Oh yeah. She remembered someone saying that they were going to carry her into BJ's room.

Nick? Probably.

The person smelled like Nick when he was wearing his Gravity cologne. The person felt like Nick. And the only other person that tall in the house was Kevin and she remembered watching him fall asleep.

It must have been Nick!

She rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table. 11:00.

'11:00!!! Oh no I've slept half the day away I could have spent it with my friends.'

She sat up and looked around the room. No one else was in sight, so she got up and opened the door. All was quiet except the sound of the Nintendo 64 in Nick's room.

She walked down the hall and knocked lightly on the door. "Who is it?" she heard Nick ask.

"It's me." she answered softly.

"Oh come on in!" She opened the door and found him alone in the room, sitting on the floor, playing the game that she had gotten for Aaron. (Big shocker there) He was wearing the same thing he had been wearing when he picked her up at the airport, but then again so was she. "Did you sleep well last night M&M" Another pet name.

"Yeah, but....", she said as she walked over and sat down next him.

"But what?"

"Well, didn't I fall asleep on your bed last night?"

"Yeah, but I carried you into the other room and put you to bed, I guess you might say."

"Thanks", she said and kissed him on the cheek

"What was that for?", he was surprised. Not that he minded.

"For being the best big brother I never had, and...", she smiled at him "...taking the time to put me in my bed, not just throwing me in the same bed with Aaron. He may be small, but, boy oh boy can that tike kick."

"Don’t worry if I had been that tired I would have tucked you into my bed and slept on the floor."

"Why not in the same bed? C’mon BB! Remember when we were little and we use to have to take naps together? It's not like anything would have happened."

"I don’t know" Nick just starred at the floor, and sensing he was uncomfortable she changed the subject.

"So what's the plan for today and where is everyone else?"

"Well, everyone else went off in there own direction but they will be back around 4:30. I chose to stay home and wait for you to wake up"

"Why?"

" ‘Cause I am taking you out to lunch and then we'll see what happens. Maybe we'll go shopping"

"What time should we leave?"

"How about noon?"

"That's great, that will give me time to get ready. What should I wear?"

"A dress, a skirt, we aren't going to McDonalds."

"OK." She said, smiling

She ran down the hall and into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Nick went into his parents bedroom and used that shower.

When she was done Meg ran into the bedroom and pulled a sea-foam green skirt out of her suitcase. It had little white flowers all over it. She also pulled a tank top of the same color out. She put that on and rummaged through her suitcase to find some shoes.

She couldn't find any to match so she looked in BJ's closet and found a pair of white high-heeled sandals. These are perfect. She wrote BJ a note saying that she had borrowed the shoes and that she would return them.

She brushed her hair and pulled it up into a bun. Then she did her make-up. Nothing fancy just some mascara and lip-gloss. She is naturally rosy so she doesn't need blush.

When she was done she walked down the hall to Nick's room, but he wasn't in there. She went downstairs to find him sitting in the living room watching TV. (Another big shocker)

He looked good in his beige Dockers and white Polo shirt.

He hadn't noticed that she was standing in the doorway so she cleared her throat. "Ehe um" Nick jumped up and turned off the TV

"WOW!" He said when he saw her.

"'WOW!' yourself come on lets go I'm starving!" As she complained she grabbed his hand and dragged him out to the car. (Not the van, Nick's Jeep)

When they are driving to wherever Nick was taking her (she hadn't asked), Nick kept glancing at the girl sitting next to him. He had another conversation with himself.

She looks really nice. She looks better than nice, Nick. She did all that for me? Keep your eyes on the road. You'll have all afternoon to stare at her. OK, the light is red. Wow, that color looks really good on her, remember to tell her that. Nick you really need to stop talking to yourself, you could get hurt. OK, the light is green. Press the gas. OK, now, what was I thinking about? Oh yeah... And so on. I think you kinda get the picture.

Not much goin' on up there. Lots and lots of cobwebs... Sorry, back to the story...

When they pulled into the restaurant parking lot, Megan immediately started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Nick was genuinely puzzled.

"You don't remember? When we were little our mom (Jane) brought you and I here once to eat. We totally destroyed the place, just you and me. I don't remember where everyone else was. They vowed never to let either one of us or anyone related to us in those doors ever again."

"Oh, yeah! That was ten years ago! You were 6 and I was 7. I wonder if they would recognise us." he said with a mischievous grin.

She jumped out of the car, ran over to his side, and leaned in the window.

