Chapter Twelve

Julia sighed as she stepped back onto her own bus. She couldn't help, but wonder what words were exchanged between Nick and Sadie while in that small bathroom. She walked in to see her husband sitting on the couch with their daughter asleep on the floor, Sesame Street still going on the television screen. "Hey," she greeted quietly.

"Hey," he whispered back, extending a hand to her, "What's up?"

She took it and kissed it lightly. "Not much… Just getting over witnessing the lover's quarrel of the year," she rolled her eyes, laughing softly.

He pulled her into his lap. "Worse than ours?" he asked with a small, forced smirk and a gleam in his eye.

"Oh hell yes… much worse. We're peaches and cream right now compared to them. There was even violence," she raised her eyebrows.

"What did he do?" AJ asked his voice rising a bit, "Let me find out…"

"No, no…" she shook her head, "No, Nick would never hurt her. You know that…"

"I know that, but you said violence," AJ said, "I was just making sure he didn't do anything stupid."

"Well, he did do something stupid."

"Will you stop being so vague?" he asked getting anxious for the gossip. Sometimes, he was worse than a woman.

She giggled, "I knew you were dying to know! Okay… well… Nick threw a glass against the wall. And then when he went to pick it up, he cut himself. He was being all babyish and stuff… It was actually kinda cute."

AJ chuckled, "Leave it to Nick." He rolled his eyes, "So, are you okay? You seem kinda… drained."

"Yeah… I'm fine," she waved it off snuggling hard onto his lap, "I'm just worried. Even though the accident broke the ice for them, I have a feeling that it didn't work out very well." She shrugged, "I'm just paranoid."

He wrapped his arms around her, "And that’s one of the reasons I love you." He smiled, kissing her forehead.

"Thank you. I'd thank you properly, but… I'm tired… we have a kid in here… and I'm tired," she grinned, kissing him.

He returned the kiss. When it broke he stated, "Later."

"Count on it," she growled.

He groaned, "Okay, stop before you start something we can't finish."

"Sure…" she smiled, "Let's go to bed?"

"Okay, but you'll have to get off me so we can put Rory to bed," AJ answered with a smirk.

Julia groaned, "Fine…" She rolled off and playfully pushed his butt as he got up, "Hurry."

He smiled and lifted the child in his arms and laid her gently in her crib, and smiled at her. She's perfect. After a moment or two, he turned and looked at Julia, with an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

"What's that look for?" Julia asked, "You can't be too happy. I already told you, you're not getting any tonight."

Alex chuckled. "Oh yeah," his smile fell for a second, "will I wake up to your beautiful face in the morning?"

"Um…" she looked at him funny, "Most likely…"

"Then I can be happy!" he smiled, "Come on, let’s get to bed."

Julia chuckled a little bit, "Oh God… I can't believe it… but I STILL fall for your corny pick up lines. Even when you're not picking me up…"

"Its cuz I'm so sexy!" he stated with a chuckle.

"No, it's because I can't see through them," she pursed her lips. "I'm blinded by love," she shot back dully.

He smiled, "That's how I like them!"

"Shoo, Romeo!" she pointed to the bedroom, "Juliet's tired as hell."

***

Nick woke in the bunk and sighed. It was so strange sleeping alone. He hadn't done it in years. He sighed and stretched, hitting his hands on the wall. He hopped out of the bunk, walking to the living room area and putting on his Playstation. He hastily started up a game, not knowing how it would be when Sadie woke up.

Sadie quickly dried her eyes as she heard Nick make his way to the entertainment center. She'd been awake for a while and had been in the bathroom freshening up. She quietly walked out and opened the refrigerator, pulling out the orange juice. She refused to look at him. She might break down. Last night had not been easy on her… even after she'd went to bed.

Nick looked at her and sighed before looking back at the screen to see he'd killed himself. He didn't know what to say to her. So, he just kept at his game.

Suddenly, Sadie's cell phone rang. That hardly ever happened unless it was her… She grabbed for it, "Hello?"

"Hi Honey!" the cheery voice called, "How are you?"

She looked at Nick with wide eyes, "Um… Good, Daddy. How are you?"

Nick looked up at her, catching her gaze momentarily. He saw the sadness there before he made himself look away.

She sighed in frustration, "He's… fine… Daddy… No… Yeah…" Why did he have to ask so many questions about Nick?

She did a double take, "What? Oh, uh… no… I don't think so, Daddy. Why? Well… We're on tour. No… Yes, we have a break before coming home, yeah…" She shook her head and felt close to tears. She looked at Nick helplessly.

Nick looked back to her. He wanted to take the phone and talk to her father, but for some reason he didn't think he should. He, once again, went back to his game and tried to block it all out.

"We have a few days off in like… two weeks." Sadie's lip trembled and she gave a little whine, "No… We can't, Dad. I'm sorry. Tell Mom and Aunt Jenny, I'm sorry." She stared straight at Nick, "They'll have to wait for another time to meet him…"

"Why, Honey?" her father asked, "I'm sure we can work around your schedule…"

"Why?" she spat, "Because right now, I don't have a boyfriend." She cursed quietly. "I'll call you later," and hung up.

Nick felt that damn lump reach his throat again. "Sadie…" he started.

"Don't," she held her hand up, "My Aunt and Uncle wanted to know when we could make it to their house in New York so they could meet this ‘Nick’ I've been exclaiming about."

He looked down at the controller, "I'm sorry."

"So am I…" she sighed.

"We can still go. You can visit and I can meet them," he offered, keeping his eyes on the controller, "Unless, you don’t want to."

"I don't want to," she stated, "They wanted to meet my boyfriend. Not a guy I know."

Nick just nodded, "Okay. Whatever you want."

