You Do What You Have To Do
Chapter 71
by Danielle and Tee
(C) by us. standard death threats apply

This chapter was tag teamed by both of us, that's why it took a little longer 
to get out. hope you enjoy. 

D&T 

*********************
I had forgotten to put on my watch.  Now, I felt lost in a time vacuum.  I 
was on this airplane, thousands of feet up in the clouds, and had no sense 
of time. It felt as though this plane ride had already lasted about a week 
and it didn't show signs of ending anytime soon.

When I reached across Kevin to pick the arm up that bore his watch so I
could see the time, my fingers instinctively found the raised scar on the 
inside of his wrist and started rubbing over the raised skin. I smiled a 
little, thinking how far we'd come from that horrible moment when I'd found 
him on the floor bleeding to death.  I snapped out of it when Kevin grabbed
my wrist and held it for a long second, rubbing the pad of his thumb over 
the inside of my wrist, in the same spot I had rubbed his,  before  placing
my hand back over in my own lap.

I was so stunned at his gesture I just stared at him.

He winked knowing what I was really thinking about and
deciding not to call me on it, instead going with my aversion to the 
speeding tin can of death we were riding in, "We're almost there, Nickers.  
The pilot should be announcing our landing any moment now.  Not impatient 
are you?"

I had regained my composure enough by then that I rolled
my eyes and said, "Me, impatient?  Nah, that's all in your imagination,
Bumpkin."


Kevin snickered as I went on, "Hell yes, I'm impatient.  Tomorrow is the 
day.  We're getting married.  Finally.  I've waited for this for so long.  
I don't think I can wait any longer.  And you know I hate flying and we've 
been on this plane for a week I swear.  I fuckin want off now!"

All that spilled out without me taking a breath.  Now I took a deep breath 
and Kevin chuckled, "You are too cute when you are really worked up over
something, you know that?"

I pouted.  "I thought I was just cute period."

Kevin leaned over and quickly nipped at my earlobe, "I'm messing with you, 
darlin. You are cute as a button.  I know you hate flying but we'll be on 
the ground soon.  And for the record we've been in the air for 3 hours, 
NOT a week.  Just think though - this time tomorrow night we'll be married.
It's all happening, Nick.  All our dreams are coming true.

Twenty minutes later we were on the ground.  Kev and I
waited till we were the last ones left on the plane before we disembarked.
Once we got in the hallway leading from the plane to the terminal I
dropped to my knees and rubbed my cheek softly against the carpet.

Kevin laughed, "Get up fool!  That flight wasn't that bad."

I got up and we headed out to the terminal.  I heard Sam's squeal of "There
they are!" before I even saw her.  Her big mouth was very endearing. 
Honestly. 


A second later her, Melinda, Trey, and Brian came into view.  Trey and Brian
had flown in on a different flight.  Sam and Mel had been here for  a couple
of days making sure all the last minute plans for the wedding were in place.

Kevin and I hugged everyone and we all made our way to the baggage area to
collect our bags.  Once that was accomplished, Sam said, "Ok, here is the
plan.  Nick and Brian you're coming with me.  Trey and Kevin you go with
Mel.  We're at the same hotel tonight but on different floors.  Kev and Nick,
you'll get to see each other later tonight for about 10 minutes.  Then that's
it. You'll meet up tomorrow in front of the preacher."

I pouted, "We only get to see each other for 10 minutes tonight?  Why?  I
don't want to be away from him for that long."

I looked at Kev and he said, "Nick, tradition says the happy couple can't 
see each other before the ceremony cause it's bad luck.  I think we've had 
all the bad stuff we could ever want in our lives, don't you?"

I realized what he was saying, "Yeah, you're right.  As always."  I looked 
at Sam and Mel and said, "Can we at least call each other if the need 
arises?"

Sam snickered, "Yes, Nick, there is no rule that says you can't talk on the
phone."

Trey nudged Brian in the ribs and said, "They're like an old married couple
already aren't they?"

Brian grinned, "You would think!"

Sam and Mel led us out to their rental cars.  The bags were stored in the
trunk.  Kev stood outside Mel's car before getting in. I stood outside of 
Sam's car before getting in.  We just looked at each other.

