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Author's Chapter Notes:
So wow, two updates in as many days? WTF?! LOL i know, i know. But this was a relatively easy chapter to get out. I'm still blaming darby for this. LOL damn you! JK i heart you darbs! Anyways the title as promised - hehe - hilarious to me, if you don't get it then you my dear reader must be insane! Go rent the dvds to Monty Python's Flying circus. You'll probably pee yourself laughing (cuz hello the funny!) anyways here's chapter 18! enjoy!
Chapter Eightteen: Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquistion!

    It wasn't long until they pulled infront of a lush house down the way in Malibu. She gulped nervously as they all got out of the truck seeing the various vehicles littering the driveway and the street. Nick joined her on the passenger side as he eyed her and the house the same lingering anxiety on his face. "Hey girls why don't you run around the back way and announce our arrival." He said quickly and quietly to them.

    "Okay!" They both practically yelled and took off like a shot towards the side gate leading to the back yard.

    "Alex always leaves the gate open during a barbecue." He said softly turning to Marie. I studied her face then and with one simple push of his hand pinned her against his truck. "Can I kiss you?" He asked as his lips hovered just above hers. She nodded simply and he claimed her mouth. The kiss wasn't gentle. It was urgent, full of need and anxiety. She parted her lips generously as their tonues parried for control for a few brief moments. He pulled away breathless thanking her for letting him get out his nervousness.

    "No problem, but next time you don't have to ask me." She grinned sheepishly. "I always want you to kiss me."

    He beamed at her admission and kissed her again, gentler this time. The anxiety he felt moments before had completely melted away. When he broke away he pressed his forehead against hers and took a few deep breaths.

    "It's been awhile hasn't it? Bringing someone to meet them?"

    "Yeah."
    
    "Well I've already met Howie and Leigh. I loved them so how hard could it be?"

    "You see the Ford Escape over there?"
   
    "Yes why does that have to do with -,"
   
    "Kevin's here."

    "The one that's not in the band anymore?"

    "Yeah."

    "And that's bad because?"
   
    "Not bad, just he's like a big brother to all of us. He can get kind of protective."

    "Okay, big brother type, I can handle it. Come on, introduce me to your extended family. I'm sure you're more nervous than necessary." She assured him and he glanced to the gate where his daughters had disappeared through.

    "Okay. Just don't take anything they say too seriously. We all tend to joke around a lot and for new people it can kind of feel like an inquisition."

    Marie grinned widely at that point faking a haughty British accent, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."

    Nick snicker-snorted. "Yeah okay, I think you'll fit right in."

    "Good. Besides I've done the whole meeting the close friends thing before in a relationship. It's usually more about nerves than anything."

    "Yeah and I'm sure Howie and Leigh are in the process of giving everyone the skinny on you and me."

    "Be nice, they're good friends and are only concerned with your happiness."

    "Yeah, it's been going on since I was 12 so it gets a little tired after a while."

    Marie chuckled as they walked over to the gate. "Brothers can tend to do that from time to time. My sister is just as bad believe me."

    Nick hesitated as they reached the gate. "Can I negotiate an entrance with hand-holding?" His eyes shifted from her down to his feet.

Marie grinned at him not believing the transformation she was seeing. He'd gone from calm confident man when he'd picked her up, to what now looked like a very scared and nervous little boy. So instead of answering his question in words she reached her left hand out and laced her fingers with his right hand.

    He looked up then and grinned a little. "Thank you."

    She squeezed his fingers a little grinning back at him. "Anytime."

    He took a deep breath and lead her to the back yard where he could hear AJ's booming voice as he was telling one of his infamous stories. "Uncle Nick!" He heard from the tree in the yard. He grinned seeing Baylee dropping down from hanging on the lowest branch.

    "Brian's son Baylee." He whispered to Marie who looked up at him and nodded.  "Hey little man. Are you growing again? I swear you're taller every time I see you. Hey B what are you feeding this kid?"

