Brizee arrived at the hospital and went to her office. She was the Chief of Staff at the hospital and she loved it. She was currently single and she didn’t care about getting into a relationship because of how things were when she grew up. She never saw her dad much because he was always working and away on business trips so she and her mother were left on their own. She would ask her mother why she put up with him being gone all the time. Her mother said she loved him and that they wouldn’t have the life they do if he didn’t do his job. Now she was afraid of getting involved with a guy for fear of being left alone all the time to raise kids on her own. She was an only child and recently found out that her father had left her mother in the hospital as soon as she was born for a business trip. She did some paperwork and went on rounds. An ambulance pulled up in front of the emergency room door and they rushed in a patient. She looked at the guy and saw it was Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys. The paramedics went over the facts with her on his condition and she was told he had a prior heart condition and had surgery for it. They rushed him into the emergency room and Brizee took care of him. After getting Brian settled into a room, she walked out into the waiting room and saw Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and Nick Carter. She saw Kevin’s wife, Kristin, Brian’s wife, Leighanne, their son, Baylee, Howie’s wife, Leigh, and AJ’s wife, Rochelle.

        “Mrs. Littrell?” Brizee asked. Leighanne got up and came over to her.

        “I’m Leighanne Littrell, how’s my husband,” Leighanne said. Brizee smiled.

        “We have him resting comfortably in a room, he’s going to be fine, we did some tests and you can see him while we wait for the results,” Brizee said. She led Leighanne to Brian’s room.

Nick looked at AJ and sighed.

        “Nick, you okay, man,” AJ said.

        “The doc was hot,” Nick said.

        “Ask her out,” AJ said.

        “I’m afraid to, she might say no,” Nick said.

        “Won’t know until you ask,” AJ said.

        “She didn’t look at me, she’s not interested,” Nick said.

        “Nick, she was focused on Leighanne and letting Leighanne know how Brian was,” AJ said. Nick sighed.

Brizee walked into Brian’s room with the test results. Leighanne sat there holding Brian’s hand. Brian was awake.

        “Hi there, I’m Dr. Hardin,” Brizee said.

        “Brian,” Brian said.

        “I have the test results here,” Brizee said.

        “What’s wrong with me,” Brian said.

        “Exhaustion, and dehydration, you need to slow down and rest more often, especially someone who has had a heart problem in the past,” Brizee said.

        “That is what I keep telling him but he has all these interviews and shows and rehearsals, plus recording a solo album, I hardly see him,” Leighanne said.

        “Well, doctor’s orders, cut back on something and rest more often, spend time with your family,” Brizee said.

        “Dr. Hardin,” Brian said.

        “If you don’t want a return trip to the hospital, I suggest you do it, Mr. Littrell, or it will be worse next time,” Brizee said. She went out the door. Nick came down the hall.

        “Excuse me, doctor,” Nick said.

        “Room 244,” Brizee said.

        “I was looking for you, actually,” Nick said.

        “Mr. Littrell will be fine, just needs to rest more often, make sure he gets it,” Brizee said.

        “That’s not why I was looking for you,” Nick said.

        “So you don’t care about your friend,” Brizee said.

        “Of course I do, I would have asked his wife how he was anyways,” Nick said.

        “Sorry, I’m just tired, so what is it you want,” Brizee said.

        “A date, with you,” Nick said.

        “What,” Brizee said.

        “I want to ask you out,” Nick said.

        “Are you serious?” Brizee asked.

        “Yeah, I have no ulterior motives or anything, I saw you in the waiting room and I wanted to ask you out,” Nick said.

        “You don’t know me at all,” Brizee said.

        “I know, but I want to, it’s just a date, I’m not asking you to marry me here, just asking you out on a date, what can it hurt to go on one date,” Nick said. Brizee looked at him.

        “Okay, I’m off tomorrow night,” Brizee said.

        “Seven okay?” Nick asked.

        “That’s fine, I’ll meet you at Bernhards,” Brizee said.

        “See you then,” Nick said. Brizee nodded and went down the hall. Nick walked back to the waiting room.

        “Well?” AJ asked.

        “Date tomorrow night,” Nick said. They went to Brian’s room and heard him and Leighanne talking.

        “I can’t believe this,” Brian said.

        “What’s going on,” AJ said.

        “Dr. Hardin wants me to cut back on stuff so I can rest more and spend time with my family,” Brian said.

        “What was wrong with you,” Howie said.

        “Exhaustion and dehydration,” Leighanne said.

        “Well, maybe you should, Frick, you always look tired all the time,” Nick said.

        “Nick,” Brian said.

        “She also said that with him having had a heart problem, it would be worse if it happened again,” Leighanne said.

        “Brian, you need to rearrange your schedule, we all care about you, don’t do anything to land yourself back in the hospital,” Howie said.

        “All right, I’ll put the solo album on hold until we have a break in the group interviews,” Brian said.

        “Well, don’t know when that will be since we are doing that join venture with New Kids On The Block,” AJ said.

        “Uggh!” Brian said.

        “Brian, please, just do what she said, Baylee and I need you,” Leighanne said.

