Part 131

"Hello?"

"Hey beautiful!"

"Alex? Alex!" she exclaimed. "How are you? Where are you? You're not out, yet, are you? Wait- ohmygod, Nick's not here!"

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on!" he laughed. "Bec, it's ok, I can talk to you. I just had a few minutes and wanted to call. You know, just to say hello…" his voice drifted away and Becca could feel his self-confidence waver.

"Its good to hear from you, Alex."

"Really?" he asked, before he could cover his insecurity.

"Yes, Alex, really. How are you?"

"Better, Bec, I'm doing better. This place-" He stopped, emotion filling his voice. "This place is awesome. The people, the surroundings-" He stopped, unable to continue.

"I'm happy for you, Alex," she whispered.

"Becca-"

"Alex, don't, please?"

"No it's just – I was so fucked up and I couldn't even see it. I hurt so many people. I hurt you…"

"Yes, but I'm okay now," she answered, not bothering to deny what they both knew to be the truth.

"And I hurt Nick. Damn, Bec, he's like my little brother you know? He must hate me."

"I don't think so Alex. He was angry, but I'm sure he's over it by now."

"But you don’t know that for sure, do you?"

"No," she replied softly. "No, I don’t. With everything else that went down, we never really talked about it. But we will, I promise."

"I hear you've been on the road with A.C.?"

Becca laughed. "He's so adorable, Alex. He's so much like Nick that it's scary sometimes."

"Damn, two Nicks? I'm not sure the world is ready for that."

"Me either, at least not the female half of the population."

"What about you, Becca? How are you handling life in a fishbowl?"

Becca was silent for a moment. "Okay, I guess. Well, mostly… it's certainly different."

"Take a break, Bec. Don't get lost in it all, all right? It can happen too quickly. You need to be careful, you know? You've got a little Carter to think about now. Do NOT do this child what Jane did to Nick and Aaron."

Becca couldn't help it, she began to giggle. "Funny you should mention Jane."

"No way, what has the she-beast done now?" Alex sighed dramatically.

"Actually, not a thing. We spent the weekend together recently and we're getting along just fine."

"No shit? Did you check the back of her neck for a '666'?"

"Stop it!" she protested, laughing once again. "You're SO bad! This is my child's grandmother you're talking about."

It was AJ's turn to laugh. "Granny, grandma, nana … what the hell are you going to call her come September?"

"I have no idea," she laughed, "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Look, I gotta run. I have a session in a few minutes. Tell Nicky I called, and I'd love to see you guys if you can swing a couple of days to come out."

"I will Alex. It was so good to talk to you. We'll see you soon, all right?"

"It's a date, Bec. Love you."

"We love you too, Alex," she whispered and gently hung up the phone.

Becca spent the rest of the afternoon browsing through baby catalogs and napping. There was so much to be done, but lately she just didn't have the energy. It was a godsend that there had been so much downtime on this leg of the tour or she would have been completely wiped out. Truth be told, she was getting worried about how she was going to handle the last month of her pregnancy on the road. She knew all about the medical support network that was in place, she was going to ask Sarah to be her labor coach, and her mental "to do" list was diminishing daily, but still … She sighed, closing her eyes once again and snuggling into the down comforter on her king-sized bed. Her last thought before sleep claimed her was a silent thank you to whoever had invented air conditioning. Surely it was someone whose wife was pregnant in the middle of a Florida heat wave. Nick arrived home shortly after dinnertime to a silent, darkened house. Becca's car was in the driveway, so he knew she was here somewhere. A quick check of the patio, living room and kitchen revealed nothing, so he took the stairs two at a time, fairly certain where he'd find her. Silently he stood in the doorway of their bedroom, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He could just barely make out her rounded shape in the center of their bed and just the top of her head was peeking out. As he came closer, he could hear her snoring softly and stifled a laugh. Poor Bec, she'd been the butt of many of Sarah's jokes over the years because of her snoring, but he thought it was adorable. God knows, with all HIS bad habits he had no right to tease his wife.

Nick sat gently on the side of the bed, untying his sneakers and dropping them gently to the floor before stretching out beside her. Her body was warm with sleep and she smelled clean and fresh and god, he got hard lately just being in the same room with her. Rolling to his back, he pulled her close, reaching down with one hand to adjust his jeans. Becca's arm went across his chest and she laid her head on his shoulder, sighing in her sleep.

Part 132        The Dance Index(1)        The Dance Index(2)