Skylar:

After a while, Brian and I decided to go inside and back to bed. We were both extremely tired from staying up all night, but neither one of us had wanted to sleep last night.

I decided to cancel the group's morning run. By now, they're all used to waking up at 7:30, in fact, they usually wake up on their own before the warning alarm goes off (that would be me barging in and saying "Time to get up!") This morning, to avoid the questions and comments about my personal life interfering with my professional life, I simply wrote on our dry erase message board "No run today!" and went back upstairs to join Brian in my bed. We had just fallen asleep when I heard A.J. loudly complaining.

"For Christ's sake, she couldn't have told us the run was cancelled last night? Now I'm up and dressed and it's only 7:45! Man, this is crazy!"

The rest of the guys just muttered, "Who cares, let's go back to bed."

But not A.J., he had to cause a scene. "I can't go back to bed now! I'm going to go give Skylar a piece of my mind. She WILL be taking a run this morning! She can't get out of things like that just because she's the boss or because she's screwing our buddy!" And with that, A.J. started up the steps intending to tell me off. Without even knocking, he barged in and said, "Come on, Skylar. Time to wake up! You've got a run to take!"

Brian, sleepy and now somewhat annoyed just grabbed a pillow and threw it at A.J. "Get out of here, man! We're trying to get some sleep." I just stayed where I was, knowing that Brian would find a way to shut A.J. up.

A.J. quickly came back with "Well, I'm sorry, but the boss isn't doing her job. We're supposed to be running and keeping in shape. Besides, I'm up now because she didn't tell us last night that this morning's run was cancelled. I could understand if she was sick or something. But not because she wants to go back to bed with you!"

Brian jumped out of bed, clad in his blue cotton boxers, and approached A.J. "Listen man, we were up all night on the beach and we really need some sleep."

"Well, we all had to go to bed early last night knowing that we had to get up at 7:30 this morning!" A.J. retorted.

By now, all the guys were standing in the hallway watching the spectacle. Brian put one hand on A.J.'s chest and pushed him out the door. He then whispered "I proposed last night, and she said 'yes', so we'd like a little piece and quiet guys."

They all began slapping Brian's hand and saying things like "Way to go." and "Not bad!"

"So guys, you mind?" Brian asked, looking at A.J.

He came back with an apology followed by "You're smooth, man. Real suave." Brian just laughed and closed the door. We could still hear A.J. as he headed down the stairs saying "Anyone up for a McDonald's breakfast? The boss seems to be preoccupied this morning!" All the guys followed him, except for Nick who we heard closing Kota's door a minute later.

Brian hopped back into bed and into my arms. He placed a tender kiss on my lips and rested his hands on my waist. I turned so that I was partly laying on top of him and put my head on his chest. "Well, that went relatively well." I said quietly.

"Yeah, the guys thought it was pretty cool. I think that Nick's getting ideas. When I told them, his eyes kind of glazed over, like he's considering the possibilities."

I whispered "It would seem so natural for Nick and Kota to get married, in a couple of years, of course. Not that I couldn't see them married now... I just don't think that they would."

"How long do you want to wait to get married, Sky?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know." I said. "What do you think?" I asked.

"Well, it's up to you. I'm pretty open to suggestions." he answered.

I thought for a second, "Well, your tour starts in a couple of months, let's just not worry about it until after that."

"Sounds good." Brian said and kissed my forehead. I brought my head up a bit and rested one elbow on the bed. I leaned towards him, linked hands with him, and kissed him gently. "I love you, Brian Littrell." I said and put my head back down on his chest.

"I love you, too, Skylar Jeffries, soon-to-be-Littrell." he said with a smile that seemed to go from one ear to the other. We both just laid there, hands still linked, and hearts still together. Our eyes grew heavy and we peacefully slept for the rest of the day. ~~~~

Dakota:

There is nothing to do! And since there's nothing to do, we decided to go to the mall....yes....ALL seven of us. It's kinda interesting because all the guys are wearing disguises so they won't have to deal with fans. Good thinking if you ask me. As soon as we stepped into the mall, Nick grabbed my hand and all the others just "awww-ed" at us. Being the youngest in the group really does have its disadvantages. They find everything cute.

"Give me a break.....just ignore us if you're going to make a big deal out of it," I smiled and Nick squeezed my hand slightly.

"Awwww" they all replied. We both rolled our eyes and started to walk away.

"We're sorry. We'll quit!" Sky yelled up at us so we stopped. We walked around for awhile and every so often we got a strange look. People found it amusing to see 5 guys with sunglasses and baseball hats on. Then all of the sudden we all heard a pre-teen shriek.

"Oh my god! Look who it is!" she yelled to her friend and they both ran over to us.

"Great," Nick mumbled under his breath, but instead of running over the guys, they ran over to me.

"Oh my god! Hi.....Can you sign this for me?" the girl said out of breath.

"Why me?" I asked quite confused as all the other guys just looked at me dumbfounded.

"You're Brittany Spears, right?" the other girl said and I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"No....sorry...my name's Dakota. You think I look like Brittany Spears?"

"Yeah....I'm sorry for the mistake," one of them said, quite embarrassed.

"So you really like her music?"

"Yup! She's the best, besides the Backstreet Boys. They're my favorite."

