When she’d dreamed of Nick Carter in her bed, this wasn’t at all how she’d imagined it going. Her scream startled Drew so much that he started to cry, and the large, blonde lump under the down comforter shot upwards and started screaming back at her.

“AAAHHH! Who are you? What are you doing in my bedroom?!”

“Excuse me? Your bedroom? Last I heard, this was supposed to be my room this week. Did you not notice the crib in the corner and the purple luggage up against the wall?”

“What?! Where the hell am I?”

Annie immediately brought a hand up to one of Drew’s ears and pressed his other ear against her chest. “Watch your language, please. Tiny, impressionable ears here!”

Nick looked at the whimpering baby in her arms. “AAAHH! Where did that come from?!” This prompted Drew to start wailing at the top of his lungs.

Brian appeared at the doorway looking pissed. “Nickolas Gene Carter! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Ssshhh, B-Rok!” Nick brought a finger up to his lips. “Tiny, impressionable ears!” He pointed to the screaming toddler, who was pawing at Annie’s shirt and burying his red face in her chest.

“I told you to go sleep in the blue room. Why are you in Annie’s room?” Brian brought his voice down a notch and crossed the room to Annie and Drew, placing a reassuring hand on Drew’s back.

“I thought you said go sleep in your room! My room!” Nick exclaimed.

“This is not your room,” Brian hissed. “And why are you still in Annie’s bed?”

“Who the he---” Nick shot a glance at Drew. “Who is Annie?!” Annie slapped her hand against her forehead and shook her head in disbelief. “And if you must know......I’m not wearing any pants.”

Brian looked at Annie and sighed. “I’m sorry. He’s not usually like this.” He paused. “Actually, he is usually like this, he’s just not generally intoxicated these days.” He glared at Nick, who bit his bottom lip nervously and shrugged.

“My uh....my pants are over there,” he stammered, pointing towards the en-suite bathroom. “If someone could, uh...get them for me, I’d be happy to leave.” Brian marched across the room, grabbed the pair of dark-washed jeans that were pooled on the floor, rolled them into a ball, and chucked them at Nick’s face. “Woah, easy man!”

“You and I need to talk,” Brian growled. Nick gulped and nodded silently.

Annie’s eyes darted back and forth between the two men. She’d never seen Brian angry, and at this very moment he was absolutely livid. Not that she’d known Brian for very long, but before knowing him personally, she’d seen countless concert and television appearances, and never once had angry been an emotion he’d conveyed. Truth be told, it was kind of sexy. Then, there was Nick. Guilty, clueless Nick. Guilty, clueless, pantsless Nick with bedhead -- in her bed. It was kind of....well, it was kind of ridiculous. In a way, this entire scene was exactly what her teenage dreams were made of. Yet, it was much, much weirder. She shook her head back and forth rapidly to clear her thoughts and looked down at Drew. He had stopped crying and was resting his head lazily on her shoulder, his eyelids drooping heavily. “You know, I think I’ll just grab a suitcase and head across the hall for the night. You two can talk in here.” She stooped down, grabbed the long suitcase handle, and began rolling it towards the door. “Brian, do you care to roll the crib in there for me?”

“Oh, no, Annie. You don’t have to do that....You are Annie, aren’t you?” Nick threw the covers off of his legs and started to get up.

Annie dropped the suit case and held her hand up towards him, turning her head away. “Please. Don’t get up. Yes, I’m Annie. I’d say nice to meet you, but, well....”

Nick quickly pulled the sheet and comforter back over him, the color rising in his face. “Sorry. Really, though. I’m an as--- a butt. I have no business here in your bed. I just didn’t know what I was doing. As a matter of fact, I’m still pretty fuzzy. Now, who are you again?”

Annie blew a stray curl out of her eyes. “That’s right you have no business in my bed,” she muttered to herself. “You’re already in my bed. With no pants on, I might add, so please, just stay where you are for the night. I will take back possession of my room in the morning. Why don’t we just wait until in the morning for introductions as well?”

Nick grinned. “I’ll look forward to it.” Annie rolled her eyes, turned on her heel, and left. Brian shook his head at Nick and followed her out, rolling the crib along with him.

He reappeared in the doorway moments later with his arms crossed across his chest.

“Spill it, Nick.”

“Spill what? At the moment, the only thing I feel like spilling is my lunch, and that was hours ago. I’m not sure there would be much left.” He placed a hand gingerly on his stomach for emphasis.

Brian sighed and grabbed a nearby chair. He pulled it up beside the bed and plopped down into it, then leaned forward with his forearms on his elbows and looked up at Nick. “Why in the world did you show up unannounced on my doorstep this evening? And drunk, no less.”

Nick chewed on his thumb nail. “Who’s Annie?” he asked in a muffled voice.

“You first.”

“Actually, Brian, I think you have some ‘splainin to do,” he said with his best Ricky Ricardo impression (which was terrible). “Why is there a beautiful woman with a baby living in your guest room? Mistress and love child?”

“Nick....” Brian wasn’t amused. “I met her in Kentucky. She was there when Baylee broke his arm.”

“So, you brought her down to Atlanta for a visit?”

“Well, we became good friends. She sings. She sings really well actually, and she’s going to do some work with me on my new album.”

“Hmmm....interesting.” Nick rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Are you sure the kid’s not yours? What’s a pretty girl like that doing here without a baby daddy?”

“Nick, I’m not talking about this any more with you right now. You can meet her tomorrow, and she will answer any questions she feels like answering, okay?”

“Are you her baby daddy?”

“NO!”

Nick held his hands up in defense. “Gee, Brian. Don’t get so defensive.”

“Why are you here, Nick?” Brian asked seriously.

Nick shrugged. “Like I said before, I just wanted to see my Frick. I missed you.” He pouted dramatically.

“The tour only ended only a month ago, Nick. We’ve gone a year or two at a time without seeing each other.”

“And I think that’s a shame. Don’t you?”

“Fine,” Brian huffed. “Why were you drunk?”

“Oh, you know how it goes. Pretty twenty-something stewardess in first class recognizes you and asks what she can get you to drink. Pretty soon, it’s one tequila, two tequila...” He brought up one finger at a time, counting. “Three tequila, floor.”

“But WHY???” Nick shrugged and Brian groaned in frustration. He straightened up in his chair and crossed his arms indignantly. “I’ve got all night.”

“Okay.” Nick matched Brian’s stance and leaned back against the headboard, then the staring contest ensued.

Ten minutes later, Leighanne strolled into the room with a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin. She placed them both on the nightstand and brought her hands to her hips. “Good to see you, Nick. How’s Lauren?”