The next morning Kindlin woke up and rolled over to look at the clock. "Holy crap, it's noon!" she jumped out of bed, feeling lazy if she laid around any longer. Her eyebrows rose once she realized that she was the only one in the room. "Um... Nick??"
No response.
Sighing, Kindlin threw some clothes on, brushed her hair, and grabbed her mini-backpack. Heading out the door, she walked down the hotel hallway. Kindlin hopped into an elevator and pressed the Lobby button. The sound of the door's dinging, indicating that they were about to open because she was at the Lobby, brought her out of her thoughts.
Standing up straight and straightening out her shirt, Kin walked out of the now ajar elevator doors and immediately bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Kindlin said, before looking up to see a smiling Nick. "Oh! Where were you?"
"Getting breakfast," he gestured to the small paper bag in his hand. "I got a chocolate chip muffin and chocolate milk for you."
"How'd you know that's my favorite??"
Nick smiled slyly with a little shrug.
Kindlin laughed, took the bag out of his hand, and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the hotel. "We'll eat on the way," she said, as she began walking down the cold Seattle street, digging through the bag for her food and handing Nick his. "I made us an appointment with a lawyer and it's in a half hour, so we gotta jet."
"Gosh, don't they have taxi's around here??" Nick asked, about five minues later.
"Yes, they do. But as you can see it ain't New York City. We don't have time to wait for one."
Nick shivered, "I know. But I'm f-freezing."
Kin laughed. "Well, that's what jackets are for! I'd offer you mine, but believe me it won't fit."
"Shut up, K ((AN: if you didn't remember, that's one of her nicknames))." Nick smirked. "You're just like anorexic."
"Opposite of you!" she giggled. "Oh, wait. We're here." stopping in front of a tall concrete building, Kindlin turned to look at Nick and grabbed his hand to prevent him from entering the office building.
"Nick?"
"Yeah?" he looked back at her.
"We have to look presentable, okay? Looking rich would be nice too... But you seem to pull that off easily with your all Tommy atire."
Nick laughed.
Kindlin straightened out his shirt and moved a strand of his hair in a different direction. Sighing, she smirked. "Well, you'll just have to do, I suppose."
Nick gaped. "'Have to do'?!" he laughed, shockingly. "Well, my dearest K, it's time to put on the husband/wife act," he placed his hands on the back of her head and leaned over, his lips and tongue twisting with hers in an erotic duel.
Kindlin pulled away, breathlessly. "Oh... my... Oh gosh." her head was spinning.
Nick laughed, wickedly, grabbed her hand and pulled her into the building. "Here goes nothin'," he whispered in her ear as they made their way to the elevators.
~*~That Night~*~Back At The Hotel~*~
Kindlin was laying on her back on the floor, while Nick paced the hotel room, excitedly, being careful to step around her.
"I'm so happy that he agreed to take our case! And he said we have a good chance at winning!" he was rambling on, his arms flailing happily, yet at the same time pathetically, in the air.
Kindlin merely smiled lightly.
"What's wrong?" Nick asked, stopping his annoying pacing and standing above her.
"Nothing. Sit on my feet, please."
"What? Why?" he asked as he sat down on her feet, giving her a strange look.
Kindlin started doing sit-ups, "That's why."
"Are you okay, Kin? You've been acting sorta weird tonight."
She just gave him a look and continued her sit-ups. She was stopped when she felt his hands on her shoulders.
"Stop for a second," Nick ordered.
Kindlin sighed, "What?"
"Tell me what's wrong."
"Nothing... I just... I just feel... bad."
"For what?" Nick stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her up with him.
She looked down. "For taking him away from that couple. They were so happy when they got him... I... I don't know. If I would have not given him away in the first place, I wouldn't be in this predicament."
"But you did, and there's nothing you can do about it now... Except try and get him back."
"But it feels so wrong... And everytime I think about that couple, I just feel so horrible!" she whined, feeling tears filling her eyes.
Nick sighed, "Then try not to think about it. I understand why you'd feel bad, and I do too... to some extent. But the want to have my son overpowers the feeling of guilt. I mean, you can feel bad for the couple, but what about us??"
