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Jo and Alex stayed in bed until noon, talking and making love. He fell asleep, so she pulled the covers around him, then went into the shower. She sang while washing her hair. For some reason the Eminem song Ass Like That had stuck to her head, and she figured she could just as well go along with it. As she rinsed the shampoo out of the hair, she heard a laugh.

"I told you you could sing." Alex was standing outside the glass wall that separated the shower from the rest of the bathroom.

"Oh my god, you scared the heck out of me... Thought you were sleeping."

"I was. But someone started yelling about asses and peepees in here, so I thought I'd check it out." He laughed.

"Sorry I woke you up."

"It's ok. Hey..." He wiped away the fog from the glass. "You're naked in there..."

"Yeah, I'm showering. Usually I'm naked when I shower. You're not?"

"Well... most of the times, yeah... But I'm not as cute as you when I'm naked."

"I don't agree... You wanna come in here?"

The smile he had on his face widened. "You think I'm dirty, Jo?"

Jo just laughed and started singing the song by Christina Aguilera. As Alex stepped in, he sang it with her in a funny, girly voice.


The shower took a bit longer than Jo had expected, but she didn't mind. How could she, when her legs were still shaking from what he'd done to her in there? She kissed him goodbye, then tip-toed across the hall to her own room, praying she wouldn't meet Brian. But he'd already gone to the airport to pick up Leighanne, she reminded herself.

"Lunch... Lunch..." she said to herself, to keep her mind off Alex. "Yeah, I know, chicken salad. Then I don't have to go shopping."

She got dressed, a black skirt and a red tank top, and decided to let her hair dry on it's own, just falling down her back. Then she left for the kitchen, but as she came down the stairs she heard the piano playing, and Alex singing. She stood in the doorway to the living room for awhile, just listening to his voice, accompanied by the piano. He looked so out of place there in front of the fancy piano, his ripped jeans, a white t-shirt and his favourite black beanie, all of his tattoos and un-shaved face. Yet it was so totally right. She walked over, and sat down next to him on the stool. He smiled at her, sang to the last notes, then kissed her.

"What song is that?"

"I don't know. It's new, so we're just getting to know each other."

"It's beautiful."

"You think so?"

She nodded, and kissed him. "You wanna help me with lunch? Brian and Leighanne are coming home in like half an hour. Leigh had some news."

"Sure. What are we making?"

"Chicken salad."


An hour later they sat at the table in the backyard, eating and talking. Leigh was very curious about what had happened around the house when she'd been away, so Jo told a bunch of stories about Baylee, including the one where he'd fallen by the pool and scraped his knee. He showed the band-aid to his mother, who kissed the hurt knee.

"So, Leigh... Brian told me you had some news." Jo said, and she could see Brians face light up.

"Well... I do." She looked at her husband, and took his hand. "We're having a baby. I'm pregnant."

Alex jumped out of his chair and hugged them both. So did Jo.

"This is amazing! When?"

"Well, I'm about 2 months now. The estimated date is Valentine's day."

"Great! Oh, I love babies..." Jo sat down again, with a dreaming look on her face.


The New York trip drew closer. The night before they were going to leave, Jo and Alex lay next to each other in Jo's bed.

"Where's your first show?"

"West Palm Beach, Florida."

"Then why are you going to New York first?"

"Our coreographer is there, working on something on Broadway. And we thought it would be nice with some New York life for a while. We're just going to touch up on our routines, we know most of them already."

"Ok... "

"You excited about this?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be fun."

"It is, hopefully. You ever seen one of our shows before?"

She nodded. "Lina and I went to both Backstreet's Back and the Millennium concerts in Stockholm. I loved them."

"You did, huh? You haven't told me you have a Backstreet background... Tell me! Everything!"

She giggled. "I can't... It's embarrassing!"

"No, it isn't... Come on. Wait... Don't tell me you had a crush on Brian too?"

"No.... well... I didn't. I've always liked him, but he's never been my fave. Oh, Nick told you about Lina, huh?"

"Yup. Now spill... How many albums do you have?"

Jo just pointed at the shelf next to the cd-player. Quickly he got out of bed and flipped through her cd's.

"Backstreet Boys... Backstreet's back... Millennium... Black and Blue... Greatest Hits... and Never Gone... Wow, girl. You've got them all, haven't you? Any singles?" He quickly flipped through them as well.

"Nope. No singles."

"So, did you have any posters on your walls? Anything else? And who was your fave?" He walked back to the bed.

Jo laughed. "God, you're hysterical, aren't you? Yes, I had posters. And first, I liked Kev best. Then Howie. Then you... Happy now?"

"I didn't think you were a Kev type girl. Howie, yes, but Kev? I couldn't have guessed. And me... well that's obvious, isn't it..." He laughed. "My little teeny bopper girlfriend."

She laughed with him. "Yup, I've loved you since I was about 17. And now I have you." She put her arms around him and pulled him back into bed. "Any more questions?"

"Which one's your favourite song?"

"Oh, I can't decide..." She put her head on his chest. "I love Last Night You Saved My Life, If You Knew What I Knew, Poster Girl, Crawling Back To You... Oh, and Lay Down Beside Me, of course."

