Lexie squealed with delight as she stretched out on the bungalow's massive bed. Nick's hands moved up her sides as he got off his knees and laid himself across her naked body. His sun-kissed skin was still warm from the sun as he pressed onto her body with his. He began to kiss her and nibble at her as she calmed. She wrapped her strong legs around him and enticed him to come closer. She could taste the salt on his skin from the ocean as she kissed his lightly freckled shoulder.

"I can't believe this is our last day." He moaned.

"Sh, you promised you weren't going to talk about it." She shushed him.

"I'm sorry, baby." He mumbled against her lips.

"You better make it up to me." She smiled, her brown eyes sparkling at him.

"Haven't I done enough for you?" he smirked.

"No." she giggled.

"How much more do you want?" he said slyly as he pressed to enter her.

"Whatever you have left." She smiled as she felt his familiar touch. He slipped a hand down to her bottom, lifted her hips to meet him, and took her to where he knew she wanted to go.

Two whole weeks of paradise: surfing, sunning, and shopping on AJ's money. . .being married. Lexie smiled to herself as she listened to Nick sing in the shower behind her. He had just started doing that on this trip. She crossed her arms across her chest and continued to stare out at the beach. Her engagement ring caught in the cotton string of Nick's shirt that she was wearing.

She looked down at it and the matching gold band that sat with it. She held it up to the afternoon sun and watched it sparkle.

"I proudly present to you Mr. and Mrs. Nickolas Gene Carter."

Without warning, Nick's arms snaked around her and he put his hand up with hers.

"Funny, I have one just like it." He said. Lexie stared at their hands and the matching rings. Nick took her hand and brought it to his lips. "I love you, Mrs. Carter." She closed her eyes and breathed in the salt air, his clean scent and his love. "What are you thinking of so hard, you let me sneak up on you?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Do you remember the first time I came to your house? We had lunch on the veranda. I had that suit my Dad bought. . ."

"Yeah."

"I just remembered how you smelled."

"I hope it was a good thing. . ."

"I. . .there was a moment there when you seemed to seep into my senses, into my brain." She said.

"Not your heart?" he asked. "When did you know you were first in love with me?"

"At the hospital, the night before the transplant; you were outside of Alex's room." She said.

"That far back?"

"I didn't understand it. . .I didn't know what it was. But that was it."

"I remember watching you walk into AJ's apartment that day. You look a lot like him and Amanda. . .I just knew what I had waited for my whole life had just walked into it." Nick said quietly.

It had truly been his whole life. A whole life of so many failed relationships that he finally came to believe that true love was something he would never have the privilege of having. Until CJ, then Lexie.

"Have you given any thought to what we talked about last night?" Nick asked.

"About having a baby?" she asked.

"Yes." He coaxed softly.

"I'm still not sure Nick. I mean, yes. I do, but I don't know about the timing." She stammered.

"Maybe we should just be less careful and just let nature take its course?" he asked, pressing closer to her.

"I'm sorry Nick. I'm just not ready." She said, trying to step out of his arms. He held her fast.

"Don't run away. I understand." He said. "I want this to be right for both of us."

Did he? Did he really understand? She snuggled back into his arms and he held her tighter. She closed her eyes and felt him tighten down even more with his arms. He did. She realized. DJ had been his child too. He had suffered the same loss.

"You know what I was thinking we should do today?" Nick asked, chuckling.

"Besides pack?" she asked, enjoying the feel of his body as it vibrated from his chuckle.

"We need to go back to that one beach on the north end of the island. That one where we night surfed."

"Surfed? We didn't surf that night. I remember someone taking off his trunks and deciding it was too cold to get in the water." She chuckled.

"You thought the water was too cold too."

"No, I just wanted to stay on the beach and make love to you." She said, turning in his arms. "I’m up for that again."

Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.

Tina watched her #2 pencil rap slowly against her coffee cup. God, she was bored. She looked up at the mediator who was droning on and on.

This probably doesn't look good. She thought.

"Ms. Ryans? Are you even paying attention?" he finally asked. She lifted her elegant head off her hand and coolly looked him up and down.

"No. I'm not. I have no idea what you have been droning on and on about for the last 45 minutes." She sighed. "I didn't request you for this case, because I knew you would bore both of our clients to death. Mr. Layton, I'm sure both of these good people have better things to do than listen to you go on and on about the significance of their case. It's a simple acquisition. Give me what I want and we can all go home today."

"If you don't have the tolerance for these kinds of proceedings, perhaps law should not have been your first choice."

