*3 ½ years later*
AJ sat on the tour bus with Howie, they were looking at a magazine together. Nick walked in and Aj stuffed the magazine in his seat. Nick saw him and laughed-“wat are you hiding AJ? Is it some dirty magazine you don’t Lisa to find?”
AJ laughed nervously-“Yea, that’s it. I thought you were her so I put it away.”
Nick looked around-“Well I’m not her, so hand it over. I wanna see!”
Howie looked at AJ and shook his head-“Uh, Nicky lets go talk to Brian about that thing we wanted to do.”
Nick looked at them-“What’s going on guys? AJ give me the magazine!”
AJ laughed-“C’mon man, let’s save your dirtiness till later when you are alone.” He stood up and put a hand on Nick’s shoulder trying to make him walk away.
Nick dodged his arm and yanked the magazine and ran. He stopped running when he looked down-“Psh, this ain’t Playboy! It’s just Rolling Stones with...” He stared at a picture of Lexy on the cover, on her knees in a loose blouse and some boyshorts. Her hair was loose, curly wild in her face. She was laying on a bed on rose pedals. He opened to the pages where the interview was, he was shocked to see pictures of her with her tongue out with a tongue ring. Then in an another picture, she was facing the wall, wearing a short halter top with a low short skirt, showing off a butterfly tattoo on her lower back. Nick sat down on the couch and read the interview.
Lexy plopped on the couch next to Marley, who was on the phone with her new beau Hugh Dancy. She met him on the set of Ella Enchanted and from then on, they were an item. Lexy was happy for her, she could tell they were in love. Lexy put her phone down, and sighed. Marley said bye to Hugh and turned to Lexy-“What’s the matter hun?”
****
Lexy laughed-“Oh! my phone its going off all the time! I have been getting calls from everyone about that stupid Rolling Stones issue that came out today! All your fault DEAN!!”
Dean was sitting across from her, smiling-“How is it MY fault?”
She threw her head back-“UGH! Wat do you mean? You told them my wardrobe had to be much sexier, you wanted me to talk about my stupid tongue piercing that was a DARE! And my tattoo and explain it. You wanted me to dress that way because of the people I dated, and hung out with. People are constantly calling me asking me if my music is gonna change and if I’m a hoe now. Dean!!!”
He smiled and shook his-“Baby, this is real ok? You have been out for about 4 years, people wanna see a change in you. You don’t wanna get boring do you?”
Lexy shook her head, and sighed-“Not like we can do anything about it anyway.”
He clapped his hands-“GREAT! Now, I have called your charity and they wanna do a ball for you, so I scheduled it for next weekend.”
Marley and Lexy both shook their heads-”Nope, can’t happen sorry.”
Marley frowned-“Dean, I really wish you would ask to see the schedule before you start putting in stuff! That’s my job! You are gonna have to reschedule, Lisa and AJ are getting married next weekend. We have planned this for about 6 months now! Lexy is the maid of Honor, Toni and I are bride’s maids. Too bad Dean, you are gonna have to call them back.”
Lexy nodded-“Yep, I’m sure they will understand. Even if they didn’t, I haven’t seen her in like 4 years! I have to go!”
Dean nodded as he put his head down like a little kid. Then he got up-“Come on, we have to head to the airport, your flight leaves soon. She nodded and walked behind him, Mike(her body guard had her luggage.) When they got outside, there were tons of fans, screaming, more than she had seen outside of her hotel. She got a little worried as they stared pushing the security guards that were holding them back. When they finally reached the bus, she looked outside, more people were coming. Lexy pulled on Dean’s arm-“Dean!! How did ALL these people know??”
Dean got off the phone and turned to Lexy-“Oh hunny, I’m sorry! Some jerk on a radio station announced where you were staying!”
Lexy frowned-“Why would he do that?? Do you think there will be more?”
Her question was answered when they moved the bus and turned the corner seeing 100's more waiting, she held on to Mike’s arm-“Oh my...”
Mike whispered to Dean-“Dean, I have seen this before. During the BSB 100 hour tour in Rio! It got bad.” Mike used to be a bodyguard for the boys, he stuck with Lexy when she left them. About 15 minutes later, the bus was slowly moving, and completely surrounded. They were banging on her windows and trying to get on the bus. Lexy sat next to the window watching them, trying to plead them to scoot back. The bus started rocking, they were pushing the bus. Lexy looked at Marley who was on the other window. Dean was on the phone trying to get the cops to do something. Lexy was getting nervous-“Why are they doing this? I’m nobody big! Back up please, I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Just then, she felt like she wasn’t getting enough air. She sat in the middle of the aisle trying to get her breath steady again. But it was not working, she felt light headed.
Marley noticed her and quickly moved down with her-“Lexy! Hey, listen to me. Calm down, deep breaths.”
Lexy breathed-“We are gonna run over someone! They are gonna knock the bus over!”
Mike saw her and quickly ran to the front, making the bus driver find somewhere to park. They found a way to move the crowd away, and noticed they were close to the airport. The crowd was still around, just not as close. When they stopped, they had cleared a path with ropes and TONS of cops. Lexy was still on the floor breathing heavily, Mike walked over and picked her up-“It’s ok Lexy! We are almost out of here! Marley! Hold on to my shirt!” Marley nodded and held on to him as they walked out to the airport. He got both of them off the bus, and inside safely.

Lexy was getting ready for her interview with Oprah, Dean had told her that Oprah wanted an emotional show, so Lexy had the perfect idea to make it emotional. On the show, Lexy spoke about the start of her career, about her baby getting kidnaped, about Maggie dying, and she spoke, for the first time ever, about being raped by Jonathan and about cutting herself. She cried, Oprah cried, the audience cried, and her mom cried. After the show aired, her mom called-“Oh Baby! I am so sorry for all of that. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
Lexy cried-“I didn’t want you to be alone. Mom I didn’t think you'd make it alone, with Darla! I am so sorry. I didn’t know what I was fearing. I guess I feared him, and what he would do to me if I told you.”
Her mom cried some more, then calmed down-“I kicked him out. I...I am filing for divorce in the morning. I am so sorry baby.”
Lexy thought, then had a good idea-“Come with me mom. Leave him and his stupid house behind. You and Darla come on the road with me. You can be my new assistant manager. You won’t have to work, we can get Darla a on the road teacher. Please momma, leave him and come with me!”
Her mom thought about it, then agreed. It was settled her mom would fly in the next day and live with Lexy.
The week of the wedding, Lexy flew down to L.A. 4 days before the wedding to help out with the last minute things. And to throw Lisa one hell of a bachelorette party. The day of the wedding, Lisa, Marley, Toni and Lexy were in the bride’s room helping her get ready. Lisa started getting nervous-“oh, do you think it’s too soon?”
Toni shook her head-“Too soon? Darlin it’s about damn time you two got married. 4 years!!”
Marley smiled-“Yea, it’s not too soon. Look at Toni, she has been with Chris for a long time too. When is that gonna happen?”
Toni smiled-“This is not about me! It’s Lisa’s day!”
Lisa turned to Lexy-“I can’t do this!”
Lexy kneeled down infront of her-“No ma’am don’t you dare start thinking like that! You have to be sure you want to. Lisa, this is Alex...he is the perfect guy for you. You two will live so happy and are so in love. You can do this. You love him, he loves you. It’s meant to be. Ok?”
Lisa nodded and breathed in, then let out a long breath-“I’m pregnant.”
The three girls turned to look at her in surprise. Lexy took her hands-“Is that why you are getting married?”
Lisa shook her head-“No, I’m only a few weeks pregnant.”
The girls screamed and hugged in excitement. Marley teared up-“Who would have thought that Lisa and AJ were gonna be the first to have kids?”
Toni nodded-“I thought Lexy and” She stopped when she realized what she was saying.
Lexy looked away, Lisa’s sister came into the room to let them know they were ready. Lexy gave Lisa her bouquet, then grabbed her own. They walked to the door, Lisa went up to her dad who smiled at her. Lexy stood ahead of her, Marley infront of her, then Toni, then Lisa’s sister. Soon after the groomsmen came up to their partners. Brian with Marley, Toni with Kevin, Howie with her sister. Then Nick walked up, Lexy’s stomach started turning as she saw him start walking towards her. She hadn’t seen him in 3 and a half years, she felt butterflies. She could tell that he was nervous about seeing her. He came up to her right and held up his arm for her to take. She smiled at him as the music started and mouthed a “hi”. He smiled at her a warm smile and also mouthed “Hi”. They started moving forward, in the wedding march, Lexy turned around and gave Lisa a thumbs up. Lisa smiled as she walked towards the rest of her life.

When they got to the alter, AJ’s face had lit up. He had a grin from ear to ear, he could not take his eyes off of Lisa. Lexy felt a knot in her throat, she could tell she was about to cry, her nose was starting to feel funny. She was so happy for them, she handed them the rings. She looked down, to let the tears fall, then looked up and saw Nick staring at her. He smiled at her, and made a face “fake sympathy” smile. She laughed, soon she was signing as a witness, for their wedding and the priest announced-“Ladies and Gentlemen, lets give a warm hand to Mr. and Mrs. Alexander James McLean!” Everyone cheered, as AJ and Lisa walked ahead of Nick and Lexy.
Nick leaned into her ear-“Got a little teary eyed huh?”
She gave him a soft playful shove-“Shut up!”
They headed over to the ball room for the reception. It was great, they danced together. Half way through the party, Lexy went on stage-“I have a few words for the bride and groom. First of all, AJ, if you ever break her heart. I will come back and kick your butt. Second, I want to say how great it is to know what love is. Of course you guys know about it, cuz you wrote a song about it. But seriously, when you are being spoken to, you know you are in love cuz you can’t pay attention. You know why? Because you are thinking about the different ways you can sign your first name, with his last name. And now, Lisa can test that out, she will have so many different ways to sign, Lisa Mclean. Congratulations to you both. I wish you love and happiness for ever. Now I have prepared a song for you, speaking of your new found love!” She nods to the pianist as he begins to play From This Moment. She starts to sing, AJ takes Lisa’s hand and walks with her to the middle of the ballroom as they dance together. Lisa’s eyes water as she dances to her friends voice. Just then Nick walks up on stage and sings along with Lexy. She turns to him, he winks at her, so she lets him sing with her. By now AJ is in tears as his two best friends are on stage signing in their honor. Soon after, they ate and danced, Lisa thought it would be great idea to have Nick and Lexy dance together. So she pulled Nick onto the dance floor, as AJ pulled Lexy to the dance floor.
He smiled at her-“So, what do you think?”
Lexy smiled as they swayed-“Wow, I can’t believe this is actually happening. I am super happy for you both.”
AJ smiled-“Yea? It’s a great feeling, I see why Brian and Kevin like it soo much.”
Lexy laughed-“Yea? It’s great? Hmmm...I’m gonna have to try it some time.”
Just then Lisa danced over-“Ok, I want my husband back, ha I like the way that sounds. Switch me Lexy!” Lexy stepped back letting her take AJ, then turned to face Nick. She felt her heart start beating loudly. She looked around wondering if anyone could hear it. Nick smiled a shy smile, then put his hand on her waist, and took her hand in his. She smiled as she put a hand on his shoulder. They started to drift with the music. Nick smiled-“So, how have you been?”
She smiled-“Good. You know, busy and all.”
Nick laughed-“Yea, I saw you Rolling Stones issue.”
She turned away blushing-“Oh no! That was horrible! It was all based on who I hung out with and dated, not on who I am! They didn’t even mention my movies once! I was ticked off!”
Nick looked at her with an evil grin-“So, do you really have a tongue ring?”
She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, she opened her mouth to reveal the ring. His eyes widened, then he smiled again-“So, you any good with it?”
Her eyes widened and her jaw drop-“NICK!!”
He laughed, as they continued dancing. They danced some more, then it was time to throw the bouquet, Lisa got on stage with the mic-“OK! I need all my single ladies to get on the floor! Come one, that means you three Marley, Toni, and Lexy! Come one girls!!”
The three girls went out, along with some women. Nick laughed as Lexy pretended to push everyone aside. He caught himself watching her with a grin on his face. He couldn’t stop thinking of how amazing she looked. Man he missed her, he thought. He didn’t notice that she had turned to look at him, and saw him staring. She smiled when he realized it and blushed. She then turned her attention back to Lisa, who was tricking them, pretending to throw it. Then she did, it flew up in the air, all the girls started to move around trying to catch it. Lexy laughed-“I am not gonna get it. But what the hell!” She jumped up in the air and fell hard on the floor, she laughed as the pain hit her ankle. Then she realized the bouquet that was in her hands. Marley and Toni helped her stand up, she put the flowers up in the air. Everyone clapped, Lisa turned around and smiled as she clapped too. Nick smiled, he could still not get his eyes off of her. Lexy tried to walk to a table but couldn’t, she must have really hurt her ankle. Nick walked over to her and smiled-“Need help?”
She looked up into the baby blues looking down at her, she smiled as she nodded. He put her arm around his neck and he picked her up and walked to the table. She was sitting there the rest of the night, unable to move her ankle, but not ready to leave. When the party finally came to an end, she attempted to go to the taxi, but failed again. Luckily for her, Nick was around. He helped her into the taxi and went with her. To make sure she got up to her hotel room safely. They talked and laughed the whole ride to the hotel. Then he carried her to her room, still talking and laughed(they were both a little drunk). When they got to the room, she started laughed-“OK, I really have to pee. So I’ll be back!” When she was in the bathroom, the phone rang, she screamed from the bathroom-“Nick, could you be a doll and get that for me? Please.”
He laughed-“Sure thing!” He picked up the phone-“Hello?”
There was a male’s voice on the other end-“Um, did I get the right number? I am looking for Lexy. Is she there?”
Nick scoffed-“Who wants to know?”
The voice on the other end sounded annoyed-“Her fiancee!”

Lexy walked back into the room with a smile on her face that faded when she saw the look on Nick’s face. He looked at her-“Your fiancee called.”
Lexy’s stomach dropped, she started to talk-“Nick, I can explain.”
Nick cut her off-“No, you don’t have to. It’s not my business anymore. I just...why didn’t you tell me from the beginning. Instead of leading me on, Lex?”
She looked down-“I haven’t told anyone. I’m not ready to tell the world yet. I was gonna tell the girls tomorrow. Nick I...I’m sorry. I thought I was over you ok I thought I could come here, and see you and not feel anything. It’s been 4 years! What did you expect? For me to come back and start off where we left off?? You did this Nick! You were the one that pushed me to go to Europe!” She looked down again, holding back the tears-“It’s been four years Nick. I moved on.”
Nick sighed, he fought back the tears too-“So you got over me?”
Lexy looked at him, she couldn’t hold them anymore-“I cried so many nights for you. I missed you so much.”
His expression didn’t change-“So you got over me?” He repeated, colder.
She looked into his eyes, letting the tears roll down-“I’m sorry Nick but.”
He shook his head, grabbed his coat and walked out of the room. Leaving her in tears, she threw herself on the bed and cried herself to sleep.
The next morning, she got up and went to the lobby. She found Lisa, Toni, and Marley down there eating breakfast. They smiled when they saw Lexy get off the elevator. She sat down with a smile, she had decided she was gonna hide the pain.
Lisa smiled, and winked at Lexy-“So, how was your night with Mr. Carter?”
Lexy smiled-“Not good.” Marley turned to look at her, with questioning eyes, Lexy nodded and she turned away.
Toni looked at them-“Um, guys. What’s going on?”
Lexy sighed and smiled-“Ok, guys I have been waiting for today to tell you this. I am engaged!”
Both girls looked at her in shock, then bursts out screaming and hugging her. They both congratulated her. Lisa smiled-“Lexy why didn’t you tell me before.” then she stopped-“Oh no, Nick found out huh?”
Lexy nodded-“Yea, my fiancee called last night and Nick picked the phone up. It didn’t go well.”
Toni put a hand on her shoulder-“Oh hunny I’m sorry. But it’s ok. Now tell us about your new guy!”
Marley smiled-“Or should we say your future husband.”
Lexy smiled, she realized thinking of him, really did make her smile-“OK, he is from Wales. His name is Ioan Gruffudd. I met him through Hugh, Marley’s boyfriend. He was in a movie with him, King Arthur I think? Yea it was. Ok, I met him, and we got along pretty well. We dated for a year and then he popped the question.”
Lisa smiled-“So, have you picked a date?”
Lexy nodded-“Yea, next year, during the spring. I want you all to be there, and Lisa I want you to be my maid of honor.”
Lisa hugged her-“OH I would love to! Wait, where’s the ring?”
Lexy reached in her purse and put it on-“Oh, I didn’t want to put it on, cuz of the media and all. I wanted you guys to find out by me first.”
Just then, a little girl ran towards them-“NO!” She ran and hid behind Lexy. Lexy looked at the other girls, they looked around. Just then a young man walked up-“Come here. Leave the grown ups alone!”
Lexy looked up at the guy, then smiled-“SANDY??”
He looked at her, then smiled-“Oh Lexy I didn’t even see you! How are you? Wow you look great!”
Lexy smiled-“Wow, I can’t believe you stuck around with Nick. Oh, so this must be Emma!”
She felt her heart get warm when she turned around, the little girl was precious. She had blonde curls, and blue eyes. Emma ran up to Lexy and hid behind her. Lexy looked at Sandy-“So how old is she now?”
Sandy smiled-“She is 3, soon to be four. Very active little girl.”
Emma looked up-“You my new mommy?”
Lexy looked at the other girls, they had tears in their eyes too. Lexy got down on her knees-“Oh baby, you have no idea. I would love to be your mommy.”
Just then Nick walked down-“Emma, come here. Let’s get your breakfast!”
Emma turned around-“Daddy I found new mommy ”
Nick looked up, and saw Lexy standing there, he immediatly turned cold-“No sweetie, you don’t even know her. She is a stranger, you can’t have a stranger as a mommy. Now go with Sandy to get breakfast.”
Sandy glared at Nick, then turned to Lexy and hugged her-“It was great seeing you again.”
Lexy smiled at him, then turned to Nick-“A stranger? I was more of a parent to her than you were! How dare you say I’m a stranger to her.”
Nick looked at her-“She’s grown up, with no help from you. Why start now? You have your own life, and your own family to create. Why don’t you just go back, and leave mine alone.”
She faught the tears she did not want to cry infornt of him, she slapped him hard across the face. Then walked away.

