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Author's Chapter Notes:

 

Adie decides enough is enough and makes a stand

Adie sat in the green room of the large backstage area of the arena, Baylee resting next to her on the overstuffed couch as he watched Horton hears a who contently. She remembered taking him to see the film at the movies when she had met up with Nick on part of the promotional tour the previous year, but at that moment she couldn’t in all honesty say that she was focused on the pictures in front of her. Luckily Baylee didn’t seem to mind.

She bit at her nails thinking back to the hours previous, the hours that had been harder to handle then she first thought. She realised she had been too naive in her thinking. After the slight issue of the fans in the restaurant the previous night she felt stronger, more empowered, she wasn’t going to let the negative attention get to her. The following morning had been a different story.

Nick had bought the subject of her leaving the hotel as they had packed their belongings, he had said it would be totally okay if she wanted to leave through the back entrance of the hotel, that Q could take her that way, get her on the bus and then he and the rest of the guys would get on after. She had declined, deciding that the best way to deal with the issue would be to face it head on, after all she couldn’t hide forever, maybe if she showed people she was strong now they would back down. She hadn’t reckoned on there being so many people.

Of course news of her arrival the previous day had spread like wild fire on the internet, and it amazed her how the crowd had seemed to double. She knew it wouldn’t be wise to exit with Nick, after all he would stop to sign autographs and she didn’t want to be out in the open for longer then she had to, so it had been decided she would exit with Baylee and Leighanne, Q and Josh escorting the three of them. As soon as the doors had been pushed open by Josh the noise of the crowd increased, she tried to walk through the throng of the crowd with her head held high, but with so many camera flashes it was difficult. Her heart started pounding in her chest, and it seemed like the crowd was closing in on her. The cruel whispers about her being a slut and a whore getting to her once again.

“Get me out of here Josh,” she had begged, grabbing onto his hand. They had reached the bus only seconds later, and she took a few deep breathes to try and compose herself but she knew she just needed to be alone for a while and she had quickly told Leighanne she was going to lie down. She had cocooned herself into one of the bunks, making sure to pull the curtain across and had laid in the semi darkness it offered. She had tried to forget the looks on the faces she had seen, the way they had looked at her with such distaste as she had walked past, it had been bad enough before but now, it just seemed ten times worse.

She had feigned sleep when Nick eventually made it on to the bus. She had kept her eyes closed and her breathing even when he had pulled back the curtain to the bunk carefully. She didn’t flinch when he softly trailed two of his fingers down her face and whispered, “I love you.” She had cried silently when he left though. She also knew he noticed how ouffy her eyes were when she had joined the rest of the crowd at lunch when they had reached the arena, but he had chosen to ignore it, something which she was thankful for. She just hoped that life wouldn’t always be the way it was at that moment and she hoped that someday it would just be them and their family. She was snapped from her thoughts when Leighanne walked into the room.

“Daddy said you could go to sound check Bay,” she said stroking the top of his head. Adie smiled when Baylee shot out of the room like a light, following Bob down towards the stage area.

“He loves it huh?” Adie asked.

“Can’t get enough of it,” she smiled whilst shaking her head. “Are you okay?”

“Me? Fine, back is just starting to ache,” she said.

“I remember that feeling, but I meant are you okay after this morning?” She asked as she took over Baylee’s seat.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Adie tried to play off, her fingers playing with the hem of her t-shirt.

“Nick was worried about you earlier,” she stated.

“He’s just being overprotective,” she shrugged.

“Gets easier,” Leighanne told her, placing a reassuring hand on Adie’s leg.

“It does?” She asked with a small smile.

“Yeah. You know soon you are going to be so busy worrying about caring for a newborn, worrying if the decisions you make for them are the right ones to even care what a bunch of girls think about you. They don’t matter Adie, their opinions about you aren’t based on the person you are, they can’t be because they don’t know you. They see a tiny glimpse of you, they see a tiny glimpse of Nick, they don’t know either of you, they believe what they want to believe, nothing you do or say is going to change that. You’ve got the real Nick,” she said squeezing Adie’s leg.

“Do I?” She questioned.

“Yeah you do. Nick and I very rarely see eye to eye. He made my life a misery when I first started seeing Brian, he hated me because he felt threatened and I hated having to baby-sit him all the time, I hated the fact he was always around and I hated the fact that Brian would revert to a child when he was with Nick. But I can see a huge difference in him and it’s a difference I’ve seen since he’s been with you. Don’t get me wrong he still has his moments, he can act like a spoilt child,” she laughed, “But for the most part he’s turned into a really nice guy, a guy I like having around my son. Baylee adores him, he adores you and I think you two are going to make really great parents. So don’t let what a bunch of girls say about you ruin your relationship with him. It’s happened too many times in the past to him.”

