Authors Note- This was the first fan fiction that I ever wrote while I was still in middle school so please don't be too cruel. Thanks a lot and enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

Nick was one the most hadsome man Stephanie had ever seen. He had such amazing blue eyes that Stephanie got lost in everytime she looked into them. His blonde hair was the perfect accent to his eyes. This drove most girls that he came across crazy. He was totally perfect in every way.

Nick was the sweetest guy that Stephanie had ever met. They were best friends and she couldn't believe that she was falling for him. Some people were surprised that it didn't happen sooner. They looked like the perfect couple when they were hanging out together. Stephanie had the same matching blue eyes, and same cheerful smile.

Stephanie had dark brown hair, 5'8'', and an all around great person. Nick was the same great person at an amazing 6 feet tall. Here is there story:
"Hey Stef wait up!!!!" Nick shouted, as he chased after his best friend.
"I don't think so!" Stephanie called back, laughing at the fact he could hardly keep up with her. As she reached her house, she dropped on the swing that was hanging from the tree to catch her breath. Nick was there seconds later.

"I told you that I could beat you!" Stephanie said.

"That's only because I let you win!" Nick told her.

"Oh, yeah right."

"No, really I did. Because your my best friend. I figured that I would be nice and let you win for a change."

"For a change? Nick, I always beat you! Face it, I'm better than you are!"

"I don't think so!" Nick said and pouted.

"That doesn't work on me!"

"So, what do you want to do now?" Nick asked leaning up against the tree.

"I don't know."

"Well, AJ's having a party later, wanna go? We can hang out."

"Sure, why not. Sounds like fun."

"Cool, see ya later than. I'll call you when I'm on my way ok."

"Yeah, ok."

"Bye! Talk to ya later."

"Bye Nick." He walked away. Stephanie sat there and watched him walk away. After a few mintues, she got up and walked into her house and picked up the phone and called her friend Ashley.

"Hello. House of pain, how may I help you?" Ashley said.

"Hey weirdo," Stephanie said.

"Sup, Stef?''

"Nothing much, you?"

"Bored out of my mind, but what else is new?"

"Tell me about it!"

"Gee, talk about supportive friends!"

"You know it!"

"Oh, Stef are you doing anything tonight?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was going to ask you to go to the movies with me. So what have you planned and haven't told me about?"

"Nick asked me to go to AJ's party with him."

"God Stephanie, you're spending a lot of time with him lately. I haven't seen you much anymore."

"Ashley, look you know that he goes on tour with the guys and I don't ever get to see him anymore. I want to hang out with him as much as I can before he has to go. He is one of my best friends you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Hey, I got an idea, why don't I call Nick and ask him if you can come with us?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, you're my other best friend. He won't mind, if that's what you're worried about. You never hang out with us anymore."

"That's because when I do go out with you guys, it's like you forget that I'm even there."

"Ashley, I'm sorry about that. We never mean to that to you. I just kinda happens. I mean I never get to see him, so I want to talk to him as much as I can."

"Stef, I think there is something more there than friendship between you two."
"Me and Nick aren't dating. We are just friends. That's it. There has never been anything more than that."

"I know that. I tell you, you two are meant to be. I can feel it. There is something about you two, something that I have never felt between anyone else. I think that you two should get together. Stef, I know that you have those feelings for him, you've told me. Tons of times. I think you should go for it."

"Ashley, you don't know how much I want to, but there are so many things keeping me from doing that. Like the fact that he is always gone. Also, what if we break-up, I don't know if we could still be best friends after that. I want him to always be around and I don't want to force him to do something that he doesn't want to do. He is a great guy, and I never want to deal with losing him."

"I understand how you feel. I can see that you don't want to lose him, but you should atleast tell him how you feel. Since you two are best friends you guys should be able to tell each other everything."

"I know."

"Can I still come to that party with ya?"

"Sure, let me get him on three-way ok?"

"Yep." Stephanie clicked over to the blank line and dialed Nicks number then clicked to join the lines.

"Ashley?"

"Yeah?"

"Okay."

"Hello?" came Nicks voice.

"Hello, good afternoon sir, I am calling you on this lovely afternoon because me and my other best bud want to talk to you."

"Hi Stef, and Ashley! Wassup?"

"How did you know it was me?" Ashley asked.

"Who else would it be?"

"How true, Stef here has no life."

"Oh, now thats not true!" Stephanie said.

"Yeah I know, just messin with ya!" Ashley said.

"So ladies, whats up?"

"Nothin'" Stephanie said.

Then why did you call?"

"What? Can't I put my two best friends on the line and talk to them?"

"No."

"And why not?"

"Cause I know you, something is always up or you want something when the both of you call."

"What makes you say that, huh?"

"Thats how things always go."

"No, I don't think so."

"I do."

"Ok, this is getting childish!" Ashley yelled!

"It's Nicks fault!" Stephanie pouted.

"Yep, it's my fault," Nick said giving into Stephanie. "Hey Stef, you still comin to the party with me?"

"Yeah, by the way, can Ashley come too?"

"See, I told you that you two call when you want something! Just kidding, but yeah, she can come if she wants."

"Cool, thanks see ya later! Bye Nicky!"

"Don't call me that! You know I hate that name!"

"That's the point, duh! C-ya!"

"Bye." Nick hung up.

"Ashley come to my house and wait for Nick with me, k?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be right over."

"Ok, see ya then. Bye."

