Magical Beanie V - Brian Finally Gets His Wish



"I still have a hard time believing that your fans would send in so many wedding gifts, sweetie," Leighanne gushed as she looked over the mountain of unwrapped presents.

Brian nodded in agreement, smiling as he passed his new wife in the hallway of their Marietta Georgia home, presents in his arms.

"And gosh, those interviews you've been getting and I've been getting, pretty wacked out questions, huh?" Lee commented.

Brian smiled thoughtfully and then kissed his new wife quickly on the cheek. "I especially love the most embarrassing one."

"Which one would that be, sweetheart?"

"Oh, the one about us starting a family," Brian replied, a light blush stained his cheeks. Leighanne noticed his face turning a little red and laughed softly at his embarrassment.

Smiling, she picked up a box of stuffed toys and tiny pillows. Brian took the box from her arms.

"You know that when the time comes, I want to be in there for you one hundred percent," Brian stated.

Lee grabbed an armfull of blankets and followed Brian down the hall to the storage room. "One hundred percent, huh?" Lee giggled.

"Sure I will, I'm not gonn be like some fathers that figure it's all part of being a woman and they can't help."

"So, you mean to tell me that if you could get the morning sickness, the ankle swelling, the weight gain and all that stuff you'd do it?" Lee teased.

Brian eye's locked onto Leighanne's. "Baby, if there were any way possible, I wish I would be able to have a baby for you, I don't like to see you in pain and you know that. I'd do it for you in a heartbeat."

Leighanne swatted Brian playfully in the chest. "You are crazy, you know that? Okay, I'm holding you to it next year after the tour."

Brian tossed the box of stuffed toys onto the spare bed. "Yeah, yeah." He then spun around and grabbed Leighanne and draped her over his shoulder and carried her laughing down the hall towards their bedroom.

~*~*~*~


"Okay Nick, this is a road map and these here are r-o-a-d-s," AJ sarcastically spelled it out to Nick who was leaning against a seat on the tour bus looking over AJ's shoulder.

"Duh AJ, I got that concept, dumbass. I just wanna know---"

Nick's question was cut off when the obvious sound of someone throwing up in the rear bathroom cut through the air. Both he and AJ looked up at one another, they winced each time they heard the noise.

Brian walked down the aisle, a sleeve of saltine crackers in his hand.

"Got sick again, Brian?" Nick asked his best friend in a concerned voice.

Brian nodded while he took tiny bites out of the cracker he was holding. "You guys lost or something?"

Nick ignored his question. "We should stop at a clinic or something, you should get this checked out."

Brian waved it off. "Nah, I'm okay, besides it comes and goes and it never sticks around."

AJ peered at Brian over the top of his glasses. "Okay Brian, you're sounding more and more like Nicky here. You're being stubborn and foolish."

Nick nodded in agreement. "Yeah you are.....hey! wait a minute here, I'm not that bad.

"Guys, everything is fine. I only get sick when I get up in the morning and it goes away, don't make such a big deal about it," Brian defended.

Nick laughed. "Okay, we'll buy it for now, but you sound like you're pregnant. I mean, look, you're eating crackers and throwing up every morning, yah know, um morning sickness?"

"That was something I was gonna bring up anyway Brian," AJ started.

"What? That I'm pregnant, ha, funny AJ," Brian retorted.

"No, just hear me out. I mean, let's analyze this. You get sick every morning, you been eating weird stuff lately, and if I'm not seeing things Bri, you look like you've been putting on a little weight," AJ stated.

"Ha ha guys, really funny," Brian replied.

"You know what I'm getting at here, maybe Lee's pregnant and you're getting sympathetic pregnancy stuff going on there," AJ remarked.

"I know for a fact that she is not pregnant so quit over analyzing this guys, okay? Where's the next stop at?"

"That's what me and Nick were trying to figure out when you started talking. I'll have to go ask Ray," AJ replied as he eased himself out of the seat behind the table.

"Pregnant jokes aside Bri, I'm really worried about you," Nick said as he watched Brian nibbling away on another cracker.

"Nick, stop worrying, it's probably a bug I caught someplace and it's gonna taek some time to get rid of it. I will admit though I have put on a little weight but it's probably from eating these crackers," Brian joked. "I'll just cut back so not to worry and if I'm still throwing up by the end of next week, I promise I'll see a doctor, okay?"

