Chapter One: Cupid’s Arrow

Nick sighed again as he looked at his watch, “Alyssa come on we’re going to be late!”

Alyssa rolled her eyes and finally settled on a form fitting navy blue silk and lace cocktail dress. She slipped on her heels and her strand of pearls before walking down the stairs, “You rang your highness?” She asked sarcastically.

He shot her a look before looking her up and down grinning at her selection. “Highness? I’d rather you call me lover, baby, master…”

She stopped for a second arching her eyebrow at his last word. “Master eh?”

He chuckled and smirked, “I was joking but now that you mention it…does sound kinda sexy.” He said slipping his arm around her waist.

She laughed and rolled her eyes as they walked out the door, “None of that, I’m hanging out with your friends and you tonight so no talk of us screwing around to rile me up when I can’t even have you.”

He grinned and opened the door, “Yeah I apologize that Bean is going to be there. He found out and pretty much invited himself.”

“Yeah oh well, I’ll have to get used to him being around occasionally.” She said as they got into his black BMW. “Nick it’s not going to be a problem seriously, I’ll just act like my usual classy self and if he makes an ass out of himself then that’s his problem.”

He sighed as he drove them out to Mr. Chow. When they got there the paparazzi was in full swing flash bulbs going off in record time. Nick threw the keys to the valet and took Alyssa’s hand lifting it up to lace their fingers subtlely flashing the engagement ring to the paparazzi. Alyssa giggled and they walked inside.

Chris looked up and smiled, “Hey man!” He shouted giving Nick a hug.

Alyssa gave Chris a hug and greeted everyone else, which included, Tony, Vince, James, David, Brent, and Bean. “Hey guys, how’s everyone been?”

“Great…”Chris replied.

She brushed a few stray strands out of her face unconsciously flashing her ring to the entire table making all of the guys look at Nick. “What?” Alyssa asked.

Nick looked over at her, “They saw the ring.”

“Oh…” Alyssa replied laughing a little with a bright smile.

“Are you two?” Brent asked with a grin.

“Yeah I figured it’d be a good idea to break the news to you guys. It’s bad enough that I had to do a major conference call with the fellas just to tell them.”

Bean rolled his eyes a little at the whole idea and Nick gave him a stern look. “Well just means more ass for us. So maybe it’s a good thing.”

Alyssa chuckled a little bit, it was such a Rob thing to say. He always made everything either about sex, partying or a combination of both. “It better mean more ass for you guys.”

Nick laughed at Alyssa’s reply, “Have I ever…”

“Not on me thank God.”

Brent laughed at banter they had going, “You already sound like an old married couple. Soon you’re going to stop screwing.”

David snickered and added, “Like every other married couple out there, then the fighting starts.”

Alyssa grinned a little, and smacked Brent’s arm. “Hey now be nice.”

Chris took a sip of his wine and observed everyone, “So when’s the wedding?”

Nick and Alyssa both exchanged glances with each other and shrugged, “We have no idea. We haven’t even started discussing wedding plans yet.”

Later on that week…

Alyssa closed her eyes slowly and opened them again considering the ceiling for a moment as she kicked her leg out from under sheets. She turned her head slightly seeing Nick laying there as well just staring at the ceiling thinking. “How was the conference call with the boys?”

He sighed for a moment, “Alex thought it was great, Brian was pissed I hadn’t told him first, and Howie was ecstatic.”

“And Kevin?” Alyssa asked knowing that they both valued his opinion most.

He thought a moment and looked over at her, “He said congratulations, and to make sure I’m taking good care of you. Then we made small talk about what’s been going on. With his acting and trying to get Kristin pregnant.”

“How’s that going?”

“They’re trying, it’s hard for them with being apart so much and not to mention they’ve had fertility issues for as long as I can remember. They’ve been trying off and on since the end of Black and Blue.”

Alyssa rolled to her side and snuggled up to him laying her head on his chest. “I hope we never have to go through that, it was bad enough with a miscarriage, I don’t know if I can survive another.”

“Me either, but no matter what we’ll make it through.” He replied holding her close running his fingertips across her bare arm making her shudder.

**********************************

Alyssa Narrating:

*sigh* The past few weeks have been just…whoa. Seriously, between him asking me to marry him. And just accepting that we’re officially engaged has all been a bit heady you know?

Honestly if you would have asked me the day off, hell even 30 seconds before he asked me, I would have laughed and said “nah he’ll never ask me”. I guess I was wrong. Sometimes I really enjoy it when he proves me wrong like that. Normally I hate being proved wrong but that was such a pleasant surprise. And now I can’t describe the way I feel without getting all over exaggerated and clichéd on everyone. We’re just so, in tune with each other right now. I hope this is a good sign of where things are headed because if so, then married life is going to be a piece of friggin Key Lime Pie from Britt’s.

If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, Britt’s is a place in Tampa that has the BEST key lime pie. Everytime we’re in Tampa we go there, along with going to Crabby Bill's and the Green Iguana.

I know sounds weird but they’re really good, of course Nick got me to like them. After going out to Florida a couple of times (three in total) before becoming his personal assistant, we always got food from there. And I swear I want some of the Key Lime sauce from Britt’s just to lick off of him.

Yeah, being engaged, has pretty much put a whole new level to our sex life. It’s been really, explosive I think is the appropriate term. Maybe it’s because we can fully relax now, we know we’re going to spend forever together now and we can just let everything go no holds barred sort of thing you know?

He’s definitely been more aggressive lately and quite frankly I love it. Usually he waits for me to make a move, to show that I want it, but it’s been the opposite now. For his birthday, we all are going out to Lucky Strike in LA to just hang out and celebrate that he will be now 27-years-old. Weird I know, it will be funny to see all the fan sites light up with well wishes for his birthday. It was even funnier to see all the comments about our engagement. They ranged from “aww that’s so awesome congratulations” to “she trapped him, she’s pregnant and is going to pull a k-fed on him”. The last one made me crack up because, number one I’m not pregnant, number two, I don’t want his money, hell it’s a battle to let him pay for something for me. I hate making him pay for something I know I can pay for myself. Anyways I’m getting distracted from my point.

Everything has been really good lately, even with the fans for the most part which is astonishing to say the least but eh I’m good with it either way.

End Narration.

***************************************

Alyssa giggled as she scrolled through the internet. “What?” Nick asked looking over at her amused expression.

“I officially have a hate site!” She remarked giggling.

“You’re kidding?” Nick asked getting up. He moved across the room and sat down next to her looking at the page she had up. “Oh god, here we go again.”

“Yeah at least this time the girl you’re with doesn’t care.”

“You don’t?”

“They don’t even know me baby, and if they’re going to judge me based solely off the fact that we’re together, they’re not worth my time and thoughts.”

He grinned and kissed her softly loving how at ease she was with herself and their lifestyle.

She broke the kiss and turned to the laptop pulling up another site, “Besides this one is a fan site, dedicated to us as a couple. So apparently the hate sites are in the minority which is good.”

“And you’re concerned with what they say?”

“Nope, that’s why I let you convince me to get a myspace account. I was a little worried with having one it would cause controversy but I don’t care anymore, it’s an easy way to get in touch with you or your siblings when we’re not in the same city.”

“Yeah and the massive amounts of emails you get not only from that, and you’re school account don’t bother you?”

Alyssa smiled at him, “I really don’t care, I read some of them sometimes, reply to the nice ones with a thank you and delete the mean ones. After awhile you can tell which ones are going to be mean and which ones are nice just by the address and subject line. I choose to either ignore or laugh at the negative crap, it’s not worth it otherwise.”

“I’m so glad I’m marrying you.”

Alyssa moved back a little cocking her head to the side, “And why would you say something that random?”

“Because you’re the only girlfriend I’ve ever had that doesn’t care what the fans think. Fuck even Paris got all in a tizzy when my fans hated her.”

“They were right to hate her.”

He chuckled a bit, “I know I was just illustrating that even the most cold hearted ones I’ve dated feared the fans. And look at you, cool as a cucumber.”

“And your point? Nick come on I’ve lived through every other girlfriend. Hell I even knew about Debbie thanks to your sister. I’m secure enough in myself as a person that I know for a fact I’m in this relationship because…” She said stopping momentarily.

“Because?”

“Because you’re the only person whose ever made me feel alive like I don’t have to hide the real me like I do at work, or be classy when we go out in public, when we’re here at home….I can just be Alyssa Monroe, normal girl. Not the youngest literary professor at UCLA or girlfriend of Nick Carter the Backstreet Boy, or even the funny witty girl everyone goes to for advice. I can just chill and be me around you.”

He smiled and replied, “I feel the same thing about you. Ever since the group blew up I haven’t been able to find someone besides the guys that I can just be myself around. Until you. I knew it as soon as I met you back then that you’d be a great friend to me.”

“So I’m guessing we’re good for each other?”

“I’m guessing we are.” He shot back pulling her to him as they relaxed on the couch.

Chapter Three: Happy Birthday Mr. President

Nick stirred slowly in his sleep, rolling over to pull Alyssa closer to him but instead came in contact with an empty bed. He opened his eyes seeing the rumpled bed sheets and a note on the pillow.

Had an early morning meeting, be home later, by the way happy birthday.

Love

Lissa

He grinned and relaxed against the sheets thinking about what she had planned for his birthday. Usually it was just something simple. But last year, they were barely speaking to each other which meant she probably was going to do something to make up for it. Whatever it was he was totally game for it.

Meanwhile...

Alyssa sighed a little hoping the slight nausea she’d had all day would go away as she waited for her students to file out of the classroom.

“Great class today Ms. Monroe.” Lindsay one of Alyssa’s students remarked stopping by the desk.

Alyssa smiled at her student and brushed her hair out of her face with her hand, “Why thank you Lindsay. How’s that paper coming?”

Lindsay nodded seeing the engagement ring on Alyssa’s hand and grinned, “Pretty good overall. So is it true, you’re engaged?”

Alyssa gave her an odd look, “Oh no not you too.” She said with a sarcastic grin.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s hard sometimes to know whose taking my class for the educational value and whose taking it to get info on my fiancé.” She explained.

“Oh god, no I love this class I’m a lit major so I need this class, and yeah I can totally understand. I must admit I am a fan but I didn’t realize that you were well you until first day of class there’s another professor who teaches this class right, I thought I was taking it with…”

“Dr. Deitrich, she was my mentor, but yeah we had to switch sections this semester because this is a hybrid class. Half internet, half lecture, it frees up my schedule a little bit and I can work from home.”

“Working from home must be nice.”

Alyssa chuckled knowing that she was fishing for information, “It is, and quiet too, Nick’s usually recording most of the day so if I’m working at home it’s so quiet I can get a lot of work done.”

“I’m glad you’re a normal girl, he needs that.”

“I know right, I was friends with him through practically every girlfriend and pretty much there were like three normal girls besides myself everyone else was a model, singer, athlete or god forbid an heiress.”

Lindsay chuckled, “I take it you don’t like the last one before you right?”

“Paris? Couldn’t stand her, I know you’re probably going to tell the message boards this and frankly I don’t care but that girl really hurt him, more than he’ll ever say. It’s a really sore subject.”

“I’m sorry he went through that.”

“Yeah me too, he’s such a good man and he’s been through so much that he doesn’t realize how good he is. So he tries to sabotage himself and so do I so really we’re quite a pair.”

“So when’s the wedding?”

“Honestly we haven’t even started planning yet, we’re just enjoying being engaged. Besides we have two Backstreet weddings with Howie getting married and all.”

“Yeah I read about that, that’s so cool.”

“Oh yeah it was about time too they’ve been dating for 6 years. She’s great such a sweetie and perfect for him, makes him so happy.”

“So are you friends with the guys?”

“Like the boys? Hell yeah they’re so sweet, Brian’s a hoot, Kevin is well Kevin, AJ is such a softy it’s not even funny. He’s dating my best friend right now and he’s always doting on her.”

“Was that the one that was dating Aaron?”

“Damn how do you guys know all of this stuff?”

“We’re like the CIA, well the LD Fans are like the CIA.” She said completely straight-faced.

Alyssa smirked, “I know I’m a member on most of the message boards like LD, DLS, and a couple of others. I sometimes join in the discussion, but I steer clear of a certain member on LD.”

“I know exactly who you’re talking about.”

“Yep. Nick can’t stand her, anytime I go on LD he’s usually with me and he rolls his eyes at anything she posts.”

“I bet, she’s pretty annoying most of us are annoyed by her.”

Alyssa laughed at the comment, “But yeah other than that I’ve made a ton of friends through the message boards, no one knows who I really am but still it’s nice to hear what the fans have to say about the new music, the boys in general and even about myself. I know some don’t like me but that’s ok that’s their malfunction.”

“Yeah a lot of them believe that something happened with that actor last year.”

“Let’s just say I put my trust in someone that I shouldn’t have. It nearly cost me everything I have with Nick.”

“Really?”

“Yeah thank God we’re stronger than that.”

“You must really love him huh?”

“With all my heart, he’s the only person I can see myself with. He’s flawed yeah but he’s human, but he means well.”

Lindsay glanced at her watch and smiled, “Thanks for the talk, I’ll see you around campus.”

“No problem. I’ll see you in class next week and good luck on your research.”

Later on…

“Happy birthday loser.” AJ said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Nick smiled and took a breath, “I cannot believe I’m 27.”

“And engaged.” Brian added with a Cheshire smile.

Nick rolled his eyes, “What’s the grin for?”

“Nothing you’re just growing up and it’s pretty fucking cool.” AJ remarked.

He laughed at them lightly, “You two are weird as hell. Anyways where’s Howie?”

“Stuck in traffic.” AJ said in a sing-song voice making Nick crack up.

“We’re so never living that one down are we?”

“Hey I got Baylee singing it the other day. Leigh was on the floor laughing.”

Nick grinned at the mention of Baylee, in a way he was really grateful for the little kid, it’d actually brought Brian and him back as friends. Acting like little kids was no longer taboo because of the little guy.

“What are you grinning at?”

“Nothing, just how’s my nephew?”

“Good, growing like a weed eating like crazy and whatever you do, don’t mention macaroni and cheese around him.”

“Like father, like son.” AJ added with a smirk.

“How’s everything with Kel?”

“Pretty good, did you know she has OCD?”

“Yeah she’s borderline though.” Nick remarked back.

AJ scoffed, “She organized my house, it’s insane but I actually kind of like it, I know where everything is now.”

“See it’s not always so bad at least she’s not like Howard Hughes type of OCD where she’s washing her hands until they bleed.”

“True, that would not be good at all.”

“So…when are we getting another backstreet baby?” Brian asked shooting Nick a sideways glance.

