December 19, 2000 Tampa, Florida

The room was silent except for the sound of pages flipping. Pages from the book Tina was engrossed in and pages from the magazine that Nick was reading. It was that time of day where she normally took the opportunity to just sit quietly and enjoy herself – nap time. Parker was out like a light and they didn’t dare do anything, lest he wake up and think they were trying to have fun without him.

Nick was lying along the width of the bed, his head resting on her thigh with the magazine up in front of him. She noticed him holding the page unusually close to his face and couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing.

“You’re not asleep, are you?” she asked, wondering if maybe the magazine was just falling closer to his eyes and he wasn’t holding it there.

“No, no,” he replied, not tearing his eyes away from the page, “They airbrushed my face really weird, it’s freaking me out.”

Tina laughed, “You’re looking at pictures of yourself? What magazine is that?”

Being sure to hold his spot he flipped the magazine closed and he showed her the cover of the Teen Beat in his hands, a cheesy grin on his face, “It came in the mail, the record company sent it over. They have a bunch of pictures from the 100 Hour Tour.”

As he turned his attention back to the magazine, and the unnatural smoothness of his own face she couldn’t help but wonder how difficult it was to go at the speed he was used to and then stop so suddenly, “Do you miss it?” she asked curiously.

“Miss what?” his attention was now to the next article.

“Tour,” she clarified, “Just coming off all that promo in Asia, then the trip around the world, launching the new record... how can you stand just sitting here in this room doing nothing?”

Nick pressed the magazine to his chest and turned his head so he was facing me, “Because I did all that,” he answered, “I’m exhausted. Sometimes being bored is such a relief because it means I don’t have any obligations. Tour is hard, you know that. I don’t know that I would be able to do this for very long, sorry,” he cringed, knowing it was a soft spot since she was going to be laid up for months, “but I’m enjoying my time away from the chaos before it starts back up again in a few weeks.”

Reaching out she stroked his cheek, rough from not bothering to shave, “You would miss it, if it was gone though.”

“Yeah,” he replied honestly, sighing as she ran her fingers down the length of his jaw, “but don’t think that means I don’t miss you guys when I’m away.”

Faking a smile she pulled her hand away and went back to the book, not sure if she could reply to that statement without starting a fight. It wasn’t as though she believed Nick never thought about them when he was on tour, she just didn’t believe he missed them. There were many times when she was convinced that he was happy to leave them at the airport and get back to his ‘real’ life.

He sensed her sudden tension and sat up, facing her on the bed. He stared for a few moments before turning the magazine to a specific page, “Let’s do this silly quiz,” he said and she raised an eyebrow in his direction.

“What is it?” she wondered, knowing how girly some of those teen magazine quizzes could be since it was her and her friends filling them out only a few short years ago.

“It’s some reader submission thing,” he explained before rattling off the title, “20 Personal Questions to Ask Your Boy.”

Tina chuckled, “You plan on asking your boy any personal questions?”

“No, we’re very open and honest in our relationship,” he joked, sticking his tongue out quickly, “I’ll ask you the questions I’m sure they’re very generic though probably unnecessarily suggestive. After all, it was a bunch of teenage girls who sent them in.”

“Okay,” she played along, sitting up and dropping her book off to the side, “Fire when ready.”

“I’ll find a good one,” Nick said, scanning the large page of questions that these girls found useful in getting to know their ‘boy’, “Okay, have you ever stolen anything?”

“No,” she laughed but then stopped short, “Wait! Maybe I did. When I was in elementary school I stole a flower from the front of a flower shop. I didn’t realize they were for sale and not free.”

“I’d say that’s a big maybe,” Nick laughed, “You took something that was already depreciating; it was like stealing negative money. Alright, so you’re a huge kleptomaniac, good to know. Next question,” he paused to chuckle as he read it and I could only wondering what he was going to ask, “Are you a virgin?”

“Yes,” she answered, deadpan, “Scientists are still trying to figure out where Parker came from.”

Smiling he moved straight to the next question, “Who was your first kiss and am I a better kisser than him?”