Lexy had been so upset when she left L.A. Nick’s words kept going through her head. A stranger? She felt horrible, but he was right. She was a stranger to her, and she wanted that to change.
*Months Later*
AJ was helping Lisa to the couch, when the door bell rang. Lisa laughed-“Oh, you go get the door, I can take it from here.”
AJ looked at her-“You sure? Whoever it is can wait.”
Lisa shook her head-“No, no. Go ahead baby.”
AJ nodded as he walked to the door. He looked back at his very pregnant wife. He smiled, his jaw dropped when he opened the door. Lexy and Marley stood there with two guys behind them. They ran past AJ to Lisa and hugged her. Lisa smiled as she hugged her friends. AJ let the guys in and closed the door. He turned to them-“Hi I’m AJ.”
Ioan also laughed-“Hi, I’m Ioan. And I think you have met Hugh.”
AJ nodded then turned to the girls-“OK OK enough love for new mommy to be, come give new daddy to be some love ”
Marley and Lisa turned around and went to hug AJ. Lisa laughed-“So what are you girls doing here?”
Marley smiled-“WELL we were in town for the Grammys, Lexy is nominated, presenting, and performing tomorrow.”
Lexy nodded-“And, we figured we could stick around a few weeks for the birth of the baby. No just kidding I am off, so I will be here with my bridesmaids to plan my wedding in two months. We got an apartment for all of us. It’s HUGE!”
Lisa laughed-“Oh YAY! I’m so excited. And I would hope you would be here for the birth of the baby...being the Godmother and all.”
Lexy’s eyes lit up-“ARE YOU SERIOUS??? So when do I get to meet my new godson?”
AJ smiled-“Well, due date is in three weeks. I will be a daddy ”He was soo excited.
Lexy snapped-“OH Lisa I want you to meet my fiancee, Ioan. Ioan that’s my one of my best friends Lisa and her husband Alex, but we call him AJ.”
Ioan smiled-“Yea, I met him at the door. When you girls were um...” AJ and Ioan looked at each other then, the three boys started screaming like girls and hugging each other. The girls laughed. After hours of talking and catching up, they headed back to their apartment.
The next day was hectic they started early getting ready for the Grammy’s. Lexy was nervous, she had never been nominated, and now she was gonna do all of those things. The night finally came, Lexy, Ioan, Marley and Hugh got out of the limo and walked the red carpet. Fans were going crazy, they did interviews and signed autographs. They got in to the building saying hi to a few other celebrities then sat down and got the show started. Lexy walked on stage smiling, she went up to the mic-“Throughout the years, we have experienced great nominees in this category. Some of the nominees tonight are familiar to this nomination, while others have a first time thing going on. The nominees for best album are...Mariah Carey...U2...the Backstreet Boys...Usher. Are the winner for best album is(she opened the envelope, immediately smiling not being able to hold back her excitement) THE BACKSTREET BOYS!!” The fans started cheering, everyone was clapping. All five boys stood up and started hugging each other and their ppl with them. Lexy was so excited, she hadn’t seen the other boys in a while. Brian was the first one out into the aisle, he looked up at the stage and smiled, he started jogging towards it. AJ saw him and also jogged to the stage. They both got on stage and hugged Lexy picking her up off the ground. Kevin, Howie and Nick followed. Kevin hugged her, then Howie hugged her. Nick walked up behind them, he looked at Lexy smiled and gave her a small hug. She stood between AJ and Kevin as Brian spoke. They were all excited, Aj went on and thanked Lisa for being a great wife. They also thanked Lexy for always believing in them. Then they walked offstage, Nick kept stealing glances at her, she looked great. He shook his head, he didn’t wanna think about that, and as if to remind him that he should think of that, her ring glistened in the light. Afterwards, Lexy was back on stage, she was halfway performing her song when she glanced out into the audience. Aj was standing up with Lisa, her face showed pain. Lexy watched as they all started standing up, and walking to the aisle. Lexy looked over at Marley and motioned with her head, quickly they stood up and walked out. Lexy tried to finish the song but just couldn’t. She looked apologetic to the director as she ran off stage, and explained that an emergency had come up. She took the mic off and ran out in her costume. When she reached outside, they were putting her in a limo. She climbed in-“Oh Lisa, are you oK?”
Between breaths Lisa explained-“The baby...it’s coming...”
AJ kicked the driver out of his seat and got in-“Ok baby, we’ll be at the hospital in a little bit.” He put on his hazard lights and sped away. Everyone had pilled into the limo behind theirs. Lexy and Nick were trying to calm Lisa down. Lexy got fed up with Nick interrupting her-“Ok I can handle this!”
Nick looked at her-“ no I can handle this.” They both bickered then said at the same time Lexy-“I’m the Godmother!” Nick-“I’m the Godfather!” They looked at each other, then at Lisa who was still breathing hard-“BABY!!”
AJ glanced back-“Can you two argue later!”
Lexy glared at him them brushed Lisa’s hair back-“Ok hunny we are almost there. Breathe with me!”
They got to the hospital, and took Lisa in. Lexy and Nick continued fighting over how unfair it was for them to have to share the Godparent. Ioan walked in, Lexy glanced at him and smiled-“I’m done talking to you.”
She walked over to Ioan who greeted her with a smile-“Hey love, how is she?”
Lexy sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist-“She is having him. Earlier than we thought.”
About an hour later, AJ came out with a huge grin on his face and tears rolling out of his eyes-“I’m...I’m a dad! He’s here!”
The guys got up and hugged him. Then Lexy walked up and hugged him, he sobbed-“I can’t believe it.”
Lexy smiled, she felt a knot in her throat-“Oh AJ! I’m so happy for you both!”
Brian and Leighanne smiled, they knew what that felt like. Marley and Toni also hugged AJ. Soon the doctor let them go see Lisa, she was laying in her bed. She had tears rolling down too as she looked down at her baby boy-“Hey guys...I want you to meet Andrew James McLean. Andy I want you to meet ALL of you aunts and uncles.”
They all smiled and gathered around to say hello to the baby. Lexy walked over, and held the baby, she smiled as she thought to herself, wow it must be great...a mommy. I want a baby.

Lexy sat in the apartment, waiting for Ioan to finish his phone call, by the tone of his voice, she could tell it was not good news. He put the phone down and walked into the den where she sat. He looked down-“Ok, due to the weather, I have to go back to Europe tomorrow, to start shooting the Fantastic 4 two.”
Lexy shook her head-“But the wedding plans? Will you be here for the wedding, or should we push it back?”
Ioan shook his head-“No, I told them I want that weekend off. And you can arrange the wedding stuff, you can handle it with you friends. I would probably get in the way, it’s ok baby. I will be here in two months for our wedding. Ok?” She felt better, she kissed him and headed to their room.
The next day Lexy took Ioan to the airport then headed back to Lisa’s where she had scheduled a meeting with her bridesmaids and her mom. It had been a week since Lisa had her baby, and she was doing great. They sat in the living, room talking about where they would buy the dresses, and all that fun stuff. Lexy decided she wanted the wedding on the beach, so they started planing it. Lexy smiled-“Ok, depending on where it’s gonna be, I need to start seeing how many people will be there. Maybe I should start writing a guest list, Marley will you help me with that?”
Marley nodded-“Yea, lets get started on that, um...Toni you are great at designing things, you start designing the invitations. Sound good?”
Lisa laughed-“Ok, I want to get the decoration ideas! Oh that would be so much fun. Um...the colors should be blue and silver!”
Lexy shook her head-“No, lets do Pink and silver. Oh that would be pretty! Now who do we want at the wedding, Oprah from sure! She is such a doll, Ooh and the ladies from the View!”
Marley nodded-“Um...the boys of course, maybe Britney and Christina?”
Lisa laughed-“OHH maybe Nick!”
Lexy scoffed-“Uh no! Haha, he wouldn’t wanna come anyways.”
Toni smiled at Lisa-“But if he did? Would you want him to come?”
They all looked at Lexy who was looking down avoiding their stares-“Um...yea I guess. Well no...um Guys lets not talk about this now!” She had turned red, she didn’t know the answer to that question.
The following week, Lexy went to the store to get groceries, she was reading a label when she heard a familiar voice-“You know it’s all fattening. Maybe you should lay off of it.”
She was startled, and shocked someone would say something like that, she turned-“EXCUSE ME?” She rolled her eyes when she found herself looking into Nick’s eyes, he smirked. She groaned-“Oh it’s you. Leave me alone please.”
He laughed as he followed her in her attempt to get away-“Not so fast, see we are in a crowded store, TONS of people here. If you keep walking away from me, I might have to make a scene. And we both know how horrible it turns out when you get discovered in a very public place.”
She stopped, and turned around-“What do you want?”
He laughed-“Much better. Now, I have a date tonight, and I need to cook something very nice for her, BUT I can’t cook. I called your apartment to see if you could help me out. Your mom said you were at the grocery store so I came here since it’s the closest to the apartment. Now that I have found you...will you help me?”
She laughed-“You want me to cook for you and your date? Yea like that’ll happen?”
She started to walk away, but he ran infront of her cart-“Please Lexy? I really need this favor. And I will do anything you want! Just this once please?”
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow,-“Anything? Like leaving me alone after this?”
He put his hands together as in pleading-“Yes, just please? You are the only person I know that cooks really really well, please? I will leave you alone for ever if you want.”
She sighed rolling her eyes again-“Ugh...ok fine. What do you want?”
He clapped-“YES! Oh shh...haha um...I want”
She cut him off-“Ok no, you don’t get to pick what you want. I’m picking the meal, come on.”
They bought the ingredients, and headed back to Nick’s apartment. It was kinda messy, she looked around and smiled-“Well, if you are gonna bring her here, you should definitely clean this mess up. Ok you do that while I get started.”
Nick laughed at how she had already taken control. He thought as he cleaned up, why couldn’t it always be this way. Why can’t we just get along like this? He was broken from his thoughts by Lexy’s voice-“NICK! Wow it took me 4 times to get your attention. Where’s the bathroom, I need to put my hair up.”
He laughed as he guided her-“Sorry, right here.”
She walked past him, so close, it surprised him, he could smell her perfume-“Ok, well how about pouring me a drink, since I am doing this favor for you!”
He laughed as he went to the fridge-“Coke? Beer? Wine Coolers? Wine?”
She thought for a moment, with her scrunchie in her mouth-“Um...I dunno, give me anything you are having.”
He smirked, as he took two glasses out from the cupboard then poured white wine into them. She walked back and smiled as she went to the stove. He watched her, she was beautiful, even without make up, she was just so simple-“Here, let me get back to cleaning.”
She laughed as she started cutting the chicken, about 45 minutes later the apartment started smelling good, Nick had cleaned up the whole apartment, then walked into the kitchen-“Wow, that smells great! What do we have here?”
She smiled-“Rosemary chicken, with Vinaigrette, a spinach salad with Vinaigrette, and ravioli. You want a piece?”
He nodded-“Yea, just to make sure you didn’t poison it.”
She laughed as she took a tiny piece out and handed it to him on a fork-“Haha, not yet. I’ll wait till the very end for that.” He didn’t take the fork, he took it from the fork getting real close to her face, she was looking into his eyes. She turned away-“Um...what time will she be here?”
Nick sighed as he leaned on the counter-“Who?”
She laughed-“Your date!”
He ran a hand through his hair-“OH! Um...7:30.”
She looked at her watch-“Um Nick’s it’s 7:00 shouldn’t be getting ready?”
He jumped up-“Oh Crap! Yea, I’m gonna take a shower. I’ll be right back.”
She laughed as he took off running. She continued cooking, and drinking her wine. About 10 minutes later, he walked out in blue jeans and a white button up shirt, his hair still wet. He smelled great, she fought back the urge of running over and jumping him. She laughed at her silly thoughts, then turned the stove off. She turned to him-“Ok, all done!”
He smiled and he inhaled more of the food scent-“Wow, you did a great job thank you so much!”
She grabbed her purse, downed the last of her wine. She laughed when she looked at his shirt, he had skipped a button, she went over to him to fix it-“No problem. It was fun, hanging out like this.”
She looked up, she smiled, he wasn’t smiling, he was looking at her. He was taking deep breaths, just staring into her eyes. She looked down-“Well, um ok. I’ll see ya around Nick. Have fun on your date.” She walked out of his apartment, and went into the elevator. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. She hadn’t felt like this in such a long time, it was not a good thing. At least, she thought, he promised to leave her alone. But was that really what she wanted?

The girls were in Lisa’s living room, AJ was in the other room feeding the baby. The door bell rang, and he got up and got it-“Hey bro! Glad you came over, cuz I don’t know how much more of this girl talk me and Andy can take!”
Nick laughed-“Girl talk?”
AJ smiled as Nick took the baby from him-“Yea, Lisa, Toni, Marley and um...Lexy are in the living room doing some planning.”
Nick smiled at the baby-“How’s my baby Andy? Oh they are? Well let’s got say hi to them.”
He walked into the living room-“Hello ladies!”
Lisa smiled as she got up and greeted Nick with a kiss on the cheek. Toni and Marley followed. Lexy didn’t look up from her notepad-“Hey Nick.”
Lisa looked up at him-“Wow, you look like you didn’t get much sleep!”
Lexy looked up, she adjusted her reading glasses-“Rough nite?” She said with a smirk. Nick looked at her, he was speechless, he had never seen her in glasses.
He actually had never seen her so laid back-“Uh...not really. It was short...I didn’t know you wore glasses!”
She looked down-“Um...yea, just for reading tho.”
Nick looked down at the baby-“So Lisa, have you been taking good care of my Godson?”
Lisa laughed as she put the notebook down and stretched-“Um, yea. I have been taking care of him. As a matter of fact, he needs a new diaper.” She got up and took the baby, as she walked out of the room-“Technically, he isn’t your Godson till tomorrow.”
Lexy laughed-“Yep, you better be there on time Nick. Or we will just have to pick out another Godfather.”
He shook his head as he headed upstairs to play AJ in some video games-“Haha, no. I’ll be there.”
The next day, they went up to the church, and baptized Andy. They were all gonna head back to AJ and Lisa’s to celebrate. Lexy walked to her car, she heard someone calling her. She turned around to see Nick jogging to her-“Hey Lexy! Wait!”
Lexy stopped at her car and turned around-“You know, you are not keeping your end of the deal!”
He laughed-“I will as soon as I thank you again. You know for the other night, it was great, I actually had some left over and ate it the next day.”
She smiled-“Well you are welcome, I’m glad you guys enjoyed it.”
He blushed a little-“um...yea there was not date Lexy. She called and cancelled at the last minute.”
She looked at him-“So why did you let me continue cooking?”
He laughed-“well I couldn’t just say OH never mind, you spent all this time here for no reason. Sorry to be a waste of your time.”
She looked at him-“It wasn’t a waste. It was fun. Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to be. Now, we have a reunion to get to, so if you’ll excuse me I have to go to the store and pick a few things up. See ya at AJ’s.”
At the party, Lexy had a few sips of wine, and was a little tipsy. Nick took advantage of that(NOT THAT WAY lol) and went over to talk to her-“Hey.”
She looked at him-“Again? What happened to not buggin me anymore!”
He smiled-“Oh come on, you know you don’t really want that! You had a good time, and you said so yourself. Now...how do you feel about horses?”
She looked at him-“Why?”
He sighed-“Well, there is a range where you can go horseback riding into the valley, and well I want to go, but I don’t wanna go alone, so I was wondering if you could join me tomorrow?”
She looked at him, then looked out into the water-“Fine.”
He laughed-“Ok then it’s a date!”
She looked back at him-“NO! It’s not a date! The only reason I am agreeing to this is because I haven’t been horse back riding in such a long time!”
Nick smiled and clinked their wine glasses together-“Ok, sounds good too. I’ll pick you up around noon.”
He walked off leaving her on the balcony looked out into ocean, thinking to herself, it’s not a date right? It can’ be, I’m getting married in a month and half, so it’s just a friendly outing. Right?
The next day, Nick picked her up they headed up to the country side. On the way up there, they talked about everything. Listened to music and even sang along to some songs. Nick then smiled-“Now, there was this article, in Rolling Stone, and your pictures were quite daring. What was that all about?”
Lexy rolled her eyes-“OH no! AGAIN? I told you those pics were based on who I hung out with, and dated for a while. NOT who I was.”
Nick laughed-“Ok ok, so who was it talking about?”
She looked at him, then thought for a moment-“Um...lets see, there was Jared Leto, of course Criss Angel, um...Gavin Degraw, Colin Farrell, and”
He stopped her-“Woah You went out with Colin Farrell?”
She blushed-“well, it was more like a week fling. Ya know?”
He shook his head-“Wow, So did you really get a tongue piercing?” She nodded and stuck out her tongue, revealing the pink ball. He laughed-“Wow matches your outfit! What about the tattoo?”
She nodded again-“yea, but I can’t show you that one till we get out of the car. It’s a butterfly, I know its kinda cliche but it means something different to me.”
He glanced at her-“and what is that? Some day you will turn into a butterfly from a caterpillar?”
She laughed-“No! See, there are two kinds of butterflies. The real pretty ones, that fly and love on people. Then there are the real pretty poisonous ones, you can’t tell they are poisonous till you get struck by it. That’s the way my attitudes are, you can’t tell you met the bad side of me till it’s too late.”
Nick parked the car, and looked at her-“Have I met that side of you?” He had leaned over to be in her face.
She turned towards him, and looked into his eyes, she smirked-“You might have.” She turned and got out of the car.