“As soon as Kevin knocks Kristin up.”

“Ha..ha…very funny Carter, I was referring to you and Ali, you know Baylee could use a cousin.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Let’s just say we’re not officially trying, but if it happens, it happens end of story. And why haven’t you and Leigh tried for another one?”

“Who says we’re not? She just wants to wait until Bay is a little older.”

“Besides not everyone can pop out kids like you’re family.” AJ commented.

Nick laughed at the comment, “Yeah I don’t think either of my parents ever quite understood the value of birth control.”

“Yeah but at least you’ve got siblings, I have a stepsister and half siblings from my dad’s family that I never see.” AJ explained.

“You want my siblings, take them please, they’re driving me nuts. Between walking in on Aaron having sex, and Angel modeling half naked, and B’s drinking, Les’s attitude I could do without em for a little while.”

“Walking in on Aaron?” Brian asked trying to bite back his laughter.

“Sorry man but you deserve it after we had to walk in on you and Ali so many times, or even heard you two go at it in the hotels.”

“She’s just letting everyone know who she belongs to.” Nick shot back making AJ snort.

“More like proclaiming it to the known universe.”

Later that afternoon…

Alyssa smiled as placed the present in the box, she knew he’d love it definitely something he’d enjoy as well as the various other presents she got him. She loved being able to spoil him as much as he spoiled her. It made her feel good that she could contribute to the relationship monetarily as well. It gave her a sense of responsibility and she was glad that he understood that for the most part.

As she finished wrapping his presents she heard the front door open. She scurried about hiding all but one of the presents from him. She settled on the bed catching her breath, still feeling a bit out of it from earlier in the day.

“Baby? Where are ya?” He called out into the eerily quiet house.

“In the bedroom.” She replied smacking her forehead for making it sound like she wanted something more than to just give him one of the presents.

He smirked dropping his keys and wallet on the table in the foyer. Kicking off his flip-flops he went upstairs losing the smirk he had when he saw her fully clothed sitting on the bed. “Damn that wasn’t nice.”

“What?” She said with a smile.

“You know what…”

She laughed, “Just because I’m in the bedroom doesn’t mean I wanna screw around.”

He rolled his eyes and sat next to her on the bed seeing the little box she was holding with a bow around it. “And that would be?”

“A birthday present. One of many.”

“Many? You didn’t have to you know that right?”

“I know but I like getting you things, like you like to do for me.” She said offering the box to him.

He grinned opening it seeing a receipt. “Umm, I don’t think receipt’s qualify as presents.”

“No look at what’s on it.”

Nick looked at it reading his eyes getting wider as he read. “How?”

“I asked Juliette to help.”

“Floor seats to the Lakers?! These are impossible to get!”

“Yeah and you’ve been dying to have them since you moved out to LA. I figured an entire season would make up for all the times you tried to get em and couldn’t.”

“How did you get these?”

“Juliette I called her two months ago and said that you’d been dying to have floor seats and that I wanted an entire season for you and that I’d be ever so grateful, meaning I’d make you do something nice for her if she got em.”

“She’s getting a huge bonus for this.”

“She and I worked our butts off trying to get those. And…it’s two so you can take me, or Aaron or one of the guys.”

“I’ll take you, you’re more fun at a game.”

“You better especially when Phoenix is in town I’ll die to see Nash and the boys up close.”

“And yell at D’Antoni for not getting them to the finals right?”

“Duh!”

He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss, “You’re amazing.”

“Wait there’s more.” She said deciding on giving him the two other presents she’d gotten him. She went to her closet pulling out the other two presents one small and the other rather large and heavy. She handed him the small box first he smiled opening it seeing a platinum band with celtic knot designs all around it. “There’s an inscription too.” She remarked.

He tilted the ring looking inside reading the script, “To the one who holds my heart ~ Ali. I love this.”

“I hoped you would.” She said taking the ring and his right hand slipping it on his ring finger, “The knot design is a tie in to my tattoo and it’s essentially my promise to you that I’ll be by your side no matter what.”

He looked at his hand, “I almost want to put in on the left hand.”

“Nope it goes on the right, unless you want that as your wedding band but I was hoping we could go pick those out sometime together.”

“Of course we can, when did you want to go?”

“As soon as we set a date.”

He chuckled, “Yeah we need to do that don’t we?”

“Yeah but we’ll talk about that later open you’re last present.”

He took the large square box standing up and placing it on the bed to open it. Tearing through the silver paper and cutting through the tape that held the box together he opened it chuckling as he looked inside. “A bowling ball?” He asked taking the green ball out seeing it was engraved with a copy of his signature.

“Yep thought you might need that for tonight.”

“And that would be for what? Unless it’s for some weird sex game I don’t know about…”

Alyssa cracked up, “No pervert, it’s because we’re going to Lucky Strike tonight.” She said, as she stood up but sat right back down feeling light headed.

“Whoa are you okay?” He asked completely concerned.

She looked up, “Yeah just haven’t been feeling well today.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting sick.” He said feeling her forehead with the back of his hand. “No you don’t have a fever.”

She smiled, “Nah I’ll be ok, probably just tired from working.”

“Are you sure you’re up for bowling?”

She looked at him and nodded, “Yeah I’ll be fine.”

“Okay…”

That night…

“So how’s it feel to be 27?” Chris asked with a smirk.

“Not too bad…” Nick replied seeing Alyssa come out of the bathroom looking a little pale. He went over to her, “Hey you ok?”

“I’ll be fine.” She said waving him off.

Feeling more than a little concerned he went over to Lori. “Lori can you do me a favor?”

“What’s up?”

He sighed looking over at Alyssa who was nursing a cup of 7-up. “Find out why she’s not feeling well she won’t say anything to me and just keep an eye on her and let me know if I should take her home early.”

Lori grinned at the concern and worry written all over his face. “No problem…you just have fun.” She said patting him on the shoulder then making her way over to Alyssa. “Why are you not feeling well?” She asked bluntly.

“It’s nothing just a little stomach bug.”

“For how long?”

“A week now, I’m totally fine, no fever or anything.”

“Do you think you could be…you know…”

“What? Pregnant, hell no, it’s just nausea right now I know the symptoms believe me if it were I’d know.”

“Ok but that’s how it always starts, as nausea then the other symptoms start showing up. That’s how it was when I was pregnant with Jamie.”

Alyssa nodded, “I know and I’ll keep a lookout for it, but I honestly doubt that’s what this is.”

“Yeah I said the same thing.” Lori replied getting up.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and smiled a little.

Nick looked over and grinned at her making her smile brighter. He sighed a little out of relief, the worst thing would be for her not to have fun too. He motioned her over to him she got up wrapping her arms around his waist and smiled up at him. “Thanks for this, it’s been a good birthday.”

“Welcome, just wish I felt a little better.”

Chapter Nine: Girl’s Day Out

“Jesus Ali what happened to your back?!” Kellie remarked seeing Alyssa’s back as they changed at the spa into their robes.

“And your arms?” Lori added a little concerned.

Alyssa sighed, “Nick and I had a fight…”

“Oh my God did he hit you?”

“I’ll kill him!”

Alyssa laughed at the protectiveness in their tone and how they immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion. “No these are from the makeup sex on the stairs.”

“On the stairs?”

“Yeah, and oh God, I get goosebumps from just thinking about it.” Alyssa replied shivering a little. “His eyes and how forceful he was, and I don’t think I’ve ever come that hard before.” She explained as Kellie and Lori got very amused looks on their faces. “What don’t tell me you don’t love makeup sex.”

“Well we do just, you really like it.”

“Sorry I really like him being forceful and in control it’s such a turn-on.”

“Its totally normal honey, it’s the pregnancy hormones it heightens sexual feelings that were there before but were less intense.” Lori explained. “When I was pregnant with Jamie, I don’t know how many times I had Clark dominate me…it’s natural.”

“Natural? Mean yeah maybe if those feelings are already there but for them to come out of nowhere?” Kellie scoffed.

Alyssa giggled as they all propped themselves up in chairs ready to get manicures and pedicures. “Well I’ve always liked it when he’s forceful with me, the way he looks at me when he tells me what to do…God so sexy. I mean come on Kel has Alex done that with you.”

Kellie smirked, “He’s actually quite romantic, a bit on the submissive side but a real sweetheart in the bedroom.”

“Like what he says cutesy things like ‘oh my gosh you feel so nice’?” Alyssa mocked giggling.

Kellie laughed hard, “No! He’s just very generous and good lord he’s got the most amazing hands.” She gushed making Lori and Alyssa grin.

“I’m glad you’re happy with him, you went through a lot with my lil bro.” Alyssa remarked.

Kellie sighed, “I know, Aaron is well just well he’s really happy with Kaci now and I’m really happy with Alex.”

Lori giggled a little, “Weird to hear him called Alex ya know, since we’ve known him so well as AJ.”

Alyssa snickered, “He’s a good guy, Alex that is, AJ’s a little different it’s almost a dual personality in a way. Like it’s the same guy just a little more confident. It’s the same with Nick when he’s on and off stage.”

“Really?” Kellie asked in all curiosity. “I mean yeah I know him but he seems just like he does on stage.”

“No he’s different, on stage he’s more goofy and much more of a ham. He knows how to get a good response from the crowd and he does it knowing what they’ll do. Alex is the same way, when he’s on stage or in an interview he’s all about the job and entertaining the crowd. At home Nick is more about just being with me, and our friends and family. Yeah he’s still a goof and if there’s a camera around oh yeah major ham, but that’s just him. Without that he’s just Nick. He reads the newspaper everyday which is so mundane but on him it’s cute, he only drinks tea if he’s not feeling well, drinks exactly one cup of coffee day at most usually its just half a cup unless it’s Starbucks. He’s not glamorous and that right there is sexy.”

About an hour or two later…

“So ladies what are we getting waxed today.”

“My legs as usual.” Alyssa stated.

“Oh come on you gotta get a bikini wax.” Kellie coaxed.

“You should get a brazilian Nick would die!”

“Hell yeah I’m gonna get one today, Alex will love it!” Kellie exclaimed.

“No Nick has no problem with au naturale me.”

“But do it as a treat, he’ll LOVE it. Clark loves mine, I only do it for special occasions, any other time it’s more of a landing strip.”

“So we’re getting back massages after this right…oh what the hell you only live once right?” Alyssa replied deciding that she’d give Nick a bit of a surprise.

Kellie cheered, “So you’ve never actually got a bikini wax before?”

“No…” She replied making them both giggle at her. “What it’s not like I got a jungle going on down there I trim and keep it small but no I’ve never gotten it waxed.”

“And Nick actually doesn’t mind going down on that?”

“No he quite enjoys it thank you and so do I.”

“So he’s in for quite a surprise isn’t he?.”

“Yep…”

“Good day girls which one of you is first?” A tall blonde woman with a thick Eastern European accent asked.

Alyssa stood, “I am…” She stated and walked back into the room with the waxer. She laid on the table and the lady came over and sat at her stool by the table.

“So what are we waxing today.”

“My legs and a bikini wax.” Alyssa stated slowly.

“First time?”

“For my bikini wax yes, my legs no.”

“We do the legs first, what type of bikini wax though just to get that out of the way so I know how much wax I will need; brazilian or just a landing strip?”

Alyssa took a deep breath and replied, “Brazilian.”

The lady smiled and motioned for her to lay down on the table.

Later that day…

Alyssa and the girls walked out of the spa feeling refreshed and renewed carrying bags with new clothes they’d bought at the surrounding shops. “That was an experience…you guys didn’t warn me that bikini waxes hurt more than leg waxing!”

Lori giggled, “I know the first time I had mine I squeezed the hell out of the stress ball.”

“They have stress balls?” Alyssa exclaimed a little upset she didn’t get that too for her first time.

Kellie laughed hard at Alyssa’s exasperated face. “But anyways how does it feel?”

“A little weird, and kinda liberating. Nick’s gonna die.”

“I’m surprised he’s not one of those who likes em bare.”

“He’s never complained, one way or the other. But I’m eager to let him get the full experience.”

“Yeah that’s the brazilian talking. It’s crazy but it makes you horny, know that you’re just kinda there especially if you’re not wearing any underwear.”

Alyssa nodded and got in her car with both girls with her. “So, what’s the special occasion for?” She asked Lori as she drove them back to their respective places.

“He got promoted, he’s now head photo journalist for the local NBC affiliate here in town.”

Alyssa beamed, “Oh my god that’s great, tell him congratulations for me!”

“I will after he gets his present of dinner and congratulatory nookie.” Lori said getting outof the car. “Bye ladies!”

Alyssa laughed as Kellie moved up to the front seat. “She’s really happy…” Alyssa remarked. “More than I’ve seen her in a long, long time.”

“Well she’s got a great life right now, with being a stay at home Mom and her and Clark doing so well.” Kellie explained.

Alyssa grinned in agreement, “I’m sorry I haven’t been hanging out much, between the show and pregnancy and work and trying to find time for Nick…it’s all…”

“We know, just don’t forget us okay? We miss you, and we know it’s a big deal you’re trying to connect with your new family that you’ll be joining as soon as you and Nick take the plunge, and you’re preparing to be a mom it’s okay.” Kellie said giving Alyssa a pat on her knee making her hiss.

“Its okay, it’s just a scrape from the other day on the stairs and the waxing made it a bit sore.”

“Didn’t she avoid it?”

“She went around it which I think hurt worse.” Alyssa replied chuckling a bit.

“So how are you getting all this nookie with the cameras around?”

Alyssa sighed, “It’s the house’s week off, they’re following Aaron and the girls solely this week, so if they’re not at home, we’re all alone.”

“Nice! I like that.”

“I know but the next two are mine and Nick’s then the rest of the time it’s the whole household.”

“Bummer…”

“Real bummer!”

Meanwhile…

“So how goes it bro?” AJ said smaking Nick on the back causing him to yelp in pain.

“Dude you okay?” Howie asked trying to hold back his laughter.

“Alyssa again?” Brian asked knowing that could probably be the reason why his back was sore.

Nick nodded, “Yeah, we had a fight and…”

“A fight?”

“Yeah really stupid fight about the Maxim shoot which blew up way out of proportion and ended up fucking on the stairs.”

“Like against the wall adjoining the stairs, at the top of the stairs?”

Nick laughed, “No ON the fucking stairs. Her back is all bruised so is my jaw from where she slapped me earlier on in the fight.”

Brian’s eyes grew wide, “Sounds like some fight.”

“It was, but God aferward was amazing…we’ve never had it be that fiery before.”

“Like what happened?” Howie asked, actually curious as to what could be so incredible.

