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The Love of a Child
By Vicki © 2003

Meranda smiled as she looked at her daughter running around the park. She couldn’t believe that she had such a wonderful child and was raising her alone. The man that helped her create such a loving child didn’t even know that he was a father.
“ Grace come on it’s time to go home.” Meranda called out to her dark haired daughter.
“ Coming mommy.” Gracie said running for her mother. Meranda took her daughters hand and walked back towards their car.
“ How about we go and get some dinner then we can rent a movie. How does that sound?”
“ Sure mommy that sounds like fun. I don’t feel good.”
“ My poor baby. Are you catching a cold?” Meranda asked touching her daughter’s forehead, she could feel the warmth from her daughter and decided maybe they should stop at the doctor on the way home.

“ Miss Hunt?”
“ Yes.” Meranda said standing. She had been waiting in the waiting room for over an hour. The nurse had taken Gracie to the back for some tests.
“ We ran a few tests. We are keeping Gracie over night.”
“ Why? I just thought it was a cold.” Meranda said looking at him, concern written all over her face.
“ We have some concerns.”
“ And those are? This is my daughter we are talking about here. What is going on?”
“ Your daughter is very sick. I am very sorry.”
“ What do you mean sick?”
“ Your daughter has Lupus. We are going to run a few more tests to be sure. Would you like to see her now?”
“ Yes…yes please.”
“ Would you like us to call your husband?”
“ I’m not married.” Meranda said following the doctor into the room where her daughter was. Gracie looked towards her mom and held out her arms. Meranda walked into the room and pulled her small daughter into her arms.
“ Mommy.” Gracie said holding onto her tightly.
“ Hey sweetie. I am here. I am going to call uncle Nick later tonight and see if he wants to come over would you like that?”
“ Yes mommy. Can’t I go home?”
“ Not tonight baby.”
“ You’re staying with me right?”
“ Yep, you know mommy would never leave you alone. I am going to make a quick call, you take a nap ok?”
“ Ok mommy.” Gracie said closing her eyes. Meranda let a tear roll down her cheek.
“ My poor baby.” Meranda said brushing her daughter’s hair from her face. She looked so much like her father. Only one other person knew about Gracie now how was she going to tell the man that he was a father. Picking up the phone she dialed a familur number.
“ Hello?”
“ Nick, it’s Randy.”
“ Hey hon what’s up?” Nick asked. Meranda could hear other voices in the background.
“ Gracie is sick.”
“ Honey is she going to be alright?”
“ No.” Meranda said starting to cry.
“ What’s wrong?”
“ I’m at Orlando General can you bring AJ down.”
“ Alright we will be there soon.”
“ Room 214 just come in. Thanks Nick.”
“ Your welcome Randy.” Nick said hanging up.


Meranda looked at her sleeping child, how much she looked like her father, how much she had his energy and love of life. She remembered the day she had met him.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Flash Back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“ Hey Randy.”
“ Hey Nick.” Meranda said hugging her younger friend. It had been a few years since she had seen him. Nick pulled her into his arms and swung her around. Meranda giggled and finally kisses his cheek to get him to set her down.
“ Who are your friends?”
“ You remember Alex?” Nick said stepping aside so his friends could step forward.
“ I do. Nice to see you again Alex. Howe?” She asked looking at the shorter man.
“ Yep. Good to see you Randy.” Howie said hugging her.
“ I am Kevin and this is my cousin Brian. It’s nice of you to come to our show.”
“ I have family here and I was visiting.” Meranda said sitting down.
“ How long have you know Nick?”
“ I used to baby sit for his family when he was younger.”
“ How much younger can the boy get?” Howie asked giggling.
“ Much younger.”
“ How much older than him are you?”
“ Three years.” Meranda said “ or was it five. I can never recall.” She laughed.
“ Five years my dear.” Nick said sitting down next to her. But it was AJ that had caught her eye, his deep brown eyes and unhappy look seemed to touch her heart.


