"Such a shame."

"What?" I was trying to eat a quick breakfast and entertain Dani at the same time. I wasn't too good at it yet.

"You should have been there for your daughter's birth. At least, you should have had a choice to be there."

Mom flicked through the rest of the documents and I explained that Dr. Haywood had most of them. Then she plowed through the diaper bag.

"All these clothes are old, almost threadbare!" she exclaimed.

"It sounds like she didn't have much money, Mom." I reminded her.

"I know but..."

"Mom."

"I know, I know. When you were born your father and I weren't much better off."

Mom piled the clothes on the table, along with the few other items.

"She needs so much Nick."

"I know." I didn't know really. I had some idea but I'm sure I couldn't even begin to think of all the things Dani really needed.

"What do you think about her?"

"What? Who?"

"Dani's mother."

"I don't know." I shrugged. She was a faceless lay to me. One of hundreds. Hopefully the only one I had stupidly forgotten a condom with. Couldn't really tell my mother that though. "I don't know what to think. I guess I'm upset, but I got myself into this. I'm still kinda numb to it all."

"Oh honey." Mom gave me a quick hug. "You've got a lot of learning and growing up ahead of you."

Dani gurgled and smiled at me from Mom's lap.

I leaned over and rested my face against her cheek. "Go easy on me, baby." I whispered to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were just getting ready to leave when my cell phone rang. Mom lifted Dani out of my arms and placed her in her temporary car seat while I answered the phone.

"H'lo?"

"Nick! Why didn't you tell me last night?"

"Aaron? You weren't home. I couldn't."

"I was, I was downstairs on the phone!"

"Who were you talking to?" I had a sneaking suspicion.

"It was Alli....um...just a friend." Aaron stammered.

I burst out laughing. Aaron had met a fan at a show about a month back and was totally infatuated with her. She had given him her number and he'd finally gotten the nerve to call her.

"So, you in love?" I teased.

"No!" Aaron protested. "Well..I really like her. She's fun to talk to."

"Girls are nothin' but trouble, Aaron." I advised him. He just laughed at me. Of course. He'd learn.

"Whatever. But why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know you were there Aaron!"

"I wanna come shopping with you. I wanna see her!"

Mom was standing by Dani, trying to keep her from crying.

"She wants to get going Nick. Who is it?"

"It's Aaron, Momma. He wants to meet Dani and come shopping with us."

I spoke into the phone again. "Okay, we're coming to get you, we'll be just a few minutes. Be ready!" I clicked off the phone and slid into the drivers seat. I twisted around to Mom and Dani in the back. "We're gonna get Aaron on the way, okay? Time for you to meet more of your family Dani!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled up to the family's house and honked the horn. Aaron was outside in a flash and climbing in the back door.

"You gotta sit in the back, doofus. There's no room where Mom and Dani are."

"I just wanna see her." he protested.

Mom slid over so Aaron could sit beside Dani. "He's alright honey, we have enough room."

I waited to start the car again. I wanted to see Dani's reaction to Aaron. He was smiling down at her, stroking her little hand with his fingers. Dani shifted her head to look at me and then her eyes moved back to study Aaron. She offered him a smile and Aaron beamed back at her.

"She likes me!"

Dani was still shifting her gaze from Aaron to me and back again. You could see the confusion on her face.

"She thinks you're me." I laughed. I took Dani's hand gently. "He looks like me baby, just a little. This is your new uncle, Aaron." Dani smiled again.

"I'm better looking than him though." I heard Aaron whisper to Dani.

"No you ain't!" I laughed again. "In your dreams, little man."

"Okay boys." Mom took control. "We need to get this little doll some belongings."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, we need a shopping cart with a baby carrier. Aaron, go see if you can find one."

Aaron ran off in search of a cart and I carried Dani as Mom and I walked to the store.

"Omigod! Aren't you Nick Carter?"

I spun around to see two teenage girls freaking out behind me. I pulled my baseball cap down lower with my free hand and tried to shush them.

"Yes, yes I am."

"Oh...wow...God...can we have your autograph?"

They were jumping up and down and causing a bit of a scene. People walking in the parking lot were turning and staring, trying to see who the girls were screaming about. I signed quickly for them and started for the store again. Mom had gone ahead to warn Aaron.

"Who's little girl is that?"

"She looks like you."

"Is she yours?"

The two girls were studying me closely.

"She's my friend's daughter. I...I...I'm babysitting." Yup, that sounded convincing. Nick Carter babysitting. Happens all the time.

"Okay. She's cute." The girls ran off, giggling and yelling.

I caught up with Mom and Aaron in the front lobby of the store.

"What did you tell them Nick?"

I sighed. "I told them I was babysitting."

Aaron snorted. "Yeah, right!"

"I didn't know what else to say!" I was raising my voice.

"Nick, calm down. You're going to have to tell the truth someday. The story about you and a baby will be all over the internet tonight. You need to give this some serious thought."

"Yes, Momma."

I placed Dani in the infant seat attached to the shopping cart and started to trudge through the store. Why did people have to know about her? Why couldn't I keep this one thing hidden about my life? I flicked away a tear before it could run down my face. One thing was for sure. No one was finding out about her until I was ready to tell them. At least I could control that.