He said, "I'll see you tonight, babe.  I love you."

I said, "I know.  I love  you too."

We continued to stand there until Brian grabbed me and
pulled me into the car and Trey grabbed Kevin and pulled him into their car.

Love was definitely a wonderful thing, wasn't it?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam was taking the long and winding way to the hotel. 
I noticed that Kevin's car took the more direct route. She saw me watching
the other car as we turned in  different direction, "Nick, try not to
press your nose to the glass, hon.  I don't have any Windex."  

I shot Brian a glare as he laughed with Sam.  Apparently the glare was funny
too, cause he just laughed even more.

Sam smiled at me in the rearview mirror, "We are giving them a few minutes of
leeway to get Kevin  into his room. Less temptation this way."

I just glowered in the backseat.  Tell me again why we invited these people
to the wedding. 

She took her sweet time getting us to the hotel and I knew I wasn't going to
get so much as glimpse of Kevin when she whipped out her cell and said some
sort of cryptic sentence before hanging up. Damn, they had CODE. They
were starting to scare me.

When we got up to our floor, I was shoved into a room with Brian and was
told to be ready to go in a half hour. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't' want to do this," I repeated for the zillionth time in the last 
20 minutes.

Sam looked at Brian and rolled her eyes.  "You are his best friend, Brian.  
Is he always this stubborn?"

Brian nodded his head, "Yep.  Seems to get worse as he gets older.  Or 
either he's coming down with IT."  Brian winked slyly at Sam.

Sam got serious.  "Oh my, that's not good that he's coming down with IT so 
soon.  Melinda and I haven't came down with IT yet.  Does that mean we're 
really not meant for one another?" 

Brian said, "I don't know, Sam.  You and Mel may want to re-evaluate your 
relationship since you don't have IT."

I was not amused by these two people.  I stopped walking when we got to the 
front of the restaurant and just looked at them.

"What the hell is IT?  And stop talking about me like I'm not here."

Sam started snickering and Brian laughed, "Nick, IT is when a couple are so 
in tune with one another they begin acting like each other. You're about as 
anal tonight as Kevin usually is all the time.  When are you gonna dye your 
hair black so you look like him?"

Sam said, "No, no, Brian, he needs the eyebrows! Maybe we could trim some of 
Nick's hair and superglue it on his face so he can have Kevin's eyebrows."

Brian said, "That's a great idea, Sam!" 


I rolled my eyes and walked past them into the restaurant, "You guys are so 
not funny."  

Sam and Brian looked at Nick's back as he walked inside and shrugged their 
shoulders.  So much for getting him to lighten up they thought to themselves.
They couldn't see that Nick was chuckling softly to himself as he went 
inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin was finishing getting ready, tossing on a leather jacket over his 
shirt and looking at his hair in the mirror one more time.   He fussed with 
the spiky ends and focused on his hand in the mirror.  He brought it down 
and looked at the fingers.  They were all bare for the first time in what 
seemed like years. Even his thumb ring was gone.  He flexed his fingers, 
still in awe that he could move them, feeling how naked they seemed.
The ring Nick had given him had not been off his finger since the moment 
it was put there by Nick's shaky hands.  

Tomorrow he'd have a new ring in it's place.  He and Nick had chosen the 
rings for each other. Kevin couldn't wait to see what Nick had picked out. 
His finger brushed over the indent that had been left by Nick's ring, 
feeling the sensitive skin that was not used to being out in the open. 

A knock came on the door and pulled Kevin out of the daydream he was in.  
He gave himself one more once over and walked to the door, "Ok ok ok, I'm 
ready.  Leave some wood on the door!"  He opened it to see Mel and Trey 
there along with Howie. 

"D! When did you get here?"

Howie smiled, "AJ and I just got in about 20 minutes after you.  He's gone 
to catch up with your better half and his two tormentors."

Kevin chuckled, "Well it was nice knowing him.  Nick may just kill him by 
the end of the night." 

The same thing came out of Howie, Mel and Trey's lips "Amen!"

