The weeks passed by quickly. Valentine's Day had come and gone as had Brian's birthday. It was now early March. More than a month had passed since the concert.

Producers had been flown down to Atlanta to work with catching Brian up on recording until the other Boys finished their mini-tour. Collectively, they decided that it was probably better for Brian to sit the rest of the shows out. He didn't really know the new songs that well and this way, by the time the small tour was finished, he would be right on track with the rest of the group so that the album didn't have to be pushed back too much further. They didn't think that the fans would mind so much that the album was being pushed back, so long as Brian was on it; however, they didn't think that it was fair to keep them waiting for too long. The fans had been waiting for over five years already.

The tour was winding down this week in New York City. The rest of the group was already going to be there, so the management agreed that this would be a good time to have Brian come in and re-sign his contract.

Alexa had urged Brian months ago for them to fly to New York instead of taking the 12-hour drive. Anyone who has ever so much as visited New York City knows that it's impossible to navigate the streets. Driving all the way there would have been a stupid idea.

They had decided to fly in a couple of days early so that they could enjoy the city before Brian was put to work. Now, they were in the waiting area in front of their gate, waiting for their early morning flight to be called. Alexa was sitting in one of the gray metal chairs with both of their carry-on bags lying next to her. Brian, however, was pacing nervously.

Alexa crossed her legs and leaned her head back against the top to the chair. “Do you need me to get you a sedative or something, Bri?”

Brian glared at her and exhaled deeply, obviously not up to talking.

Alexa yawned and leaned up, reaching out to him. “Brian, you're fine. I'm here with you. We're going to be okay. Thousands of planes fly out every day. I know that you have this terrible association with airplanes, but what happened to Hayden is a once-in-a-lifetime occurance, okay?”

Brian sighed and took her hand. “I'm fine.” He replied simply.

Alexa nodded and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “Okay, if you say so.”

“I do.” Brian replied, then began pacing again. He was humming softly to himself.

Alexa looked over at him and smiled. “What are you singing?”

Brian licked his lips and glanced over at her. “I'm rehearsing.”

“Did you join a Broadway production and forget to tell me or something?” Alexa joked, really wanting to be able to break the tension, although she knew that he would probably be this high-strung until the plane landed and he was kissing the ground.

“No,” Brian remarked, seriously. “It's new.”

Alexa nodded. “Why don't you come sit down, Baby?”

Brian sighed and tried his best to smile. He knew that he was worrying her, but he wasn't able to calm his nerves. This was the first time that he'd been further than the security section of the airport in years. He'd flown thousands of times before, but his wife had died on an airplane. Of course that instance was the exception, not the rule, but in Brian's case the exception outweighed the rule. “I just need to stand up. I'm too jittery to sit down, but I'm fine. I promise.” He leaned down and kissed her softly.

Alexa sighed and gave up trying to calm him down. She knew at this point that it was beyond her control. One flight and Brian would be fine. Maybe they should have taken a quick flight from Atlanta to Savannah to ease his nerves?

Suddenly a representative from Continental Airlines broke into both Brian and Alexa's thoughts. “Continental Airlines flight 4452 from Atlanta to New York city is now boarding first class passengers. Continental Airlines flight 4452.”

Brian sighed deeply and extended his hand to Alexa. “That's us.”

Alexa nodded and took his extended hand. She grabbed her carry-on and handed Brian his own. “Are you ready?”

Brian shrugged, though he could feel his nerves pinging around inside of him. “As ready as I'm going to be.”

Alexa took his hand as they walked to the gate. They handed the flight attendant their tickets and then disappeared through the long jet way.

------

Three hours later, their plane arrived safely to New York City. As soon as the flight attendant announced that it was safe to leave the plane, Brian practically took a run for it, leaving Alexa trailing slowly behind. As she stepped through the gateway, she stopped and looked around for Brian. Where the hell did he go? She asked herself, laughing. Suddenly, she spotted Brian waiting for her at the end of the row of seats in front of her and she walked slowly over to him.

“Thanks for leaving me back there, Brian.” Alexa joked.

“I'm sorry.” He replied with a grin. “We made it and that's all fine and good, but I needed to get off of that plane before it exploded or something.”

“Brian!” Alexa exclaimed swatting him playfully. “You don't say something like that in the airport. You'll get arrested.”

Brian laughed and took Alexa's hand. “Then let's get out of here before the police come after me.”