Nick stared at Brian for a few moments, then his gaze softened. "Okay, but you better tell me if something's not right, deal?"

"Deal."

~*~*~*~


Under the stage at the concert venue in Denver, Nick was putting on the suit for the first number in the show. He couldn't help but hear Brian grunting and groaning as he struggled to put on his own gear.

"Problems there, Bri?" Nick asked as he walked over towards Brian.

A defeated Brian sank back onto the small couch. "I don't understand this, I wore this last night, I mean it was kinda tight but I could still get it on and now tonight I can't."

"You did look like you had a little beer gut going there last night, but I wasn't gonna say a word," Nick replied.

Frustrated, Brian burst into tears.

"Whoa there, easy Brian," Nick said as he placed a hand on Brian's shoulder.

"Somethings not right Nick, I know it and I've been avoiding facing it," Brian managed to say as he wiped the tears off his cheeks. "I've been throwing up everyday for the last 7 weeks, eating weird stuff all hours of the day and night, crying jags and now this," Brian said as he gestured towards his rounded belly.

"This might sound crazy, but what if you really are pregnant?" Nick asked.

"Right Nick, it's too crazy and medically impossible," Brian replied.

"No, listen to me. Remember when AJ was a girl and Kevin spoke only Russian?"

"Nick are you talking about that beanie thing again?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I mean think about it, you got all the symptoms and stuff."

"Nick, I'm not going there," Brian snapped back.

"Just answer me this question and I'll leave it alone, okay?"

Brian stared at Nick.

"Please?"

"Okay, okay, stop giving me that puppy dog look!"

"Did you ever say anything outloud holding a beanie like 'I wish I was pregnant'?"

"No," Brian said flatly.

"Come on Brian, at least try and think here," Nick argued.

"Alright, alright. Hey, wait, there was that one time when me and Lee were talking but that was just silly talk."

"What was it?" Nick asked.

"We were moving presents and stuff to the spare bedroom and we started talking about when we would start a family after the tour was done and I told her that I wish I would be able to do the prenancy for her because I don't like seeing her in pain."
Nick snapped his fingers. "Bingo! That's it! Were you holding a beanie baby?"

"No, I was holding a box of stuffed animals from fans, besides, I thought that thing was destroyed months ago."

"We need to prove this, is the box still in your house?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can you call Lee and have her say something when she's holding the box?"

"That's crazy Nick."

"Yeah, well it sounds crazy, but do you think you're ready to go through the public humiliation of a man being pregnant?"

"No, but what are you gonna ask her to say?" Brian asked.

"How about 'I wish AJ was back as a woman from last time'."

"Nick, that's a little mean to be messing with AJ like that," Brian said as he shook his head.

"Oh no, I'm not gonna risk that, you're nuts," Nick argued when he realized Brian's intentions for him.

"But it's not fair to put AJ throught that again, besides, how are you so sure it's gonna happen?" Brian reasoned.

"Okay, okay," nick mumbled as he dialed the phone to Brian's home. Brian listened to Nick's side of the conversation.

"Hi Lee, it's Nick....yeah I need to talk to Brian here for a sec, he has something he needs you to check for us." Nick handed the receiver, mouthing the words 'ask her'.

"This is dumb but I need you to do this for me. Go into the spare bedroom and pick up the box of stuffed toys I put in there," Brian rolled his eyes at Nick while he waited for Lee to get to the room.

“Okay, you got the box? Alright, now pick the box up picture my face and say I want Nick to be able to go out and be unrecognized just like before.....yes I’m sure.....no, I haven’t lost my mind, well maybe I have, just do it for me anyways,” Nick nervously stated.

When the call ended, he disconnected his cell phone, tossed it aside and let out a long sigh.

“Well, what now then?” Brian asked, looking at Nick.

Nick got off the couch and over towards his wardrobe rack. Picking out gear that was a duplicate of what he got on, he tossed it to Brian.

“Now? Well, first thing, you’ll have to wear my stuff. I’m sure it will be plenty big enough, and I’ll just use a stapler to shorten the pants up,” Nick suggested.

“A stapler Nick?” Brian shot back.

“Got any better solutions?”

