Lani’s cream-with-a-drop-of-coffee complexion paled as panic spread throughout her body. When Nick said, “dude” for some odd reason, she had a 50-ish year old man in mind. Or maybe a young man checking out Nick for his girlfriend, seeing if it was really him. Or…something. Her life had been so free of Neron that it had never crossed her mind that he could be, he would be following her, Rosalie, Nick…

…he wouldn’t.

“You okay? I mean, I have no idea that it was him. It just…” Seeing Lani’s gaze go from involvement to distance to downright shock in a matter of seconds scared Nick to death. Scared him that she knew that Neron could be a threat in their lives. Scared him that his first instinct that the man was indeed Rosalie’s dad was accurate and true. “Baby…talk to me.”

Without blinking or moving, Lani asked her own questions. “How old was he?”

“Mid to late 20’s, I guess. Close shaven head, dark hair, shorter than me, stocky, um…”

“Did he speak to her?”

“No. Just to me.”

“What’d he say?” She hadn’t moved since Nick had said the name ‘Neron’.

“She needs to work on her follow-through.”

“Maybe if she had a daddy, she’d have a fucking follow-through.” Nick waited to see if Lani would move, budge, respond, but her words were like an automated answering machine. Monotone, emotionless, heartless.

“Baby, I don’t know that it was him…it was just my gut.”

“I trust your gut. Was he watching you or her?”

“Her. Me. Us. Shit, I dunno, Lani…he was just there.”

“Does he recognize your car? What kind of car did he have? He never approached her? He…he…did he ever…what does he…” Lani’s questions jumbled into a pile of words and her words slid into a fit of tears and fear and panic and finally, raw emotion. She grabbed Nick’s shirt with her fists and pulled him to her, burying her face in his chest and the tears fell. Tears hidden for four years. Tears kept at bay to be the strong, brave mommy to her little girl.

Nick said nothing as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her off of her chair and onto his lap, comforting her like a daddy to his little girl. Like the daddy she never had, Rosalie never had…no one in this corner of his life ever had.

Where were all the daddies in these people’s lives? How in the world had they functioned this far in life without a dad? A good, strong man to guide them and love them and comfort them and teach them? And why in the world was he suddenly realizing that he was the surrogate for all of these people? Nick-fucking-Carter. The dork. The goof. The stupid one. The cute one. The baby. The irresponsible one. How was it that he felt more responsibility for these people than any man in their lives had up until now?

More importantly, what did it mean for his future with them? He wasn’t their dad. In no way, shape or form was he anyone’s father. He was immature in his own right, irresponsible, impulsive and highly temperamental. He could mentor maybe, but these people needed someone consistent in their life. Consistency was not something he could muster. Hell, he wasn’t sure it was something he even wanted to muster.

Maybe Neron was coming back to be a constant for Ro and Lani?

Looking down at the sobbing woman in his arms, he knew that whether Neron was coming back for that or not, he’d have to get through her first. And as it looked now, that wasn’t about to happen. Nick continued to rock Lani, kissing her brow, letting her get out all of her fears and frustrations, gasping and wheezing for air, snorting and sniffing and snotting all over his t-shirt. He felt like a super hero.

And dammit, what the hell was wrong with these men that they are so full of their own goals and agendas that they can’t take the time to simply be a super hero to the people who’s lives they helped create? It made no sense. His dad was far from Ward Cleaver, but by god, he loved his kids. His mom’s affections were always questionable, but no matter what, he knew Dad was there. Dad may have been a lousy husband at times, but he was a wonderful father. He was a super hero.

“You never answered my questions.”

Lani sat up and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, stopping the tears almost as abruptly as they had begun. She laid her head back on Nick’s chest, hitting a wet spot from her tears. “Sorry I snotted your shirt.”

“That’s okay…what question do you want me to answer…you asked about 50.”

She looked up into his eyes, full of concern and yes, a little corner of them housed laughter. Laughter at her outburst and expectation of answers. Well, he could laugh all he wanted. She was dead serious. As ridiculous as it was. “All of them. I need you to answer every question I have. I’m sick of no one having answers. I thought I had them all…”

“None of us have all the answers, Lani…not even you.”

