"Hey, Darlin', how are you?" he asks with his soft southern twang (He's from Kentucky, but you already knew that.), as he gives her a hug.
"Great! Where is everyone else? Didn't they come?" she asks when he let her go. Brian is a sweetheart, and she loves him to death, but he is just like another big brother.
"Yeah, but they're waiting at the baggage claim, they didn't want to crowd the gate."
"So they decided to crowd the baggage claim instead."
"It was Nick's idea!" Brian says defensively
"Figures! Who's here anyway?" She was almost afraid to ask.
"Everyone!" Brian exclaims, with a grin.
"Everyone? All the kids and the guys?" He nods. She couldn't believe it.
"We all came to welcome our favorite Semi-Oregonian home!"
"Thanks for the warning!" She smiles at him.
"Now that I've done my good deed for the day..." he started
"Uh-oh, Brian what are you going to do to me? No, B-Rok, don't you even think about it...." But it was too late, he had started to tickle her. "Pleeeese stop, we're almost to the baggage claim! PLEASE, BRI PLEASE STOP!!!!"
"OK, OK!!! Spoil all my fun!" He started to pout.
"I'm sorry, but you know how ticklish I am." she said feeling bad, that is until she sees the smile he is trying to hold back.
"If I didn't, do you think I'd do it?"
"I guess not, but-", she never finished that sentence. 'Why?' you may ask. Because at that moment she stepped into the baggage claim area and was immediately bombarded by about seven people. BJ got to her first, gave her a huge sisterly hug, and whispered something in her ear. They both giggled.
Next was Leslie, who also hugged her. The twins then ran over to her and each pulled on a sleeve of her wind-breaker. When she bent down she received a twin hug, the only way she would have it from these two.
The guys were next. AJ was the first to pry Aaron off of her, so he was the first to hug, and then kiss her on the cheek. Howie kisses her hand, and then he too gives her a big hug. Kevin was next. He walked up to her, bends down, (he is really tall, she isn't) and kisses her on the top of the head, just like he always has, and then gives her a huge bear hug. "It good to see you, Kev!"
"Good to see you, too, Babe!" he says as he lets her go. Through out all of this, Nick has hung back, away from the crowd. When Kevin let go of her, she spotted Nick smiling at her with a balloon that read WELCOME HOME in his hand.
Everything she had in her hands fell to the floor and she ran at him. He caught her with open arms and lifted her off the ground. After a minute he placed her back on the carpeted floor, but didn't let her go.
"Welcome home, Sweets", he whispers in her ear. She didn't know why but she had always loved that nickname. Nick was the only one that called her that. Could have gotten away with calling her that. Everyone else had nicknames for her, Lord knew she had enough of them. But for some reason she had always liked Nick's best.
"It's good to be back." she says when he finally let go of her. He handed her the balloon. They hadn't seen each other for six months. Sure they had talked on the phone and e-mailed each other, but that wasn't the same. This was the first time they had actually seen each other in half a year. This was the first time in six months they had been on the same side of the country.
Megan turned around and looked at her friends. They had all come to welcome her home. They were her family. They had always been there for her and somehow she knew they always would be. Nick's band mates, Howie, AJ, Brian, and Kevin were like more of the older brothers that she'd never had, and the others had always been her family.
Nick had his arm draped over her shoulder. "So how much luggage did you check this time? Ten, twenty bags?" he teased as he gave her a brotherly kiss on the forehead.
"Oh, shut up, Nick. I only checked two bags and one is full of stuff for you and everyone else" She playfully punches him in the arm
Aaron must have heard her because he ran up to her, "Presents?"
"Maybe, maybe not", she teased.
"Hey Angel, Meg got us presents!!!" he yelled to his twin.
"You little stinker! You weren't 'suppose to tell anyone! Now everyone in the whole airport will want something, and that means less for you guys." she said with a smirk.
"Oh, well in that case, HEY ANG, SHE DIDN'T GET US ANYTHING!!!!" They all laughed at his silliness.
"I think he's spent too much time around his older brother", she whispered to Bri. He laughed.
"OK, lets go. We have the bags." AJ called to them.
"How did you know which ones where mine?"
"Megan, you have had the same luggage since we started coming to pick you up with Nick, four years ago." Kevin answered with a smile.
"Well…. Well….Some day I'm gonna get new luggage and then where will you be, huh?"
"Good come back"
"Shut up Nick!"
"Come on, I really don't want to hang around this airport all day!" Brian was complaining.