"Bye." The two hung up.

~~~~~~~~~~Back At Nicks~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nick picked up the phone and called Brian.

"Hello?" Brian answered.

"Hey, it's Nick."

"Whats up man?"

"Nothin'. Just, I need to talk to you."

"'Bout what?"

"Stephanie."

"God Nick, you still haven't told her yet?"

"No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"She's my best friend, besides you, if she didn't feel the same way I don't know if I could handle that emotionally."

"And if you don't tell her, you'll drive yourself crazy, as well as me."

"I can't lose her, thats all. I would be lost without her."

"Look, you have to say something. Tell her tonight at the party. You did invite her didn't you?"

"Yeah, of course. Ashley is coming too. I can't tell Stephanie with her around. It's going to be hard enough just telling Stephanie."

"Just say you want to talk to her alone for a mintue and she'll leave you alone. If you don't tell her, you could lose her."

"What do you mean if I don't tell her, I could lose her?"

"Nick, think about it. What if she doesn't know that you care about her and she meets someone and then that would be it."

"Bri, your right."

"I know I am."

"Talk to you later."

"Yeah, bye."

"Bye." Nick hung up the phone and sighed.

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~Later that night~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Enjoying the party?" Nick yelled over the loud music.

"Yeah," Stephanie answered back and smiled.

"Good, I'm glad. Can you come with me for a minute?"

"Yeah sure, why?"

"I want to tell you something, important."

"Okay." Nick took Stephanie's hand and walked her over to the beach.

"Stephanie, I have to tell you something and I don't want you to say anything until I'm finished. Okay Stephanie."

"Yeah, okay," Stephanie said looking into Nicks blue eyes.

"This is something that is really hard for me to say to you," there was a million thoughts going through Stephanie's mind. She thought that he was going back on tour and was going to leave her again, "I haven't been telling you everything." Stephanie just looked at him.

"About my feelings for you. I don't just don't think of you as only a friend. I love you with all my heart." Stephanie just stood there in total shock. She always wanted to tell him just how she felt, but was always afraid that he never felt the same way. It was weird that he was telling her the samething that she wanted to tell him.

"Stephanie?"

"Oh god Nick. I feel the same way." Nick let out a sigh of relief.

"Wow, I've been going crazy. Thinking when and where and how to tell you. I was so scared that you wouldn't feel the same way. When you do."

"Nick, that was the samething that kept me from telling you. I was so scared that I would mess up our friendship. I didn't want to lose you."

"That's weird, I was thinking the samething. We really do think alike." Stephanie laughed.

"Yeah, I'll say. Atleast Ashley won't have to tell me to shut up about it."

"Brian felt the same way!"

"Geez! Thats weird."

"Yeah."

"Nick."

"Hum.....," he said and put his arm around Stephanie.

"I'm glad that we got this out."

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you think anything is going to change about us?"

"I don't know, but I hope not. I like the way things were."

"Me too. I would hate it if it changed."

"Don't worry, I won't let it change."

"Good, I'm glad," Stephanie said snuggling up next to Nick as they sat down on a rock.

"You want to stay out here?"

"Yeah, I do."
*~*~*~*~*~Back At The Party~*~*~*

Ashley was standing there wating for Stephanie to come back. After about 20 minutes she started to get worried. She said that she would be right back and still hadn't returned. She walked around looking for them. Then she bumped into Brian.

"Hey Brian," Ashley said.

"Hey Ashley, why you look so upset?"

"I can't find Stephanie."

"I can't find Nick either." Both of them knew about Stephanie and Nicks' real feeling about each other.

"You think that they told each other?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know. I told Nick to tell her tonight, maybe thats where they are."
"She's been gone for 20 minutes."

"Maybe we........" Brian was interupted when AJ came up to them.

"Hey guys! Wassup??"

"Nothing, we just can't find Stephanie and Nick. Thats all," Brian said to his BackStreet Buddy.

"Ohhhhhhh..... does she know how he feels about her yet?"

"I don't know. I think he did tell her. I was telling him to tell her, but he hasn't."

"I've been telling her to tell him as well," Ashley said.

"Hold up, she feels the same way? Oh geez."

"Well, we can't find either one of them so maybe one of them had the guts to say something about it," Brian mentioned.

"Maybe," AJ said, "well, just get back to the party and have fun, I'm sure that they're both ok and will be back soon. So, don't make me tell you again to HAVE FUN!"

"Ok, ok, "Ashley said, "Don't bite our heads off, geez, we know how to take a hint. Right?"

"Yeah, we can," Brian agreed.

"Great!" AJ said and walked away.

"I just hope they don't do anything that they are going to regret," Ashley said worried.

"Yeah, I know. I just hope they know what they are doing where ever they are."

"Stephanie's not like that. Atleast I hope that she's not like that anyway."
"I guess we're just going to have to wait and see. They will make the right decision. I hope."

~*~*~*~*~Back On The Beach~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Nick, maybe we should get back to the party. We told everyone that we would be back in a few minutes. They might worry," Stephanie said looking into his eyes.

"Come on baby, they know that we are together and that nothing is going to happen to either one of us," Nick told her rubbing his hand up and down up and down Stephanies' arm.

"Maybe you're right.''

"Of course I am."

"Shut up!"

"Hey, be nice!"

"Sorry," Stephanie said making a sad face.

"Awwww, don't worry about it."

"Nick, I love you."

"I love you too," Nick said and smiled. This was going great he thought. 'This couldn't be better' he thought.

"Nick," Stephanie said, pulling out of his arms.

"Yeah?"

"Is it ok if I kiss you?" Nick didn't answer, instead he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Neither could believe that this was happening. They were best friends, and this was crazy, but they loved each other so it felt right. After a few mintues they pulled away from each other and they both smiled.
I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up and realize that this never happened," Nick said looking Stephanie in the eye.

She put her hand on his face, "Nick, it's not a dream. This is very real, and I'm glad that it is." With that said, Stephanie pulled Nick into another kiss where the two stayed.
~*~*~*~*~*~At the party~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey Brian! Have you seen Nick lately?" Kevin asked.

"No, and I'm getting scared."

"Let him be. It's quiet. We don't have to worry about him doing some stupid prank. It's nice to not have to worry about it."

"He went with Stephanie and they can't find her either. I just hope that they aren't going to do something that they are going to regret. They are young so they won't think."

"Well, if you're thinking that they might have sex, I don't think so. Stephanie's not like that and you know that. She won't let that happen."
"Yeah, it's not her that I'm worried about. It's him. He might do something stupid."

"She's used to him doing stupid things. She's known him longer than we have. Look, I told you, I don't think that anything is going to happen. They are good kids."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Then there is no need to worry. Have fun and take your mind off of them. They will be fine, and so will you if you stop worring!"

"Yeah, ok." Kevin walked away and Brian sat down a the chair that was near by to think. 'Why am I worring about this? Kevin's right, they aren't going to do anything, and if they do, it's their lifes and they know what they are doing.'

~*~*~*~Back at the Beach~*~*~*~*~*

"Stephanie,"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go back to my place so that we can be alone and not have to worry about anyone coming to get us?"

"Ok, but I have to tell Ashley so that she won't worry, ok?"

"Alright babe, no problem." The two of them got up and started to walk back to AJ's house. They held each others hands and smiled the whole way back. Once they got back to the house, Stephanie couldn't find Ashley.

"Hey girli!" AJ yelled to Stephanie.
"Yo!" Stephanie answered.

"Ashley and Brian was worried about you and Nick. Speaking of Nick, where is he?"

"Outside."

"Well, what's he doin' out there?"

"We're going back to his place. If you see Ashley and Brian, tell them that we went back to Nicks place. Okay? I gotta run, he's waiting for me."

"Ok, girli, I can do that for you."

"Great, see ya later! By the way, for what I was here for, the party was great!"

"Thanks, now get your ass moving girli!" AJ laughed.

"Ok, bye!"

"Bye!" With that said, Stephanie walked out the door to Nicks' car.

"Hey babe, you find them?"

"No, but I ran into AJ and he said that he would tell him for us."

"Great, I just hope that he doesn't get drunk and forgets and we have two mad friends."

"Yeah, I know. I would never hear the end of it!" Stephanie said as she got into his car. The two then drove off. When they finally got to Nicks' house, they both got out and walked to his frount door.

"Here we are," Nick said.

"I know, I've been here a million times! I practicly live here with you!"

"That would be nice," Nick said as he walked in the door and sat on the couch. Stephanie followed and sat next to him.

"What do you mean?"

"It would be nice if you lived here with me. I wouldn't have to miss you."

"Is that how you really feel?"

"Yeah. I love you, I want to be with you all the time. It's just that it would be hard because of the group and all."

"Nick, I don't know what to say."

"Then just kiss me." Stephanie smiled and leaned in and kissed Nick. Their kiss started to become more intense. The love they had for each other was showing through the way they kissed. Nick put his hand on Stephanie's face and pulled her in even closer. The heat in the room was rising. Nick put his hand on Stephanie's stomach and let it slide up her shirt.

"Nick, wait," Stephanie said and looked at Nick.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Don't you think that's moving too fast?" Stephanie said looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

"I just figured that since we know each other so well and now that we both know how we truely feel for each other that it would be the right time." Stephanie just kept looking at him and didn't say anything, "But, if you don't want to, we don't have to," Nick added.

"Not now. I don't want to move to fast and mess something up. I don't want to end up getting pregnant and have you never be around for the baby, I would hate that. Also, don't you think it would be harder for us to say good-bye to each other everytime that you had to leave to go on tour. I don't think I could handle that. You understand?"

"Yeah, baby. I do."

"So you still love me?"

"Yes, I with all my heart. Nothing will change that. You got that."

"Yeah. I'm glad that you love me. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have you in my life. You are the most important thing in my life right now."

"Shhhhhh...," Nick told Stephanie as he put one finger on her lips,"lets just enjoy the moment." Stephanie smiled and got comfortable on Nicks' chest and fell asleep.

Chapter 3

~*~*~*~*~*Back At AJ's Party~*~*~*~*~*~

Ashley was starting to get really worried. Stephanie should have been back by now. She was hoping that her best friend was ok. Ashley didn't realize it, but she had been wondering around the party not doing anything, then she dumped into AJ.

"Hey girl, you need to get some glasses or something!" AJ teased.

"Shut up! Have you heard from Stephanie or Nick lately?"

"Oh yeah, I bumped into Stephanie. She wanted me to tell you that she was going back to Nicks'. She wanted me to tell Brain too, but I haven't seen him. If you see him before I do, can you tell him?"

"Yeah. But my problem is how am I going to get home now? I came with them."

"Well, I can't help you there. I had a little bit to drink and don't want ta risk drivin and killin someone ya know what I'm sayin?"

"Yeah I know. I can only imagine the headlines: 'BSB Member gets drunk and drives.' I would buy it!"

"I know that you would! You like to be in the middle of all of the scandels in Hollywood." AJ said and laughed.

"Nope, just crap about you guys!"

"Boy, I feel special!"

"You should!"

"I gotta get going, this is my party ya know." AJ smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. See ya later."

"C-ya!" After that, Ashley started to walk around look for Brian so that she could tell him what AJ had just told her. After a few mintues, she found him sitting on a chair, lost in thought.

"Brian."

"Hey Ashley, have you heard anything about Nick and Stephanie yet?"

"Yeah, AJ just told me that Stef and Nick went back to Nicks' place....." her voice trailed off.

"You don't think that they..." Brain trailed off with a wide-eyed look on his face.

"I don't know. I mean they love each other. They might have.... I just hope they know what they are doing. Stephanie has never had sex before, she has never even have a guy tell her that he loved her before, so I think that alone may have overwhelmed her. But I know Stephanie, I don't think she, I don't know."

"Well, I guess all we can do is wait. They would tell us if anything happened, we are their best friends besides each other."

"Hey, can you give me a ride home? I came with Stephanie and Nick, but they left me here. I knew that that was going to happen. It always does."

"Yeah, sure I can give you a quick ride home. I've been wanting to leave, but I wanted to make sure that Nick and Stephanie were okay first, ya know?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, and Ashley,"

"What?"

"About what you said. I think that they only left you behind because they wanted to be alone to talk. Stef and you look like really great friends. She just wants to spend time with Nick. They don't get to see each other much anymore because of the fact that we are always touring or doing something. When were not around, I know that you and her spend a lot of time together. If Nick was around more, the time she spends with you and him would be evenly split and she wouldn't leave like that. They just want to be together every second they can. That's all."

"Thanks a lot."

"Sure, no problem." Then Brian took Ashley home and then he went home himself. The whole time, both of them worried about Stephanie and Nick.

"I hope they are okay," Ashley said while in the car with Brain.

"I know they are okay. It's just wish they would have told us that they would have told us something, like that fact that they were leaving."

"Brian, they did. They had AJ tell us."

"Yeah, we were lucky that he remembered. Ya know. When he's at parties, he usually don't care about what's going on around him. There could be a fire and he wouldn't care. He probably wouldn't even notice."

"Geez," Ashley laughed, "you guys are crazy."

"Well, here you are. Let me know if either of them call you," Brian said as they pulled up to Ashleys' house.

"Yeah, no problem, you do the same."

"Okay." Ashley got out of the car and walked to her door. She hoped that Stephanie and Nick hadn't done something that they are going to regret. It was weird to know that they were finally together, she thought that this was never going to happen. They were both shy with their feelings. Yet, she thought that it was great that they were finally together.

Chapter 4

The Next Morning at Nicks'

Stephanies' eyes slowly started to open. She awoke in Nicks arms and smiled at that. She slowly started to sit up, trying not to wake up Nick from his sleeping state. Stephanie smiled at him and walked over to the phone and dialed Ashley's phone number.

"Hello?" Came a sleepy voice.

"Ashley, it's me," Stephanie wishpered.

"Stephanie? Oh my god, what happened last night?"

"Well, me and Nick talked, and we both have feelings for each other and we went back to his place to be alone."
"Did anything happen?"

"No, we were moving in that direction, but I stopped him, I wasn't ready yet. You sound worried, did you think something was going to happen between me and him?"

"Yeah, actually I did. I mean you and him have been friends for so long and I guess that since you both felt the same way, something was going to happen. It's not like you two met last night for the first time. You've known each other for so long, I just thought, well, that you were going to do it with him."