*********************
"Nick, what do you want to order?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Nickolas, you have to eat.  I know how you hate to fly so I'm sure you
haven't had anything to eat all day.  Now order something."

I raised my head up and looked over the top of the menu to glare at Brian.

"Brian, I already have a father.  His name is Robert Gene Carter not Brian
Thomas Littrell."

Sam rolled her eyes and tried to keep from laughing.  Brian glared right
back at me.

"Well, excuse the fuck out of me Mr. High and Mighty Nickolas Gene Carter
for caring!  And don't think just because you're 5 inches taller than me and
100 pounds heavier than me that I can't still beat your ass like I use to do
when you were younger and got pissy, whining, and annoying."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Brian.  He cursed.  Twice.  And one was
the *f* word.  Ok, perhaps I was being annoying then.

I looked at the waitress who was standing there trying to figure out if
Brian and I were joking or if we were ready to go to blows. I gave her my
order of  a Dr. Pepper and the seafood platter.

"Hey, hey, hey," a familiar raspy voice rang out.  "Is this a private party
or can anyone join?"

I looked up into AJ's grinning face, "Hey, Bone, when did you get in?  And
how did you know we were here?  Of course you can join us."

AJ sat down across from me and snatched the menu out of my hands. He quickly
gave it the once over and gave the waitress his order.  

Once the waitress was gone AJ said, "Howie and I just got in and dropped our
stuff off at the hotel.  Sam told us where you guys would be.  Howie went to
join your better half."

"Oh cool," I replied, "Where are they at by the way?  I'm just curious."

Sam shook her head and said, "Nope, not telling you.  All you need to know
is Kevin is somewhere across town with Mel, Trey, and Howie."

"Poor bastard", I mumbled under my breath but loud enough for the others to
hear and snicker about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mel?"

Melinda looked up from her steak dinner to look at Kevin, "Yeah Sweetpea?"

Kevin rolled his eyes as Trey and Howie snickered.  "Where is Dylan? If you
are with me and Sam is no doubt torturing the hell out of Nicky, where is
the munchkin?"

Melinda laughed, she knew that would be what Sam was doing to Nick. "He's
with Nana Jane and Papa Bob for the night.  When we left them, they were
going to find a McDonalds or another kid friendly place to bring him and the
other Carter kids for dinner."

Kevin nodded and popped another piece of steak in his mouth, "Boy are they
going to be tired tomorrow." 

Melinda laughed and nodded her head, "Dead on their feet. However if they
survived Nick, they have to be at least a little used to it."

Kevin shook his head in amazement, "You haven't met the other kids. There
are three more just like him and then Angel who is the quiet, shy little
angel. They would be thinking mailman if she wasn't Aaron's twin. You'll see
what I mean tomorrow."

Trey grinned and shook his head, "Oh god, yah. Those kids are
just.....exhausting."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I rubbed my temples.  The music was loud and giving me a headache.  We'd
left the restaurant and gone to some club.  The band that was playing seemed
to feel like being extremely loud would make up for the fact that they
actually couldn't play.

"Can we go back to the hotel, please?", I asked to no one in particular.

Sam, Brian, and AJ were laughing and talking up a storm.  They'd even had
Sam out on the dance floor dancing.  They were having a great time.  They
didn't need me hanging around.  Wonder if they'd notice if I left?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kev grimaced as the band started playing again.  They'd left the restaurant
and came to a country and western club of all places.  Kevin thought to
himself he'd go stark raving mad if he had to listen to one more song about
the pick-up truck dying, the girl running off with another man, and the dog
getting run over.

Howie leaned over to Kevin and snickered, "Your eyes are gonna get stuck if
you keep rolling them back in your head like that."

Kevin said, "Can we go back to the hotel now?  I want to see Nick."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I cleared the door and took a deep breath of fresh air once I was outside.
I would go back to the hotel and find out what room they had Kevin stashed
in and wait outside his door until he came in.

I'd taken just a couple of steps heading in the direction of the hotel when
I felt hands grab me and make me stop.  I looked up and found Sam, AJ, and
Brian all glaring at me like they wanted to ring my neck.

