Two days later: (Tampa, Florida)
Christine walked off of the plane, carry on in hand, and began rushing towards the baggage claim. It was already four thirty and she was going to have to haul some serious ass if she was going to make it to Tampa in time for the show. She cursed her luck for only being able to get a flight into Orlando instead of Tampa. But there was nothing she could do about that right now. What she could do, though, was find Howie before the show and beg him to take her back.
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“Michael, I completely disagree with what you’re doing,” Adrienne told her fiancée as they sat in the limo on their way to the arena.
“Is Katelin your daughter?” Mike barked. Adrienne shook her head. “Good. Then I’d appreciate it if you’d let me handle this my own way.”
“Nick loves her,” Adrienne pleaded. “She loves him. Why are you doing this to them? God, Mike, she’s your daughter.”
“Exactly,” Mike growled. “She’s my daughter and she’s too young to know what love is. Nick is all wrong for her and he doesn’t deserve her.”
“It’s her birthday, Mike,” Adrienne stated. “Don’t ruin it for her. At least let it go for tonight. Let her enjoy herself.”
“Fine,” Mike conceded a minute later. “I’ll let it go until tomorrow. But that’s it.”
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Alyssa walked quickly out of the dressing room and towards the main part of the arena, walkman in hand. They still had about an hour until they needed to get ready so she thought she’d kill some time by doing stairs in the arena. It would also take her mind off of everything that was going on. She pushed play on her walkman and listened as Limp Bizkit came blaring through the head phones, not paying attention to where she was going. It wasn’t until she was laying flat on her back on the hallway floor that she realized something had happened. She opened her eyes and saw Howie hovering over her.
“You okay?” he questioned.
“Yeah,” Alyssa answered, not being able to look him in the eye.
Howie noticed this and decided that it was time to clear the air. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure,” Alyssa nodded, following him into an empty room.
“Listen, about the other night,” Howie began.
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Howie,” Alyssa cut him off. “We were both drunk and lonely. It shouldn’t have happened. I know how much you still love Christine.”
“I do love her,” Howie responded. “But apparently she feels a little different about me. I’m still torn apart from what happened with her but I don’t regret what happened between you and me.”
“You don’t?” Alyssa asked.
Howie shook his head. “No, I don’t. I just got out of a long, serious relationship, Lyss, and I’m not ready to jump back into another one. But I would like to get to know you better.”
“Me too,” Alyssa whispered as Howie leaned in and gently brushed her lips with his. From the hallway,
Christine watched in horror as they shared the kiss. She was too late. She had already destroyed their relationship and he had found someone else. Before Howie saw her, Christine turned and ran towards the exit of the arena, tears freely flowing down her face the whole way.
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While Adrienne went into the ladies room, Mike decided to make his way back to the dressing rooms in order to wish his daughter a happy seventeenth birthday. He walked briskly down the hall and came to a halt as he rounded the corner, deciding to spy on Nick and Katelin for a minute or two. He watched as Nick ran up behind her, grabbing her around the waist and whispering something in her ear. Whatever he said made Katelin burst out laughing and squirm in his arms. Despite himself, Mike found himself smiling at the sight of young love. It reminded him of he and his late wife. Maybe Nick wasn’t so bad. But the thought was quickly erased from his mind as he watched Nick spin Katelin around and press his lips to hers. Katelin’s arms instinctively wrapped around Nick’s neck and Nick slammed her back against the wall. Mike could’ve sworn there was smoke coming out of his own ears at that point. How dare this kid do this to his daughter? Katelin and Nick were so wrapped up in each other that they were completely oblivious to anyone else that happened to be standing near them. Not once taking his lips away from Katelin’s, Nick’s hand found the doorknob to his dressing room as he opened up the door and carried her inside, slamming the door behind him.
All thoughts of what Adrienne had said to him in the car left his mind as Mike strode angrily through the hallways of the arena. He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing. There would be no waiting until after Katelin’s birthday. She had broken her promise to him and did exactly what he specifically had asked her not to do. And Nick? Well, Nick had broken the law and he was going to pay.