They rode the horses around the track for a while, then Nick smiled-“Follow me!” He took oFf out of the tracks and into the woods. She got nervous but followed along anyway, they went up a hill then Nick stopped. He looked back waiting for her to catch up. She was speechless when they reached the top. There was the beach, beautiful waves curling and hitting the rocks. It was a beautiful site.
She looked at Nick-“Oh wow, Nick its so nice up here. Do you come up here often?”
He nodded as he looked out at the view-“yea, I come up here every once in a while to think, and to even write.” He thought for a moment-“I want to introduce you to some one. Her name is Helga.”
Lexy was shocked as she thought, he brought me up here to meet a girl?
He pulled out his guitar, and cheesily smiled-“Lexy, this is Helga. The only faithful girl I know.”
Lexy laughed at her dumb thoughts, as Nick smiled again-“You want me to play something for you?”
She nodded-“Yea that would be great.”
He adjusted the guitar and started to play and sing I know this isn’t a Nick song, but it totally fits, and when you listen to it, it kinda sounds like him.):
I can't remember the last time that we kissed goodbye
All our I love you's were just not enough to survive
Something your eyes never told me
But it's only now too plain to see
Brilliant disguise when you hold me
And I'm free I've been thinking and here's what
I've come to conclude
Sometimes the distance is more than two people can use
But how could I have known girl
It was time and not space you would need
Darling tonight I could hold you and you would know
But would you believe
There's a light in your eyes that I used to see
There's a place in your heart where I used to be
Was I wrong to assume that you were waiting for me
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me
Cards and phone calls and photograph pictures of you
Constant reminder of all the things you get used to
Is there a chance in hell or heaven
That there's still something here to build on
Or do you just pick up the pieces after they fall
But after all
There's a light in your eyes that I used to see
And a song in the words that you spoke to me
Was I wrong to believe in your melody
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me
Should I keep on waiting or does love keep on fading away
Fading away It's been a while since
I've seen you so how have you been
Did you get my letter I wrote you, but I did not send I tried to call your old number
But the voice that I heard on the phone I recognized but she told me the number was wrong There's a light in my eyes but it's too bright to see
And a pain in my heart where you used to be
Guess I was wrong to assume that you were waiting here for me
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me

Lexy could feel that it was a really meaningful song for him. The words were hitting too close to home, and she started to feel that pain she felt when she told him she was engaged. She looked down, then looked back up at Nick, and saw him look at her ring.
He sighed-“So, what do you think?”
She smiled-“That was beautiful Nick. It was a very touching song. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
He laughed-“Yea, no problem. We should head back, you have some planning to do huh?”
She nodded, then headed back down to the stable. When she got back to her apartment, she noticed Ioan had called, it brought her back to reality when she spoke to him.
The next day, she was at the cake place picking out a cake designer, with the girls. Marley was going on and on about something,-“Right Lexy?” Lexy hadn’t noticed she was talking to her, Marley looked at the other girls-“Lexy?”
She finally snapped out of it, she couldn’t concentrate that day-“Uh? Oh sorry, I was um...”
Lisa smiled-“Thinking of something else?”
Toni also smiled-“OR someone else?”
Lexy smiled sheepishly-“Um...well, I can’t seem to stop thinking of the words to the song. You know like it was a message from him to me.”
Lisa shook her head, then looked at her watch-“OH no, guys we are gonna be late to the taping of the View Come on lets go!” They got in Lexy’s car and headed over to the View studio, the boys were gonna be on today and the girls had accepted their invitation to be in the audience. They arrived at the studio and sat in the front. They ladies started the show and started talking about how the boys were gonna be on, the crowed went wild. The girls smiled, just then Emma ran out from behind and jumped on Toni’s lap, she then saw Lexy and jumped to her. Lexy smiled as she held the little girl, the interview started then, the ladies introduce them for their performance-“Ok here are the Backstreet Boys with their new single Over Her ’:
You know I been trying to figure out
Just what's going on
Am I over her?
I been doing a lot of thinking lately
Am I over her?
And I'm really missing you
It's been 3 months, 3 hours, 3 days
Since the last time I seen your pretty face
My decision to bring this to an end
And I'm caught up in reminiscing
Having faithful visions of long walks, long talks
Play fights, late nights
It's been on my mind since
Valentine's Cause I had your heart and I let it slide
I ask myself time and time again (again I'm trying to comprehend that)
Unanswered questions still (things to be are meant to end)
Am I over her? (am I over her?)
Am I over her? Am I over her?
Tell me am I really over my my love (am I over her?)
I can't think straight
Cause I'm too busy thinking of her
Am I really over my love?
(Nick walked out into the audience, he smiled as he went up to Lexy and got on his knees, singing his part of the song, holding her hand)
I was going through some things that I couldn't explain
Now my situation's taking a big change
They say the grass is greener on the other side of town
Now I'm kinda wishing you would come back around
Is she sad or is she mad?
Does she have a new man, does she have it like that? (He looked at her hand and kissed it, then slid his thumb over her ring as he walked away)
It's been so long, thought I would've moved on
Could've been strong and picked up the telephone
I ask myself time and time again (again I'm trying to comprehend that)
Unanswered questions still (things to be are meant to end)
Am I over her? (am I over her?) Am I over her? Am I over her?
Tell me am I really over my my love (am I over her?)
I can't think straight
Cause I'm too busy thinking of her
Am I really over my love?
It's water under the bridge
But I can't seem to forget
All the plans we made, all the time we spent
Makes me reminisce I still see your face
All this love I can't replace
Am I over (am I over) Am I over her? (her now)
Am I over her? Am I over her? (am I)
Am I over her? (am I over)
Tell me am I really over my my love (my love my love)
I can't think straight (my love)
Cause I'm too busy thinking of her (never gonna be over her)
Am I really over my love? (never gonna be)
No Am I over her? No not over her no Ohhhhhh
Am I over her? Am I over her? (over her)
Am I over her? Am I over her?
Tell me am I really over my my love (am I over her, am I over her?)
I can't think straight (I'm not over her)
Cause I'm too busy thinking of her
Am I really over my love? (ahh oooh)
I'm not over my my my love
I'm not over my my my love
I'm not over my my my love (oh no no)
I'm not over my my my love
Am I over her? (I'm not over my my my love) Am I over her? (I'm not over my my my love)
Am I over her? (I'm not over my love my love, she's my love, she's my)
Tell me am I really over my my love (she's my everything)
I can't think straight (she's my everything, my everything)
Cause I'm too busy thinking of her
Am I really over my love?
Not over not over my love
Not over not over my love
I'm not over not over my love
Am I over her?
Not over not over my love..
Nick looked straight at Lexy as he continued singing the rest of the song, Lexy thought in her head, I’m not over my love...am I?

A month till the wedding, Lexy was picking out the dresses for the bride’s maids. Then they would go over to get her dress. She was so excited to try on the dresses, she would walk out and model for the girls. She giggled as she looked in the mirror, she decided that she was gonna ger Vera Wang to make her dress. After calling in that favor, they headed over to the cake shop, she had already picked the design for the cake. Everything was turning out right, she was happy about that.
Lexy went up to her room, she wanted to go to the zoo so she called Nick to see if she could take Emma. Marley and Lexy stopped by Nick’s to pick her up, then went to buy her an outfit to look cute. They headed up to the zoo, Emma was excited she had never been to the zoo. Lexy looked at Marley-“I can’t believe Nick never took her to the zoo ”
Marley laughed-“I know Poor deprived child, how could she miss out on the lions ”
Lexy smiled-“And the Lemurs ”
Both girls looked at each other and started dancing and singing at the same time-“I like to move it move I like to move it move it ”
Mike had tagged along, of course, they walked out, people watched some recognized her. She smiled and took pictures then signed stuff. They saw all the animals, Emma was excited she even got to feed the monkeys. Lexy smiled and she had Mike take video of them, since there was not danger and she didn’t have to be protected ALL the time.
The next day, she was to go to the Maury show, why? She had no clue. When she got there, she was rushed to make up, then on to the stage. She sat down in the chair, and smiled to the people who cheered to her. She was nervous. Maury went and sat down-“Lexy, thank you so much for being here.”
Lexy smiled-“Oh Maury it’s my pleasure, I’m just nervous on why I’m here.”
He smiled-“Well, we have a friend of yours here, who has some very important news for you.” Lexy’s stomach turned, she tried to smile but couldn’t hide the fear that it was not good news. He smiled-“Well, lets just bring your friend out.”
Lexy looked down, she heard the crowd go crazy, so she looked up...it was Nick. He brought her here? Wat did he want? To tell me to stop the wedding? Nick smiled as Maury nodded for him to tell her the news-“Hey sweetheart.”
She smiled, but looked into his eyes-“Nick wat’s going on your scaring me.”
He looked down-“OK, two weeks ago I was talking to your mom. She told me something interesting, and I had to pursue my search. Lexy, she told me your dad did not die, he is still alive.”
Lexy looked at Nick in disbelief and shook her head-“No, that can’t be. He died in some battle across seas. My mom told me so when I was a little girl.” Tears started forming in her eyes, he had to be lying, why would he do this infront of all these people.
Nick shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder-“No hunny, I’m not. See your dad did go across seas, but your mom figured he would be over there for a long time and anything could happen so she asked for a divorce. She still loved him, but it had to be done. She didn’t want you to think that he had left you so she made up some story about him dying. But he’s alive Lexy.” He looked down, then handed Lexy a tissue. She looked at him confused, she hadn’t started crying yet. He looked out into the crowd-“You see that little girl? Well the man sitting next to her is your dad, Xander.”
Lexy got a chill all over her body when the man stood up. She looked at Maury, he nodded. The man walked up to Lexy and stared at her. She let the tears fall-“Oh God Is this for real? This has to be a joke. My dad?”
The man shook his head-“No baby, it’s not a joke its me. I am so sorry for leaving you, I felt horrible but there just was not other way. I’m sorry.”
She looked into his eyes and hugged him-“Dad, I can’t believe it. You’re here, and alive. I grew up thinking I didn’t have a dad, I thought the day I got married I would have my uncle walk me down the isle...but its you.”
He smiled as he hugged her-“Oh baby girl, it is me. I want you to meet my daughter, Jenny.” Lexy hugged the young girl, she was around Darla’s age-“Oh Hi. I guess we’re sisters.”
Jenny smiled-“I am a big fan of yours, now I can tell people you are my sister ”
Lexy laughed-“Oh Mom. Does mom know? Can we bring her out?”
Maury nodded, as her mom started to walk out, Lexy stepped away from her dad, and watched as he went to hug her. The crowd clapped as he took her face in his hands and kissed her, Lexy smiled as she could still see the love in their eyes. She then looked back, Nick was standing with his hands in his pocket. She smiled at him as she went up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He hugged her tightly as she whispered-“Thank you so much. This means a lot to me.” She kissed his cheek then pulled away-“Now we can be a family again ”
They thanked Maury and went backstage to talk. It turns out, Xander, her dad, got married and had Jenny. But his wife died and he had never remarried. He was totally happy when Maury’s people told him that they had found his other daughter, so he agreed in doing the show. Lexy’s mom was glad that he still loved her, and were planning on making it work again.

Dean called Lexy-“Hey hun, since we never had that charity ball, we are gonna have it now. Tomorrow night, I don’t care what you say. You are allowed to invite as many people as you want ok?”
Lexy laughed-“Sounds great. I will call everyone up and I go buy a dress. Bye”
She called the boys, Lisa, Toni, and Marley. Just then there was a knock at her door she opened it was surprised to see that her best friends from high school were all at her door. She screamed in excitement as she hugged them all. It was Jen, Stephanie, Katie, Natalia, Martine, and Veronica, they were all excited to see her. She brought them all into the apartment-“OH MY GOSH I can’t believe you are all here I didn’t know if you would my invitations.”
Jen smiled-“Oh hun, you know we could not miss out on the wedding. We just figured we would come by early and help plan and stuff.”
Martine nodded-“Yea that is definitely the best part.”
Veronica smiled-“He llz no The bachelorette party is the best part ”
Lexy shook her head laughing-“Oh yea, you girls have not changed I missed you guys. OH I’m so glad you guys are here. There is gonna be a charity ball tomorrow in my honor. You are all welcome to come...no better yet you all BETTER come ”
Katie nodded-“You know we will be there for you.”
Natalia stopped-“But wait...will there be boys there?”
Lexy nodded-“Yes there will be tons of boys.”
Stephanie smile got bigger-“Will THE BOYS be there?”
Lexy laughed-“Yes THE BOYS will be there, BUT they are all taken...except for Nick. You can fight over him.” She said as she walked into the kitchen followed by the girls. They all started talkin at once about not doing that to Lexy. They knew about her past with him. After catching up they went shopping for the dress. Lexy introduced her friends to her other friends, they had to get a limo to drive around cuz there were ten girls shopping. They all got along, it was great, they talked about everything, when they got to talkin about how Nick had been rude, Veronica smiled-“Oh hun, if I would have been here then, I would have soo beat him with my bat ”
Lexy laughed hard-“That would have been a site to see ”
The next day, there were eight girls getting ready in Lexy’s apartment. Since they decided the ball was gonna be super formal, the girls all had BIG dresses. There was no enough room in the apartment. The limo showed up around 8, they headed down, and got in. It was hilarious as all you could see was the fluff of the dresses, all the faces were hid. When they got to the ballroom, they announced her arrival. She walked in with her friends all at her side, she smiled and waved. After doing the whole “Thank you for being here” with the sponsors she went to look for Lisa and Toni. The other girls had wandered off to find dates for the night, and need I say that they succeeded with extremely hot guys. When she found AJ and Lisa, Nick was standing with them. He looked at her and smiled-“Wow Lex, you look amazing.”
She blushed-“Thanks Nick. You don’t look to shabby yourself.”
He laughed as he extended a hand out-“May I have this dance?”
She hesitated as she looked into his eyes, then put her hand in his-“Yes, you may.” They walked out into the middle of the dance floor. He twirled her around making her dress spin before bringing her in close. They dance in silence for a little while, then Nick looked down at her-“Lexy, what are you doin tomorrow?”
Lexy thought for a moment-“I am having a pic-nic with my girls from out of town at the park. The guys will be there, you are more than welcome to come ”
He was bummed, he had the same idea, but just the two of them. He smiled-“I would love to be there ” The continued dancing.
Lisa and AJ were watching-“Wow, it is so nice to see them together again.”
Lisa smiled-“Yea, too bad it’s not permanent. They look great together.”
AJ nodded-“Yea they do, it really sucks that she is gonna get married in two weeks.”
Marley walked up and butt into their conversation-“I can’t believe she is still gonna go through with the wedding, especially with the feelings she has for Nick.”
Toni also walked up-“Wait, did she tell you she had feelings for him?”
Lisa shook her head-“Toni, you can so see it in their eyes, just look.”
LExy danced with Nick to another song, she had her head on his shoulder, she felt so comfortable, like they were the only two in the room. She looked up at him, he looked down and smiled. She felt herself being pulled in, he leaned down, their lips got closer...closer. Just the music turned off, the head of the charity was on stage-“Ok Ladies and Gentlemen, we are so honored to have all of you here tonight.” Lexy pulled away from Nick and looked at the charity guy, she sighed. Nick ran a hand trough his hair as he shook his head, so close. The man continued talking-“Well tonight we are honoring miss Lexy, and we want to know if she would like to sing a song for us tonight?”
Everyone clapped, Lexy smiled as she walked to the stage. She looked at Nick, and got a glance at his eyes. She looked down as she walked up the steps-“I would love to sing for you today.” The music started and she started singing Right Kind of Wrong.

