Nick wore his Oakley's and carried his guitar and leather coat as he and Kate headed up to the ledo deck. Kate carried her leather coat folded across her arms to disguise her belly. She also carried a small bag with an extra shirt for her and Nick to change into.
There were girls swimming and laying by the pool near the stage waiting for the concert to start. They met up with everyone backstage. Kate helped the guys with their contacts while Nick worked on their teeth.
"These are so much cooler than the ones we used in the video," Howie said, admiring the points on his teeth. Everyone had dressed in red and black for ‘Straight Thru My Heart.’

"Ok, I think we should all rub Kate's belly for good luck out there tonight," Kevin said.
"Excuse me?" Kate said, shocked.
"You know, it's like rubbing the goalie's head before a soccer game." Kevin smiled.
"Well, I'd rather rub her belly than your head," AJ replied, laughing.
"Only if it’s ok with Kate," Brian said.
Kate sighed as if it was a big inconvenience. She raised her shirt to the top of her belly and they all took turns rubbing it. Nick was last. He knelt down, kissing her belly. "I love you," he whispered to their baby.

Matthew went out on stage first to play host.
"Welcome to Total Request Live! I'm your host Matthew Morrison."
Cheers went up from the audience.
"Ok, here's how this is going to work. In the back we have a table of volunteers. You girls get to select what songs are performed tonight, by ballot. You all had one of these," he said holding up a ballot, "in your room. Now you can request your favorite songs by the Backstreet Boys or one of the guys individually or myself," he said flashing a smile, hoping to get some requests. "Then turn your ballots into the volunteers in the back. Now, while you ladies do that, I have a special treat for you. The winners of our karaoke contest have given themselves the name New Girls On The Boat. They've joined forces tonight with your favorites, the Backstreet Boys. Please welcome NGOTBSB."

The stage went dark as everyone got in position. Everyone started kneeling down in a single line. From Right to left were Brian, AJ, Tessa, Julie, Nick, Howie, Kate, Lauren and Kevin.
As the music began Brian and Tessa stood first followed by everyone else. AJ, Julie, Howie, and Lauren all took a step back while Brian, Tessa, Nick and Kate stepped forward splitting into two lines.
The girls in the crowd were going crazy seeing the guys with the red contacts and vampire teeth.
The choreography was flawless; they did all the same steps that BSB used in concert.

When they were done they all stepped forward joining hands and taking a bow before heading backstage.

Matthew came back onstage with his ukulele.

"Let's hear it for NGOTBSB!"
The crowd cheered loudly.
"I thought I'd play you a song while we waited to find out what the guys will be performing for you tonight."

He played his hit Summer Rain while BSB removed their contacts and teeth as well as changing shirts for the rest of the show.
Nick left on his black tank top but ditched his jacket for a blue short sleeve button down that he didn't button up. Kate loved the way the color made his eyes more vibrant. She had brought a soft pink shirt she could easily slip over her black tank top.

AJ changed into a black T-shirt with skulls on it. Julie also changed her shirt into a black ribbed tank top that showed off her assets to AJ's satisfaction. It had a small skull with a pink hairbow on it in the upper left corner. She also tied her hair back with a pink ribbon to match.

Howie changed into a cream button down Hawaiian style shirt with black embroidery down either side of the buttons. Kevin changed into a long sleeve emerald green button down that he rolled the sleeves up on. And Brian changed into a sunshine yellow tee shirt.

Before Matthew had finished singing, Jesse's voice came over their headsets to let them know the next song would be ‘I Want It That Way’.
Julie found Kate. She pulled a couple of slips out of her pocket.

"What's this?" Kate asked.
"Our ballots, I grabbed them out of our room before we moved. Come on, let's go cast our votes."
Kate grabbed Nick to tell him they'd be watching from the audience.
"Ok, well keep an earbud in. That way you'll know when we're ready for the finale."
"Ok, we will," Kate said, kissing him quickly.
Julie and Kate headed to the bar to get something to drink and decide what they wanted to hear.
"It's so hard to choose," Julie said.
"I know. They have so many good ones," Kate agreed.
"I wonder if they'd tell us what songs have been requested," Julie said
"Never hurts to ask," Kate replied.

