Nick opened his front door to the neighbor girl who'd offered to baby-sit for him. He had an awards show to attend and Zack was far too young to go to one of those. Word of Nick Carter's baby was starting to get around and new theories and rumors were beginning to cycle on who the mother could possibly be (maybe him and Rayla had kept their relationship a little too private).
"Britney and Justin were having problems, so Brit ran off to Nick and he got her knocked up."
"It was another one of those one night stands."
"Nick couldn't stand the fact that AJ was getting a lot of his attention, so he hired someone that he could impregnate."
You name it, it had been said. It didn't particularly bother him though, because he was too busy taking care of Zack, making sure Zack stayed out of the public eye in an attempt to protect him, and trying to figure out how he was going to deal with the situation that Rayla had left him in. The neighbor had promised to keep all details to herself and to not tell anybody anything about his son... that was the only reason he was leaving Zack in her care. And he was desperate for a baby-sitter - they were hard to find on Friday nights!
"Come on in, Emma. Zack's upstairs sleeping - I had to take him shopping with me, so he's had a long day," Nick explained as he led 17-year-old Emma into his house and towards the kitchen, so he could show her where everything was.
Emma smiled as she placed her coat on the back of his couch on the way to the kitchen, "Poor li'l guy."
"Yeah," Nick grinned at the thought of his son. "Well, this is where I keep the bottles..."
A half an hour later Nick was finally done telling her where everything was, and probably telling much more than he needed to. This was his first time leaving Zack with somebody that he didn't really know... the only people he'd left him with was his mom and his sister, BJ, and even then he'd only been gone for less than half an hour.
"Don't worry, Nick, I'll take excellent care of him," Emma reassured him with a gentle smile, knowing how protective Nick was of his son. She could tell how much he loved Zack; it was very evident.
Nick smiled while grabbing his keys and jacket, "I need to get going. Thanks so much, Emma. I know this was late notice. I'll try and be back by 1."
Emma nodded, though she doubted that he would be back by 1 a.m. She knew how late those things went, and if he went to any after parties he'd be gone even later. But Nick seemed to hardly want to leave his son at all... she wondered how long he'd last before he ran home. "No problem, Nick. Enjoy your evening; Zack will be fine."
Nick sighed, but nodded, "Okay. Thanks again. Bye, Emma."
"Bye."
Reluctantly, Nick walked to the garage and got into his car. This was harder than he'd thought.