“Well, that’s unacceptable. Rosalie needs me to have them…is he going to try to take her away, Nick?”

“Honey, I mean, how do we know it was him?”

“It was…I can just feel it.” She stared out into her yard, watching the crooked palm tree’s leaves blowing in the slight breeze. She sat up with a start, her eyes bugged out and her breathing doubled in pace. “Did he have a gold tooth?”

Now Nick was paling. And gulping. And perspiring at the realization that yes, indeed…“Shit.”

“Left incisor?”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah…uh-huh. So, does he know your car?”

“Yeah, he does…he saw us leave.”

“And that’s…” Lani sat up, realization finally totally caving in on her. “…that’s why Ro stopped talking about the park tonight, isn’t it?”

“Probably.”

“He scared her…Nick…what did he do to her!?” Her mood swings were about to give Nick whip lash. Friendly to stone faced to sobbing and now? A screaming banshee. “What Nick??? Tell me!” She was grabbing his shirt again, enraged at…at…everything.

“Lani! Stop.” He pulled her claws from his shirt and held her hands tightly, rubbing her knuckles until her breathing had calmed down again. “He didn’t do anything at all to her…it was me that scared her. I fucked up.”

“No, it was him. I know it. He looked at her funny or maybe…did you ever leave her? Maybe he talked to her.”

“I never left her side. I wouldn’t even let her play in the tunnels because I didn’t want her out of my sight. It was me. She could tell I didn’t like him…we left quickly and she picked up on it.”

“You’re sure…” Lani’s breathing began to slow, finally pulling out of her panic enough to really read the body language of the man who was holding her and comforting her. While Neron’s presence had unsettled him, it hardly panicked him. And if Nick loved anything, Lani knew Nick loved Ro.

“Yes, baby, I’m sure. She was questioning me all the way home. Why did he watch us? Who was he? Was he a fan of mine? Why didn’t I want him watching her? Why did we have to leave just because the man with the funny tooth was looking at us playing? Maybe he was a daddy who missed his little girl.”

“Jesus, she’s too smart for her own good.” Lani got off of Nick’s lap, trying to hide her embarrassment for losing control like she had, but comforted in the fact that Nick didn’t even flinch. He just filled her need. Just like always.

“Yeah, she is…I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I did.”

“Why didn’t you just say something to him?”

Nick heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, wondering how he was going to explain his life to her…this part of his life. No one understood it. Not even him. “I’ve had people staring at me all of my life. I put up a wall and just…I try to ignore it.”

“What made you realize he wasn’t staring at you? He wasn’t a fan or a reporter or something?”

“I dunno. And I did think it was a reporter at first…some stupid tabloid shit gonna report that Nick Carter was seen playing at a park with his daughter. So, I played up to it, honestly. I played harder with her. Cuddled more, kissed her more…I just walked right into it.”

“What if it was, Nick? Was that smart?”

“I don’t give a good god damn if they think Ro is my daughter…let ‘em.”

“You probably infuriated him…”

Nick shrugged and cupped her face in his hands, wiping a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb. “I don’t give a good god damn if I infuriate that bastard either. He might be a sperm donor, but he has no idea what it’s like to be that girl’s daddy.”

“No, he doesn’t…maybe you showed him that.”

“Maybe I did.”

Lani curled into Nick’s arms and they sat in silence for awhile, running everything through their heads the first of a million more times. Nick couldn’t decide if he was more concerned now or feeling a bit more peaceful about it. On one hand, he felt stronger in his protection of these girls, but on the other hand, her panic indicated a good reason to fear this man. Lani’s mind was going so fast, she couldn’t put together any coherent thought.

Save one.

“Stay tonight, please.”

Nick nodded against her head and kissed the frizzed out waves, blowing stray wisps out of his mouth. He rested his cheek on her head and breathed in deeply of her scent, the smells of her backyard and the autumn Florida night…as autumn as they got anyway. Whatever awaited on the horizon with this situation he knew one thing. They were facing it together.

“As many nights as you need, baby. I’m right here.”