Fall From Grace

Chapter 44

By Danielle

As promised, Leighanne was waiting for them at the gate when they exited the hallway from the plane, Dylan sleeping on her shoulder.

Nick took him from Leigh, knowing it killed Kevin that he was still too sore and weakened from the burst of pain, to hold Dylan himself.

Alex snuck up behind Kevin and nudged him in the back of the knees with the seat of the wheelchair he was pushing.

Kevin glared at him, "No way, Alex."

Rolling his eyes, Alex sighed. "You want to be proud, or you want to hold your son? You can't have both."

Heaving a sigh of his own, Kevin sat in the wheelchair with a pout.

Rolling his eyes again, Alex snorted, "Oh please, you're turning into Junior."

Coming over in time to catch that remark, Nick nudged Alex with his shoulder in reprimand. "Better me than a tattooed freak."

Nick handed Dylan to Kevin and the older man snuggled the warm little body to his shoulder while giving Alex a shit-eating grin. "So nah!"

Alex pushed Kevin's wheelchair forward to hand him off to Nick and clapped the him on the shoulder, "Have fun in inbreeding country, kiddies. Me and D are going to make our way back home now."

Nick gave him a hug and smiled, "You were amazing up on that stage, Alex. You totally sucked me in and I forgot it was someone I knew up there." He smirked, his eyes lighting up, "And anytime I can see my man's ass in leather pants is a good occasion."

Screwing up his face and slapping his hands over his ears, Alex started humming to block the flow of words. He only stopped when Howie made his way over and hugged both Kevin and Nick before they both called out a last goodbye and wisecrack, and were on their way down the tarmac and into the night.

The remaining, started a caravan through the airport. Holding up his hand, Kevin looked upwards at Nick, "We have a stop to make before we leave." Looking up at the arrival monitor, he had Nick push through the hallways while he gave directions.

A few minutes later, all of them were looking at the crowd streaming through the area with looks of confusion on their faces, not sure who they were looking for. Kevin just rubbed Dylan's back and smirked.

"Nick!"

His head whipped around and Nick was met with a body colliding with his, sending him reeling back a few steps. But, he held on tight, knowing that voice anywhere.

Brian and Leighanne were smiling and clapping Kevin on the back for surprising Nick. The look on his face had been priceless.

Setting his brother down, Nick looked Aaron over from head to toe, before ruffling his hair. "My god, you grew more!" He grabbed Aaron and lifted him off the floor once again in a bear hug.

Aaron didn't mind it at all. He hugged Nick back just as hard and whooped when Nick swung him around, wrapping his legs around Nick's waist so his brother was piggybacking him. He squeezed Nick softly, "It's so good to see you, Nick."

Grinning over his shoulder, Nick nodded. "I know, Dweeb. Things have been nuts lately, but schedule's pretty clear now. Did Kevin arrange all this with you?"

Aaron nodded and jostled Nick to get him walking over to Kevin. "Yeah, he did all the wrangling with Mom and management, so I could get the next two weeks off."

Nick stopped dead and looked at Kevin in shock. It only seemed polite after the miracle that had been performed. He grinned at the smirk on Kevin's face and raised an eyebrow, "You."

Raising an eyebrow of his own, Kevin looked right back at Nick, "Me?"

Nodding, Nick smirked. "I am going to rock your world in ways you didn't even know existed."

Brian and Leighanne laughed and made a big show of covering their ears and whistling.

A blush crept up Kevin's face as he puckered his lips in Nick's direction. "That sounds promising."

Nick fixed his "liquid sex on wheels" look at Kevin, the one that made him…yep there was the shiver, every time. "That's not a promise, Boo. That's a guarantee."

Aaron squirmed down from Nick's back with his face fixed in a grimace, "Ew, Bro." He walked over to Kevin and leaned down to give the older man a kiss and hug, "Hey, Other Bro." Leaning down further, he kissed the still sleeping Dylan's head and whispered, "How's my favorite nephew?"

Kevin smiled, "He's good. Been asleep since before we landed. Leigh handed him over like this."

Aaron grinned and turned to Brian, Nick and Leighanne, "Let's blow outta this place. I think we spend far too much time in airports as it is."

Several choruses of "Amen." followed him as he led the way to the exit.

Brian looked around at the mostly deserted concourse, "I'm surprised that the welcoming committee isn't here." He winked at Leighanne "You still going to love me when no one screams?"

Laughing, Leighanne slung her arm around Brian's shoulders and kissed his temple. "Even when you have more hair in your ears, than on your head. I'll still love you."

