Part 314
Nick, Becca and Garrett entered the dining room to find almost the entire cast and crew already either eating or milling about. Becca sighed as she looked around. It felt so good to be back. Before she could get her bearings she was surrounded by various dancers and crew people, all eager to get their first real look at the baby. It was getting a little claustrophobic when Brian and AJ intervened.
AJ took the infant carrier away from Becca as Brian cleared a path to the nearest table. They set Garrett on the table, still strapped into his seat, and proceeded to hold court.
Nick and Becca stood by and watched, smiling at the new 'uncles' in action. Becca was nestled comfortably against Nick's chest, his arms wrapped around her from behind, when Kevin found them.
"G'morning you two."
"Hey Kev," Nick smiled. "You wanta go stare too?"
"Nah, I'll wait for the second show." He laughed, and took a good long look at them. "You two okay?"
"Yeah, Kev, we're fine," Nick reassured him.
Becca saw that he wasn't entirely convinced. "We really are. Thank you for trying to help Nick last night, Kevin," she said softly.
"I'm just glad everything worked out." He reached out and brushed Becca's hair away from her eyes. "It's nice to have you back."
"It's good to be back. I just wish… I wish I could go back and do yesterday all over again. Kevin, it was awful."
"I know Bec, I heard. But you and Nick are here together this morning and that's the most important thing."
"Bec, you need to talk to Sarah," Nick reminded her.
"Nick-"
"Bec, please. You need to get this over with."
Becca searched the room with her eyes and spotted Sarah on the other side. "Do I have to?" she mumbled.
"No time like the present," Nick said, giving her a gentle push.
Becca heaved a deep sigh and began to work her way across the room when a tall young woman with a bright smile bumped her. Her plate was laden with fruit and other assorted breakfast goodies, and she almost dumped it on Becca when Becca stepped in front of her.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" Becca was mortified.
"Hey, don't sweat it. It's just damn crowded in here this morning." She maneuvered past Becca to the first available table. "Need a place to sit? This one seems to have a few spaces left."
"Umm … sure, I guess," Becca looked around, but Nick seemed to have disappeared, and so had Garrett. "Let me grab a plate, I'll be right back."
"I've got a ton of food here, don't bother getting any more. I can share."
Becca smiled. How nice to meet someone so friendly, especially after yesterday. Oh damn, she'd entirely forgotten that she was on her way to find Sarah. She looked around and spotted Sarah on the far side of the room, deep in conversation with Lisa. So much for private time. She sighed and turned in the other direction, picking up a plate from the buffet table and returning to her seat.
"Coffee?"
"Oh, no, thank you. I'm staying away from caffeine for a while." Becca could only imagine Garrett on a caffeine high if she drank coffee right before nursing him. She laughed to herself, scooping some melon onto her plate.
"Wait, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Fiona." Wiping her hand on her napkin, she extended it across the table.
Becca giggled. "Me too. I'm Becca, nice to meet you. You're new, aren't you?"
"Yep, I'm one of the new dancers." She continued to eat, trying to remember why Becca's name seemed familiar.
"Very new, I guess. You weren't with the tour when I was in Toronto."
"No," she shook her head. "Fatima hired me after Sarah ended up in the hospital in Ottawa. I guess Howie pitched a fit or something, at least that's what I heard." She shrugged and didn't seem overly concerned.
"Sarah was in the hospital?" It wasn't really her style, but Becca feigned innocence just to see if Fiona would tell her what had really happened. In the midst of all the turmoil on the bus, she'd been shocked to hear about it, but had forgotten to question Nick about it this morning.
"I guess so, but like I said, I didn't meet up with them until Montreal, so that's really all I know."
Becca continued her breakfast in silence while Fiona prattled on and on about how wonderful it was to be here, and how many exciting people she'd met. She was about to extol the virtues of her favorite Backstreet Boy when he actually walked up to the table. Only the gods above intervened and kept her from opening her mouth and making the biggest faux pas of her career.
"Hey baby!" Nick said brightly.
Fiona started to reply, but as she opened her mouth to speak, Nick leaned over and pressed a sweet kiss to Becca's cheek. She was stunned into silence. Becca ... Becca … ohhh, THAT Becca. Holy shit, she was having breakfast with Nick Carter's wife.
"Hey, where'd you disappear to?"
"Got sidetracked, and then Brian and AJ wandered away with this little guy… I had to go get him back." Nick grinned as he lifted Garrett's infant seat into the last remaining chair at the table.
"There's my boy," Becca cooed at the tiny baby, who gurgled happily, oblivious to the crowd and the noise. "Where did daddy take you?"
"Daddy didn't take him anywhere, it was his uncles that absconded with him." Nick laughed, and seemed to finally notice Fiona, who was watching in fascination. "Hey, Fi! Whassup?"
"Just getting acquainted with your wife, although I didn't know that's who she was at first."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Becca said. "I guess I'm out of practice. It feels like I've been gone for longer than a week."
"No problem, I'm sure we'll get to know each other a lot better in the days to come, right?"