“Thank you Tampa!” Aj yelled before following the rest of the guys backstage where every one else was. He walked around the corner to his dressing room and stopped short.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing everyone staring solemnly at him.
“It’s Krista,” Brooke answered, stepping towards him. “She went into labor right about forty five minutes ago. Your mom is with her.” AJ quickly, without bothering to change or anything else, grabbed his stuff and tore out of the building, wanting to be at Krista’s side when she delivered the baby.
“I hope everything goes okay,” Ang commented, leaning against Brian.
“I know,” Alyssa agreed. “She still had a couple of months to go.”
“Hello Katelin,” a male voice said.
Katelin spun around. “Daddy!” She was about to run into his arms when she noticed the unfamiliar man with him. “Who’s that?”
“I need you and Nick to come with me,” Mike instructed.
“Uh…who is that?” she asked again, glancing warily at Nick. Behind them, Becca grinned smugly. She was finally going to get what she wanted.
“Katelin, I don’t want to have to cause a scene,” Mike warned. “Now come on.”
“No,” Katelin stated, folding her arms across her chest. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Mike sighed, deeply, and then nodded to the gentleman behind him. “Detective John Mancini,” the man stated, flashing a badge. Both Katelin and Nick’s, and everyone else’s, mouths dropped open as Detective Mancini pulled out a pair of hand-cuffs and grabbed Nick’s hands. “Mr. Carter, you’re under arrest for charges of statutory rape.” The entire group’s eyes widened as Kevin quickly glanced around to make sure there was no press anywhere.
“Daddy!” Katelin cried, as Nick was read his rights. “You can’t do this!”
“I warned both of you, Katelin,” Mike responded. “You didn’t listen to me. I told you what would happen if you didn’t stay away from him.”
Katelin glanced helplessly at Adrienne, tears falling down her face. “I’m sorry, Kate,” Adrienne said, sadly. “I tried to talk him out of this. I swear. He wouldn’t listen.”
“Can’t we talk about this rationally?” Kevin suggested.
“I’ve tried being rational, Mr. Richardson,” Mike replied. “They blatantly disobeyed me. I had no other choice.” Katelin looked sadly at Nick, trying to think of something, while he just stared helplessly at her.
“I’ll do anything, dad,” Katelin told him. “Anything at all. I swear. I’ll quit the tour. I’ll go home with you. Right now. Just please don’t press charges.”
Mike stood there, looking between Nick, Katelin, and Adrienne, while he considered the offer. “No contact,” he finally said. “None at all. With any of them. Ever again.”
“Fine,” Katelin answered, quietly.
“No Katelin!” Nick yelled. He couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again. “You’re not doing this.”
“I’m sorry, Nick,” Katelin whispered. “This is the only way.” Mike gestured to the detective and Nick was un-cuffed.
“At least let me say goodbye,” she pleaded to her father. He nodded briefly before allowing Adrienne to pull him away.
Katelin, sadly, said goodbye to all of her friends that she had made on this tour. She cried as she hugged Ang, her best friend for the last three and a half years. She knew that Ang was going to live in Florida permanently and who knows when she’d ever see her again. She wasn’t even sure that her father would allow her to have contact with any of these people ever again. Including Ang.
Finally, Katelin turned to Nick. Everyone, sensing their need to be alone, moved a little ways down the hall to give them some privacy. “I’m sorry,” Katelin whispered. “I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“Shh,” Nick responded. “This isn’t your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault. We can’t help the fact that we’re in love.” He pulled her towards him and they held each other, as their tears mixed together.
“I love you,” Katelin whispered, pulling away.
“I love you, too,” Nick replied before leaning down and placing a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. “This isn’t over, Kate. We’ll see each other again.” Katelin nodded, tearfully, before kissing him again.
They broke apart and Katelin began backing away, slowly, staring into his blue eyes the whole way. As soon as she disappeared around the corner, Nick slid down the cement wall, falling to the ground. He sat down and cried, knowing that the girl he loved more than anything had just walked out of his life.