It only took her a few months to win AJ’s heart, they dated and where together as often as possible. One night she asked him the one question that tore them apart.
“ Alex.”
“ Yeah babe?”
“ What would you do, not that I am but what would you do if I where pregnant?”
“ We can’t have a child not right now. I am a child myself. I can’t raise one.” AJ said looking at her. Meranda nodded and turned away from him. While AJ slept she crept out of the home and left his life. There she stood her hand on her slightly swollen stomach tears rolling down her cheeks.
“ Goodbye my angel.” She said.
“ Come on. Time to go.” Nick said.
“ Thanks for doing this for me Nick.”
“ Hey I am your friend, I wont ever tell Alex about the baby.”
“ You’re the best.”
“ If you ever need anything just remember I am a phone call away.”
“ I know. Thanks.” Meranda said getting into the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It hurt more than anything in the world when she left him that day. No note nothing. She never gave him a reason for her leaving. But she watched his life and fame from afar. She still loved him deeply and it tore her up every time she saw him with another woman. But it was her that noticed he had changed and when he went into rehab she blamed her leaving him for his downward spiral. She knew he wasn’t drinking when she dated him but when she left she wondered if he had found refuge in the bottle to escape the loss he had felt. She had sent him birthday cards and Valentine’s Day cards. She wasn’t even sure why, but every year she did it without fail.

“ Miss Hunt?”
“ Yes.”
“ There is a Nick Carter here.”
“ Please let him come and who ever is with him.”
“ Alright.” The nurse said heading out of the room. Meranda looked up as Nick entered the room first.
“ Hey baby.” Nick said hugging her close. He could feel her tears soak his shirt.
“ Sorry.” She said pulling away whipping the tears away from her face. She looked towards the door and saw AJ standing there.
“ It’s been a long time.” AJ said hugging her.
“ Yes it has.” Meranda said pulling away from him. AJ looked at her and then towards the small form that lay sleeping on the bed.
“ How about we go somewhere so she can sleep.” Nick suggested.
“ Yeah that sounds good. Meranda said. She followed the group as they entered the small waiting room, Nick closed the door and watched her stair at the floor.
“ Why are we here?” Brian asked.
“ Gracie is sick.” Meranda said looking at them.
“ And Gracie is?” AJ asked. Meranda held back a sob and looked away from them.
“ My daughter.” She said quietly. AJ looked at her strangely.
“ Your daughter?”
“ Our daughter.” Meranda said, her voice barely heard. AJ stood, his face now red with anger.
“ What? What do you mean our daughter?” AJ asked as his voice began to raise.
“ Just what I said Our Daughter Alex. She knows who her father is, just her father doesn’t know who she is.” Meranda said fighting the tears.
“ You never told me I had a daughter.”
“ You told me you didn’t want a child.” Meranda said looking at him.
“ You said that as a question. You never said you where pregnant.”
“ That was all the answer I needed to hear you didn’t want a child. So I called Nick and I left.”
“ You knew.” AJ said looking at Nick.
“ Yep, we all did.” Nick said looking at him. AJ growled and slammed his fist into the wall.
“ Alex there is no reason to be angry about this. You know about her now.” Brian said.
“ The hell I don’t. My daughter is here sick. I don’t even know what she has.”
“ Lupus.” Meranda said tears rolling down her cheeks. Howie gasped from the corner he was sitting in.
“ Why wasn’t I told sooner that she was mine?” AJ shouted at her.
“ Because you said you didn’t want a child. I was scared of what you’d do so I left.”
“ But six years Randy, six years.” AJ shouted.
“ She’s been to one of your concerts, I’ve played all your music and she’s got a picture of you on her nightstand. I always made sure she knew who her father was. I wasn’t sure how you’d react to her. And now I know.”
“ You’ve lied to me for six years.” AJ said, Meranda nodded and stood and left the room.