They walked down to baggage claim, retrieved their suitcases and then took a cab to their hotel. As they walked into their room, Brian threw the bags down onto the king-sized bed.

“Don't you have a house here?” Brian remarked smirking. “I still don't see what we're doing in a hotel.”

“Brian.” Alexa responded, sighing. “We've been through this. I have a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. You don't want anything to do with that, I swear.”

Brian shrugged. “I'd like to at least see it before we leave.”

“Fine. We'll stop by, but the place is probably a mess and it's tiny and when I say tiny I mean about the size of your bedroom.” Alexa argued. She really didn't want to take Brian anywhere near her former life. It was bad enough that he would be stepping into the hallways of Jive Records soon.

Brian rolled his eyes. “Aly, I don't care about how big your apartment is, I just want you to let me in. I still haven't even met your sister yet, but you know my whole family and all of my friends.”

Alexa shrugged. “I have no problem with you meeting my sister. She's only a subway ride away. We can go right now.”

“It takes two hours to get to Washington on the subway, but we're going to go soon. Maybe we'll fly into Washington instead of going right back to Georgia?”

Alexa was actually excited by the idea. “Really? You'd want to add extra time to your flight just to meet my sister?”

“Like you said, once I've been back up in the sky once it's only going to get easier.” He walked over to Alexa and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He kissed the side of her neck softly. “Thank you for not thinking that I'm a freak for getting so crazy about flying.”

Alexa smiled and laughed softly. “Don't get it twisted. I still think that you're a freak.”

Brian laughed and kissed her softly behind her ear and down the side of her neck. Alexa rolled her head to the side to give him easier access. “Do you want me to show you how big of a freak that I am?”

Alexa turned around and leaned her forehead against his. “I don't know if I can handle it.”

Brian grinned wildly. He grabbed her by the tops of her thighs and forced her backwards to the bed. “I promise that I'll be a gentle freak.”

Alexa giggled as he pushed her back onto the bed and covered her mouth with his own.

-----

Across town, AJ was waiting patiently in Ben's office. He had scheduled a private meeting to talk about the Alexa situation. Ben didn't have any idea that AJ knew of his plan, but he was going to, and if AJ had planned this right Ben was going to keep his mouth shut.

AJ glanced down at his watch impatiently. He had ready been waiting for half an hour. What's the point in having a scheduled meeting if you're just going to be late anyway? He wondered to himself.

Just then, Ben walked into the office and closed the door behind him. “AJ,” He said as he entered the room. “To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?”

AJ stood when Ben entered the room and extended his hand, though he was gritting his teeth. He wanted to punch the guy in the face. Maybe if he'd just let well enough be, Brian would have come back on his own eventually and he and Alexa would have met and fallen in love under more normal circumstances.

“I know about Alexa.” AJ jumped right in, hoping for some shock value, but getting nothing.

“Ah,” Ben replied, nodding his head. “So, that's what you're here about. What do you want to know?”

“I don't want to know anything. I want you to just let it be. Leave Brian and Alexa alone and we won't have any problems.” AJ responded, staring Ben in his eyes. He wasn't going to be intimidated just because Ben was the President of Jive Records. At this point, he was confident that the Boys would be able to sign with another record company if need be.

“So, you're just going to blindly take whatever that conniving little Alexa told you, am I right?” Ben stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black slacks.

“I heard the two of you talking. She didn't have to tell me much.” AJ replied, smirking. He wondered how Ben was possibly going to try to turn this around.

“And I'm sure that she made it all sound like this was my doing, right? Like I'm this horrible, awful person who only cares about his bottom line.” Ben asked, shrugging. He softened a bit, hoping to get AJ to relax.

“Like I said, she didn't have to tell me anything.” AJ bit his bottom lip and shrugged his shoulders. “Look, if you want an album leave them alone. That's all that I have to say about it. If you ruin it all, we walk.”

“You can't walk, AJ.” Ben replied, laughing. “Not without owing Jive Records a lot of money. That's the thing about contracts. The good ones are iron clad.”

“Maybe that's true, but not when you can prove that your company has been dealing in shady practices. Harassment. Hell, I've spoken to Alexa. You had them followed.” AJ argued, starting to get angry.

“I hired a private investigator. That's not illegal. Trust me, AJ. I've been completely on the right side of the law. Alexa, however, might be in some trouble for pandering?” Ben shrugged. “I don't know.”

