As needed as Nick felt at home, and as exhausting as that got, he realized while with the boys, need was no longer what bonded him to them. He had a mind of his own now. And they didn’t like it. He had ideas he was now bold enough to share. And they didn’t like that. He was no longer ‘the baby’ who would get the occasional ‘yes Nick’ to his ideas and be satisfied. No, now he wanted to be heard, considered, and counted. And they weren’t ready for it or used to it.

So, he took full advantage of the situation and spoke his mind two nights into the three night wait until he got home.

“What’s tomorrow?” Record execs, new management, old management, contracts and timelines had floated around these meetings for the past few days and Nick felt like nothing had truly been accomplished. Talk, talk, fucking talk. Didn’t they pay people to do this shit?

“Friday.” Kevin slid another paper in front of Nick’s face, pointing to where he was supposed to sign.

“Thanks, genius. I meant, what are we doing tomorrow? We’re signing now, we’ve talked until there’s nothing to say…what’s tomorrow?” Nick scratched his name onto the appropriate line and sighed seeing at least 10 more pages coming down the line.

Kevin dotted the ‘i’ in his name and looked up, first glancing at the other 3 because his mind had suddenly gone blank. “I have no idea…”

“Good, I’m headed home then.” Nick got up and moved to the left of Brian where he could be the first to sign rather than the last. “How many more, man?”

“Where’s the fire? Just get back in your seat…you’re screwing up the line.”

Nick ignored Brian, feeling damned good doing it, and grabbed at the stack next to Brian’s arm. “I don’t think I had to sign this much shit when I bought my house…this is ridiculous.” He finished that stack, looked at the pile by Kevin, finished those and signed anything in between. Tossing his pen onto the conference table, he wrapped an arm around each of the guys. “See you in three weeks. I’m out.”

With a quick wave to the suits sitting across the table, he slipped out before anyone could stop him.

Before anyone tried.

Until later. He had packed up the disaster in his hotel room, changed his flight arrangements, and was finally able to strip down to his boxers, kick up his feet and chill in front of the television until he nodded off. Too much partying with suits. For suits - he never figure out which was which - too much smiling when he’d rather frown. Too much silence when he wanted to speak up and too many manners when he just wanted to belch and fart and scratch. He was a singer who wanted to sing. All of this administrative shit was just that. Shit. He wanted to record. Something. Anything. He wanted to perform. Somewhere. Anywhere.

And now that he was cozy in bed with some obnoxious tabloid TV show blaring in his face, he just wanted to go home.

But the phone rang instead.

“What?”

“You care to explain your little exit this evening?”

“What do you want me to explain, Kev? We talked, we agreed, we signed, we’re done and I’m going home.”

“Is everything okay at home? Aaron alright? The girls?”

“Not that home…” Nick sighed and flipped the TV off for the time being, definitely not interested in what J-Lo and the Hilton sisters were doing…or who they were doing. “Home home. And no, Aaron sucks.”

“You mean you flew out of here to go back to the girlfriend? Nick, Jesus…you can’t be playing games like that anymore. This is serious. We have to focus or we’re going to fall flat on our faces.”

“So because you don’t think I’m going to the right home, I’m playing games?” He flipped the TV back on and found CNN. Their droning had to be better than Kevin’s preaching.

“You can’t just check out because you’re horny. It doesn’t work that way.”

“I’m hanging up, Kev. Any other words of wisdom you need to share with me?”

“Grow up, Nick. It’s about fucking time, man. Just grow the hell up.”

“Bye, Kev.” Nick flipped his phone closed and tossed it on the nightstand and flipped back to the tabloid TV. More mind numbing.

“Hmmm…that Paris chic is kinda hot.”

Nick was grateful for the long flight home, except when he couldn’t get the conversation with Kevin out of his mind. “Grow up, Nick.” Had they not seen a goddamned thing? He wasn’t partying…well, quite so hard anyway. He was settled down with one woman and couldn’t imagine his life with anyone else. He had mentored a teenager into a permanent relationship and…his whole life had been nothing but a growing up process in the two years since the guys had been together. And this…this is Kevin’s final message to him?

“Grow up, Nick.”

