Heather watched as Ben sat in his bedroom, packing his suitcase ready for the band's promo weekend.
"Are you sure it's OK about me coming with you?" Heather asked.
"Of course it's OK!" Ben assured her. "Anyway, I would miss you if you didn't come,".
"Sure you're not sick of the sight of me yet?" Heather joked.
"Never!" Ben laughed. "Come on, you should be packing too. We leave in a couple of hours,".
The band were releasing 'Scared' on Monday so they were appearing on a couple of TV programmes over the weekend and doing some record signings all over the country on Monday and Tuesday.
A little later, Ben and Heather found themselves on their way to London in a luxury coach with the other band members, Naomi, Sarah and Helen. It was only an hour drive and they were soon at the Hyatt Hotel in Knightsbridge.
"Let's go to the bar and have a drink," Ben suggested as they checked into their room.
"I dunno... we have to be up really early in the morning, maybe we should have an early night," Heather pointed out, yawning.
"Did somebody mention drink?" Paul said from behind. "I'll come with you, Ben,".
Heather sat in the hotel room alone, flicking through the TV channels. There was a knock at the door. "Coming!".
Standing at the door were Naomi and Sarah. "Chris and Mark have gone to the bar too," Naomi said.
"Come in," Heather invited. "By the way, where's Helen?".
Sarah shrugged. "We just talked to her but she said she wanted to be alone,".
Heather was concerned and wondered what the matter was. "I'll go and talk to her later,".
The girls sat gossiping for a couple of hours, then Heather decided to go to bed. "I'll see you two in the morning," she said.
Ben came in late that night, to see Heather curled up in bed fast asleep. He slipped into the bed next to her carefully, making sure he didn't wake her up.
He sighed as he watched her sleeping, realizing how lucky he was to have her.
"Good night sweetie," he whispered as he kissed her softly and turned out the lights.
The next morning, Ben, Christian, Paul and Mark were sitting on the sofa on SM:TV being interviewed by Ant, Dec and Cat.
"When are you touring again?" Cat asked the boys. "Your fans have been flooding us with calls about this. They can't wait to see you again,".
"We're planning a tour in early autumn," Mark said, looking at the camera. "And we are going to be opening act for BSB for a few of their American concerts next month,".
Heather sat in the audience, watching proudly. Ben and the boys were doing great.
"Ben, have you seen todays papers?" Dec asked, making Ben sit up in alarm.
"No, I haven't..." Ben said cautiously.
"They've got pictures of you and a girl kissing," Ant announced, passing Ben The Sun and The Mirror.
Heather swore under her breath, annoyed that the tabloids had been spying on them.
"Can you tell us about this girl?" Ant asked. "Is she your girlfriend? All the fans want to know,".
Ben's eyes were looking right at Heather as he began to speak. "Yes..." he said slowly. "I have a girlfriend. Her name is Heather and I love her very much,".
Everyone was shocked that Ben had come right out and announced it, especially Heather herself. Ben grinned at her and she returned the smile.
The boys performed 'Scared' on CD:UK then went backstage into their dressing room.
"Thanks for saying that Ben, it was so sweet of you," Heather told him as he walked out of the shower with a towel around him.
"You don't mind, do you?" Ben asked. "I don't want fans ganging up on you or anything like that,".
"I'm sure I'll cope," Heather told him.
Also in the dressing room were Naomi, Sarah and Helen, who was still being very quiet. She hadn't told anyone about her pregnancy yet except for Paul, but was dying to tell someone.
Heather's mobile rang, it was Linda. "Hi Linda!".
"Hi Heather, I'm at the studios, can you get me backstage?".
"You're here?".
"Yeah," Linda said. "I'm in the car park outside.
Heather went out and came back a few minutes later with Linda. "Colin and I broke up," she said sadly.
"Oh, well he wasn't much fun anyway," Heather said. "There are plenty of fit blokes here for you to chose from!".
At that moment, Shane from Westlife walked past the door. Westlife had appeared on the show because they were currently at number one. Linda smiled at him.
