Nick hung up the phone with Brian and looked around his lonely hotel room. He couldn't believe he had actually done it. He had thought about it about two months ago for the first time but he swore he wouldn't do it unless things appeared to be un-fixable. It had finally gotten to the point where he couldn't deal with it anymore. He couldn't deal with the silent treatment. The walking on eggshells around each other. They were married, damnit. They weren't supposed to act like they were two strangers living in the same house together. Who happened to have three beautiful children who didn't need to go through all of this. He didn't want to have to do this to them but he couldn't take it anymore.

He pulled a framed picture of his family out of one of his bags. It was taken right around the twins' first birthday. When everything was perfect. He traced their faces carefully with the tip of his finger as tears began to well in his eyes. What happened to his perfect family? Ever since Katelin decided to go to law school right before the start of the last tour. Hell, even since the Backstreet Boys decided to record a new album. His perfect little vision had vanished way back then. He just never would have thought that they couldn't get through it. When did he and Katelin stop being husband and wife and become the strangers that had existed of late?

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The Next Day:

Katelin sighed as she hung up the phone with Jane. She was calling to check up on her children and to see what time she should pick them up. She was actually dreading that moment. To face her in-laws and see their reaction to her fucking up her marriage. She was dreading having to tell her kids that their dad didn't live there anymore. That he wouldn't be coming home. Ever.

Before she could start crying again, she dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower. She glanced at herself in the mirror and almost gasped in horror at what she saw in front of her. The person staring back at her did not at all resemble the person she once was. Her face was pale and sallow. There were permanent bags under her eyes. And her tear-stained cheeks made her look even worse. What the hell had happened? Katelin shook her head of the thoughts. Not wanting to break down again in the middle of her bathroom, she slowly forced herself into the shower and let the hot water soothe her problems.

An hour later, she looked a little better but was definitely not feeling any better. She had just poured herself a glass of orange juice when the doorbell rang, surprising her. Slowly, she made her way to the front door and opened it to find Brian standing on the other side. His face dropped when he saw her and he slowly pulled her into a hug. "Oh Kate. I'm so sorry."

Katelin's shoulders began to shake and she couldn't help but start crying right there in the front doorway to her house. "Why Brian? Why would he leave me? What did I do?"

"Shh," Brian soothed. "Come on. Let's go inside." Brian led her into the living room and sat down next to her on the couch. "I talked to Nick this morning. He told me what happened last night. Just for the record, he doesn't sound much better than you do."

"Good." Katelin sniffled. "I don't want him to be doing better than I am. This is his fault, Brian. His. I'm not the one that gave up on this marriage. He was."

Brian took a deep breath, about to tell Katelin something that was going to break her heart even more than it already was. But it was something that needed to be done. He needed to tell her because he wasn't sure if Nick ever would. "Kate, there's something I need to tell you."

Katelin took one look at Brian's face and knew she was not going to like what she was about to hear. "What is it, Brian?"

"God, this is so hard," he mumbled, more to himself than to her. "Kate, Nick's been seeing someone else."

"What?" she whispered. Out of all the things that had gone wrong in their marriage, she never would have expected that.

"I'm sorry, honey." Brian felt his own eyes start to tear at the expression on her face. "I didn't want to have to tell you this but I wasn't sure if Nick ever would. It's been going on for a while now. Ever since the middle of the tour."

"Who is she?" Katelin questioned, her voice rising in anger. "Damnit Brian, tell me who the hell she is!"

"You don't really know her, Kate," Brian responded. "It's Beth. One of the dancers from the tour." He watched, sadly, as Katelin's expression changed from one of anger and hatred to one of pure sadness. Her face crumbled and she let her head fall into her hands. He blinked back his own tears as he pulled her into his arms and let her cry. "Just let it out, honey. Let it out."

"How could he do this?" Katelin cried. "What do I tell my children, Brian? They're going to want to know why their daddy isn't here anymore and I don't know what to tell them."

"Shhh," Brian said again. "Everything will be okay, Katie. Everything will be okay."

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