"So, Cairo's okay, right?" AJ asked. Nick laughed. They'd all been so wrapped up in their shock over the fact that the incident had occurred, that none of them had even thought to ask about Cairo.

"Yeah, she's just got a concussion and a cracked rib. They kept her overnight, to double-check her head. She's being released around 6 tonight, so I promised I'd pick her up so she didn't have to take a taxi home," Nick said.

"Hey Nick, help me find a pop machine," Brian said, and led Nick down the hall, leaving the rest of the guys waiting in the lobby.

"What's up, B?" Nick said.

"I'm kinda worried about you. How are you taking this whole thing?" Brian asked, looking worriedly at Nick, noticing how pale he was and the dark circles under his eyes.

"When I saw her fall to the ground, I was ready to kill Jill. I don't know what it was, but the thought of anything happening to Kay just about made me go insane," Nick sighed in frustration.

"You obviously care about her," Brian suggested, hoping that Nick would realized what they had all seen the day before at his house, watching how Nick and Cairo had interacted.

"Of course I do, she's an amazing friend," Nick said quietly.

"Maybe you care more about her than you think," Brian said. Nick looked up at him, startled.

"Nah, it's not like that. Plus, she's got a boyfriend, remember?"

"That doesn't mean that you are incapable of liking her. It just means that you can't do anything about it. Anyway, I think we gotta go back to meet the guys. Who knows what kind of trouble they got into!" Brian said, heading back in the direction of the lobby, Nick trailing behind him, lost in thought.

* * * *

"Okay Carter, enough of this. I can walk, you know," she said as Nick pushed her wheelchair, all over the place, weaving around people, twisting and turning suddenly, laughing.

"You get out of that chair and I break your legs," Nick warned. Cairo sighed.

"Then stop 'driving' like a freak!" she demanded, crossing her arms and sulking.

"Remind me never to bump you on the head; it puts you in one righteous bad mood," Nick said, trying to keep the mood light. He was relieved to see the moody Cairo back to her normal self; one minute joking, then next sulking.

"Righteous? Party on, dude!" she exclaimed, mocking his use of surfer slang.

"Well, you're chariot awaits you," Nick said, when they reached his car. The orderly that had trailed them on their twisted path had finally caught up, and helped Cairo climb into Nick vehicle.

The ride home, the conversation was kept light and trivial. They both tried to stay away from discussing the events of last night, both unprepared to recall the memories, until finally they just dropped into silence until Nick could no longer stand waiting to ask the question.

"Kay, are you going to tell your family or…or Brad about what happened?" Nick asked tentatively. Cairo sighed and looked out the window.

"I've been debating that same question. I think if I do, they'll freak out completely. And Brad…well, he lost any right he has to know anything about me when he refused to answer my calls," Cairo said decidedly.

"What about Lacey?"

"She knows already and she promised to stay silent. She's still in shock about the fact that we live next door to each other and that you're a celebrity," Cairo said giggling, recalling her friend's tirade about Cairo's failure to mention Nick's celebrity status.

As Cairo finished her sentence, Nick pulled into his driveway. She got out of the car and was about to walk across his lawn to her house when she remembered the fact that her back door was missing.

"Hey Cairo, they aren't fixing your back door until tomorrow, I think was what they said when I called. I don't like the idea of you spending the night in a house that isn't safe, so why don't you just crash at my house?" Nick suggested. Cairo smiled at him gratefully, she was starting to panic about sleeping in her house so soon after what had happened.

* * * *

"Up for a movie?" Nick asked, a few hours later. They were on Nick's couch, stretched out after dinner.

"Depends on which movie. Just as long as it's not one of the crappy, dubbed action movies," Cairo warned. Nick smiled and stood up and pulled out a movie from his shelf. Turning around, he proudly showed her the cover. She laughed in delight.

"How did you know that the Wizard of OZ is my favorite movie?" she asked, dumfounded.

"You only belt out every song from the soundtrack late at night when you think no one will hear. But I do hear you," Nick said, popping in the video, trying not to laugh at Cairo's bright red face. It was true, late at night when she was stuck on a part of her novel she would just spontaneously belt out bits of the soundtrack for nowhere. It helped her get back on track.

They settled back down on the couch, Nick sitting up with Cairo lying down with her head on his lap. After about twenty minutes into the movie, she just drifted right off, obviously still exhausted from her whole ordeal.

