November 21, 2001 Tokyo, Japan/Tampa, Florida

“Happy Birthday Dear Parker, Happy Birthday to you!”

Most people would say Parker was a lucky boy. Many would kill to have all five Backstreet Boys serenade them on their birthday in pitch perfect harmonies. But at the same time, it was those people standing between Parker and being with his father on his birthday.

A lot had happened since Nick had left Florida to go back on tour. The world had become a dangerous place after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. The boys had been stuck at the border, then stuck in Canada, and now were bogged down with endless hours of security problems trying to get onto planes and into other countries to tour. Nick had wanted to fly his family out to Japan again so they could be together on Parker’s birthday but it was just too much to expect Tina to go through all the rigmarole at the airport with a toddler and a four month old. It wasn’t worth it.

Instead Nick had made sure that he would be free for at least an hour, and had set up a computer so he could talk online with Parker and share his birthday dinner with him. Of course once he told the other boys of his plans they felt compelled to join in and it had turned into a cross continent birthday party.

Despite hearing his father’s voice and seeing his father’s face on the computer monitor Parker had maintained a scowl through the entire video call. Tina knew it was because of deep seeded disappointment that he couldn’t go to Japan to actually be with his father. The kid was three and already was pouting about not being able to go on vacation. Of course, Parker had no real concept of where Japan was or how much effort it would take to get there. He just knew it was on the other side of the computer screen, where his Dad was.

Tina held out a cupcake with a candle stuck in it for Parker to blow out, a nearly identical cupcake to the one that Nick had in Tokyo (a challenge neither of them realized would be so difficult to accomplish) but the boy wouldn’t blow it out. Instead he just continued to pout, looking more and more the Carter that he was.

“Parker,” Brian called out through the screen, “Aren’t you going to blow out the candle and make a wish?”

“No,” Parker pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. He made a point of turning away from the offensive cupcake and Tina sighed in frustration.

With a nearly identical sigh Nick rubbed his forehead, “C’mon Parker, blow out the candle. Daddy wants to eat his cupcake too and he can’t until you blow out the candle!”

When Parker again shook his head Tina heard AJ laugh in the background, “He sure is your kid, isn’t he Nicky?”

Nick glared over at his friend then turned back to his son who was sitting in his office chair back in Florida, “Forget the candle Parker, how about we open some presents? Did the mail man come with all the presents from me?” he asked, knowing full well that the box had arrived since he had practically sold his soul over to FedEx to make sure it would get there on time.

“Let’s open this one first,” Tina suggested, handing Parker a perfectly wrapped present, clearly the handiwork of one of the Boy’s assistants.

“No,” Parker repeated, using his favourite word of the moment and Tina could sense the start of what she liked to call a ‘whine-on-a-dime tantrum’.

“Come on,” she tried to encourage, “It’s from Daddy! He sent it all the way from Japan!”

Reluctantly Parker took the gift into his hands, stared at it for a moment then threw it to the floor dramatically, “I don’t want it!” he screamed, big fat tears suddenly running rampant down his chubby cheeks.

The other boys took the screaming child as their cue to leave the room, each of them giving Nick a supportive slap on the back as they left his suite. Nick had no choice but to watch helplessly from the other side of the world as Tina tried to pull the toddler into her arms to comfort him.

Parker struggled against her, his little hands reaching for the screen, “I want Daddy!” he cried and Nick was fairly certain he felt his heart break, just a little.

“Daddy is right there!” Tina sighed heavily, just hanging on as Parker thrashed himself around, trying to get away from her.

“Just put him down,” Nick encouraged her, running his hands through his hair with frustration, “You have to let him cry it out.”

Tina glared at him through the webcam, “You’re not the one that has to be here listening to it!”

“I’m right here!” he snapped in return, “I’m listening to it! Put him down and just let him throw his tantrum. If you keep fighting him he’s only going to get worse.”

Knowing he was right Tina laid Parker down on the floor where he kept screaming and crying, getting his whole body into it, “I’m sorry Nick,” she said honestly as she turned back to the computer, “I know how hard you tried to make this work out.”

Nick tried to shrug it off, distracting himself by picking a piece of fluff off of his hoodie, “Whatever, it’s fine. We’ll just have his birthday when I get back.”

“When will that be?” Tina wondered, “You’re going to miss Thanksgiving tomorrow, should we expect you home by Christmas? When are you guys going to Sweden to record?”

Tina watched as Nick did a quick glance around the room, then he was momentarily gone from the picture and she heard his door shut, “About that...”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to miss Christmas?” she asked disappointedly.

Quickly he shook his head, “No, I’ll be home for Christmas. I might be home for a while actually.”

“Well that’s great!” Tina smiled but she didn’t see Nick return the sentiment, “You don’t seem happy about it.”

“No, I am,” he corrected, “It’s just... well, I think AJ is drinking again. I overheard Kevin and Howie talking with someone from Management and they were discussing cancelling the next leg of the tour and not going to Stockholm to record for a while. I think Alex is going back to rehab. From what I can see, he's really not doing any better. He's just sliding back into the same old habits.”

“Oh...” Tina said, feeling bad for both AJ and the others for what a crappy tour they’d had. Between everything that had happened with AJ, terrorists, the death of a crew member, and Nick being unfocused because of his family issues, it had been a real challenge.

“I don’t know how long we’re going to be off. Probably a month or so, like last time, but at least I’ll be home right? We could go down to the Keys and see my parents or something.”

The crying stopped as suddenly as it had started and Tina looked behind her to see that Parker was now standing up, wiping his face and sniffling.

“Well,” Tina said as she turned back to Nick, “I know of two people that would be more than happy to have you home for a while.”

“Only two?” he asked with the hint of a smile.

Pulling Parker into her lap Tina grinned and blew Nick a kiss, “Maybe there’s three. Come home soon and be safe, okay? We love you.”

“I love you too,” he told her then waved at Parker, “Happy Birthday buddy.”