Part 115

Nick and Howie slowly made their way up the narrow path to the Taylor house. They were just out of earshot of the rest of the group when Howie felt Nick's shoulders begin to shake, and thought, "Damn, I guess he's more upset that any of us thought." Stealing a glance at the younger man he was surprised to find him holding back laughter, tears of mirth filling his eyes.

"Nick?" he asked in astonishment.

"Oh man, D, that was priceless. They actually thought I believed all that shit."

"Nick, you're a dead man, you know that."

"Nah, they never have to know. Let 'em think I'm clueless," he grinned. "And did you see the look on Bec's face?" He laughed. "She was trying so hard not to give it all away, I can't ruin her fun."

"So what if it *is* a girl?"

"So what? Howie, I don’t care. I mean sure, a son would be awesome, but a girl …" his eyes got all dreamy.

"Man, you are SO far gone, " Howie laughed, shaking his head as he opened the screen door.

Sarah's father was in the kitchen piling sandwiches onto a tray when they arrived.

"Hey, Mr. T, whassup?" Nick said, holding up his hand so the older man could slap him five.

"Not much, we have enough food here to feed an army. I thought you boys and the girls would be hungry by now. Look at all this - the neighbors brought all this by, and if we don't use it, it will go to waste.

"I can carry that down there for you," Howie said.

"So, what are you all up to?" Mr. Taylor asked, drying his hands on a red-checkered dishtowel.

"Predicting the sex of the baby," Nick laughed.

"Let me guess, Sarah did the wedding ring trick?" he smiled fondly, remembering the countless times he'd seen her and her mother do that at family gatherings over the years.

"Yep, seems like we're having a girl."

"I'll let you in on a little secret," Mr. Taylor whispered. "Ninety percent of the time Sarah's predictions are wrong. You just watch, Nick, you'll see."

Nick grinned and added, "Well at least they didn't do the Drano test."

"The WHAT?" Howie asked.

"You know, the Drano test. You take a glass cup, put in a couple spoons of drain cleaner and –" Nick stopped.

"And 'what'?" Howie asked,

"Umm …" Nick blushed. "Well, Bec would have to, um, pee in the cup and see what color it turns."

"That's just disgusting," Howie said, wrinkling his nose as Mr. Taylor laughed. "And I don’t EVEN want to know how you know about that one."

"Sisters, man, I have sisters," he protested all the way back down the path to the pond as Howie chided him.

* * * *

The rest of the afternoon passed in lazy camaraderie as the six friends lay out on the deck in the summer sunshine, eating and trading stories and barbs. Sarah and Becca never lifted a finger, but sat back and enjoyed being waited on and treated like royalty. Several times they exchanged amused glances as one of the guys would hop up to refill their glass or to simply ask if they were ok. Something was definitely up, but they were enjoying the attention too much to bother trying to figure it out.

The sun was behind the mountain and the evening chill had begun to settle in as they moved inside for the night. There was no lacking for entertainment with this group. After flatly turning down Nick's suggestion of playing 'Twister', they gravitated to the old upright piano in the parlor.

As Sarah's dad watched, they took turns playing and singing everything from show tunes to old gospel hymns. Sarah and Becca rehashed some of their old college repertoire, and at the insistence of Brian, Nick and Becca sang together as Kevin played. It was quite obvious that they'd never done this before as Becca stopped and started several times trying to overcome her nervousness.

"Guys, this isn't me," she protested. "This isn't the kind of stuff I sing."

"Come on, Bec, it's only us," Kevin said. "Here, this is where you come in," he played the introduction for her, nodding his head at just the right time. "See? That's all there is to it."

"Niiick…. How do you do this every night in front of a crowd? Classical stuff is so easy for me, but this-"

"Bec, I guess it's all in what you’re used to. Sometimes I think about stuff while I sing. You know, find a memory or a place and just let it fill your head. Try it."

Becca sighed nervously and closed her eyes, and Nick stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and whispering in her ear. "I have the perfect thought," he said softly.

"Remember that day last winter? You know, the day you got the all-clear from Dr. Peterson? That was such a perfect day." He kissed the top of her ear, taking it between his teeth and smiling as she shivered. "We practically flew across the bay to get back to my house, didn't we?" He whispered lower then, so that no one else could hear. "And then we made love all afternoon, upstairs in my bed with the windows open, and the sun shining through the French doors…" As Becca sighed in his arms, he nodded at Kevin to begin playing. "Now sing, Bec," he whispered as he held her tightly.

The soft chords from the old piano flowed effortlessly from Kevin's fingers and Becca began softly.

Nick hugged her and began the next part of the verse.

And then their voices blended in perfect harmony.

Becca began the next verse, turning to look into Nick's eyes as stillness settled in the room.

The couple finished the song together, and as they sang Becca's voice became more sure and confident.

The final chords faded away as Nick and Becca looked into each others' eyes, and suddenly everyone else was on their feet, clapping as Becca blushed and hid her face in Nick's chest.

Kevin turned and put his hand on her arm. "Becca, that was awesome. You've got quite a gift."

"Bec, he's right," Brian said, "did you ever think of doing anything more than just the church stuff?"

