SIDE NOTE: Okay, I know that I said I wasn't going to write any Song-Stories for a while, but I was listening to my Creed CD and this song came on and it inspired me, lol. The story came quickly to me (although I accidently deleted it, halfway through on the first time around and had to start over from scratch) and was easy to write. Anyway, this story is different from others, because first of all it's written from Nick's point of view. And secondly, it's more like Nick is telling you "his story", or carrying on a conversation with you - meaning, I didn't try to make it sound all professional, it's just like him talking to you, or someone. K? So just read it already! :o)
Well, I just heard the news today It seems my life is going to change I closed my eyes, begin to pray Then tears of joy stream down my face
With arms wide open Under the sunlight Welcome to this place I'll show you everything With arms wide open With arms wide open
Well, I don't know if I'm ready To be the man I have to be I'll take a breath, I'll take her by my side We stand in awe, we've created life
With arms wide open Under the sunlight Welcome to this place I'll show you everything
With arms wide open Now everything has changed I'll show you love I'll show you everything With arms wide open
With arms wide open I'll show you everything Oh, Yeah... With arms wide open Wide open
If I had just one wish Only one demand I hope he's not like me I hope he understands That he can take this life And hold it by the hand And he can greet the world With arms wide open...
With arms wide open Under the sunlight Welcome to this place I'll show you everything
With arms wide open Now everything has changed I'll show you love I'll show you everything With arms wide open
With arms wide open I'll show you everything Oh, Yeah... With arms wide open Wide open...
-With Arms Wide Open, by Creed (CD: Human Clay)
I couldn't believe what she had just told me. I mean, it's not like I wasn't excited or anything! I was! It was just that I was so young still. I was only 23 and already married, and even though her and I had been married for a year already - Sheesh, time flies when you're having fun! - it still seemed amazing that me, Nick Carter, had gotten married at the age of 22. It was exactly 16 years ago, to this day, that my wife, Katalina (and that's pronounced Kat-Uh-LI-Nuh, not Kat-Uh-LEE-Nuh... and don't you dare forget it! She is very touchy about the pronunciation of her name!), or as I like to call her, Kat, came home and told me something I really wasn't expecting to hear... You curious yet? Well, just read on, of course...
"Nick?? Are you home??" Katalina called, walking into our new, and might I add - pretty fancy shmancy, home. She dropped her keys on the side table, by the door, and started walking around the first floor, looking for me.
"Noooooo!" I groaned from upstairs. Although I knew that by speaking she would know I was home, I still decided to try it, not wanting to be "bothered". She had just woken me up from a nap and I did NOT want to have to get up, so I figured that maybe if I said "no" she'd get the hint and leave me alone... Hehe, I'm cruel like that... Hey, I was really tired!
"Whatever you say, Dumbo," Katalina walked into our room and used her all-time favorite nickname for me, even though she knew I hated it.
And crap! That was not how that was supposed to go! She was supposed to say, "Okay, Nick... My dear husband... I'll be downstairs making you a nice, big dinner for when you get up... Oh, and I love you!" before leaving the room and letting me sleep. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking! You're thinking I'm like the worst husband around, but I'm not, trust me. Oh, nevermind... Why do I have to explain myself to you anyway?
"C'mmon, Nick, get up." she tapped my leg, which was hanging out from under the comforter, in some sort of attempt to wake me up a little more.
"Kaaaatttttt," I whined, immaturely - Yeah, I admit it. "I'm tiiiiired."
She put her face down next to where mine was laying, and because I could feel her presence closer than it had been before I opened my eyes to see her right there. "Woah!" I yelped, surprised, which caused her to giggle.
"Nick, pleaaaaase get up. I need to talk to you," Kat pouted, giving me that little trademark puppy-dog look of hers.
People had always told us that our children would be minipulative... Because 'both of you can pull that puppy face off, with ease, and it will surely be relayed to your offspring.'
"You suck," I pouted, sitting up. She knew that I couldn't resist that look, and she had used it anyways!
Kat laughed, because she had won. "I'm sooooo good. Anyway, I need to talk to you and it's really important." she sat down next to me on the bed, her back kind of facing me.
