Brizee sat at the bar at the nightclub, Tabu, which was owned by Howie, who is like a brother to her. She was married to Nick, who was Howie’s bandmate.  Nick had been killed in a boat explosion or so the police said since there was no evidence he was even on the boat. She always held out hope he was alive somewhere and just had amnesia and couldn’t remember his life. She looked at Howie sitting beside her.

        “Thanks for letting me sing tonight,” Brizee said.

        “You are an awesome singer, Briz,” Howie said. Brian, Leighanne, Leigh, Kevin, Kristin, AJ, and Rochelle came over to them.

        “Hey guys,” Leigh said kissing Howie.

        “Hey baby,” Howie said.

        “Briz, you will do great,” Brian said.

        “Girls, we have to talk to Howie,” Kevin said. They pulled him to his office. Howie went in and saw Nick sitting there.

        “Nicky!” Howie said. They hugged.

        “He showed up at my house this morning, he wants to surprise Briz,” AJ said.

        “AJ told me she was singing,” Nick said.

        “Yeah, but we should tell her, if she sees him before knowing he is here, she’ll pass out,” Howie said.

        “That is why you are going to get her to start singing their song, and say that Brian is singing with her,” AJ said.

        “She will not want to sing the song, she can’t get past the first word without breaking down,” Howie said.

        “D has a point,” Brian said.

        “Get the girls up here,” Kevin said.

        “We can surprise the customers and the world,” AJ said.

The girls came in and saw Nick. Brizee came in and saw Nick.

        “Oh god,” Brizee said. She fainted. Kevin caught her before she hit the floor. He got her to the couch and saw her down and Nick knelt down in front of her. She woke up and saw him in front of her and she flew into his arms.

        “I’m back, baby girl,” Nick said.

        “I never gave up hope, I just knew you had to be out there and you just couldn’t get home because you lost your memory or something,” Brizee said.

        “You really know me too well, you got that right, I heard the sound of ticking and jumped off the boat but I hit my head and ended up on a ship with no memory, when I finally remembered, I came home and you weren’t home so I went to AJ’s,” Nick said.

        “He showed up this morning,” AJ said.

        “I wanted to surprise you, so I was going to have Howie ask you to start singing our song and I would surprise you and join in but he said that you wouldn’t make it past the first word without breaking down,” Nick said.

        “He’s right, I couldn’t, but now I can,” Brizee said stroking his face.

        “Let’s get out there and surprise the world,” Nick said. He put on a disguise and they went down to the main floor. Howie went up onstage.

        “Evening everyone, welcome to the club, you all know me so I don’t need to introduce myself, but I am introducing our singer tonight, she’s Nick’s wife, she is one of my best friends and she’s like a sister to me, and this first song is going to be awesome because there is a surprise for you all in the song, you will love it, give it up for Brizee Carter,” Howie said. Brizee came up onstage and starting singing, This is Me.  When it came time for Nick to sing, he pulled off his disguise and the whole place saw him and went crazy as he joined his wife onstage singing his part and they faced each other and finished the song. Then they sang A Whole New World. After they were done, Nick kissed her and stepped offstage to join the guys and girls while Brizee sang three more songs on her own. After she was done, she said goodnight and thanked everyone for coming and got offstage and went to the guys. Nick hugged her. They went home and Nick walked in and looked around.

        “Nothing has changed here,” Nick said.

        “Nope,” Brizee said. She locked up the door and hugged him. He buried his face in her neck.

        “I don’t ever want to let you go,” Nick said.

        “I don’t want you to,” Brizee said. He picked her up and carried her upstairs to their bedroom and closed the door and put her down and they kissed as they removed each other’s clothes and collapsed on the bed and they made love off and on for the rest of the night. The next morning, Brizee woke up and saw she was in bed alone. She sat up and looked around. She looked and saw she had her pjs on. She laid there in bed and realized it was a dream that Nick had come back. The phone rang.

        “Hello,” Brizee said.

        “Mrs. Carter, this is Detective West, we need you to come down to the station this morning,” he said.

        “Okay, bye,” Brizee said. She got up and changed and went downstairs as Brian came in.

        “Hey Briz,” Brian said.

        “Just in time, want to go down to the police station with me,” Brizee said.

        “Sure,” Brian said. She got her purse and phone and keys and they went down to the police station. They found Detective West. He saw them.

        “Detective West, you wanted to see me,” Brizee said.

        “Yes, I’m sorry for this but Mrs. Carter, we found your husband’s body,” Detective West said. They went down to the morgue and he opened a drawer and pulled out a body covered with a sheet. Brian stood beside her as he pulled the sheet to reveal the head. She looked and saw that it was indeed her husband.  She looked at Brian.

        “Brian,” Brizee said.

        “It’s Nick,” Brian said. Brizee collapsed against Brian as he held her. She turned and buried her head in Brian’s shoulder.

        “I’m sorry, Mrs. Carter,” Detective West said.

        “Where did you find him?” Brian asked.

        “On the beach not far from the marina where his boat exploded, we did an autopsy, he drowned, and he has a bump on the head so it looks like he jumped as it exploded and he hit his head and was knocked out and drowned,” Detective West said.

        “I hope you find out who wanted my husband dead,” Brizee said.

        “We have a suspect in custody, well, two, it was a murder for hire deal, we traced it back to Lauren Kitt,” Detective West said. Brizee looked at Brian.

