Kevin watched as Nick dutifully fed and burped his tiny son before lying him in his crib for a nap.
"This is what I got him." He handed Nick a bag with something quite large and hard inside it. "Sorry, I didn't have time to wrap it."
"It's ok." Nick smiled as he pulled a large rectangular book out of the bag. The words "My first......" were written across the blue front of the book in gold lettering. Flipping through the book Nick could see that there were spaces for 'my first word' and for photographs of things such as 'my first step.'
"I know it's not much...." Kevin started.
"No, it's great. Thanks, Kev. You didn't have to." Nick replied, smiling slightly.
"I wanted to. It's the least I could do, after the way I've treated you for the past 8 months."
"You already apologised." Nick reminded him.
"Not properly." Kevin argued.
"Well, apologising doesn't change how things are." Nick said, suddenly realising that he knew why Kevin was there. "You want a paternity test and you can have one. I spoke to the doctor about it and he said that he'd prefer it if I waited a while but if it's urgent...You can have one on the day that me and Jake are due to go home. That's in four days, think you can wait that long?"
"Nick, I'd have waited as long as you wanted me to." Kevin replied.
"Yeah but you would have thought that I was doing it just because I wasn't completely sure and I was worried that the results might be wrong but I know what the results are going to say. Besides, the sooner we get it checked the sooner I can put your name on Jake's birth certificate and get him registered."
"My name's not on his birth certificate?" Kevin sounded surprised.
"No, I figured since you're so adamant that he's not yours that you wouldn't want it on there until you sure."
"I'm not 'adamant' that he's not mine, Nick, I just want to be sure."
"I don't get it. You act like I'm some silly little girl who's after you for your fame and money and figured that the best way to trap you was to have your baby, well, guess what Kev? I don't need your money or your fame, I don't need anything from you. All I want is for my son, our son, to have all the chances that he deserves in life which includes both his parents." Nick sighed.
"You don't understand." Kevin muttered, closing his eyes tiredly.
"How can I? You haven't told me what it is I'm supposed to understand. I can't read your mind Kevin. I don't know what happened between you and Kristin but you should just get over it, she left you but you're better off without you because she was that silly little girl who wanted to be part of your world but then couldn't take it. Stop trying to make me out to be the bad guy here when we both know that it's HER!" Nick spat. "She seriously screwed you up and you deserve better but so do I and so does Jake."
"I know."
"No, you don't know! You don't know anything anymore. If you knew then there'd be no problem here, if I knew what the hell is up your ass then there'd be no problem here but as it stands there is a problem and that problem's you." Nick sank back on the bed. "If I wasn't still in pain I'd kick your ass." Kevin had to smile at that, it was nice to see a trace of the old Nick who he knew so well, that his Nick was still in there somewhere. Now all he had to do was figure out where the old Kevin was hiding.
"What did Brian say when he was here earlier?" Kevin asked. He knew that it was wimping out, changing the subject when he could easily tell Nick what the 'problem' was. Nick would listen, he always did, even if he didn't understand he listened.
"Not much." Nick sighed. "Just that AJ made the press statement about Jake and that there's loads of speculation about the father now, people think it's him because he made the statement. He said the website and MTV have been inundated with good luck messages and stuff from the fans which is really sweet."
"Yeah, you couldn't turn the TV on this morning without there being something about you on it." Kevin agreed.
"Did everything go ok at the press thing. There were no crazy protestors or anything?" Nick worried.
"No, it went well, I saw some clips of it on the news. Howie was there too. He kept adding things to everything AJ was saying it drove him nuts." Kevin laughed.
"Good." Nick looked and sounded relieved. He'd been pretty much sheltered from the press during his pregnancy and he was worried about how they would present it. They were silent for a minute as Nick looked through the book that Kevin had given him. "He's had his picture taken already." Nick said, suddenly, seeing the space for baby's first picture.
"Really?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, they took it when he was like an hour old. You can get it made into a key ring and everything. I don't know if I really like the idea of my son being a key ring but Aaron says he's getting one because he wants to have him with him every where. He still has that one of me." Nick continued. Kevin recognised this, this was Nick being uncomfortable with the silence and feeling nervous so he was just rambling off. It was better than when he sank into himself and didn't say anything though, Kevin mused. "I haven't told Brian because he'd probably buy a bunch of them. He keeps calling him Jakey, I don't know why but it's really annoying. Ok, well, he actually only called him that twice but that's enough. Howie and AJ are coming by later." He said suddenly.
"The nurse was right about you always having different visitors. You're not going to have a minute to yourself." Kevin smiled.
"Yeah. Those two are always together lately. It's like they're attached at the hip, I know that they were always close before but since AJ went to rehab they've become even closer."
"AJ got closer to everyone after rehab. He had a lot of catching up to do."
"I guess. Leigh was here earlier with Brian. She still doesn't seem to want kids any time soon, she almost barfed when I was changing Jake's diaper before...."
"Nick..." Kevin interrupted.
"Still, Brian might leave her alone about it for a while now because he can fuss over Jake. On the other hand it might make him worse, I don't know..."
"Nick, are you ok?" Kevin asked, looking into Nick's eyes.
"I'm fine. I think....I think maybe you should leave now." Nick replied, shaking his head.
"Ok. Can I come back later in the week?"
"Well, you'll need to be here on Friday for the paternity test so I guess so." Nick looked confused.
"No, I meant before that, can I come and visit you?"
"If you want to. You don't have to."
"I know that. I'll see you in a few days then. The day after tomorrow probably." He leaned down to kiss Jake softly. "Bye, baby. Bye, Nicky."
"Bye." Nick said weakly as Kevin left the room. He sank back on his bed and sighed. Hopefully AJ and Howie wouldn't stay too long. That sounded really ungrateful considering everything they'd done for him but he was just so tired all he wanted to do was sleep.
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