Nick gazed down at her sleeping form and stroked her soft hair. He sighed and tried to push back his thoughts. She looks so innocent, so peaceful. If anything had happened to her, I don't know what I would have done, he thought regretfully. He carefully lifted her head off his lap, stood up and carefully laid her head back down on the couch. He grabbed a pillow and blanket from upstairs and ran back down. After easing her head onto the pillow and covering her with the blanket, he sat kneeling by her head, once again just gazing at her. God, she's so beautiful, so…so perfect, he said, brushing stray hair away from her face. Suddenly, he bent down and kissed her bruised cheek then lay his head atop of hers.

Maybe Brian's right. Maybe I do like her a lot more than I should. But she's not free. It'll never happen, Nick, so just forget it, he said to himself then regretfully lifted his head off. But giving into temptation, he stroked her cheek and again kissed it. Sighing, he stood up and made his way upstairs to bed, realizing on the way up that he had barely enough energy to climb the stairs.

* * * *

For the next few days, Cairo and Nick hovered around each other protectively, never very far out of each other's sight. Each had separate fears of a recurrence of the attack but weren't ready to voice the fears. Nick was upset because he was leaving the next day on a little mini-tour. They were going to England, Germany and Canada and he'd be gone for three weeks. He hated to leave Cairo so soon after what had happened, but their concert dates had been set months before and he didn't have the heart to disappoint fans by not going.

It was around 10 p.m. and they were at Cairo's house, in front of the TV, playing some more video games. Cairo didn't really know the name of the game, but you had to race around in these little cars and get balloons and stuff to mess up the other people so you could win.

"You bastard!" Cairo cried as Nick shot a turtle shell at her car and zoomed past her across the finish line. She threw down her controller and turned towards him.

"It's all part of the game. You're just too nice to play it. You like to play fair, but you gotta play dirty, otherwise you're not going to win," Nick said.

"Too nice? You want me to play dirty, because I can you know!" she declared.

"Yes, play dirty then maybe I'll have a challenge for once!" Nick shot back jokingly. Cairo was looking at him with this look like she had something up her sleeve. Too late, he realized what she had in mind.

She attacked him, tickling his sides, making him scream trying to get her to stop. He squirmed and wiggled, trying to avoid the reach of her hands, but to no avail. Finally, he fell over, and she looked over him. They had been laughing and suddenly they were both silent, staring into each other's eyes. In an intense moment of just staring at each other, Cairo slowly advanced her face towards his, instinctively seeking out his lips. Just as they were about to touch and they were both about to give in to a temptation that had been hanging over their heads for over a month; a voice broke their moment apart, shattering it.

"So, my darling Carrie, this is how you are learning to rely on yourself? This is how you fulfil your need to be alone? How full of shit are you?" demanded a voice, full of anger, hurt and betrayal.

"Brad!" Cairo said, jumping up. She could barely believe that he was there. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard my girlfriend was in the hospital, I flew down anxious to make sure she was being looked after. Obviously she is," he shot out.

"Brad, you haven't talked to me in like, 2 months and you suddenly just appear? Who the hell do you think you are?" she yelled, Nick completely forgotten.

"I thought I was your boyfriend. But after walking in on this, I'm not to sure anymore. Who the hell is this guy?" he demanded, his voice raising to match Cairo's volume level.

"This is my next door neighbor. Someone who will at least TALK to me! Why haven't you talked to me at all? Do you know how many times I've called?" she said, her voice echoing all the hurt she had been storing up.

"What do you expect me to say to the girl that abandoned me? How are you, do you like you're new house? Considering you gave up me and your family for it? What did you want me to say to you?" he yelled.

"I don't know, anything! But you insisted on playing your little mind games, and you will never know how much that hurt!" Cairo yelled right back.

"And what do you think the girl you love wanting to leave you felt like? Knowing that she wasn't happy with you?" he said quietly.

"Brad…" Cairo trailed off.

"Well, Carrie, I sincerely hope you are happy now. I hope you're happy, you and what's-his-name!" he yelled and ran out the door. Cairo raced to the door, and saw him run right back to the taxi that he had probably taken there, that hadn't left yet.

"Brad!" she called one last time, watching him leave. She burst into unexpected tears and turned blindly into her house, bumping into Nick, who enfolded her into a hug and let her cry.