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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Point of View: Narrator

The black Prius rolled up to the keypad at the security gate and came to a stop. Zoe unrolled her window and hesitated. Finally, she pressed the number sequence Nick had given her on the phone that morning when she'd called to confirm their meeting at noon, and the gate buzzed and opened slowly, allowing her into the housing community. She'd never been to a place this fancy before, and she couldn't help but feel... tiny. Her Prius looked like a rolling tin can next to the cars that were parked in these drive ways, and her house, which she'd always considered large, was dwarfed in comparison.

Nick's directions to get to his house in the community turned out to be more complicated than they sounded and she got stuck on several cul de sac before she finally found the turn that led her to the back of the community, where the houses were set further back from the street and rows of trees blocked the view of them. Then she found houses with large walls surrounding them and she imagined castles and fire breathing dragons inside. It was one of these that was number 24268, Nick's house.

Turning onto the long driveway, the Prius rolled along a cobblestone style drive, which opened into a giant circular parking area, with a working water fountain, ending in a three car garage. The house itself... well, Zoe could scarcely breathe for its impressiveness.

The house was a two story structure that sort of reminded her of a modern version of a Swiss cottage. It was off-white with sort of brown stone accents. It was completely surrounded by an impressive amount of vegetation that was as green as she could possibly imagine grass being. The entire side wall, too, was a series of huge, gaping plate glass windows, and gazing out across the lawn - she saw why. The lawn abruptly ended, turning into a cliffside (though she could see a ramp running down even from where she was sitting) that overlooked the ocean.

"Jesus," she whispered. She looked at her purse, where the bank envelope was stored containing the twenty-thousand dollars she'd gotten from cashing the check. I should've asked for fifty, she thought, That's pocket change to this schmuck.

Zoe slid out of the car, using the vehicle to brace herself up as she moved to the back door and pulled out her crutches from the backseat. She settled her hands onto the familiar braces and sighed in relief. She picked up the folder of material she'd put together for him, and, closing the Prius door, turned to look at Nick's "castle" again. She took a deep breath and began the walk to the front door.

On her way up the walkway, she noticed a flock of about thirty plastic pink flamingos across the lawn, nestled among some trees. That seems awful white trash for a place as classy as this, she thought. Then again, so did getting DWIs.

When she made it to the stoop, she rang the bell and waited.

The door flung open and a little boy with a wild mass of tangled curly hair stood there, wearing swim trunks, goggles with a snorkel, arm floaties, and flippers was standing there, looking at her. He wasn't wet yet. He breathed through the snorkel, and it sounded like a miniature Darth Vadar.

"Um... hello," she said slowly to him. She'd never been good with kids. Especially when they weren't expected. Since when does Nick Carter have a kid? she wondered. "My name is Zoe, what's yours?"

Leighanne suddenly appeared behind Baylee and pulled him back. "I'm so sorry," she apologized. "My son's a little enthusiastic about using Nick's pool today. You must be Zoe Sinclaire?" She stuck out her hand, "My name's Leighanne Littrell, how are you?"

Zoe looked down at her crutches, which she was using both hands to lean on, and Leighanne lowered her arm sheepishly. "I'm quite all right, thanks," Zoe said, not acknowledging the apology for Baylee's strange arrival at the door. She paused, "Are you Nick's girlfriend?"

"I'm Brian's wife," Leighanne answered.

Who the hell is Brian? Zoe wished now that she'd done a little bit more research on the Backstreet Boys. She was evidently expected to know this stuff. She assumed he was another one of them.

"Come in," Leighanne stood back, "I'll get Nick. He's out back cleaning the pool, I think."

Baylee was still standing there breathing like Darth Vadar through his snorkel as Zoe made her way through the door and looked around the foyer. The foyer alone was bigger than her living room and kitchen combined. There was a big gaudy chandelier hanging down the center and a crazy staircase that spiraled away to the upstairs. The steps were black and white, creating an almost dizzying trick on the eyes.

Leighanne and Baylee led the way out of the foyer to a dining room with a big ornate table with blue-padded chairs. The carpet underfoot was lush and dark blue as well, and the walls were decorated with huge black and white photographs of the ocean. Leighanne pulled out a chair, "Here, have a seat, I'll go get Nick." She turned and walked out of the room, leaving Zoe there.

Zoe had forgotten Baylee was still in the room - since he'd taken the snorkel out of his mouth and stopped breathing like Darth Vadar he was considerably quieter - until he suddenly asked, "Why do you have crutches?"

Zoe looked down at Baylee, whose eyes were magnified by the plastic goggles, and hesitated. "Because I had an accident when I was younger and my knees are no good."

"Ohhh," Baylee nodded. He looked at her knees thoughtfully, which were poking out from under the pair of shorts she was wearing. "They look okay to me," he said.

Zoe smiled uncomfortably.

He sat down on the floor and bent his knees up. "See?" he pointed at his knees. "Mine look like that, too."

Nick came in the room and looked at Baylee laying on the floor. "What're you doing?" he asked him, laughing.

"Showing the lady my knees," Baylee answered, getting up. "Can I go swimming yet?"

Nick looked confused by Baylee's statement, but didn't ask. "Yeah, the pool's good. Your dad's out there."

"YES! Bye lady!" Baylee ran out of the room before Zoe could even think about returning the 'bye', and disappeared, flippers and all, around the corner.

"Sorry about that," Nick said, "My friend, Brian, is staying here until they can get a rental place." He smiled.

Zoe nodded, "It's not a problem. He seemed cute." And nosy as hell. She pushed the folder of material towards him just as he held out a piece of paper to her. They both looked surprised by the motion of the other. She took the paper from him and looked at it. It was his rehabilitated driver form.

Nick picked up the folder and looked inside it. It was full of tests and articles and a DVD. He looked up. "What's this?" he asked.

"The material we'll be covering over the next couple of months," Zoe answered.

"Material?" Nick asked, "Months?" He squinted, "What?"

Zoe put his form down on the table and clasped her hands over it. "I have been asked by the State of California to make you a safe driver," she said, "You cut me a twenty-thousand dollar check to make you a safe driver." She paused. "That's 100 hours of driving time."

Nick blinked at her. "We're actually gonna do that?" he asked, his voice climbing in pitch.

"Did you think you were going to hand me the form and have it signed and be driving tomorrow?" she asked. The look on his face said yes even though he shook his head. "Driving is very serious," she said, an attitude creeping into her voice. Who the hell does this guy think he is, that he can just pay money and override the law?

"I know that," Nick said, exasperated. "Dude I've been driving for like fourteen years. I know how to drive..."

"I received your driving record from the DMV for the past 5 years, and you've got a ton of infractions on your record," Zoe explained, "I don't think you're a safe driver. I'm here to make you a safe driver. Therefore, we must actually do the 100 hours of driving instruction."

Nick looked panicked, "But that'll take months!"

Zoe considered him a moment. "And?"

"I don't want to wait months before I can drive!" he complained.

Zoe laughed. "You should've thought of that before you got behind the wheel with enough alcohol in your body to kill a large percentage of your brain cells then, shouldn't you?"