“It’s like one minute we’re screaming at each other and the next we’re like face to face and she’s daring me to hit her. But all I could think about is how hot she looks when she’s pissed off. And then we started kissing and I said something stupid and she pushed me away and I pulled her back down and then clothes sorta went flying.”

“Sort of?”

“Well we just slipped em off enough to...you know…have access I guess is the term but she totally destroyed my shirt and it was just rough and aggressive and damn I want to do it again just thinking about it…” He explained.

AJ shook his head and chuckled, “Man, what is with you two? Even when you’re pissed off at each other you end up screwing what’s the deal? When Kellie and I fight she’s off to her apartment for like 3 days.”

Brian laughed hard, “Maybe you just don’t have the fire they do. I mean come on we’ve all see how they act around each other even when they’re like 40 feet apart.”

“What?” Nick asked curious as to what Brian would say.

“It’s just everyone can tell when the two of you are in the same room not like the temperature went up or anything cheesy like that. But…”

“There’s definitely a magnetism when the two of you are around each other. And hell she makes you happy man so I think it’s a good thing.” Howie added.

“Magnetism? You’re kidding right? It’s just me and Ali, we’re…”

“So totally in love that you can’t even see how you act around her.”

“Oh shut up…”

Later on…

Alyssa walked in the house setting her bags in the laundry room to be sorted later then went up to the bedroom to change into something more comfortable. She knew Nick would be home soon so she settled on a black short wrap around skirt that came to about her mid-thigh. “Hmmm underwear…no underwear?” She contemplated out loud. She settled on a cute but sexy pair of black lace booty-short briefs. As far as a shirt she chose an almost sheer white spaghetti strap camisole that had extra fabric around the chest area so as not to be so sheer. Then she went into her office and grabbed a pencil and her favorite beat-up copy of the The Complete Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice and used the pencil to put her hair in a loose French twist that showed off her neck. She went into the living room and propped herself on the couch sitting with her back to one of the arm chairs and bending her legs letting her skirt ride up a little showing off her newly smooth legs. She sat for about an hour reading just actually content to be in silence since everyone was out for the day. But she couldn’t deny the smirk that crossed her lips when she heard Nick’s car pull into the garage. Moments later Nick came through the front door going through the mail.

“Bill….junk…bill…another bill….oooh Sports Illustrated….” Nick muttered to himself as he walked into the living room stopping cold when he looked up and saw bare legs on the couch. Slowly he moved his eyes up seeing the short skirt flimsy camisole and Alyssa reading casually.

Alyssa looked up momentarily, “Hey you, didn’t think I’d see you home yet. Have a seat…” She said tapping the couch with her foot.

His mouth went dry momentarily so instead he nodded and walked over dropping the mail on the coffee table holding onto the magazine. Alyssa grinned and lifted her legs bringing them to her chest slightly so that he could sit. As soon as he was settled she unfolded her legs and rested them on top of his. He grinned a little and placed his hand on top of her shin rubbing a little then stopped. “What did you do today?”

Without glancing up from her book Alyssa replied, “Spa day with the girls, got my hair done, manicure, pedicure, got my legs waxed, got a bikini wax, and got a back massage and facial.” She rattled off.

Nick stopped and looked up for a moment, “Bikini…hold up do what?” He said looking at her. She still held the book up and was sort of reading but smirked to herself.

“A bikini wax…I figured I’d try something new…and since they always do a good job on my legs as you can feel.” She said moving her leg a little so his hand moved a little and her heel no so subtlely rubbed over his groin.

The move to him seem completely innocent but there was just something about her that was different and couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Getting bored with the magazine he set it on the coffee table and leaned back into the couch. Alyssa had adjusted herself just so with her left leg bent her heel resting right on the fly of his shorts and the other was stretched out and resting comfortably across his lower thighs just above his knees. Nick glanced up to her face seeing it still stuck in the book. He looked at the cover recognizing it instantly, he’d grown accustomed to it over the years seeing her read it every so often. Before they were together she’d read it to relieve sexual frustration she called it since it was in fact erotica. But since they’d been together, it usually meant she was just a tad bit frisky but wanted him to make the first move. He grinned wider and began innocently by rubbing the top of her foot noticing the deep purple nail polish on her toes obviously from her pedicure earlier on in the day. Feeling slightly bolder and using the backs of his he trailed his fingers up to her knee.

“They did a pretty good job on your leg…”

Alyssa smiled, “That’s why I go back, besides you seem to like it when I get my legs waxed so it’s worth the marginal amount of pain.” She said jumping a little. “Hey that’s mean!” She exclaimed as he moved his fingers underneath her knee where she was the most ticklish.

“I love that you’re ticklish here, and here…” He replied trailing his hand lightly up the back of her thigh making her gasp and goosebumps rise all over her skin. Alyssa tilted her leg towards him opening the inside of her leg to him. He smirked at her and moved his hand to the inside of her thigh. Alyssa smirked inwardly this was going even better than she had imagined. He groaned in disappointment when he came in contact with her underwear. “Just had to wear underwear huh?” He retorted.

Alyssa closed her book setting it on the coffee table. “And just what do you want me to do?”

“Off with ‘em.” He commanded making her giggle and lift her hips slightly to slip them off. She got them almost to her knees when Nick took them the rest of the way off. He looked at them for a moment and then tossed them to the other end of the couch. He watched momentarily as she put her legs back in exactly the same position they were.

She grinned and watched him watch her then remarked, “Are you gonna just sit there?”

He rolled his eyes, and pulled her hips forward making her lay back against the armrest then slowly moved his hand from her hip down her hipbone and stopped cold as he reached where her pelvis met her inner thigh feeling nothing but smooth skin. His eyes grew wide as Alyssa smirked at him. “You didn’t…you…”

“Yep I did…” She retorted with a grin. “I figured you’d like it.” She said gasping a little as he lightly traced over her skin.

She scooted closer to him hoping to ge that much closer hoping to encourage him more. He smirked and leaned in kissing her knee as he moved his fingers across her clit making her lean her head back and sigh as she closed her eyes. He moved his fingers on her inserting two into her thrusting them in and out slowly. Alyssa took a deep shaky breath and slowly rocked her hips against his hand and rubbed her foot across his groin.

He leaned in kissing her knee again and moved his mouth to the inside of her knee. She smirked at him and allowed him to shift his body so he was facing her. He pulled her to where her legs were on either side of his hips he lifted her right leg placing it on the coffee table and the other against the back of the couch spreading her legs just enough to give him full access to her.

“What are you doing Nickolas?” She asked watching him slide his hands up her thighs as he lowered himself down to where his face was mere inches from the end of her skirt.

He looked up and arched one eyebrow at her smirking a bit. “Well you feel different I’m pretty sure you look different…and I wanna see if you taste different too…” He said licking his lips for added effect.

Alyssa shuddered and replied, “Then by all means…taste away…”

He grinned and let his hands drift up to her hips gathering her skirt as he went. As soon as he saw her he stopped and stared momentarily feeling his entire body temperature rise and his cock harden even more than it already had just at the sight of her bare pussy. He leaned down placing feather-light kisses around the soft skin. Alyssa sighed momentarily but watched him wanting to see his every move. She held her breath as he lifted her hips grabbing a couch pillow placing it under her ass to elevate her to the perfect angle. Alyssa lifted her hand and ran her fingers through his hair trying to get him to move a little closer. He chuckled a bit blowing some air onto her exposed skin and Alyssa sucked in a breath in response. Feeling confident that she was ready he leaned down seeing her bare skin was flushed and ready to go. He leaned in and slowly drug his tongue across her slit making her back arch and her moan softly.

“Mmmm that feels so good…” She announced making him grin as he fluttered his tongue across her clit. He made soft circles then increased his pressure licking rather roughly making her hips buck slightly and her move her legs to rest over his shoulders. He moved his tongue lower thrusting it in and out of her opening making her cry out in pleasure. She weaved her fingers into her hair with one hand while the other began to take one of his hands and trail it up her body to her chest. He moved back up and sucked her clit into his mouth bringing his other hand underneath him as he inserted two fingers into her pumping them in and out in pace with how he was moving on her clit. “Oh God…right there…” She semi-instructed as he increased the intensity of his movements making the muscles in her thighs begin to quiver as he continually hit the right spot…over and over. Alyssa arched her back into his hand that was slowly massaging her breast through the thin fabric of her camisole and she shuddered hard as her release began to wash over her.

He slowed his movements on her bringing her slowly down from a near explosive orgasm. As he felt her body relax back against the couch again he looked up and smiled at her as he pulled himself up from her body slightly. “God you’re beautiful…” He remarked.

Alyssa giggled at him and sat up moving to kiss him slowly tasting herself faintly on his lips. Not wanting to further prolong anything more than just foreplay, Alyssa stroked the bulge in his jeans making him throw his head back and groan. “Sugar…if you do much more of that I won’t last very long…” He rasped at her.

“Then….what are you waiting for? Fuck me already…” She replied undoing his pants. She leaned in and kissed along his neck, “I want you…”

“Hang on a minute…” He said trying to get his pants off just enough as she mounted him sliding down onto him making them both moan. “Oh god…” He remarked breathlessly as she began moving on him. “Uhh yeah right…”

“Fuck!” Alyssa yelped hearing Aaron’s escalade pull into the driveway.

Not hearing anything Nick pulled at her hips thrusting his up.

“No Nick don’t….Nick stop….” Alyssa said getting Nick to stop.

“What?”

“Aaron’s home, with the camera’s I don’t want them to walk in on us like this.” Alyssa explained getting up and off of him and walking out of the room.

Nick sat there momentarily and groaned pulling his pants back up. How did he go from getting amazing sex to total rejection. Moments later Aaron and Angel walked in the house from lunch with the cameras in tow.

“Hey Bro!” Aaron shouted attempting to give Nick a hug but Nick brushed him off just shaking his head and walked up stairs to take a shower.

“What’s his problem?” Angel asked as they walked into the kitchen. They noticed Alyssa standing there in the flimsy camisole and short skirt with her hair up and figured their homecoming must have interrupted them. “Did we interrupt something?” Angel asked feeling bad if they had.

“Yeah and he’s pissed now because I didn’t exactly want an audience.” Alyssa said sighing as she drank the ice cold glass of water she poured or herself.

“You mean I missed a chance to see you naked?” Aaron retorted giggling to himself.

“We weren’t naked actually.” She replied. “But that doesn’t matter.” She added noticing the cameras come in the room. She hooked up her mic and sighed. “He’s just really disappointed now…”

Meanwhile…

Nick stroked himself roughly under the hot spray of the shower. He wanted relief, since he couldn’t have what he really wanted, which was Alyssa riding him, then he’d have to settle for imagining her as he felt his body tense and slump against the tiled wall in relief as his orgasm washed over him. He sighed as he cleaned himself up and got out of the shower. He looked in the mirror and sighed again grimacing that he had to settle for his own hand and a shower instead of his fiancé.

Nick walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and stopped dead seeing Alyssa sitting on the bed. “What?” He asked gruffly going into his closet and changing into a pair of basketball shorts and an oversized tee-shirt.

Alyssa sighed and looked at him, “I’m sorry we couldn’t finish…”

“Don’t, just don’t it’s bad enough I had to finish myself off when all I wanted was you.”

Alyssa closed her eyes for a moment, “I’m sorry I just don’t want to get walked in on. Especially since we’re on television now.”

He sighed and sat next to her, “I know but it’s not fair, I just wanted you so badly. And then to have you push me away…fuck baby that was so fucking frustrating.”

“I know, lover, I know.”

Chapter Ten: Theory Of Relativity

Alyssa sighed as she flipped through the magazine waiting for the photographer to show up. “Angel how does this whole thing work?” She asked truly confused as to how a photoshoot was conducted. Sure she’d had one before with Lori but that had been different, it was for a present for Nick so there wasn’t much pressure at least not as much as posing for a men’s magazine. It made it that much harder on Alyssa, having no experience with the world of entertainment and all it’s trappings and complexities.

Angel grinned and gave her a hug, “It’s easy I’ll go first you just gotta feel sexy and channel that.”

Alyssa snickered at her, “I’m pregnant I don’t feel all that sexy. Hell I’m a little over 8 weeks right now and I’m showing.”

“Not that much at least you can’t really tell, there’s not discernable baby bump so they won’t have to airbrush you.”

“Oh they won’t airbrush me, I told them not to that I’d only do it if they didn’t.”

“Well they have to slightly with the lighting and such but I don’t think they would do too much to either of us, we’re too cute.” She replied giggling a little.

Five hours later…

“Ok Alyssa turn a little to your left…perfect!” The photographer shouted as he snapped another picture.

Alyssa grinned inwardly groaned, “I can’t believe Nick talked me into this.” She said to Leslie who was standing right by her.

Leslie giggled, “Yeah but he’ll enjoy the major eye candy if you go home all made up.”

“True…” Alyssa muttered back as she moved a little bit. The whole thing seemed a bit ridiculous to her do this, do that. Alyssa flip your hair over your shoulder. Leslie look a little more pouty. It almost made her want to crack up. A few more shots and the photographer took a break and the girls sighed.

Alyssa walked over and grabbed a drink from the craft services table dying for a glass of water for what seemed like the last hour but was really only about 20 minutes. She liked that they’d given her as well as Leslie a tasteful one piece bathing suit to wear. Both of them were extremely shy about their bodies. “Alyssa…?” The photographer asked calling her over.

“You rang?” She said with a snarky grin.

The photographer grinned back almost kind of liking how sarcastic Alyssa was being about the whole thing. “Now honey, I know you’re not famous and want nothing to do with this…”

“But?” Alyssa added.

He opened his mouth but at the last moment decided to say something different. “You’re not like most models…”

“I’m not a model, I’m a professor at UCLA.”

The man looked at her in disbelief wondering just how someone that beautiful could have such a mundane job. “Well, either way I like you. You’re spunky.”

Alyssa snickered slightly hearing the slight lisp in the man’s voice. “By any chance are you…you know?”

“A Judy Garland fan? Of course! Now let’s make you into the hottest professor at UCLA.” He announced making her laugh a little.

Alyssa giggled and got into the whole modeling thing willing to do whatever the photographer had in mind.

Late that night…

They collapsed against each other in a sweaty heap against the sheets. Alyssa giggled a little sighed in relief. “I love this…”

Nick breathed deeply as he relaxed into the bed. “Love what?” He asked turning his head slightly to look over at her. He grinned seeing her lay there with a grin on her face and a light sheen of sweat all over her skin.

She closed her eyes momentarily to sigh slightly then turned on her side and trailed her fingers on his arm. “Just the way we are…we’re just so completely happy right now.”

“Yeah but that’s going to change.”

Alyssa gave him an odd look, “What do you mean?”

