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Chapter 11:

AJ sat peacefully with Lauren in his arms. He held her tightly as they stared up at the star lit sky. AJ had parked their corvette on a secluded hilltop for some privacy. They had a little fan interruption during their dinner so AJ wanted to have some time alone with Lauren before they went back to the children.

"Sorry about the dinner thing." AJ whispered as Lauren snuggled closer to his body, absorbing the heat that his arms brought. She felt so protected in them, like nothing could ever go wrong.

"Your fans still hate me." Lauren chuckled, easing into the position of being in the limelight a lot. After their marriage a lot of fans got upset, of course there were the ones that sent love letters and things saying she was extremely lucky. She loved the fans.

"Not all of them...just 99.99999% of them." AJ grinned lightheartedly as he placed a tender kiss on the top of her hair, inhaling the scent of her favorite shampoo.

"You’re so mean to me." Lauren whimpered as she looked up at AJ, her sapphire eyes burning deeply into his. He grinned lightly at her as he touched his nose with hers.

"I was nice enough to get you away from that crying baby." AJ teased.

"Lexie just misses her daddy and mommy." Lauren answered with a laugh. "Chase was like that when he didn’t know you. I remember the one night Staz came over and I was trying to put him to sleep. He wanted to know where his daddy was, I couldn’t answer... Staz had to field the question..."

"Really?" AJ choked out.

"Yes..."

"You know I never meant to shut you out of my life. I was just upset about seeing Devon there at your house. I was truly hurting and I didn’t want to hear excuses. But if I knew what you were calling about, I would have picked up in a-"

"Alex, chill. It’s over. It’s the past..." Lauren laughed as she saw his eyes spark. She knew he had to get it off his chest and say it before he got irritated. He seemed so passionate as he sat there holding her, his eyes wetting with moist tears.

"You don’t understand. Last night when Alexia woke up, I was nervous. I looked over and you were dead asleep. She kept crying out for her daddy. I felt my heart wrench as I got her out. She begged for me to pick her up. She wouldn’t stop crying. I felt like I had to make it stop. Anything to get her to stop crying. It made me hurt to see her like that. So, I rocked her to sleep and she still kept bawling. Finally I just sat down and laid her on my stomach. She looked up at me, her big green eyes bright with these tears... She was adorable... And she just looked at me...then smiled...resting her head and finally sleeping..."

"Alex-"

"Don’t you see? I missed out with Chase. Those first three years. I missed his first word..."

"Mama." Lauren smiled.

"I missed his first steps-"

"He walked to Stazzie when she came over to the house..." Lauren piped in again.

"His first solid food."

"Banana."

"The first time he crawled."

"To get Pooh Bear."

"Don’t you see Laurie? I missed all of that. And not a day goes by that I don’t regret having those times with you. I missed both of you so much. I didn’t want to leave you Lauren. I never stopped loving you. I even loved Chase even though I didn’t know about him..." AJ answered softly as he looked away.

Lauren sat there for a moment, her mind spinning. She had no idea AJ was thinking these things. It hurt her to know that he felt so bad about the mistakes both of them had made in the past. She offered him a smile as she forced him to look at her.

"We both made mistakes Alex. Some we can’t change. But, for now, I know that we can work with what we got. We can put our views in front of us instead of behind. Chase was little, he’ll probably just remember the times you were there. And that’s all that counts." Lauren answered truthfully as she looked at her husband.

"You’re not mad at me?" He whispered, wearing his heart out on his sleeve as he looked to his wife. His heart ached. He wished he had been there for those things. He thanked God everyday that he could at least see Chase now.

"Never."

"I’m glad." AJ sighed as he felt their lips connect. The moon and stars twinkling in the sky, showing them that things would be better. That things were finally going their way.

*********

"Howie! You’re such a dork!" Nastasia laughed as she watched the Frisbee fly over her head. She groaned as Howie shot a grin back to her. That morning they had woken up and jumped in the Jacuzzi, then Nastasia decided she wanted to go to the beach. They only had about two more days there and she was going to miss the one on one time with Howie.