"What do you mean?" Kindlin looked up at him, her eyes twinkling from the tears they held.
"It's our baby... we deserve to have him and be happy, right?"
She gulped, "Yeah... I suppose." she whispered, before wiping her eyes.
Nick nodded. "Do you want to go down to the hotel restaurant and get something to eat? We never ate dinner."
"Okay," Kindlin agreed. "Lemme straighten up my hair and make-up first."
"Alright. I'll watch TV till you're done," he sat down on the couch, flipped the TV on, and watched Kindlin walk into the bathroom, before turning his attention to the television.
~*~1 Hour Later~*~In The Restaurant~*~
"Ya know what I just realized?!" Kindlin suddenly asked as her and Nick sat in their booth, eating pizza.
"What's that?" Nick looked up at her, curiously.
"We've actually been getting along." She smiled, though the shocked look remained on her face.
Nick laughed, "You just now realized that, Kin? I noticed it a while ago... I just didn't wanna jinx us by mentioning it."
Kindlin rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him. "Stuper...stitious... b*stard," she said slowly, quoting a movie. "What was that from?? I can't remember the name of the movie."
Nick sat there, thinking for a minute. "I can't remember. I remember watching it, but I don't know which one it was either."
Kin sighed, "That's gonna bother me all night," she murmured, her eyes scanning the crowd in the over-stuffed restaurant. As they landed on a familiar face, she gasped.
"What's wrong, K?" Nick asked, worriedly. "Are you alright?"
"Holy crap," she turned back to Nick and looked him straight in the eyes. "I'm comin' to your side of the booth and you betta d*mn well act like you're madly in love with me!"
Nick's eyebrows rose as she jumped out of the booth and slid into his side, cuddling up to him automatically. "Kin, what has gotten into you??" Nick asked, putting his arms around her, though he didn't know why he had to.
Kindlin looked behind her, back into the crowd, before turning back to Nick. "Your answer is strolling his way over here as we speak." she gave him a 'you betta play along or I'll kill you' look, before a fake lovey-dovey one replaced it.
Nick looked around before catching site of an attractive, black-haired man, who looked to be a little older than himself, pushing his way through the crowd towards them.
Nick was busy wondering who the guy was, when he felt Kin's hands slide to the back of his neck, pulling his face down to hers. He felt their lips crash together in a kiss that was more passionate than the one they had shared, earlier that day, in front of the lawyer's office. Nick figured the guy was an ex-boyfriend of Kindlin's, but that still didn't explain why she wanted this guy to know her and Nick were "together" that bad.
It all happened so fast and before Nick knew it they were being interrupted by someone clearing their throat above them. Kindlin broke the kiss first, feeling breathless and reluctant to turn around and face the one person she hadn't seen for 2 years, and had never wanted to see again. She looked up at Nick for a split second, before turning around and putting on her fake 'ohmygosh, it's so good to see you!' act. "Ryan! Oh gee, how are you?! It's been, what, 3, 4 years??"
Ryan smiled, smugly, knowing what she was trying to do. "2 actually," he answered, knowingly.
"Wow. Time flies when you're having fun," she put her right hand on Nick's thigh ((Nick's sitting to the right of her)), rubbing casual circles with her thumb. She knew Ryan could see and she was darn glad.
Ryan quietly cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable. "You two are... dating?" he pointed at each of them.
"No! Married actually," she grinned, proudly, putting out her left hand so he could see the rock on her finger.
"Nick Carter," Nick finally spoke up, offering his right hand to shake Ryan's. His left hand was rested easily under Kindlin's baby-tee, massaging her lower back lightly.
Kindlin could feel every tense muscle in her back quickly becoming mush. Instead of feeling tense, she now felt weak... and she had no idea why... or so she just kept telling herself.
"Nick C-Carter? As in... Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys?" Ryan shook Nick's hand, uneasily.
"Yes!" Kindlin said, urgently. "Famous, rich, and attractive Nick Carter!" she just wanted to get Ryan even more mad. And prove her point.