        “I just don’t know what reason she had to make me spend time with my family,” Brian said.

        “I’ll ask her tomorrow night,” Nick said.

        “What,” Brian said.

        “Nick has a date with her tomorrow night,” AJ said.

The next night, Brizee met Nick at the restaurant and they had a nice dinner and talked and got to know each other. They went for a walk on the beach.

        “There is something I wanted to talk to you about,” Nick said. Brizee looked at him.

        “Okay, what,” Brizee said.

        “First off, I’m having a great time tonight,” Nick said.

        “Me, too,” Brizee said.

        “It’s about Brian, he was wanting to know why you told him to spend time with his family,” Nick said.

        “I was thinking of Baylee, with your schedule and commitments, when is there time to spend with family,” Brizee said. Nick looked at her.

        “Baylee and Leighanne are always on the road with us when we go on tour, he doesn’t leave them behind,” Nick said.

        “I didn’t know that, I just didn’t want Baylee to go through what I went through growing up,” Brizee said. She stopped and looked at the water. He stood beside her.

        “What is it,” Nick said.

        “I never had a relationship with my father, he was never home, he had a job that would send him out of town all the time, he actually left for a trip the moment after I was born, I grew up with just me and my mom, I don’t know why she stayed in that marriage but she loved him and she told me that we wouldn’t have everything we needed if he didn’t have his job, that we wouldn’t have had food on the table or a roof over our heads if he didn’t work, but for some reason, all that didn’t matter, I just wanted my father home with us, so my mother wasn’t alone with me, the job was so demanding, they didn’t have any more kids, I grew up an only child, I wanted a sister or a brother so badly,” Brizee said.

        “So that’s why you told Brian to spend more time with his family,” Nick said.

        “Yeah, and I’ve been afraid to get into relationships because I didn’t want to same thing happening to me,” Brizee said. Nick looked at her.

        “What made you go out with me,” Nick said.

        “Because I’ve always had a crush on you,” Brizee said.

        “Really, so would you go out with me again if I asked?” Nick asked.

        “If you can contend with my schedule,” Brizee said.

        “I might do that, when,” Nick said.

        “Friday night?” Brizee asked.

        “It’s a date,” Nick said.

Three months later, Brizee and Nick was officially a couple. Brizee talked with Brian and explained to him why she said what she said and he understood and promised to always be there for Baylee. Brizee sat in Nick’s house with Leighanne while Brian and Nick were outside playing basketball.

        “If you were so afraid of relationships, why be with Nick, he has a very demanding career,” Leighanne said.

        “Not as bad as my dad’s, Nick’s music career lets him come home more often than my dad’s career,” Brizee said.

        “Plus if you two were to get married and have kids, you wouldn’t be stuck home alone with the children,” Leighanne said. Brizee nodded.

        “Yup, Nick has changed my life, for the better, well, my own career keeps me busy, too,” Brizee said.

        “Being chief of staff has its perks, too,” Leighanne said.

        “Well, there is always doctors wanting more hours and most of them are the best doctors so I made them happy,” Brizee said. Her beeper went off. She looked at it and sighed.

        “But getting called in makes the good feeling go away,” Brizee said. She walked out the door and kissed Nick and went to the hospital. After the emergency, she went to her office and did paperwork.  Mark came in.

        “You wanted to see me, Briz,” Mark said.

        “I’ve already talked with the owners and administrators of the hospital, I’ve put in my two weeks and asked that you be my replacement as chief of staff, you are one of the most dedicated doctors here and you can do the job,” Brizee said.

        “You’re leaving?” Mark said.

        “Yeah, now that I have an active social life outside of the hospital, need to relieve myself of the responsibility of running the hospital, and I’m taking time off to spend a year with my boyfriend,” Brizee said.

        “After what you have done for the hospital and dedication to your work, you need the time off, it’s good to see you happy, Briz,” Mark said.

        “I never thought I would be happy but I am, and Nick makes me that way, I thought I couldn’t be with any guy, I thought most of them would be like my dad, but I was wrong,” Brizee said. Mark’s phone went off and he looked at it.

        “You mean our dad,” Mark said.

        “What,” Brizee said.

        “My mom just sent me a text, apparently she decided to tell me who my father is, Steve Hardin,” Mark said. Brizee looked at him and called her mother.

        “Mom, what’s going on, oh god, I hope you are divorcing him, he had an affair and another child with another woman, whatever, I want nothing to do with him, I don’t care, Mark’s my brother, I’ll be a sister to him but I won’t be a daughter to that cheating bastard, bye,” Brizee said. She hung up the phone.

        “Well, since you are my brother, I know I’m leaving the hospital in great hands and it’s still in the family,” Brizee said. Mark nodded.

        “I’ll be the best chief of staff and the best brother you could have,” Mark said. Brizee smiled and hugged him just as Nick walked in.

        “What the,” Nick said.

        “Nick, this is Mark, the soon to be new chief of staff and just found out that we are related,” Brizee said.

        “How?” Nick asked.

        “My dad had an affair with his mother and he was the result,” Brizee said.

        “We are siblings,” Mark said.

        “Well, you aren’t an only child anymore,” Nick said.