"Do I have everything I need?" Alisha looked down into her shopping cart. "Coke, baby formula, diapers, baby food, gum, stuff for dinner. Looks like I got everything."

Alisha headed towards the checkout counters. Then she noticed something at the magazine stand. There on the cover of those teen magazines was the Backstreet Boys. She pushed her cart over to the stand. Alisha picked up the first magazine she saw. Then she looked at all the others.

" 'BOP', 'BB', 'All-Star', 'Teen Machine'," Alisha read quietly to herself. "Wow, their popular."

Alisha got all the mags that had anything to do with the Boys and put them in her cart.

"You a Backstreet Boys fan?" the checkout guy asked, amused.

"Something like that," Alisha said. "I'm one of those girls that's claiming to have Nick Carter's baby."

The checkout guy laughed. Alisha paid for her groceries and walked out the exit. If he only knew how true that was, she thought. He wouldn't be laughing, he'd be on the phone to a tabloid.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"I wonder if that's Anne?" Alexis said when someone knocked on her door. She opened the door and saw the tall blond guy from the singing group.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi, I'm Nick Carter," the guy said, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Carter," Alexis said, shaking his hand.

"Please, call me 'Nick'," he said. " 'Mr. Carter' makes me feel older than seventeen."

"Okay, Nick," Alexis laughed. " I'm Alexis. Come on in."

"Thanks, Alexis." Nick walked in and looked around. "The reason I'm here is to ask you about the girl you were with at the show this afternoon. What could you tell me about her?"

"What do you want to know?"

"What's her name?"

"Anne Whitman."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed. Why?"

"No reason. It's just that when I saw her, she looked like someone I hadn't seen in a while. Her name is Alisha Walker."

Alexis thought for a minute. "That name sounds strangely familiar, but I don't know why." She thought for a few more minutes. "No, sorry. I thought I knew her, but I don't."

"All right, thanks." Nick got up from his seat on the couch. "Sorry to bother you."

"Nick, how did you find my place?" Alexis asked him.

"I followed you home," Nick told her. "I just guessed which door to knock on, but I saw the elevator light up number ten, so I figured it was your floor since you were the only one on there."

"Good guess." Alexis was about to say something when Nicky started crying. "Excuse me while I go check on the baby."

"Sure." Nick listened as Alexis walked into another room.

A few minutes later, the crying stopped and Alexis walked back into the room.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm watching Anne's son while she's at the store."

"She has a son?" Nick looked surprised. "She didn't look that old."

Alexis laughed. "She's not. Anne's eighteen. She moved up here from the west almost a year ago, when she was still pregnant. Her parents weren't too happy when they found out about the baby."

"That's too bad. My ex-girlfriend was going to have a baby, but she had a miscarriage, then she left without telling anyone where she was going."

"Oh, that must've been hard for you."

"Yeah. I still love her and I'm hoping one day she'll give me a call or something."

"She might. Well, Anne should be getting back soon, so...."

"Oh right. I should be going." Nick opened the door. "Thanks for talking to me."

"No problem," Alexis smiled. "Good luck with your career."

"Thanks." Nick smiled, then left.

Guess I was wrong, Nick thought as he walked out of the building and back to the hotel. He never noticed the girl with the reddish-brown hair get out of a cab, carrying two plastic grocery bags.