I placed my hands on her hips, pulling her closer to me, before wrapping my arms around her waist from behind. "Alright, what's going on, Munchkin?"
She laughed nervously, "Ha... Funny you should mention Munchkin's..."
I stared at her, rather confused for a while, before something suddenly clicked. "You... You... You're..."
Don't ask me how, maybe it's that special little connection that we have, but Katalina somehow understood what the heck I was trying to say with that unfinished sentence above. She merely nodded her answer.
I sat there, shocked. I must have sat there for at least an hour, just staring at the comforter. Me? A dad? That freaked the sh*t out of me! Half of me was scared and nervous - I was going to be a dad, I was going to raise a child, and it was, in a way, up to me how this kid turned out when it was older. But on the other hand, I had this indescribable feeling in the pit of my stomach - no, I wasn't about to throw up. I felt like crying... but I felt like crying for something I had never cried about before. Yes, I know that women do it all the time, but I had never... well... cried because I was happy! That just seemed so... weird. But as I sat there thinking, to my surprise, I suddenly found myself with tears streaming down my face. My wife, the love of my life, the one I was destined to be with - call her what you will, but... - The person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, was having my child! It was one of those moments where you actually sit there thinking 'Should I go find a mountain to shout the good news on?!'
By the time that I had broken out of my daze and looked up from the plaid comforter on the bed, I realized Katalina had left the room. "Oh crap," I mumbled to myself, hoping she didn't think that I didn't want this baby. Standing up hurriedly, I ran my fingers through my hair - not wanting to take the time to brush it - and ran out of the room and down the stairs, in search of my wife.
I found her, a few minutes later, sitting out by the pool with her feet dangling in the water. For some reason, at that moment, I noticed the small things: the gardener had been there that day and the yard looked beautiful... the pool man had obviously been there too, seeing as though there was no disgusting gunk clinging to my wife's feet. I had never really taken the time to look around and see all the work that went into my house... call me a spoiled, rich guy if you want, but I was just now starting to see it all. Don't get me wrong, we did our share of chores around the house... Katalina refused to get a house cleaner, so she kept the house clean, and I did the dishes after dinner, every night. But when Kat had said our yard needed flowers, I had basically told her that it wasn't necessary for her to do it, when we could hire someone else to. Anyway! My whole point of telling you this whole thing is to basically say that... since Kat told me she was pregnant - or hinted, I should say - my life seemed to change, right away. It was like a whole new door in life had been opened to me, and I HAD SEEN THE LIGHT!! hahahahaha. Okay...
I walked over to Kat and sat down next to her, on her left, my feet merging into the cool, but not too cool, water. I moved my right foot to hook around her left one, and pulled it over to rest inbetween both of my feet. She looked over at me and I saw a small smile gracing her face - that's a good start.
"Are you okay, Kat?" I put my arm around her shoulder and placed a small kiss on the end of her nose.
"I'm fine, Dumbo," she tugged on my ears, with a light smile, before it faded. "What about you?"
I smiled cheekily at her, "I'm really, really good, Kitty-Kat."
Kat nuzzled her face in the crook of my neck, "Promise?" she murmured.
I sighed and put my arms around her waist, kissing the top of her head, "Promise, Katalina. Were you mad at me? Or upset with me?"
Kat lifted her head up and looked at me, "No! No... I just figured you needed some time to figure everything out, so I left to give you some privacy, so you could think. I don't want this to interfer with your career, Nick. I know this pregnancy wasn't planned, and because of that I got really nervous when I found out about the baby... I want you to obviously continue singing, and if a tour comes, no matter how far along I am, you will go on it."
"What?! Nuh uh! No way, Jose'! If you're close to your due date, I ain't goin' no where!"
She smirked, "Is that so, Mr. Carter?"
"Yes, that is so, Mrs. Carter."
Kat smiled, gave me a small kiss, and laid her head down on my shoulder.
