that it was well past midnight so he didn’t blame her for being unable to resist crawling into bed. After all, the mattress was top of the line and he had spent many days and nights hibernating on it.

“What’s with your family hating me?” he felt compelled to ask. Neither of them had dared bring up the multiple altercations between Nick and Peggy’s father until then.

“They don’t hate you, I told you that,” she sighed. Her cheek was rubbing softly against his t-shirt and he could tell by the sleepiness in her voice that she was close to falling asleep. “My dad was really close with my last boyfriend and he was disappointed when the two of us broke up. He never really gave up hope that we would get back together then all of a sudden I’m moving in with you. That’s why I never really told him about us. They also don’t really understand the celebrity thing.”

“What’s to understand? I make music and people like it so they think they are somehow entitled to be a part of my life. It’s made me rich though, so I can have nice places like this to live in with you and I could fly all over the country to have crazy monkey sex with a super hot flight attendant.”

Peggy laughed, “You just don’t know what it’s like to be normal anymore! In the real world people think that’s strange. That’s why strangers want to be part of your life. They want to look into your world and see what it’s like in there because it’s so foreign. My dad might have been a bit defensive today because he got his knickers in a twist over the googling you thing but he’ll come around, you’ll see.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Nick said skeptically. The whole bed moved and he looked down to see that George was now up on the bed, sniffling Peggy’s foot suspiciously. “George, get down. Your new mommy doesn’t want you up on the bed.”

Peggy groaned, “Oh, please don’t call me that. I hate when people do the ‘fur kids’ thing. They’re dogs, not children.”

“They can hear you.”

“No they can’t! They’re dogs. They don’t speak English. They understand maybe 150 words.”

“Wow!” Nick exclaimed, moving to sit up on the bed. “They’re our dogs now, I hope you realize that. They live here with us so it would be nice if you gave them a little respect.”

“Seriously?” Peggy asked rhetorically, pulling herself into a sitting position. “You didn’t even ask me how I felt about them. The only reason I knew you had dogs originally was from following you on Twitter. You just assumed I would be stoked to live with the dogs you won in what I found out was a very public custody battle with your ex, without considering that not everyone is a dog person. I’m not a dog person.”

“What do you want me to do? I made a responsibility to them that I would take care of them. I don’t think it’s fair of you to just throw this at me. I’m not getting rid of my dogs. Do you know how much I had to fight for them?” Nick said aggressively.

Peggy held up her hands in surrender, “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m sure I’ll get used to them. It’s just a whole lot to take in at once. I was being petty because they were dogs you shared with your ex and I’ve never had a pet before. I just need to adjust.”

“I’m adjusting too,” Nick reminded her. “That’s what relationships are all about.”

“We should be happy right now, shouldn’t we?” Peggy pouted. “It seems wrong that the first night in our new house and all we’ve done all day is argue.”

Nick knew exactly how she felt. It had seemed all day as though he’d been defending himself every time he spoke. He was exhausted physically from moving boxes around the house and mentally from all the fighting.

“You know what would make me happy?”

“What would make you happy?” she asked with a sly smile, clearly knowing what he was going to say.

Nick just grinned and pointed to his groin, then to Peggy’s, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

“I needed a break from unpacking anyway,” she said, laughing when he immediately started peeling clothes off, throwing them randomly around the room before falling on top of her. 

Nick had once read in Cosmo (while waiting for an appointment) that the first month after moving in with someone was the most challenging and somewhat of a test for the future. Couples went into the adventure thinking of it as a honeymoon period but quickly the curtains were pulled back to reveal the true colours of each partner. You didn’t really know what someone was like until you had experienced them first thing in the morning, just before bed and all the times in between.

Despite the fact that Nick had read that article from the first word to the last, he hadn’t kept it in mind when deciding to move in with Peggy. He had expected the honeymoon period and to a degree their first week together had been much like a honeymoon. He couldn’t deny how satisfying it was to once again be able to wake up every morning, roll over and have amazing morning sex.

For the most part that seemed to be what he and Peggy had done most. Whenever they got sick of unpacking they’d fall into bed or against any available surface and fuck like rabbits. They had always had a fairly exciting sex life, especially considering that their only chances to be together in the past usually were brief and centered around hotel rooms. They hadn’t had the chance to spend any real amount of time together and now that they could he was happy that their undeniable chemistry hadn’t wavered.

Just like the magazine had suggested though, it was the little things as their two lives merged into one that Nick seemed to find most surprising. Neither one of them had really found a way to bring it up but he had a feeling that Peggy was as unhappy with their current dresser situation as he was. She had left her dresser behind and at the time he didn’t see why they couldn’t share it. Now he was thinking he should stop wearing underwear all together rather than suffer the daily annoyance of having to sort through a pile of unfolded, lace thongs in order to find his boxers.

Though his girlfriend was incredibly put together most times he couldn’t have guessed that she would be the type to never fold her laundry. She continued to unpack clothes and shove them into drawers with promises that they would be ironed later when she needed them. His socks, underwear and t-shirts were lost in a sea of frills and pink and he worried they would never find their way out again.

Every morning when he got dressed (a pretense really since he had nowhere to be every day) he would pile handfuls of her things onto the top of the dresser without saying a word then watch later on as she would shove them back into the drawer. In the end though, if the only thing that bugged him about living with Peggy could be solved by getting her a dresser for herself then he could see them cohabiting quite successfully. He would still be having regular orgasms, would be able to find his underwear and everyone would be happier in the end.

“NICK!” he heard Peggy scream from the bedroom and the sudden sound made his heart jump into his throat. Without hesitation he ran upstairs, taking them two at a time. He stopped short once he got into the bedroom, seeing Peggy standing by the bathroom door in just a towel, already glaring at him.

“What’s wrong? Why were you screaming?” he asked innocently, not wanting to assume that he had done anything wrong lest she find something.

She spoke in a very slow, calculated voice, as though he would have a hard time understanding her otherwise. “Does this look like a hotel to you?” she asked.

“No,” he answered, already getting into a defensive stance by crossing his arms across his chest. “Why?”

“If you don’t think this is a hotel then I can’t for the life of me figure out why you can’t keep yourself from throwing your dirty, wet towels on the floor. There’s no maid coming in behind you to clean them up. When you dry yourself off you hang the towels back up to dry or put them in the basket.”

“I don’t need you to tell me how laundry works, I’m an adult.”

“Apparently you do,” she laughed though it was clear that she found nothing funny about the situation. “Because this is the third time I’ve had to ask you to pick up your fucking towels. And are you bathing with them? I don’t understand why they’re sopping wet.”

Nick shrugged, dismissing her flippantly, “I don’t really appreciate you talking to me like that. It’s not me that has an issue with them. So if you have a problem with it maybe you should pick them up and put them in the hamper. The amount of time you’ve taken to lecture me you could have done it ten times by now. Elizabeth never seemed to have a problem with it.”

He knew that casually throwing out the name of his ex-girlfriend was probably the wrong decision. If looks could kill he knew that he would be a pile of dust on the shiny hardwood floor beneath him. Of all the arguments he’d had with Peggy since he met her he was fairly certain this was the angriest he’d ever seen her.

He found it a little sexy the way her eyes had turned to slits as she sent him deadly glares and her chest was heaving with angry breathes. He always had a tendency to piss women off and he sometimes wondered if he didn’t do it on purpose because he liked to see them get riled up.

“Maybe you should call her then and ask her to come clean up after you because I’m not doing it. Oh wait, she cheated on you for most of your relationship then dumped you and married your friend six months later. She’s probably too busy to pop by and pick up after your nasty ass.”

Nick ran his tongue over his lips slowly - she had him, that was for sure. He only had two options: continue to refuse to pick up the towels and possibly never get another blow job for the rest of his life, or admit defeat and just clean up his mess. Terrified about the possibility of his sex life being impacted he let out a heavy sigh and marched past Peggy into the bathroom where he threw the wet towels and the boxers he’d been wearing when he’d gone in for his shower that morning into the laundry hamper.

“There, I picked them up!” he announced as he joined her in the doorway.

“Good boy,” she replied and he bit back a comment about her being condescending.

“I am good,” he agreed. “You should reward me by letting me watch you shower.”

Peggy rolled her eyes and pushed him away from the bathroom door, “You’re gross. I need to get ready to go.”

“Where are you going?” he asked. Neither of them had left the house for more than food and never separately since he’d moved to New York.

“I told you before, I’m meeting with my sister for lunch. What are you going to do this afternoon?”

Peggy’s opportunities to do things with her older sister were rare. She had been suffering from terminal cancer for longer than anyone liked to think about. She capitalized on the times when she was feeling good and jumped on the chance to get out of the house and do normal things with her daughters and her family. Nick assumed Peggy would be gone for the rest of the day and figured he could probably get away with setting up his X-Box and blasting some terrorists for a few hours by himself.

“Probably just unpacking,” he lied, almost anxious for Peggy to leave so he could get his game on.

Nick peered anxiously out the bedroom window as a car pulled into the driveway. He heard Peggy call out a goodbye and watched as she jogged over to the passenger side of the vehicle, hopping in the back. She didn’t have her own car so her brother-in-law was playing chauffeur for the girl’s day out that was about to commence.

Nick was thanking his lucky stars as he watched them pull back out of the driveway that she hadn’t asked him to drive them around. He didn’t think he could have tolerated that much femininity in such a small space, especially if Peggy’s sister was anything like her. He loved how girly Peggy was because it made him feel extra masculine in spite of his penchant for the arts but occasionally it made him need to escape to his man cave and be a dude.

In the past Nick had always had a rather large house with rooms that he could use just for recreation but this home was decidedly smaller. When they were breaking down what they were going to put where he had claimed the entire basement for himself. The former owners had used it as an in-law suite so there was a full kitchen and bathroom and a rather large bedroom and living room.

Once the technicians arrived the bedroom would be his new studio and the living room was divided between his home gym and man-land; the spot that was home to his favourite recliner and various gaming systems. Peggy had been under the impression that he was breaking down boxes for recycling when he was down in the basement the previous day but he was actually setting up all of his toys.

He needed the television to be a particular distance away from the chair in order to best see the screen, and he didn’t like how unsightly a bunch of cords could be if they weren’t hidden properly so he had focused on that. He could have easily defended his actions by saying he was simply unpacking but he knew there were more important rooms in the house that probably would have been better done first. Regardless he now had all of his things just how he liked them and was ready to spend the afternoon engrossed in a world of espionage.

The television in the basement was always much smaller than people expected when they saw Nick’s set up. Although he had every top of the line gaming console available on the market, and although his recliner had built in back massage, temperature control, and mini fridge, his television was fairly run of the mill. He had a large 73-inch HD projection screen TV with 3D capabilities and every wireless bell and whistle imaginable in the living room but downstairs he had a simple 37-inch flatscreen that he had nabbed on sale at Costco the previous Thanksgiving.

It was somewhat unimpressive to those that expected him to spare no cost on anything but there was a simple explanation to his decision. There was a time where he felt that way, that he had to have everything money could buy, but his video game abilities suffered from him having to scan back and forth across the screen because he couldn’t see it all at once. Since then, he had opted for a more reasonable screen size and displayed it with pride. He usually let people believe it was his humility that lead him to opt for the budget electronic choice, but he knew the truth.

Once he was sure Peggy was long gone he pulled off his t-shirt and jeans, throwing them happily on the bed. Clothing was overrated when it came to playing video games. Nick preferred to be in a more natural state, opting just for a pair of black boxer briefs and white socks. He practically skipped down the stairs into the basement, turning his XBox on with a satisfying click.

He let out a contented sigh as he sank back into his recliner, enjoying the feel of the cool leather on his bare back. He grabbed the wireless controller off the table next to his chair and immediately got into his game, picking up exactly where he had left off when he had last played back in California. He let himself get absorbed in the game, blasting terrorists and completing covert operations through the eyes of a US Marine during the Gulf War. He had no concept of time on the outside world because time was never ending in digital Baghdad but when he heard footsteps over his head he glanced at the clock, surprised to see that four hours had passed since Peggy had left the house.

He continued to play the game but let his mind wander while thinking about his girlfriend. She had been exceptionally frisky the past few days so he figured that since she was home it was probably the perfect time to get in round number three before dinner. He didn’t know what had gotten into her, whether it was the excitement of moving out of her parent’s home, or boredom from being off work but he was definitely supportive of it.

“Nick?” he heard her call out and he responded, letting her know that he was in the basement.

He thought he heard noise on the stairs but kept his eyes on the screen so his character wouldn’t die, “What would you say...” he began slyly once he thought she was within earshot. “If I said the word blow job?” The voice that spoke next was not that of his girlfriend’s which sent Nick flying out of his seat in surprise.

“I would say blow job is two words.”

The sound of a massacre on the screen behind him signalling that he was about to lose his life in the game was drowning out the rapid beating of his heart. There were two strange women standing in front of him with satisfied smirks on their faces. He figured one had to be Peggy’s sister because they looked similar and she had a bright pink flowered scarf tied around an obviously bald head. There was an awkward silence as they stared at each other (him embarrassed, them amused) when Peggy suddenly bounded into the room behind the other women.

“Where are your pants?” she asked and it suddenly came to him that he was standing there in his underwear.

“I’m playing XBox...” he answered as though it were a completely reasonable explanation for the whereabouts of his bottoms.

“I thought you were unpacking?” Peggy asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “You weren’t down here watching porn were you?”

“What?!” Nick exclaimed wide-eyed. “No! I really was playing XBox. I had to unpack it, so technically...”

“That doesn’t explain the nudity,” the girl that he hadn’t yet identified piped up and he felt self-conscious as all three women gave him an obvious once over, giving a lingering pause as their eyes hit below waistband of his boxers.

He chuckled anxiously, one hand playing with his hair while the other settled against his hip, “Not that I need to explain to you, since I don’t even know who you are, but I just prefer to play video games without pants, okay?”

“I just didn’t know when Peg asked me if I wanted to come check out her new place that it included free tickets to the gun show.”

The three women giggled wildly and Nick could feel the heat rising in his cheeks.

“Okay, okay,” Peggy interrupted. “Stop teasing him. Go upstairs and I’ll meet you up there.”

Nick watched as Peggy’s sister and the other woman walked out of the basement with unmistakable grins on their faces. As soon as he heard the door close at the top of the stairs he turned to his girlfriend, throwing out his arms in frustration.

“Way to let me know you were on your way home with guests!” he exclaimed.

“I sent you a text when we were leaving the restaurant,” Peggy replied coolly.

“I didn’t get...” Nick trailed off, his eyes scanning the immediate area for any sign of his white iPhone. “My phone is in my pants.”

“So you play video games in your underwear...” she mused with a smirk. “I keep learning all these new and interesting things about you.”

“And you let your girlfriends make fun of me when I’m weak and defenceless,” he joked in return. He raised an eyebrow when Peggy approached him, running her hands down his chest until they were holding tightly onto his sides. He let out a content sigh as one hand then trailed over his hip before moving to grasp him through his boxers.

“Were you saying something before about a blow job?”

He shrugged innocently, “Yeah. I dunno, I’d just kind of like one. It’s been a while. Maybe tonight?”

“How about now?”

“With your sister and your friend just upstairs?”

“She’s not my friend she’s my cousin - Amy,” Peggy clarified. She walked him backwards until his legs hit the recliner and he had no option but to fall back into the seat. “And yes, with them just upstairs.”

The mere thought that they might get caught doing something lewd, even if it was in the basement of their house, aroused Nick immediately. Instinctively he scooted down further in the chair, sending a cautionary glance towards the basement door to ensure they were in fact alone as he felt his underwear being pulled down his legs.

“What’s with this?” he couldn’t help but ask. He hadn’t gotten any attention of the oral variety since the last time they’d met up, before they’d moved in together, so it surprised him that Peggy was suddenly so gung-ho despite how revved up she’d been lately.

“Can’t I just be nice?” she asked sweetly, her hand wrapping around his erection. “I know how... hard... you’ve been working to get the house set up. You deserve something special.”

“You’re right,” he panted, his hands gripping the armrests of the chair. “It took me a long time to make sure none of the cords were showing behind the tv.”

“You’re such a good house husband.”

The word husband made every one of his muscles tense for a moment and he was about to correct her when a sudden warmth flooded his body and he looked down to see her mouth on him. Surely he could wait until later to chastise her for using the h-word.

Nick could hear laughter coming from the kitchen as he made his way down the stairs from the bedroom. After a satisfying quickie in the basement Peggy had gone to entertain her company and Nick headed to their room to clean himself up. He had a quick shower and put on proper clothes and was finally ready to meet the two women who were currently occupying his space.

He heard his name as he approached the kitchen door, making him pause. He had experienced moments like this in the past. Women had this tendency to huddle around in kitchens talking about their men. It was one of the ways that he had found out one of his ex’s wasn’t really all that into him, but rather into his bank account.

He didn’t think anything like that would get said in this case, but he was curious nonetheless what kinds of things Peggy was telling her girlfriends about him. He had heard her on the phone with her sister before and knew that conversations between the two of them tended to be more on the dirty side. They were closer than most sisters and seemed to be far more comfortable sharing intimate details about their sex lives.

It was one of the things he loved about her because he had the same relationship with his siblings. He often got strange glances, or comments when people saw him interacting with his family, specifically with his sisters. He would never forget the first time Brian saw him kiss his sister on the lips (albeit completely platonic) and came right out and asked him what was with that. Nick didn’t think there was anything with it, it was just something he had always done.

His entire family was very loving, very touchy, so kissing his sister seemed normal just like talking to his sisters or brother about his sex life. They were people too and there was no denying that he had sex so he didn’t see why he would need to be weirded out about hearing stories. It wasn’t as if he was participating.

He leaned up against the wall next to the kitchen door, turning his ear towards it as though that would help him hear better. They were idly chatting about the house, how well it was coming together and how lucky Peggy was to be living in that neighbourhood. Inevitably though the conversation turned dirty (just like he knew it eventually would) so he was even more curious to know what Peggy would say about him.

“How have things been?” the voice he recognized as Peggy’s sister Marilyn asked. “You were all worried before you moved in that you guys wouldn’t have the same spark as you did when you were flying all over to meet him.”

“It’s been okay,” Peggy replied but she didn’t sound totally convinced. “I keep feeling like I have to be available to him whenever he wants because our relationship was so heavily based on sex before...”

“Why would you move in with someone if your relationship is only based on sex?” Amy asked bluntly and Nick couldn’t deny wanting to know the answer to that question himself. He had never heard Peggy talk about these issues before.

“I didn’t say our relationship is ONLY based on sex, but sex was a big part of it before. We only had a short amount of time to be together so a lot of that time was spent in bed. We still formed a relationship around enjoying each other’s company, common interests, and being able to talk forever without getting bored of each other. I love every single thing about him, even the annoying stuff. We just came from a really strange, non-traditional relationship that I had never experienced before. I just don’t want him to feel deprived of anything he used to be able to get before.”

Nick was surprised by her confession. It explained a lot, including how she had been constantly ready to please him in every way possible. She must have thought his video game playing was out of boredom and used the basement blow job to make it up to him. As much as he was enjoying the total access to sex all the time he didn’t want Peggy to think that’s all he wanted. He was cool for them to just be together. Problem was, it would be difficult to let her know that without admitting that he had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Well if he loves you as much as you love him then he’ll be happy with what you have now. Maybe he doesn’t want sex every minute of the day... wait. He’s male. He wants sex every minute of the day. But maybe he could go without it if you weren’t always offering it.”

“Maybe I like having having him want me all the time,” Peggy chuckled and Nick smiled on the other side of the door. “It would be different if he wasn’t a good lover but since he’s the best I’ve ever had...”

“Really?” Amy interrupted, her tone somewhat skeptical of Peggy’s claims. “The best you’ve EVER had? Better than Dustin?”

Dustin was Peggy’s first and longest serious boyfriend, Nick knew. They had known each other since they were children then dated through high school and college. It was pretty much assumed that the two of them would get married, have kids and live happily ever after but it didn’t happen.

Peggy’s family was absolutely in love with Dustin. What they didn’t know was that while they were seeing a charming young man, good looking and ready to succeed in life, behind closed doors he treated their daughter like garbage. From what Peggy had told him Nick got the impression that Dustin was very manipulative. He constantly insulted, belittled and degraded her as though it were all a joke.

By the end of their relationship Peggy was depressed and suffered from anxiety from years of emotional abuse. He made her feel small and powerless and Nick applauded her for having the courage to get out of the relationship. It hadn’t been easy though, her family couldn’t understand why she would have left such a perfect partner and they continued to maintain a relationship with Dustin despite their break-up because they didn’t know the truth about him.

“Hands down better than Dustin!” Peggy exclaimed confidently and Nick felt his ego inflate a little. “He actually cares about making sure I’m satisfied whereas I sometimes wonder if Dustin really needed me there at all.”

“You can’t just say these kinds of things without giving any details,” Marilyn joked. “How good are we talking here? Does he do some sort of tantric thing where he can hold back an orgasm for an hour? What’s so special about him that other men haven’t been able to do?”

Peggy laughed loudly, “What is this? An interview? Sheesh. I don’t know what it is about him. He’s just... he can be gentle and soft when he wants to be but when it’s clear that I don’t want that he can be aggressive and dominant and I love that he can read where I’m at. He’s open to pretty much anything and he knows I am too so there’s never a lack of variety. I know I tell you guys everything but I really can’t believe I’m about to tell you this...”

Nick leaned closer to the door, his eyebrow raising higher and higher up his forehead as he anxiously awaited her next words.

“A couple of months ago I went out to Denver to see one of his shows. I’d never seen him on stage before and he was so unbelievably hot. It was everything I could do not to run up there and just jump on top of him. By the end of the show I was practically foaming at the mouth but I didn’t realize that performing, for him, was such a huge turn on. When he came back to the hotel he was absolutely insatiable. I’ve never... I came eight times. Eight. And I’m talking toe curling, sheet fisting, screaming-so-loud-the-people-in-the-next-room-probably-thought-I-was-being-murdered good. He’s better than any man I’ve ever been with.”

“Holy shit,” Marilyn muttered.

“Really?” Amy was still clearly skeptical. “From what you’ve told us before Dustin was pretty impressive in what he had to offer below the belt.”

“I don’t deny that!” Peggy said. “Nick might be smaller but he knows how to use it better.”

Nick ego deflated just a little bit knowing that he would be sure to lose that pissing contest with his girlfriend’s ex-flame but pride aside he liked knowing that she was that satisfied in the bedroom. He often wondered if women just told him he was great because he was Nick Carter or if they were actually getting as much out of it as they let on.

“How much smaller?” Marilyn piped up curiously.

“Not by much,” Peggy dismissed the question. “Let’s just say... what Nick lacks in comparative length he makes up for in girth and it’s just fine by me. And it’s just... nicer to look at. He takes much better care of himself than Dustin ever did.”

Amy chuckled and Nick glared at her through the door, “Are you saying he has a pretty dick? I better write that one down! I guess when you’ve got a pretty face the rest just follows.”

“Stop,” Peggy said and Nick could tell she was rolling her eyes. “Speaking of his pretty face, where the hell is that boy? Did he drown in the shower?”

For a brief moment Nick considered bolting back up the stairs but he didn’t want to make any noise and moving quickly would surely arouse suspicion. He stayed put and planned the best way to casually walk into the kitchen as if he hadn’t been there all along when his cell phone suddenly chirped in his pocket with Peggy’s familiar tone, letting him know she had texted him.

“Did you hear that?” she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice and before he could escape the phone chirped again, reminding him about the text. He reached down into his pocket to put an end to the noise but before he could dash from the scene of the crime the kitchen door swung open to reveal an amused looking Peggy.

“How long have you been standing there?” Marilyn chuckled, appearing from behind her sister.

Nick blushed for the second time that day and shrugged, deciding to just bite the bullet, “Long enough to know you think my dick is pretty. Which, thank you, it is. I spend a fair amount of time tending to it. I’ll also have you know that when I get together with my friends we are not nearly as dirty as y’all.”

Marilyn smiled and opened the door the rest of the way, motioning for him to come into the kitchen, “I think I like you.”

There was a strange smell emanating from the kitchen and Nick followed his nose until he was next to the dinner table. Peggy was bent over the table, putting down place settings and he couldn’t stop himself from taking a moment to appreciate the view.

“You making dinner?” he asked, somewhat rhetorically. Before she could straighten he grabbed her hips, playfully mimicking what they had been doing in their bedroom the night before.

“Yes,” she replied though her breathing was cut off every time he bumped her into the table. “Nick!” she laughed as he continued dry humping her and swatted at him. “Would you stop that? Are you a dog in heat or something?”

“Maybe I am,” he teased, letting go of her. “What’s for dinner, babe?”

“Pad thai,” she replied as she moved back towards the stove.

Nick sighed, hoping they weren’t going to have the same issue that night as they’d had the night before. Peggy definitely wasn’t the greatest of cooks, though she always gave it her best effort. The problem was that she didn’t really know how to cook for a vegetarian. She had it in her head that Nick would be able to just pick out the chicken or whatever animal-based protein she added to the meal but he felt like if he did that he might as well just eat it. He wasn’t doing any favours for the animals by throwing the meat in the trash instead of eating it. Either way he felt bad for complaining when she had made the effort to make dinner.

“What’s that?” he played dumb even though he had eaten the dish more times than he could count during visits to Thailand over the years.

“You’ve never had it?” she asked, surprise evident in her voice. “You’ll like it!”

Nick forced a smile and turned towards the large picture window in the kitchen overlooking the backyard. He had always heard that when couples were shopping for homes it was the kitchen and the master bathroom that would sell a house to a woman. In their case though, those were the things that had sold the place to Nick. He liked to cook and both he and Peggy were clean eaters so they prepared nearly every meal themselves.

He had liked the size of the kitchen, the big marble island, and the fact that it was set off from the rest of the house, not an open concept where smells had a tendency to linger around for far too long. One of the biggest draws though was a huge floor-to-ceiling picture window that took up an entire wall of the room. The patio in their narrow backyard had a small shed and a pool along with a comfortable seating area where the barbecue and fire pit were situated.

The pool cover had a layer of fall leaves strewn across it and Nick stared at it longingly. It had only been a couple of weeks but he already missed the days of being able to get up in the morning, no matter what time of year and start off his day with some laps in the pool.

“I want to go for a swim.”

He heard the sound of a spoon banging against the side of the skillet on the stove then Peggy crossing the room towards him. He felt her hands on his shoulders then his entire body lurched as she hopped onto his back. Reacting quickly he hooked his arms under her knees, holding onto her strongly until her arms hooked around him to support some of her weight.

“Sweetheart, it’s October,” she replied, playfully nipping at his earlobe.

“I’m aware of the date,” he chuckled, flinching when she blew a stream of air into his ear as a payback for his sarcasm. “In California...” he wasn’t able to finish his sentence because the sound of her groaning drowned him out. She had been on him constantly about even mentioning the words California or Los Angeles. He didn’t realize he had been making comparisons between his old home and his new home quite as much as he was and it was clear that Peggy was not a fan.

“Maybe you should move back there,” she said flatly. She tried to jump down off his back but Nick held onto her legs, not letting her down.

“Hey you’re going to knock us both over!” he exclaimed, hanging on though she was fighting against him. “Calm down!”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” she snapped. “Just let go of me!”

He made it clear through his tight grasp that he had no intention of letting go and he finally felt her concede defeat, wrapping her arms back across the front of his chest with a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry,” he immediately said. “I lived there for a long time so I’m still getting used to being up north and everything that comes along with that. I can’t help that there are things I miss about LA. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be here, it doesn’t mean I want to move back.”

“No, I’m sorry,” she replied, both of them still looking straight out the window. He felt her lips press against his cheek and her arms held him just a little bit tighter. “If I had moved from California I’d probably miss it too. Maybe you should get the pool heated? Ooh! Babe, we could get a hot tub. You know how much you like going in the hot tub at the gym after your workout.”

“Maybe in the spring,” he nodded, finally letting her down so she could check on dinner. He watched her move back over to the stove and stir the contents of the skillet. He realized just then that they had spent almost every evening since they’d moved in together cooped up in the house. Peggy had mentioned a few times that they should get together with her friends or just go into the city but it hadn’t happened. They spent all day either unpacking or arguing over whose stuff should take precedence in various rooms then there was dinner and then they would take the dogs for a walk or spend an hour or two in the gym downstairs. He sometimes forgot that Peggy was still at the point in her life where going drinking and dancing with friends was more normal than staying in and watching a movie on Netflix with the dogs. He didn’t want her to think that she was stuck in suburbia with nowhere to go.

“Nick?”

He looked up to see her holding two plates full of food expectantly, “I must have zoned out!” he smiled and joined her at the table. “I have an idea...”

“Hold that thought,” she grinned and motioned down to the plate. “First let me know what you think of dinner.”

He decided in that split second that rather than disappoint her again he would just eat whatever was in his plate. Looking down though he was pleasantly surprised to see that there was not a bird in sight, rather it was cubes of tofu on his plate covered in a delicious looking peanut sauce on a bed of whole wheat noodles.

“Tofu?” he asked excitedly, giving her a warm smile. “Thanks! You didn’t need to do that.”

“I bought a cookbook, for vegetarians,” she explained. “I don’t want us to have to eat different things all the time.”

“You’re awesome,” he told her as he took a big bite of his dinner.

“What were you going to say?” she wondered, leaning her chin on her hand as she watched him eat. Nick used to be weirded out by it but he had come to find some normalcy in the fact that if she made dinner she would always watch him eat it as if to be absolutely positive that he liked it.

“We should go out tonight!” he proposed between bites. “To a club or something! I haven’t seen you get dressed up in a while. I’m positive you’ve got a short skirt somewhere in that enormous closet upstairs that is dying to be shown off.”

Peggy grinned widely and nodded her head, “Yes! That sounds like so much fun. Where should we go?”

“Downtown?” he suggested. “Wherever we go though, I have to call ahead so they know I’m coming. I don’t want to cause any problems so I’m better off sticking to a VIP area somewhere.”

“Oh my god!” Peggy’s eyes went even wider and Nick couldn’t help but laugh. “I totally forgot we would get to hang out in VIP! Sometimes I forget you’re famous.”

“That’s why I love you,” he chuckled, reaching out to grab her hand.

She was practically dancing in her seat, “I should invite some of my friends! I know they would love to meet you. It’s so weird to have been seeing someone for a year but not have introduced them to any of your friends.”

They both concentrated on their food for a while before Peggy broke the silence, “Should we get a cab? It might take awhile for one to get all the way out here. Maybe we should get a town car or something?”

Nick waved her off, “I’ll drive.”