"Well, we'll just have to go find out, now wont we?" He got out of the car, she grabbed his hand and led him into the building.

They got through lunch without getting thrown out of the restaurant. Barely.

When they left it was 1:45. I have to keep her out of the house until 4:30.

Nick was thinking as they drove around. "Hey, do you want to go to a movie?"

"Sure! Which one?"

"I don’t know" They ended up going and seeing Batman and Robin. They were bored after the first 15 minutes and instead they ended up talking. When they walked out of the theatre Megan was laughing her butt off.

"That was the worst movie I have ever seen!" Nick had to agree it was pretty bad. He looked at his watch, 3:30.

"Are we going to go home now?"

"I was going to take you one more place. Why? Do you want to go home?"

"No. Not really." she said bluntly.

This time when he turned off the engine Meg let out a little gasp.

He had driven to the park that they use to come to when they were little. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and got out of the car quickly. Nick was close behind.

She ran over to the swings and sat down. "Hey, Nicky."

"Yeah?"

"Could you come here?"

"Sure. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, just come here." He walked over to where she was sitting and knelt down in front of her.

She had taken something out of her purse. "I wanted to wait until we were alone to give this to you. Open your hand"

He did as he was told. She put something in it and wrapped his fingers around it.

He opened his hand and saw a thick gold chain with a puzzle piece on it. It read FOREVER. It was his part of the set.

"Thank you." he kissed her on the forehead.

"Turn it over and read the other side." Again he did as he was told.

Inscribed on the other side were these words: For My Very Best Friend, With Love Always and Forever, M&M.

He didn’t know what to say. He looked up at her.

"Will you put in on for me?" She nodded and he started to turn around.

"Where are you going? Turn back around!" He turned back to face her.

She took the necklace, put her arms around his neck and leaned over his shoulder so she could see what she was doing.

When she was done she didn't move, she laid her head on his shoulder and started to cry.

He noticed that she was done but hadn't moved. (He’s really quick, isn’t he?)

He heard her quiet sobs.

He pulled back a little.

"What's wrong?" She just shook her head. "OK, come here." He stood up and held out his hand. When she took it he pulled her to her feet.

Then he picked her up like he had the night before, went over to a bench and sat down with her sitting on his lap. He cradled her like a baby.

She had her arms around his neck and her face buried in his shoulder. She started to cry all over again. "Want to tell me what's wrong?"

She nodded. She didn't know why she had suddenly broken down.

It had been two weeks since she had caught Matt cheating on her. She thought she was over it but obviously she wasn't.

This was what she had planned to tell BJ the night before. She was going to tell Nick later but it looked like he would get the info first. She hadn't even told him that she was going out with Matt. BJ knew that she had been dating him, which was why she was going to tell her first.

This was going to be hard and knowing how protective he was of her he would want to rip Matt's head off. Lord knew she almost had.

When she had calmed down a little, she took a deep breath and began, "About three months ago I started to go out with this guy named Matt."

"He was really sweet and caring, and he loved to joke around"

When she put it like that he sounded a lot like Nick.

"Anyway things were going great. He was a total gentleman. Never tried anything, never pressured my into anything."

"Sounds like a great guy"

"I thought so too, that is until two weeks ago when I went to a movie with Kaytee and Shayne" ( Kaytee and Shayne are her closest friends in Oregon. Nick had met them before, while visiting Megan in Oregon). She started to cry again.

"What happened? Did he hit you? What did he do?" Nick was getting angry.

She could feel him tense up. His arms tightened protectively around her.

"Nick, he cheated on me. He was at the movies with another girl. I saw them kissing and ran out. He saw me run out of the theatre and ran after me."

"He tried to explain, but I wouldn't let him, I didn't want to know. I broke it off there in the parking lot. I was screaming at him at the top of my lungs and people were staring at us, but I didn't care. He tried to hold me, calm me down, but I just yelled louder. I didn't want him to touch me."

She smiled a little though her tears. "I don't think I've ever used that many cuss words in a five-minute period. Shayne finally got me in the car and I cried the whole way home."

She looked up at Nick. "I really liked him. That was the longest I have ever had a relationship, the closest I have ever let any guy get to me, besides you of course."

He was rocking her back and forth. They were the only people in the park. "I don’t think I could let another guy get as close to me as you have." He kissed the top of her head. "I mean what it says on the necklace, you are my best friend. Just don't tell BJ though."