“I just feel so venerable at the moment Leighanne, I felt so unsafe this morning, I don’t want anything to happen to her,” She admitted as she stroked her belly.

“Of course you don’t. I don’t think any of them would stupid to physically hurt you but I know mind games can be just as nasty. But just remember for every ten that hate your guts, there will be at least twenty fighting your corner and then they’ll at least thirty who don’t give a crap,” she laughed. “This isn’t going to last forever, but hopefully when it ends you guys will still be together, raising your family.”

***

Nick walked through the maze of the backstage area once sound check had finished. He knew today had been hard on her, and he knew that he just needed to sit with her, to reassure her that she was beautiful, that she was the only women he wanted to be with but first he had to find her.

His first stop was catering but he only saw a few of the band at the tables, he almost walked passed the dark green room, figuring she wouldn’t be in there. That was until he heard her call out his name, but something wasn’t right, she was panicking. He made his way into the room quickly, turning on the light as he bent down to her level before asking

 “What’s wrong?” She didn’t move from where she was lying on the couch and when he softly pushed some of the hair out of her face he realised why, she was sleeping and that meant the dreams were still happening. He was just about to try and coax her out of it when she started talking again.

“She was fine Nick, she was,” she cried. “No, oh god no don’t stop, you have to keep trying, Matt you have to keep trying, don’t let her die.”

Nick soon realised that this was a different type of dream all together and when she whimpered her next words he felt a lump form in his throat.

“She’s just a baby don’t stop!” He knew he had to wake her from the nightmare she seemed to be trapped within and so he gently stroked her face as he called her name softly.

“Adie? It’s time to wake up,” he told her as one of his hands trailed down her arm and back up again. He thought it was going to take longer but she quickly opened her eyes and when she spotted him she burst into sobs, throwing herself into his chest and clinging to him.

“Hey, its okay, its okay,” he said over and over. Her crying eased into gentle hiccups after a few minutes but she didn’t loosen her hold on him, she didn’t make any effort to move at all as he lightly stroked his hand over her hair and down her cheek.

“You okay?” He asked softly. She nodded. “Want to talk about it?”

“She died,” she whispered with a hiccup and again Nick felt the lump rise in his throat. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what he could say to make her feel better because dreaming about that had to be so awful, just thinking about it sent chills up his spine.

He pulled away from her slightly and moved so that he was level with her bump. Lifting the material of her t-shirt, he placed a kiss to her stomach before saying, “You in there, you awake?” He poked her tummy gently before talking again, “Mommy needs to know you’re okay so give her a really big kick.”

She waited with bated breath to feel any movement, her heart beat increasing when all was still. What if the dream had been an omen? She felt him poke her again.

“Excuse me young lady, don’t you start ignoring me before you’re born, give Mommy a kick,” he said again and sure enough she felt a strong push from with inside her. “Good girl,” he smiled before placing another kiss to her stomach. “See she’s fine,” he told Adie. He moved so his head was resting in her ever shortening lap, closing his eyes when her hand trailed through his hair.

“That’s the first time you’ve called me Mommy,” she realised after a few minutes.

“Well you are, she’s definitely in there,” he said poking her again before flattening his palm against her stomach to feel the flutter beneath.

“She needs a name.”

“Hmmmm,” he thought, “What about….Gertrude,” he laughed.

“Gertrude Carter?” Adie asked sceptically.

He shook his head before adding, “No Gertrude Roxanna Mackenzie Carter.”

“What no Gene thrown in there as well? I thought that was Carter tradition?” She joked.

“No that middle name tradition is dying with me,” he told her in all seriousness.

“Aww baby don’t you like your middle name?” She asked stroking his scalp.

“I fucking hate it,” he whined.

“At least you don’t have as many names as I do. I don’t know what my parents were thinking.”

“Adrianna Machala Louise Jones come on down,” Nick called in his best game show host voice.

“Do you know how difficult it was to learn to spell all that as a child?”

“So what are we going to call her? Are we going to jump on the band wagon of ridiculous celebrity child names?” He asked.

“Like what?” She asked.

“You know naming her for where she was conceived, or after a piece of fruit?” He laughed.

“We could join the two, Kiwi Nashville,” she laughed before moving her hand to her bump when she felt a large kick, “I don’t think she likes that idea.”

“That’s a damn shame because Kiwi Nashville Carter has such a ring to it,” He said in all seriousness before bursting into laughter. He stroked her belly before adding, “I kinda like Molly.”

“You only kinda like it?” Adie asked, her hand trailing down his cheek as he looked to her.

“I like it,” he told her rolling his eyes.

“Molly,” Adie said aloud, “Molly Carter.”

“No middle name?” He asked and Adie shook her head, “Not Molly Jones-Carter?”

“Double barrelled last names are so pretentious, nope I think just Molly Carter,” She smiled.

