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The knock on the door didn’t wake Jo or Alex. They had been out until four that morning, dancing and laughing, they didn’t even notice when the others left. A knock on the door was no way near enough to wake them from three hours of sleep. Howie, who was the one who was knocking realized that, too, and decided to call instead. This worked better, and he got a tired Jo to answer.

“’lo?”

“Jo?”

“Mmmhm.”

“We’ve got a problem. Open the door and let me in, please.”

“Coming.” She hung up, all of a sudden wide awake, pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top and opened the door. Howie entered the room, he also looked tired.

“What’s happened?”

“Wake Alex, would you?”

“No need for that. I’m awake.” Alex came from the bedroom, wearing nothing but a pair of unbuttoned jeans and a beanie. “What’s up man?”

Howie covered his face with his hands, sat down on the couch. “I don’t know where to start. Nick and Lina got into a fight last night. He was drunk, said a bunch of crap to her. She ran away from him, bumped into me, crying. So I took her back here, we talked.”

“She told you about..?”

“Yes, she told me about the baby. And basically everything else, too. She fell asleep on the couch at dawn, and I can’t have a pregnant girl sleeping on the couch, so I carried her into my bed, tucked her in, and slept on the couch myself. Then this morning Nick knocks on the door, I answer it, he sees Lina coming from my bedroom... you can guess the rest. She ran away, and I don’t know where she went. Nick is out looking for her. I explained the situation to him, and he’s pretty much feeling like an idiot right now.”

“He won’t find her.” Jo’s answer came fast. “I can’t imagine anything else than that she’s going home. She’s going back to Sweden.”

“How do you know that?” Howie looked at her.

“I just do. It’s what Lina does. I know her.”

“I’ll call Nick.” Howie reached for the phone.

“Yes, tell him to stop looking. She needs some time right now.”


After talking to Nick, Howie went back to his room, and Alex and Jo decided to try and get some more sleep. But their heads had barely touched the pillows when there were another knock on the door. This time it was Nick, and he was a mess. Jo answered the door, and he looked at her, his eyes teary, and whispered “She’s gone, right?”

“Yes, she’s gone. My guess is she’s on her way back to Sweden as we speak.” Jo’s tone of voice was a bit harsher that she wanted it to be, but she was mad at him. He’d hurt her best friend, and that wasn’t something she was willing to forgive right away.

“Oh my god. I love her. She can’t go.”

“She has gone. You drove her away.”
Alex came out of the bedroom, gestured at Jo that he’d take care of Nick, so she quietly went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

“Congrats’ dad... How you holding up?”

“How’d you know about it? How the fuck can it be that everyone knew I was going to be a father before I did? Is this some kind of conspiracy? When was I supposed to find out? When it was born? When it turned eighteen maybe? Fucking shit.”

“Calm down, Nick. Howie was in here when he called you. Jo knew, but she was the only one.” Alex lied without a doubt. The truth would do much damage here.

“You sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“My god.” Nick finally broke down into tears, and for the second time that morning his legs failed him. He sat in the middle of the floor sobbing like a baby. Jo had had enough of sitting in the bedroom listening, so she opened the door and walked up to him.
Alex nodded at the door to the hallway, and Jo nodded. He left them alone, and she sat down next to Nick, put her arms around him and held him.

“Have I blown this totally?” He asked, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

“I honestly don’t know. She loves you. But this could be too much for her. I don’t know.”

He sighed.

“Come on now, Nick. Let’s get you into bed. You need to sleep.” She got to her feet and then helped him up.

“How am I supposed to tell the others about this?”

“You want me or Alex to do it?” She put her arm around him as they started walking towards his room.

“Would you?”

“Of course. I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry. And about Lina... Give her some time. She needs it right now.”

“Thank you, Jo. I was so afraid you would hate me.”
“I don’t hate you. I couldn’t. But I am mad at you. But that’s fixable.” She smiled at him, and got a weak smile back. At his door he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then opened the door and got inside. She kept the door open long enough to see him collapsing on his bed, then closed it and went to knock on Brian and Leighanne’s door.


When Brian opened, still in his pj’s but with a freshly bathed and dressed Baylee on his arm, he gasped.

“Girl you look horrible. What on earth happened to you?”

“I have to talk to you guys. Summon a meeting, but leave Nick out. I just put him to bed, and he needs his sleep. Alex and Howie know what’s happened, but we need to talk. Tell Kev to bring Kris.”

“Consider it done.” He let Baylee down on the floor next to Jo, and she gave the child a hug. He hugged her back, then ran off to play with his toys.

There was a knock on the door, and Jo answered it. Howie and Alex were outside, and they had Kristin and Kevin with them.

“Look who we met at the breakfast-buffet! Didn't get a chance to eat anything though, cause someone called and interrupted.” Alex smiled, then leaned in close. “How is he?”

“Fine. Asleep.”

“Good!”

“Now, Jo, would you mind telling us what’s up?” Brian sat down at the table and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Just, before we start you guys,” Leighanne interrupted, “Breakfast is on it’s way up.” She sat down next to her husband. Everyone took a seat around the massive table, and Jo cleared her throat.

