Nick knew the talk had to happen. That this day was doomed to come. If he had his way, they’d be talking about something else entirely. He wouldn’t be forty-five years old, (although he looks about thirty, those boyish good looks don’t fade easily) and sitting before his fourteen year old daughter, who looks so much like Leslie had at that age it was uncanny. This of course, meant she was a female double of him he supposed, since back in the day, everyone said he and Leslie should be twins.

And now she was twirling that long golden hair of hers, a pair of green eyes staring back at him and he saw the look in them that said she was wondering just what the heck was her father doing. Eyes that reminded him so much of her mother, long lost in childbirth. Nick never had remarried, just raised his daughter alone, with help from the fellas occasionally, which ironically are still together even after all the breakup rumors.

“Um…Dad…? Ya there or am I gonna be stuck sitting here till Groundhog’s day.”

“Why not? We can watch the little guy pop up to see his shadow.”

“Daaad!”

“We need to have a serious father/daughter talk.”

“Uh, yeah sure okay, so say it daddio.”

“Mel, you can’t be patient for one minute. I need to think of how to say it, cause this is important ya know? And I wish your mother was here to help me sometimes…and…”

“Huh?”

Definitely his child, she always did have his attention span.

“Never mind.”

She played with the necklace around her neck, she had a habit of collecting odd random things she’d find that reminded her of loved ones, a guitar pick for her father, a tinkerbell charm for her best friend, a bolt for her mechanics obsessed boyfriend, and created a necklace of the random items. To her it was her expression of those who made her who she is. His daughter was a free spirit, one no one could control if she really wanted to do something her way. That, is what scared Nick Carter now, not the media that’s surrounded up throughout their lives, not critics, but his daughter’s choices. For Melody Jade Carter was a lot like him at that age, with her mother’s impulsiveness. And that’s what scared him.

“Dad, you’re spacing again, and I have band rehearsal later…and a test to study for for my anatomy class.” She was smarter than he, even with the inherited ADHD, which had been treated at least, unlike his own. With an aptitude for music, a natural singing voice, and also the pains and interest in medicine, Nick wasn’t sure where Melody would lead her life. But he wanted to make sure he could guide her there for as long as he could.

“We need to talk.”

“Yeah, you said that.”

“Well you’re getting older…and you have that boyfriend of yours…”

“Dad you act like Jason McLean’s some sort of hoodlum…”

“Well he is AJ’s son.”

“I love Uncle AJ!”

“Well I know what we were both like back then…and now that you’re at that age, I want to talk to you about-“

She stood. “Oh no, we are not having a sex talk. No. No, that’s like gremlins trying to have that talk with me, or aliens trying to tell me about human anatomy. Just, no. “

“Melody-“

“Dad….no. Next thing is you’ll have Uncle Brian here to try to make it into a song like back when I was a kid.”

He smirked at her. “Well…”

“Dad! No! Just…gah!” And with that horror of that thought, she bolted out the front door. In trying to chase her, his legs got caught on poor Layla, their latest bulldog. Layla yelps while Nick goes flying into the easy chair, giving his daughter the time needed for escape. All this left Nick with no other reaction than to blink with surprise. At least now he had a good threat, having Brian sing those kiddy songs to her if she doesn’t behave. That and no one saw his little accident just then. Thirty years and he’s still as clumsy as that baby faced awkward fifteen year old he used to be.

“That went better than I thought it would.” He said to himself before heading upstairs to produce another song. Even without the talk, he knew she’d be okay. And if not, he’d be there to save her.