"Of course." He laughed. "We should get som sleep, babe. Early mornings are ahead."

"Yeah, for you. Every morning's early to me... And you just keep sleeping like a baby."

"Well, that's because you wear me out. Not my fault at all."

"Good night, you wacko!"

"Nightie, Princess."


The next morning was chaos. Everything had been packed earlier, but stuff kept disappearing so the bags had to be unpacked, then packed again. Finally they were ready to leave, and they all packed into a limo. A couple of enormous black men had shown up outside the door earlier that morning, and introduced themselves as Big Joe, and Poppa K. Jo had been really scared, but they told her they were Alex and Brian's body guards, and turned out to be really nice guys.


They pulled up outside the airport, and went inside to check in. Nick was waiting for them inside, Lina by his side, and another body guard. Some girls came up to the boys, asking for autographs and photos, and they also snapped a few shots of Baylee, who was on Brian's hip. As Jo watched Alex, Nick and Brian talk to their fans, she felt a couple of hands around her eyes, and everything went black.

"Guess who?" a voice whispered in her ear. She turned around, and there stood Andy, with a suitcase in his hand.

"Andy. What are you doing here?" She waved and shook her head at Big Joe who'd seen what happened, to tell him it was ok.

"Going home. You haven't returned my calls."

"No, I haven't. We're over, Andy. Over."

"You just say that. It isn't true. And by the way, this Alex figure? Who is he? There's no Alex in the Backstreet Boys."

"Yes, it's true. And that's Alex." She pointed at him. "Alexander James McLean. AJ." Alex saw that she was pointing at him, and talking to a stranger, and decided to go over to her.

"Yes, that's me. Alex." he stretched his hand out to say hello to the stranger.

"Andy. Andy Nilsson." Andy introduced himself without taking Alex's hand. "Look, I'm trying to talk to Joanna here. Would you mind?"

"You can bet your fucking ass I mind." Alex took Jo's hand in a firm grip. "She's my girlfriend, you know, and we're going to be late."

"Listen to me, Jo..." Andy said in swedish to keep Alex out of the conversation. "This is ridiculous. Don't you see that? He's just using you. He can have anyone he wants, and still he's with you. You seriously think this is going to last?"

"Yes, I do." Jo said, in english to tell Alex with what was going on. "I think it's going to last, because I love him, and he loves me. He can have anyone he wants, and still he's with me. You're not anymore. Leave now."

"But... Joanna... I love you."

"You're the one who's ridiculous. It's over. Get over it, please."

"You keep away from her." Alex said, leaning in to look Andy in the eyes. "Or I'm gonna call on our security over there. You stick around for thirty more seconds, and you'll have to dig Big Joe's foot out of your ass. Leave. Now!"

"Oooh, he's threatening me with the big bad body guard. Scary. Well, I have to go check in, but this is far from over, Joanna. Remember that." He stroke her cheek gently, then walked away.


Jo was left standing there, shaking with anger. "I can't believe he actually threatened me. Oh my god." Alex just pulled her close, saying every bad word he could think of inside. But he had to keep strong for her.

"We've got to go now, you guys." Leighanne came up to them. "Andy?" she asked.

Jo nodded, and looked back at the rest of their group. Lina looked devastated, but she hadn't been crying. She was holding Nick's hand. Jo gave her a hug, and whispered "I'm going to miss you so, Lina. I'll tell you about Andy later. I'll call you. Love you."

They started to move towards the gate, Nick kissed Lina one last time, then joined them. They all waved at her, then turned a corner, so they could no longer see her, but Jo knew she was standing there still, looking after them.


"So, next stop New York, babe..."

Jo smiled at Alex. "Seems so, yes. God, I love flying."

"Can't say I do. It freaks me out."

"Aww, baby... You afraid of the big, bad plane?"

"Nah, just the big, bad soil 10 000 feet underneath it."

"Lucky we're landing soon then. Those girls in the airport, that wasn't so bad, was it? Why you got these three with you then?" She asked when he shook his head.

"Wait until we get to New York. Got a feeling things'll be different there..."


He was right. When they were taken through the arrival-hall, there were a large group of people, with placards and all kinds of Backstreet Boys-stuff. The noise was undescribable, but the boys stopped to sign autographs and take more pictures for a couple of minutes. There was some press there too, and they shouted questions at the boys. Jo was nervous, she and Alex had kept their relationship secret quite successfully.

"What are you boys going to do here?"

"We're rehearsing for our upcoming tour." Brian answered with a smile.

"Nick? That brunette you were seen wih in Atlanta, where is she? She your girlfriend?"

Nick just smiled at them.

"AJ!!! Are you dating anyone right now?"

"Yup."

"AJ! Who is she? Anyone we know?"

"Nope." He smiled at Jo.

Leighanne had been writing some autographs of her own, so Jo had Baylee on her arm. She looked at her watch. "Guys, we need to hurry up. Half an hour 'til meeting."

They started to walk out to their limo. As Jo came out on the street, she inhaled the New York air. She'd always dreamed of coming here. And here she was. Going into a limo. 'This is insane.' she thought.