Lexy headed to the park, she had her eclipse full of all kinds of goodies, there were like 5 cars behind her. They arrived at the park and set up volleyball nets. Kevin set the grill up, Nick brought the drinks, and AJ brought the non-alcoholic drinks. They played volleyball for a while, then the boys played football, as Lexy, Leighanne, and Lisa took the kids to the play ground. The rest of the girls were playing soccer, Marley’s idea. Lexy watched Nick play as she pushed Emma on the swing. Leighanne smiled-“You know, if you could look at someone so much to where they exploded, Nick would be long gone.”
Lexy smiled, as she blushed-“Uh...I wasn’t looking at him. I was thinking, in that direction.”
Lisa laughed as she raised Andy up in the air-“Uh yea Lexy...we believe ya.”
Nick laughed as he ran up to them-“Hey Lexy, I wanna show you the river. It looks beautiful Come on.”
She looked at the girls, Lisa smiled-“Go ahead, I’ll watch Emma.”
Lexy smiled-“Thanks.” She followed Nick to the woods, they walked and talk about everything possible. They talked about the dirt, the ants, the birds and the bees(haha not those birds and bees) They got to the river and he smiled-“Isn’t that the prettiest thing? It’s so clear.”
She looked down into the water, she could see little fish swimming around. She laughed-“yes it’s beautiful especially with the sun beaming into it.”
He smiled-“Come here look, you can step on the stones to get to the other side over here!”
She followed him confused-“Now, why would I want to do that?”
He laughed as he looked back at her-“Because the path ends on this side, but I want to show you the water fall!”
She nodded as she walked behind him, they stepped on the stones he got across faster than she did, he helped her in the last ones since it was slippery. They kept walking and he finally showed her the waterfall. It was beautiful, there was a rainbow from the sun’s reflection. She smiled-“Oh wow! It looks so pretty, Nick this is really nice.”
He smiled as made a pebble skid-“Yea, I come think here too.”
She walked over to the water, she took her shoes off and walked in. It was cold, she squeaked a little then kept walking. The cool smooth rocks moved under her feet, she smiled when she turned around and saw Nick smiling. He started taking his shoes off, to join her. They walked down the river in the water, talking about their families, and how grateful she was that hers was back together. Nick smiled proudly-“That was because of me!”
She laughed-“Yea it was. Thank you.”
They walked further down the river, then Nick smiled devilishly. She knew what that smile was for-“NO NICK! Don’t even start!”
He laughed as he started jumping up and down splashing Lexy. She screamed as the cool water hit her belly. He then started kicking water at her, and she kicked it back. Nick threw his shoes on the land and tackled her. She saw him coming and screamed again-“NO!” He pushed her over and they both fell into the water. By the time they got back to the pic-nic area, they were soaked from head to toe.
Kevin looked at them and shook his head-“Oh my Lord. What did you two do? I swear you can’t be left alone for a few minutes.”
Everyone looked at them and laughed, Nick and Lexy looked at each other and put their heads down. After eating, Lexy started shivering, she was still wet. Nick was also shivering, he looked around-“um...I think I’m gonna go home. I’m really cold.”
Lexy nodded as her teeth chattered-“yea ditto.”
Marley looked at her-“Oh Lexy, we rode with you but aren’t ready to go!”
Nick looked at Lexy-“It’s ok, leave your car. I’ll drive you home.”
Lexy smiled-“OK, thanks!”
Nick nodded-“Let’s go Emma.”
Emma shook her head-“No daddy, I don’t want to. I wanna play with Baylee!”
Brian laughed-“It’s ok Nick, we can watch her. She can even spend the night.”
Nick looked at them-“You sure? She can just go home now.”
Leighanne shook her head-“No, let her play. We’ll take her home.”
Nick nodded and they said bye to everyone. Lexy wrapped her arms around herself as the sat on the towel they laid on the seats.
When they got to her house, Nick smiled-“I hate to be a bother, but can I use your bathroom?”
Lexy nodded-“yea sure. Come on.”
They walked inside, she went into the kitchen to heat up some water for tea. Nick came out of the bathroom, they talked about tea. Then she went into the bathroom, she put her hair down, then looked up. Nick was standing behind her, she turned to face him and looked into his eyes. He didn’t say anything, he just cupped her face in his hands, and slowly pulled her in. She looked at his lips, then at him-“Nick...” She didn’t even fight it, she kissed him. He slid his hands down and lifted her shirt, the water was running, she let temptation get the best of her.
The next morning she woke up in Nick’s arms. She felt sick-“Oh no...what have I done?”
Nick stirred, then looked down at her-“Oh...I thought it was all a dream.”
She was about to say something but a noise caught her attention. It was the front door, then the worst noise she could have heard at that moment...Ioan’s voice.

Lexy sat up, she threw on her shirt and a robe and ran out the room closing the door behind her. She smiled-“IOAN! Baby what a surprise!”
He put his stuff down,-“Hey baby. I know the director let me come home early...as a wedding gift ”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him-“It was a nice surprise!”
He smiled-“Yea, how do you like me being home a week before our wedding instead of just two days!”
She smiled nervously-“OH! I love it. You can help me finish planning.”
He was about to say something but a noise from the bedroom caught his attention-“What was that?”
Lexy’s heart started beating fast-“Um...I don’t know. Probably nothing.”
He stepped infront of her and walked to the room slowly. When he reached the door, she closed her eyes tight waiting for the explosion. After silence she opened her eyes, Ioan was in the room looking around...alone. He shrugged-“Must have been the neighbors. I’ll be back I have to use the loo.”
When he stepped out of the room, Lexy started looking around for Nick. He was gone, she looked in the closet, then turned to the window. It was closed, not locked tho. She then looked under the bed,-“where did you go?”
Ioan scared her-“Um..Love? What are you doing?”
She jumped and hit her head on the bed post-“OW! Um...I was looking for Duchess...my cat. Yep, she’s under the bed, it must have been her who made that noise.”
He laughed as he helped her up-“Oh, that darn cat.” He put his arm around her shoulder as they walked to the kitchen. The rest of the day, Lexy couldn’t help but feel guilty for what she had done the night before. She pushed it out of her mind, she decided it was just a test to see if she really wanted to get married. And her answer was still yes. Ioan went to the grocery store, Lexy stayed at the apartment. She heard a knock at the door, she opened it and saw Nick. She sighed-“oh Nick!”
He smiled sheepishly-“Lexy...tell me you felt something last night?”
She shook her head-“I’m sorry Nick, but I have come to realize that last night was a mistake I’m getting married next week. It was one of those test to see if I wanted to get married or not Ioan showing up early was a sign...a sign saying I shouldn’t be doing that Nick...it was a mistake, it shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry...I can’t see you anymore, till the wedding.”
He looked down, he was hurt-“No...you won’t see me at the wedding. I can’t go...I’m sorry.” He turned around and walked away. Lexy watched him leave, she cried.
She locked herself in the bathroom and sat in the bath tub, in a bubble bath and cried. She stopped crying after a while and just sat there and thought about everything. Ioan got home and knocked on the bathroom door, she let him in, then got back in the tub. He smiled-“Oh baby, I missed you so much.” He smiled as he started undressing and got in the tub with her. The whole time she was with Ioan, her mind was thinking of Nick.
The next few days were very hectic, they had a lot to do, in such little time. The only good thing was the bachelorette party. Lisa, Toni and Marley organized it, but all the girls were there. Lexy had a blast, she hadn’t thought about Nick in a while since she had been so busy. The girls even hired a male stripper. They danced and drank a lot, the boyfriends were worried but let them go ahead anyways.
Two days before the wedding, Lexy was at Marley’s with the other girls, deciding the last minute touches to the wedding. She was starting to get cold feet, and wanted to back down. AS much as it killed her friends, they made her stick to the wedding. The girls picked up her dress, and their dresses. She was gonna have 7 bridesmaids. After picking up the dresses they went out to eat. Just then she looked at a small store with magazine and picked up three magazines with her on the cover. There were pictures of her, with her face in her hands looking upset with headlines that read-“NOT READY TO WED?” There was another one from the charity ball, she was dancing with Nick with Headlines-“DOES SHE KNOW WHO SHE WANTS?”
She bought them then walked back to the table where her confused friends were. She showed them the magazines. Jen gasped-“OH no! How could they print something like that?”
Lexy shook her head,-“I don’t know but I can tell you something I am not gonna let them make shit up about me. Ioan better not find this, or else I will be in deep ca-ca.”
The girls laughed, they all then went home.
Later that evening, Lexy sat in her room, writing her vows when the door bell rang. Ioan answered it, then called Lexy into the room. She got up and walked to the door, she felt weak when she saw Lisa and two cops. She looked at Lisa-“what’s going on?”
The cop removed his hat-“Good evening ma’am.”
She nodded at the cop, then turned to Lisa-“What happened?”
Lisa sighed, she had tear marks on her face-“Oh Lexy...Nick...he...he was in an accident. A real bad one.”
Lexy’s eyes grew wide-“Is he ok?” No one said anything, she looked at all the faces-“IS HE OK?”
The cop looked at her-“I’m sorry ma’am. You might wanna come with us.” They followed the cop to the car and he took them to the sight. When they got there, Ioan walked with Lexy, his arm around her shoulder. He could feel her shaking. The car was crashed into the water, half of it was out of the water, the other half was smashed into the rocks. He had driven off the cliff, and hit the rocks. The cop sighed-“No one could have survived this accident.”
Lexy felt her knees go out-“Where is he??”

Lexy looked around, she searched frantically for a sign of him still being alive, she fell to the floor and cried uncontrollably, Ioan and Lisa ran to her and held her as she cried. Lisa got in her face-“Lexy hunny...you have to be strong for me ok? We have to tell the other boys.”
Lexy looked at Lisa and shook her head-“I can’t! I can’t! He’s gone!”
They got her up, Ioan looked at Lexy-“Baby, Lisa is right, you have to go tell the other boys. I’ll be waiting at home ok?”
Lexy nodded, Ioan got in one cop car, and the girls got in the other one. The cops didn’t say anything, they just sat in silence as Lisa called everyone and told them to meet them at her house. When they got there, everyone was in the living room. AJ got up-“Hey baby! What’s going on?”
Lisa looked at Lexy, who just put her head down, so she went on-“Um...baby you might wanna take a seat.”
Kevin looked at them, his eyebrows narrowed-“Lisa?”
Lisa’s voice started to crack, she could hear Lexy silently sobbing. Marley looked at Lexy, she felt a knot in her throat and didn’t know why. Lisa sighed-“It’s about Nick.”
Howie rolled his eyes-“What did he do know? Did he break your heart?”
Brian smiled-“You brought us here cuz he broke your heart? Aww Lexy I’m sorry ”
Lisa shook her head-“NO! He was in an accident.”
AJ blinked as if not believing it-“Is he ok? What hospital is he in?”
Lexy shook her head, Kevin walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders-“What does that mean? He’s not ok? He’s paralyzed? WHAT LEXY?”
She cried as she was being shaken-“HE DIDN’T MAKE IT!” Kristin walked up and made Kevin let go of her, she fell to the floor where she cried uncontrollably.
AJ looked at Lisa-“Is this a joke? Tell me it’s a joke!”
Lisa shook her head as she ran to his arms-“No, baby it’s not a joke!”
Everyone was talking all at once, they all cried with their partner. Lexy’s phone rang,-“Hello?”
It was Johnny-“Lexy...turn the TV on...tell me what they are reporting is not true! Tell me that is not Nick’s car? Tell he is still alive!”
Lexy cried-“No, Johnny he’s not. IT’s true, we just found out I’m sorry.” She whispered as she turned the TV on.
The reporter was sad-“Today is a sad day for the music industry...well for everyone. Backstreet Boys Nick Carter passed away in an accident. His body is still being looked for but officials say no one could have survived this accident. Here we have footage of former girlfriend Lexy being taken to the scene of the accident.” They showed video of her on the floor crying. Lexy turned away, everyone else watched in sadness. AJ walked over to Lexy and wrapped his arms around her, she cried into his chest-“Why him?? Why Nick??”
AJ shook his head, as he cried-“I don’t know sweetie...I don’t know.”
She could barely talk-“I-I-I wish this was all a dream! It doesn’t seem real!”
Lisa watched, it only made her cry more.
Emma walked in with Sandy-“LEXY!”
Sandy had tears in his eyes-“Lex...tell me what I just heard on the radio is not true!”
Lexy let go of AJ, and walked over to Sandy-“Oh Sandy...it’s true. He’s gone.”
Sandy looked at Emma and let the tears fall. Emma looked at them all, her little mouth start to slide down-“why...why is everyone crying?”
Lexy got down on her knees infront of the little girl-“Sweetie, your daddy...he went somewhere. A better place.”
Emma looked around-“Where? Can I go?”
Listening to her made everyone cry more. Lexy covered her mouth, then shook her head-“No sweetie. You will be going with me though.” The little girl hugged Lexy, she wrapped her arms around her neck. Lexy cried letting the tears fall on the little girls shoulder. After what seemed like hours of sitting in the living room crying, Lexy got a phone call-“Hello?”
It was Ioan-“Hey love, listen I have been thinking. Maybe we should postpone the wedding, till you feel like you can do this.”
She nodded-“Um...let me think about it ok? I’ll be home soon.”
She hung up the phone and looked at everyone-“Ioan thinks we should postpone the wedding. Until I feel I can go on with it.”
Brian shook his head-“No, you should go on with the wedding. Nick would have wanted it this way, he would want you to be happy.”
Aj nodded-“Yea, remember in Weird World...how he sings ‘Sure part of this place would cheer if I die, but don’t let take away your beautiful smile.’ He wants you to be happy.”
Lexy could hear him singing that in her head, she cried the whole way home. The next day, she lay in bed, Emma laid in bed with her to comfort her. She watched on tv as they would broadcast, memories of him, fans at his house with flowers, and even celebrity interviews.
The next day, Lexy got up and kicked Ioan out so she could get ready. He went to Marley’s apartment. The girls ALL came over to Lexy’s, to get ready.
Jen walked up-“Hey how you doing?”
Lexy smiled wearily-“I don’t know. I’m ok.”
She hugged Lexy and went to the hair salon to get their hair done. When all the girls were ready, they headed to the chapel, to continue preparations in the Bride’s room. Lexy was in her dress, they were adjusting her train. Lexy hadn’t smiled much, through out the day. When she was all ready she looked at herself in the mirror, she felt as if she was just gonna break down-“Hey girls, can you guys give me a minute alone? Please?”
The girls all looked at each other, then walked out of the room closing the door behind them. Lexy sat at the dresser and looked at the mirror, she let the tears fall-“Oh Nick...why did you leave me? Why did you do this?”
She put her head down on the dresser and cried. She heard the door open behind her, without lifting her head-“Please just go away. I need time alone.”
She listened for the door to open again and close as they left...but it didn’t. She looked up in the mirror and nearly fainted when she saw...

Lexy’s heart skipped a beat, she felt as if she turned around, he would not be there. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and turned around slowly. She opened her eyes and there he was...a few scratches on his face and arms but that’s it. She gasped and stepped back-“It can’t be...you...they...the cops said you couldn’t have made it.”
Nick smiled weakly and stepped forward-“Oh Lexy.”
She stepped back, tears started to swell in her eyes-“But...it can’t be!”
He walked towards her, he had obviously gone home and cleaned up. He reached out to grab her hand-“Lexy, it’s me. For real I’m here. Wow you look so beautiful. When I crashed, I woke up on the shore, I looked around and realized God gave me another chance. I knew that it was meant for me to come get you back. I am not gonna let this chance go back, baby I’m the one you should be with. I’m the one that should be at the alter with you.”
She shook her head-“No...Nick you can’t do this to me at my wedding. You...you can’t!”
She started to cry, he cupped her face in his hands-“Lexy I know everyone thing about you. Does he know that you have a twinkle in your eye when you are excited? Does he know that you have six smiles?”
She smiled-“What?”
He nodded-“Yea, one when something just flat out makes you laugh. One when you are laughing out of politeness. One when you make plans. One when you make fun of yourself. One when you are uncomfortable and one when you are talking about your friends.”
She was crying out of happiness now, she looked into his eyes-“Oh Nick.”
He pleaded-“Lexy please? Let’s go! Now you and me lets leave. We can start where we left off four years ago! Baby...you know I’m the one that should be at the alter with you!”
They heard Lisa at the door, knocking-“Lexy? Hunny can we come in? It’s time!”
Lexy looked at the door, then at Nick he shook his head-“It’s ok I locked it. So what do you say?”
Lisa turned the knob, and saw that it was locked, she looked at the other girls. They were worried Lexy had not responded-“Lexy! Lexy open the door!”
Marley banged on the door-“LEXY HUNNY PLEASE? Are you alright?”
Still no response, they finally all pushed the door open and found the room empty. Toni looked for her-“Oh no! She left!”
Ioan stood at the alter, nervously looking around. The doors opened and Lisa ran to the alter-“IOAN!”
He felt his stomach sink, he knew what that meant. She handed him a letter:
Dear Ioan,
I am so sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I realize that I can’t give you my heart today, or ever. I can’t give you my heart, if I gave it away a long time ago and never got it back. I am so sorry. It wasn’t meant to be.
Love,
Alexia

His eyes filled with tears, he crumpled the paper and walked out of the church. Everyone was confused, they all got the hint and started to leave. There were a few reporters that were broadcasting the whole thing. AJ walked up to Lisa-“What happened?”
Lisa’s eyes showed her fear-“Alex, she’s gone! We don’t know how she left, or why, but we have to find her. She was devastated by Nick’s death, she could do something very stupid.”
Brian sighed-“Oh Lord, well lets go. We should all split up!”
Lisa looked down-“Fist let’s go to my house, I need to change Andy’s diaper, then we can get a plan there!”
Lexy sat in Nick’s convertible, he smiled at her. She stood up and let the wind hit her-“I can’t believe this!” She laughed, her arms up in the air, Nick reached up and grabbed one of her hands and kissed it. She smiled as she sat down and threw her arms around his neck. She felt warm again, they reached a stop light. He turned his head towards her and kissed her. She missed that. When everyone reached AJ’s house, Lisa went straight to the room-“I don’t know about you guys, but Andy needs to get a new diaper.”
Aj watched her leave, then led everyone to the living room. He sighed as he walked in, but quickly gasped-“Oh my God.” Everyone followed him and also stopped at the door, in shock. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Lexy and Nick stood up and smiled.
AJ walked up to Nick and gave him a hug, tears started flowing out of his eyes-“Oh God, I thought we lost you buddy. I thought you were gone.”
Nick hugged him back, then came Brian, Kevin and Howie. They stood there crying and hugging. Marley walked up to Lexy and hugged her-“You scared us, we had no idea where you had gone.”
Lexy smiled-“I’m sorry you guys, but I just wasn’t ready to marry Ioan, and when I saw Nick, it all just fell in its place.”
Lisa walked in talking-“OK, we need to split up if we are gonna find-” She stopped when she saw Lexy still in her wedding dress-“Oh Lexy you scared us! We thought you were gonna do something stupid. And-” She stopped again when the guys stepped back revealing Nick, she looked at Nick and Lexy-“You two? You! OH You’re ok!” She walked up and hugged him, and was soon followed by the other girls.
Nick laughed-“Ladies ladies, there is tons of Nick love for all of you.”
Lexy laughed as the girls let him go, she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck-“Oh no mister, all the Nick love is for me. We have a lot of love to make up.”
AJ wiped the tears and smiled-“It’s about damn time you two got back together!”
Lexy sighed as she looked into Nick’s eyes, she smiled-“Wow...you saved me from the biggest mistake.”
He smiled-“Did I mention how amazing you look?”
She looked down realized she was still wearing her wedding dress-“Wow I need to change...wow I need to go back to the apartment and move my stuff.”
Just then Sandy walked in-“Yo guys, have you thought of where to find...” He stopped when he saw Nick and Lexy holding each other-“OH My...Nick! You’re alive!”
He walked over to hug him, then Emma came in she gasped-“DADDY!”
Lexy sighed as the little girl ran over and jumped into Nick’s arms. He held her-“Oh baby, how are you?”
Emma smiled-“Your back!”
Lexy wiped the tears, then kneeled with Nick and Emma-“Hey sweetheart, I told you it was gonna be ok.”
Lexy looked at her watch, and realized she should go pack. They told everyone they were leaving then headed back to her apartment. When she got back to the apartment, she was in for a surprise.