    Marie watched as a shorter lighter haired man, presumably Brian came over. She looked at Baylee and back to his father and grinned. There was no denying who this kid belonged to, a spitting image of his father. Brian grinned and picked up his son, flinging him over his shoulder. "Oh you know, the usual. Mac and cheese laced with miracle grow." He joked as Baylee squealed and squirmed on his father's shoulder. "You must be Marie." He said smiling at her.

    She smiled back just as brightly. "Yes, you obviously must be Brian it's a pleasure to meet you."

    "Likewise, come on and meet the rest of the crew." He replied with a grin. She sighed and watched Nick breathed a sigh of relief as he walked her over to the large picnic table set up. Marie greeted everyone and smiled as she shook everyone's hand.

    "It's nice to see you again Marie." Leigh told her.

    "It's nice to see you too. How are things?"

    "Good, really busy at work. We have all these new deals were trying to manage and such."

    "Oh I bet. One of my partners is trying to get our business to go online so I can imagine in miniscule amount the kind of stress for expanding your business."

    Leighanne's head shot up at that moment. "You own your own business?"

    Nick grinned brightly and answered before Marie could get the words out, "She owns a bakery in Manhattan."

    "Oh you do?" AJ asked completely intrigued now. She was definitely different than any other girl Nick had ever brought around them, even Anna.

    "Yeah Hearth and Home bakery and specialty cakes. It's my baby." She mused, her voice was that of a proud parent. Amused, loving and a little indulgent.

    "You own Hearth and Home?" Kevin asked suddenly making everyone turn their attention to him.

    "Yes, you've been?"

    "Several times, everytime I'm in the city I go there, best damn bagels I've ever had. Honey you remember the place right?"

    Kristin nodded, "Oh yeah, the cream cheese swirl brownie is to die for."

    Marie grinned excitedly at this revelation. "Well I'm glad you like it. I created all the recipes and myself and Becca make all the treats there on a daily basis. The brownie is a personal favorite of mine."

    "Wow a girl that can bake and holds her own in the business world. I have to say I'm impressed." Kristin beamed making Marie blush.

    "Oh please don't be. I am just the Chef and owner. I have a business degree but I know nothing about finance. I would be nothing without my business manager Anthony. We met at business school and the things he can do with numbers, astounds me. It makes my job so much more enjoyable to focus on what I love than the tedium of the day to day number crunching." She replied wrinkling her nose at the last sentence. She hated doing the business end of her business. If it were completely up to her she would have never gotten her bakery off the ground if she had to spend the inordinate amount of hours everyday going over the numbers, trends and fiscal things for her baby.

    "So Marie De Luca from New York, what brings you out to sunny LA?" Leighanne asked her head cocked to the side in curiosity.

    Marie sighed and grinned a little before looking at her hands then back to where the question had been asked. "Well, I needed a vacation. I hadn't had one in so long. Not since college actually. Becca, Anthony and Rhianne are all taking care of the business back home while I spend a holiday for myself. Angel, Nick's sister, had offered me to house sit for her while she's off being paid to be gorgeous and I really couldn't pass up the chance to see the West Coast. I've never been out here before. Hell I've never been West of the Appalachians."


    "Is that how you two met? Through Angel?" Brian asked. He'd heard the story from Nick of course but he wanted to hear Marie's take on it. Obviously there was something different about her. Something that was completely genuine and refreshing to how she handled being the center of attention. She didn't seem to mind it too much with Nick sitting at her side, his hand firmly placed her the middle of her thigh. Their completely innocent yet possessive body language toward each other made him grin a little. It was not something he'd ever seen Nick do. With Anna before her, Nick was always the post she leaned on. This it seemed to be a mutual thing. Content to touch and be touched while in the presence of others without even realizing it.

    "Funny story actually." She began an amused smile threatening to break through. "Apparently Angel had asked Aaron to come over and feed Romeo and Jada while she was away but forgot to inform him that I was staying there."

