July 08, 2005 Cleveland Ohio

Her bangs were not cooperating. The stress of having a bad hair day was only intensifying the nerves that were running through Tina's veins. She was standing in the elevator on the way up to Nick's condo yanking on the front of her long brown hair, desperate to get it to lay flat. It wasn't that she cared that he would see her with her straight cut bangs looking silly it was mostly for the principle of it all. Or at least that is what she had vowed to keep telling herself.

All afternoon she had been kicking herself for accepting his invitation to dinner. It had been challenging to explain to Ryan why she had to cancel their dinner plans so that she could go over to her ex's but Nick had conveniently used Zoey as an excuse for them to get together. It sounded much more believable that she would reschedule their date for the sake of her daughter's fourth birthday than because she secretly wanted to see what Nick had been up to for the last three years. She had heard enough from her mother, that both kids were terrors to be with when they were with him and she did feel a little bad. She'd had her own challenges as the two of them adjusted to being in a divided family but she had dealt them. She suspected that Nick didn't know what to do and it had gotten out of control.

There had been a few times where she missed him but for the most part she was loving what had become of her life. She had even been considering going back to school, taking some kind of clerical or administrative course so that she might get a more consistent, better paying job. Not that she didn't love working at the store but shift work was not ideal when raising two children and the pay was a bit less than ideal. She had become so used to being alone even when they were together that being apart was only better. Not only could she continue to take care of the kids the same way she had when Nick was touring but she was out from under his thumb. She could spent money when she wanted to, go places when she wanted to, really do whatever she wanted without having to report to her caretaker.

The fact that Nick seemed to be struggling while she succeeded made her strangely happy. It wasn't that she wanted him to be unhappy she just wanted him to realize how hard her life had been before.

The elevator came to a stop with a ding and Tina let out a heavy breath, taking one more moment to check her hair and makeup before she stepped off the lift and into the lion's den.

Her manicured finger pressed the doorbell and she waited patiently, mentally preparing herself for how she would react when the door swung open and Nick was standing on the other side. She chose a confident facial expression as the door knob started to turn and she looked up, expecting someone much taller than herself. When all she saw was hallway her gaze immediately dropped down, surprised to see that it was Parker that opened the door. He looked so much like Nick, she noted, from the shade of his ocean blue eyes right down to the way his shiny blonde hair fell into his eyes.

"Mommy!" the boy smiled, tossing his arms around her middle with a smile.

"Uh, hi," Tina laughed nervously and moved them both into the apartment, shutting the door behind her, "Are you allowed to open the door?"

Parker stared up at her and rolled his eyes while Tina held back a laugh. The boy was old enough to do so many things that he would never be allowed to do, she knew it frustrated him. Given Nick's celebrity status they never quite knew who was going to be at the other side of the door, or on the other end of the phone so those kinds of things were restricted to adults only. It had calmed down considerably since the boys went on hiatus but the caution was still there. The last thing Nick wanted was for some crazy to get their hands on his son, and Tina could understand his hesitation. Parker on the other hand, could not.

Her questions were answered when she heard Nick holler down the hall about him answered the door and she gave Parker a knowing look, "Listen to your father," she warned the boy sternly before he had a chance to reply to Nick.

It felt chaotic in the small space; Parker full of attitude, Nick in a bathrobe and Zoey crying yet again. She silently wondered what she'd gotten herself into when she'd agreed to come for dinner.

~*~

A loud clang from the kitchen made both Tina and Parker look up from their game of Monopoly Junior. Another crash was followed by a frustrated grunt and Tina chuckled.

"Do you need a hand?" she called out, her fingers still on her game piece.

"No!" Nick called back innocently and she shook her head with a smile, returning to the game.

As she moved her piece around the board she glanced at Parker who was kneeling on his seat, leaning over the table, "What are we having for dinner?" she asked him, reaching out to push his hair behind his ear. He needed a haircut but Nick's hair was long so Parker was keeping his long too no matter how much Tina complained.

Parker made a face, "Spaghetti."

"You love spaghetti," she pointed out with a laugh, surprised to hear him talk so negatively about pasta since he practically lived on the stuff.

The boy shrugged and picked up the dice, tossing them down before moving his token around the board, "Dad doesn't make it like you do."

"Of course he does," Tina dismissed him, "Daddy has my secret recipe. I gave it to him."

Parker looked somewhat skeptical but Tina kept smiling, "Really?" he asked and she nodded convincingly. The boy let out a heavy breath and ran his hands through his hair, "Well he should have said that!"

"Would it have changed everything?" she chuckled at his over dramatic tendencies again reminding her of who his father was.

"Yes!" Parker exclaimed seriously.

Another loud crash from the kitchen was followed by a string of expletives so colourful that Tina felt compelled to lean over and cover Parker's ears.

"I'm going to go help your father," Tina laughed, "Otherwise we may never get to eat today. Why don't you teach Zoey how to play?" she asked, motioning to the girl who was sitting in a little pink foam Disney Princess chair playing with her toys.

"She's too little, she tries to eat the pieces," Parker complained and started to clean the game up with an annoyed grunt.

Tina just shook her head at his frustration and made her way into the kitchen. The kitchen, like the rest of the condo, was large. It was nicely decorated with buffed grey marble counter tops and jet black cabinets with stainless steel appliances throughout. Big windows flooded the room with clean light, making what would normally seem dark and dingy look brilliantly bright.

Nick was standing next to the double wall oven with his finger stuck in his mouth, a cookie sheet with what appeared to be garlic bread laying on the floor next to him. He jumped in surprise when he saw Tina in the kitchen and she just raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Let me guess," she said casually, moving close enough to pull his finger out of his mouth. She pulled him by the hand over to the sink and turned on the cold water, sticking his index finger under the stream, "You remembered to stock this place with everything imaginable but you didn't buy oven mitts?"

Nick blushed and nodded, not knowing what to say. He was torn over whether he should try and engage her in conversation or let her make all the moves.

"What were you using?" Tina teased, "Your bare hands?"

"No," Nick said defensively, his cheeks still tinged pink with embarassment, "The sleeves of my shirt."

Tina turned his wrist until she could see the underside of the blue button up shirt he was wearing over a white t-shirt. A burn mark was singed into the cuff almost as if he'd had an issue ironing rather than an issue in the kitchen.

"Let me show you a trick. Move," she laughed and without even thinking about it swatted him out of the way with a slap to his right butt cheek.

They both froze wide eyed for a split second looking in opposite directions. Tina was kicking herself for what she'd done and Nick was fighting the urge to comment on it.

He cleared his throat and turned so his back was to the cupboards, "So uh... what's the trick?"

"Right," Tina nodded and picked up two tea towels from a towel rack, "Just... use the towels," she responded, her voice still unsteady. She bent over to pick the pan up off the floor and could swear she felt Nick's eyes on her ass.

She quickly stood up and turned, locking eyes with him. Nick resisted the urge to push her hair out of her face and sighed, "Good trick," he said quietly and she nodded.

"Are we eating yet?!" Parker yelled into the kitchen from the dining room and their eyes snapped to the door nervously, "I'm hungry!"

"Yeah," Nick called back, his voice shaky. He again cleared his throat, looking quickly from Tina back to the entryway, "We'll be right there."