Nick and Larry were sitting in the waiting room on the eleventh floor with Nate when James walked in,
"Hey man." Nick watched as Nate and James hugged and shook hands. They were probably close, James was marrying into the family. James looked over and Larry stood,
"Hey, I'm Larry. We met a couple of months ago." He nodded as he walked over and shook Larry's hand,
"Hi, it's good of you to be here. I'm sure Quinn was happy to see you." He looked over at Nick and nodded his head,
"Hey man." Nick waved and went back to staring off in space. He didn't feel any animosity towards James this time, it wasn't the time and frankly he had done more for Quinn and MacKenzie and it was Nick's own fault. Yeah, the first few months of MacKenzie's life he wasn't there and that was Quinn's fault but from the moment he found out it was his own fault. James was back over talking to Nate,
"Where's Quinn?" Nick looked on,
"She's with out parents talking to the doctors, signing some papers." James nodded and sat down on one of the couches,
"I can't believe all of this is happening." Nick looked around and everyone seemed to agree as they nodded their heads.
Nick looked up as the door opened and Larry walked in and looked at Nick, motioning for him to come out of the room,
"Hey, you got some messages on the phone." He said as they walked down the hall. Nick sighed, the last thing he wanted to do was deal with more things on top of what he was already dealing with. Although, it seemed like the only thing he was dealing with was uncomfortable feelings. Quinn hadn't said anything to him since she told him the bills were taken care of and sometimes he wondered if he should be there.
"Who?" Larry snorted,
"Who? Everybody. Management, Kevin, Howie. They call your family and your mom and dad have been calling. I told them we were in Miami but that's all I said. I told them you were going to call back and let them know what was going on. Don't you think it's about time?" He knew it was time, he knew what he needed to do, what he should have done before he left and shook his head,
"I can't believe I fucked up this bad." Larry shook his head,
"Neither can I." They made it outside and Larry walked a few yards and gave Nick some privacy. He sighed as he held Larry's phone in his hand and stared at it. He wasn't prepared but he never would be for this. He dialed Howie's number,
"Hello?" He took a deep breath,
"Howie, it's Nick." He wished Howie didn't answer the phone, he wished he could just leave a message,
"Nick, where are you? What's going on? We called Jane and Bob, now they are worried." He nodded his head,
"Yeah, look I'm going to say this. Don't interrupt me and don't give me a hard time." Howie agreed and Nick decided to just get it over with quickly, like when his dad would snatch band-aids off his skin,
"Quinn's daughter MacKenzie, I'm the father. She's sick and she's having surgery tomorrow." He knew that was going to be alot to take in and he waited for Howie to speak,
"Wait, who is having surgery?"
"The baby, MacKenzie." He sighed,
"My daughter." That was the first time he admitted to anyone that he had a daughter.
"Hold on, Quinn's daughter is your...you're the father of Quinn's baby? When did you find this out?" Nick licked his lips nervously,
"A couple of months ago." He could only imagine what was going through Howie's head at that moment,
"Wow, so that's why you left? I mean, I can understand that. We all could have Nick but the way you left here. The way you took off and told us nothing." He nodded,
"I know it was wrong, I just...I don't know Howie. Look, can you tell everyone for me please?" Howie agreed,
"Yeah, hey but Nick, you need to call your parents. They need to hear this from you. We have to deal with the media, there have already been reports around Toronto, once they see you're not here tonight, it's going to spread." Nick nodded his head, the last thing he thought about was the media reports on him leaving the tour. If it wasn't one thing it was another.
"Yeah, I will thanks man. And Howie?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks man."
"Just take care of your responsibilties. Its the least you could do now." His heart sank a little at Howie's response. He had hoped all would be forgotten and over with once they knew why he had to leave. It was naive and wishful but it was still his hope.
Walking down the hall, back into the waiting room he ran into Nate,
"Hey man, can I talk to you for a minute?" Nick's eyes widened, why would Quinn's brother want to talk to him,
"Um sure." He followed Nate's lead as they walked down the hallway,
"Look, I'm just going to ask you straight up and I want the truth." Nick nodded his head as he held his breath.
"Are you Mac's dad?" Nick slowly and loudly let out his breath and he knew Nate could tell just from his reaction,
"Yeah, I am. How...how did you know?" Nate laughed, it wasn't one of humor and it wasn't particularly nasty either,
"One of the nurses. She asked me if you were a family friend and I said yes. She said you must be really close to the family to just leave a concert in Toronto hours before it started." He looked over at Nick and Nick nodded his head continuing to listen as Nate went on,
"Busy guy, big celebrity, Mac's dad is white, didn't take a rocket scientist. I had no idea who you were and she told me you're one the Backstreet Boys. My sister is dedicated to the Backstreet Boys, but I highly doubted you were missing a concert just because a fan's daughter is sick. Quinn told me she hung out with one of the Backstreet Boys, she even pointed you out to me in a picture but that's not my thing so I couldn't tell you apart from anyone else." Nick nodded,
"Yeah, I know I haven't been around and I'm sorry, I will from-" Nate shook his head,
"You don't have to apologize to me or make things right with me. That's between you and Mac and you and Quinn." He nodded his head and Nate went on,
"But I do expect you to step up. My niece and my sister deserve it." Nick nodded,
"I will. Does James and your parents know?" He shook his head,
"No, that's not my business to tell. That's up to you and Quinn. I figured if Quinn wanted them to know, they would know by now." He nodded and they turned around, headed back to the waiting room. He sighed, it was all coming undone, it was just a matter of time before he was going to have to deal with things.
Chapter 43
Reunited
Stories
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