Lina arrived in Kitchener, Canada, and found Nick waiting for her in the airport, dressed to blend in with a cap and sun glasses. She ran towards him dragging her bags behind her, and threw herself in his arms.
“Baby!”
“Hey Lina! You had a good flight?”
“It was ok. How are you?”
“I’m ok. I’ve missed you.” He kissed her.
“I missed you too. I’m sorry I got all crazy on the phone.”
“I thought you said you weren’t crazy.” He laughed and took her hand as they started to walk towards the car.
“I’m not. But you know what I mean.”
“Yeah. I know.”
When they got to the hotel she unpacked her bags. Nick was on the phone talking to someone, and Lina wondered how she was ever going to be able to tell him about the baby. He hung up, and came in to help her.
“Hey, baby, there’s something I gotta tell...”
“LINA!” Jo burst through the door and ran in to hug her friend. She helped Lina to unpack the last of her things, and they talked so much that Nick claimed they gave him a headache, and quickly left them alone.
“Great going there, girl. I tried to tell him, and then you come running through the door.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. So sorry. But there was something I needed to tell you too...”
“What?”
But Jo never got a chance to tell Lina, her phone rang, and she had to go take care of Baylee for awhile, and Lina was left on her own. She put her bags away and decided to lay down for awhile. She’d just fallen asleep when Nick came back.
“Are you sleeping again? You’re always asleep nowadays. I never get any time with you, cause you’re always asleep.”
“I’m tired. Flying you know.” Lina tried not to lose her temper with him.
“You shouldn’t fly back and forth then, if it makes you tired. You should stay here with me all of the time. I want you to. Please, Lina.”
“I can’t. I have work.”
“Yeah, and I appreciate that. But you don’t have to be working all of the time.”
“Yes, I do. That’s how the real world works, you showbiz-brat.”
“You could quit.”
“Why should I? I love what I do. It may not matter to you, but it does to me. I want to work.”
“Even if work means you don’t get to see me?”
“Well, sometimes you’ve got to make sacrifices in life. I wanna see you, but I wanna work, too. It’s a puzzle, but it works, doesn’t it?”
“You’re right. I just wish...” she quieted him with a kiss.
“Just shut up, would you, Nickolas.”
“Whatever you say, miss.”
The rest of the afternoon they spent in bed, until Jo called and asked if they wanted to go out.
“Sure. When?”
“Like half an hour?”
“Sounds great.” Lina hung up the phone and pushed Nick out of bed. “Take a shower, get dressed. We’re going out!”
45 minutes later everyone was ready, and gathered out in the hallway.
“So, what are we celebrating?” Lina asked.
“Well, we’ve confirmed the rumours about a new Backstreet Baby being born.” Brian smiled.
Lina quickly put a hand across her stomach. Jo saw it and took the hand in hers. “That’s great news...” Linas smile was forced.
“Yup. We figured it was best to tell, since I’m already turning into a hippo.” Leighanne laughed.
“Should we go then?” Jo asked, her hand was being crushed by Alex, and she wanted out of there.
“Yeah! Let’s go!” Howie agreed.
They went out to dinner, then took the limo to a nearby club. Outside was paparazzi and screaming teenage girls, but Lina was getting used to it by now. The press still hadn’t learned her name, but they yelled at her and Nick, and he stopped by a reporter.
“This is my girlfriend, Lina Carlson. No questions, please.”
The reporter nodded, and they left him and got into the club. Jo and Alex headed straight for the dancefloor, as did Howie and Kevin, who had Kristin’s hand in a firm grip. Lina and Nick sat down at a table with Brian and Leigh.
“You want anything, guys?”
“I’ll have a coke.” Leigh smiled at her husband.
“Yeah, me too.” Everyone looked at Lina, and Nick raised an eyebrow, but didn’t make any comments.
“I’ll have a beer, thanks.” Brian went for the bar. He came back with a tray, carrying two cokes, and two beers.
Brian and Leigh went home early, as did Kevin and Kristin. The others kept dancing, so Lina and Nick were left alone at the table. 'This is my opportunity,' she thought, but before she got a chance to open her mouth, a somewhat drunk Nick was complaining about the fact that she was never around. She’d thought that they’d settled that discussion earlier, and told him they’d talk about it later.
“Later? It’s always ‘later’ with you. I can’t stand it. I wanna be with you, but you keep avoiding me.”
“That’s not true, Nick.”
“You’re wrong. It is true.”
“Well, if it is, maybe it’s because you keep trying to control me.”
“I’m not trying to control you. You’re just a scared little freak.”
“Am I a freak? I’ve been through enough to know when I’m the freak and when I’m not. And let me tell you, I’m definitely not the freak now. If anyone’s a freak here, it’s you. You’ve got no grip on real life.” Lina was so mad she hissed at him.
