In My Shoes

By: Jenna

Kara Porter was one of your average 17 year old high school seniors, average except for two things. One, she loved to experiment in the supernatural and witchcraft, and two, she was eight months pregnant.

Kara laid on her side on the bed looking at the poster of Nick Carter, one of the many that adorned her bedroom wall. She let her thoughts wander and was jerked back into reality when the baby she was carrying kicked. Kara put her hand on her stomach. She was wondering how she would be able to provide for her baby once it was born. Although she lived with her parents, she was still in high school, no job and her boyfriend, Ryan Dodds was also a senior at Kellogg High School.

"Boy, to have the money that Nick Carter has, I would be able to provide for my baby and never worry." Kara thought to herself. She opened her witchcraft book and looked for spells for wealth. "Maybe I can find something in here to be rich like Nick." Kara said to herself as she scanned the pages.

Kara found a spell for wealth. She placed four candles out that the spell called for. Once the candles were lit and everything was in place, Kara began chanting the spell. On the third time of the chant, Kara started to feel dizzy. She closed the book and laid back onto the bed and closed her eyes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The alarm clock buzzed relentlessly until Nick reached out from under the covers and smacked it until it stopped. As Nick tried to drift back to sleep, a funny feeling in his stomach prevented him from doing so. Nick heard someone pounding on the door.

"Kara, you get up now, you've missed too much school this month, you need to get up for breakfast. Move it!" A female voice yelled from the other side of the door.

Nick was puzzled at the noise he heard at first, but shrugged it off figuring it was noise coming out from the hallway of the hotel. Suddenly, there was pounding on the door again.

"Kara Porter, out of this room in five minutes or I swear to god." The voice trailed off.

Nick decided that this person in the hallway was very rude. As Nick prepared to get out of bed, he realized that something was not right. His back was achy and his feet felt like lead. Suddenly, Nick felt a poke in his stomach. When he reached towards the area of the poke, Nick threw the covers back and sat up.

A shocked Nick looked down and nearly fainted from what he saw. Nick rubbed his eyes, blinked and shook his head, hoping to clear his mind. When he looked down again, he saw the same thing.

"Oh my god." When the words came out of his mouth, Nick heard a female voice, not his own. He covered his mouth with his hand and saw the image in the mirror do the same. "HOLY SHIT!" Nick started to panic.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Nick kept repeating over and over as he stood in front of the mirror. He was in complete shock and disbelief.

Suddenly, the door opened to the room. A middle aged woman with dark hair stood in the doorway. "Kara, what on earth are you doing? Get dressed for school this instant!"

Nick looked at the woman with his mouth hanging open, frozen.

"Kara! I said to get dressed!"

Thoughts were running through Nick's mind. If he told this woman that he wasn't who she thought, he would be committed for sure. He needed to call himself, Nick was certain that the girl that belonged to this body was already in his body and he couldn't do it by going to a school and spending the day there.

"Um, I don't feel good. I need to stay home." Nick pleaded with the woman.

"Nice try, Kara. Get your butt moving, now!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kara stretched out in the bed. She was waiting for the alarm to go off, but kept her eyes closed thinking if she looked she would miss out on sleep time. She didn't want to go to school today, they had mid term exams and she had put off studying.

"Hey buddy, time to get up!"

Kara was startled when she heard a man's voice. She opened her eyes and turned to look in the direction of where it was coming from.

"Oh my god, you're Brian Littrell!" Kara said outloud thinking she was dreaming. Suddenly, Kara realized the voice she heard coming from her mouth definately was not hers.

Brian snickered at Nick's remark. "Yes, Nick, it's me, good ol B-rok. Hurry up and quit messing around, I'm getting hungry."

As Kara put her hand to her face, she drew it back quickly when she felt how rough it felt.

Brian could tell something was wrong with his friend. "Hey, Nick, something wrong? Don't you feel good?"

Kara grabbed the covers and quickly lifted them to look at her body. She realized then that she wasn't herself anymore. She looked back at Brian and burst into tears.

"Nick, what's wrong?" Brian knew that Nick only cried when he became really stressed out or was really sick.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Kara kept repeating as she got out of bed to go look in a mirror. Kara was only 5'3", so when she stood up in Nick's body, she was shocked at how high up she felt. When Kara got to the mirror, she was shocked at having Nick Carter's face looking back at her.

"Ok, this can't be happening, this is just a dream." Kara said outloud.

"What can't Nick? what's wrong?" Brian was starting to worry about how Nick was acting.

Kara desperately wanted to tell Brian that something was wrong and she wasn't Nick, but the common sense in her advised her to keep quiet about it. She knew there was no way Brian would believe her. Wiping the tears from her face, she tried to make light of it. "I guess I'm a little bit homesick, I'll be fine." Kara took a deep breath in.

Brian looked at Nick suspiciously. "Okay, I'll drop it for now. Come on now, get dressed so we can go."

Kara nodded in agreement. She grabbed the jeans that were laying on the dresser. She took the jeans, a shirt and a pair of boxers and walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Wow, Nick, this is a first, you usually just strip in front of me." Brian called out.

With the door closed, Kara rested against it. After she heard Brian start to complain about Nick taking so long, she reluctantly took the shirt off. Looking in the mirror, Kara became intrigued by the shark tattoo on Nick's upper arm. She took in everything about Nick, his face, his arms, his chest and his flat stomach.

"Oh my god, my baby!" Kara remembered that she was pregnant. Now it was Nick that was pregnant. She started to wonder what Nick was doing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick grabbed a shirt and a pair of jeans out of the closet. He sat on the edge of the bed to put socks on and struggled as he tried to reach his feet over his stomach. It took him 5 minutes of manipulating, but he got them on. Pulling the jeans on, Nick became frustraited when he realized he couldn't fasten the jeans up. He had to leave them lay open against his hips, the farthest they would come. He grabbed the shirt and pulled it on, only to find that it was tight and barely covered his stomach.

"Shit, this is just great." Nick muttered to himself. He went through the dresser drawers and found a sweatshirt. Putting the sweatshirt on, Nick discovered that it didn't fit well either. It was tight and hugged his body. He shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the bedroom.

Nick basically followed his nose to the kitchen. When he entered the room, a table was in the middle. It had a boy around Aaron's age and a girl that looked about 9 sitting there. The boy looked at Nick and instantly started laughing and pointing at him. This caused the mother to be distracted from the stove and turned around.

"Oh for crying out loud, Kara! Why on earth are you dressed like that? I know you're anxious for the baby to get here, but come on, you don't have that much longer to go."

"Oh shit, she's due?" Nick thought to himself.

"How much longer?" Nick was afraid to ask.

Kara's mother looked at Nick. "Kara, you know this better than anyone in this room, you have it counted down to the days and if you could, you would have it down to the very final minute. Now, quit clowning around, okay? Sit down and eat your breakfast."

