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What Becomes Of The Broken Heated?
Chapter 24 – June 25 2007

“I'm nervous.” Sophie said calmly as the girls stepped out of their limo and onto the red carpet at the MTV VMA party.

Joce laughed. They were all worried. After being out of the spotlight and media eye for four years, they were back at MTV. In their opinion, it was insane.

But to Alissa, who had insisted she come along, it was the most exciting thing ever. Gripping Sophie's hand tightly, she gazed around in awe. There were so many people everywhere! Not that she recognized any of them, but she was still excited.

Brian sipped on his drink glancing around the packed hall. He was standing with the rest of the Backstreet Boys and Aaron. His eyes fell upon the four girls. Three of them looked pretty familiar and he had a pretty good idea who the other was.

“Nick.” Brian said quietly, nodding his head in the direction of the girls. “Are they who I think they are?”

Nick turned around and faced the way Brian was looking. He nodded slowly. “Yeah... I think so.”

Kevin came up to where they were standing and glanced at the girls. “We're gonna go talk to them.” He said, walking away with AJ, Howie and Aaron. Brian shrugged and looked at Nick. The two of them followed the others.

“Hey.” AJ greeted them. Sophie smiled when she realized who he was.

“Hey!” She replied. Joce and Steph also grinned and greeted him.

Alissa wrinkled her nose, looking up at AJ. “How'd you grow blue hair?” She asked with a confused look on her face.

AJ smiled and Kevin knelt down so that he was at eye level with Alissa. “And who are you?”

“Alissa Jean Carter.” She replied. “I'm four years old.” She grinned, holding up four fingers, as if o prove it to him. “And for my birthday, a clown came to my house.”

“Carter?” Brian asked suspiciously.

“Yeah.” Steph said. “Aaron's her dad.”

“STEPH!” Sophie and Joce shouted in unison.

“What?” Steph asked innocently. “He would have found out eventually. I wanted to speed things up a little.” She said simply.

Aaron's jaw dropped. No way...there was no way! “W...where's Char?” He finally managed to get out.

The three girls exchanged looks. This was the moment the had been dreading ever since they'd arrived. They knew Aaron would be there and they had a feeling he would ask about Charline.

“You mean you don't know?” Sophie asked him slowly, and Aaron shook his head.

“No... but I bet I can guess.” He said sadly. Even though it was five years since they'd broken up, Aaron felt like it had just been yesterday upon hearing the news.

“Aaron...” Joce started. “Char died right after Alissa was born.”

Aaron sighed. “If you guys don't mind, I'm going back to my hotel room.” He said, walking awway and out of the building.

“That didn't go well.” Steph mumbled.

Alissa looked around at the sad faced surrounding her. “Why'd everyone so sad?”

Sophie sighed. “Aaron just found out about your mommy.”

“Oh.” Alissa replied, still not quite understanding.

After a couple of minutes, Nick finally spoke up. “You guys want to come chill out in the hotel for a while?” He asked, and the girls nodded.

“Sure.” Joce replied, walking out of the party with her friends following behind.


After everyone went to AJs room and ordered pizza, Nick left to go to Aaron's room.

Just before he knocked on Aaron's door, Steph ran up to him.

“Nick?” She asked.

“Yeah?”

“Can I go talk to him first?”

Nick sighed. Even though he felt it was his job to talk to Aaron, Steph had been there when Charline died. Maybe it would be better for him to talk to her first. “Sure.” He smiled. Steph nodded and knocked on the door.

“Can I come in?” Steph asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” Aaron replied, walking to the door and letting her in. Though he'd wanted to be alone, he figured maybe Steph could tell him some things about Charline.

Steph sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. She wasn't sure how to start speaking with him. Maybe if she used a line from a song or something..

“Aaron.” She spoke, and he came to sit closer to her. “Sometime we have to live through the darkness, in order to see the light.”

“You stole that from 2gether.” Aaron accused.

Steph shrugged. “Okay, so sue me. But I didn't know where to start!!”

Aaron rolled his eyes. Thinking about events that occurred that night, a whole bunch of thoughts and questions were running through his mind. “How come Alissa's last name is Carter?”

“Charline said she wanted it to be.” Steph answered.

“So, she still loved me?” Aaron asked hopefully. He hoped that she didn't die thinking he was a prick.

Steph nodded. “They were her dying words.”

“Really?”

“Yup.” Steph recalled, smiling sadly. “She said, 'If you guys ever see Aaron again, tell him that I love him.'”

Aaron shook his head. He felt so stupid. The words words he had ever, and would ever exchange with Charline had been stupid formalities. Why didn't he ask her back out when he'd had the chance? Not that it would have made a difference, but at least he could have been there for her.

“Aaron?” Steph asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'll be fine.”

Steph nodded and left the room. She motioned for Nick to go in and talk to Aaron while she made her way back to AJs room.

“Aaron?” Nick said coming into the room.

“You know what she said, Nick?” Aaron cried. “Do you know what Charline said when she was dying?” He sobbed, tears running down his face.

Nick shook his head sadly. “No, what did she say?”

After calming down for a moment, Aaron took a deep breath. “she said she loved me.” His voice was quiet and shaky.

Nick sat down beside Aaron. “That's because she did.” He said.

Aaron rolled his eyes. Nick was out of practice for their little talks and it really showed. “No kidding. But still, I can't believe it, those were her dying words. And she named Alissa after me! You'd think she'd hate me, but she didn't! She loved me!!”


Nick shook his head sadly. “There's nothing I can do to make it better.” He said.

Aaron looked up. “I know.”

Nick stood up to leave. “Why don't you come to AJs room in a bit? We're having pizza, and you can meet Alissa.”

Aaron nodded, and Nick left. He always thought that everything happened for a reason, so what was up with this? He just had to face facts. Charline was gone, and nothing was going to change that this time.