- Text Size +
Chapter Seventy Three - August 22 - Denver, CO

"This is going to be awesome."

"I feel kind of bad doing this. He is on baby alert."

"The baby isn't going to come on his birthday."

We were in Denver, Colorado, which was actually pretty funny considering it was the scene of our 'baby-making' spree. Howie had been telling Leigh to go home every day for the past two weeks and still she refused.

"This baby is going to be cooking for at least another week," she had said just a day ago. "Denver's your last date until well after my due date."

"Listen to Leigh. I'm not due until Labor Day," Liv had told Howie.

Tonight was his 40th birthday. The guys (sans Kev, he knew the pain of turning 40) and I had put our heads together to think of the funniest concert prank we could possibly pull.

The funniest prank I could think of was to convince Howie that Leigh had gone into labor during his solo set.

Howie had no clue. We had rolled out a cake right before the show started and he had made a big display of thanking us for not torturing him today.

It was hard not to laugh.

Leigh had taken to spending most of the concert in the family room with James. I was going to run out on stage all panicked. Meanwhile AJ was going to pour a couple bottle of water all over the floor. We were betting that he would fall right into the puddle.

By that time we would admit that we were just being assholes.

It was perfect.

Howie had this really upbeat number that he did. He had the whole sexy Puerto Rican thing going on as he walked from one end of the stage to the other.

I waited until he was all the way over on the other side of the stage. I turned around and gave AJ the thumbs up. Then I ran onstage, flailing my arms.

"HOWIE!"

The crowd cheered. He stopped and pulled his mic from his mouth.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

I pretended like I was breathing hard. In reality, I was trying not to laugh.

"It's Leigh. Water. Broke. Swoosh."

I made a big show of spreading my arms wide like a freakin' geysey had burst. The look on Howie's face was incredible. He glanced back at the audience and then took off across the stage. I slid my right hand in my pocket, grinned, and waved at the audience. Then I watched what Howie did.

Sure enough, he saw AJ and ran right towards him. Almost in slow motion his hands flew up above his head and he lost traction. I saw him land down hard.

I've got to give it to AJ. He really does pay attention to detail. He smashed a big coconut cream pie right in Howie's face. I picked up one of the stage mics.

"Hey everyone, it's Howie's birthday!"

There were a few loud catcalls. Howie stood up and Brian (who I think still felt bad) handed him a towel. He wiped off, shoved AJ in the chest, and headed back out onstage.

"These guys just tried to tell me my wife went into labor," he explained. I could tell he was trying not to completely explode. He glared at me. I smiled.

"You got PUNK'D!"

I headed off-stage and let him finish his set.

After Howie's solo number we all went back out. We got through You Can Let Go, Don't Want You Back, and were halfway through As Long as You Love Me when I saw Liv in the wings trying to get my attention. I slowly inched my way over to the corner of the stage and whipped behind the curtain.

"What's up?"

"Leigh's in labor."

I laughed.

"Livvy, we already pulled the prank. You're a little late."

Her eyes were wide. "I'm serious. Her water just broke in the bathroom."

I stared at her. "Are you sure?"

"Nick, I think I've been through this before. GET HOWIE!"

I whipped back onstage. I wove around Kev and AJ. Howie glared at me and inched away. I inched closer. I pulled away my mic.

"Howie, you've got to go. Leigh's water just broke."

He looked up at me and rolled his eyes.

It figured that this whole thing would come back to bite me in the butt. Unfortunately, it was going to be worse for Howie if he didn't get his ass offstage. I pursed my lips.

This was time for action.

I hoisted him over my shoulder and lugged him off-stage. His feet were kicking up in the air and hitting me in the back hard. It hurt.

"NICK, PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!"

It rang all through the arena. I could have cared less. I heard the other guys stop singing.

"LEIGH'S IN LABOR!" I yelled back. I dropped him backstage.

"HAHA, VERY FUNNY! YOU CAN FOOL ME ONCE BUT NOT--"

"How, I need to go."

Leigh was hunched over in the doorway of the family room. Howie took one look at her and yanked his headset off.

"Oh crap, you are?"

She nodded. "Ye--ow."

It was mayhem. Howie took off with Leigh and I went back onstage and had to explain why I carried Howie off like I was Tarzan. We managed to finish the show, sans, Howie.

I was really glad when we took our last bow.

Liv was waiting for me, arms crossed as I got backstage.

"Are you ashamed of yourself?"

It took a lot for me to be ashamed of myself. I wasn't quite there. I just smiled sheepishly.

"It was just really crappy timing."

"You would not be smiling if the guys had done this to you and I'd gone into labor," Liv said. I nodded.

"I know."

Liv and I took James back to the hotel with us. Baylee was playing checkers with Shelby since Mason was back in LA with Kristin. The little ones ran around until they dropped from exhaustion. Ally was sitting on AJ's lap chanting 'dada' over and over again. Once she had started to say it a couple weeks ago there was no stopping her.

"I wonder if the baby really will be born on Howie's birthday," Leighanne said.

"Well he won't forget it," AJ said. "Not that he would. That man's a walking PDA."

"PDA-A-A," I sang. I couldn't resist.

We waited for a phone call for as long as possible. Finally everyone drifted back to their rooms. Liv and I put the kids to bed and then crawled into our own bed. I ran my hands over her belly.

"Good night," I whispered. She smiled.

"Night, Nick."

------------------------

We didn't get a phone call until the next day when we had returned to Tampa.

"Hello?"

"I still hate you."

I smiled. "That's okay. Can I congratulate you?"

Howie laughed. "You can. She's beautiful."

Howie and Leigh had chosen not to know what they were having just like they did with James.

Another Backstreet girl.

"And what's her name?"

"Stefania Paula Dorough. She weighed six pounds two ounces."

"Does she have hair?"

I thought about how long it took James to grow hair in the front. Put that curse on a girl and...well, it wasn't a pretty vision.

"Nick..."

I laughed. "Sorry."

"She does have a lot of hair, for the record," Howie finally said. "I'm going to call AJ."

"Okay, well congratulations again. Give Leigh our love."

I hung up and relayed the message to Liv. She smiled.

"The girls are going to take over one day, Nick."

"That's okay. No matter what we are and always will be the originals," I said. I squeezed her to me.

"Often imitated, never duplicated," she teased. I kissed her forehead.

"Damn straight."