Sara looked around the Grand Ole Opry Theater. The place was packed, she could see the stage but that was it.

When they had arrived on the red carpet, the Backstreet Boys had walked in front of them but Christina Aguelera was behind them. They had seen Britney Spears and N�Sync. DMX and Pink. The year before they had watched it on the small TV in their living room but now they were there.

They had all dressed their best for their very first award show. Sara was wearing black leather pants and a white shirt that she had cut off above her navel. There was a picture of an electric guitar on the chest.

Kayla had on red vinyl pants with a black tank top on. Kristen had a denim skirt that went down to her feet. It had rhinestones down both sides and along with it she wore a yellow long sleeve shirt that had slits down the front. Dani had on a black mini-skirt, with a red 3-quarter length shirt on.

Sara smiled as the show began. Sarah Michelle Gellar was standing at center stage making jokes and attempting to get the crowd interested. But Sara could only think about the road Carpe Diem had traveled to get to this destination.

She smiled as she remembered when they had first heard Same Old Story on the radio. The joy that had come from the short 3 minutes. She would never forget that day.

The show went quickly and they were soon at the award Best New Artist. They each took each other�s hands and squeezed. No matter what happened tonight, Carpe Diem was going places.

�And the winner of Best New Artist is...� Kirsten Dunst said pausing to add suspense. �Carpe Diem.�

Kayla screamed as she jumped up and grabbed Sara to give her a hug. Dani and Kristen joined in to make it a group hug.

Dani was the first to head towards the stage. Sara was about to but turned around and saw Brian. He gave her his famous Brian Littrell grin and gave her the thumbs up sign. Sara smiled back but surprised them both when she walked towards him she leaned over and in front of everybody, regardless of all the consequences, kissed him. She blushed when AJ whistled and hurried to catch up with her band mates.

Kayla smiled as she took the moon man. This was in the top 5 of her greatest moments in her life.

�Thank you so much!� Kristen yelled chuckling as the crowd screamed. �First and foremost, I want to thank Patricia Johnson for taking a chance on us. She saw something in us that no one else would take a chance on. Thank you Pat!�

Dani spoke next. �I want to thank MTV for laying our music. We would definitely not have gotten this far without your support.�

Kayla wiped away her tears before she spoke into the microphone. �Thank you everybody at Jive Records. You are amazing people who everybody should know about.�

Sara smiled. �I want to thank God for blessing each of us with these amazing voices. He made it possible for us to send a message through song. He is our heavenly father, thank you God.�

�Also, the Backstreet Boys. Thank you for being there for us during the ups and downs of our career,� Kristen added.

Then Kayla said what they were all thinking. �Thanks to the fans. Without you, we would not be here, on this stage, excepting this honor. You like us for some reason and thank you for that.�

They each waved at the applauding crowd and followed Kirsten Dunst off the stage. Carpe Diem had just jumped an incredible hurdle. The only way they could go was up or was it?

Brian hurried backstage to finish getting ready for their performance. They were performing �More Than That� a personal favorite of Brian�s.

Nick and AJ were already getting the earpieces attached and make-up and wardrobe put on. Brian fell into place but soon noticed that Sara was waiting to talk to him.

�Hey,� she said beginning to lose her nerve.

�I needed to talk to you and we won�t be alone at the after party and you performance is pretty much the end of the show. Except for the Viewer�s Choice Award, which you will win,� Sara rambled making Brian smile.

He lowered his forehead to hers and asked softly. �What�s so important?�

�I�m going to go home with you, well to your parent�s home, for Thanksgiving,� she said quickly briefly wondering if he would still want her to go with him.

Brian stared at her. Of all the things he had been expecting her to say, that hadn�t been one of them. He had assumed she�d go home with Dani, just because she knew Dani better and that was her best friend.

�Oh God! Sorry, I assumed you still wanted me to come. Oh, geeze, I�m sorry, I got to think before saying things.� Sara went on. Brian smiled. �You are welcome to come home with me. My mom wants to meet you anyways.�

Sara paused before adding. �She�s not going to like me.� Brian laughed, she knew her face had flushed bright red.

�Not like you! Sweetheart, it would be completely asinine if she didn�t like you. Everybody likes you,� Brian said after realizing her had embarrassed her. �Why would you think that?�

Sara argued with herself. She didn�t need to explain her comment but part of her really wanted to confide in Brian. Tell him all about her insecurities and have him help her deal with them but then her father�s voice came back to her. �Everybody talks about you behind your back, besides being worthless and stupid, you�ve ugly and not one goddamn person will ever love you.�

�No reason,� Sara said blinking back tears. Brian didn�t want to hear her problems.

Brian knew she wasn�t telling the truth but someday he�d get the truth from her.

�Yo Brian! We got 2 minutes!� Nick yelled making Brian�s attention shift to the impending performance.

�I gotta go,� Brian said kissing her quickly but then added. �Wait here.�

Sara nodded and made her way to the right hand of the stage so she could see the performance.

As Sara watched, she tried not to be so biased but they were the best there. They expressed so much emotion while they sang and Sara couldn�t figure out why. The song was about a guy liking a girl who already had a boyfriend, as far as she knew, they had never liked anyone like that.

�They�re good,� Kirsten said from behind Sara and Sara jumped. �Sorry, didn�t mean to scare you.�

�It�s okay,� Sara said turning back to their performance. �And you�re right, they are good.�

�I use to imagine Kevin giving this up so we could start a family. We fought about it all the time and I realized something about Kevin about a month ago,� Kirsten began. �Music is a part of his life. Always has been and I should never have tried to change that I knew it when I married him.�

Sara had listened patiently but she had no idea why Kirsten had told her that.

Kirsten smiled at the look of confusion. �Brian is just like Kevin. Music is his life, if he wasn�t a musician, Brian would feel a part of him was missing. Don�t be like me, don�t try to change him. Love him for who he is.�

Sara stared at her thoughtfully. She had never thought someone would warn her about her relationship with Brian. She opened her mouth to respond but was distracted when Brian pulled her into a hug.

Minutes went by as they all announce the winner of the Viewer�s Choice. Sara sent up a silent prayer to God that the Boys would win. They deserved it.

�And the winner is, the Backstreet Boys!�

Sara smiled and wrapped her arms around Brian�s neck to give him a big hug. He showered her faces with Kisses and then made his way, along with everybody else, to except their moon man. It was really a happy night.