I stopped off at the mall and did some shopping. Frederick’s of Hollywood caught my eye and I wandered in. I browsed around a bit to see if I could find something Nick would like. I saw a rack with long silk, spaghetti strapped gowns. I fingered through them and pulled a red one out. As I was examining the gown, the clerk came up, “Can I help you with something, Mrs. Carter?” I looked at her surprised, “Oh, you know who I am,” I said. “Yes I do and I want you to know that I am a big fan of BSB. And I also want you to know that I support you and Nick in your marriage. Age doesn’t matter as long as you are in love,” she said. “Why thank you. That is really kind of you,” I said. “No problem, Mrs. Carter. Just let me know if I could be of any help,” she said. “Thank you,” I replied. I continued to examine the red gown when all of a sudden, “Hello beautiful,” Steve said. My stomach became a knot. I quickly turned around, “What the hell are you doing here? Are you following me?” “Temper, temper. I missed you,” Steve said as he tried to embrace me. “You so much as lay one finger on me so help me I will scream for security,” I whispered through angry gritted teeth. “How did you know I was here,” I asked fuming. I stopped for a second and realized that he must have been parked by the house somewhere and waited for me to leave to follow me. “You got a beautiful place, Annie. When are you gonna invite me over for dinner,” he asked evilly. I was fuming mad at that point I wanted to kill him. I waved a finger in his face and said, “Steve Baldwin, you so much as try to stalk or follow me again, I swear, I will press charges. I’m going to pay for this and I’m gonna walk out of this store and you better not be following me.” I turned away angrily, paid for the gown and walked out. I waited until I got to the Durango to look back and see if he was following me. He wasn’t but one never knows. It was gonna be difficult hiding this from Nick but I was determined.
Nick finally came home. I had fallen asleep after I had gotten back from shopping. Nick quietly came in when he saw me asleep. The next thing I knew, he was tracing kisses down my neck as he embraced me. “Mmmm, how long have you been back,” I asked sleepily. “I just walked in,” Nick said as he kissed my shoulder. “How was rehearsals? Was it good,” I asked. “Yeah, it went okay,” Nick replied. “You, how was your day,” Nick asked. “Oh, I went shopping,” I replied. “Oh, what did you buy,” he asked. “Oh, a couple pair of jeans, a leather jacket and …..,” I trailed off. I got up and said, “Well, let me show you.” I went into the bathroom to slip into the red silk nightgown I had bought from Frederick’s. I took my hair down and brushed it, put a little perfume on and freshened my make up. “Okay, dim the lights,” I hollered through the bathroom door. “Why,” Nick asked. “Just do it,” I yelled. I waited a couple of minutes and then slowly opened the door. I gingerly walked out with the gown swaying with the movement of my body. Nick’s eyes widened as I walked into the room. “This …. This is what I bought. Just for you,” I said with a pouty smile. Nick smiled as he motioned me with his finger, “Come over here.” I slowly walked towards him as he stood up from the bed. He put his arms around me, “I like this.” We began to exchange kisses and our hands began the search of eachother’s bodies. “I guess we can start using the baby making tips now, huh,” I said against his lips. “Yeah, I guess so,” Nick said as he brushed his lips against mine. The moment became heated and we passionately kissed as I (this time) gently pushed him down on the bed. My body was fluidly moving on top of his and he followed every move as his hands searched. He tried to flip over but I stopped him and let him know that I was gonna take control this time. He didn’t refuse. His hands made their way up my back to my shoulders to pull the straps down. My hands searched for the buttons on his shirt. I slipped my hand in between the buttons and pulled his shirt open. We made love that night up until early morning hours and then fell asleep in eachother’s arms.
It was almost noon when I looked up at the clock. “Nick, are you hungry yet,” I yelled across the hall. “Yeah, what time is it,” he asked. “It’s almost lunch time,” I yelled back, “How about we order some pizza delivered?” Nick’s head peeked around the corner like a little kid with bright eyes. Everytime he heard “pizza” he perked up. Pizza was one of Nick’s favorite foods. “Yeah, pizza ….. sounds good to me,” he replied. I went ahead and put in an order for an extra cheese pizza and some sodas. While we were waiting, we sat on the floor to take a break. The movers had already taken most of the furniture and had taken it up to the house. “Hey, we’re alone …..,” Nick whispered. “And ….,” I replied. Nick looked at his watch as he smiled, “Well, we have twenty minutes before the pizza gets here. What can we do in twenty minutes?” My eyes widened as he came forward, “Nicholas Gene Carter! Haven’t you had enough in the last few weeks?” Nick laughed as he grabbed me and pulled me against him, “No, I can never get enough of you.” We kissed for an indefinite time. “You know, you keep doing this and you may get tired of me,” I said playfully. “Me? Get tired of you? Never,” he said with a grin. I ran my hand down his face, “I love you, Nick.” “And I love you, Annie,” Nick replied. The moment was interrupted when the pizza delivery boy knocked on the door. “Damn,” Nick whispered. I tapped the side of Nick’s head as we both laughed.