She walked in to a torn up place, he must have been really pissed. She thought maybe he was still there but, no one was around, so she went to her room, she could tell that Ioan had already been there too. Nick walked in behind her, he glanced around-“Looks like your buddy is gone. Why don’t you just stay here?”
She looked back at him-“Nah, it brings back too many memories, maybe I’ll get an apartment near the beach.”
He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist-“OR maybe you can just move in with me? It’s near the beach.”
She turned around to face him-“You mean it? You wanna move in together?”
He nodded, as he went down to kiss her. He pulled away-“Ok, I need to call Johnny. He needs to clear things up with the press, to let them know I’m ok. I’ll be in the living room while you pack.”
She nodded then took out her suitcases, she went into the bathroom and sighed. She looked at herself-“Wow, I can’t believe you are a runaway bride.” She laughed then changed out of the wedding dress. She put it in it’s bag, then continued packing everything. Around 9PM, everyone showed up at her door-“hello?”
Nick went out to get it. AJ smiled-“We figured you guess would need a break! So why don’t we all go out, you know like a club? We haven’t done that in a while, together!”
Lexy walked in-“Hey guys! What’s up?”
Nick put his arm around her shoulder-“They want to go out...to a club?”
Lexy looked at them-“Now? What about the kids?”
Marley smiled-“Well your mom said she would watch them all. It was her idea that we go out in the first place.”
Lexy laughed-“My parents said they would watch all three of them?”
Leighanne nodded-“Yes, she is a doll! Besides she said she would have Xander, Darla, and Jenny there to help her.”
Toni pleaded-“Come on Lexy, with all the tension we’ve had with your wedding and goofball here vanishing on us, we deserve it.”
Nick glared playfully-“hey!”
Lexy laughed-“Alright alright, let us change and we will go out.”
They left the house around 9:30, and went bar hoping. They danced at a club, people looked at Nick weird. Lexy figured they hadn’t gotten the news that he wasn’t dead. She danced in the middle of the crowd. It was getting hot and sticky fast, Lexy put her hands under her hair and lifted as she danced. She faced Nick, he had his legs open and she had one leg in between them. He held her close as they danced, grinding and looking into each others eyes. She stopped dancing when the spotlight landed on her. Her eyes grew wide, she looked Nick he also stopped and looked around. The DJ announced-“Well well ladies and gents. Looks like we have a special guest on the dance floor. Lexy darling, we won’t bug ya if you do us a favor?”
Everyone clapped, Lexy smiled and waved. Then looked up and the DJ-“Sure.”
He laughed-“Good, how about you perform for us? One song?”
She looked at Nick, then laughed-“Ok. That’s easy.” She grabbed Nick’s hand and motioned for Lisa, Marley, and Toni to grab their guys and get on stage. The girls nod, Lexy walks over to the DJ and whispers in his ear to play Buttons(It’s PCD song, it’s great you should hear it!) And she grabbed the mic-“Hey hey!! How are you guys doing? I am so honored to have you guys want me to perform!” The crowd cheered, the girls had grabbed big coats, the song started with this soft Indian sounding music. The girls were facing the away from the stage moving their hips as they let the coats fall. The boys in the crowd went wild. Lexy walked over to Nick and pulled him onto the stage. The other girls followed along with what Lexy would do, as she sang:
I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


Typical

Hardly the type I fall for

I'm liking the physical

Don't leave me asking for more

I'm a sexy mama (Mama)

Who knows just how to get what I want and (Want and)

What I want to do is spring this on you (On you)

Back up all of the things that I told you (Told you)


You been saying all the right things all along

But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off

Baby, can't you see?

How these clothes are fitting on me

And the heat coming from this beat

I'm about to blow

I don't think you know


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


You say you're a big boy

But I can't agree

'Cause the love you said you had

Ain't been put on me

I wonder

If I'm just too much for you

Wonder

If my kiss don't make you just

Wonder

What I got next for you

What you want to do? (Do)


Take a chance to recognize that this could be yours

I can see, just like most guys that your game don't please

Baby, can't you see?

How these clothes are fitting on me

And the heat coming from this beat

I'm about to blow

I don't think you know


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)
Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm a make you loosen up my buttons babe

Loosen up my buttons babe

Why don't you loosen up my buttons babe

Loosen up my buttons babe


I'm a make you loosen up my buttons babe

Loosen up my buttons babe

Why don't you loosen up my buttons babe

Loosen up my buttons babe


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)


I'm telling you loosen up my buttons baby (Uh huh)

But you keep fronting (Uh)

Saying what you going to do to me (Uh huh)

But I ain't seen nothing (Uh)

the performance turned out great. IT was tons of fun, the crowd loved it. Lexy smiled, Nick was behind her with his hands on her buttons. She smiled as she bowed, let her buddies bow then got off stage.

After she got situated in Nick’s apartment. They went down to a radio station to clear up that Nick was not dead. She spoke about the way she felt when she found out. She almost got teary just talking about it. She then spoke about her engagement with Ioan and how she broke it off. She sighed as she explained that it just wouldn’t be rite, if she married and not loved him. They finished off their interview and went back to the apartment.
Christmas time was coming around, Lexy was invited to do a Christmas show in New York, she agreed only if she was allowed to sing one song with a special someone. They agreed as long as she went. She got excited, she planned it all very well. She got on stage and sang a few of her own songs. Then she got off, and came back on in a sexy Santa helper suit. She smiled as the crowd went wild-“Well Merry Christmas to all of you!!” They cheered, she laughed-“I have a very special guest for you all!! I hope you all have been very good boys and girls!” She looked over to the side, and out came Santa Claus. She ran over to him(as best as she could in heels)-“Santa Baby! Are you here to see all these good boys and girls?” He nodded, then she smiled. Well then dear Santa, I am gonna sing a song for you!”
She smiled as he sat in a chair they brought for him and she went and sat in his lap singing:
Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me
I've been an awful good girl
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, an out-of-space convertible too, light blue
I'll wait up for you dear
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the fun I've missed
Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed
Next year I could be oh so good
If you'd check off my Christmas list
Boo doo bee doo

Santa honey, I wanna yacht and really that's
Not a lot
I've been an angel all year
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie, there's one thing I really do need, the deed
To a platinum mine
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, I'm filling my stocking with a duplex, and checks
Sign your 'X' on the line
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Come and trim my Christmas treeWith some decorations bought at Tiffany's
I really do believe in you
Let's see if you believe in me
Boo doo bee doo

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing, a ring
I don't mean a phone
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight(She walked back up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.)
She giggled as she stood up and went to get a mic for Santa. She laughed-“Ok guys! I am gonna sing you another song, but dear old Santa is gonna give me a hand.”
Santa spoke-“You bet your butt! I’m gonna give you a hand! Don’t you guys think she looks hot in this outfit?” The males cheered at his comment, the females cheered as they realized that Santa was Nick.
Lexy turned around letting them all get a good look at her outfit then smiled-“Ok ok seriously, isn’t it getting cold out here?”
Nick walked up to her-“I can think of a few ways to warm up!” The crowd whistled and shouted, he looked at them-“dancing! Dancing warms you up! What are you people thinking?”
She laughed as she pushed him away. The music stared and she put the mic up to her lips:
(Lexy)I really can't stay - (Nick)Baby it's cold outside
(Lexy)I've got to go away - (Nick)Baby it's cold outside
(Lexy)This evening has been -(Nick) Been hoping that you'd drop in
(Lexy)So very nice - (Nick)I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice
(Lexy)My mother will start to worry - (Nick)Beautiful, what's your hurry
(Lexy)My father will be pacing the floor - (Nick)Listen to the fireplace roar
(Lexy)So really I'd better scurry - (Nick)Beautiful, please don't hurry
(Lexy)well Maybe just a half a drink more -(Nick) Put some music on while I pour
(Lexy)The neighbors might think -(Nick) Baby, it's bad out there
(Lexy)Say, what's in this drink - (Nick)No cabs to be had out there
(Lexy)I wish I knew how - (Nick)Your eyes are like starlight now
(Lexy)To break this spell - I (Nick)'ll take your hat, your hair looks swell
(Lexy)I ought to say no, no, no, sir - (Nick)Mind if I move a little closer
(Lexy)At least I'm gonna say that I tried - (Nick)What's the sense in hurting my pride
(Lexy)I really can't stay - (Nick)Baby don't hold out
(Both)Ahh, but it's cold outside
(Nick)C'mon baby
(Lexy)I simply must go - (Nick)Baby, it's cold outside
(Lexy)The answer is no - (Nick)Ooh baby, it's cold outside
(Lexy)This welcome has been - (Nick)I'm lucky that you dropped in
(Lexy)So nice and warm -- (Nick)Look out the window at that storm
(Lexy)My sister will be suspicious -(Nick) Man, your lips look so delicious
(Lexy)My brother will be there at the door - (Nick)Waves upon a tropical shore
(Lexy)My maiden aunt's mind is vicious - (Nick)Gosh your lips are delicious (Lexy)Well maybe just a half a drink more - (Nick)Never such a blizzard before
(Lexy)I've got to go home - (Nick)Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there
(Lexy)Say, lend me your comb - (Nick)It's up to your knees out there
(Lexy)You've really been grand - (Nick)Your eyes are like starlight now
(Lexy)But don't you see - (Nick)How can you do this thing to me
(Lexy)There's bound to be talk tomorrow -(Nick) Making my life long sorrow
(Lexy)At least there will be plenty implied - (Nick)If you caught pneumonia and died
(Lexy)I really can't stay - (Nick)Get over that old out
(Both)Ahh, but it's cold outside
(Both)Baby it's cold outside
(Lexy)Brr its cold….
(Nick)It's cold out there
Cant you stay awhile longer baby
(Lexy)Well…..I really shouldn't...alright
(Nick)Make it worth your while baby
(Lexy)Ahh, do that again….
She hugged him, he kissed her cheek. She bowed and waved at the fans that were going crazy-“THANK YOU!!” She blew kisses at them, then walked off stage with Nick.

It had been two weeks since Lexy’s wedding day. She walked into the apartment after Nick dropped her off to go to the store. She saw the light on in the living room, she looked around-“Hello?”
She walked into the living room and saw Ioan sitting on the couch-“Well...your home.”
She looked at him, he looked different angrier-“Ioan...I...”
He shook his head-“No...I think you did enough talking.”
She walked towards him-“Ioan no, I didn’t you know, I didn’t. I’m sorry I never meant to hurt you. But did you really think that life would be fine and dandy if we got married? I wasn’t ready to get married!”
He laughed-“You weren’t ready to get married? Or you weren’t ready to get married TO ME?”
She stopped-“That’s not fair. MY decision had nothing to do with Nick.”
He got close to her face-“Tell me something, if Nick wouldn’t have come back...would you have gone through with the wedding? Yes right?” She looked into his eyes, then looked down, he nodded-“I thought so. I knew you would have married me if he hadn’t showed up.”
Lexy shook her head-“I’m sorry.”
He smirked again-“Yea I know. I came back to get my ring.”
She looked at him, hurt that she had hurt him so badly. She went upstairs to get his ring. When she came back he was by the door. She handed it to him-“Ioan...I’m really sorry.”
He nodded and walked out the door. She sat on the stairs and sighed-“Wow, well at least he’s gonna be happy with who ever he finds.” She then walked into the kitchen and started cooking some spaghetti-“I did the right thing right? Well I’m sure I could have gone over there and told him I didn’t want to get married.”
Nick stood at the door and smiled-“Wow...are you talking to yourself?”
She got startled and spun around-“Oh...Nick. Yea I’m talking to myself...but you know I am insane.” She pouted as she walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist-“Cuz I answered myself.”
He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and looked down at her-“It’s ok...I like my women crazy.” He leaned down and kissed her.
She pulled away and playfully shoved him-“Thanks! Now...did you bring the RAGU?”
He nodded as he pointed to the bag on the counter, she grabbed it and went to the stove. Then he sat on a stool and leaned on the counter-“So...is it just you and me tonight?”
She turned to him and grinned-“Sure if Emma is at Brian’s again. I think she likes it over there more than here. Wow I don’t think it’s been that way for a while!”
Nick smiled-“Good, I like it this way. I’m gonna go upstairs and shower.”
She nodded as she continued cooking her spaghetti and chicken Parmesan. When she finished, she left it on the stove, with it off, to keep it warm then went upstairs to take a shower too. When she came out she saw a black dress laying on the bed. She looked around then picked up the note next to it: Get dressed, then meet me on the roof. She giggled, then got dressed. When she was done, she threw her hair up in a high clip and applied her make up, then earrings. She put her black heels on and headed out of the apartment complex to the roof. When she got up there, she saw a man with a violin. He saw her and started playing, Nick then walked up to her. He was dressed very nicely. She looked at him in surprise-“Babe wat’s going on?”
Nick held out his arm so she could take it. She looked at him and took his arm, smiling the whole time. He led her to a small table, where there was candles and dark red rose petals on the table. He pulled her chair out for her, then pushed her in. He had set up their dinner plates infront of their places. She grinned, he had not said a word the whole time, until then-“Your dinner my lady.”
She looked around, the sky was clear, the violinist was in tune, the food smelt great-“This is so beautiful Nick. Thank you.”
He looked at her and smiled-“We deserve this.”
She nodded-“Oh yea we do!”
They ate their dinner while talking, Nick nodded to the violinist. She looked at both of them, then looked at Nick who was standing up-“Nick, what are you doing?”
He held out his hand to her, she looked at him and took it. He pulled her close placing an arm around her waist while hold her other hand close to his chest. The violinist started playing You and Me by Lifehouse. Lexy looked at Nick, he had remember that they danced to this song a while back. She smiled as she leaned her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beat start getting faster, she pulled her head away and looked up at him. He was thinking, looked more like pondering. He sighed-“Lexy, you know how the other day I said all those things about me being the one that should be at the end of the alter waiting for you?”
She looked up at him-“Yea.”
He looked down at her-“Well I meant every word. I love you Lexy.”
She smiled-“Oh Nick, I love you too!”
He chewed on his lip, then shook his head as if making up his mind-“Ok, Lexy what I’m trying to say is...” He stepped back and got down on one knee, her hand immediately went to her mouth. Her eyes widened with excitement. He could see it, and smiled as he pulled out a small black box-“Alexia...will you marry me?”
She felt a knot in her throat, she was so excited. She didn’t care for the tears so she let them roll down as she nodded. She couldn’t speak, she just smiled as he took her hand and placed the ring on it. He then stood up and hugged her tightly. She kissed him, then finally spoke-“Oh Nick... I love you I love you so much!”
He smiled-“I love you too Lexy. You have made me the happiest man alive!”
They hugged each other for little longer then continued their night. She looked down at her hand and smiled as the light caught the diamonds. After while, Nick went over to the violinist, then came back. The violinist left, Lexy smiled at him as he waved. Nick blew out the candles, then took Lexy’s hand to lead her to the an area where he had laid a quilt on the floor. She looked at him-“What’s this?”
He looked at his watch-“Well, if you lay down you we can snuggle under this big blanket and look up at the stars.”
She smiled as she sat down, removing her heels-“Oh? So the fact that there is gonna be a meteor shower tonight has nothing to do with this?”
He looked shocked-“Really? I didn’t know that. Well then, that only makes this much better.”
She smiled as she laid on her back, he sat up on his elbow facing her. He kissed her, softly. She smiled-“Um...Nick the stars are over there.”
He shook his head as he removed a strand of hair off her face-“Oh no baby...I am looking at my shining star.”
She blushed and pulled him closer to her as they kissed had a truly magical night under the stars.

