AN: In which Nick and Laina bond and Kei is deprived of sleep.  I'm SSSSOOO tired.  But 
I needed to write this.  Please make my exhaustion worthwhile.... (feedback is golden).... 
yes I am pathetic. LOL  HUGE thankies to everyone who has reviewed and emailed me.  Ya'll 
rock.  

Speaking of rock, if ya'll get the chance to catch the Pink/Lenny Kravitz concert GO.  It 
was AWESOME, hence the residual tiredness.  Grooving for hours will do that to ya... LOL  
And power to the Lawn People who have to get to the concert when the gates open for good 
seats.... Wahoo!  *does a little jig* It was so totally worth it though.  

That and getting to see grown men bounce up and down like teenies screaming, "OMG its LENNY!  
Look at Lenny!  I LOVE you Lenny!"  Definitely entertaining.  =) 

I could have lived without the mud though.  My sneakers will never be white again... 
*dramatic sniff* hehehe



********************** Crossing Enemy Lines: Chapter Ten ********************


Laina and Nick stared at each other in sullen dismay and both turned puppy dog faces to a 
firm Howie, Kevin, AJ and Brian.  "We're tired of you two fighting.  Now you're going to work 
out your differences if we have to tie you both to the booth.  Now, when we check in on you 
guys, which we WILL, you either better be sitting here, together, or on the dance floor, 
together, without bloodshed."  

"But Kevin..."

"Howie baby..."

Kevin ignored Nick and Howie ignored Laina's pleas.  The four men glared at them, issued a 
stern warning to behave, and stranded the unlikely duo in the middle of a very crowded, and 
thus public, Tabu.

Silence stretched long and painfully awkward between them.  Laina fiddled with her rings.  
Nick picked at his fingernails.  Finally, out of desperation, Nick started a timid line of 
conversation.

"So," Howie told us he took you out to see his family and stuff.  How's that go?"  

Laina beamed and Nick stared at her, surprised at the transformation that had come over her 
features.  "Great!  His family's just so nice and so damn supportive of everything he does 
and is.  He's lucky to have such wonderful people who love him so much.  I really appreciated 
that he cared enough to want to share that with me.  

"He's a very private man and I treasure whatever he chooses to share with me."  

Nick leaned back, blue eyes thoughtful as he studied the most recent addition to the 
Backstreet camp and "girlfriend" club.  Laina was hardly what you would call usual for a 
girlfriend but, there was something about her...  He didn't share Howie's attraction but 
was starting to understand it, in part.  

She knew the business, understood and accepted it, but wasn't a part of it.  She was 
supportive but fiercely independent.  She cared for Howie deeply but gave him his space.  
Nick wanted to believe what he saw, for his band mate's sake, but Nick had lived a life in 
the spotlight for so long he was most suspicious of things that seemed too good to be true.  

"What about your own family?"  

Laina snorted and fiddled a little more with her rings as she tried to ignore Nick's 
inquisitive gaze.  "Mom and Dad, well they've been disappointed with me since my first 
word was Trace.  They've disapproved of me ever since.  I mean, I love my brother dearly, 
but I know one of the main reasons he let me move down here with him was to get me away 
from them.  

"He has that macho first male child thing going on.  Trace doesn't really respect our 
folks but he gets along with them better than I do."  She shrugged and trailed off.  

"Have you told them about Howie?"  

She glared at him.  "No I haven't and I'm not planning on it.  If we ever decide to go 
public then they can find out on television.  Or from the tabloids.  I really don't give
a rat's ass.  The men I think of as brothers and family, my friends, know that I'm with him 
and happy and that's all that really matters."

Nick's blue eyes softened a shade and he nodded with a sigh.  "Yeah, I understand that 
situation all too well."  

Another silence fell while Laina sipped at the coke she had ordered and Nick watched the 
people dancing and sweating on the dance floor.  Finally Laina pointed.  "Go on, go out 
there and have fun.  We've done the whole bonding thing and crap.  We didn't exactly hit 
it off.  Now we don't want to kill each other so its all good...  Common ground and 
all that bull... 

"Blah, blah, blah.  Go dance, I can tell you want to."  

He shook his head, mouth set in a firm line.  "No thank you."  

She glared at him.  "Why not?  Its not like you're rhythmically challenged or anything...  
I promise I'll keep Kevin from pounding you and everything for abandoning poor little 
helpless me."  

That coaxed a snort and small smile from him.  "You're anything but helpless Laina Marie."  
The smile fell.  "I just get so freaking sick and tired of... of people being with me because 
of my name and my face and not who I am.  

"And dammit this is my life and I love it but sometimes..."  Nick's voice turned wistful 
as he stared at the people who grooved, oblivious to his meditative gave from a booth in 
the VIP section.  "Sometimes it'd be nice to go down there and dance with a girl who 
wouldn't have sex with me even if I begged.  You know?"  