“Well that was a lot simpler then I thought it was going to be,” he said as he moved off of her lap. He interlaced his fingers with hers before leaning in to place a small peck to her cheek.

***

Adie rubbed her aching back as she tried to get more comfortable on the bar stool but it wasn’t happening, the long overnight ride on the bumpy bus, had left her feeling stiff and cranky. She couldn’t wait to sleep in a real bed that night but when she looked at her watch she realised she had a long way to go considering it was only lunch time. She should have just stayed at the hotel when they had made it in earlier that morning but she just found that she couldn’t bare to be separated from Nick again.

After the previous episode with dealing with the fans, and after the god awful dream she had suffered she had been so anxious that she spent the rest of the evening on the bus watching movies and catching up on emails. She knew she just wouldn’t be up to sitting out front and watching the show, hell even standing off to the side made her heart rate increase and her hands go clammy. She had felt like a failure until Nick had slipped his hand in hers and reassured her that “One step at a time is fine.”

This was going to be her third step. Her fist had been staying in the restaurant and obviously the second was walking threw the crowd, the one she would take later was a lot scarier. She had known that Nick had been planning this with Leslie for a while and originally she was going to have to miss it because of work but due to her unforeseen “vacation” she knew there was no way he would let her miss it. After all it had been almost two years since she had seen Leslie last but the club was so small she was bound to be recognised, hell people would probably be scoping the place out in search of her. Sure she would have Q with her but the prospect of so many people being able to come up to her, to speak to her, to tell her what they really thought about her was daunting and frightening. The nausea feeling she had when she had first been carrying Molly returned but she knew it wasn’t to do with her daughter and so she tried to push her feelings of uneasiness aside, knowing that her back ache was sure to intensify if she spent any more time on the indomitable stool.

She looked around the small club eyeing a more comfier looking booth, it probably wouldn’t take her long to get comfortable and drift off but just as she was about to move she heard a familiar voice and it made her smile.

“Hey fatty!” Aaron grinned as he embraced Adie in a hug.

“I’m not fat, I’m just big boned!” she joked back as she squeezed him slightly.

“That was Nick’s excuse,” He laughed as he pulled away. “So there’s really a baby in there?” He asked, his eyes drawn towards her stomach and when she looked at him she found herself laughing at how much he looked like his big brother.

“Yep and thanks to your brother she’s awake,” she groaned when she felt another kick.

“What he do?” Aaron asked as he sat on the bar stool next to her as Leslie and Nick completed their small sound check.

“Well he dragged me here for a start, then he attempted to break the drum set, and then he did the worse thing possible,” she moaned.

“What?”

“He started singing,” she grinned. “She’s already a sucker for his voice.”

“Really?” Aaron smiled.

 “Yep,” she nodded, “She goes crazy in there and when he talks to her, it just gets even worse.”

“So things are good between you guys again?” He asked. Adie looked from where Nick was joking around with his sister, the smile fading from her lips before she looked back to Aaron.

“They will be eventually, we’ve just got a lot of stuff to work through is all,” she shrugged.

“He loves you, you know? He’s completely crazy about you, always has been,” Aaron told her.

“I know that and I feel the same way about him. I’m just an insecure mess when it comes to…how do you deal with the intrusion of everyone wanting to know your business twenty four seven Aaron?” She asked.

“You get used to it. It just becomes the norm you know? But I have been doing this since I was nine, I don’t really know any different, it’s kind of the same for him and I think he sometimes forgets that your not used to it. Just remind him.”

Nick looked out towards Adie as the song ended and smiled when he spotted his brother talking to her. She had always gotten on so well with his family, well the small part of his family that she had met anyway. She had shown an interest in his siblings from the very first time she had met them all, when she had quickly flown to his aid after Aaron and his accident. She had been an instant hit with Aaron as she put him at ease about what was happening almost instantly, even managing to make him laugh when she threatened to take pictures of his ass so she could make a small fortune on EBay.

Leslie had been ecstatic because it meant another girl in the house, one who might actually get along with her, and of course her and Adie had long hours spent by the pool gossiping about Mike and Nick ensuing. They were still like that, and Nick knew that over the three years that had passed since House of Carters had wrapped Adie had probably spoken to Leslie on the phone more than he had. Hell she had probably spoken to Beej more then he had.

Angel of course had been the hardest person to win over. That was just her personality, her protective nature kicking in but when Adie had refused to let Nick pay for her flight out, when Adie always paid her way when they went out to dinner, Angel had realised she wasn’t going to be like all the others.

“O my god are you actually having a thought?” Leslie asked as she passed Nick on the way off the stage. He nudged her playfully whilst sticking his tongue out.

“I do have them occasionally you know,” he replied as he followed her into the small dressing room.

“I must remember to alert the press,” she joked as she took a swig of her drink, offering the coke bottle to him after, her eyes bulging when he refused and grabbed for the bottle of water instead.

