The next morning Abby led Brian and Nick down the hall of the hospital where her kid’s rooms were. She stopped outside of a door, and told them to wait while she went inside.

“Hey Nikki. How ya feelin’ this morning?”

“I’m okay, Abby. Just kinda bored.”

“Oh really? Well, how would you feel about a couple of visitors?”

“Really? Who is it?”

Abby smiled. “It’s a surprise. So you up for it or not?”

“Yeah, yeah!”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Abby walked over to the door and opened it. “You can come on in.” The look on that little girl’s face with Brian and Nick walked in was simply priceless. It was a mix of shock, excitement, admiration, and awe. “Nikki, I’d like you to meet Nick Carter and Brian Littrell.”

Nick walked over to her first and stuck out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you Nikki. Hey! You stole my name,” he joked and gave her one of his famous Carter smiles. Nikki melted and shook his big hand.

Brian was next, and she shook his hand as well. “See Nick, you scared the voice right out of her.” Nikki giggled. “Oohh, so you can speak?”

“I don’t think she can,” Nick said.

“Neither do I,” Brian agreed.

“Well, if she isn’t going to talk to us, you just wanna go?”

“Yeah, let’s go get ice cream or something.”

Brian and Nick started walking towards the door and Nikki flashed Abby a panicked look. Abby just shrugged, trying not to smile too much. “Wait!”

They stopped, looked at each other, then looked back at her. “So she can talk,” Nick said walking back over to her bed.

“We weren’t really going to leave.”

“We weren’t?” Nick asked.

Brian rolled his eyes.

For the next two hours the two boys stayed with Nikki doing whatever she wanted to do. Abby left a couple of times to check up on her other kids, but Nikki wouldn’t let Brian or Nick leave so they stayed with her. She took them down to the entertainment room, and Nick was in heaven. They had four TV’s with VCR’s, two Playstation’s, two Nintendo 64’s, and a ton of games. In one corner there was a pool table and in the other an air hockey table. In the middle of the room two big tables were sitting with other board games, cards, and art supplies.

“Man, we’re gonna have to bribe Nick to get him out of this room,” Brian said to Abby as they watched Nick and Nikki play a heated game of Mario Cart.

She laughed. “We have to bribe all of the kids to come out of here. They really hate it when they’re in the middle of a game and a nurse comes to give them their medicine or chemo. They’ll be like ‘can’t you just give it to me here so I can finish the game?’ It’s kind of amusing. Oh, and never play pool or air hockey with them. One mistake and it’s the IV’s fault.”

Brian watched Abby as she talked about the kids. She smiled the whole time, seeming to really love what she was doing. Brian thought it was great.

When the game of Mario Cart was over, Nick blamed a hangnail on his loss. Nikki jumped in Abby’s arms, ecstatic that she beat Nick at Nintendo. Nick simply winked at her before making a date for a rematch. Abby carried the little girl back to her room with Brian and Nick following right behind. They sat down on each side of her bed after Abby tucked her in for a nap.

“Well, I had a lot of fun today. We’ll definitely have to do this again,” Brian said.

“Yeah, for real. And next time, I’m not going to go so easy on you,” Nick grinned.

Nikki yawned. “I wish I didn’t have to go to sleep.”

“You need sleep so you’ll get better.”

“I hate being sick.”

Brian scooted closer to her and took one of her small hands in his. “I’m sure you do, but just think of how good you’ll feel once all of this is over. No more hospitals and needles and medicine. You’ll be at home with your mom and dad, being the happy little girl that you should be. I have faith in your recovery. But until then,” Brian planted a soft kiss in the palm of her hand, “I’m giving you some of my strength, and when you get really weak or tired, just put your hand over your heart, and my strength is your strength.”

Tiny tears started to pour from Nikki’s eyes. Nick held her other hand and kissed her palm. “You can have some of my strength too.” He wiped away her tears before backing up and getting up off the bed.

“Thank you,” she sniffed.

“Any time. Hey, you want us to sign anything before we head out?” Nick asked.

“Please?”

“Okay. You sleep now, and we’ll see you later.”

When Nikki closed her eyes, they got a pen from Abby and signed a couple of her posters and they each wrote her a little get well note. She was sound asleep by the time they left the room.

“That was really beautiful, what you said about giving her your strength. Thank you both for doing this.”

Brian grinned and shrugged as if it was nothing. “You don’t have to thank us. We were glad to do it.”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed.

“I want to make this up to you. Can I make you two dinner or something?”

“Abby, you don’t have to do anything.”

“But I want to. Please? Just humor me.”

“Okay. Dinner it is, but don’t go to any unnecessary trouble.”

“Nick?” Abby said, noticing that he hadn’t said anything.

Nick hadn’t spoken because he was too busy watching the chemistry between Brian and Abby. “What? Oh, you two do the dinner thing. I have other plans.”

“You sure?” Brian asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure. You two kids do whatever.” Nick smiled and Brian smacked him in the back of the head. Nick simply smacked him back.

“How about tomorrow night? Seven at my place?”

Nick put one arm around her and one around Brian as they walked towards the elevator. “It’s a date.”

At the same time, Brian and Abby both said, “It’s not a date.” Nick just laughed.