"AJ, relax. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for all of this." Nick said calmly, although his face was void of color. He was not happy at all, not happy that he had shown up, especially after everything.
"I'll go talk to him." Amanda said, but Nick stopped her mid step.
"Baby, please...." he begged. He didn't want her to talk to Lance. This was her former husband, the man who walked out on her and Celine. Nick didn't want Amanda to deal with this on her own, but she knew she had to talk to him.
"I have to do this, Nick. For both of us." she told him softly. Amanda walked down the beach to the deck behind their house.
"What are you doing here, Lance?" Amanda demanded, crossing her arms and glaring into his green eyes. She had not seen him since he had walked out on her at New Year's. He didn't look all that different, except the slight stubble on his chin. He was wearing jeans and a grey shirt, his hair spiked with hair gel as it always was.
"Amanda...."
"What are you doing here, Lance?" she said sternly, cutting him off.
"I came to talk to you." he replied softly, glancing over her shoulder at the stares everyone was giving him. He shifted uncomfortably, and for the first time since they had met, Amanda could see that he looked nervous.
"You better not be here to start trouble, haven't you done enough-"
"I'm not here for that. I want to talk to you." Lance interrupted.
"Okay....so talk then."
"Can we go somewhere a bit more private?" he asked, his eyes pleading with her. They moved into the house. Lance had never been to Nick's house before. He looked around and took everything in, it was well decorated and cozy. The two of them sat there, nobody saying anything for quite a long time.
"I thought you wanted to talk." Amanda said coldly, not looking at him.
"Amanda, you have every right to be mad at me for what I did to you." Lance began. Amanda privately agreed, he had walked out on her and left her with a 6 month old baby.
"You're damn right I was angry, Lance!" Amanda shouted. He looked away from her, ashamed.
"I'm sorry for walking out on you. I should have supported you."
"What?"
"I'm sorry.....for leaving. It was wrong of me to do that the way I did.." Lance said, looking right at her. Amanda stared at him in surprise.
"Lance you did a lot of screwed up things." she told him.
"I hurt you, but can I tell you why I did that? It was because of Nick." he explained.
"Nick has everything he could want. He had the perfect childhood, a great career and all the money he needed. He had a family, and I had nothing. You were the last thing I had. That baby was so important to me, I wanted to be a father so bad. So when Katie told me Celine wasn't mine, I snapped." Lance said, his eyes watering.
"Wait....Katie told you? When was this?" Amanda demanded. She had never asked how he found out that Nick was Celine's father. Lance closed his eyes, thinking back to Christmas.
"Remember when I took that business trip to NY back in December?"
"Yeah I do."
"Well Katie and I ran into each other, she told me everything. I got so angry.....I wanted to...."
"Lance, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about Celine, Nick didn't want to hurt you. He gave up his rights to her and named you the father." Amanda said, not feeling as angry as she was.
"Nick did that for me?"
"Yes, he did. Oh, and by the way, Nick's life was far from perfect....his dad left at the age of 5 and his mother beat the shit out of him! He had a very horrible childhood, and your picking on him did not help matters." she said angrily. Lance looked at his feet, ashamed with himself.
"I tried everything I could to keep you and Nick apart. I called my uncle... He works for RCA. I told him he should sign Nick because I thought if he got a music career it would keep him away from you."
Amanda stared at him in stunned silence. Lance was so desperate to hold onto her he practically handed Nick his record deal.
"Nick got that audition because of you?"
Lance nodded before continuing.
"Yes. I was just so desperate. I didn't want to lose you because I saw how much he loved you. He loved you since we were kids. I saw it after you went to prom together and it just drove me insane. I was a terrible person. A horrible person."
"Lance..." Amanda began, but he continued.
"I blamed Nick for most of my problems. He seemed so happy. My mother died when I was born, and my father was a wrestler, so he wasn't around. He passed away just before graduation. Nick had you and Brian. He had good friends, I only had Joey. " he said softly. He wiped his eyes before speaking again.
"So when I heard that Nick was the father of Celine, I wanted to get rid of him....to keep him away from you. So I suggested that she marry him."
"Katie tricked him into marrying her the night you walked out on me. How ironic." Amanda scoffed.
"Well, I felt bad afterwards for everything I did...so I tried to make up for it. I convienently left some pictures on Nick's porch for his birthday of Katie, she was cheating on him the whole time and I caught her in New York." Lance
explained. Amanda was impressed, she never would have expected him to do that, to help Nick or do something nice for him.
"That was considerate of you," she stated with a smile.
"Well, I felt horrible. I have done so much to him, I felt I owed him at least that much." Lance replied, before seeing Nick in the doorway.
"Nick..." he whispered as he stood up. Amanda looked up and saw Nick was smiling, his eyes tearing. Lance walked over and pulled Nick into a hug, and Nick's smile turned to confusion.
"Why is he hugging me?" Nick asked, looking at Amanda.
"Its his way of saying he's sorry, I guess...." she said, smiling as Nick accepted the apology and they shook hands.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for all the support so far, please enjoy this chapter!