“Ali we’re going to have a baby, we’re not even going to have much energy to even sit in the same room” Nick explained. “I remember when my parents were having Leslie, or even Aaron and Angel and it’s really hard on a relationship.”

“Yeah?” She replied feeling scared at his words. “But we’re not them, we’re not…”

“Don’t say it…I know what you’re gonna say…” He replied hating the fact that his parents didn’t love each other. Sometimes as he looked back it didn’t seem as if they ever did.

“I know, and I’m sorry lover but it’s true. We love each other, that’s whats going to keep us together throughout everything. I love and trust you.”

He sighed and pulled her body to him and kissed her slowly. He hated talking about the possibilities the future may hold. Especially the negative ones. It scared him deep down, the thought of not being with her. She’d come to be so much more than his best friend the past 2 years, to the point where life without her was unfathomable.

She broke away momentarily and kissed his forehead. “Promise me something?”

“What?” He asked curiously.

“That we’ll always make time for each other?”

“I promise baby.” He said kissing her again.

Two days later…

“Alyssa you seem to be coming along nicely.” Dr. Petrarch smiled at Alyssa and Nick.

“That’s great.” Alyssa grinned back, “I started pregnancy yoga too, it’s been helping deal with the chaos at home.” Nick sighed glad that everything’s been going okay. “Besides I have help at home too, Nick’s been like pregnancy nazi over here.” She joked making Nick blush a little.

“That’s good, though, you really should be taking it easy have you let your superiors at the school know?”

“Not yet but I’m meeting with Jennifer and Helen over lunch tomorrow.”

Dr. Petrarch nodded and slid to Alyssa’s side on her chair. “Okay now we should be able to hear the baby’s heart beat a little bit better than last week since you’re ten weeks now.” She said as Alyssa lifted up her shirt and the doctor squirted some gel on to her tummy then smoothed it around with a plastic receiver. Alyssa giggled a little since her stomach was so sensitive both of them looked up to the screen where the ultrasound’s picture was displayed. “Now that’s the baby’s head. And there are the feet.” She said pointing out certain areas on the fuzzy white screen. “It’s too early to tell the baby’s sex yet, but that should be defined with in the next couple of weeks or so. Have you decided whether you want to know yet?”

Nick didn’t tear his eyes away from the screen as he heard the loud noise coming from the monitor. “What is that sound.”

“That’s your baby’s heart beating, it sounds distorted just because we’re so far away from it.” She explained.

Alyssa looked at him and smiled, “Feels real now doesn’t it?”

Nick nodded getting slightly choked up just at the thought that he’d helped create life. “That’s amazing….” He said as they finished up.

“It makes the fact that you’re a parent all the more real doesn’t it?” Dr. Petrarch replied. “Now the only thing we have to worry about is that the baby’s heart beat is a bit irregular now there are thousands of baby’s born everyday with an irregular heart beat, but I would like to run some tests once you’re farther along if this persists just to make sure you’ll have a healthy little one.” She explained making them get worried looks. “Really it’s common for the baby to have an irregular beat, and there’s nothing to worry about. The tests are merely a precaution we do.”

Alyssa nodded, “What are the chances of having a baby with a heart defect?”

“There are always risks, but you’re looking right now at less than ten percent. Really right now there’s no defect from what I have seen and I’ve delivered over 5,000 children. So far you have a very healthy baby.” She assured.

Nick nodded feeling more confident that their child would be healthy, “I’m glad.”

“Oh yes, so I want to see you next week, since it’s weekly appointments and in two weeks or so we’ll be about to tell if you’re having a boy or girl. Any ideas of what you might be hoping for.”

“I love to have a daughter…” Nick replied, “But honestly I just want the baby to be healthy.”

“Good way to look at it, are you two still sexually active?”

Alyssa smirked, “For the most part yes, when we have time and the privacy.”

“Well you’ll be able to have sex until the third trimester, you can still have sex in the last 3 months of pregnancy but I would definitely recommend using a condom just to avoid any and all chance of infection. Even the healthiest of people can still give their loved one an infection by exchanging bodily fluids, and that’s not exclusive to saliva. And after birth I wouldn’t suggest it for the first two weeks, but after that you should be all healed.”

Alyssa and Nick both nodded taking in everything. “So, pretty much it’s be careful and don’t do what doesn’t feel right?”

“Yes pretty much.”

Late that night…

“God I’m hungry!” Alyssa exclaimed rummaging through the refridgerator.

Nick trudged into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. “Babe it’s 1:30…”

Alyssa looked up, “I’m dying for some frozen pizza, and tomatoes with salt and pepper on them.”

Nick grinned, “Okay, we’re out of those, do you want me to go to the store?”

Alyssa sighed, “The only place that’s open is Wal-Mart and that’s like 20 minutes away.”

“So? Let’s go and you can get whatever you’re craving.”

“Really, anything?”

“Yep.” He said pulling on a pair of sweats and an oversized shirt.

Alyssa giggled and got dressed giddy that she was going to be able to satisfy her immense cravings. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant she’d had the oddest and most random of foods. “Ohh we should get some nutella and swedish fish!” She exclaimed as they walked out to his car. About a half an hour later Nick found himself walking through Wal-mart as Alyssa would randomly walk up and drop something into the cart.

He chuckled at her selections of fresh fruit and then frozen pizza, nutella, then an assortment of candies and frozen yogurt. “Don’t go too overboard now babe.” He reasoned knowing that he’d end up having some of this himself. He’d noticed lately that he didn’t feel as healthy as he used to be back in the early days. Even trying to play a game of basketball was almost too physically taxing for him.

Alyssa caught the pensive expression on his face as she tossed a package of double stuffed mint oreos into the cart. “What?”

He looked up and noticed the cameras had been following them around the store. “Just maybe go easy on the junk food.” He said trying to start slow.

“So says the junk food king…” Alyssa retorted jokingly making him wince at her words. Alyssa saw the pained expression on his face momentarily, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He replied avoiding her question. She gave him a skeptical look but let it go and headed off to walk about the store idlely. After walking for another five minutes Nick found himself in the toy department where he heard Alyssa giggling emanating from one of the aisles. He walked over and saw her swirling a hula hoop around her hips and giggling like a five-year-old. He watched her loving the expression on her face.

Alyssa looked over and giggled seeing Nick there and stopped letting the hula hoop fall. “I love this thing I used to have one when I was little.” She remarked putting it back on the display.

“So what are you doing in the toy department?” Nick asked wrapping his arms around her waist kissed her forehead.

She grinned up at him, “A birthday present for Jamie, his birthday is coming soon.”

“In like a month!”

“Three weeks.” Alyssa corrected. “Besides he’s my lil munchkin I gotta spoil him.”

Nick shook his head and kissed her slowly just wanting to revel in the moment of complete normalcy.

Chapter Eleven: Self-Image

Nick looked at himself in the mirror that morning as he shaved and got ready for the day. He noticed the bags under his eyes from not sleeping well. That was due in part to going out with his boys often, and staying up all night with Alyssa’s weird cravings and the terrible digestive after effects. Next, he looked to the rest of himself; lately he felt more and more out of shape than ever and now looking at himself so critically let him see it as well.

Moments later, Alyssa came into the bathroom and hopped into the shower, noting his pensive expression that was studying the reflection in the mirror. About ten minutes later, Alyssa stepped out of the shower with her bath towel wrapped securely around her. She looked at him again, still in the same position, but looking at his arms and chest then down to his stomach. She walked over to him and placed a chaste kiss to his back and rested her chin on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“What?” He replied, having been jolted from his own private criticisms. “Oh nothing…” He replied, shrugging off her question.

Alyssa chuckled and moved to sit on the counter facing him. “I don’t call standing in front of the mirror for over ten minutes looking at myself nothing. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“It’s nothing, just me being neurotic that’s all.” He answered, hoping the conversation would end. It was bad enough that he felt out of shape; he didn’t need Alyssa thinking it, too.

He saw Alyssa’s brow furrow in frustration at his dismissal of the topic. “Nick…it’s obviously bothering you, and if something is bothering you then you need to talk about it.”

He sighed and leaned against the counter placing his hand on her bare thigh just above her knee. He loved that she could always see right through him. Whether he was angry, hurt, or just having a bout of depression, she was always there to get it out of him. ‘I don’t deserve her...’ his mind replied. It was something that always plagued his thoughts; that one day, she’d realize her potential and would see that she could do so much better than she was and leave him with nothing but his heart in pieces. He sighed again and looked up at her meeting her reassuring and concerned gaze. “It’s really stupid.”

“Nothing’s stupid if it’s bothering you, lover.”

Nick took a deep breath, mentally trying to form his thoughts into a cohesive argument. He knew Alyssa was going to fight him on this and he wanted to make sure that he had some valid reasons for feeling this way. “Well, the other day I was playing basketball with the boys and…”

“And…?” She asked, coaxing him to continue.

“And well I felt so out of breath I had to stop not even half way through the fucking game. I felt humiliated…I’d never had to do that before.”

Alyssa gave him a sympathetic look and scooted close to him. “And so now you’re studying your appearance and criticizing it to the Nth degree?”

“Yeah, I just feel so…stupid about this. I mean here you are, pregnant and have no problem with gaining weight and here I am the f…”

“Don’t say that three letter word.” Alyssa said, interrupting him. “You’re not stupid for feeling the way you do. Maybe it’s your body telling you to do something to make yourself feel better? Now let me say this without interruption, okay?” She requested, getting a nod from him. “I love you, no matter what you look like. I didn’t fall in love with the illusion that is Nick Carter. I fell for you, for all your imperfections and faults. And if you’re unhappy with your body then change it to make yourself happy, but know that I’m right here and that I love you just for what’s here…” She said pointing to his heart. “And here.” She added pointing to his head. “And if you want to change something then know that I will be there by your side supporting you in anyway necessary to help you reach your goals.”

Three hours later…

Alyssa sighed, putting down her pen from grading for the fourth time within the last five minutes. She rolled her eyes at the shouting coming from downstairs. She only had two hours before she had to meet with her bosses about her pregnancy and wanted to be as caught up as possible on her work. She rubbed her forehead, tired from the morning sickness that still didn’t own a watch. After she had stuffed herself full of junk food, she’d spent the night running to the bathroom as it came back up on her. Thankfully Nick was there getting her some water and rubbing her back trying to soothe her discomfort. Alyssa heard the yelling grow louder and could pretty much identify the parties involved. “I’m gonna kill them.” She muttered to herself as she got up and went down stairs not noticing Nick sitting in the living room listening to his iPod to drown out the sound of his siblings raucous. Alyssa came into the kitchen at a stalemate in the fight. “I could hear you three up in the office. What’s going on?” She said looking sternly at Leslie, Bobbie, and Aaron.

“Aaron won’t clean up after himself; he expects all of us to do it!” Leslie explained.

“Yeah, I asked him to do the dishes ‘cause it’s his turn and he gives me attitude about how I’m a girl and I should do it!” Bobbie added.

Alyssa turned her gaze to Aaron giving him a chance to defend himself. “I just don’t have time. Leslie doesn’t have a job right now and it’s Bobbie’s day off today. That’s what I meant by it!” He replied sheepishly.

“Aaron, I’ve noticed that you don’t clean up after yourself all over the house; not just here in the kitchen. You leave clothes everywhere, CDs, movies, trash just laying about. But I’m sorry Nick and I like having a clean house. You need to be able to clean up after yourself.” Alyssa reasoned firmly.

Aaron’s anger flared. He’d hoped she’d come and tell everyone to just get over it like she had the last time around. So for her to stand up and side with his sisters was a unexpected shock. “Don’t act like you’re my mother…”

“Well maybe you need one! You obviously have no respect for anyone in this house Aaron.” Alyssa shot back keeping her voice firm and resolute. “Remember this is mine and Nick’s home and you leaving trash, clothes, and dirty dishes everywhere is an insult to me and tells me that you certainly don’t respect yourself, your sisters, me, my home, and most importantly, your brother.”

“Oh God here it comes. What is this, did Nick take you aside and tell you to give me the “you need to be more responsible” speech?”

Alyssa rolled her eyes, “Actually, I learned it from Kevin. He is the master of that speech, after all. But don’t dodge the point, Aaron. You need to stop being immature.”

“I’m not immature, what the hell. You come in here all righteous and shit telling me what to do? Where do you get off!? It’s not like you have to pay for anything ever. How nice it must be for you to have someone who’ll pay for everything?”

Alyssa’s eyes narrowed at him, she could take immaturity and pettiness to a point but when you attacked her independence. She took a deep breath. “Oh really, well let me tell you, having him pay for things is a battle to say the least. I’m sorry, but I don’t work my ass off at my job for my money to just sit in the bank. Nick and I switch off bills every month. One month he’ll have the mortgage, water, cable and internet bill and I’ll have electricity, food, and cell phones as well as any repair bills there may be and the next month we switch it up. We do the finances together because this house is just as much mine as it is his. So you trashing my home that I help pay for when you are a GUEST here is an insult.”

“Whatever, I don’t have to deal with this shit.”

“You’re right. You don’t; there’s the door. You live in my home, you live under my rules and if you don’t like it you’re free to leave and not come back. Because really Aaron when it boils down to it, nobody cares what you do and what you don’t do…Nobody cares.” Alyssa interjected before turning on her heel and walking out of the room. She stopped cold as she rounded the corner to go up to the stairs, seeing Nick standing just outside the dining room leaning on the wall with his arms folded and a surprised and amused look on his face. “Spare me, okay?” She requested with an exasperated look on her face as she walked past him and went up the stairs.

He followed her and pulled her into the office and shut the door. He stood grinning at her for a moment. “Okay I have to say…”

“What?” Alyssa asked, going over to her desk preparing things for her meeting.

He walked over and grasped her shoulders and kissed her temple, “That was fucking awesome.” He remarked making her stop and turn her head to look at him.

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah, you went in there, took charge of the situation, and put Aaron in his place and made him look like an immature ass. I love how you handled that.”

Alyssa smiled a little, “Well you know how I get when I have a migraine.”

“Yeah I know, I’m glad Aaron didn’t end up with a broken nose because of it.”

“Well he didn’t try to hit me, I only would beat his ass if he tries it first which he hasn’t…yet.” She said closing her briefcase. “I’m going to go to campus, maybe I’ll get at least some work done.”

“Okay love you…” He said grinning at her.

She smiled and leaned up pressing her lips to his momentarily. “Your mission tonight…”

“Yeah?”

“Get them out of the house, I just want to hang out with my fabulous fiancé tonight.”

“I’ll try to, but I can’t promise anything.”