Nick reluctantly pulled the chair out and sat at the table. The boy and girl were eating and didn't pay too much attention to him. As the mother put a plate of pancakes and sausage in front of Nick, she spoke. "Oh, by the way, before I forget, you have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I will be picking you up from school at 2:00."

"What the hell am I going to the doctors for?" Nick thought to himself.

Nick decided to take a gamble and ask. "How come I have to go to the doctors?"

"Honestly Kara, you are acting goofy this morning. It's your 9 month check up. Oh, and I would suggest wearing something easy to get out of, they will more than likely check to see if you're dialated."

Upon hearing that word, all sorts of thoughts ran through Nick's mind. He dropped his piece of toast.

"Oh, also, Ryan called and he would be here to pick you up for school in about 20 minutes, so you better hustle."

Nick got up from the table and walked back towards the bedroom. He was trying to figure out how he could get out of this mess.

Nick stopped in the hallway. "Mom, I need to make a phone call."

"Kara, you are late already, you can wait to call whoever it is after school. Let me pick out something for you to wear to school this morning, you must not have gotten enough sleep last night."

Nick followed the woman back to the bedroom. He looked at the walls and noticed they were heavily adorned with posters of his face staring at him as well as Brian's. Looking at the posters of himself, Nick wondered what was going on with this girl where he was.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Kara and Brian were seated in the restaurant, Kara rubbed her hands together.

"I'm starving, I hope this place is good."

The waitress came to take their orders. Both Brian and Kara decided to do the breakfast buffet.

"Thanks, go ahead and help yourselves to the bar." The waitress smiled as she took the menus from Brian.

Kara followed Brian to the buffet table. She grabbed a plate and piled the food onto it. When she came back with her plate and sat down, she noticed Brian giving her a funny look.

"Nick, what happened to the diet you were on?" Brian asked.

"Diet? What diet?" Kara asked with a mouthful of food.

"That's what I figured. Don't go crying to me when you find the 10 extra pounds back on then." Brian replied.

"What are you talking about, Nick looks fine." Kara said as she got up for another trip to the buffet.

"Nick looks fine?" Brian laughed. "You're talking about yourself in the third person now." Brian's smile left his face when Nick came back from the buffet with the plate piled with more food.

"Seriously, Nick, you gotta slow it down, you're scaring me here." Brian suggested.

Kara suddenly realized that she was still eating for two and that Nick certainly didn't need that. Feeling awful about doing that to him, Kara burst into tears.

Brian started to worry again when Nick started crying. "Nick what is wrong with you?"

Kara replied in a whiney voice, "Oh, nothing, it's just that you said I was fat and I eat too much."

Brian's mouth dropped open as he listened to Nick whining like a hormonal girl would.

"Nick, I never said that, I just told you to watch what you do a little closer." Brian scrambled to find the words. "I'm sorry if it sounded like that, I really didn't mean it to."

Kara wiped the tears from her eyes. "I just don't feel like myself today, I'll be okay Brian, sorry."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick paced the living room floor back and forth as she waited for this girl's boyfriend to come and pick him up. Nick sat down on the couch and the baby immediately kicked hard into his ribs to protest the position he was sitting in. Nick put his hand on the side of his stomach where the jab came from. He pulled it back when he felt the lump of the baby's foot sticking out against his skin.

"Holy shit, this is too weird." Nick said quietly to himself. He was dressed more appropriately for his new condition, thanks to the woman that was this girl's mom. He had on maternity jeans and a huge purple shirt that hung loosely over his expanding stomach.

"Hey, Kara, Ryan's here." Kara's mother called out.

As Nick attempted to stand up from the couch, he found that he was unable to. The girl's brother started laughing at Nick.

Nick glared at the kid. "Don't just laugh, HELP ME." Nick sputtered.

A young boy entered the room, smiling. As he reached his hand out towards Nick, he snickered. "Kara, you knew better than to sit on the couch."

Nick accepted the boy's help. When he stood up, the boy kissed Nick on the mouth and put his hand on Nick's belly.

"God, you look beautiful this morning."

Appalled, Nick wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand. "God, what the hell did you do that for?"

"Are we a little moody this morning?" Ryan asked Kara.

"NO I am not moody!" Nick shouted back at Ryan.

Kara's mom entered the livingroom when she heard the exchange going on between Kara and Ryan.

"Ryan, don't worry, Kara's not herself this morning. I am taking her to her prenatal appointment this afternoon, I wouldn't be suprised if they say she's thinned and dialated."

Nick looked down at his stomach. "Thinned? Honestly don't you think that's a bit mean to say about me?"

"Kara, you told me you read the birthing manual or have you forgotten? Thinned means your cervix is softer."

The word cervix flew right over Nick's head. He looked at Ryan

"It means you could go into labor very soon."

"Isn't that great news baby!" Ryan smiled at Nick.

Nick grabbed the backpack and walked towards the door. "Yeah, just peachy. Comeon, let's go and get this day overwith."

When Nick sat down in the car and put his seatbelt on, Ryan looked at him.

"Baby, are you mad at me? Come on and sit next to me like you always do."

"Ryan, I'm not mad at you, I just feel uncomfortable with it today and please quit call me baby." Nick sputtered. He stared out the window as he spoke.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the high school, Nick felt sick to his stomach. He remembered how much he hated school before he was tutored. He then realized that he had no idea where this girl went during the day and what classes she took.

Nick realized that there were payphones in the school and that he could call his cell phone and talk to the owner of the body he was in.

"Hey, Ryan, can you walk me to the phones when we get inside, I need to make a call." Nick asked sweetly, trying to be pleasant to the boy.

"Sure Kara. Who do you have to call this early?" Ryan asked as he helped Nick out of the car.

"My grandma, mom said she was sick last night." Nick lied, he couldn't think of what to tell him.

"Your grandma? Kara, both your grandparents are dead." Ryan replied, confused.

Nick tried to think of a quick cover. "I didn't say grandma, silly, I said my Aunt Nanna."

"Oh, I've never heard about her before." Ryan commented as he led Nick to the phones.

"God, Ryan, I swear sometimes. Thanks, I'll be fine, you don't have to hand around me." Nick turned his back to the boy hoping he would leave so he could make his phone call.

Looking into the girl's purse, Nick pulled out her billfold and opened it up. As he looked into Kara's billfold, he found two dollars and some loose change. Nick realized then and there that he would not be able to make the telephone call he desperately needed to.

"Something wrong, Kara?" Ryan asked Nick.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?" Nick said as he turned around and slung the backpack over his shoulder. He was hoping that this girl would call the school and get him out of classes.

"Whoa, Kara, where the hell are you going, chemistry class is this way." Ryan steered Nick by the shoulders in the opposite direction that he was heading.

Nick gave a put-on laugh. "Oh yeah, oops."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So, um, Brian, what's the schedule like for today? And where are we again?" Kara asked.

"Nick, did you forget your schedule again? Man, if your head wasn't attached, you would have lost that years ago, I swear." Brian sighed.

"Okay, well spare me the lecture, just tell me, okay?" Kara replied angrily.