"That would be great!" Becca said happily. A new friend might be just the thing to cheer her up. Glancing Sarah's direction again, she saw that Lisa was gone, but Howie had joined her and from all appearances, his mood hadn't improved much from the day before.
Nick watched Becca and knew this had to be hard on her. "Bec, did you talk to Sarah yet?" he asked softly.
"No, she was busy," Becca said with a frown. "I guess I'll catch her later."
"Bec-" Nick knew she was avoiding the confrontation. He started to say something else, but Garrett chose that moment to begin fussing and spit up his morning feeding. "Oh yuk." Nick sighed and wrinkled his nose.
Fiona giggled behind her napkin. Her image of the blonde pop god was fast disappearing, and it was cute. Whod'a thought?
"So much for breakfast," Becca sighed. "Let me have him and I'll take him back up to the room."
"I can do it, Bec."
"No, you have business to attend to. Besides, after last night I think I'm gonna try to get some more sleep. I'll see you later."
"Okay, baby, love you." Nick smiled up into Becca's eyes.
"Love you too. Fiona, it was nice meeting you. See you soon!"
"Later!"
Becca was almost to the door when Sarah rose from her table and blocked her path.
"Excuse me," Becca said politely.
"Bec, are you all right?" Sarah seemed genuinely worried, and for just a second or two Becca thought that maybe things were back to normal.
"Fine, but I need to get Garrett back upstairs."
"Is everything all right with you and Nick? I see you're together this morning."
"We're fine now. Last night was rough, Garrett was up most of the night. It was almost three when we finally got him to sleep."
"Bec, I could have helped. Why didn't you call me?"
"I figured you were too busy. It seems that way lately." Becca cast her eyes downward, debating how to get out of the conversation without it turning nasty. She knew if she stayed much longer she was going to say something she'd regret, and there were just too many people around.
"Nick should have called me, he KNOWS I would have come down." The censure in her voice was what got to Becca.
"Why do you hate Nick, Sarah? What has he done to you to make you turn against him?"
"What?"
"How could you do it?" Becca asked with tears in her eyes.
"Do what?" Sarah was completely confused. She looked to Howie for help, but he had none to offer.
"You killed him, Sarah. You actually killed him."
It suddenly dawned on Sarah what Becca was talking about and she had the grace to look embarrassed. "You saw-"
"Yes, I saw it. I was so happy yesterday, Sarah. I woke up early, and because I couldn't sleep I decided to check my mail one last time. Imagine my surprise when I found the last chapter of 'Dark Riders'."
"Bec, it's only-" Howie interrupted.
"Only a story? I'd like to believe that Howie, I really would," she said sadly. "But I know better."
"And it wasn't her idea, Bec." Howie tried once more to fix at least this mess, but Becca didn't even hear him.
"A lot has happened in the last week, hasn't it? I had to find out on the bus yesterday and then from one of the new dancers that my best friend had been in the hospital and never told me… what else have you kept from me?"
"Becca, I-"
Garrett was howling now, and Becca made her escape. Sarah looked up to see Fiona watching intently. Perfect. She headed in her direction and took her anger out on her.
"Smooth move this morning, Fiona."
"Sarah, I have no idea what you're talking about." Fiona smiled sweetly.
"I'll just bet. Behave yourself, Fiona, I'm watching you," Sarah said menacingly. Turning to leave, she ran smack into Kevin.
"Hey, watch where you're going," he grinned.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "I need to go, Kevin, excuse me." Her eyes were cast down and her voice wasn't her normal upbeat tone.
"We're recording later, Sarah, don’t forget."
"Kev, we need some time to talk, okay? Give us a couple of hours before we head to the venue. I already asked Lisa to watch Jesse for a while so Sarah and I can have some time alone." Howie had his arm around Sarah and he knew without asking how upset she was.
"Sure, D, no problem. Look, Sarah … when we're done I need a few minutes, too. If you're up to it."
Sarah smiled weakly. "Sure, Kev. We'll see you later." Hand in hand she and Howie went up to their room. It was going to be a long day and it was only eleven o'clock.
"Yo, Kev!" Nick was a bundle of energy today now that he and Becca were back together.
"You look a sight better this morning, Kaos." Kevin grinned as Nick smirked back at him.
"All's right with the world, bro." He was still grinning, but then had a sudden thought.
"Unless I have to go help with Sarah's session …" He knew Howie wasn’t completely over whatever had been up his ass the previous day and wasn't looking forward to having to spend any more time with him than absolutely necessary.
"Not this time," Kevin shook his head. "Go up and be with Bec and GT. I'm sure she could stand a little pampering today, you know? And get some rest, man, you looked like hell last night."
"Thanks, Kev, I think I will. Later." He took off running for the elevator, but not before Kevin could call out one final instruction.
"Don't be late for sound check!"
"No dad, I won't," he called out giggling. "And I'll fill up the gas tank before I come home, too."
Kevin shook his head as he laughed. "Twenty-one going on fourteen…"