*One Week Later*

The phone was ringing off the hook when Shayla ran through the door loaded down with groceries.

"McKenzie!" Shayla shouted as she came in trying not to drop the heavy bags. "Kenzie! answer the damn phone!" she yelled annoyed this time running into the kitchen. She glanced at the caller ID on the way to putting the bags on the counter and noticed the call was coming from Sweden. She hastily threw everything down and leaped for the phone which was on about it's 10th ring by now. She didn't see McKenzie anywhere and was a little annoyed that the answering machine was off.

"Hey baby!" Shayla answered into the phone out of breath thinking it was Brian.

"Uh Shayla?" Nick said nervously.

"Oh Nick, I thought it was Brian. What can I do for you?" Shayla responded harshly.

"Um, is Kenzie around?" Nick stammered.

"Uh ya know, I don't think she's here Nick. She must be out somewhere. She's been going out quite a bit lately," she replied emphasizing Nick's name and that McKenzie was going out in a harsh tone.

"Oh.......ok, do you know where she is or when she'll be back? Or Maybe I can just call her on her cell?" Nick said sensing the tension from Shayla.

"Nick you've called 3 times over the last week and I've told you and she's told you she doesn't want to talk to you and you can't call the cell you gave her anymore because I returned it to your mom. She has it and will give it back to you," Shayla told him.

"Shayla please, I just need to explain to her........."

"There's nothing to explain Nick. She says it's over and I think you need to accept that. I'm sorry but she doesn't want anything to do with you anymore," Shayla snapped.

"Well when you see her would you just tell her I called and I really want to talk to her and that it's important for me to explain? Please Shayla? Will you tell her for me?" Nick begged.

"Yeah fine I'll tell her," Shayla said rolling her eyes.

"Oh, and Shayla."

"Yes," Shayla said now fed up with his requests.

"Tell her I miss her and I love her," Nick asked.

"I'll think about it," Shayla said and hung up.

*In Sweden*

"She probaby won't tell her. She hates me to," Nick mumbled to himself as he got up from the bed and walked to the dresser.

He pulled out a fresh shirt and jeans and changed. He couldn't believe what he was doing anymore. He didn't know who he was anymore. He couldn't even look in the mirror anymore because he didn't like what he saw. He'd been betraying McKenzie for a week now by talking to Mandy as though he still wanted her. All he knew was he had to fix this situation with Mandy and make it so she could never bother or hurt McKenzie, the one he loved with all his heart, ever again. And he needed to talk to McKenzie so badly. Just hear her voice and if possible get her back. But at the same time he couldn't tell her what he would be doing.

He came close several times to telling Brian what he was doing. But when it came down to it, he just couldn't bring himself to say the words. He knew Brian would never approve and would never keep secrets from Shayla, and then Shayla would tell McKenzie and then he'd never get her back. No, this was something he had to work out. He was on his own and he was compeletely miserable and losing his friendship with Brian on top of it. The man who had been like an older brother from day one was wanting nothing to do with him. Plus his family was furious with him for upseting Mckenzie so. And what he was about to do when they returned hom was killing his soul.

*Back In Florida*

McKenzie came around the corner into the kitchen as Shayla hung up with Nick. "What did he want this time?" she asked solemly.

Shayla turned and gave her a look. "Where were you? Why didn't you answer the phone and why is the machine turned off Kenz?" Shayla asked disciplining her younger sister.

McKenzie started helping her put the groceries away. "He's been calling all morning. I didn't want to talk to him and he just kept leaving messages on the machine and I didn't want to hear his voice. It hurts too much."

"I can understand that, but what if it was Bri? I don't wanna miss his calls so the machine has to stay on ok," Shayla reprimanded her.

"Ok," McKenzie said reluctantly. "So what did he say?" she asked again.

"Just the usual. He wants to talk to you and explain. And he said......well he says he misses you and loves you," Shayla said not wanting to even repeat that part she was so angry with Nick.

"God, is he ever gonna give up?" McKenzie huffed.

"Doesn't look like it kiddo. He was gonna call your cell so I told him I'd already given back to Jane for her to give to him," Shayla told her.

"Thanks sis, I don't know how I'd get through this without you," McKenzie said hugging Shayla.

"It's ok Kenzie, but I can't keep doing this forever. You're either gonna have to talk to him and tell him it's over for good or let him explain and see if you can work it out. Why don't you try talking to him? Maybe he really is sorry and has changed his mind," Shayla said. She looked her sister right in the eye and spoke to her. "Kenz, I know you still love him. You can't hide it."