Sadie lowered her eyes and tried to make conversation, "I guess we stopped at a rest stop a while ago. I think the drivers wanted to sleep."

"Most likely. Um… We should be getting to the venue soon. Then we have sound check. Are you going to take pictures during sound check?" he asked, not knowing if he wanted her there or not.

"No," she said slowly, "I only take pictures during the shows. I'll be there though…" She quickly added, "Unless you don't want me there, which is understandable…"

Nick looked up at her, "Why wouldn’t I want you there?"

She shrugged, "I don't really have a place there. I was going to go just to see what it's like and… keep you company. But now that we're… There's no point, ya know?"

"You can still go and see what it’s like," he offered, not really knowing what to say.

Her heart dropped. That really wasn't what she wanted to hear. "Sure, I'll come," she whispered, wanting to wrap her arms around him.

"Great. I love you," he said, unpausing his game and going back to it. They HAD decided the day before that ‘I love you’s were allowed.

Sadie's head shot up in surprise. Had he just said…? Right out of the blue? She shook her head and snickered distastefully. She stalked back into the bedroom.

Nick just sighed and anxiously awaited the end of this three month hell he'd put himself in.

Sadie peeked her top half around the door, naked from the waist up. She cleared her throat to get his attention.

His head shot up, "Ye… yeah?"

She smiled softly, "I love you too, Nicky." Then snuck back inside.

He just smiled and finished his game.

***

AJ woke up, groaning as he noticed Julia wasn't beside him. "JULE!" he called, frustrated.

Julia's stomach lurched again and more of nothing came out of her. "Damn…" she muttered as she heard AJ calling for her. She'd been hoping to get to the bathroom and back to bed before he woke up. She coughed again before she vomited.

"Julia?" he asked, sitting up. He heard retching noises, "Honey, are you okay?" Rory was still sleeping peacefully in her crib.

She couldn't answer. She was in the middle of a gag.

AJ quickly made his way to the bathroom and didn't hesitate to step inside. He kneeled beside his wife and rubbed her back, "You're sick, huh? I'm sorry, Hun…"

She just looked at him. She was almost done. Her stomach churned, and the last of it emptied out of her. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and flushed the toilet. "What are you sorry for?" she asked as she put the top down on the toilet and sat.

He laughed, "Well, I don't like seeing you sick, Baby."

"Oh," she answered with a smirk. "Don't laugh at me."

"I'm not," he chuckled, "Were you feeling okay last night?"

She nodded, "Yeah, and I feel better now. I had a drink on Nick's bus last night, it must have not agreed with me."

"Gotcha," he winked and kissed her forehead, "I'd kiss you good morning, but I don't appreciate puke breath."

"And you think I wanted to kiss you with morning breath?" she asked, grabbing her toothbrush and brushing her teeth.

***

Everyone was gathered by the elevators on the 16th floor of the hotel for instructions on who would be rooming where.

"AJ, Julia, and Rory, room 1601," Kevin read off the list, "Nick and Sadie, room 1602. Adjoins with AJ, Julia, and Rory." Kevin handed them the keys letting them leave the area.

Nick walked into the hotel room, bag in hand and opened the door for Sadie.

"Thank you," she told him softly and walked in. She set her suitcase down by the dresser and went to get situated. She stopped dead in her tracks and she shook her head. Why couldn't anything just work out for them?

Nick sighed. "I'll take the couch," he insisted, noticing what she did.

Sadie stared at the king sized bed. The one kind sized bed, as in singular. One. Not two. One. "That's not fair," she spoke.

"Yes, it is," he stated.

"How?" she rolled her eyes.

"Because I said so," he said, "Because Brian raised me to be a gentleman. Take the bed."

Sadie smiled lightly, "That's sweet, Nick." She sat down, soothing the pillow.

He just smiled softly at her and sat on the couch. ‘Damn, this is as hard as a rock,’ he thought as he closed his eyes, leaning back.

She noticed his distress and stood to walk over and sit down next to him. "Not very comfy," she scrunched her nose.

He chuckled, "I've slept on worse."

"Yeah… so have I. It's called the floor, which is your only other option." She placed a hand on his knee, rubbing lightly. Noticing what she was doing, she pulled it away. "Um…" she started.

He blushed. "I'll be fine," he choked out.

She huffed, "Damn it, Nick… We're adults. We can sleep in the same bed… at least for this time." Her voice forced the last few words, "We can ask for two beds in the next hotel."

Nick looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You sure?" he asked gratefully.

"Yes," she nodded, looking into his eyes. She wanted to kiss him so bad.

He sighed and looked away at the clock. This was going to be a true test of self-control. "Sound check's in an hour,” he stated. That meant an hour of sitting here… with Sadie… and not doing anything.

She blinked, somewhat disappointed. A part of her believed that they'd make up and discover that this was a dumb idea. But she could tell… Nick actually had his heart set on this, praying to God that it would help. "Great," she whispered.

"Hm?" he asked, looking back at her, keeping his hands folded in his lap.

"Nothing," she stood, stretching.

He reached out and tickled her sides, almost involuntarily. Then cursed himself for it.

Sadie yelped and turned around to face him, "Don’t."

"I know," he looked back at his hands. He stood, "I'm gonna head to the vending machine. Want something?"

"No, don't go…" she begged, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, Nick."

He just smiled at her, "I know that too. I'll be right back though. I want a can of pop. You want?"

Sadie blushed and glanced down, "No thanks… I'll get something later."

Nick couldn't resist. He stepped towards her and lifted her head with his index finger. Lightly, he barely brushed his lips on hers before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

She opened her eyes with a gasp and only had time to watch the door slam. "Damn you," she mumbled, sitting back on the couch, "I should have made him sleep on this thing. We'll never make it through the night."