Part 325
After searching every possible place in the arena, the four converged at the stage again.
"She couldn’t have gone far," said Kevin. "She was right there coloring as Sarah started the song."
"Let’s search backstage," suggested AJ.
"Sarah, go check with Lisa," said Howie. "She wanted her to go to the park with her."
The four separated again to search backstage. As Howie made his way through the game room area, he almost ran into Nick.
"Nick, have you seen Jesse?" asked Howie forgetting all about the fact that Nick was still not speaking to him.
Nick saw the concern on Howie’s face and put aside his differences. "No, I haven’t. What’s up?"
"Jesse’s missing. She was with us in the arena while Sarah was finishing up and when we turned back, she was gone."
"Where have you looked?" asked Nick, now equally concerned.
"We’ve checked the arena and we’re looking backstage now."
"I’ll give you a hand."
The two men headed off, their personal problems set aside to work together to find Jesse.
Twenty minutes of searching and no sign of Jesse. When the group rejoined each other, Sarah was in a complete panic.
Howie took her in his arms, "Calm down, Angel. We’ll find her."
"How? We’ve searched the entire place!"
Kevin spoke calmly, "We’ll get security to look."
"I’ll go get Billy," said AJ.
Sarah’s tears began to fall and Howie held her close. No one missed the look of desperation in his eyes either and knew he was trying to hold it in for Sarah.
Nick spoke, "Howie, I’m sure she’s just hiding somewhere and we’ve overlooked her."
"Yeah," agreed Brian. "You know how she can get into small places."
Sarah said tearfully, "I know but what if someone has taken her?"
"Baby, no one can get in here that doesn’t belong here," said Kevin.
Sarah reminded him, "Claudia got in here."
"Sure, but she was given a pass and I don’t think ANYONE would be stupid enough to do THAT again," said Brian.
Billy’s security team, minus Billy, arrived and Carlos asked, "What’s up, boss?"
"Jesse’s missing," said Kevin. "We’ve searched the entire place but we may have missed something."
Raoul saw how upset Sarah and Howie were and said, "We’ll find her."
Tommy asked, "Has anyone checked the buses?"
"The buses are locked," said Kevin.
"Not mine," said Nick. "Becca’s out there with Garrett."
"I’ll go check," said Raoul.
As the security team started to break up to go search, Becca and Jesse came in the back door.
Sarah spotted her first. "JESSICA!" she cried pulling away from Howie.
All eyes turned to Becca and she saw the relief in them. That’s when she realized that Jesse hadn’t told them where she was. "She came out to the bus about thirty minutes ago and I thought you knew where she was."
Sarah scooped the little girl up in her arms holding her tight. "You scared us, Jesse."
Howie was there too with his hand on Jesse’s back. "Thanks, Becca. She had us pretty scared."
"No problem. If I’d known she hadn’t told you, I’d have brought her back sooner."
Looking at Jesse in Sarah’s arms, Howie’s words to Nick about being irresponsible came rushing back to him. He looked at the tall blonde standing off to the side and realized he had every right to say something about this but so far, Nick had only shown concern over Jesse’s disappearance and relief when Becca brought her back. Now was the time to try apologizing. Speaking softly, Howie said, "Nick, I owe you a huge apology for the way I treated you last week. Some of the things I said were totally uncalled for."
Nick had tensed when Howie started to apologize but caught the look in Becca’s eyes. He softened as he listened to Howie and said, "It’s cool, D. I know I was royal pain in the ass, crowding you when you just wanted to be with Sarah."
"Yeah," smirked Howie, "you were."
Sarah spoke sternly but quietly, "Howard."
"It’s cool, Sis," said Nick.
"You know, Nick, you’re really good with Jesse and I’m sure you’ll be a great father to Garrett. I know you question your ability to be a good father but just trust your instincts, Nick. You are a good man and you know right from wrong."
The other guys had gracefully exited the scene taking Jesse with them leaving Sarah and Becca alone with Nick and Howie.
Blushing at Howie’s compliment, Nick asked, "You really think so?"
Howie nodded his head, "Yeah, I do. Nick, no one is perfect and mistakes are going to be made but learn from them and keep going. You’ve come a long way, Nick, in the last year. I know I don’t always act like it, but you’ve become a man…a decent man."
Nick had tears streaming down his cheeks listening to Howie’s words and he spoke softly, "I’m sorry for the way I acted on the bus and in Chicago, especially after the interviews."
"No, I hurt you, Nick, and you had a right to act that way."
"I’m sorry for not stopping Sarah in Montreal, too."
Howie laughed looking at his wife, "Let it go. Sarah’s headstrong and she’d have done it without your help."
"Not to mention, Howie knew too," said Sarah, "and he didn’t stop me."
Howie scowled as Nick and Becca both laughed but gave in to laughter too. "Sarah’s right. I knew but didn’t stop her."
"Okay, you two," said Sarah. "Kiss and make up so we can put an end to this mess. Howie and I have a little girl to deal with."
Both men looked at each other and Nick made a kissy face as Howie said, "NO WAY...NO HOW am I kissing you, NICKOLAS!"
The two men did embrace as Becca and Sarah looked on. Sarah heard Becca’s sigh and looked at her watching the guys. Seeing the look in her eyes, Sarah said, "DO NOT even go there Rebecca Carter! I do NOT want to be reading ANYTHING with Nick and Howie paired as a couple!"
"But Sarah!!" whined Becca.
Sarah held her hand up and went to Howie who was now talking to Nick. She put her arms around his waist and he held her tight.
Whispering, Sarah said, "D, we need to deal with Jesse."
"We’ll catch you later, D," said Nick.
Peace was once again restored to the Backstreet family as Howie and Sarah made their way to where Brian had Jesse. It was just like any other ‘family’. There were going to be disagreements and squabbles but it was a good feeling when all was resolved.