“But honey, if you drive you can’t drink.”

“I don’t really drink anymore anyway,” he said, thinking back to the heart condition he had suffered with a few years earlier as a result of his penchant for hard-partying. He still drank but normally only when he was a short walk away from his hotel room or was being driven by someone in his entourage. He’d had too many issues with waiting outside clubs trying to get cabs home, dealing with annoying paparazzi and occasionally the police.

“Okay,” Peggy said skeptically. If there was one thing she had come to know about Nick it was that no matter how often he said he wasn’t going to drink it was rarely true. She had heard the speech about his heart condition and how he was going to take it easy on the drinking a million times in the year she knew him. Still though he always managed to get completely shitfaced without even trying. She only hoped for both their sake since they weren’t going to be drinking in the comfort of their own hotel that he keep his promise.

While Nick had been tempted to go to one of the clubs he had been familiar with during his days of partying in the Big Apple he was also worried about what the paparazzi would be like outside the club. There was always celebrities lingering around NYC and just as many photographers anxious to snap pictures of them.

Nick didn’t mind having his picture taken and he knew that with all the buzz surrounding the Backstreet Boys teaming up with New Kids on the Block and the joint tour they’d just finished, his publicist would welcome any opportunity for him to get his face on Page Six.

He didn’t feel comfortable subjecting Peggy to that though, especially if she planned on inviting her friends out with them. The last thing he wanted was to have to usher a large group of newbies away from a TMZ cameraman while worrying that someone would say or do something stupid. It was easier when he was out with people who had known him for a long time or with other celebrities who knew how things worked.

He just wanted a chill night of hanging out, doing a little dancing, a little drinking with his girlfriend and her friends. Peggy had ended up being the one to suggest a place to go, choosing a club that she and her friends often frequented because it was close to their neighbourhood but still hip enough to draw a crowd.

They called ahead and got the VIP section to themselves which was much of the second floor of the club and Nick took the initiative to order bottle service for the group. People always said you couldn’t buy love but over the years he had learned that it could certainly buy some people’s happiness even if only for a night. If buying Peggy’s friends a bunch of alcohol meant they might like him better than her family did then he was willing to shell out a few dollars for the cause.

He wasn’t certain at first how many people they would be able to wrangle up in just a few hours but he had underestimated Peggy’s connections and her ability to work the phone. Soon, thanks to a party-time phone tree like he had never witnessed before, Peggy had been in touch with 25 of her closest friends who were all planning on coming out to the club with a plus one each. Nick could only sit back in awe as Peggy quickly compiled a list and emailed it over to the club so they would know who should be let into the VIP section.

“You should be a personal assistant,” Nick joked after she had finally set the phone down on the kitchen island.

“Really?” Peggy asked, not entirely sure if he meant it or not. “I was thinking that might be kinda fun, actually!”

“Oh,” Nick stated, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “I didn’t realize that was something you’d be into. I think you’d be great!”

“Thanks babe,” Peggy grinned and leaned across the kitchen island to exchange a quick kiss.

“Are you excited to see your friends?” he asked as they both made their way upstairs to get ready for the all the fun. Nick didn’t have very many close friends outside of his Backstreet brothers, especially since he had reformed his life and stepped away from drugs, alcohol, and the hard-partying Los Angeles club scene. He had a tendency to find a few people that he was very close with and keep them around him as much as he possibly could.

It made it challenging for those people to have other friends because there was always an expectation that they would be available when Nick came calling but it was just what worked for him. Since he’d moved to New York though he hadn’t called up any of his friends in the area and had made Peggy that go-to person he spent every moment of his free time with. As much as he’d love to just keep it that way he was a realist and knew that she needed to see her other friends, too.

“I am!” she called out from inside their large walk-in closet.

Nick followed her inside the expansive space and chuckled at the differences between their two sides. He had never lived with someone who was so much more messy than himself. He thought his friends might be proud of the way he had kept all of his things organized on his side of the closet while hers had exploded everywhere. She had so many shoes they didn’t all fit on the shelves that were built into the wall so a display of pumps was stretched out along the floor beneath her clothes.

She also had seemingly no method of organization for the clothing that was haphazardly draped on hangers. Nick was always sure to hang his pants, dress shirts and t-shirts in groupings but Peggy just put hangers wherever they would fit which usually lead to her trashing the place trying to find something. Having always been the unorganized one in the past he didn’t dare try to give her advice though because he knew how annoying it could be.

“I was thinking I might get another dresser, put it in here,” he said casually, hoping she wouldn’t ask why. It was another situation where he didn’t want to draw attention to the issue but he was getting tired of sharing what little dresser space he had with the woman who didn’t even fold her underwear.

Peggy simply acknowledged his statement but didn’t stop madly looking through her clothes for something to wear to their impromptu party. Nick picked out a pair of dark wash jeans and a white dress shirt and chuckled as she filled her arms full of potential outfits.

“Do you need help?” he asked, holding back laughter.

“Why didn’t you invite anyone?” she asked, ignoring his question as she tossed down a pile of clothes onto their bed.

Nick shrugged and followed her out of the closet after throwing on his clothes. He leaned up against the wall and just watched her from behind as she stood in only a pair of pink lacy underwear, sorting through dresses on the bed.

“I had no one to invite.”

“You don’t know a single person who lives in New York? I find that hard to believe,” Peggy commented. She held a dress up to her chest and turned to Nick as if requesting his approval.

“Too cocktail party,” he shook his head and she threw the selection back on the bed. “There are people I know but not people I know well enough that I want to hang out with them. I want to meet your friends. Maybe I’ll hit it off with someone and then I’ll have a friend!”

“Tons of celebrities live here,” she pointed out. “You must know some of them.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Have you ever known me to hang out with other celebrities? That hasn’t been my scene in forever. I don’t want that kind of attention.”

“But it would have been so cool!” she joked but he didn’t crack a smile.

With a huff, Nick walked to the bed and sorted through her clothes until he got to the last dress. “Wear this one,” he instructed. As she obligingly pulled the dress on he crossed his arms across his chest, “and for future reference, I’m not going to invite people I know to things just so you can name drop.”

“I was kidding,” she said softly, turning to get him to zip up the back of the dress.

“I’m not,” he replied, brushing her hair away so he could lead the zipper up her back. “I just want to be treated like a normal person that happens to have a very public job. If you’re looking to brag that you’re fucking a famous person, find another one.”

“Nick...” Peggy quickly turned, looking at him in surprise. “I was only joking. I’m sorry. I rarely ever think of you that way, you know that. I love you.”

Annoyance still apparent on his face, he was about to reply when Insane Clown Posse suddenly started blasting out of Peggy’s phone. She requested that he hold his thoughts while she answer the phone and the conversation was brief. After just a few words she hung up and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish what he was going to say.

“Sorry,” he shook his head. “That was shitty of me. I love you too.”

Although seemingly insincere she smiled and reached up to kiss his bearded chin. “You’re going to get to meet a couple of my friends early,” she told him, pointing to the phone. “That was Becca. She and her boyfriend Tommy are going to take a cab over here then drive with us. Is that okay?”

He nodded then left her to finish getting ready while he waited for her friends to arrive. He wasn’t sure what had come over him when she mentioned inviting other famous people to the party. He knew that Peggy wasn’t the type of person to just be in love with his celebrity status but he had been burned enough times to be overly cautious as a result. He knew eventually he was going to end up introducing her to actors and singers that she might admire but for now he liked being the only famous person in her world.

It made him feel normal to be doing things like going to a club with a bunch of 20-somethings who likely wouldn't give a crap who he was. At the same time he wanted Peggy to be able to name drop, but only his name. He wasn’t ready to share the limelight quite yet.

As it turned out Nick really did hit it off with Peggy’s friend Tommy. It had been almost an hour since Tommy and Becca had arrived at the house and they’d had the opportunity to just sit and chat in the living room while waiting for the girls. Nick couldn’t stop himself from checking his watch every ten minutes while the other man just laughed at his impatience.

It was allegedly quite a common occurrence for these girls to rush everyone only to then slow the process down while they finished getting ready. From what he’d been able to get out of them they were doing their makeup. Nick wasn’t entirely sure how much makeup they were putting on but he didn’t think it would require more than an hour, especially when Becca had arrived with her face done up to start with.

The two men had found they had quite a bit in common. In appearance they were polar opposites - Tommy was short, on the stocky side with short brown hair and brown eyes. He didn’t have much of a sense for fashion and was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting jeans that did nothing to give him a shape other than square. He reminded Nick of the kind of guy that still lived in his mother’s basement and didn’t have many aspirations in life, combined with his own fashion sense when he was in his early twenties.

Regardless of first impressions, he seemed like a nice guy. They both liked football (albeit, Tommy was originally from Boston and a lifelong New England Patriots fan), video games, golfing and fishing so there was no shortage of things to talk about. Eventually though, the conversation turned to the women upstairs as they both started to get antsy.

“I should go up there and see what they’re doing,” Nick commented, eyeing the staircase.

Tommy considered the option then cautiously shook his head. “I know we just met but I’m already wondering if you have a death wish. Going up there would be crazy. You don’t know what you’ll find up there.”

Nick couldn’t help but crack a smile at the other man’s dry sense of humour but the temptation to break up the hen party above their heads was still strong. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had made him wait quite so long. They had told everyone else to meet them at the club at eleven and it was already half past ten.

“This is just silly,” he pointed out. “It’s been an hour.”

Leaving Tommy on the couch, Nick walked up to the staircase and cocked an ear in the direction of the bedroom, trying to hear any noise. He called out to his girlfriend, repeating her name two more times with no answer. He reluctantly made his way up the stairs, eyes rolling as he took the steps two at a time.

“Peggy!” he repeated as he swung open the door. His eyes went wide at the sight in front of him. There was twice the amount of clothes now strewn across the bed and his girlfriend was again holding up dresses in front of her half naked body, this time for her friend’s opinion.

“Don’t you knock?” Peggy asked irritably, sending him a dirty look.

“This is my bedroom!” Nick exclaimed, still staring at her wide-eyed. There was an almost empty wine bottle sitting on the bedside table and both women had clearly had a fair amount to drink. “What the hell are you doing? I thought you were dressed already and doing your makeup.”

“I didn’t like what I was wearing,” she shrugged, tossing the dress she was holding back onto the bed before starting the hunt for another one.

Nick let out a frustrated grunt, “What was wrong with it? It looked fine.”

“It wasn’t right,” Becca piped up and Peggy agreed.

“Why are you just standing around naked in front of your friend?” Nick questioned, as if only then realizing that Peggy wasn’t totally dressed.

“I’m trying on clothes!”

“Bra?” he asked sarcastically, resisting the urge to cover her chest and give her some semblance of modesty.

“Some of these dresses are backless,” she reasoned. “What would be the point in trying the dress on with one if I can’t wear one with it? Besides, it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before. This may come as a shock but she has breasts too.”

“How much have you had to drink?” he asked, moving to pick up the bottle and see exactly how much was in there. “This isn’t the same one you were drinking at dinner, did you finish that one?”

“What is this, prohibition?” Peggy laughed. “We’re pre-drinking.”

“You don’t need to pre-drink. I paid for bottle service, which is waiting for us at the club right now,” he rolled his eyes. “Would you just hurry up so we can go and clean this shit up? We’re going to have to sleep on this bed tonight.”

“Yes, Dad,” Peggy giggled.

“Hey now, go easy on him,” Becca said sarcastically. “He might be old but he’s still a few years shy of being able to be your father!”

The two of them continued giggling and Nick just shook his head at their immaturity.

“Both of you,” he pointed to each of them individually, “are evil bitches. Hurry up or I’m leaving without you and I’m going to pick someone up and bring her home to have sex on top of your clothes.”

“Mean,” Peggy glared at him playfully. She then ushered him back out of the room so she could finish getting dressed.

Nick let out a heavy breath as he made his way back downstairs where Tommy was curiously looking over the photographs that were hung on the wall by the stairs.

“They ready?” the other man asked but Nick just shook his head.

“Nah, I have a feeling they’re going to be a while longer. Foosball?”

“Foosball,” Tommy agreed and the pair made their way to Nick’s rec room to pass the time.

~*~

One game of table soccer turned into two and eventually Nick found himself back up in the bedroom trying to get control of the two women who were currently holding up their entire evening. After some persuading and the promise that he would get the DJ to play their favourite songs they got both women loaded into the car and headed out for the night.

Many of the people Peggy had invited had already arrived by the time they got there. Nick and Tommy watched in awe at how quickly the girls all gravitated towards each other, all squealing and giggling as they hugged as though they hadn’t seen each other in years.

The two men opted to mix themselves drinks then grab a set of comfortable-looking leather chairs that looked off the glass balcony onto the rest of the club. They could see everyone drinking and dancing below and took the opportunity to just sit and chat while they nursed their drinks and their women got even more intoxicated.

Nick was just polishing off the last of his drink when suddenly Peggy dropped down into his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. As if on autopilot his hand instinctively slid up the skirt of her dress, resting comfortably on her hip.

“Hi baby,” he smiled. “Are you having fun?”

“Yes,” she grinned in return, “my friends all love you because there is so much free alcohol. We’re gonna go down there and dance,” she pointed to the busy dance floor below. “You should come.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Nah, maybe later. I’ll watch you from up here though.”

Peggy pouted dramatically and Nick couldn’t help but chuckle at her drunkenness. “I want to dance with you,” she whined.

“Later,” he repeated firmly. “I’m just gonna chill here with Tommy for a bit.”

Reluctantly, she nodded though it was clear she wasn’t impressed with his decision to not going her and her friends on the dance floor. She was lingering on his lap and Nick got the impression there was something on the tip of her tongue that she wanted to say. She had a tendency to get a restless look on her face when there was something bugging her that she needed to just get out in the open.

“Out with it,” he encouraged her while lightly slapping her on the side of the thigh. “You have something to say, I can see it bouncing around in that head of yours.”

“I feel bad asking you...”

“To dance?” his brow wrinkled in confusion.

“No,” Peggy bit her lip, “It’s just... a couple of my friends wanted to know if it would be cool to get a picture with you. I said I would ask.”

Nick blinked slowly, taking a moment to digest the request. “Are you for real right now? I’m not working.”

“I know, I’m sorry, I just said I would ask!” she replied defensively, taking his face in her hands. “Can I at least tell them maybe another time?”

He nodded slightly then closed the gap between them, his lips pressing against hers lightly. Reluctantly he pulled away, sighing contentedly at the feeling of her hands thumbs stroking the short beard along his jaw. “Tell them... if they’re still around when we leave tonight I’ll take some pictures.”

“Thank you,” Peggy said sincerely, kissing him once more before she hopped off his lap to rejoin her friends who were making their way down the steps from the balcony to the dance floor below.

After watching them depart Tommy looked back at Nick with an amused expression. “I didn’t realize that celebrities had set working hours.”

“I don’t,” Nick clarified, “but people seem to think that I’m going to be cool to take photos and sign autographs and chat with them all the time. You get days off from work, shouldn’t I? Don’t get me wrong, I love it, I love my fans. Sometimes though I just want to chill out. I get sick of people asking me to hold signs like, ‘Oh this is just an inside joke, you won’t get it but all my friends on Twitter will!’ meanwhile I have no idea if what it says is making me look like a douchebag. Then if I look like shit, or I’m not smiling, or I’m a little bit drunk they judge me for ruining their photo and heaven forbid I be in a bad mood! Sometimes I’d just like to do my thing without someone gawking at me. Maybe that makes me an asshole, I don’t know.”

“I don’t think it makes you an asshole. You’re only human,” the other man sympathized. “I never really thought about those kinds of things before. I always figured that’s kind of what you signed up for.”

“I signed up for singing,” Nick chuckled. “I just want to make music whether people buy it or not. Fame is just a side effect. I’m not complaining though because really... I’m fucking loaded, man. Those girls have filled my bank account, that’s for sure!”

“Nevermind, you are an asshole!” Tommy threw his head back, the pair of them laughing loudly.

“I am,” Nick laughed in agreement. He reached over and grabbed the bottle of vodka from the table between them, holding it up with a questioning glance. With approval from the other man he poured them both a drink, mixing it cranberry juice from a decanter. He had never been much of a beer drinker, always having preferred hard liquor even though most of his drinks could be considered girly. He had never asked Tommy what kind of a drinker he was but he honestly didn’t care. Alcohol was alcohol.

As he reached out to pass the other man his drink the site of someone familiar walking up the stairs to the VIP area caught Nick’s eye. He did a double take, at first unsure of whether he was truly seeing who he thought. With a chuckle he rested his drink down on the table and excused himself, unable to keep himself from going over to say hello.

“Excuse me, Sir? Could I see some identification?”

Nick chuckled at his poor impersonation of a police officer and watched as the man in front of him whipped around in surprise.

“Nicky? What the fuck?”

“Hi,” Nick smiled and pulled the smaller man into a tight hug, still feeling as though it were all a little surreal. He was a lot bigger than Nick remembered him but he looked exactly the same. His blonde hair was slicked back showing off strong cheekbones and a pair of dark brown eyes. He was built like a runner with lean arms and legs and strong muscle tone. When Nick had last seen him he was just a teenager. “What are you doing here, man?”

“I could ask you the same thing...”

A small, but clear voice interrupted the pair with a clearing of her throat and Nick looked over to see a blonde woman eyeing them expectantly.

“Oh,” the other man excused, “sorry, but this is the craziest thing ever. This is my cousin, Nick.”

“Come on Pete, aren’t we more than cousins? We were practically brothers when we were kids!”

“You used to torture me.”

Nick couldn’t deny the truth of the statement so he simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Turning to the woman he reached out his hand and shook hers, giving a brief introduction.

She introduced herself as Trish, sending a look between the two in front of her. Sensing that the men had a lot more to talk about she turned towards another group who were chatting nearby.

“What are you doing here?” Nick repeated, finding it so unusual to see his cousin randomly in a club in New York City. Further to that he was in the VIP section that they had reserved which meant there was some kind of connection.

Pete pointed to the woman whom he had introduced Nick to earlier. “My girlfriend and I went to college with this girl, Peggy. We sort of lost touch but she randomly invited us to this party, said a lot of our college friends would be here and there would be free alcohol so we decided to drop by on our way home from a movie. Are you performing here or something?”

“No,” Nick laughed, “my girlfriend apparently invited all of her old college buddies out to party on my dime.”

“Peggy is your girlfriend!?” Pete asked in surprise and Nick was a little put off my the tone in his voice. He seemed genuinely alarmed by the information.

“Yeah,” he chuckled nervously, “we’ve been dating for a little over a year. We live together now here in New York. Listen, I just left the guy I was sitting with. Do you want to come over and have a drink? I haven’t seen you in forever.”

The pair made their way back to the chairs Nick had left and he was pleasantly surprised to discover that Tommy and Pete already knew each other from school. He did feel a little left out knowing all of these people were friends from college but he was pretty used to exclusion of that variety. The three chatted for a while before Pete started inquiring about Nick and Peggy’s relationship including how and where they met.

“You’re keeping an eye on her right now, aren’t you?” Pete asked with a chuckle.

Nick knew he was joking but didn’t quite get the punchline. “Um, no? She’s down there somewhere dancing.”

Pete and Tommy shared a knowing look. “Did you tell him?” Pete asked the other man while Nick looked on curiously.

“I figured he already knew,” Tommy shrugged. “He’s been dating her for a year.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Nick cut in.

“Maybe she’s changed,” Pete started off by saying, “but in college Peggy had a tendency, especially when she was out drinking, to get a little flirty with other guys.”

Nick shrugged, not sure how that information was earth shattering. “So? I flirt with other women all the time. She’s not sleeping with them.”

Tommy and Pete shared another look before his cousin continued. “That’s the thing, though. She had a reputation in school for being a... well... a... how do I put this....”

“A slut.”

“Thanks, Tom,” Pete rolled his eyes. “He’s right though. I don’t know if she actually had sex with anyone...”

“There was that one guy, but I don’t know if that counts?” Tommy piped up and Nick raised his eyebrow.

“How do you not know if it counts? You either have sex with someone or you don’t.”

“From what I heard,” Tommy explained, “from pretty much everyone, mind you. She would tell people that the sex didn’t count as cheating if it was oral or in-the-out.”

“In-the-out?” Nick questioned curiously.

“The backdoor,” Tommy explained and the three men all looked around uncomfortably, avoiding each other’s eyes.

Nick took a deep breath, fighting the urge to look over the side of the balcony to see what his girlfriend was doing. She had been able to trust him the whole time he was on tour and it wasn’t as if he was an innocent. He also had a reputation that preceded him for not being the most faithful partner. He had cheated on most of his girlfriends while Peggy had really only had the one boyfriend. Not to mention the one she did have was a huge asshole so he couldn’t really fault her for letting her eyes wander.

“That was college,” he finally spoke, dismissing the information that had been presented to him. “People do crazy shit when they’re young. You guys are still kids, you grow out of that kind of stuff.”

“Dude, Peggy is younger than me,” Pete pointed out and Nick’s eyes went wide. He always knew she was young but he had never really put it in perspective before. Both Pete and his brother Aaron were the same age and he still thought of them as kids.

“She’s a girl though. Girls are way more mature.”

“Yeah, well, she might be more mature but she’s still getting hit on at the bar by guys who aren’t.”

Nick couldn’t stop himself from looking at that point and was disappointed to see that Pete was telling the truth. A bunch of the girls who had gone down to dance were now stationed at the bar but the only one with a large gaggle of guys around her was his girlfriend.

“I’ll be right back,” he told the other two men before casually getting up out of his seat to head downstairs. It was everything he could do not to take the stairs two at a time but he didn’t want to seem like he was getting riled up about the situation.

He made his way through the crowded club, ducking and weaving around bar patrons and dancers before he caught up with the group of girls that were with his girlfriend standing by the bar. Peggy was leaning up against the bar laughing at something the man next to her had said. The guy was pretty average looking. Likely a college student he had a bit of a baby face and spiked brown hair. He was somewhat muscular but average in height.

She didn’t appear to be flirting all that aggressively, she was leaning towards the bar tender rather than towards the man and her hands were clasped in front of her on the bar. He didn’t miss when the guy not-so-subtly checked her out though, scanning his eyes from the top of her head to the point where her short dress ended and her smooth legs began. He watched as the bartender brought over a couple of drinks and the guy handed him a few bills, taking that as his queue to approach.

“Hey,” he said casually, sliding up close to Peggy next to the bar on the opposite side of the guy she was talking to.

She turned around and her face lit up with a smile, letting him know deep down that he didn’t have a whole lot to worry about. “Hi!” she grinned. “Are you having fun?”

“For sure,” he nodded. “You know my cousin. He’s upstairs, you invited him.”

“Small world!” she chuckled and he smiled down at her. “Who is it?”

The guy who Peggy had been talking to was clearly put off by Nick’s sudden appearance and he rolled his eyes before interrupting their conversation.

“So anyway,” the stranger spoke loudly. “I was about to tell you about...”

“Actually,” Nick returned the interruption, “you were about to fuck off.”

“Nick!” Peggy exclaimed, wide-eyed.

“No,” he told her sternly, “your new friend was just leaving.”

“He was just being nice,” she defended. “He bought me a drink.”

Nick rolled his eyes dramatically, somewhat unsure of whether or not she was legitimately that clueless when it came to the rules of flirting at a club.

“Who is this?” the guy (who Nick had mentally named Douchey McGee) asked with a scoff. “Your brother or something?”

“Look,” Nick said with a warning tone, “just walk away, find another girl, it’s fine. Don’t start something over a girl that you’re not going to fuck tonight.”

“Are you kidding me?” Peggy asked, unable to hold back a peal of sarcastic laughter. “What makes you think he was trying to fuck me?”

Nick pointed to the drink in her hand before removing it from her grasp and downing it in one shot. “Guys don’t buy drinks for girls they don’t want to bone,” he clarified. “Why waste your time or money on a girl you have no chance with?”

“What makes you think I had no chance?” Douchey asked in all seriousness.

The blonde couldn’t believe the naivety of the two in front of him. “The only person who fucks this girl is me. I’m not her brother, I’m her boyfriend, and I would appreciate it if you would just get the fuck away from my girl.”

“Why are you so jealous?” Peggy demanded to know, putting her hands on her hips as she glared up at him. She turned to the other man, trying to compose herself through her intoxication. “That’s not why you bought me a drink right? You didn’t buy me a drink just because you thought you could sleep with me. Right?”

The guy took the opportunity to take a sip of his beer, clearly not wanting to answer the question. Nick felt a bit of pity for the poor fellow, he was just going after a girl that had clearly sent him signals although they were the wrong kind.

“I’ll level with you,” he told him, reaching out to pat his shoulder quickly. “Guy to guy. Do you buy drinks for chicks you don’t want to bang?”

It was a long pause and the younger man opened and closed his mouth several times as if trying to come up with a politically correct answer to the question. Finally, he shook his head. “No way,” he answered. “I don’t have that kind of cash.”

“Thanks for your honesty,” Nick told him and Peggy was staring between the two of them in complete shock. She watched as Nick got the bartender’s attention and ordered a beer and two shots, paid for them, then slid the tall brown bottle and one shot glass towards the guy she had been talking to.

“Thanks,” the guy said with surprise in his voice.

“No worries, dude,” Nick replied and the two of them shook hands over Peggy’s shoulder. “Just look out for this one, she’s trouble.”

The two of them downed their shots and the younger man walked away, no doubt to find some other woman to try and woo for the evening. Peggy’s cheeks were red with embarrassment and she tried not to look at Nick for as long as she could before she heard him ordering another shot from the bartender.

“You’re driving.”

He laughed and threw back the drink, enjoying the feel of the alcohol burning down his throat. “Not now,” he dismissed. “Now I’m drinking.”

“Why? Because I was talking to another guy? You totally embarrassed me.”

“No,” he shook his head, “because I was just totally embarrassed upstairs when everyone started telling me I needed to keep an eye on you because apparently you’re a great big slut.”

Without a word Peggy grabbed Nick’s hand and, against his resistance, pulled him away from the bar and back up the stairs to the VIP section. They walked past her friends and the two men that Nick had left waiting and she led him to a small corner booth, away from the crowd. The booth was somewhat secluded and the dim light made it challenging for anyone to see more than just people sitting at the table. She made no effort to be gentle as she forced him down into the seat and he protested loudly.

“What the fuck?” was all she said as she took the seat across from him, staring expectantly. His statement down by the bar had sobered her up just in time for the alcohol to start hitting Nick’s system. He was beginning to look glassy-eyed but she knew that he was still somewhat coherent.

“You tell me,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest cockily.

Peggy let out a short, sarcastic laugh and shook her head at the blonde. “Are you serious?” she questioned. “You just called me a slut. I’m your girlfriend!”

“I’ve dated sluts before.”

The two of them stared each other down, neither sure what the next move should be. It wasn’t until Peggy’s eyes started welling up with tears that Nick began to realize what a jerk he was being. He couldn’t stand to see women cry at the best of times but when it was his fault he felt especially guilty.

“Baby...” he sighed and slid out of the bench so he could move to the other side next to her. Tears were silently slipping down her cheeks, mixed slightly with the mascara she was wearing and she tried to wipe them away quickly.

“No, don’t be nice just because I’m crying!” she complained, swatting at him when he tried to put his arms around her.

Apologizing was pointless, he knew. Since they moved in together they’d seemed to be in a never ending pattern of insult-regret-apologize and he was even tired of hearing his own voice say the words ‘I’m sorry’ so he couldn’t imagine how Peggy must feel about them. She deserved an explanation though so he let her push away from his embrace but made no move to go back to the other bench, wanting her to be able to hear him over the sound of the music.

“Your friends,” he explained, already knowing how bad the whole thing was going to sound even before he said it, “they told me that in college you were kind of... promiscuous.”

“I had a boyfriend all through college!”

“That’s what I said!” he put up his hands in defense. “Then they told me that you had a reputation for cheating on him, that you got it on with a bunch of dudes but said it wasn’t sex because... I don’t even want to say it.”

“Say it.”

“They said that you told people it wasn’t cheating, or wasn’t sex, or whatever if it was just oral or... anal. You said I was the only guy you’d ever done that with so I got a little pissed.”

He knew by how large her eyes had become that he was in deep shit. The tears had all but stopped and had been replaced by a look of rage he wasn’t sure he’d ever witnessed in person before.

Peggy turned so she could look him in the eye as she spoke and he watched as her anger clearly transitioned into disappointment. “I vividly remember lying in bed with you one night just moments after the first time we said I love you. You told me that no matter what you would always be honest with me and that I should never believe what I read or hear about you without first talking to you about it. That if it was true you would just be upfront with me and if it wasn’t I could have enough trust in you to know that you were being honest. Do I not deserve the same amount of respect from you?”

“Of course you do,” he sighed.

“It took a lot for me to tell you about the things that happened with Dustin. Everything he did to me was completely psychological, just a way to make me submissive without actually physically having to do anything. He would punish me for doing things he didn’t like by embarrassing me... sort of what you just did downstairs! Those stories you heard about me being a slut? They were rumours. None of it actually happened. It was a way for Dustin to completely degrade me and make me feel like trash. It kept guys away from me because they all thought I was some dirty whore and didn’t want anything to do with me. The ones who did want something to do with me because of it were usually worse than my boyfriend. So thank you for bringing all of this back for me but most of all thanks for believing it. It really goes to show what kind of man you are... or should I say boy?”

Nick didn’t know what to say that could possibly make her feel any better. Tears were again free flowing but this time she was making no attempt to wipe them away. It seemed like no matter how hard they tried to enjoy themselves it always turned into a fight and he couldn’t stand it.

“How can I make this right?” he asked, otherwise at a loss. “You’re so important to me. Don’t think for a second that you’re not. I would never want you to feel like you were less of a person. I should have spoken to you before I went ahead and believed it. I just got jealous when I saw you with that guy...”

“Don’t,” she stopped him by holding up a hand. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. You have an encyclopedia full of excuses and I’m tired of just listening to you go down the list of them. Just because other girls fall at your feet every time you pump out some cheesy lovey-dovey lyrics doesn’t mean I will. I want you to show me I’m important to you not tell me I’m important to you. There’s a difference.”

Nick ran an anxious hand through his hair, looking at her pathetically. “I know that. Part of the reason I love you is because you’re not that girl.”

“I think we made a mistake,” she deadpanned. “I think we jumped into moving in together. The next stage should have been living in the same city before it became living in the same house. We had a honeymoon stage that lasted for a year and now it has come to a screeching halt. All we do is fight and I can’t fight with you anymore.”

