Hayley sat there backstage watching her best friends talk before they went onstage. She watched Nick talk to Brian and felt something in her. She had deep feelings for her best friend. Nick and Hayley grew up together. They knew each other too well and practically know what the other is thinking. Hayley never had a boyfriend because Nick would chase them off. She would yell at Nick for it and his excuse was that he was protecting her from having a broken heart later on. She would always forgive him because he would do something to make up for everything. Kevin came over and sat down.

       “Hey girl,” Kevin said. Kevin, Brian, AJ, and Howie treated Hayley like a little sister. Kevin’s wife, Kristin, was talking with Brian’s wife, Leighanne. Leighanne and Kristin were her best girlfriends. When the guys were busy, Leighanne, Kristin, and Hayley would do girl stuff.

       “Hey,” Hayley said staring at Nick. Kevin was the only one who knew about her feelings for Nick.

       “Why not just tell him how you feel,” Kevin said quietly.

       “I’m scared, what if he doesn’t feel the same way,” Hayley said.

       “You won’t know until you find out,” Kevin said.

       “I can’t,” Hayley said. She watched as Nick’s girlfriend, Willa, came in and went over to him and hugged him. Willa was the sweetest girl she has ever met. Hayley felt a tear roll down her cheek as she stared at her hands. She got up and left the room and walked down the hallway to Nick’s dressing room. She closed the door and laid down on the couch. The door opened and Nick and Willa came in and saw her.

       “Hey girl,” Nick said.

       “Hi Hayley,” Willa said.

       “Hi,” Hayley said. Nick looked at Willa. Willa nodded and left the room. Hayley sat up.

       “What’s wrong,” Nick said.

       “I don’t understand you, you can have a girlfriend, but I can’t have a boyfriend, every time I find a guy who is interested in me, you chase him off, why is that, Nick,” Hayley said.

       “I don’t want you to get hurt,” Nick said.

       “You are hurting me, Nick, you can’t protect me, it is my life,” Hayley said.

       “Where did this all come from,” Nick said.

       “It’s been building up for awhile now,” Hayley said.

       “Hayley, I care about you, I only scare away the guys that give me a bad feeling,” Nick said.

       “No, you just want me to be alone, everyone has someone but me, and no one lets me be happy!” Hayley said.

       “Hayley,” Nick said. Hayley grabbed her stuff and headed for the door. Nick grabbed her.

       “What are you doing!” Nick said.

       “I’m leaving, and you can’t stop me!” Hayley said. She went out the door. Everyone looked at her.

       “Goodbye everyone!” Hayley said. She went out the door and hailed a cab and headed for the airport.

 

Chapter 2

 

Hayley sat at the airport. She was looking at her hands when she saw feet in front of you and she looked up and saw Nick’s bodyguard, Billy, standing there.

       “Billy,” Hayley said.

       “Yes, I have orders to bring you back to the venue, from all five guys, either you come quietly or I’ll throw you over my shoulder,” Billy said. Hayley groaned and got her stuff and went and turned in her ticket and went back to the venue with Billy. She walked in and saw Nick pacing. Brian saw her.

       “Nick,” Brian said. Nick looked up and saw her and came over to her and hugged her.

       “I’m so sorry, Hayley, for being the way I was, for chasing all the guys off, I will change for the better, I won’t do it again,” Nick said.

       “I’ve been thinking, you have shown that you really care about me that you would do anything to keep me with you guys,” Hayley said.

       “ Did Billy scare you or something?” Nick asked.

       “He said if I didn’t come quietly, he would throw me over his shoulder,” Hayley said

       “Billy!” Nick said.

       “Hey, you said use force if I had to,” Billy said.

       “I’m sorry about that, it’s just that you are best friend and I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t around,” Nick said.

       “Nick is right, he would be miserable,” Brian said.

       “I know, I know,” Hayley said.

That night after the show, Hayley, Leighanne, Kristin, Brian, Nick, and Kevin went to a club. Willa had gone back to Florida due to her job. Nick noticed Hayley drinking a lot.

