July 8, 2001 Boston, Massachusetts

“I’m sweltering,” Tina whined, fanning herself with her free hand while holding the phone steady against her ear with the other.

Being half way into month nine of her pregnancy was not all it was cracked up to be. She had only been allowed off bed rest a few short weeks ago which seemed pointless because all she did now was lay around in bed. It was all she could do considering how much weight she had gained and how swollen all of her extremities had become.

She heard Nick laugh on the other end of the phone which only made her whine more, “I’m sorry Baby, I know it’s hot,” he said and she could tell he was smiling.

“You made me move to stupid Florida where it’s so hot and humid and... stupid.”

He just laughed more, knowing that she wasn’t serious since he’d heard the same argument ever since the weather started to get nice in the spring, “I bet it’s just as humid here in Boston, and you know... you could always go inside where there’s air conditioning,” he reasoned and she heard shuffling in the background.

“I hate being inside all the time, I wanted to at least get some sun now that I actually can. I’m so pale I’m practically translucent; the baby has a better tan than me. What is that noise, what are you doing?” she wondered curiously, feeling the need to live vicariously through him since his life on tour was a thousand times more interesting than her own.

“Packing,” he answered and she heard more things being tossed around.

“When are you coming home?” she pouted, looking angrily down at her distended belly as she lay on a lounge chair on the patio.

“Tomorrow before your appointment,” he told her even though she knew the answer and had been asking him every day for the past month, “You coming to pick me up?”

“No,” she groaned, “There’s no way I’m going to the airport like this. There will be so many girls there and I really don’t feel like having my picture taken and posted on the internet looking like a beached whale.”

“You’re beautiful,” he told her and she didn’t believe him for a second, “Should I grab a cab then?”

“You haven’t even seen me in months,” she grumbled, picking at the nail polish on her thumb, “And don’t worry about getting a cab, I’ll send Dad down to pick you up. He can bring Parker, I’m sure he’ll love that,” Nick let out an uneasy sigh at that suggestion and she wondered what the issue was, “Do you not want my Dad to come get you?”

“It’s not that,” he explained, “I’m just not sure about Parker coming to the airport. Like you said with the girls and all, he’s not used to that.”

“He’ll have to get used to it,” she reasoned, “It’s going to be his whole life. He’s three years old I imagine he will love the attention. Plus all those girls deserve to see you gushing over your little boy. It’ll distract them from trying to make out the outline of your dick in your jeans in their pictures.”

“That’s disgusting,” he said flatly.

Tina couldn’t help but giggle, “I’m sorry but you know it’s true. Their little teenybopper faces plastered to their computer screens, hoping for a little glimpse so they can have the proof they need.”

“What proof might that be?” he questioned sarcastically and she could tell he had rolled his eyes just from his tone.

“That you’re hung like a horse.”

They both burst into fits of laughter simultaneously and Nick was about to say something when she heard a knock on his end of the phone.

“Just a second,” he said, though she wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or to whoever was at the door.

With a sigh Tina looked around the backyard while he spoke to whoever had answered. She thought she heard Brian’s voice for a moment and was about to ask Nick to pass the phone over when he came back on the line.

“Baby, I gotta call you back okay?” he asked hurriedly.

“Is everything alright?” she wondered, noticing the sudden change in his tone.

“Yeah,” he lied, “I’ll call you back.”

The conversation ended without any more goodbyes, and Nick looked up to give Brian a quizzical look.

“Was that Tina?” Brian asked and Nick nodded.

“Yeah, I’m going home tomorrow. She has her last ultrasound in the afternoon. I missed the rest of them I figure I might as well be there for the final check up before the big day, right?”

They both chuckled uneasily and Nick got the feeling things had been happening outside of his room that he was completely unaware of.

“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Brian began nervously, “but you may have to change your plans.”

Nick was confused, not having seen anything on the schedule since they had a couple of days off, “Could you just be straight with me here? What’s going on?”

“Kevin’s going to be calling a band meeting in a few minutes I just wanted to give you a heads up because I know you had plans to go home.”

“I have plans,” Nick clarified.

Brian didn’t have a chance to contest any further before Kevin made his presence known in the hallway.

“My room,” the older man instructed, pointing to his door down the hall.

Nick and Brian shared a glance before following Kevin down the hallway to his hotel room, the youngest of the group wondering what the hell was going on.

When they walked into the suite the first thing that Nick noticed was that they weren’t alone. Two men in sharp suits, management he expected, were sitting on the couch waiting for them.

Howie was sitting in the corner gazing out the window and across the room two bodyguards looked on curiously.

“Glad we could get you all here on such short notice,” one of the suits spoke but Kevin interrupted.

“I’ll tell them,” he said, looking between his ‘brothers’, “AJ is gone.”

“What?” Nick questioned, confused, “Where is he?”

“We don’t know,” Kevin shrugged.

“It’s because you fought with him yesterday!” Nick theorized, “He probably just took off to blow off some steam.”

“We have a show tonight Nick, in case you forgot.”

“I didn’t forget that we have a show. I just mean that he’ll probably turn up before soundcheck.”

Kevin sighed and shook his head, “Listen, haven’t any of you noticed that he’s been partying an awful lot lately?”

Nick was once again quick to jump on the defence, not feeling right that they were talking about their friend without him there, “So what? We all party! He’s going through some shit let him have some fun. I can’t believe you’d go and rat him out, call management to come up here, all because you knocked on his door this morning and he didn’t answer.”

From the other side of the room Howie suddenly spoke, “I think he’s doing drugs.”

“We’ve all done drugs, big deal...”

“Nicky!” Howie’s stern voice was enough to make him stop since the other man rarely raised his voice to anyone, “Be serious here. I’m not talking smoking a little weed from time to time. I’m really concerned about him. I’m not just saying that to try and get him in trouble. I don’t know why you’re defending him when you have no idea what is going on. You never leave your room!”

Nick fought the urge to pout and do his usual whining routine, instead crossing his arms across his chest he looked between the men in the room, “He’ll be there for the show, I guarantee it. He’s fine; he’s just spending some time away from us. Starting tomorrow we’ll be off for a couple of days and he’ll feel better. I’m going home tomorrow, regardless of what he does so if I’m wrong and he’s not there tonight... you can take the cost to cancel the show off my pay cheque while I’m on my way to Florida.”

One of the suits laughed and gave Nick a quick up and down, “I’ll hold you to that, kiddo.”