"Can I get you guys anything to drink?"

"Sure." They all said.

"Do you have a basketball net?" Brian inquired.

"Yep, there's one in the backyard at the end of the driveway."

"See I told you." He said to Mickey with a big grin on his face. She stuck her tongue out at him.

They stayed at Jo's for about half an hour and then the four of them decided to go out. Brian drove them past the spot where the Backstreet Market used to be. He was so happy to be back home and around familiar things. He probably would have been happier if he was in Lexington but he looked ok. They drove around Orlando and checked things out. Some people recognized him but everything seemed to go ok. He drove a dark green Jeep with the liscense plate Brok. So anybody who knew of the Backstreet Boys knew it was him.

Brian wanted to go say hi to Howie's family so they drove over to Mr. and Mrs. Dorough's home. Mrs. Dorough took care of Brian and Kevin when they got home sick and missed their own mother's. Ever since Caroline died, Brian liked to go see Howie's family more. They loved having people over so they wouldn't mind that four of them were showing up. They parked in the driveway and Brian waved to the fans who were out front. Howie's mother must have heard the screams from the fans because when the grils turned around there was a lady standing in the front doorway.

"Hi sweetie!" She said giving Brian a big hug.

"Hey ma!" He said, hugging her back. "This is Mickey, Jenn and Jo. Girls this is Howie's mom."

"Hi Mrs. Dorough." They said.

"Gee, call me Paula girls. I'm not the official type of person." She told them. "So you're the lucky one huh? Out with three beautiful girls. That's always been Brian." Turning her focus back on the girls.

"Oh really, so Bri is the girl getter is he?" Jenn asked, trying to get ammunition for her little competition with him.

"Oh my gosh yes. For as long as I've known him he's been a chick magnet." All three of the girls laughed. This wasn't something they expected to hear from someone's mother.

"Uh Paula, let's skip the embarrassing stories for now ok?"

"Alright dear." She said heading towards the kitchen. "Howard's gone to check out things with the condos. I'm making some of his favorite things though."

"Man he's spoiled, I don't know why he ever moved out." Brian joked. "So how are things? Are you being good or are you still inviting fans in and showing them the funny pictures?"

"Shh, don't tell Howard but sometimes I go out and talk with the fans." She answered, then she turned towards the girls. "He doesn't like it when I do that. He's afraid I'm going to embarrass him or something."

"We can't stay long today because Jenn and Mickey have to go over to Denise's for super. I can come back tomorrow or something."

"Dear, you're home on vacation. You don't want to be spending you're time off with me. Go have fun and show these girls a good time."

"Alright then Paula. Well we're going to be heading out then. I will stop by before we go back out on the road."

"Ok then. It was nice to meet you girls and I'm sure I'll see you again."

"It was nice meeting you too." The girls said as they headed towards the jeep.

"She is so sweet!" Mickey said as they climbed in the jeep.

"Yeah, she's always been like that. She loves people, she's really good with the fans."

"That's so cool."

"Hey Jo, I have to take these two back to AJ's. Did you want to go home or would you like to come out with me and Kev? I have no idea what we're doing but you're welcome to come along."

"I don't want intrude." She said sincerely.

"You won't be intruding. I can't gaurantee it'll be an eventful night but hey it's better then sitting home alone right? Unless you have plans?"

"Nothing that can't be put off." She said.

"Ok then, it's settled, I'll kidnap you for the night." He then looked over at Mickey. "Are you guys doing anything after super?"

"I have no idea. You'll have to ask AJ."

"God, AJ doesn't know what's going on ever. I'll call you guys later on or you guys can call me."

"Ok." Mickey said and then her and Jenn got out of the car and Jo hopped into the front seat. "I'll probably see you later tonight. Sorry for leaving ya but Denise asked us yesterday."

"It's ok. I'm just so glad that I got a chance to see you at all! Have a good time tonight and I'll see you later."

"Alrighty. See ya Bri!"

"Buh bye!"