"Shay I just can't. He hurt me to bad," McKenzie said now beginning to cry. "I just don't think I can trust him and I don't wanna get hurt by him and I don't want it to end up in all the tabloids. It would be too humiliating. But I do love him. I love him so much it hurts," she said now sobbing.

Shayla wrapped her sister in her arms. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry you have to go through this pain. Maybe you should just go home to mom for a while until school starts and get away from it all. He'll be back soon and then you're gonna have to deal with him if you stay here. I'm not trying to get rid of you. You're welcome to stay as long as you want but if you're serious about not taking him back, it's gonna be awfully hard to do if he's always right in your face."

"I don't know, I'll think about what I'm gonna do and decide before they get back. I'm gonna go over to Brian's and go for a swim, maybe clear my head," McKenzie said.

"Ok, the key is on the shelf by the refrigerator. Let the dogs out on your way out ok," Shayla said heading for the dark room to develop the pictures she'd taken while they'd been in London and the short time she was in Sweden. Management wanted the pics from the Elton John Concert to put in a few magazines.

"Do you wanna come?" McKenzie asked.

"No thanks, I gotta get these pictures developed for management and then I'm gonna call Brian. Jen and Kimmy are coming over later and we're gonna have a sleep over, drink lots of wine and watch chick flicks tonight. Do you wanna join us, or are you going out again?" Shayla asked changing her tone to a disapproving one on that last sentence. McKenzie had been going out a lot since they got back and Shayla was afraid she was trying so hard to forget Nick and was so angry and hurt that she was going to get into trouble.

"No, I'm not going anywhere tonight, so I guess I could join you guys," McKenzie sighed.

"Ok great, we're gonna do our nails and braid hair and stuff. You know just be stupid all night," Shayla laughed. "See ya later then."

Shayla finished up developing the pictures and chuckling at some of them when the guys, especially Brian would look right into the camera and do funny things. Her favorite was one of Kevin doing a pelvic thrust right into the camera in her face with a big grin on his face and she laughed out loud at it. It was perfect of him. He was always so mad funny and had such the dirty mind. Sometimes he was worse than AJ. She blew it up to give to Jen for her birthday which was in two weeks. When she realized that, she panicked. She had to get a party together for her. She'd talk to Kevin tonight about it.

After developing the pictures she went up to her bedroom and laid on the bed and dialed the number to the guys hotel.

"Mister Rogers neighborhood. Do you wanna be my neighbor?" AJ bellowed into the phone.

Shayla cracked up laughing. "I don't think I could handle seeing you skinny dipping in broad daylight all the time, so I don't think I should be your neighbor," she laughed loudly. "Hey baby, you know I'm just joking. I'd be your neighbor anyday," she giggled.

"Shayla sweetheart!," AJ exclaimed and broke into the song "My Baby Love" "how are ya? Are ya sunbathing in the nude?" he asked in that sexy raspy voice.

"Oh AJ please, you know I don't do that without you here to rub oil on me," she said teasing him right back.

"You drive me wild you know that don't you?" he asked frustrated.

"Yes, but you're so easy," she giggled.

"So I've been told," he laughed evily. "Seriously though how goes it?"

"I'm good, how are ya'll doing?"

"Missing our women. Well except for Howie that is. He and Hallie have been hold up in their room all day. We know they're still alive though cuz we keep hearing them moaning and yelling out each others names," AJ chuckled.

"Oh geez. Where's my babay at?"

"He's right here, hang on," AJ said.

"Hey Rok, it's that girl you picked up at the bar last night," AJ yelled trying to keep a straight face.

"AJ shut up," Brian said in the background then taking the phone from him. "Hey baby, how's the most beautiful girl in the world?"

"She's missing you terribly," Shayla said wanting to break into tears hearing his voice. "My bed is so empty and lonely at night."

"I miss too. I'm going crazy without you and I'm really geting sexually frustrated," he said laughing at that last part.

"Awwww, well I promise to make it up to you when you get home," Shayla said.

"You better, I'm counting on it," Brian growled.

"And tell AJ that I'm gonna tell Kimmy he's been picking up women while he's there," Shayla joked.

Brian laughed. "I love you."

"And I love you. So what are you guys up to?" Shayla asked.

"Just hanging out. We're off today but the fans figured out what hotel we're at so we're kinda stuck here now and can't go out," Brian said sounding depressed.

