San Diego, CA, Evening of the first concert, at the arena

Danielle walked out of the dressing room area with Leighanne, Kristin and Sarah and the four of them headed over to a section where they could watch the concert from the audience. Danielle wanted to be closer to the stage so that she could see Nick better, but the other girls opted for a more discreet area. Danielle knew they were right in where they ended up sitting, but this was only the second time she was seeing Nick live on stage and she thoroughly enjoyed watching him.

"So, I hear you're making quite a stir, Dani?" Leighanne piped up.

"A stir? What do you mean?" Danielle asked. "Now what did I do?"

Kristin laughed, "Oh, it's not anything that we all haven't done."

"You guys have me worried now," Danielle quipped.

"Don't be worried! You should be used to this. The fans. We're talking about the fans," Leighanne said. "Apparently, the rumor mill is flying high from your appearance with Nick last weekend in Vegas. There were A LOT of fans out at those shows."

Danielle shook her head. "I knew this was coming. How evil am I now?"

"Oh I don't know how EVIL you are, but you are two timing Joey. At least that's the main rumor, that this is all behind Joey's back," Kristin said.

"Shit," Danielle muttered. "You realize I'm gonna have to address this issue?"

"We figured as much. Their publicist has been fielding calls like crazy. No one has given him the okay to say anything one way or the other," Leighanne chimed in.

"Nick hasn't said anything to me about that," Danielle added.

"He probably doesn't want to get you all worked up. Not that we do, but you should definitely talk to him about this. They don't need anymore fuel for the fire when it comes to the media war with NSync," Kristin told Danielle.

The lights then went down for the show to begin and the screams erupted in the arena. Danielle watched Nick thrust and gyrate on stage. The way he played with the fans. It was no wonder they loved him so much. He was a major flirt and his sexual energy was catapulted out down to the girl in the last row. Danielle hated that she had to miss the next night's show. Unfortunately for her, that was a Sunday night and she would already be back home in Tampa.

After the show the girls went backstage again to meet up with the boys. They waited for them to get done taking their showers and then Nick and Danielle headed back to the hotel. AJ and Sarah went out with Howie, Kristin and Kevin went out for a late dinner and Leighanne and Brian were right behind Nick and Danielle.

Nick and Danielle had gone out the night before with AJ and Sarah, but since Danielle had to leave the next morning, they just wanted to spend time alone tonight. They ordered pizza when they got back to the room and got comfortable in pajamas. Nick had tried teaching Danielle how to play one of his PlayStation games but Danielle's fingers were no match for Nick's fancy button pressing.

After eating their pizza, they turned off the TV and climbed into bed. Nick pulled the covers up over them so they were completely under the covers.

"What are you doing? We're gonna roast under here," she asked him giggling.

"I'm making a tent! Now all we need is a flashlight," he said climbing on top of her under the covers.

"I'm looking around and I don't see any flashlights. In fact I don't see anything at all. It's pitch black under here," she said wrapping her arms around his back.

He snuck a few kisses onto her face before throwing the covers back. "Wow! That air feels fresh now!" The two giggled and Nick rolled off of her and faced her lying on his side. There was a dim light coming through the curtains and they could barely see each other's outline.

She turned to face him on her side. He placed his hand on her hip and began to gently massage it. "Watcha thinking about?" he asked quietly.

"Honestly?" she asked.

"Honestly," he confirmed.

"Aside from the fact that it feels incredible to be laying here with you, I'm thinking about why you didn't tell me about your publicist getting calls about us," she whispered.

"I've got it under control, you don't need to worry about that," he added quickly.

"But, Kristin said this should be addressed and I kind of have to agree with her," she told him cautiously.

"I told you I've already got it under control. I told him to confirm the rumors. That you and Joey broke up last December and that it is true we are dating. But that's all anyone needs to know," he said firmly.

"No one needs to really know that much, but I know how difficult the media can be," Danielle said brushing her hand across his face.

"I'm doing it more so the fans won't start hounding you. You don't deserve that, and I know this makes you look bad in their eyes. So, I'm doing this for you," he told her gently.

"Thank you, Nick. I really appreciate it," she said leaning over and kissing him on the lips.

"Ooooooo, do that again baby," he giggled gently grabbing the back of her head and planting a kiss on her lips. Nick tried to maintain control this time since he knew that making love was not happening this evening. They still enjoyed each other. They kissed, they touched and Nick made his trip to the bathroom.