        “His ex-girlfriend, she cheated on him, he dumped her, met Brizee, Lauren wanted him back but he refused, she swore revenge, that was two years ago, she really planned this out,” Brian said.

        “If only I could get my hands on her for what she did,” Brizee said.

        “Mrs. Carter, I assure you she will pay for what she did, it’s possible she could get the death penalty,” Detective West said.

        “Make her fry for this!” Brizee said angrily before walking out. Brian followed and called the guys and Leighanne. They were waiting for them at the house.  Brizee went straight up to her room while Brian filled the gang in.

        “I can’t believe Lauren did this,” Rochelle said. They all heard a crash upstairs. Brian ran up the stairs with everyone behind him. He ran in and saw the bedroom a mess and a broken vase against the wall.  Brizee sat in the middle of the bedroom.

        “He’s gone, B, he’s never coming back,” Brizee said softly. Brian got down on the floor and took her in his arms. Kevin, AJ, Howie, Leighanne, Leigh, Kristin, and Rochelle gathered around them.  A few weeks went by and it was time for Lauren’s trial. Brizee stood in front of the mirror.  Two days after she saw Nick’s body, she found out she was pregnant.  She had conceived the night before Nick died. She was two months along.  She turned and saw a little baby bump and smiled as she saw she was showing. Brian and Leighanne came in.

        “Briz,” Leighanne said.

        “I am showing off this bump, make her pay for taking him from me and this little one,” Brizee said.

        “Knowing Lauren, she’ll want to pay for what she did for taking a father from his child,” Brian said. They went to the courthouse and they sat on the prosecution side of the room. Kevin, Kristin, AJ, Rochelle, Howie, and Leigh came in and sat with them.  They brought Lauren in and saw her down. She looked at the group and smirked at Brizee. Brizee glared at her with anger in her eyes. The judge came in and started the trial.

        “Lauren Kitt was Nick Carter’s ex-girlfriend, she cheated on him with another guy, Nick broke it off and moved on with his life, he got married to another woman, Lauren wanted him back but Nick refused so she planned his murder, she planned it to make sure that if she can’t have him, no one can, she planned it out for two years and two months ago, it happened, she hired someone to plant a bomb on Nick’s boat, Nick got on the boat and heard the ticking and jumped, he hit his head, was knocked out and drowned, Lauren and her hired hit man may have not been near him at the time of his death, but they are responsible, because they put that bomb on the boat to begin with, a man is dead because he was trying to save himself, but died trying, and he leaves behind his wife, his bandmates, his family, and we just found out this morning, his child, his wife is pregnant with his child who was conceived the night before his death,” The district attorney said. Lauren looked at Brizee who just smiled. Lauren spoke to her lawyer.

        “Your honor, my client would like to go straight to sentencing, she wants to pay for what she did,” the lawyer said.

        “If the district attorney has no objection, we will go straight to sentencing,” the judge said.

        “No objection,” the DA said.

        “Very well, will the defendant please rise?” the judge said. The doors to the courtroom burst open and they all turned and saw Nick standing there.

        “Your honor, no need for a trial, I’m alive and well,” Nick said. Brizee looked at the guys and looked at Nick.

        “We need to confirm you are indeed Nick Carter, because according to Brian Littrell and your wife, they identified your body in the morgue at the police station,” the judge said.

        “That was not me, your honor, I was hiding out at Lauren’s house, she faked my death,” Nick said.

        “Why Nick,” Brian said.

        “To get away from my life, everything,” Nick said.

        “Including your wife?” AJ asked.

        “I just couldn’t stay there any longer, I was getting suffocated,” Nick said. Brizee couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  She sat there staring at her hands with tears running down her cheeks. 

        “Well, we need to get a blood test to be sure who you are,” the judge said. Nick handed him some papers.

        “I am Nick Carter, the one and only,” Nick said.  Brian looked at the guys.

        “Let’s get out of here,” Kevin said. Brian helped Brizee up and he and Leighanne helped her out the door. Nick turned and saw them leaving.

        “Kev,” Nick said.

        “Don’t bother, Nick, you made your choice,” Kevin said as he and Kristin went out the door followed by Howie, Leigh, AJ, and Rochelle. They went to Brizee’s house and found Brizee in the bedroom furiously packing her bags. Brian and Leighanne were helping.

        “I can’t believe this, I was suffocating him, she must have brainwashed him,” Brizee said.

        “Who knows, who cares, he made his choice,” AJ said.

        “I need to find a place of my own big enough for me and my child,” Brizee said.

        “I’ll set you up with a condo,” Howie said. He went to make a phone call. Brizee made sure she got everything and they went downstairs and packed up her car just as Nick pulled in.

        “What’s going on,” Nick said.

        “What does it look like, I’m moving out, so I won’t be suffocating you anymore, I’ll be out of your life, you can have all the space you want so you won’t have to fake your death again or hide out, you can be on your own, or be with Lauren, I don’t give a fucking rats ass anymore, I’m so done!” Brizee said. She pulled off her rings and dropped them on the ground and got into her car and took off.

Brizee sat straight up in bed and looked around and saw Nick asleep beside her.  She sat there and realized it was all a dream, that Nick was with her.  Nick woke up and saw her sitting up.

        “Honey, what’s wrong,” Nick said sitting up. She told him about her dream. He pulled her close.

        “It seemed so real,” Brizee said.

        “But it wasn’t, I’m here and I’m not leaving you, ever, you are stuck with me forever and always,” Nick said kissing her forehead as they laid down in each other’s arms and went to sleep holding each other.