Nick’s breath caught in his throat. He never expected the night would come to this. They’d had such a good evening up until they went to the club and he regretted all the moments that led up to that changing. “It’s only been a couple of weeks,” he reasoned. “We should give it some more time, to adjust...”

“You keep telling me that I need to adjust but it’s not happening, Nick! You’re not the person I thought you were. Maybe the excitement of always meeting up on the road, in swanky hotels, made us act differently from normal because you aren’t the person I first started dating. He was kind, and funny, and adorably sweet and this guy is sort of an asshole. You’ve been aggressive, and temperamental, now jealous?”

He rolled his eyes, not wanting to listen to any more criticism. “Are you breaking up with me or are you just going to keep listing off all of my faults? You haven’t exactly been a princess this whole time, you know.”

“I’m not breaking up with you,” she shook her head, finally reaching up to wipe her eyes of the last few stray tears. “I just think maybe we need to take some time to be away from each other.”

“That sounds like a breakup to me.”

“Do you want that?” she asked point blank and without hesitation he shook his head no.

If he knew anything for certain it was that he didn’t want to break up. He would never admit it but part of the reason, beyond the fact that he cared for Peggy deeply and had plans to be with her long term, was because he had no interest in packing all of the things he had just unpacked so he could move again. If there was no Peggy in his life there was no reason for him to stay in New York. He knew he would go back to California if it came down to that but it wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“I’m not going anywhere and you’re not going anywhere,” he told her firmly. “We’re going to work this out and work through it. It’s not just you. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve felt like I didn’t know you all that well. Hell, I didn’t even know your real first name. We’re just sort of stumbling through these first couple of weeks while we really get to know one another. Maybe it’s a cheesy lovey-dovey song lyric thing to say but our love for each other is going to keep us together while we get through this. I’m not giving you up. I will work on my issues I just need to know what they are. If you don’t tell me something’s bugging you I can’t fix it. Maybe if we were just a little more open with each other we wouldn’t be fighting so much?”

Peggy wasn’t totally convinced but for the sake of the argument and not wanting to totally destroy what was supposed to be a fun night out, she agreed. “Fine. The first thing I need to point out is how frustrating it is that you always say you’re not going to drink then you get shitfaced.”

“I’m not shitfaced,” he defended with a roll of his eyes.

“I guarantee when we leave this place you’re going to be drunk off your ass when six hours ago you were all ‘Oh no, I don’t drink anymore’ just like every other time.”

He shook his head firmly. “You’re wrong. We’re going to go get you cleaned up then enjoy the rest of the evening with your friends. I’m not going to get drunk. We’ll have a nice breakfast tomorrow then work on some of this stuff, okay?”

By the end of the night though Nick would wonder if the tattoo on his wrist proclaiming “Old Habits Die Hard” was truer than he’d originally believed.

Nick was never quite sure how it happened but he never intended to drink most nights he went out. He was honest all of the times he told Peggy that he wasn’t planning on drinking but it never failed that one drink turned into two, turned into ten and before he knew it he was falling all over himself.

Being the designated driver was supposed to be a deterrent that night but it hadn’t worked too well. Mere moments after he and Peggy rejoined the party after their fight he poured himself another drink, telling himself that he was only going to nurse it until the end of the night then call a cab and make sure they got home okay.

The other guys had better plans though and soon they were pouring shots and playing drinking games and he couldn’t very well turn down the challenge when it was put in front of him. He had a very competitive nature and was not particularly fond of being on the sidelines while other people had fun. He liked to be in the thick of things, the centre of attention. Unfortunately, being in the thick of things this time meant he was three sheets to the wind and stumbling down to the dance floor when he should have been sobering up.

The elder in the group, the designated driver, the man who assured everyone that he would get them home safely had instead exchanged responsibility for reckless abandon. He moved through the sea of gyrating bodies, moving himself to the thumping beat of the music that blasted through the club. It was at that point, when the lights were flashing and the music was loud, that things started to get fuzzy. He didn’t know that while he thought he was dancing with a group of people he was actually flailing about, throwing his arms and legs around much to the annoyance of fellow club goers.

Nick’s antics didn’t go unnoticed by the other people in the group but by the time someone had made their way back upstairs and over to where Peggy was relaxing with her friends, around a large booth in the corner, he had taken his dancing to a much more public arena.

“You might want to check on your boyfriend.”

Peggy looked up, vaguely recognizing the girl in front of her. Her eyebrows furrowed in curiosity and she tilted her head to one side. “What do you mean?”

As if the crowd below had heard her question there was a sudden explosion of cheers and screams from the dancefloor and Peggy knew somehow that the cat-calls had something to do with Nick.

“Move, move, move!” she waved the other girls in the booth out so she could escape from the back of the table. Scrambling to run on impossibly high heels while feeling the effects of her own alcohol consumption, Peggy darted to the railing overlooking the lower floor of the club only a few feet away from where she had last seen Nick sitting with the other guys.

What she saw as she looked over the railing was truly unexpected. Her boyfriend, whom she loved, was currently standing on the bar, dirty dancing with a petite blonde to a bass-thumping Rihanna song while swinging his shirt above his head. The camera flashes from various cell phones and cameras in the crowd were unmistakable and Peggy muttered a slew of angry curses at what was likely to come once the pictures inevitably hit the internet.

“What the fuck, Nick?!” she yelled out, despite the fact that he was too far away to hear her. With sudden sobriety she bolted down the staircase, pushing anyone in her path out of the way, all the while thinking how ballsy it was of him to have nearly gotten into a fight over her talking to a guy yet he was drunkenly grinding on a stranger on the bar not two hours later.

She was not the only angry person yelling, she realized as she approached the bar. Two bouncers were standing on the floor, holding people back and demanding the two blondes get down off the bar.

“Excuse me, that’s my boyfriend!” Peggy exclaimed as she tried to clamour around the two beefy men who were blocking her from reaching the bar area. The two ignored her pleas, unable to hear her over the music and the sound of their own voices calling out.

“Margaret?” a familiar voice called and Peggy turned to her left, completely shocked by who was standing next to her. It felt like it had been a long time since she had last seen him and he hadn’t changed a bit, still wearing t-shirts that were slightly too small to try and show off every bit of his muscles as if every woman in the room cared, still sporting the cocky look on his face that she had come to hate.

“What are you doing here!?” she asked, her eyes dodging between the man beside her and the one evading the hands of security on the bar along with his dance partner, both of whom she knew quite intimately.

“I’m here with some friends, I heard you were here...”

Peggy let out a heavy sigh. “Dustin, I really can’t do this right now. I’m dealing with a situation.”

For a moment she had honestly believed that the night could not have possibly gotten any worse. Between the fight, Nick getting drunk and foolish and now her ex-boyfriend randomly showing up at the same club as them, she was sure there was some kind of cosmic force trying to challenge her relationship.

Dustin laughed obnoxiously, reminding Peggy of one of the many things she couldn’t stand about him. “Is that the infamous vegetarian up on the bar with the trashy looking blonde?”

Peggy whipped around, eyes glaring. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Who told you he’s a vegetarian?”

Before Dustin could answer the question Peggy cut him off, waving her hand in front of his face with total finality. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t think I want to know. If you’ll excuse me I need to get my boyfriend off the bar.”

“How are you going to do that?” the other man asked, both of them watching as Nick dodged the reaching arms of the security guards for a second time. “Let me help.”

Peggy protested but Dustin didn’t wait for a response. He easily pushed past the bouncers that were nearly his equal in size and build and Peggy quickly slipped in behind him, using the opening as an opportunity to get to the bar.

“Nick!” she yelled, butting her way in front of Dustin before he could make any moves. “Get down here!”

For the first time since fiasco started, she managed to make eye contact with her incredibly drunk boyfriend, finding too much familiarity in his droopy eyelids and alcohol reddened cheeks.

“Baby!” Nick called back excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. “Get up here and dance with me! I lost my shirt and I don’t know where it is! I love you!”

“No, I really can’t... you have to get down! You’re going to get us in trouble!”

“Oh, I think he has already managed that.” Dustin cut in and Peggy rolled her eyes at him.

While Peggy would have liked to take some time to come up with a game plan, it was made clear by the pair of angry bouncers that they wanted Nick off their bar and out of their club immediately.

“Nickolas,” she called out, trying to keep her voice as stern and matronly as possible. “Come down from there right now.”

Nick simply laughed and shook his head as if it were all a game. Out of the corner of her eye Peggy watched as Dustin started to move closer to the bar, looking more like he was approaching a wild animal than a half naked drunk guy. She would have complained but she needed Nick to get down so if that meant accepting Dustin’s help, just once, she was willing to deal with the consequences.

Dustin, just like Nick, was a fit man with an athletic build but the two of them could not have been more different in physical appearance. Sometimes Peggy imagined what Nick would have been like in high school, thinking that if he would probably have been the quarterback on the football team and maybe ran cross country. Dustin on the other hand had been on the football team, as a linebacker, had wrestled and played rugby in an adult rec league when he was just 16. In short, he was a big guy, wide and muscular, standing a couple of inches taller than Nick when his feet were on the floor instead of the bar.

Peggy wasn’t entirely sure what Dustin’s plans included but they became apparent as soon as Nick turned away from them. She thought for a moment that Nick was looking for a place to step down off the bar but he didn’t get the chance before Dustin’s arm wrapped around his middle and he was yanked off the bar and thrown unceremoniously on the floor, knocking the wind out of him.

“Oh my god!” Peggy exclaimed, immediately running to her boyfriend’s side. “Are you okay?” she asked hurriedly, watching an expression of pain cross Nick’s face as he grabbed the back of his head where it had hit the floor.

Without answering her, Nick sprung to his feet and reached out to shove the stranger that had grabbed him. “What the hell, dude? You could have cracked my head open!”

“You’re fine,” Dustin replied with a roll of his eyes. “I didn’t even drop you that far.”

Peggy pulled Nick away from the bigger man, having witnessed enough pissing contests that night to last her a lifetime. He didn’t know what Dustin looked like and she didn’t want to have to explain the whole situation while everyone was standing around staring at them and the bouncers were waiting to escort them out the door. It was a conversation that would be better saved for when both of them were more sober.

“Please stop,” she pleaded, pressing her forehead to his shoulder blade. “Everyone is watching you.”

“Fuck them,” Nick slurred in response, his body wavering slightly as he fought to keep upright.

The issue of the spectators was quickly rectified when security (while muttering about spoiled celebrities) not-so-politely removed the two of them from the building, informing Nick that his behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated and he wasn’t to return to the club, VIP or not. After a lecture about how lucky they were that the police weren’t called, they stood a few feet apart on the dark sidewalk, Nick still without a shirt, Peggy fighting to hold back her anger.

She knew it would be pointless to say anything to him just then because he would likely not remember it in the morning but she really wanted to chastise him for his behaviour. She was nearly in agreement with the bouncers about the elitist, rich boy act that Nick was putting on. Although they had driven there she couldn’t get behind the wheel and he certainly wasn’t driving anywhere in his condition. She was about to suggest they get a cab when Nick suddenly bent over and threw up, not making much of an attempt to not vomit on himself.

Peggy sighed and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “You know that most cab drivers in New York won’t pick someone up if they’re puking, right? Why do you have to make an impossible situation even more impossible? You don’t have a concussion, do you?”

“Please no questions,” he muttered, lifting one shaking hand off his thighs to wave her off. “I can’t listen.”

He heaved again and she shook her head as he wretched on the sidewalk for a second time, hoping that there wasn’t a TMZ camera crew lying in wait somewhere. She pulled her phone out of her purse and scrolled through the contacts, angrily hitting the call button.

“Hi,” she spoke as the line connected. “I’m really sorry to wake you up but it’s sort of an emergency. I need a ride. Fast.”

Peggy was having flashbacks to her childhood, remembering how it felt to be yelled at for doing something wrong and the looks that her father would give her when she was in trouble. It was the same look that her brother-in-law, Allen, was giving her as they stood in the kitchen of her sister’s home.

“I need to wake your sister up,” Allen told her with a sigh, his voice heavy with fatigue from being woken up in the middle of the night.

Peggy knew what a big deal it was for him to have to wake her sister. The times that she was actually able to sleep were incredibly valuable since more often than not she was kept awake by either extreme pain as a result of her cancer or the side effects of chemotherapy.

“Do you have to?” she asked. “I don’t want to disturb her.”

Allen threw his hands out in frustration as he wasn’t aware of any other options. “Last I checked, she is the only experienced medical practitioner in the building. For all we know your idiot boyfriend has a concussion. If she wakes up tomorrow and he’s unconscious because we didn’t do our due diligence she’d be pissed we didn’t wake her up.”

When Peggy was a child she had fallen out of a tree and broken her arm. It was in the moments afterwards, while her sister held her in her arms and comforted her until an adult was able to take her to the hospital, that Marilyn had decided she wanted to be a nurse. For many who aspired to be doctors it was about the science of it all, the functionality of the human body but for Marilyn she sought the human connection.

Nursing was a good fit because she not only had the brain for the science but also a higher than average level of compassion that made her want to make every person who hurt feel just a little bit better. Because of her compulsion to support people in their time of need, Peggy knew that Allen was right and her sister would be upset if they didn’t at least consult her on Nick’s potential head wound.

Allen ran off to wake Marilyn from what was likely a drug-assisted sleep and Peggy looked around, wondering what had happened to the tall blonde that had just been with them.

“Nick?” she called out in a stage whisper, not wanting to wake her nieces who were sleeping just down the hall.

All she heard was silence until the sound from down the hall alerted her to the return of her brother-in-law and the appearance of her sister. Peggy was somewhat embarrassed to have to tell Marilyn about what happened at the club, she only hoped she didn’t judge Nick for his actions. She also was anxious to tell her about the Dustin sighting that had led to the bump on Nick’s noggin.

“Have you seen Nick?” she asked Allen before bending down to hug her sister who had just been helped into a recliner.

Allen nodded. “Yeah, I told him to go throw his jeans in the washer. They were covered in puke.”

“Oh no! Say you didn’t really do that,” Peggy breathed and the couple in front of her both questioned why clean jeans would be an issue for the pop star. “It’s just... he’s somewhere in your house drunk and naked.”

“Why is he naked?” Marilyn asked, her sleepy voice full of amusement. “Go find him and let me take a look at his head. Don’t let him go to sleep yet until I figure out how bad it is.”

“Let’s just say he was free ballin’ it tonight.”

With that, Peggy set off through the small bungalow to find her beloved, knowing there weren’t too many places he could have wandered off to. She checked the laundry room, living room and a small powder room that was just off the front hallway but there was no Nick to be found. As she scratched her head, perplexed, she realized that when she had looked into the family room the patio doors were wide open. It seemed odd that Nick would have gone outside, but she felt it was worth checking.

“Nick?” she called out softly, poking her head out the door. The backyard was dark, the only thing illuminating the dew-covered grass was the sky, lightened by millions of lights shining through the city in the distance.

“Over here,” she heard him reply and she squinted into the dark. As her eyes adjusted she realized he was standing at the edge of the patio, just before the grass, completely naked as she had expected, staring up at the moon.

“What are you doing?”

“I think I might be a werewolf. The moon is so full, it’s changing me.”

Peggy rolled her eyes dramatically and crossed the patio. She grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him towards the house. “I’m pretty sure you’re not a werewolf and the moon isn’t even full.”

“Oh.”

She put herself behind him, pulling his back against her chest so she could lead him back inside. Both hands were securely cupped over his nudity and he giggled obnoxiously as she pushed against him, forcing him to walk.

“More than a handful, right baby?” he slurred, leaning his weight back against her so his hips pressed up into her hands.

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied dryly. “Stop worrying about being macho and start walking, I’d like to go to sleep at some point this morning.”

Nick continued to laugh, reaching down to push against her hands with his own. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

“Nope!” Peggy replied matter-of-factly. “You’re absolutely useless when you get like this. Obviously, since your brain is in your dick, getting drunk affects more than just your ability to not be an asshole.”

Ignoring the rest of the insult, he stopped walking just a few feet short of where Marilyn and Allen were waiting. “Are you saying I can’t get it up?”

“That’s what I’m saying,” she agreed. “Now, if you would please stop embarrassing yourself and let my sister look at your head I’d be really grateful.”

“I can get it up.”

“Nick,” Peggy groaned. “I’m not going to argue with you. Just stop.”

Marilyn shook her head, amused by the scene playing out in front of her. “It’s not abnormal, Nick. Most guys have issues with that when they’ve done a lot of drinking. Maybe Allen can go grab some shorts for you?” she asked, directing the question to her husband.

Allen did a mental comparison of Nick’s tall, lean body against his short, round one and raised an eyebrow at his wife. “Nothing I have is going to fit him.”

“He doesn’t care about looking good right now. Anything you have is fine.” Peggy said, her cheek resting against Nick’s shoulder blade as she fought to keep his swaying frame from falling over.

Allen returned only moments later, armed with a sweatsuit that, if Peggy had to guess, had been purchased on clearance some time in the early 90’s. The sweater was heather grey with neon green thunderbolts across the chest while the matching sweatpants were complete with ruched elastic waistband and tapered ankles. Under any other circumstances she probably would have asked if Allen had anything else in his closet but she was happy to let Nick suffer just a little once she had the pictures posted on Facebook.

Reluctantly and not without protest, Allen helped her get Nick into the clothes. She had to fight back her laughter at the short height of both the arms and legs of the get-up and couldn’t wait for Nick to sober up so she could laugh about it with him.

Once they got him sitting down on the couch in a position where his head was easily accessible Marilyn pulled out a small medical bag, starting her examination of his wound. She flashed a penlight in his eyes, watching as his pupils responded positively to the light before turning him to see the back of his head.

“So Nick, I always guessed that you were a suicide blonde but tonight you finally confirmed it for me.” Marilyn said as she looked through his hair at the small cut and bump on his scalp.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked, his voice groggy as he quickly started to run out of steam.

Marilyn chuckled. “Judging from the fact that the carpet doesn’t really match the drapes it’s pretty obvious that you dye by your own hand.”

Nick’s face was full of confusion but Peggy broke down into hysterical laughter at her sister’s joke, happy that even when Marilyn was sick, tired and disrupted in the middle of the night to come play nurse to a drunken idiot, she still had a wicked sense of humour.

~*~

Nick was certain as he slowly awoke from his slumber that he had been hit in the face with a 2x4. A thick layer of crust was keeping his eyes shut to the light that streamed in through the patio door. Despite his reluctance to face the sunlight he scratched it away, looking much like a small child as he wiped at his eyes.

He tried not to move his aching head too much as he looked around the unfamiliar room. He was wrapped in a blanket, laying on a couch by himself in someone’s living room. He vaguely remembered being at the club the night before and pounding shot after shot of whatever he could get his hands on. After that things had started to get muddy and he was uncertain of which parts of his memories actually happened and which parts he made up.

“Babe?” he croaked, shocked by the hoarseness of his own voice. Although he was alone in the room he remembered Peggy being there the night before and he was sure that memory was real. He called out for her a few more times, trying to ignore the overwhelming taste of old alcohol and vomit that lingered in his mouth.

He heard someone walk into the room and he opened his eyes once again, expecting to see his girlfriend waiting anxiously to tend to his hangover. Instead, a small girl in a pair of flannel footed pajamas was watching him curiously, the ear of a well-loved rabbit pressed against her mouth.

“Hi,” he said quietly, trying to keep the rattling in his skull at bay.

“Hi,” she replied, keeping her voice as low as his had been. “Who are you?”

His mind was telling him that now would be an appropriate time to sit up and take a better look at his surroundings but everything in Nick’s body was telling him not to move from the spot he had claimed. “I’m Nick.”

“I’m Lucy,” the little girl replied and he immediately realized that the girl was Peggy’s niece. A flood of mental imagines from the night before confirmed to him that he was in Peggy’s sister’s home, but not much more than that.

“Where’s your Aunt Peggy?”

Expecting the girl to run off and find his girlfriend, he hadn’t braced himself for what was easily the loudest yell he’d ever heard. He had been in arenas full of tens of thousands of screaming girls but they had nothing on the qualified lungs of this little one. He cringed dramatically, reaching up with one hand to grasp his head while Lucy called out again for her Aunt to come to the living room.

“What’s all the noise?” Peggy’s voice finally rang out as she entered the living room.

Lucy pointed at Nick who was still clutching his head, “He’s in my spot and I want to watch cartoons.”

Peggy smiled and patted her niece on the head. As soon as she turned to the man on the couch though her cheerful demeanor disappeared and she reached out and pushed his hands away from his ears.

“Get up,” she instructed.

“Could you just give me a few minutes?” he whispered his request, not quite ready to move from the couch as a nauseous feeling overcame him.

“No. Now.”

“What is your problem?” he asked, though he followed her instructions by first getting himself into a sitting position on the couch. As soon as his legs were clear of the end Lucy was hopping up to begin her weekend morning routine and Nick wished he had a quarter of the energy she had.

Slowly he pulled himself to standing, nearly losing the sweats he was wearing in the process when they slid right off his hips. He was pulling the drawstring as tight as it would go when Peggy suddenly yanked on his arm, trying to move him out of the living room.

“Would you just move?”

“Hold up!” he snapped, pulling his arm free from her grip. He finished tightening the pants then followed her from the living room into the kitchen where Marilyn and Allen were standing at a small kitchen island in their pajamas.

“How’s your head?” Marilyn asked thoughtfully and Nick reached back to touch the sore spot on his scalp delicately.

“I think it’s okay, I have a wicked headache though.”

“I’ll get you something for that.”

“Great. Thanks,” he smiled gratefully. “Can I use your bathroom?”

Alan nodded and pointed the other man in the right direction but before Nick walked away he turned to Peggy, raising a curious eyebrow.

“Is that alright with you?” he asked sarcastically. “Am I allowed to go piss?”

Peggy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms firmly across her chest. “Just go.”

Nick walked down the hall and Marilyn shook her head at her sister disapprovingly. “Be nice to him. He’s a man, he can’t help being an idiot.”

They both ignored Alan’s cry of protest in response and Peggy sighed. “He frustrates me. Sometimes...I just want to walk away from this, from him.”

Marilyn gasped loudly and chastised her sister with a wag of her finger. “Don’t even say things like that! You’re going through a tough time, it’s not a big deal. Don’t just pack it in at the first sign of things getting tough. It’s an adjustment period is all.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, “You sound just like Nick.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nick asked as he walked back into the kitchen, only having caught Peggy’s previous statement. “I don’t understand why you’re being such a bitch to me this morning.”

“You don’t?” she laughed sarcastically, pulling on the end of the long brown ponytail that was slung over her shoulder as if to keep herself from lashing out at him. “You embarrassed me so much last night. I don’t know how I’m ever going to look my friends in the eye again. I can’t imagine what they think of you...and of me for being with you.”

Nick scoffed, crossing his long arms across his chest stubbornly. He had never been the person who cared what other people thought of him. If he let those kinds of things get to him he would have never made it in the entertainment industry. “Who gives a shit what they think? They can think whatever they want.”

“I give a shit! They’re my friends! You acted like an idiot last night.”

“I don’t even remember what happened last night! And don’t call me an idiot.”

“You just called me a bitch!”

“Whoa,” Marilyn interjected. “I’m stopping this right now. I’m not going to stand here while the two of you bicker like children.”

Both Nick and Peggy stared down at the kitchen island sheepishly, not wanting to look at each other and avoiding Marilyn’s authoritarian gaze at all costs.

“What’s really going on here? You need to talk about this like adults.”

“He can’t talk about anything like an adult,” Peggy complained. “All he knows how to do is argue. He turns everything into a fight. Like I told you last night, maybe we need to take a break.”

Nick scoffed loudly, laughing at the audacity of her statement. He would admit that he had a tendency to let himself get out of control when it came to arguments but she put just as much effort into each and every argument as he did. He always thought of it as both of them just being passionate people.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” he said, annoyed. “You’re not perfect. You fight too.”

“All couples argue!” Marilyn cut in, letting out a small grunt of frustration at the pair. “No one expects you to be perfect, it’s natural that you would fight from time to time. If Allen and I learned anything in couple’s therapy years ago it’s that fighting is part of relationships, it’s how far you take it that makes the difference. Accept that you’re not going to see eye to eye on everything and compromise.”

Peggy looked at her sister in surprise. “You guys were in therapy? But... you have such an amazing relationship.”

“Yes,” Marilyn nodded. “Because we have worked really hard at making it amazing. If that means getting someone else to mediate to help us work through issues and learn how to be better together than so be it.”

“Elizabeth and I did that, too. That’s why I suggested we try and work on things after we fought last night. I know that these types of things work.” Nick commented and this time Peggy’s surprise was directed towards him.

“You went to therapy with her?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “It was during my... rough patch.”

“Your rough patch,” Peggy repeated with an edge of sarcasm. “You know what? Actually...nevermind. Forget it.”

“No, what were you going to say?” Marilyn asked. “You two need to start being honest with each other. About everything. That’s the only way you’re going to make this work. The reason you’re fighting is because there is clearly a lot going unsaid. Start saying it. Right here, right now.”

“In front of you guys?” Nick questioned skeptically. “You won’t judge?”

“Of course not, you’re family.” Allen cut in, reaching out to clap Nick’s shoulder.

Nick smiled slightly but on the inside he was doing a little happy dance. Not only had he found it difficult to get on the good sides of Peggy’s family members but it wasn’t that often that he was welcomed into people’s families and it felt good.

Allen smiled in return, “It’ll be better in front of us because we’ll keep you from picking up weapons.”

No one could resist chuckling at the joke, letting it break the ice and ease the tension in the room. Nick and Peggy both agreed to let the other couple be their mediator and Marilyn once again encouraged Peggy to let her boyfriend know exactly what she had been prepared to say.

The younger woman let out a heavy breath, calming her nerves. Turning to Nick she looked into his bloodshot, hungover eyes and mentally composed her words before she spoke. “You always refer to your rough patch as if it’s something that’s in the past, but you need to get real. You’re an alcoholic.”

Nick rolled his eyes. He had heard this story before. Peggy was not the first person to accuse him of abusing alcohol but they didn’t know anything about his tolerance for liquor. “I know my limits. My rough patch had nothing to do with alcohol. There’s a big difference between being an alcoholic and being a coke head. I was a coke head. Big difference.”

“It had everything to do with alcohol! You almost died!”

“You didn’t even know me then!”

Peggy sighed, this wasn’t exactly the way she wanted to tell her sister and brother-in-law about Nick’s shady past. Although, given how much time her father had spent on the internet reading every tabloid he could find she was positive that the news didn’t come as a shock to anyone in the room.

“I didn’t need to,” she sighed. “It’s been the same ever since we met. You say you shouldn’t drink because of your heart, because you don’t drink much anymore, or whatever other excuse. We go out... and it doesn’t matter where we go, Nick! We go for a nice dinner, we stay in, we go to a club, it doesn’t matter. You have one drink, your so-called “limit” and an hour later you’re guzzling vodka straight out of the bottle. Normal people don’t do that! Normal people nurse a drink for a while and maybe they get another one if they’re not driving or they switch to soda if they are. The designated driver is not supposed to end up standing half naked on a bar, dancing with a girl who looks like she sells 10-dollar blow jobs, chugging a fifth of vodka. People were taking pictures of you, they’re probably all over the internet.”

Nick leaned his elbows onto the kitchen island, running both hands through his hair anxiously. It was a stark realization to hear those words come out of Peggy’s mouth. He knew he had a problem but he thought he had been hiding it well enough. It was painful to know that he had not only been so obvious to everyone but it had been negatively affecting Peggy.

“I don’t care about the pictures,” he said, holding up a hand to silence his girlfriend when she went to interrupt. “I know, it’s not only about the pictures. I’m just saying I don’t care about what everyone else sees. I only care about you. I don’t remember a quarter of the shit I did last night but I’m sorry. I know I need to stop using alcohol to make myself feel better every time something doesn’t go my way. I know that. I’ll work on it, okay?”

“You need to do more than that,” Peggy sighed.

“I can’t give you more than that right now. All I can do it try.”

Awkward silence fell over the pair. Nick stared straight forward at the fridge that was covered in crayon drawings of sunny days and bubble letters, his fingers running absentmindedly over the beard on his chin. He could feel Peggy staring at the side of his face but he didn’t know what else to say to try and make her feel better. He wished he could go back and fix the night before but it had happened and, much like most of the things in his life that turned sour because of his own stupidity, he was now having to deal with the consequences of his actions.

Sensing that the conversation wasn’t going to go further on its own, Marilyn smiled and clapped both hands together. “Who wants coffee?”

“Sure,” Peggy nodded. “Milk for me, just black for him.”

“How do you know I wanted some?” Nick asked.

Peggy shrugged, “Because I know you.”

Not wanting his wife to do any work, Allen took the reins and fixed both cups of coffee before setting them in front of the other couple. The two of them looked pathetic, both of them with sad, dopey eyes, clearly trying to work through all of their issues internally.

“One thing we did in therapy was go back and forth telling each other things we’d never said. Rather than being passive aggressive and letting all the stupid, petty things drive you absolutely crazy we just came right out with it. Sometimes once you say it out loud these things seem totally ridiculous.”

Marilyn laughed and nodded in agreement, “Like when you said that me not pushing the toaster back against the wall after I’d used it was driving you crazy. I remember once you actually heard yourself say it the story was almost funny. How petty can it get when something as silly as moving the toaster two inches back is a cause for you to be upset?”

“So we just say things that bug us about each other?” Peggy wondered, unsure about whether she wanted to start this.

Allen confirmed with a nod, “You just have to go into it with the understanding that you can’t get mad. You can’t take this home with you. Once you’ve been honest that’s it. You deal with the issue if you need to but it doesn’t turn into something you hold onto forever. No hurt feelings are allowed to leave this room.”

“And it can be anything?” this time it was Nick asking for clarification and the older couple both gave them another nod.

The room returned to silence again, neither one confident enough to be the person who volunteered to go first. Reluctantly, feeling as though he owed it to her, Nick decided to be the one to bite the bullet. He turned to his girlfriend, taking a moment to look her over. She looked tired and sad and he hated that he was the one who had caused her that much grief.

“You’re messy,” he finally spoke. “I want to get another dresser because I can never find my stuff buried underneath all your unfolded, wrinkly clothes.”

“Then get another dresser. It’s just clothes.”

“I will, but I want you to clean up your side of the closet so I don’t feel like I live with a slob. That’s my closet too and I keep my side tidy.”

She agreed, silently wished that he had just told her all of this in the first place and suddenly the purpose of the exercise became abundantly clear. “Your mood swings... they make me dizzy. I never know from one moment to the next what kind of mood you’re going to be in. You go from being really cute and sweet to being a total dick when you don’t get your way. If you’re not going to be nice to me then you need to just leave the room or something because I’ve done the asshole-boyfriend thing before and it didn’t work out so great.”

