"Ouch! Damn what was that for!" Howie said turning his head to face AJ, an annoyed expression on his face. He rubbed his ribs tenderly.

"Sorry man. But hey, check that out." Aj said pointing over to where their bandmates were snoozing.

"Awww," Howie replied taking in the sight of his brothers napping peacefully, "isn't that sweet."

AJ nodded and smiled, but his smile quickly vanished and was replaced by a more serious and somber expression.

"Hey Howie," He said looking over at where Howie and gone back to reading his newspaper.

"Yeah Aje?" He replied without taking his eyes away from his reading.

"I'm worried about those two. I mean... did you feel like this tour was really weird. Really different?"

AJ had noticed the difference as soon as they'd left the states. He'd expected it with Grace's illness, but it didn't make it feel any easier to accept when it actually happened. Nick and Brian were the pranksters of the group. They were the ones who made the tours fun... the lives of the party. This time around it had been AJ and Howie who were left to lighten the mood. Nick had understandably spent most of his time on the phone with Grace or with someone else at home checking up on her, and Brian had been especially somber throughout the tour. Leighanne had stayed home with Baylee and AJ felt that a combination of their absence and his worry over his sister's health was starting to affect his own health. He'd kept mostly to himself and spent his days off in his hotel room refusing to go out with the other guys. AJ thought he'd heard him crying several times in the middle of the night when they'd had to share a room but Brian had never talked about it and so Aj had never asked.

Nick and Brian had wanted to cancel the tour back when Gracie was first diagnosed with cancer, but she was determined that they should go on... now, looking over at the two of them across the aisle exhausted and emotionally drained, AJ was wondering if they'd done the right thing.

"I know what you mean. It was definitely a completely different experience. They have a lot on their minds though Aje. I mean... I remember when my sister was so sick, it was hard to have my mind on anything else for a long time," Howie stated thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I just hope they can get some rest now that we're heading home. I know I'm ready to sleep in my own bed for a while."

"Agreed."

Howie took another glance at the two sitting across from them. He'd definitely noticed the change as well. Grace meant a lot to all of them. He remembered the first time they'd met her after the group had started. She was just a little girl at the time, only 2 years younger than Nick. And then he thought back to the Black and Blue Tour when she'd spent the summer with the guys and they hadn't seen her in a while. Howie couldn't believe how much she'd grown up and changed. She'd gone from being a shy, withdrawn little girl to a beautiful, outgoing and spunky college student, the girl Nick had fallen in love with. She had so much going for her at the time and the two of them had spent many late nights sitting on the tour bus talking about life and love and the world in general. He'd been amazed at how mature she was. Like all of the other guys he'd been devastated when he'd heard the news of her diagnosis. He loved Grace like a sister and it hurt him more than words could say to know that they could be losing her... he knew what it was like to be in Brian's position, the possibility of losing a sister and that was painful enough, but he couldn't begin to know what Nick was going through. When he'd met Leigh he'd known that she was the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. The thought of anything ever happening to her was too much to bare.

He looked over at AJ who had also fallen asleep now and leaned his own head back against the seat. They should be back in the states in a few hours and they would all be going their separate ways. He and AJ would head to LA and Brian would fly to Georgia. Nick would board a plane to Kentucky and in a week they would all meet up there for Grace's birthday party.

He said a silent prayer that everything would be okay until then.

"yyyyyaaaaaawwwwnnn," I yawned for the fifth time in the last couple of minutes. I stretched my feet out in front of me curling my toes around the edge of the coffee table and leaned back into the couch. I was sitting in the living room between Joey and Kristin, Kelly was curled up at Joey's feet and Kevin was seated across the room in Nick's recliner. We were watching some movie the guys had rented, but I could barely keep my eyes open. When I failed to stifle yet another yawn Kevin shot me a look across the room and stood up grabbing the blanket off the back of his seat.

"That's it cuz, you are SO taking a nap. No arguing!"

Kristin hopped up off the couch and grabbed one of the pillows for me to lay down on and I obliged knowing that trying to argue with Kevin Richardson would be futile anyway. I stretched out across the couch as Kevin covered me up with the blanket. I laid my legs across Joey's lap and he took my feet in his hands and gave them a gentle massage as Kevin returned to his seat and unpaused the movie.

"You know..." I said looking down towards where Joey was rubbing my aching feet and staring at the television screen.

"Know what?" He questioned looking down towards where I lay.

"Nick might be a little jealous if he could see you right now." I laughed and Joey winked.