    "So naturally my lazy ass excuse of a brother pawned off the dog feeding duty to me and I went over there."

    "I was in sweats and a tee-shirt and I hear the door open, freaked out that someone was breaking into Angel's condo. I mean come on I'm from New York, break-ins happen all the time. So I freak and try to remember how to take down an intruder. I ran down the stairs and there he is playing with the dogs. I was so embarrassed."

    "And I look up shocked to see a girl in my sister's place. For a second I thought you were a squatter or something, with the threadbare shirt and holey sweats. It was kind of hilarious looking at it now. Apparently my sister hadn't informed Marie that she also had an older brother."

    "Sounds like a plot for a sitcom." AJ mused chuckling at the story.

    "I know, right? I was like, figures, I look like a total scrub when an available guy shows up on my vacation, nice."

    "I still think my sister freakin' planned it. She's devious like that."

    Marie shrugged, "Knowing Angel, she probably did. She does have a great propensity for manipulation. Should have heard the conversation that got me to come out to LA in the first place. But I'm glad she twisted my arm. It's definitely been a good trip to know someone who actually knows their way around the city. I would have been so lost. Especially here in Malibu. It's so different than New York." She replied beaming at Nick her grinned crookedly back at her.

    "So obviously you've met the girls."

    Marie looked over her shoulder to where the girls were playing rather animatedly with Baylee. She sighed and nodded. "They're amazing. Honestly, two of the best behaved kids I've ever seen. I have a bazillion cousins and a couple of nieces and nephews but they're amazing. I don't know how you do it but those are two awesome little girls."

    Nick grinned at her compliment, "They probably get that from their mother. I was such a trouble maker when I was a kid."

    "Pranks?" Marie asked as everyone watched their conversation.
   
    "Oh yeah, and I hated whenever they got me back for the shit I did to them."

    "Ah so you can dish it out but can't take it huh?" She goaded making him chuckle.

    "Pretty much. I've gotten better about it though."

    "Filthy liar, don't believe a word he says." AJ spat playfully. "He just uses his kids as a human shield now."

    "I do not, jackass."

    "Prick."

    "Jerkwad."

    "Panty waste."

    Marie giggled at the juvenile exchange between the two men. "You are as bad as my sister and I. God we call each other every name in the book. I'm surprised I haven't gotten a call of her cussing me out for not being home for the holidays."

    "Your family is in New York?"

    "Yeah in the same brownstone in Brooklyn since I was a baby. My parents are the quintessential Brooklyn Italians, it's kind of hilarious. My dad reminisces about the good ole days where he could get gum for five cents and didn't have to lock the door."

    "Were they upset you're not spending the holidays with them?"

    "No they weren't too put off by it. I told them I needed a vacation from my life back home and my Mom took care of the rest. She's kind of amazing like that."

    "So speaking of back home, when does your vacation end?" And there was the million dollar question. She felt everyone staring at her expectantly. Even Nick. This was question that she was hoping to avoid. Because inevitably they'd ask her what her intentions were with Nick after she'd depart for her home city. And right now, that was something she didn't know anything about. She was falling in love with him, that she already knew, but what scared her the most was what if they tried to keep a relationship together, and the distance tore them apart?

    She chuckled nervously. "Unfortunately, I go home in about three weeks. I'm not exactly looking forward to going back to wearing a thick wool trench coat, scarf and mittens. I spoke to Becca this morning and she was telling me how cold it was there. For once I'm really glad I'm not home this winter, it seems to be the coldest on record."

    Nick shifted uncomfortably before standing up making the excuse of wanting to get food. "You want anything?"

    "Sure. You don't have to..."

    "Nonsense, I've got two hands, perfectly capable of carrying two plates. You keep talking." He said nonchalantly as he kissed her quickly. He walked over to the round table holding all the food, his back to his friends so he could hide the frown on his face. He didn't want to think about her leaving. Not when she was becoming such a big part of his life. The thought of not waking up next to her made a pain shoot through his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time, and definitely not as intensely as before.

