***Brian's Car***
Brian smiled to himself as he drove his black BMW to the airport. Some how when he called Leighanne last night she had pretty much forgiven him for lying. He couldn't have been happier. 'Yes I could, I would be happier if Nicola would hear me out. I would be happy if Shawn didn't hate me.'
***FLASHBACK***
"Shawn, I'm glad to see you." Brian said opening the door and welcoming Shawn in.
"Listen Old Man, I just want to make sure you knew what a jerk you are. I can't believe you did that shit to Marie. You never even went to find her!!"
"Shawn I can explain!"
"No save your breath, I don't want to have anything to do with you. Pops thinks I am over here to listen to your B.s. I only came because he insisted. But thanks to you I lost the only girl I have ever really cared about!" he ranted loudly.
"What do you mean LOST her????" Brian asked worriedly.
"She is my 2nd cousin you idiot! Seeing as you are her stupid father. Now if you will excuse me! I am leaving now."
"Wait Shawn!" Brian said grabbing his arm.
"No STUFF IT!" He hissed shaking Brian off his arm angrily.
***End Of FlashBack***
'Yes, this morning was rough. But I am going to slove this. I will not lose Nicola twice. I just can't let it happen.' he thought pulling into a parking place in the airport. 'Just in time.' he grinned. He made his way inside and found the gate where Leigh was supposed to meet him. He stood there for a while with his hands in his pockets as he waited.
"Bri!!" Leigh called as she got into the terminal.
"Leigh!" he practically ran to her and scooped her up in to his arms. "I missed you!!" he said kissing her cheek.
"I missed you too Bri. Where are the kids?"
"Well I couldn't convince Devon to get out of bed and so that made Brad want to stay and Mariah just said she would wait until you got home. I think she was giving me a little time with you alone. She is so smart Leigh. She is so much like you."
"Well Bri let's get going home. Old man." she laughed wondering when he was going to put her down.
"Ok well let me take your bags." he said as he set her down.
***Later***
"Leighanne, come here babe." Brian called from their bedroom. Leighanne walked in looking slightly worried.
"What's wrong Bri?"
"Nothing, I want to show you something." he said as he walked over to his book case and pushed it away from the wall revealing a door that looked like a closet.
"what's that?"
"The room." he opened the door and felt as if he were stepping back into the past.
***Flashback***
"Thanks for helping me with this guys. Nina is going to love it so much!" Brian said as he looked around the room. They had just painted the walls with rainbows and clouds. They had also replaced the drawer pulls with new ones that were little rainbows. Kristin had helped them by picking out crib sheets and other decorations to go in the room.
"No problem cous. You know we all love Nicola too." Kevin said grinning as he looked around the room too.
"Yeah, I was happy to do it. It helped me start thinking about our baby's room." Kristin smiled.
***End of Flashback***
"Brian??? BRIAN???" Leigh was right in his face shaking him and almost yelling.
"What?? Huh??"
"Jeez! You scared me Bri. I thought you were having a heart attack or something." she said wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm sorry Leigh, I was just thinking."
"Is This the girl?" Leigh asked holding a picture of a young girl and Brian dancing on tour.
"Yeah, that was Nina." he said sadly. Leigh turned around and opened up a drawer that was filled with pictures. One of them caught her eye. It was of Brian, his parents, Nina and a small baby. Brian had a look of sheer joy with his arm wrapped around Nina and cradling the baby in the other. Jackie stood next nina and Harold next to Brian. Brian came up next to her to see what she was looking at. "Oh, that was when we were in Kentucky. Baker took the picture."
"Bri, will you explain to me what happened?"
"I can try." he said solemly.
"Ok, well take your time." she said realizing how sentitive he was going to feel about the topic.
"In 1999 we were headed out on tour and Fatima decided to audition dancers. Nikki, Nina, Kelly, Natalie, and Andrea were the dancers selected. That was how Nick and Nikki met. It was also where I met Nina. Not too long after the tour begun I started dating Nina. And soon after Nina's mother decided she could no longer handle raising Nicola. She came to one of our shows and got back to the buses, where she left Nicola, abandoned in a car seat. When we stopped in Kentucky we had a few days off, so we stayed with my parents. During this stay a magazine called the "Worldly Whisper" came out with an article that said I had a child before I was married and that Nina was the mother, the article was very one sided stating that Nina was trash, very racist. But afterwards the tour ended I had this room set up with help from Kevin and Kristin. Followed by that, life was pretty normal. For the 4th of 2000 we went up to Washington to be with Nick and Nikki. Well the girls decided that they wanted to shop and Nicola stayed with me and Nick. Later Nikki came back, but without Nina." he said his voice threatening to break.
"What happened?" she questioned wrapping one arm around his wasit and leading him back to their bed where they sat down.
"Nina had gone to help a little girl who was lost. She got into the little girls' parents car. From there the car took her to some apartments and locked her in a closet. By this time I had reported her as missing and I was searching the city with Sean, Nina's Younger brother. She tried to call me and did get through but the people that had kidnapped her caught her and beat her. I called the police and then Sean and I rushed to the apartments. By the time I got there they had taken her to the hospital, so we went there too. When I got inside, the nurses refused to look me in the eye and barely spoke, I found the room that Nina was in..." he let a tear crawl fown his cheek as he remembered hauntingly vivid images of the day. "just as the doctors called for the time of death. I was admited into the hospital from the amount of stress I under took that day, which I further complicated when I refused to drink and eat. I was heart- broken. Three days after Nina died, Megan, Nina's mother, decided that she wanted Nicola back. Much to my dismay, she won. Nicola was taken from me. I greived for a long time after that. I received many letters all filled with disappointment. finally the last letter I received, I refused to open, fearing that something really bad had happened. When me and you got serious, I locked everything away, in Nicola's room. I am so sorry Leigh...I should have never kept all this from you." he said now a steady stream of tears flowing down his face.
"It's ok Bri. I had no clue. It must have been hard." she said hugging him. "I am going to help you talk to Nicola. I promise, Now that I see how much it means to you, there is no way that I can't."
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