The shrill ringing of the telephone woke her up the next morning. Kathy fumbled around in her sheets and felt for her glasses on the bedside table before reaching for the phone. Just as her hand touched it, the ringing stopped. "Figures." She got up and hopped into the shower before going out to make breakfast for Nick and herself. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Nick sitting on the couch, talking on the phone. She leaned against the wall, staring in amazement for a moment and then went over to sit beside him. "That will be cool!" He was saying. He nodded his head and listened for a moment, then a frown creased his face. "Do you have to?" He listened again. "Yeah, I understand. She probably wouldn't let Aaron or the others come if she wasn't there." He nodded again. "Okay, sounds good. I'll let Kathy know and we will be there, okay?" She watched as he felt for the button to shut the phone off. "I think this is it." he muttered, and smiled when the phone beeped as it turned off. "Why didn't you let me know you were up?" Kathy questioned suddenly. Nick jumped and turned to face her. "Why didn't you? You scared me half to death sneaking up on me like that!" They laughed together. "So what's the scoop?" "AJ and Lex are hosting the big party for me. It's tonight around 5 or so. They are having it a bit earlier so that Aaron and the others can come for awhile." "That sounds great!" Kathy said enthusiastically. "You think so? My mom will be there." Kathy put her arm around him. "It will be fine. She won't do or say anything with everyone there."

Kathy put her arm around Nick as they started up the walk to AJ's house. "Are there any stairs going up to the door?" she asked him. "No, put that doesn't mean you have to take your arm away." He smiled as she placed her arm around his waist again. "You are so demanding!" she teased. "This place is huge!" Kathy was trying to look everywhere at once. "Yeah, his house is bigger, but I have a better pool!" Kathy laughed. "I love your house, and your pool. I think this would be too big for me." They rang the doorbell and were greeted by Lex. "Nicky! Look at you! You look great!" She hugged him tightly and then Kathy. "Hi Kathy, so nice to see you. How is the big guy treating you?" "Oh, we are getting along pretty good." She shot him a look when he started to snicker. "Pretty good, huh? I'm sure AJ will want to hear all the details of that!" She led them into the room dubbed "Party Central" "Here he is everyone - the almost totally healthy Nick Carter!" A loud cheer went up and Nick started to blush. A pair of arms hugged him around the waist. "Hi Nick. I love you and I missed you." Nick held out his cane to Kathy and bent to return the hug to his brother. "Aaron. I love you too, little man." They both tried to wipe their tears away before they broke the hug. "You have to come stay with me for a few days, buddy. We can swim and play video games all day long!" Aaron grinned and grabbed Nick's hand tightly. "How are we gonna play video games?" "Well you will beat me..maybe!" Nick smiled and hugged his brother again. "Come sit over here with me!" Aaron led Nick to a love seat and everyone crowded around them, asking questions and offering congratulations. "So how are you, Kathy?" Kathy whirled around in surprise. "Roberta?" They both squealed and hugged each other. "Oh my God! What are you doing here?" "Howie!" Roberta smirked and then collapsed in giggles. "You're still together?" "Yep! And I had to come home with him for the party. I took some time off that I had coming to me and here I am." "This is so great!" Kathy exclaimed. "You have to come over to the house and visit before you go." "Oh I will don't worry." Rho looked over at Nick, still swarmed by guests. "How's loverboy?" "He's doing so good, Rho. He's already picked up the braille alphabet and is getting around with the cane. He's adjusting so much better than I thought he would." "How are you adjusting?" "How am I...what do you mean?" Rho grinned wickedly. "With Nick, silly!" "He, well, I, well he and I..." "Yes?" Rho raised her eyebrow and glared at her friend. "We've kissed a few times." "Slap my palm girl!" Roberta planted a kiss on Kathy's cheek. "I told you! Actually I knew something had happened when you both walked in. You look so blissful and happy with him." "I do?" Kathy was surprised that her affection for him was that noticeable. "Yes you do. Now go sit with him and quit mooning over at him." Rho pushed her towards Nick and went off to find Howie amongst the crush of people.