Two hours later…

“So Alyssa, I think we know why you called this meeting.” Helen began. “We found out that you’re pregnant thanks to the tabloids.”

Alyssa sighed and nodded, “Yeah I hadn’t intended on you finding out that way. I had this meeting planned before my soon-to-be mother-in-law decided to sell out her eldest son.”

Jennifer nodded and gave her a sympathetic grin. “I’m happy for you, my dear. And the Maxim shoot, though we didn’t necessarily approve of the idea, it will garner UCLA a lot of attention. The Dean of the university even said that it would be great to show that college isn’t for the nerds.”

Alyssa snickered at her comment, “Yeah, it’s a little insane. I made them promise to go easy on the airbrushing, it drives me nuts to see them so fake. But yeah I made sure also that it would be tasteful, too. I may be part of a reality show, but I do have standards.”

Jennifer and Helen chuckled, “Well, we wanted to let you know that maternity leave is definitely an option for you, if you want it. And it will be paid, of course. Congratulations on the baby; it must be exciting for you both. Also, once you come back there will be some changes.” Jennifer remarked looking at Helen to direct the rest of the conversation.

“As you might know, I’ve been interim dean for some time now. But I’m going to be retiring soon, and Jennifer is going to be my permanent replacement.” Helen explained.

“That’s amazing. Congratulations, Jennifer.” Alyssa said smiling.

Helen grinned, “And once you’re back from maternity leave, we’re going to file the paperwork to get you set up for tenure track.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me?”

“Nope. And if you decide to go for your PhD in the near future, we can almost guarantee that you’ll be on the administrative track, and maybe be able to design your own course.”

Alyssa sat there in pure astonishment, “May I ask for the reason?”

“When you were a student, you expressed desire to eventually be running this place, and since we’ve hired you, you’ve been a great benefit to this school and to the university itself. You’ve single-handedly garnered us attention, albeit unconventional, but because of your honesty and candor on being thrown into the spotlight it’s actually made our enrollment go up by leaps and bounds. And if anyone were to doubt your ability as a teacher, our records, your student’s test scores and evaluations to prove otherwise. You’re an excellent professor and a real asset to the university.”

Alyssa sighed a little, not really knowing what to think at the moment. “Wow I guess thank you it’s just wow, wasn’t expecting this to happen so soon, you know?”

“We know, but you’ve earned it more so than anyone else at this school.”

A little while later…

Alyssa sighed as she rounded the corner to go to the small kitchen in the school’s building hoping to make some tea to soothe her nausea. As she approached the door, she heard the voices of two of her fellow professors.

“I can’t believe her. She acts like she owns the place.” One remarked. Alyssa identified the first voice as Drea, one of her faculty associates that she managed in her course that she coordinated.

“Oh I know. She gets away with murder. If any of us tried to do what she did, we would have been canned ages ago. I guess it pays to be fucking a pop star, he probably paid the University off so they’d let her keep her job after last year.” The other, Becca, one of Jennifer’s TA’s replied.

Alyssa’s heart sank a little bit feeling terrible that her own coworkers, people who worked for her, thought that way.

“Yeah for sure, and Dr. Dietrich thinks she’s like the best thing since sliced bread. I’ve seen her; she’s not all that great. It’s more like who did she blow to get where she is, right?” Drea added.

“Yeah, I’m sure her knees are sore.”

At that moment, Alyssa got up the nerve and walked into the room and smiled at them both. “Hi girls, how’s your semester going?” She asked politely, going and filling her cup with water then heating it in the microwave.

“Good, yours?” Drea asked with a less than curious yet apprehensive expression on her face.

“Really good so far, I’ve got a really great group of kids.” She replied as she brewed her tea and watched them. She saw Becca open the refrigerator causing the door to smack right into Drea’s knee. Alyssa chuckled to herself picked up her mug and began to walk away. “Make sure you ice that, you know you wouldn’t want to get sore knees….” She remarked then left the kitchen hearing them whisper to each other as she made her way back to her office. She walked in and stopped cold seeing Aaron sitting on her couch. “What are you doing here?” She asked setting her mug on the desk with some paper towel folded underneath it. She watched him momentarily as she sat down at her desk and resumed working on grading papers.

He sighed and watched her. He didn’t exactly expect to be getting the cold shoulder, but he guessed he should have expected a less than receptive reply. “So this is your office, eh?” He began. “I’m sure you and Nick have scarred it a few times.”

Alyssa snickered, “Is everything to you about sex? Aaron, come on, why are you really here?”

He sighed and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. “I uhh….uhhh…wanted to apologize, you know for earlier.”

“It was highly immature of you.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

She looked at him and cracked a sympathetic grin and was about to say something when she saw two shadows at the door. She looked over seeing Kellie and Lori standing there ready to go to a late lunch. Aaron looked over seeing the two women standing there and stood up.

“I better get going, Nick said that you want the house to yourself tonight…so I figured I’d take the girls out so you could have some peace and quiet.” He added meekly.

Alyssa stood and gave him a hug. “Thank you. And I’m sorry for saying nobody cares.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s got me thinking. But I’ll talk to you about that later, okay?” He said, breaking away from the hug.

Two hours later…

“Is Nick unhealthy?” Alyssa asked randomly as they all munched on their late lunches. She’d been contemplating the entire day about what he’d said about himself. She never really gave much thought to him being so hard on himself, but since their discussion that morning she’d begun to think about it a lot more.

Lori looked up at her friend with a quizzical glance. “What do you mean?”

Alyssa sighed; she didn’t want to go fully into detail about what had happened that morning, but she figured in order to get the correct advice she’d have to talk at some point. “Well this morning he was being really critical of himself and his appearance. I mean I never find anything wrong with the way he looks, it’s not why I’m engaged to him, but ever since he told me, I guess I’ve started to think about how he’s kind of stopped caring about his health until now.”

“Hmm, well he is a little out of shape, but nothing bad.” Kellie reasoned. “But if he’s noticing something then it must be pretty bad for him in his eyes at least.”

“What did you say to him when he told you how he was feeling less than secure about his looks?” Lori asked, wanting to see maybe if her response may have any detrimental effects on his current state of mind.

Alyssa sighed, “I told him that I love him for him, and not what he looks like, but if he wants to make a change then make a change and I’ll be right by his side to support him.”

Kellie and Lori grinned at each other momentarily, both of them seemed to be pleased with her response. “So then what’s the problem?”

“I just want to see if you guys have noticed anything.”

Lori sighed, “Alyssa, snap out of it. If he’s unhappy with himself, then HE has to change it, not you. So what’s the use in worrying about it when you can’t do much about it but support his decision?” Lori asked.

“I guess you’re right. It’s just, I worry about him, you know?”

“We know.” Both replied in unison with grins on their faces.

*******************************

Alyssa Narrating:

I don’t get it…

Honestly, I really don’t. How can someone who has everything in life. Career, family (partially, but still at least his siblings love him!), and love.

Why can’t he just be happy? I mean I know that’s almost impossible for someone to be completely happy, but why can’t he just accept that, yeah, not everything is always perfect? It infuriates the hell out of me sometimes. His attitude about how he can never be happy because once he is then the other shoe will drop and bam undo all that happiness. I mean, yeah, I see where he gets it from and honestly, sometimes I’m like that, too. It’s hard being in a relationship when you have your own insecurities. I definitely have a few. And it’s becoming more and more apparent that he has many. A lot of them I didn’t even know about until after we got engaged.

I guess he’s decided to let himself be vulnerable since I said I’d spend the rest of my life with him.

It’s interesting, though. How now that he’s getting everything else in his life under control. Family, career, settling down with me, our first child. Maybe he’s looking to better himself so he can be more equipped in his mind at least to be the man that we all need him to be?

I don’t know; maybe I’m just grasping at straws. In all honesty, I think he’s going to be an amazing father. He’s practically a father to his own siblings. He tries his best to guide them as much as possible because Lord knows his parents never cared enough.

I’ve become quite bitter about the subject of his parents. Just seeing exactly what their selfishness and ineptness did to those five is despicable. And I only know bits and pieces here and there about what went on. For the longest time Nick, and Leslie kept me out of the family drama. I guess they did it to keep me as an innocent bystander. That way I’d never have to deal with it. What they didn’t think was how it was affecting them, emotionally to the point where I’d have to deal with it.

Case and point…Aaron’s little outburst this morning.

I couldn’t believe how childish all of them were being. I mean granted Leslie and Beej had some great points that Aaron should in fact be picking up after himself. But damn why does EVERYTHING in that house have to turn into World War III???

It’s a little insane sometimes, but sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.

End Narration.

******************************

Alyssa sighed as she walked out of the bathroom from brushing her teeth that night. “You know I was talking to Kellie and Lori today…” She began.

“Yeah and?” Nick asked wondering what she had to say as he helped her turn down the bed.

She grinned and sat on the bed Indian style and looked at him, “Well I asked them about what you told me this morning.”

“You talked to them about what I told you in strict confidence?” Nick replied, completely outraged by it the fact that she couldn’t just talk to him about something, but that she had to include her friends as well.

“What? I needed advice about it. It’s not everyday my fiancé voices his insecurities to me. I was caught off guard and it got me thinking, okay? And I needed an outside opinion, okay?” Alyssa said calmly.

Nick shook his head and paced the room for a minute. He felt betrayed. His appearance was an extremely sensitive subject for him so for it to just be general conversation between her and her friends really irked him to no end. He looked at her then around the room focusing on the mirror. He saw himself and at that moment completely lost it. “You know it annoys the hell out of me that you can’t just talk to me about things. It’s like everything in our relationship is done by committee that I’m not even apart of.”

“Nick, it’s not like that, I just needed to know that how I was feeling about it was valid, okay?”

Nick scoffed a little bit, “How YOU feel? What about how I feel about you gabbing to your fucking friends about me? It’s like everytime I talk it’s automatically ‘oh I gotta run off to Kellie and Lori and get their opinion first’. It makes me wonder if you’d rather be in a relationship with them since you talk to them more than you talk to me about how you’re feeling about something I said.”

At that moment, Alyssa’s anger rose within her. She couldn’t believe how irrational he was being. “How fucking dare you call my loyalty into question. Or for that matter to even think that how I feel about what you’re feeling isn’t valid. I worry about how you think of yourself. It’s not healthy. You don’t realize how amazing you really are! But, no, you’d rather focus on the negative and go around bitching about how the world wronged you somehow.”

“I do not go around bitching. I hardly ever talk about how I’m feeling and when I try you explain it all away and make me feel like I’m stupid. I hate that you act so superior just because you actually WENT to college. What do you think I’m a total idiot here?”

Alyssa rolled her eyes at his comment, “I don’t think you’re stupid or an idiot! Though you do tend to do stupid shit.”

Hurt flashed across his face for a moment then his expression turned dark as if he was plotting something. “So says the Queen of fuck-ups.” He shot back.

Alyssa’s eyes widened moment not believing what just came out of his mouth. “You’re un-fucking-believable Nickolas. Yes, I’ve made mistakes in my life, but I’ve learned from every one of them!”

"Well, don't worry about making anymore mistakes that deal with figuring out MY problems. You're cut off! Now go tell Kellie and Lori and see how you're supposed to feel about that!" He retorted sharply.

Alyssa’s eyes narrowed and her breathing became heavy, “I don't HAVE to go to them about this one. I already know you're an insecure idiot!”

Nick clenched his jaw and grabbed his jeans from the floor pulling them on and stormed out without saying another word. Alyssa jumped as she heard the front door slam and she went through the bathroom to her old bedroom slamming the door behind herself then leaned on it sinking to the ground in a crumbled mass of raging emotions.

“You want to talk about it?” She heard a voice say from somewhere in the room. She looked up momentarily seeing Mike sitting on the couch reading.

“I thought you were out with the siblings?” She asked wiping her eyes.

“I came back early, heard you two arguing figured I’d make myself busy. What happened?”

Alyssa shook her head. “If I tell you it’ll just piss Nick off more.”

“So? Looks like you need to talk to someone. So talk…”

Meanwhile…

Nick drove aimlessly for about 20 minutes until he came across his favorite spot. Granted it was night and almost pitch black aside from the parking lot, there were a lot of people some playing volleyball on the lighted area in the sand. He walked over and plopped down on a spot looking out at the ocean seeing the waves glint in the moonlight.

“Funny seeing you here.” A familiar female voice said at his side.

He looked up, not even caring to hide the angry tears sliding down his face. “Oh…Hey Emma…” He said, suddenly self-conscious of himself and turned away wiping his face so that she wouldn’t see.

Emma sat down next to him and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, “Is everything all right?” She asked, her voice and expression full of concern.

Nick shook his head in response. “Just been rough lately that’s all.” He said, hoping she’d leave him alone to sulk.

“Maybe you should talk about it then?” She offered.

He looked over at her seeing genuine concern written all over her face and sighed. This was going to be a long talk.

Hey everyone, since the chaper notes don't show up on all the skins I decided to leave ya'll a message here. In future reference it's best to use Crayons or Paint skin to see what little important messages and tidbits I leave for ya. Anyways I am gonna run a poll, what are you thinking of the story so far, what are you looking forward to most? This an extremely dramatic part in the Nick and Ali saga so don't think it's gonna be all sunshine and roses here. But it'll pay off I promise! Anyways please let me know what ya'll think okay! And stay tuned as always Read and Review!

Chapter Fourteen: Sexual Frustration’s A Bitch

“So Nick…how’s everything with Alyssa?” Jane asked.


Nick clenched his jaw momentarily it had been two weeks. Two solid weeks since they’d had any semblance of a sex life, and it was beginning to wane on his tolerance of other people. “Fine, would be better if we’d get at least sometime alone together.”


Jane smirked a little, “I’m sure…”


“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I love her Mom, I’m sorry that I love having sex with my fiancée. Jesus Mom you’re the reason why we haven’t. She won’t even touch me now because of what you said to her!”


Jane got a stern look on her face, “What did I say to her?”


“You made her feel like a whore. You made it seem like I’m only marrying her because she lets me fuck her any way I want.”


Jane passed off his comments, “Well she’s nuts for twisting my words like that, all I was saying that I think it’s a little rude to have sex so openly when you have guests.”


Nick rolled his eyes, he could see where Alyssa was coming from but at the same time maybe Jane didn’t mean it the way Alyssa had taken it. “I don’t care Mom, you need to be more careful how you say things to her. She’s pregnant and touchy at the moment so just you know tone it down.”


“Well I’m sorry she took it that way, I’ll talk to her if you want?”


“No it’s fine. She’s just going to get mad at me for talking to you, just do me a favor and stay out of our relationship.”


“Okay. Will do.”


