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Chapter Six: Practicality

Nick managed to get Stacey all the way to the doorstep of her apartment without being recognized, and, more importantly, without the media figuring out that the honeymoon had been cut tragically short.

Only necessary communication had passed between them the entire trip, but as Nick set the last of Stacey’s bags on her doorstep, he couldn’t keep quite any longer. “Stacey,” he said desperately, but he didn’t know where to begin.

“I’m very sorry about all of this,” Stacey replied when Nick couldn’t find the right words to match the feelings in his heart. “And thank you for getting me home so quickly. I can take it from here.”

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, unsure how to say goodbye, and then Nick’s words came out quick as a whip but in a barely audible whisper, “Don’t do this.”

For the first time since she’d broken down in his arms back on the balcony of their honeymoon suite, Nick reached out and touched Stacey. She flinched in surprise at the feel on his hand on hers, but she was too shocked to pull away. “Please!” Nick continued. “We’ll start over. Let me take you out. Just a date.”

Stacey looked down at the hand that clung desperately to hers, trying to ignore the tingling sensation it created. Her mind was made up. “Don’t you think it’s better,” she said, shaking her head firmly, “after everything that’s happened, that we just move past this?”

“No,” Nick said stubbornly.

Stacey finally pulled her hand from Nick’s with a heavy sigh. She knew what she was going to say would sting a little, but she felt she had to be firm or she might lose it. She’d had no idea that letting him down would be so hard. She could feel tears welling up behind her eyes, but she couldn’t let him see her struggle. She knew it would only hurt him worse, and, despite everything, she really didn’t want to hurt him. “I’m sorry. You seem like a nice enough guy. But I’m just really freaked out, ok? I need to get my life back to normal, and, no offense, but that doesn’t include dating a superstar.”

Nick opened his mouth to argue, but Stacey didn’t give him the chance to say anything. “I don’t know what happened this past week, and I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but it will never work between us. I don’t belong in your world, and the truth is, I wouldn’t even want to be a part of it. So again, I’m really sorry, but this has to be goodbye.”

Nick stood there gaping helplessly at the love of his life as she stepped inside her apartment with one last apologetic smile, and then shut the door between them forever. He said nothing more. He made no more attempts to stop her, because when the door clicked shut with such finality, it didn’t just break his heart, it broke his soul.

A broken heart is painful, but to break your soul is like having everything that makes you you ripped out of your body. It leaves you empty. Numb. And Nick Carter was now both of those things and much more. He was confused, mostly, still caught in the whirlwind of it all, and since he saw no way out of the tornado, he climbed, dejected, back into the waiting cab and headed home where he hoped he could sleep off the heavy feeling inside him.

***

Well Nick may have surrendered to Stacey, but he was the only one. Fate, on the other hand, was not about to just accept this defeat, so it immediately began working overtime to make sure that its star couple got past this little “hiccup” in their relationship, and it knew exactly where to start.

Kevin lie in a restless sleep, with his feet sticking off the end of the couch, in Nick’s living room when Nick finally stumbled through the door somewhere in the neighborhood of two AM.

“Kev?” Nick muttered, having noticed the man just as he was about to crash down on the sofa himself.

Kevin sprang to his feet a bit startled, but the moment consciousness returned to him fully, he took Nick by the shoulders. “Thank God! You had me worried sick! Are you all right?”

Nick didn’t respond. He didn’t really see the point. He was convinced he would never be all right again, but he was sure Kevin would neither believe nor understand that.

“What happened?”

“It’s over.”

“What’s over?”

“My life,” Nick replied absently.

Kevin gave him a little shake and roared, “Tell me what the hell is going on! You called me this morning in tears talking about your wife, and how scared you were, and then you just hung up and never called me back!”

Kevin’s anger seemed to juggle Nick from his trance. “Sorry man. I guess I just forgot. I’ve had a really shitty day.”

Kevin wanted to be angry. He’d been out of his mind with worry for the younger man, and now that he knew Nick was safe he just wanted to knock him silly like an irate parent. But one really good look at Nick and Kevin hadn’t the heart to lecture him. Instead he heaved a sigh, pushed Nick to the couch and went to retrieve a couple beers from the fridge. “Start from the beginning,” he ordered when he returned to Nick’s side.

Nick took the beer from Kevin’s hand and after a long hard swig said, “It’s gonna take a lot more than one of these.”

Kevin pulled the six-pack he’d grabbed from behind his back, and the tiny smirk on his face was all it took for Nick to break down and tell Kevin absolutely everything.

Nick had been the one to drink most of the beer the night before, but it was Kevin who’d waken with the headache the next morning, because there had been little to no sleeping for the man after hearing Nick’s tale. He was still in shock by not just the tears that fell from Nick’s eyes as he talked Kevin’s ears off about this woman, but also by the stars that were in them.

It was clear to Kevin that Nick was not just in love with this mystery girl, but that he was a changed man because of her. Kevin couldn’t understand how it happened, but it was so obvious, that he had no choice but to believe it. And that left him no choice but to try and fix it.