Soon they felt comfortable enough to keep going back and forth on the issues that they believed to be big. Everything from Nick’s jealousy problems, to Peggy’s lack of love for the dogs and everything in between. Once they were on a roll it seemed impossible to stop but the issues quickly became more and more petty and just as they had been told, once they spoke them allowed they seemed ridiculous.

“I don’t really like showering with you,” Nick admitted. “You always wash me and it’s bizarre. I don’t really find it sexy when I just have to stand there while you scrub me down. It kind of feels like I’m showering with my mother.”

“So that’s why you never get hard in the shower?” Peggy asked in surprise. “I always just thought it was something about the water.”

“Water’s fine, I like water. I wouldn’t mind the shower so much if you just... cooled it with the loofa. I’ll make sure my balls are squeaky clean on my own time.”

Peggy couldn’t help but laugh. A piece of hair fell into Nick’s eyes and out of instinct she reached out and pushed it behind his ear, the two sharing a smile.

“You make me sleep in the wet spot.”

“No I don’t!”

“Yes you do,” she chuckled. “Every time we have sex you make a point of coming onto my side of the bed. Then once it’s all over you escape back to your side where it’s nice and dry and I’m left to sleep in the wet spot.”

“That’s gross, I’m sorry.”

Peggy shrugged and motioned for him to continue.

“You ask me questions during sports. Like... I’m trying to watch the game. If you want to know the rules of football or what the positions are then maybe you should Google it or something because when I’m watching the game I don’t want to talk.”

“I’m just trying to like the things you like.”

Nick smiled and took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. “You don’t have to like the things I like, babe. I watch your eyes glaze over every time I put football on tv and that’s fine. I’m not going to start asking you questions about Grey’s Anatomy while you’re trying to watch it. It’s okay if you don’t like football, or you don’t understand it, or whatever. I love you because you let me watch it and you sit through it even when you don’t have to.”

“I just get so caught up in trying to make you happy,” Peggy admitted sheepishly.

Nick leaned down and pressed his lips to the back of her hand. “You make me happy,” he said against her skin. “I’m moody and complicated. Don’t take it personally. I don’t want to lose you because I don’t always have my head on straight.”

“You won’t lose me. I’m sorry I called you an idiot. I don’t actually think that.”

“I’m sorry, too. For everything.”

Marilyn smiled behind the rim of her coffee cup, feeling somewhat responsible for the reconciliation she had just witnessed. With a small chuckle she thought of how much more economical their couple’s therapist was now that they had managed to get a two for one deal through passing on their knowledge.

To say that things had improved since the morning at Marilyn and Alan’s house would be an understatement. Nick wasn’t sure why it hadn’t happened before but ever since they started clearing the air about the little things that were bugging them they’d become comfortable enough with each other to keep doing it.

Rather than letting something build up to the point that it turned into a fight that would calmly tell each other how they felt without fear of judgement. The system was working better than it had in any previous relationship Nick had been in and it gave him hope for their future. If they could continue with total, open honesty he could see them being together for a long time to come.

They weren’t totally out of the woods by any means but he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. There were times though, when Nick remembered the moment at the club when Peggy had told him they had made a mistake, that he wondered if things would inevitably end up that way again. Like it was destiny for their relationship to not work.

As chunks of that drunken night had come back to him, like recollecting a series of dreams, he realized that Peggy had been really ready to break up with him. She had been suggesting taking a break and although it may have been her own alcohol consumption combined with being overemotional he knew there was some real issues at the root of it all.

He was going to work for their relationship though, just like Marilyn had told them they needed to do. He started by making a vow to cut hard liquor out of his life. He would have the occasional beer or glass or wine but there would be no more excessive drinking. There couldn’t be if he didn’t want to wake up one morning and find that Peggy was gone.

In an effort to try and repair any potential damage between her closest friends and her boyfriend Peggy had planned to start arranging outings, kicking off with a round of golf with a bunch of people that had been at the club. Unfortunately, after his little display many of the people Nick had met and others he never got the opportunity to before he was drunk and delirious, including the girls who he had promised photos, declined the invitation.

Regardless, Nick was looking forward to hanging out with Tommy again and his cousin Peter. Because there ended up being an even grouping of four guys and four girls they were splitting up, competing against each other in a made-up tournament. Losers had to buy dinner at the clubhouse after they finished the round. Nick was fairly confident that the guys would take the trophy (if there were one) just because none of the girls save for Peggy seemed particularly athletic.

Staring up at the dark ceiling Nick mentally chastised himself for thinking about the next day’s competition rather than sleeping. Unlike the woman lying next to him in bed he wasn’t the type of person who could fall asleep after sex - he wanted more. Peggy had quickly drifted off as soon as he had returned to his side of the bed but he had been awake ever since, silently wishing that she would wake up for round three. He had toyed with the idea of having a shower since he felt sweaty from earlier but he knew the water would only work to further wake him up. Instead, he opted to count sheep.

Closing his eyes he focused on the sound of his breathing, hoping the rhythm would help him drift off to dreamland. He pushed all thoughts of round three, golf victories and how much coconut cream pie was left in the fridge, allowing his thought to turn to sleep.

His muscles began to relax, giving off the tell-tale sign that sleep was soon to come. In the dark of the night, just as he slipped off into a comfortable slumber, a loud, alarming clap rang through the bedroom. Jostled back into consciousness Nick looked quickly around the room, finally locking eyes with Peggy who seemed to have been woken up by the noise. She dozed off again just as Nick realized what the noise was and he immediately burst into giggles, not able to stop himself. He held his stomach as he laughed hysterically, feeling tears forming in his eyes.

“Nick,” Peggy complained through the noise. “I’m trying to sleep. Why are you laughing?”

“Do you...” he had to stop because the giggles took over again. “Do you know what just happened?”

“Yeah, I woke up because you started laughing. What’s so funny?”

“No,” he corrected with a shit-eating grin. “You woke us both up by ripping a monster fart!”

Peggy shrugged him off, rolling her eyes though he couldn’t see it in the dark. “Shut up, I did not. It was probably one of the dogs.”

Nick sat up, still laughing as he looked down at his girlfriend. “Don’t blame the dogs, this is all on you babe. That was the loudest fart I’ve ever heard. I’m surprised paintings didn’t fall off the walls.”

“Shut up!” Peggy squealed and he could tell from her defensiveness that she was embarrassed. “Have you ever heard yourself? It’s all you do.”

“Mine are silent but violent,” he excused. “That was unreal. It was almost sexy. I’m turned on.”

“Nick, give it a rest.”

He wouldn’t rest though, opting to continue teasing her to the point that she sat up alongside him and turned on the light, giving up on the possibility of sleep. Holding the sheet against her breasts Peggy leaned her head back sleepily against the headboard, hoping that he would eventually stop harping on the issue so they could both get some sleep.

“Why are you so embarrassed?” he asked curiously.

Peggy let out a groan, turning her back to him in the hopes that he would take the hint and stop talking.

“Don’t point that thing towards me.”

“Nick!” she yelled out in frustration, reluctantly flipping to face him. “I’ve never farted in front of you, okay? That’s why it’s embarrassing.”

He chuckled, shaking his head at how silly women were when it came to bodily functions. She had no problem talking intimately about their sex life but heaven forbid he be aware that she, like every other person on the planet, farted.

“So what? I thought it was kind of hot.”

“You did not,” she said, this time rolling her eyes so he could see.

“I did,” he challenged. Moving closer to her on the bed he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pulling the sheet away from her body with his free hand. “Between that and you being here all naked and sticky from before... wow. Go, go gadget dick.”

This time it was Peggy’s turn to laugh. She leaned up and kissed him quickly, almost impressed by his Inspector Gadget reference. While most women would find him corny at most times she loved his random pop-culture references and cheesy jokes the most.

Blushing she buried her face in the bend of his arm. “I think that’s why it was so loud,” she muttered and Nick raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “My... oh God, I can’t believe I’m about to say this... my skin was stuck together.”

Giggles once again took over, a sound that Peggy would never get tired of hearing since his laughter was one of the things that made him unlike anyone she had ever met. While still laughing he laid her back on the bed, his elbows on either side of her head while his hips settled against hers. His laughter died off and his expression became more serious, a look that Peggy recognized as lust.

“Don’t you want to sleep?” she asked innocently, rubbing her hands up and down his sides.

He shook his head negatively. “I want you.”

Pushing him back, she smiled. “You’re going to have to wait. I need to go to the bathroom.”

He glared skeptically, his face breaking into a small grin. “What are you going to do in there?”

She laughed, pushing at him again until he moved off of her. “I just need to pee, you were laying on my bladder and you’re sort of heavy.”

Nick gasped, clutching his chest and she thought for a split second she might have hurt his feelings by calling him heavy. “You pee? Oh man. Babe, that has totally changed my impression of you. You seem so much less ladylike now that I know you’re a human.”

“Stop being a jerk,” Peggy laughed as she made her way across the room to the ensuite bathroom. “Do something productive like put a condom on or something.”

“Condom?” he complained to the closed bathroom door, knowing it was a lost cause to even try and challenge it though it would never stop him from whining about the inconvenience.

Nick turned to look at his bedside table, frowning at how far away it seemed. The thought of crossing the width of the king sized bed was too daunting so he reached to Peggy’s bedside table, looking inside for some kind of prophylactic. The drawer was, as usual, messy and full of random stuff most of which Nick couldn’t identify. He dug through hair clips and magazines, not finding any sign of the familiar foil wrapper.

Just when he was about to give up he caught sight of a small makeup bag next to a box at the back of the drawer and grabbed it. His eyebrows furrowed as he unzipped the bag and looked inside. Inside was a variety of what seemed like sample-sized lubricants and condoms. With a shrug he grabbed the first one he saw and tossed the little bag next to the shoebox in the back.

His eyes stayed on the bathroom door, anxiously awaiting Peggy’s return as he tore open the foil package, going through the all-too-familiar routine of getting himself protected. Something didn’t seem right though and he looked down, confused by the sight.

“What are you doing?” Peggy chuckled as she turned the bathroom light back off. She had taken the opportunity and cleaned herself up a bit, running a brush through her hair and over her teeth before joining Nick back in the bedroom.

“Did my dick shrink?” he asked rhetorically and she watched him lean over the bed to grab the discarded condom wrapper. “What the fuck?”

“What?” she repeated anxiously, moving to kneel in front of him on the bed. Suddenly something came flying towards her and she pulled back in shock, nearly falling off the bed when she realized it was a condom. “Ew! Don’t throw that at me.”

“It’s not used!” he defended with a dramatic roll of his eyes. He turned the package around in his hand to show her the front, pointing to it with his free hand for emphasis. “Why do you have extra-extra-large condoms? These aren’t even my brand.”

“Where did you get that?”

“From your drawer!”

“Don’t go through my drawer!” she said defensively. She crawled to the other side of the bed quickly, reaching into Nick’s drawer to grab what he had originally been looking for.

“There’s no secrets here, babe.” he reminded her. “There shouldn’t be anything in that drawer that I shouldn’t see. You didn’t answer the question.”

“Ugh!” Peggy groaned, handing him the unopened packet. “Fine. They’re leftovers.”

“Leftovers?”

“From my last relationship.”

Nick blinked a few times as he look in the information, setting the wrapper on the side table. He tapped the new one against his bottom lip in thought. “Okay...ignoring the fact that your last boyfriend needed enormous condoms... why do you still have them?”

“If you’re thinking I need them because he’s coming over here and letting me relive his big dick, you’re wrong,” Peggy deadpanned. “I found other uses for them.”

“Water balloons? Making me feel inadequate? What other uses?”

With a groan Peggy pulled at the roots of her hair in frustration. “You won’t give up, will you?” she grunted. Reaching past him she opened the drawer and reached into the back to remove the shoebox that Nick had seen earlier. Opening the top she tilted it towards him, watching as his eyes grew as big as saucers.

“That’s...” he muttered, unable to find the words to describe what he was seeing. Cautiously he reached into the box, taking the largest of three objects into his hand. He took a moment to look it over, finally reaching for a switch at the bottom that suddenly brought it to life. While a tell-tale buzzing rang through the quiet of the room he looked up at his girlfriend who had been waiting for his reaction. “Why do you even bother having a boyfriend when you have the world’s biggest vibrator in your bedside table?”

“It’s not the world’s biggest. I’ve seen bigger.” she dismissed, grabbing it back from him. She turned it off and put it back in the box, closing the lid with finality.

“Oh, I bet you have. Where did you even get that?”

“I won it at a bridal shower,” Peggy explained with a shrug. “It came in handy while we were apart. I haven’t used it in forever, I’m surprised it still had a charge.”

“Are you for real?!” Nick asked, his voice cracking slightly as it pitched up an octave. He didn’t expect a reply but watched as she gave him another shoulder shrug in response. “Women are filthy! You guys complain about us seeing strippers at bachelor parties while you’re all buying each other giant vibrating dicks? Unreal.”

“Do you want to have sex, or not? Otherwise I’m going to bed because the alarm is going off in a few hours. We have an eight a-m tee time.”

With a grin, he shrugged mockingly before tearing into the packet in his hand with his teeth. “Can you even feel me inside you? Is it just so small you don’t notice the difference?”

Peggy laughed as she laid back on the bed, her hair fanning out on the pillow beneath her. “Yours is way better than any I’ve ever had, I promise. It’s six and a half inches of amazing, baby.”

Nick pretended to look hurt as he once again moved over her, leaning down to leave a lingering kiss on her lips. “Six and three quarters,” he corrected with a smile.

“Sorry,” she apologized, smiling as his lips gently touched hers again. “See? We both have things we consider flaws. I sometimes get gas and you have an average-sized penis.”

Nick scoffed, trying to ignore the intoxicating sensation of Peggy’s foot running up the back of his thigh. “Slightly above average, thank you.”

“Average,” she challenged. “Now shut up and fuck me already.”

“If you insist,” he grinned devilishly, letting himself get lost in her embrace once again.

Despite his reluctance to enjoy anything that indicated that winter was on the way, Nick had to admit that New York was beautiful in the fall. An Indian summer had pushed record warm temperatures into October, making it feel a bit more like early September than a week before Halloween.

The weather had been ideal for golf courses, many of which had been able to stay open much later than usual. Nick considered himself a lucky man to have found a girl who liked many of the same sports as him. He knew he would always have a twosome for golfing, a partner in tennis and someone boat-savvy to man the controls when he wanted to wakeboard, even if she didn’t appreciate the finer points of football, basketball and hockey.

Despite only getting a limited amount of sleep, after their night time activities stretched well into the early morning, both Nick and Peggy were bright-eyed and eager as they got ready to hit the links with her friends.

“I got you something,” Nick announced, popping his head in the steamy bathroom moments after Peggy had stepped out of the shower.

She stopped towel drying her hair and looked over at him curiously. She couldn’t help but smile at the bright yellow golf shirt he had paired with his khakis, loving that he was comfortable enough with his masculinity to appreciate how good he looked in yellow and pink. She hadn’t met too many men that had as colourful a wardrobe as her boyfriend.

“What is it?” she wondered and he motioned for her to come into the bedroom. Sitting on the bed Nick picked up a medium-sized gift bag and handed it to her, chuckling at her confused yet somewhat suspicious expression.

Peggy held the bag in her hands, still eyeing him. “What is this for?”

“It’s not for anything, can’t I just buy you presents?” he asked before quickly kissing her cheek. “I was going to give it to you at Christmas but I figured today was more appropriate.”

Peggy felt an unusual stir in her belly as she wondered what was in the bag. Something that he was going to get her for Christmas was surely going to be special and the bag was fairly light, making her think that there wasn’t very much in it. For a brief moment her mind went to whether she was going to pull out a ring box and she couldn’t help herself from getting a little excited at the thought.

She wasn’t sure what would have prompted him to move the present up to that date in particular but she assumed it had something to do with the amazing night they had just shared. If she was wrong, it would be the first time she had thought he might propose but she was hoping she wasn’t.

With a happy giggle she opened the bag and reached in and felt something soft and cotton-like. Masking her disappointment she continued to smile while pulling clothing out of the bag. She held up a pink Lacoste golf shirt and white skort, mentally chastising herself for getting her hopes up over something that was so completely unlikely.

“You kept saying you wanted some Lacoste stuff like mine so when I saw those I figured you would like them. Today seems like a perfect time to wearing them since we’re going golfing together for the first time.”

“It’s a little chilly for a skirt,” Peggy commented and Nick’s face immediately fell, “but I’m sure once I get moving and the sun comes out it’ll be fine.”

“You don’t have to wear it,” he told her but she didn’t want him to feel as disappointed as she did just then so she waved him off.

“No, it’s fine! I love it, thank you so much,” she said honestly. Still holding the clothes in one hand she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. His hands came to rest against her shoulder blades, drifting downward into the top of her towel and she pulled away.

“Stop that,” she warned playfully. “We don’t have time for that.”

“It’s always worth a try!” he chuckled.

They shared a quick kiss before Peggy turned to finish getting ready. “I’m excited that we get to match today. We’ll be just like Brian and Leighanne!” she teased, pointing to the identical Lacoste alligator that was above the breast pocket on his shirt.

“In retrospect, that was bad present. You should probably wear something else,” Nick joked and Peggy shook her head at him as she headed back into the bathroom.

~*~

With a set of golf clubs slung over each shoulder Nick followed the path he’d just seen Peggy walk, trying to still look cool as he passed other golfers despite the bags throwing off his balance. As luck would have it, she was stepping out of the pro shop just as he got to the door and he dropped her bag near her feet. 

“You didn’t have to grab both bags babe,” she told him before leaning up for a kiss.

“Yes I did,” he challenged, pulling her close with his free arm. “I’m a gentleman.”

“Yeah you are,” she smiled, pressing her lips against his jaw line where light brown beard was continuing to grow in thicker. “That’s why I love you.”

“Here I thought you loved me for my money and my charm,” he teased.

Peggy smiled, “That too.”

She was cold in the mid-thigh-length skort he had bought for her but she didn’t dare complain about the discomfort. Instead she snuggled up closer to him, pressing her forehead to his cheek while her arms wrapped around his body. His skin smelled like a combination of Old Spice deodorant and her bodywash (he found it to be the best to adequately quench his dry skin) and she smiled at the thought.

“Awww, don’t we look sweet?”

Peggy turned at the sound of her friend Becca’s voice and saw the other woman standing alongside her boyfriend Tommy, smiling. The couples greeted each other, the two men shaking hands while the women shared a quick hug.

“We tee off first,” Becca explained. “The boys will be right behind us, about 15 minutes back. Amy isn’t here yet and Pete and Trish are just getting their stuff out of the car,” she said, referring to Peggy and Nick’s cousins.

“Who is Amy bringing to play with the guys?” Peggy wondered and Becca shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know. She was having trouble finding someone who was free today but she said she would ask around on Facebook or whatever.”

“Oh good,” Tommy chuckled. “So we could potentially be playing with someone she hasn’t spoken to in years beyond that one time when they met at a party and stalked each other online?”

Becca glared at her boyfriend, “Be nice.”

“I’m always nice!”

Once the other couple had met up with them the girls decided they should head towards the starting tee box where they would wait for Amy to meet up with them. Nick loaded Peggy’s clubs into the back of one of the golf carts that the girls were taking before pulling her close for a lingering kiss, hoping it would tide him over for the duration of the round.

“Love you,” he told her, moving his lips to her forehead. “Play good. Not too good though, I don’t want to pay for lunch.”

Peggy felt herself being pulled out of Nick’s arms while Becca laughed sarcastically. “Sorry lover but this one doesn’t have a job so either way you’re paying.”

Peggy rolled her eyes while Nick simply shrugged and smiled. “If that’s the worst thing I have to do today,” he said, “then I will consider myself a lucky man.”

Becca chuckled and wrapped her arm around Peggy’s shoulders, leading the brunette along with the other girls to their golf carts so they could go wait for Amy at the tee box.

Pete walked up alongside his older cousin, nudging him gently with his arm as they watched the girls drive away. “Did you make sure you grab your balls out of Peggy’s golf bag before they left?”

“What?” Nick asked, his face covered in a confused expression. “I have my own golf balls.”

Pete smiled, “Not those balls.”

“Asshole,” Nick said though his smile let the other man know he wasn’t anywhere near serious.

They were just loading their things on to their own set of golf carts when Amy arrived with the man who would complete their foursome in tow. She quickly set off to catch up with the girls, leaving the guys to finish getting ready to get their game started.

Nick vaguely recognized the man who joined them. He couldn’t place him from the party at the club but knew he’d seen him there that night. As wide as he was tall, the other man was a looming figure with biceps like tree trunks and hair cut short in a military style.

Nick wracked his brain trying to think of where he knew the guy from when Pete suddenly grabbed his forearm, gripping it tightly. Nick gave him a questioning glance as he eyeballed his cousin’s fingers digging into his arm. Pete’s eyes were full of panic but before Nick could ask him what the issue was the big guy came approached them.

“Hey Peter,” he said with a smile before turning to address Nick. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” Nick smiled, giving the man the same megawatt smile that won over the hearts of millions of girls around the world. “I’m Nick.”

The other man chuckled, his deep voice resonating against Nick’s eardrums obnoxiously. “I know who you are.”

Recognition was something he was used to dealing with on a regular basis but rarely did the acknowledgement of his celebrity come with sarcastic laughter attached to it. With his own chuckle he shrugged it off.

“I get that a lot.”

“You don’t remember me from the other night, do you?” the other man asked.

Nick took a moment to mentally put the pieces together in his head. The fear that was in Pete’s eyes, the vague recognition from the night at the club, coupled with his physical appearance could only lead to one person.

“I’m Dustin.”

Dustin. His girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend and the man who had in many ways screwed her up for anyone who came after him. This was the same guy who had emotionally abused the woman Nick loved, called her names, degraded her and started rumours about her so vicious and foul that it ruined her reputation in college and still had people talking.

Luckily, another one of his skills was pretending he was happy when all he wanted to do was act like a child and throw a tantrum. The smile that had sold a million teen magazines was still spread across his face and he stuck out his hand to shake the other man’s.

“Did we meet the other night? I didn’t realize you were at the club.”

Dustin couldn’t have missed the sharp edge to Nick’s question, making it clear that he wouldn’t have been impressed if Peggy had extended the invitation to her ex-boyfriend. Dustin returned the false smile as both their hands returned to their sides.

“I wouldn’t really say we met. I wasn’t there with your group,” he clarified. “It was a coincidence. I go to that club all the time. I did catch your performance though and I was nice enough to help you down off the bar.”

Nick’s cheeks involuntarily flushed pink out of embarrassment. “That was you? You almost cracked my head open,” he pointed out.

Dustin rolled his eyes and Nick had to resist the urge to reach up and hit him in the hopes they might stay like that.

“You pointed that out, already. You’re fine. You weren’t even bleeding.”

“Yes, I was.”

“Oh, look!” Pete interrupted, not wanting to be in the middle of a fight between two men that were considerably larger than both him and Tommy. “It’s almost our tee time, we should probably go.”

Tommy immediately jumped forward to usher Dustin forward to the first golf cart, leaving the cousins behind to load their stuff into the second.

“Are you okay with this?” Pete asked. “Seriously man, we’d rather be with you today so if you want us to ask him to leave...”

Nick raised one hand, cutting the other man off swiftly. He adjusted his hat on his head, ignoring the twinge of pain he felt when the adjustable strap rubbed against the remnants of the goose egg on the back of his skull.

“It’s fine. I’m a big boy. I can handle golfing with some guy I don’t particularly like. I’m in entertainment, I spend most of my life pretending to like people that I can’t fucking stand.”

Peggy shivered again as a cold breeze passed over her bare legs and she ignored the goosebumps crawling across her skin while lining up her shot.

“Do you want my sweater?” Becca wondered for the umpteenth time. Peggy hadn’t complained about being cold but it was obvious to the other girls that she wasn’t overly comfortable in the small amount of clothes that were covering her.

“No, I’m fine!” Peggy refused as she headed back to the cart with her club.

Amy rolled her eyes and pulled at the sleeve of her cousin’s polo shirt. “Are you just that anxious to show off how much money you’re spending on clothes now? I’ve never known you to wear $200 golf shirts before.”

“I didn’t buy it,” Peggy defended. “It was a gift from Nick. I don’t want him to think I don’t like it by covering up with a jacket.”

“Nick is wearing a jacket,” Becca pointed out, “and pants.”

“Ok, fine!” Peggy relented, snatching the cream-coloured cardigan out of her friend’s hands.

“Speaking of Nick,” Amy began as the three women watched the fourth of their foursome take her shot. “What’s the deal with you guys? Must be pretty serious?”

Peggy had a feeling she knew what her cousin was getting at. It was the same thing her mother had been getting at ever since she had announced that she and Nick would be moving in together. Everyone assumed that once they started living in sin it was only a matter of time before she would have a ring on her finger and would be popping out babies.

“Of course it’s serious,” she shook her head at the audacity of the line of questioning. “We bought a house together!”

“You mean he bought a house by himself and you live in it,” Amy chuckled and girls hopped into their respective golf carts to take off to head down the fairway.

Peggy thoughts were stuck on that comment as they made their way across the bright green grass, the cool wind whipping against their faces. She hoped that other people didn’t think of her and Nick’s relationship that way, especially his fans and her family.

She tried to concentrate on the picturesque golf course, the red-yellow leaves painting a stereotypical autumn scene as they drifted to the ground, but it was no use. Not even the joy of her favourite season could take her mind off the fact that her cousin had essentially just accused her of being a gold digger. As soon as the carts had stopped next to where their balls had landed on the fairway Peggy was out of her seat.

“That’s not at all how it is, you know,” she proclaimed.

Amy gave her younger cousin a confused look, not sure what she meant. After encouraging her to elaborate Peggy continued with a heavy sigh.

“With Nick. It’s a partnership. It’s not about him buying me things. We share expenses.”

“Right,” Amy nodded her head obnoxiously slow, making it obvious that she doubted the statement. “I’m sorry but what money do you use to share his expenses with?”

Flustered, Peggy rolled her eyes and threw her hands out in frustration. “I know I don’t have much to contribute right now but I’m going to be working! Nick made it clear that he doesn’t want me sitting at home eating bon-bons and watching television all day forever. I’m going to be helping him out with some of his day-to-day stuff.”

Becca’s interest was suddenly piqued as she listened in on the conversation and she didn’t hesitate to interject. “You are? Since when?”

“His personal assistant was California-based so he doesn’t have one right now. He said I would make a great personal assistant,” she said, flustered and feeling slightly like she was under a broiling hot interrogation light instead of the cool autumn breeze. “I’m sure it’s because he wants me to be able to come with him when he goes on tour.”

Both women seemed to be satisfied with the answer and got back to concentrating on their game so they wouldn’t fall behind and have the boys catching up to them before they got to the putting green. It wasn’t long though before Amy was back asking more questions about her relationship with Nick and Peggy couldn’t help but wonder why she was so curious.

“So when you said things were serious did you mean put-a-ring-on-it serious? You must know that your mother is anxiously waiting for you to tell them you guys are getting married. It wasn’t a good day at my house when they found out you were shacking up with some guy they’d never met. Everyone, of course, assumed there was a shotgun wedding on the horizon.”

Peggy rolled her eyes dramatically. She had definitely heard that story before. After she and Dustin had broken up her mother had acted like Peggy’s love-life was over, that she would never have a grandchild or attend her daughter’s wedding. Being in her early 20’s it seemed ridiculous that her mother would write her off so quickly so she imagined her being ecstatic when she started dating Nick, someone mature, established and successful in his career and able to provide for her. Quite to the contrary though, her mother was was put off by the fact that he wasn’t around for them to approve of and even more annoyed by the way Peggy would jet off around the country to rendezvous with this man who she felt was far too old and too experienced for her young girl.

“I’m not pregnant,” Peggy reiterated, feeling as though she had repeated that statement far too many times. “There won’t be a shotgun wedding. Nick and I have only been together for a year. Moving in together is the next step and once we’re settled we can start thinking more about things like marriage and babies.”

“Peg,” Becca interjected cautiously, not wanting to upset her friend. “I thought I saw something somewhere about the fact that Nick doesn’t believe in marriage and would rather have a career over kids?”

Peggy kept smiling but inside her heart was pounding. She and Nick had never had a conversation about what the future meant to them but she had assumed when he suggested they move in together and even went so far as to cross the country to be with her that it was an indication he planned on their relationship being long-term. During all of that she hadn’t considered that long-term might have a very different meaning to Nick than it did to her.

In the vision she often daydreamed about they would live together for about six months before he would pop the question, they would bask in the glow of being engaged for another year before they got married and quickly started a family. She had replayed the scene over in her head so many times it almost seemed like a movie.

“Not you, too,” she laughed nervously. “Seems like everyone is looking Nick up on the internet! Even my Dad got all of his information from Google. You really can’t believe everything you read.”

“It was for television, he said it...”

“Okay,” she interrupted, “but he was with Elizabeth then so things were different.”

If it wouldn’t have seemed out of place she would have crossed her fingers behind her back as she spoke the words. She couldn’t get the image of her perfect future with Nick out of her head and didn’t have much interest in altering it to include a lifetime of just having a live-in boyfriend and some fur kids that she didn’t even like all that much.

~*~

Nick had never considered himself to be a particularly skilled golfer. He wasn’t terrible - he had taken lessons from a professional golfer who had more than one Masters Championship jacket in his closet, after all - but he wasn’t as good as most of his friends who golfed regularly.

His advantage against the three men he was golfing with was that he had better clubs, better training and more time spent on the course, meaning he was winning with ease. He wouldn’t have minded losing to his cousin Peter or even to Tommy but there was no way he was going to let himself lose to Dustin.

The neanderthal had been goading him the entire morning, trying to get him riled up enough to say something stupid but Nick wasn’t taking the bait. What Dustin didn’t realize was that Nick had spent countless hours going through media training with some of the best publicists in the country and was better at avoiding a topic he didn’t want to talk about than he was at golfing.

Nick grinned at the familiar ping of his driver squarely hitting the ball off the tee, sending it arching up and down the fairway with an ideal break to the right. He adjusted his hat on his head as he watched it go, satisfied at the result of the swing. As he walked back to the cart to join the other men he wiped a bit of dirt and grass off the head of the club, bringing the shining chrome back to its original condition.

“These are really nice clubs,” Tommy commented as he looked through Nick’s golf bag, occasionally taking one club out to get a better look. “How much did these run you?”