"No WAY!" she protested. "I'm perfectly content to watch you guys do all the hard work. Sarah's the one you need to talk to, she's perfectly at home in front of an audience."

"I'm working on her," Howie said. "We'll be spending part of our break time in Orlando, so I'm putting her to work at Tabu."

"Oh?" Sarah replied, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Surprise!" Howie laughed. "Seriously, I've been wanting to record some of her stuff, but she just needs some more stage experience."

Kevin agreed wholeheartedly. "Baby, I've heard your stuff, you really ARE good. Let D help you get some songs together and we'll talk about a deal with KBNHA records."

Sarah shook her head, "You guys are too much." She looked around as they all stared at her, silently daring her to disagree. "All right!" she said throwing her hands up in defeat, "I'll think about it, okay?"

"Yes!" Nick crowed, high-fiving Brian and looking over at Howie, he added, "That was easier than you thought."

"Wait a minute." Sarah stood up with her hands on her hips. "You planned this?"

"Planned?" Howie asked innocently.

"US?" Brian asked.

"Never," Kevin denied shaking his head.

"Just a minute, I didn't know ANYTHING about this," Becca interjected. "Not a THING."

"Me either," Nick said innocently.

"Nice try, Carter," Sarah snorted. "Your wife is as innocent as the driven snow, but you? Give me a break."

"Bec? Innocent? MY Bec?" Nick laughed and began to quote, "I can feel you, you know. Even across a crowded room I can feel the heat of your eyes on my back." He looked at Becca as she began to turn red and laughed. "Innocent? I don’t think so." He ducked as Becca took a playful swing at him.

"Never mind, Carter, you love it and you know it," Sarah laughed.

Mr. Taylor had been listening to the banter of innocence and decided it was time to pull out the photo albums to show off Sarah’s ‘innocence’….or lack there of. He handed it to Nick and said, "Here you go, Nick. You want to know how innocent Sarah was, just look through these for a little while."

Howie asked, "Which photo album is that, Dad?"

"The one she didn’t want you to see last Christmas."

Sarah suddenly became extremely tired. Pretending to yawn, she said, "D, I think it’s time to go to bed."

Howie laughed. "OH NO YOU DON’T! Stay here and take it like a big girl!" he said as he took her by the waist and pulled her back into his lap.

Kevin asked, "What is that?"

Nick and Becca had been flipping through the pages when all of a sudden, Nick let out a howl. "OH…THIS IS PRICELESS!"

Becca looked at the picture and then at Sarah. Trying to hold in the laughter, Becca said, "Sarah, this explains QUITE a lot."

Kevin and Brian moved so that they could look over Nick and Becca’s shoulders at the pictures. Nick pointed out the one he was laughing about. There she was with three other girls looking extremely adorable. They were all wearing pink Sunday dresses, black leather patent shoes, and grinning happily for the camera only Sarah was making herself memorable. They all picked Sarah out easily…she was the one pulling her dress up for all to see her cute little white lace ruffle underwear.

Kevin looked at the picture first, then at Sarah. Sarah saw the amusement in his eyes and growled, "KEVIN SCOTT RICHARDSON…you start and I SWEAR I will take a picture of your tattoos and PUT THEM ALL OVER THE INTERNET!"

Howie chuckled, "Right after we get Becca to put THAT picture and a few others up of you! Behave, Angel." Sarah started to sulk and they all laughed at her. Howie pulled Sarah tighter into a hug and whispered, "Angel, you’re adorable."

Nick continued flipping through the album spotting more pictures of Sarah as the others looked over his shoulder. When they saw the one of Sarah in her duck costume, the laughter started over again.

"OH…PLEASE….I want a copy of this," said Kevin.

"Which one is it?" asked Howie.

"The duck costume."

"Okay…THAT IS ENOUGH!" said Sarah as she tried to get up.

Howie held on to her to keep her from going after them but Becca came to her defense. She took the album from Nick and went to put it away as Kevin said, "You’d better be glad ‘Bone’ isn’t here, baby."

"Oh, I’m ETERNALLY grateful," sighed Sarah.

"I think we need to take him a copy of several of those pictures," said Nick.

"I DON’T think so. Besides, I expect he’s already seen them. Ali has the exact same pictures."

Becca returned and the banter continued through three bowls of popcorn and a championship round of 'Pictionary' before the telltale signs of exhaustion began to show on everyone's faces. Nick and Becca were the first to turn in, yawning widely and mumbling their goodnights.

Becca hugged Sarah as she passed by. "See you in the morning, sis. You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah Bec, I'm fine. Really. I've got my best friends in the world right here," she said. "Well, all but one," she added sadly.

"He'll be back soon, Sarah, and he'll be better than ever. Hang onto that thought."

"I will, thanks. See you guys in the morning for breakfast."

Becca laughed. "You'll see ME in the morning for breakfast, you know how Nick is when we're on break."

"Hey, I resemble that remark," Nick frowned.

"G'night, Nicky, go hug on your wife for a while," Sarah instructed him.

"Good idea," he said yawning. "See you tomorrow."

Part 116    The Dance Index