I sheepishly grinned.  "Hey, ya'll.  What's up?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian, Sam and AJ all raised an eyebrow like they were some sort of
synchronized hit squad. AJ grabbed my shoulders and shook them a little,
"Going somewhere, Junior?" 

I looked back at AJ and raised an eyebrow of my own, "Freak Boy, I'm going
to be a married man tomorrow, so do you think maybe we can retire the
Junior, huh?"  

AJ grinned like the great pumpkinhead, "Nope....Junior."

I groaned in frustration as Sam and Brian were holding each other to keep
from falling over they were laughing so hard. I rolled my eyes at them and
started towards the rental car, leaving them scrambling to catch up with me.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Spark plugs, she was a tramp to begin with, and a leash."

The table fell silent as they all looked at me. Trey raised an eyebrow,
"What?!"

Kevin looked up from his drink, "If they only realized those three
things....put spark plugs in the pickup truck, she was a tramp to begin with
and put the goddamn dog on a leash and he won't get run over, then these
yahoos could shut up already."

Everyone at the table busted out laughing at what Kevin had said and how
true it was about this particular band. A phone started ringing and everyone
immediately started searching their pockets for their phone. Kevin was the
only one who stayed still, they had confiscated his cell phone before they
brought him out so he couldn't call Nick and have the two of them make a
break for it.

Melinda grinned flipped hers open with a flourish, "It's me!" 

She listened for a minute and then nodded while saying, "Uh huh, 143, got
it. We'll be there in fifteen."

She shut off the phone and smiled at Kevin, "Well looks like your torture
ends. We are going back to the hotel.  You get your time with Nick before
midnight."

Kevin grinned and stood up, already on his way to the door.  He stopped
halfway there when he realized that no one was following him.  "Well? Come
on! Y'all are cutting into my time!"

They all rolled their eyes at him and got up to follow Kevin. 

***************

Melinda and Kevin were walking down the hallway to the room she had told
Kevin I was in. They were damn good at this cloak and dagger stuff, they
actually rented another room for us to meet in so neither of us would know
which room the other one was in. Melinda left him infront of the door after
opening it with the swipey card. "We'll be back to get you at midnight,
sharp."

Kevin nodded and went inside the room.  "Nick?"

Silence. 

Kevin went further in the room and saw Nick laying on the couch, curled up
and clutching a pillow, fast asleep.  Kevin smiled and knelt beside the
couch, his hand brushing Nicks hair away from his sleepy face.  "Nicky?"

I could hear my name, but I just figured it was something from my dream.  I
scrunched my face up and turned my head.  I knew I wasn't dreaming when I
felt fingers sliding up the back of my neck,tangling in the hair at the nape
of my neck, "Nicky, wake up, baby"

I rolled to face him and opened my eyes to see the most beautiful sight in
front of me. My Kevin. I reached my arms out to him without a word and
pulled him onto the couch with me.  I pulled his shirt so I could lay my
head on his bare chest and hear his heartbeat under my ear. The sigh of
happiness couldn't be stopped by me when he wrapped his arms around me and
stroked one of his hands over my hair. 'God? Would it be too much to ask to
stay like this forever? If the answer is yes, give me no sign what so
ever......'  Nothing, just quiet and the breathing of the love of my life,
'thy will be done.'

"Are you excited about tomorrow?"

Kevin nodded, his chin hitting the top of my head, "I can't wait.  You are
mine forever and I'm yours, it may be secretly, but real all the same."

I rubbed my hand over his hip, over the spot where his tattoo was. My
fingers tracing the lines through his pants, knowing every line of it by
heart. "The day I can stand in front of the world and say to everyone that I
love you, you are my husband and I'm the luckiest S.O.B ever that you love
me back, will be the happiest day of my life." 

Kevin held me tighter, "Mine too."  I felt him squirming, "I want to kiss
you so bad."

We had decided that there would be no kissing until the wedding. We had
started two days ago and were just about ready to cave, if Kevin was any
indication. 

I put my hand to his lips, "We can do this.  Just think, it builds
character." 

Kevin groaned, "I have enough character.  And heaven knows you are enough of
a character already."  

I lifted my head and sent him a mock glare, "Well my character is what you
love about me."