He turned the music up in his ears and drowned out Kevin’s voice and his own self doubt. He had grown up, dammit. And coming home a day early was proof of it. He didn’t ask, didn’t beg, didn’t even discuss. He made the decision based on the fact that there was nothing left to do in LA and got his ass on a plane.

A plane that was thankfully, finally landing. Just a quiet drive home, and he’d be in Lani’s arms again. He’d have Rosalie’s curls tickling his cheek again, and he could shoot some hoops with Ben, listen to Jack ramble on about some Bionicle nonsense. He could be Nick again. The Nick he wanted to be.

Grown up Nick paid the driver, dumped the contents of his bag onto his closet floor and quickly changed clothes, hardly able to button, zip, brush his teeth and grab a drink fast enough. His girls. He needed his girls. And like Lani said, they needed him. One more chant of “grow up, Nick,” resounded in his head and he finally spoke aloud to the disturbing voice. “Take that, Kevin. Someone already thinks I have.”

He flew out of his development and hit the state route with a bolt, breaking only a few minor traffic laws to get to the town to his south. To get to his girls. To his home. To his grown up life.

He slowed once in Lani’s development, not particularly wanting to greet them with red and blue lights trailing him up into their driveway. And then, as he pulled into the driveway, the Latin bass of a boom box on Lani’s porch drowning out the sound of his arrival, he stopped not only driving, but also breathing. And thinking. And feeling his hands.

There were his girls alright. Lani was reclining in a chair with her hair down, head tossed back and laughter pouring from every inch of her body as she held onto a drink. From the looks of it, a margarita. Rosalie wasn’t on her own chair. No, she was sharing one.

With Neron.

Her finger went up to his mouth, pointing at his gold tooth and giggling as he bit at the intrusion, then laughing as he took that giggle and turned it into a tickle fest. She dodged his fingers on her sides, slipping off of his lap, landing on her bottom and then squealing as she crawled behind her mother’s chair trying to get away from his wiggling fingers.

“Sálveme, Mamí! Sálveme!”

“Salvarte? Por qué?” Lani reached around and grabbed her daughter, lifting her up over the chairs and planting her firmly in front of Neron. “Atrápala!”

Nick had seen enough. Cries for salvation from Ro to Neron just about put him over the edge, but to see Lani playing along and…he couldn’t believe the jealous rage boiling from within. With a deep breath, he tried to put it under wraps as he opened the door and slammed it shut, making all of the activity on the porch stop.

A heart of true devotion would be shown in this moment and everyone knew it. Ro could keep playing with Neron, stop playing with him and wave or completely end things with the bastard and come running to Nick. Lani the same.

Nick held his breath, waiting for the conclusion of the longest split second of his life. One that could very possibly make or break his heart.

It was a very long split second.

“Nicky!!!!!” The brown curls and their owner broke from the grasp of the other man and Nick let out a whoosh of air so forcefully he shocked himself. He didn’t realize how scared he really was.

“Muñe!” With one jump, she was in his arms and he was kissing her neck and face, closing his eyes so tightly as they swirled that he feared opening them again or they’d fall down.

“It was only two sleeps…you’re early!”

“I know. I missed you, so I came home. Is that okay?”

She pulled back and looked at him like he had just lost his mind. Kissing his nose, she wrapped her arms around his neck again and squealed, kicking him right in the crotch with her excitement. “Of course it’s okay!”

“Feet! Feet…watch the feet!” He jumped back and put her down, trying to gracefully grimace and not grab. But the sound that was music to his ears cut through the pain. He looked up to see Lani walking towards him, laughing at his misfortune, yet so full of love for him that she was having trouble containing it all in her delicious, curvaceous body.

No kicks to the crotch greeted him this time. Only warmth and love and joy and comfort. “I can’t believe you’re here…god, I missed you.”

Nick breathed her in, running his hands through her hair, opening his eyes long enough to wink at Rosalie who watched the scene before her, completely forgetting the tickle monster she’d left on the porch. “Looks like my timing is bad.”

“No. It’s not. It’s perfect.” Nick pulled her back and pressed his lips to hers, never wanting to part. But he had to. There was still that…man…on her porch.

“Is it?” His eyes traveled to the front of the house and back down to the brown pools of love that looked up to him with lust and adoration.

“Yes. It is. We have a lot to talk about.”