They took their Peach Iced Tea and walked to the request table. Girls were constantly coming and going dropping off slips. They were surprised to see Leigh and Leighanne working with a couple of other people running the collection table.
"Hey, girls!" Leigh said.
"I didn't know you were doing this," Julie said surprised.
"Ah, the glamorous life of a BSB wife," Leigh joked. "So you gonna vote?"
"Well, we wanted to request something that not everyone is going to request."
Leigh nodded in understanding.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that anything you request, we'll make sure they sing," she smiled devilishly. They found some chairs and hung out at the table helping Leigh and Leighanne sort the slips.

The guys performed ‘I Want It That Way’ and ‘Anywhere For You’, then the girls in the crowd brought in slips of a few solos. Howie sang ‘100’ and Nick did ‘Just One Kiss’. Brian sang ‘Welcome Home’ and AJ did ‘Drive By Love’.

Julie headed back to the bar to get few pitchers of tea for all of them. But on her way there, she was pulled to a stop. The same dark haired girl who confronted her outside the fitness room had grabbed her upper arm, getting her attention.
"I know what you did," she said, glaring at Julie.
"What? Won the karaoke contest?" Julie said innocently.
"I know you slept with AJ and that's why he broke up with Rochelle," she accused, her voice filled with venom.
Julie didn’t even want to waste her time on something as stupid as that. She turned to walk away but the girl grabbed her again, spinning her back around.
"You better watch yourself. Your next trip into the water, you might not be so lucky."

This pissed Julie off. “Do you really think I am scared of getting pushed into the pool? Try again.”

The girl looked up at Julie, as she was a bit shorter, pure evil in her eyes.

“There are other ways of getting rid of you. I wasn’t talking about the pool.”

The girl turned and stormed off through the crowd.  But as Julie turned back to go to the bar, her imagination started to get the best of her. She could finally swim a little but she still had a fear of deep water. What if the girl managed to sneak up behind her and push her overboard? How long would it take for anyone to realize she was missing? Could she keep afloat long enough? What if she hit her head going over and instantly drown?

She was shaking when she got up to the bar. She ordered the tea, trying not to let her fear show. She kept looking for the girl as she returned to the table.
She was still upset when she sat next to Kate. Kate looked over at her noting that Julie was white as a ghost.
"Jewels, what's wrong?" she asked.
Leighanne overheard Kate’s question and looked over at Julie. Something was defiantly not right. She quickly got up and went over to her, kneeling down in front of Julie.
"What happened?"
Julie looked back at Kate.
"You remember the girl yesterday, outside the fitness center, right after we taught you the dance?"
Kate nodded.
"She found me again. I didn’t really think much about it, and I tried to just walk away but…” Julie took a deep, yet shaky breath. “I think she may have been the one who push me in the pool at the hotel."
Kate's eyes got as big as saucers.
"Did she threaten you?" Leighanne asked.
Julie nodded. Leighanne waved over a large black man wearing a yellow shirt that said security.
"We've had a threat," Leighanne told him and then she turned back to Julie. "Can you describe her?"
"About 5'4", long brown hair, brown eyes."
"What's she wearing?" the security guy asked.
"Daisy Duke shorts and a pink triangle bikini top."
"Anything else you can remember?" he asked.
"Yeah, her belly button is pierced and she has a tattoo on her right shoulder. A butterfly I think."
"Don't worry Mrs. Littrell, we'll find her."
Julie pointed out the direction the girl had headed and the security guy headed off that way in search of her, already radioing the rest of security.

Kate reached to take Julie’s hand.

“Ok. There is something you are not telling me. Normally you would have told the bitch to move on already, but you are still shaking. What else are you leaving out?” Kate knew her too well.

