Instantaneously, the second the light greeted him, he fastened his lids tight. The sudden movement caused a sharp pain to trail from his temples to his forehead. He dropped his forearm over his face allowing the pressure to momentarily alleviate the throbbing pain, a remnant of last nights untimely events. The blue eyed blonde remained lying in bed for another half hour before dragging himself out of bed.

At the pace of an old man of eighty, limping and stumbling, rubbing areas of old injuries, he  made his way to the bathroom. Groaning, too tired to bathe and still feeling sticky from the previous night, he reluctantly forced himself  in the shower and that second he felt the moisture, he was glad he had done so. He stood there forgetting all about time and the events prior, soaking and taking great delight underneath the warm water cascading down his body. He winced as its pressure met his still closed eyes and jerked his head to the side to avoid any further contact.

He heard the doorbell ring as he shut off the water and hurried out. With an oversized towel wrapped around his pelvis, he gave a quick look in the mirror, focusing in on the big purple sphere that enclosed his right eye and the cut on his now swollen lip. What are the odds?

How had last night gone so terribly wrong? Could it have possibly been any worse? Not only was he not able to get his carnal fix last night, but he also got struck in his gorgeous face, twice! How was it in any way his own fault? How was he to know that the big busted blonde he was trying to bed had a boyfriend? A large sized, muscled, steroid driven boyfriend that just so happened to be the bouncer of that particular establishment.

He'd never been tossed out of a club before last night, no one would ever even think about doing such a thing, he's Nick Carter, but hitting on an employee's girl might just do the trick.

It was definitely not his night, he'd been tossed out light yesterdays garbage, nearly rendered unconscious, his ego knocked down a few pegs, and on top of that, he didn't get laid.

The bell rang twice more before he reached the door.

"Jesus! Nick what the hell happened to you?" He was greeted by a blonde with eyes that matched his own.

Nick stood back allowing his sister to come in. "Nothing, what do you want?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of you for days, you don't answer my calls. I haven't heard from you. What the hell is going on with you?" She asked.

"Leslie," He squinted, "please...not so loud...indoor voice..."

Still in nothing but a towel, Nick climbed up the stairs to his bedroom with Leslie on his trail.

"Nick, I'm worried about you." She said as set foot in his room.

Nick looked back at his little sister and wrinkled his forehead, holding his hand out and stopping her in her tracks.

"Woman, do you mind? He motioned to his towel reminding her of his nude body. "I'd like to get dressed if you don't mind."

"Ughh." Leslie back tracked and waited just outside of his room leaned up against the wall with crossed arms. She called to him, "You've been going out too much, partying all night, sleeping all day, drinking and lord know what else you been doing."

In his room, Nick pulled up a pair of black denim pants and secured them to his lean body with his leather studded belt and plopped himself down on the cushion of his mattress, holding his in his hands a faded Metallica t-shirt. He didn't even know that he still had it. He just started at it as his sister went on an on, blabbering about some nonsense he had no desire to hear.

It used to be her favorite shirt.. His grip tightened as he remembered. He made a quick mental note to get rid of that thing later and scolded himself for not having done so already, but for now he'd just toss it to the side.

"Seriously, Nick, I'm worried about you... we all are."

"Who's we?" He asked as he rummage through his closet to find a more suitable shirt.

"Me...Aaron...Angel...BJ..the guys...everybody...dad....mom." She trailed off at the last two.

Fastening the buttons of his black Dolce & Gabbana shirt, he walked by her and down the stairs again unaffected by her presence almost as if he was trying to ignore her, or possibly run away from her.

 "First of all ,I don't need anybody worrying about me, okay? Second, Aaron and BJ got no say in this cause they do the same shit, even worse. And third don't get me started on mom and dad, especially mom," he explained, putting emphasis on his last words.

"Where are you going dressed like that? And what happened to your face?" She interrogated.

"Nothing, it was just a little misunderstanding last night, and don't worry where I am going."

"A misunderstanding huh" Nick nodded. " Uh huh, and you're going out again tonight? What happened Nicky, didn't you have enough last night? Or do you want another black eye to match the one you already got?" So much for her indoor voice.

"Leslie! I'm not going out tonight. Do you really think I want to be seen in public like this huh? Do you?" He asked.

"Then why are you so dressed up for?" She asked unconvinced.

"Ahhh hush, maybe I was gonna bring a girl over. You don't know."

"With a black eye, Nick, really? You really want a  girl to see you got your ass kicked?"

"Why not? I'll play the sympathy card, 'oh what happened, ooooh you poor baby'" he mimicked in a girls voice. "She'll be putty in my hands."

"Uhhh, Nick you're such a pig, can't believe we're from the same gene pool."

"But you still love me anyway, don't you."

Leslie looked through the big blackish purple bruise and into her brother's eyes that mirrored her own. "Would I be here if I didn't?" She sighed.

A tinge of pain swept through her. She hated seeing him hurt, hated seeing him hurt himself, and what pained her most was that she just didn't seem to be getting through to him.