She rolled her eyes.  "Not really no.  You can't actually think you're that irresistible, 
can you?"  

He frowned, pissed.  "Are you going to sit there and tell me that, if you weren't dating 
Howie, you wouldn't sleep with me if I asked, just for the hell of it?"  

Laina coughed and tried to hide her giggles.  "Duh!"  

He reached across the table in an instant and grabbed one hand, holding it tightly in his 
larger one.  Laina watched with wide eyes as he leaned forward and licked her palm, slowly, 
his warm tongue leaving a wet trail across her smooth skin.  Nick watched her with fiercely 
blazing eyes as he spoke, voice low, throaty.  

"Now, are you telling me that, if I was low enough to try, I couldn't steal you away from 
Howie?  That you would say no to sex with Nick Carter?"  

She snatched her hand away and wiped it on her pants, scowling at the waiting pop star.  
"Umm, yeah!  Jesus, did you have to lick me?!  Couldn't you have tried to prove your point, 
which was WRONG, a little more hygienically?"

"Fine," he spat, "are you going to sit there and tell me that you wouldn't have slept with 
Timberlake if he asked you?  That you wouldn't if he did now?  After all you are more of 
an *NSYNC girl...  You've been with them longer and all..."  

Laina glared daggers at the unrepentant man before her.  "You really are an ass, you know 
that right Carter?  What the hell is up with the twenty questions?  And for your information 
Howie is the only member of any boy band that I've slept with.  That I CARE about 
romantically.  And if we had never hooked up then I wouldn't have had sex with ANY of you.  
Period.  Not you, not Justin."  

"Even if he asked?" Nick pressed, searching for a weakness, needing a weakness.  

Laina leaned forward across the table until their noses were inches away from each other, 
furious hazel meeting infuriated sapphire.  "He DID ask Nick.  He told me he was half in love 
with me, BEFORE Howie did.  And you know what I did Nickolas Gene Carter?  I said no.  I 
told the grand and mighty Justin Timberlake that I wasn't interested in him.  

"I told the Prince of Pop that I just wanted to be friends.  And you know what?  Even if you 
and me had hit it off as friends, if you had ever sat there in front of me and asked that 
with all the sincerity in your little jaded heart to love you I still would have said no.  
No, no, NO to infinity!  

"So back off!"  

She sat down with a thump, breathless.  Nick stared at her in wide eyed wonderment.  

"Really?" he asked, voice quiet.  

Laina ran two hands through wild hair, frustrated and exasperated.  "Yes, REALLY."  

A slow, full smile slowly crept onto Nick's face until he was grinning from ear to ear.  
"Really, really?" he demanded hopefully.  

"Nick..." Laina growled, voice warning.  

Nick bolted out of the booth and let out a hoot of joy before grabbing a surprised Laina 
Marie's hand and dragging her out towards the dance floor.  

"Where the hell are you taking me?" she demanded shrilly over the loud music and pulsing 
lights.  

Nick laughed as he succeeded on making it down to the floor where he spun her around and 
back to him.  "I'm taking you dancing because you won't have sex with me, even if I beg!"        

"You're a freak!" she shouted.  Nick beamed like a puppy dog and Laina, with another roll 
of her eyes, smiled despite herself.  

So they didn't hate each other.  They didn't love each other either.  

And that was for the best.  

************************************************************************************

Kevin nudged Howie as the four other members of the Backstreet Boys stood from a balcony of 
Tabu and watched the two dance.  Nick looked like he was having a great time.  Laina looked 
like she was having teeth pulled.  

But it looked like a pleasant pulling experience. 

Overall it was going better than any of them had expected.  Laina hadn't decked Nick yet.  

"If he grabs her ass I'm killing him," AJ said conversationally as he and Brian joined 
Kevin and Howie.  

Howie looked over and grinned at his closest friend.  "Down Bone," he chided gently.  
AJ raised on incredulous brow.  

"Aren't you supposed to be playing the jealous boyfriend role?" he demanded.  

Howie laughed, amused.  "Aje, if Nick even THOUGHT about touching Laina's ass she'd kill 
him herself.  I don't have to be a jealous boyfriend."  

Brian smiled as he watched Howie's face light up.  "You love that she wouldn't take Nick 
even if he offered, don't you?"  

The older man shrugged easily as his dark eyes turned back to the mismatched pair.  "I 
love that I'm not the least popular Backstreet Boy with her.  I love that she thinks I hung 
the moon but won't hesitate about smacking me upside the head if she thinks I've hung it 
crooked.  I love that she doesn't care if I date other women but sill cares enough to love 
me."

"You're in love..."  

Howie glanced at Kevin who was watching him with too perceptive green eyes.  He chuckled and 
grinned smugly.  "Yup, that too."