As they all watched Brian squeeze her affectionately, Nick felt a twinge that grabbed hold in his gut and sucked his breath away for a heartbeat. He wanted that, god how he wanted to look forward to a forever that he now knew was all an illusion.

He looked down as he felt a hand on each of his and saw both Kevin and Nick had grabbed a hand, knowing exactly where his thoughts had been leading. He smiled at both of them and continued pushing through the doors that led to the parking lot.

As they neared the curb, Kevin held up his hand and chuckled as he heard tires screeching nearby and a second later, a van pulled to a stop in front of them.

The window rolled down and a grinning face peered at them, taking in a broad Kentucky accent, "Would ya lookit that, Brother. We got us some rare Orlando Pretty Danceboys. Don't often see them this far north. Reckon they're here to stir up trouble?"

Another voice came from behind the grinning face in the window. "I do reckon they've come up here to investigate these "real men" they've heard tell about."

Rolling their eyes, Nick, Brian and Kevin shot them the finger. Aaron knew Nick would smack him if he shot them one, so he simply pointed at Nick's extended finger. "What he said."

Kevin put the brakes on the wheelchair and stood up, holding Dylan still, trying not to wake him. "You going to let us in, or do we have to run behind the car?"

Jerald chuckled and hopped out of the passenger side to open the sliding door and started loading bags into the back.

Tim came around the front of the car and hugged Kevin, "Gimme my nephew, while you get situated."

Kevin handed Dylan over and climbed in the van to sit with Nick and leaned into his warm arms.

Dylan stirred awake and blinked sleepily at Tim, "Not daddy."

Tim leaned down and kissed Dylan on the top of his head, "No, not Daddy. Daddy's right here." He pointed Dylan to face Kevin and the little boy crawled out of Tim's arms and back into Kevin's, hugging his little arms around Kevin's neck. "Love you, Daddy." He said sleepily as he laid his head on Kevin's chest.

Kevin grinned and squeezed Dylan tight, as the boy dropped back to sleep in his arms, "Love you too, Jellybean."

The car was humming with laughter and conversation as they drove into Lexington proper. First stop was the Littrell residence as they dropped of Brian and Leighanne. Kevin hugged his cousin and informed him that he was to meet him at noon the next day and to be ready.

Nodding slowly, Brian shifted his bag from hand to hand. "You ever going to tell me what this whole trip is about?"

Meeting Brian's eyes and sharing a look that only the two of them understood, he nodded. "We'll talk. Tomorrow."

That seemed to satisfy Brian as he nodded and shot a glance at Tim and Gerald, "Thank you for the stomach-clenching ride home. Nice to know that your driving skills are still sub-par."

Jerald and Tim both snorted at him and waved him off, "Go crawl into bed, Young'un. Shouldn't be away from the apron strings too long."

Rolling his eyes, Brian smiled at Nick and crossed his eyes. Snickering, Nick nodded at their secret signal for "stupid older relatives". With a last grin and wave, he closed the door and led Leighanne towards the house.

Jerald and Tim started on the drive to the hotel that Nick, Kevin, Dylan and Aaron were staying in, falling into quiet conversation among the two of them when they realized the other four in the van were sound asleep.

Once they got to the hotel, Nick grabbed Aaron and slung him into his arms. He knew the kid had been touring too much lately and he needed all the sleep he could get in these two weeks. He left Kevin to the care of his brothers and checked them into the hotel. They’d been extended invitations to stay with both of Kevin’s brothers, but neither he nor Kevin wanted to drag them into a mess with their mother, which was one hell of a bad position for Anne to put them in. But what can you do when someone won’t look past their own prejudice to see the son they raised and loved all those years? Though god knew his own mother was far from perfect, at least she could still see her son underneath the shock of who his soul-mate was.

After saying goodbye to Tim and Gerald, Nick got Aaron and Dylan settled and sleeping in one of the rooms of the suite, then crawled into bed and wrapped himself around Kevin in the other. Burying his head between Kevin’s shoulder blades, he breathed in the scent of cologne and sweat that was as comforting to him as the smell of baking bread was to some people. He snuggled closer, feeling the softness of Kevin’s skin slide over his cheek as he shifted the position of his face. He could hear Kevin’s heart thumping softly with his ear pressed just to the side of Kevin’s spine and let the soft sound of it lull him to sleep as Kevin sleepily held Nick’s arms tighter around him.

They woke up the next morning to the sounds of spoons scraping bowls and the dings and whistles of morning cartoons. Kevin had rolled over in Nick’s arms and was now the one doing the holding, his green eyes lighting up when he saw Nick’s blue ones blinking sleepily at him. Leaning down, he kissed each eyelid as Nick yawned. "Good Morning, Nickorice."

