Brizee sat there in disbelief. She just found out that her ex-husband, Nick’s, sister, Leslie passed away and that Nick didn’t attend the funeral due to the fact the family didn’t inform him of when it was going to be and that he didn’t go because of the way the family was. She knew Nick had to be devastated over losing Leslie. She checked and saw Nick was in town that night for his solo tour. She got ready and went to the venue and saw Nick’s bodyguard, Billy. She went up to him.

        “Brizee!” Billy said hugging her.

        “Hey Billy,” Brizee said.

        “Come on through,” Billy said. He let her through the barricade and led her backstage. She came backstage as Nick came down the hall from his dressing room. He saw her.

        “Briz?” Nick said.

        “Hey Nick,” Brizee said. He went and hugged her.

        “It’s good to see you,” Nick said.

        “I heard about Leslie, and that you didn’t get to go to the funeral,” Brizee said.

        “Yeah, too much stuff going on in the family,” Nick said.

        “Are you going to visit her grave?” Brizee said.

        “Yeah, I can do that, at least, they didn’t want me at the funeral,” Nick said.

        “I have an idea,” Brizee said.

        “What’s that,” Nick said.

        “After the tour, I hold a memorial service for Leslie, so you can be there and talk about her and how much you loved her and you can say goodbye,” Brizee said.

        “That would be great, thank you ,” Nick said.

        “You deserve a chance to say goodbye to your sister,” Brizee said.

        “Why did we get a divorce?” Nick said.

        “Nick, you know why,” Brizee said.

        “I know I hurt you by having that one night stand, but we could have worked things out,” Nick said.

        “Nick, you really hurt me when you did that,” Brizee said.

        “I know, if I could go back and change things, I would in a heartbeat,” Nick said. He sat down at the table.

        “I heard you have a new girlfriend, Lauren,” Brizee said.

        “I broke up with her, she wasn’t you, Briz, there is no one else in the world for me, only you, and I messed that up, I’ll be alone for the rest of my life, because I can’t be with anyone else,” Nick said putting his arms on the table and resting his forehead on them. She looked at him and thought about what he said and sat down and put her hand on his arm.

        “You won’t be alone, Nicky,” Brizee said. He looked at her. She smiled at him.

        “What do you mean by that, you made it clear you could never forgive me and I can’t be with anyone else, so yes I will be alone,” Nick said.

        “Things change, I can forgive you, like you, I can’t be with anyone else,” Brizee said. Nick looked at her.

        “Briz,” Nick said.

        “You and I belong together forever, Nicky, you will never be alone again,” Brizee said stroking his cheek. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply.

        “I don’t ever want to lose you ever again,” Nick said holding her close to him.

        “You never will, just don’t hurt me ever again,” Brizee said. Nick smiled.

        “Not a chance,” Nick said. They went to his dressing room and went in and closed the door and locked it. Nick looked around and back at her and he kissed her deeply. They pulled off each other’s clothes and he lifted her up and pressed her against the wall and she wrapped her legs around his waist and he pushed inside her. He went slowly at first, enjoying the feeling of being inside her after so long. He kissed her deeply as he went faster. He felt her coming around him and that made him come inside her, spilling himself deep inside her. He pulled out and let her down and held her close.

        “Oh god, Briz,” Nick said burying his face in her neck.

        “I know, so you want to get remarried?” Brizee said.

        “Oh yeah,” Nick said.

Three weeks later, his tour was over and he went home and found her getting her stuff situated in the house. He smiled.

        “I’m glad you came home,” Nick said hugging her.

        “Me, too, and apparently so are the guys,” Brizee said.

        “Were they here?” Nick asked.

        “They helped me move,” Brizee said.

Three days later, Brizee and Nick got married again with the guys and their wives there. Then they went on a honeymoon in the Bahamas where they didn’t leave the hotel room and made love all day and night. They came home and Brizee put together a memorial service for Leslie that Nick could attend and be able to say goodbye to his sister. Word had spread to the Carter clan about the service. Nick and Brizee arrived at the church and he saw the picture of Leslie with all the flowers and he saw all the family pictures and the pictures of him and Leslie together. He hugged Brizee. Brian, Leighanne, Howie, Leigh, AJ, Rochelle, Kevin, and Kristin arrived. They hugged Brizee and Nick. They sat down. A group of mutual friends of Brizee and Nick arrived and hugged them and sat down. Nick looked at the door and saw his father, Bob, and his stepmother, Ginger standing there. Bob came over to Nick and hugged him. Nick hugged his dad as Brizee hugged Ginger. Aaron, Angel, and BJ came in. Nick hugged them. Bob hugged Brizee.

        “Thank you for doing this for him,” Bob said.

        “He deserves a chance to say goodbye to his sister,” Brizee said. Bob hugged her.

        “I’m glad you came back in his life, back in the family, as messed up as it is,” Bob said.

        “Why wasn’t he allowed to come to the funeral, Bob, Leslie was his sister, he loved her,” Brizee said.

        “It was all Jane’s doing, she threatened to have me, Ginger, Aaron, Angel, and BJ banned from the funeral if we let Nick in,” Bob said.

        “She can’t ban Leslie’s own father and siblings from the funeral, you all had every right to be there,” Brizee said.

        “It was really Mike’s say so, she got him on her side,” Bob said. Brizee sighed.

        “Well, she won’t be allowed in here, this is for Nick, she had her chance to say goodbye to Leslie, this is Nick’s time,” Brizee said.

        “How are you keeping her out,” Bob said.

        “Billy and the rest of the bodyguards are posted at the doors, she won’t get past them,” Brizee said.

