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Nick Carter leaned his head against the door frame and held his arms out towards Brian. “I came so see my Frick, man! Gimme some love,” he slurred.

Brian studied Nick’s glassy eyes and widened his own eyes in realization. He was drunk as a skunk. “Well, at least you came in a cab. Uh....come in.” He held the door open as Nick stumbled over the threshold and wrapped his arms around his neck.

“How’s the family, bro? Is Baylee’s arm still brokeded?”

“Broken. Yes. It’s still broken.” Brian placed his hands on Nick’s waist to steady him. “Listen, Nick. We have company. You’re welcome to stay, but I need you to go upstairs and either sober up or sleep it off, okay?”

Nick gave him a glazed look. “Are you ashamed of me?” he pouted.

“Yes!” Brian hissed. “Now, go!” He gave Nick a swat on the behind as he trudged up the stairs. “You can sleep in the blue room, okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hey, Nick?”

Nick twirled around at the top of the stairs, then brought his hands to the sides of his head in an attempt to make the room stop spinning. “Why are you yelling at me?” he whined.

Brian lunged forward as if he were going to catch him if he happened to topple down the stairs. “I’m not yelling,” he answered through clenched teeth. “I just wanted to say it’s good to see you, man.” Nick gave him a goofy grin and trotted down the hall.

Back in the dining room, Leighanne’s mouth dropped open in horror. “Did he just say Nick?”

Annie nodded. “Carter?” she asked, her eyes wide in disbelief. Leighanne nodded back.

“Uncle Nick!” Baylee scrambled out of his chair and Leighanne immediately motioned for him to sit back down.

“You need to finish your dinner, Baylee,” she admonished.

“But mo-om! Nick’s here!” Baylee whined. Brian marched back into the dining room and sat down. He placed his napkin back in his lap and began eating silently. Three sets of curious eyes stared at him. Drew tossed a dinner roll at him from Baylee’s old high chair to break up the monotony. “Is uncle Nick really here?” Baylee asked him excitedly.

“Yes,” Brian answered simply, before taking another bite of mashed potatoes.

“Well, where is he?”

“He wasn’t feeling very well, so he went upstairs to rest for a little bit.”

Leighanne cocked her head to the side and studied his expression. “Not feeling well?”

He cupped his hand in front of his mouth so that Baylee couldn’t see and mouthed “Drunk.”

“Hmmm.... do you think he’s okay?”

Brian shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Annie watched their exchange and couldn’t help but join in their conversation. “So, you guys really are so close that you just show up on each other’s doorsteps unannounced and inebriated?”

Brian chuckled. “No, not really. Not since about 1998, anyway.”

“What’s inebriated?” Baylee asked curiously.

“Just a big word for sick,” Annie answered quickly.

“So, why is he here?” Leighanne asked her husband.

“I have no idea.”

“Maybe you should go check on him.”

“He’s a big boy, Leigh. He can take care of himself.” Brian pushed himself away from the table and stood up. “Actually, I was thinking about taking Annie downstairs and showing her around the studio.”

Annie cleared her throat. “Actually, I think that sounds great. That is, if you don’t mind watching Drew for a little while? I’m sure Brian doesn’t want him down there getting into everything.” She looked across the table at Leighanne expectantly.

“Of course I don’t mind. For the next week, you can consider me Drew’s nanny. You focus on your music, and give yourself a little bit of a break. Baylee and I are going to have a blast with the little guy.” She stood up and took her and Annie’s plates into the kitchen, then came back with a wet washcloth and began wiping Drew’s face and hands. “You two take as long as you want. I know where to find you if I need you.”

The first thing Annie noticed when they descended the stairs to the basement was a baby grand piano-- in Kentucky blue. “Oh wow, Brian, that’s--”

“A little ridiculous, I know. I’ll call this one of my rockstar guilty pleasure purchases. I don’t even play the piano. Not well, anyway. Baylee’s learning, though. Well, he was before he broke his arm.” He ran his fingers along the polished lid. “Leighanne wouldn’t let me put it on the main floor, so there’s a black one just like it in the formal living room.”

“Actually, I was going to say that it’s awesome. Remember, I’m a Kentucky girl. It’s not autographed by John Calipari or anything, is it?”

Brian chuckled. “No, but that would make it even more awesome.”

“May I?” She gestured to the piano bench.

“Be my guest.”

Annie sat down on the bench and raised the keyboard cover carefully. She poised her fingers over the keys and her right foot over one of the pedals and played a few chords , then launched into a beautiful version of Amazing Grace. Her fingers danced over the keys with effortless accuracy, and she threw in a few intricate runs to make it more interesting. Brian leaned forward and rested his elbows on the piano, supporting his chin with one hand, and watched her with admiration. “That was amazing,” he breathed when she struck the final chord and it echoed throughout the room. “I didn’t see you as a piano player.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, I just figured that if you played the piano, you would have played when you sang in church.”

Annie smiled. “It’s easy to get caught up in the technicalities when you’re playing the piano and singing at the same time and lose the passion of the song. Sometimes, I like to put on a backing track and just sing.”

“I get that,” Brian agreed.

“I do sing and play most of the time, though.”

“You know....” The wheels in Brian’s head were turning. “There’s a market out there for a Christian Sara Barielles-type singer. That could totally be you.”

Annie looked down at the piano and plinked out a simple, made-up tune. “I’m not sure if I want that to be me, Brian,” she muttered. “I’m here to try a duet for your album. One song. Then after that, we’ll see.”

“Fair enough. You wanna play around a little bit with our voices so we kind of know how we sound together before we get to work in the morning?”

“Sure.” Annie started playing the opening riff to “I Want it That Way.”

Brian laughed. “You are...my fire....”

Upstairs, Leighanne and Baylee had their ears pinned up against the basement door. “Mama!” Drew squealed.

“Your mama’s a wonderful singer, Drew,” Leighanne told him. “Wow.”

After they’d sung for a while and Brian showed Annie the rest of the studio, Drew began to fuss just as Brian was showing her the sheet music for the duet he had planned. Annie glanced up at the stairs, then at the clock on the wall. “Oh, wow. We’ve been down here almost two hours. It’s getting close to Drew’s bedtime. I better go.” Brian followed her upstairs, and she scooped Drew up into her arms and started kissing his tears away. “Let’s get you to bed, little man.” He nuzzled his head against her shoulder and sighed as she started up the stairs. “I’m going to go get him settled in for the night.” She turned back to them for a moment.. “Actually, I think I’ll probably turn in for the night, too. I’m beat.”

“Goodnight, Annie. Goodnight, Drew,” Leighanne replied cheerfully.

Annie hummed quietly to Drew and rubbed his back as flipped the bedroom light on and shifted him over to her hip so that she could grab a suitcase with her free hand. She set it on the bed and started to open it, then screamed.