“I’ll tell it. If you want me to, Jo?” Howie asked.

“Please tell the part of what happened this morning. I’ll start with what I know. Lina’s pregnant. Nick is the father. She’s probably on her way back to Sweden as we speak.”

A choir of voices were raised around the table. “Oh my god!”, “She’s pregnant?”

The only one who didn’t say anything was Kris. Her eyes teared up and she ran out of the room. Kevin looked at them all. “She’s a bit sensitive right now. We’re trying, but there is no result. No babies. It’s hard for her. I better go after her. Fill me in later, will you?”

As he left, breakfast came with a room service waitress. She set the table up and then left again, without a word being uttered in the room besides a quick “Thank you” from Brian. They had their breakfast and discussed the events of the last 24 hours. No one could believe it had actually happened, but they knew far too well that it had.


A few more days went by, and before anyone knew it, their tour of Canada and the US was to be finished off with a show in Montreal. They had arrived there late the night before, and Jo had Baylee in her room, to give Brian and Leighanne some alone time. She looked at her watch. Noon. That gave her four more hours of taking care of Baylee before leaving for the venue. Great, that would give them time for a visit to the hotel pool, she thought. Then she heard a loud banging on the door, and a voice yelling at her to open. She peeked through the hole in the door and saw Kevin. She opened the door, and he burst inside, fuming with anger, and started to yell at her again.

“Kev? Kev? KEVIN?” She tried to get him to stop, resorting to yelling herself. As he quieted down she said “We’ve got a child here, man. Take it easy. Something happened?”

“You know something’s happened, so stop playing stupid with me.” He tossed a tabloid at her. As she read the headline on the cover, she could feel every drop of blood leave her face.


“Backstreet’s Babies. Bliss or sorrow? We tell you All about the Boys New Lives”


She opened the magazine, and there was everything. First a small story on Brian and Leighannes new baby, with a copy of their announcement and a picture of Baylee. Then a larger piece on Kevin and Kristin and their trying to have a baby, without any success. And last but not least a four-page story on Lina, her baby and her fight with Nick at the club. As Jo finished reading the article that pointed out her oldest friend to be a gold digger and a slut, she felt her temper rising. Alex came through the door, and she pointed at Bay, asking him silently to remove the child. He did so, brought Baylee down to the hotel pool. As soon as they were out the door Jo threw the tabloid back at Kevin, furious.

“You think I did this? Have you even read what the fuck it says? Why the hell would I wanna spread rumours about you guys? And why, even if I wanted to spread lies about you, would I drag my best friend ever through the shit along with you? You’re insane! Get out of here!”

He obeyed her without a word. Jo was trying to calm herself when she heard another knock on the door. She sighed, then got to her feet to answer it. This time it was Brian, and he was dead pale.

“You have to come. Leigh is bleeding. I’ve called the ambulance, but she wanted you to come with us. Where’s Bay?”

“Alex has him. I had to get him out of the way so I could scream at Kev. I hope you don’t mind.” She grabbed her bag and ran across the hall.

“Not at all. I told him it wasn’t you, but he wanted to ask you anyways.” Brian was right behind her.

“I guess you can call what he did asking.”

“She’s in the bedroom.”

Jo entered the room and saw Leigh in bed, all pale. She sat down next to her on the bed, took her hand. “Don’t worry Leigh. We’ll get you through this.” The same minute a couple of men came in with a stretcher, followed by a crew of doctors and nurses. They took Leigh out to the ambulance, and Brian got in with his wife.

“I’ll be right behind you. I just have to tell Alex and talk to Kris, so that she takes care of Bay tonight.” Jo said at the closing doors of the ambulance, and then she ran into the hotel.


Half an hour later Jo arrived at the hospital, winded and worried. She asked for Leighanne in the reception, and was showed to a separate waiting room, where Brian sat all alone.

“You hear anything?” She gave him a hug, his miserable expression told her he needed one.

“Nope. They’re working on her now. They won’t tell me anything.”

“Don’t you worry. She’ll be fine.”

They sat in the room for an hour before a doctor came in. “Mr. Littrell, Miss. You can stop worrying now. Mrs. Littrell will be just fine, as will the baby. She just needs a little time to take things slow and recover. No more touring for her for three weeks or so.”

“How’s two weeks?”

“Enough. She wants to see the two of you. This way, please.”

Jo stayed with Leigh when Brian left for the venue, even if they had to force him to leave. Leigh was going to stay at the hospital overnight, just to check that everything really was ok, then they would take the tour bus down to Atlanta, where they would be based for the next two weeks. The boys would be flying out and in, shooting videos and so on, but Jo and Leigh were just going to stay at home.


The trip home felt like forever, but the two weeks that followed were short. The only thing that bothered Jo was the total lack of contact with Lina, but she was afraid to call her, afraid that she was mad at her, too, and not just Nick.
Nick was a whole other story. Since the end of the tour, no one had seen him, until he showed up for a video shoot totally drunk and looking as if he was living in a dumpster. He hadn’t talked to anyone at all, and Jo knew that his bandmates were worried about him.