After Danielle left San Diego, the boys played one more show and then jetted off to Mexico. As much as Danielle wanted to join him there, her workload just wasn't allowing it. She had a major presentation that she needed to make and preparation for that was taking all of her free time. After Mexico the boys, had a few weeks off before they needed to be at the Kids Choice Awards, then the shooting was scheduled to begin for "More Than That".

April Fools Day, 2001, Tampa, FL

Nick came running into Danielle's condo at top speed. He found her in the kitchen highlighting notes in her textbook when he came rushing in, flushed and out of breath.

"What's wrong?" she said with a worried tone, noticing the scared look on his face.

"I didn't do it!" he prefaced.

"Do what? Nick? You're scaring me," she said cautiously.

"Baby, just stay calm. But, there is a huge dent in the side of your Camaro," he told her.

"There's WHAT?" she yelled jumping up from the kitchen table and running toward the door leading to the living room. Nick grabbed her shoulders to slow her down.

"Now wait, wait. I just want you to be prepared, cause it's bad. Real bad," he warned her holding onto her shoulders.

"What the fuck happened?" she yelled at him.

"Now baby, I don't know. I just got here and I saw it," he tried to explain. He could see the rage in her eyes. "Now, just be prepared, cause it's gonna hurt."

"Oh shit," Danielle's anger started turning into tears. She truly loved her car. How did she not hear someone hitting the car? She did have her headset on, but it wasn't that loud, surely she would have heard a crash. "How am I going to find the bastard?"

"Just come on, I wanna be there to catch you when you faint," Nick said putting his arm around her shoulders and walking her to the door.

She went outside and saw the Camaro in the drive and Nick's Durango right behind it. "It's on the other side," he told her.

She ran around the other side and stood there staring at the car. "Where? Where is the fucking dent?"

Nick burst into hysterics, upon seeing the look on her face. She looked up at him to see him holding his stomach with one hand and putting the other over his mouth to hide his glee.

"April Fools, babygirl!" he hollered.

"April Fools? What? You're kidding me?" she said putting her hands over her pounding heart. "Geez, Nick! You scared the hell out of me!"

She walked back over to him still holding her chest. "Feel my heart. Feel how hard it is pounding! Oh my God, Nick."

He continued laughing and put his hand over her heart. "Oh my God, feel that thing. It's gonna pound out of there."

"Very funny," she told him wrapping her arms around his waist in relief that her car was indeed unharmed. "Don't ever do that again."

He put his arms around her and hugged her tight, "You shoulda seen the look on your face. Classic!" he laughed.

The two went back inside. This was Nick's first week home on their break before they started the second leg of the tour. They now had almost a month off with a few appearances here and there. For the most part, Nick was staying in Tampa. And that meant that Nick and Danielle could spend some extended quality time together.

Quality time meant introducing Danielle to all of his friends. Not the friends associated with the Backstreet Boys, but his hometown buddies. His boys. His posse, so to speak. Many of them were at his birthday party, but Danielle didn't meet any of them. She saw them, but at that time, she was just there. Just another guest. But now, she was Nick's girlfriend, and to her, she felt as though she had to pass yet another test. These guys were probably more protective of Nick than the group. So, she was a little more nervous about meeting them.

It was Sunday night, so Danielle made up her mind that she wasn't going to drink that night. She had class in the morning and she knew that she wasn't going to get much sleep going out with Nick and his friends. She could handle the lack of sleep, but she couldn't handle a hangover along with it. So, since she wasn't drinking, she told Nick that she would drive them in her car.

Danielle and Nick made plans to have dinner at Nick's house before going out. She parked her car in the driveway and made her way to the door. Nick was already there waiting for her before she reached the steps.

"Hey you," she said smiling at him. He looked around before opening the door wider to let her come in. "What are you looking at?"

He shut the door and then followed her into the living room area. "Nothing, just got a feeling someone is out there is all."

"Someone? Like a fan or something?" she asked.

"A fan or I don't know," he said with a puzzled look on his face. "Just a feeling, I guess."

"Nick, you probably have fans staked out all around your house and you don't even know it," she added. "Besides, you should be used to being watched by them 24 hours a day."