Meanwhile…


Alyssa sighed as she bent and stretched her body finishing the last pose for her pregnancy yoga class. She grinned as she rolled up her yoga mat and stuffed it into her gym bag. “So we’ve seen you here for a few weeks now.” A voice next to her said. Alyssa looked over seeing a very pregnant brunette with a genuine grin.


“Whose we?” Alyssa asked as another pregnant woman materialized around her.


“Hi I’m Trina.” The brunette added, “And this is Melissa.”


“Hi, Alyssa Monroe.” She replied shaking Trina’s and Melissa’s hand.


“Whoa check out the rock, are you married?”


Alyssa grinned at the two of them, “Engaged actually. We got engaged like two weeks before we got pregnant.”


“Impressive” Melissa remarked with a warm grin. “Would you like to come to lunch with us?”


“Sure.” Alyssa replied following them out of the gym “So where would you like to go?”


“I was thinking we should splurge and go to the Ivy!” Melissa suggested.


“Um the Ivy?” Alyssa replied nervously she knew without Nick she wouldn’t have much of a chance of being recognized but it still scared her just a little bit. But the last time she was there it was with Kellie and Lori and she didn’t seem to have much of a problem aside from ending up on Perez Hilton about how she looks fat now that she’s pregnant.


“Sure why not? It’s actually really good food, a bit over priced but excellent.”


“Oh I know, I go there with my friends a lot.”


Melissa and Trina stopped for a moment looking at Alyssa as she approached her Audi. “Are you like loaded or something?” Trina asked.


Alyssa chuckled a bit. “I make good money, yeah but I don’t like to let it define me, the car was a present from my fiancé.”


“Cool we’ll discuss everything at lunch, we’ll meet you there!” Melissa grinned back as they separated and headed off to the restaurant. Alyssa got there first getting the three of them a table on the terrace.


“Wow look at you scoring a table on the terrace of the Ivy?” Trina joked giggling a little.


Alyssa grinned at the two of them. “Yeah, I know a guy.” She joked with a grin.


“So Alyssa what do you do for a living?” Melissa asked. “We’re both teachers at a charter school in East LA.”


“Oh wow, that’s awesome!” Alyssa beamed. “I’m a teacher as well.”


“Oh that’s so cool, you know I hate charter schools personally, it’s just a stepping stone to get where I really want to go.”


“That’s cool, what about you Trina.”


“I’m the technology leader and I teach 5th grade. Hopefully one day once I’m done with my PhD I’ll become and adjunct with a major university. What school do you work at if you don’t mind me asking?” Trina asked as she sipped some of her water.


“UCLA, I’m a professor of Literature and Lit history.” She explained seeing the other two with surprised grins on their faces.


“Well no wonder you make good money you work for the State!” Melissa joked a little.


She grinned in response, “Yeah it pays pretty well, my fiance’s the real money maker.” She replied.


“Oh is he a doctor?”


“Yeah plastic surgeon, marrying him for the discount on surgery!” She joked grinning stupidly.


Both women laughed and Trina replied, “No seriously what does he do?”


Alyssa sighed a little she didn’t really want to get into it that her future husband was a musician let alone a celebrity. “He’s in the industry. He works in the music area.”


“Oh so he’s a musician?”


“Yeah, it’s not really a big deal but he makes good money to support our growing family.”


“First child?”


“Yep definitely.”


“I’m on my second.” Trina admitted proudly. “We have a two-year-old daughter Hannah, and this we’re hoping is a boy.” She said patting her tummy.


Melissa sighed, “This is our first, it’s been a real labor, we had difficulty getting pregnant but James and I did everything we could and now we’re blessed with our first child.”


“That’s really great so I take it you two are married?”


“Yup. Both of us married young right out of college pretty much and we met working together at the school.”


“That’s really cool, I’ve been a little gun shy about getting married but I love Nick, he’s my everything so I’m really glad he chose me to spend the rest of his life with.”


Meanwhile…


“So guys I think we should take a trip.” Dan one of the writers suggested.


Nick’s brow furrowed, “A trip where?” He really didn’t want to be gone for very long, especially with Alyssa nearing the mid-to-late part of the pregnancy.


“Nashville for a month, a writing trip to Gary Baker’s and get you guys away from everything so you can focus on the music.” Dan explained.


Nick sighed a little concerned, “Yeah Alyssa’s going to be pissed, she’s pregnant and my mother’s been staying with us visiting lately so it’s been hard on her.”


AJ rolled his eyes, “Dude can you two unlatch from each other?”


Nick smacked his shoulder, “It’s not like that, we haven’t in two weeks actually.”


“Wow…seriously is there something wrong?”


“My Mother. She made Alyssa feel bad about us wanting some private time, and well we haven’t since because she’s staying with us now.”


“Kick her out, or put her up in a hotel.”


“I know but she’ll get all hurt. And then it’ll just make it worse.”

“Man well maybe you should think outside of the box. Whenever my mom or Leighanne’s mom comes to visit we turn her into a babysitter and I take her out to be alone. Try a picnic or something.” Brian suggested patting his friend on the shoulder.


“That’s a really good idea. Maybe it’ll take the pressure off. It’s been really hectic lately with both of us working and the baby.”


“Yeah but it’s cool you’re having a boy! Do you want him to look like you?”


“I just want him to be healthy, it’d be cool though to have a little version of me running around, but I’d love for him to look like Ali. I’m just excited as all hell.”


Brian grinned at him happy that he was getting a chance at becoming a father. “I’m so happy for you man. But listen you really gotta work with Ali on the romance department, it’s vitally important. Because if you don’t once the baby’s here it will just take more of a toll on your relationship.” Brian explained. “For the first six months after Bay was born we barely slept, barely even saw each other but we learned and we grew stronger for it.”


“Yeah? I’m worried though, we’ve been fighting a lot lately. And I’m just worried it’s going to hurt the baby.”


The boys all grinned at him wondering just exactly when he grew up, “Fighting will put stress on Alyssa and stress will affect the baby, but hopefully this rough patch you two are hitting will get easier.”


Nick nodded in response with purpose for the first time in weeks.


“Did you see the Maxim article?” Brian asked with a Cheshire grin.


“That’s out already?”


“Yep.” Howie nodded and threw a copy on the table. The cover had all the girls lying in a bed together looking up poutily at the camera and in the middle was Alyssa. He flipped to the article inside seeing the title then moved to the first questions for Alyssa, that were right next to her picture of her in a slinky one piece and her hair all done.


So you’re engaged—Do you find it hard to find privacy with the cameras?


“Yes very much so. But we try to focus on each other. It’s difficult with us both working full time but we try our best to keep things feeling like they did before we got engaged.”


You’re a professor at a major university and you’re only 23, how’d you manage that?


(Grins) “Well it definitely was not easy. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to get through school as fast as I did. I made friends with the professors along the way and expressed interest in teaching higher education. They watched me TA and student teach and figured that I’d be a great addition to the department.”


Is it more difficult to date a celebrity and be relatively normal?


“Yes and no. When we first started dating I was scared of his fans. They have a reputation of completely despising whomever he dates. So I made us keep the relationship quiet for like 7 or 8 months.”


“Why were you scared of the fans?”


“Well because I was there, when he was with Amanda [Willa Ford] and they really struggled because of the fans speculation and hatred. After her he kept his relationships relatively quiet but that’s not to say he didn’t have a serious relationship he had several, and a pretty decent string of groupies…and then…”


He dated Paris Hilton.


“Yeah, and I was there through all of it, we were the closest of friends and confidantes. But personally I couldn’t stand her, just by how she treated him. Nick was so happy when he introduced me and her he hoped we could be friends. So I was polite and nice and went to shake her hand and she stuck her nose up at me like because I don’t have gazillions of dollars that I’m some how worthy of being stepped on.”


Is it still a sore spot for him?


“Sometimes, she is the first girl to accuse him of violence against her. Which is complete hogwash, if he ever hit a girl, his sisters would lynch him. He learned from a very young age you just don’t hit a girl even if she’s completely kicking your butt.”


So what made you decide to be on this season of HOC?


“I didn’t really, it was Nick and his publicist Juliette that convinced me. I was really wary about how I’d look on television. Hopefully not bad but it’s hard not to especially when they cut everything down to half-hour episodes. There were tons of things in season one that got cut out. But yeah they decided to do it at home, where I live, I couldn’t just say ‘oh blur out my face’ or something stupid like that.”


Didn’t Brian from BSB do that last season?


“He did, but he had his own reasons for that. All of which were completely valid. And it’s not like he lived with the siblings like I do so it was easier to conceal him than it would be for me or any of the siblings.”


So you know we have to ask who’s your favorite Backstreet Boy?


(laughs) “Oh man, I knew this one was coming. It’s actually not Nick. Weird I know but hear me out. I’ve always known Nick as the kid from Tampa Bay, Leslie’s older really cute brother. So when I’d see him on television in the Backstreet persona I was thinking ‘I like the real him better’.”


So out of the others who is?


“Actually none of the guys know this only my two best girls do along with Leslie, and its the one that left the group, Kevin…The first video of their’s I ever saw was Quit Playing Games and I thought oh…my…god…hotness. And yeah Kristin, his wife, is going to tease me endlessly now. As will Nick...we have that good kind of relationship where we can tease each other and not get hurt.”


Nick looked up from reading and chuckled, “I’m marrying a Kevin fan…Nice.” He remarked making the other three laugh at him heartily. He re-read the last line over again, sure they’d tease each other, but lately the type of teasing went from verbal to physical and really that was what drove him crazy. Being teased so much but not being able to do anything about it because the second he’d try to exorcise those desires she’d shoot him down. Either, it was work, his siblings, his mother…the doctor…or his personal favorite…her thinking she’s too fat now to have sex. It drove him crazy about how insecure she was becoming as the pregnancy progressed. Couldn’t she see that he found her as desirable as ever? He scanned the rest of the article grinning at the pictures of the girls and Alyssa, how’d he get so blessed to have such amazing women in his life?


The next afternoon…


Alyssa got home from pregnancy yoga walking in through the garage and sorting mail. She looked up to see Nick closing a medium sized cooler. “Hey what do you have there?” Alyssa asked curiously.


“You’ll see, come on let’s go for a drive.” Nick suggested taking her hand as she set her gym bag down.


“Lemme change first.” She replied going upstairs with a grin.


“Okay, don’t take too long.” He replied sighing a little. He was glad that she seemingly agreed to go with.


Meanwhile upstairs Alyssa hopped in the shower momentarily washing the sweat from yoga class off. Afterwards she went into the closet wondering what she should wear. She hated the maternity clothing mainly because it was frilly or girly and she hated it. With a sigh she grabbed a very thin silk pale yellow sundress as well as a matching yellow bra and panties. She flashed smile to her reflection in the mirror she pulled her longer hair up in a ponytail and put on some perfume and low-heeled strapped sandals before going downstairs.


Nick looked up and saw her his mouth immediately going dry at the mere sight of her. “Wow.” He mouthed but no sound would come out. He looked down at himself seeing the light blue button down shirt and jeans he was wearing and suddenly felt under dressed.


“What did I dress up too much?” Alyssa said looking down at herself.


Nick shook his head, “No you look beautiful.”


She grinned at him and he grabbed the cooler and his back pack leading her out to his Escalade. He helped her get in and he went around to the other side placing the cooler and his backpack in the back cargo area of the truck. About thirty minutes later they pulled to this secluded area just five minutes off the main rode. He parked the truck so that the back was looking out over the cliff and out over the pacific ocean. He grinned at her and got out opening up the back gate and folding down the back seat to give them ample room for a picnic inside the truck. Alyssa stepped out feeling the strong wind coming from the north and looked at him strangely.


“A picnic in the back of the truck?” Alyssa asked with a grin.


Nick rolled his eyes, “It’s windy don’t want it to blow everything away. Besides we’ll leave the gate open.” He reasoned as he began taking things out of the cooler.


Alyssa hoisted her body as best she could and ended up near laying down in the cargo area. Nick looked over and chuckled at her. “Hey I’d like to see you carry a tummy like this.”


“Believe me I have one.” He said pulling out a black three-ring binder from his backpack, looking through it momentarily then closing it and placing it on top of the now emptied cooler.


“Yours is MUCH smaller than mine hon.” Alyssa retorted noticing the notebook. She figured it was something to do with work but she didn’t know what. Nick handed her a sandwich and a bottle of water.


“Whatever…just having my mother around too it’s hard you know. Since we don’t get a lot of alone time anymore like we used to.”


Alyssa giggled, “Get used to it, once this one is born our sex life is going to be just as bad.”


“I hope not!” Nick replied letting them both eat in silence for a few moments. Once they’d finished he cleaned everything up and began scribbling something in the black binder. Alyssa leaned up hoping to catch a glimpse at what he was writing. Trying to be sneaky she scooted over as best she could and snatched the binder from him. “Hey!” Nick whined.


“What is in here?” She asked aloud, she knew Nick probably wouldn’t tell her but she had to know what had peaked his interest so much.


Nick reached for the binder only causing her to move it from his reach. “Alyssa please…” Nick pleaded but it was too late she had already opened it and was reading its contents.


Alyssa’s expression softened as she looked through seeing his normal illegible script on notebook paper describing every meal and what the calorie intake each item was. “Nick what is this?” She asked handing it back to him.


“It’s how I’ve been keeping track of what I eat. It’s…”


He was stopped by Alyssa’s grin, “No it’s okay, I’m happy for you Nick, if this is what you want to do to get yourself healthy then by all means do it. At least you’re not doing any stupid crash diet or fad.”


He nodded a little, “Still I didn’t really want you to know yet. Kind of wanted it to be a surprise.”


“What like one day I notice half of you is gone?”


“That was the plan…” He replied sheepishly. “I’m just…”


“Really self-conscious, I know I get it, believe me I do.” She said leaning in pressing her lips to his momentarily. Nick sighed a little reveling in the simplicity of the kiss but just as soon as it began it ended with her pulling back from him. Alyssa moved slightly facing away from him so she could recline against his back as he rested his hands on her stomach grinning to him. He looked out over to the ocean and closed his eyes letting the breeze just wash over them that swept across the truck.


Feeling slightly uncomfortable Alyssa readjusted herself moving her body up his a little rubbing against his groin. He opened his eyes and looked down a little seeing over her shoulder and down the front of her dress seeing the lacy edge of her bra. His breathing quickened and he felt himself flush at the mere sight of her. Getting an idea he leaned his head down kissing her shoulder hearing release a satisfied sigh. His mouth blazed a trail up to her neck sucking on her sensitive skin as he brought one hand up removing the straps from her bra and dress from her shoulder then caressed her arm moving to the front of her to place his hand on her breast. At that moment Alyssa pulled away and turned to him with a knowing grin.