“It does not say that!” Tina challenged with a laugh.

“It does,” he lied somewhat convincingly, “It actually says ‘Who was your first kiss and is Nick Carter a better kisser than him?’ right here on the page, I’m looking at it.”

“Jerk,” she smiled, “Every 14 year old girl’s answer would be ‘yes, he is’ just because they’d like to find out.”

He smirked cockily as if 14 year old girls wanting to make out with him was something to be proud of, “You didn’t answer the question, and I don’t mean who was the first five year old that gave you a smack on the cheek I mean serious kissing, the kind that leads to groping.”

With a sigh she silently wondered how to best answer, “Okay, you’re probably about the same as far as skill goes.”

“The same?!” he asked, mocking outrage, “Who is this guy going around pretending he is as good at making out as I am?” Tina just laughed at his antics but he continued to press, “Seriously, though, who was it?”

“What makes you think you know them? We are from different places after all,” she replied coyly, a smile still on her face.

“I’m not saying I do... wait, do I know them? How is that possible?”

“You do know them,” she answered, knowing it was going to drive him crazy even though the answer was right in front of his face.

He lost a little bit of his jovial attitude as he thought about it, and she was cautious not to take things too far because knowing how sensitive his ego could be, “You mean it’s someone I’ve met since we’ve been together?”

“You knew them before we got together,” she answered, keeping a careful eye on his expression.

He was racking his brain for the answer, she could tell by the way he was yanking on the ends of his hair, his face creased with thought, “There are only four people I knew that met you around the same time as me,” he said and when his face suddenly widened with shock she figured he must have realized who she was referring to.

“Did you make out with AJ?!” he exploded and she was about to laugh when she realized that he really was kind of upset by the thought of it.

“Calm down, Parker is sleeping” she warned him, “I did not make out with AJ.”

“Then what the fuck Baby, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

With a frustrated sigh she threw his pillow at him, “It was you! Damn it why do you have to make things so difficult?”

“Me?” he asked, genuinely surprised, “I was the first person you ever made out with?”

“Kissed,” she clarified, “You were the first boy I ever kissed.”

This time the shock on his face was much softer, “What? Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

“Is it important?” she wondered with a shrug, “I don’t know who the first person you kissed was. I don’t even know who the first person you had sex with was. To be honest, I don’t really care. What matters to me is who you are in my world. You were my first everything.”

“I didn’t...” he paused and she could tell he was looking for the right words, “I didn’t push you, did I? I mean, I guess I don’t get why you would meet me one night and then end up giving everything to me like that.”

“You didn’t push me at all! It wasn’t because of who you are either,” she told him off the bat, not wanting his mind to go wandering on him, “Nick... don’t you remember that week? I didn’t just say to myself ‘oh, well he’s cute I guess I’ll settle,’ you were the most romantic boy I’d ever met.”

“I was?” he asked, legitimately curious.

“Yeah,” she answered with a grin, “I won’t say I knew a whole lot about romance then, hell I can’t say I do now, but you treated me differently than anyone ever had. I wasn’t just some cute cheerleader; I was someone you could really talk to. That night on the beach, I’d never been so open with someone before.”

“Me either,” he confessed, “There were some things I didn’t even realize myself until I said them to you. About myself, about the Boys, all of it, I told you everything.”

“I know,” she reached out to grab his hand, “You told me so much more than just who your first kiss was or how old you were when you lost your virginity. You told me about your hopes and dreams, and what scared you and didn’t about life. I knew then that I was never going to find a person more deserving than you to give myself to. That was my exchange for your honesty.”

“It was a pretty good exchange,” he joked, pulling her hand up for a quick kiss.

“For you maybe, I was the one that ended up with sand up my butt,” she laughed, “At the end of that week though I knew I was ready to face life head on. Meeting you got me ready to leave home and head off to school and be amazing... just like you.”

“Meeting me actually screwed that all up,” he tried to correct but she shook her head.

“It may not have been what we’d been expecting, or what we wanted, but it’s what we got and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“Me either,” he said and she knew he was referring to more than just the child sleeping in the other room but of the one on the way.