"I'm not ready to. Ashley, you don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself. I'm not a little girl. Besides, like you said, me and Nick have known each other our whole lifes. Neither one of us are willing to risk it all for one night of passion."

"Good, I'm glad."

"I'm going to let you go. Nick is still sleeping, and I don't want to wake him up. Just yet anyway," she said and smiled.

"Okay, oh, tell Nick to call Brian. He was worried too."

"Alrighie, can do. Talk to you later, bye."

"Bye," she said and hung up the phone relieved that nothing happened. Stephanie walked over to the couch were Nick was still sleeping. She wondered if she should wake him up or not. Finally after ten minutes of debating about it in her head, she decided to wake him up.

"Nick," Stephanie said shaking him.

"WHAT?" Nick said startled, almost forgetting that last night happened. Almost forgetting that Stephanie had spent the night.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said looking at him.

"It's ok. It's just that I'm not used to having someone here to wake me up. I thought I was having a dream."

"Oh, but it's not a dream."

"Yeah I know, and I'm glad that you're really here."

"Me too. Brian wants you to call him. I called Ashley ten minutes ago and she said that he wanted to talk to you."

"Okay, but not now, 'cause I need to take a shower and get myself fully awake."

"Sure, but when are you going to take me home?"

"Never. I'm never going to let you go."

"Now why is that Mr.Carter?"

"Because I love you too much," Nick said and smiled at her and she returned his smile. Then she put her head on her chest and he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight.

"What about your shower?"

"It can wait. I'm with the woman of my dreams."

"So now I'm the woman of your dreams?"

"You always have been, I was just to blind to see that. Now that I know that, I'm never going to let you go. You mean to much to me."

"Awwwwww....." Stephanie said smiling, messing with Nick.

"Come on, I meant it. See, everytime we try to be serious with each other, one of us always messes it up."

"Yeah, thats the fun of it though, don't you think?"

"I guess so."

"You guess so?? You mean yes, my dear."

"Ok, yes. That is the fun of it."

"I'm glad that you see it my way."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Don't you think that I should be getting home so that no one worries about me."

"Do you have to?" Nick pouted.

"Yeah. I do."

"I don't want you to go yet."

"I don't want to leave either, but I have to."

"Can I ask you something?" Nick asked getting serious.

"Yeah," she answered, worried about what he was going to say.

"Can you move in with me. I want you here when I come home from touring with the guys. I want you here when I need someone to talk to, when I need a sholder to cry on. I need you here when I wake up in the morning, knowing that you are the person that I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life with. So, do you want to? You don't have to if you don't want to, but it would mean that we couldn't be together every second from the moment we wake up to the second we go to sleep. The choice is yours."

"Nick, wow, ummm," she said pausing to think, "I need sometime to think about it. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Nick said a little dissapointed forcing a smile.

"Look Nick," Stephanie said taking his hand with hers, "I love you, and I just want to think about this. It's not you. I've been lied to before and hurt and I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing. Nick, you'll probably going to get an answer by this afternoon. It's not like I don't know you and that I don't trust you, because I do. I trust you more than I trust anyone. You've always been my best friend. That means something. It really does. Nick, you are a great person and I love you, is it all right if I think about it and get back to you?"

"Yeah, of course. Don't think that I'm rushing you into doing this. If you don't want to, you don't have to. I'm not going to force you to do something that you don't want to do. You have to want it. It's just that I want every morning to be like this morning you know? Me waking up, with my arms around you, holding you. I want to share that with you. When you're ready tell me, I'll always be just a phone call away. Remember that."

"Nick, I love you," Stephanie said and kissed him.

"We better get you home so that you can think about it," Nick said and got up and walked towards the door.

"Suddenly you're in a hurry to get rid of me huh?"

"No, it's just the sooner you get home, the sooner you can think about it and the sooner I'll know if you are going to move in with me and make me the happiest person in the world," Nick said as the two of them walked out the door and to Nicks car.

Chapter 5

After Nick took Stephanie home, he went back to his house and called Brian to tell him everything that had happened to him and Stephanie.

"Man, I'm glad that I finally told her." Nick said smiling.

"Yeah, we all are! Now we don't have to listen to you go on and on about you being to afraid to tell you how feel. You did it and I'm happy for you man."

"Look, I'm sorry that I kept doing that. I just couldn't get her out of my mind. It was driving me crazy that my best friend, besides you, the person that I've known most of my life, was the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. It was almost impossible for me to hang out with her and not think about what it would be like to be with her. It was hard."

"Yeah I bet it was. Can I tell you something, but you have to promise not to get mad."

"Ok, what?"

"The whole time I knew that she felt the same way, I got talking to Ashley one day and I told her, and she was in shock because she knew that Stephanie felt the same way. She made me promise that I wouldn't say anything. So I didn't, now that you two are together, I figured I should tell you."

"WHAT??? You mean that I was going crazy thinking that she might not feel the same way and most of the time you knew that she felt the same way?!?! You could have atleast given me a hint!" Nick yelled.

"Look, Nick calm down. I did hint! When I told you that she probably felt the same way, come on, I practicly told you! I couldn't because I promised. You that I would have told you other wise."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry for yelling at you like that. It's just you knew, and oh man."

"Sorry about that," Brian said, "so do you have any plans for later?"

"Kind of, I'm waiting for Stephanie to call me back. I asked her to move in with me, and she said that she would call me this afternoon with her answer."

"Woah, you asked her to move in with you? Don't you think thats going a bit too fast?"

"No, I mean I knew her most of my life. It's not like I don't know her. Now that we are fianlly going out, I want her to be with me as much as she can be. I just think this is a good way for me and her to spend more time with each other."

"Well, good luck to ya then."

"Thanks man."

"Talk to you later."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." With that said, they both hung up the phone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*Back at Stephanies~*~*~*~*

Stephanie walked out of the bathroom from taking a shower and called Ashley to tell her about Nick asking her to move in with him.

"Hello?" Ashley said.

"Ashley it's me, Stephanie. I have to talk to you!"

"What?? What happened?? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nick asked me to move in with him."

"OH MY GOD!!! What did you say?"

"I told him that I had to think about it."

"Stephanie, what is there to think about? You are in love with this guy, this is great. Stephanie, you better tell him yes! If you don't I'm going to kill you! This is Nick, the guy that you have been telling me that you love and that you want to be with. This is your chance, go for it."

"For real, you think I should."

"Stephanie, are you kidding me? YES!!! Move in with him."

"Alright, I'm going to tell him yes. I'll call him in a few."

"Wow, I'm glad that you are finally with him. You guys look so cute together. You guys have always looked like you were a couple instead of friends. I'm glad that you guys are together, I'm happy for both of you."

"Thats really nice," Stephanie said smiling.

"Yeah, and I mean it. Look, I'm going to let you go, call Nick. Tell him that you are going to move in with him."

"Alright, talk to you later, bye."

"Bye." Stephanie hung up the phone and picked it back up and called Nick.

"Hello?" Nick said.

"Nick, it's me. I've decided."

"You sure? Have you thought it through? Whatever choice that you are going to make, are you sure that it's the right one."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Nick sat there in anticipation of Stephanie's answer, "well I've decided that now would be a good time for me to move in with you."

"Really??" Nick said with his happiness taking over.

"Yeah, I talked to Ashley and she was encouraging me to. She never tells me to do something that wouldn't be right. That and I had pretty much convinced myself that this was right. That I should move in with you."

"Alright, do you want to start moving your stuff today? I have no other plans and who knows how long I'm going to be here."

"Ok, I'll start getting my stuff together alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be over in a few."

"Ok, I love you."

"Love you too, bye."

"Bye." After Stephanie hung up the phone, she sighed. She had moved into the house that she currently lived in only a year ago. She had just moved out of her mothers house and was glad that she was finally on her own. She went to her closet and grabbed a bag and began to put her clothes in it.

As she walked around her room putting things into her bags, she came across an old photo album filled with pictures of her and Nick from when they were younger. Just as she was almost lost in all the memories that were in her mind, the door bell rang, it had to be Nick. She walked down the stairs and opened the door for Nick.

"Hi baby," Nick said.

"Hey, come look at what I found," Stephanie said.

"Okay," Nick said and followed Stephanie up to her room where the photo album was still on her bed.
"Check this out," Stephanie said and passed him the album and sat on the bed. As Nick flipped through the pages of the book, he smiled at the pictures and remembered all the things that Stephanie was just thinking about. Sitting next to her.

"Wow, I can't believe that you have all these pictures," Nick said.

"Yeah, I know. I'm the kind of person that keeps these kind of things."

"I can see that. What I can't see is why I didn't tell you sooner."

"Don't worry about that any more. We told each other. We are together now, and thats all that matters."

"Yeah, you're right. You got a lot of stuff packed already."

"Yeah. I guess something got the best of me. But what are we going to do about my furniture?"

"Well, I guess we could put it in storage or something. As you already may know, my house is full."

"Yeah. I guess."

"I mean if you want, you can take a few things if you want, you know, if you have something that means a lot to you."

"I don't really have any furniture that means a lot to me, so I guess we'll just put it in storage." Nick put his arm around Stephanie and said,
"This is going to be great."

"Yeah, it is." The two of them spent the rest of the day packing Stephanie's things. This was going to be a great experience for the both of them. Neither one of them could believe that they have come so far in such a short time. They went from being best friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. The only flaw that either one of them saw was the fact that Nick would always be away with the BackStreet Boys and she would never see him. When she it, his time home would be too short for either one of them.

"Okay, lets go," Nick said.

"Alright," Stephanie sighed.

"Whats wrong?"

"It's just this was my house, my chance to be independant. I'm going to miss it. I thought I would be here a while."

"Oh, are you having second thoughts about moving with me? If you are, tell me. I don't want you to do something you are going to regret."

"No, I want to move in with you. It's just a little bit odd. I mean we have always just been friends. Nothing more. Now this, I'm glad that it happened." Nick smiled.

"Well, we better get going."

"Yeah," Stephanie walked out of her room and shut off the lights for the last time and walked out to Nicks car.

Chapter 6

They soon reached Nicks house and Stephanie couldn't help but let out a sight as she looked at the place that she was now to start to call home.

"What's wrong Stef?" Nick asked.

"Nothing," she said forcing a smile, "I just can't believe that this is happening. I never thought that it would. I always thought that me and you were always just going to be friends, this is a lot to handle in one night."

"If you weren't ready to move in with me, you didn't have to. Even if you weren't sure, you shouldn't have said that you would. I would have understood. Do you think it's too late for you to go back?"

"Yeah, I already said that I was going to sell the house, they are putting it on the market as we speak."

"I guess than this is kind of a perminant move huh?" Nick said trying to make her feel better.

"I guess so," she said sighing again.

"Did I do or say anything that made you think that you had to move in with me? Because if I did, tell me now," he said seriously. She turned her stare to him, she was some-what shocked.

"No, Nick you didn't. This was my choise which I made out of free will and now I have to live with that choice. I know that it's the right one, I just kind of miss being independant, living alone. Thats all, I'll get used to this," she reached out to put her hand on his cheek, "I am going to get used to it, because I love you," she finished with a smile and he returned her smile.

"Well, I think we better go inside. Grab a bag of clothes, we'll bring in the rest of your stuff tommrrow ok."
"Yeah," she got out of the car and the chill of the night quickly surrounded her, "woah, it's chilly," she said.

"Come on, we'll go inside." She grabbed a bag and her and Nick walked inside the house.

"It feels different to be here now," Stephanie said and looked at Nick, to find that he was smiling at her.

"Why is that?"

"I guess because I've only hung-out here with you, now I'm living here with you. It's something that I'm going to have to get used to," she said and turned away from him.

"Look," he said as he came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "I love you. This will be great, stop acting so bitter and everything will be great," he whispered in her ear. "Don't argue with me, you know you are just saying everything because you're scared. Yes, you are scared, you don't want to give up what you had. Stephanie, I know how you are, just forget about it, be happy, here with me. In love," he whispered and smiled, "I know thats what you want." He was right, she was just coming up with excuses. She wanted to let herself fall in love with him. Stephanie was in love with him, she loved him with all of her heart, she was just too afraid to admit it. She didn't want to have to deal with losing him.

She let her head rest on his shoulder, to let him know that she wasn't going anywhere. That she was going to let herself love him.

"Nick, it's just that most people that I cared about, hurt me. I just didn't want to risk it again," she said pulling out of his arms to look at him.

"It's not going to happen again. I'm not most people, I'm not stupid enough to let you go," he said.

"I just......" Nick pulled Stephanie into a kiss to silence her. At first she was surprised at first, she wanted to pull away but thought about what Nick had said, so she let him kiss her. Nick started to walk Stephanie towards the bedroom. Once they reached the room, Nick layed Stephanie on the bed and continued to kiss her. She knew what was going to happen if she didn't stop him and she wasn't sure what to do.

"Nick," she said pulling away from him, "I know what was about to happen," she said and bit her lip, "and I'm scared."

You don't have to be scared, I would never do anything to hurt you. I love you. If you don't want anything to happen, than it doesn't have to, I'm not rushing you into anything that you don't want to."

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I'm really scared."

"You don't have to be scared, I would never do anything to hurt you," Nick said and than put his hand on her cheek and kissed her. She put her hands on his shoulders and soon the couple began to make love to each other. It was the first time that either had done so, and they knew that this was the beginning of something great.

Chapter 7

~*~The next morning~*~

Stephanie slowly began to wake up and she noticed that Nick was already awake and looking at her smiling.

"Hi," she said.

"Morning," he said to her.

"What time is it?"

