"No way man.  I can't do that."  Nick stared in disbelief at Brian.

    "Why Nick?  Because now that you think Sam may be pregnant, you feel obligated to marry her?  Because you think that if you don't marry her today, you never will?  Or because you feel like you'll be letting everyone down?"

    Nick growled in frustration and threw his hands up in the air.  "You want a reason?  I can't give you a reason, because I don't have one!  All I'm going on here is the fact that I love her, isn't that enough?  Why do I have to justify that?  That's what everything stems from Brian; we slept together because we love each other and we wanted a tangible way of showing that; I'm marrying her today because I love her; right now is the perfect time.  I just have to get myself together."

    "The only thing I'm looking for is the reason you're so strung out over everything.  You don't have anything to worry about Nick.  There's gotta be something else bothering you."

    Nick took deep breaths and tried to calm himself down.  No matter how close they were, he could never make Brian understand how stressful his situation was.  Marriage he could handle.  A baby?  No.  Not yet.  But he could never let on that that's what he was most worried about.  ‘I could never upset Sam like that' he thought.  Turning to Brian, he answered, "No, there's nothing else that's bothering me.  Just pre-wedding jitters I guess."

    Brian looked back at Nick intently.  He knew there was more to it, but Nick never told him anything until the time was right.  And apparently now wasn't the right time.  "Alright man.  We'll talk later then, ok?  Clean yourself up and let's get this show on the road."  He started towards the door.

    Nick stood as Brian neared the door.  "Bri?"

    Brian turned slightly at the sound of his name and stared at Nick.  "Yeah?"

    "Thanks.  I needed a little pep talk."

    Brian smiled and went into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

    Nick sighed and went to pick his towel up.  He rubbed it against his still sweaty forehead and thought about the wedding that was less than 2 hours away.  Then his thoughts wandered to Sam, and the possibility of a baby in their near future.  He gripped the towel with both hands and let the tears resulting from his frustration slowly roll down his cheeks.  How had he let things get so out of hand?
 

***An hour later, at the church***
 

    "Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married..."  Jayme sang as she helped me fluff out my dress and veil.  "Wow Sam, you look gorgeous" she breathed.

    Looking at her standing behind me in the mirror, I smiled widely and let my excitement show.  "When I walk out of this church, I'm going to be Mrs. Samantha Carter.  How awesome is that?"

    Jayme grinned and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.  "You deserve it.  This is like, both of our dreams come true."  She stepped back and sat down in a nearby chair.  "Do you remember when we were younger and we used to fantasize about each of us marrying a Backstreet Boy?  We would plan to have a double wedding, you would marry Nick, and I would marry either Brian or AJ, ‘cuz I cold never decide which one I liked best."  We laughed at the memory.

    I bit my lip thoughtfully.  "You know, AJ is still single..."  I let the sentence trail off and I looked over to Jayme.

    She blushed a deep red and avoided my eyes.  "Yeah, but he'd never go for someone as plain as me."  She fiddled with the hem of her dress.

    I shuffled over and sat down in the chair next to hers.  "Jayme, don't doubt yourself.  You're a very beautiful girl, and any guy would be lucky to have you.  And don't underestimate AJ either.  He needs someone sane to balance out his craziness."  I checked the expression on her face, and laughed when I saw that it resembled someone who'd just been told that Elvis was still alive.  "What's wrong Jayme?  Don't you believe me?"

    "S-Sam, you're not going to, uh, let him know that I might, y'know, want him, are you?"

    "Don't worry.  I'll be discreet.  We'll start by getting him to walk down the aisle with you."

    "WHAT?!?!"  Jayme looked like she was gonna lay a bird.

    I laughed at her.  "No no, I mean when you go down the aisle for my wedding silly.  You and AJ, Lindy and Brian, Natalie and Kevin, and Howie and Kayla.  Ok?"

    "Yeah...do you think it'll work?  You think he'll go for me?"

    "Trust me."

    KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

    Jayme turned toward the door and hollered, "Yeah?!  Whadaya want?"  We watched the doorknob turn and a head with a mass of blond hair attempted to peek inside the room.  Jayme scrambled to the door and pushed it shut and pressed her back and full body weight against it.  "You're not allowed to see your bride before the ceremony, don't you know that?  It's bad luck, Nicky."

    "I just need to talk to Sam, Jayms.  And by the way, if I really wanted to, I could push this door open with ease.  Don't fool yourself for a second by assuming that your 5-foot-nothing, 100- pound frame is keeping me out here."

    Jayme's jaw dropped and she faked a French accent, "I am eensult, Neeckolaus.  Speak nice to me, and I weel let you een."

    A trickle of laughter filtered in from the other side of the door.  "Jayme, it's important.  I'm sorry I insulted you.  Now can I please talk to my bride?"

    Jayme stepped away from the door and slowly turned the knob.  "Only if you promise to talk to her with your backs to each other so you can't see her.  Promise?"

    "Yeah yeah, whatever, just let me in, ok?  The ceremony starts in 10 minutes."

    "Oookeee doke, just remember what I said."  She opened the door and slipped out, watching Nick firmly as he inched into the room with his back turned toward me.  She then closed the door and we could hear her walking away.  I turned my back to Nick and started carefully walking towards him, my hands behind me and reaching for him.  "Nick?"

    "Samantha?"  Our hands finally collided, and we gripped each other tightly.

    "What's wrong honey?" I asked, hoping it wasn't anything serious.

    "Don't worry, ok?  It's nothing serious, I just needed to talk to you before the ceremony, that's all."

    "Ok, so talk."  I brought my left hand around in front of me, and started playing with the lace on my dress, my right one still clutching Nick's hand.

    He cleared his throat several times before he started to speak.  "Well, it's been a long day so far."  I could feel him smiling even though I couldn't see it.  "Um, I don't know quite how to say this...well, Sam, I'm pretty nervous about this.  This is a really big step for us, and I just don't want it to be the wrong one.  I've been thinking about it all day, and I've made a decision once and for all."

    His words shook me to the core.  I was so scared his next words would be to tell me that he was calling off the wedding, but I knew I had to let him do whatever he'd decided.

    He squeezed my hand.  "Samantha, honey, I know with all my heart and soul that you're the one for me.  And in believing that, I'd be the biggest fool in the world if I didn't marry you today.  So everything's good.  There's nothing more that I want to do today than to take you as my wife."

    By that point he'd made me so nervous and rattled me so much that I just about fell over from worry and anticipation.  I squeezed his hand back as my response and took a deep breath.  "Good," I replied, "and Nick?  Don't you dare scare me that much ever again, you hear me?!"

    Once again I could feel the smile on his face as he reached his arms around my waist to give me an awkward backwards hug.  "I love you, angel."

    "I love you too.  Now let's get this wedding started, shall we?"

    "You got it, babe."
 

***10 minutes later***
 

    From inside the bride's room I could hear the first strains of ‘Pachelbel's Canon' coming from the sanctuary.  Everyone else had left to get in line for the processional, except my dad and I.  He looked me up and down and glowed.  "I'm so proud of you," he said, "I know you and Nick will be very happy together."

    I sighed happily and sank into his waiting arms.  Though my childhood had been a tough one, and I hadn't always agreed with my parents, nor gotten along with them an awful lot, I'd still always had a very special connection with my dad.  It hadn't been as strong as my connection with Austin, but it had still been there.  I'd always been able to go to him with something, and he'd be willing to help me.  Despite all the problems we'd had in the past, I loved my dad very much.

    He kissed my forehead and smoothed a stray hair away from my face.  "Are you ready to go, my posey?"

    I smiled at his childhood nickname for me.  He used to call me that because he said I was ‘his beautiful little flower'  "Yeah Dad, I'm ready."

    And I was.
 
 

Chapter Thirty-One
Email the Author
Back to the Fan Fiction Page