“First off, you know that's not true. Secondly, how would you accuse her of something like that if YOU were the one giving her the money.” AJ exclaimed, feeling almost as if he were backed into a wall.

“I can accuse her of anything if it doesn't look like that money was coming from me.” Ben smiled easily while propping himself up against the edge of his desk. He loved that AJ was running out of arguments.

“I promise you, Ben. If you make Brian's life one iota harder than it has to be, bad things are going to come to this company. You got want you wanted, now leave them alone.” AJ was now inches from Ben's face. He wanted so badly to knock the smirk off of his lips that he had to cross his arms in front of him to keep from swinging.

“You don't have anything to worry about.” Ben replied softly, through his tone was dark. “Brian's happy. I'm happy. You make a good record, I'm even more happy. That's all that I want.”

AJ nodded and stepped back. “Good. We've gotten out of contracts that have seemed iron clad before. Don't think that we can't find the loopholes in yours.”

With that, AJ grabbed his jacket from where it was hanging on the back of the chair where he had once been sitting and let himself out of Ben's office. When he closed the door behind him, he leaned against it out of breath. Somehow, during the short conversation, he had become exhausted. Ben promised that he wouldn't say anything, but AJ still wasn't confident in his word. All he could do now is pray that Ben would stay true to his promises and let Brian be happy.

-----

Hours later, Brian and Alexa were both sound asleep on their plush hotel room bed. Even after months of love-making, they both had the ability to make the other soar with pleasure and then come crashing back down. The grumbling of her stomach stirred Alexa from her sleep. She gazed over at Brian and smiled softly at the beautiful man that was lying next to her. She lifted her hand slowly and traced the defined muscles of his chest.

Brian opened his eyes slowly and smiled back at Alexa before allowing his eyes to droop closed again. “Hey beautiful,” Brian greeted groggily.

“Hey, yourself.” Alexa scooted closer to Brian and kissed him softly. “Did you sleep well?”

“Absolutely.” Brian responded as he wrapped an arm around her thin frame. “You know, I could honestly lay like this forever.”

Alexa laughed to herself softly. “You say that to all of your girlfriends.”

“Yeah,” Brian said, chuckling. “But I only mean it with you.”

Alexa smiled and kissed him again. “So, are you hungry?”

Brian nodded. “Starving, actually. What did you have in mind?”

“There's this bakery slash deli not that far from here. I've known the people that work there my whole life. I'd really like to take you, if you think you might want to go.” Alexa replied, shrugging.

“I've love to meet the people that knew you as a kid.” Brian responded with a smirk. “Maybe now I'll get some stories that I can tease you with.”

Alexa laughed. “Yeah, but these people didn't know my naked bath-time stories. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I've kept you away from Brooke for so long.”

“And the truth finally comes out.” Brian leaned in and kissed her again.

“Come on, let's get up. We need to have some kind of a productive day and Bernard's is going to get busy if we wait much longer.” Alexa jumped out of bed and knelt next to her closed suitcase.

Brian watched from his place on the bed as she unzipped the suitcase and began to aimlessly sift through its contents. She was wearing his t-shirt from earlier in the day with a pair of boy shorts. Her hair was disheveled and her makeup was smeared, but Brian thought that she was beautiful.

Sometimes it scared him how little he found himself thinking of Hayden these days. It was hard to miss his wife when Alexa was in his arms. He thought about the possibilities sometimes. He thought about what his life would be like if Hayden had been alive and if she had birthed his daughter. What would have happened had he met Alexa? He loved Alexa with all of his heart, but he had loved his wife, too. If he and Alexa had ended up getting married, which of the woman were meant to have been his true soul mate?

Brian shook his head to clear the questions that would forever remain unanswered and smiled when Alexa looked back at him from her spot in front of her suitcase. “What are you thinking about over there lazy?”

Brian smirked and threw the covers off of his body. “Just about how sexy you look sitting over there in my t-shirt.”

“Well get those dirty thoughts out of your mind and get dressed.” She reached into Brian's suitcase, which was lying next to hers, and threw him a pair of jeans and a shirt.

“Yes, Ma'am,” Brian remarked as he pulled on the jeans that she had thrown to him.

Not long later, they were out the door and standing outside the entrance of the bakery. Alexa smoothed her clothes and brushed back her hair. She turned to Brian. “You ready?”

Brian nodded. “I'm ready and I'm starving. Let's go.” He reached in front of her and opened the heavy glass door.

