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Chapter 19

Brian was no help. He had told Nick that whatever happened beyond that point had to come from Nicks heart. Nick wasn't totally sure what that meant, but he did know that Stephanie and Hope were in his heart and that he never wanted to lose them. They meant so much to him, Stephanie was his best friend, his first and true love and the mother of his daughter. Hope was his first and only daughter not to mention his only child. He loved them both with a great passion, he just wished that he could tell Stephanie that.

Nick wanted so badly to hold Stephanie and Hope in his arms again. He soon found himself walking up to Hopes room, a lot of the stuff that they had brought for her was still there. Nick walked over to her crib and picked up a stuffed dog that he had brought for her, and couldn't help but let his tears flow freely at the realization that he may never see his daughter again. This was killing him.

Why did she have to leave him? He loved her more than anything and he knew that she knew that. After that night at AJs party, Nick never kept his emotions secret from Stephanie and neither did she. Nick walked over to the rocking chair with the stuffed dog still in his hand and sat. The pain was beginning to become unbareable. He knew that getting mad at her like he did was wrong, but he never thought that it would result in her leaving.

He had to find them. He didn't care what it took, or how long. He was going to look for them and nothing was going to stop him, not even the group, the love of his life and his daughter was more important to him then the group would ever be. Nick hoped that the guys would understand that he wasn't going to return to the road until he had Stephanie and Hope.

Nick decided that he should call Brian and tell him what he was going to do so that they could figure something out, they knew how much Stephanie and Hope meant to him so he was sure that they would understand. He reached for his cell phone which was in his back pocket and dieled Brians cell phone. He tried to hold back the tears that he was just crying as Brian answered the phone.

"Hello are you ok man?" Brian answered knowing that it was Nick.

"I'm going to look for them," he said.

"What? Do you even have an idea where they went?" Brian asked not completely shocked, he did know that they meant a lot to him.

"No, but I don't care. There is no way that I am going to be able to live my life knowing that Stephanie is gone and Hope is growing up without me, her father. You have to understand this, I won't be back until I find them they mean more to me than this group does."

"Well, I told you to go with your heart, so I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do, but be careful and keep in touch. And good luck."

"Thanks Bri... I'll see you when I see you," Nick said.

"Yeah, bye," Brian said hanging up his cell phone.

"Was that Nick?" Howie asked, with the AJ and Kevin standing behind him.

"Yeah it was."

"What happened?" AJ asked.

"He and Stephanie had gotten into a fight and she wouldn't answer the phone, and it had been a week and Nick wanted to talk to her so I told him that since we have a few days off to fly down to Florida and see if she was ok. So this morning he did and when he got there, Stephanie was gone and so was Hope."

"Gone? Gone where?" Howie asked.

"He doesn't know. She left a note, all I know was that she said that he would be happier without her. Now, he's going to look for her and he might not be back with us for a while."

"Wow..." AJ said, "she's really gone huh?"

"Yeah, I think we should keep a look out for her you know, since she used to live here in New York she might still have family here and went to stay with them. Who knows, we could bump into her," Brian said.

"Good idea. I just hope that he finds her and the baby. Hes gotta be a reck without them."

"Yeah he is."

"What are we going to do about the group?" Kevin asked.

"For now we can say that he has family issues which isn't a lie, but then it doesn't bring up anything too personal," Brian said.

"Yeah," AJ said, "this is crazy.."

"Tell me about it," Brian said shaking his head.

~*~*~*~Meanwhile*~*~*~

Back in Florida, Nick was trying to figure out where to look. Ashley was the first person that popped into his mind to ask, if she didn't know, he would on his own. He went down to the kitchen and grabbed his car keys, he figured that he would pay her a visit, maybe something would pop up, it just had to.

Nick headed out the door and began the quick drive to Ashleys house, he didn't care that he looked like crap, he felt like it too. All of this was already driving him crazy, Ashley had to know. Finally Nick pulled up in Ashleys driveway and got out of the car and rang her bell. Ashley appeared at the door shocked to see Nick.

"Nick?!? What are you doing here? I thought you were on tour," She said.

"Yeah, I am.. have you heard from Stephanie?" he asked a little bit more desperately then he realized

"No... not in about two weeks or so, why?" she asked worried.

"Shes gone."

"WHAT??''

"She took off with Hope, she left me a note saying that she thought that my life would be better without her and Hope."

"Oh my god...."

"Do you know where she could have gone? Any family?"

"Nick... I don't know. She might have gone back to New York, she has family up there. Or she could be with her parents.. maybe they made up."

"You're right, I didn't think about that.. Thank you!!!" he said running to his car, maybe she was there or at least they would have an idea as to where she went.