~September 20, 2002~

Katie stepped off the plane and anxiously looked around for him.  She wasn't sure if he was going to be picking her up, but she'd desperately hoped he would.  He had said he would try, but if he couldn't swing it, someone would definitely be there to pick her up and bring her to the hotel.

"Hey there pretty lady."

Katie swung around, squinted her eyes and a smile grew on her lips.

"Do you realize how ridiculous you look?" she laughed.

"Can't very well just go into a crowded airport without a disguise," he smiled as he wrapped her in a hug, "Apples."

"Umm...what?" she pulled back and raised her eyebrows at him.

"You smell like apples.  I noticed it that first time we met..."

"When you woke me up.  That has to be one of the best ways a girl can wake up," she smiled.

AJ took her small carry-on bag and the two made their way through the crowds to the baggage claim area.  He asked about her flight and the two made small talk as they collected her bag and went to his car.

"Everyone is really excited to meet you," he told her as they pulled into the parking garage for the hotel.

"I...okay..."

"What's wrong?  They'll love you."

"It's just scary," she sighed and got out of the car.  They got her bags from the trunk and went into the hotel and up the elevator.  AJ tried to calm her fears on the ride up.

"The girls will love you!  I think they get sick of hanging around all of us all the time," AJ joked.

They walked down the hall, passing a few doors and Katie wondered who was behind the doors, what other guests were staying in this hotel with them.

AJ knocked on a door and it opened.

"There you are!" Nick exclaimed and let AJ into the room.

AJ waved for Katie to join him, and she slowly entered the room.  She'd already met Nick, so that wasn't a big deal.  It was the others in the room.  Three more guys, and two gorgeous women.

Yeah, I'm going to look absolutely fabulous standing next to those two, Katie sighed to herself.

"Katie, you remember Nick?" AJ poked at Nick, and then turned to the other guys, "Howie, Kevin, Brian, Kevin's wife Kristin, and Bri's woman Leighanne."

"Call me Leigh," Leighanne stood up and smiled at Katie, "We were beginning to wonder if you were real."

"I'm real," Katie nervously laughed.

"I'm gonna take your bags to my room Katie.  Be right back."

AJ left the room, Katie standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.  Nick had gone back to the video game he was in the middle of with Brian.

"Come on in.  You don't have to stand there," Kristin smiled, waving her into the room.

By the time AJ had returned to Nick's room Katie was in comfortable conversation with the girls, the guys throwing in their random comments here and there.

"Sorry to interrupt ladies, gotta talk to Katie."

"What's up?" she responded, looking up at him.

"Key to the room," AJ said, handing Katie a plastic card that would unlock the door to the room assigned to him, "I'm going to bunk in with Nick."

"Why?" Katie asked, "I don't want to take your room."

"No big deal.  Nick doesn't care.  There wasn't an extra room when I convinced you to come out here."

"We don't need an extra room.  I've stayed in your room before.  It's not a big deal.  I don't want you to put Nick out."

Nick grinned at them as he briefly glanced from his game, "Just keep your hands to yourself man!"

AJ threw a pillow at Nick, hitting him squarely in the head.  The hit threw him off for a second, allowing Brian to get the upper hand in the game finally.

The excitement of the game wore down again and the conversation turned back to Katie.

"How'd you meet our AJ here?" Kevin questioned.

"A friend of hers actually set it up," AJ started, "Nick's cousin Beth."

Nick nodded his agreement.

"I was having a rough time.  She thought it might be fun to surprise me."

"Why AJ?" Leighanne asked.

AJ looked at Katie, who was sitting on the other end of the small couch from him.  He was waiting to see if she was going to provide the information, or is was going to have the opportunity.

When she didn't answer he smirked, "Katie here has a thing for me."

Katie blushed furiously.  The others rolled their eyes or giggled.

"Oh jeez don't give him any more reason to inflate that big head of his," Brian laughed.

That was enough excitement for Katie for one afternoon.  She'd turned several shades of red in embarrassment.  She was ready to go wind down.

They were all going for dinner later that evening, so Katie needed to regroup before she was willing and able to do that.  She needed to gather herself before showing herself in front of all of them again after the blush-inducing conversation they'd just had.

She and AJ went to his room so Katie could get the plane smell off in a nice hot shower.  The goal was to get cleaned up and ready to go out to dinner.  Katie was going to get her first taste of the Backstreet life.