Making a face, Nick tilted his face back to brush his lips on the underside of Kevin’s chin, "I thought maybe you’d forgotten that."

Nick felt a shiver work its way up his spine, as he felt Kevin’s chuckle vibrate the chest he was snuggled up to. "Never, Nicky. I kinda like it."

Groaning, Nick pulled away from Kevin a little, his skin immediately goosebumping in protest of being pulled away from its warm haven. "Even if I pout?" To emphasize the question, he stuck his bottom lip out in full pout and looked up at Kevin with a heart-string pulling expression.

Rolling his eyes, Kevin kissed Nick’s nose, "Not working. You’ve used it too many times with me, I’m immune."

Heaving a sigh, Nick buried himself against Kevin again and wrapped his arms around his husband’s waist. "Fine, Bumpkin. We’ll call it even, one horrific nickname for another. Deal?"

Chuckling, Kevin traced his fingertips down each bump of Nick’s spine, feeling Nick sigh and snuggle closer. "Horrific? Little drama queen in the morning, aren’t you?"

He gasped as he felt Nick’s tongue press against his skin, just below his nipple. Flicking it back and forth in teasing movements, Nick kept silent.

When he felt Nick’s mouth start sucking on his skin, Kevin jumped in surprise and went to tangle his hands in Nick's hair out of instinct, only to have to remind himself that it was no longer there. His breath caught as he gripped the back of Nick's neck. "What are you doing?"

Nick let his skin go, only to reattach again right away, just a little bit lower. No matter what Kevin did, from squirming to asking Nick what the hell he was doing, caused Nick to stop and give an answer.

Finally, a few minutes later Nick pulled away and grinned. "Done!" Leaning back he made a design with the tip of his tongue on Kevin’s skin and grinned again, even wider, his blue eyes lit right up, "Mine!"

Kevin looked down at his chest and rolled his eyes with a groan. He couldn’t help the smile on his face though, when he saw the small "N" of hickeys that Nick had left in his wake. He reached out his hands and grabbed Nick’s head in them, pulling him close to plant a kiss on the top of his head. "You are insane. But I think it’s what I love about you."

Snickering, Nick gasped when Kevin’s tongue traced a design of its own on the top of his head. He slipped his hands in Kevin’s and pulled them off his head, then moved back to look at Kevin’s head. A contemplative look on his face, and nothing but trouble in his eyes, he licked his lips and stared at Kevin’s bald head. "Hmmmmm."

Raising an eyebrow, Kevin started inching away from Nick, knowing no good could come from the look on his face. "What are you hatching up there?"

A slow smile spreading across Nick’s face brought goosebumps out on Kevin’s arms. Yes, that look definitely brought nothing but trouble. He put his foot down off the side of the bed and searched for the boxers he knew he dropped there last night.

He was too slow.

Before Kevin could find his boxers on the floor, Nick reached out and grabbed Kevin’s head and attached his lips to the top of it. Kevin squirmed when he felt Nick start to suck on the skin up there. "What in the hell are you doing?! Nickolas, I swear to god if you are giving me a hickey up there, I’m going to kill you!"

Chuckling, Nick pulled away. Sing-songing as he crawled out of bed and walked to the bathroom naked, "Toooooo Laaaaaate!"

Flopping back on the bed, Kevin sighed. "Why did I marry that man?"

He let out a screech of surprise when he felt the bed bounce and then, he was being kissed all over the face.

Nick leaned down and gave Kevin a kiss that make his toes curl and his arms wrap around Nick so tight that the air was nearly squeezed out of him. Pulling away, Nick returned to kiss Kevin again on the mouth, then the nose, and each eyelid. "That’s why you married me." He nuzzled his nose in Kevin’s neck and wiggled his naked body on top of Kevin’s. "You loooooove me."

Rolling his eyes, Kevin giggled as Nick’s fingers dug into his sides and tickled him relentlessly. Nick was chanting "Love me! Love me! Love me!" over and over to punctuate each dig of his wiggling fingers into Kevin’s side.

Finally, Kevin got the upper hand and grabbed Nick’s wrists and rolled them over so he was on top, holding the squirming blond down. Kevin grinned down at him, "I do." He leaned down and gave Nick a long, slow kiss before releasing him and crawling off the bed. Throwing on his boxers and a pair of loose pants, he smiled at Nick, still stretched out on the sheets. "Go take your shower, I'll make sure breakfast is here when you get out."

Nick nodded and crooked his finger at Kevin, beckoning him closer. When he was close enough, he pulled Kevin in for one more kiss before letting him go.