"Whoa, Nick, a little defensive this morning, eh?" Brian said.

Kara could feel the tears well up in her eyes again.

"God, Nick, what's wrong with you? I have never seen you cry so easily in my life." Brian was worried.

"I'm okay, I just asked a simple question and you go weird on me. Can you tell me now?" Kara asked, her voice breaking.

"Okay, we're in Memphis, Tennessee. Our schedule is as follows: 10 am radio interview, noon lunch and interview with local TV station , 2pm children's charity photo session, 4 sound check, 6 at venue for show and backstage fans, 7:30 show, 10pm bus onto New Orleans." Brain ran down the list. He had happen to have a copy of the itenerary in his pocket.

Kara's thoughts ran together. She never realized how busy Nick's life actually was. With all of the stuff they had crammed into one day, that left her little to contact Nick and try to figure out how this happened and how it can be fixed.

"What time is it right now?" Kara asked Brian.

"Um, 8:35. You have about an hour before we meet up for the ride to that station."

"Good, I have a few things to take care of." Kara said as she put the card to the room in the door slot. Brian was right behind her. "Thanks Brian, I'll see you in about an hour, okay?"

"Nick, this is my room too, can't I come in?" Brian asked with a funny look on his face.

"Shit." Kara said outloud.

"What?" Brian asked.

"God, I just needed to make some phone calls in private, can't a girl have some privacy?" Kara sighed.

"A girl?" Brian laughed when he pointed out Nick's mistake of calling himself a girl.

Feeling defeated, Kara sat down on the edge of the bed and burst into tears again.

"God Nick, what is wrong with you?" Brian was starting to worry again.

Nothing, just leave me alone for a bit, okay?" Kara begged as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"I'll go down the hall and check on Kev. Are you sure you'll be okay?" Brian asked as he walked towards the door.

"Yes, I'll be fine Brian." Kara replied.

Kara breathed a sigh of relief when Brian left and the door softly closed. She went directly over to the phone and dialed the number to her house. Afer three rings, her mother answered.

"Hello?"

Kara was about to blurt out and say Mom, but remembered that she would be hearing Nick's voice and not hers.

"Hi, is Kara home?" Kara asked, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

"Kara is at school, who is this?" Her mother asked.

"Um, could you tell her that Nick called and she can reach me at 901-659-4532?" Kara replied.

"Okay, I have the number written down, but who is this?" Kara's mother demanded.

"No one important. Thanks, bye."

Kara hung the phone up and immediately picked it back up. She dialed the number to Kellogg High School.

"Good morning, Kellogg High School, how may I help you?" Janice, the school secretary answered.

"Yes, could I speak with Kara Porter please, it's an emergency, she's in Mr. Gilbert's chemistry class." Kara asked.

"I would have to send a messanger down to reach her, could you hold or would you like to leave a number that----"

"I'll hold." Kara cut the secretary off. As she waited for Nick to come to the phone she started to realize that Nick was taking her chemistry mid term exam. "Oh, shit, I will flunk that class for sure now."

After waiting for several minutes, Kara finally heard a girl's voice shyly answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is this Kara?" Kara asked. She thought her voice sounded funny to her.

Nick instantly recognized his voice on the other end of the phone. "What the hell is going on? How did this happen? When can you fix this?"

"Calm down, Nick!" Kara tried to soothe Nick.

"Calm down? How the hell can I? I look like a beached whale for one thing." Nick started out.

Upon hearing Nick's description of her own body, Kara started to cry again.

"Hey, quit the crying, you got to stop that, people are going to wonder if I'm weird or something. Are you alone?"

Kara tried to regain her composure. "Yeah, Brian went down to talk to Kevin."

"Good. Alright, let's fix this right now." Nick insisted.

"It's not that simple. It's going to take some time to figure this out." Kara replied.

"Time? I have to go to the gynecologist at 2:00 and you mom says he's gonna see if I'm dialated for crying out loud!" Nick said with an angry tone in his voice.

"Oh, god, I'm so sorry." Kara replied. "I'm thinking and I'm working on it."

"So, can you fly home and fix this?" Nick asked Kara.

"You have a pretty full schedule today." Kara started out.

"Cancel it." Nick replied.

"How?"

"Tell Brian you're not yourself today, you wouldn't be lying, that's for sure. Go to the airport, get a ticket with on of the credit cards in my wallet."

"Ok, I'll try." Kara wasn't too sure it would work.

"I have just two questions for you before you hang up." Nick stated.

"Okay, what?"

"When are you due?" Nick asked hesitantly.

"Oh, not until the middle of next month, that's over two weeks from now, October 16th." Kara replied.

"Ok, second question, what does labor pain feel like?" Nick quizzed.

"How should I know, this is the first time around for me too. I guess, well, people say it feels like cramps from your period but only sharper."

"That info was absolutely no help to me at all." Nick sighed.

"Just don't worry about that, like I said, I'm not due until the middle of next month." Kara tried to reassure Nick. Deep down, she was worried about him.

"Ok, well hurry up, this situation you got me into is freaking me out. OUCH." Nick took a quick breath in.

"Oh my god, Nick, are you okay?" Kara started to worry.

"Yeah, this baby just shoved something in my ribs." Nick replied.

"Just try and calm down, when you get upset, it makes the baby go hyper. I will try and hurry, okay?" Kara tried to sound calm even though she was getting nervous.

"Yeah, okay. Bye."

"Goodbye." Kara hung the phone up. She suddenly felt alone.

Kara picked up the phone and dialed the front desk. She told the clerk she needed a taxi ASAP. Hanging the phone up, she picked up Nick's wallet and shoved it in her right back pocket.

Kara winced at the feeling of the thick wallet in the pocket. "God, how can guys stand this?"

Kara left the hotel room and took the elevator to the lobby. Without even considering what could happen, she walked out the front doors of the hotel to wait for the cab on the sidewalk in front of the building. Kara was startled as she heard screams and looked towards the direction from where they were coming from. She saw a group of approximately 50 girls running at her. Before Kara had time to react and brace herself, she was rushed by the crowd and knocked down onto the sidewalk.

Kara let out yells for help as the girls were clawing at her, ripping her clothes off her body and pulling at her hair. By the time BSB security and hotel security to to Kara, her clothes were completely torn and her pants were barely hanging on her.

Once Kara was safely inside, a big, muscular black man looked her directly in the eyes.

"Nick, what were you trying to do, man?"

Kara immediately assumed that this was Nick's personal body guard. She was frightened by how tough he looked.

"I just wanted to go out." Kara replied.

"Nick, how many times do we have to go over this? You can't just up and walk out into public anywhere, ther are psychos out on the streets, you're lucky you weren't hurt worse." The man lectured Kara.

"I'm sorry." Kara's lower lip quivered as she tried to keep from crying.

"Man, Nick, what's wrong with you today? You're acting screwed up."

That was all Kara needed to hear. She immediately began to cry.