"Oh, but Bri, you know I would much rather hang around here all day than go home and see parent set number two!" She couldn't wait to get to the Carters', her home for the next six months.
Her mother wasn't going to be home and she had to spend the time in Florida, so they offered to let her stay with them. She immediately excepted. She was really excited. She couldn't remember one of those six month periods that she hadn't spent five nights a week at there house and the times she'd fallen sleep while watching a movie with Nick were to great to even conceive of counting.
Nick was probably her best friend, besides BJ of course. Because she could tell him anything and he would always give her his honest opinion.
"Very funny", Brian's voice brought her back. He walked away.
"I thought it was." she called after him. Then she whispers to Nick, who still has his arm around her, "What's up with the Rokster?"
"I don't know! You tell me, you were always better at that type of stuff than me"
"He's your best friend!"
"Correction! He's ONE of my best friends." he said flashing her a smile.
"Whatever, anyway, maybe he'll feel better when I give him his present."
"Why? What'd ya get him?"
"Like I'm gonna tell you. How stupid do you think I am?"
"Well..."
"Don't you dare answer that question Nickolas Gene Carter!!!" He just laughed.
"What's so funny?" Brian asks as they caught up with him.
"Nothing. Hey, BJ wait up!" she yelled as she ran to catch up with her friend. "So what's up...’’ her voice trailed off as she got out of earshot.
Nick just watched her.
"She's great, you're lucky to have her." Brian's voice brought Nick tumbling back to planet earth.
"I don't 'have' her." Nick sighed
"What? You mean to tell me the two of you haven't hooked up yet? She was really excited when she saw you. I only assumed that was because you were together."
"Nope, we're just really good friends, that's all. And as for her being excited about seeing me, she is one of my best friends, and we haven't seen each other in six months, so what do you expect?"
"Is that OK with you, the just being friends part, I mean? Or would you like to be more than just friends?"
"Yes.... No....I don't know. Lets just drop the subject..."
They were in the parking lot. The car wasn't very hard to find. It was a van that you could fit like 15 people in. Kevin was going to drive, and Howie had shotgun. Aaron and Angel were in the first row. Leslie and AJ sat in the second, and teased the twins. BJ had the third row to herself so she stretched her legs across the seats. The back seat was the biggest, so Megan sat in between Nick and Brian.
When this seating arrangement was agreed on and everyone was buckled up and ready to go, Kevin pulled out of the Orlando International Airport short-term parking and got on the freeway that would take them back to Ruskin. It would take about an hour and a half. But they had all made this trip many times.
Megan had been up since 5:30AM Pacific Time and she was tired. Even with all the chatter in the van, she fell asleep with her head resting on Nick's shoulder.
This didn't surprise anyone, she'd been doing that forever. As long as BJ could remember Megan would always fall asleep on the drive from the airport and she always used Nick as a pillow. He didn't mind. Even when he was driving he managed to drive without waking her up, while she had her head on his shoulder.
After a while the talking died down and Kevin turned on the radio. This startled Megan, who sorta jumped, looked first at Brian, and then ups at Nick, laid her head down again and closed her eyes again. Nick put his arm around her and whispered "It's OK, go back to sleep Sweets."
Brian just sat back and watched the two of them. 'Those two will be going together by the end of these six months, if not sooner', he thought to himself.
Even though she was always asleep, somehow Megan always knew when they were in their neighbourhood. She always woke up when they entered the area known as Little Lake.
This time was no exception. As Kevin drove past the sign that welcomed them nto the area her eyelashes started to flutter. She opened her eyes, looked at Brian, BJ and then lifts up her head to look at Nick. "Hey, Sleepy, how was your nap?"
"Good, now I'll be able to deal with you people."
"Are you sure?", Brian asked
"About what? Being able to interact with you guys or that you're people?"
"The people part."
"Well, I know BJ is human, so are Leslie and the Twins. Kevin and Howie I'm pretty sure are from this planet. AJ is borderline alien life form..."she started.
"Hey, I heard that!" AJ said as he turned towards the back. She just laughed.
She continued. "….I'm not so sure about the two of you, though."
Luckily for Megan right as she said that Kevin pulled into the Carters' driveway. Almost immediately the front door opened and a women walked out.
AJ opened the side door, and while he grabbed one of Megan's bags Aaron and Angel got out. AJ, Leslie and finally BJ followed them.