Brian shook his head and reluctantly got dressed in Nick’s clothing. He appeared to be a little more at ease that the clothing draped over him. It was a little bigger, but at least it hung loosely over his stomach concealing the weight.

“There, aside from the length of the pants and the sleeves, no one will know the difference,” Nick smiled.

Brian shrugged his shoulders as he pushed the sleeves up. “So, if this beanie thing what you’re thinking it is, when do you change?”

“Sometime during the night when I sleep,” Nick said quietly. “Oh shit, I forgot to tell Lee a specific time for this to stop at.”

“Nick, it’s not gonna happen anyway, so don’t worry, okay?” Brian tried to reassure Nick as well as himself.



“It might not, but you realize if it does, we have to cancel the rest of the tour and go into hiding until we get this straightened out,” Nick stated.

“Well, thankfully there are only six more shows left, but we could have put off doing this to you, I would have been okay for six more shows,” Brian replied.

“Bri, Bri, six more shows that would stretch out for two more weeks on you and you’ve been sick throwing up for seven weeks, god only knows how far along you really are,” Nick argued.

“Nick! Knock it off, I’m not pregnant, quit being stupid,” Brian snapped. He got up and walked over his duffel bag and pulled out a bottle of tablets.

“What are those?” Nick asked as he watched Brian suspiciously.

“Tums, I have been having heartburn the past few days,” Brian replied as he popped the orange tablets in his mouth.

“Ah ha!”

“No, don’t even go there,” Brian snapped back.

~*~*~*~


The alarm clock in the hotel room that Nick and Brian shared buzzed continuously until Nick slapped the bedstand, the television remote and finally made contact with the on/off button.

Trying to wake up, Nick laid in bed with his eyes closed, recapping the events of the concert last night and the fun he had. His eyes popped open when he suddenly remembered Lee and the box of stuffed toys and the wish. He put his hand in front of his face to see what it looked like.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Nick repeated over and over.

Upon hearing Nick’s panicked voice, Brian woke up in the other bed and rolled over to see what Nick was carrying on about. “Oh my god, oh my god, no this can’t be happening,” Brian moaned as he looked at Nick.

“I think this thing made me bigger than before,” Nick groaned as he tried to sit up.

“Oh my god, you’re so big,” Brian gasped as he looked at Nick as he watched him struggle to stand. “Your shirt barely covers your stomach, all the other times your clothes fit you.”

Nick was about to reply when someone started banging repeatidly on the door adjoining their room.

“What the hell is going on?” A soft female voice demanded from the other side of the door.

Nick and Brian looked at each other.

“AJ?” Brian asked.

“Who the fuck do you think this is?” AJ squeaked.

Brian got out of the bed and opened the adjoining door. Quickly, he cupped a hand over his mouth and darted for the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

AJ glared at Nick.

“Why the hell are you doing? You told me you were only going to involve yourself to see if this was a beanie hex on Brian,” AJ growled. “Oh shit, I can’t believe this!” AJ turned around and walked back into his hotel room.

“What?” Nick called out after AJ.

“It gave me a period again and I don’t have Leighanne to help me out this time, dammit, dammit. Was there a shop in this damn hotel?”

Nick started laughing at AJ’s predicament.

“Stop laughing Nick, you’re gonna have to go and get me some stuff cause I can’t go anyplace right now and Brian is too damn busy throwing up and I’m sure Kev and Howie are affected as well, so that leaves you, dumbass.”

“AJ, I’m sure I’ll barely be able to walk,” Nick argued.

AJ entered the room and shoved a twenty dollar bill at Nick with his long, manicured hands. “Deal with it, get dressed and get me some stuff NOW.”

“Geesh, what a hothead, are you PMSing AJ?”

AJ flipped Nick off and popped open Nick’s suitcase. He picked out some clothes and threw it on Nick’s bed.

“Get dressed and go NOW!” AJ then turned on his heels and stormed out of the room, slamming his door shut.

"Crab," Nick mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that!" Came AJ's reply through the closed door.

~*~*~*~


Everyone was quiet on the bus trip back to Tampa. Nick and Brian were still trying to figure out how and why the beanie curse hit AJ, Howie and Kevin as well when Lee only said Nick’s name when she was holding the box. Nick’s phone call to Joey from n’sync hadn’t been returned yet, so he wasn’t sure if this was just exclusive to them or if n’sync had been effected again with them not being able to sing in key.