Since Leighanne was listening, she first reminded Kate of her fear of drowning, before telling her exactly what the girl had said. Instead of calming down, Julie got herself worked up all over again.

"Ok now deep breaths," Leighanne said, her hands on Julie's knees.
Julie took a deep breath and let it our slowly.
"I think we'll take some extra precautions for the rest of the cruise," Leighanne said.

“Please, don’t tell Alex,” Julie begged Leighanne. “He worries enough, and we can handle this on our own.” Leighanne just nodded, but Kate thought to herself that Julie hadn’t said it to her, just Leighanne.

Leighanne wanted to distract Julie and calm her down, so she handed Julie and Kate a huge stack of request slips to sort through.
"Now if there's one y'all want to hear, just let me know and we'll make sure they sing it," Leighanne said conspiratorially.
Kate and Julie exchanged a smile. They dug thru the slips picking their favorites.
"Oh, we have to hear this one!" Kate said excitedly.
She showed the slip to Julie.
"’Somewhere Over The Rainbow’?" Julie asked, "Isn't that a duet?"
"Yeah, but I bet Tessa knows it. And if she doesn't I do," Kate said.
Kate asked Leighanne what she thought.
"Yeah, definitely need that one. Why don't you head back stage and I'll tell Tessa to meet you there. That way if she doesn't know it, you'll be there to sing it."

Kate made her way backstage and waited for Tessa. Nick came off stage after singing ‘I'm Taking Off’. He swept her up, giving her a sweaty hug.
"Put me down," Kate laughed.
"What if I don't want to?" he teased.
"Well then, it's going to be hard for you to sing your next song while you’re holding me."
Nick laughed, setting her back on her feet.
"I could do it, ya know," he said.
"I know, but how would you hold your mic?" she teased him.
"Kate?" Tessa called, stepping out from the shadows. Kate turned to her.
"What's up? They told me to get back here ASAP." She sounded concerned.
"Do you know Matthew's version of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’?"
"Yeah, the one he did with Gwyneth Paltrow on Glee?"
"Yeah."

"Yeah I know it."
"Good! You're going to sing it with him."
Tessa looked stunned.

“I’m… I’m… I’m gonna sing with Matthew?”

Just then, Matthew came up behind her.
"I heard my name. What's going on?" he asked.
"We got a request for ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ and Tessa is going to sing it with you," Kate explained.
"Sounds good to me," he said, wrapping his arms around her from behind.
Tessa sighed contentedly. Jesse came over their headsets letting Matthew and Tessa know they were up next.
Nick grabbed a bottle of water and sat in one of folding chairs. He patted his lap for Kate to take a seat. Kate had never been big on PDA so she sat next to him.
"What you don't want to sit on my lap?" He pouted.
"And talk about the first thing that pops up?" Kate laughed.
Nick smiled devilishly.
"No thanks. I don't want you showing off your assets to all those screaming girls."
Nick laughed, "Yeah it would be pretty obvious in these pants wouldn't it? Speaking of... You better be commando too."
Kate blushed bright red. Why couldn't he have forgotten about that discussion?
"You’re wearing underwear aren't you?" he accused.
"Kinda."
"Kinda? You either are or you aren't."
"I'm wearing a thong," Kate said quietly.
"Really?" I wanna see," he said excitedly, grabbing her waist.
Kate managed to get away from him, laughing. They heard BSB being called back to the stage for their next song. He groaned.
"I will see those later. Don't think you're getting out of it," he said, pointing at her as he walked towards the stage.
Kate laughed as she headed back to sit with the other girls.