Nick let out a steady stream of breath as he thought, his eyebrows scrunched together. “To be honest, I don’t really look at prices. I want to say that all together they were around two-grand.”

Pete whistled in appreciation, joining Tommy by the bag. “Shit, dude. My birthday is coming up you know,” he joked.

Nick laughed then shrugged, not wanting to waste an opportunity to show Dustin up a little bit, “Pick a set out, man. We can go shopping some day and get them.”

“Oh how cute, you can go shopping together like girlfriends,” Dustin laughed obnoxiously. “You just buy expensive golf clubs for guys you’ve just met?” he added with a snort as he put his own driver back into his bag. “You can’t do much to dispel all those gay rumours by buying other guys fancy presents.”

Both Pete and Tommy quieted down as soon as Nick’s friendly demeanor turned savage and the blonde quickly turned to the other man. Dustin had hit a soft-spot with his comment and Nick was doing everything he could to keep himself composed. He had no issue with homosexuals but he had gone through far too much questioning in his life regarding his sexual orientation and the topic really got on his last nerve.

“I’m not gay,” he stated firmly. “Pete and I didn’t just meet, I held him days after he was born. We’re cousins. You’re really the last person in the world who should be talking about ways to dispel rumours, by the way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dustin asked and the two innocent bystanders shared a glance that spoke volumes, both thinking that they were likely about to witness the blow-up that had been brewing the entire morning.

“Oh, I dunno,” Nick laughed sarcastically. “How about the fact that you started a vicious rumour that destroyed my girlfriend’s reputation in college that every single one of her friends still thinks is true to this day?”

“What rumour?” Dustin questioned, raising one eyebrow in the older man’s direction though all of them knew that he was aware of which rumour Nick was referring to.

Nick had hoped he would never have to repeat this to anyone but clearly Dustin’s level of intelligence was well below the average man’s and he was going to make him spell it out.

“You know which rumour,” he spoke aggressively. “The one where you told everyone she was a slut because you’re a controlling asshole.”

Dustin gasped, acting shocked by the accusation. “I never started any rumours! She did that all on her own when she went around cheating on me. Sorry, but in my books that kind of sex is just the same as any others. You can’t blame me for being mad.”

“No, but I can blame you for making it up!” Nick could feel his arms starting to shake with every decibel that his voice increased and he wasn’t able to hold back his anger any longer. “She didn’t have that kind of sex with anyone. You were just pissed because she wouldn’t have it with you.”

“How would you know that? You weren’t there.”

Nick rolled his eyes and laughed at the enormous idiot standing in front of him. “She told me and I believe her over you because she’s got an ounce of credibility and you don’t. For your information, since you’re so curious about my sex life, I was the first guy to ever go there. It’s a bit of specialty of mine, to tell you the truth. I’m one of the few men skilled enough to make even the most prudish woman beg for it. The real difference between you and me beyond the fact that you’re a lousy golfer and not all that successful financially is that I’m an amazing lover and you... you’re just a big dick.”

Without another word Nick headed back towards his golf cart, the silence only broken by the solitary sound of Tommy clapping slowly to show his appreciation for the scene he’d just witnessed.

Just before Nick peeled away in the cart to head down the course Tommy jumped into the passenger seat and clapped the blonde on the shoulder soundly.

“You’re a God among men.”

“Thank you,” Nick replied with a chuckle. “I just hate that guy so much. His bullshit has lead to so many fights between me and Peggy. I probably shouldn’t have said that, actually. I have a feeling it’ll get back to her and she’ll end up pissed again.”

“It won’t come from me,” Tommy assured him.

“No, it’ll come from him through Amy. Which, by the way, what the hell was she thinking when she brought him? Why would she think we would want him here?”

Tommy became strangely quiet and Nick glanced back-and-forth between the other man and the course in front of him, trying not to ditch the cart.

“You know something,” he pointed out. “What is it?”

Tommy sighed and pulled his hat as low over his face as he could, “I’m not supposed to say, so if you let anyone know you found this out from me I’m dead meat with the misses. She’s trying to patch things up between him and everyone else because... well... she’s going to tell Peggy that they’re getting married.”

Nick was thankful they had just pulled up alongside their golf balls on the fairway because otherwise he was certain his shock would have lead them straight into a hazard.

Nick stared at the man next to him in the golf cart, slack jawed. Under any other circumstances he wouldn’t have given a crap what Dustin and Amy did because it didn’t affect him but this case was different. Peggy had worked hard to pick herself back up after Dustin had used and abused her emotionally and she had finally managed to cut him out of her life only for her own cousin to drag him back into it.

Ultimately, this situation was going to affect Peggy and by default affect him. That was sometimes the downfall of being a couple. He had a lot of drama all on his own, he didn’t really need someone else’s drama in his life but it always seemed that every time he committed to sharing his life with someone else it also meant sharing the hysteria that came along with it.

Finally, upon hearing the other two chatting behind them, Nick got out of the cart. Slowly he walked up to Dustin, not thinking of anyone but Peggy as he stared up at the other man.

“What are you playing at?” Nick asked, hands on his hips.

Dustin sighed, throwing his arms up in frustration. “What now?!”

“You and Amy are getting married?”

There was a long pause while the two stared each other down, Dustin having no response to the question.

“Why would you tell her today? Why do you want to ruin her day? She was just trying to have some fun and you assholes are going to come and spoil it? That is so not fair."

For the first time since Nick had met the guy Dustin seemed legitimately guilty. The normally sarcastic look that he had on his face wavered slightly.

“Wasn’t my call,” Dustin shrugged. “I don’t know why Margaret seems to hate me so much-”

“You know why.”

“Whatever,” the sarcastic look quickly returned as Dustin rolled his eyes. “She just needs to know and now is as good a time as ever. Amy wants her to be in the wedding so it has to happen now.”

Nick laughed at the audacity - as if the two of them thought that Peggy would want to be in their ridiculous wedding after they had hidden their entire relationship from her. He didn’t know how long they had been seeing one another but could only assume it had been awhile since most people didn’t decide to get married in the spur-of-the-moment.

“She’s not going to be in your wedding,” Nick assured him.

“Are you worried she might get too many ideas? Start wondering when you’re going to get down on one knee?” Dustin questioned sardonically.

Again, Nick was overcome with his signature giggle, not able to take a single word coming out of the other man’s mouth seriously. “Are you kidding me? Peggy and I aren’t getting married. Not now - not ever. That’s just not something that our relationship needs. We’re stronger than that, we only need each other. Don’t worry about us, though. You and Amy go right ahead and tie the knot and we’ll be around to say I told you so when you start treating her like crap just like you did to Peggy.”

Again, Dustin had no comment and the pair merely stared each other down in the middle of the golf course. It wasn’t until Pete interrupted them and not-so-respectfully asked them to put their shit aside, so they could finish the game and get through the rest of the day without it coming to fisticuffs, that they decided to get back to the real reason they were there - golfing.

The pent up hostility towards Dustin seemed to only make Nick’s game better and by the time they reached the final hole he had demolished his own personal record. By that point the entire group of guys were ready to call it a day and each were silently hoping that the women had fared a bit better.

Their female counterparts had already secured a table in the clubhouse for lunch and were sitting around chatting excitedly about particularly humorous moments they’d experienced on the course. As the men approached the table the girls, minus Peggy who was noticeably missing, didn’t even look up from their conversation. It wasn’t until Nick loudly cleared his throat that they even recognized the other presence in the room.

“Where’s my girlfriend?” he asked plainly, glancing between the three women at the table but sending a particularly nasty look as his eyes crossed past Amy. Becca raised her eyebrows at his blunt words and pointed him in the direction of the washrooms where Peggy had run off to moments before.

Without a word Nick turned and followed the signs to the ladies room, stationing himself just outside the door. A few women eyed him curiously as they walked out and he pulled his hat off his sweaty head, running his hand anxiously through his damp hair. He hadn’t yet decided if he was going to spill the beans entirely but he wasn’t sure if Peggy was aware that Dustin was even there since the girls had left before he arrived and ruined everyone’s day. Nick jumped every time the door to the restroom opened until finally he recognized Peggy’s familiar figure walking through.

She smiled as she spotted him leaning up against the wall casually, hands stuffed into the pockets of the well-fit khaki trousers he wore. Peggy couldn’t help but give him an appreciative once-over, feeling a swell of pride at the thought that the attractive man in front of her was all hers.

“Hi handsome,” she spoke softly, moving to join him. He pulled his hands from his pockets as hers snaked around his torso, his palms sliding across the flat of her back.

Wordlessly, Nick closed the small distance in height between them for a kiss, pulling her full bottom lip between his teeth briefly as they broke apart.

“What was that for?” she wondered curiously. “Not that I’m complaining.”

He shrugged, “I just wanted to kiss you.”

The answer satisfied her curiosity enough that she changed the subject, inquiring as to how his game had gone. Without a single mention of Dustin, he launched into the story of the best golf game of his life, describing different things about the greens and fairways that he found to be particularly challenging.

Peggy watched him speak excitedly about beating the guys on his team, still grinning. The urge to touch his skin as he spoke was overwhelming, despite the fact that she could still feel the fatigue throughout her body from their antics the night before. While he continued the story she slid one hand past his belt and into the back of his pants while the other pushed its way under the shirt hem that was keeping her away from his muscular back.

Nick stopped speaking mid-sentence and chuckled, “What do you think you’re doing? We’re in public.”

“We’re not in public,” Peggy argued, “we’re in a hallway by ourselves. I just wanted to touch you.”

“I always want to touch you,” he told her honestly, dropping a quick kiss on her nose, followed by her forehead, “but I don’t always get what I want.”

Peggy playfully rolled her eyes, squeezing the cheek that was beneath her hand, “Liar.”

“Fine,” he relented. “I get what I want most of the time. Seriously though I don’t want a picture of us to end up on the internet with your hand on my ass.”

The eyeroll that followed was less frisky than the last and she pouted as she removed her hands from his skin, returning them to their original position over the shirt on his back.

“You’re so terrible at looking mad,” Nick teased, pulling her into a tight hug before letting go entirely. “So how did your day go? How was Amy?”

“What do you mean how was Amy?” she wondered. “She was her usual nosy, obnoxious self but no different than normal. Who did she end up bringing to play with you guys?”

Nick let out a heavy breath, his eyebrows raising in concern as he realized that Peggy was about to be completely bushwhacked.

“Babe...” he brushed a stray piece of hair away from her eye and tucked it carefully behind her ear. “She brought Dustin.”

Peggy gasped, her hand flying to her chest as if she were trying to keep her heart from escaping due to the shock. Her green eyes, full of worry, scanned his face looking for some kind of indication that he was leading her astray but she couldn’t find it.

“Why would she bring him?” Peggy asked innocently. “She knows that I am trying to get him out of my life. Why would she bring him?”

Nick sighed heavily, wishing he had a good answer for her. In reality his first impulse was to tell her that it would have been a lot easier to remove Dustin from her life if she hadn’t decided that she would continue to live in the same neighbourhood as the person she supposedly despised while still visiting the same spots that the two of them frequented as a couple.

“I suppose she is really the only person that can truthfully answer that question,” he replied. “I just wanted to make sure you were prepared before you walked back to the table and saw him there.”

“He’s sitting right out there?” she asked, pointing back in the direction of the dining room. “As if nothing is wrong with that?”

“Peggy,” Nick said firmly. “I know you hate him but there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that. You’ve moved on, he has obviously moved on. Maybe it’s time to just put the past behind you and show this dude that you’re a much better person without him?”

She had never really considered that being upset about Dustin was really just another way for her to keep his unfortunate place in her life alive but Nick’s words made her realize that he was absolutely right - it was time to just let it all go. She had Nick and he was the most wonderful man in the world. Had she never gone through what she went through with Dustin she probably would have never left school and applied for the job with the airline and thus never met Nick. She would have to do her best to move on - not forgive, but forget.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “I’ll always hate him but I need to stop letting him get to me like this. This is just the way he wanted me to feel when we were together and I’m done with that.”

Nick smiled and nodded, dropping another kiss onto her forehead. “Let’s go eat,” he said but deep down he was wondering whether Peggy would be able to keep up that level of resolve once she found out that Dustin was about to be a much more permanent fixture in her life - he was about to be family.

Their return to the table didn’t go without a bit of teasing about how long the pair of them had been in the bathroom and Nick was thankful for the happy chatter that was going around the table. Much like it had on the golf course for both groups, the conversation ultimately turned to weddings. Nick remembered what it was like to be around the age of most of the people at the table when all of your friends suddenly start getting married.

It seemed at one point like he was getting an invitation to a wedding every other week and it got old quickly. Now, at his age, all of his friends were already married and had moved into the kids and pets stage of their relationships. He had never really felt that he fit into either category and opted not to contribute more than the random agreement or disagreement to the conversation, anxiously hoping that a waiter would suddenly appear to take their order and change the subject.

“Do you all know what you’re having?”

Nick let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the server’s voice, putting a quick end to the marriage talk before anyone could start asking him questions. Everyone went around the table calling out orders and he was left surprised when it was Peggy’s turn and she ordered for him.

She had already asked him what on the menu he was able to eat and he knew that she was ordering for him mostly because she was still trying to learn more about the way he ate but it was somewhat awkward to be sitting next to his girlfriend, fully capable of speaking and picking out his own food, having her rattle off his lunch order for him.

“Um,” Nick chuckled as the server walked away, his eyes fixed on his girlfriend. “Thanks... for that... that was nice of you.”

“No problem!” Peggy grinned, completely oblivious to his confusion. She turned to the rest of the group and explained, “Nick’s a vegetarian.”

While the others nodded politely and opted not to draw any more attention to the unusual situation it was not a surprise to Nick when he heard Dustin’s obnoxious laugh from across the table.

“You order for him because he doesn’t eat meat?” Dustin asked, ignoring Amy’s elbow ramming into his side trying to get him to stop. Looking directly at Nick, he shook his head. “Could you be a bigger pussy? It’s bad enough you’re in a boyband but you have to have your girlfriend order your food for you, too? I figured you would have at least tried to fill my shoes given that you obviously can’t fill my condoms.”

A hush fell over the table. The awkwardness seemed to stretch on forever but Nick knew it had only been a few seconds since he was publicly humiliated with who knows how many other people listening on at other tables.

He turned to Peggy, wide-eyed yet strangely calm, “What the hell? How does he know about that? It was last-fucking-night and he already knows about that.”

Peggy’s mouth was agape and she looked back and forth across the table between her ex and current boyfriend before glaring angrily at her cousin. “I didn’t tell him,” she defended. “I...I told Amy about last night. I’m sorry. I didn’t think she would tell anyone else.”

“You just go around telling all your friends about what happens in our bedroom?”

Dustin looked smug at his seat across the table, “Like you don’t? I seem to remember you telling all of us earlier that Peggy begs you for anal.”

Nick knew that proclamation would end up coming back to bite him in the ass, especially considering that he had largely made it up. He only wished his arms were long enough to reach out and knock the look off Dustin’s face. “That’s not how it happened and you know it.”

“You told him that?” Peggy asked, blinking back tears of embarrassment as everyone’s stare suddenly focused on her. “That’s not even true! Of all the people in the world to say something like that to, you told HIM that?”

“What about what you said to Amy?”

“She’s my cousin! You hate him!”

“Well, they’re kind of a package deal now, aren’t they?”

Peggy froze, her eyes locked with Nick’s. She heard Tommy nervously clearing his throat from across the table and her eyes cut around to her other friends. “What exactly does that mean?”

“It means they’ve been sneaking around behind your back,” Nick informed her. “They’re getting hitched and needed to tell you before the big day so things wouldn’t get awkward. Well...any more awkward than they already are.”

The clang of forks and knives on plates was overwhelming. No one wanted to say anything for fear that another fight would break out and someone else would spill the beans on some kind of personal information they would rather not be made public.

The only thing Nick could hear over the ringing in his ears from years of loud music was the sound of broccoli crunching between his teeth. He was trying to keep his attention on the table but the sight of blood pooling beneath the steak on Tommy’s plate directly to his left was a bit too much for him to handle and he soon found himself glancing around at everyone else.

They were all preoccupied with their meals as if there were a chance it could be their last. Catching his cousin’s eyes across the table he sent the other man a friendly smile, not knowing what else to do.

“So, Nick,” Becca chirped through the silence, trying to break the ice. “When are you going back on tour?”

Nick chuckled at the question and gave her a curious glance, “We need a new record first. I had been thinking about doing some solo dates, though. Nothing major, just a few shows to keep me fresh during my downtime.”

“It must be exciting to get to bring Peggy along, so you guys won’t have to be apart,” the woman commented cheerfully.

Nick’s eyebrows furrowed and he sent an inquisitive look between his girlfriend and her friend, “She’s come out to visit me before. I guess it still depends on her work schedule and if she finds something as flexible.”

Peggy was glaring at her friend, trying to give Becca an unspoken signal not to say anything more but the other woman was looking at Nick, ignoring her.

“I thought she was going to be helping you out with stuff?”

Nick laughed and Peggy felt like she could have died. She knew it was silly to have mentioned that she was going to be working for Nick, especially since they hadn’t really talked about it in too much detail. She needed to feel as though she was working towards an occupational goal and he had said that she would make a good personal assistant, after all.

“Is that some kind of sexual reference?” Nick joked and Peggy covered her face with both hands. “Although having a girlfriend on the road is pretty helpful, I’ve been away enough times that I know how to go without.”

“That’s not what she means,” Peggy told him, resting her hand on his forearm more forcefully than she had intended. “Remember when we were talking about you getting a new personal assistant and then you said that I’d be really good at something like that?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, still not getting what was happening until suddenly it dawned on him as if a light bulb had gone off atop his head. “Oh... babe, I pay a company to hook me up with a PA. My schedule can get pretty crazy so I don’t know if someone inexperienced could handle that workload. Did you want me to see if they need entry level people or something?”

Peggy waved him off, her cheeks blushing crimson, “Just forget it, Nick. I’ll explain later.”

After Peggy’s dismissal the awkward silence fell over the group again and everyone went back to their meals, trying to forget anything had even been said.

“Are you going to the party?” Pete suddenly spoke, becoming the next person to try and break the painful silence. Everyone at the table looked around, confused by the comment until they realized that Pete was addressing Nick directly.

“What party?”

Pete chuckled, not surprised that Nick wasn’t aware of what he was talking about since he had missed pretty much every family gathering over the last decade.

“Grandpa’s 80th birthday party,” he said with a twinge of condescension.

The blonde swallowed a mouthful of rice and admitted, “I wasn’t invited.”

“You are so invited,” Pete chuckled. “I know he’d like it if you were there so he doesn’t have to spend the whole time talking you up to everyone who will listen. You’re the man’s pride and joy.”

Nick was genuinely surprised by the comment and realized regretfully just how long it had been since he had gone to visit his grandparents. Now that he was living in New York City it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the trip up north and see them before he no longer had a chance to.

“Well then, I’d like to go.”

“Is that in Florida?” Peggy asked and Pete raised a curious eyebrow.

“No,” Pete answered for his cousin, “our grandparents live upstate, in Chautauqua,” he added, silently wondering how much about his family life Nick had opted not to tell his girlfriend about.

“My parents are from New York,” Nick explained. “They met in Jamestown and that’s where I was born. We moved to Florida when I was five.”

“I knew that!” Becca chirped brightly and a few questioning glances were sent her way. “Google,” she explained shamelessly.

Peggy chuckled but inside she wasn’t laughing. She was starting to think that her decision to not look up her boyfriend’s name on the internet like every other person in her life had done was a mistake. It seemed that the people she was close to knew more about him just from reading his bio on Wikipedia than she knew from his own admission. They spent many hours laying in bed together talking about everything imaginable but as she replayed the memories over in her head she realized that Nick had been somewhat mum on his family.

He had talked a fair amount about himself - his goals and dreams, likes and dislikes - but he hadn’t told her much about his family, his seemingly shady history with the law or how he really got to be the man he was now. He had asked her all of those questions instead, distracting her from peering any further into his own life.

She was beginning to feel embarrassed and even stupid every time she asked a question only to find out it was yet another thing that she didn’t know about Nick’s life. Making a silent vow, she pledged to get some of these lingering questions answered by whatever means necessary. 

~*~

It was days before Peggy would devote a single thought to lunch at the golf club. She had been doing everything in her power not to think about the awkward and, at times, embarrassing exchange between her boyfriend and her friends. She had come to settle on the fact that maybe hanging out in large groups with Nick wasn’t a good idea any more - especially if Dustin was going to make an appearance every time Amy did. 

They had filled their time after the golf fiasco shopping for furniture, decorating the house, taking piles of empty boxes to the recycling depot - regular everyday things. There hadn’t been a single fight, barely even a disagreement, since the car ride home from the golf course when Peggy had given Nick a good dose of the cold shoulder for over exaggerating stories about their sex life, but she quickly got over it. After some reflection she realized she understood where he was coming from - even if she didn’t necessarily like it. After all, that seemed like something most men did even when they weren’t under pressure from an overbearing ex-boyfriend.

Now that she was finally over the anger that came along with that day Peggy had realized that the party for Nick’s grandfather and any talk of his family issues had gone absolutely unmentioned. Additionally, there was still the looming matter of the mystery interview that Becca claimed would prove Nick would never be getting down on one knee in their lifetime. With curiosity getting the best of her she decided that maybe it was finally time to bite the bullet and do what every other person in her life had done - Google the man she loved.

“Nick?” Peggy called out curiously as she made her way up the stairs, feeling a bit like she was on some sort of secret spy mission. She had gotten rid of her computer when they had moved in together because it seemed silly to have multiple laptops, a desktop, iPads and iPhones all lying around the house for two people. She didn’t spend much time on the computer for much other than her email and Facebook which her phone more than accommodated for.

She inched down the hallway toward Nick’s office, still unsure of where in the house he was hiding. She called out his name a second time, looking suspiciously over both shoulders. She was just passing the door to their bedroom when it suddenly swung open and Nick stepped out into the hallway.

Jumping back in shock she threw her hand to her chest, breathing heavy as she fought to get her stomach back down out of her throat.

“You scared the shit out of me!” she squealed, slapping him soundly on the forearm.

“Ouch,” Nick whined, rubbing the red mark where she had struck him. “Why are you so jumpy? Are you hiding something?”

He was teasing but she couldn’t keep a blush from rising up her neck onto her cheeks.

“No,” she waved him off, “didn’t you hear me calling you?”

He nodded, “That’s why I came out here. What’s up?”

Peggy took note of his outfit - basketball shorts and a tank top - watching as he pulled his heart rate monitor watch onto his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“The gym,” he answered, his focus still on securing the strap of the watch. “I was gonna work out here but I feel like using some different equipment. Gonna destroy my back and biceps and go for a run on the track. Wanna come?”

What she wanted to do was sit in front of the computer and find out every single mundane detail about Nick’s life without him knowing but she knew he would find it suspicious if she turned down going to the gym. It was one of the many things they loved to do together and one of the few that happened outside of the house.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Can you wait for a bit though? I just want to use your computer really quick then I’ll get changed.”

“Why?” he wondered, his eyebrows furrowing quizzically.

Peggy looked down at her own clothes, motioning to the pajama bottoms she was still wearing. “I’m not exactly dressed for the gym, so I’d like to change.”

Nick chuckled and playfully pushed her shoulder, “I meant why do you need to use my computer. I know why you need to change.”

“I just need to Google something,” she explained but the look in his eyes told her he wasn’t satisfied with the answer. “A recipe, for dinner. I was going to go to the store today so we might as well go on the way back from the gym.”

His attention had moved from his watch to his cell phone and Peggy could tell he was starting the never-ending process of compulsively checking his email, something he did at least once every half hour and whenever he wanted to ignore her.

“I don’t want to go to the grocery store all sweaty,” he complained without even glancing up, sounding at least a decade younger than he actually was. “I’ll end up in US Weekly or something looking like shit.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, anxious to get away from the situation since now she not only had to Google him but also find some recipe to print off for dinner. “Then wait in the car, Nick. It’s not like you won’t spend the whole time looking at your Twitter anyway. Can we discuss this after? The longer we talk the longer it will take to get to the gym.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed, reluctantly sticking his phone in his pocket. “I’ll go cut up some fruit for a snack later.”

“Thank you, sweetie,” Peggy quickly kissed his cheek then sent him on his way with a firm pat on his behind. As soon as he was out of sight she launched into motion, practically hopping into the desk chair in front of Nick’s computer. She grabbed the mouse and opened up a Safari browser, watching the familiar Google homepage load.

She resisted the temptation to click on the animated Google doodle that was featured on the page and instead began typing Nick’s name into the search bar. Immediately, the search engine started trying to guess what it was that she was going to type, the first suggestions coming up after Nick’s name being twitter, net worth and wiki.

She sighed heavily, leaning her chin against the palm of her hand as she wondered what the next move would be. She was just about to settle on searching for his name alone when something came over her and she impulsively added the word marriage to the end of the search and hit enter.

The first entry that popped up was an article on a celebrity gossip blog. The headline read Nick Carter: Career before marriage and kids and she felt her heart drop. Peggy clicked on the article, holding her breath in anticipation of what the context could be. The top of the page had a picture of Nick and his ex from some event. His hair was much longer and was atrociously styled. His outfit was even more ridiculous and appeared to have been straight out of a 70’s porno - clearly the girlfriend had dressed him. He also didn’t look particularly happy to be photographed.

Peggy had seen a photo of Elizabeth before but she had never really looked at her. The two of them could not be more different in appearance. For one thing, Elizabeth looked old and busted compared to her - if she did say so herself. It was no surprise to her now that Nick had opted to have a younger girlfriend because women his age definitely looked it. Peggy was pretty confident that Nick could pass for much younger than he was but Elizabeth definitely couldn’t. She had obviously spent too much time in a tanning bed.

Shaking her head free she got back on topic, reading the rest of the article and five others that she found that were just like it. From what she could tell it all came back to his parent’s divorce. He didn’t trust that marriages worked because he didn’t have a good example of a happy marriage in his life. Peggy did though, her parents were very happy together, so she wished that Nick would be able to someday see her side of things.

She had wished that Becca had been wrong, that Nick hadn’t said those things but it was plain as day. He had said it in interviews on video, radio and in print spanning years of his career so there was no denying that it was true. She was never going to get the ring she wanted some day and, despite his decree in the articles that he would one day like to settle down and have a family, she had a feeling that their only children would be the four-legged, furry variety.

It made her wonder what the point of it all was and whether staying would Nick would only be a few years of her life she would never get back before she looked old and busted just like Elizabeth and he went and found himself someone other young woman to entertain him.

“You’re not even dressed yet?!” Nick’s voice assaulted her eardrums and she jumped a foot out of the chair in shock.

Quickly closing the windows she had open, Peggy prayed that Nick hadn’t seen his own image on the screen in front of her.

“I couldn’t find the recipe I was looking for,” she lied.

“I’m going to the gym. With or without you. Hurry your pretty ass up.”

Peggy watched him walk out the door to go back downstairs and she let out a heavy sigh, running her hands through her long hair in frustration. She sent a longing glance towards the computer before forcing herself to get up and get dressed to join him for the afternoon.

Normally when Peggy and Nick went to the gym together the only part of their workout that was shared was their warm up and cool down. Nick would go off to the weight room of whatever gym they were frequenting and she would find a quiet place to do some yoga and deep stretches, usually getting on a step machine while he went for a run.

Peggy had an unbelievable urge to not leave Nick’s side though, as if she could prove to him that they should be together forever by flexing her muscles a little. She knew that it was a ridiculous thought but she wanted to be with him and be there for him even if it meant acting as a spotter when he went he hit the weights.

Nick on the other hand was wondering when Peggy would go away. He didn’t mind coming to the gym with her because it usually meant he could get a good view of her ass in the air at any given moment while she did her yoga crap in one of the quiet rooms. Otherwise he wasn’t particularly keen on having her lurking over his shoulder.

While he would normally be able to just run through the little workbook he carried around with his fitness plan on it he now had Peggy asking all kinds of questions, trying to get him to help her do the same things he was doing but having no idea what weights she should use. He couldn’t wait to finish his weights and get to his cardio because if there was one thing he knew was that the only way Peggy could be bothered to run was if a horde of the undead were chasing her.

A bead of sweat ran down his temple from underneath the ball cap he was wearing and he resisted the urge to wipe it away, keeping his focus instead on forcing his biceps to push through the burn and bring the barbell in his hands to his chest. He concentrated on keeping his core tight, back straight and muscles flexed but couldn’t ignore the feeling of someone standing just slightly too close behind him. It wasn’t unusual, girls often got into his space without even thinking how awkward that would be for him but he didn’t care for it at the gym.

Reluctantly, he dropped the bar back to the floor and turned, raising an eyebrow expectantly. “What are you doing?”

Peggy glanced around innocently before reaching out to wipe away the same bead of sweat that had finally made it to the beard along his jawline. “I’m spotting you, babe.”

“I don’t need a spot for a barbell curl,” he explained, pulling his head away childishly so she would stop touching his sweaty face. She was making him feel a bit like a little boy the way she was adjusting his clothes and wiping away his sweat. He wished she understood that there were times when sweat was okay and that was in the gym. It was the manly thing to do.

“Why don’t you go do your yoga or something?”

“Am I bothering you?” Peggy asked in a small voice and Nick couldn’t help but feel guilty at the anguished pout on her pretty face.

“No,” he tried to assure her while simultaneously assuring himself that a little white lie or two would be fine if it meant getting her out of his hair. “It’s just... you’re kind of distracting.”

“Distracting how? I’m not doing anything!”

His signature smirk creeped along his lips and he reached out to tug at the strap of her tank top. “Baby... you don’t have to do anything. Just standing there in that tight little top and those little shorts. I can’t do anything but stare at you and imagine kissing every inch of your wet body in the shower later. I can’t concentrate on what I’m doing because you’re so fucking hot and I can’t wait to get you naked.”

Peggy blushed and giggled and Nick knew he had won a small victory. She reached out and ran her hand down his arm, squeezing his bicep before stretching the short distance to bring her lips to his. Not wanting to make a big display, she pulled away just as quickly and picked up her water bottle.

“I totally understand,” she said with a sympathetic smile. “Maybe you can come do some yoga with me after?”

Nick shook his head quickly and pointed in the direction of the gym’s indoor track, “I’m gonna go for a run. I’ll come watch you for a bit though.”

“Don’t you want to get stretched out?”

The smirk returned, “You can stretch me out later, when we’re at home.”

Another giggle and he mentally patted himself on the back. She tapped his nose quickly then started backing away, keeping one eye on him as she moved in the direction of the yoga mats on the other side of the room.