Nick looked over at Brian who was a seat in the aisle across from him. He was sleeping again, he had been taking a lot of naps in the afternoon lately and when he was awake he was either throwing up or eating. Howie was staring at his own relfection in the bus window, sighing every so often. Kevin was actually on the internet, which shocked Nick. He was in a Russian chatroom and typing up a storm. Nick figured that since he was unable to communicate with them, he could pass his time speaking Russian with the only people that would understand.

Nick couldn’t help but laugh as AJ was walking down the aisle towards him. Although it was AJ, he was actually a very pretty girl. He was built to kill, had the body of Cindy Crawford and long, flowing light brown hair that swept to his waist. The only thing that was a total turn off was all the tatoos on both his arms. That was the only thing that was a reminder of AJ’s true identity, that and the stud under his lower lip.

“What the hell are you staring at, fatty?” AJ mumbled as he threw himself into a seat that faced Nick.

“You. I guess I never really looked at you the other times. I can see why those two men tried to molest you in the elevator those other times,” Nick replied snickering.

AJ folded his arms defensively across his chest, trying to cover up the breasts he was still not used to having. “Well, um, thank god they didn’t get very far with me.”

The bus pulled into the parking lot of a McDonalds. It was a scheduled stop.

“Shit, we don’t need to stop, I want to get this crap taken care of, I’m going to tell Ray to keep going,” AJ mumbled as he got out of his seat.

“Too late AJ, he’s already off the bus,” Nick pointed towards the driver walking away from the bus, lighting up a ciagarette.

With the motion of the bus stopping, Brian woke up from his nap and looked sleepily out the window.

“Where are we?” Brian asked as he stretched.

“Some fricken Macdaddy’s in some butthole town,” AJ replied.

Brian furrowed his eyebrows and then raised them. “Good, I’m starved.”

He tossed his blanket aside and stood up only to fall back into his seat when a wave of dizziness swept over him. “Whoa.”

“Tell me what you want, I’ll go and get it,” AJ reluctantly stated.

“No, it’s okay, I’m fine,” Brian replied.

“Just tell me what you want, we don’t need you puking in there,” AJ snapped.

“Okay, I want a big mac, wait, make that two big macs, fries, and a chocolate shake, apple pie and garden salad and super size the fries and the shake,” Brian listed.

“Holy shit Bri, you’re ordering like Nicky always does,” AJ remarked. Brian was always the tossed salad and orange juice person when they stopped at McDonalds.

Nick narrowed his eyes at AJ.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you something too Nick,” AJ stated as he flipped his hair off his shoulder and turned and walked out the bus.

“Can’t wait,” Nick mumbled.

~*~*~*~


As the bus pulled into the parking lot by their vehicles, AJ felt relief sweep over him. He felt that now they would be able to concentrate on getting rid of the hex once again. He stood up and tapped Brian on the shoulder.

“Hey.....Bri, wake up, we’re home.”

Brian felt a mixture of relief and dread wash over him. He still hadn’t told Leighanne what had happened and he felt bad about that. They had never kept any secrets between them, ever and now he was. He watched warily as Nick struggled to get through the aisle towards the exit.

“Okay, everyone meet by my car,” AJ directed.

Brian shrugged his shoulders as he slowly stood up. He guessed that he got dizzy earlier by standing up so quickly. This time, by getting up slower, he wasn’t affected with dizziness, but nausea was still hanging around.

“Okay, everyone I think we’ll just go to Nick’s and stick there until we can get this figured out. Nick, Kevin and I will go in my car, Brian you up to driving yourself?”

Brian nodded yes.

“D, do ya think you can pull yourself away from a mirror long enough to drive over to Nicks?” AJ asked, a disgusted tone in his soft, feminine voice.

“Yeah,” Howie replied quickly.

“I can drive myself home, AJ,” Nick announced.

AJ let out a scarcastic chuckle, looking Nick up and down. “Oh you think so? Like you’re gonna fit behind the wheel, dumbass.”

Nick thought for a second. “Oh, yeah.”

“After we get stuff settled, Brian and me and D will come back and pick up Kev’s truck and your car, okay?”

