***Nick's apartment***
Nikki was over on the couch sitting with Nina and Holding Nicola in her arms. "This is soo great!! I can't believe Nick got this all together for me!! He is SOO sweet." Nikki said thinking of how nice it was.
"Nikki, will you come with me real quick?" Nick asked as he walked up to her and Nina.
"Sure, I'll be right back Nina." Nikki said as she handed Nicola to Nina and stood up.
"Ok, I'll see you later Nikki." She said wrapping Nicola in her arms. Nikki and Nick walked back into the back end of his apartment to a bedroom. "My mom and dad are dying to meet you." He said as they entered the room. There was a lady with brown hair standing next to a tall slim man with blonde hair. Nikki suddenly felt really nervous. She wasn't prepared to meet his parents. What if they didn't think she was good enough for Nick? What if they thought she was rude? Or just ugly?
"Hi you must be Nikki. I'm Jane, Nick's mother. And this is Robert but everyone calls him Bob." She said extending her hand out to Nikki.
"Nice to meet you Mrs. And Mr. Carter." She said shaking Jane's hand then Bob's.
"Please just call me Jane."
"And you can call me Bob. Mr. makes me sound like some old fart that is going around looking for his teeth."
Nikki smiled. "So that's where he got his sense of humor. Always cracking a joke."
"Yep, I taught him everything he knows." Bob stated proudly.
"That's not really something to be so proud of Bob." Jane said laughing a little.
"A family of jokers. Cool." Nikki said smiling. "Are your brother and sisters like this too Nick?" she asked now wanting to meet them too. She could already tell his family was really sweet.
"Yeppers to that. Aaron is a lot like me. But short."
"Oh how mean Nick! He is only 12. You probably weren't that tall when you were 12!!" Nikki said slapping his arm lightly. "Jeez I feel bad for Aaron! Just like Nick…only shorter. That's scary! Poor little boy, he doesn't have a chance!" Nikki said joking with Nick.
"Ahh isn't my girlfriend sweet??" Nick said as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Yes I am thank you very much Mr. Carter!"
"But seriously isn't she great?" he said as he kissed her cheek.
"Yes she is very nice…but you are probably making her feel weird having us pass judgement in front of her and all." Jane said knowing how it was when she had meet Bob's parents.
"Oh umm yeah. Sorry Nikki." He said feeling rather stupid.
"It's ok! No biggie." She said smiling at him. He didn't smile back though. He still felt really stupid because his mother corrected him in front of Nikki. "Oh Come on Nick, Hun. Smile for me please." He forced a very fake smile and she sighed. She didn't want him to feel bad about something so little.
***Later***
"Should have known as soon as the game came on all the guys would be in front of the TV." Nikki said looking into the living room.
"Yeah, Nick, Bob and Aaron do this every Thanksgiving. And last year we had Brian and Kevin with us and their families and the guys sat in front of the TV watching Football then too." Jane said thinking about years passed.
"Brian does it just to spend time with his cousins, dad and brother. He isn't really into football that much." Jackie said looking at Brian, Harold and Harold Jr.
"So How is everything in Bremerton Nikki?" Hope asked speaking for the first time since she had gotten there.
"Everything is pretty cool. Nick is going to be staying here for a while so I'm happy." She said smiling.
"He is??" Faith asked surprised.
"Yep, moving here for a little while after his tour. This is his apartment."
"So do you think you'll be returning to the tour anytime soon?" Natalie asked wishing she would. Nick always seemed to be in a better mood when Nikki was around. Plus she liked Nikki; she was a nice person.
"I don't know…since it's almost over. I think I'll stay off. But what is my replacement like??"
"Her name is Cristina. She is really nice." Nina said trying to remember some stuff about her. She didn't know much because after Nikki left she spent all of her time with Brian.
"Nice like the Nice that I should worry about?" Nikki asked sounding about as paranoid as Nick had sounded on the plane.
"You have nothing to worry about Nikki. You are all Nick ever talks about!" Jane said remembering all the phone calls with Nick seemed to be mostly about Nikki.