       “Nick, what’s wrong,” Brian said.

       “I think Hayley’s drunk,” Nick said.

       “How can you tell?” Brian asked.

       “That is her third drink, when we come to clubs, she always gets the same thing, a martini,” Nick said. He saw her hanging all over a guy on the dance floor. He kept an eye on them. He then lost track of them and he got up and looked around and couldn’t find them. He searched the place and heard shouting from the backroom. He barged in and saw the guy on top of Hayley and she was kicking and shouting. Nick pulled the guy off and knocked him out and helped Hayley get her clothes back on and picked her up and carried her out. Brian and Kevin saw them and got Leighanne and Kristin and followed Nick out the door. They went back to the hotel and Nick took Hayley to his room and laid her on the bed.

       “Nicky,” Hayley said.

       “Yeah,” Nick said as he took her shoes off.

       “Thanks for saving me,” Hayley said.

       “That is what best friends are for,” Nick said. She fell asleep. Nick went to his own bed and laid down and went to sleep.        In the middle of the night, Nick woke up and saw Hayley standing by his bed.

       “Hayley, what’s wrong, are you okay,” Nick said.

       “No, Nick, I’ve been hiding something from you for a long time and I couldn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship or your relationship with Willa,” Hayley said.

       “Hayley, what is it,” Nick said.

       “I’m in love with you, I always have been, I know you don’t feel the same way for me, but I had to tell you how I felt because I don’t like keeping secrets from you, Kevin was the only one who knew how I felt about you and he wanted me to tell you, so here I am, telling you how I feel and I know you don’t feel the same way,” Hayley said. She went back over and got back into her bed and turned away from him. Nick laid there looking at her in shock. He got up and walked over to her bed and turned her on her back and kissed her hungrily.

       “I feel the same way, Hayley, always have, that is why I didn’t want anyone with you because I was jealous,” Nick said.

       “Willa,” Hayley said.

       “She and I broke up, we wanted different things, I was going to tell you how I felt about you tomorrow but you beat me to it,” Nick said. He kissed her again and got into bed with her and laid on top of her and kissed her deeply.

 

Chapter 3

 

(** means dream and it’s for the next four chapters!)

 

**Hayley woke up the next morning and held her head. She saw that she was naked and looked around and saw the bed empty. She got up and got dressed and came out of the bedroom and saw Nick and Brian sitting on the couch.

       “Morning, sleepyhead,” Nick said. Hayley cringed.

       “Don’t shout, please,” Hayley said.

       “Sorry,” Nick whispered. She went and got some coffee and sat down at the table and sipped it. Brian looked at Nick.

       “What exactly happened last night?” Brian asked.

       “I’ll tell you later,” Nick said whispering.

       “I got drunk, that’s what I did,” Hayley said. Brian came over to her and kissed her forehead.

       “Don’t do it again, something bad could have happened to you,” Brian whispered.

       “Believe me, I won’t, I hate hangovers,” Hayley said.

       “Brian and I are going to go talk in his room, I’ll be back,” Nick whispered. Hayley nodded. After she was done with her coffee, she went back to bed.

Nick and Brian sat in Brian’s hotel room. Brian looked at Nick. Nick stared at his hands.

       “Something bad almost happened, you know I carried her out of the club, right,” Nick said.

       “Yeah,” Brian said.

       “Some asshole was going to rape her in the backroom, but I heard her shouting and rescued her,” Nick said.

       “Thank god you did,” Brian said.

       “I brought her back to my room and she confessed that she was in love with me,” Nick said.

       “Nick, did you sleep with her,” Brian said. Nick nodded.

       “Yes, we made love, although she probably doesn’t remember it,” Nick said.

       “Nick, what about Willa,” Brian said.

       “She can’t know about last night,” Nick said.

       “Nick, you can’t keep this from her,” Brian said.

       “I don’t want to be labeled as a cheater, Brian, I don’t want to lose her, she and Hayley are the most important people in my life,” Nick said.