“Alright,” Nick replied.

Once they reached Nick’s house. Nick, Brian and AJ sat in the living room, trying to think about their next move.

“Bri, you haven’t called and told Lee about this yet, have you?” Nick asked.

Brian shook his head no, tears filling his eyes. “I’m scared to.”

“Brian, it’s her baby too, she does have a right to know,” AJ pointed out.

Looking down at his stomach, Brian mumbled. “This is all too weird.”

“Weird or not, you have to let her know,” AJ stated.

“Can we just wait a few more days or something, maybe this will get fixed and everything will be fine,” Brian begged.

“Okay, Brian, let’s analyze this for a second,” Nick began. “Okay, let’s say this does get fixed in a day or maybe a month from now, which I hope to hell it don’t take that long, but anyway, let’s say for arguements sake, the baby gets transferred from your body to hers, don’t you think that would freak her out to be not only pregnant, but also suddenly showing in a split second?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Brian cried, buying his face in his hands.

AJ and Nick looked at each other.

“Take it easy Brian, we’ll get this fixed,” AJ tried to soothe.

“My aunt is an OB-Gyn,” Howie stated quickly.

“Huh?” AJ and Nick said together.

“My Aunt Carrie is an OB-Gyn, you know, a woman’s doctor” Howie repeated.

AJ shoved the phone at Howie. “Call her and tell her we will fly her to Tampa. You think she’d keep something like this a secret?”

Howie nodded as he pulled his card of phone numbers out of his wallet.

~*~*~*~


“Howie, I don’t know where to begin,” Dr. Carrie Martinez stated as she looked at Brian. “How are you even sure that Brian’s ah, um, pregnant?”

“Trust us, he is,” AJ replied.

“Just do what you always do and go from there,” Howie stated.

Carrie pulled a pad of paper out of her black bag. “Okay, Brian, when was your last menst.......” the doctor stopped in mid sentence, the sound of a pen scratching on the paper cut the silence. “Okay what are your symptoms?”

“He pukes all the time,” AJ offered.

Dr. Martinez glanced over at AJ. “I’d rather hear it from the patient.”

Brian sighed. “I feel nauseous all the time, I get sick in the morning and I’ve been throwing up every morning for the past eight weeks and although I’ve been getting sick I’ve gained roughly 9 pounds, all here pretty much,” Brian said as he gestured to his stomach.

The doctor followed Brian’s pointing towards his swollen stomach. Thinking for a moment, she held out a urine cup. “I want a urine sample please.”

“So?” Howie anxiously asked.

“So, this could be from a number of things, but it’s definately not from being pregnant Howie. Number one he’s male, number two he’s male,” Dr. Martinez stated as she was writing on the piece of paper.

Brian returned and handed the cup to the doctor. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bottle that held strips of paper in it. She took one out and dipped it into the specimen. “Well, you don’t have a bladder infection,” she quietly observed.

“Check the pregnancy one,” Howie insisted.

“Howie, I already told you he can’t possibly be pregnant,” Dr. Martinez replied.

“As a favor to me, please check it,” Howie insisted again.

Dr. Martinez sighed as she dug through the bag again. “Alright, just to humor you Howie, I’ll check it out.”

Nick, Howie, AJ and Brian held their breaths as they watched the doctor dip a strip into the specimen. She looked at the results and shook her head.

“This can’t be right,” she mumbled as she pulled another strip out and dipped it in.

“Well? What does it say, tia,” Howie asked.

“Ah, mi dios, en estado?” Carrie replied as she stared at the testing strip.

“Come again?” Howie and AJ replied together.

“It’s positive, how can it be positive? This is medically impossible.”

“So how far along is he?” AJ asked.

Dr. Martinez was still dazed by the results of the pregnancy test. “Huh?”

“How far along is he?” AJ repeated.

The doctor stared at Brian for a moment and then looked at AJ. “I have no idea, I mean, he obviously doesn’t have periods, so I can’t calculate it by that, the only other way is for him to have an ultrasound.”

“Then do it,” AJ demanded.

“I don’t have the equipment for that!” Dr. Martinez snapped at AJ.

“Tia, do you have connections in Florida?” Howie asked his aunt.

“Let me use the phone,” Carrie directed as she flipped open a notebook.
Part Two
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