Carson took Alisha and Nicky to the All-Star Cafe, which wasn't too far away. Carson and Alisha were kind of quiet, but Nicky seemed to be full of energy and couldn't sit still for long. Finally, the food arrived and Alisha gave Nicky a french frie. It kept him busy until he finished eating it. All Alisha had ordered was a Coke and a plate of fries and she gave Nicky his bottle of Kool-Aide.

"So where are you from again?" Carson asked Alisha.

"Originally, I'm from New Mexico, but almost two years ago, I moved to Orlando, Florida, to live with my cousin, Victoria Johnson, and finish high school."

"Victoria Johnson." Carson thought for a minute. "I don't know why, but that name sounds familiar."

"If you read the business section in the 'New York Times', you'd know that, at twenty, she became the youngest person to become president of a corporation. Her father is the great Joshua Johnson Sr. of the real estate business. Stars and musicians need a place to live, they got to Johnson Real Estates."

"She's your cousin?" Carson looked amazed. "Wow. That's quiet the family. What about your father? What does he do?"

"My father owns a chain of resturaunts. Last I heard, he opened one in Florida last year."

"Don't you talk to your parents?"

"No. They don't know where I am."

"Why? Because of Nicky?"

"No. They don't know about Nicky."

"DAD! DAD!" Nicky yelled out. He was pointing to a sign that had the Backstreet Boys on it.

"Nicky, be quiet," Alisha said, covering his mouth until he stopped.

"Nick Carter's his father, isn't he?" Carson asked.

This question surprised Alisha into silence.

"When did you meet him?"

"In Sweden." Alisha looked Carson in the eye. "Listen, what I tell you stays between us."

"You got it. What's the story?"

"When I moved in with Victoria, she had meet Brian Littrell. They started dating, but they ran into problems before he left to go out on tour. When she finally decided to fix things, the Boys were in Sweden recording some tracks for their first album. Brian and Victoria worked things out, AJ was already seeing our friend Brianna, and me and Nick hooked up. One time was all it took to create Nicky. But some problems arised with me and Nick. I was majorly stressing out about stuff, which literally landed me in the hospital. The doctors told me that all the stress and worry over Nick was taking its toll on me and I need to get away from all stress if I wanted the pregnancy to go full-term. So I told Victoria and Brianna that I lost the baby, checked myself out, grabbed what I could carry from my apartment, and came here to New York City. Now here I am, with a wonderful son and a great job, VJ and Brian ran into some problems over a year ago that they're just now starting to work out, and AJ and BJ are getting married."

"I'm amazed. But all that must've been hard on you," Carson sympathized. "What went wrong with you and Nick?"

"I got the feeling that I was losing him," Alisha said, looking down at her fries. "He was very good about the whole doctor appointments thing, but after a month, he started canceling out on me. That's what prompted me to leave. Besides, I was scared that the situation would ruin the career he work so hard to achieve. I had talked to Nick once on the phone in September and he admitted to thinking about breaking up with me, but he said it was just a passing phase. He told me he loved me, I said I loved him, then hung up without telling him about Nicky."

"Tonight was the first time Nick has seen Nicky in almost a year?"

"Yeah. He didn't know where I was. Victoria and Brianna still don't, but I imagine I'll be seeing them soon."

"Is there any chance that you and Nick might get back together?"

"I honestly don't know. I'm not sure I'd want to now that I met you," Alisha smiled teasingly.

Carson laughed. "Yeah right. Me and Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys battling it out for your affections."

"Maria told me you got tickets to the Boys concert tonight." Alisha took a sip from her Coke.

"Yeah, but I didn't know if you'd want to go since we have Nicky with us."

"I'd like to, but I don't think it's a good idea for Nicky to go."

"Let's go check out a movie then," Carson suggested.

"All right."

They quickly finished eating and headed to a movie. They chose a romance since it would be somewhat quieter than an action movie. Nicky fell asleep sometime during the movie and Alisha carefully sat in Carson's car, so he wouldn't wake up. Carson drove as smoothly as he could to Alisha's apartment. He walked her up to her apartment and opened the door for her. Alisha carried Nicky inside and took him to his room. After changing him and putting him to bed, Alisha found Carson looking at a picture of her, Nick, VJ, Brian, AJ, and BJ. It was taken while they were in Sweden.

"Is that Victoria?" Carson pointed to the girl next to Brian.

"Yeah, that's her." Alisha looked at the picture, too.

"Man, you two look alike."

"Weird, huh?"

Carson put the picture back on the shelf. "I better be going. You're probably tired. I'm feeling dead right about now."

"Oh, come on, Carson. Not you." Alisha laughed.

"Yes, me," Carson said, smiling."

"Well, thanks for taking me and Nicky out to dinner and a movie."

"No problem. Had to celebrate your birthday somehow."

"I forgot it was my birthday. That much closer to twenty. Scary."

"It's not that bad." Carson walked to the door and opened it. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure thing." Alisha tiptoed a little and gave Carson a little peck on the lips. "Bye."

Carson grinned. "Bye."

He left and Alisha went to her room and changed into her silk nightshirt. I wonder when Nick will call, she thought. Just then the phone rang. Alisha looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. She picked up the phone.

"Ali, it's me," said Nick. "I was wondering if I could come over tonight."

"Nicky's already asleep," Alisha told him. "Why so late?"

"It's give me a chance to be close to my son and for us to have a talk with no interruptions."

"Okay," she agreed. "Come on over."

"All right. See you in a few."

"Okay."

Alisha hung up. She thought about changing, but decided against it. Nick had seen her like this many times. No reason to make that any different. She put on the matching silk shorts underneath, then nervously awaited Nick's arrival.