       “I understand, Nick,” Brian said.

       “No one can know, Frick, please, don’t say anything to anyone, not even Kevin, AJ, or Howie,” Nick said.

       “Okay, I won’t say anything,” Brian said.

       “I better get back and see if Hayley’s okay,” Nick said. He went back to his room and heard her in the bathroom and went in and sat beside her and rubbed her back.

       “I hate hangovers,” Hayley said.

       “I know, you already said that,” Nick whispered.

       “Last thing I remember was drinking a martini, I think it was the third one, everything after that was a blur, what happened last night,” Hayley said.

       “You passed out and I brought you back here and you slept until this morning,” Nick said.

       “Why was I naked?” Hayley asked.

       “Maybe you undressed yourself doing the night,” Nick said. Hayley looked at him.

       “Nick, you are hiding something,” Hayley said.

       “I am?” Nick asked.

       “I know you like you know me,” Hayley said.

       “You admitted your feelings to me, how you feel about me,” Nick said. Hayley’s face went pale.

       “Oh god,” Hayley said.

       “How long have you felt that way,” Nick said.

       “A month after you started dating Willa,” Hayley said. Nick looked at her.

       “I see,” Nick said.

       “What else happened last night,” Hayley said.

       “Some jerk wanted some from you and had taking you to the backroom of the club and was going to rape you but I got you just in time,” Nick said.

       “Oh god,” Hayley said.

       “Hayley, promise me you won’t get drunk again,” Nick said.

       “I promise,” Hayley said.

 

Chapter 4

 

Three months went by. Hayley just found out that she was pregnant. She came backstage and saw Nick, Brian, Howie, Kevin, and AJ sitting around talking.

       “Hey girl, what’s up,” AJ said.

       “Guys, I just found out that I’m pregnant, three months along so I want to know what the hell went on the night I got drunk,” Hayley said. The guys looked at each other.  They all shrugged.

       “Beats me,” Howie said.

       “I have no clue,” AJ said.

       “I don’t have an idea,” Kevin said.

       “Me either,” Brian said.

       “Me either,” Nick said. Hayley glared at Nick.

       “Nickolas!” Hayley said.

       “I don’t know, okay, I don’t have any idea so lay off me!” Nick said angrily. He went to his dressing room and slammed the door. Hayley looked at them.

       “Willa isn’t coming back to the tour, she can’t get away from work, he misses her,” Brian said.

       “So you don’t know who the father is?” Kevin asked.

       “It had to have happened while I was drunk, Nick did say that I was almost raped,” Hayley said.

       “You weren’t raped, Nick got to you before the guy could rape you,” Brian said.

       “Did something else happen?” Hayley asked.

       “No, he said you passed out once he got you in the room at the hotel,” Brian said.

       “Nothing explains how I got pregnant,” Hayley said.

       “Nick is the only one who knows,” Brian said. Hayley went to Nick’s dressing room and went in and saw Nick laying on the couch staring at the ceiling.

       “Nicky,” Hayley said.

       “Not now, Hayley,” Nick said.

       “I need to know how I got pregnant,” Hayley said.

       “I don’t know, okay!” Nick said.

       “Nick, don’t yell at me, I’m your best friend, you are the only one who knows what happened that night and how I woke up naked and gotten pregnant,” Hayley said.

       “I don’t want to talk about this now, okay,” Nick said. Hayley looked at him.

       “You are hiding something,” Hayley said.

       “Okay, you want to know, I didn’t get there in time, he already had his way with you once, he was going again when I got there, you were raped okay, I didn’t want you to know,” Nick said. Hayley sat down.

       “Oh god,” Hayley said. Nick sat up and put his arm around her.

       “I’ll be here for you, so will the guys,” Nick said.

       “Thanks,” Hayley said.

Three months later, Hayley was six months along and they all returned home. Nick went to see Willa. Hayley laid down to rest and images came to her in her sleep. She sat up and put her hand on her stomach. She got up and went downstairs to the living room and called Brian. He came over and sat down beside her.