"He should be." He continued giving me a foot massage as I settled back against the pillow and closed my eyes. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt so exhausted. I had spent most of the day cleaning the house and unpacking more boxes anxiously awaiting Nick's arrival home. It would be his first night in our new house and I wanted it to be special. I had checked off the last red X on the calender yesterday and smiled. He should be home in a few hours and the guys were going to cookout hamburgers on the grill. I could feel my body relaxing now, the sounds of whatever movie they were watching echoing in my head.

I wanted to be well rested when he got home so I allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

Nick climbed out of the car and stretched his legs flipping his sunglasses up on his head as he took in the view of home. The six weeks he'd been gone had felt like an eternity. When he'd left to go on tour it was 80 degrees and the flowers were still blooming. The leaves on the trees were green and the air had smelled of freshly cut grass. Today however, while it was still bright and sunny there was a distinct chill in the air that made him pull his jacket up around his face to keep the wind away from his ears. The yard was covered in a layer of fallen leaves and the trees were nearly bare. He could tell that they had a fire burning in the fireplace and he could smell the burgers on the grill out back. He reached into the backseat and grabbed his bag as Brian and Gracie's older brother Harold came around to help him with his suitcases.

"Thanks again for picking me up man."

"My pleasure."

Kevin had called Nick the night before and let him know that Grace would be unable to meet him at the airport. She had been in to see her doctor that morning and her counts were too low for her to be out in public during flu season. Nick had hated the idea that she wouldn't be the first person he would see when he got off the plane but he knew it wasn't worth the risk.

The two men walked to the back of the house together to find Kevin and Joey grilling out burgers on the deck. Kevin smiled when he saw Nick and waved hello as he walked down the steps to greet his cousin, embracing him tightly in a hug.

"We've missed you man. Did y'all have a good tour?"

Nick hugged him back taking in the moment. Kevin had always been like an older brother to Nick and to know that he had been here for Grace the entire time he'd been gone on tour... Nick didn't know how to thank him.

"We did. It was long though and of course I had too many other things on my mind..."

"Yeah, understandable. But I heard the fan base was incredible."

"It was, but then again, it always is."

"True." Kevin said taking Nick's bag and leading him up the stairs to where Joey was flipping burgers.

"Dinner should be ready soon." Joey said as he handed Nick a bottle of Ale-8. Nick looked at him questioningly.

"Man, if you're going to live in Kentucky you've got to at least give it a try."

Nick smirked and took a sip of the Kentucky famous soda making a horrible face and pretending like he was gagging.

"This stuff is god-awful!" He laughed handing it back to Joey.

"You my friend... are un-american!" Harold said reaching across Joey and taking the bottle from Nick. He took a long swig and sighed. "This is the good stuff."

Kevin patted Nick on the back and laughed, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm a pureblooded Kentuckian and I think it tastes like crap."

Nick couldn't help but make fun of the looks on Joey and Harold's faces. They all stood and talked for a few more moments before he couldn't stand to wait any longer. "Where is everyone else?" He asked looking over at Kevin.

"Well, Kel and Kristin are inside looking at wedding magazines like they've been doing every spare moment for the past six weeks." He rolled his eyes as he pointed through the glass doors towards the kitchen table where the two women sat surrounded by stacks of magazines, "And Grace is upstairs asleep. She's been up there for about an hour now."

Nick frowned. He hated this disease. The Gracie he knew was as crazy as he was, off the wall and always having fun and it was these types of things, the napping in the middle of the day or going to bed earlier at night that let him know her illness was hitting her hard.

"Is she alright?" He asked Kevin his face showing an expression of deep concern.

"What? Oh, yeah she's okay. She's been working hard all day today and she was just really tired. She said to wake her up before you got home, but we wanted to let her sleep."

"Oh, okay." He said relaxing just a little bit. "That was probably for the best. I'm gonna go up and see her now though... I don't think I can wait any longer."

"I don't blame you." Kevin gave Nick another quick hug and watched him walk inside. He paused briefly to give Kristin and Kelly kisses and hugs before he vanished from the kitchen and headed up the stairs towards the guestroom. Kevin watched until he was out of sight.

"God I'm glad he's home," He said reaching across Joey and grabbing the bottle of Ale-8 out of Harold's hands.

"Yeah... they need each other." Joey replied watching Kevin take a sip of his drink.

"Just as I suspected." He said handing the bottle back and wiping his mouth on his shirt, "That stuff still tastes like shit."

"Apparently," Harold said raising his eyebrow at Kevin, "all of the Backstreet Boys are unamerican."

Kevin elbowed his cousin in the ribs and they all laughed.

"And I agree..." Harold said as he looked into the house where Nick had disappeared moments earlier, "those two definitely need each other."