"Nine o'clock." She began to sat up and she remembered last night. She was still a little surprised that she let it happen. Once they had finished making love, Nick had given her one of his shirts to sleep in.

"How'd you sleep?" Nick asked.

"Alright," she stood up from the bed, Nick following her every move with his eyes, she walked towards the door.

"Where you going?"

"Downstairs."

"Why?" he asked smiling at her.

"Because I am, you have a problem with that?" she said seriously.

"No," he said and then added, "are you ok?"

"Yeah," she said and walked out of the room. Nick got off of the bed and went after Stephanie because he knew that something was wrong.

"Baby, whats wrong?" he said and grabbed her arm she looked back at him, but he wasn't going to give up until he knew what was wrong.

"Last night Nick. It shouldn't have happened."

"Stephanie, I told you that if you weren't sure you shouldn't do it."

"I know, but I thought that it was the right time. You said to let myself fall in love, and I did, the thing is, I'm not sure if I made the right choice. I mean falling in love with you was right, I'm not sure about sleeping with you though."

"Look, I really don't know what to tell you. I mean I did tell you to tell me if you were ready or not. I would never have forced you and you know that. The only thing we can do is not do it again until you're sure that you're ready. I love you and as long as you live here with me, I will do anything to make sure that you are happy and comfortable. Ok?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said softly. Nick put his arms around her and pulled her close to him.

"You feel better now?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I just want to let you know that you can tell me anything. You always did, just because we live together and are dating doesn't mean we have to change that. I've always loved that about you. Ya know, the fact that you could always tell me what was on your mind and not worry about what I thought. You just said it to get your feelings out. Don't change that on me." Stephanie just looked at him and remained quiet. "Look, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to or anything you don't feel comfortable telling me. I'm sorry for anything I did that may have hurt you. You know that would not have done it intentally."

"I know," she said and started to cry into his shoulder.

"Don't cry," he whispered to her, "everything will be ok. I promise you that. I'm always going to be here for you. I'll always be there when you need me, I'll always take care of you. There is no force in this world that is great enough to take you away from me, or me from you." Nick took her head in his hands and looked at her then smiled. "You're really beautiful, even when you're crying."

"Nick, shut up," she said and smiled back at him.

"There is that beautiful smile of yours," Nick said, "Have I told you how much I love your smile?"

"No, but it would be nice to start. Don't you think?" she said feeling better about everything.

"Yeah," he said with a slight laugh, "Stef, I'm glad that your feeling better," he told her.

"Me too, now I have some stuff that would like to get moved into here! Would you like to help me or do I have to do it all myself?"

"I'll help you, but I think it would be nice to get some more clothes on don't you think?"

"I guess so," Stephanie said and laughed and watched Nick go back to the bedroom to get dressed. He still wasn't totally sure if she was okay. He thought that she could be hiding how she really felt, but he knew that he had to trust her to come to him with any problems, he didn't want to force her to talk to him. After a few minutes Nick was dressed and he went downstairs to get Stephanie. When he got down to the kitchen, she was sitting at the table looking out the window, totally dazed. Nick slowly and quietly walked up behind Stephanie and put his hand on her shoulder causing her to jump.

Oh my god, you scared me!" Stephanie yelled.

"Yeah, that was the point," Nick said laughing.

"Shut up! I'm going to get dressed, I'll meet you outside," she said with a huge smile on her face. He watched as she went upstairs. Nick shook his head and laughed again then went out to his car where Stephanies stuff was. He began to unload her stuff and after a few minutes, Stephanie stepped out of the frount door and went to help Nick. She walked over to the car and looked at Nick.

"What?" he said noticing that she was staring at him.

"Nothing," she said smiling.

"That smile on your face says it's something."

"What smile?"

"You're getting to be just as bad as me."

"Sad isn't it?" Nick looked at her and shook his head and went back to getting her stuff out of the car. "Well, are you going to help me or what?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna watch you."

"Come on, this is your crap."

"First of all, it's not crap! Second of all, your supposed to be the man, am I right? So that means you can do this all by yourself."

"Now I know you're up to something. You hate it when guys do stuff like that, especially me."

"Yeah I know, I just needed an excuse." Nick smiled at her as he got the last of her stuff out of his car.

"Can you atleast help me get this stuff inside?"

"Maybe, if you ask me nicely."

"Pwease?" he said making a pouty face. She laughed.

"Now who can say 'no' to you when you do that?" she commented as she picked up a couple of bags.

"Haven't met anyone yet," Nick said as he grinned at Stephanie. She couldn't help but smile at him. She was glad that their friendship hadn't changed because of their newly formed romatic relationship and also by the fact that last night they expressed their love for one another physically. She still wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do, but it happened and she was glad that it happened with Nick if it had to happen with anyone. She really loved him and he really loved her. Neither of them knew just what this relationship had in store for both of them.

Chapter 8

~*~*~*~Later the same day*~*~*~*~
Nick and Stephanie sat there watching tv, nothing in particular, just anything that they happened to flip onto. Stephanie was still getting used to the fact that she was living here now and not just hanging out with her best friend which was a feeling that she was used to. Her mind began to wonder about what was going to happen when Nick went back on tour, she would be here all alone with no one. That was the part that she always hated the most, saying good-bye. Then suddenly, the phone rang. It must have startled her because the next thing she knew Nick was saying,

"Don't worry, it's only the phone." She watched as Nick walked over to get the phone. "Hello?" he answered.

"Nick, it's Brian. How are things going?"

"Great."

"How has Stef been? I'm pretty sure that this is something that she is going to have to get used to."

"She's fine," he said and walked out of the livingroom, leaving Stephanie in the silence that had just fallen over the room, though she didn't seem to notice, she was still lost in her thoughts.

"How's she ajusting to the change?"

"She handling it pretty well. I expected her to put up more of a fight as we were leaving her house. She has expressed how she felt, but she also said that she's going to be fine here."

"Just watch her. Oh yeah, we have to head out soon."

"What?" Nick said confussed.

"The tour remember? We leave in a few days."

"Your kidding me."

"No man, I'm not. I think you should tell her now instead of waiting until the day we leave like you usually do."

"Yeah I know. It's not as easy to hide now that she lives with me."

"So how was your first night sharing your house?"

"It was alright," Nick said thinking about the fact that he had to leave soon and how was he going to tell Stephanie.

"So it went well?"

"Yeah," Nick said still preoccupied by the fact that he had to leave soon.

"Anything interesting happen?" Brian said trying to liven up the conversation,.

"No, not really."

"You seem to have something on your mind. Whats wrong?"

"Just thinking about how I'm gonna tell Stef that we're leaving."

"Oh, then I'll let you go talk to her. Thats the best thing to do."

"Alright, talk to you later."

"Bye."

"Bye." Nick hung up the phone and went back to the livingroom where Stephanie was sitting. How was he going to tell her that he was leaving? Maybe she would come with him. He wasn't sure, he just knew that he had to ask her.

"Stef, baby," Nick said taking her hand in his, "that was Brian. He called to remind me that we are heading out soon."

"How soon?" She asked.

"In a few days."

"WHAT?"

"Stephanie, I totally forgot or I would have waited to ask you to move in. You know I wouldn't do that to you."

"Well Nick, you just did it to me. How could you forget something like that? How do you forget that you are leaving for months!? Thats something that would stick out in my mind," she yelled, obviously pissed off.

"Look," he said calmly, "I never would have done this, ask you to move in, when I was about to go on tour, I totally forgot about it. You were going to have to get used to it anyway. I love you, and there will be nothing that will stop me from loving you. This will work out, if thats what you're worried about. I don't give up easily on someone I love. Especially you."

"Nick, I'm sorry," she said not really knowing why she got so mad at him.

"Don't be sorry. If I was in your place, I might have acted the sameway. I mean that person asks you to move in with them, and then they leave. I'm the one thats sorry. I should have remembered that."
"It's ok. I'll be fine. You know that, I'm always great when you leave."

"Yeah, but we've never been dating before. You know what, why don't you come out with us? I mean that way we could stay together, and not have to miss each other."

"Nick, I don't know. I've never gone out with you guys. I wouldn't want to be in the way."

You wouldn't be in the way. The other guys have people come along with them all the time. I'm sure they would be glad to have you come along."

"I don't really know."

"Look, I'm not forcing you to go. If you want to, thats great, but if you don't want to, thats great too."

"I just need to think about it."

"Alright, let me know as soon as possible so I can give the guys a heads up if you're going."

"Sure." Just than, the phone rang, Nick smiled and then went to get it.

"Hello?"

"Hi! It's Ashley. Is Stephanie there?"

Yeah, right here," he said and passed the phone to Stephanie. She mouthed, 'who is it?' he responded with 'Ashley.'

"Hey!" Stephanie answered.

"Hey how have you been?"

"Great."

"So, not to sound up frount or anything, but how was your first night in your new home with the love of your love?" Stephanie got up and went to the kitchen, so that she could talk to Ashley and not have to worry about if Nick was listening or not.

"I really don't know. I mean I love being here, but last night something happened that shouldn't have."

"What a second, are you trying to tell me that you slept with him?"

"Yeah."

"Stephanie, I thought that you knew better! You said that you were going to wait until you got married, like me."

"Yeah, I know that. It just kind of happened. I mean I love him and I'm sure we're going to be together, but I still have doubts about what I did."

"Well you did it. There is no way to take it back. The thing is now, Nick is going to think that he can get you in bed anytime that he wants to."

"No, I told him that last night was something that I wasn't sure should have happened. He said that he wouldn't force me into doing anything that I don't want to. He also wants me to come out on tour with him."

"I don't know Stef. I mean Nick is a great guy, but this all seems a little unreal."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean come on, he acts like a perfect guy. There is no such thing. I just think he has something else on his mind other than love."

"Nicks not like that. I know he's not. You're just jealious that I found someone that loves me as much as I love him."

"Stephanie I didn't mean it like that, and I'm not jealious. If anything, I'm happy for you. You found the person that will love and respect you, I'm just telling you to watch yourself."

"I'm fine and I will be fine. I have to go. Nick has to tell me how long the tour is so I know what to bring."

"YOU'RE GONNA GO?"

"Yeah, bye."

"Stef, I think that you're making a mistake."

"I don't think so. Talk to you later. Bye," Stephanie said hanging up the phone not even letting her say good-bye. She didn't know why Ashley was acting like that, she thought that her best friend would be happy for her. Stephanie then went to the livingroom to find Nick half asleep on the couch.

"Nick," she said.

"Hum,"

"Do you still want me to go on tour with you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I thought about it, and I would love to go with you." Nick smiled at her because he was happy that his girlfriend was going out on tour with him.

"Thats great! I gotta call the guys and tell them that you're going."

"Ok," she said as she watched Nick go out to the kitchen and tell the guys that she was going out with them.

Chapter 9

~*~*~*~A few days later*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You ready to go?" Nick asked Stephanie. He was still a little amazed that she was going to go on tour with him. She always wanted to stay at home and do her own thing, but he was happy that she was coming.

"Yeah," she said grabbing her bag and smiling.

"I'm still amazed that you're going."

"Don't be. I am going to do things that are going to surprise you."

"Really? What kind of things?" he asked smiling.

"Now if I told you, they wouldn't be surprises, now would they?"

"I guess not."

"Nope."

"Lets go, the guys are going to be here any second."

"Ok." Just as the two of them went downstairs, the door bell rang, and they both knew that it was them. Nick went to get it.

"Hey, lets go," Brian said. It was still very early and they were all still tired and they wanted to get on the bus as soon as possible so maybe they could get some more sleep. Nick than motioned for Stephanie to come. She grabbed her bag and walked over to them.

"How you doing?" Brian said to her.

"Great, but do you guys always leave this early?"

"Yeah, we do."

"Oh great," she said jokingly.

"You'll get used to it. Come on, lets go, we have to get a move on," Brian said. The three of them walked out to the bus which was waiting for them. They borded to find that the other guys were already wating for them.

"I didn't think that Stephanie was actually going to come! I thought they were just messin with us," AJ said.

"Well good morning to you too!" Stephanie sarcastly replied.

"I take it you're not a morning person."

"Do I look like a morning person?"

"Hey, you don't have to bite my head off geez."

"Ok quit it, you've only been on the bus for like two minutes and already you're fighting with someone," Howie said.

"What, you're picking on me too? How lucky can I get?"

"Extremely," Nick said.

"So am I to understand that I am going to be picked on the whole time?"

"Yep, it's usually me that gets picked on, but I decided that I would share that wonderful experience with you."

"Gee, don't I feel special. Is it too late for me to change my mind?" just as she finished the question, the bus took motion and began its trip.

"Yep. Looks like it is," Nick said and smiled at her.

"Just don't be too cruel!" She said giving in.

"I can't promise that," Nick said.

"Shut up!" she said and smacked his shoulder lightly.

~*~*~*~*~*~3 weeks later*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Welcome to New York, babe," Nick said to Stephanie as they went into the hotel room that they would be staying in for the next week or so.

"Since we're here, I want to go out and see the sites. I've never been here before," she said to him.

"Sure, but you're going to have to go alone. I can't go outside without causing a major riot and being asked for an autograph."

"It's not gonna be the same with out you!"

"Yeah, nothing is the same with out me!"

"I'm still not feeling too good."

"Whats wrong? Your stomach still hurts?"

"Yeah, I have no clue why."

"You should see a doctor or something. Don't just
leave it, there could be a real problem or something."

"I'll do that."

"Good, I don't want anything to happen to you." Nick smiled and kissed her on the cheek. She went to lay on the bed for a while, maybe if she got some rest she would feel better. Life on the road with the guys was a lot of work. She hadn't expected it to be so hard on her. Then recently, she was experiencing a lot of stoamach pains. She had been getting very sick and spending a lot of time in the bathroom throwing up. Just as Stephanie began to fall asleep, someone knocked at the door.

"I'll get it, it might be a fan," Nick said looking at Stephanie. He walked over to the door and opened it. There stood Brian and his wife, Leighanne.

"Hey guys, come on in," Nick said.