       “I remember everything, Brian, I wasn’t raped, I slept with Nick, god, why would he lie to me,” Hayley said.

       “Hayley, I’m sorry, I knew everything,” Brian said.

       “Why didn’t you tell me!” Hayley said.

       “It wasn’t my place to tell and Nick told me not to tell anyone, he doesn’t want to lose Willa,” Brian said.

       “I did,” Nick said coming to the room.

       “What happened,” Brian said.

       “I walked in on her sleeping with another guy, turns out that she didn’t have to work, she lost her job after she left with us on tour, she lied, she’s been fucking this guy behind my back ever since she left the tour,” Nick said.

       “I can’t believe she did that, lied to you, lied to all of us,” Brian said. Nick looked at Hayley.

       “She wasn’t the only one who lied,” Hayley said.

       “What,” Nick said.

       “You lied to me, Nick, I remember everything from that night, I wasn’t raped, you slept with me and you didn’t bother saying anything,” Hayley said.

       “Hayley,” Nick said.

       “Don’t, now I’m pregnant with your baby, you have never lied to me before and now you have, I can’t believe you would do this!” Hayley yelled.

       “You never told me how you felt about me!” Nick yelled back.

       “Don’t put this back on me, you lied to me, you denied everything that happened that night, I deserved to know the truth!” Hayley yelled.

       “I didn’t want anyone to know, it would get back to Willa and I would lose her, I didn’t know then that she was cheating on me,” Nick said.

       “You cheated on her!” Hayley said.

       “That doesn’t matter now, she is out of my life!” Nick said.

       “And you are out of mine!” Hayley said. She went upstairs and got her stuff and came downstairs.

       “Hayley, don’t leave!” Nick yelled.

       “I can’t be around you anymore, all you do is lie to me, you couldn’t tell me the truth when I asked before, I never want to see you again!” Hayley said.

       “You still have a part of me, you are having my baby!” Nick said.

       “I know that,” Hayley said. She went out the door and got into her car and drove off.

 

Chapter 5

 

Nick stood there and he felt empty. He felt like he had nothing to live for. He looked at Brian. Nick went upstairs. Brian called Kevin. He came over.

       “What is going on,” Kevin said. Brian told him everything. They went upstairs and knocked on the bedroom door. They got no answer and went in and saw Nick lying on the floor in a pool of blood. They checked him and noticed that Nick had slit his wrists. They wrapped his wrists and called for an ambulance. The ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital. Kevin called AJ and Howie while Brian called Nick’s family. Brian and Kevin sat in the waiting room. AJ and Howie came in and Brian told them everything. Jane, Bob, Ginger, BJ, Leslie, Angel, and Aaron came in.

       “What happened,” Jane said. Brian told them everything.  The doctor came out.

       “How is Nick,” Bob said.

       “And you are?” the doctor said.

       “I’m his father,” Bob said.

       “I’m afraid your son has lost a lot of blood, he will need a transfusion,” the doctor said.

       “I’ll give him blood,” Bob said.

       “Me, too, I’m his mother,” Jane said.

       “We are his brother and sisters, we will, too,” BJ said. Leslie, Angel, and Aaron nodded.

       “All of you follow me,” the doctor said. The whole Carter clan minus Ginger followed the doctor.

A couple of hours later, the Carters came back and sat down and waited. The doctor came out a few minutes later. Everyone looked at him.

       “He’ll be fine,” the doctor said. Everyone hugged.

Fifteen years later, Nick and the guys were still making music and still very popular getting new fans every day. They were on tour in Texas. The guys were sitting backstage when Billy, Nick’s bodyguard, brought a young girl backstage.

       “Let go of me,” the girl said.

       “Billy,” Nick said.

       “I found her out by your bus, she demanded to see you,” Billy said. He sat her down.

       “You don’t have to get rough here, Billy,” Nick said.

       “I’m just doing my job,” Billy said.

