“There she is! Look at you, is it just me or does this girl get more beautiful every time we see her!” AJ exclaimed giving Regina a small hug.

“You must be confusing me with one of those beautiful people, and don’t do the kissy face thing either,” Regina retorted slightly pushing AJ off. Marshall grinned at her comment and gave AJ a shrewd look as he put a protective arm around his girl and exited the hotel.

At the club Regina parked herself at a table, Marshall ordering her usual double shot of JD which she left untouched. She laughed and joked and talked with the boys, while Marshall kept on his Eminem face, scowling most of the time.

“Yo, I’ll be back,” he said after a while. Regina nodded and went back to talking to Brian about something.

AJ sat back, watching Regina talk to Brian, laughing and smiling all the while. That girl was something, he thought to himself, too damn bad she was attached to the hip of the blond ass that was now, he came to think of it, up at the bar, talking to some little bubbly red haired thing.

“He allowed to be doing that?” AJ asked as he kept his eyes on Marshall, now openly flirting with the girl, as he tapped Regina on the arm.

“What?” Regina asked turning to AJ.

“Your boy, he’s up to something with Strawberry Shortcake there,” AJ replied. Regina looked where AJ was staring and stiffened.

“He’s just talking to her,” Regina nearly snapped and turned her head back to finish her conversation with Brian and Kevin.

“Trouble in paradise,” AJ thought to himself as he saw the look in Regina’s eyes, and felt her tense up next to him. He kept his eyes on Marshall, and every now and then caught Regina sneaking looks over at him.

After a bit, Kevin and Brian saw a couple friends they hadn’t seen for a while, and went to join them. Howie and Nick were off dancing with some girls they had found, and that left Regina and AJ at the table by themselves. Regina openly glaring at Marshall talking to the same little bubbly slut, and AJ watching Regina.

“Gina, you okay over there?” AJ asked finally after a minute.

“Huh? Oh yeah, peachy,” she replied turning around in her chair and looking at the still untouched double shot.

“You sure?” AJ asked again. Regina gave him a sideways glance, then downed the shot in one gulp.

“Lets dance,” she said standing up, taking one last glance at Marshall and the sleaze, she allowed AJ to steer her towards the dance floor.

After a few fruitless attempts to get Regina to actually dance, AJ allowed her to go back to the table and stew. She order up three more double shots of JD before she left the table again, and that was to find AJ, and ask him to take her back to the hotel before she puked.

“I’m sorry I asked you to take my drunk ass home,” Regina said as he helped her into the limo.

“Don’t worry about it sweetie. Come on, take it easy,” AJ replied calmly. He knew exactly what had set this bout of crap off, that asshole she was dating.

“I’ll be okay, just as soon as I puke this crap up, I gotta stop drinking,” Regina replied cupping her face in her hands as she leaned over.

“Might be a good idea,” AJ replied patting her back. She suddenly looked over at him and said,

“Oh my god! I am so sorry! God I’m such a fucking ass! I shouldn’t have asked you to take me back, god, and with the shit you’ve put up with, I am really sorry.”

“Like I said, it’s okay, I don’t mind taking care of you, besides, everyone is allowed to get a little out of hand once in a while, you’re under a lot of stress,” AJ replied with a soft smile.

“I’m still an ass,” Regina replied shaking her head.

“Trust me, it’s okay, sometimes I have to carry in both Nick and Howie, I don’t mind. If I didn’t want to deal with it, I would have stayed in the hotel,” AJ said with a laugh as the limo stopped.

“Go around back!” AJ called tapping on the window.

“Thanks,” Regina muttered, not wanting to be attempting to walk and sign autographs at the same time as being drunk. Once they’d pulled up to the back entrance, AJ got out and pulled Regina to her feet, pulling one of her arms around his neck and steadying her with the other hand.

They got up to her room with little trouble, Regina finding her key card and opening the door.

“I think I can handle it from here,” Regina said, completely embarrassed that she’d been drunk, on Jack Daniels, in front of AJ McLean.

“You sure, you might want to take those heels off before you kill yourself, though,” AJ muttered.

“I will, oh, shit,” Regina put a hand over her mouth, AJ knew that look and didn’t hesitate to rush Regina towards the bathroom.

Marshall walked in to the sound of retching. That would be Regina’s JD purging right about now, girl couldn’t hold her liquor that long, that was for sure.

He followed the sound and was about to enter the bathroom when he heard a voice.

“Come on sweetie, we’ll get you in bed, so you can sleep it off.” It was AJ, god dammit, why the hell was he here?

“Oh hey Em, Gina asked me to bring her back to the hotel, she didn’t feel so well,” AJ said guiding a slightly green Regina to the bed. She sat down, removed her boots and crawled under the covers without so much as a “goodnight” to AJ or a “hi” to Marshall.

“She asked you to bring her back?” Marshall asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, she just puked it up, so she should be okay,” AJ replied, the gaze he was giving Marshall, steady and harsh.

“Well, thanks, I guess,” Marshall replied, returning the look and watching as AJ left the room. When he heard the door click shut, he looked over at Regina, curled under the covers, snuggled into her own pillow, fast asleep.