    "You okay?" He heard a voice next to him. He turned seeing Kristin standing there.

    "I'm fine." He lied.

    Kristin rolled her eyes giving him a reproving look. "I know that face. I've known you half your life kiddo. You're not happy that she's here temporarily am I right?"

    "Yeah." He said as he continued to load up the plates.

    Kristin studied him for a moment and grinned rather widely, "You're in love."

    He shot her a glance. "How in the fuck do you do that Kris?"
   
    "First of all, I'm a mom. Second of all, I know that look. I had it when I realized I was in love with Kev."

    "I don't know what to do. I mean I like her a lot, but I'm not sure if I -,"

    "Oh believe me, you're in deep. She's perfect for you. I mean can you even see how she's handling everything? And did you not notice Kevin even gave her the nod." He grinned a little. The nod was something that had been a huge thing back in the day for all of the guys. Whenever one would bring a girl around the others, if Kevin liked her, that usually meant she wasn't one of the gold diggers that they had come across. So they devised a system where each guy would weigh their likes and dislikes of the potential girlfriend and then casually give a nod of approval or disproval.

    Nick was brought out of his reverie when a shriek came from where his daughters were playing. He turned swiftly setting the plates down as he saw his oldest daughter with tears streaming down her face and a very sizeable scrape on her knee. He quickly went over but stopped as he reached the table as he watched Marie hunch down to Jo's level to inspect the scrape.

    "Can you walk on it?" She asked her voice was soft and full of concern. Jo sniffled and nodded a little. Marie's face softened as she scooped up the small girl in her arms and brought her over to the table. "Okay foot up here." She said patting the dark patina wood of the bench. Her face turned to a grin as she inspected the scrape. "Hmm...I think we've got a doozy here. We might have to operate." She said playfully getting Jo to stop crying.

    Brian handed Marie the first aid kit and she thanked him. "It hurts." Jo said as she wiped her face messily with her hand.

    "I know it does sweetie. I've had several scrapes like this when I was your age. Now sweets this is gonna sting a little ‘kay?" She said as she held the antibacterial spray. "So just breathe, ready..." She waited a moment then sprayed on her cut making Jo hiss in pain. Marie leaned in then and lightly blew on the scrape cooling the stinging sensation almost immediately. She worked quickly then putting some pain relieving salve on and a bandaid before patting her calf. "All fixed."

    Jo grinned at her and sniffed a little as her tears faded away. She leaned over and hugged Marie. "Thanks Marie."

    "No problem sweets," She said softly running her fingers through Jo's hair for a moment. "Now have fun but be careful okay?"

    "Okay!" She smiled and ran off to play with Baylee and her sister again.

    Nick stood stunned as he watched the entire exchange. She really was amazing with his kids. He'd seen her play with them before but to do something like taking care of a cut, something that just screamed with maternal instincts. He felt for the first time since they'd met a flutter of butterflies in his stomach. He looked around seeing how everyone had noticed the way Marie interacted with the girls and they all had equally shocked and amused expressions on their faces.

    Howie was the first to comment on her overt display of maternal capacity. "Do you like children, Marie?"

    Marie turned and smiled shyly. "Yeah, I do. I teach a group of inner city kids how to bake twice a week in New York. It's one of the things I love to do."

    "So it's safe to assume you want kids one day?" Leighanne asked catching on to Howie's line of thought.

    Marie blushed, "Of course. I've kind of always wanted to be a mom one day. Go through the whole pregnancy thing. I thought though if I never ended up having kids of my own that I'd adopt by the time I'm 30."

    Nick felt a warmth spread throughout his system as he made his way back over to the table carrying their plates of food. He straddled the bench as he sat down and pulled Marie in close, settling her hips between his knees and leaning her against his chest while his hands moved to hers. He leaned in and kissed her temple before whispering softly. "You. Are. Amazing. Did you know that?"