"Don't bring into question my abilities as an attorney. I have cleaned the floor with you more times than I care to discuss." She said, getting to her feet. Damn, I should've left my shoes on. "I want the stocks, the stock options and the acquired purchased amount since the stock split in June. Then, he can have the damn company and we can all go home."

"I'm not giving up my share of the profits for the last year!" the man opposite of her said, jumping to his feet.

"You didn't even own the company for the entire year! Mr. Stewarts, you know as well as I do that you aren't entitled to that money. My client sold you the company after the stock split and she is owed that money." She said calmly.

"You damn women always stick together!" he snapped.

"Trust me Mr. Stewarts, I'm doing this for the fee. If Mrs. Kelley had a penis, I would still want the money." She said. "I'm tired of this. It's 3:30; I'm hungry so I'm going home now. If you, Mr. Layton, and your attorney want to discuss this further that's fine. Mrs. Kelley and I have things to do."

Tina reached under the conference table, put her designer shoes on the table and gathered up her things. She gave her client's sleeve a tug and they left together amidst the noise everyone else was making.

"We just can't walk out like that." Mrs. Kelley said.

"I think we just did. I'm tired of their stupid ass games. Could you hold these?" she handed everything to the older woman as they entered the elevator. In the crowded elevator Tina reached under her skirt, pulled off her pantyhose, and tucked them in her shoes. She collected her things from Mrs. Kelley and proceeded to walk out of the building and through the parking garage barefoot.

She popped the trunk of her Porsche and threw everything in, pulling out a pair of slippers.

"How are we going to beat them if we don't even talk to them?" The woman persisted.

"Eva, listen to me. I've done a billion of these. They are just trying to extract money out of you by wearing you down. You built that company for 15 years after your husband died. It fed your children, paid your mortgage and put all 5 of you through college. You earned every red cent they are trying to take from you. You sold that business in good faith and they aren't holding up their end of the bargain." Tina said, slamming the trunk shut. "I hate bastards like that."

"My son said you're just doing this to keep up the fee. . ." Eva said.

"You want your money back? I'll call Jill from the car and have her cut you a check." Tina snapped. "I'll work the damn case for free, I don't give a rat's ass about your money. I don't need it. Look at this, this is a brand new this year's model Porsche. Even Jill and her teen-idol husband don't have one of these. Eva, you have to be strong. I told you this was going to be difficult, but we have to stick it out. Those bastards want to rip you off and I'm just making sure that you can retire well."

Eva Kelley sized up the fiery redhead before her. Kristina James-Ryans was young, barely 35 by her guess. She knew that Tina had two teenage daughters and had worked very hard to get where she was today. She knew what kind of reputation she had, that's why she had hired her.

"All right, I'm sorry. It was just nerve wracking in there." Eva sighed.

"I know. I'll handle the meetings from now on." Tina smiled.

"No, no. I'll see this through." Eva nodded.

"Good, you won't be sorry." Tina chuckled as the older woman left her to find her own car.

Tina got into her car, sat and breathed for a moment. She no longer was plagued by thoughts about self-doubt about these cases. She smiled to herself and began flipping through her CDs. Something fun and uplifting. . .the Backstreet Boys? How did that get in here?

Tina stared at the picture for the longest time. Millennium. God, that was 20 some odd years ago. This album was a re-release that one of her daughters had bought for her about a year ago for her birthday. She could've sworn she hadn't put it in the car yet. Tina shrugged, maybe she had.

She took it out of the case, slipped it into the CD player, and turned on the powerful car. It purred beneath her as she reached to turn on the stereo. Rich tones ofLarger Than Life greeted her with AJ's scream in the beginning. She amused herself with thoughts of him as she put the car in gear and proceeded to head for home.

"What happened?" Aaron said as Jill collapsed on the couch. Jane and CJ had climbed off Jill and were running outside.

"Tina walked out on negotiations for a client." She sighed.

"And this is different from another day?" he chuckled as he settled down next to her.

"I guess it's not. I just seem to be the one who always gets the earful from the opposing counsel when she does this kind of shit." She griped.

"Well, your name is on the door."

"It says, 'Carter, Carlson and Ryans', her name is on it, too!" she groaned, throwing back her head. She heard him chuckle and then she lifted her head.

"When are Nick and Lexie due tomorrow?"

"Around one or so. I have their flight information in the other room." He smiled. "Are you still going to be able to pick them up with me?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem. I'll swing by and get CJ and Jane from school." She said.

