“I ran the truck for some errands now and then. It should be good.” No more had Nick and Lani said ‘hello’ than it was time for another ‘goodbye’. This one, however wouldn’t last as long. A little Ben and Nick time and then he’d be at her place for dinner and…whatever.

“Thanks.” He pulled her in closer, letting her settle between his thighs as he leaned back against the closed hatch of her truck. He couldn’t stop touching her, capturing her eyes in his, filling back up on her scent, her smile, her presence. “I missed you so much, baby.”

“I know…this was hard.” She looked down, not wanting to ever be a girl who whined about his travel. She knew of it going in and it was something she understood would have to be a part of her life now.

“It’d help if you’d meet me sometimes. You did last year in New York.”

“Yeah, but that was before…”

“Before we were a ‘we’…yeah, yeah.” He stood up full, inadvertently pushing her away. Or maybe it wasn’t so inadvertent. “That makes no sense, Lani. Rosalie will be fine for a few days. Katy has said she’d take her, your mom…”

“Let’s not do this now, Nick, huh? You just got home.” Solana wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on Nick’s chest, hopefully wrapping up this conversation. She couldn’t explain it, it always ended up with one of them angry and after two months apart, she didn’t want to deal with it. Not that she ever did, really. He would just have to understand.

He agreed with a kiss to her head and a deep sigh. For now, she was right. It was time for a reunion, not a rehashing of spoiled moments. He breathed in deeply the scent of her hair, fruity and tropical like a well-made drink decorated with a paper umbrella. He was definitely home.

Pulling her face up to his, he kissed the tip of her nose and then softly, sweetly melted his lips into hers, realizing that no matter how long he was gone, he’d never forget how she tasted, the sweet moans that would escape her as they touched and played. He couldn’t wait to start playing again.

“Miss Romero, what do you want me to do with this big sack of garba-…” Ben slammed out of Nick’s garage with a squealing Rosalie slung over his shoulder. “Ooops. Sorry.” Pulling Rosalie down to her feet, he teasingly scolded, “Why didn’t you tell me they’d be kissing, huh?”

“You should know, Benny. They always kiss now.” Rosalie smoothed out her dress and ran to her mother, tugging on her hand. “Come on, Mami. You kiss Nicky more tonight.”

“Benny!? BENNY!?” Nick scooped up Rosalie and buckled her into her seat, kissing her hand like the princess she was. “He let’s you call him Benny!?”

“I call you Nicky. Why not?” If it made sense to Rosalie, it made sense. No more discussion was necessary.

“Only Ro calls me Benny…don’t even think about it, Carter.”

With one more brief kiss, Solana got into the car and glanced at her puckish child in the rear view mirror. “Have you asked Ben if you can call him Benny? Maybe he doesn’t like it.”

“Oh, he likes it.” Turning her attention to her Nicky, she patted his cheek. “Will you come over for dinner?”

“Yep. And I have presents.”

“Que me compraste?”

“No, no, no... Tienes que esperar unas horas.”

She didn’t want to wait, even a few hours, but Nick kissed her cheek and closed the door and before she could complain about the unfairness of life, they were backing up and out of Nick’s driveway.

Leaving Nick alone with…

“Benny???”

“Shut up. She’s cute.”

“Don’t you ever call me pussy-whipped again, dude.” Nick waved one more time as the truck disappeared around the corner and slung his arm around Ben. “So, Benny…catch me up on your life. I wanna hear every detail.”

“So, Patty’s got a man, huh? Good for her.” Nick tossed a can of pop across the counter to Ben and grabbed one for himself, popping the lid, taking a gulp and letting out a huge belch in satisfaction. “God, it’s good to be home.”

“No belching in the movies, huh?”

“Not while the cameras are running. I don’t wanna end up on some stupid bloopers thing with my first show.”

“They should just follow you around in real life, dude. You’re a walking blooper.”

Nick smacked Ben upside the back of his head and led him out back, grateful to have this young man back in his day to day life. At least for now. More work called, but he was going to do everything in his power to keep as much of it in Tampa as he possibly could. He had a life here now. A life he cared about and was going to cherish and nurture. He’d been dropping hints to his management while he’d been filming in California, so hopefully they would take him seriously. He needed to be here. For the Casey’s, for Lani and Ro, but also…for Nick.

“So, who’s the dude?” They took their favorite positions on the side of the pool, dangling their bare feet in the water, watching the rings expand and disappear with their slight movements.

“No idea. Mom won’t talk.”

“You’ve got to be kidding…then how do you know there is one?”