Behind the counter, an older Italian man looked up from where he was refilling a tub of tomatoes. His face lit up when he saw Alexa enter. “Pretty girl!” He exclaimed, dropping the tomatoes into their slot. He hurried around the counter and embraced Alexa tightly. “Where have you been? I haven't seen you in months! Is that boss of yours killing you with work again?”

Alexa shook her head quickly. “No, no, don't work there anymore. I've been on vacation.” She shoved Brian forward quickly. “Bernie, I'd like you to meet Brian.”

Brian extended his hand to Bernie, which Bernie tentatively shook. He was sizing Brian up. Alexa hadn't brought very many of her boyfriends in to meet him, though the last boyfriend that she had introduced him to had broken her heart.

Brian could feel the protectiveness in Bernie's handshake and he was actually grateful for that. It was nice to know that Alexa had someone else in this world with her best interests at heart. “It's really nice to meet you Bernie. I've only heard great things.”

“Well, I've heard nothing. Why do you look so familiar? Have I seen you in here before?” Bernie asked. He narrowed his eyes at Brian and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Alexa looked back and forth between the two men. Bernie was looking Brian up and down, but Brian didn't seem fazed by it at all.

“I've never been in here before, no.” Brian shook his head and smiled at the older man. It was always hard for him to introduce himself as a Backstreet Boy, only because he felt as if it sounded like he was bragging.

“Brian is a singer, actually.” Alexa answered the unasked question. “You may recognize him that way. He's a Backstreet Boy.”

Brian smiled humbly and looked down at his feet.

“Ah, a Backstreet Boy. My granddaughter loves your group.” Bernie responded as he slowly uncrossed his arms.

“I'd love to meet her or if she's not around, I'd be glad to sign something for her.” Brian offered.

“You'd do that?” Bernie asked, surprised to see a celebrity acting so openly friendly.

“Yeah, of course. She's paying my bills, you know?” Brian joked, causing Bernie to let out a small chuckle.

“You know, Aly,” Bernie said, finally turning back to Alexa. “I think that I like this guy.”

“Good,” Alexa responded, wrapping her arm around Brian's back. “'Cause I kind of like him, too.”

Brian smiled and kissed the top of Alexa's head lovingly. Bernie watched the display. It's about time the kid finds someone that's good to her, he thought to himself.

“I'm going to grab you some sandwiches, on the house. I'm also going to bring out some things for your to sign if you don't mind.” Bernie remarked.

Brian nodded and smiled graciously. “Yeah of course, and thank you, the smell in here has been making my mouth water.”

Bernie saluted Brian playfully before disappearing behind into the kitchen.

Brian and Alexa sat down at a table in the back of the small restaurant and waited for Bernie to return. Brian took Alexa's hand from across the table. “He seems to really care about you.”

Alexa nodded and smiled to herself. “Yeah. After my dad died I lived with Jenny and her parents, but I'd come here after school every day. Bernie let me work behind the counter and paid me whatever he could. He and his wife Stella were the ones who made sure that my homework was finished, that I was getting good grades. He bought my prom dress. You know? Jenny's parents have money, but they took me more out of obligation and a lot of pressure from Jenny than love. If they were younger, I'm sure that Bernie and Stella would have taken me in.”

“It was good of Jenny's parents to take you in though. I mean, where would you have ended up otherwise?” Brian replied with a shrug.

“No, you're totally right. They didn't have to and I appreciate everything that they did for me.” Alexa quickly defended. “I just never felt completely comfortable anywhere but here.”

Brian nodded. “I understand that. I didn't mean to make you think that I was calling you ungrateful or anything. Speaking of, how is Jenny?”

Alexa smiled. “She's good. She's dating this guy that went to our school. Doug. It's weird. They used to fight like crazy, but I could always kind of tell that there was something else there. Apparently, she's in love, which is funny because she'd always shied away from falling in love.”

“Maybe she'd been waiting for Doug to fall in love with her all along?” Brian replied.

“Maybe so.” Alexa agreed.

Just then Bernie walked back over to the table with two sandwiches, drinks and a slew of Backstreet Boys merchandise. He dropped the merchandise on the table in front of Brian. “I went upstairs to my apartment and got some things out of my granddaughter's room that she stays in when she stays with us. I hope you don't mind.”

“Like I said, she's the boss. She pays the bills.” Brian chuckled and extended his hand for the permanent marker that Bernie was holding.

