Nick curled himself up into a little ball on the bed in his hotel room as a tear rolled down his cheek. He was still in shock after what had happened with Lex. How could she have done that to him? How could she have hurt him like this? Nick had loved her and trusted her with his life, and now she had gone and married someone else. I hate her! Nick thought angrily as a new wave of tears broke over him. His face softened as he thought of the last time he had seen her, when they had held each other and kissed and made love. No, I don't hate her, he thought sadly. I love her.

Nick's head snapped up as he heard knocking on his door. 'Oh great, probably some fans coming to torment me,' he thought as he curled up even tighter. Just go away... he begged silently as he rested his chin on his knees.

"Nick, are you in there? It's me, Kevin!" Kevin's slightly muffled voice said from outside.

Okay, it wasn't a fan, but Nick wasn't exactly in the mood to be psychoanalyzed by Kevin. "I don't want to talk!" Nick called back.

"No, I have some really good news!" Kevin replied.

Nick sighed. Good news, maybe that would stop him from getting progressively more and more depressed like he was right now. "All right, just a second!"

Outside, Katie was so nervous that she was trembling. "I'm scared, Kevin. What if he doesn't like me? What if he remembers me differently?" she whispered.

Kevin smiled and shook his head. "He's going to love you no matter what, Katie. You're his sister."

Katie returned the smile and was lost in his green eyes until the door slowly opened, and a tall man, about Kevin's height with blond hair and blue eyes exactly like her own, answered it. Her breath started coming in short gasps as she realized that this was her brother.

"Nick, I've got a surprise for you," Kevin said, gesturing towards Katie.

Nick looked at Katie for a second, not realizing who she was at first. She slowly turned up to make eye contact with him, and he gasped, recognizing the blue eyes that were so much like his own, he could have been looking into a mirror. "Katie?" he whispered.

She nodded slowly.

"KATIE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, pulling her into his arms for a huge hug.

She pulled away quickly, almost as if she was afraid of him, and he looked at her in surprise. "Nick, I...you're Nick, right?"

Tears started to sting Nick's eyes again. "Of course I'm Nick. Katie, what's wrong with you? Don't you remember me?"

"No!" she returned, her body starting to rack with sobs.

Nick looked desperately to Kevin, who silently mouthed 'amnesia' over Katie's head. Nick's jaw hung open as he looked back at Katie, who was staring at the floor as she cried. He reached out and lifted her chin to look into her eyes again. "I'm sorry...I didn't know. Please don't cry," he begged.

She sniffled and looked at him as her sobs gradually thinned out. "So you're...you're my little brother?"

Nick smiled warmly and nodded. "I'm Nick."

Katie shakily returned the smile for a moment before rushing into his arms and burying her face in his chest as she cried again, but this time it was out of happiness at finally finding her family. Nick was resting his chin on the top of her head and crying just as hard as she was, and Kevin felt a tear roll down his own cheek as well as he watched the two of them embrace. After a moment, he got the feeling that Nick wanted some time alone with his sister and tapped the two of them on the shoulder.

"I'd better get going. But Katie, it was nice meeting you, and Nick, I'll see you tomorrow at the studio," Kevin said.

Nick let go of his sister to quickly hug his friend. "Thanks so much, man. I owe you big time."

Kevin shook his head. "It was my pleasure," he replied, his eyes locked on Katie. She blushed and looked away. Kevin took this opportunity to hand Nick a piece of paper and point to it and then Katie, signifying that he wanted Nick to give it to her for him.

Nick nodded and took it. "Thanks again."

"Welcome. Bye. Bye, Katie."

She looked up. "Bye, Kevin. Thank you so much."

"Any time," Kevin replied, waving before he stepped out of the room and disappeared down the hall.

Nick closed the door behind him and turned back to his sister with a grin.

"Well, we have a lot to catch up on, huh?" Katie realized.

"Yeah, but...I think I should call Mom and Dad first. And B.J., and Aaron, and Angel, and Leslie," Nick said with a grin.

Katie frowned. "Who are all of them?"

"Our brothers and sisters," Nick explained.

"Oh...wow," Katie remarked. She frowned uneasily. "Uh, Nick?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but...would you mind if we waited to tell them? I think that would be a little too much for one day," she pointed out.

Nick smacked his forehead. "Right, I'm sorry."

Katie shook her head. "It's okay...this is just going to take some getting used to for me."

Nick nodded. "I know. But we really should tell them soon, because they miss you just as much as I do—or did."

Katie frowned. "You mean...you still think about me? It's been ten years."

"Of course we do," Nick said. "We loved you, and still love you so much, and you just disappeared. Of course we think about you," he replied as if the question was silly. "Come on, let's sit down," he suggested, taking her hand and pulling her over to sit on the bed with him. "Are you hungry? I'm starving!" he said before she could answer. "Room service sound good to you?"

Katie laughed and nodded. She had only known her little brother for five minutes, and she already loved him to death and thought he was the cutest thing in the world. "What do you eat?"

"Anything," he replied honestly. "You?"

"Me too," she agreed. "It must be in our blood."

Nick laughed and reached for the phone. "Well, I'm in the mood for some ice cream."

"Ooh, that sounds good. I want some too."

"What kind?" he asked eagerly.

"Chocolate chip cookie dough," she declared.

Nick screwed up his face into a frown. "Ew, I hate chocolate chip cookie dough. I like...mint chocolate chip."

Katie shrugged. "Nah...pistachio?"

"That stuff is gross," Nick replied. "Cookies and cream?"

Katie clapped her hands. "Now you're talking!"

"All right!" Nick exclaimed eagerly. He picked up the phone and dialed room service. "Hello? Yeah, I'd like a pint of cookies and cream ice cream delivered to room 1305, please..."


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