"Bummer, well you always have AJ to entertain you," she laughed.

"Oh joy. I think Kevin's about ready to kill him. You know AJ, he's such a pain in the ass," Brian said loud enough for AJ to hear him. Shayla could hear AJ backtalking to Brian in the background.

"So how are things with Nick?"

"Eh you know about the same. No one's been able to break through to him yet. He's talking to us again but only when he has to," Brian told her.

"Baby why don't you try to talk to him? Maybe he'll confide in you now. He's been calling but McKenzie won't talk to him. But it's obvious she's still in love him," Shayla said.

"I'll try but I can't promise anything honey. He's still pretty sore at me for hitting him and I'm still pretty upset with him for what he did and said about Kenz," Brian told her. Shayla could hear the sadness in his voice when he talked about not getting along with his best friend.

"Has he said anything at all about it?"

"Nope, he just mopes around. It's obvious he's miserable though. I don't know what to do honey. He's my best friend and I can't help him or get him to help himself," Brian said.

Shayla felt bad for Brian. They'd had this conversation every day for the last week and she could tell how much it was killing Brian to be upset with Nick.

"Well if anyone can make him see the light and open up you can. You're amazing remember?" she said boosting his confidence.

"I love you princess ya know that?"

"I know it's a curse. I guess I'm just gonna have to live with it," Shayla said pretending to be serious.

"Oh god, I've created a monster," Brian laughed. "So what are you up to today?"

"Well, Jen and Kimmy are coming over and we're gonna watch chick flicks, have a sleep over and probably drink a lot of wine," Shayla laughed.

"Boy I'm glad I'm gonna miss that," he chuckled. "Although I wish I could be there after you've drank all the wine cuz I know how horny you get when you've been drinking," he laughed. Shayla knew he was making jokes at her expense in front of the other guys.

"Very funny, but I do wish you could be here. Hey I wanted to ask you......"

"Yeah, what do you wanna ask me? You want me to call ya up later when your drunk and have phone sex with ya," he said cracking himself up. Leave it to Brian to be the practical joker.

"That's not what I wanted to ask but that doesn't sound half bad," she giggled. "No seriously though, we wanna do something fun tonight so we were wondering if we could use your recording studio and make our own recording. Kimmy's got something she wrote and we were gonna sing it and just play around with it."

"Baby you don't have to ask me to do that. You know how to work everything and Kimmy's familiar with that kind of stuff. Go for it, have fun," Brian told her.

"Great thanks. So how many songs do ya have done?"

"We've got about 8 done so far and they're sounding really good. We picked the first release today. It's gonna be "Shape Of My Heart". You should see Nick when he sings it. You can tell he's thinking of McKenzie," Brian said.

"Awww, I wish they'd work this out. I love that song though, that's a good choice. Are they letting you use the songs you guys wrote yourselves?" asked Shayla.

"We're using 7 of them, so that's doing pretty good. I think we're finally making progress with management about that kind of stuff. It's our way or the highway baby," he said.

"Good for you guys. That's a lot of your own and that's great. I'm proud of you guys. Well I guess I should get going baby. Will you call me later and sing me to sleep?" Shayla asked.

"You know it. I love you Shay, I miss you madly."

"Me too, I'll talk to you later," she said. The gave each other a kiss over the phone and hung up. Shayla laid the phone down and cried. She missed him so badly and needed to be with him.

*The Next Day In Sweden*

Brian walked down the hall and knocked on Nick's door. He decided to give it a try and talk to him. He pounded on the door a few more times before Nick finally answered. He looked a mess.

"What's up?" Nick asked groggily.

"What's up with you? You look like shit," Brian said.

"Nothing, I was sleeping. What do you want?" Nick grumbled.

"I was just thinking maybe we could go down to the gym and shoot some hoops," Brian said twirling the basketball in his hand.

"Why? Since when do you care about me and wanna do something with me?" Nick asked.

"Come on Nick, you know I care. I just don't like what you're doing. Besides I thought maybe we could talk while we play."

"Fine, come on in. I'll just be a minute to change clothes." Nick said opening the door to let him in.

Nick trudged to the bathroom to change. Brian looked around the room in dismay. It was a mess and it looked like Nick had completely emptied the mini bar. There were little liquour bottles and beer cans everywhere. Nick came back out of the bathroom dressed but not looking much better. He was obviously hung over.

"You look like hell and it looks like you drank everything in sight last night," Brian said raising an eyebrow.