“I see that.” His eyes never left hers, wanting explanations now, wanting her now. Wanting Neron to go back to the hole from whence he crawled. He was getting to be a complete nuisance.

“Rosalie…go get the picture you drew for me. I’m going to go.” Neron had watched the whole reunion take place, his eyes never leaving Nick’s and Nick’s going back to his every time he could without the girls thinking he was plotting some kind of world domination. And with the daggers being tossed between the two men, Neron knew his welcome had just worn out.

“Come on, Nicky. I drew a bunch for you, too. We were gonna take ‘em to your house, but…you beat us.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Now I can see your face when you see ‘em!” She took hold of his hand and pulled him out of her mother’s arms to go inside. “You can wait out here, Neron. We’ll be back.”

Nick tossed one more evil glare at the man on the porch as he walked by, mumbling his own words of control to himself. “Yes, you wait out here, asshole.”

As soon as the screen door closed behind him, Nick lifted Rosalie back up into his arms, trying to ignore the nausea that was still coursing through his body. So she’d left play with Neron to come see him. But she’d looked so comfortable with him. So happy…and…how silly did it sound, but she was only supposed to be that comfortable and happy with him. Not the man who abandoned her.

“I’m so glad you’re home. You gonna spend the night?”

“If Mamí wants me to, I will.”

“She’ll want you to. She’s not so grumpy in the mornings when you’re here.”

Nick chuckled, having a hard time imagining Lani to be a grump in the mornings. It seems he still did have a lot to find out about this woman. He saw the dining room table covered in paper and wondered if Ro had done anything BUT draw since he left. “You’ve been busy!”

“It rained a lot. I was bored. Lemme find Neron’s so he can go home.”

Nick couldn’t hide his cocky smirk and it only broadened as he saw the picture she pulled out of the pile. A portrait of the jerk. Gold tooth and all. It wasn’t a particularly flattering portrait either. “Sign it for him…”

“Okay...” She dug out a crayon and stood over the picture for a minute probably deciding what to sign. Her name was all she could muster, no “Love” preceding it, which he could already see was on every picture that had his name on it. Yeah, you stay way the hell outside…outside of our lives. She swirled a big dot over her “i” and tossed the crayon down. “You give it to him.”

“Uh, no. I’m going to get something to drink. You give it to him.”

“Pth. Maybe he left already.”

Nick wanted to ask questions. Prod. Pester. Get her to whine and complain about him, but the grown up…the one he wished would disappear…wouldn’t let him. He had to be the adult. That was getting old too. “I think he wants his picture…”

She sighed again and drug herself to the front door, cracking the screen door only enough for her arm to reach through it. “Here, Neron. Mamí, are you coming in?”

“Yep.” Lani’s eyes led Neron to the driveway, inviting his exit. “Th-uh…thanks for calling first this time.”

Neron simply nodded and Rosalie slipped back inside the house. She was ready for him to leave now. Her Nicky was home and no one, no way, no how was ever going to replace his spot in her heart. He had taken residence and no one was invited to join. She decided right then and there that whether that man was her daddy or not…she’d never let him take Nick’s special place.

Lani walked in and locked the screen door behind her, a move Nick hadn’t seen since the break in almost a year prior. His eyes questioned and hers answered with a “not now” that he happily accepted. She silently melded into his open arms, relief overcoming her as his touch soothed the tension she’d been carrying since Neron had called earlier that afternoon. “I’m sorry, Nick.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, Lani…I just wish…” He looked up from the embrace and saw Rosalie’s expectant eyes, numbers of hand-drawn pictures in her hands. Now was not the time. “…I wish we didn’t have to be apart at all.”

“But we do. We’ll make it.”

He kissed the top of Lani’s head and smiled at Ro, motioning her to come join them. “Lemme see what you’ve got, Muñe.”

“I got you, Nicky…just like your song. See?” And that’s what she had. Pictures of them at the park. Reading books, cooking dinner, swimming in his pool, snuggling in his bed. Not just Nick and Ro…Nick, Lani and Ro.

“You like it like that, huh? The three of us?”

“Yes. You, Me and Mamí. That’s how I want it.”

Nick and Lani shared a glance, a timid smile and a gaze deep enough to make Rosalie step back at its intimacy.

Some day. That’s how it would be. It just had to be.