So that, my dear friends - *sniff sniff* I just feel so close to you already! Oh gee, I'm getting emotional now! ha-ha-ha - is what happened that day! Would you like to know more? Huh, huh, huh?? Well, read on, mi amigo's and amiga's! *Clears throat* um, sorry... Anyway. The day Katalina had told me she was pregnant, she had been about a month along in her pregnancy. 5 months went by after that, meaning she was in her 6th month (or second tri-mester as Kat and my mother called it... 'Whatever' is what I said in response to that), and although Kat had a stomach, the rest of her body looked just as thin as before. This was exceptionally weird to me. I had always pictured every pregnant woman being huge and fat - I mean, not like in a bad way, but y'know. So I asked my mother about it...
"Oh..." my mother laughed - I hoped she wasn't laughing at me, 'cause it's not my fault that I don't know anything about this! - "That's just because Kat was thin already, and has a really high metabolism. Some girls you can't even tell they're pregnant. It might change a little when she has her next baby."
Women! I'll never understand them... And they act like us guys should know all this stuff! *Sigh* Oh well.
"I see... Alright, well thanks!"
My mom laughed again - what is up with that?! - "No problem, Nick. Talk to you later and give my love to Kitten and the baby!"
For some reason my mom had always called Katalina 'Kitten'. Well, obviously because her nick-name was "Kat", but still.
"Alright, mom. I will. Love you."
"Love you too, Nick! Buh-bye."
"Later," with that, I hung up and went off in search of Kat - and the baby, haha. "KITTENNNNN!"
Katalina came down the stairs, with a laugh. "Oh Lord, my husband has turned into his mother!"
I smiled at her before kissing her. "Mom says hi to you and..." I bent down to her stomach. "... to you!"
Kat laughed and ruffled my hair, "You're so psycho."
I looked up at her and rolled my eyes. "What-ever!" I said in my best valley-girl impression.
In response to that, Kat rolled her eyes at me.
"Copy-Kat! HAHAHAHA, I crack myself up!" I doubled over in laughter, getting an 'oooook' look from Katalina, in response.
I stood up straight and immediately stopped laughing, "Sorry, that wasn't funny, was it?"
Kat shook her head 'no'. "Keep trying though, honey! Don't give up faith. I'm sure someday you'll say something that I might just chuckle at!" with that, she walked out of the room.
I gaped. "Whaaaaat?? I can so NOT believe you just said that to me!" I could hear Kat cracking up in the other room and though I knew she had been kidding the entire time I whined, "Kat, I am sooo hurt!! I can not believe you said that to me!" I walked into the family room, where she had retreated to, and sat down next to her on the couch, my lips pouting.
"Tough titty said the kitty when the milk ran dry." Kat said, before taking a gulp of water.
"Yeah, that's what I said too."
After I said that, Kat burst out laughing, spitting her water out all over the place, in the process.
"Well, I guess that means you spit!" I joked.
That only made Kat laugh harder, "You're disgusting, Nick! And you know what I do."
A sly grin appeared on my face as I said, "Yes... Yes, that I do."
Okay... We're gonna stop this scene right here. 'Cause well, the rest of the conversation just really needs to be censored. How 'bout those Yankees? Okay, anyway... Katalina and I continued to joke around in this, um, manner, before our stomach's started hurting too much from laughing, so we decided to stop. Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you that we had found out quite a while before this that we were having a boy. That fact thrilled me to death, though a girl would have been fine too since I didn't care what the child was - no matter the gender, it was my child, and I was darn proud of that fact alone. The rest of the pregnancy was pretty uneventful and before I knew it I was being woken up from Kat screaming at me to, well... wake up!
Ahhhhh, dream land is so niiiiice!
"NICK!!!!!"
"AHHH!" I screamed, bolting up in bed from the sudden outburst coming out of my wife's mouth. "What's wrong??" I asked, suddenly freaking out. Oh Lord, it's not coming yet, is it?? I'm not ready!!!! Don't panic, Nick. Whatever you do, just don't panic!
"M-My water broke!" Kat wailed.
She looked so scared that it only made me feel even more worried.
"Okay, it's gonna be alright," I hurriedly got out of bed and threw my clothes on. I had practiced this routine over and over again in my head, before now, but now that I was actually doing it I thought I was gonna crap my pants. I was totally shaky, but I realized if I wanted Katalina to stay calm, and all of this to go well, I was going to have to be calm and collected myself. I ran to the other side of the bed and helped Kat out of it. "Alright, it's gonna be just fine, Love." taking her hand and helping her out of the room, I grabbed the bag that we had packed for the hospital, just as a contraction hit.