Lexy walked down to the grocery store down the street, after the amazing night she had with Nick she felt like she needed some air. She put on a hoody and some sunglasses, as she walked out of the apartment, she saw a few people start talking into their cell phone. She quickly pulled her sleeves past her fingers. She smiled politely to the people around her, then walked into the store. She bought some orange juice, cereal, then looked at a few magazines. US Weekly stood out to her, it had AJ on the cover, with a "Mystery Woman." She felt her blood boiling, how could he sit here and go out with other women, while being MARRIED to Lisa?? OOh when I get my hands on that boy I am gonna kick his...then she stopped, wait...me of all people should know not to believe these things!! She laughed at her self as she purchased it, then headed back out. When she got to the apartment, Nick was standing in the kitchen with the blanket wrapped around his waist. She smiled as she walked over to the counter and put the stuff down-"Good Morning sunshine!"
He turned around and walked over to her-"hey, where did you disappear to? I went to wrap my arms around you and you were gone."
She nodded-"yea I had to go to the store...actually I needed to get some air. Make sure that I am not living some fantasy...or dream!"
He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist, he leaned down and kissed her. His warm lips greeted hers with a passion. She smiled as chills ran down her spine, he kissed her nose-"You are WAY too cute. So what did you buy?"
She pulled out the cereal and got a smile from him, then the juice. She stopped when she was about to pull out the magazine-"Um..Nick, I found this up there."
He looked at her, then the magazine-"woah? IS that AJ?"
She nodded-"With some mystery woman...should we call and let him know that there are new rumors about him."
Nick laughed-"Baby, you know we should never believe what we read in those things. We should always go straight source. I'll call the dickhead and find out if it's true or not."
He walked out into the den, she followed him-"HEY!! That's not fair, I wanna hear!!"
He laughed again-"You nosey little wench! Come on, you have to be really quiet! I'm gonna put him on speaker."
She clapped, but quickly hushed when she heard the phone ringing, waiting for AJ to answer-"'LLO?"
Nick smiled-"Yo...what's up bro? You busy?"
AJ was silent-"Nah, why?"
Nick sighed_"Is Lisa around you?"
AJ chuckled-"WHY? Did you call my phone to talk to my wife?"
Nick chuckled too-"Uh...no. I wanted to talk to you, but needed to make sure Lisa was not around."
Aj got serious-"Why? What's on your mind bro?"
Nick sighed again-"AJ you know you can tell me anything rite?"
"Uh...yea. I always do, man."
Nick looked at Lexy who crossing her arms, he shook his head-"Who is she AJ?"
AJ sounded surprised-"Who is who Nick?"
Lexy couldn't hold it-"OH don't you act like you don't know you good for nothing cheating..."
Nick placed his hand on her mouth-"Lexy!"
Aj got real serious-"Nick what the hell is going on??"
Nick glared at Lexy who had now turned away from him-"AJ...Lexy went to the store earlier. She bought US Weekly and on the cover, there is a VERY scandalous picture of you and a "Mystery woman." Who is she AJ?"
AJ was silent for what seemed like forever, then finally spoke-"Nick, you of all people should know better than to believe in what you read. Now explain to me what we are doing in the picture and what the girl looks like?"
Lexy threw the magazine at Nick, who looked down at the picture-"Well, you are standing really close to her. Looks like you are about to hug, when you open the magazine to that page you are on, you can see both of you at the mall, then at an ice cream parlor. She is tall, black hair, and thin."
AJ thought for a moment, then started laughing hysterically. Nick and Lexy looked at each other, waiting for him to stop laughing-"Oh man...ok here's the deal. That woman, is my cousin's wife. They must have cut him out of the picture because he was around us all the time. They were in town last week, I took them out to shop and stuff. If you don't believe me you can call them, or even talk to Lisa. She had some important meeting with some Magazine,so she couldn't go."
Lexy looked at Nick,then spoke-"So why does it look like you are flirting with her?"
AJ sighed-"Now that I am guilty of, I was trying to prove to her that I could make any girl melt by singing to her, close and all. Come on Lexy you know that is true!"
Nick shot Lexy a glare, she rolled her eyes-"Ok...I swear to you if you are lying to me McLean, I will kick you ass so hard you won't even know what got into you."
She walked away, angrily. Nick laughed-"Alright bro, sorry to bother ya with all that mess. We know better. Hey I’m bar-b-quin later, you and Lisa wanna come?"
Aj laughed-"yea man. We'll see ya around 6?"
Nick nodded-"Aight, later dawg." He clicked the phone off, then walked over to Lexy who was in the living room serving herself some cereal. He walked up behind her and rubbed her shoulders-"See...we had nothing to worry about.We really need to start minding our own business."
Lexy shook her head-"It just looked so convincing, babe...I would kill you if you came out in a magazine like that!"
Nick pretended to be shocked-"Well then um...don't look at next weeks US weekly!"
She laughed as she playfully hit him. He caught her arm-"you wanna go upstairs and um...have a little fun?" He winked at her. She raised an eyebrow-"Oh? what kind of fun would that be Mr. Carter."
He laughed-"I'll give ya a hint." He kissed her, then pulled her body much closer. She pulled away, then giggled as she ran upstairs.

The girls went out to lunch, to discuss a possible trip to Europe with the boys. Lexy smiled at herself as she reached across the table with her left hand-“Um…could some one pass the salt please.”
The other three girls looked down at her hand, Marley was the first to react-“OH MY! Is that what I think it is?”
Toni grabbed Lexy’s hand-“Lexy did Nick?” Lexy nodded with a huge grin, Toni continued-“OH my God that’s great! How exciting! Congratulations ”
Lisa reacted-“Wow! This is great! We have to celebrate. We need an engagement party!”
Lexy laughed-“Guys, calm down. I have something to tell you…we don’t wanna wait more that three months. We know we are ready for this, so why not get it over with, sooner than later!”
Marley’s eyes lit up-“OH, this is gonna be the fastest wedding we have ever planned.”
Lisa sighed then nodded firmly-“Right…well then we have a lot of planning to do. We must get started right away!”
Lexy clapped, then hugged her friends-“OH I love you guys!”
Lexy went back to the apartment, to find Nick. She wanted to tell him how supportive the girls had been, she found a note that said he had headed over to Sandy’s apartment to pick up Emma. She picked up her cell phone and called him-“Hey baby, are you still at Sandy’s?”
Nick smiled-“Yes, we are talking. Maybe you should head over here so we can both tell him the good news.”
Lexy laughed-“Alright, I’ll be over there in a few minutes.” She hung up the phone then headed upstairs to put her hair up in a pony tail. Then headed out to her car, she started heading to Sandy’s house. The radio was on, a BSB song came on the radio. She laughed as she found herself doing the moves to the song. Then she heard a siren behind her, looked like it was firetrucks. She pulled the car over, to let them go by. She continued her way to Sandy’s apartment, her heart started pounding loudly when she realized she was following the firetrucks. Her fear was being revealed, she pulled up to firetrucks surrounding the burning apartment complex. She froze looking at the overwhelming fire hovering over the apartments. It looked like it had been going on for hours when really it was just minutes. Lexy got out of the car and ran to the nearest fire fighter, a knot in her throat, making it hard to talk. She grabbed his arm-“Where are the people who were evacuated from this fire?”
The man looked at her-“Ma’am do you live here?”
She grabbed his jacket-“WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE EVACUATED??” Startled, he pointed to a crowd watching in horror as their homes went up in flames. Lexy searched the faces, some were darkened by ashes, some where just flat out pale. She looked from face to face to face to face...finally she came across a familiar face. She threw her arms around his neck-“OH Sandy I’m glad you are ok?” She looked around him, her eyes narrowed-“Where’s Nick and Emma?”
Sandy shook his head-“There was an explosion, I bumped my head and passed out. When I woke up, I was out here and they weren’t. I’m sorry.” She ran to the front of the yellow line and watched as more fire fighters came out with people. She searched for Nick or Emma, finally she saw Nick come out. She ran to the ambulance they took him too to make sure he was ok. He stood up and hugged her tightly, she looked up, tears flowing down her cheeks-“Where’s my baby?”
Nick shook his head-“I don’t know, they wouldn’t let me find her. They said they were going to.” Just then there was an explosion, flames shot out everyone ducked. Pieces of burning debris floating in the air, landing on the ground. Lexy ran towards the burning building-“NO!” She was stopped by two strong arms holding her by the waist, they were Nick’s. She struggled at first wanting to break free so she could go in there and find Emma.
She could hear him grunting as he also struggled to keep his grip on her-“Lexy Stop, you are gonna get hurt too. Please baby, stop.” She fell to the floor, he was covering her body with his. Just then, they looked up as a paramedics with a stretcher ran towards the building. There was a firefighter running out with a child in his arms. Lexy and Nick stood up, she could see the blonde hair. She realized Nick had loosened his grip, so she ran-“MY baby!” She reached the man and saw it was Emma, she was unconscious. Lexy ran with the stretcher, petting the girl. One of the paramedics told her what hospital to be at, then loaded her in an ambulance. She stood there as the ambulance drove off with her hand at her mouth crying.
Nick softly pulled on her arm-“Baby, give me the keys, lets go.”
They drove to the hospital, talking about what had happened. Lexy cried-“Oh I hope she is ok, Nick I swear I don’t know what will happen to me if she is not ok.”
Nick reached over and grabbed her hand, he kissed it-“She’s gonna be fine ok?”
They reached the hospital, she ran to the lady at the front desk-“Where’s the little girl from the fire?”
The lady chewed her gum like she was a cow as she said-“Are you the girls parents?”
Lexy rolled her eyes-“YES! Where is she??”
The lady held up a hand in defense-“Chill...she is in operating room?”
Lexy was about to go off on her when Nick grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away-“Thank you.”
They stood in the waiting room for a while, then a doctor came out-“Hello, are you the parents of the little brunette girl from the fire?”
Lexy looked at the doctor-“No, we are the parents of the little blonde girl. Why did she have to be operated, is she ok?”
The doctor looked confused-“The little blond girl wasn’t operated, who told you that?” He glared at the receptionist who was hiding behind some paperwork, then continued-“The little blonde girl has minor burns, but she did get a blow in the head so she is still unconscious. When she comes to again, she can leave the next day. Come on, I’ll lead you to her.”
Nick wrapped his arm around Lexy’s shoulder as they walked into the room-“See baby, she is gonna be ok.”
The doctor nodded-“When and if she wakes up.”
Nick glared at him, then walked into the room.

When they walked into the room, they saw Emma with her eyes closed, with machines hooked up to her. She had bandages on her arms, Lexy put a hand to her mouth as she cried. She turned to Nick, he placed his arms around her shoulder-“Nick...I’ve been the worst mom. We never spend anytime with her. She is always at Sandy’s.” She then turned, and looked up at the ceiling-“God! If you let her wake up, I promise we will be better parents. She will always be with us! Please!”
She then went over to the bed-“Emma, baby it’s Lexy baby. Hunny please wake up, I’m gonna be your new mommy. Remember how you wanted me to be your mommy? Well pumpkin, if you wake up I will be. Please baby girl.”
Nick sat on the other side-“Emma...it’s daddy. Baby please wake up. You wanna go to the zoo with daddy? Please Emma.”
Lexy held her hand, it was so tiny-“Emma...please wake up for mommy. We need you, daddy and I need you. You are gonna be my little flower girl, for when mommy and daddy get married. Emma baby, can you hear me? Please wake up for mommy.” She watched as the little girl didn’t move, she put her head down onto the bed and cried. Nick got up and started pacing back and forth rubbing his face. Sandy stood in a corner, silent. Just then, she stirred and groaned. Lexy’s head shot up and grabbed her hand with both hands-“Emma? Emma sweetie that’s it...just open your eyes.”
Nick ran back to the other side-“EMMA! You’re ok! Come on!”
Emma opened her eyes, squinting because of the brightness of the room. Sandy ran off to get the doctors. She looked over at Nick-“Hi daddy.”
Nick laughed as tears ran down his face, he held her and kissed her head-“Hi kiddo!”
She then turned to Lexy-“Hello Mommy.”
Lexy smiled and hugged her-“Hey baby!”
The doctor came in, then nodded to Nick-“Ok, everything is ok. She is back to normal, just give her pain killers for the burns, she is good to go home tomorrow.”
Nick shook the doctors hand-“Thank you so much doc.”
Sandy poked his head in-“Hey kid, there is someone here that really wants to see you!”
Emma sat up-“BAYLEE!”
Nick and Lexy laughed as the little blonde boy ran in-“EMMA!”
Brian and Leighanne followed him, they hugged Nick and Lexy. Brian put a hand on Nick’s shoulder-“That was a close one.”
Nick nodded, he turned to Emma, she was talking to Baylee about the adventure. Lexy smiled as she shook her head-“What was an adventure for her, was a nightmare for us.”
Leighanne nodded-“Oh, it would be any parents nightmare.”
Aj knocked on the door-“Can we come in?”
Lexy nodded as she walked over and hugged him, then Lisa-“Yes please! She is awake!”
AJ walked over to the bed, holding a big teddy-“Hey Emma, we brought you a get well present!”
Emma squeaked as she reached for the bear-“OH!”
Nick laughed-“What do we say?”
She turned to AJ-“Thank you!”
The next day, they threw Emma a welcome home party. She was excited about that, they had a moonwalk, and balloons. It was a big party to make her feel better. Lexy smiled at Nick, as he put and arm around her and kissed her forehead. They also decided that since they were gonna be better parents and have her there all the time, they re-did her whole room. Days later, it was time to plan the wedding. Lexy went off with the girls and started choosing, flowers, balloons, the ballroom, then it was time for the dress. Since Nick had seen her in the other dress, she decided she needed a new one. A month went by, and the girls had already ordered their specially made dresses. They were very excited with their outfits and the different kinds of flowers and stuff. Lexy felt a little weak, she had been feeling sick all morning. She knew what that meant, especially after she did it.
When Nick got back from the studio, he walked in to an empty house. He got to the main hall, he saw a roll of white paper with baby footprints leading to the small living room table. Where he found a basket with bottles, baby girl and baby boy clothes with “Carter baby” stitched into them, and pacifiers. His heart started racing, why was all this here? His thoughts we broken when he heard Lexy cleared her throat.

Lexy smiled as Nick ran up to her and picked her up-“OH Lexy! Are we gonna have a baby? Are you serious?”
She nodded and kissed him-“Yes, I’ve been feeling sick for a few days, so I went to my doctor and had a few test done. All positive, and we are gonna have a baby.”
Nick ran over to the basket, he started looking through it. His eyes were filled with tears-“Oh we have to tell the rest of the gang.” She smiled and nodded, then shook her head-“But not yet, I have an idea. I want to have a masquerade ball. Oohh baby...let’s do it in two days, we’ll email out invitations to everyone, so we can have tons of people there, then...” She continued with her plan, then they both ran off to their computers to e-mail everyone.
The girls got dressed the night of the dance. Emma looked adorable in her own little dress too. Lisa could see Lexy glowing, but she couldn’t but her finger on why she was glowing so much. She felt like she couldn’t take it anymore-“Ok Lex, what is up?”
Lexy turned around to face her-“What are you talking about?”
Toni and Marley were facing them, confused. They had not noticed the sparkle in their friend’s eyes. Lisa pointed at her-“There is something up Lexy, and I will find out by the end of the night.”
Lexy put her hands up in defense-“Hey...you will see at the end of the night.”
The girls shook their heads as they finished getting dressed and putting on the make up. It was gonna be a big ball. Their make up was very colorful, very sparkly. They used a lot of glitter, on their faces, on their masks, and on their hair. They had the masks that are stuck on the faces, not the ones you hold. When they arrived at the ball room, it was hard to recognize people, even the boys themselves. Nick came up from behind, he was wearing a white outfit with a white mask also sparkly. They danced to the music they would dance to in the olden days, with partners. It was so exciting, to see everyone move together to the music. Lexy looked at Nick as she danced, he was so concentrated on the moves. She giggled right as he looked up at her-“What’s so funny?”
She shook her head as she went under his arm, then curtsied-“Oh nothing, just how concentrated you are.”
He laughed as he brought her in, to dance close-“Do you think it’s time?”
She looked around, the party was a total success it was so colorful and full of life. She nodded as she took Nick’s hand then picked up the bottom of her dress with the other hand as she walked up the stairs. Nick went down to the guest and handed baggies to all the girls and the guys. They looked at the bags with confusion in their eyes. Lexy smiled as she approached the microphone-“Just want to say, thank you for joining us tonight. It is a very special night for me and Nick. In a few minutes, those of you who received a bag will open them up and reveal the reason for this celebration. Well, what are you waiting for...open them!” She grinned as she watched her friends open the baggies revealing baby clothes. She put hand across her stomach. The first one to catch on was Toni, she squealed-“OH MY GOD LEXY!”
Lisa also caught on-“I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING UP AAAHH!” The girls all got excited.
Lexy laughed-“Yes ladies and gentlemen, Nick and I are gonna have a baby!” Everyone clapped, Nick wrapped his arm around her waist and held her as the people continued to clap. The rest of the night was full of congratulations. Nick and Lexy were glowing the rest of the evening. They were totally excited, as was the press they had covered the whole story. She smiled as she did interviews. She glanced across the room, Nick was also doing interviews, he looked up at her and smiled. He blew her a kiss from across the room, she blushed but it was not noticeable since she was wearing soo much make up. The ball was a success, they did a couple more interviews, then a reporter out of nowhere, asked her to do a song from Phantom of the Opera. Since she already looked like she did in the movie. She smiled as she got up on top of the balcony, she nodded to the pianist and started singing Think of Me;
Think of me
Think of me fondly when we've said goodbye
Remember me once in a while, please promise me you'll try.