"Hey Stef, how you feeling?" Brian asked.

"Like crap still, but other than that, I'm fine," she said and smiled.

"I told her to go see a doctor and see whats wrong," Nick said.

"If you want, I'll go with you," Leighanne offered.

"Yeah, thats a good idea," Stephanie said and smiled at her kindness.

"Want to go now and get it over with?"

"Sure why not? The sooner they find out whats wrong with me, the sooner I can do something to help myself get better," Stephanie said getting up from the bed.

"Lets go," Leighanne said. The two girls walked out of the room and out to get a ride to the hospital.

Chapter 10

The two girls sat in the waiting room waiting for someone to see Stephanie. They had been there for twenty minutes already, Stephanie had filled out some forms and still waited.

"What do you think is wrong with me?" Stephanie asked Leighanne.

"I don't know. It could be anything. It's probably just a stomach virus thats all. We'll see when a doctor decides that they want to see you now won't we?"

"Yeah, I just wish that I could get this over with already."

"If nothing happens soon, I'm going to see whats taking so long."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know, but what if there was a real emergency with you and they had you here wating for what seems like forever and what you have is just getting worse and worse. They should have more doctors here or something."

"Well thank you for the wonderful thoughts."

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's ok," Stephanie said.

"Is there someone here named Stephanie, experiencing stomach pains?"

"Well, thats me," Stephanie said to Leighanne, "Thats me."

"Alright, come right this way." Stephanie was directed to a room where she would told to wait. Hopefully it would be nothing and she could go back to the hotel and relax.

"Good afternoon," the doctor said as she entered the room, "So whats the problem?"

"I've been having a lot of stomach pains, and I've been throwing up."

"How long have you felt like this?"

"A few days thats all." The questioning went on for a few more minutes and the doctor seemed to have a pretty good idea as to what was wrong with her. The doctor told her that she would run a few tests and call her in an hour or two.

~**~Half an hour later*~~*

"I wonder whats taking so long?" Nick asked.

"Maybe they went shopping," AJ joked.

"Yeah, right. No store would want Stephanie, she would puke all over everything," Nick pointed out.

"Besides, Leighanne would have called if they were going to do something else," Brian added, "she did go with her."

Then they heard a knock at the door. Nick went to get it. Stephanie and Leighanne were there.

"Forgot the keys," Stephanie said and everyone laughed.

"So, did they figure out whats wrong?" Nick asked.

"No, they said that they were going to run a few 'tests' and they would get back to me."

"What kind of tests?" Nick asked trying to get any idea as to what was wrong with her.

"I have no clue."

''Well that was real smart of you!" AJ joked, "Did you give them the number to your home in Florida? Or the one here where they were actually going to find you?"

"Oh shut the hell up! You can be so mean sometimes!"

"I was just kidding!"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Did they say how long it would take?" Brian interuped.

"Yeah, about an hour or two."

"We have to get going," Brian said, "we have a show to do!"

"Tell us what happens," Nick told Stephanie.

"Not like I had a choice, you were going to force it out of me anyway."

"Yeah, you're right."

"See you girls later," Brian said as they got up to leave.

"Well atleast its going to be quiet," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, hey, I'm gonna get Amanda and Kristen to hang out here with us ok?"

"Sure," Stephanie said and smiled. Leighanne got up and quickly returned with the other girls who had joined them a little later. Stephanie was the only one that had left with them in the beginning. The others just met up with them in New York.

"I hear you've been sick, how you feeling now?" Amanda asked.

"Alright, but I could be better," Stephanie reponded.

"So do you know whats up yet or not?"

"I'm expecting a phone call that will tell me whats wrong."

"Lets talk about something else cause she gonna be fine, that and she probably sick of talking about it," they laughed.

~*~*~*~An hour later*~*~*~*

"Oh yeah! I remember that!" Stephanie said laughing as they talked about a lot of their old memories they had of the guys and themselves.

"I still can't believe that I went through with that!" Leighanne laughed. Then the phone rang breaking up all their laughter.

"Hello?" Stephanie answered, "This is she." The other girls looked on knowing that it was probably the doctor calling. "Are you sure?" Stephanie said in shock, "There hasn't been any mix up or anything?" The girls looked at her, knowing that whatever it was, it was serious. "Alright thank you."

"Whats wrong?" Leighanne asked.

"It can't be right! There must have been a mistake."

~*~*~*~Meanwhile*~*~*~*~

"You think Stephanie heard from the doctor yet?" Nick asked.

"Maybe," Brian said, "but we don't have time for you to call her and see if thats what you want. I'm sure that she's fine and everything is great. You'll know whats up when we get back to the hotel after the show."

''Alright."

"It's show time!" the stage manager yelled, Nick and Brian joined the rest of the guys and began the show.

Chapter 11

~*~*~Later that night~*~*~*

"Hey, that was a great show!" AJ said to Nick as he headed out the door.

"Yeah, yeah," Nick yelled back, not really knowing what he had said. He wanted to get back to the hotel and make sure that Stephanie was ok.

~*~*~*~*~*20 minutes later~*~*~*~*~

Nick finally reached the hotel. He wanted to make sure that everything was great with Stephanie and that she was going to be okay. He soon reached his room to find Stephanie mindlessly looking out the window.

"Hey," he said to her and smiled at her.

"Nick, we need to talk," Stephanie said, seriously.

"Whats wrong?" Nick said getting a little worried that something was majorly wrong with her.

"I got a call from the doctor. Nick, I don't know how to say this other than just to come right out with it. I'm pregnant."

"WHAT? Are you sure?" Nick said stunned.

"That was my reaction. I asked her if there was any mix ups, there wasn't. Nick, we're gonna have a baby."

"But it only happened one time."

"All it takes is one time."

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know really. This was excatly what I was afraid of. I'm not ready to have a baby, I'm not ready to be a mother and I don't think you're ready to be a father. You're never home, and I can't take a baby out on tour like this, there is no telling the effects that it will have."

"Look, don't worry, we will work something out."

"Nick, I don't think we will. I mean this will be too hard."

"You don't think I'm going to let a little hard work get in the way do you?"

"Look, I just think that since you are in the BackStreet Boys and everything, that you might not be able to be in this babies life. I just don't know anymore."

"Stef, look," Nick said pulling her into a hug, "I love you and I know that we will work something out."

"Nick, maybe we shouldn't see each other any more," she said pulling out of his arms.

"Why? Because your afraid that this might actually work out?" Nick said rasing his voice, "Are you always going to run from good things. I'm in love with you and I'm not going to let you go that easily and if you think I will, then your wrong. There is no way that I'm going to let you go especially if you're going to have my baby."

"Nick...."

"No, let me finish," he interupted, "Do you know how many guys would have let you leave once they found out that you were pregnant? Lots. Stephanie, you know that I'm not most guys. I want to have this baby in my life. And you know what I think? I think that you planned this, you thought that I was going to let you go, but you know what, I'm not. I'm never going to let you go, you know that I have a right to be in this babies life and I want to be. I also want to be in your life. I love you. Nothing will ever change that." Stephanie looked at Nick and started to cry. Nick walked over to her and pulled her back into the hug that she ran away from earilier.

"Don't cry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to hurt you, but you hurt me. Stef, you wanted to leave my life and take my child with you, I would have been so crushed if you left. I love you with all my heart. Just promise me that you aren't going to leave me."

"I promise," she said through her tears.

"Good," he said pulling her tight, "I just don't want to lose you or this baby."

"Nick, I'm just really scared."

"You don't have to be scared. I'm going to be there for you. I'm not going anywhere, you don't have to worry. Everything will work out, it will all be great trust me."

Chapter 12

~*~*~*~*~The next day*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I wonder where Nick is," Brian said, "he should have been here twenty minutes ago."

"Who knows? But I think it has something to do with Stephanie," AJ said.

"Yeah, that might be it. Maybe it was with the test results. I wonder what happened."

"They'll be fine. We just got to wait and see what happened when this kid comes in." About 20 minutes later Nick showed up looking tired and preoccupied.

"Hey man whats wrong?" Brian asked Nick.

"Nothing," he said not wanting to talk about the night before.

"It's something, you look it."

"Where's the guys?"

"They took off, they'll be back in a little."

"Ok."

"You still haven't told me whats wrong."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Is it about Stephanie? Is she ok?"

"If I tell you, you can't say anything to anyone until me and her sort things out ok?" Nick said real serious.

"Yeah, I promise."

"Well," Nick said looking around to make sure that no one was around, "she's pregnant."

"She's what?" he said shocked.

"Pregnant, but you can't say anything. We aren't sure what were going to do yet so we want to keep it to our selfs until we figure something out."

"Yeah, I won't say anything. But you will have to eventually."

"I know. But I don't think the right time is now."

"Look, just go back with Stephanie, she needs you there. I'll just tell the guys that you won't be able to make it. You need to be with her."

"Ok, thanks, I'll see ya."

"Yeah, bye."

~*~*~*~*~Back at the hotel*~*~*~*~*~*~

Stephanie was sitting at the window seat when she heard someone at the door, starteled, she jumped up to look at the door and watched as Nick stuck his head in the door.

"Hi, and sorry if I scared you," he said noticing the look on her face.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Brian sent me back, he said that I needed to be here."

"Did you tell him?"

"Yeah, but he promised that he wouldn't say anything."

"Oh ok."

"So how you feeling?"

"Better, I mean at least now I know whats wrong with me."

"Thats good."

"Nick, I'm still a little worried about this whole thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after the baby is born. How are you going to be around to father this child? I don't want to have to take care of the baby all by myself."

"You won't be taking care of it alone. I'll be there."

"No you're not. I know how much being in this group means to you and there is no way that you are going to leave it and I won't ask you to. If you think about it, you are still going to be touring and going all over the world with your music and won't be there. You won't be there for a lot of things, like when the baby learns to walk or anything. You'll be to busy with all of this. I don't think I'll be able to take care of the baby on my own, I'll need you there."

"Stef I'll be there, why do you keep doubting that?"

"Because I know you. I know you want to be in this babys life. You're the kind of guy that will love this child no matter how hard things get, but I also know that you're the kind of guy that really loves his music. You won't give that up, and I'm not going to ask you to because I know thats what makes you happy and that you've worked hard for it. Because of that, I know you won't always be there when I need you."

"But I'll always be only a phone call away."

"Thats just not the same. What if I need you to hold me and tell me that everything will be ok? You can't do that through the phone. You can't wipe my tears away and make me feel better with a phone call. There is no way that you can take away the lonely-ness that our home will hold with out you with a simple phone call. Nick, you can't be there for your child through the phone and you know that."

"Is that how you really feel?"

"Yes, Nick, it is."

"I had no idea thats how you felt."

"Well thats how I feel. Nick I don't want things to get really bad between us. I love you, I really do it's just I don't want this baby to grow up with out its father."

"It won't. I love you and this baby. I know that it's going to be hard dealing with the fact that I'm going to be on the road, but no matter how far away I am, I will still love you and the baby. Stephanie, what I'll do is take off time from this so that I can stay with the baby and you until a point when I feel I could go back out."

"Nick, you do know that you'll practicly be giving up your life." Nick just stood there and looked at her, he knew that she was right, but that didn't matter to him.

"Yes, I know that, but I'll have a family that will love me almost as much as I love them."

"Thank you," Stephanie she said and smiled.

Chapter 13

~*~*~*~*~The next day*~*~*~*~*~

"Guys, I have to quit after this tour," Nick said in the middle of a conversation between Brian and AJ that he wasn't really pay any attention to.

"Quit what?" AJ asked a little confussed.

"The group."

"WHAT?" AJ said shocked, "why?"

"I don't want to talk about it, I just have to," Nick said. All the guys just sat there. None of them knew what to say. This was a total shock to all of them.

"Nick whats the problem?" Kevin asked.

"I can't talk about it. I don't want to talk about it."

"You're going to have to tell us sometime," AJ said. Nick knew that he was right. Eventually they would figure it out or Brian would tell them. He figured that he may as well tell them now so that he would atleast have the support of his closest friends.

"It's about Stephanie," Nick said then paused to think about how to say it, "when the test came back it said that she was....." Nick said his voice trailing off.

"Was what? Whats wrong with her?" AJ asked.

"Well, she's pregnant."

"WHAT???" they all yelled at once except for Brian who already knew what was going on between Stephanie and Nick.

"Yeah I know, that was pretty much my reaction too," Nick said.

"Wow, that wasn't excatly what I expected," Howie said.

"That wasn't what any of us expected," AJ said.

"I just think that I need to take some time off of the group so that I can be there for her," Nick said.

"Yeah, thats the best thing you could do," Kevin said.

"This is going to be hard," Brian said.

"I know that. Thats why I figured that I had to quit this, atleast for a little while anyway. I don't know what else to do," Nick said.

"You're doing the right thing. Atleast you have friends and family that will help you. You have told your family, right?" Brian asked.

"No..." Nick said.

"You haven't told anyone yet have you?" AJ asked.

"No, not really."

"Geez man, you have to tell your family. You're really messed up about this whole thing," AJ commented.

"Look, I never had to go through this before!" Nick shouted.

"Woah man, you don't have to get all ticked off about it," AJ said, "maybe you should go somewhere until that attitude of yours goes away."

"Fine then," Nick said and stormed out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~Later that day*~*~*~*~

Stephanie sat looking out the window wondering about her future. Nick was the love of her life and she was sure that he would do his best at being a father, but still there was something about this situation that was bothering her. Just then she heard the door open and looked over to see Nick, unhappy.

"Hey baby whats wrong?" Stephanie asked.

"Nothing," he said and forced a smile.

"It doesn't look like nothing."

"I was just thinking about our future."

"Is thats what making you so unhappy?"

"I'm not unhappy."

"You look it."

"I was just thinking about how fast everything that we've known for so long as changed. I mean we went from friends to lovers to soon-to-be parents. I don't know if I can deal with this."

"Nick, just think the way I am. 'You're not the only one going through this.' I have to deal with this just as much as you do maybe more because I am the one carring the baby. I am the one giving birth to this baby. You just have to deal with the change that birth brings, I have to deal with the birth."

"Maybe you should head home now, you know so that you don't have to travel pregnant."