After Nick had finally passed out, Kevin spent what was left of the night trying to come up with some sort of plan. Which was why, after Nick’s lawyer had drafted the annulment papers, and Nick reluctantly signed them, Kevin offered to be the one to take the papers to Stacey. Nick was more than happy to let him do it too, because he knew he’d never be able to face Stacey and watch her sign him out of her life.

Kevin arrived at the small Palm Springs apartment shortly after three PM. He didn’t really have any sort of speech prepared, but being the no nonsense man that he was, he didn’t hesitate a second to knock on the door. “Ms. Vasquez?” he called. “Hello?”

At first it sounded like no one was home, but after a few moments a wary voice called, “Who is it?” through the unopened door.

“I’m here on behalf of Nick Carter,” Kevin answered professionally. He was afraid that if she knew it was him, she wouldn’t open the door. “I’ve brought the paperwork for you to sign.”

“Paperwork?” She still hadn’t opened the door.

Kevin glanced around, not wanting to draw any attention to himself, but all was quiet. He lowered his voice anyway. “For the annulment?”

After a moment the deadbolt slid open and a tired looking woman with puffy red eyes answered the door in pajamas and a bathrobe. “Ms. Vasquez?” Kevin asked, a little startled by the haggard appearance.

Kevin waited for the door to be slammed in his face, but Stacey never gave any hint of recognition. She did, however, sound a little suspicious as she said, “That was fast.”

“Isn’t that the point of an annulment?” Kevin teased lightly.

“I’m sorry,” Stacey said finally pushing the door open for Kevin to enter. She showed him to the living room sofa. “I guess I’m just paranoid. I have this nightmare in my mind that all these reporters are going to swarm my place any minute. Ridiculous huh?”

Kevin hated to be the barer of bad news, but he couldn’t exactly lie to the girl. She needed to know. “Oh, that’ll come,” he said. “Eventually. Once people figure it out.” Stacey’s face went pale, so Kevin quickly added, “But don’t worry. Nick will do everything he can to keep the media away from you.”

Stacey’s face changed when Kevin said Nick’s name. “So you saw him this morning? How is he doing?”

Kevin raised a curious brow and resisted the urge to ask her why she cared. “Honestly? I’ve never seen him quite like that before. Kid’s a complete mess.”

Stacey’s sudden concern not only intrigued Kevin, but it gave him a glimmer of hope that maybe he had a chance of convincing her of his plan if he could only put it in the right words. He watched Stacey very carefully, studying her, as she collapsed into a chair across from him and release a long woeful sigh. “God, what a mess. I feel terrible, you know?”

“Do you?” Kevin’s question sounded harsh, and he kicked himself for letting it slip. It was just that he was so protective of all the Backstreet Boys, Nick especially. And seeing him the way he was this afternoon when he’d finally drug himself from bed made it hard not to be angry at the woman that had caused him so much trouble. It was hard not to be suspicious of her intentions. So many women in the past have tried to take advantage of Nick for his fame or his money. And this story about how she suddenly couldn’t remember anything? Well it was particularly hard to swallow.

“Of course I do! I’m not a heartless bitch!” Stacey sneered.

Kevin kicked himself again, worried that he’d just screwed everything up. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, but it didn’t do a lot of good.

“It’s not like I meant to hurt him! I didn’t do this on purpose!”

It was at that moment that everything simply became too much for Stacey to handle. Her world had crumbled and she’d been hanging on by a thin thread, but Kevin’s doubt in her character was more than enough of a blow to snap that thread.

“I don’t even know what happened!” she screamed as hysteria and a flood of tears overtook her. “My family’s so angry they won’t even answer my phone calls! I’ll be lucky if my father ever speaks to me again! I don’t have a job anymore, and I can’t even get it back because they managed to fill my position already. And come next week, I won’t even have a place to live because my husband so kindly paid to break my lease so that my roommate wouldn’t be stuck here by herself. She’s already found herself a new roommate! In nine lousy days! It’s like fate is working against me or something! Nine days that I can’t even remember and I’m suddenly unemployed, homeless, I have no family supporting me, and any minute now the paparazzi are going to figure out what happened and I’m going to be branded around the world as the crazy bitch that broke Nick Carter’s heart!”

Stacey stopped screaming because she was too upset to form words anymore. Kevin sat in shock, watching her come apart at the seams, with no idea what to say or do. Eventually Stacey took a deep breath and managed to calm herself enough to speak again. “You know what the worst part is? I’m starting to think Nick’s right. I must be mentally ill because I managed to destroy my life in less than two weeks’ time and I have now clue why or how I managed to do it. I don’t remember anything! Nothing! Not even fuzzy images. It’s like the last two weeks of my life never even happened. How is that even possible?” Stacey began to sob violently again. “I just spent the entire morning on the phone with a psychiatrist who recommended I check myself into a mental health clinic, and the scary thing is, it doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.”

“Don’t do that. I’m sure there’s another way to fix this.” Kevin finally spoke up in a gentle voice and risked crossing the room to put a reassuring arm around the newest addition to the Backstreet family.