"It's been kinda fun having CJ around for Jane." Aaron said.

"It's nice not being stalked any more. That's nice." She said. She watched Aaron's hand run absently up her thigh to the edge of her skirt. His fingers kneaded up her thigh gently getting closer to her. She smoothed his cheek and closed her eyes to enjoy the feel of his hand on her. His lips met hers gently and she opened her eyes to his.

"It's been a long time." He whispered.

"I know, baby. I'm sorry."

"We've both been so busy." He groaned as he kissed her again. "Let's plan a vacation. We haven't had one in two years."

"I don't know if I can right now. . ." she began.

"Jillie, can't Sabrina or Tina take up the load? You have 12 other partners in your firm now."

"Everyone is so overloaded now. . ." she started to say. She saw the hurt in his eyes as he withdrew from her. After all they had been though with Nick, Lexie, and their own lives, he knew she kept putting him second.

"No, you're right. I need a vacation." She said, watching him turn back to her. "I'll talk to the girls and see what we can do."

"That would be great. Maybe we can make time for that baby we've put off for the last 10 years?" he asked gently.

Jill was surprised. She hadn't thought of that in years. She and Aaron had been together for 10 years, getting married when she was pregnant with Jane. She had just been 19 years old and both sets of parents were livid! Aaron had been by her side the entire time, never wavering from his commitment from her. He helped her through school and was there all those years as she, Sabrina and Tina struggled to get started. At 29, she had her one child, 9 year old Jane and she had put off having another for all this time.

Either school, the firm, Aaron's albums, tours or something had made them put if off. Jane was now 9, CJ was 7 and she was running out of time.

"Maybe." She smiled at him, thinking that it might be time to put everything else on hold for a while.

AJ walked around the empty house as the real estate broker went on and on about it. He liked it, but wasn't feeling really comfortable in it. He guessed it didn't matter; he'd only use it when he was in L.A.

She pointed out the large yard, the pool and pool house. The house was fully equipped and quite nice. He liked it, but it did seem a little big for just him and Alex. It had one master suite, plus 7 other bedrooms. One would be Alex's, one probably CJ's and then Howie's kids. . .and a couple guestrooms. It was only about 10 minutes from Nick and Lexie.

"What do you think, AJ?" she asked. He had forced her to stop calling him Mr. McLean.

"I like it. . ."

"But?" she quizzed him.

"Nothing. I like it. Let's go and make a bid on it." He smiled.

"Really? Sex?" Kevin chuckled. "Well you know what they say, B. When you raise boys you only have to worry about one penis, when you raise girls you have to worry about all of the penises."

"Stop that, Kevin! Fatima will do what's right." Brian laughed with him. Brian sat in his kitchen on the phone with Kevin as Leighanne cooked them dinner.

"What about your other girls?"

"You know Maleah doesn't have time for boys. The other two are working at Disney in Orlando this year trying to get a break." Brian said.

"How are they doing?" Kevin asked.

"Kimmie got Sleeping Beauty. I think Rach is selling in the store or something."

"Ew, tough break." Kevin laughed.

"How are the boys?"

"They are doing just fine." Kevin smiled as he plinked a few keys on the piano in front of him.

"How's Kristen?"

"She's still in Kentucky. We decided to leave the two younger boys in school in the States."

"Wow, you've been in London all this time alone?"

"Yeah. It's not too bad. I'm editing a film score for Drew's latest picture. . ."

"How is she as a director?"

"Drew Barrymore? Fine. We've done about 4 pictures together. She keeps things lively, that's for sure!" he chuckled.

"When do you think you'll be wrapping up there? Nick's coming to Orlando in two weeks to start working on his album. I've got some finishing touches on mine and AJ's gonna be there to do some producing for Nick and a couple other Jive acts." Brian said.

"Probably not until late March."

"Late March? Kev, you gotta at least come for a visit." Brian whined.

"No, I've got to work through this. It won't be that long. Howie has already sent me some files to work on for arrangements. . .I'll be right there." Kevin chuckled.

"Oh, all right. Well, Leigh sends her love."

"You send her mine. I'll talk to you later."

"Later, Cuz." Brian joked.

"I'll see ya'." Kevin said in return.

Kevin hung up the phone and set it on top of the piano he was sitting at. His gaze traced over the empty London loft he had purchased years ago. His eyes circled the room until it fell back onto the keyboard he was sitting at.

He wished he knew what March would bring when he returned home. He wasn't sure any more. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.