"No, I'll be fine. It's still in the early stages. I mean I've been travling already. It hasn't affected it. Besides, I want to be with you. I need you, there is no way that I can deal with this alone."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked only trying to do the right thing. He didn't want anything to happen to Stephanie or the baby.

"Yes, but Nick, you should stay in the group. I know how much that means to you, don't give that up. I love to watch you preform because I know that makes you happy. Just promise me that you won't leave the group."

"Stephanie....."

"Nick, I know that you want to be there, and I'm lucky to have a guy like you," she said and smiled, "but promise me that you'll keep this group in your life."

"I promise."

"Thank you."

Chapter 14

~*~*~*One Month Later~*~*~*~

"Nick have you told your parents yet?" Stephanie asked while walking behind him into yet another hotelroom. She was just slightly more than a month pregnant and she was beginning to get a little mad at him, he was supposed to tell his parents right after she did. Her experience with her parents wasn't exactly the best. They were pissed at her because she was young and had a promising furture but her parents felt that by getting pregnant she runined that.

"No," he said dropping his bag on the bed.

"God Nick, you said that you were going to tell them right after I told mine. Well I told them, they got pissed at me and now its your turn."

"It's not that easy."

"Whats not easy about it? All you have to tell them is you fucked me and got me pregnant. Then it will be all over with. You would have told them."

"Stephanie, its not that easy."

"Yes, it is."

"Look, you don't know my mom as well as I do. She is going to totally freak. I just haven't found the right time to them yet, but I will tell them. Trust me."

"It better be soon," Stephanie said, "because I am running out of patience."

~*~*~*~*Later that day~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey Nick," Brian said as he walked to Nick who was sitting on the couch located in the relax area of the venue.

"Hey," Nick said, his mind a little pre-occupied.

"Whats wrong?"

"I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to tell my parents that shes pregnant, they don't even know that were dating."

"Well start off simple. Tell them that you and her have been seeing each other, I'm sure they've heard the rumors that you are dating a girl that fits Stephanies profile and probably already assumed that you are seeing her. But they don't know that she's pregnant. Thats something we've kept pretty quiet. Why don't you just pick up the phone and tell them now." Nick just sat there looking at Brian.

"Man, my mom is going to freak."

"Look, you've put it off long enough. The longer you wait, the mader shes gonna be. If you had told them when you first found out, maybe they would have been supportive, no wait, I know they would have been supportive. They are your parents, you have to tell them, you just can't go around with a baby and not tell them. So get off your butt and call them."

Nick took a deep breath and walked over to the phone and picked it up. He looked around and saw Brian watching, and waved him away. Once Brian had left he dialed his moms number.

"Hello?" his mom said.

"Hi mom! It's Nick."

"Nick, hi how are you?"

"I'm alright, how have things been going with you?"

"Same old, same old," his mom said and laughed, "I just want to ask you something though."

"Sure, what?" Nick asked, knowing that it was going to be about Stephanie.

"I know that this is probably not true, but everywhere I go, there are these rumors. Rumors about you and that dear girl Stephanie are seeing each other, I just want to let you know that this is what people are saying."

"Mom, me and Stephanie have been seeing each other."

"What?"

"Yeah, I kinda have this thing for her. I really care about her."

"Well thats nice. How has seen been anyway?"

"Great," Nick said, its now or never he thought to himself, "Are you sitting down mom?"

"No, why?"

"You might want to sit down for this."

"For what?" his mom asked taking a seat on the couch.

"Well, this is about Stephanie."

"Yeah."

"She's pregnant."

"WHAT?" his mom yelled.

"Yeah, thats how I thought you would react."

"Is it yours?"

"Mom, of course its mine. I've been seeing her for about two months."

"How far along is she?"

"A little more than a month."

"Oh god Nick. How could this have happened."

"Well I love her, she moved in with me and one thing lead to another and now she's pregnant."

"Nick, thats so not like you. I don't think you should see this girl anymore. She is a bad influence and I don't want you around people like that."

"WHAT?" Nick shouted, "First of all, I love her, and second of all I am twenty one years old and I can date whoever I want to."

"Don't raise your voice to me!"

"Your the one telling me who I can and can not date! Like I said, I am twenty one years old and I am totally capable of dating a well adjusted woman. Stephanie is a great girl. It's too bad that you can't see that."

"Obviously not if you went out and got her pregnant."

"You know what, I don't have to listen to this. Just so you know, I was the one that made the first move, not her. She was the one that was worring that this might happen. So don't blame her for any of this," Nick said and hung up. Nick was pissed, he knew that this was how his mother was going to take it, then blame everything on him and Stephanie.

"Hey we gotta get ready to go on," Brian said sticking his head in the door.

"Yeah ok," Nick said dropping on the couch.

"How did it go?"

"How do you think it went? My mom always does this. Everytime something happens its my fault."

''Well Nick," Brian said walking into the room, "I mean you are the one that got her pregnant."

"Yeah I know, but I mean my mother thinks its her fault, she thinks that some how some way Stephanie had a bad influence on me and thats why this happened."

"If anyone was the bad influence, it was you to her," Brian joked, and Nick laughed, "But seriously, you have a lot of responsibility to take on now."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I can hardly take care of myself," Nick laughed, "Now I have to help take care of another living person. This is really hard."

"Of course its hard. Its going to be hard for a while. This is something that you can't run away from no matter how scared you are. Just remember that me and the guys are here for you. It might be a while before your mom gets used to the idea."

"She's never going to get used to it. I'm too young to be a father. I know that and she knows that."
"Nick, we all know that, but you are going to be a father weather you like it or not because there is no way to change this. Now come on, we gotta get ready the show starts soon."

"Yeah alright."

"We're all here for you man," Brian said as he left the room. Nick leaned into the back of the couch and sighed. The realization of how hard this was actually going to be had hit him. There was no way that he was going to be able to be a good father, he was too young, inexperienced. He didn't know the first thing about taking care of a baby.

"Nick," Kevin said sticking his head in the door, "come on, we go on any minute, you need to get ready."

"Yeah," Nick said shaking his head. Kevin was about to ask what was wrong, but realized that he had no time to, so he just left, knowing that Nick would do the right thing no matter what the problem was.

Chapter 15

~*~* Later that Night*~*~

As Nick walked into the hotel room that he and Stephanie shared, he saw he crying on the bed and thats when his heart totally sank. He hated to see her like this. He knew that this was killing her. She didn't want to be pregnant, and he understood why. The responsibilty of being a father wasn't something that he was ready for, but at least they were going through it together and had each others shoulders to cry on.

"Stephanie, whats wrong?" Nick said sitting next to her on the bed.

"I'm scared. Really scared. I can't help it. This isn't right."

"I'm scared too, but we have to be strong."

"Nick, I can't help it, all I've been doing all day is cry. I called Ashley eariler and she wants to help. I was talking to her and she agreed to let me stay with her until you get off tour. I don't want to be here anymore. I just want to be where I'm comfortable. I want to be home."

"Baby, I want you to stay with me."

"I don't want to stay here any more. I want to be back home with my friends, I don't know about my family, but I know my friends care. I don't think that coming out with you was the best idea."

"There was no way we could have known that you were pregnant."

"Yeah, but now that we know that I am, maybe it would be better if I went back home. It'll be healthier for me and the baby."

"Stef, I don't want you to go," Nick said with hurt in his eyes.

"I think it would be the best," she said trying to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She really wanted to stay with him, but she was worried about her health and she wasn't sure what kind of effect that this was going to have on the baby.

"Just stay until the tour is over, please. Baby come on. You'll be fine. I won't to be there and I can't if you leave," Nick said trying whatever he could to get her to stay, he was going to go insane if she left. He would constantly be worring about her he wasn't sure if that was going to get in the way of his performance.

"Nick, I don't know."

"Please," he said his eyes pleading with hers.

"Alright," she said giving in. She didn't want to leave in the first place, she just thought that it would be for the best, but maybe having him around would make her feel better. Just as she finished her thoughts, Nick leaded over and lightly kissed her on her cheek and whispered "I love you." Stephanie smiled, she was glad to know that Nick cared about her. In a strange way it made her feel a lot better.

~*~*~*~* 2 months later~*~*~*~*

"Man, am I glad that tonight is the last night of the tour," Nick said looking at Stephanie that had been by his side almost all the time since the night that they had decided on her staying with him.

"Yeah, we get to go home tommrrow," Stephanie said.

"Finally," Nick said smiling.

"I want to go home already. I miss it."

"Yeah, we need to start getting ready for the baby."

"Has your mom calmed down about the whole thing yet?" Stephanie asked knowing what had happened between him and his mother.

"No, she is still pissed. She doesn't think that we should be having a baby."

"Like we wanted this? It just happened."

"Yeah I know, but she doesn't seem to realize that."

"I think we are going to be fine Nick."

"Do you think we are going to be able to take care of a baby?"

"Nicky, yes. We are both very dedicated people. That, and we love each other. I think we can do anything."

"I just wish my mom thought differently about it."

"I know how you feel. My parents weren't excatly thrilled. We still have our friends. Mine are willing to help me out. I know that yours are too. These guys are gonna stick by us. They are great friends."

"Yeah..." Nick said not to sure what to think.

"Don't worry. Things are going to work out."

"I love you," Nick said hugging her.

"I love you too."

"Nick, come on," Howie said, "We gotta show to do!!"

"Yeah, yeah," Nick said to him, "See ya after the show! Then we go home!," he said to Stephanie and kissed her on the cheek.

*~*~*~*~*The next morning~*~*~*~*~*~

"Stephanie, wake up," Nick said shaking her. She slowly sat up and saw that the bus had stopped right outside their house.

"Yeah ok," she said streching. She looked outside again, happy to once again see all the things that had become familiar as Nicks home. She missed it, she missed being able to be in the same place everyday. Nick got up and began to leave the bus, Stephanie grabbed her stuff and began after him.

"Welcome home!" he said smiling, glad to finally be able to utter those words. Home was something that Nick really hadn't known since the group and now with Stephanie being pregnant, he would probably be there a lot more than he was used to. He was going to have a family to take care of, a life outside the BackStreet Boys. That was a new concept for him. His life was all about the BackStreet Boys, yeah he had Stephanie as a friend inbetween tours and everything, but BackStreet was still his whole life, he had never known anything else.

Chapter 16

~*~*~Later that day*~*~*

Nick and Stephanie were still a little nervious about the whole thing. Neither of them had their parents to help them out, they were mad because of the decisions that the two made but what they didn't understand was why they were so angery when it was their lifes. All Nick and Stephanie wanted was some guidence. They hadn't gone through this before, but they were both strong and they would make it.

"Stef, how you feeling?" Nick asked noticing that she had been a little sick since they had gotten home, he just wanted to make sure that she was ok.

"I'm fine, nothing new is happening. Its new to you because you were with the guys while I was going through this."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Sorry about what? You have a career that requires you to spend upserd amounts of time away from all your friends and family. You are never around for any thing. Nick, I've gotten used to it and so has everyone else."

"I'm not going anywhere," Nick said trying to make eye contact with her.

"You say that now, but I know you. You'll do one thing, and that leads to another and soon enough you'll be gone so you may as well stop denying it."

"Stephanie there is no way that I am going anywhere this time. This is the first time that one of my girlfriends is having my baby. I want to be there for that, I want to be there for everything. I love you and you should stop worring about wheater or not I am staying."

~*~*~6 Months Later*~*~*

"Hey!!" Brian said as Nick welcomed him inside. Stephanie was sitting on the couch, she really wasn't in the mood to talk, she was eight months pregnant and she thought that she was huge and she hadn't excatly been in the best mood.

"So whats been up?" Nick asked Brian, they hadn't really talked since they had gotten back from the tour. Nick had spent every waking second with Stephanie trying to make her feel better, and reesure her that he wasn't leaving.

"Nothing actually. I mean I've been hanging out, theres nothing really to do without the group being in action," he said.

"Yeah I know, but I need to do this. I need to be here with Stef."

"We know that, and thats why we decided to take this time off, its just driving all of us crazy. We're all so used of the fast life that this group brings with it."

"Me too, but like I said, this comes first," he said looking at Stephanie. She had felt totally guilty about all this. Nick loved his life and she was the one that was holding him back from it, but then again, she was right, he needed to be there for his baby, for her.

"You're doing the right thing. We all know you are. This is a really important part of your life now. You can't run away, we just hope that we can be back out on the road again, or doing something soon," Brian said.

"Yeah..." Nick said unhappy with the fact that he had just given up everything that he had ever known.

"Nick, go. Don't stay here, I don't want to hold you back," Stephanie suddenly said, her guilt and love for Nick had taken over. She didn't want to see him like that, bored missing his life.

"What?" he said totally shocked, just a few days ago she wanted him to stay with her, she wanted him by her side, and now she was telling him to go.

"You heard me. I see how miserable this is making you. I can't do that to you. I can stay with Ashley or something. I'll be fine, just go. I hate seeing you like this."

"Stephanie, no I said that I was going to be here for you and I am."

"I don't want you to if it's going to make you miserable."

"I'm not miserable."

"You sure as hell act like you are!" Stephanie said, her voice getting louder.

"Calm down Stef. You can't be getting all crazy like that," Nick said, worring about her and the baby.

"I'm going upstairs, I need to be alone," she said with a single tear rolling down her cheek. When Stephanie reached her room, she let all the tears that she was holding back flow free. She was hurting Nick, he wanted so badly to be back on the road, but she was holding him back. It wasn't like she wanted to be pregnant. This would be one of the last things that she would want considering her age and the situation that her and Nick were in.

Stephanie walked over to their bed and layed down, she needed to rest. Just as she began to get comfortable, she felt something, she wasn't sure what it was, but suddenly she was in pain. She was having the baby!!