“Okay who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

“Too many calories and it’s doesn’t hydrate you properly,” he told her.

“You look really good,” she smiled at him.

“You’re sounding great, guess those vocal lessons paid off,” he said as he sat down.

“Yeah, Mom said the same thing,” she told him, obviously not missing the frown that crossed his face if her next comment was anything to go by,

“Have you even called her to tell her she is going to be a Grandma?”

“You talk to her on the phone Les, I’m sure she would have told you if I called.”

 “She’s excited for you,” Leslie tried.

“You tell her?” He asked gruffly, his eyes focused on his shoe lace.

“Angel actually. All it would take is a phone call,” she prompted.

“I have nothing to say to her,” he said sternly his eyes focused intently on his sisters.

“She’s your Mother Nick, how would you feel if twenty years down the line your baby wasn’t talking to you?” Leslie asked.

“I won’t give my Daughter a reason to resent me, I’m going to be there for her like a parent should be so can we just drop this?” He asked. She stared him down for a moments but in the end she relented with a sigh.

“So are you going to ask her to marry you?” Leslie asked with a grin.

Nick rolled his eyes, and mumbled, “Actually can we start talking about Mom again?”

“She’s having your baby,” Leslie pointed out.

“I know,” he nodded his head, “It’s complicated Les. It’s always been complicated with us, right now we’re just focusing on becoming parents.”

“You excited?” She asked.

He nodded his head with a small grin, “Yeah I am. I feel her kick but I still…it’s like it’s not real, like I know she’s in there but it’s strange to think that she’s a person, I want what she looks like, I want to know if she’s going to have dark hair or blonde hair, if she is going to be tall or shrimp like her Mom. I can’t wait to hold her.”

Leslie was just about to say something when Adie walked into the room followed by Aaron.

“I’ll tell you what you can take her now,” Adie commented as she slipped her arm around Nick’s shoulders.

“Back still achy?” He asked wrapping his arm around her waist and guiding her to sit in his lap.

“Yep, thanks to the incredible small bunks. I think I’m going to head back baby, I could use a nap,” she smiled.

“Want me to come with you?” He asked.

“Nah, I’ll meet you at the restaurant for dinner?” She asked. “

Sure.”

“I shall see you at dinner guys,” she smiled at Leslie and Aaron.

***

 Adie had snuck into the club a few songs into the set, just before Nick had made his way on to the stage. Her nap had lasted for four and a half hours and so she was feeling refreshed and ready to face whatever was going to be thrown at her. She smiled as Leslie introduced her older brother and shook her head in wonder as the screams intensified when he made his entrance.

It still amazed her how some people would react to him. Some would just scream, others would cry, some would trample over another person just to get to him but he was no different to any of them, it wasn’t like he was super human or anything. He had flaws, plenty of them and she wondered how many of them would still like him when they saw him loose his temper, had to clean up after him, had to put up with his petty behaviour? That was what made him, him, Adie knew she wouldn’t have him any other way but still, after the three years they had been dating, it was strange to see him up on the stage. He was so confident, to the point of being cocky, he knew how to work the crowd, he knew a shake of his hips would leave them swooning. He was loud and outgoing when he was in front of an audience, when a camera was on, when it was jus the two of them he was a completely different person.

He was quiet, more reserved. He would rather carry the weight of the world on his shoulders then share things in fear of upsetting someone else. He hated confrontation but when he was cornered he would explode and fight his own. He was so sensitive, one comment from Kevin enough to make him shed near on fifty pounds, a weight loss that was still increasing. He looked really good for it but she remembered how badly Kevin telling Alex to leave his little Pork chop alone had effected him.

To look at him on stage you would never suspect him of being insecure but he was. Just like she was about being around so many fans in such close proximity, she kept eyeing the door but she had promised him she would stay, at least until the end of the set. She looked at her watch, she only had fifteen more minutes to go, she could do it, she had to do it otherwise she knew she would spend the rest of her life running.

Adie felt a nudge from beside her and turned expecting it to be Aaron with the water she had asked him to get her on his bar round. When she turned she came face to face with a women of similar height, her bleach blonde hair stark comparison to her own dark locks, her face made up so much so Adie knew if she was to see this girl without any make up there would be no way she would recognise her. Adie took a deep breath as she braced herself for the verbal attack that was sure to ensue.

“Your Adie right? Nick’s girlfriend?” The girl asked and Adie nodded her head, “I’m Jess. I just wanted to say congratulations, can you pass that along to him as well?”

“Thanks,” Adie smiled, “I’ll tell him.”

“We don’t all think like the crazy stalkers. Most of us are pretty sane,” she smiled.

 “I’ll remember that Jess,” Adie smiled in reply.

Maybe it wasn’t going to be so difficult after all?