Nick hung the phone up and stood up. A sharp pain caused him to sit back down again. He didn't know what was going on. Janice, the office secretary looked over at Nick.

"Kara? Are you okay?"

"God, I'm not sure, call my Mom, I think I need to go home." Nick said as he put his hand on his stomach.

As the secretary looked up Kara's phone number, Ryan appeared in the office doorway.

"Kara, are you okay? You're not looking too good." Ryan said as he smoothed the hair away from Nick's face.

The feeling of this boy touching him, made Nick's skin crawl.

"God, do you have to keep touching me?" Nick protested angrily.

Ryan drew his hand off of Nick's head. He looked at him worried and then looked at the secretary. The secretary smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all, Ryan."

Upon hearing that, Nick looked at the secretary. "Suprised about what?" Nick sputtered.

"That you're going into labor." The secretary replied.

Before Nick could respond, another sharp pain went across his stomach. "OUCH, what the hell is happening!"

As Ryan tried to touch Nick again, he pulled his head back away from his reach.

"I THINK YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH ALREADY TO ME, JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE DAMN YOU."

The secretary hung the phone up. "Ryan, Kara's mother wants you to take Kara to the obgyn's office and she will meet you there. Do you know where it is?"

Ryan looked at the secretary. "No, I have no idea, but I'm sure Kara would know it though."

Nick was sitting in a half sitting/half laying postion clutching his stomach. His face was sweaty and he was moaning from the pain.

"Kara, do you know the way to the doctor's office?" Ryan asked as he knelt in front of Nick.

Nick's only reply was a painful look at Ryan, he was in too much pain to speak. He shook his head no.

"What's the doctor's name?" Ryan asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders and shook his head no.

Ryan looked at the secretary, "What do we do now? She doesn't know the doctor's name."

The secretary quickly redialed Kara's mother's telephone number. She was just catching her as she was heading out the door and explained to her that Kara could not tell them the doctor's name and the office location. The secretary handed the phone to Ryan and he listed to the instructions on how to get to the office.

Ryan took Nick by the arm and helped him out of the chair to a standing position. Nick stood up in a hunched over manner. He was still hanging onto his stomach as they walked down the school hallway. When they got outside, Ryan turned to Nick.

"Baby, I have to go get my car, it's out in the lot. Will you be okay waiting here?"

Nick was only able to nod yes. "God how I hate it when he calls me baby." Nick thought to himself.

As Nick stood on the sidewalk waiting for Ryan to pull up, he felt something funny happening. He looked down and saw that the sidewalk was wet where he stood and his pants were wet.

"What the hell?" Nick said as he looked down. "Oh, shit, this is really great, my water broke." Nick knew now that the inevitible was happening to him. He was definately in labor.

A nervous Ryan pulled his car up to the curb and ran around it towards Nick. He saw that the ground underneath him was wet.

"Is this what I think it is?" Ryan asked Nick.

"Yeah, dumbass, my water br---" Before Nick could finish the sentance, he was hit with another painful contraction. He doubled over.

"Oh god, these are getting closer aren't they?" Ryan asked Nick.

"How the hell should I know." Nick yelled out as he was being helped into the car by Ryan.

"Just drive, don't dink around." Nick ordered the boy to hurry.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian came down to the office in the hotel where security had taken Nick. He looked worried when he found Nick crying and his clothes torn. Brian crouched down in front of Nick.

"Hey buddy, is there something you want to talk about?"

Kara started crying harder.

Brian looked up at the hotel security people and then at Jaye, Nick's bodyguard. Jaye understood Brian's look.

"Thanks guys, but I think myself and Mr. Littrell can take it from here." Jaye stated.

The hotel security reluctantly left the room.

Brian waited until the hotel security left before he started to talk again.

"Nick, what is wrong? Please, I want to help you."

Kara shook her head. "Nothing Brian, I'll be okay, I just haven't felt good today."

"I don't believe you." Brian replied.

Kara wiped the tears off her cheeks. She stood up. "I need to go get cleaned up. Do you have your room card? I left mine on the dresser."

Brian reached into the front pocket on his denim shirt. He handed the card to Nick.

"Thanks, I'll be down in 20 minutes." Kara turned and left Brian and Jaye in the office.

After Nick left Brian sighed and looked at Jaye. "I know something is wrong with Nick, but he keeps saying he's fine. He cries at the stupidest little things and he's been really moody too. More moody than normal."

"Well, I can't understand why Nick would have walked out like that, he knows better. I remember the scene in Toronto a couple of years ago when he got tossed around in a crowd rush, he totally freaked out on that." Jaye said as he paced the room. "He is going to give me a heart attack yet. Nick always tells me where he's going and he always calls me if he wants to go out somewhere."

"Exactly. This is so out of character." Brian stated as he walked towards the office door.

Once upstairs in the hotel room, Kara laid back across the bed. She was running things through her mind on how the body switching could have happened. "I know I did that wealth spell the right way, I followed it letter for letter." Kara thought to herself.

"I wonder." Kara said outloud as she picked up the phone and dialed the number to Kellogg High School.

"Good morning, Kellogg High School."

"Yes, could I speak with Kara Porter, she should be in---"

The secretary cut Kara off. "Oh, I'm sorry she's gone for the day."

"Gone for the day?" Kara thought to herself. "Nick must have convinced them he needed to go home sick." "Oh? Did Kara go home sick?"

"Not actually." The secretary replied.

Kara wondered what was going on. "Well then what?"

"Kara went into labor. She started right after she got off the phone." The secretary said excitedly.

"Oh my god, no! Are you sure? I mean she could have been faking it to get out of school!" Kara was starting to panic.

"Oh, no, I'm positive, she was getting really mad at Ryan, my guess is that she's already in the transitional period of labor."

Kara knew what the transitional period of labor was, that was when a woman was dialated between 5 to 7 centemeters. "Oh god, that came on too fast, it sounds like the labor is going way too fast."

"Sir, calm down. There's absolutely no reason for you to panic, I'm sure Kara will be fine. Her mom is meeting them at the doctors office."

Stunned, Kara hung the phone up. Her mind was racing trying to figure out a way to get to Nick and fix the problem before he would have to go on with the labor anymore.

Kara looked down at the torn clothing. She went to Nick's suitcase and pulled out clean clothes. As she went into the bathroom to change, she heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Kara yelled from the bathroom.

"It's Brian, let me in."

"Oh god, I don't have the time to deal with his shit again." Kara mumbled to herself.

Kara reluctantly opened the door and let Brian in. She immediately went back into the bathroom to continue changing.

"Nick, I stopped at the front desk to look at our room tab, and they told me you've placed a few long distance calls to Anderson Indiana."

"What are you doing, spying on me? Yeah, I called Anderson, no big deal." Kara shot back at Brian.

"No, I'm just worried about you, you're not yourself." Brian continued.

Kara came out of the bathroom. "No, I'm not, am I Brian!"

Brian's eyes grew wide upon hearing the tone in Nick's voice.

