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Chapter Fifty Eight - January 27

"NO PANE! NO PANE!"

In two short years, I had managed to produce a hatred of giraffes and planes in my daughter. Brooke had begun to complain the moment that we boarded the plane and even after a night's sleep (a rather uncomfortable one, I should mention), she was still on a roll.

"Brooke, please give mommy a break," Liv said. She had a washcloth pressed against her forehead and she was gritting her teeth.

"You okay Livvy?" I whispered. Noah reached for the washcloth, no doubt to peek in at his mommy. I took his hands and shook my head no.

"I've just got a headache. A bad one."

Liv didn't get headaches often, but I guess a twenty three hour flight to Australia with two toddlers could do that to anyone.

"Look at my hair! Look at my hair! I sleeped on it and it's STILL straight!"

Shelby began to hopscotch her way down the aisle. Mason was right behind her.

"Mason, come back here and drink your juice!" Kevin called.

"Shelby, I've got poptarts!" Molly called.

Shelby and Mason both took back up the aisle. Liv groaned at the mention of poptarts. She got up, peeled off the washcloth, and put Noah in her empty seat.

"Stay with daddy," she said. I stood up to let her pass.

She was back in less than sixty seconds.

"Leigh's still in the bathroom," she complained.

"What do you need?"

Liv looked like she was about ready to make a smartass comment, but before she could, I saw her lurch. As if it was a everyday reflex, I reached for the puke bag.

"Eww! Did you know rats can't puke? Mrs. Bob should be a rat," I heard Shelby say.

At that moment I heard the bathroom door creak open. Leigh made her way down the aisle. Liv clamped the barf bag shut and took off.

"What's going on?" Leigh asked.

"Mrs. Bob puked!" Shelby announced.

"Like this!" Mason said. He began to make weird noises that was aided by a mouthful of orange juice. James began to laugh hysterically.

"You okay?" I heard Howie ask. Leigh nodded. He kissed her forehead.

They were having a little Dorough moment and it was actually pretty cute.

Unfortunately, I was too concerned about Liv to make some type of annoying remark.

Liv was gone for a good fifteen minutes, but when she came back from the bathroom, she claimed that she felt much better. I don't know the correlation between puking and headaches, but she said the pressure against her temples had let up and she was finally able to think again.

Brian was on his own for this leg of the trip and he looked like the loneliest Maytag repairman sitting off by himself.

"You can borrow one of mine!" I called out to him as we landed. He grinned.

"I might be homesick, but I haven't gone clinically insane!" he called back.

I stuck out my tongue. I forgot that Brooke was into copying me these days. Before I turned around her little tongue darted out of her mouth too.

Bri just laughed.

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"G'day! G'day!"

Mason was all smiles as we checked into the hotel. The lady at the counter rewarded his Aussie-ism with a sucker.

"He's like a mini Keith Urban," Addy said. Liv and her both aww-ed.

We split up to unpack but we all met back downstairs at the hotel restaurant for dinner. We had gotten smarter on this leg of the trip and chose hotels that were kid friendly. Finding someplace to eat with macaroni and cheese on the menu had now become a necessity.

And not just because I love a good dish of mac and cheese. We did it for the children.

While we were all waiting for the food to come so we could stuff our faces, Howie pulled out what I call 'the big D.' It was a huge binder with thick elastic bands to keep the thing shut. Howie kept all of our important meeting notes and junk in there.

"Tonight after supper we're meeting a couple radio personalities across the street at the Convention Center to record some promos and clips that will be aired throughout the day tomorrow," Howie explained. "MTV Australia is also going to be tagging along with us tomorrow for the show."

"MTV?" Shelby asked. "As in...MTV?"

AJ laughed. "Yup."

"Wow, you guys are ROCK stars!"

I couldn't help it; I laughed. Brian looked highly amused as well.

Howie flipped a couple more sheets of paper before he looked around at all of us. He had a really stupid smile on his face.

"And while we're talking business..."

Everyone groaned. He held up a hand.

"I know we were talking about putting some more dates in around August, but I wanted to tell you guy's that won't work for us."

"You, turn down more work for us?" I said mockingly. "Why won't it work?"

Howie grinned over at Leigh. She smiled happily.

"Because baby Dorough is due August 26."

You would have thought Howie had just won a bullfight. Liv and Addy hopped up and hugged Howie and then moved over to do the same to Leigh. Howie just continued to grin.

"Ah, Senor Erotico struck again," AJ teased. Howie looked over at him in surprise. He actually blushed.

"What did you call me?"

AJ started to laugh. Howie glanced over at Leigh like she had blurted some big secret but she just shrugged.

"All I will say is this one's going to love the snow," AJ said. He wiped his eyes and continue to chuckle.

