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Chapter Seventy Two - July 2 - New York City

-- Liv --

I was sure that it would take many, many years before Nick would actually forget my birthday or our anniversary. I had hoped that having both events on the same day would actually eliminte the chances of him forgetting.

But he forgot.

I tried to convince myself that it was because of the craziness of the tour. He had spent all day doing press junkets and VIPs. I had barely seen him all day.

When I had opened my eyes this morning the first thing I thought I would see was my annual 'yellow' breakfast. But we were on the road. There was no sunny breakfast.

By the time the guys ran out onstage for the concert, I have to admit, that I was pouting. This was something Hunter would do. Not my Nick.

"You okay Liv?" Addy asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

To add insult to injury, everyone else had forgotten too. Even Bri and Leigh. They had celebrated Kayleigh's birthday earlier that morning, but they hadn't said a word to me. And just two years ago we had joked that they would never forget. I was thirty years old and no one remembered.

"How we doing NYC?" Howie shouted. Leigh looked over at me and we smiled. We were both six months pregnant and I was beginning to feel like a whale.

"We're so glad to be back again!" Nick panted into the mic. It was so damn hard to be upset with him when he looked that good. The sweat dripped down the side of his face.

"I want to thank you guys out there for supporting us all these years. Now, I have to give a special shout out to a special lady who's taken very good care of this Backstreet Boy. Livvy, come out here."

Leighanne laughed. "Did you think he forgot?"

I glanced back at her. She smiled and folded her arms. With my heart pounding, I headed out onstage. Most of the crowd cheered (I think after two kids and one on the way that they finally realized I wasn't going anywhere). Nick took my hands and smiled.

"It's also her thirtieth birthday. I've been ignoring her all day on purpose, but I want everyone to sing Happy Birthday to her."

Sure enough the entire crowd sang Happy Birthday to me. The other guys had disappeared off stage but as soon as the song was over, they came back. Kevin and AJ were carrying one huge spray of yellow roses and Brian and Howie were carrying another.

To top it all off, Brooke and Noah walked out on stage with two individual yellow roses. We had done a pretty good job of keeping Brooke and Noah (especially Noah) out of the public eye, so as soon as he walked out and waved at everyone, all of the girls in the crowd went nuts.

Nick kissed me and then scooped Brooke and Noah up in his arms. Brooke leaned forward and blew into his mouth piece.

"MAMA!" Noah said happily. He held out his flower. I scooped him up and gave him a hug.

I was trying hard not to cry but it was impossible. I smiled up at Nick. I wanted to tell him I hated him for surprising me, but I didn't mean it.

"I love you," I said, my voice thick with emotion.

"I love you too," he said. He kissed me softly and Brooke leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"Thank you guys," I said to the other four. They nodded. I glanced out at the crowd. "Thank you."

At one time I had been one of them. Now I was on the other side.

I never wanted to go back.

-------------------------------

-- Nick --

"You play dirty," Liv complained.

"I would never forget your birthday."

We were in the bus heading towards Camden, New Jersey. The whole bus smelled like roses. I was rubbing Liv's feet and she had her head resting against the soft leather.

"I knew that," she said. I laughed.

"You were pouting all day."

She rolled her eyes. I rubbed her heels.

"I can't believe I'm thirty," she sighed.

"You don't look it. I think I'll forever be married to a beautiful twenty-nine year old hottie," I said.

"Oh yeah, you won't say that when my boobs hang down to my knees."

I laughed. "Well I'll be so stooped over that will give me easier access."

"No you won't."

"Naw, I'll still be incredibly sexy."

After awhile Liv swung her feet down on the ground and curled up to me.

"Thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful."

"I stole the idea from Bri," I admitted. Liv laughed.

"The crowd loved Noah."

"Well, he is a charmer."

"Like his dad."

"Yeah. We're in big trouble."

We ended up falling asleep on the couch. I had the weirdest dream. Liv and I were old and Noah was my age and he had all these girls chasing after him. Not that he really needed help. Those girls were hot. As if that wasn't bad enough, Brooke was being chased by just about as many boys. She was gorgeous. There should have been a law against having two children that good looking.

I woke up feeling good. Even when I left this world I was leaving it in the hands of two beautiful people.

"Do I want to know why you're smiling?"

I turned my head lazily. Liv was watching me. I yawned.

"Just had a weird dream."

"Daddy, uh-oh!"

Liv and I looked at each other. I took off down the hall, Liv was fast at my heels.

Noah and Brooke were peering into the bus toilet. It was overflowing. They both looked up guiltily.

"Down the hole," Brooke said and pointed.

I looked down. Brooke's dolly was stuffed down in it.

"Brooke why did you flush dolly?"

"BATH!"

By the time that I got the dolly out and Liv mopped the floor, we were almost to our destination. The doll was a nightmare. It was missing an eye and the other one was only half open.

I needed to throw the thing away.

"Beebee?" Brooke asked hopefully.

"Bee?" Noah asked.

There was no way I was going to give her back a toilet drenched baby doll.

"Dolly has to go to the hospital. You'll see her tonight, okay?"

Brooke looked at me doubtfully but she nodded. I had a mission for the afternoon.

I needed reinforcements.

--------------------------

Liv kept the kids busy while I took Brian with me to the toy store.

"I need an identical baby doll," I said.

"There's no way you're going to find a doll as ugly as that one," he pointed out.

"We'll buy a new one and rough it up."

We looked at each other and grinned.

I bought a little 'Baby Doe Eyes.' She was brand new in box with soft blonde fuzzy hair. I bought her and Bri bought a pair of scissors. We took it into the men's bathroom at the mall.

"So what do we do?"

I yanked open the box. The soft little doll smelled brand new. I held out my hand.

"Scissors."

Bri handed me the scissors. I sloppily cut the hair so that it was uneven.

"Okay, that's better. Now we need to put down some paper towels."

Bri and I cordoned off a section of the bathroom with the towels. I put Baby Doe Eyes down. We both stared at it.

"Okay, we need to stomp on it."

Bri looked at me like I was crazy.

"What?"

"Brooke dragged that damn thing all over. I told you we need to rough it up."

"I...I feel bad."

"What?"

"Well, I mean, it's a little baby doll."

I sighed. With one swift movement I lifted my foot and rammed it down.

"C'mon. It's painless."

Bri stared down at it and then copied me. Just as his shoe hit Baby Doe Eyes nose, the door opened and a big husky dude walked in. He stared at the doll and then at us. He backed out shaking his head.

Bri looked horrified.

"He's going to turn me in!"

"What for? Baby doll abuse?"

Even still, I picked the thing up and tossed away the paper towels.

"Let's go."

We ended up back outside my bus. I knelt down and smeared some dirt into the body for good measure.

"Kayleigh takes really good care of her baby dolls. If this is what Brooke does to hers, I'm a little scared."

I looked up and smiled. "I disassembled my G.I. Joes and let them melt in the hot sun. She's absolutely normal."

Brian snorted.

"Nick, you are not normal."

I dusted off the knees of my jeans and stood up. 'Beebee' was ready.

"Wish me luck."

Bri slid his hands in his jeans. "Good luck!"

I headed into the venue. The kids were running around like normal. I head up the doll.

"Brooke, look!"

Her eyes lit up. "BEEBEE!"

She ran over and held out her arms. The moment the baby was in her hands, she checked it over. I held my breath. Finally her face broke into a wide smile.

"Love you, daddy!"

She wrapped her fingers around the arm of the doll and 'bump, bump, bump' went Brooke and baby back onstage.

"Nice job. What did you have to do to get it that messed up?"

I turned and smiled at Liv.

"You don't want to know."