"NICK!!!!!!" She yelled tears rolling down her cheecks, she was scared and not ready for this. A moment later, Nick appeared at the door and realized that she was having the baby.

"Come on Stephanie, we need to get you to the hospital," he said trying to hide the fact that he was scared out of his mind. This was just as new to him as it was to Stephanie. Nick helped Stephanie get downstairs as Brain went to get the car. As Nick helped Stephanie in the car, she couldn't help but be scared, she wanted all this to be over with already.

*~*~*~*20 minutes later~*~*~*~

As Brian sat in the watingroom, the others began to arrive. He had called them because he thought that they could use the support. The first one to arrive was AJ with Amanda and Leighanne.

"Are they ok?" Leighanne asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen Nick or Stephanie since we got here," Brian said.

"So we're the first ones here?" AJ asked.

"Yeah," Brian said sitting back in the chair that he was in.

"Hey!" Howie yelled as he came in, "any news?"

"Nope," AJ said. Then Kevin and Kristen showed up, and were filled in about what they knew which was nothing. About another hour passed before Nick came out.

''So?" Brian asked.

"So I have a daughther," Nick said still a little shocked by the whole thing.

"Congradulations!!" Brian said smiling at Nick.

"Yeah man!!" AJ said, "Hows Stef?"

"Shes ok. They want her to stay a little longer because the baby was early, but other than that shes great," Nick said.

"How is the baby?" Kevin asked.

"Fine, but they want to make sure that shes ok before they let us go home. Just to be on the safe side you know?"

"Yeah, rather be safe then sorry," Howie said.

"Yeah," Nick said, "well, I'm going to go back with Stephanie."

"Wait, you never told us what you named her!" Leighanne said.

"Oh yeah, right," Nick smiled, "her name is Hope."

"Hope? That is soo beautiful," Leighanne said.

"Yeah it was Stephanies idea, she thought that if her name was Hope, we would always have hope for a bright future," Nick told them.

"Thats sweet!" she smiled.

"Well, I'm going to get back to Stephanie, see you guys later," he said.

"Bye," Brian said.

"I can't believe that they have a baby," Howie suddenly said after a long moment of silence.

"Yeah, but they do and things are going to be different," Kevin said.

"Really different," Brian added.

"At least they have family and friends," Amanda said.

"Friends anyway," Brian said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when they told their parents they freaked. Neither Stephanie or Nick has talked to them since they told them."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

~*~*~*Meanwhile~*~*~*~

"Hey Stef," Nick said as he walked into the hotel room where Stephanie was holding their daughter.

"Hi," she said smiling, it was like all the fear that she once had was gone.

"How you feeling?"

"Great." Nick smiled at her, he was glad to she her happy because it had been a while. Nick believed that their daughter had brought them closer. "Want to hold her?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah," Nick said walking up to Stephanie and taking Hope into his arms. Stephanie smiled at the sight of Nick and their daughter. For some strange reason this seemed so perfect. Their family had started off so perfect. Hope was a beautiful baby, she had Nicks eyes, and she just amazed by that.

"Nick I love you."

"I love you too," Nick said and placed a slight kiss on her lips.

Chapter 17

~*~*~*~Two weeks later*~*~*

Stephanie sighed as Nick pulled up to their house. This was where they were going to be rasing their first child. She knew that there were going to be more, Nick was never going to leave her. He loved her as much as she loved him and that would help them get through tough times, she knew that it would.

"Here we are," Nick said simling. He got out of the and went to the back to get Hope out. Stephanie got out of the car and watched as Nick struggled with the belt.

"Need help?" She asked suddenly feeling extremely good.

"No thats ok," he said seeing the playfulness in her eyes.

"Ok," she said walking to the front door.

"There we go," Nick said after a moment more of playing with the belt.

"Took you long enough."

"Oh shut up," he said smiling at her.

"Make me."

"Maybe I will," he said opening the door and setting Hope down in the car seat on the couch.

"How do you plan on doing that huh Carter?"

"By doing this," he said and leaned in and kissed her. After Hope was born, things went back to the way they were before they found out that Stephanie was pregnant. They were happy and in love.

"I love you," Stephanie said pulling away from Nick.

"I love you too sweetheart." Stephanie smiled.

"I'm going to put Hope in her room, I'll be right back," Stephanie said.

"Ok," Nick said and kissed her cheek. Nick watched as Stephanie walked to the stairs, then at the moment, thats when he knew that he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. He loved that, he loved knowing that Stephanie was the person that he was going to spend the rest of his life with, but at the sametime it scared him. Scared him because he was so young. He was only 21, and already his life seemed to be filled with decisions that he would live with for the rest of his life.

Not knowing what any of this meant to him, Nick sat on the couch to think. His head hit the back of the couch and let out a confussed sigh. This was a lot for him to deal with, but with Stephanie by his side, he knew that he would get through this, he just knew. Stephanie came down and looked at Nick.

"What cha thinkin about??" Stephanie asked playfully.

"You," Nick said.

"Oh really now?" Stephanie said getting on to the couch next to Nick.

"Yep," he said putting his arm around Stephanie. She smiled at the familiar feeling of Nicks arm around her. She loved this, when they were like that, she thought that nothing could ever come between them.

~*~*~*~6 months later*~*~*~*

Stephanie looked at Hope as she slept, just as Stephanie had feared, Nick went to be with the group and left her home alone to care for their daughter. She knew that it was going to happen sooner or later, but she dreaded the moment that it would come. Nick had left about a month ago, but Stephanie still remembered everything about that day.

She remembered how Nick had held Hope when he said that he was going to miss her. That threw her totally off guard, he didn't even talk to her about it. That was the worst part of it, he didn't give her any time to prepare, he left two days later. A rage had formed inside of Stephanie she was pissed at him, but she still loved him.

Just as Stephanie began to drift to sleep on the rocking chair that was in Hopes room, a thunderstorm rolled in and startled her. She went to see if it had startled Hope, it didn't. She was still sound asleep, thankfully. Stephanie thought that if Hope cried one more time, she just might cry along with her. The stress of taking care of her alone was getting to her. She needed Nick probably even more then she realized.

As Stephanie continued to look down on Hopes angelic face, the phone rang. She hoped that it was Nick, she wanted to yell at him, but she also wanted to beg him to come home, she was a mess. Stephanie walked down stairs and picked the phone up off the cradle.

"Hello?" She said, tire evident in her voice.

"Hey baby girl! How are you and my little baby girl doing?" Nick asked.

"I'm tired. Hopes sleeping, and Nick, I don't know how much more of this I can take. I can't do this alone. I need you, and I need you now! This is hard, especially since I'm alone!"

"Look baby girl, I'll be home soon..."

"Nick not soon enough!" she interupted, and then began crying.

"Don't cry," Nick said, all of this was breaking his heart, "I'll be there in a month or so."

"God Nick, you just don't get it. I can't deal with this alone, I need you," she said getting angry at Nick for not understanding.

"Stephanie, look I know this is hard for you, why don't you get Ashley to stay with you? At least you'll some one there for you?"

"Because you know what Nick, she has a life!!!! She has a lot going for her and I'm not going to be the one that holds her back!! That and shes not you!! Shes not Hopes father, YOU ARE!" she yelled and slammed down the phone and started crying. A minute later the phone was ringing, she didn't want to hear it. Nick wasn't helping and she didn't want to get all pissed off again.

She dropped on to the couch as the phone kept ringing, she wanted Nick to just give up, he knew just as well as she did that she wouldn't answer the phone.

*~*~*~*New York~*~*~*~*

"Pick up the phone," Nick said hoping that Stephanie would give in and answer. He was beginning to become impatient and decided to hang up the phone.

"What happened?" Brian asked.

"She got mad at me. Now, shes not talking to me, she won't answer the phone. I want to apologise, but I don't think I did anything wrong."

"Why did she get mad at you?"

"Because I came back out with you guys and...."

"Say no more," he interupted, "she has every right to be mad. She's bad in Florida taking care of a baby all alone. Thats really hard for her, Nick, you gotta understand that. Give her a little while to calm down and call back, she'll talk to you then."

"This isn't all my fault!! She was the one that told me to go back out, she was the one that said she felt like she was holding me back," Nick yelled.

"Nick look, she said that, but I don't think that she fully realized how hard this was going to be for her. Shes young and alone, that would be hard for anyone. You don't have to get all mad at me, because you know what, I'm only trying to help, and if this is how your gonna thank me, maybe I shouldn't help any more."

"Maybe you shouldn't," Nick said seriously, and calmly.

"Fine then, I won't," he said and left Nick alone. Nick went over to the bed and layed down. His world was falling apart. Stephanie was mad at him and how so was his best friend. 'What else could possibly go wrong?' he thought to himself.

Chapter 18

~*~*~*~A week later*~*~*~

Nick ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. A week went by and Stephanie still wouldn't answer the phone. It was like she didn't want to have any contact with the outside world. He had even called Ashley to see if she had talked to her, but she hadn't talked to her for about two weeks. He was beginning to wonder if she was ok.

Then Nick heard a knock on the door, "Who is it?" he asked.

"Brian."

"Come in," he said and Brian poped open the door and walked in, "I'm sorry for last week, I was just in a bad mood."

"Yeah, its ok. So have you heard from Stephanie?" he asked worried.

"No, and its really starting to scare me."

"Look, we have the next few days to relax, why don't you go fly down there and she if she's ok. That way you can talk to her and straighten things out with her."

"Ok I thats a good idea."

"Go get your butt on a plane, and I'll tell the guys where you went."

"Bri, again, I'm sorry about last week," Nick grabbing his stuff, "you really are a great friend and I really need your help right about now so don't stop helping me."

"You always need my help," Brian joked.

"I guess so, I'll be back as soon as I can," Nick said and headed out the door.

"NO LATER THAN TOMMRROW NIGHT!!" Brian yelled after him. He hoped that Nick heard him.

"We did Nick go?" he heard Howie say as he left Nicks room.

"Florida."

"Why? Whats wrong?"

"He hasn't heard from Stephanie in a week and she won't answer the phone, he just wants to make sure that shes ok."

"When is he going to be back?"

"I have no clue, I tried to tell him no later than tommrrow night, but I don't know if he heard me or not."

"I hope that shes ok."

"Yeah me too."

*~*~*~Meanwhile*~*~*~

Nick was in a hurry to leave, he had a limo take him to the airport and took the first flight out to Florida. All he could think about was Stephanie and Hope. He wanted to know if they were ok, Stephanie usually was willing to talk to him by now, but then again, nothing he has ever done to make her angry was this life changing.

Nick couldn't help but let tears roll down his cheeks, he was so worried about Stephanie. He blamed all this on himself, he knew that he had been a total jerk not telling her that he was leaving. Maybe if they had time to talk about it, things would be better, but no he had to be hard headed and not think about Stephanie.

After about three hours, Nick landed in Florida and he had a limo waiting wating to take him to his house. He ran to where the limo was waiting and hopped in and it sped off to take him home. 'If anything happened to her, I will never forgive myself' he thought to himself. Finally after about a twenty minute ride Nick reached his house.

He ran up to the front door and franticly searched for his keys once he found that it was locked. Finally after wildly searching through his bag, he found them, and then he managed to open the door.

"STEPHANIE!" Nick called as he walked into the house, but there was no responce "STEPHANIE!!" he yelled again. He began to walk around the house to see if anything was out of place. He walked into the kitchen and found a note on the counter.

Nick,
By the time you get this I will be long
gone. I realized that Hope and I aren't
on top of your list of important things
in your life. I know that by leaving
your life, you will be happier with out
us holding you back. I want you to know
that I really love you, and that Hope will
know who you are. I'll tell her what a
great man her father was and how much
he loved her, and just that he wasn't
ready to be there for her. I know that right
now this seems like the wrong thing to
do, but as time passes, you'll realize that I
did the right thing. I'll miss you, please
just forget about us.
Love always,
Stephanie and Hope.

Nick felt a tear roll down his cheek. He had no idea where Stephanie could have went to. With her gone, he knew that he couldn't go on. He walked over to the phone and called Brian back up in New York.

"Hello?" Brian answered.

"Shes gone," Nick said through his tears.

"WHAT?!?!" Brian said totally shocked.

"Shes gone Brian, she left and she took Hope with her."

"Maybe she just went to a friends."

"No, she left a note saying that she thinks I'll be happier without her. She thinks that she and Hope aren't important to me. Brian, what am I going to do?"

Chapter 19

Brian was no help. He had told Nick that whatever happened beyond that point had to come from Nicks heart. Nick wasn't totally sure what that meant, but he did know that Stephanie and Hope were in his heart and that he never wanted to lose them. They meant so much to him, Stephanie was his best friend, his first and true love and the mother of his daughter. Hope was his first and only daughter not to mention his only child. He loved them both with a great passion, he just wished that he could tell Stephanie that.

Nick wanted so badly to hold Stephanie and Hope in his arms again. He soon found himself walking up to Hopes room, a lot of the stuff that they had brought for her was still there. Nick walked over to her crib and picked up a stuffed dog that he had brought for her, and couldn't help but let his tears flow freely at the realization that he may never see his daughter again. This was killing him.

Why did she have to leave him? He loved her more than anything and he knew that she knew that. After that night at AJs party, Nick never kept his emotions secret from Stephanie and neither did she. Nick walked over to the rocking chair with the stuffed dog still in his hand and sat. The pain was beginning to become unbareable. He knew that getting mad at her like he did was wrong, but he never thought that it would result in her leaving.

He had to find them. He didn't care what it took, or how long. He was going to look for them and nothing was going to stop him, not even the group, the love of his life and his daughter was more important to him then the group would ever be. Nick hoped that the guys would understand that he wasn't going to return to the road until he had Stephanie and Hope.

Nick decided that he should call Brian and tell him what he was going to do so that they could figure something out, they knew how much Stephanie and Hope meant to him so he was sure that they would understand. He reached for his cell phone which was in his back pocket and dieled Brians cell phone. He tried to hold back the tears that he was just crying as Brian answered the phone.

"Hello are you ok man?" Brian answered knowing that it was Nick.

"I'm going to look for them," he said.

"What? Do you even have an idea where they went?" Brian asked not completely shocked, he did know that they meant a lot to him.

"No, but I don't care. There is no way that I am going to be able to live my life knowing that Stephanie is gone and Hope is growing up without me, her father. You have to understand this, I won't be back until I find them they mean more to me than this group does."