He looked in her eyes for a long moment just completely content that they were having a really good day together. He moved in a little closer placing his hand on her neck and grazing his thumb along her jaw-line. She smirked a little as he brought her face to his stopping just as their lips lightly brushed together making her move even closer to deepen the kiss opening her mouth and flicking her tongue out and sweeping it across his lower lip. Grinning into the kiss he pulled/pushed her body gently to lie down on her back. He situated himself at her side leaning on her a little but not enough to cause pressure on her stomach. Alyssa weaved her fingers into his hair skidding her nails along his scalp lightly as they continued to kiss. Nick moved his hand from her neck down her shoulder and came to rest at the side of her breast. Alyssa broke the kiss momentarily to catch her breath she sighed a little grinning and bit her lower lip which was slightly swollen. “I love you.” She said simply as he moved his fingers over the silky material of her dress just under her arm.


She leaned near him claiming his mouth again sighing as their tongues met and dueled passionately. Growing more and more turned on he moved his hand to the front of her massaging her breast through the thin material of her dress and bra, smiling as she whimpered into the kiss. Nick pushed her bra and dress down on one side revealing her soft flesh. He moved his urgent kisses to her neck and collarbone down to the exposed skin he’d revealed moments before. He nipped at the side of her breast making her shriek and pull him closer to her body as her back arched. Simultaneously he moved his hand down to the hem of her dress gathering it up slowly to her hips then moved in between her thighs stroking her over her underwear. Alyssa took in a breath sharply and moved her hips against his hand trying to get him to increase his light touch. He grinned against her skin as he leaned back and pulled her panties off as she leaned up grabbing at his shirt and his jeans undoing them realizing he wasn’t wearing any underwear to speak of.


“Seems like you came prepared…” She replied with a grin as her hand wound around his fully erect cock. He chuckled and leaned in rubbing his fingers over her making her hiss and curse under her breath. Feeling sure that they were both ready he moved to thrust inside her but she stopped him. “We can’t do it missionary remember?”


He sighed a little and then remembered he’d really come prepared. He rolled over and reached for a pillow just behind the cooler. “I researched this online, it should help your back out.” He explained.


“You really came prepared.”


“Uh huh lift up.” He instructed as she raised her hips and he placed the pillow just where the small of her back would be. He moved between her legs as she laid back down already feeling better as the pressure from her lower back was relieved. Alyssa spread her legs as wide as she could as he held himself up on his hands giving her ample space for her stomach. He guided himself slowly inside her, his eyes rolling back into his head as he sighed in relief. Alyssa shifted her hips closer to him letting him sink in deeper. “Baby…uhh you feel…so good.” He managed to mutter as he began thrusting in and out of her. Nick took one of her hands in his placing it up above her head bringing him down closer to her looking down directly at her face as he moved with forceful smooth strokes while he dipped his head to kiss and suck on the top of her chest.


Alyssa closed her eyes reveling in the feeling of him, inside her, on top of her. It’d been too long since they’d been this close; missionary had become problematic as she began to show a baby bump. True it was still rather small but she’d grown extremely sensitive about it to the point where she wanted to hide her once toned flat abs that had expanded and grown with the growth of their child. She felt Nick quicken his pace against her their abdomens brushing gently together when he’d thrust and pull back. She moaned loudly as his tip hit the back of her walls making her cling to his hand tightly and opened her eyes turning her head to breathe. Out of the window she saw a helicopter fly over head, hearing the loud noise from the wings as it fly by and the realization of where they were, that anyone, paparazzi, highway patrol or even an average Joe can just happen upon their situation. She bit her lip hating to have to do this but the thought of their sexual activities being splashed upon the headlines made her blood run cold with fear. “Nick stop.”


Not stopping Nick looked up, “What?” He asked completely perplexed.


Alyssa pushed against his shoulders pushing him back a bit. “Stop…”


Nick’s eyes grew wide as she continued to push him away from her body. “Huh? What’s going on?” He asked turned on out of breath and completely perplexed as to exactly why she stopped him. Alyssa covered herself rearranging her bra and dress to cover the exposed flesh then moved to grab her panties struggling slightly to get them back on. “What are you doing?” He asked still in the same position sitting back on his knees his shirt and pants still hanging open showing his flushed skin and still hard erection.


Alyssa looked at him, “Nick it’s broad daylight, we’re not far from a main road. Anyone could catch us.”


He sighed, “So that’s supposed to make it more exciting you know the thrill of being caught?” He replied trying to get closer to her again but her hand on his chest stopped him.


She knew it may seem irrational but she could not get over her fear of being caught and having their entire relationship open to the public, it was bad enough she was on a reality show but for her private sexual life with Nick to be broadcast for all to see…definitely not what she wanted. “Not for me, I don’t want my sex life all over the tabloids.”


“But baby…come on nobody is gonna find us…”


“So says the sexually frustrated man.” Alyssa retorted. “You’ll do anything to get me to have sex won’t you? I’m glad you came so prepared to our picnic Nickolas. What did you bring me out here just to fuck me?” She said angrily. She didn’t want to get so emotional but it seemed lately that all Nick cared about was sex.


“That was part of the plan…yeah.” He admitted. Alyssa’s face contorted in anger. “Baby…please it’s not like that…”


“Then what is it like? All you ever want from me is sex!”


Nick closed his eyes and fixed his pants and shirt. “No, it’s just we haven’t been doing it as much lately with both of us being so busy, and you said no sex in the house…so I thought I’d spend some time with you and…”


“Fuck me like a horny teenager in the back of a car?”


Nick sighed he knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere but he found himself still fighting against her. “No I want to be close to you, but every time we try something gets in the way.”


Alyssa got out of the truck and stood over looking the ocean for a few minutes. Nick followed moments later going up behind her and wrapping his arms around her only for her to shrug him off. “Don’t fucking touch me.” She remarked going back to the truck and sitting in the passenger seat.


His anger flared, “Fine I guess I won’t try to have sex with you ever again!” He announced watching her enter the car.


Alyssa’s breath quickened as a soft sob escaped her lips while she searched her purse grabbing a pair of large sunglasses putting them on to conceal her tears. She hadn’t meant to get that emotional but damn it hurt to think he only wanted to be close for sex, didn’t they have any intimacy anymore?

hope you enjoyed let me know what ya think okay?

Chapter Fifteen: Monster-In-Law

**************************************
Nick Narrating:

I hate this. Honestly I really do. I love Alyssa, she’s just well my girl. All I wanted was just some time with her. Without the family without pressure. Brian’s idea was perfect and the day was perfect. And fuck me…she looked so amazing. I know why they say that pregnant women are attractive, especially if it’s your child. She had this glow and it just reminded me of how we used to be.

But now…

I won’t apologize for trying to have sex with her. It’s only natural and for the longest time she’s kept me very spoiled in bed and now that I don’t get it as much I want it more and more all the time. Having the siblings and cameras around definitely isn’t conducive to a practical and active sex life, but damn give me a break here!

Call me a pervert, call me an asshole but yes I completely planned on us having sex on our picnic. I had factored in that it wouldn’t happen, but she never really has been able to resist before so for her to pull away and literally not let me finish? That shocked the hell out of me. Sure she’s done shit sort of like that before but not to the extent where we’re both so close and then bam flip the switch she doesn’t want it anymore.

It’s totally and completely unnerving and how she was ‘scared’ we’d get caught. We could have but we didn’t. It’s just ugh why can’t I just fuck my fiancé in peace?! Not even fucking really just being with her too. We never get a moment alone to just be together. Which is why I am so fucking glad the show is ending. And I did something even better. I got my mom a hotel room. About 20 minutes away, a room at a little bed and breakfast. Yeah because I’m that fucking desperate to spend some time with her before I have to leave for Nashville.

Nashville…

That’s going to be interesting to say the least. And the fact that Alyssa doesn’t know yet…yeah she’s going to be pissed. I’ll be gone for two months…two whole months and yet I think it’ll be good for us to be apart a little. It’ll at least allow us to evaluate and appreciate each other that much more. At least that’s what I’m hoping.

I’m going to hate it that’s for sure. Being without her for that long. But it’ll work out, it always does right? All I know is that after that little escapade in the truck it’s been really hard on me to be around her. It’s like we’re just friends all over again, only worse, our emotional relationship is strained and awkward we fight constantly and our physical relationship is nearly non-existent.

After we came home that day she didn’t speak to me. And it seemed like everyone was getting some but me. Leslie and Mike were making out on the couch (ended up finding Alyssa’s underwear in the cushions which provided further embarrassment for her), Aaron and Kaci were locked away in his room, Angel hadn’t returned home with her flavor of the month yet and Wes and Beej were practically fucking in the pool. And here I come back into the house completely sexually frustrated surrounded by sex.

And then…Emma called…She wanted to hang out. Yeah and I being the smart one said yes. It was torture, she looked good, really good. I know, I know what you’re thinking I’m horrible for even thinking about another woman but I can’t fucking help it right now. Emma reminds me of Alyssa, the way she used to be, fun, and almost carefree. I’d give anything to see that in Ali again. She made me lunch and we just sat and talked like really seriously talked. But I couldn’t help but notice things, like how she laughed at my lame jokes or how our hands brushed and she didn’t pull away immediately. I’m sure she wasn’t trying to flirt or anything, she seems to truly respect mine and Ali’s relationship but…damn I couldn’t help being attracted to her, she’s a knock out with a brain, it’s a tough combo to come by and I thought Alyssa was one of the very few who had that. I guess I was wrong.

I think the reason why I’m attracted to her though…is because she reminds me of Ali, you know the real Alyssa the woman I fell in love with, not this horrible distortion of her former self. Not to say Alyssa isn’t desirable, fuck me, she is and always will be. But lately it seems like we aren’t even the couple we used to be. We don’t focus on each other anymore, it’s all work work work, and family and ooh baby stuff and doctors appointments. And it’s driving me nuts.

I guess…really it comes down to that I miss the woman I fell for. I just hope she’s not gone forever.

End Narration.
********************************************

Alyssa sat in her office trying in vain to concentrate on grading papers and planning another lecture. True she normally used the same power point presentations every semester but she at least liked to keep her speeches fresh in case anyone who may have failed or dropped would be retaking the class. Thankfully she hadn’t gotten to that point in her career, none of her students failed, some had to drop for medical or personal reasons but normally she had a great class retention rate. She’d been meeting with students off and on through out the day and one glaring fact came to her. She needed a TA, someone to keep her straight, help her in case her doctor’s appointments ran over and made her miss class.

Only one name came to her mind…Lindsay Barnes. By far her best student she’d had at her time at UCLA. She reminded Alyssa of herself, but it would have to wait, until Lindsay finished her class. She already helped to an extraordinary extent with helping her in class and suggesting awesome books and ideas for the following semesters.

But alas, that would have to wait, at least a year if not a little longer. She looked at her calendar smiling as she saw the date of her maternity leave then her plan for her yearlong absence. She didn’t want to say anything yet but she wanted to be a full time mom when the time came, at least for the first year and then slowly get back into teaching at the university so she could be a good mom. At least like her mother had done with each of her children, she took extended time to make sure they were ahead of the game developmentally and with Nick working on a new Backstreet album, a possible world tour, and his record label she knew she couldn’t count on him to become a stay-at-home dad while she ran around and worked herself into the ground.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Curious Alyssa got up answering it seeing Jane on the other side. “Hi Jane…” Alyssa greeted civilly letting her into her office. She had no idea that she knew where it was or really where to find it. Although she did suspect Nick or one of his siblings had something to do with it.

Jane grinned a little seeing Alyssa’s neatly organized office. “I wanted to apologize for the other day. Nick…”

“He spoke to you?”

“Yes, and I had no idea that you’d interpret my words that way.” She explained with a sincere grin.

Alyssa sighed, she didn’t want to believe that she could actually be sincere in her intentions. However, she knew Nick craved to have his mother a part of his life so she figured she’d just grin and bear it. “Well it’s all right now, I got over it. If you don’t mind me asking why are you here?”

Jane looked at her hands momentarily and then back up at Alyssa, “I know you and I don’t really have a strong relationship, and that’s okay I understand you don’t approve of how I raised Nick and his siblings. However I would like to be a part of my grandchild’s life.”

Alyssa bit her lip to keep the snicker from rising within her Raised? More like lack thereof! She mused to herself. “Yes I would like for you to be a part of our son’s life. Nick loves you Jane, even though you and Bob put him through a lot he still really cares for you. I’m sorry that I don’t act like I trust you, I’m just trying to protect my fiancé from anymore heartache.”

“I understand, I’m glad you love him as much as you do. Which is what brings me here, I wanted to help with the wedding plans.”

Alyssa’s brow furrowed in confusion, “Wedding plans? We haven’t even set a date yet.”

“Well I’m determined to get you two married before your first child is out in the world.” She replied with a sincere grin that made Alyssa smile weakly in return and inwardly wince.

Later that week…

Nick sighed as he fiddled with editing his myspace account. Lately it’d become his escape from his siblings, who had been driving him up the wall with their arguments and pettiness lately. Ever since he’d gotten a hotel room for his mother though, it had calmed down quite a bit. He figured it had a lot to do with Aaron and his mother. Jane made Aaron feel like he had something to prove thus every time he was around the cocky attitude was all the more prevalent which led to more head-butting between him and the girls.

What was worse for him, was that Alyssa had been less than receptive to his advances as of late. It hurt him and disappointed him to no end. He wanted closeness with her like he’d become so accustomed to but instead Alyssa was putting up roadblock after roadblock. They hardly went to bed together at the same time anymore. She was usually up late working on something in the office and he was just well too tired to complain so he’d end up going to bed alone, and waited for her to crawl into bed 2 or 3 sometimes even 4 hours later.

It was getting to the point even the guys were beginning to notice the strain on him. Maybe that was why they’d decided to get away from it all by going to Nashville. That was the only bad part. He’d have to be away from Alyssa, during the most critical time in her pregnancy next to the last month. He felt terrible he hadn’t said anything to her yet but he couldn’t bring himself to do so just yet.

Sighing he got up and walked down stairs seeing Emma and Bobbie at the dining room table with books cracked open all around them in a heated discussion.

“This is going to be exciting making our own recipes, I love doing shit like that!” Bobbie remarked grinning as they thumbed through various cookbooks.

Nick watched Emma grin at his sister, he’d really grown to like Emma as a friend the past few weeks he’d been spending time with her. She was definitely different than most LA women and he liked that a lot. But at the same time it scared him just the least bit. Knowing he could think like that about her when just a few short years previously he’d thought the exact same about Alyssa. “Hey you two…” He said with a slight grin.