"We'll get you later" Nick threatened Megan as she got up, followed Brian, and jumped out of the van. Grabbing the other suitcase he followed her and shut the door of the van when everyone was out.
As soon as she was out of the van, Megan ran up to Jane. "Hi Jane!", she said as she hugged older lady.
"See, Mom, we got her here in one piece", Nick was saying as he looked over at Brian, who gave him a mischievous grin. "The question is how many pieces will she leave in." Everyone laughed and the welcoming party moved inside.
Once inside they all went to the kitchen. "Anyone hungry? Besides Nick, I know he's hungry. He's ALWAYS hungry!"
"MOM!", Nick whined. He was turning red. "NICK!", she whined back, imitating him "What? They all know it's true."
"Well, back on the subject of food, I could sure use some. For some reason that airline food didn't manage to hit the spot."
"I can't imagine why. That stuff in nasty!! Did you actually eat it?" AJ was babbling.
"Yeah, AJ, I ate all of it." she said sarcastically. "No! I had something to drink. They didn't have much of a selection and what they did have didn't look to appetising."
"OK good. Just making sure we wouldn't have to take you to the hospital and get your stomach pumped later."
"Thanks for the concern. It’s nice to know you care."
"No problem, anytime!" Everyone else had watched the exchange. Now everything was quiet in the house of Carter, something that didn't happen very often. And when it did it didn't last very long.
"Hey, Meg, (See what I mean?) What do you want me to do with this suitcase?" Nick was the culprit that broke the silence.
"Actually, that is the one with all of the stuff in it, so you can give it to me." She told him as she sat down at the kitchen table.
The others followed her lead and began to shuffle for a place to sit. Aaron and Angel sat on the floor right in front of her. BJ, Nick, Jane, Brian, Leslie, and Kevin sat around the table with Megan while AJ and Howie pulled stools out from underneath the counter.
When every one was seated she put the suitcase on top of the table and unzipped it. The first thing she pulled out was a medium-small box wrapped in brightly colored paper. She shut the bag and shot Nick, who was sitting next to her, a TOUCH - THAT - AND - I'LL - KICK - YOUR - BUTT - AND - YOU - KNOW - I - CAN - AND - WILL look. She then handed Aaron the box. The paper was off in no time flat.
"Oh, cool, I've been wanting this one!"
"Well I didn't know if you had it so I decided to pick it up for you."
"What is it?" Jane asks.
"Nintendo game," Nick answered for her. "The newest one."
"Thank you very, very much Megs" Aaron stood up and gave her a hug.
"You're very, very welcome Aaron." She opened the suitcase and this time came out with a Nordstrom’s box. She handed it to Angel. "This is for you," she said. The box wasn't wrapped but the little girl didn't care. She carefully takes the top off the box and opens the tissue paper. When she sees her gift she gasps.
"Oh, Meg thank you I love it" she whispers as she pulls a white dress out of the box. "I'm gonna go try it on!"
"And I'm gonna go see how this game works!" Aaron says as he follows his sister out of the room.
Next was Leslie's present. (Authors Note: You should probably know that Leslie has been collecting porcelain dolls since before she can remember) Megan told her to close her eyes and hold out her arms. When she was allowed to open them she was amazed at what she saw.
It was the most beautiful doll she had seen. The doll had long wavy brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes. She was wearing a wedding dress with a veil, the whole nine yards.
"Oh, I don't know what to say, she's beautiful!!"
"Hey, Megatron that doll looks a lot like you, the hair and the eyes I mean. Not that I've ever seen you in a wedding dress." AJ informed them. Nick heard him and started to think. He just kept looking from Megan to the doll and then back to Megan.
'That doll does look a lot like Sweets. I bet she would look beautiful in a wedding dress, Nick thought to himself. Nicky boy, what are you doing? This is Megan we're talking about, little Meggie, the girl next door. But she's not so little anymore. C’mon Nick snap out of it, she's your best friend. besides Bri, or maybe she is my best friend. I don't know! Yeah, she is, with Frick a close second. I can tell her anything and not be afraid that she'll laugh at me. OK, Nick you need to quit talking to yourself before you get confused. Not that you aren't already confused....'
Meanwhile, while Nick is having this little conversation with himself...
"AJ's right, she does kinda look like you Megan. Thank you so much, I'm going to go put her away and think of a name for her." She walked around the table and gave Megan a hug before she walked out of the room and up the stairs.