He grinned, "True. That and the cute little tush."

I laughed, "Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Will you still love me when I'm 80 and said
tush is sagging down to the back of my knees?"

He rubbed his hands over the back of my legs, running his fingernails over
the material of my slacks and making me shiver, "Absolutely.  Just like
you'll love me even when I'm 90 and my eyebrows have sagged right down to my
cheekbones."

I giggled and almost gave into my urge to kiss him senseless. "That was a
pretty picture." 

He raised an eyebrow, "And your little thing about your tush hitting the
back of your knees wasn't?" 

I laughed and reached my hand onto the table beside the couch and plopped a
box on his chest, "I want you to have this for tomorrow." 


I could hear the crinkle of paper as he opened it and then the gasp.  I 
raised my head and looked up at him.  He held it in his hands looking at it 
as if it was the most precious jewel in the world.  In a way it was, for 
him.  I had talked to Tim and Jerald a lot the past weeks and they had told 
me of the family tradition that whenever one of the Richardson boys got 
married, they wore the same cufflinks that their father had worn when he'd 
married Anne.  

Tim had chanced the wrath of his mother and sent them to me when he realized 
that he still had them in his safe deposit box.  He had brought them with 
him and he'd left them in my room while I'd been dragged out to dinner.  
Now they were in Kevin's hands. 

I saw the tear sliding down Kevin's cheek and I wiped it away with my thumb 
while I explained how I'd gotten them.  Kevin grabbed me and held me so 
close to him I couldn't breathe.  

"Kev?"

No answer.

"Kev, baby, I can't breathe."

He loosened his hold on me and sat up, bringing me with him.  When we were 
both upright he cupped my face in his hands and looked down at me, "Every 
time I think there is no way I can possible love you any more, you go and 
do something that makes me love you more and proves me wrong.  I love you, 
Nickolas Carter and those words don't seem to be enough to express what I 
feel for you, but they'll have to do."

I smiled at him and nodded, "They'll do just fine."

He smiled back at me and fished around in his pocket for something, he 
pulled out something concealed by his fist and laid out my hand with the 
palm facing up.  When he had it waiting there, he opened his fist and 
something on a rawhide string fell into my palm.  

I looked up at him for a second and he grinned at me, "This is only half of 
your present, you get the other half tomorrow."

I nodded and looked down in my hand again. On the end of the string was the 
shape of a fish cut out of a crystal.  "I wanted something that meant 
something to me.  This fish made me think of the day we went fishing on the 
lake at your cabin. That first day we kissed.  I'll remember that moment 
forever, Nick.  It was the moment that you got me heart and soul.  In that 
moment I knew I found the other half to my soul and you'd been right there 
under my nose all the time."  

He put it on me I felt it warm immediately to my skin temperature and I 
knew that it was never leaving my body from this moment. It may not have 
been passed down through the family, but the value Kevin had placed on it 
by linking the memory of our first kiss to it, made it just as precious.

I grabbed him and held on to him just as tight as he'd hung onto me and we
sat there absolutely silent and just listening to each other breathe.  

We both heard the door opening and held on tighter to each other.  

"Kevin? Nick? It's midnight."

The voice paused and when it didn't hear any movement from us, it came 
closer.

It was Melinda.

"Ok you two. Midnight. Time for bed and time to separate. You know the 
rules." 

We still didn't move.  

We heard Melinda walk away.  She came back with reinforcements. A few 
seconds later we felt hands on our shoulders and Brian pulled me off of 
Kevin gently, putting an arm around my shoulders and leading me out of the 
room.  I couldn't look back at Kevin or I knew I would end up running back 
to the home that I had in his arms and begging them not to separate us, 
even for one night. We'd been through too many nights already separated.  
Instead, I sucked it up and let Brian lead me.

While we were waiting for the elevator, I saw Trey leading Kevin out of the 
room, the box with the cufflinks clutched in his hand tightly.  I gave him a
small smile and a wave as the doors closed and took me to the floor where my 
room with Brian was. 

I looked at my watch. 12:01.  Officially my wedding day. I closed my eyes 
and smiled, 'Sweet Dreams, Kevin.'