"Hey, this is MY downtime. I deserve a little privacy every once in awhile," he told her. "I don't want to worry about people peeking through my windows."

"If they are peeking, can I make them jealous?" she smirked walking over to him and putting her arms around his neck.

He placed his hands around her waist and returned her smirk, "Baby, you're making me jealous of myself by just standing here."

Their lips then met and the two shared a deep kiss. Their tongues quickly finding each others'. He loved the way he could taste her bubblegum in her mouth. She must have just put a fresh piece in before she got there, because the taste was strong. The two parted and Nick licked his lips, "You taste good. Got any of that for me?"

"Got any? I'm right here," she laughed.

"No, silly, I mean gum!" he teased, running his hands down to her rear end and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Unless, I can get some of this too. . ."

"Don't tempt me, Carter," she gave him a look.

"Oh, I'm gonna tempt you," he said while massaging her rear. He then placed his mouth on hers again for another deep kiss.

She broke away from the kiss and breathed into his ear, "You make this really difficult, you know."

"That's the idea, babygirl," he smiled, his eyes staring into hers.

She stood there in his arms for a moment and just stared back at his face. He truly was beautiful. Those blue eyes captured her heart. She knew that she was falling for him. And falling fast. But, she had to maintain some level of control. She couldn't let things get to far. She needed to be sure this time. She made that mistake with Joey. They slept together right away, and she was determined not to follow the same pattern that she and Joey had.

"We need to eat, babe," she told him wiggling out of his embrace. "C'mon, I'll even set the table."

Nick stood there dumbfounded and watched her walking away. She turned to look back at him, "Well, aren't you coming?" she asked.

Nick started pointing from where she stood to where he stood, "But, weren't you just here, and weren't we just making out? And now you want to eat?"

"Nick? Please," she pleaded. By the tone in her voice, it was clear what she meant.

"Aight. Let's eat. But, I'm gonna break you down," he promised.

"And when the time is right, I'll let you," she told him.

The two shared a romantic dinner out on his deck overlooking the water. The sun was just setting and after dinner they laid together on a chase lounge. Nick sat with his back against the recliner and Danielle sat in between his legs with her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and leaned forward holding her close to him, and kissing her cheek.

"Nick, I love this. Right now. This is perfect. We have this beautiful view, we're together. There's no one else in the world right now. Just us," she said running her hand back to touch his face. There was a gentle breeze blowing off the water. She closed her eyes and took in the moment the two were sharing. Her feelings for him were growing stronger by the minute. She felt him pull her into him tighter, almost drowning out the breeze from the warmth between them. She turned around to face him and held his face in her hands. She placed her lips on his and began kissing him deeply. He opened his mouth and allowed her tongue to find his. The passion within her began to rise. She deepened the kiss and moved her mouth to his neck where she began to gently suck below his ear.

"Nick," she moaned into his skin.

"Oh God, baby," he breathed as he lifted her leg over him so that she was now straddling him on the chase lounge. His hands began to roam her body and he rested them on her breasts where he began to gently massage them. This caused Danielle to moan louder and she brought her lips back to his.

"God, please don't be teasing me, baby. Please," he pleaded.

"God, Nick, I want you so bad. You have to know that," she breathed. She could feel his hardness between their clothes as she was straddling him. She instinctively began to rub against him. The tingling between her legs growing with each stroke she made against him.

"Let's take this inside," he told her gruffly. The last thing he needed was to have some fans in a boat gliding by watching him make love to his girlfriend. And knowing the fans, those pictures would be all over the place in no time.

She got up off of him and helped him up out of the chase lounge. Sure enough when she looked out over the bay, there was a boat and flashes were going off from there. She didn't even notice the flashes before, but then again all she could think about was how good he felt. And how much she wanted him.

She followed Nick back into the house and as they reached the staircase he grabbed her roughly and pulled her to him. He began to suck on her neck and he slid his hand under her shirt reaching up to grab one of her breasts. "God, Nick," she panted. She reached down between them and placed her hand on the front of his pants cupping him. Upon feeling her touch, he threw his head back and breathed in deep. He began to lick her lips, then her cheek and then back to her neck. He began to bring his teeth up to nibble on her ear when. . .

. . .DING DONG. . .DING DONG. . .