As she passed the pool, she stopped cold. There she was, the girl who had threatened Julie. Kate noticed her eyes were on the stage. She glanced at the stage to see the guys had been all standing there, waiting to hear what song was requested next. Kate turned back and watched the girl as she glared at AJ with menace. What was going on? They all assumed that she was a jealous fan, but the look in her eyes said something else entirely. When the next song was one of AJ's solos, the girl stormed off, not staying to watch. This was very curious. Kate decided to follow her, trying to keep her distance. The girl went to the bar and ordered a shot, downing it quickly. She almost slammed the little shot glass on the counter before pivoting and walking away. Then she left the party. Kate followed her, again trying to stay out of sight. The girl never even noticed her. The girl left the area completely and went to another part of the ship. She had stopped at one of the restaurants on the boat and went in. After the girl sat, Kate took a seat close enough that she could hear the girl but facing the other direction so the girl wouldn't notice her. The girl pulled out her phone, making a call. Kate listened quietly.

"Hey. It’s me.” Pause. “No, he's still with her.” Pause. “Well, what am I supposed to do about it? I already threatened her and if AJ finds out I'm on this boat he'll have me thrown off. ”Kate wished she could hear the other side of the conversation. “You know I can't get that close to him.” Pause. “No, Nick would recognize me too.” She let out a deep sigh. “No, she's always with her friends now. And, I'm kinda outnumbered here.” Pause. “I'll see what I can do but no promises.” She slammed her hand down on the table. “Damn it, Rochelle! If you weren't my sister, I wouldn't be here."

Kate got up and left before she ended her call. She rushed back to the party, her heart pounding. She just got back to the table when Julie grabbed her hand leading her backstage.
"Where have you been we've been calling you? You don't even have your earbuds in."
Kate tried to catch her breath as they headed backstage. Julie helped her get her earbuds untangled and put back in. Tessa and Lauren handed them their mics. The guys were across the stage so they could enter from the other side. Nick waved and she waved back. She turned her thoughts to the song they were about to sing.
Matthew introduced them, "And now once again please welcome NGOTBSB!"
The light went dark so they could take their places. The spotlight came up on Kevin as he stood in the middle of the group while the rest of the knelt down.

"N-G-O-T-B-S-B, baby!"
Kate stood up in the back walking forward as she sang.
"I know we haven't been getting along, long at all. I don't think that it's time."
Then AJ stood, moving to the front.
"For you I to give in just call, call it off. I don't wanna say goodbye"
Julie stood to Kate's left.
"Cause just when I think we're through the memories come flooding back."
Everybody joined in.
"It's like instantly I loved you like that."
The Brian stepped to the front.
"I was on fire for you. We can get it back again if you if don't say it's the end the end."

As the chorus started the group fell into their dance routine. The crowd loved it. Kate was completely absorbed in the performance. As the second verse started, her and Nick stepped to the front. She moved thru the choreography like she'd been doing it forever. She loved singing with Nick and she hoped he enjoyed it as much as she did.

When the song ended, they all took their bows then split up to head back stage. Nick and Julie had gone stage right while AJ and Kate headed stage left.
As soon as they were backstage Kate gave up her mic to a tech and grabbed AJ.
"I need you," she started to say.
AJ interrupted her, trying to be funny.

"Alright, but I already have a girlfriend."
Kate gave him 'the look' and he knew she was serious. He handed over his mic and followed out behind the stage.
When she turned to face him, her face was so serious it worried him. He ran his hands up and down her arms in a brotherly way.
"Katy, what's wrong? Are you feeling okay? Do I need to get Nick?"
"I found out who's after Julie."
He went ashen.
"Who?"
"Rochelle's sister."
"Becca is on the boat?!" he exclaimed. He stepped away from Kate and started pacing.
"I never thought she'd- why would-" he mumbled to himself, his thoughts taking over. He didn’t even realize that Nick and Julie had walked up and were standing behind Kate.
"What's going on?" Nick asked, seeing AJ agitated.
AJ stopped pacing and turned to face them, anger on his face.
"Becca is on the ship," he told them.
"What?!" Nick exclaimed, his heart slamming into his chest.
"Wait, whose Becca?" Julie asked.
"Rochelle's sister," Nick answered, looking from Julie to Kate.
"What?!" Julie exclaimed.
"She's got to be the one sending you the notes," AJ said.
"How do you know?" Julie asked.
AJ nodded at Kate, causing Julie to look over at Kate.
"I saw her at the bar. Something wasn’t right about the way she was looking at you,” she looked over at AJ,” so I followed her." Kate admitted.
"Katy!" Nick scolded "Why didn't you call security?"
"There wasn't time," Kate said. “Something wasn’t right,” she whispered. Her stomach was starting to get upset. She didn't like it when Nick was upset with her.
"What are we going to do?" Julie asked.
"We need to go talk to security," AJ said.

