Part 210
And party they did. There were trays and trays of food, none of it healthy, for which Becca was eternally grateful. She'd had enough healthy food to last her a lifetime, and tonight she wanted to indulge. Nick and Sarah watched her carefully, and were pleased to see that she was at least avoiding the saltier foods in favor of just plain high calorie treats. Soda and spring water was in abundance, as neither Becca nor Sarah nor Alex could indulge in alcohol, but no one seemed to miss it.
Finally it was time for presents. Tons and tons of presents! Becca carefully 'ooh-ed' and 'ah-ed' over each little sleeper and nightgown, more than once getting teary-eyed imagining the tiny body that would soon wear it. There were the usual baby books and rattles, a car seat and tons of storybooks and photo albums. The prize for the funniest gift went to Brian. Somehow he'd come up with a book for Nick, not Becca or the baby.
Nick opened his gift and began to laugh until tears streamed down his face.
"Nicky, what is it?" Becca asked, trying to see what he was holding.
"Rok, this is priceless," Nick laughed.
"C'mon, blondie," Sarah said. "Hold it up so we can all see."
And so he complied. There for all to see was a book entitled, "Barefoot and Pregnant, The Bluegrass Guide To A Happy Marriage."
Becca was almost speechless. She sat open-mouthed for a full minute before finding her voice. "Brian Littrell!!!" She was aghast. "And to think I set you up with one of my friends?! Nicky, get me my cell phone, I need to call Sonja."
"Bec, read the card that goes with it," Brian grinned.
Opening the pale yellow envelope, Becca read out loud: "Dear Nick, Brian and I thought maybe you could use this. All my love, Sonja."
Nick fell over laughing and Kevin grinned at the outrage on Becca's face.
"Here, Bec, open ours next." Sarah handed her a huge envelope and smiled.
"Sarah?" she questioned.
"Just open it," she said, and winked at Howie.
Becca looked at Nick, shrugged her shoulders in puzzlement and opened the envelope. Inside was a beautifully lettered certificate with a gold-edged border.
"Read it, Bec," Alex called out.
"It says, "To Becca and Nick, This certificate entitles you to one free evening of overnight babysitting, redeemable exactly 6 weeks after delivery. All our love and blessings, Howie & Sarah" Becca laughed and blushed, understanding immediately the significance of the gift. "Thank you, you can count on me using this."
"Bec," Nick whispered, "I don't get it."
She motioned him closer with her finger and whispered back, "After the baby is born, we can't make love till after my six week checkup."
"Six WEEKS?" he burst out. "That's longer than Howie made me wait."
The entire room erupted and he realized what he'd said.
Howie just shook his head. "Way to go, Nick."
"Aww man … you guys just don’t understand."
"Probably a very good thing, Kaos," Alex chortled.
"One more gift, you two," Kevin said, smiling. He presented them with a very large box that felt suspiciously empty.
Becca shook it gently and heard the rustle of paper in the bottom. "Nick, help me get the top off."
Nick lifted off the top and reached way down inside, pulling out the single item inside. A video tape.
"Kev?" he asked.
"Just something we put together for the two of you."
There was no label on the tape, so Nick just handed it back to Kevin, who turned on the television and popped it into the VCR.
Sarah dimmed the lights, and the glow from the television illuminated Becca and Nick's faces as they watched.
The scene opened with a close up of Kevin, Howie, Brian and Alex. As if on cue, they chorused, "Hi, we're The Backstreet Boys!"
Everyone in the room laughed at what had become a colossal in-joke over the years.
"Well," Kevin continued, "not ALL of the Backstreet Boys."
"One's missing, but that's all part of the plan." Brian said.
"We're busy working today," Howie continued, "but we wanted to make something special for Becca and Nick. Hope you like it, Bec." He winked at the camera and the scene changed to Alex.
"Okay, Kaos, this is for you, buddy. If the stories I heard are all true, you'll owe us one for making this." He grinned, leering into the camera and said, "Enjoy it Bec!"
The scene faded to black and opened on the group shot at the beginning of the "Drowning" video.
"Oh my god," Becca whispered, grabbing Nick's hand. The background scenery had been dubbed in and it was amazing. She was raptly watching the completed video when the sight of her own face on the screen made her sit bolt upright. The camera caught her every emotion and the look on her face was one of pure sexual need.
"God, Bec," Nick murmured, squeezing her hand. It had obviously been filmed while they were shooting the video. Nick looked around to see who was responsible, but everyone in the room was grinning at him, so it was impossible to tell who to blame. Or thank.
They watched in silence as the song unfolded, the video footage expertly spliced in with pictures of Becca's reactions. As the song neared the end, the images faded to a beautiful shot of Nick's face with Becca's superimposed over it. The voices faded away and there was complete silence in the room.
Finally Becca spoke. "I know I should probably be embarrassed by this, I know you've all ribbed me enough about it," she said blushing, "but I'm not. The fact that you all cared enough to do this just makes me feel like one of you. You know that it hasn't been easy for me sometimes, but this… this just makes it all real. Thank you," she ended on a whisper.
Nick reached out a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and brushed his fingers against her cheek. "You okay?"
Becca nodded her head. "I'm great, Nick. Really."
Very gently he leaned closer and kissed her, until he became aware of people milling about and ignoring them.
Becca giggled. "I guess they got tired waiting for us, huh?"
"Guess so," he grinned.
"Nick, what are we going to do with all this stuff?" Becca looked around at the piles of gifts.
"Let me worry about that," Denise said. "Almost all of it will go on your bus, and we can stash some of it on ours. Besides, you're going to be needing all of this in just a few weeks."
"Wow," Becca breathed.
"Reality setting in kids?" Denise laughed. "Go on, say good night and head back to your room. You've got a show tomorrow night and need your rest." As they turned to go, she stopped them. "Here, use this tonight."
Nick laughed as she handed him a "do not disturb" sign for their door.
"Trust me," Denise said, winking. "Hang this up and watch the tape again."
Nick and Becca made the rounds, saying goodnight and thanking everyone. Walking tiredly back to their room, the last thing they did before locking the door was to take Denise's advice.
The Do Not Disturb sign hung in place till nearly noon the next day.