“So now I’m the freak? Get real. I’m living in the real world here. You’re the one who’s trying to run away from what’s real. You can’t even come with me on the tour. I’m amazed that you even took the time to come and visit me here.”
“You’re just mean. I...” Lina felt tears in her eyes, and decided it was best to run while she could. She ran for the exit, tears falling down her face, didn’t look where she was going, so she bumped into someone. She looked up and saw Howie standing there.
“Hey, what’s the rush girl?” he asked.
“I have to get out of here.”
“What’s up Lina? He’s not being nice to you?”
“Not very.”
“I’ll take you back to the hotel. We can’t let you leave the club looking like that. We’ll go out through the back. I’ll call the driver.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He got the driver to get to the back door, and they got into the limo.
“You wanna tell me what’s wrong?”
Lina was going to say no, but when she opened her mouth words came out that she wasn’t expecting. “I’m pregnant. Nick doesn’t know, and he doesn’t want kids, and now he hates me for not letting him control me.”
“Hold your horses there. We talking about the same Nick here?”
“Yeah. My god, it’s just such a mess...”
“You’re right. Let’s talk about this when we get to the hotel. Dry your eyes, sweetie.”
Lina joined Howie in his hotel room, they sat on the couch and he got out a soda for her.
“Now. Tell me everything, from the start.”
“Well, a while back, when I was still in Sweden, I was engaged to this guy, Dan. We were together for four years, and well... he was trying to control me. He wanted me to be someone I could never be. Ever. And when it got bad enough I fell into a depression. Couldn’t do anything. He didn’t understand, so we broke up, and that made it even worse. Jo moved in with me, because I started with something that was... well, it wasn’t good for me.” She pulled up the sleeve on her top and showed the small, but still visible scars on the inside of her arm.
“You cut yourself?”
“Yup. Stupid when I look back. Felt totally necessary then. So when we had our little argument today and he called me a freak, he kinda hit a soft spot.”
“He doesn’t know about this?”
“Nope.”
“Seems like you’re keeping an awful lot of secrets from him. Why?”
“I’m afraid that he won’t understand. I don’t wanna lose him. And this baby’s got me scared enough about him leaving me.”
“Why is that? Heck, Nick loves kids. You’ve seen him around Baylee, haven’t you? He’s so great with them.”
“But I heard him talking to Brian about how he didn’t understand how they could handle a child with all the pressure you guys are under.”
“Just talk. I don’t think he meant anything by that.”
They talked until dawn, and when she just couldn’t keep her eyes open Howie carried her into his bed, then lay on the couch to try and get some sleep. His heart was bleeding for her, but he’d done everything he could for her.
They didn’t get too much sleep that night, because early the next morning there was a knock on the door. Lina woke up, had no idea where she was at first, but still stumbled out of bed to answer the door. Howie had beaten her to it, and Nick was standing in the doorway. When he saw her coming out of the bedroom, his worried look changed into anger.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What the fuck are you doing here? Have you guys...? Oh my god, you slut! You slept with each other?” He turned to Howie. “You bastard.”
“Calm down Nick.” He said, but too late.
“You fucking bitch, you’re such an idiot, I hate you, and I wish I’d never met you.”
Lina felt her eyes tearing up, 'I can’t handle this right now. I just gotta get out of here,' she thought, got her things and ran out, after a quick “Thank you” to Howie.
Nick looked at her with disgust, and screamed after her as she ran for the elevators. “You can’t even be grown enough to take the consequences of your actions. You’re a coward and a bitch.”
When she disappeared out of sight he stepped into Howie’s room, slamming the door shut behind him.
“Calm down, Nick. Nothing happened. You see here, that there’s a pillow and a blanket on the couch? That’s where I slept for the last hour or so. We were up all night, talking.”
“Yeah, right. Then maybe you figured out what her fucking problem is?” He looked over at the couch, and saw that there actually was a pillow on it, and a blanket. “SHIT.”
“Told you nothing happened, bro.”
“Sorry, man. What just happened?”
“Well, she’s been through hell and back with her ex-boyfriend, but is afraid to tell you, because she doesn’t want you to think she’s a freak. She’s been having depressions severe enough for her to resort to cutting herself, and I shouldn’t really be the one telling you this, but she’s pregnant with your child. That’s about everything that just happened.”
“She’s... pregnant?”
“Yes.”
Nick sat down on the floor, his legs were too weak to carry him. “SHIT.”
“Yeah, man. Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“What the fuck have I done?”
“I don’t know how to answer that.”
“SHIT! I gotta go after her!”
“Yeah. You do. Go!” Howie stretched out his hand to help Nick up.
“I’m so sorry. You have no idea.”
“It’s ok. Go now! GO!” he opened the door, and Nick ran out, down the hall, to search high and low for the woman he loved.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Drama, drama. How about some shit hitting some fans? Anyone? :D