Kindlin sighed and looked down, feeling her head spinning. Every cruel thing Ryan had ever said to her during their relationship, in the past, began to float into her mind again, making her dizzy. Resting her head on Nick's shoulder, in fear of fainting, she casted her eyes back up to Ryan. "Are you married, Ryan?"
Ryan laughed a light, bitter laugh, knowing that she knew she was pushing the right buttons. "No, I am not, Kindlin."
"Oh?" she looked up at him, innocently, feeling all her energy returning to her body again. "Why, I thought that you were engaged to a model! Oh, that's right, I remember now. She didn't show up for the wedding, right? I am so sorry. That must have been horrible! Well, are you still working at Microsoft, here in Seattle?"
Ryan scoffed at the innocent expression still plastered on her face. "No, Kindlin, I'm not." he stated, sternly.
"Oh, that's right! You were fired. I remember my mom telling me that, now. Weren't you banging the boss' wife? Is that why your fiance' left you? Cuz if I remember correctly, it was all right around the same time. Or did she just leave you at the alter because you're an inconsiderate son of a b*tch?!"
By now Nick had to look away to keep from laughing. The fact that Kindlin was clinging to him and being a jerk to another guy, for a change, was just too humerous for him.
"Alright, Kin! You can shut up now. I get the point! You've obviously made it in life, and I haven't... happy now?!" with that Ryan stormed off, angrily.
Kindlin's arms dropped on the table, providing a place to bury her head. "Oh gosh," she groaned.
"Shh, it's okay," Nick whispered, putting his arms around her and rubbing soothing circles on her back as she began to cry.
Getting control of herself, after a few minutes, Kindlin looked up at Nick, stray tears falling down her face every few seconds.
"Hey, it's okay, alright?" Nick said, gently, wiping the tears from her eyes, with his thumbs.
"I am so sorry, Nick," Kindlin whispered. "He was my boyfriend when I was 16 until 17 and he always treated me horribly and then when I broke up with him he said that I would always be a nobody and without him I'm nothing, and I'd never do anything with my life... I just wanted to prove to him wrong, but all I ended up doing proving him right, to myself! I haven't done anything with my life. The only thing that made me look like a somebody, to him, was the fact that I was married to you. And I'm not. Well, legally, but not in our hearts. And, and..." she looked down, feeling ashamed and not knowing what else to say.
At that moment all Nick wanted to do was kiss her. Not because she looked beautiful, even with bloodshot eyes... Not because he hadn't had a girlfriend in a while... Not because he was some hormonal teenager. But because she was there, he was there, and to him they were the only ones in the room. To him, everyone else had disappeared and the only person he could see and wanted to see, was her. She was crying, she was upset, and he wanted to be the one to comfort her. He didn't want anyone else to make her feel better. He wanted to. But he was too scared to tell her that. Pushing his thoughts aside, Nick chose a more immature way to go about it. "Um, Kin?"
"Yeah, Nick?" Kindlin looked back up at him.
"This might be a weird coincidence or whatever, but my ex is standing over there." he pointed to some chick in the crowd.
Before Kin could even think, Nick had pulled her against himself. His kiss was almost releasing butterflies into her stomach. This was no ordinary kiss. It was one of those passionate and actually meaningful ones that even authors of steamy romance novels have trouble putting into words, the kind that aren't even shown in movie's like Titanic, the kind that make your toes curl and the room spin.
It wasn't racy, it wouldn't be censored on TV, but no one could have described the feelings and emotions that traveled through both of their bodies at that exact moment. There was no kiss like it and the best actor and actress, in the world, couldn't have re-inacted it.
Nick pulled away slowly and looked down at Kindlin to see her turn and looked behind her at the chick Nick had pointed out earlier as 'his ex'. The girl was now freak dancing with some guy on the dance floor of the restaurant, and although very attractive and in-shape she looked to be about 10 years older than Nick.
Kindlin turned back to Nick, slowly, "Are you sure that's your ex-girlfriend?"
"No," Nick looked down at her and waited for some sort of reaction.