“She’s said so. Goes out. Gets all dolled up. She’s still losing weight and I guess…” Ben shrugged. He wasn’t happy that mom had a life outside of theirs. The last time she did that, it was drug related. While he knew…or at least believed this wasn’t the case, it still made him uncomfortable. Especially at her secrecy. “…I dunno. Maybe she doesn’t want him to know she has a houseful of kids.”

“I can’t see her doing that, Ben. Not anymore anyway.”

“Who knows. She won’t bring him over, won’t even tell us his name and always meets him somewhere. Sounds to me like she’s ashamed.”

“Damn…that’s not right.”

“It’s life. Kitty’s all serious about her guy. That’s all we hear about. Brad this, Brad that. He’s lucky I can whoop his ass at basketball. Otherwise, I think I might kill him.” Ben chuckled as he took a swallow of his drink, smiling inwardly at his last slaughter of the poor guy. Brad had about 4 inches on Ben, but Ben could jump and shoot and fake. And Brad? Well, the only thing Ben could see him doing well was make his sister a blithering idiot.

“See, this is why I’m glad I’m not at home a lot. I cannot deal with my sisters dating. And I know they do…all three of ‘em, but damn.”

“I know. He’s okay, but they’re all over each other. It’s like, could you possibly wait ‘til you’re alone? Then I look around and see none of us are ever alone.”

“Getting cramped?”

“Yep. I think knowing we’re moving makes the house feel smaller or something.”

Nick nodded and finished off his drink, belching again and tossing his can by the patio door. “So, when’s the moving date?”

“I think 2 weeks. House is full of boxes. Wait ‘til you see it. You thought I couldn’t find clean underwear before!”

“I just thought you didn’t want clean underwear.”

“Well, there’s that too…who gives a shit?”

Nick shook his head, both at Ben and at memories of those days. Days where clean underwear was just another thorn in your side. “So you’re finally getting your own room, huh?”

“No. I still have to share with Jack. Kitty gets her own room first.”

“Ah…well, I guess that makes sense. Liz and Amy sharing too?”

“Yup. But at least it’ll be a room, not the damned dining room.”

“Hell yeah. I shared a room with my brother until I moved out. You figure out privacy.”

“Did you ever get any girls in there with him hanging around all the time?”

Nick smiled and looked out to the gulf, missing his brother. He needed to get him up to Tampa before he got too busy again. Aaron had yet to meet Ben. That needed to happen. “Yeah, a few. Aaron’d be hiding under the bed sometimes…at just the right moment, the damn thing would bounce from the bottom instead.”

Ben cackled and tossed his empty can to the patio door, crashing it into Nick’s. “Dude…I would have loved to have seen your face.”

“You would have loved to have seen Aaron’s too when I caught him. Little shit.”

Ben looked to his friend, hearing a shift in his voice. “You miss him?”

“Yeah, was just thinking I need to have him come up. I want you to meet him.”

Ben nodded, obviously nervous. Obviously insecure in the natural brotherly bond that would exist between Nick and Aaron. It was visible whenever Nick spoke of his brother, so it was going to be hard to compete in person. “Liz sure loves him.”

“You will too. Might give you a run for your money in ball too. Kicks ass.”

Ben simply nodded again, sighing heavily, angry with his jealousy. The kid was Nick’s brother for god’s sake. Ben was just…what was he anyway? Just Ben. Nothing special.

“Don’t go getting quiet on me, dude. He’s my brother, but you’re my…” Nick struggled with a definition too. But not in the same way. He needed a word, a meaning just for them. One that would tell Ben how much he meant to Nick.

“…I’m just Ben, Nick. Don’t make it more than it is.”

“Hold up. Are we gonna go through this again? Family. He’s my blood, but you’re the family I chose. I’m stuck with his stupid ass.”

Ben snickered in spite of himself and stood, making sure to splash his ‘family’ as he unfolded. “You don’t seem too upset to be stuck with him.”

“Well, no…I’m not, but I’m not ‘stuck’ with you. Why can’t you get that?”

Ben shrugged and walked to the railing over looking the gulf. “I’m trying…it’s still too much sometimes.” He turned to look to Nick and couldn’t hide his smile.

“What?”

“I missed you. Miss Romero missed you…we all did.”

Nick got up and met him at the railing, wrapping an arm around Ben’s shoulders. “I’m here for a bit now, bud. Not in the mood to travel all over when I have you guys here.”

“Good. We need you.”

“Yeah, huh?”

“Yup. You gotta carry all the big pieces of furniture when we move.” Ben winked and rested his head in the crook of Nick’s arm, still amazed at how nice it felt to have a man around…even if he was still a growing man.

“Well, moving guy or not…I think I need you guys, too.”

“I think you do, too.”