***

Katie was digging in her bag after she'd gotten out of the shower, trying to find something decent to wear out to dinner.  She pulled out a top and a pair of pants.  Holding them against her body, fisted in her hands, she turned to AJ.  She wasn't sure what she was going to say to him.  The words didn't come to her.

She put the pants on, pulling the top over her head.  Standing at the mirror in the room to put on her make-up she looked at AJ's reflection in the mirror.

"Thank you."

AJ walked over to her, standing directly behind her.  She could feel him behind her, feel the heat radiate off of his body.  She watched him in the mirror as he leaned towards her, closing his eyes and he took in her scent.  Her delicate apple smell flooded his nostrils.

"You smell so good," he said just above a whisper.  Nuzzling his nose into her neck to take in the scent more, she giggled softly.

She turned her head to face him, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you...being there for me...taking care of me," Katie told him as she turned to fully face him, her soft hands moving up to cup his face, "I'd lost my confidence in the male race.  I was beginning to believe that how it was with Dane was how it was supposed to be.  You barely know me, and you've been so amazing.  You've restored my faith in men."

"I don't have to know every detail about your life to know who you are.  I know enough about you to know that you are an amazing woman Katie."

She lightly pressed her lips to AJ's.  Before things could progress, before their kiss could deepen, there was a knock at the door.  They jumped apart as if they were a couple of teenagers who had been caught by their parents.

Katie straightened herself out and turned back to the mirror while AJ went to open the door.  Brian and Leighanne entered the room, all ready to go to dinner.

"Everything okay in here?" Brian laughed noting the obvious difference in the room.  He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew something had been going on.

Leighanne hit him in the arm.  She'd noted the air in the room, too, but she saw a blooming relationship there. AJ and Katie were just like she and Brian had been...way back when they had first met. She didn't want Brian to mess anything up for the two.

"Yeah, everything's fine!" AJ snickered.

He figured it was obvious to the girls what was going on; he was just hoping they wouldn't say anything about it.  He had wanted to take things slow with Katie and he knew that the girls didn't know anything about Katie's past.  He wanted to try and keep things as private as he could for now.

***

"So, what is going on with you and Alexander?" Kristin smirked at the name.  She knew he hated being called Alexander.  The three girls had stepped away from the table to use the ladies room which naturally involved girl talk and gossip.

"You know, I'm not really sure right now.  I really like him...I mean...I think I'm falling for him."

"He's definitely smitten," Kristin smiled as she applied lipstick in the mirror.

"I can see it in his eyes," Leighanne exited a stall and went to the sinks to wash her hands, "He really likes you.  I think he's in love."

Kristin nodded, "And Alex doesn't fall in love.  But you didn't hear that from me."

"Everything come out okay?" Nick laughed, "You girls always have to go in there together, I figure it's so you can make sure no one falls in!"

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky..." Kevin shook his head.

Nick scowled at the sound of the nickname he hated.

"You know they go in there together to talk about us," Howie looked at the girls for confirmation.

"Yeah, so, what did you three say about us?" Brian asked.

"That would be none of your business!" Leighanne grinned as the three sat back down at the table.

***

"Okay, so I've never shopped for an awards show before...I'm going to need some help," Katie admitted to Kristin and Leighanne.

Nick's current ‘she's kind of my girlfriend, but I don't know for sure yet, so we're just having fun' girl had joined them as well.  Anna was cute, not Nick's typical girl.  She was better.  She had no stereotypical dumb blonde attributes whatsoever.

"But you've watched awards show before, right?" Kristin laughed.

Katie nodded.

"You'll have no problems then," Leighanne stated.

Katie raised her eyebrows as if to say ‘whatever you say' and began browsing through the store they were in.  The girls walked through various stores, checking out dresses, outfits, not-so-much outfits...

"You could always pull a Lil' Kim," Anna offered up.

"What?" the other three turned to her.

"You know, the pasties and sparkly pants," she smiled as she grabbed her boobs to imitate pasties.

"Oh jeez please no," Leighanne began to laugh.

"Don't worry.  I'm not going to pasty route.  Sparkly maybe, but I'd like my boobs to be fully covered," Katie assured them.

They all laughed and began trying on various outfits.  A few dozen dresses, scrunched noses and dollars later, each girl had chosen her perfect outfit.