The two stopped and stared at each other. "Fuck," they said in unison. Nick's friends had arrived. The two lost track of the time out on the deck, and now here they were. Nick had a hard-on and Danielle's clothes were disheveled.

"Shit!" Nick said again as he and Danielle untangled themselves from each other. Danielle ran into the bathroom to make herself presentable again as Nick went to answer the door.

He opened the door to see about six of his boys standing there, his best friend, Jeff included. "Hey guys, come on in." he told them as he walked from the door. Jeff passed by him and smirked, "You look a bit flushed Nick."

Nick smirked back at him and said sarcastically, "You have great timing, dude. You're gonna give me fucking blue balls for the rest of the night."

"Well, don't let ME stop you, go on!" he motioned for Nick to go.

"Forget it! I ain't doing that with all you guys here," Nick told him firmly.

Jeff laughed, "So where is she? Where's the new Ms. Carter?"

"Knock it off, Jeff," Nick shook his head. "Be nice, okay?"

Danielle came back into the room just then and was taken aback by six new faces staring back at her. She looked over at Nick who was still looking a little flushed. He looked back at his friends who were all just staring at her.

Finally, Nick piped up, "Geez, guys, make her feel welcome why don't you?"

"We're just waiting for an introduction, man," said one of the friends.

Nick went around and introduced Danielle to each of his friends. Danielle shook hands with all of them and then he excused himself. He wanted to try and get Danielle to go to the bathroom with him, but he knew she wasn't gonna go for that. When he got back, everyone was in stitches. The boys were cracking up and Danielle was red as a beet.

"What's up?" Nick asked them. "Why do you look like you want to crawl underneath this couch?" he asked looking at Danielle.

"Ask them! You're friends are all perverts!" she joked. This made all the boys laugh even harder.

"I know that! Where do you think they learned it from?" Nick joked along.

Jeff chimed in, "Let's get going, we've got some time to make up for with this dude."

Everyone split into two separate groups. Danielle and Nick rode together in her car, while the others piled into Jeff's SUV. The group went out to a local club and proceeded to doing all of the following: drinking, dancing and hanging out in the VIP area. Danielle stuck to water and Diet Coke while Nick and the others started doing shots. She started having flashbacks to getting drunk Nick home on his birthday, but she didn't mind. She felt it was her job for the evening to take care of him.

At the end of the evening, the boys helped Danielle get Nick into her car. "You gonna be able to get him in the house okay?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, I should be fine. Thanks for your help. It was great meeting all of you!" she told them. They all came over to her side of the car and proceeded to give her drunken hugs and kisses on the cheek. They were all laughing and Danielle laughed along with them. Nick's friends were crazy. But she loved it. She felt like they accepted her, and as long as they did that, they could be as crazy as they wanted.

On their way home, Nick stirred from his drunken stupor. He was half passed out and half awake, and definitely not speaking or thinking clearly.

He looked over at Danielle, "Hey."

She glanced over at him, "Hey, yourself."

"Oll uvvv ruuu," he slurred.

His eyes were all glassy and bloodshot when she tried looking into his eyes. "What?" she asked.

"OLL uvvv Ruuuu," he slurred again. Then he smiled and closed his eyes. Passed out.

Danielle placed her hand over her mouth. Did he just say what I think he said? I think he did. Her heart began to pound and a huge smile spread across her face. Suddenly, she didn't care that there was a drunken man passed out in her passenger seat. She didn't care that she had to get up and go to school in three hours. She placed her hand over his, even though she knew that he couldn't feel it and squeezed. "I love you too," she whispered.

A couple weeks later. . .

Nick and Danielle were practically inseparable the last two weeks he was home. They both took full advantage of the time that he had off. There was never a mention of what Nick had said in her car that night and she didn't dare bring it up. She figured that when he was sober and ready to tell her that, then he really meant it. Although she knew it in her heart that she was falling in love with him, she was too scared to say it first. Because of this, she started stalling again on the two of them making love. As hard as it was to keep saying "no" to him, she was. And as hard as it was for him to accept "no" he was handling it better than he expected himself to.

Nick was getting ready to head out to L.A. for the Kids Choice Awards and then to film for their next video. He asked Danielle to go with him, and since it was on a Saturday she agreed to attend the awards with him, but she would have to come back home the next day.