"And do you want to know why I'm not myself?" Kara paused for effect. "Because I'm not Nick Carter, that's why."

"Okay, Nick, you are really scaring me now." Brian said nervously.

"No, Brian, it's the truth. I'm going to tell you the truth, you won't believe me anyway, but what the hell." Kara started out. "Sit down, because you are going to need to." Kara pushed Brian on the shoulders to sit in the chair he was standing in front of.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kara, right in here, please." The nurse at the doctor's office led Nick into an examination room.

Entering the room, Nick saw a big padded table.

The nurse handed Nick a hospital gown. I need you to take everything off and put this on. The gown ties in the back.

"Everything?" Nick asked shocked. "Just what exactly are they planning on doing to me?" Nick thought.

"Yes, everything. Your bra and underwear, you can leave your socks on though."

Nick was about to reply to the nurse when another contraction hit him. She turned when she heard Nick let out a yelp.

"Kara, how far apart are the contractions?"

"I don't know, how can you tell?" Nick groaned.

"Do you need help getting undressed?" The nurse asked Nick.

Nick shook his head no. The nurse left the room and Nick proceeded to get undressed. He put the gown on and tried to tie it in the back and discovered his stomach was too big to tie the middle strings together. "Just wonderful." Nick said outloud. Nick climbed onto the table and wrapped the sheet around himself.

The doctor knocked on the door. "Are you ready Kara?"

Nick sighed. "Yeah, I guess as ready as I can be."

The young male doctor entered the room with Kara's file. "They tell me your contractions have started and your water broke."

"I guess, but isn't this too early?" Nick was hoping they would change their minds and he could leave.

The doctor smiled. "Two weeks isn't too early, especially with a young lady like you. Now, go ahead and lie back so I can examine you." The doctor said as he put his hand on Nick's shoulder.

As Nick laid back, he could feel someone grabbing each of his legs and putting his feet in the stirups at the foot of the bed. Nick drew the sheet up over his head, preparing for what was going to happen next.

"Now Kara, just relax, don't tense up on me."

"Relax? How the hell can I relax. Oh god, that $#%#$ hurts.""Dammit! What the hell are you doing down there?" Nick yelled at the doctor.

The doctor stood up and removed his surgical gloves. He wrote something quickly down in Kara's chart and told the nurse to call some place called AMVAC for prioriety advanced with a paramedic and St. Therese Hospital.

"Kara, you are definately in active labor. We are sending you to St. Therese's by ambulance. Just relax, you're going to be fine. Dr. Maxson is on call and he will be there for the delivery."

Nick moaned as another contraction hit him. "No, this can't be happening right now, not yet. I'm not ready for something like this."

"Kara, everything is okay. You're already dialated to 7 centemeters, the hard work is almost over." The doctor said, smiling.

"Seven centemeters? How much farther?" Nick asked as his body suddenly gave him a signal that he needed to push whatever this was out of his body.

The doctor looked suprised and then chuckled. "Kara, Kara. When you get to ten, then you can start pushing."

"Ten? How come I want to push now?" Nick was getting scared, this was not right and he had no idea what was happening to him.

"No, don't push yet, do your breathing." The doctor urged Nick.

"I am breathing dammit. Why can't I push?" Nick groaned.

"Ok, I will be blunt, you will tear yourself up."

Nick looked at the doctor with a frightened look.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Looking at Brian after he sat down in the chair, Kara sighed. "Brian, I want you to listen to everything I have to tell you, don't stop me in the middle of it, okay?"

Brian didn't say a word, he simply nodded yes. His thoughts were running wild. He couldn't believe that Nick had finally slipped off the edge and had gone crazy.

"Okay, like I just told you, I'm not Nick Carter, my name is Kara Porter. I'm a 17 year old senior at Kellogg High School in Anderson Indiana. I'm into witchcraft and do spells out of a big book. The other night I was laying on my bed looking at posters of Nick and thought, I could really have a good life if I was as rich as Nick was. I found a spell on wealth and recited it three times word for word out of the book. The next thing I know, I wake up in this room in the morning in Nick's body, so that means Nick is in my body." Kara paused to see if Brian was absorbing everything she was telling him. "Oh, I forgot to tell you one more thing, I'm eight months pregnant."

Brian stared at Nick. He was starting to feel sick to his stomach. Nick had definately gone off the deep end.

Brian quietly spoke. "Nick, we'll get you the help that you need, okay, I'll be beside you every step of the way."

"No! Brian, you're not listening to me!" Kara could feel tears forming in her eyes again.

"Yes, Nick, I did and you need psychological help and I'm gonna see that you get it." Brian answered.

"God, what can I do to convince you that I'm not Nick?" Kara paced back and forth in the hotel room. "I can't call Nick right now, he's in labor."

Brian just watched Nick walk back and forth in the room, rambling like a crazy person.

"I know! Mom's cell phone. I'll call Mom." Kara said outloud.

"Yeah, good idea Nick, call your mom, she can help you." Brian replied. He thought that maybe if Jane got involved, she could calm Nick down a little and convince him that he needed help.

Kara dialed the cell phone number. After four rings, her mother answered.

"Hello?" Mrs. Porter answered the phone very quietly.

Kara thought she heard moaning in the background. "Um, this is Nick again, is Kara right there?"

"Kara is a little busy at the moment, how did you get my cell phone number?" She sounded annoyed.

"I don't have time to explain, ask Kara if she can talk to Nick, I'm sure she will, please!" Kara spoke with an urgent tone in her voice.

Kara heard her mom ask Nick in the background. Nick half yelled the word yes.

"Where the hell are you?" Nick screamed into the phone. Kara pulled the receiver away from her ear. Brian could hear a girl's voice yelling.

"Nick, there was some problems, I couldn't get out of the hotel." Kara replied.

Brian sat there, listening to Nick call this girl on the phone Nick. He figured her name must have been Nicole.

"I'm trying to persuade Brian to understand what's going on so he can help us out of this mess, but he's having a hard time believe me." Kara started to cry.

"God! Kara! Quit crying! Let me talk to Brian." Nick's voice was uneven, Kara could tell he was in pain.

Kara held the phone out for Brian. "Nick wants to talk to you."

Brian took the phone from Nick. "Yes?"

"Listen to me, you have to believe her when she says she's not me! Shit!" Nick got hit with another contraction when he spoke.

"I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing, but I know I don't like it." Brian replied.

"No, dumb ass, listen to me, I'm Nick Carter." Nick searched his mind to think of something that only he and Brian knew about to prove who he was. "Okay, Brian, remember in Germany when we found that girl in my bed?"

Brian thought for a second and decided this girl had a lucky guess. "Lucky guess there, nice try."

"Shit, Brian, help me out here, ask me something that only Nick Carter would know, not the fans, no one else!" Nick yelled into the phone.

Brian thought for a second. "Okay, here's something you would never be able to guess in a million years, what's my home phone number?"

"Easy one. It's 407-523-6983." Nick breezed through the number. Your cell phone is 407-593-2462 and your pager is 407-653-8589."