It didn't take an Einstein to figure out what AJ was talking about. I was ready to jump in and start razzing Howie about a 'pot' baby when AJ caught my eye and snickered.

"Do you really want to bring up that night, Nick. I mean really?"

I remembered the jello. And the thong.

It didn't seem so important to razz Howie anymore.

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January 28 - Sydney, Australia - Acer Arena

The guys and I were up late the night before doing those interview spots. I was so exhausted from the plane ride and overall jetlag that when Liv started singing loudly in my ear the next morning, I about had a heart attack.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICCCCCKKYYYYY NICCCCKKKKK, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

I sat up in confusion. Brooklyn was sitting on Liv's pillow with one of those cone-shaped birthday hats on. Noah was chewing on the end of one of those birthday kazoo things where the paper flies out when you blow it.

"I ordered birthday french toast!" Liv said happily. She was standing by a big metal tray. She lifted the lid.

I was awake.

The french toast was topped with strawberries and bananas and there was so much powdered sugar and whipped cream that my teeth ached just looking at it.

"MINE!"

I grabbed the back of Brooke's PJ's just as she was ready to crawl over my lap onto the tray. She hung there in the air for a few seconds with only her little clawed hands flapping in the air.

"Hold it, honey bee," I said.

Liv cut the french toast into little bitty squares. Then she fed me. I was feeling like a nice spoiled thirty-three year old when the phone rang. I leaned over and picked it up. My mouth was still full of banana.

"Lo?"

"Where are you?"

I swallowed. "I'm getting served my birthday breakfast...what of it?"

Kev sighed. "Shit. Happy Birthday. But did you forget we're doing that thing with MTV today?"

"What thing?"

"They're following along with us and doing a mini-doc about the show," Kev said.

I groaned. "Yeah, I forgot. Give me ten minutes."

I hung up and looked at Liv.

"It should be against the law to work on your birthday," she said with a smile. I laughed.

"Tell me about it."

I got out of bed. Brooke was still eyeing the french toast.

"Daddy's giving you and Noah the rest," I said. Brooke looked up at me and clapped.

"MINE!"

I gave Liv a quick thank you kiss and hopped in the shower. I took a couple minutes deciding on my 'look' for the day and opted for a vintage Mario Bros. t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Lastly I slapped a little gel in my hair and I was ready. Dressed to impress.

The guys and the crew were waiting for me. Howie and Kev looked like they stepped out of a Versace show. AJ was in his traditional black everything.

And then there was Bri.

When Leighanne didn't come with him, I swear he still dressed like he was nineteen. He had on some blue b-ball shorts and this white shirt with two sets of messy little kids handprints on the front. He was holding the shirt out from his stomach and looking at the camera.

"My son and daughter made me this shirt so I wouldn't miss them too much," he said into the lens with a grin.

There were a couple girls crossing the lobby and I kid you not, they stopped, turned, and 'aww'-ed right out loud. He was dressed like Will Smith back in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air days, he was balding, and he could still get girls.

I was impressed.

We hadn't had cameras following us for a long time so it was a little hard to get used to. I tried to remember not to scratch or pick my nose, but it was hard. I was actually glad when it came time for the show.

Acer Arena was packed. I stood shoulder to shoulder (well, sorta) with Bri as we waited for our cue.

"Liv feeling better?" Bri whispered. I nodded.

"I got breakfast in bed this morning. French toast."

Bri laughed. "Nice."

And just like that we were on. If any of the guys had planned a prank tonight, it was all but forgotten. Bri hammed it up for the camera like always and I became 'too hot to handle' Nick. My ego always inflates about tenfold. Of course, that's not hard to do when you move your hand just a fraction along your stomach and the girls go nuts.

What can I say? I have the magic touch.

The cameras tagged along to our dressing room after the show and we all said a final word. The crew thanked us for our time and left.

It sucked that my birthday was almost over and I had only seen Liv and the kids for, oh, maybe twenty minutes the entire day. The guys had wheeled out a birthday cake on stage for me, and I had seen Liv crouched down taking pictures.

We had spent so long with the crew after the show that the girls had taken the kids back to the hotel. I walked in to find everyone fast asleep on the bed. Once again, Brooke was taking up my entire space by sprawling out like a spider.

"Nick?" Liv mumbled as I shifted Noah down a little.

"It's me," I whispered.

Her arm came out and wrapped around my wrist. She peered up at me with blurry eyes.

"Happy Birthday."

I smiled. It might not have been the perfect birthday, but I had the perfect wife.

"Thanks, babe. See you in the morning."

Her head floated back down to the pillow.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered.

I wiggled Brooke down and managed to crawl into bed.

At least my dreams were one place cameras weren't allowed.