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“It’s about time that came to an end,” Becca commented walking up to Mike Taylor. “Now, all you need to do is force Nick to take me back.”
Mike glared at her. All he wanted was his daughter’s safety. He didn’t care about anything else after that. If Nick didn’t want Becca, then that was fine with him. “I don’t need to do anything,” he growled.
“Excuse me?” Becca questioned, an eyebrow raised. “We had a deal.”
“Which I completed,” Mike answered. “I got Katelin away from Nick. I’m not going to do all your dirty work for you, Rebecca. All I care about is my daughter and as long as she’s away from that creep, then I’m happy.”
“But Mr. Taylor…” Becca whined, growing even madder than before.
“I’m done,” he interrupted. “I got what I wanted. You’re on your own.” He smugly spun on his heel and nearly ran over Kevin, who had been standing there the whole time and heard the whole exchange. Mike pushed past Kevin and went to find Katelin for it was almost time to leave.
“You’re fired,” Kevin spat, angrily.
“What?!” Becca cried. “You can’t do that!”
“I can and I just did,” Kevin replied. “You will not be with us on the next leg of the tour. In fact, you disgust me. You deserve everything you get. And Nick will have to kill me first before I allow him to take you back.” Before Becca got a chance to respond, Kevin strode angrily down the hallway. He had more important things on his mind, such as how AJ and Krista’s baby was doing.
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AJ burst through the doors of the Labor and Delivery ward at Tampa General Hospital. He looked around and finally spotted his mother, sitting in the corner of the waiting room. She glanced up and, just by the look in her eyes, AJ knew something was terribly wrong.
“Mom?” he asked, walking over to her. “What’s wrong?”
“There was nothing they could do,” Denise told him, starting to cry. “They tried to revive him but he was already gone.”
“Him?” AJ questioned, fresh tears sliding down his cheeks. Denise nodded. “I had a son,” he stated, more to himself, than nothing else. He glanced up at his mother. “How’s Krista?”
“She’s not doing too well, honey,” Denise answered. “You should go in and see her. You guys need each other at a time like this.” AJ nodded and allowed Denise to lead him to Krista’s room. She remained outside as AJ opened the door and stepped inside.
Krista lay with her back to the door, pretending to be asleep. She didn’t feel like dealing with any doctors at this point. She had heard them telling Denise that they would be sending someone from Psyche down and she wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to a shrink right now.
“Kris, baby,” Aj said, quietly, sitting down in the chair next to her bed.
Krista rolled over to face him, her tear-filled eyes meeting his. “I’m so sorry,” Krista cried. “This is all my fault.”
“How is this your fault, Krista?” AJ asked, incredulously. He couldn’t believe she was blaming herself for something that was completely out of anyone’s hands.
“Because I didn’t listen,” she explained. “I didn’t stay home. I got restless and, instead of taking it easy, I hopped on a plane and followed you on tour. I …”
“Krista,” AJ interrupted. “This isn’t your fault. This isn’t anyone’s fault.”
“Why then?” she questioned, tearfully. “Why did God take our baby?” AJ didn’t have an answer. It wasn’t fair. They both loved this baby more than anything and they were both completely ready to take care of it. So why was it taken away from them? The only thing that AJ could do was pull Krista into his arms and cry.
A little while later, when Krista had finally cried herself to sleep, AJ went to find someone to talk to. He needed answers. Someone to tell him why this happened. They wouldn’t make him feel any better but he still needed to know. When he walked out of Krista’s room and into the waiting room, he saw all of his friends there. All thoughts of finding answers escaped his mind as Brian pulled him into a hug. AJ’s tears began to flow and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do about it.
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Katelin watched from her first class seat as the city of Tampa disappeared below her. Tears continuously streamed down her face, knowing that this part of her life was abruptly coming to an end. She knew she would never see any of them again. No Ang. No Krista. No AJ. No Brooke. No god-child. And most importantly, no Nick.