    She grinned and shrugged before turning her face up to his. "Just doing what you would have done is all."

    He grinned right back at her and tightened his arms around her as he realized the truth behind Kristin's words. He was more than just hooked or smitten over her. Oh no, he was completely and irrevocably in love with Marie and there was no turning back now. The sensation settled over him and he felt calm, for the first time in years he felt like he finally found some semblance of peace, a center to keep him grounded and Marie was that force.

---

    "But Daddy please!!!! We haven't had a sleep over in so long!" Jo wheedled. Nick sighed and looked to Brian and Leighanne who were amused by Jo's pleading. She'd spent the last 30 minutes conniving and groveling to get to spend the night at Brian and Leighanne's.

    "I don't know pumpkin." He said his voice wavering. It wasn't that he didn't want his daughters to have fun at Brian and Leighanne's, he was scared now. The idea of being alone with Marie excited him more than he wanted it to. This new self revelation of love he felt for her meant that if he were alone, he might slip and say it before the relationship was ready to bear the weight of such an admission.

    "Aw come on please!" And now Livie was joining in on the fun.

    Nick sighed and hugged his daughters to him. "Okay."

    "YAY!" They both screamed.

    Marie grinned at the two girls. "Whipped." She muttered and he pinched her side making her squeal. "Jackass." She replied punching his arm playfully.

    He grinned back at her and gave her a short peck on the lips, "You know you love it." He shot at her playfully.

    She simply rolled her eyes in response and proceeded to help him transfer the girls booster seats to Brian and Leighanne's car. "Now are you sure it's okay?"

    Leighanne rolled her eyes, "Yes, the house needs some more estrogen. I'm the only girl at home. I'd love to have them over, we'll probably bake cookies and I'll paint their toes, you know girl stuff. Besides, you look like you deserve a night to be a man and not a father." She replied giving him a sly grin.

    "Leigh...you're mean."

    "So you two haven't done it then?"

    "Not that it's any of your business but yeah, we have." He shot back getting a glimmering smirk in return.

    "Good, it's about time you got laid. Now run along and have fun with her. You deserve this."

    He sighed and shrugged. "Thanks Leigh. I never thought I'd say this but you're a good friend."

    "Ha! So my plan for world domination has succeeded, I got Nick Carter to finally stop being such a hostile jerk to me." She mused and he laughed.

    "Yeah, yeah. You just keep my best friend happy and all that and we're good ‘kay?"

    "So not a problem there, and you go get her, I'm sure she's itchin' for a good roll in the sack."

    Nick snickered at her, "Sure whatever you say." He laughed as he made his way back to the truck where Marie was waiting. He held the door for her before getting in himself.

    "I'm glad you invited me. They're good people."

    "Yeah, they're family." He said quietly.

    "I can tell. They all adore you like a little brother, it's very sweet." She noted happy to have been able to spend the day getting to know people so close to Nick's life. She knew it meant a lot to him, as it meant a lot to her to seemingly get the approval of his closest friends.

    "Thanks." He said rolling his eyes. "So umm, we apparently have the entire night to ourselves...." He trailed off noting the mischievious grin on her face.

    "So what do you suggest we do to while away the hours?" She replied and he felt a shock shoot up his spine.

    "Uh, we could go back to my place and um hang out." He answered feeling immediately and completely transparent.

    "Hmm, sounds like a good idea to me." She responded softly and leaned over the arm rest. "Take me home with you." She whispered in his ear and the air in the car suddenly charged with electricity. He turned his head slightly catching her eyes before leaning on his arm on the center console and laced their fingers. He tried to seem nonchalant about it as possible but even Marie couldn't stifle her giggle when his foot pushed the accelerator to the floor.
 
Chapter End Notes:
thanks so much for reading! and for all the reviews! keep em coming!