Mickey and Jenn looked at each other as the went through the front door. They weren't sure what to expect. Laura and AJ were sitting on the couch cuddled together watching a movie. Mickey was kind of relieved and by the look on Jenn's face, she was too. The two of them moved into the living room and sat down. Jenn sat down on a lazyboy chair that was on one side of the couch and Mickey sat in the chair that was on the other side of the couch. It was one of those circle chairs that has a wooden frame and a big circle couch. You could place it at the angle you wanted it and the just snuggle up in it. Mickey loved chairs like this!!

"So you got to meet Jo?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, she's so cool. She's going to stay with Brian while we go to Denise's. They want us to call them when we're done."

"So what did you do?" She continued to probe.

"Well, we went to Jo's then we went driving around for a while and then we went to Howie's mom's house."

"How's Paula?" AJ asked.

"She seems good I guess. She's so sweet!!"

"Yeah, that's Paula." He said thinking of his friend's mother. "What time is it? Shit!! We should get going, I didn't realize it was so late."

"So....What did you do?" Jenn asked Laura as AJ went to get the keys to his truck. Laura just grinned and turned red. Thankfully for her, AJ showed up again.

"Let's go girls." AJ said, heading outside.

"I'll tell you later." Laura mouthed to Mickey and Jenn. Mickey and Jenn just looked at each other and smiled.

"You guys don't mind going to my mom's house for super do you?"

"No way!" Jenn said. "I really like your mom. She's been so good to us right from the time we met her."

"Yeah, she's good at picking out who will be real to us. If she thinks that you're an honest person then she'll show you lots of respect. On the other hand if she thinks that you're just out to get to know us cause of who we are then...watch out." He said looking at Mickey and Jenn in the rearview mirror. "Nobody is allowed to hurt her baby or her Boys!"

"That's so sweet." Laura said looking over at him. He looked at her and smiled. Something had definately gone on and Mickey couldn't wait to find out!

Denise was waiting for them when they showed up. She apologized for it not being a fancy dinner or anything. The girls reassured her that it was ok. She had cooked a roast beef and all of them enjoyed it very much. After they ate they headed into the living room and sat around and talked a bit. The girls would giggle at the pictures that were on the walls. She had framed some drawings he did when he was younger, he signed them 'Alex'. It was so cute. She pulled out the photo albums and told him to be quiet when he protested. She figured that they should know who he really was so they could treat him like a normal person. After all that's what he wanted. How could they do that if all they knew was what other fans knew. The three girls really liked Denise. After staying and chatting for a couple of hours, AJ called Brian to find out where he was. He and Jo were at Kev's so AJ told him they'd be there in a little bit. They all thanked Denise for a wonderful time and headed out to the truck.

"Oh Alex you were so cute!" Mickey teased.

"You realize that she's going to call you that all the time now?" Laura said to him. "She has this thing with calling people by there full names. Matt was Matthew to her, she calls Frankie Francine. But there's a story to that one."

"Maybe you should call him Alexander." Jenn offered. "Or maybe Alexander James."

"I don't mind being called Alex so you can't bug me there." He said, feeling happy that Mickey couldn't pick on him.

"So what are Brian and Jo up to?" Laura asked.

"Oh, sorry I didn't tell you. They're at Kevin's so that's where we are headed. I have no idea what they're doing."

"Well, it doesn't matter, hanging out is cool."

AJ just walked in when they arrived at Kevin's. Kevin, Jo and Brian were in the living room just bumming around. They were watching Darma and Greg. Kevin and Brian were lounging on the sofa and Jo was sitting with her legs up on a chair. They all looked quite comfortable and in no hurry to move. AJ went into the kitchen and grabbed a coke for himself, Laura, Jenna and Mickey. When he came back in the living room the four of them squeezed to find a seat. Kevin's place wasn't nearly as big as AJ's but he liked it. He wasn't in to the extravagance as much as AJ. AJ and Laura sat on the couch, Jenn sat in another chair and Mickey sat on the floor in front of Jo's chair.

"I can go get you another chair if you want Mick?" Kevin offered.

"No, I'm ok like this. I like sitting on the floor sometimes."

"I was talking to Nick tonight Mickey." Brian mentioned.