"Aww that's really sweet. Thanks," Nick smiled. Brian quickly elbowed him and Nick then realized that he said something. The girls just looked at them with shock and excitement when it finally sunk in who the guys were.

"You're the Bac...." she started to yell, but Sky quickly covered their mouths.

"Yes, they are.....but be quiet."

"I love you guys soooo much," the little one whispered and the other one nodded. The guys were all smiles and happily signed some things for the girls. Luckily they didn't create a scene so after signing their things, we walked off.

"That was close," Howie sighed.

"Well it wouldn't have happened if dipshit here wouldn't have opened his mouth," Brian laughed. We all walked around for awhile and Nick ended up buying me some things. Even though I tried to tell him I didn't need anything. He insisted. Then AJ had the great idea to go into Victoria Secret's. Honestly I didn't want to know.

"Why do all the mannequins have nipples? I mean women go out of their way not to show them so why do they make dummies with them?" I said to Sky and she just laughed. AJ must have overheard or something because he just looked at me and then turned back to the mannequin.

"They do it to make them more real." He was practically drooling, so I just smacked him upside the head. He turned around quickly like he was going to smack me back, but Nick got in front of me.

"Don't touch her," Nick said with an edge of anger. Gee he was protective.

"It's okay, honey. I can handle AJ." I wrapped my arms around Nick and he just turned around. He had a small smile on his face and he looked a little embarrassed.

"I'm sorry."

"I think its sweet. Thanks." I stretched up and gave him a light kiss on the lips which soon turned into a much more passionate kiss after I took off his hat and sunglasses.

"Get a room," Kevin laughed.

"All right," Nick laughed and led me out of the store. "I like it better this way. Just you and me." He held my hand as we starting looking at other stores.

"Yeah me too. I feel better when I'm just around you. You make me happy," I smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. We passed a jewelry store and Nick pulled me inside. He started looking at rings and I knew exactly what he was thinking. With a questioning look, he turned to me.

"What do you say?"

"Nick, we're 18. It's way too soon....."

"Oh ok.....well then we won't buy an engagement ring. How about a commitment ring? So it'll show us that we're committed to each other because Kota you're everything I need. Right now my life is revolving around you. I love you so much and I would do anything for you. I want the world to know."

"I love you too. I don't know what I'd do with out you. A commitment ring would be perfect. There's just one question I have to ask....Are you doing this all because Brian proposed to Sky?" He looked down at his hands for a minute and then looked back at me.

"No, I'm doing this because I love you. I've wanted to do this for awhile now and we'll we're standing in a jewelry store so we're at the right place," he smiled a little and touched my cheek. "So what do you say?"

"Commitment Ring," I smiled a little and bit my lip. If I didn't stop myself I would've told him that an engagement ring would be good too. It's just.....we'll have plenty of time later to get engaged. After awhile, we both decided on simple silver rings. On his, my name is engraved on the inside and it has my birthstone. Then on mine I have his name and his birthstone. They were really nice rings and it actually did make me feel a little more committed. I kissed him sweetly after we put the rings on and then we walked out of the store.

"I love you," I whispered."

I was really starting to get tired and I guess so was everyone else because the next thing I knew we were all back in the van. Sky's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw the ring on my finger.

"Kota, you're...you're not....you can't be," she stuttered, not able to complete full sentences.

"No Sky, it's a commitment ring. Nick and I both have them," I smiled, barely containing my joy. She looked at me and returned my smile.

"You look so happy. I'm glad you found someone like Nick. You two are perfect for one another."

"Thanks. You're perfect for Brian too. It's kinda funny how we fell in love with best friends. It makes it all the more perfect." I turned around and laughed, seeing Brian tormenting Nick in the backseat. All too perfect. ~~~~

Dakota:

I was sitting around the house when I heard the phone ring. No one else was really paying attention since most of the guys were in Nick's room playing Nintendo. Slowly, I got off the couch and answered the phone.

"Hello?" It was around 11 o'clock at night so I was kinda wondering why someone would call this late.

"Is Ms. Ross there?" a man asked.

"Um this is...." Ok this was way to weird. Why would some mysterious guy be calling me?

"Oh good. Ms. Ross, I'm sorry for calling this late but you told me to call you as soon as your test results came in."

"Dr. McCarthy?"

"Yes....oh I suppose it would've helped for me to tell you who I was from the beginning," he laughed and I sighed. Earlier in the week I went to the doctor and told them to run every test possible because I haven't been feeling well. Lately I've been really run down and I'm just not feeling like myself. Since my mother died from cancer rather quickly, I wanted to be same rather then sorry.

"Is it cancer?" I whispered with a little fear yet I needed to know.

The other end was silent and then a quiet laugh broke out on the other end. Well that's lovely....he's laughing at me.

"No, Ms. Ross. It's not. You were worried over nothing. We checked all the tests and you are perfectly healthy. However there was one test result that I thought you'd be interested in....." Ok where in the world did I find this doctor? First he laughs at me, telling me I'm perfectly healthy, but NOW he's telling me he found something in one of my test results. Is he on crack?

"Well are you going to tell me the results?" I begged.

"Ms. Ross, will you please calm down. It's not a matter of life or death. You are pregnant...."