Both girls looked up and smiled, “Hey, how’s work?” Bobbie asked sincerely.

He nodded taking a breath, “Good, going to Nashville for 3 months is the plan, hopefully Alyssa will go with me.”

“Let’s hope, you two need a good vacation away from work.” Emma replied smiling.

“Don’t I know it, all she’s been doing lately is work, work and more work.”

Emma nodded, “Well you can’t say she’s not driven though, she at least knows what she wants and is willing to sacrifice a lot to get it.”

‘Yeah including sacrificing time with me’ Nick thought snidely to himself. He couldn’t help it he felt a little more than neglected lately, he felt down right ignored.

“Well I’m sure it will all work itself out right? Maybe just you two need to reminded that you two love each other?” Emma offered.

“Maybe…but I’ll leave you two alone so you can work.”

“Oh no it’s okay Nick, Em and I wanted to discuss an idea with you and maybe get some business advice.” Bobbie suggested with a grin.

Nick pulled back one of the chairs closest to his sister and turned it around sitting with it backwards resting his arms on the top of the chair. “Oh really? Tell me about it.” He asked curiously he was happy that Bobbie had thought to come to him.

“Well Emma and I want to start a restaurant, and we want to know where you’d go to get investors?”

Nick chewed his lip for a moment a plan forming in his head, “Well first I’d go to my family and pitch the idea, if they thought it was solid and wanted to contribute great and then maybe they could point them in the right direction. What type of restaurant?”

“Gourmet everything, Asian to Mexican, to American and European influences but everything would have a new take on it.” Emma explained.

“Hmm sounds like a good restaurant, here I’ll make you two a deal, you two come up with a solid business model and back it up with a ton of research and I’ll invest some of my money, and maybe get the fellas in on it too.”

“Really like a Backstreet restaurant?” Bobbie retorted laughing.

“Did you know Justin Timberlake owns Koi?”

“No…”

“Yeah, putting a celeb’s name on the deed in LA almost guarantees success. But still Howie’s into real estate he’d love to get involved and so would Brian and AJ so if you two want a restaurant and are willing to work as hard as I do for your goals then I’ll help and even give you some names you can go to if you decide you don’t want your brother as a business partner.” He said nudging Bobbie on the shoulder.

Meanwhile…

“So Alyssa what did the doctor tell you about traveling?” Jennifer asked.

Alyssa took a deep breath, she knew she wanted to go to this conference but she was still unsure, especially with her and Nick on such uncertain terms lately. She knew it was hard on him but he didn’t understand. She was trying to get everything settled before the baby came so she could devote herself wholly to being a mom for the first year of his life. “Yeah she said I can as long as I see a doctor while I’m there and don’t do it if I don’t feel well.”

“Are you sure about this extended leave after you have the baby?” Jennifer asked concerned.

“For the first year…I need to be a mom it’ll be too stressful otherwise, but I’m forcing it out now so I can relax once I go on maternity leave.”

“Which is only two months away.” Jennifer smiled. “I’m really happy for you, taking care of your family first looks mighty good to the higher-ups in the university, they’ll be more apt to promote you once you come back.”

Alyssa smiled, “I know I’m trying to keep it a secret right now, but when I come back, I’ll need to hire a TA hopefully. I’d like to teach one online class to begin with and then slowly work back up, just in case we get pregnant again, I’m not planning on that happening but this lil guy was quite a surprise too.”

Jennifer nodded, “Does Nick know?”

“No I want to surprise him after the baby is born, we still haven’t even had time to sit around and pick out names for our son. I’m trying really hard to work everything out before I get on maternity leave so whose ever taking my place while I’m gone won’t have anything to worry about, and will even have lectures prepared ahead of time.”

“That’s really sweet I’m sure he’ll be excited to hear that.”

“I bet he will be! But yeah I’m going to break the news about the two-week conference tonight. It just sucks its all the way in Prague.”

“Yeah it’s going to be an amazing symposium I think you’ll enjoy it and it’ll help augment your teaching too once you come back.”

“Yeah I’m sure, it sounds like such an interesting symposium.”

“Well I guess then all you need from me is your event tickets and you’ll be good to go!”

That night…

Alyssa grinned at Nick happy they’d finally finished shooting the last night of the show, and were saying goodbye to everyone. “I’ll miss you Leslie.” Alyssa said giving her a solid hug.

“I know, you got to call me when you go into labor with the lil one okay?”

“We will I promise! Have a safe flight.”

Mike grinned and gave her a hug, “I’m glad I’m going to be related to you, even though it’s through marriage. I can’t wait to be an uncle to this little one.” He said proudly putting his hand on her rounded tummy.

After everyone left Alyssa and Nick walked up to the house holding hands as they bid the cameras farewell. As soon as they shut the door Alyssa took in a huge sigh of relief. “Finally…”

He glanced over at her, “We’re alone…”

Alyssa giggled and gave him a sweet kiss, “Gimme an hour and I promise I’m all yours.”

“An hour?”

“Yeah I got some paperwork to finish.”

Nick rolled his eyes and gave her a look. “Alyssa the paperwork can wait.”

Alyssa sighed and shook her head, “No I really need to get this done, I promise.” She assured.

“What is with you and work lately? All you ever do is work.”

She closed her eyes knowing she’d felt bad for neglecting him but she felt it was necessary at the time so she could concentrate solely on her paperwork to get ahead in time for her leave. “I know how you feel baby, I really do…” She said coming up to him and wrapping her arms around him. “Believe me when you see what I’m doing this for, you’ll thank me for working so hard.”

“Not another promotion right?” He said with a questioning glance.

Alyssa rolled her eyes, “I’m trying to get everything ready for when I go on maternity leave okay?” She admitted partially.

“You’re actually going to take it?”

“Yes, I’m going to want the relaxation and time to prepare for motherhood.”

Nick grinned and kissed her sweetly, “One hour…I’ll be down here watching Sports Center.” He replied letting her go up the stairs. Moments later Nick went and settled himself on the couch flicking through channels as he got to ESPN. He chuckled a bit at how like an old married couple they’d gotten since they’d become pregnant, he was stuck watching sports while she worked on paperwork when really all he wanted was to be with her.

Four hours later…

Nick stirred slowly in his sleep and groaned feeling a twist in his back. He sat up slowly groaning at the strain in his muscles. He looked around the room noticing he was still in the living room and had in fact fallen asleep on the couch. He looked at the clock seeing that it was already after midnight. “Shit…Liss you there?” He called out to the downstairs area. When he received no response he rolled his eyes and went up stairs into the office seeing Alyssa shutting down her laptop. “Still working?”

Alyssa smiled looking up at him, “No just finished actually. Sorry it took longer, I came down stairs and you were asleep so I figured I’d let you sleep and get finished up.” She said walking over to him and walked them to their bedroom. “I am sorry I’ve been so work oriented lately.”

“You are?”

“Yes, I miss us…the fun side of us.” Alyssa admitted.

Nick grinned and sat on the bed bringing her between his legs. “Well maybe the next couple of months would be good if we you know got away for awhile.”

Alyssa saw the mischievous grin on his face.

“I’m scared, what are you thinking?”

He chuckled and placed his hands on her waist. “Well, the guys and I are going to Nashville for a month or two to record, what if you came with us?”

“When are you going?”

“Next week.”

Alyssa’s face fell it was exactly the same time she’d be heading off to Prague for the symposium. “I can’t…” She began seeing his face fall from a smile to a grimace.

“What do you mean you can’t?” He asked his voice a little more standoffish than he’d anticipated.

Alyssa placed her hands on his shoulders as she gathered her thoughts, “I’m going to Prague next week.”

“Do WHAT?!”

“It’s for a symposium on Shakespearean literature, I have to go, it’s important and Dr. Petrarch already said I’m good to go for travel just to be careful.”

Nick pushed her away from him and stood up. “And you’re just telling me now?!”

“You’re just telling me about Nashville!” Alyssa countered.

“Well I thought you could go with me!”

“I thought you could go with me too okay, I didn’t know that you and the guys were planning a trip to get out of LA.” She retorted.

He shook his head, “So if I had told you sooner would you have told them no?” He asked seeing the thoughts cross her face. “Ha! I knew it, you care more about your stupid career than you do about spending time with me!”

Alyssa’s jaw set and she put her hands on her hips, “Stupid career? You think my career is stupid? Well you want to know what’s stupid Nick…the fact that you can’t understand that I love my career, and that I’m practically killing myself so I can be a mother to YOUR SON and not have to worry about my stupid little career!” She said going into the bathroom changing into an oversized tee shirt.

Nick immediately felt horrible for what he said. Of course he understood her need for a career, he just wanted her to go with him wherever she went and not have to worry about money the way she did. He turned down the covers changing into a pair of boxers and a tee shirt as he watched her come back out of the bathroom.

“You know you think my career is stupid, but what about yours? Why do I have to sacrifice for yours every time, why can’t you meet me half way for once?” She muttered. “But then again I shouldn’t be surprised I am after all just marrying a spoiled washed up pop star.” She said angrily as she lay down in bed facing her body from him.

Nick winced at her words and turned off the light choosing to stay silent for the moment. He lay down next to her trying to reach out and pull her close but she shrugged off his arm and pushed herself to the other side of the bed. Saddened he rolled over to the other side and tried to sleep but felt a sharp pang in his heart that some how the divide between their bodies on the bed, began to represent the widening divide between their hearts.

Three days later…

“So Ali I was thinking we could do maybe a silvery dress for your gown instead of white.” Jane spoke as she grabbed a pink binder. “And I made you this, it’s full of things for you to consider, fabrics, colors all sorts of things, I really think your colors should be teal and coral.” She suggested.

Alyssa grimaced slightly looking at all the ideas for the wedding and she looked at Jane turning to her. “Jane really thank you for trying to help, really.” She began trying to let Jane down easy. Ever since she’d mentioned wanting to help Alyssa with wedding plans it seemed each one became more ridiculous and tacky by the second. “But thank you but no. Nick and I want to plan our own wedding. And choose things for ourselves, after the baby is born.”

Jane got a solemn look on her face. “Well I was just trying to help.”

“I know! I know and it’s all right and very sweet of you to want to help and offer it so generously.” Alyssa replied trying to smooth things over. “But I’d like for Nick and I to plan things when the time is more appropriate for us.”

Jane stood up quickly gathering her things with a hurt look on her face. “I can’t believe this, I should have known you’d hate all of my ideas. I just wanted to make a beautiful day for the two of you and here you are just telling me that they’re inappropriate for what you think your wedding should be.”

Alyssa grew a little defensive to Jane’s passive aggressive attack. “Like you said it is our wedding, meaning Nick’s and mine. We decide what colors we want, what we’re going to wear and who is going to be there. And for you to think for one second that you can tell me how our day should be run is insulting to me. It’s like telling me I have no better judgment so you need to make all the decisions for me.”

“Well judgment doesn’t seem to be your forte with your track record.” She began with a snide smirk referring to Alyssa’s past mistakes, attempted suicide, Brandon, having a baby out of wedlock.

‘Like you should talk about having bad judgment at least I haven’t been arrested’ She thought crudely. She’d wanted to say it but knew that if she did that it would lower herself to the status of her future mother-in-law only taking pot-shots because she could. Alyssa took a deep breath and stood keeping her voice firm. “I think you should leave.”

Jane stared Alyssa down for a moment noting the brightness to her green eyes glaring at her with a warning glance. She smiled and bid her farewell and walked out. As she made her way to her rental car she picked up her cell phone dialing Nick smiling as he answered. “I think you need to have a talk with your fiancée.” She said in a meek little voice.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked concerned hoping that everything was all right.

Jane took a shaky sigh and looked around as she sat in her rental. “She was completely rude to me, and I was only trying to offer my help with the wedding plans.”

“Wedding plans? Mom we haven’t even set a date yet.”

“So? Just because you haven’t set a date doesn’t mean you can’t plan things out.”

Nick sighed excusing himself from the boys. “Yes I know that but Mom go easy on her she’s really stressed out, I don’t think she meant anything by it.” He explained.

“Well she certainly seemed to, she told me my ideas were inappropriate and asked me very rudely I might add to leave after she question my judgment.”

Nick closed his eyes leaning his head back a little, “So what do you want me to do about it, she’s stressed and hormonal I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way. But I’ll talk to her about it okay?”

“Okay honey, I love you.”

“Love you too Mom.” He said as she heard the line go dead. Smirking to herself she started the car and headed back to her hotel confident the seeds had been planted for her plan.

That night…

“So how was work today?” Alyssa asked with a grin as they made dinner.

Nick sighed a little, “It was work, just sort of odd still without Kevin there.”

Alyssa gave him a look for a second and kissed his shoulder trying to ease his anger towards her. She knew he was still angry about the other night so she kept her mouth shut about it. “I’m sure it’s going to be hard without him there, he always seemed like he was the decision maker of the group, but now I’m sure you four can open up and really find some amazing inspiration.” She reassured.

“Let’s hope. How was your day? Get a lot of work done?”

Alyssa nodded, “Yeah but that didn’t last long, Jane surprised me at work when I was trying to rework some things in the syllabus on a deadline and started spouting off all this garbage about the wedding.”

“Garbage?”

“Yeah how she wants me to not wear white how we need to set a date before the baby comes and that our colors should be teal and coral. TEAL AND CORAL?!? Can you believe that? I couldn’t deal with it so I…”

Nick interrupted her little rant with, “Yeah she said you were really rude to her.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened. “I was rude to HER!? Psh more like the other way around. I told her thank you for trying to help but that you and I would decide on what we want for our wedding and when we want it.”

“When do we want it? I mean we’ve been engaged since January and its mid March now. Don’t you think we should set a date?” He offered.

Alyssa plated their salads and gave him a look, “I didn’t think we were going to even discuss a date until after the baby was born. Just because I think we should wait and focus on being parents and with our respective careers before we really focus on us as a married couple.” She explained.

“Oh so it’s all about career again, what are you going to do after he gets here? Are you going to keep this same pace? If so maybe we shouldn’t even be having a child if he’s going to be raised by nannies.”

Alyssa’s mouth opened in shock. “I do not want our child to be raised by nannies, I’m planning on scaling back quite a bit when he’s born and throughout his first year.”

“You are?”

“Yes, I want to be a good mother, unlike yours. She was so rude to me calling my judgment into question because of past mistakes when she has little room to talk. At least I didn’t fuck up five kids.”

Nick rolled his eyes but let it go, he didn’t want to fight with her anymore so he kept quiet while they ate. But really they could both feel a tension rising between them, something that if left unchecked would no doubt, in time threaten the very foundations of their once strong relationship.

As always R&R!!!