With all the information this girl supplied, Brian finally realized that Nick was not standing with him in the hotel room, he was on the other end of the phone.

"My god, Nick?"

"Get her on a plane Brian, now! I'm in labor here and I'm scared to death!"

Brian dropped the receiver. His face went pale from the shock of the news.

Kara picked the phone up. "He's got it, Nick. We will be there as soon as we can, hang in there."

Nick's only reply was a yell as another contraction hit him.

Kara hung the phone up and turned to Brian. "Brian, we have to get me out of here so I can go to Indiana and fix this spell."

Stunned, Brian managed to mumble the word "Yes."

Kara snapped her fingers in front of Brian's face. "Hey! Brian! I need you here with me, snap out of it."

Brian shook his head to clear his thoughts. Standing up, he spoke. "Yeah, shoot. This is just too weird. I'm still trying to grasp this situation."

Kara watched Brian pick up the phone and dial a 4 digit number.

"Jaye, it's Brian, get Steve and come down to our room, me and Nick need to get to the airport immediately." Brian said the words quickly.

"Okay Kara, let's see how far you're dialated." A gloved nurse in the hospital spoke to Nick as she pulled his covers back.

"How many times do you have to do that? They already said I was seven at the doctor's office! It hurts when you people do that to me!" Nick angrily protested.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but I have to do that, I need to know how close you are so that the doctor can be told." The nurse apologised.

Nick laid back on the bed and closed his eyes tightly. Naturally, the nurse checked right during the middle of a contraction which made it hurt even worse.

"#$&%*$#&." Nick yelled at the nurse.

"You're at seven and a half centemeters. Pretty soon." The nurse took the glove off and left the room.

Nick had a wild look in his eyes. He was scared to death to think of what could possibly be happening to him in a short while. There was no way in the world he would ever be prepared to have a baby.

"Kara, just relax and breathe, the more you fight this, the longer it will take." Kara's mother spoke softly to Nick, smoothing the hair away from his face.

"That's it!" Nick thought to himself."I'll fight this and it should take enough time for this girl to fix this."

Just as Nick was starting to feel that his plan would work, a doctor entered the room with a cart.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Schultz. I am consulthing with Doctor Maxon. I need to examine you, Kara, please just lay back and relax."

"Oh god, not again, please?" Nick moaned. He felt the need to push. "Is it time to push? I want to get this out of me?" Nick cried.

"Let's take a look."

Nick laid back and closed his eyes again. He never felt more humiliated in his life.

Nick thought that this doctor seemed to take more time than the other doctors. Which only made Nick feel more uncomfortable. Finally, what seemed to take forever, the doctor stood up.

"You're dialated to 7.5 centemeters. Everything looks good. Would you like an epidural for the pain?" The doctor asked Nick.

Nick didn't care what it was called, he wanted something to make him feel better. "Yeah."

"Let's do the epidural and put on a monitor." The doctor said to the nurse.

The nurse pulled out a large white band that had velcro and pulled Nick's sheets back. As she started to lift his gown up, Nick got wild eyed with worry wondering what she was going to do with the piece of equipment.

The nurse could see Nick's nervousness. "Relax, Kara, it's just something I need to put around your stomach, that way we can listen to the baby's heart during this and make sure everything's okay."

Nick watched as the nurse pulled the belt around his stomach. After it was in place, she turned on a machine next to his bed. The sound that filled the room was a fast paced heartbeat.

"There, baby sounds good. Heart rate is 145." The nurse said as she wrote it down in Kara's chart.

Nick was amazed listening to the heartbeats. He couldn't believe that was coming from him, a tiny little life inside of him.

A man entered the room wearing blue hospital scrubs and holding a kit of some kind.

"Hi Kara, I'm Doctor Adellman, anesthesia. I'm going to give you and epidural to take the pain away. Do you know what happens with an epidural?" The doctor asked Nick.

Nick was hit with a contraction before he could answer. He shook his head no during the contraction.

"Okay, well, I will be injecting you with some medicine in your spine and it will numb you from the waist down. No more pain, and when it comes time to deliver, the nurse will tell you when to push."

The contraction left. "That sounds good, but what did you say again about the spine?" Nick worried.

"Relax, Kara, it only hurts for a moment and then it's done. Now, lean up so we can prep your back." The doctor gently pushed Nick's shoulder to encourage him to sit up.

As the doctor washed the area, Nick was hit with another contraction.

"Good, then we can slide this in between contractions. I want you to let me know when this one ends, okay Kara?" Dr. Adellman asked.

Nick managed to nod yes. In what seemed to take forever, the contraction finally ended.

Nick took a deep breath. "It's over."

"Ok, don't jump, this will feel like a bee sting and some pressure down into your hips." The doctor spoke as he put the needle in. Nick winced with the pain and tried to convince himself that this was gonna get better.

"There, all done. You should be feeling it already."

Before the words left the doctor's mouth, Nick noticed that he could barely feel his legs. The pain from the contractions were gone.

"Wow! This is cool." Nick replied happily.

"Just don't try to get out of bed, you won't be able to walk. Just call the nurse for anything you need." The doctor took off his surgical gloves, threw them in the wastebasket and left the room.

Ryan went up to Nick and put his hand on Nick's stomach. "Pretty soon, baby."

Annoyed, Nick pushed Ryan's hand off his stomach. "Quit touching me. God how I hate having someone touch my stomach."

Ryan looked rejected as he backed off from Nick. Kara's mother tried to reassure Ryan.

"It's all a part of labor, Ryan, Kara doesn't hate you."

"Yes I do." Nick spat back at Kara's mother and Ryan.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian and Kara hurried through the small airport terminal. Their escape from the hotel was not without complications, Brian had to explain to Kevin that something suddenly happened and that he and Nick had to go and take care of things before it got out of hand and to do the interviews without them.

Brian signaled a cab by putting his fingers in his mouth and making a shrill sounding whistle. "Tell him where we need to go." Brian said to Kara as they were getting into the back seat.

"Um, Meadowbrook Subdivision, 1456 Crestview Drive." Kara told the cabbie.

"Okay." The driver replied. As he was pulling away from the curb, he looked into his rearview mirror. He recognized Nick and Brian. "Ain't you the Backstreet Boys? My daughter Wendy is nuts over you guys, especially the blonde one." The driver handed a pad of paper and a pen over the seat. "Could you sign this for her? It's W-e-n-d-y-T-r-u-m-a-n."

Brian leaned forward and took the pen and pad from the man. Kara watched Brian scribble his name down on the paper. He handed the pad to Kara.

"What? You can't be serious?" Kara stared at Brian in disbelief.

"Just sign it, no big deal." Brian insisted.

"But what if it don't look right?" Kara whispered quietly.

The whispering in the back seat grabbed the cabbie's attention. "Something wrong guys?"

Both Brian and Kara answered together. "No."

Kara signed Nick Carter on the pad of paper. She was suprised that the handwriting turned out to look exactly like the signatures of Nick she had seen on posters and in magazines.