“You bet I will,” she winked and Nick let out a sigh of relief as soon as she was out of his sight.

As soon as Peggy was out of his sight Nick grabbed his iPod out of his pocket and stuck the earbuds in his ears, glad to just be able to zone out with his tunes and not have to bother carrying a conversation. He was about to hit play when someone tapped on his shoulder and he turned to see the guy that had been on the bench next to him.

“Hey,” he greeted but the statement was clearly inquisitive as the guy glanced between him and the direction his girlfriend had gone in.

“Is that your girlfriend, dude?” Nick nodded and the guy reached out and firmly shook his hand. “Goddamn. That’s all I have to say. What is she, like 18 or something?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Looks 18, damn. You are one lucky son of a bitch,” the guy shook Nick’s hand again before going back to his own workout.

Nick chuckled softly, catching a glimpse of his girlfriend through the window of the yoga studio at the other end of the gym. He knew he was lucky but he felt even better when other people knew it.

~*~

After finishing up at the gym Nick had driven straight to their nearest Whole Foods thinking that Peggy still had to buy whatever it was that she needed for dinner. What he didn’t know was the grocery plan had been a ruse all along and now Peggy was left wondering what the hell she was going to buy to make it seem like she knew what she was making. 

It felt as though he had been sitting in the parking lot forever waiting for her and Nick was beginning to get restless. He had already checked his email and his Twitter, going through dozens of replies and chatting with a few fans. He had scrolled through his Facebook (a decoy profile without any of his information that still gave him the ability to keep up with his family) and played a few rounds of Angry Birds but still his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen.

He wasn’t the most patient of people and soon found himself getting grumpy as the wait drew out longer. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other elbow on the centre console, leaning against his palm. A long finger was stretched up the side of his face and he was staring at the door of the grocery store as though he could will Peggy to walk out of it.

His eyebrow shot up as soon as he caught sight of her walking through the door with her arms full of bags. She had made it seem as though she were just grabbing a couple things not filling the fridge. It hadn’t been that long since they’d dropped a couple hundred dollars on groceries so he wasn’t sure why they needed quite so much.

He reached out and popped the trunk of the BMW sedan as she approached, not feeling overly compelled to get out and help her. He hadn’t so much as changed positions by the time she got in the car but he didn’t really feel bad about it.

Her hair was frizzy from sweating at the gym and she felt like a total mess - not normally how she would present herself in public - but Peggy was determined to keep up her own charade. As soon as she sat down in the car she knew Nick was going to have an attitude. He got a look on his face any time he was annoyed and it was unmistakable.

“Sorry I took so long,” she apologized, leaning over to kiss him soundly.

He went to pull away but she moved forward again, deepening the kiss while running one hand into the back of his hair. She felt him relax as her tongue found its way into his mouth and he cupped her face in both hands. He was easy and she knew how to play him like a harmonica - suck or blow, didn’t matter, it still got him going.

“It’s okay,” he said quietly as they broke apart, his thumbs running over her cheekbones.

The expression in his face had changed considerably in a matter of seconds and Peggy felt relieved to have gotten him out of his funk so easily. There had been other times where the task wasn’t as readily accomplished.

Nick closed the distance and kissed her again, the moment becoming more heated as hands moved from faces and hair to backs, arms and breasts. Peggy knew that things were going to get out of control if they didn’t wrap it up and she didn’t want to be banned from Whole Foods for life for making out in the parking lot.

She moaned against his mouth, rubbing the scruff on his chin as she pulled out of the kiss, “Let’s save this for home. Shower, remember?”

“Shower,” Nick nodded, not able to put together too many other words at that particular moment. Turning forward he hit the ignition button to start the car and headed towards home.

Peggy knew that his mind was only on one thing - sex. Normally he wouldn’t have let a moment go by without asking what was in the bags, what she had bought and what was for dinner because when his mind wasn’t thinking about her naked underneath him it was thinking about food. She chuckled as he anxiously moved around the end of weekend traffic, getting visibly frustrated with every red light and every car that got in his way. He didn’t come close to beating a land-speed record but Peggy was still impressed by how quickly Nick had managed to get around all the drivers out for a Sunday ride and get them to their own home.

Just before he hopped out of the car Peggy grabbed his forearm. “We need to unload the groceries first,” she reminded him.

“Can’t they wait?” he whined pathetically.

Peggy chuckled as his impatience and shook her head negatively. “No, there’s stuff in there that needs to go in the freezer in the basement.”

Nick let out a grunt and hit the button to open the trunk. He couldn’t resist peeking into the bags to see what all Peggy had purchased before sticking his arms through the handles to pick up as many as he could.

“Do you want some help?” she laughed, watching him haul the bags out of the trunk.

Nick would have waved her off if he had a free hand but instead just shook his head. She laughed all the way into the house, coming into the kitchen through the garage door. Just as they crossed the threshold Peggy stopped short, Nick almost crashing into the back of her.

“What the hell?” he complained, desperate to put the plastic bags down now that they were digging into his skin.

“The alarm didn’t go off,” Peggy said nervously, rooted to the spot next to the door.

Nick didn’t like the situation any more than her but he couldn’t check it out unless she moved. “I have to put these bags down,” he told her, bending down to release them just as the kitchen door swung open.

Alarmed by the sudden movement, Peggy screamed and jumped back, hearing and feeling the sharp crack as her head soundly connected with Nick’s while he stood back up from putting the groceries on the floor. She grabbed the back of her skull in pain, feeling a searing heat go through her scalp.

“What on earth are you two doing?” her mother asked innocently from where she’d walked into the kitchen. “Are you okay?”

“What are you doing here?!” Peggy exclaimed, eyes wide. “I didn’t see your car outside!”

“Your dad forgot the layer dip and went home to grab it,” her mother said innocently and Peggy wanted to scream.

“The what?! What are you...” she trailed off, realizing Nick hadn’t said a word the entire time. Turning, she noticed that he was kneeling on the floor just behind the piles of bags, holding both hands firmly over the lower part of his face.

“Oh my god!” she squealed. “Honey, are you alright?”

He didn’t say anything, merely shook his head negatively before slowly taking both hands away from his face. Peggy nearly fainted at the sight of all the blood that was cupped in Nick’s palms, clearly gushing out of his nose and from his top lip.

“Oh my GOD!” she exclaimed for a second time, frantically yelling at her mother to bring her a towel. Once the kitchen towel was in her hand she tried to press it to Nick’s face but he intercepted, snatching it away from her. Wordlessly, he held it in his own hands, keeping it on his nose which wouldn’t seem to stop bleeding.

“I don’t know what to do,” Peggy admitted to him, wanting to reach out and help him even though he was shying away from her, clearly in enough pain that he didn’t want to be touched.

“What the hell happened in here?” her father’s voice boomed through the kitchen and Peggy let out a frustrated groan. She needed answers as to why her parents were in their house but first she needed to stop the geyser of blood that was bursting out of Nick’s face.

“Mom scared the crap out of me and I smashed my head into his,” she explained meekly.

Instantly her father took charge of the situation. Peggy knew that in any other situation he would have helped but she was genuinely surprised that he gave a crap about Nick enough to not want him to bleed out all over the kitchen floor.

“Grab me another towel, an ice pack and a damp face cloth,” the older man instructed before kneeling down on the floor next to Nick. “Can you get up on your own?”

Nick wanted to tell the guy to fuck off and that he could handle a bloody nose on his own but truth be told he couldn’t. The pain in his face was unbelievable. He had been standing back up at the same time Peggy jumped back so his mouth was just at the perfect height to make contact with her head. It was a total freak coincidence that it happened like that. Surely, he thought, she had broken his nose.

He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had a nosebleed that wasn’t drug-related and didn’t know what to do to stop the bleeding. Another concern was the pain in his mouth. He hadn’t tried to speak but it felt a bit like his tooth had gone through his lip because his mouth was full of blood too. As if admitting defeat, he nodded and got to his feet, stumbling over to a bar stool next to the kitchen island while Peggy’s father, Steven, set up a first aid station of sorts.

“Hold this on the back of your neck and tilt your head back,” he instructed, putting the cold ice pack in Nick’s free hand. Nick hesitated and Steven sighed, running a hand over his thinning hair. “Look, I’ve coached football for half my life and I played for the other half. You’re just going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing here. I’ve seen this a million times before. Can you trust me?”

With another reluctant nod the ice pack was on his neck, his head was back and Steven was far too close to his face for his liking.

Nick was seething on the inside. He knew it wasn’t right to be mad at Peggy because she didn’t intend to smash him with her head but he was really curious as to how her parents got into their house and that’s what was eating at him.

The fact that her parents were able to unlock the door and disable their security system and he had no idea really pissed him off. Luckily he was distracted from his anger by the fact that Peggy’s enormous father, who he didn’t particularly care for, was pressing around his face trying to stop the bleeding from his nose.

“It’s not broken,” Steven assured him, pressing on either side of his nose and giving it a slight wiggle. “It seems like most of the blood is coming from your mouth. Did you bite your tongue?”

“No,” Nick tried to say but the voice that came out of his mouth did not seem like his own. Things didn’t feel right in his mouth, something just felt abnormal but he couldn’t place it.

“Can I look inside your mouth?” Steven asked and Nick couldn’t stop himself from glaring at the suggestion. “Do you want me to stop the bleeding or not?”

“I am so sorry,” Peggy apologized for the millionth time, holding tightly onto Nick’s hand as if he needed the moral support to help with the pain.

Ignoring her pleas for forgiveness the two men focused on the task at hand. Despite how painful it was to do so, Nick opened his mouth. He grimaced as Steven’s fingers started prodding at his lip and wondered if it wouldn’t be more sanitary for them to go to the hospital.

“Oh boy,” Steven said delicately, closing the blonde’s mouth again. “I need you to run your tongue around in your mouth, get as much blood and whatever else to the front and spit it out into the towel.”

Nick followed the instructions, running his tongue along the sides of his teeth and anywhere else he could reach it before collecting the split in his mouth like he was going to spit out fluoride at the dentist. Steven held out the towel that had been pressed against his face and he spit as best as he could around his fat upper lip. The older man continued to hold the towel out as if to present something and Nick took it into his hands, looking down curiously at what might be there.

In the centre of the towel, surrounded by saliva, blood and whatever else, was half of a tooth. Nick’s hand immediately flew to his mouth while his tongue searched for a hole and he realized quickly that it wasn’t just half of any tooth it was his front tooth.

“Someone grab me a phone book,” Steven requested while Nick continued to stare down at the tooth in a trance. “We need to find an emergency dentist.”

~*~

“I am SO sorry.”

“Would you just stop? The boy is in an incredible amount of pain and you’ve already apologized forty times.”

Nick was positive it was more like forty-five just in the last hour. Luckily for him it wasn’t hard to find a dentist that worked seven-days-a-week in New York City so long as you had money to spend. Steven had taken them straight there after speaking to the dentist on-call, knowing that Nick likely wouldn’t be able to drive himself and Peggy had a huge headache from knocking one of her boyfriend’s teeth out of his head with her own.

They were all crammed into an exam room, Nick laying back on the dentist’s chair with a pair of orange sunglasses covering the upper half of his face and a lead vest over his waist, waiting for X-Rays to come back. The dentist had given him percocet for the pain and shot a numbing agent into his upper gums so he would be comfortable during the exam. Nick was starting to feel the effects of the pill and realized that he was going to be more than comfortable.

“Alright,” the dentist announced his presence as he walked back into the room. It was unusual to see a dentist wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt but they had obviously caught the good doctor during some down time on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon. He was a young man, not much older than Nick and made his way through the room holding a set of X-Rays up to the light.

He popped down into a chair next to Nick, moving both the lead cover and the glasses himself since there was no assistant to help him. He held the X-Rays up high enough that Nick would be able to see and started pointing out some key areas.

Despite always looking nice in pictures Nick had struggled with his teeth and was a regular visitor to the dentist. As a youngster his parents didn’t have the money to always take them for cleanings then when he did have the money he was just too busy to find the time to make his annual visit. He had a space between his front teeth that photographers often complained about so as soon as the boys had money flowing in their managers had made him get it fixed, albeit cheaply. The results of that had left him with teeth that were weak and full of cavities, not a good combination with getting hit in the mouth.

His front tooth was a loss and would have to be pulled the rest of the way out. The problem was that one of the roots broke off when the tooth split lengthwise so he would need a root canal in order to fix it. Although his front tooth had broken relatively cleanly from the impact, the X-Rays showed damage to the his left incisor also and the dentist was recommending it also be pulled.

“We’ll set you up with some implants and no one will ever know that you lost a couple teeth. You didn’t do this playing hockey or something did you? Because we you can get implants that come out for when you want to play sports.”

“I don’t play hockey,” Nick slurred his answer through the pain medication, though he was glad to finally be able to put words together now that his gums were loaded full of lidocaine to numb the pain. He pointed to Peggy, “she head butted me.”

“Oh,” the dentist chuckled uncomfortably, not knowing how else to respond.

“How long will that take?” Steven broke the awkward silence, still standing against the wall with his arms firmly crossed. “How long is he going to have a hole in his face?”

It was a very parental line of questioning and Nick wondered if his own father would care enough to ask the dentist questions about the length of the inconvenience. The dentist considered the amount of work that needed to be done and took another look in Nick’s mouth before giving an answer.

“I’d say that once we get area cleaned up and get the root canal done it’ll probably be two to three weeks.”

Steven shook his head firmly, still in control of the situation since Nick was a bit out of it. “That’s too long. He has a very public job and I don’t think two weeks without two front teeth is reasonable.”

“Sir, your son isn’t the only person in the city with a job that involves being out in public-”

Peggy’s father stopped the dentist mid-sentence and Nick was positive he was about to correct him on the son comment but he didn’t even acknowledge it, leaving the younger man confused as to what had changed since the last time he had been brutally interrogated by the same man.

“Look, he’s a celebrity. Surely it’s in your best interest for your business to fix this fast and do it well and when he tells the story to People Magazine someday he can say what a great dentist you were to get his teeth fixed up so good.”

“Oh,” the dentist replied dumbly, “I didn’t recognize him.”

“You like boybands?” Nick asked loudly, the drugs clearly having more of an effect on him as they settled into his system.

“Um, not really. I’m more of a classic-”

“You probably lived under a rock in the late 90’s right?” Nick cut in, still speaking at a volume that could be easily described as an outside voice. “That’s where they say people who don’t know who the Backstreet Boys are live. I used to fuck Paris Hilton. For months. Not anymore though.”

Peggy put her hands over her face, silently willing Nick to go back to being in pain and quiet since he was making an ass out of himself. She expected that her Dad would be annoyed by the childish behaviour but quite the opposite he was laughing to himself and seemed to be smiling.

“Can you do it? Yes or no.”

The dentist nodded, “I’ll get as much as I get done today and if we rush things I can probably have the implants back and put in by the end of the week. Does that work?”

“Perfect.”

~*~

“You still haven’t explained why you were in our house in the first place,” Peggy noted over the sound of Nick snoring from the back seat of the truck. She glanced back at him then reached back to touch his hand which was hanging off the edge of the seat. She ran her thumb down his long index finger, noting how callused each knuckle was. His hair was going in a dozen directions from earlier when he’d been wearing a hat at the gym and he was still wearing the same shorts and tank top he’d worked out in.

The dentist had enough time to pull both the teeth, do some impressions to send to their denture lab and fix up the area. Nick was scheduled for a root canal in a couple of days then would be back at the dentist for a third time to get his new teeth. Judging from what the dentist had told them, Nick’s teeth weren’t in the best of shape so he was going to go ahead and order a set of veneers so that the rest of his top teeth would at least match.

By the time they got to that point in the discussion Nick was passed out in the dentist’s chair so they hadn’t gotten his approval. Peggy felt like that moment when she needed to step in and make a decision for his health, albeit cosmetic in nature, was a reason why being married was an important part of a relationship. If that had been a true emergency she wouldn’t have been able to help him.

“It was my idea to surprise you,” her father spoke, breaking her from her reverie. “When we got to your place you weren’t there but we figured you hadn’t gone far. Your mom had the emergency key with her and knew the security code so we decided to wait for you inside.”

Peggy sighed, “You really shouldn’t have done that. I thought one of Nick’s crazy fans had figured out where we live and broken into the house. You should have sent me a text or something. The emergency key is for just that - emergencies. If we lock ourselves out or can’t get home to feed the dogs.”

“I know, I know,” Steven said apologetically. “It was a mistake, I admit. I didn’t think you’d head butt the poor bastard!”

The two of them chuckled at the hilarity of the situation before Steven spoke again.

“I wanted to try and make amends. Your sister called me,” he explained. “She told me that I hadn’t been fair to Nick, that I hadn’t given him a chance to show me how much he cares about you.”

“She’s right,” Peggy agreed, making a mental note to give her sister a call to thank her.

“She also told me some things about Dustin that changed the way I look at him, too.”

Peggy gasped, surprised that her sister had divulged that sort of information. She knew that he meant the rumours and all of the abuse she had endured which were things she had never really told her parents about before. They knew things had gone sour but she didn’t think it was fair to try and sway their opinion of someone who had never done anything to them. Her issues with Dustin were between them and not between Dustin and her parents.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t think you’d believe me to be honest...”

Steven shook his head and let out a disappointed sigh, “Of course I would have believed you. You’re my daughter, it’s my job to believe you. I’m just sorry I didn’t see what an asshole he was before. The more I thought about it the more I realized that Nick seems like an okay guy. Yeah, he’s had some issues in his past but if you’re helping him get past those things and be a better person I have to support that.”

“Marilyn told you it was her dying wish, didn’t she?” Peggy chuckled, watching a blush rise in her father’s cheeks.

“Those words have an effect on a Dad,” he admitted sadly. “I want you to be happy as much as I want her to be happy.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate it,” she told her father honestly. “Nick’s a good man and he’s trying really hard to make everyone see that but he’s at a disadvantage because this isn’t his home turf. What was the surprise anyway? Layer dip?”

Steven chuckled, “Funny that you mention home turf. The Buccaneers are playing the Giants tonight and I thought he mentioned that he was from Tampa and liked football and you guys have that great big tv...I figured he would want to watch the game but we missed it.”

“You’re in luck,” Peggy grinned. “He tapes all of them and he still has the other side of his mouth that he can eat out of so I’m sure he’d love to try your layer dip.”

“That’s if he ever wakes up,” Steven chuckled, catching a glimpse of Nick rolling over in the back seat, narrowly missing falling onto the floor of the truck.

A good chunk of Nick’s life was based on his outside appearance. It wasn’t unusual to have papparazzi walking in front of him snapping pictures as he shopped in the mall or for random strangers to be holding up cell phones snapping video while he ate at restaurants. It was impossible for him to not care about his appearance.

There was a time, back when he had struggled with drugs and alcohol that he had gone out of his way to look like an absolute mess every time he stepped off his tour bus or out of a nightclub but those days were behind him. He was always sure now to hide his bed head under a hat, throw a hoody on over the t-shirt he’d been wearing for three days, not wear the same shorts every day for a month and throw a pair of sunglasses on over bloodshot, hungover eyes.

Nothing could hide the fact that he was missing two teeth on the left side of his mouth though and that troubled him greatly. His only response was to become a recluse, only leaving the house to get to the dentist and back and never cracking a true smile to anyone who might recognize him along the way.

On Tuesday he had gone for his root canal which was even more painful than having the other two teeth pulled but Nick didn’t care. All he wanted was for the hole to be filled with shiny, porcelain replacement teeth so he would do what he needed to do to get to that point. He was still a little hazy on exactly what had happened on Sunday afternoon if only because he couldn’t get a straight answer out of Peggy.

Once he was back in his right mind he had demanded to know why her parents had a key to their home that he didn’t know about but she had dismissed him, explaining that if there were ever a time they couldn’t get in someone should have a key. He didn’t disagree with the principle, it was the fact that he didn’t know about it that irked him. It only made him wonder how many other people could just go traipsing through the house under the pretense of an emergency.

“You need to get out of the house,” Peggy said, feeling a bit like a broken record as she repeated the sentiment.

“Nope.”

Nick had spent the last two days sitting on the leather couch in his office in his underwear with the dogs, practicing his guitar skills, writing music and avoiding the outside world. Apart from going outside in the backyard to throw a ball around for George and Ringo later on he had no intentions of being out in public.

“Are you at least going to change your underwear?” she wondered, mentally noting that he had been wearing the same pair the previous day. “You’re starting to smell.”

Nick considered it for a moment, taking his right hand off the guitar strings to scratch his bearded chin in thought before giving his head a shake, “Nope!”

Peggy sighed heavily and leaned against the doorframe, watching him return to strumming the acoustic guitar. “This is really frustrating,” she said honestly. “There’s no reason for you to be a shut-in. Are you going to do this all week? No one is going to care that you’re missing a couple of teeth.”

Nick let out an equally frustrated groan, tossing his head back on the couch. “Maybe it has nothing to do with my teeth. Maybe I just want to sit here and play guitar and not get dressed. I have nowhere to be, there’s nowhere I want to go. I just want for you to leave me alone so I can continue to play Foo Fighters songs badly.”

She tossed her arms in the air, not knowing what else to do, “Do you at least want lunch?”

“Does it involve you going away?”

“Well, I would have to leave to go make it,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Then I would love lunch. Call me when it’s ready.”

“Asshole,” she muttered as she exited the room, not bothering to keep her voice low enough that he couldn’t hear her.

Nick chuckled to himself and called out after her, “Love you!”

He could hear Peggy stomping down the stairs and he shook his head at her dramatics. He knew that she was bored and actually was looking for him to entertain her but he liked his downtime too much to always be on the go. The only exception would be if he was doing something fun like going to the beach not wasting time walking around the mall only to end up signing autographs for hours.

For his birthday the previous year he’d been given a book of Foo Fighters sheet music to learn on guitar but between two sold-out tours he’d been unable to so much as look at it. Now that he had some downtime apart from appointments at the dentist he thought it was a perfect time to get back into student-mode and play more guitar.

Nick was fairly good at playing by ear after years of singing but sometimes the correct chord eluded him when he was trying to figure out a song on his own. Playing Foo Fighters tracks had lead him to trying to work out some Nirvana songs himself but he couldn’t quite figure out a transition section he’d been working on all morning.

Nick was careful not to disturb a sleeping Ringo as he put the guitar down on the couch and headed over to his computer, shaking the mouse to bring the screen to life. He plopped down in front of the Mac, slouching back in his chair as he quickly checked his email, Twitter and usual internet haunts before starting his search for guitar tabs. He had only typed in a capital N followed by a lone i before Google tried to guess what he wanted to search for.

Nick nearly threw up when the first suggestion on the search engine, labelled boldly under the title of recent searches, was his own name followed by the word marriage. He blinked hard a few times, wondering if it was just a mistake and it wasn’t something that had already been searched for on that browser but rather just a popular search done by crazy, stalker fans - the only type of person he could imagine would be interested in that kind of information.

Curiosity getting the best of him he clicked the link that would bring him back to the recent search, somehow not surprised to see most of the links on the page displayed in purple to show that someone had clicked on them.

All of the articles were things he’d seen through his publicist but some of the blog and forum posts from fans were things he’d never seen before. Typically he avoided that sort of thing because it usually made him feel bad about himself or it was just downright wrong. He had a feeling that whatever was said likely fell into the latter category.

Not wanting to read anymore he closed the browser completely and shut his eyes, trying to figure out why on earth Peggy would have been reading that crap about him. They’d never had a conversation about marriage but he would have hoped that she would talk to him about it before she hit the internet.

“You want soup?” Peggy asked, returning to the office with two large cappuccino mugs filled with soup and a box of crackers tucked under one arm.

Nick said nothing, merely bit his lip with the front tooth he had left and tried not to look like he was about to tear her apart. He quickly tried to come up with justifications as to why Peggy would be looking him up online, why she would betray him like that but nothing was really coming to him. He felt like it was his responsibility, as the elder in their relationship, to act appropriately and not go off the deep end but he couldn’t guarantee how long his maturity would last.

“Why didn’t you just ask me?” he asked quietly, both hands gripping the arms of his desk chair so tight that his knuckles had turned a ghostly shade of white.

Peggy slowly set the mugs down on the desk, eyeing Nick wearily. “Why do I get this feeling this isn’t about this soup?”

“It’s not about the soup,” Nick sighed. “It’s about the fact that you’re reading about me on the internet when I’m in the same goddamn house. How can I trust you-”

“Whoa,” Peggy interrupted. She didn’t need to know how Nick found out about her search, she was busted either way. What she didn’t like was him thinking she wasn’t able to trust her. She wasn’t the one that had omitted big chunks of information like the fact that he had no plans for their future going beyond what they had just then. Certainly she could have asked him but he didn’t volunteer the information much like he hadn’t told her that his grandparents lived a few hours away.

There were times when she found him very approachable. For instance, when she had questions about music or sports. He wasn’t approachable when it came to questions about his feelings or his relationship with his family though so Peggy had secretly been hoping he would be relieved she hadn’t asked.

“Can we talk about this? Can you promise you won’t get mad?” she asked calmly, carefully watching his face to see if he was about to blow so she could get out of the path of destruction.

“I am already mad,” he replied curtly, his eyes fixed on the desk in front of him.

“Okay,” she acquiesced, moving slowly around the desk as if she were approaching a dangerous animal. “Can you promise not to get shouty, yelly, throwing things mad?”

He opened his mouth as if to protest her comment but realized that shouting, yelling and throwing things were part of his typical temper tantrums so she wasn’t being dishonest in assuming he would react in that way. He gave a short nod in agreement and Peggy continued to move around the desk until she was standing in front of him. She didn’t even bother to move the paperwork that was on the vintage mahogany surface before she sat down on it, putting one foot on either side of his hips. He brought his chair a bit closer, leaning forward to kiss the inside of her knee as an unspoken reassurance that although he was mad he was prepared to have a mature discussion.

“I didn’t mean anything malicious by it,” Peggy started off by saying, “but I wanted to confirm a couple of things I heard without bothering you or bringing up a subject that you probably wouldn’t want to talk about.”

“Marriage.”

She nodded, “Yes, marriage. We’ve never had a conversation about the future... well, no, that’s not true. I’ve talked about marriage and my dreams of the future but you kept conveniently silent. I took that as you not disagreeing with me.”

“You want to talk about marriage?” he asked with a sarcastic laugh. “It’s a piece of paper and a bunch of words. People stand up in front of a minister and pledge themselves to be with this other person until death then a few years later they’re getting divorced. Then they’ve got kids that they’re putting through all this bullshit...”

“Not everyone gets divorced, Nick.”

“Eventually, everyone ends up fucking hating each other. If they don’t get divorced it’s only because they didn’t have the balls to get it over with so instead they just spend the whole time arguing until they barely speak. Great alternative.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, not knowing how to explain to him that he couldn’t generalize the entire population based on his experience with his own parents. “I’m glad to know that if we got married you would just automatically hate me.”

“You’re twisting my words,” he warned. “It won’t be an issue though because we’re not getting married.”

“Maybe not to each other,” Peggy announced and Nick couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. He questioned her intent with the statement and she continued, “I want to get married someday. I’ve been dreaming about it since I was a little kid. I don’t know why but it’s important to me...”

She paused and Nick nearly groaned when he saw her eyes welling up with tears. He hated when he made girls cry because he hadn’t quite been able to find the off switch to turn the waterworks down.

“In my dream I marry you and live happily ever after.”

“It’s a dream,” he shook his head sadly. “Why can’t we be happy without rings and ceremonies? Why can’t I just love you and be with you? Why is that not an option?”

“So I’m just supposed to have a boyfriend for the rest of my life, always go around looking single because I don’t have a ring on my finger, always having to explain to people who ask that you aren’t the marrying type? It’s just going to be the two of us? Forever?”

Nick had gone through this exact same conversation with every girlfriend he’d had that lasted longer than six months. It was always the same concerns and his response was never the right one but it was the only thing he believed. Brian had told him on multiple occasions that perhaps he should learn to compromise instead of just laying everything out as if his way was the only option but he wasn’t sure what he was willing to give up his list of demands.

“Yeah,” he finally spoke with a simple shrug of his shoulders. “Just the two of us - forever. I am more than happy to commit to forever to you every day but I’m not going to commit to forever in a church for a photo op.”

Tears were now slipping quickly down her face and Nick grabbed her hand, glad when she didn’t pull away. Her breath was ragged as she fought to compose herself and he gave her a moment to reply.

“I don’t want it to be just us,” she admitted and Nick knew immediately what the next statement would be because just like the marriage spiel he had heard this one before too. “I want to have babies someday. I want to have a family.”

He knew that he didn’t have anything to tell her that would give her any kind of reassurance so he simply held her hand tighter and pulled his chair in closer so that she would know he was there for her despite what his words might indicate.

“We are a family,” Nick told her, his eyes less angry and more full of concern as he watched Peggy sit on his desk in tears. “You and me, our brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, parents, pets, whatever. That’s our family.”

Peggy’s chin quivered and she felt Nick’s free hand reach up to wipe away a few tears that were creeping down her jaw. “But...” she whispered, “don’t you want our own family, a piece of you that you can raise?”

Without pause Nick regretfully shook his head, “I’m sorry baby but no, I don’t think I do.”

“Why?”

It was the question every woman wanted to know the answer to. When Nick was younger, probably around Peggy’s age, he would have stumbled and bumbled over the answer and ultimately made himself look like a self-serving jackass. Through years of experience in answering the question he had now developed an answer that both reflected his feelings and deflected his emotions.

Still, no satisfaction was typically found by the inquisitor and this conversation usually marked the beginning of the end of an otherwise strong relationship. Nick thought to himself how amazed he would be if marriage and children was the breaking point considering how much the two of them had been through together over the last three weeks of their lives, let alone the year before it where they had managed to stay together through an incredible amount of distance.

“What’s the point?” he wondered. “The world is overpopulated as it is, why does everyone need to have babies? The human race won’t die out if we don’t have kids. Besides, it’s a lifelong commitment and for 18 years you’re responsible for not totally fucking up this other human being... I don’t know if I want that.”

Peggy was starting to put the pieces together in her head. Being a fairly observant person she felt like she had insight into Nick that not many other women had picked up on. While many people found him difficult to read she believed she had found the key to decoding his mind and was slowly making her way through the lengthy process of figure out what he was thinking.

“You’re not your father, Nick,” she told him, knowing immediately that she had hit a nerve when the hand that was holding hers twitched and he rolled the desk chair a fraction of an inch away from her.

“Don’t go there,” he said sternly. “You’re not my therapist. Don’t psychoanalyze me.”