Oh Lord, I thought my frickin' hand was gonna break in two. This was gonna be one LONG night.
So I'm sure you don't really need me to go into details. I mean, the little creature sorta uh, crawled out of her... and well... I don't know if I can stomach saying more. So skipping right along... It was after the delivery, when our son was in Kat's arms and I was sitting right behind her, cooing at him, I realized my life was gonna be awesome from that point on...
"Have you decided on a name for your son, Mr. and Mrs. Carter?" the nurse asked politely, as she walked into the room, a form on a clip board resting against her arm.
I looked at Kat and she just looked back at me. "Could we have some more time to decide?" I smiled sheepishly at the nurse.
The nurse merely nodded with a smile, before discreetly leaving the room.
I looked back to Kat. "Got any ideas?"
"Ummm... No? We had nine, well more like eight, months to think about this... And we didn't. We're pretty stupid," she laughed.
I shrugged, before giving her a kiss. "Oh well. How 'bout we go look at him through that little window thing? We can decide, by what he looks like."
Kat smiled in response and I helped her up and into a wheelchair. Rolling her to the room where they kept all the baby's we looked through the window and found our son. He was so beautiful! He had his mom's dark, dark brown hair... my eyes... his mom's cute little nose... and I could tell he was gonna have my grin. He already looked mischevious. Kat said from the first time she saw him she knew he was going to be a trouble maker ((AN: my dad really said that about me, LoL)), just like his ol' man. Gosh, I was so proud of that fact!
"He looks like a... Joshua." Kat suddenly beamed.
I looked down at her smiling face and then back to our son. And ya know what? He did look like a Josh. "How 'bout... Joshua Thomas Carter."
Kat sat there thinking for a minute, before looking up at me. "I love it," she smiled again.
I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Kitty-Kat."
"I love you too, Dumbo," she leaned up and kissed my cheek, before looking back to our son. "And I love you too, Josh." she said to Little Josh, even though he couldn't hear her through the glass.
We must have stood there for the longest time, just staring at our son. We were amazed... we, us, just a normal, young, married couple, had made him. The most perfect being on earth.
As I said in the beginning, it's been 16 years. And here I am, 34. I feel so freakin' old! Our son, Joshua Thomas Carter, is now 16, though we still call him Little Josh, and has girls swooning at him, left and right. I'm just glad he didn't let it go to his head! Kat wouldn't allow that. Haha, I remember this one time - Kat thought Josh was going to start bragging so she quickly told him not to say another word all night. Josh merely rolled his eyes, before leaving the room. Yeah, anyway, it was pretty funny actually. Guess ya woulda had to have been there. Uh oh, I hear someone coming... I better stop writing, 'cause Josh isn't supposed to know about this book... not yet at least. Later!
"Hey, dad, what were you doing?" Josh walked into the room, which happened to be the kitchen, and got out the orange juice carton.
"Nothing, nothing at all." Nick continued to sit at the table, but perched his feet up onto it.
"Uh... okay." he was about to drink out of the carton, when Katalina walked into the room.
"Joshua!" Kat sighed. "How many times do I gotta tell ya..." with that she droned on and on about how he's not supposed to do that, and how he should obey her more.
Nick smiled as he sat there, watching Kat lecture him and Josh stand there meekly. He knew in about a second Josh would flash her that charming little grin of his, which would make Kat back down and give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. That's how it happened every time, and Nick loved to watch the exchange. This was his family and, to him, it couldn't get any more perfect...
"Nick, can I talk to you? It's really important," Kat said, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Wait, this sounded way too familiar. Nick looked up at her, wide eyed, "Are you... y'know... pregnant??"
Kat grinned.
"Oh my gosh!" Josh shrieked. "My parents still... still... y'know!"
"Do the horizontal mambo?" Nick asked.
"Arghhhh," Josh covered his face in embarassment, while Nick laughed at him.
Okay, maybe Nick had been wrong when he thought that his life couldn't have gotten more perfect. It just had.
THE END