        “And Mike?” Bob asked.

        “If he is on Jane’s side, him, too, if he can’t let Nick say goodbye to his own sister,” Brizee said. She looked and saw them ready to go. They went and sat down and the reverend started the service. They heard commotion outside the doors and Jane and Mike came barging in. Billy and the rest of the bodyguards came after them.

        “Stop this service right now!” Jane said.

        “This is a disgrace to my wife’s memory,” Mike said.

        “I don’t think so, Mike, this service is for those who were not invited to the funeral and they have the right to say goodbye, including Leslie’s own brother,” Bob said getting up and facing them. BJ, Aaron, and Angel stood behind their father.

        “You two got to say goodbye to Leslie at the funeral but Nick didn’t, he loved Leslie as much as all of us, he deserves this chance to say goodbye,” BJ said.

        “Who’s bright idea was this!” Jane said. Brizee came around Bob and stood in front of Jane.

        “It was mine, Jane, I planned all this, and you are not welcome here, you made sure Nick wouldn’t come to the funeral by making sure not to tell him when it was, by doing that, you made sure the whole world thought he didn’t care about Leslie and didn’t love her, if anyone has disgraced Leslie, it’s you two, she loved Nick, and he loved her, she would have wanted him at the funeral, she would have wanted him to have the chance to say goodbye, geez, Jane, he is your son!” Brizee said. Nick came up and stood beside Bob. Jane looked at Mike.

        “She’s right, Jane, Nick deserves this chance to say goodbye to his sister,” Mike said. He went and sat down. Jane looked at Nick. She nodded and went and sat down. Everyone sat down and the service continued. Nick got up to speak.

        “When Leslie was born, I was like, oh great, another sister, another girl in the house, I felt like, am I going to the only son, but when I saw her, I was okay with it, because I loved her anyways, as we grew up and I got into singing, I found out that she wanted to be a singer, too, I heard her sing and I was like, wow, she can make it big, and when she got into writing her own songs, and coming to me and singing them to me because she wanted my opinion, my thoughts on them, as everyone saw on the show, me and Aaron would help her make the songs really stand out better, but at the same time keep them her songs, I was on my solo tour when I got the call that she was gone, I closed myself off from everyone and just broke down crying, all I could think of was no one would hear that voice again, hear her singing those songs, watching her perform her songs, before the show, we kind of lost touch and grew apart but as we did the show, we all got really close and we realized that we all wanted to be a family again, that we all got to know each other all over again, I would give anything to have had the chance to be the best big brother to her, I wish I could have been there for her more, Leslie, I know you are watching over all of us, sis, I love you, I miss you, I will never ever forget you,” Nick said. BJ, Aaron and Angel went up to him and hugged him as they all cried together.  They sat down and the reverend finished the service and they all went back to Nick’s house and Jane and Nick went out back to talk. Brizee went and stood at the back window and watched them. She felt hands on her shoulders and she looked and saw Bob.

        “I just want to stand here and make sure it goes okay,” Brizee said.

        “I know, it’s a long time coming, thank you for what you did, it was good for Nick to be able to properly say goodbye to Leslie,” Bob said.

        “It was for me, too, she was like a sister to me, I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye either,” Brizee said.

        “You didn’t speak,” Bob said.

        “The service was mainly for Nick to be able to speak about Leslie,” Brizee said. Bob nodded.

        “I’m glad you and Nick are back together and married, you were always like a daughter to me, and you always will be,” Bob said. Brizee smiled and hugged him.

        “Thanks, Dad,” Brizee said. Bob smiled and hugged her back. Nick and Jane came into the kitchen and saw them hugging. Brizee saw them and pulled back.

        “Everything okay?” Brizee asked.

        “It’s fine now, we have an understanding,” Nick said. Jane came over and hugged Brizee.

        “I’m sorry for barging into the service like that,” Jane said.

        “It’s okay,” Brizee said.

        “No, it’s not, I had no right to want it stopped, and I should have made sure Nick could have made it to the funeral, he had every right to be there and say goodbye to his sister,” Jane said.

        “I plan on going up to visit her grave,” Nick said.

        “I’ll be with you,” Brizee said. Nick hugged her close to him. Jane smiled.

        “I’m glad you two are back together, Bob, it’s so good to have our daughter-in-law back in our lives,” Jane said.

        “You got that right,” Bob said.

        “I have a question for you two,” Brizee said.

        “Okay,” Jane said. Brizee whispered something to Nick and he looked at her and smiled and hugged her.

        “When Nick and I have kids, if it is okay with you, that if we have a girl, we can name her Leslie,” Brizee said.  Bob and Jane looked at each other and they hugged Brizee and Nick.

        “That is most definitely okay,” Jane said.

        “You bet it is,” Bob said.

That night after everyone left, Brizee and Nick showered and collapsed on the bed kissing.

        “I love you so much, thank you for today,” Nick said.

        “I love you, too, and you are welcome,” Brizee said.

        “How soon do you want to start having kids,” Nick said.

        “How soon do you want to?” Brizee asked.

        “Is now too soon?” Nick said kissing her neck.

        “Well, it might have happened already,” Brizee said.

        “You aren’t on the pill?” Nick asked.

        “I can’t, I had an allergic reaction to the pills so I had to stop,” Brizee said. Nick kissed her deeply.

        “So you could be pregnant now,” Nick said.

        “It is very possible,” Brizee said. He put his hand on her stomach. She put her hand over his.

        “I love you,” Nick said.

        “I love you, too, now make love to me,” Brizee said. He smiled and kissed her deeply as he made love to her for the rest of the night.