Shane noticed her and smiled back. "Hello there!" he said in his cute Irish accent.
"Go for it!" Heather whispered, pushing Linda towards the door.
"Hi, are you alone?" Shane asked. "Wanna come into my dressing room?".
Linda could hardly resist. She followed him down the corridor into his dressing room. Inside, Mark and Kian were getting changed. "Can you go next door into Bryan and Nicky's room?" he hinted.
They left, leaving Shane and Linda alone. "Your name is?" he asked, sitting on the sofa next to her.
"Linda," she said, inching herself closer to him.
"That's a pretty name," he said, looking into her eyes. "Do you have a boyfriend?".
"Nope!" Linda said, smiling. Before long, they were snogging.
A little later, the door swung open and the other four walked in. "Come on Shane, we've gotta get going!" Mark said, then started laughing as he saw Linda and Shane frantically putting their clothes back on.
They exchanged numbers then Shane had to shoot off. With a huge smile, Linda went back to find Heather.
On her way, she bumped into Helen, who looked really upset. "Is everything OK?" Linda asked.
"Yeah," Helen said in a distant voice, but Linda knew she was far from OK.
The next day, the band appeared on TOTP Plus. Afterwards, they set off to Birmingham, where they were going to hold a record signing first thing in the morning.
"You look worried," Sarah said to Heather as they sat at the back of the bus together listening to CDs.
"I am," Heather admitted. She paused then picked her bag off the floor. She unzipped the side pocket to reveal... a pregnancy test kit.
Sarah gasped. "You think Ben's got you pregnant?" she exclaimed.
"Shhh!" Heather hissed. "I'm not sure, I haven't done the test yet. But I think I might be. Don't say anything to Ben, in case it's a false alarm,".
"OK," Sarah promised. "When are you going to do the test?'.
"When we arrived at the hotel," Heather explained nervously. "Oh God, what if it's positive?".
That night, Ben and Heather went to dinner in the hotel restaurant. Ben was telling Heather a joke but Heather wasn't really listening. "Ha ha, that's a good one," she said, trying to sound interested.
Ben stopped and looked closely at her. "Tell me what's wrong," he said, looking her in the eye.
"Ben, I have something really important to tell you," she said nervously. "I don't know if you'll like it,".
"What?" Ben asked, panicking.
"I'm pregnant,".
Ben nearly fell out of his chair. "That's great!" he exclaimed, rushing over to hug her. "Wow, that's great news,".
Heather was relieved at his reaction. Soon they finished dinner and went back up to their room.
As they passed Helen and Paul's room, Heather could hear someone crying. "Helen?" she called, tapping on the door.
Helen answered the door, tears streaking her cheeks. "You go back to our room, I'll be with you later," Heather said to Ben before going into Helen's room.
They sat on the bed. "What's up?" Heather asked, passing Helen a tissue.
"I'm having a baby," she blurted out. "I don't know if the father is Terence or Paul. My parents are going to kill me, well, they're gonna chuck me out when they find out. Heather, I'm scared,".
Heather couldn't believe it. "That's really strange," she said in disbelief.
"What?".
"I'm pregnant too,".
"Really?!".
"Yes," Heather said. "Listen, there are tests you can do to find out the father, don't worry about it. If you can't face Terence, I'll get Ben to talk to him for you. They're friends after all,".
"Thanks," Helen said gratefully. "But what about my parents?".
"I'm sure they'll be supportive," Heather assured. "If they do chuck you out, Paul is bound to let you stay with him. Does he know?".
"Yeah, he was the first person I told. He seems to be pleased,".
"We'll cope," Heather promised. "We can go through it together. Maybe our kids will be born on the same day!".
Helen managed a smile. "That would be cool,".
Just then, Helen's phone rang. It was Sam. "Me and Russell are engaged!" Sam said excitedly.
"Congratulations!" Helen said, then she told Sam about herself and Heather.
"Everything will be OK," Heather promised as she got up to leave when Paul returned to the room. "See ya in the morning,".
.