Kara handed the pad back to the cabbie. "Here you go." She was relieved to see the cab pull into the driveway to her house.

Brian already had the fare with tip ready. "Could you wait here while we go in the house?"

"Sure, no problem." The dark eyed cabbie replied. He settled back into his seat and grabbed the newspaper that was laying next to him and started to read.

Kara ran up the sidewalk to the side door. She reached in the spot where the spare key was only to find it gone.

"I am gonna kill that little dink." Kara sputtered.

"What's wrong?" Brian asked.

Kara's eyes filled up with tears. "There's no key, we can't get in."

Brian patted her on the shoulder. "Nick er Kara, calm down we can climb in through a window, okay, it's no big deal."

Kara took a deep breath in. "Okay, there's the window in the back of the house, we can climb in through there."

Brian followed Kara into the back yard. The woods behind the house was spectacular as the leaves on the trees were just starting to change for the fall. The smell of wet dirt filled the air.

"I guess Nick should be strong enough to hike you up through the window." Kara commented.

"Hey, what about this door?" Brian pointed at a sliding glass door. It was not fully closed."

Kara hurried over to the door and was relieved when she discovered that it was unlocked and unblocked. Brian followed her into the kitchen.

"Come on, my bedroom's this way." Kara led Brian down the hallway into her bedroom. She blushed when she entered, she forgot about all the posters of Nick and Brian that were covering her wall.

"Nice room." Brian commented.

"Don't tease." Kara replied. She walked over to her bookcase, glancing down at her bed and seeing a pair of jeans and sweatshirt that she hadn't worn in months laying in a pile ontop of the unmade bed.

Kara pulled out the book and looked up the wealth spell. She read the directions and looked up at her dresser.

"Oh my god, I know what I did wrong now." Kara said as she slowly sat on the edge of the bed.

"What did you do?" Brian asked.

"I was supposed to use three white candles and one blue candle. I figured it wouldn't make that much difference and I used all blue candles. How could I be so stupid?" Kara said as she stared at the page.

"You wouldn't think colors would be that big of a deal." Brian remarked. He could tell this girl was starting to get upset. It was worrying him because he sensed that as not a good thing since she was holding the book with the spells in it.

"Can you fix it?" Brian asked.

"I think so, but it's going to take longer than I thought. You might want to send the cab driver away." Kara answered, her head down reading.

"Okay." Brian replied as he left the bedroom.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A short, dark haired nurse entered the room and proceeded to walk up to Nick's bed and start tearing things down. She put something that looked like ski poles on either side of the bed and took the bottom part of the bed and lowered it so that Nick's legs were left dangling over the edge. She took each leg and placed them in stirrups.

"Whoa, wait, what are you doing?" Nick asked, puzzled.

"Kara, it's time to start pushing, you are at a 10 and the baby is ready to come." She smiled at Nick as she spoke.

"Oh, my god, can't we just wait?" Nick asked, worried.

"Kara Porter, honestly!" Kara's mother replied to Nick's remark.

A young, tall doctor entered the room. "Let's have a baby!" He exclaimed, a little too cheerfully to Nick.

"I'm not ready for this." Nick protested.

The doctor chuckled at Nick's remark. "You have no other choice Kara but to be ready." The doctor smoothed the sheets around Nick's legs. "I can see the top of the baby's head. Do you want to touch it, Kara?"

Nick looked at the doctor appalled. "No I do not want to touch it."

Ryan piped up. "Can I touch it?"

"You most certainly may not, keep away from me!" Nick shouted at the kid.

The nurse placed her hand on Nick's stomach. "Okay, Kara, when I say push, you want to take a deep breath in and push as hard and as long as you can while holding your breath, okay?"

Nick looked at the woman. Everyone in the room could see the fear in his eyes.

"Okay, now PUSH." The nurse commanded.

Nick obediently took a deep breath in, grabbed the poles for leverage and pushed as hard as he could. He couldn't feel anything so he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing or not.

The nurse and doctor coached Nick on while he was pushing. "Push...push...push...push...push."

Nick kept going as long as he could. Exhausted he laid his head back on the pillow.

The pushing part, that Nick was hoping would go on until this girl got things straighten out and back into her own body, was doing that. After three hours of Nick trying to push and becoming more and more weak by the minute, the doctor simply stated the word section.

The nurse nodded.

Ryan asked the doctor what he was talking about.

"The baby is in fetal distress, the heart rate is dropping, we have to take it now. We're going to do a c-section on Kara. Since this is an emergency c-section, she will have to be put under sedation, sorry, but that means no one can come in with her."

Nick heard the word c-section and started to panic. "Oh my god, they are going to cut me open?" Nick thought to himself.

"Relax, Kara. We're taking you down to finish this for you, you did a wonderful job, you just need a little help." The doctor patted Nick on the shoulder.

As Nick was being wheeled down to the Operating Room, Kara's mother and her boyfriend were walking on either side of the stretcher. When they got to the double doors, the woman bent over and kissed Nick on the forehead. "I love you."

Nick smiled.

Ryan attempted to kiss Nick on the lips. Nick turned his face in time for him to kiss him on the cheek. "I love you baby, hang in there."

"Yep, will do." Nick replied.

Nick scanned the surroundings of the operating room. It was a cold, tiled room. A radio was playing from some place and ironically, it was playing I Want It That Way Nick took this as a good sign that things would be working out alright.

He was getting a little nervous when they had him move from the stretcher onto the operating table. They took both arms and laid them on opposite sides and strapped them down. He was getting montiors hooked up to him from right and left. He noticed the sound of the baby's heart rising and then dropping sharply.

"Hi, Kara, I'm Doctor Everett, anesthesia. You'll feel a burning sensation in your arm where the IV is and then you will be going to sleep. When you wake up, it will be all over."

"Okay." Nick replied. Suddenly he felt the sting and the burning of the medication entering his arm. Suddenly everything went dark.

Brian returned to Kara's room after sending the cabbie away to find that Kara had several books laying on the bed open. Kara looked up at Brian when he entered her room. Brian sensed immediately that something was wrong.

"I don't know what to do, this is just messed up." Kara burst into tears.

Brian took Kara by the shoulders. "Kara, get a grip on yourself. You aren't doing yourself, Nick or your baby any favors. Keep yourself together."

Sniffling, Kara opened a huge book and pointed midpage at a paragraph. "Brian, this is the reversal spell, um, I think. I'm not sure, I don't know." Kara's voice trailed off.

"Kara, you gotta be certain, you can't have something worse happen to you guys." Brian was starting to wonder if this girl actually knew what she was doing in the first place.

Kara cleared her throat and took a deep breath in. "Yeah, okay, I'm sure of it, this is the one I have to use, except we have a slight problem."

"Being?" Brian asked calmly.

Kara turned a yellowed page in the book back and forth. "We need a lock of my hair and a lock of Nick's hair. Which means we have to go to the hospital to actually do this spell." Kara answered half apologetically.