Julie shook her head.

“What about the TRL party?”

AJ took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

“We just did the finale. The DJ will be taking it over from here anyways. I need to worry about only you.”
He kept ahold of Julie's hand and headed back up the steps. Nick went to follow them but Kate put a hand on his arm.

"I'm going back to our room," she told him.
"Are you ok?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah. I'm just tired," she said. "Too much excitement for one day, I guess."
"Ok baby, I'll be there in a little bit," he said and kissed her forehead. He followed AJ and Julie to collect security.

"I can't believe she's here," AJ ranted.
"Why do think she's here?" Julie asked, trying to keep up with AJ's brisk pace as the three of them headed back to their rooms.
They had spent over an hour with security trying to find out what room she was in and trying to locate her. She wasn't in her room but security was on the watch for her. Julie had been assigned a bodyguard and was under strict instruction that her and Kate were not to go anywhere without a bodyguard from now on.
They were almost to the bottom of the stairs leading back to the interior of the ship when they ran into her.

"Becca!" AJ called out to her.
Becca was a couple of steps from the bottom headed up as they were headed down.
"Alex," she said curtly, taking another step down, closer to Becca.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.
"I had tickets for the cruise and I thought it a shame to miss it, although it would be better if my sister were here. But I see you found a new slut to fill your bed."
Julie was fuming but she restrained herself. She took two more steps down even though Becca hadn’t moved yet.
"Oh, he probably didn't tell you he was engaged, did he?" she said in mock innocence, looking right at Julie. "At least he was, until my sister found out he was sleeping around, but that's not surprising considering he's back into the drugs again."

Julie laughed, having known the truth. Her and Alex had not made love until after she found out about Rochelle.
"Actually, I met your sister. The gold digger, right? Yeah, can't say I blame him for ditching her for someone who can actually satisfy him in the bedroom," Julie shot back, stepping closer. They were only two steps apart.

Julie’s word had Becca seeing red. She lunged at Julie. Julie fell back and both girls rolled down the stairs, clawing at each other. Julie landed on top, straddling across Becca’s small torso. Julie then landed a solid punch to Becca’s right eye before Nick and AJ rushed down the stairs to pull them apart. Nick grabbed Becca while AJ grabbed Julie. Julie fought AJ trying to get back to the fight. When Becca realized she was in Nick's arms, she turned around to cry on his shoulder, not paying notice to the blood flowing from her nose.

He stepped back away from her, looking at her like she disgusted him.
"Nick please, help me. She attacked me," Becca said, trying to win him to her side.
"Yeah right. I'm not blind. You went for her," Nick said.
"I-I was doing it for us. If AJ and Rochelle get back together then things can work out for us too," she said.
"There is no us!" he said adamantly. "There never was, and your sister can take a long walk off a short pier for all I care."
Security had surrounded them by then.
"Get her out of here." AJ said. "And make sure we never see her again."
As they lead Becca away her screams could be heard throughout the area, bringing plenty of girls to see what was going on.

“We will get you back! She can’t have you! Nick, AJ! Come back here!”

They brushed her off as her voice disappeared as they headed down to their rooms.


Kate headed back to her room. She didn't know what was wrong with her. She just felt...off.
"It's probably just all the excitement," she told herself. "Too much adrenaline for one night."
She decided to have a bath and relax before bed. As she undressed she saw something she didn't expect. Blood. Oh dear Lord she was bleeding. Her heart rose up in her throat. She didn't want to lose this baby. She forced herself to calm down. Panicking wasn't going to get her any help. She cleaned herself up and tucked her bloody clothes in her laundry bag. She slid into some sweats and headed to the ship's infirmary. She didn’t even glance at the security guys as she left the VIP hallway.