"Oh yeah, you miss him already huh?" Mickey teased.

"He might come up here tomorrow. I think he misses you."

"Ok, whatever!" Mickey exclaimed. "He misses his family so much so he's going to spend his time with them."

"Maybe not. I think everyone's going to travel with us for a bit. Bob and Jane want to spend some more time with each other so they'll bring all the kids with them. So he'll get to see a lot of his family."

"Yeah, but he won't have his bed and stuff." She protested.

"What are you afraid of?"

"What do mean?"

"Don't give me that innocent thing. You can't admit to liking him and you can't admit that he likes you."

"I never said I didn't like him plus how can you say that he does like me? And what difference does it make?"

"I just think you're afraid of something. He's not going to hurt you." "You don't know that."

"Ah-ha! So you are afraid of something!"

"Uh, so what would you guys like to do tonight?" Laura asked, she could see that Brian was walking on thin ice with Mickey and she didn't want a huge fight to ensue.

"Do you guys want to go play pool at a hall or something?" AJ offered.

"Sounds good to me." Kevin replied. Jenn nodded in agreement and they just looked at Brian and Mickey. They both agreed as well so everyone got up and headed out. They took Brian and AJ's vehicles because they couldn't fit into one. Mickey was wishing she had her Blazer here, she wasn't sure who she wanted to go with. Both Brian and AJ could pick on her and she wasn't in the mood for either of them right now. AJ must have read her mind.

"Mick, how about you take my truck so the girls can go together and the three of us will go in Bri's Jeep." He said, tossing her the keys.

"Wow, you sure you can trust my driving?" She said jokingly.

"Hey if you can drive in downtown Toronto then I'll definately trust you to drive around here. Jo, you know where it is?"

"Yep, I can tell her how to get there."

"Great, we'll see you guys there. We probably won't go straight there so don't freak out if we're not there when you show up."

"No problem, we might just drive around for a bit and go to the store." Mickey told them.

"Alrighty." AJ said crawling into Brian's Jeep.

"Mickey," Brian said coming over to her. "Look, I didn't mean to upset you or anything. Just remember that Nick is nobody but Nick. He likes you but he's scared too."

"Thanks Brian. I didn't mean to get mad, it's just...."

"No need to explain. We'll see you at the pool hall."

The four girls jumped into AJ's truck and Mickey started it up. It was a little different from hers but she liked it! She couldn't believe that she was here driving AJ's 'silver bullet', she didn't think he would let anyone near it. She checked through the cd's and asked the others which one they would like to listen too. They all decided on Dru Hill.

"Don't put it up too loud Mick, I want to hear from Laura." Jenn reminded Mickey.

"Oh, that's right. So Laura, spill." Laura had a huge smile on her face. "Oh my God, you slept with him didn't you!!!"

"I wanna know how things went with Brian and Jo earlier." Said Laura, trying to change the subject.

"Don't worry, we'll get to that too." Mickey said, not letting Jo off the hook now.

"Did you sleep with him while we were still on the road or was it just at his house?" Jenn asked, getting into this.

"My God guys, I didn't even say that I slept with him."

"She slept with him." Mickey, Jo and Jenn all said at the same time.

"It was magical. He was so good about everything."

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!! I told you!!! I knew it!!" Mickey exclaimed. She pulled over into a parking lot of a 7-11. "I'm going in to get a drink and a bag of chips or something, then I'm going to come out here and you are going to tell us everything."

"I want something too, it's like you can't go to a movie without getting popcorn."

"Oh my goodness you guys!" Laura didn't really mind how her friends were going on. She wanted to tell them so bad!!

"Hey, it's been a while for me and it's been never for Jenn, and I'm not sure about Jo. Anyhow, it's just good to know someone is getting it!!" They all lauged. "I love 7-11, I think this is the coolest part of the States. I wish we still had them."

"Change the subject quick enough Mick?" Jo asked.

"No, I just needed to put in my two cents. This is an awesme store. Now we can go back to talking about Laura getting boinked by AJ."

"Mickey!!" Laura yelled as they walked into the store. All four of the girls were laughing and having a good time.