"If you're gonna start giving me shit we can just forget this. You don't know how I feel, you wouldn't understand and it's none of your business anymore," Nick snapped.

"Fine let's go," Brian said. "But ya know I might understand if you'd get that bug out of your ass and tell me what's going on," Nick didn't say anything, he just grabbed a hat and headed for the door.

After the first game and Brian had kicked Nick's butt, they started a second game. There had been a lot of pushing and shoving trying to get rid of the tension between them.

"Swoosh! Nothing but net!" Brian cheered doing a little dance as he scored a three pointer.

"Lucky shot," Nick said taking the ball and starting to dribble down the court.

"So you still thinking of carrying out this plan to get Mandy to talk?" Brian asked. Nick wondered how long it was going to take before Brian brought up the subject.

Nick stopped and looked at Brian with a sigh and shake of his head. "We've been over this, I'll do what I have to do to prove Mandy's lying. Cuz I know she is and then she can't sue the girls anymore or hurt them ever again by the time I'm through with her," Nick said flying by Brian and scoring.

"I just don't get why you feel the need to even do it since Kenzie doesn't want to be with you anymore," Brian said. Nick didn't like the comment about McKenzie not wanting to be with him and he threw the ball to Brian rather roughly striking him hard in the chest. Brian knew that meant he was breaking through the tough exterior Nick had built up.

"Maybe once she see's that I can get this done, she'll change her mind," Nick said.

"Do you still love her?" Brian asked missing his shot and tossing the ball to Nick.

"Of course I still love her," Nick said taking his shot. "I love her more than anything in the world. But she should be more understanding and you know I can't stand it when someone tries to tell me what to do or not to do. I don't like being threatened like that."

"Can you blame her? You did promise to stop once we get home and now you refused without even discussing it with her. You weren't exactly considerate of how much this is hurting her," Brian said.

"I'm just doing what I think should be done. I don't see why she can't compromise and hold out a little longer. I have a plan and know it'll work," Nick said.

Brian caught the ball as it bounced off the backboard. "You wanna tell me about it?"

Nick let the ball bounce by him and keep rolling as he stood staring at his best friend and brother in the eye. He thought for a minute maybe he could trust him, but then again he knew Brian would not keep what he planned to do from Shayla so he chose not to tell him. Not yet anyway. It killed him not to be able to talk to Brian about this. He needed him.

"I'm sorry Frick. I know you wanna help and I love ya for it but I can't tell ya cuz I don't wanna drag ya into it and I can't ask you to keep anything from Shayla cuz I know ya won't," Nick said hanging his head.

Brian looked disappointed and hurt. Nick wanted to run, afraid he might cry. "Ok, if ya change your mind though, I'm here for ya. And I'm sorry I hit ya. I love ya like a brother you know that, but I also won't tolerate you treating the girls this way. They don't deserve this man, especially McKenzie. I hope you realize that you're doing enough damage that you may not be able to repair it." Brian looked away and shot a 3 pointer watching it swish through the net.

Nick grabbed the ball as it bounced back to him and took his shot. "I've tried to talk to her but she won't take my calls. If she won't give me more time though, there's no point in trying to get back together."

"Then why bother?" asked Brian.

"I told you," Nick said dribbling past Brian and going for a lay up, "if for nothing else, just to show Mandy once and for all she can't do this kind of stuff."

"Will you do me one favor?" Brian requested.

"Depends on what it is," Nick replied.

"If you love her as much as I think you do, will you take the time to seriously consider, if it's worth losing her over this and if your just trying to take your revenge on Mandy or are you trying to help McKenzie?" Brian held the ball and stood breathless and panting before his friend.

"Fine, I'll think about it, but I've made up my mind and actually, I've already put some things in motion. But I'll think about it, if it'll get you off my back. And as far as you hitting me, that was a lucky shot and you sucker punched me. You could never have taken me if I'd seen ya coming. But I'll let ya slide this time," Nick said flashing that famous Carter smile.

"Lucky shot my ass," Brian squeaked as they began walking back to the lobby to go back upstairs. "The way I dropped you, I could take ya on any day. I beat you almost as bad as I just did in that basketball game."

"Yeah cuz you cheat like ya always do," Nick teased him.

"Sore loser." The two could be heard playfully arguing as they went into the elevator and the doors closed. Things were on the mend between them but Brian still felt like he'd gotten nowhere with Nick and wondered if he ever would.

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