Nick had to leave for the South American leg of their tour in a little more than a week. Unfortunately, Danielle wouldn't be able to meet him out on the road for that month. She was just starting to get into the final projects of her senior year, which included her senior paper. This senior paper was the pinnacle of her graduating. It was basically her thesis paper and it needed to be good. Finals were only three weeks away and she could feel the stress starting to build early.

The Kids Choice Awards was Danielle and Nick's first official public appearance together. And it was also Danielle's first meeting with Aaron. While it was nice to meet him, Aaron was the typical 13 year old kid. Bouncing around all over the place and trying his hardest to act like his big brother.

Nick knew that the next morning, Danielle would be leaving and he would be shooting the video, because of that fact, he just wanted to get out of there and back to the hotel with Danielle. The next two days were going to be grueling and he needed his rest. So Danielle and Nick retired early, leaving the venue immediately after it ended and headed back to the hotel, stopping at McDonalds on the way. Once there, Danielle treated Nick to a long back massage until he drifted off to sleep. She cuddled up next to him and listened to the sound of his heart, until she too fell into a slumber.

April 27, 2001, Back in Tampa

Nick flew home after finishing the video to take care of getting ready to go on tour again. Plus it gave him a couple more days to spend with his friends and Danielle. But now, it was time to go, again.

Danielle drove Nick to the airport once again and went with him to the gate where he was meeting Billy. Howie was meeting him at the Tampa airport and flying out with him as well. Brian was leaving from Atlanta and Kevin and AJ were leaving from Los Angeles. They were all set to meet up in Argentina and begin rehearsing for some new choreography for the tour.

Nick and Danielle were sitting in the terminal, holding hands. Danielle had been extremely quiet during their drive to the airport. She was holding back a lot of emotion and by not talking it was keeping the tears from forming in her eyes.

Nick turned to her, "You've been really quiet, baby. Everything OK?"

She nodded, then immediately burst into tears and started shaking her head, leaning into Nick. His expression turned to shock and he put his arms around her to console her, "Babygirl, what's wrong?"

"I'm stupid!" she cried.

"What?" he giggled.

"I'm stupid, cause I know that you have to leave and I'm just gonna miss you," she cried quietly.

"Awww, Dani, it's okay. You know you can come out and see me whenever you want," he told her.

"I know, but I can't! And that's what's killing me!" she sobbed into his shirt.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Dani. But you don't have to cry. It's okay," he consoled her.

"I've just gotten so used to seeing you and having you around and it's been somewhat normal, you know?" she sniffed, starting to regain her composure.

"I know, I know. It's only another month though. Then you'll be done with school, and I'll be back in the country. We'll have tons of time then," he told her gently rubbing her back.

"Nick?" Howie interrupted. "We gotta go, man."

"Aight," Nick said standing up. Danielle stood up with him and they embraced tightly. He buried his face in her neck, "Now, don't cry," he whispered.

"I won't," she whispered back.

They pulled back from each other and he placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Remember that for me? Okay?"

She kissed him back, "Don't forget mine. Be careful down there, alright?"

"I will," he promised. "I'll call you when I get there."

"Okay," she nodded. He hugged her again and they kissed one last time before she finally let him go.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, she kept telling herself. Once he got to the breezeway and made one final turn and wave to her, she waved back. As soon as he was out of sight. She felt the tears falling on her cheek again. She already felt the ache of him being gone.

Same day, in another part of the country. . .

"You're sure she didn't get on the plane with him?" Joey asked the person on the other end of his cell phone. "Good."

He kept listening to what the person was telling him as he went over to a manila envelope and pulled out the photos that were in them. He began to flip through each one.

"So he's gone now? Good. And she's going back home? Alright. You can probably lay low for awhile. Do some checking to see if she's got any plans to go down there and visit. But if I know her, like I do, she won't leave during finals."

Joey listened again, "Ok, thanks man." And he hung up.

He turned his attention back to the photos in front of him. Each picture making him angrier than the last. The last thing he wanted to see was Danielle with Nick. But these photos were more than that. His man that was following her was able to take some photos of Nick and Danielle together on his deck. His blood boiled as he saw Nick's hands on her body and the way she was sitting on him. The way she held onto his face when she kissed him.

He ripped the pictures in a rage and threw them on the floor. "Damnit Danielle! This is NOT over!"

Chapter 14
Chapter 12
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