"Hey Nick!" Kathy pushed her way through the well-wishers to reach Nick's side. "Kathy! Where have you been? Isn't this a great party, everyone is here!" Alexa came over and pushed a glass into Nick's hand. "Here you go, buddy." Nick took a sip and frowned. "This isn't beer!" "Nope!" Alexa looked at Kathy and grinned. "Doctors orders, not until you are 100% healthy again." "Dammit." Nick muttered under his breath, taking another sip. "And you're underage!" she teased. "Just for a little bit longer!" Nick teased back. "Then watch out!" Nicks sister, BJ came up and dragged him off to see a family friend. "Bye ladies!" He smiled as BJ took his hand and walked him over to their old neighbor. "So how is he doing, Kathy?" Alexa asked. "He looks very happy, as do you." Kathy looked at the doctor in curiosity. "You can see it too?" Alexa grinned. "Oh yeah. The change in him is amazing from the last time I saw him at the office. And you are glowing." "Okay, keep me away from his mother then, can you promise me that? Because if you can see it and my friend can see it, I'm sure she will be able to." "Is she giving you trouble?" Alexa asked sympathetically. "She's threatened me not to get involved with Nick. I didn't mean for it to happen, but we are getting closer as the days go by." Alexa placed her hand on Kathy's arm. "It's okay, she's a witch to everyone, generally. Don't let her get to you." Kathy smiled. "I'll try not to." "He seems to be getting along well." Alexa grabbed an empty seat at a nearby couch and pulled Kathy down. "He is. Very well." Kathy took a sip from her drink and looked around the room. So many friends, hopefully all supportive, here to see him. She was amazed. "He went through the Braille alphabet today and read a sentence from a book. He's been getting around the house on his own with the cane." "He's not overdoing anything or getting upset about anything?" Kathy mused. "Well, he did have the breakup with Christina, but other than that, no." "She's a little witch too." Alexa mused. "Her mom is a friend of Jane's, guess how she met Nick?" "Lex, baby, can you get the door?" AJ yelled suddenly. "I can't get to it!" Alexa giggled and handed her glass to Kathy. "I didn't even hear the doorbell!" Kathy looked around the crowd of people again, wondering where Nick was and how he was doing. "Kathy!" "Kevin! How are you?" Kevin enveloped her in a huge hug. "Nick looks great, you've been taking great care of him." "Thank you." Kevin introduced Kathy to his wife Kristin and they sat back down to talk about the Bahamas and the time they spent there. "I wish I had been able to go." Kristin smiled at Kevin. "But I had to work, and they banned us gals anyway!" "It's okay," Kevin laughed. "She made me promise to take her before we tour." "Make sure he does. It's a beautiful place."

A commotion in one of the other rooms interrupted their conversation a few minutes later. "That sounded like Nick." Kevin muttered. He strode into the other room with Kathy on his heels. Nick was standing in the middle of the room, confronting his mother and Christina, who must have been the late arriving guest. "How dare you invite her mother? Knowing we had broken up?" "Did you tell her why we broke up Nicky? Did you?" Kathy moved to Nick's side. "Take it easy Nick, you don't need to be getting upset over this." Christina sneered. "Well, here she is now." Jane placed her hands on her hips and glared at Kathy. "What is this all about? What is Christina telling me?" Kathy ignored her. Nicks blood pressure had to be soaring, a vein in his head looked ready to burst. "Nick, take deep breaths, calm down." Christina turned to Jane, noticing they had drawn most of the party guests to their confrontation. "The night he broke up with me, I forgot something and went back to get it. I opened the front door and they were kissing on the couch. She was all over him." Kathys mouth dropped open in disbelief. "She's lying!" Jane reached over and pulled Kathy away from Nick. "Get your hands off my son." "Kathy? You leave her alone, mother!" Kevin took Kathy's place beside him. "Nick, settle down, okay? Everything will be fine." "Get her out!" Nick banged his cane into the ground. "Get her out of my life!" he shouted. "I told her what would happen Nick, if she came onto you. I told her." "Leave her alone." Nick's voice was low and threatening, but Kathy could hear the deep breath he took into between words. "Nick, it's alright." she said, hoping to sound soothing. "Get her out!" He screamed. He raised his cane and then put his hand to his chest. "Kathy?" he gasped and then collapsed to the floor.