Stacey was surprised by the kind gesture, and needed the support so badly it didn’t matter that he was a complete stranger. “I’m sorry,” she cried, ashamed buy her outburst. “You just kind of caught me on a bad day.”

“Understandably. And I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge. It’s just that Nick’s kind of like a little brother to me, and I sometimes take it personally when he gets hurt.”

Stacey wiped her tears as best she could and frowned up at Kevin. “Like a brother? Just how often does Nick Carter need a lawyer?”

Kevin was confused for a moment, but chuckled when he saw the briefcase he’d bought with him. “I’m not Nick’s lawyer,” he explained. “My name is Kevin Richardson. I used to be in the Backstreet Boys with him, and he’s one of my best friends. I offered to bring over the papers because he was… He wasn’t sure you would want him to bring them himself.” That last part was a lie, but Kevin didn’t have the heart to tell Stacey he was too heartbroken to come himself.

Stacey took another deep breath, wiped her eyes and reached for a Kleenex to rid her swollen nose of all the snot running down it. “God, he must absolutely hate me.”

“On the contrary. He’s just very worried about you. He wants to help you any way he can. In fact, so do I.”

“Why would you want to help me?”

“Because, Ms. Vasquez, I’m not exactly a heartless bitch either.” Kevin winked at Stacey and then more seriously added,  “You’re important to Nick, and Nick’s important to me, so whatever I can do, I’m going to do it.”

“That’s kind of you, but I got myself into this mess somehow. I’ll get myself out of it.”

“You didn’t exactly do this alone you know. Nick’s as much responsible for what happened as you are. And he’s going to suffer the consequences same as you. Aside from the… disappointment, Nick’s going to take a serious hit over this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Kevin shrugged, “once you sign these papers, you’ll no longer be Mrs. Carter.” Stacey flinched at the title, but Kevin kept talking. “You realize that’s less time than the 55 hours Britney Spears was married. The press is going to have a field day with this. His reputation, his ego, even his career, it’s all going to be hurt by this.”

“But…” Stacey stammered, disturbed by the idea of being the cause of anyone’s public humiliation. “He didn’t mention anything any of this on the way home yesterday. He just said that he’d get everything done as quickly as possible.”

“I’m sure he didn’t. I’m sure he was more concerned for your well being than himself. Despite what you may think – I know he’s gotten himself into trouble in the past, and Paris Hilton aside – Nick is a really good guy. It’s true he can be a little irresponsible, for instance running off to get married without thinking it through, but he’s got a bigger heart than anyone else I know.”

“Oh God!” Stacey groaned in frustration. “This is all just… just… GOD!”

“Ms. Vasquez? May I suggest something?”

Stacey glanced curiously at Kevin and he took a deep breath. It was time to lay out his proposal. Stacey was finally calm again, and appeared to be thinking rationally. He figured he might not get a better chance than this. “Look, what’s done is done, but that doesn’t mean you’re on your own. Maybe you and Nick could help each other.”

“How?”

“You said yourself that you need a place to stay. Nick has plenty of space, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. At least until you find a new job and a place and all that.”

“How exactly does that help him?”

“Well,” Kevin hesitated. “If you held off on signing those papers, if only until the excitement over the elopement dies down, it would make a huge difference with the amount of backlash he gets for it.”

Stacey’s eyes grew wide. “You’re suggesting we stay married?” she gasped as she leapt to her feet and began pacing the length of her living room, spouting off Spanish curses.

“Not in the biblical sense,” Kevin said nervously. “Just sort of in the technical sense.”

Kevin tried to smile but cringed beneath Stacey’s piercing glare, and waited patiently though another round of Spanish. “Did he put you up to this?!” Stacey roared, finally returning her dialog to a language Kevin understood. “Did he send you hear to ask me not to sign the papers?! Of all the nerve! If he’s so worried about his precious career, he should have had the guts to come himself!”

“Come on, Ms. Vasquez. Stacey. Think about what he looked like last night as he dropped you off. You know he didn’t think of this. In fact he’ll probably punch me when he finds out I did.” Kevin popped open the briefcase he’d brought with him and handed her the annulment papers. “Look for yourself. He’s already signed them. He didn’t want to, but only because he didn’t want to give you up so easily. But he signed them anyway because it’s what you wanted.”

Stacey stared down at the sloppy signature scrawled at the bottom of the document in her hand, and she could almost picture the look on Nick’s face as he’d written it. She imagined it was much like the one he wore when she’d shut the door last night, and she knew Kevin was telling the truth.

“Nick says you’re a very practical woman,” Kevin began again. “So just think about it. It’s just a piece of paper. And Nick isn’t the only one who will be hounded by the paparazzi either. This will help you both. You don’t really want to check into a psychiatric hospital do you? Come back with me and we’ll sit down with Nick and figure out some kind of plan.”

Stacey stood silent for a moment, still staring at the papers, and slowly the wild flare of anger left her eyes. “Well,” she sighed, giving in to practicality. She laid the papers back down in the briefcase without signing them. “I suppose I could give it at least as long as Britney did.”