"Yeah, he talks about missing you all the time on the bus. Saying stuff like 'Oh I wish Nikki were here! She would have loved to be here.' 'It's been like forever since I last got to talk to Nikki!! I wanna talk to her!' other stuff like that too." Nina said remembering him say that stuff all the time.
She smiled as she looked at Nick sitting on the ground playing with Nicola. The only reason he wasn't watching the game was because it was commercials.
"So how old are you girls?" Anne asked trying to get in the conversation.
"I'm 19." Obviously Nikki.
"I'm 24." Natalie said as she set her gaze on Kevin sitting in the living room.
"I'm 18." Hope said smiling.
"I'm 18 too." Faith said stating the obvious since her and Hope were twins.
"I'm 17." Leslie said looking at the ground. She was not happy about being in Washington. She wanted to be with her boyfriend in California.
"I'm 15." B.J. said happy to be where her brother was.
"I'm 12." Angel said as she looked longingly toward the room where all the guys were sitting. She would rather have been out there having fun then standing around talking.
"Nikki, can I talk to you real quick?" Nina asked realizing she hadn't told Nikki her big news.
"Sure." She said following Nina into the hall. "What's up girl?"
"Well, You know how I said I wasn't going to Give Nicola up for adoption?"
"Oh my gosh!! No Nina! You can't put Nicola up for adoption!!"
"Chill out Girl!! I'm not giving Nicola up at all!! I adopted her as my own."
"You did?? Wow! What'd Brian say??"
"He was happy. At least he seems happy. He is so sweet with her. It is so cute. He sings her to sleep every night. And since I'm going to be living with him after the tour ends he still will. And I was hoping you'd be her godmother."
"I'd love to be her godmother! She is so adorable!"
***After The Game***
"I'll see you around Nikki!" Nina said hugging Nikki. She couldn't believe she had to say good bye again. She'd see her again tomorrow right before they all left.
Brian handed Nikki the baby knowing she'd want to say good bye to Nicola. She took the baby and kissed her head. She was already asleep. "Bye Nicola." She said handing her back to Brian. "Bye Brian. You take care of Nina and my goddaughter Nicola ok?"
"You know I will!" Brian said smiling. "I'll see you around Nikki." They walked out the door and to Sean's car. Sean had offered them a ride since they didn't have one. And he drove Jackie, Harold and Harold back too.
"See you later Sean." Nikki said hugging him.
"I'll probably see you tomorrow. So later." He said returning the hug then walking to his car. Nikki watched them drive out of the parking lot. Kevin, Natalie, Tim, Jerold Jr. and Anne had already gone back to their hotel. Faith and Hope had left before the end of the game. So the only people left were Jane, Bob, B.J., Leslie, Aaron, Angel, and Nikki.
"Nikki, I wanted to ask you something." Nick said as he came up behind her. She turned to face him and smiled.
"Go ahead Hun. You can ask me anything." She said caressing his cheek.
"I was thinking you could move in with me. Just live here. I'd drive you to your mother's house anytime of the day or night. And it's really close."
She kissed his cheek and said "Sounds prefect!! Thank you sooo much Nick for everything you've done for me. You know that song I was singing earlier in the car? Well that's how I feel. I thank you so much being around. I could always just turn to you and you'd fix everything." He wrapped his arms around her and smiled.
"I love you Nikki." He said right before kissing the top of her head.
"I love you too Nick. You are just way too good to be true!"
"Will you stay here tonight? I know I have to leave tomorrow and I want to be with you as long as possible."
"Sure. I just have to call my mother real quick."
"Ok there is a phone in the living room."
"Ok thanks." She walked over and picked up the phone then dialed her number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Cella, is mom there?"
"Yeah hold on a second."
"Ok," a couple seconds later.
"Hello?"
"Hey mom just calling to say I'm staying with Nick tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Ok. Bye Nichole." With that she hung up the phone and sat on the couch and was surprise to find she had sat in Nick's lap. She smiled and kissed him gently. *Why am I giving this up for my mother?? I've done this all my life! Why should I stay away from Nick to be with her? Nick has been so understanding. Why don't I just go back with him? *
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