Brian quickly signed everything on the table and then turned back to his sandwich. There didn't seem like there was anything special about it, but it was the best sandwich that he'd had in a long time. Throughout most of the meal, he sat back and watched the interaction between Alexa and Bernie. He asked her questions about her life in Georgia and teased her about now being a country girl and leaving the Big City behind for some boy. When Bernie turned to question him, Brian answered his questions politely. After some time, the two were joking easily and Brian had even agreed to sign something for the restaurant to hang on the wall.

When Brian excused himself to use the restroom, Bernie and Alexa were finally alone for the first time. Bernie looked at Alexa and smiled.

“What?” Alexa asked with a grin.

“He's a good one, Aly.” Bernie responded, smiling at the woman that he loved like a daughter.

“I know. He's amazing.” Alexa replied. A soft blush rose to her cheeks.

“He really loves you. I can see it in his eyes.” Bernie said sincerely. He really liked Brian and could already tell that he was a good match for Alexa.

Alexa nodded again. “I really love him, too, Bernie. I didn't go to Georgia expecting that to happen. Though I don't know why you didn't mention it, thank you for not saying anything about Jive or Ben.”

“Pretty girl,” Bernie started with a sigh as he wrapped an arm around Alexa's shoulder. “I know everything that there is to know about the Backstreet Boys, including their record company, thanks to little Lola. If you didn't meet him through that and you didn't mention the connection yourself, I had to know that it was something that you didn't want mentioned. I'm a pretty perceptive man. Do you want to fill me in?”

Alexa shook her head. “No, not really. You'll just be disappointed.”

Bernie sighed. “I'm sure that Ben has something to do with it and that's fine Alexa, because what you and Brian have is real. I don't know what's going on with you and if you don't want me to know, that's fine, just please be honest with him. He deserves that.”

Alexa nodded, but didn't get the chance to respond. Brian was walking back over from the bathroom. Alexa stood when he approached the table. “We should really get going. Brian has to meet the rest of the guys in the group for some kind of recording session tonight.”

Bernie stood as well and embraced Alexa tightly. “I missed you, Sweetheart. Come back and see us again soon.”

Alexa nodded and hugged him back. She hadn't realized how much she had missed speaking with Bernie until the moment that she had to leave him.

Brian extended his hand to Bernie when he let Alexa go. Bernie shook Brian's hand with more respect this time around. “It was really nice to meet you, Brian. Be good to our girl.”

Brian smiled. “Always. It was a pleasure to meet you as well.” He then turned to Alexa and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “You ready?”

Alexa nodded slowly. She hugged Bernie one last time and then they left the restaurant. “So, what did you think?” Alexa asked Brian once they were out on the street.

“He's amazing. He's a really cool guy and, of course, anyone who cares that much about you is good in my book.” Brian replied.

Alexa leaned against Brian's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I love you so much.”

Brian kissed the top of her head and smiled. “I love you too, Baby. I have a little while before I have to meet the guys. You want to go back to the hotel for a bit?”

Alexa nodded slowly and took Brian's hand. They walked the short distance to the hotel where they holed themselves up until the very last minute when Brian had to leave to meet the others.

-----

A couple of days later the alarm started to buzz loudly at 8 a.m. Today, Brian was going to be signing his contract with Jive. He would be officially working again. He would officially be a living, breathing Backstreet Boy. He didn't know why the thought was so terrifying to him.

He rolled over and swatted the alarm. He had to be at Jive in 45 minutes. Luckily, the record company was only a couple blocks away and he could walk there in a couple of minutes.

Alexa rolled over and smiled. They had spent a blissful couple of days in New York City. They had lunch with Bernie again the day before. They took a horse and carriage ride in Central Park. Alexa showed him where she went to school, where she played as a kid and the place where her father's fateful office building still stood. After Brian arrived back from the record company, they were supposed to take a cab to Brooklyn so that Alexa could show Brian where she used to live.

“Is is that time already?” Alexa groaned. She held onto Brian, desperately wanting him to stay in bed.

“Yep, it's that time.” He smiled and kissed her softly. “I need to get dressed. I'm going to be late if I don't get out of here soon.”

Alexa sighed. Panic was starting to overcome her. “Don't go.” She whispered softly.

“What?” Brian asked confused.

“Stay here with me.” Alexa closed her eyes. Willing him to just stay in bed and not walk into the terrifying building.

“Alexa, where's this coming from. What's the matter?” Brian ran his fingers idly through Alexa's hair.