Nick polished off the last piece. We seemed to have packed everything and were ready to load up the Durango. “Have we got everything,” Nick asked. “I think so,” I replied, “let’s see, I called the telephone company, PG&E …. Hmmm … now all I have to do is go down to the landlord’s office and pay the rent difference for the month.” We both loaded the last of the small boxes into the Durango. “Okay, I’ll be right back, babe,” I said as I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I walked down the sidewalk and around the corner towards the office. All of a sudden the pain in my stomach hit. I braced the wall to break my fall. I slid down the wall and keeled over. Tears streaming down my eyes. The pain was intense. I looked behind me to see if Nick might have followed me but he didn’t. “Thank goodness,” I said to myself. I waited for the pain to subside and then stood up. I paid the landlord and then asked if he had a restroom that I could use. He pointed it out to me and I made my way there. The same pale look was in the mirror. I splashed some cold water on my face and wiped it off. Dr. Edwards had not called me back yet on the results. And I was scared to find out what he would tell me. I figured that I would gather enough guts to call him tomorrow when Nick wasn’t around. I tried to freshen up what I could. I told the landlord thank you and headed back to the Durango where Nick was waiting. “All paid,” Nick asked. “Yup, all paid,” I replied. Nick was looking at me strangely once we got into the car. “Annie, what’s wrong? You look so pale,” Nick said worriedly. I acted like I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Huh,” I said as I pulled the visor mirror down. I played it off by looking at myself, “Nick, what are you talking about? I’m fine.” “Well, you look pale,” Nick said. “Sweety, I’m fine. Why do you worry so much? I’m just tired from cleaning out the apartment,” I said. Nick smiled at me as he ran his hand down my cheek, “I just love you so much I don’t want anything to happen to you.” “Babe, nothing is going to happened to me. I’m fine,” I said as I kissed him, “really, I’m fine.” Nick smiled and then started up the car.
We arrived at the house to the same situation. Reporters and fans standing vigil at the gates. Nick shook his head. “Nick, you can’t get away from this,” I smiled. “I know, I know,” Nick replied, “maybe I should just give them a quick interview.” I looked at Nick shocked, “Are you serious?” “Yeah, why not,” he said. “Nick, one interview isn’t going to stop other reporters from harassing you. The more they will want to corner you because you gave one reporter the chance,” I explained. Nick shrug his shoulders, “Come on.” Nick hopped out of the car and made his way to my side of the car to help me out. “Okay, okay. Give us some room here,” Nick yelled as the reporters and fans began to gather around us. “Nick, this is a shock to some of your fans. Can you tell us what led you to marry? And why an older woman? And won’t this ruin your image as a Backstreet Boy,” the reporters asked. One fan yelled out that she hated me for marrying Nick. “First of all, I know that this is a shock to some of my fans BUT I am only human. I have the same feelings as anyone here about life and love. I decided that I wanted to get married because I fell in love. Second, age does not matter to me. Annie maybe thirteen years older than I am but we love eachother unconditionally for who we are. Third, I really don’t think this will ruin my image as a Backstreet Boy. It just changes my status from single to married. I’m the same “Nick Carter” from day one. Now if there are fans out there that are upset because I fell in love and got married then they are not TRUE fans at all. Those who support Annie and I in our marriage, I would like to thank you personally. That’s all I have to say.” “Mrs. Carter, what about you? What is it like being married to a Backstreet Boy,” one reporter asked quickly. Nick looked at me and nodded. “It’s not all that different from a normal marriage. Sure, there is publicity, fans, reporters like you … it comes with the territory and I have learned to live with that. Like Nick said, he is only human. For me, he is a normal human being with an enhanced life.” “Okay, that’s all we have to say, thanks,” Nick yelled out. We both got back into the car and headed up to the house. “Wow, I’m impressed,” I said smiling. “Of what,” Nick asked. “Of you! You handled that really well,” I replied. “Well, I just decided that I want my fans to know how I feel about you and I being married. Maybe if they know that I am happy then they will be happy for me, too,” Nick explained.
I felt really bad hiding all this stuff about Steve from Nick but I didn’t feel he needed to worry about all this. I convinced myself that I could handle it. Nick had a career to run and he didn’t need the added stress of Steve harassing me and worrying about my medical problem.
Nick had gone downstairs to get some munchies. While he was downstairs, I made a quick call to Dr. Edwards’s office. His nurse, Nancy, answered. “Hi Nancy, this is Mrs. Carter,” I said. “Hello Mrs. Carter! How are you,” Nancy asked. “Oh, I’m doing fine. How about yourself,” I asked. “I’m just fine, Mrs. Carter,” Nancy replied, “Now, what can I do for you?” “Well, Dr. Edwards had run some tests on me. I was just wondering if the results were back,” I asked. “Oh, okay. Let me see if Dr. Edwards is available to talk. Hold on,” Nancy said. About five minutes had past and Dr. Edwards came to the phone, “Hi, Mrs. Carter?” “Yes, Dr. Edwards,” I replied. “Well ….. the results of your test are back,” Dr. Edwards replied. He paused for a long moment. “Well …. What are they,” I asked, “What’s wrong with me?” “Well, I believe it to be an ulcer but I can’t be sure. Have you had any blood when you go to the bathroom,” he asked. I felt kind of silly having him ask me this but I knew it was only because he needed to know. “Yeah, a couple of times,” I replied. “Okay, well, I need to have an ultra-sound of your abdominal area done. I want to rule out a couple of things,” he explained. “Oh, okay but do you know what is going on with me or have an idea,” I asked. “Yeah, I have an idea but I want to check it out first before I officially diagnose it,” he explained. I was quiet for a moment. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Carter. Everything will be alright,” he assured me. “Thank you, Dr. Edwards,” I said. “You’re welcome. Just stop by the office as soon as you can to pick up the lab slip, okay,” he said. “Okay, thanks again,” I said and then hung up. Nick walked in on me hanging the phone up, “Who were you talking to, babe,” he asked. I turned around startled. Quickly, I answered, “Oh, I just called my mom to see how they were all doing,” I said. “How are they,” Nick asked with a concerned look. “Oh, they’re doing fine. Everything is alright,” I replied. “Are you sure,” Nick asked. “Yeah, yeah. They’re okay,” I said. “Gee, I wish I knew you were calling them. I would have said hi,” Nick said. “Oh, we’ll call them again,” I said. Nick smiled and plopped on the bed with me. “Whew,” I thought to myself, “that was close.”
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