When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free
If you ever find a moment spare a thought for me.

We never said our love was evergreen
Or as unchanging as the sea.
But if you can still remember
Stop and think of me.
Think of all the things we've shared and seen,
Don't think about the way things might have been.

Think of me,
Think of me waking, silent and resigned.
Imagine me
Trying too hard to put you from my mind.
Recall those days, look back on all those times,
Think of the things we'll never do.
There will never be a day when I won't think of you

Flowers fade, The fruits of summer fade,
They have their seasons so do we.
But please promise me that sometimes
You will think...
(Opera singing)
Of me
The guest clapped and cheered. Nick stood at the end of the stairs watching, he was amazed. He had never heard her sing like that, well he saw the movie but he never saw her live. His heart was racing, he watched her...his future wife...mother of his children. Wow.

Two days before the wedding, the last minute preperations. Lexy was starting to get nervous and stressed, she felt like nothing was going right. That night she was gonna have her bachelorette party, she was nervous, she didn’t want some big thing. She was also nervous cuz Nick’s bachelor party was gonna be that night, she knew what his friends were like. Brett was the one that worried her the most, he was soo girl crazy. Around 10, Lexy went by AJ’s apartment to say goodnight to Nick, she figured the party wasn’t gonna start till 11 like hers. Boy was she wrong! She walked in, the guys were in the living room. She didn’t make noise, she just poked her head around the corner to see what was going on, why they were all shouting and halloring. Nick was sitting on a couch, while a female stripper was sitting on his lap, without a top on. He had his hands on her waist while she danced for him. Lexy felt sick, she walked out of the apartment-“My fiancé is gonna leave me for the sripper. I know it!” She laughed at herself-“No, no he’s just having a good time, as you will in a minute.” And she did, there was dancing and drinking(not Lexy cuz of the baby) they also had a stripper come in. Lexy laughed as the guy came over and danced for her, she danced with him. She danced and had a good time, but the picture of Nick carressing that girl kept poppig into her mind. When the party was over, she crashed in her bed. Nick must have been wasted and stayed in AJ’s apartment. When she woke up in the morning, she had this horrible feeling. Nick and that girl kept buggin her, she felt horrible. It must be the morning sickness, she stayed in her bathrobe, her hair was a mess. She layed in her bed all morning, with a bucket next to her. She felt horrible, Nick had not called nor come home.
Nick layed on the couch, he woke up to see the rest of the guys laying on he floor, he laughed. Then put a hand on his head to stop the pain-“Oh wow, last night was a wild party.” He remebered the music, the drinks, the stripper...the stripper? Oh crap, I hope I didnt do anything dumb. He sat up, man his head was pounding. He looked at his watch 1o’clock, shit he had spent all morning in that couch. He got up and gathered his stuff, he had to get home to Lexy. They were gonna have the rehearsal dinner that night. When he got home, Lexy was not there, she left a note that simply said “Out”. That’s weird, he thought to himself, then went to the bathroom. He had lipstick all over his face and neck. He groaned-“Oh no, please tell me nothing happened.” He shook his head, then jumped in the shower.
Lexy went out, she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She had so many questions in her head, was she ready to get married. It looked like Nick wasn’t ready, he likes being single, he likes to party...can he settle down and be a daddy? She sighed, she continued walking in the park, then on the beach. She didn’t realize how long she had been out, when she looked at her watch she realized she had 30 minutes till the rehearsal dinner. She ran home, Nick was getting dress-“Lexy where’ve you been?”
She sighed-“I was out, sorry.” She went into the bathroom, and got in the shower, the fasted showed she had ever taken. Then she got out, and threw on the simple dress she had bought. Nick was waiting for her to put on her make up, which was very light. She went down the stairs to Nick, they got in the car and headed to the restaurant. She was quiet, Nick glanced at her while he drove. She just started out the window, finally speaking-“Nick are you ready to do this?”
He glanced at her again-“For the rehearsal? Yea babe I.”
Lexy interrupted him-“To get married Nick I saw you last night with the stripper. You looked like you were having a good time. Baby it doesn’t look like you were ready to settle down. You like to party and to the whole clubbing scene. Nick, I...I just don’t feel like you are...”
Nick pulled the car over, he took her face in his hands-“Baby, I am more than ready to marry you. You are the woman of my dreams I love you, of course I am ready. I would leave all that behind in a second for you.”
She looked into his eyes, she could tell he was telling the truth-“Oh Nick, I’m sorry, I love you too.” She kissed him, passionately.
He smiled-“Now, let’s do this rehearsal thing.”
They got to the restaurant and did the rehearsal thing, then went home to bed. They had a big day ahead of them. The next morning, Lexy got up before Nick, she left him a note on the pillow that said: “Hey my love, see you at the alter. Xoxo Lexy”
She went with the bridesmaid, to get their hair done, then make up. She was getting excited and nervous at the same time. The day went by so fast, her stomach was turning. She looked in the mirror, way different than the last time. She is happy this time, she is ready. There was a knock at the door, it was her dad-“hey sweetie, we’re ready for ya.”
Lexy stood up, the girls looked at her. Marley smiled-“Oh wow, this is exciting. Ok, lets go!”
The girls walked out the door, and went to stand in their positions. All the boys were the groomsmen, and the girls bf’s. Her dad took her arm and smiled, he gently gave her a kiss on the cheek. She felt the knot in her throat form, she took a deep breath as the wedding march started.
Everyone stood up and watched as Emma lead the group down the aisle, there were awes from the crowd, tons of pictures were being taken. She smiled at her family, then at Nick’s family. Her mom was at the end, she was crying already. Lexy smiled at her too, then she looked up ahead, he had the biggest grin in the room. His eyes were lit up, as he watched her come to him. He too felt the knot in his throat, when her dad gave her to him, he smiled and mouthed Hi. She smiled from behind the veil, then sighed. The priest began-“dearly beloved, we are gathered here to join Nick Carter and Alexia Molina together in holy matrimony.”
Nick coudln’t take his eyes off of her, he snapped out of it when the priest told him to read his vows to her-“Lexy, since the day I met you...I knew you were different. Besides the fact that you embarrassed me infront of the mall. You have become the person that I turn to when something goes wrong, or even when I just need some love. You are my world, you are my everything. I love you and I am more than ready to make you my wife.”
The priest nodded, Nick let a tear roll down, Lexy had a few tears too. It was her turn, she spoke thru her tears-“Nick, you are every girls fantasy come true. You are sweet, caring, handsome, amazing, and loving. I know that together we can conquer the world if we had to. I know I’m going to sound cheesy but you really are my safest place to hide. I love you.”
The priest nodded to Baylee, who brought over the rings. Lexy smiled at him, the priest then turned to Nick-“Do you Nickolas, take Alexia to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, thru sickness and health for richer or poorer till death do you part?”
Nick looked into her eyes as he slipped the ring onto her shaking hand-“I do.”
The priest then turned to Alexia-“Do you Alexia, take Nickolas as your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, thru sickness and health for richer or poorer till death do you part?”
She smiled as she put the ring on his finger-“I do.”
The priest smiled as he looked out at the crowd, everyone had tears rolling down their faces-“By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Nick smiled as he lifted the veil, then took her face in his hands and kissed her as the church roared with applause. They turned to the aisle, as the priest announced-“Make way for Mr. and Mrs. Nickolas Gene Carter.” They walked back down the aisle and outside to take pictures with the family and get congratulated.
Later on at the reception, Nick pulled Lexy out onto the dance floor, then nodded to the guys. He started dancing with her as the music started, Nick then began singing as he danced with her:
I open my eyes I see your face
I cannot hide I can't erase
The way you make me feel inside
You complete me girl, that's why
Something about you makes me feel
Baby my heart wants to reveal
I'm down on my knees, I'm asking you
So these three words I wanna hear from you

Yes I will, take your hand and walk with you
Yes I will, so these three words I promise to
Yes I will, give you everything you need
And someday start a family with you
Yes I will, take your hand and walk with you
Yes I will, baby I promise to
Yes I will, give you everything you need
And someday start a family with you
Oh yes I will
This is no ordinary love
And I can never have enough
Of all the things you've given to me
My heart , my soul , my everything
Every night I thank you lord(I thank you lord)
For giving me the strenght to love her more
And more each day I promise her
As long as I hear those three words

Yes I will, take your hand and walk with you
Yes I will, so these three words I promise to
Yes I will, give you everything you need
And someday start a family with you
Yes I will, take your hand and walk with you
Yes I will, baby I promise to
Yes I will, give you everything you need
And someday start a family with you
Oh yes I will


I stand beside you, in everything you do
Wherever you go, whatever you doBaby I'll be there (oh baby I will be there) As God as my witness
I will carry this through
Till death do us part, I promise to you
Yes I will, take your hand and walk with you
Yes I will, Baby baby yes I promise to
Yes I will, give you everything you need
And start a family with you, baby
Yes I will
Yes I will
Yes I will, I promise you
Everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be all right
I will

The rest of the guys sang the chorus, Lexy was bawling by now, Nick smiled as he held her. She watched him sing to her. When the song was over, they continued swaying on the dancefloor, he kissed her-“I love you Mrs. Carter.”
She smiled-“I love you Mr. Carter.”
They continued with the party, till 3 a.m. Then rushed home to get their bags to go off on their honeymoon to the bahamas.

A month later

Lexy was two months pregnant, she was on her way with Nick to the doctors office. She looked down at her hand, she starred at the wedding band. She smiled, Nick glanced over to her-“Hey, you look happy. Are you excited to get your baby’s first picture?”
Lexy smiled-“Yes, aren’t you?”
He smirked-“Yea I guess I am.”
She lay on the bed, while the doctor put the gel on her belly, then she said-“Ok you are going to hear your heart beat, slow and strong.” She placed the cold thing on her belly, there was a beating sound, strong and slow. The doctor nodded-“OK, now you are going to hear your heartbeat, and a weak fast heart beat that’s your baby’s heartbeat.” She put on the thing, just then there were three heartbeats, the doctor paused-“Oh? Oh my?”
Lexy looked at her-“What’s wrong?”
The nurse smiled as she looked up at her and Nick-“Looks like there is more than we expected in there.” She moved out of the way, showing them the picture, she grinned-“Looks like Twins!”
Lexy’s heart started beating faster, they could all hear it, she felt her eyes water-“OH my...Oh Nick!”
Nick was in shock, he was staring at the screen, his eyes watered-“Twins? Two babies? Oh...baby!"
He hugged her and kissed her. The doctor smiled-“I’m going to go print the pictures up for you, then we are all done.” She left the room, leaving them together alone.
Lexy rubbed her belly-“Oh hey you guys, Mommy’s looking at you right now. Hey little ones, oh Nick.”
He smiled, then touched the screen, then went back to her belly-“Hey guys, one of you better be a boy!” He laughed, then looked at Lexy, who was laughing and crying at the same time. They got their pictures, then headed over to AJ’s and Lisa’s house. When they arrived Lisa helped them in-“So? How did it go?”
Nick smiled and nudges Lexy to speak, she turned to him and laugh-“Well, here look at the pictures they speak for themselves.” She handed AJ one and Lisa one.
Lisa gasped, AJ did two but their faces told two different stories. Lisa had joy and excitement, Aj had fear and terror-“YOUR BABY HAS TWO HEADS!”
Lexy looked at him she thought he was kidding but he had such a serious look. She looked at Nick who was cracking up-“No DAWG! Their twins!”
Lisa laughed too-“Oh my God, talk about being dense!”
Lexy shook her head as she giggled-“OH AJ You were so scared!”
He shoved a pillow at Nick-“Shut up!”
Lisa got up and hugged her-“OH Lexy I am soo happy for you. Twins how exciting!”
AJ smiled-“Oh, right. Congratulations for your two headed baby!”
He hugged Nick, who laughed-“Yea, don’t think that the rest of the gang won’t find this out!”
Lexy smacked Nick-“Leave him alone. Come on, lets go. So we can get a small get together ready for tonight. I want my parents to hear about our great news! Oh you guys should come, I feel like having hott fudge sundays!” She smiled then hugged them, when she got in the car she called Marley and Toni to have them come over for the good news. When they got home, they found a lady sitting on the steps. Lexy looked at Nick confused, Nick looked at her-“Um...I can I help you?”
The young lady stood up, she held her belly-“Hi, Nick. You look great.”
Lexy looked at her in disbelief, then looked at Nick who also had a look of disbelief. Lexy shook her head-“Um hello, I’m Lexy...his WIFE! You are?”
She looked at Lexy-“Pam, Nick is the daddy to the baby that is in my belly.”
Lexy looked at her, then at Nick who had turned pale.

Lexy rolled her eyes-“Nick what is she talking about?” They walked into the house, followed by Pam. Nick chuckled he knew there was no way this baby could be his, he was with Lexy all last month. Lexy put her coat on table to their apartment-“How funny Pam, looks like we have the same problem.” She turned around showing off her belly.
Pam sighed as she pat her not developed belly-“Listen I know it sounds crazy. But he is that dad, Nick tell her!”
Nick put his hands up in defense-“Hey honnie I have never seen you before.”
Pam acted insulted-“Nick, Oh, see I was the stripper at your bachelor party!”
Lexy remembered walking in and seeing her on top of Nick. She looked at Nick who was looking at her, he remembered now. He looked at Lexy-“Oh.”
Lexy rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air-“Unbelievable NICK? THE NIGHT BEFORE OUR WEDDING??” She sighed and went to her room, and closed the door.
Nick went after her but got the door in his face. He pounded on the door then turned to Pam-“How the hell do you come over and tell me that you are going to have my child? How are you so sure, you were wasted I was WASTED!”
She was not upset at all, she had a grin on her face, it was kind of eerie-“I recorded the whole thing.”
He looked at her-“What? How? It was at AJ’s house!”
She nodded-“Yes, yes see it was in my bag. I set it down on the dresser when you took me into the room.”
Lexy stood at the door, not one tear had come out. She looked at Nick, who laughed-“I woke up in the living room. Play the tape.”
Pam stood up-“But your wife is watching.”
Nick turned around, he quickly stood up-“Baby, baby I know it wasn’t me. I may have been wasted but I would never do that to you the day before our wedding. Come on Baby I didn’t do it!”
Lexy looked past Nick at Pam-“Play the tape.”
Pam glared and went to the TV, the tape rolled it was a guy and Pam on the bed, going at it. Nick held his laugh, Lexy sighed with relief. Pam watched intensly, she was so sure. Nick walked up-“OK stop the tape! Stop the tape.”
Pam stood up-“So you see Nick, you are.”
He shook his head-“That’s not me I slept on the couch! That is Chris, the drummer for our band. You have the wrong guy, you should go find him.” He stood up and grabbed her by the arm as she fought. He smiled-“It was nice seeing you again, now goodbye!” He pushed her out and closed the door.
Lexy walked up behind him, she pulled on his shirt turning him around-“I love you Nick. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I mean I did, but she was so sure and...and I saw you the night of the party, she was all over you! That’s why I was out when you got home I’m sorry.”
Nick smiled as he hugged her, her rested his head on top of hers-“Ok, I forgive you. I love you too babe. Now lets get this house ready for the get together tonight.”
She nodded and started putting out some candles, then started baking a few things. Apple Pie, Brownie, and some little tarts. When she finished placing it all in the oven, she went upstairs to get ready. She put on a small black dress that hugged her belly then flowed freely, with some black flats. She was very excited to tell the news, when everyone got there they sat around the coffee table in the living room talking about silly things. Lexy and Nick brought out the pictures of the ultrasound, every one started getting excited. Soon everyone left, Lexy started cleaning up when Nick walked up to her-“Hey Babe, Come on. I wanna show you something.”
She looked at him-“Ok, what is it?”
He grinned and took her hand, leading her to the car-“Yay.”
She was confused-“Nick, where are we going?”
He looked at her as he opened the door for her-“Trust me.” That was all he said until they got to their destination. He got out and opened the door for her, the cool wind blew he dress, she could hear the ocean. They had pulled up to a house, he was walking to the side.
She stopped him, whispered-“Nick, what are we doing? The owners of the house are gonna get mad!”
He stayed quiet and continued pulling her to the back. When they reach the gate, he opened it, she watched with her eyes wide. He grinned, they walked past a beautiful pool, with the lights on shinning undereath. When she looked up, she saw another gate leading to the beach. He went up and opened it too. He brought her out to the sand, the moon was reflecting off the ocean. The cool wind now much stronger was hitting her face. She looked out at the ocean-“Wow, Nick this is beautiful.” She looked at him, he was facing the house. She was confused-“Hunny, isn’t the water beautiful?”
Nick nodded-“Yes dear, but this is what I brought you to see ”
She turned around slowly-“The house?”
Nick laughed-“The house...no baby OUR house.”
Lexy’s eyes widened-“OUR HOUSE? Are you serious? Nick...ours?” She hugged Nick, the house was beautiful.
Nick smiled-“You wanna go inside?”
She nodded-“But why did yu bring me at night?”
Nick smiled-“Come on.” He took her inside and gave her a tour, the first floor had the kitchen, living room, bathroom, theatre, and chill area. The second floor had about 10 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, their bedroom had a balcony facing the ocean. The third floor was very big, it had a hott tub in the corner. Nick and Lexy decided this was gonna be the game room / dance studio. They went back to their bedroom, there were candles and roses around a bunch of quilts. Nick smiled-“I brought you here because we are spending the night alone together. She smiled as they went to the balcony, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist-“I wanted to find the perfect house for you and our children.”
She turned around to face him, wrapped her arms around his neck-“I love you Nick Carter.”
He smiled-“I love you Lexy Carter.”
She kissed him-“I like the way that sounds.”
They laid down and fell asleep. Soon their lives were going to be changed, and not exactly for the best.