“I know that’s what you’re afraid of. I know you’re worried that if you have a child it’ll end up hating you as much as you hate your parents.”

Nick scoffed and shook his head at her audacity, “Would that be so wrong? It has nothing to do with that, though. I’m not the only person in the world who doesn’t want kids. I just don’t have that instinct.”

Peggy pulled her hand away from his, running her fingers through her long hair, tugging on the roots, out of frustration. She looked to the ceiling, the light coming in from the window highlighting the tear tracks running down her cheeks. Taking a long, cleansing breath she finally looked back down and locked eyes with his baby blues.

For a moment Nick thought that he had never seen someone manage to look so beautiful when they were crying. Her eyes were red-rimmed, making their emerald green colour pop more than normal. Her usually fair skin was flushed, making her absolutely glow and the thought made him so sad he couldn’t keep himself from standing from his chair. He moved to stand between her legs and wrapped his arms around her, feeling hers slide from his sides to his back.

Pulling back he looked down at her and brushed a stray piece of hair away from her cheek, not knowing if there was anything more he could say to make her feel any better - or any worse.

“I used to think that those other girls were just crazy,” Peggy finally spoke, not breaking eye contact. “I realize now that they weren’t. They just wanted to know they had some kind of future, that there was more to life than just waiting around for you. They all left you because when you look forward into a relationship with you there’s just nothing but more of the same.”

Immediately Nick’s arms dropped back to his sides and he stepped away until Peggy could no longer reach him, feeling wounded. “Why does a future have to include those two things? Why can’t it just be us having fun, loving each other and being happy together?”

Not knowing what else to say since they had effectively reached a stalemate Peggy just shrugged and chuckled ironically. “Maybe because everything is about making you happy? Not having those things won’t make me happy. Everything is always about you and making sure that you get what you want.”

“That’s not true,” he disagreed. “I moved here for you and I didn’t really want to. I did it for you. It certainly hasn’t made me happy.”

“And when the Prince isn’t happy, no one can be happy...”

“Grow up!” he snapped, finally letting his building anger get the best of him. “So this is done then?”

“That’s just like you to end a conversation before a resolution.”

“I didn’t mean this conversation,” Nick stressed. “I meant this relationship. I’m not going to give you what you want. I’m not going to feel bad and promise you I’ll give you something I don’t know for sure if I ever plan on delivering.”

Peggy’s eyes went wide with shock - that hadn’t been what she had expected to hear. She had been hoping that she might have been different, that Nick might love her enough that he would be willing to change his thinking on things or at least be open to considering it in the future. She never imagined that he would effectively wrap up their entire relationship over a simple disagreement.

“You’re breaking up with me because we don’t see eye to eye on something?”

“You just told me you don’t have a future with me!” Nick exclaimed, not able to keep himself from shouting even though he’d promised he wouldn’t earlier. “What do you expect me to do? We haven’t even lived together for a month and you’re already upset because I don’t know if I want to have kids. We haven’t even had a chance to settle and you want to start discussing which room to use as the nursery.”

Peggy rolled her eyes dramatically, glaring at him. “I didn’t mean we had to have a baby tomorrow.”

Nick couldn’t stop himself from chuckling and shook his head at her naivety, “Don’t you get it? I’m 32 years old. If you want to wait until you’re in your thirties to start having kids, that’s great but I’m going to be in my forties by then. I’m getting to the point where if I’m going to have kids and actually get to participate in their life - unlike my father - then I’m running out of time.”

Peggy couldn’t help but feel a bit of hope from his words. While he had just firmly denied wanting any kind of offspring moments earlier, he had now just admitted that he had thought about it enough to know that he didn’t want to be an older father. She couldn’t stop herself from asking him if he had indeed imagined their life with children and if the timing would be the catalyst to his decision on whether or not to have any. The look on Nick’s face as soon as the words came out of her mouth though told her otherwise.

He couldn’t deny that there had been a few moments in his life where he had thought about having kids of his own. They usually came after one of two things happened - either a conversation similar to the one he was having or after one of his friends had a baby. He liked kids and he was good with kids but they were other people’s kids so it was different. There was just something about having a baby that didn’t appeal to him.

Babies need food, shelter, love and care. They need not only a roof over their heads but a place where they can call home. They need someone to guide them in the right direction and make sure no one ever hurt them and Nick wasn’t sure he was the right person for the job. It wasn’t very often he thought about anyone other than himself and he felt like a baby would hold him back not set him free.

In most other cases he would be able to convince himself that he couldn’t know he wasn’t good at something until he tried it, but having a child wasn’t something he could opt out of when he ultimately decided it wasn’t his thing. At least, he didn’t feel like he could back away from it. He didn’t have that in him, either.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to give you what you want,” he regretfully admitted, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “If knowing there’s a future beyond what we have right now is important to you I have to respect that and walk away.”

“No,” Peggy whispered, reaching out for him. “I love you. I don’t want you to walk away.”

He stayed a short distance away from her fingertips, just out of reach, and watched many variations of pain contort her features. He had been down this road too many times before to let it go any further if it wasn’t what she had pictured for herself.

“I love you,” he returned the sentiment, smiling sadly. “I don’t want you to resent me, though.”

“I won’t!”

“You will,” he challenged. “This isn’t my first trip around the block. You’re not the first girl who has told me she wanted the same things as all of her girlfriends have - marriage, kids, a picture perfect portrait to slap on a Christmas card every year. I know how this goes.
You’ll say you can adjust and we’ll go on ignoring it for right now but every time one of your friends has a baby or gets an engagement ring you’ll start thinking about it again. Over time it will be all you can think about and the only person standing between you and all of the things that you want will be me and by the end you’ll resent every breath I take. By the time you ultimately decide to leave me the hatred will be mutual. I care too much about you to let you go through that.”

Peggy couldn’t believe the irony of his words and was surprised that he didn’t recognize them himself. She was sure at that point that Nick’s position had less to do with actually believing the words and more to do with repeating them to himself so often, for so many years, that he now had himself convinced they were true. She thought it was a bit like memories from childhood. Most of them you don’t actually remember but you’ve heard the stories so many times that they become vivid and real.

“So if you get married you’ll hate each other and if you don’t get married you’ll hate each other anyway? Why don’t you just be alone forever then and save yourself the heartache?” she wondered curiously. “I never said we had to get married right away, Nick. Despite what you might think we are both still young and you’re right, this is all pretty fresh. I just don’t like knowing that you’ve already made up your mind about the future, that any possibility of us going past what we are right now is gone. I just want for our options to be open. I don’t want to break up, not over this.”

He didn’t like that she had a point, it made him feel especially uncomfortable and he would never admit that what she was saying made any sense at all. He had never had a woman challenge him like Peggy was doing and it surprised him considering that most of his girlfriends had been older - and in some cases wiser - than the girl sitting in front of him, dressed in ratty sweats with weepy eyes and disheveled hair. Most of his previous girlfriends would go off the deep end, realize he was a lost cause and walk out the door.

For a moment he really thought about himself being a husband and father type and he just couldn’t realistically picture it - loading a bunch of lookalikes into a minivan, driving them to soccer and dance practice, putting together swing sets in the backyard all the while having to play house with a woman that would take all of his time and money as well as his last name - it just didn’t mesh. In his mind it led to the end of his career, an inability to be spontaneous, to travel and enjoy his life. It was the end of days.

“I need some time to think about all of this,” Nick told her, finally closing the space between them again to kiss her forehead briefly. “Really, it’s nothing personal. This is all me. I just need some time.”

“Okay,” she nodded, both hands holding tightly onto his biceps. “Take whatever time you need.”

He nodded and kissed her forehead a second time before moving towards the door, “I’ll call you when I figure out where I’m gonna stay.”

“Wait, what?” Peggy turned to him, confused by the words. “You’re leaving? You can’t think about it here? When are you coming back?”

Nick sighed and moved another step out the door, anxious to get dressed and pack up a few things to take with him, “I’ll call you. Promise.”

Nick wasn’t sure where he was going to go but he knew he had to get out of the house. He had every intention of going back, so long as Peggy wanted him to, but driving around had always been something that he’d done to help him clear his head. He was still relatively unfamiliar with the area apart from their street and the main roads leading to it so he used the opportunity to get himself lost and try to find his way back home.

He drove through at least a half dozen suburban neighbourhoods, all of them a broad range of prices from wealthy right down to low income and he resisted the urge to turn on his GPS to find out where he was. After heading back in the direction that he believed his home was Nick realized that he recognized the area he was in. He kept driving along until he found himself in front of a strangely familiar modest middle class home and he pulled into the driveway behind two vehicles that were parked side by side in front of the open garage door.

As soon as he shut the car door he watched Allen amble out of the garage to see who was in their driveway. It felt strange to be there without Peggy. It felt strange to be there at all. He couldn’t deny that some sort of cosmic force had led him there even though he otherwise would never have been able to find the house on his own so he didn’t feel like he could just keep driving by.

“Nick?” Allen asked, looking confused as he walked around the other vehicles in the driveway while wiping his hands on an oil covered rag.

“Hey,” Nick said nervously, sticking his hands in his pockets since it didn’t seem like an appropriate time to reach out to shake the other man’s hands. “What are you doing?”

“I could ask you the same,” Allen chuckled then motioned back to the garage. “I’m just working on my bike.”

“You have a motorcycle?” Nick wondered, his interest piqued.

“Dirt bike, really. I fix them up and sell them,” Allen clarified, leading the other man back into the garage where a red Honda motocross bike was laying in pieces around the floor. The two men got caught up in talking about manly things like engines, exhausts and clean burning oils but the mysterious visit from a man he hardly knew wasn’t totally lost on Allen.

He tossed a wrench from one hand to the other, eyeing Nick carefully, “Not that I don’t appreciate the visit but I don’t feel like this is a social call. Where’s Peggy?”

Nick was quiet for a long time, but Allen didn’t prod him for information. He understood that sometimes it was hard to verbalize what you wanted to say. He watched as the blonde took a seat on the lawn chair Allen had been sitting in when Nick arrived and continued messing with the parts that were scattered on a sheet on the floor.

“I think...” Nick finally looked up, meeting Allen’s eyes. “I think we might be breaking up.”

Allen frowned regretfully then reached into the bar fridge behind him and pulled out two bottles of beer, handing one to Nick. He didn’t need to ask to know that the other man likely needed it.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said honestly. “Are you sure it has to come to that?”

Nick immediately launched into the story of what had happened with Peggy, telling him about his hesitation to make any kind of long term commitment or even keep their options open because of his strong opposing beliefs.

“How did you know when you wanted all of this?” Nick asked, motioning to the garage around him though he meant everything that came along with it.

Allen nodded knowingly, getting the big picture right away. He wondered why Nick hadn’t talked to one of his friends or his father but took it as a compliment that he felt comfortable enough to talk with him about his relationship for the second time since they’d met.

“I just knew,” he shrugged. “Everything just kind of came together that way.”

“But the whole getting married and having kids and sitting in your garage fixing up bikes... it all just seems so normal. I’ve never been very good at normal.”

“We didn’t really do things the normal way,” Allen admitted. He and Marilyn had dated for a long time before they got engaged but without a lot of money to have a wedding they had stayed engaged for nearly a decade. During that time both of their children had been born and it was after they were settled as a family that they finally decided to make it official and tie the knot.

“Why did you wait so long? Why bother at that point?”

Allen looked down at the floor, putting the wrench down so he could wring his hands together. “Marilyn got really sick. She couldn’t work, couldn’t take care of the kids... being engaged doesn’t mean a whole lot when you’re trying to take care of someone’s medical issues. If something were to happen to her then they would deal with her parents, not me and I couldn’t handle that. We got married so that I could better take care of her. Ultimately that’s what it’s about. You marry someone so that you can take care of them and they you in whatever form that takes. It’s what it means to you in the end, Nick. If the words are important to you then don’t say them if you don’t mean them, but don’t assume that they don’t mean anything at all.”

For a fleeting moment Allen was sure he saw Nick’s eyes well up with tears but the blonde clenched his jaw, fighting back the moment of emotion.

“I want her to have all the things that she wants. She wants to get married and she wants kids. I just don't know...” Nick told the other man before taking a long drink from the cold bottle of beer in his hands. The garage was chilly and he wished he had a warmer sweater but still the cold brew was warming him up from the inside.

Allen followed suit, bringing the bottle to his lips before responding, “Well, from what I can tell, she also wants you.”

“I guess I feel like I’m getting too old to start just now considering these things.”

Allen chuckled, “You’re what? 25?”

Nick looked at the other man in surprise, almost feeling relief that there was finally a member of Peggy’s family that hadn’t looked him up online. It made sense though because Allen had a lot of bigger things to deal with in his life so stalking his sister-in-law’s boyfriend probably wasn’t high on the list.

“I’m 32,” he corrected. “I have a baby face.”

This time it was Allen’s turn to look surprised. “Shit,” he muttered. “You’re only a couple years younger than me.”

Nick chuckled and nodded with the bottle against his lips. He polished off what was left the set the glass bottle down on the floor, careful not to knock it over. “You and most of my friends. You’re all so much further along in life. Years of marriage already behind you, kids that are growing up so fast they’re practically their own people already. Then there’s me... I can’t even maintain a relationship.”

“I have to ask,” Allen said, eyeing Nick curiously. “Why Peggy? Why not someone older? Wouldn’t a woman our age who is single with no kids be more likely to be open to not having them?”

“I love Peggy,” Nick shrugged. “It has nothing to with her age. When I met her I knew she was young but she acted so much older so I didn’t realize she was as young as she is. I’m starting to see it a bit more now that she is around all of her college friends but she still has these moments when I realize she is wise well beyond her years. I’ve been with a lot of women and I’ve never felt as comfortable with anyone.”

“Oh and I bet having sex with a 23-year-old is just torture,” Allen teased sarcastically in an effort to lighten the mood.

Nick smirked knowingly. He had been thinking something along those lines before but he wasn’t sure whether or not the other man wanted to hear those things about the woman that was essentially his sister, although he had heard a fair amount about their sex life the last time Nick had visited the house for the first of his many injuries that month.

“I’m not complaining,” he chuckled. “There is a pretty amazing advantage to being with someone so young. She’s insatiable. There’s times when I nearly consider telling her I’m too tired, because I am. Then I realize that men everywhere would exile me from the clan so I take one for the team.”

“We appreciate your sacrifices,” Allen said and the two of them laughed.

“So... do you have a diagnosis for me, doctor?” Nick asked, bringing the conversation back to a more serious note. He didn’t know why but there was something about Allen that he trusted, his words seemed so genuine that he held great value in them. He wondered silently if it wasn’t because Allen didn’t know anything about him and didn’t really care, he was just another guy without all the history that came along with it.

That was one reason why he rarely went to his best friend Brian about issues with women any longer because his bandmate would always give him a recap of all the things he’d done wrong in his life as if it was the root cause of all of his current problems. Allen on the other hand was afraid to say the wrong thing, for Peggy’s sake. He was trying to think of what Marilyn would say in her no-bullshit approach to most issues but knew that either way he was likely going to give Nick an answer that he didn’t necessarily want to hear.

“I think you’re closing yourself off to something that isn’t as big and scary as you think it is,” Allen told the other man honestly, carefully watching his expression. Nick was leaning against the palm of his hand, his fingers covering his mouth, but Allen could tell that he was biting his lip.

“Here’s how I see it,” he continued. “Peggy isn’t looking for any kind of definite answer, she just wants the illusion of an option. Maybe you won’t get married and you’ll have a kid. Maybe you’ll get married and not have any kids. Maybe it’ll be next year or maybe it’ll be ten years from now. I think she ultimately just wants to know that if she came to you one day with a little stick with a pink plus sign on it that you wouldn’t turn and walk away.”

“I wouldn’t do that!”

“What exactly have you told her to make her believe otherwise?” Allen chuckled. “You just told me that you said having kids is pointless, that you don’t want any and that you’re not father material. That says I want to sleep with you but if you get pregnant that’s your problem. I think the prospect of raising a child alone is bigger and scarier than whatever you’re afraid of. I didn’t think I was father material either, Nick. Then I held my daughter for the first time and the only thing I could think of was how I would never let anything happen to her. I made a lot of mistakes along the way but being a parent is a learning process - no one expects you to be perfect.”

“You were prepared for it though. You wanted to have kids!”

“No, I didn’t. Not necessarily,” Allen laughed, shaking his head at the blonde for his ignorance. “I didn’t know what I wanted, just like you. I didn’t not want them but we weren’t trying to have kids. We just stopped trying to not have kids and let it happen.”

Nick sighed, knowing he couldn’t argue his way out of this one because Allen was totally right. His fears about marriage and fatherhood were irrational and he had successfully talked himself into them so well that he didn’t know if his mind could ever truly be changed.

“What am I supposed to do, then? How do I reassure her that I’m not going anywhere and that we have a future - that there are options?”

Allen shrugged, “I can’t tell you that. All I know is that if you love Peggy and you want to be with her forever then you won’t let being afraid of a ring hold you back. If being married meant as little to you as you let on then you wouldn’t care either way, would you?”

“I do like the idea of other guys knowing she’s taken,” Nick admitted sheepishly, “and I would feel terrible if something happened to her and I wasn’t able to do anything because I’m only her boyfriend. But marriage... it ruins people. It ruined my parents.”

“You think if your parents had been together but had never gotten married they would still be together? Was it being married that was the problem or was their relationship with each other the problem?”

Nick had never been asked that question but now that he had he felt a little foolish. In his mind he had separated marriage and relationships - marriages couldn’t work but long term relationships did because there wasn’t the pressure that came with a marriage.

Thinking of his parents though he realized that they still would have had five kids, they still would have been divided over money issues and regardless of their marital status they still would have broken up. All along he had himself convinced that marriage was the poison when in reality his parents individually were the problem.

“Wow....wow. I can't believe I've never thought about it that way. You’re right,” Nick admitted, never having expected that he would say those words aloud. If Allen was right and all Peggy wanted was the option of knowing that someday in the future their relationship could progress then he figured he couldn’t be completely unreasonable to that request.

It didn’t mean they had to get married or have children but maybe someday it would happen for them. He was starting to think of it in terms of his career. He likely would have never continued in music if he had been told from the beginning that he would never move past playing high schools.

“What are you going to do?” Allen wondered, hoping that Nick got something out of their conversation.

“Apologize, grovel, beg for forgiveness for being an ass,” Nick laughed. “My friend Brian always told me that once I found the right girl I would know it instantly and my feelings would change but I always told him he was wrong. He was right though. I don’t want to be without Peggy. I want to take care of her, like you said. I guess she just wants to know that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to do that.”

Allen stood, clapping Nick on the back of the shoulder. “You’re a smart man. By the way, I gotta ask... what the hell happened to your teeth?”

Nick chuckled and gave the other man a big smile, showing off the dark hole where his teeth once were. “It’s a long story,” he laughed. “I’ll tell you the whole thing later but for now I gotta get home.”

If there was anything Nick knew it was that he couldn’t go home empty handed. If he walked in the door without some kind of peace offering he might as well sign himself up for a few days of the cold shoulder and no nookie to be found. He found it to be pivotal after a fight, especially if he had walked out in the middle of it, that flowers, candy or jewelry be purchased to smooth things over.

No matter what women said they most certainly could be bought.

Seeing a Target up ahead Nick decided he would likely find whatever he needed there and made his way to the store. As he walked through the parking lot he realized that jewelry was a bad idea. A good portion of their argument was about getting a ring so if he walked into the house with a ring box or even a necklace he was sure that Peggy would take it the wrong way. Finishing a fight about marriage with a proposal would be especially tacky and would do nothing to benefit him in the end so he didn’t want her to think that’s the route he was going.

There was a container full of colourful bouquets of flowers sitting outside the door the store and he picked the best looking one in there (which wasn’t saying much) before going on the hunt for candy. He and Peggy ate healthy most of the time but she had a weakness for sugar as much as the next person and he knew that if he walked through the door with chocolate and caramel she would be as happy as a clam.

He picked out a few kinds of chocolate and was about to head to the cash when a bunch of candy that reminded him of when he was a kid caught his eye. He grabbed a package that he had seen his sisters with a million times, adding it to the pile before going to pay. Nick was standing in line with his arms full of stuff when he heard an all-too-familiar gasp from behind him.

He didn’t dare turn around, knowing that if he looked whoever it was would get a good look at his face and then it would all be over. He only hoped that the person would assume he was just a guy who looked like Nick Carter and move on. If the past few days of his life had taught him anything though, it was that he wasn’t exactly having a run of good luck.

“Oh my god... are you Nick Carter?”

The voice was now directly beside him and Nick turned to see a chubby, petite girl staring up at him in awe, giving her a (very) tight lipped smile. He nodded and continued smiling, checking forward every few seconds to see if the line was moving.

“I’ve been a fan of yours for like, forever,” the girl gushed loudly, drawing attention from other customers who were milling around.

Nick thanked her genuinely for her support, being sure to tilt his chin down down so the girl couldn’t get a look at his mouth and what he was going to call a football injury should anyone ask about it. He tried to be patient while waiting for the girl to ask for an autograph or a photo but she simply continued to stare up at him as if she were waiting for him to prompt a conversation.

“Do you want a picture or something?” he finally asked, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He could never understand why some fans suddenly lost huge points off their IQ just by being in his presence. If they only knew how unglamorous he truly was they might not think the same way.

“Oh!” the girl exclaimed with a shrill squeal. “Yes, I would love one.”

Another person grabbed the girl’s cell phone and the two quickly posed for a typical photo, Nick having to crouch down nearly a foot just to be sure he would be in the shot. He expected at that point that the fan would go away but she continued to follow him as he moved forward in the line.

“What are you buying?” she asked, looking over all of the things that were in his arms.

He had just gotten up to the end of the conveyer and dropped his purchase onto the belt. “It’s a present for my girlfriend,” he explained. “She loves candy.”

“Aww that’s so sweet,” the girl smiled, taking another long look at everything Nick was getting.

He wanted to step in front of her and tell her to mind her own business, that maybe he was buying tampons and condoms (the average sized kind) or hemorrhoid cream so it wasn’t really of her concern what he was going to get.

“I thought the two of you were really health-conscious. I read that on Twitter,” the girl told him, still standing far too close as he handed over his credit card to the cashier and waited for the items to be bagged.

“We are,” Nick said, annoyance starting to be clear in his voice. “That’s why it’s a present because she doesn’t have it all the time. Look, it was really nice meeting you but I have to go.”

“Oh, okay,” the girl said, her voice laden with disappointment. “It was nice meeting you, too.”

Nick nodded and smiled, almost forgetting to keep his mouth closed before he rushed out of the store and back to the car as if he were being chased by wolves, constantly checking behind him.

~*~

The house was quiet when he walked in, almost too quiet. He held the Target bag tightly in one hand as he walked through the foyer into the living room, scanning for any signs of life. It was one thing not to see Peggy but something else entirely for the dogs to not have come running the second they heard the door.

The lack of activity in the house made him nervous. He cautiously made his way upstairs, half expecting to see Peggy’s bags packed or even gone from the house. Quite the contrary though, nothing really looked as though it had been touched since he left. The two mugs full of soup were gone from his desk and he later found them sitting empty and rinsed in the sink.

He was standing out on the back deck when he heard the security system beep to tell him that the front door had been opened and he quickly made his way back through the house. When he got to the foyer again Peggy was letting the dogs off their leashes and they scampered off towards the kitchen in expectation of a treat. He knew she saw him there when he walked in but she hadn’t said anything. Instead, she slowly took off her running shoes and put them away in the closet, hanging her jacket back up on a hanger.

“Where the hell were you?” he couldn’t keep himself from asking. “I was worried.”

“Where the hell was I?” Peggy repeated with a chirp of ironic laughter. “That’s rich coming from you. As far as I knew you weren’t coming home tonight so why would I need to tell you that I took your dogs for a walk because you weren’t here to do it?”

“Oh,” he muttered, his face flushing red with embarrassment. “Thank you for doing that.”

“No problem,” she replied, walking past him and into the kitchen without a glance in his direction. “I figured I might as well get used to taking care of them more since they’re the only children I’m ever going to have.”

Nick sighed, this wasn’t as easy as he thought it was going to be. He had imagined himself swooping back into the house to Peggy’s sheer delight. He would give her the candy and flowers he bought her and she would fall into his arms accepting his apology and they’d have oodles of make-up sex. Instead she was giving him an incredible amount of attitude and she hadn’t made eye contact with him once since she walked back into the house.

“Hey, um,” Nick stuttered, glancing around for any sight of the now-missing Target bag. “I got you something. Stay right here okay?”

“Where would I go?” she asked before adding sarcastically, “I’m only here to serve you.”

He sighed a second time, this time heavily and motioned for her to stay put. He eventually found the bag upstairs and quickly ran back down to the kitchen only to discover that Peggy was gone again. After another quick search he found her sitting on the couch in the living room reading a magazine. He wanted to point out that she didn’t do a very good job of staying like he’d asked her but pushing his luck and her buttons, seemed like a dangerous activity at that point in time.

“I want to apologize,” he started off by saying, seeing her barely glance over the top of the magazine. “I was way out of line to make it seem like all of that stuff was a done deal. I shouldn’t have assumed that just because I didn’t want those things with someone else that I don’t want them with you because that’s not true. You’re different than the other women I’ve been with. You’re the first person that when I think about our relationship I can’t see it ending - I don’t want to be without you. I should have taken that as a sign that I was ready for something more but I’m stubborn and I let my silly beliefs get in the way and I’m sorry.”

Nick stuck out the pathetic looking bouquet of flowers and waited patiently for Peggy to put down the magazine and finally acknowledge him. Hesitantly she put the magazine aside and reached out, taking the flowers from his hands. She smelled them briefly then rested them down on the coffee table before motioning to the bag.

“What’s that?” she wondered, genuinely surprised that Nick would go into Target by himself in the middle of the day. He normally found stores like that to be overwhelming since there were so many people that usually ended up bugging him and would typically only go in the dead of night.

Nick grinned devilishly and started pulling goodies out of the bag, happy when he finally got her to laugh at the ridiculously wide selection of chocolate he had purchased. Once she was distracted by chocolate he pulled out the last piece of candy from the bag and tore open the packaging. Peggy was already breaking into one of the chocolate bars when he knelt down in front of her, putting a knee on each side of her feet. Bewildered, she looked up, a curious smile crossing her face.

“What is that?” she chuckled, her heart pumping a bit faster with the anticipation of what could possibly happen in the next minute.

Nick smiled in return and held out the candy proudly, “It’s a Ring Pop,” he explained though he assumed she knew that much. If Peggy had shared any similar childhood experiences to him it would be those suckers - his sisters had been obsessed with them.

“What’s it for?” she asked a little more seriously, not wanting him to tease her.

“This Ring Pop,” he explained, taking her hand so he could slide the plastic ring onto her index finger, the giant candy diamond sticking straight up off her hand, “symbolizes the fact that no matter what happens I will always be here to buy you candy.”

Peggy couldn’t stop herself from laughing at his attempt at being romantic. “What does that mean?” she wondered.

“It means I’m not going anywhere,” he said earnestly, kissing the back of her hand just above the candy jewelry. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen tomorrow let alone six months or six years from now. All I can tell you is that right now, in this moment, I’m not going anywhere. No matter what happens we’re going to be together.”

“No matter what happens?” she stressed, wanting to be absolutely certain that he meant those words.

Nick nodded and repeated the words again though he had a feeling he knew why they were so important to her. In the hours after their fight he’d had a lot of time to reflect back on the things that were said and he’d started putting the pieces together, like a puzzle. It was when he had been sitting in her sister’s garage talking to Allen that he realized why Peggy was so worried that he was going to walk away.

Taking a deep breath he kissed her hand again and looked up at her face, admiring her beauty for a moment. Finally, after speaking through glances alone, he spoke aloud, “You’re pregnant aren’t you?”

Peggy smiled slightly at his keen observation skills before shaking her head, “No, the test was negative.”

“But you took a test. You thought there was a chance.”

She confirmed his suspicions with a nod, reaching out with her free hand to run her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp lightly with her nails. “I did think I was. I took the test and it came back negative but I still haven’t gotten my period so I don’t know what’s up with that.”

In that moment he wasn’t sure how to feel about the possibility that he could have an 'oops' baby much like he was to his parents. He was telling the truth when he told Allen that there was no way he would walk away, especially from someone he loved but he was neither excited nor disappointed by the news that Peggy had thought, even for a fleeting moment, that she might be carrying his child.

“If you haven’t gotten it in a few days maybe you should go see a doctor,” he recommended, though in the back of his mind he felt like he should be asking her whether she felt let down by the revelation. At the surface of his conscience he didn’t really want to know so he just let the moment pass.

“I will,” Peggy nodded then took a moment to admire her ring again. “What flavour is it?”

“I don’t know,” he told her, glancing around for the package for a split second before pulled her hand over so he could pop the candy into his mouth. Peggy squealed and pulled her hand away just as quickly, protectively holding the candy away from him.

“That’s mine!” she complained though he just smiled in response. Without hesitation she stuck the candy in her own mouth, grinning as she pulled away. “Mmm, grape. My favourite.”

“Cooties,” he warned her, managing to get her hand back so he could get another go at the sucker.

“I’m okay with your cooties,” she told him, brushing her hand along his cheek as he let her have the candy back. “In fact, I kind of like them.”

Nick smirked and leaned forward again, this time ignoring the candy and going straight for her lips.

Nick let out a content sigh, letting himself relax against Peggy’s gentle caress. Her fingertips were gliding up and down the back of his neck, stopping every so often to play with with his hair. His consciousness was hovering in the spot just between asleep and awake, his lungs inhaling a little bit deeper with each breath. He felt a familiar muscle spasm in his leg, telling him that a restful night of dreaming was just moments away. They’d talked through most of the evening but when it came time to go to bed it seemed only appropriate for him to keep apologizing for his earlier actions with his body.

“You better not be asleep,” Peggy suddenly spoke, abruptly jarring him from his slumber.

“What?” Nick muttered rhetorically, taking a moment to get his bearings after being startled. “I was almost asleep until you woke me up.”

“I don’t want you to fall asleep,” she laughed and with his ear pressed firmly against her chest he could hear her muffled laugh echoing.

Nick groaned and turned his head, pressing his nose against her breast. He resisted the urge to just fall asleep like that and instead dropped a kiss to the spot where his head had just been, nipping at the skin with his teeth. He lazily crawled up her body, listening to her giggle at his grogginess. Once his head had reached her shoulder he collapsed against her, smiling when she wrapped her arms and legs around him like a cocoon.

“Is this better?” he asked and Peggy laughed in return.

