"I think I've picked a nanny," Brian told his cousin and bandmate Kevin Richardson.
"What's she like?" Kevin asked.
"Well, she's very sweet and qualified and she's really good with Caitlin. Caitlin loves her," Brian said.
"How old is she and what does she look like?" AJ McLean, another one of Brian's bandmates asked. Being seventeen, AJ thought with his hormones instead of his brain most of the time.
"She's nineteen," Brian answered.
"And...?" AJ asked Brian. "Is she a babe?"
Brian rolled his eyes. "God, AJ, is that all you think about?"
AJ smiled, his big brown eyes lighting up. "What else is there?"
Brian shook his head. "Yes, okay. She's very pretty."
"You gonna get with her?" AJ asked.
"AJ...." Kevin warned.
AJ's eyes widened in realization. "Bri, I'm sorry. I didn't even think...."
"It's okay, AJ."
The phone rang. Lily picked it up on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Lily?"
"Yes?"
"This is Brian."
"Oh! Hi, Brian!" she said, cheerfully.
Brian smiled at her perkiness. "Hey, Lily. How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm fine...I wanted to call and tell you that you got the job," Brian said.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, thank you!"
Brian smiled again. “No problem. We’ll pick you and your sister up on our way to the airport tomorrow. You don’t need to pack a lot of stuff, just a few clothes and stuff.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lily said.
“All right. Bye, Lily.”
“Bye, Brian.”
"Hurry up, Vicky!" Lily called to her sister. "They're gonna be here any minute."
"Coming!" Vicky called from her room.
A few seconds later, Vicky walked into the living room where Lily was waiting. Vicky was wearing a black halter dress with her black leather jacket and boots.
"You're not gonna be very comfortable in that," Lily told her. Lily was dressed in a gray baby tee and jeans. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
Vicky just shrugged. "So, what are these guys like?"
"Well, I've only met Brian," Lily said.
"What's he like?"
"He's great. He's a total sweetheart."
"Is he cute?" Vicky asked with a smile.
Lily smiled and nodded. "He's gorgeous!"
The doorbell rang. Lily went and answered it. She smiled when she saw Brian standing there with Caitlin in his arms. Behind him were four guys ranging in age from fifteen to twenty-four. "Hi, guys! Come on in," Lily said cheerfully. The guys stepped inside. Lily immediately went over to Brian. She smiled at the baby in his arms. "Hi, Caitlin. How are you today?" she asked. Caitlin giggled, causing Lily to do the same. Lily turned to the other guys. "Hi. I'm Lily Andrews."
"I'm Kevin Richardson," the oldest one said. He was tall with dark hair and green eyes.
"I'm Howie Dorough," the shortest guy said. He had short, curly black hair and brown eyes.
"I'm Nick Carter," the youngest guy said. He was just a bit taller than Howie. He had blonde hair and blue eyes.
The last guy stepped up to Lily. He had short dark hair and big brown eyes with long eyelashes. "I'm AJ McLean," he said in his raspy voice. He kissed her hand and then looked up at her. "You can call me Alex."
Vicky entered the room in time to see AJ's introduction. She found it funny and laughed out loud. "That was so lame!"
Lily and the other guys stifled a laugh. AJ looked at Vicky with an annoyed look on his face. "Who are you?"
"I'm Vicky, Lily's sister," she responded. She was still smiling, but now it was for a completely different reason. She thought AJ was extremely good looking.
AJ walked over to where Vicky stood, checking her out as he walked. He liked what he saw. He held his hand out, and Vicky reached to shake it. Before she could, he pulled away and laughed.
Now it was Vicky's turn to look annoyed. "Oh, that was mature."
AJ smiled. "Yep." Vicky rolled her eyes. "I'm AJ," he said.
"Aw... Don't I get to call you Alex?" Vicky asked in a fake hurt voice.
AJ looked at her and smiled. "Maybe...if you're good," he said, raising his eyebrows a bit. Before Vicky could respond, AJ turned around and walked back over to the other guys.
"Are you girls ready to go?" Brian asked.
"Yeah," Lily said.
"If you'll take Caitlin I'll take your bags for you," he told her.
"Sure," she said, taking the baby from him. "Thanks."
Brian smiled at her. "No problem." Lily smiled and walked over to Vicky. Brian stood, staring after her. A thousand thoughts ran through his head. Thoughts of Lily and thoughts of Rachel, all jumbled together.
"You're staring, Bri," Nick quietly told him.
Brian snapped out of his reverie. "Huh?"
Nick smiled a bit. "You've been staring at Lily for the past few minutes."
Brian blushed. "I was?"
Nick laughed. "Yeah...Don't worry, no one noticed but me."
Brian let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Nick."
"No problem."
"Why do I have to sit by him?" Vicky whined.
"I don't wanna sit by you either," AJ said.
"Would you both just sit down and shut up before I smack you?!" Kevin exclaimed.
Vicky and AJ looked at Kevin and then went to their seats. They were in the first class section of the airplane. The seats were arranged in rows of three. Kevin, Howie, and Nick had the first row. Brian, Caitlin, and Lily had the second. That left Vicky and AJ in the row behind them.
AJ took his seat by the window. Vicky stood in the isle with her arms crossed. "I want the seat by the window!" she said.
AJ looked at her. "Too bad."
"Please?!" she begged.
"No."
"Ugh! Fine!" she exclaimed, dropping down in the seat next to him. “Big baby," she muttered.
"Brat," he muttered back.
"Loser."
"Freak."
"God! You are so annoying!" Vicky exclaimed.
AJ smiled. "You know you love me."
Vicky made a sour face." Whatever."
"Yeah, you want my body."
Vicky laughed. "What body?"
"Come on. You know I'm buff."
Vicky laughed rather loudly. "Yeah, right."
Brian appeared over the seat in front of them. "Can you guys keep it down? Caitlin's trying to sleep."
"Sorry, Bri," AJ said.
"Sorry," Vicky said.
Brian nodded and turned back around. AJ looked at Vicky. "Now you got us in trouble."
"Me?! I'm sure your big mouth had nothing to do with it."
"I don't have a big mouth," AJ said.
"You do, too," Vicky replied.
"Hey, that's my arm rest!" AJ exclaimed.
"It is not!"
"It is, too! Yours is over on that side!" AJ exclaimed.
The sound of a baby crying silenced them. "Uh oh..." AJ said.
Brian appeared over the seat in front of them again, a very annoyed look on his face. "Thanks a lot guys," he said before turning back around.
Lily laughed at the expression on Brian's face. He looked majorly stressed. "It'll be okay, Brian," she said, patting him on the shoulder.
"But if she doesn't get her nap, she'll be fussy all afternoon," he said.
"Well, why don't you try to get her to go back to sleep?"
"I'll try," he said, picking Caitlin up out of her car seat. He held her in his arms and softly began to sing to her. "Like a flower to a tree, that's how close I wanna be to your heart. Like the stars to the night and daytime is to light, we'll never part. I want you to be the only thing that I see. Cause I believe it's our destiny. Just to be close, just to be close. It's the only thing that I wanna do..." By the time Brian finished singing, Caitlin was asleep. He carefully put her back in the car seat. He looked up at Lily.
She smiled at him. "You have a beautiful voice."
He blushed a bit. "Thank you."
"Um...I want to apologize for the way my sister is acting. She's usually not like that," Lily said.
"It's okay. AJ's egging her on. He should know better."
"We will be landing in five minutes," the pilot said over the intercom.
