Kindlin heard the front door open and knew Leighanne was there to drop Alex and Ashley off. When Nick was away on tour or recording a new album, with the rest of the Backstreet Boys, Leigh always picked Alex and Ash up from school for Kindlin, so she didn't have to load Aisya and Aaron into the car both in the morning and afternoon.
Kin was about to leave the bathroom to go downstairs to thank her friend, when she realized she'd almost left Aaron in the sink, where she'd been giving him a bath. She paused for a moment to take a deep breath. It was those type of things that she did often now. It was a sign of her seriously losing her mind, though she never told anybody of the incidents, especially Nick.
In Nick's mind, everything was perfect. A beautiful and wonderful wife and four as-adorable-as-they-come children that he loved more every day. And Kindlin wanted to keep it that way. If he ever found out she was a failure, she'd die.
"Hang on, Leigh!" Kin called from the bathroom as she dried Aaron off and wrapped him in a dry towel, before heading down the stairs. "Hi, how are you?" she gave her a hug.
"Good," Leighanne grinned. "How are you doing?"
Kindlin put on a fake smile, "Pretty good."
"Here, let me take Araon, so you can go say hi to Alex and Ash. They ran off with Aisya down to the play room."
"Okay," Kin handed Aaron to her and was about to head down to the basement, which had been turned into a play room for the kids, when Leigh took her arm gently to stop her.
"Do you want Bri and I to take the kids tonight for you and Nick? You look tired," worry showed clearly in her eyes.
"I don't know, Leigh." Kin looked skeptical. "They're a handful. I don't want you two to have to deal with them all."
"Honestly, K, you need to learn to let people do favors for you. Talk to Nick about it, okay? And then let me know."
"Alright, thanks." Kindlin headed for the stairs and walked down them into the basement. She walked in right when Alex hit Ashley on the head with a toy because he'd gotten mad at her. "Alex!! G*d d*mn it! Don't you ever do that again!!"
Alex looked up at her, knowing he was in some major trouble now. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Kin grabbed his arm and made him look at her, "If I EVER see you do that again...."
~ * ~ Upstairs ~ * ~
Nick walked into the house and saw Leigh holding Aaron. "Hey, chica. How are you?" he smiled at her.
"Hey, Nick! Good, you?" Leigh handed Aaron to him.
He took the baby and kissed his cheek, "I'm excellent. What's going on downstairs?" he asked, suddenly hearing yelling.
"I have no idea." Leigh's eyebrows rose. "Nothing was until now."
Nick handed Aaron back to her and headed down to the basement. "What's goin' on, Kin?" he asked when he saw her extremely mad at Alex and Alex looking scared like all kids when getting in trouble.
"He hit Ashley over the head with a toy!!"
"What??! Okay, well I think he knows never to do THAT again," he looked over at Alex. "Go to your room, buddy."
Alex nodded and headed up the stairs.
Nick sighed and looked over at Kindlin who was turned the other way, her back to him. "Ashley, Aisya, go upstairs to Leigh, okay? Tell her that your mom and I will be up in a minute."
Ashley nodded and took Aisya's hand, helping the toddler back up the staircase.
Once they were gone, Nick walked over to Kin and began to massage her shoulders gently. "Sheesh, Kin... look how tense you are. You need to start relaxing a little more, baby."
She turned around, "Nick, when you have four young children you don't relax." her breathing was staggered and her voice shaky.
"Hey," Nick hooked his fingers into her pant's side belt-loops and pulled her to him. "What's going on, baby?" he asked quietly, looking her in the eyes. "Did something happen today??"
Kin scoffed, "What didn't happen??"
Nick sighed and pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her protectively. He waited for her to rest her head on his chest and once she did, he nuzzled her neck. "Baby... Brian said that him and Leigh will take the kids tonight, if we want. I think we should take them up on the offer. You need a break."
She looked up at him, "Forget it, Carter."
"What is wrong with the idea?? Can't you just rest for a minute? Kin..."
"What?" she burst out crying all of a sudden.
A weird look crossed Nick's face, "Baby?"
Kindlin didn't answer as she continued to sob against him. Nick held her tighter, extremely worried.
"Okay, hon, we're definently taking them up on their offer."