“I just- I don't know.” Alexa shook her head.

“Are you afraid of what me touring and recording is going to do to our relationship?” Brian asked softly, knowing how hard it was for someone to understand his schedule at first.

“I don't know.” Alexa repeated, though she knew perfectly well what she was afraid of. AJ had told her the other day that he had spoken to Ben and it sounded like it was going to be okay, but somehow she just couldn't trust that Ben was going to let everything go so easily.

“Hey, Beautiful, look at me.” Brian responded, tilting her chin up gently until their eyes met. “I love you, okay? I'm always going to love you. We're you to be fine. I promise you.”

Alexa nodded. She knew, however, that if he knew what she was really worried about, he never would have made that promise. She just had to put her hopes into believing that Ben's promise to AJ would hold up. “Okay.” She whispered.

Brian leaned down and kissed her slowly. He sensed that something was still bothering her, but she obviously didn't want to talk about it. When she did, he would be there to listen. He climbed out of bed and got dressed quickly. He grabbed his watch and wallet off of the bedside table and was ready to go a few minutes later. Jive had sent security personnel over to walk with him to the record company for his own safety. The security guard was already waiting in the lobby of the hotel.

“I've got to go.” Brian said, as he sat on the edge of the bed next to Alexa. “Are you okay?”

“I'm good.” Alexa responded. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down toward her gently. She kissed him softly. “I love you, Brian Littrell.”

Brian smiled and kissed her again. “I love you, too. I'll be back as soon as I can. We'll go to see your humble abode.”

Alexa smiled and reluctantly let him go. She watched as she blew her one final kiss and walked through the door, closing it softly behind him.

-----

Brian was the last one to arrive to the large meeting room at Jive. He was stopped in the hallway by a lot of people that had once worked with him. They all wanted to know how he was doing and how Alexa was. It was strange. They all seemed to be personally invested in some way. Brian shook it off and entered the conference room with a smile plastered onto his face.

“Sorry that I'm late.” He said as soon as he walked in. “I got a little caught up trying to make my way though here.”

“We were wondering if you'd changed your mind,” Nick joked.

Brian smiled and shook his head. He then took a seat next to AJ at the end of the table. In front of him was a brown file folder. All of the boys were going to be signing a new contract that added Brian. The contracts had already been sent to and approved by the group's lawyer. Everything was set except for a signature.

“We've all gone over the contracts before hand, so I assume that all questions have been answered?” Ben asked after Brian had become settled. The five men nodded. They were supposed to sign their new contracts and then set their new recording and promotion schedule for the rest of the album.

“Good,” Ben continued. “First off, Brian, I'd just like to welcome you back and congratulate you on finding the new love of your life.”

Brian blush and murmured an uncomfortable, “Thank you.” He didn't really know how he felt about Ben's statement. It hadn't really sounded all that sincere.

“Well, Boys. Let's get to it. Please sign your contracts and hand them to my new assistant, Adam, for filing.” Ben glanced around the table, trying to see if the words 'new assistant' had resonated with anyone besides AJ. They hadn't. It was time to pull out the big guns. Once the contract was signed, he had him. Brian didn't have any choice but to do as he was told.

They all handed the folders to Adam, though AJ did so reluctantly. He noticed a look on Ben's face that couldn't mean anything besides trouble. What is he thinking, AJ thought to himself.

An evil glint suddenly appeared in Ben's eyes. He threw an envelope down in front of Brian, though he was looking at AJ. “Brian, we've got a little present for you.”

Brian opened the envelope slowly. Something didn't seem right. Why was Ben looking at AJ like that?

“What are you doing?” AJ asked Ben nervously. He didn't, AJ thought to himself. Please God, tell me that he didn't.

Brian's smile began to fade from his face as he flipped through the folder of documents in front of him. There were pictures of he and Alexa everywhere that they had been since that had met. There were documents that seemed to be signed by Alexa. The company that she had worked for had been Jive? Brian thought to himself.

Finally, he looked further into the envelope and saw the deed for the house that stood across the street from his own and receipts from the moving companies that had moved Alexa both in and out.

“You want to try to get out of your contract?” Ben growled at AJ. “I dare you.”

Brian looked back and forth between the two men. His anger was growing increasingly stronger. He didn't understand. What did all of this mean? Brian stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “I don't know what the hell is going on here, but somebody had better start explaining and I mean now. How the hell do you know Alexa?”