"Well, I told you to go with your heart, so I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do, but be careful and keep in touch. And good luck."

"Thanks Bri... I'll see you when I see you," Nick said.

"Yeah, bye," Brian said hanging up his cell phone.

"Was that Nick?" Howie asked, with the AJ and Kevin standing behind him.

"Yeah it was."

"What happened?" AJ asked.

"He and Stephanie had gotten into a fight and she wouldn't answer the phone, and it had been a week and Nick wanted to talk to her so I told him that since we have a few days off to fly down to Florida and see if she was ok. So this morning he did and when he got there, Stephanie was gone and so was Hope."

"Gone? Gone where?" Howie asked.

"He doesn't know. She left a note, all I know was that she said that he would be happier without her. Now, he's going to look for her and he might not be back with us for a while."

"Wow..." AJ said, "she's really gone huh?"

"Yeah, I think we should keep a look out for her you know, since she used to live here in New York she might still have family here and went to stay with them. Who knows, we could bump into her," Brian said.

"Good idea. I just hope that he finds her and the baby. Hes gotta be a reck without them."

"Yeah he is."

"What are we going to do about the group?" Kevin asked.

"For now we can say that he has family issues which isn't a lie, but then it doesn't bring up anything too personal," Brian said.

"Yeah," AJ said, "this is crazy.."

"Tell me about it," Brian said shaking his head.

~*~*~*~Meanwhile*~*~*~

Back in Florida, Nick was trying to figure out where to look. Ashley was the first person that popped into his mind to ask, if she didn't know, he would on his own. He went down to the kitchen and grabbed his car keys, he figured that he would pay her a visit, maybe something would pop up, it just had to.

Nick headed out the door and began the quick drive to Ashleys house, he didn't care that he looked like crap, he felt like it too. All of this was already driving him crazy, Ashley had to know. Finally Nick pulled up in Ashleys driveway and got out of the car and rang her bell. Ashley appeared at the door shocked to see Nick.

"Nick?!? What are you doing here? I thought you were on tour," She said.

"Yeah, I am.. have you heard from Stephanie?" he asked a little bit more desperately then he realized

"No... not in about two weeks or so, why?" she asked worried.

"Shes gone."

"WHAT??''

"She took off with Hope, she left me a note saying that she thought that my life would be better without her and Hope."

"Oh my god...."

"Do you know where she could have gone? Any family?"

"Nick... I don't know. She might have gone back to New York, she has family up there. Or she could be with her parents.. maybe they made up."

"You're right, I didn't think about that.. Thank you!!!" he said running to his car, maybe she was there or at least they would have an idea as to where she went.

Chapter 20

As Nick drove to Stephanies parents house, his tears stopped. He knew that he was getting closer to finding her. Even if he wasn't, he would never give up. He would never forget about them, Stephanie and Hope were his whole life and he wasn't going to lose them that easily. Finally he had arrived at her parents, he got out of his car and walked to their door. He rang the bell and Stephanies mom soon answered.

"Nick, good afternoon," she said.

"Hi, have you seen Stephanie? She just left me a note saying that it was over, and I'm looking for her because I can't imagine my life without her," he couldn't believe that he was saying this to her mother, but maybe it would make her want to help him. Her mom hesitated to answer.

"Come in," she said. Nick took her invitation and walked into house and followed her into the livingroom where Hope was playing on the floor.

"Hope...." he said running over to her and picking her up. He felt a tear of joy roll down his check as he embrassed his daughter. He was so glad to see her again. Stephanies mom couldn't help but smile at how evident his love for his daughter was.

"Where's Stephanie?" he asked standing up kissing his daughter on her head.

"Nick...., I don't know," she said.

"What?" he said feeling his heart sink again.

"She was a reck when she came here. She said that you two had gotten into a fight. She wanted to leave Hope here until she got her head back together."

"So you don't know where she went?"

"No," her mom said knowing that her words broke his heart.

"Do you have any idea where she went?"

"No Nick, I'm sorry," she could tell how much he loved her, and she knew how much Stephanie loved him, this whole thing was a big misunderstanding. At that point her mother wished she knew where she was so that she could tell her about Nick.

"Thank you," he said, "I'm going to take Hope ok?"

"Yes, she is your daughter."

"If you see Stephanie, tell her I love her and I need her."

"Ok." Nick gathered Hopes stuff and left her mothers house. He sat Hope in the car seat and got in, but he couldn't help but break down all over again. He had Hope back, but he still wasn't complete until he found Stephanie.

~*~*~*~*Back with the guys~*~*~*~

"Man, I hope hes ok," Brian said.

"Yeah me too," AJ said.

"You think we should call him and see of hes ok?" Howie asked.

"He might not want to talk you know," Brian said. The room fell silent as the guys began to wonder where Stephanie could have gone, just then, they heard something in he hallway.

"I'll go see what that was," Brian said.

"Ok," Howie said. Brian got up and went into the hallway, there was a girl knocking on Nicks door. Brian walked up behind her and tapped her on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" he asked and she turned around, "Stephanie??" he said shocked.
"Hi Brian, where's Nick??" she asked, she looked beat and like she had been crying only moments before.

"Florida, looking for you," he told her.

"Oh my god...," she said, "that means he found the note..."

"Yeah, he's going crazy looking for you, last time I talked to him, he was crying like crazy, you broke his heart. He thought something might have happened."

"Look, the day we argued, I left. I didn't want to deal with Nick anymore, I honestly thought that he didn't want to bothered with me and Hope so I left."

"Wheres Hope?" Brian interupted.

"With my mom in Florida. But anyway, I needed to get my head straight. I decided to come up here. I have family here. Then this morning, I realized that what I was doing was wrong and I wanted to come here and apologise to Nick for getting so mad at him because he wanted to follow his dreams."

"You should call him..." Brian said.

"What was is?" AJ suddenly asked.

"Stephanie," he said.

"WHAT?" he said shocked.

"Yeah it's nice to see you too," she said.

"You do know that you have Nick running around Florida like a maniac looking for you? That boy is on his last thread of sanity," AJ informed her.

Stephanie didn't know what to say, she didn't think that Nick would go all the way down there so soon. She in no way planned this, it just happened that way. "I never meant to hurt him," she finally said.

"We know," Brian said, "but we should call him and let him know that your ok." Just then, Brians cell phone rang, "It's probably Nick," he said. "Hello?" he answered.

"Bri, its Nick. I found Hope, but I have no clue where Stephanie is but...."

"Nick Stephanie is here," he interupted.

"What?"

"Yeah, she's right here."

"Really? Let me talk to her," he said, and Brian passed Stephanie the phone.

"Nick..." she said.

"Oh my god Stephanie, its so good to hear your voice. I love you, but what the hell where you thinking?"

"Look, I am so sorry, you weren't supposed to find that note. I'm here cause I wanted to apologise. I was planning on leaving, but I realized that it was the wrong thing to do."

"Stephanie, I love you, and I don't know what made you think that you and Hope weren't important, but you are. If you weren't I wouldn't be here right now."

"I know and I'm sorry," she said starting to cry.

"Look, you stay there, I have Hope, I'll be there later ok?"

"Ok," she said.

"I love you, see you later," he said hanging up the phone. She hung up Brians phone and gave it back to him.

"So...." Brian said.

"He's on his way back up here with Hope, he told me to wait for him."

"Ok, come wait with us," Brian said walking Stephanie into the room where the others were waiting.

Chapter 21

~*~*~Later that night*~*~*~

Nick finally landed back in New York. The limo had been waiting for him to arrive, he had wished that he had a little less obvious way to travel, but his car was back in Florida. Nick walked over to the limo that was to take him to Stephanie. He sat down with Hope in his lap. He smiled at her when she started making silly noises.

He loved her and he was glad that he was able to hold her again. It was hard to believe that just hours ago, he had thought that he had lost her. That whole experience made him realize just how much Hope and Stephanie had meant to him. They were his whole world. They were the only thing stable in his life, the group could end at any time, but the love of his daughter and girlfriend was something that would never die and he was glad.

"I love you," he said to Hope when she looked up at him. He knew that she couldn't understand what he was saying, but he loved her and he only wanted her to have memories of being loved. Soon the limo pulled up to the hotel and Nick took Hope and went inside.

"We're going to get to see mommy again," he whispered to Hope as he took the elevator to the floor where the others were staying and where he knew Stephanie was waiting. Hopefully, he would get some answers. He wanted to know why she left and why she tried to keep Hope from him, it killed him to think about all that he had gone through that day, but he had to know why. Finally, the elevator reached the floor and he got off and went to where the guys where hanging out, and he saw Stephanie.

"Hey," Brian said noticing that Nick had finally arrived.

"Hi, can you take Hope for a second, I want to talk to Stephanie, alone," he asked.

"Yeah sure," he said taking Hope from Nick.

"Come here..." Nick said to Stephanie and she suddenly felt a little scared, but she still got up and followed him to his room where he just sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. Stephanie walked over to the bed and sat next to him and put her hand on his shoulder, to hopefully comfort him.

"Why Stephanie? Why did you do what you did? Why did you leave and not tell me? Why were you going to keep Hope away from me? Why did you hurt me the way you did? Stephanie, why?" he asked holding back his tears.

"Nick, I never meant to hurt you, but after we argued, I just got really mad. I didn't know what to do, but then I got thinking. You told me that you were leaving two days before you leaving, the group seemed more important so I figured that me and Hope were holding you back and thats why I left. After I realized that I didn't know where I was going, I thought that Hope would be better off with my parents. They didn't want to take her at first, but when they realized how messed up I was, they agreed to let her stay there. I had told my mom not to tell you she was there if you came asking, but I think when she realized that you loved her as much as you do, she figured that she would be better with you. I came here to apologise for the fight, I didn't know that you were going to fly down to Florida and see that note. After I thought about it, I realized that it was the wrong thing to do. Nick I love you and I'm sorry," she said tears forming in her eyes.

"You know as well as I do that you and Hope are the most important things in my life. Stephanie, when I got home and I found that letter, my heart completely broke. I went up to Hopes room and I cried. I cried for a while until I decided that I wanted to look for you. I told Brian that I wasn't coming back until I found you and Hope. I was ready to give up everything and spend as much time as it took to find you two," he said a little angry.

"I'm so sorry," she letting her tears flow.

"I know," he said as he hugged her, "but don't ever try to take Hope from me again. Shes my daughter, I want to be there for her. I want to be there for you."

"I won't, I promise."

"I love you," he said and kissed her check.

"I love you too Nick and I am so sorry," she said hoping that Nick would be able to forgive her, she loved him and wanted to be with him.

"I know, I'll be right back, I'm going to get Hope."

"Ok," she said. She was glad to see that he loved Hope as much as he did. Stephanie knew as long as Nick loved Hope, no one would ever be able to hurt her. Nick was going to be there for Hope and she knew that and she was glad. Nick quickly returned with Hope in his arms. Stephanie smiled, it had been a week since she had seen her.

"Oh god I missed her," she said taking Hope from Nick and kissed her head. Nick smiled, he loved them and he knew that everything was going to be ok. They were back in his life and nothing was ever going to take them away.

*~*~*~*1 and a half years later~*~*~*~

"You guys are up next...." the stage manager said to the guys. They were at MTV's TRL to promote a new album. Nick had brought Stephanie and Hope along with him because he wanted them there for him.

"I love you," Nick said to Stephanie and kissed her.

"I love you too," she said as Hope began to squrim in Stephanies arms.

"I love you too," Nick said to Hope who was reaching for him, "Daddy's got something to do, I'll be right back."

"Dada!" she said. 'Dada' had been her first word. Hope had only celebrated her second birthday not to long ago, so she only knew a few words but 'Dada' had seemed to be her favorite and Nick was over whelmed with joy when he heard her say 'dada' for the first time. He looked as if he was going to cry.

"Ok guys its time," the stage manager said.

"I gotta go.." he said and headed to the stage.

"Dada!" Hope called.

"No baby, dadas working," Stephanie said. The world knew about her and Hope, Nick decided that he didn't want to keep them secret any more and just two months ago he had confirmed all the rumors. She was glad that he wasn't keeping them secret anymore, some people didn't like the news at first, but they didn't care. He was happy and he loved her and Hope.

Stephanie sat with Hope and watched the guys on tv in the back. She watched as Hope started to move around, she wanted her daddy. They soon went to commercial and Nick returned to the back room.

"Dada!!" Hope said and ran to Nick and he picked her up and spun her around, Stephanie smiled at Hopes giggles.

"Stef, I want you to come on air, I want to introduce the world to you and Hope."

"Nick.... I don't know."

"Come on, pwease?" he said making a sad face.

"Fine."

"Great!" Nick said, "come on."

"Hey, Stef," AJ said, "what are you doing out here?"

"I have no clue.. its all Nicks fault," she said.

"I asked her to come out here, is that ok with you?" Nick asked playing around.

"Sure, whatever," AJ said. Moments later they heard the man in the corner say...

"Were on in, 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1.. now!" When the show went back on, Nick still had Hope, Stephanie had tried to take her, but he wouldn't let her.

"Would you mind telling us who this little one is?" Carson asked looking at the little girl in Nicks arms.

"Yeah, this is my daughter, Hope," Nick said looking at her.

"Hi, Hope," Carson said. Hope grabbed onto Nicks shirt.

"Say hi Hope," Nick said. She shook her head no and gripped Nicks shirt tighter.

"I guess shes shy," Carson said.

"Not usually," Nick laughed.

"Wheres her mom?"

"Right here," Nick said waving for Stephanie to come. She shook her head no, "Come on," he said.

"No one listens to you," Carson joked.

"Yeah, tell me about it," he laughed. Finally Stephanie gave in and walked over to Nick and Hope. She hadn't wanted to be on tv, this was Nicks life, not hers.

"This is Stephanie, Hopes mommy," Nick said.

"Hi," he Carson said shaking Stephanies hand.

"Hi."

"Well at number one today is, gee what a surprise, you guys!" Carson said, "You guys have anything that you would like to say?"

"Actually I do," Nick said.

"Well feel free."

"Stephanie," he said putting Hope down and then got down on one knee and pulled out a beautiful engagement ring, "I know that we've been through a lot together, but everything we've gone through has only brought us closer. I love you and Hope more and more with each passing day. You are my world, my whole life, I would be lost without you. I'm asking you if you would make me the happies man in the world and marry me?"

"Oh my god..." Stephanie said putting her hands over her mouth, "Yes."

Nick got up and gave Stephanie the ring, the audience filled the room with cheers because they knew that Nick was happy with her. Nick gave Stephanie a hug as they went into the video.

"I love you," Nick said into Stephanies ear.

"I love you too."