All Megan did for BJ was hand her two small boxes. One had a pair of very small diamond earrings and the other had a third of BEST FRIENDS FOREVER necklace set. Megan had the FRIENDS piece and she was going to give Nick the FOREVER piece as one of his gifts.
"I'm gonna go upstairs and see what everyone is up to", she said after thanking Megan. Nick was getting restless, and she could tell that he thought he was getting his present next, thinking she would go from youngest to oldest. Sensing this decided to skip him.
"Here you go Jane," she said handing Jane a package. Nick's jaw dropped and he looked at her in disbelief. Jane opened the package to find a beautifully hand embroidered tablecloth.
"Thank you, darling."
"It's for you to use on special occasions, Thanksgiving, Christmas, stuff like that!"
The guys were next. She gave AJ a new pair of sunglasses, he's got enough of them, but she figured one more pair wouldn't kill him. She got Howie a simple silver bracelet, and Kevin received a silver ring. When she was done giving those out she took something out of the suitcase and then zipped it up again.
Nick and Brian looked at each other and then glared at her. Megan got up. "Don't worry I haven’t forgotten about you two. Yours, Bri, won't be ready until this summer, but I do have something for you right now"
She bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek and put something in his hand. Then she turns to Nick. "And, well, as for you? You see, I just don’t feel like giving you yours yet!" She stuck her tongue out at him and with that ran out of the room and upstairs with both of her suitcases, leaving everyone in the kitchen in a fit of laughter.
When she entered BJ's room, where she would be staying for the next six months, she put her suitcases on the floor and plopped down on her bed.
"What's the matter?", BJ asked entering the room.
"Nothing, I don't feel like talking about it right now, maybe later. OK?"
"OK. One question though, is it a boy?"
"Yeah, actually it is a couple of boys."
"Really? This should be interesting."
"Yeah, well, we'll just see about that. When does Bob get home?"
"Not for awhile. He tried to get off early but they wouldn't let him"
"Well, I guess I'll have to talk to them about that. What's for dinner? I'm starving!"
"Mom's gonna order pizza as soon as Dad gets home"
"Good!" Suddenly Megan sat up, her back was facing the door. "Where is everyone else?"
"In my room playing video games. Where else?", a voice said from the door way.
She turned around. "Nick! You scared me!"
"Sorry, umm so you want to come?" He asked as he held out his hand to her.
"Sure!", she said, taking his hand. As they walked down the hall Nick was thinking 'Should I tell her?'
When Megan looked up at him he had a strange look on his face. "What's wrong?", she asked, concerned.
"What? Oh, nothing I was just thinking. Why?"
"You had a funny look on your face. Well, don’t think too hard, you might hurt yourself."
"Ha ha. You are just sooooo funny." Nick replied sarcastically. Just then Brian walked right past them without so much as saying 'Hello', which is totally unlike him.
"What's with him, he was in a mighty big hurry?"
"I don't know, he's been like that ever since we got back to the States. Well, ever since we got to spend some time home." Nick was still holding her hand and she didn’t seem to mind. "Maybe he has to go to the bathroom."
"I don't think so, the closest bathroom is that way...", she said pointing down the hall "...and he went that way", she pointed in the direction Brian had stormed off in, the direction that they had come from. "Why would he go to that bathroom if he had to go that bad?"
"I have no idea", he said with a laugh. They walked into the room Nick shared with Aaron. Sure enough, Aaron was sitting on the floor with Kevin, Howie and AJ, playing Nintendo. They were playing the game that Megan had got Aaron.
"Wanna play?", Aaron asked Megan not even looking up from the game.
"No, I think I'll just watch for right now, OK, AC?" Aaron nodded, returning to his game.
Megan sat down on Nick's bed, and Nick sat right next to her. She was the only girl that wasn't related to him that had ever set foot in his bedroom.
Just then Angel walked into the room in her new dress. Upon seeing her AJ, Howie and Kevin wolf whistled at her, and she turned red. Aaron just rolled his eyes. She walked over to Megan "How do I look?"
"Just beautiful" Megan and Nick said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. Angel climbed up into Megan's lap and rested her head on her brother's shoulder. She fell asleep like that until the front door slammed shut announcing the arrival of Bob Carter.
Angel was up and out of that room before you could say 'Crazy Little Party Girl'. "DADDY!!!", she yelled as she ran down the stairs. The guys paused the game and went downstairs. Megan told them that she would be right down, she was going to get BJ.
She walked into BJ's room without knocking and was shocked at what she saw.
