“Hey guys,” Nick announced, walking into the studio the next day. Everyone was sitting around the conference table in silence. “What’s up?” Brian sighed and handed him a piece of paper.

“What’s this?” Nick asked, reading over it. He got to the part where it said they were going to Sweden to record in two weeks and flipped out. “Two weeks?! No way, guys. I can’t do that yet.”

“We have to, Nick,” Brian sighed. He didn’t want to go anymore than Nick did but this was their job. They knew what they were getting themselves into when they decided to get back together. “This isn’t any different than it used to be.”

“She’s gonna kill me,” Nick said, more to himself than anyone else.

“What was that, Nicky?” AJ asked from across the table.

“Kate,” Nick replied. “When the flights are booked, don’t bother getting me a ticket. She’s gonna kick my ass from here to Stockholm anyway.”

“Trouble in paradise?” AJ joked.

“Nothing’s paradise where the two of us are concerned,” Nick laughed. “You guys should know that. I mean, remember how we met?” The guys all sat there, interested. It was true. Nothing that Nick and Katelin had ever gone through was exactly easy. Hours of arguing and tears. Months of separation and disappearances. But everyone had thought that they were past all of that.

“What’s up, Nick?” Brian asked, concerned. He had seen how drained Nick had become in the last few days. Almost like he wasn’t getting to sleep at night. “You haven’t really seemed like yourself in the last couple of days.”

“It’s nothing really,” Nick lied. The truth was, the arguments were getting worse and more frequent. Nick couldn’t understand why Katelin was so hard on him about all of the time he spent in the studio. They’d been together for years. He was always a Backstreet Boy. Only in the last couple of years since he had been back did life for him finally calm down.

“Yeah it is,” Brian stated. “I can tell something’s bugging you. Why don’t you just tell me? Maybe I can help.”

“She’s been on my case about the hours I’m spending here,” Nick confessed. “I’m never home when I say I’ll be. My kids don’t know who their father is. Yadda yadda yadda.”

“Yeah, Leigh’s been giving the same shit,” Brian admitted, with a chuckle. “She says that Hunter thinks the gardener is more of a father than I am.”

“Hunter tell her that?” Nick laughed. Hunter wasn’t even a year old yet.

“Yeah,” Brian snickered. “He’s a very smart boy. Just like his father. Anyway, have you tried talking to her?” Nick sighed. If only it were that easy. “Of course I have, Bri. Every time I try to sit down and have a rational conversation with her, it turns into an all-out screaming match. I don’t know what to do anymore. And now I have to tell her I’m leaving the day after Christmas to go to Sweden? She’s going to kill me.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Nick.” Brian, though sympathetic to Nick’s problem, had no advice to give beyond what he had already said. They had to go to Sweden. They always went to Sweden to record. This wasn’t anything new. Nick, and even Katelin, should know that by now. Leighanne was upset, but she understood and she didn’t fight him about it. Brian just hoped that Nick and Katelin’s marriage was strong enough to pull through all of this.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

“Hey,” Katelin said, sliding under the covers next to Nick. “I was thinking we could do some Christmas shopping on Saturday. Just the two of us. Send the munchkins over to your mom’s.”

Nick nodded but continued looking over some lyrics that he had penciled, barely acknowledging that she was speaking to him. Katelin sighed loudly causing Nick to glance at her out of the corner of his eye. “Did you say something, hon?” Katelin shook her head at him and climbed out of bed, walking over the window. “You know, talking to you lately is like talking to a brick wall.”

“I was just finishing up reading something,” Nick defended. “You saw that I was working. Couldn’t it have waited until I was done?”

“You’re always working,” Katelin mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” Nick questioned, staring at her back. Katelin spun around angrily, her eyes blazing. “I said you’re always working! I can’t do this anymore, Nick. I try to have a civilized conversation with you and it always comes back to the same thing. Work work work. I work too, Nick. But at least I have the decency to leave it at the office. I realize that I have a family, Nick. Unlike you.”

“Don’t you dare,” Nick growled. “I love this family, Kate. Don’t stand there and tell me I don’t.”

Katelin didn’t answer him. She felt the tears burning her eyelids and turned around to face the window again. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to be strong and hold her ground. She didn’t think she was behaving unreasonably. She just wanted her husband back. She was happy for him. She knew how much he loved being a Backstreet Boy. But she wanted him to make time for she, Aaron, Brian, and Kayleigh also. “I just miss you.”

Nick’s heart broke at the tearful sound of her voice. He stood up and walked over to her, wrapping is arms around her and kissing the soft skin on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, baby. I love you so much. I’m not trying to push you away.” His lips slid across her shoulder to the hollow of her neck and his hands found there way under her shirt.

Katelin, losing control from the things Nick was doing, rested her head back against his chest. But then she realized what he was doing. He was trying to take her mind off of it so they wouldn’t fight about it anymore. And as much as she didn’t want to fight with him, this wasn’t the way to do it. “No, Nick! You can’t do this every time. Sex doesn’t make anything better.” She detached herself from him and pushed him away, angrily. “You can’t just think that you can seduce me and everything will be okay. It doesn’t work that way.”

Nick threw his hands up in frustration. He didn’t know what to do anymore. He just wanted to show her how much he loved her. Katelin, turning into the ice queen, was not was he was expecting. He was about to reply when Aaron appeared in the doorway of the room. “What is it little man?”

Katelin spun around and noticed her son standing in the doorway. “What’s wrong, honey?” She walked over to him and bent down to his level.

“I heard yelling,” Aaron said, softly.

“I’m sorry baby.” Katelin quickly wiped her tears away and pulled Aaron into her arms. “Do you want me to tuck you in again?” Aaron and Katelin began walking out of the room, shooting a glare in Nick’s direction. “Come on, honey. Blow daddy a kiss.”

Nick grinned at Aaron as he blew him a kiss from across the room before collapsing on to the bed. The argument had exhausted him and he hadn’t even gotten to the worst part. He still had yet to tell her that they had to go to Sweden when an idea struck him. It would be during New Years. Maybe Katelin could get off work and go with them.

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