"Then call a cab and let's go." Brian suggested.

Kara nodded and procdeeded to walk out into the living room. She caught her reflection in the mirror when she walked past her bedroom door. She still had a hard time believing herself that she was inhabiting Nick Carter's body and that Nick was pregnant and in the middle of having a baby, her baby.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick slowly opened his eyes. He tried to focus them, but was unable to. He decided he was incredibly thirsty and attempted to call out for nurse to come over to him.

Nick opened his mouth to speak, but only a small hiss of air penetraited the silence. As he fought to figure out where he was and what happened, he was quickly reminded by the sharp pain he felt below his stomach.

"Oh, god, that's right, I had a baby." Nick thought to himself. He slowly lifted the covers to see if his body looked any different. He was disappointed when he saw that he still looked pregnant.

Finally a nurse appeared around a curtain and lowered Nick's blankets away and checked his stomach and the bandages covering the incision.

"Is this normal that my stomach still looks pregnant?" Nick casually asked.

"Oh goodness, yes. Your uterus has to shrink up yet. That takes time honey."

"Oh, okay." Nick said quietly. He was losing the fight to remain conscious. "Hey, what did she have?" Nick asked the nurse.

The nurse dismissed the fact that Nick used the word she in place of I. "You had a beautiful baby girl, full head of dark hair, healthy, I believe she weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces."

Nick smiled and closed his eyes. He wanted something to take the pain away he was feeling from the surgery. He asked the nurse for something for the pain.

"Sweetie, we gave you some tylenol just a bit ago, I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait a while."

"Tylenol? That's it?" Nick was puzzled to think that they were treating his pain with over the counter medications. "I want the good stuff. How about something with coedine in it or some vicodin?"

"Sorry Kara, can't do that, you don't want the baby sick too." The nurse replied.

"How on earth could the baby get sick?" Nick questioned.

"Kara, anything you eat or drink or take as medication will pass through your system and into your milk." The nurse reminded Nick.

Nick's response was a puzzled look.

"Breast milk, remember?"

Nick's mouth dropped open. He heard a baby cry out in the hall. Suddenly he felt warm and then noticed the front of his hospital gown was soaked. Nick looked down at the gown.

"See, your milk has already come in. I'll get some pads for you." The nurse turned and left the room.

Stunned, Nick laid in the bed. "There is no way in the world I would ever be prepared to breastfeed a baby, no way." Nick said to himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*

The cab barely came to a stop outside the hospital when Kara yanked on the door handle and jumped out of the cab. Brian followed behind her. He hasitly stuffed a twenty dollar bill into the cabbie's hand which adequately covered the fare but it also gave the driver a good tip.

Kara and Brian stopped at the information desk. A sweet looking elderly woman looked up at them.

"Kara Porter's room?" Kara asked the volunteer.

The woman punched Kara's name into the computer system. "She's in 338, bed two."
Brian followed Kara to the elevators. When they got on, Kara turned to Brian. "God, I hope he doesn't have a room mate, I don't know what we will do."

"If Nick does, we will simply have to deal with it, okay? That's all we can do." Brian stated.

The elevator came to a quick stop on the third floor. Brian and Kara followed the signs down the hall to room 338. Standing outside of the door, Kara took a deep breath in, afraid to enter the room. Brian was nervous as well. He put his hand on the middle of Kara's back and gently encouraged her to go in. When they walked in, Kara was relieved to see that the first bed was still done up, indicating that Nick didn't have a room mate. When they walked past the curtain towards the second bed, Kara saw herself laying in the hospital bed, asleep.

Brian looked at the young girl laying in the bed sleeping. She appeared to him to only be 16 maybe 17 years old. She was very attractive. He looked over at his friend, and was still having a hard time believing that Nick was inside that girl's body and that the girl was inside Nick's body. It was all too confusing to Brian.

Kara took the scissors from her pocket and quietly approached the bedside and took a snip of hair from her head and Nick's. She placed them into a bowl. Kara then set three milk-white candles on the bedstand.

Nick slowly opened his eyes when he heard a noise in his room. He was shocked to see Brian and himself standing at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, thank god, you guys." Nick quietly spoke.

Brian was still having a hard time with this. "Nicky?"

Nick managed a slight smile and a nod. "You had a girl, Kara." Nick informed her of the delivery.

Upon hearing the news, Kara started to cry. Nick hated to see himself in tears. "Kara! Calm down. Let's just fix this thing, okay? The nurse said she would be bringing the baby down for a feeding soon and I am not ready to deal with that."

Brian looked at Nick puzzled. He was wondering why Nick would be so uptight about feeding a baby.

Nick saw Brian's confused look. "Don't even ask, okay?"

Kara quickly lit the candles and opened the spell book. She asked Brian to set a chair behind her knowing that she would more than likely loose consciousness or become dizzy when the spell was working.

Kara told Brian to step out into the hallway, she didn't want him to get mixed up in the mess she had created. Brian told them he would be waiting outside the door and to holler if they needed anything, anything at all.

Reluctantly, Brian left the room. He leaned against the wall and watched the nurses walk back and forth with charts and medications and cups for the patients. Looking across the hallway, Brian noticed the infant nursery. He walked over to look at the babies.

Brian smiled as he looked at all of the tiny new lifes that were laying next to one another in the little clear tubs. Each looked similar, but yet so different. He searched the last name tags for this girl's last name. He couldn't remember if she said Potter or what but then he decided it was Porter when that was the closest name tag he could find.

Smiling, Brian spoke quietly. "Nick had a girl." He was still finding it hard to believe that all this had happened. Suddenly, Brian felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Isn't she perfect?" Nick asked.

Brian turned and looked up at Nick.

"Yeah, I'm back. Let's go." Nick said as he kept gazing at the infant.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The UPS man handed a package to the little girl standing on the other side of the door. She looked up at him and giggled and then bounded off, her waist lenght blonde hair in a cascade of curls.

"Mommy! Here!" Little five year old Brianna Nicole Dodds called out.

Kara looked at the address on the package. It was addressed to Brianna. The return address was one that had grown to become familiar to her these past five years.

"Brie, it's from Uncle Nick. Open it up and see what he gave you for your birthday." Kara coached the child.

Kara sat back at the table with her cup of coffee in hand, watching Brianna eagerly open the package. Nick never forgot her birthday, every year he sent her presents. Always a gift and always a card with a $100 bill enclosed with a note in the card from him saying "Put this towards her college."

"Oh mommy!" Brianna cried. "I love her!" She hugged the doll and skipped off into her bedroom.

Kara opened the card Brianna had tossed to the side. Again it contained $100 and the same request to put it towards her college.

The Backstreet Boys had long since broke up, the guys going their separate ways. Nick was still in the business, singing, acting and directing. Brian was a financial consultant living in Florida with his wife and two children.

Brianna has never met Nick. Probably never will. But Kara was making sure that Brie will know about Nick and Brian and the part that they played in her life before she was born.

The End

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