*7 ½ months into Lexy’s pregnancy*
Lexy sat on the couch, looking at her watch 1:30 A.M. She sighed, she picked up her magazine and headed up stairs. She changed and climbed into bed, it was hard to go to sleep. She cried herself to sleep, it had been the seventh night in a row that Nick did not come home to bed to her. She woke up the next morning, after showering, she made her way down to the kitchen. When she walked passed the living room, she saw Nick laying on the couch. Her chin trembled when she went over to put a guilt over him, there was an empty bottle of Jack Daniels. She picked it up and put it in the trash, then headed into the kitchen to get breakfast. She scribbled a note, then got her keys and headed out for her day out with the girls. As she drove she wiped away the tears, she didn’t want the girls to see her crying. She picked up Marley, then Toni, and Lisa, then headed out to the mall, then lunch and an early movie. At lunch Lexy smiled-“So, how is baby Andy?”
Lisa laughed-“Oh he is so big, he will be one soon.”
Marley smiled-“SO ladies...I have something to tell you. Hugh and I are well...ENGAGED!”
Lexy was the first to react-“OH MY GOD MARLEY!”
The hugged her and looked at her ring. They talked about it longer then headed out to the early movie. Lexy got home around 6 p.m. She walked in to a silent house, all she could hear was the shower. She took her coat off and walked upstairs to the room, she sat on the bed. She felt the babies kicking, she smiled and started feeling around. Nick walked into the room with his towel around his waist. Lexy looked up at him-“Nick the babies are kicking!”
He looked over at her-“Hmmhmm.”
She watched him go through his shirts, then pull one out-“You going somewhere?”
He nodded without saying anything, then finished getting dressed. He finally looked over at her-“I’ll be back later.” He walked over to her and gave her a peck on the lips. It was meaningless, just a blank kiss. He walked out of the room, she could hear him leave the house. She knew what this meant, he wasn’t going to be home at a decent time tonight. She sighed when he left, then continued feeling her belly. She showered again, then got ready for bed.
The next morning, she sat in the living room waiting for Nick to wake up. When he did he groaned-“What a head ache.”
Lexy still had hope-“Do you want to go to the park with me and Emma? We could have.”
Nick interrupted her-“No, I have to work, at the studio with the boys.”
Lexy had enough-“That is it Nick I barely see you any more! You go to work, come home, go out get wasted, then come home and sleep on the couch! You have been getting drunk for a month now! You don’t sleep with me anymore, Nick where did this come from? You were never like this. Baby please, tell me what I have done for you not to even sleep with me? How can you go on like this, I’m your WIFE!” She began to yell at him, he held his head. She was crying by now-“Your wife! Why do you feel like you have the need to get drunk every night? I miss my husband Nick!”
He shook his head-“Quit yelling. I’m late for work.” He walked up the stairs and got dressed then left. She sat on the couch and cried, then she called AJ-“AJ I can’t take it anymore. He has been drinking a lot lately. He goes out every night, I don’t get why he can’t just be with me and Emma!”
AJ tried to calm her down-“Shh. Lexy listen to me, I will talk to the guys and see if we can get him help ok? You calm down.”
She nodded even though he couldn’t see her-“yea, thank you. Okay bye.”
When Nick got to the studio, the guys were mumbling to each other. He smiled-“Alright lets get this party started!”
AJ walked up-“Hey man, we need to talk. I spoke to Lexy and she told me you have been drinking a lot lately. Nick.”
Nick glared at him-“I’m not drinking And. why are you talking to my wife?? Stay out of my life! Ugh, I can’t be here right now.”
He walked away, Kevin yelled after him-“Nick! Nick!”
AJ called Lexy-“Hey, I tried to talk to him. He got mad and stormed off. The guys and I are gonna go look for him.”
Lexy was worried-“I want to go too.”
AJ shook his head-“No, Lexy you stay there in case he comes home.”
Lexy began to cry-“No AJ I want to go, I need to talk to him, he can’t even look at me I need to find him too!”
AJ sighed-“Ok, ok you can come with me. I’ll be there in a bit to get you.”
Lexy put the phone down then when upstairs to get ready. About fifteen minutes later, she heard the door bell, she then went to the stairs. She was in such a hurry that she bent her ankle, she grabbed on to the wall to catch her fall but it did no good. She was fallin down the stairs, when she finally landed. She couldn’t get up, all she could do was try to scream, but all that came out was a whisper-“AJ.”

AJ waited, he realized that it was taking way to long for her to come to the door. He began to worry-“Lexy, LEXY? It’s me AJ!” He looked around, then remembered that Nick hid a key under a rock, so he quickly grabbed it and opened the door. The hall was empty, he walked in calling out her name, when he got to where the room opened, he saw Lexy laying on the floor, her ran over to her. He slid on the floor next to her, looking for big puddles of blood. He checked her breathing-“Lexy, Lexy, wake up!” He called for an ambulance, then ran back to her motionless body.
Lexy woke up in the hospital, her head hurt. Lisa, Marley, and Toni were around her bed. She groaned-“Oh...are my babies ok?”
Lisa smiled-“Hey you! Good to see you are ok!”
Marley sighed-“Oh Lexy! Yes your babies are just fine.”
Toni smiled-“Yep, the only thing that went wrong was that you fractured your ankle. Go figure you have like 400 pounds on them tiny little ankles!”
Lexy laughed softly-“Gee thanks Um...where’s Nick?”
Marley looked at Lisa-“The guys are still looking for him. This time they are much more angrier than before.”
Lexy bit the side of her lip, she did not cry. She was no longer upset, angrier but not upset-“Oh...so he did not come back with the boys?”
Lisa shook her head-“No hunny, they haven’t found him.”
Toni sighed-“They say after they brought up AJ talking to you about Nick’s drinking, he left angrily.”
Lexy shook her head-“I don’t know what has gotten into him I mean, he has been acting distant for the past few weeks!”
Lisa took Lexy’s hand-“Are you sure it’s not just your emotions playing tricks on you hun?”
Lexy looked at her and shook her head-“No No No No Lisa, I promise you. He goes to work...then he comes home...and gets in the shower...”
Marley shook her head in confusion-“What is the problem? Seems like a normal husband.”
Lexy had tears coming out now-“No, no you don’t understand. After the shower, he dresses up and goes out.”
Toni looked concerned now-“Every night?”
Lexy nodded-“Every night, he gets drunk, then come homes around 2 or 3 in the MORNING and sleeps on the couch!”
Lisa sighed-“Oh Lexy.”
Lexy continued-“There was this one day, when I walked downstairs, and I couldn’t find him. So I started to panic, cuz I thought he had gotten into a wreck! So I started searching the guest rooms and I found him in a room sleeping. I was so upset, he can’t even sleep with me? It makes me wonder if it’s just me that repels him away Or if it’s just him getting drunk for the hell of it. Guys, I don’t know what to do anymore!”
The three girls looked at her, with even more concern. Marley took her hand-“What do you mean Lexy?”
Lexy put her face in her hands, then cried for a few moments. The girls just watched her, they could do nothing about it. She finally took a deep breath-“I can’t do this anymore. I don’t feel like I am married. I...I am going to get an annulment. I can’t do this anymore.”
All the girls were in shock, they looked at each other, then looked at her. They all were startled when they heard a male voice-“What?”

The girls turned around to see a very surprised Nick standing at the door. His eyes had immediately gotten watery, he looked at the girls-“Can I have a minute alone with her?”
Lexy looked at him, then at the girls and nodded to the-“It’s ok girls.” As they walked out, they glared at him, he just watched them, then closed the door.
He walked over to the side of her bed, he had become angry-“What did you say?”
Lexy looked into his eyes-“You heard what I said Nick. I can’t take it anymore! You are never home! You have become this drunk who stays out and goes to parties and...and DRINK! You have a problem, you are an alcoholic AND I AM NOT LETTING MY CHILDREN GROW UP WITH AN ALCOHOLIC AS A DAD!”
Nick’s eyes were glazed, with tears-“Lexy...what are you saying?”
Lexy sobbed-“I want an annulment! And I’m taking Emma.”
Nick sobbed-“Lexy please, please give me a chance to get better! Please. I have a problem, I do I can’t stop on my own!” He sobbed on her lap-“Please, I can’t lose you and the kids. Please Lexy!”
Lexy looked away-“Oh Nick, please don’t do this.”
Nick looked up at her-“Rehab I will go to rehab, for 30 days I’ll get Lisa and AJ to stay at the house with you while I’m gone.”
Lexy looked into his eyes-“Nick are you serious? Will you really do this?”
He got up and grabbed her face in his hands-“Yes baby please believe me. I will do this for me, for you, for the babies, for Emma.”
She smiled through her sobs-“OH Nick!” She kissed him, and hugged him, then he got up and went out to talk to the guys about his rehab. When the girls came back in, they quickly went to her bed-“What happened?”
Lexy sighed, then smiled-“He’s going to change. He is going to get help.”
Lisa sighed in relief-“Oh wow, that takes a lot of guts!”
Marley smirked-“Big headed Nick might be letting it shrink. I’m glad it’s all gonna be ok.”
Lexy grinned-“Yea, he said he would ask Lisa and AJ to come stay with me while he’s gone, but I have a better idea! How about all my girls come stay with me? Could you imagine 10 girls in one house?”
Toni laughed-“HELLZ YEA! Do you know how much fun that will be!”
The girls all agreed to it. Outside Nick had pulled all the guys together they were all extremely mad at him. AJ grabbed him by the shirt when he found him at a bar. Nick looked at all their faces-“Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize for everything I have put you through.”
AJ interrupted him-“Nah bro, you need to apologize to Lexy.”
Nick looked at him-“YO, let me finish. I already apologized to her AJ thank you for taking care of her while I was being dumb. All of you are great, and I need to admit that I have a problem and I am asking my four brothers...to help me.”
Kevin sighed-“Ok, we can do this together.”
All the guys went up to hug Nick, they decided who would stay with Lexy. When she got out of the hospital, they all went to her house to get all the stuff ready for Nick to go. Lexy sighed when Nick was getting into the taxi that was going to take him. She hugged him-“I’m proud of you Nick, this is a big step.”
He looked at her and kissed her-“Thank you for giving me another chance. I love you Lexy. And I don’t want to lose you nor our babies.”
Lexy let the tears roll down-“Ok, call me when you get there. I will miss you.”
Nick smiled-“I’ll miss you too.” Then he turned to AJ and Lisa-“You two need to call me if the babies decide to come out sooner than we thought”
They nodded then hugged Nick. He got in and left, Lexy then turned to the big house, luckily it was not gonna be alone at all. She was going to have Veronica, Katie, Natalia, Stephanie, Martine, Jenn, Toni, Marley, and Lisa stay at her house with her while Nick was away. Lisa would spend time at her house then at Lexy’s house, just so she could be with AJ and Andy.
The month was going by slow for Lexy since all she did was sit around on the couch. The other girls were having a blast, they were building a surprise for Lexy upstairs. They wouldn’t let her up there while they were working. She had to make one of the guest bedrooms down stairs into her new bedroom since she couldn’t be going up and down the stairs.
4 weeks had gone by, and all the girls were still having a blast. Jenn came down the stairs-“Lexy, it is finished! We are very happy to present it to you!”
Lexy slowly got up, it was becoming harder and harder to walk with those two kicking her insides. She smiled-“Ok, but first, I have to use the restroom.”
The girls were standing in the stairs, they all laughed. When she walked out, Lisa went over to help her up the stairs. AJ was on the other side helping her up too, they got to the door which was wrapped like a big present with a huge bow. Lexy looked at them and smiled-“Oh dear, what did you guys do?”
Then she stopped before opening the door-“Oh.” She grabbed her belly then looked at AJ.

AJ grabbed her shoulders-“Lexy? You ok?”
She shook her head-“No, it’s too early. Two weeks two early ”
Lisa’s eyes widened-“OH my goodness, ok ok Natalia go get the bag. Let’s go to the hospital.”
In the car, AJ drove-“Ok here’s the thing, Marley calm her down. Get her breathing going...oh (breathes hard) oh man.”
Lisa looked over at him-“Ok baby, you need to calm down. This isn’t the first time we go through this ”
AJ rolled his eyes-“Yea BABE but she has TWO babies in there, I bet she feels worse than you did!”
Lisa laughed-“OK, Jenn call Nick tell him that we are on our way to the hospital.”
Lisa called the hospital to make sure they had a wheelchair ready for Lexy when they arrive. Minutes later she was in a bed, with a machine hooked up to her. The doctor had told them that one person could go into the room with her since the daddy wasn’t there. Andy started crying and wouldn’t let Lisa go, so AJ went in there with her. He looked at the machine as it would let them know how long her contractions were at their peak. She squeezed his hand-“OHHHHH!”
AJ winced in pain-“Breathe, breathe, almost done.”
Lexy looked at him-“Is Nick on his way?”
AJ nodded-“Yes hunny but since he’s a while away he might not make it till you are done with the babies. I’m sorry, but I’ll be here the whole time.”
She looked down, she felt the tears coming-“Oh, thank you AJ!”
Her contractions were getting closer, the doctor came in-“OK lets get the wheels on this bed out, so we can take her into the operating room.” Aj stepped back so they could do that side, then immediately moved back and took her hand again. They headed down the hall and turned infront of the elevator. As the reached the elevator, the doors opened up and out came Nick, he went over to the bed and kissed Lexy’s forehead-“Hey Baby!”
Lexy smiled through her pain-“Oh Nick, you made it!”
They went into a room, a nurse handed Nick some scrubs-“Ok daddy, you need to put these on.”
He took them then turned to AJ-“Thank you bro, for being there for her.”
AJ smiled-“My pleasure, she’s one of my closest friends.”
Nick hugged him before going and getting the scrubs on. AJ went back into the waiting room, to get everyone to come up to the waiting room up near the operating room.
After much of Lexy pushing and screaming, Lexy was taken back to the room, where they were to bring her clean babies. She felt the knot in her throat as they handed her the girl, then the boy-“Oh wow.” She cried-“Hey there, so you two are the ones that were doing all that kicking huh?”
Nick sat on the bed and put his arm around Lexy’s shoulder as he looked down at the babies-“Hey there little ones. I’m your daddy. Sorry I wasn’t that great of a dad while you were in there but I am much better now.”
Lexy looked up at him, the tears flowed-“I love you Nick.”
He kissed her-“I love you too.”
The rest of their friends walked in, Lisa smiled-“Knock Knock!”
Lexy looked up-“OH, come in! Come meet Alexis and Nicholas.”
Emma ran up to the bed-“Mommy!”
Nick picked her up-“Look Emma, its your brother and sister!”
Emma looked at them-“Awww they are so little I will take care of them daddy.”
Everyone gathered around and held the babies, Lexy leaned on Nick’s shoulder as they all talked about everything that had gone on. AJ laughed-“Man Nick, you have a hell of a few months a head of you. Those babies will wake up every our, crying for attention. But at the same time you will see how amazing it is to see a little part of you in your arms.” Lisa looked up at him and kissed him.
After a few days at the hospital, they headed back home. Nick was released early since he had done very well. All the girls went back with them so they could see the looks on their faces when they saw the surprise. Lexy reached the wrapped door, with Nicholas in her arms. Nick held Alexis as they opened the door. The room had been divided in two, one side was pink and one side was blue. Above their cribs they each had a knitted quilt with their names on it. There were rocking chairs, and changing areas. Lexy looked around, she was shocked, she turned to her friends as tears quickly filled her eyes-“OH wow.”
They smiled at her. Marley walked up to her-“I guess this way was better. Glad you saw it after the babies were born, that way Nick could be here too.”
Lexy hugged them all, then turned to Nick who also hugged them-“Thank you This is amazing.”
After taking pictures, Nick sat on the rocking chair next to Lexy’s rocking chair. She held Alexis now and Nick had Nicholas. He looked down at him and softly sang-“Can you hear me...here I am...standing here where I’ve always been...when words are not enough, you’ll climb inside my arms and you’ll find...I’ll be your safest place to hide oooh we’re your safest place to hide.”


~The End~