“No,” she told him, squeezing him a little bit tighter. “You’re not as skinny as you think you are. You’ll make all of my limbs fall asleep.”

With a sudden burst of energy Nick’s head popped up off her shoulder and he gave her a goofy, toothless look, “Like you do to me every night?” he teased. “I always have an arm and a leg that are so numb I’m worried I might dislocate them in my sleep.”

Peggy couldn’t stop herself from laughing at his expression. He made some of the most ridiculous faces (especially with the missing front teeth) and she loved them more each time.

“Don’t laugh at me. You did this to me,” Nick teased, trying to stay serious but Peggy knew he was joking by the way that he was unable to keep the corners of his mouth from turning into a smile. She continued to laugh, now unable to stop herself even though the original joke had died. “You’re laughing at my face!”

“I’m sorry,” she said through her giggles, grinning as Nick moved the rest of the way up her body, planting an elbow on each side of her head. He leaned down and kissed her through her laughter and for a moment she thought she might suffocate but if she were to die that would be the best way to go.

“I don’t laugh at you,” Nick said with mock indignation as he pulled his lips off hers.

Peggy abruptly stopped laughing, letting out only a few random chuckles in disbelief as she stared at him, mouth agape.

This time it was Nick’s turn to chuckle at her expression, “You need something, baby bird? I have something I can stick in there if you’re hungry.”

She punched him firmly on the arm, both of them smiling. “You’re a jerk,” she joked. “You claim you don’t laugh at me but what about earlier this month when you laughed your ass off after I farted?”

“Oh yeah!” Nick’s giggles turned to full on hysterical laughter. “I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me so I can bring it up more often.”

“You’re welcome,” she said sarcastically, leaning up to kiss him quickly. “I really love you, you know?”

Sensing that the playful banter had ended Nick nodded and returned her kiss, “I know. I really love you too.”

They kissed again, slow and deep, this time letting themselves get lost in each other. Hands softly grabbed, squeezed and glided over flesh while their lips expressed a million unsaid words. Nick always enjoyed the nights when sex would be adventurous, fast and often rough but as he’d gotten older he’d come to appreciate the times where it was slow and gentle - romantic even.

He truly believed that he’d only recently learned that because it felt more important when it was with Peggy. He felt closer to her, like he was becoming a part of her. His lips moved from hers to her cheek then down her neck while her hands weaved into his hair, holding him in place.

“Tell me something,” she spoke, moving one hand to his broad back, feeling the toned muscles move beneath her palm.

“Anything,” he whispered before pulling her earlobe into his mouth.

“Tell me something you’ve never told me before. About us.”

She knew that Nick wasn’t much in the mood for talking given the erection that was brushing the inside of her thigh but he obliged her request regardless, shifting his weight back to his elbows once again as he thought about how to answer.

“You know how I always say that the first time I saw you I knew I wanted to be with you?” he asked and she nodded. “That’s not entirely true. I had just come out of a long relationship that ended really badly and I hadn’t been very nice to too many women after that. When I first saw you I thought you were really cute, really young and would probably be up for a really good time. It was when I talked to you the first time... you were incredibly condescending to me and put me in my place and I thought that was so sexy. You were just so quick witted, always thinking on your toes and you knew exactly how to come back from every trick I tried to pull. That’s when I knew that I didn’t just need to be with you for a night, I needed to be with you for a long time. If I believed in soul mates, I’d say you’re mine.”

His compliments often came in a backhanded way, Peggy thought to herself. It was not unlike him to tell her something disappointing then follow it up with something so sweet and charming that she forgot why the first part was nearly offensive. Smiling, she leaned up to capture his lips again but was surprised when he pulled away after a quick moment.

“No, no,” he teased. “Now you have to tell me something you’ve never told me.”

She too took a moment to think about the appropriate response. Peggy had been wondering why Nick hadn’t brought up the pregnancy test since they’d talked about it earlier in the evening and she had hoped his answer would have something to do with it. She didn’t know what he thought about the whole situation but her feelings genuinely surprised her and she wanted him to know.

“I was relieved,” she finally spoke, fighting back her emotions. Nick gave her an inquisitive glance and she continued, “When the test came back negative I was so relieved. I feel so guilty like I should have been disappointed, but I wasn’t. It’s just too soon.”

With a sympathetic sigh Nick pulled her closer into his arms, hugging her tightly. He kissed her cheek then pulled back so he could see into her eyes which were now glossy with unshed tears.

“Don’t feel guilty,” he stressed. “You aren’t wrong to be relieved. I feel the same way. It really got me thinking though and I realized that we're gonna be okay either way. Whatever happens... happens.”

Peggy nodded and smiled, closing her eyes while he placed gentle kisses randomly around her face. Once he reached her lips again she sighed against his mouth and his lips settled heavily against hers. She understood as he unconsciously ground himself against her that was his way of letting her know they were done talking. She broke away momentarily to try and reach into his bedside table, forcing him to move off of her to get a better reach.

Playfully Nick flipped her onto her stomach while she opened his drawer for a condom, pressing himself against her behind. While she was separating one packet from the rest of them he noticed her phone light up from the charging dock where it was sitting next to his. The room was relatively dark, save for the glow of a night light shining in from the en suite bathroom so it had been impossible to miss the fact that Peggy’s phone had been illuminating non-stop for the entire evening.

“Who the fuck is blowing up your phone?” he asked, grabbing the condom out of her hand before he settled his weight against her again, not allowing her to turn back over.

Peggy shrugged. She had noticed the light too and had been thankful she thought to put both of their phones on silent before they got into bed except normally it was Nick’s phone that would ring at odd hours and disturb them.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m probably being mentioned in some thread on Twitter or Facebook. Does it really matter? Aren’t we in the middle of something?”

“Is it your boyfriend wondering why you didn’t show up to your rendezvous?” he questioned teasingly though his jealous side was wondering who would be trying to take her time away from him in the middle of the night.

Peggy chuckled and rolled her eyes, reaching back to swat at his thigh. “Yeah, that’s exactly it. I forgot to tell him that you came home so I wasn’t coming over.”

“You’ll have to reschedule,” he said in mock seriousness before reaching over to grab the phone, smirking as she squealed in protest at the sudden weight pressed against her back.

“Nick, stop!” Peggy complained, trying to get him off of her so she could roll over and grab the phone from his hand. He held it just out of her reach and she couldn’t bring her arms back with the way he was laying against her. “That’s my phone! Leave it alone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically. “I didn’t realize there would be anything on here that I shouldn’t see. Is there?”

“No,” she replied honestly. “But how would you like it if I looked through your phone?”

He leaned down and kissed her shoulder, dragging his teeth along her skin quickly. “I’d be fine with it. It’s full of pictures of my dick that I was going to text you later anyway.”

Ignoring her protests he unlocked her phone using her password (which was her birth date) and was shocked to discover hundreds of Twitter notifications. He clicked the familiar blue, bird adorned app and waited for it to load before checking Peggy’s at-replies. Fans had found out her twitter account a few months after they’d started dating because Nick made the mistake of tweeting her when he was drunk and missing her one night. It seemed now as though they hadn’t forgotten it either because the majority of people who had tweeted her that night had him featured in their profile picture.

“Did you say we got in a fight on Twitter?” Nick asked as he read the replies. Peggy was struggling to turn around and look at him so he finally got off her back, settling back against the pillows on his side of the bed.

“No,” she sighed, happy to be able to roll over again even though their moment had been interrupted by a cell phone as per usual. “Why?”

“These fans... a bunch of them are bitching at you for not appreciating me. Some of them are saying you must be PMS’ing and calling me pussy whipped,” he kept reading, eyes widening at some of the replies. “Holy shit, some people are saying they saw pictures of you last week and you looked pregnant so it’s no wonder I moved here and now it makes sense I would buy you a bunch of chocolate. How the hell do they...oh fuck.”

“What?” Peggy asked frantically, leaning over his shoulder to see the screen. “Those bitches! I did not look pregnant. We were on our way back from having Mexican food in those pictures, I was full! How do they know you bought me something?”

“Some of them are even talking about the Ring Pop!” he gasped. “It was candy not jewelry, idiots! This one says they heard I got you a ring and it must be a shotgun wedding. This is nuts. I should probably say something on my Twitter.”

“Nick,” Peggy stopped him before he could continue reading tweets aloud. “How do they know all that?”

He sighed heavily, still scrolling through her feed, “I saw a fan at Target. She must have posted about seeing me somewhere and they got it all wrong. I didn’t tell her we got in a fight, just that it was a gift.”

“Why did you tell her it was for me?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, his eyes wide. “They ask me these questions and I forget that they’re not normal people and they’re actually crazy so I don’t think twice before replying honestly.”

“Well now they’re saying I’m pregnant because they think I look fat! They don’t even know the shit I have gone through in the last couple of days!” Peggy exclaimed loudly, frantically reaching off the side of the bed for the shirt he had discarded earlier.

Nick watched in disappointment as she slid the shirt on while still feeling compelled to defend his loyal followers, “You don’t look fat! But, babe...you did overeat that night and your dress was already pretty tight. I’ve never seen anyone pack back a burrito that big in one sitting.”

Peggy stood next to the bed with her hands on her hips, shaking her head at him sadly, “That’s only because your burrito isn’t big enough to be a problem for anyone to get through in one sitting.”

“Low blow!” he groaned at the cheap shot and watched as she stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The face of Peggy’s phone lit up again and Nick looked down, expecting it to be another Twitter notification but instead it was a phone call. He quickly checked the clock at the top of the screen - 2:53 a.m. - and felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach before answering.

“Hello?” he asked cautiously, knowing who it was based on the caller ID but not wanting to admit that something might not be right.

“Nick?” Allen’s confused voice rang through the other end. “It’s Allen.”

“Is everything okay?” he asked though he knew from experience that phone calls from family in the middle of the night were typically bad news.

“No.”

Nick held his head in his hands, elbows resting against his knees, his back aching against the hard plastic chair beneath him. He had been napping in a chair for the better part of a half hour but had found it impossible to find a comfortable position to do more than just rest his eyes. It was coming up on twenty-four hours since they’d gotten a phone call to come down to the hospital and they hadn’t moved since.

It had been challenging at first to get Peggy out of the bathroom but once he’d explained that Allen was on the phone and said they needed to get to the hospital right away she flew into action. They’d thrown on whatever clothes that were within arm’s reach and left their differences behind them as they rushed to the hospital.

As Allen had explained to him on the phone, he was woken up by a strange noise in the middle of the night and looked over to see that Peggy’s sister Marilyn was struggling to breathe. He had called for an ambulance right away but by the time the paramedics arrived she had slipped into unconsciousness and, as of yet, had not woken up.

Marilyn had been in bed for days before that, fighting to recover from cancer treatments that were ravaging her body almost as much as the cancer. The doctors told them once they’d arrived at the hospital that while she lay in bed fluid had built up on her lungs and she’d developed serious pneumonia. No one knew why she hadn’t told anyone she wasn’t feeling well but Allen had theorized that she was already feeling so terrible she likely hadn’t noticed any additional symptoms or hadn't wanted to bug anyone with them.

Nick toyed with the idea of going home at one point to take a proper nap and get them some fresh clothes but Peggy had been attached to him like a lifeline and he felt like if he left she might lose it. Everyone’s biggest fear was that the next time the doctors came out they would be telling them it was time to say goodbye and Nick knew that Peggy was nowhere near ready for that. Allen, on the other hand, seemed to be strangely calm and had steeled himself against the potential for bad news simply for the sake of his children.

Nick had coloured with the two girls earlier while Peggy’s family talked with the doctors and it was clear that they were well aware of the severity of the situation. He felt awful that these two young people who should only be worried about scraped knees and what was in their lunchbox were instead coming to terms with the fact that they may never see their mother awake again.

Peggy’s head was rested on his back and he could feel her rubbing her cheek against the softness of his shirt. With a tired stretch he reached out one hand and gripped her thigh, wanting her to know that even though he was half asleep, he was still there.

“Any change?” Amy asked and Nick felt Peggy move off of him so she could answer her cousin.

In Nick’s family, tragedies always managed to pull everyone further apart. Whenever someone died it became a competition about who cared about that person the most. The person who supposedly cared the least was usually shunned, excluded from family grieving and, more often than not, named Nick.

It appeared to be the opposite in Peggy’s family though. In the early morning, after they’d been at the hospital for hours, people started arriving and brought along decent food and toiletries for everyone that was living in the waiting room. Nick had been most surprised when Amy and Dustin had walked through the door and were both on their best behaviour. It amazed him that they could forget about the fact that the last time they’d been around each other it had been awkward and embarrassing and just focus on the fact that Marilyn would have told them to put their shit aside for her.

“Still the same, she hasn’t woken up,” Peggy replied sleepily.

The door to the waiting room opened and Allen walked in looking ragged. He had always remained steadfast and calm during the duration of Marilyn’s illness so everyone took his demeanor to mean that things weren’t as good as they could be. He and his daughters had gone into Marilyn’s room hours before so they were surprised to see him in the middle of the night.

“Hey guys,” Allen greeted the room with a sad smile. He thanked everyone for coming then quietly asked to speak to Peggy, her brothers and parents alone. Nick stayed in his seat until he felt a tugging on his arm and looked up to see Peggy urging him to come.

“He wants to talk privately with family - not me,” Nick whispered as to not disturb anyone else in the room.

“You’re my family, remember?” Peggy stressed, pulling on his arm again until he got up and followed her out into the hallway.

He got a couple of strange looks as he followed the group into the hallway but no one said anything about his presence - another difference between his own family from his girlfriend’s. The news Allen had to deliver wasn’t good. The doctors had told him that there was a fairly high chance that Marilyn wouldn’t make it through the night.

She had decided when her illness had become quite severe saying that under no circumstances was she to be kept alive if there was no chance of recovery. She never wanted her children to have to see her as a vegetable and Allen had supported her choice. It had finally come to the point though where they had to come to terms with the fact that if she stopped breathing the doctors would step away and let nature take its course.

Peggy was squeezing his bicep tightly and Nick felt her intake of breath increase with every word Allen spoke. She was soon near gasping and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, softly encouraging her to calm down.

“I can’t,” she panicked, her eyes full of fear.

Nick rubbed her back but she soon started hyperventilating, getting everyone’s attention as they all now tried to ease her worry.

“You need to take a deep breath,” Nick coaxed, trying to get her to ignore the comments from her family who were all firing out different recommendations for what she should do.

“Nick,” she managed to get out through laboured breaths, tears falling from the corners of her eyes as she realized that her sister could be moments away from death and nothing she could do could stop it.

He couldn’t keep the worry from his face as he tried to coach Peggy into breathing normally again. It scared him how fast her breathing was and he knew she wasn’t getting enough air. He barely had a hold of her arms when her eyes rolled back in her head and she went totally limp, almost bringing him down with her as she fainted. Her brother dove to keep her from hitting the floor and he helped Nick get her into his arms while her mother went for help.

Nick gave Allen a sympathetic look as he held Peggy closely, unable to imagine what the other man must have been going through. A nurse soon appeared pushing a gurney and Nick laid Peggy down on the bed, excusing himself from the group so they could deal with their problems while he dealt with Peggy’s.

“She fainted,” he explained to the nurse as he followed her down the hall and into an empty room. They were soon joined by the doctor on call who checked Peggy’s vitals then ordered a blood test to make sure she wasn’t low on iron. Before the nurse could leave the room Nick caught her by the arm, glancing quickly between his girlfriend passed out on the hospital bed and the woman in scrubs. “I need you to do me a favour.”

~*~

It was nerve wracking for everyone having both Peggy and Marilyn unconscious and lying in hospital beds. The entire group was terrified that something might happen to the elder sister while the younger was passed out so they had pleaded with the doctors to at least put them both in the same room.

Once he was sitting down in the chair next to Peggy’s hospital bed Nick found it impossible to stay awake and he had drifted off, waking a few hours later to a dark room filled only with the sound of beeping heart monitors.

With a groan he pulled himself into a seated position, looking to his right to see that Peggy was still out like a light. Across the room, in the bed next to Marilyn, slept the two girls and Allen was on a cot between them. The sun was starting to come up, sending a stream of light in through the window towards the head of Marilyn’s bed. Not wanting it to shine in her face, Nick got up to close the curtain around her bed, stunned when he saw the woman staring back at him.

“Oh my god,” he said breathlessly, watching as she lifted her fingers in a small wave. Dashing to the other side of the bed he hit the nurse call button then roused Allen from his sleep. The other man bolted out of bed and to his wife’s side and almost instantly there was a flurry of activity in the room with doctors and nurses rushing to Marilyn’s side.

Nick was pushed out of the way and back to the other side of the room, feeling completely useless. The nurse that he had spoken to earlier about Peggy came over briefly to check on the girlfriend’s vitals, giving Nick a smile.

“She woke up earlier,” the nurse explained in a hushed tone, “but you were asleep and we didn’t want to wake you. She’s just resting right now, she was pretty exhausted.”

“Oh thank god,” he breathed a sigh of relief, reaching out to gently squeeze Peggy’s foot through the blankets laying over here. “Why did she faint? Was it like I thought?”

The nurse gave him a regretful smile then put a new bag of saline for Peggy’s IV up on a pole. “Sorry, I can’t tell you that. Immediate family only. You shouldn’t even be in here - they thought you were her husband.”

“How do you know I’m not?”

“My daughter is a huge fan of yours. I would have known immediately if you’d gotten married,” the nurse said with a chuckle, patting him on the arm as she moved to return to Marilyn’s side of the room.

The noise of the chatter was not quiet enough for Peggy to keep sleeping through and her eyes shot open, relieved to see Nick standing at the end of the bed.

“Hey,” he said with a smile, coming around to kiss her forehead. “I was so worried about you. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” she dismissed him. “I’m sorry I scared you. What’s going on? Why is there so much noise? Is Marilyn okay?”

Peeking around the curtain quickly Nick saw that Marilyn’s bed was now propped up and it appeared as though Allen was talking with the doctors. Looking back to Peggy he nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, she woke up just before you. I don’t know what else is up but... she made it through the night. That’s something, right?”

Peggy’s eyes were full of happy tears and she nodded, “Yeah, that’s really something.”

He kissed her forehead again, pulling away just as the curtain swung open and a doctor walked in. “Good morning!” he chirped, grabbing Peggy’s chart off the end of the bed. “How do you feel?”

Peggy repeated the words she’d told Nick to the doctor, the pair of them watching the doctor scan across the updates that were written on her chart during the night. After a quick check to confirm everything was okay the doctor gave Peggy the all clear to return to being a visitor rather than a patient.

“How’s my sister?” Peggy asked.

The doctor smiled and patted her hand, “She’s out of the woods for now. The outcome looks positive at this point.”

“Sorry,” Nick interrupted before the doctor could leave. “Why did she faint? You did blood tests and stuff right?”

The doctor confirmed that they had before addressing Peggy with his response, “We didn’t find anything too out of the ordinary. Your iron was a bit low, you were dehydrated but I would say the real reason you fainted was because you were having a panic attack. That’s not unusual in times of extreme stress. We gave you some fluids, let you rest and now you should be good to go.”

“Are you sure?” Nick asked and Peggy looked at him as though he were crazy to question a medical professional. “You said you did blood tests but did you test for everything?”

The doctor chuckled and nodded at the other man, “We tested for everything within reason. Nothing was out of the ordinary. That’s my educated opinion.”

The doctor left the room and Nick sat down in the chair next to the bed, looking defeated. Peggy sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, resting her feet on his knee as he slumped down in the chair.

“What was that?” she wondered curiously. “Why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?”

Nick covered his face with both hands and shook his head. He leaned back in the chair until he was looking at the ceiling, mentally chastising himself for his bizarre behaviour.

“It’s stupid,” he said but Peggy encouraged him to tell her anyway. He sat back up and leaned on the arm of the chair, resting his temple against his fist while the other hand trailed gently up and down her calf.

“I imagined it like a movie,” he explained. “After you fainted... I thought for sure they would do the blood tests and then come in here and tell us that the test you did was a false negative and you were pregnant. I don’t know why I thought that or why I would even...”

Nick was taking deep breaths, obviously trying to keep himself from getting emotional and Peggy gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Babe,” she cooed, running a foot up and down his thigh. “The other day you didn’t even want kids at all. To the point that you thought we should break up. Now you’re upset because we didn’t get some kind of Hollywood finish. I know you’re thinking about it more now than you were before but it wouldn’t have magically fixed our issues. Let things happen in their own time.”

“Just stop trying to not try,” Nick said aloud to himself and Peggy craned her head, giving him a quizzical look. “Something Allen said to me. Just ignore me.”

Peggy chuckled, shaking her head at him before hopping off the bed, grabbing her clothes to change out of the hospital gown she had ended up in some time during the night. “Who changed my clothes?”

“Nurses,” Nick answered as he picked up his cell phone to check his email. “I watched though.”

“I bet you did,” she laughed with a roll of her eyes and started getting dressed.

Nick watched as his inbox filled with emails despite the fact that it was five in the morning and most of the people who would be contacting him on the west coast were likely asleep or close to it. Before he could click on the first email the date on the screen caught his eye and he smiled before looking up at Peggy.

“Happy month-a-versary,” he said and she gave him another confused glance.

“Our anniversary is in the spring. We’ve only had one and you’ve already forgotten?” she teased as she pulled her shirt over her head.

“Not our anniversary,” he clarified, “our month-a-versary. It’s been a month today since we moved in together.”

“Aww,” Peggy smiled then leaned over to kiss him quickly. “Happy month-a-versary to you, too.”

“You know, I read in Cosmo once that if you can make it through the first month then you’re doing okay.”

Peggy snorted, “You were reading Cosmo?”

Rolling his eyes, Nick waved her off, “There was an interesting article. We made it though. The first month is behind us. The stuff that was bugging me when we first moved in together... I barely even remember what it was now. I’m just so used to you being part of my day.”

“Which stuff that was bugging you when we first moved in? Not anything I don’t already know?” Peggy asked with an uneasy laugh, putting her hands on her hips.

Nick froze like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and paralyzed. A lazy smirk then crossed his face and he stood, pulling Peggy into his arms, “I told you I don’t even remember.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” she told him, returning his embrace. “The closet has been spick and span for weeks and for the record you leaving your wet towels on the floor still bugs the shit out of me.”

“Well,” he said, squeezing her a little tighter, “at least now you know what to expect.”

Peggy smiled at him and swatted his behind as he made his way out of the curtained area to check on Marilyn, both of them silently hoping that the drama during their first month of cohabitation had filled their quota for at least another six months.

The house was positively buzzing as people walked around the house, bringing out plates of food and chatting loudly about the beautiful wedding ceremony they’d all just attended. Nick and Peggy were having the reception in their backyard since it fit plenty of chairs and tables and was a far more intimate venue than any rented hotel ballroom would be.

Peggy caught sight of Nick from across the patio and smiled. He was bouncing baby Evelyn in his arms, not caring about the potential for her to spit up on his suit from all the jostling. He seemed to be completely infatuated with the child and there wasn’t a woman within a mile radius that could deny that the baby made him look a thousand times sexier than he already was.

“You better keep an eye on him, it looks like he’s planning on keeping her for his own.”

Peggy turned to her cousin Amy and smiled, chuckling lightly, “He’s pretty attached.”

Nick had been correct when he assumed that Peggy would opt out of being a part of Amy and Dustin’s wedding but regardless things had taken a turn for the better overall. They had managed to put their differences aside and although they would probably never go on double dates, Peggy was happy to still have her cousin in her life. After giving Amy a quick hug, Peggy made her way over to Nick and held out her arms.

“Can I hold her?”

He held a protective hand over the baby’s back and gave Peggy a skeptical glare, “No, sorry. We’re in love.”

Peggy laughed and reached up to push a wisp of dark brown hair off the baby’s forehead. “She could not look more like Tommy,” she commented and Nick agreed.

“It’s true,” Nick agreed, nuzzling his nose against the baby’s cheek. “Hopefully she grows out of it or she’s going to have a rough life.”

Though she was laughing Peggy tried to keep her face serious, “That’s mean. Let me hold her before you give her a complex.”

Nick passed the baby over into Peggy’s arms just as the chatter around the backyard picked up. “I’m guessing the bride and groom have arrived,” he mused as people started pulling out cameras in anticipation.

Nick and Tommy had become close friends since he’d moved to New York. The other man had come to hang out with him on his solo tour and Nick felt like he’d really finally found someone he connected with that he wasn’t related to and didn’t work with - something he hadn’t had in a long time.

Tommy and Becca decided to get married shortly before their daughter was born and Nick was genuinely honoured when Tommy asked him to be his best man. There was a decent age gap between them but it never even registered in Nick’s mind. It was only a number, after all.

Part of his duties as ‘best dude’ (as Tommy had come to call it), apart from throwing the bachelor party and writing an amazing speech for dinner, was sharing the babysitting duties for little Evelyn during the reception with the maid of honour so Becca’s mother could get a break to enjoy herself and take photos of her daughter.

In his experience, Nick knew that when girls had babies their girlfriends had a tendency to go a little baby crazy. He figured it was part jealousy and part maternal instinct that made them naturally prone to want one of their own as soon as they saw someone else’s baby.

He had surprised himself though with the way he had experienced the same feelings. He never thought he would see the day where he actually yearned for a baby, a child to carry on his name and other such foolishness. He and Peggy had talked about it a few times since their big blow out over his desire to not have children and they’d mutually agreed to remove contraception from their lives and stop trying to not try.

As the thought passed through his mind he thought of Allen and everything he’d gone through over the past couple of years. Nick remembered the last time they’d gotten a call in the middle of the night, not unlike the first, only this time when they arrived at the hospital it was just in time for everyone to say their final goodbyes to Marilyn. In a way Nick felt like Allen was somewhat relieved that his wife wasn’t suffering any longer. Her condition had only gotten worse after being hospitalized for pneumonia and no one felt it was any way to live.

Though he would likely never admit to it, Nick was sure that part of Allen was content when Marilyn quietly passed away in her sleep, finally free from the pain that had tormented her for so many years of her life. Even though his kids would no longer have their mother and he would no longer have his wife he knew they didn’t have to go through another day watching her die. It may have been a tad selfish but Nick thought that if anyone deserved a bit of selfishness it was Peggy’s brother-in-law.

Shaking his head free of sad thoughts, Nick focused on the newlyweds that were making their way through the crowd in the backyard. The deejay had started the music and everyone started heading to their seats to enjoy what was sure to be a delightful meal and dance.

~*~

It was early in the morning by the time the wedding had wrapped up and everyone had left, leaving Peggy and Nick alone with the cleaners milling away to get at least the dishes cleaned up before morning.

“That was fun,” Peggy commented as she stuck some of the leftover food from the catering service in the fridge. The meal had been delicious so Nick was happy to steal whatever they could to eat the next day.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a smile. “They were really happy.”

“I’m exhausted,” she admitted with a tired laugh, moving across the room to where he was standing. She wrapped her arms around his body and put her head on his shoulder contently.

“Why don’t you go get ready for bed?” he suggested, pushing the hair that had fallen out of her updo back behind her ear before kissing her cheek. “I kind of want a snack.”

“You didn’t eat enough before?” she joked as she pulled away, knowing that Nick had been a frequent visitor to the bar and the buffet for most of the evening.

He shrugged innocently, “I’m craving something sweet.”

“Bring me something,” Peggy instructed, kissing him quickly before she made her way up to their bedroom.

Nick waited until he was sure she was upstairs to put his plans into motion. He grabbed a few things from his office then made his way up the stairs, feeling more nervous than he’d ever felt in his life. Peggy was just slipping into bed in her nightgown when he got into the room, obviously having taken her time to wash up before hand so he was glad he hadn’t rushed.

“I thought you were getting food?” she asked, seeing that he only had two small packages in his hand.

“I forgot I had these,” he told her, holding up two Ring Pops.

Peggy chuckled, giving him a confused look. It seemed like a completely random thing for him to happen to have two of the candies but she shrugged and reached out for one of them. Nick delicately handed her the package then hopped onto the other side of the bed in his suit, pulling his sucker out of the packet.

“This is opened!” Peggy complained, looking at the wrapper in her hand. “Did you lick it already?”

Nick smiled sheepishly, “I had to know which flavour I wanted.”

She shook her head at him, pretending to be angry while pulling the Ring Pop out of the wrapper. She secured the plastic ring to her index finger and was about to put it in her mouth when she stopped cold. The surface of the sucker was a bit like glue when it was wet and stuck to the very tip, surrounded by sticky red candy was the most beautiful, non-edible, diamond ring she had ever laid eyes on.

It had a platinum band and three princess cut diamonds, looking both grand and delicate at the same time and was exactly what she would have chosen for herself. She continued to stare at it until Nick took the candy from her hand and took the ring off, cleaning it off quickly in his mouth and on the bedspread before reaching for her left hand. Still completely stunned, she watched as he slid the ring onto her ring finger then looked up into her eyes.

“Peg...I love you,” he began and she felt her eyes filling with tears. “I want to be with you forever and I know that being able to show the world that we love each other is important to you. For that reason it’s important to me. So I wanted to ask you... will you be engaged to me forever?”

Though any other woman would have been disappointed that he was only asking for an engagement and not a marriage, Peggy saw it as a step that Nick would have never been able to make before. She felt honoured to be the person that he wanted to be engaged to forever, even if it meant that they might never have the backyard reception like the one they’d just held. It was enough for her to know that they were a step closer to that reality should he ever change his mind.

“Of course I will,” Peggy grinned and their lips collided for a passionate kiss. Slowly she pulled away, brushing his hair back as she looked at his face. “A Ring Pop? That was brilliant.”

“I thought so,” he replied, giving himself a verbal pat on the back. He put the candy back on her finger and grabbed his own, holding them up. “For the second time this evening, I’d like to propose a toast. To Allen and Marilyn.”

“Why them?” Peggy asked, fondly thinking of her sister for a moment.

“They’re the reason we’re here,” Nick told her. “We almost split up a couple times but they kept us together. Everything they told me has really stuck with me and even though I never really got to know Marilyn as much as I would have liked to, I’m really grateful to have met her.”

Peggy smiled and kissed him again, “She liked you a lot. Maybe we can keep Marilyn in mind for a girl name.”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed, sticking the Ring Pop in his mouth. He was happily working his way through his candy when he realized what Peggy had just said to him. “Wait, what? Keep it in mind? Like, when?”

“I dunno,” Peggy shrugged before a sly smile crossed her face. “Seven months or so?”

This time he was the one in shock, staring with his mouth wide open. He took a few deep breaths then pulled Peggy into a tight hug, silently hoping for a Marilyn.