       “I came to see you, Mr. Carter,” the girl said.

       “What’s your name,” Nick said.

       “Emily,” the girl said.

       “How old are you,” Nick said.

       “I’ll be fifteen in three months,” Emily said.

       “Where are you from?” Nick asked.

       “Here in Dallas,” Emily said.

       “Why did you want to see me?” Nick asked.

       “Because you are my father,” Emily said.

       “What,” Nick said.

       “I have a birth certificate and it says you are my father,” Emily said. Nick took it and read it and saw his name listed under father. He looked at the mother’s name and saw the name.

       “Hayley,” Nick said.

       “What,” Brian said as the guys got up.

       “Her mother’s name is Hayley,” Nick said.

       “You don’t know my mother?” Emily asked.

       “I do know her, I haven’t seen her since three months before you were born,” Nick said.

       “Did you two get a divorce?” Emily asked.

       “We never got married, we were never a couple,” Nick said.

       “How did I come about?” Emily asked.

       “It was one night when things were out of control, and we slept together, the day your mother left, we said some awful things, she said I lied to her about everything, I just didn’t want to lose everything,” Nick said sitting down.

       “I don’t understand,” Emily said.

       “When your mother and I slept together, I had a girlfriend, I felt so guilty that I couldn’t tell her the truth of what happened because she was drunk, when she was six months along with you, I found out that my girlfriend had been cheating on me for the whole six months of your pregnancy, and your mother remembered everything about that night and confronted me and she couldn’t be around me anymore and took off, I felt like I lost everything that mattered to me, I tried to kill myself but my friends wouldn’t let me,” Nick said.

       “Did you even care about me at all to find my mother,” Emily said.

       “Emily, he had private investigators looking all over the country for you, they hadn’t found her, he hasn’t stopped,” Brian said.

       “Believe me, if I knew where your mother went or where she was sooner, I would have been there as a father to you,” Nick said.

       “I want you to be that father to me,” Emily said.

       “I want that, too,” Nick said. Emily hugged him. Nick held her close.

 

Chapter 6

 

Nick took Emily home after the show. He sat in the car. Emily looked at him.

       “Dad,” Emily said. Nick looked at her.

       “I don’t know, what if she still hates me,” Nick said.

       “Dad, it’s been fifteen years,” Emily said.

       “Yeah, I know, she said she never wanted to see me again,” Nick said.

       “Come on,” Emily said. They got out and walked up to the front door and Emily went in first. Nick slowly walked in and closed the door. Emily went into the living room and saw her mother.

       “Thank god, where have you been!” Hayley said hugging her close.

       “I went to the concert, Mom,” Emily said.

       “Honey, I told you not to,” Hayley said.

       “Why, Mom,” Emily said.

       “We didn’t have the money for tickets,” Hayley said.

       “I didn’t need one, I got backstage and I met someone, Mom,” Emily said.

       “You met the Backstreet Boys,” Hayley said.

       “She met me,” Nick said from the doorway. Hayley saw him and looked at Emily.

       “I wanted to meet my father, I found my birth certificate, so I wanted to meet my father, he told me everything, I don’t care if you never want to see him again, he is my father and I want to see him and I will run away if I have to see him,” Emily said.

       “I can’t believe this,” Hayley said.

       “I want to know my daughter, Hayley,” Nick said.

       “What did he tell you exactly?” Hayley said.

       “Everything, Mom, the reason he didn’t tell you the truth because he felt guilty for cheating on his girlfriend with you,” Emily said. Hayley looked at him and Emily.

       “I can’t deny you the rights to see your father, and I can’t deny him the rights of seeing you so we are moving to Florida to be close to him,” Hayley said.

       “Why can’t we be a family,” Emily said.

       “Because your father and I were never a couple, we are a family, just not living together,” Hayley said.

       “This is not fair, why do I have to be different, I grew up without my father and now that I finally found him, you are denying me the kind of family I want!” Emily said. She slapped her mother and went upstairs.**

Hayley woke up and saw she was on the bus. She got up and walked up front and saw Nick sitting there watching TV. He looked up at her. She looked at him.