She took deep breaths as she walked the halls, keeping her eyes on where she was walking, not wanting to catch the eye of anyone. What was she going to tell Nick if she lost their baby? Tears were streaming down her face as she walked into the infirmary.

Nick entered their room expecting to find Kate in bed. The lights were all on but she wasn't there.
"Maybe she went to get something to eat," he thought.
He pulled out his phone dialing her number. Her phone began to play his song ‘Falling In Love Again’ in the bathroom. He went it and picked it up. That was weird. Kate never left without her phone. As he stood there trying to figure it what had happened, he noticed the blood on the floor.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, shoving her phone into his back pocket as he was running out of the room.

He ran down the hall to where a couple of security guys were talking.

"Have you seen Kate?" he asked.
"Who's Kate?" one guy asked.
"About this tall, shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. She should have been here about an hour ago," Nick said frustrated.
"Oh yeah, she went that way," the security guy pointed.

He ran down the hall trying to catch up with her. He ran passed fans who were trying to get his attention but all he could think of was Kate. Why didn't he come back here with her? He shouldn't have left her alone. He recalled her face backstage. She hadn't looked well. Why didn't he notice? Why didn't she tell him? But he knew the answer to that. Kate was cowgirl all the way. She was tough and she never wanted to drag him down. He reached the end of the hallway and wasn't sure which way Kate would have gone. He glanced around starting to panic when he finally saw the blue sign. The infirmary. Of course that's where she'd go. He ran up a flight of stairs and arrived in the infirmary out of breath.

The nurse at the desk looked at him.
"My girlfriend, Kate, is she here?"
The nurse smiled at him and wave for him to follow her. She led him down a hall to a room on the left.
"She's resting, so don't wake her."
"Thank you," he said as he slipped quietly into the room. Kate was lying in a hospital bed that was propped up. Her head angled to the side as she slept. He stood next to the bed watching her. He took her left hand in his left hand and ran his other thru his hair.
Kate opened her eyes.
"Nick, how did you know?"
"Shh," he said cutting her off. "The nurse says you need to rest."
A tear slid down her cheek and he wiped it away.
"I was so scared," she said, her voice wavering.
He ran a hand thru her hair.
"It's going to be ok," he said.
There was a soft knock on the door and the doctor opened it as he stepped in.
"Hi, the nurse told me you were here. My name is Dr. Thompson."
He walked over to the opposite side of the bed from where Nick stood.
"How are you feeling Kate?" he asked her.
"Weak," she replied.
The doctor looked up at Nick.
"Has she filled you in yet about her condition?”
Nick shook his head and looked down at Kate for an explanation, his heart in his throat.
"I started bleeding," Kate said.
Nick's eyes began to fill with tears. He looked back to the doctor trying to blink them away but they just fell down his cheek.
"I think it was brought on by stress and too much physical activity. I recommend bed rest and that she sees her regular doctor as soon as she gets home."
"And the baby?" Nick asked, wiping a stray tear from his cheek.
"The baby is fine for now," The doctor said
"How long do I have to stay here?" Kate asked.
"I think you'll be ok to return to your room tonight but if you have any more bleeding, I want to know about it right away," He said. "I've given her a mild sedative to keep her calm. I'll have some pills brought to your room. She needs to stay off her feet as much as she can and no more vigorous dancing," he winked at Kate. Kate smiled sleepily.

Nick helped her slide into her clothes and scooped her up in his arms. She protested but let him carry her back. It was better than being in a wheelchair.
He laid her gently in their bed. She had fallen asleep in his arms as he carried her. Security had helped him with the door.

As he held her that night his mind raced. She could have lost the baby. And he could have lost her. His heart ached at the thought. He didn't want to be without her. Ever. He knew what he wanted to do. Now he just had to plan how to do it.