September 02, 2001 Tampa, Florida

It was unnatural, how eerily silent the house was. Tina cautiously made her way down the stairs, wondering where Nick and Wes had gone. She quickly made a check of Nick’s office, and opened the basement door that lead down to his studio but still she heard nothing.

As she made her way through the house her ears finally picked up some sound. It was talking – no, yelling – coming from outside. The windows were shut because of the air conditioning and the patio door was so thick it muffled all the sounds from the backyard.

Tina picked up the pace, worried about what Nick would do given how irrational he could get when he was mad. His temper was not something that people wanted to experience.

It was through the large floor to ceiling windows in the kitchen that Tina finally saw them. Wes was lying on the ground with Nick standing over him, his fist held in the air threateningly.

“How you gonna disrespect me like that?!” she heard Nick yell as she opened the patio door.

“Nick!” Tina snapped, trying to sound stern, “Stop it! Just let it go!”

Nick turned to her, his fist full of Wes’ shirt, “Let it go?” he continued to yell, “This motherfucker comes into my house, MY HOUSE, and hits on my wife while my baby girl is sleeping in the same room!? Fuck that!”

“Nick,” Wes was pleading with his friend, “It was just a miscommunication.”

“Shut the fuck up! Nobody asked you!”

Wes used the distraction to make a move and break himself free of the other man’s grasp. There was a scuffle but he managed to get away from Nick. That was when Tina noticed the full extent of the damage. Wes’ nose and top lip were bleeding, much like the back of Nick’s hand.

Though Tina should have been using the opportunity to talk Nick off a cliff she was instead stuck on the fact that he had referred to her as his wife, the first time she had ever heard the words come from his mouth.

“Tina...” Wes’ voice grabbed her attention and she looked up to see the man giving her a pleading look, probably wanting her to calm Nick down, which, judging from the way he’d turned red, was going to be impossible.

Nick instantly pounced on the other man, grabbing him again, “Don’t you fucking talk to her! Don’t even look at her!”

“Nick!” Tina yelled, her voice laden with frustration at his machismo, “You’re overreacting!” she said, moving to wrap her arms around his midsection to try and pull him off Wes.

“Yeah, Nick,” Wes said nervously, “You’re overreacting.”

With the criticism Nick exploded into another fit of rage, throwing his arm back to get in a good shot at Wes. His elbow smacked Tina solidly in the eye and she cursed, moving away from the two quickly.

“You two are idiots!” she yelled, holding her face. She watched as Nick’s punch turned into the two of them rolling on the patio stones for a second time, each trying to get the upper hand.

They broke apart and Tina took advantage of both men trying to get back onto their feet. She crossed the patio and caught Nick off guard as he started to stand, pushing him over into the pool.

She then turned to Wes, hands firmly on her hips, “Get out of my house! I will not tolerate any more of this bullshit! If you want to act like little boys do it somewhere else!”

Wes held his hands up in defence, muttered an apology then turned to hightail it out off their property, not wanting to risk having to resort to fisticuffs with Nick again.

“And you!” she yelled, turning on Nick who was now standing in the pool looking up at her pitifully. She moved to sit on the edge of the pool, sticking her bare feet into the water, “You’re my hero.”

“I am?” Nick asked, hesitantly moving through the water towards her, “You’re not mad that I started a fight?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think your display of testosterone was completely uncalled for,” she laughed, “but I appreciate it none the less.”

“Did he hit you?” Nick’s voice was laden with concern and Tina reached up to touch her tender red eye with a chuckle.

“No, but you did,” she grinned.

“Shit,” he let out a heavy breath, “I am so sorry. We’ll have to get some ice on it.”

Tina waved him off, not worried about it since she knew it was an accident. Her expression getting more serious she sighed, “I was really worried you were going to take his side.”

As soon as he reached her knees Nick wrapped his arms around her, “I heard everything, Baby. I heard you tell him to get lost, I heard you say no. I know you’re not like that.”

Tina sighed and ran her hands through Nick’s wet hair, “I didn’t see that coming,” she admitted.

“I did,” Nick countered, “he’s been eyeing you for a while now. I just didn’t expect that he would be quite so brazen.”

“I’m sorry,” Tina apologized, “I know he was your friend. I hate that I may have ruined that.”

“Oh it’s ruined,” Nick clarified, “but don’t blame yourself. He’s not the first friend I’ve gone through and he certainly won’t be the last. I have other friends.”

“About that...” she trailed off, hugging him as he leaned forward to kiss her collarbone, “I heard what your friends were saying about me earlier.”

“What were they saying?” he asked, his lips dropping onto her neck a second time.

Tina sighed and pulled away so she could look him in the eye, “That I’m fat and boring.”

“That’s it,” Nick said jokingly, “no more single friends. Only couples are allowed over.”

“You’re missing the point.”

“No, I’m not,” he disagreed, “You’re beautiful. That’s the reason I wanted to meet you, the reason why I spent a whole weekend with you, the reason I stayed with you and the reason why I plan on spending my life with you. You’re a beautiful person inside and out. I don’t care what they think. They think they’re so perfect and interesting? Hardly! Besides, calling you fat is calling me fat because I think I put on as much, if not more, baby weight than you did.”

Tina smiled and hugged him again, “You kinda did, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “but I’m okay with it. I go back on tour in a few days I’ll just skip a couple of meals.”

“I love you,” Tina told him seriously, actually feeling certain about that statement for once considering she often wondered what she was doing with him.

“Good, because I love you,” Nick smiled and kissed her lips quickly before moving to get out of the pool, “Now let’s go take care of our war wounds, get the kids up from their naps and find something for dinner because I’m starving.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten drunk this afternoon,” Tina teased, watching him walk towards the house in search of ice and band-aids.

“Everyone’s a critic,” Nick chuckled, winking at her before heading in the patio door.

Tina was dumbfounded. Half the time, she could barely get him to commit to her and now he was fighting his friends over her. It made her consider that maybe he was serious about keeping all those promises.