 

Chapter 7

 

Nick looked at her and looked back at the TV. She walked over to him.

       “Nick, I need to know what happened last night,” Hayley said.

       “I cheated on my girlfriend,” Nick said.

       “Nick,” Hayley said.

       “We slept together, all right, you were drunk, I brought you back to the hotel after saving you from being raped by some jerk, you went to sleep and in the middle of the night, you woke up and confessed that you were in love with him, I confessed the same and you got into bed with me and we had sex, okay, that is what happened,” Nick said. Hayley sat down.

       “You and Willa broke up, right?” Hayley asked.

       “We just got back together, I got off the phone with her awhile ago,” Nick said.

       “Nick, if you two were broken up when we slept together, you didn’t cheat on her,” Hayley said.

       “Why do I feel guilty,” Nick said.

       “Because you still love her and you felt like you destroyed that love,” Hayley said.

       “I have to tell her,” Nick said.

       “I’m sorry that I got drunk, nothing would have happened if I hadn’t,” Hayley said.

       “I’m glad you did, that way you aren’t hiding anything from me,” Nick said.

       “I didn’t want you to know because I knew how you felt about Willa and I didn’t want to ruin that,” Hayley said. Nick looked at her.

       “Knowing you have feelings for me, you have,” Nick said. Hayley looked at him.

       “I’m sorry for ruining your love life!” Hayley said. She went back and laid on the bed. Nick came back and sat on the bed.

       “I’m sorry,” Nick said. They hugged. They pulled back and looked at each other. He leaned forward and kissed her lips softly. The kiss deepened. He pulled back and stood up.

       “I’m sorry,” Nick said.

       “Nick,” Hayley said. He came over and kissed her hungrily.

       “I can’t help it, Hayley, I want you,” Nick said kissing her neck.

       “I want you,” Hayley said. Nick closed the door and locked it and came over to her and kissed her as he removed her clothes. He removed his clothes and laid down on the bed on top of her and made love to her.  Afterwards, Hayley went to sleep as Nick stared at the ceiling of the bus. He untangled himself from her and got up and got dressed. Hayley woke up and saw him getting dressed.

       “Nick,” Hayley said.

       “What,” Nick said.

       “What’s wrong,” Hayley said.

       “Now I’m cheating on Willa,” Nick said.

       “I’m sorry,” Hayley said.

       “No, it’s my fault, I started it,” Nick said.

       “It’s my fault, Nick, I shouldn’t have told you how I felt about you,” Hayley said.

       “Hayley, stop that, okay, it was good that you were honest with me, okay, I don’t want any secrets from us,” Nick said.  Nick looked at her and came over to her.

       “I’m sorry, I just feel like it’s my fault,” Hayley said.

       “It’s not,” Nick said. He kissed her hungrily. He looked into her eyes. The bus came to a stop and Nick looked out.

       “We are at the hotel,” Nick said. Hayley got dressed and got her things together and Nick got off the bus and headed into the hotel.

       “Nick!” he heard someone call and he turned and saw Willa running towards him. She hugged him tight.

       “Willa, what are you doing here,” Nick said.

       “My boss let me have more vacation time,” Willa said. Nick saw Hayley come in.

 

Epilogue

 

Nick and Willa went up to his hotel room. Hayley went to hers and locked the door and laid on the bed. An hour later, someone knocked on the door. She opened the door and saw Nick standing there.

       “Hi,” Hayley said. He came in and closed the door.

       “Willa and I are over, I told her everything, she broke up with me and left,” Nick said.

       “Oh,” Hayley said.

       “It’s a good thing, because I fell for you, Hayley,” Nick said coming over to her.

       “Oh Nick,” Hayley said. He kissed her deeply.

       “Be my girl,” Nick said.

       “Forever,” Hayley said. He kissed her again. They stood there holding each other and Hayley knew they would never be apart for the rest of their lives.

 

The End!