"I won’t tell BJ if you wont tell Brian, but you're my best friend, too. I can tell you anything and not be afraid that you'll laugh at me. I can talk to you about girls and you'll give their point of view. I just can't do that with the guys. They aren't very good at the point of view part."

"I should hope not, if they were they'd have a lot of explaining to do." She smiled through her tears and Nick laughed a little. Then he became serious again.

"I don't remember you telling me about this Matt guy, why did you wait 'til now to tell me? And when you caught him cheating on you why didn't you call me. I would have gone up to see you."

"I wanted to see how it would work out without Big Brother Nick. Not very well obviously, but you won't always be there to protect me. I never told him about you. I told him my mom lived in Florida and that I spent half the year here"

"Why didn't you tell him about us?"

"It just never became a topic of conversation. I never mentioned that I had a 17 year-old neighbour that had taken on the job of being my big brother. In addition to some male friends that also like playing big bro."

"I also chose not to tell him that they would more that likely would come up and kick the crap out of him if he tried anything. He was scarred enough of Shayne."

"And when I caught him cheating you were in Europe, doing promotions. I called the house, but the only thing I talked to was the machine. I called your cell phone but it was off, or something, 'cause no one answered. Believe me if I had gotten a hold of you that night you would be scared to get near me. I was really pissed. I scared the crap out of poor Kaytee. They would have been able to hear me yelling over the phone in the next city on your tour. "

"Even if I was in Europe I would have hopped on the next flight to the States and would have been at your house within 24 hours of getting your phone call. I would have called off the tour. And I don't think I could be scared to get near you. And, yes, I will always be around to protect you. You’re like my little sister. You’re my best friend."

"No, Nick you wont. What happens when you get a girlfriend and she gets jealous of our friendship? You'll resent me and it will get even worse when you DO find Mrs. Nickolas Gene Carter, because your spouse is suppose to be your best friend of the opposite sex. And I have a feeling that our friendship isn’t going away anytime in the near future"

"There is no way I'm going to let a girlfriend get in the way of our friendship, and the person I marry, if I marry, will have to understand that you are a part of my life and nothing is going to change that. She will have to understand that if she really loves me that she wouldn't get in the way of the one friendship that I have kept since I was 6."

"What do you mean, IF? Nick, I don't think you'll have a problem convincing the girl you want, to marry you. And what if she doesn't understand? I couldn't live with myself if I was the reason you never got married. I couldn't stand to see you that unhappy."

"Well if she can't understand then it wasn’t meant to be. I would much rather have you as a friend and never get married then to lose your friendship because the woman I love doesn't understand that you aren't going to go away. And what makes you think that your boyfriends and eventually your husband wont resent me? Guys get jealous, too ya know."

"Yeah, well we wont have to worry about he boyfriend thing for a while 'cause I am taking a break from dating, and I am not getting married."

"WHAT?! Not because of me I hope!"

"Don't flatter yourself, buddy. I just have this fear of coming home early after a meeting and finding my husband in bed with another woman. I just don’t want to get hurt again. And I have five big brothers and a best friend. What would I need a husband for? I have enough men in my life I don't need another one."

"A husband would always be there for you, I mean you yourself said that I wouldn't always be around to protect you."

"And you said you would be! I just don't see myself ever getting married, that's all!" She was getting upset again. He held her closer and let her cry some more. When the sobs had subsided Nick looked at his watch. Oh, crap! he thought, It's 4:45. We need to get home for Meg's party!

"Um, Meggie?"

"Yeah, Nicky", she answered as she wiped her eyes.

"You ready to go home?"

"Yeah I guess." She started to get up, but he wouldn't let her. Instead he stood up, with her still in his arms, and walked to the car.

As he did this, a 17 year-old girl walked past the park and saw Nick carrying Megan. 'I wish my boyfriend would do that for me. They look like they belong together, I hope they're happy.'

She watched as he carefully placed Megan in the passenger seat, buckled her seat belt and kissed her on the cheek.

Then he went around to the driver’s side and jumped in the car, turned the key and pulled out of the parking lot. She is one lucky girl, he seems like a sweet guy. The girl thought and continued walking.

They were quiet all the way home. Ten minutes later, when they pulled into the driveway Megan broke the silence. "So I guess I'll have to tell everyone that I have actually witnessed you being quiet for more then ten seconds."

He looked at her and smiled. She was back to her good-humoured self.

He was relived, she wouldn't be depressed at the party.