Leaving the bedroom, and grabbing the phone in the entryway, Kevin called in breakfast for them all, before following the sound of cartoons to find Aaron and Dylan sitting cross-legged in front of the blaring Digimon show.

Not wanting to disturb them, Kevin sat on the couch and tried to figure out what the appeal of it was. It honestly eluded him. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to get it. Dad’s didn’t get this stuff did they?

"Oh hey! Digimon! Oh, a new one! Rockin'! "

Apparently some dad’s did get it. Kevin smiled at Nick as he flopped on the couch next to him, water still dripping down the back of his neck from his wet hair. Aaron, Dylan and Nick then had a conversation about the cartoon that Kevin only understood maybe 12 words of and six of them were the word "The". He sighed and dropped his head in his hands.

"Daddy owie?"

Nick was snickering as Dylan stood in front of Kevin and poked at the darkened spot on his head. Even Aaron knew what it was and was trying not to laugh. Kevin raised his head and looked at Dylan's concerned face, "Yeah, it's an owie. But it doesn't hurt. Daddy's ok."

Dylan rubbed his hand over it and bit his lip, "Kiss better?"

Coming up behind him, Aaron lifted Dylan the foot or so of height he needed to be able to kiss his Daddy's owie and make it all better. On the way back down to the floor, Dylan reached his arms out to Kevin and crawled in his lap.

Cradling him close, Kevin ran his fingers through Dylan's hair and felt the little boy snuggle closer in reaction. They all sat around watching cartoons and waking up until the knock came on the door that brought breakfast.

That was an adventure in itself. Dylan at first refused to eat anything but toast, not even letting them put jam on it. But when Kevin stuck a jelly-covered fingertip into Dylan's protesting mouth, his mind was changed quickly that the sticky bluish stuff was good. Then they got some eggs into him by pointing out that his own personal hero, Aaron, loved his eggs. All it took for the bacon was Nick saying that if Dylan didn't want his bacon, Nick would take it from him. Suddenly, the bacon was too precious to let go of. Breakfast with a toddler in 15 easy steps.

The rest of the morning was taken up by showers and baths and getting dressed and getting messed again and taking another bath. By the time Brian came to the door at noon, Kevin could have kissed him.

After hugs and kisses for "Uncle B-rop", Dylan and the Carter Duo were on their way to the Children's Museum for the afternoon.

Kevin bent down to give Dylan another kiss and hug when Brian's snort of laughter stopped him.

"Have a fight with an octopus, did you?"

Nick took that as his cue to grab Dylan and leave quickly, the laughter of the Carter brothers echoing down the hall and cut off by the elevator doors.

Kevin raised his head and met Brian's eyes head on. "Like Leighanne hasn't had her octopus moments? I seem to remember a certain oddly shaped "bruise" one day on someone's butt-cheek. The left one, if memory serves, that looked rather like an octopus attack too…."

Blushing four shades of red, Brian stared at the wall somewhere above Kevin's head. "That was different."

Grinning wide enough to split his face, Kevin led Brian out on the balcony of the room and poured them each a cup of coffee, "I don't know Bri, it's not often you see an "L" shaped bruise like that."

Rolling his eyes, Brian took a sip of his coffee and snorted. "Just what were you doing looking at my ass, dear cousin?"

Stirring in some sugar to cut the bitterness, Kevin smirked, "Easy, Cuz." He tapped the spoon on the edge of the cup before setting it down and meeting Brian's eyes, "You were blocking my view of Nick's…."

The next thing Kevin knew he was patting Brian on the back as he choked the rest of the coffee out of his lungs.

Swatting Kevin's hands away and shooting him a look, Brian growled at his cousin. "You are still a buttmunch, you know that? It must be something in the Kentucky air that brings it out in you."

Chuckling, Kevin shook his head. "It's all you, Cuz. You bring out the worst in me."

Flipping Kevin the bird, Brian folded his hands on the table. "So, what did you need to see me about here, as opposed to Orlando?"

Kevin got down to business and set his coffee aside. "You know what we talked about on the plane last night? How I want to do something with each one of you, for each of you? Well this is part of that. I want to do something with you that we can only do here. I want to produce something for you."

Brian looked at Kevin in confusion, "Produce something for me?"

Nodding, Kevin leaned closer and started to pick at the packet of sugar he'd left on the table. "Yeah. I've got it all arranged. You know how you've always said you wanted to do a gospel album? I want to help you on your way with that. Even if you don't ever use it except as a lullabye for your kids, I want to hear you singing in church again."

Brian was quiet, sipping at his coffee for a full two minutes before he set the cup down gently and looked up at Kevin. "Fuck you."

TBC…..