"I’m sorry. It slipped baby." Howie grinned as Nastasia rolled her eyes again. She looked to see where it landed. She flicked a strand of long blonde hair behind her and walked over to retrieve the lost Frisbee.

"Hey! I said Hey!" Nastasia called as she jogged over to where the Frisbee landed. She looked to see a bunch of Carribbean guys talking while her Frisbee landed in the middle. She calmly walked over as all the guys’ attention snapped her direction.

"Can we help you?" One of them asked, he was the original beach bum type. Long blond hair, deep blue eyes, tall, lean. The accent. It reminded her a lot of Nick. His eyes swept over Nastasia like the rest of the boys. She rolled her eyes, she was used to it by now. But it irritated her a lot.

"Yeah. Can I get my Frisbee? The one you all are drooling on." Nastasia teased as a dark haired guy and his friend both bent down at the same time to grab it. Only they collided heads. They both cursed as Nastasia giggled. The blonde bent down and grabbed it for her.

"We’re sorry. You’re just... beautiful..." The man admired. Nastasia felt herself blush. She looked down and instantly regretted wearing the bikini. It was the one she had picked out. The tiny tube top type with the string bottoms. Flattering her figure more than she would ever know, not that it needed flattering.

"And she’s beautifully married." A voice projected as Nastasia looked to see Howie coming over with his arm protectively around her waist. She laughed as Howie held up her hand, letting the sapphire engagement ring and the wedding band twinkle in the Carribbean sun.

"We’re sorry!" The blond instantly apologized as their jaws still hung open. "You’re really lucky man! I would kill to have a girl like that."
"I did." Howie grinned as he picked the Frisbee out of the guy’s hand and nodded to him. "Thanks for returning it to her. Come on Staz."

"Bye!" Nastasia laughed as Howie lead her away.

"Jezz, I’m forever having to watch you." Howie groaned as he threw the Frisbee onto their large beach blanket. Nastasia rolled her eyes as she sat down on the blanket and reached for a scrunchie. Only Howie grabbed it and sat behind her, reaching for the brush, he gently began to brush her hair.

"You know I only have eyes for you." Nastasia answered as Howie brushed her silky hair gently. He could smell the fragrance of roses wafting off Nastasia’s hair. He loved the smell of her shampoo.

"I know, but a lot of guys look at you." Howie laughed as he placed her hair in a loose ponytail, letting some wispy pieces fall from it as she turned around to face him. She brought her knees up to her chin and rested her chin on them.

"I love you. End of discussion." Nastasia laughed as Howie leaned in and kissed her cheek softly. She smiled as he worked his way down to her neck, his favorite place to kiss her. She giggled as his eyes looked down her legs, then he stopped.

"What’s the matter?" Nastasia asked as Howie pulled away. He looked down and ran his finger along Nastasia’s left ankle, another scar. It led from the beginning of her ankle back to where her Achilles tendon would be. He felt himself wince.

"What’s this?"

‘My father decided he wanted to chuck a beer bottle at my feet to see if I would dance. He hit my Achilles' tendon pretty good too. Twenty stitches I believe.’ Nastasia thought hatefully.

"Stazzie Baby?" Howie called.

"Oh, I dropped a Pepsi bottle when I was younger. Lucky me it shattered and cut me." Nastasia lied as she looked away.

Howie knew she was lying again. Something about the two scars was scary. She wouldn’t tell him the truth to them, yet she acted like it hurt her to bring up the subject. It made him worry to know that there was something buried in his wife that they couldn’t talk about.

"Oh, must of hurt." Howie answered as he looked back to Nastasia.

"Yeah, real bad. I cried for hours." Nastasia whispered, ‘Then got beat for that’.

"So, you wanna go play in the waves." Howie asked with a small grin.

"Actually I want to play husband and wife in the sand." Nastasia grinned as she leaned over and started to press her lips on Howie’s lips. He complied and started to kiss back as he fell to the blanket, wrapping his arms around Nastasia’s small body. He didn’t care if anyone was looking. He loved her, and that’s all that mattered.