Dawn walked slowly back to her seat. There were so many things going through her head at that moment, she didn't know what to do. She couldn't even think straight.

'I know Noah is only trying to prepare me for what could happen, but he didn't have to be so pessimistic about it,' she thought to herself. 'He doesn't know Alex, and he hardly knows me, we WILL get through this. I'm even more determined now to make sure of that'.

She reached her seat and found that D was awake. She looked over at Noah who was listening to his CD player with his eyes closed.

'Jerk,' she thought to herself. She climbed over D and sat back down in her seat.

"Are you okay?" D asked worried.

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later, okay? When we have a little privacy."

"Why do I get the feeling that we won't get much of that?" She said as she stood up and reached into the luggage compartment above them, grabbing her bag.

She turned to Noah, who had his eyes on her and him a dirty look.

'That jerkoff thinks I don't know what he's up to. Wait until he finds out I was awake and heard almost everything that he said to Dawn,' she thought to herself as she sat back down.

Dawn reached into her bag and pulled out the blankie AJ had given her. She cuddled up with it and nestled it against her face. It smelled just like him, the familier scent comforted her. What she wouldn't give to be in his arms right now.

'I miss him so much,' she thought to herself as tears started to form in her eyes once again. One teardrop slid down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

'Stop it Dawn. You have to be stronger than this. You're the one who wanted all this, now you've got it and you're miserable', she said to herself.  She took a deep breath.

'I wonder if Arianna will even remember who I am after this tour is over,' she thought to herself. 'At least I know she is in good hands with her Daddy. This time together will be good for them'.

She tried to think about something else. She let her mind wander to her last night with AJ. A small smile crept across her face as she looked down at the cross around her neck and thought about the activities that followed him giving that to her. With that, she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke to D tapping her on the shoulder.

"We're here."

"Thank god," Dawn whispered to herself. She got up to stretch. She felt Noah's eyes on her, but she wouldn't look at him, she had nothing to say to him right now.

'I'll deal with him when I'm not so emotional.' She thought as she took her bags down from the overhead compartment. 'Hell, if that's the case, I may not speak to him the whole tour,' she laughed to herself.

She grabbed her bags and followed D off the plane with Noah following close behind her.

"Hey", he said softly as she felt his hand on her back.

"Not now, Noah, I'm not in the mood," she waved him off without really looking at him.

He stopped and watched her walk away from him.

'Oh man, I probably shouldn't have said those things to her, even if they are all true and I think she could do so much better than that AJ character, I didn't mean to hurt her'.

A limo was waiting for them after they got the rest of their bags and walked outside. They all piled in the car and headed to the hotel. They checked into their rooms and Dawn went to call AJ. He made her promise that she would call him when their plane landed so he knew everything was alright.

As she sat and tried to figure out what time it was back in the US, there was a knock on the door connecting her and D's room. She opened the door and let her in.

"Nice setup they got here, huh?"

"Yeah, it's okay, visiting Alex as much as I have when he's on tour, they all start to look the same."

"You're still missing him, aren't you?"

"Of course I am, every moment he's not right next to me, I miss him."

"Stupid question," she said sitting down on the bed.

"So, what happened on the plane that had you so upset?"

"Oh, Noah and I were talking and he just said some things that upset me."

"Like what?"

Dawn sighed and sat down on the bed.

"He was just saying all this crap like my life was going to change so much in the next few months, blah, blah, blah. Alex and I will grow apart, I'll soon discover that he doesn't even fit into my life." She felt herself start to get upset and tears started to well up in her eyes.

"Then he brought up something that I never really thought about before...the affect Alex and I getting married will have on his career." She looked away, trying to fight back tears. "Like Noah said, it won't affect my career at all, but it WILL affect Alex's. I don't want to ruin his career, D. He's worked too hard for it."

"Listen to me, AJ loves you more than anything in the world. His job is his job, but you and Arianna are his life. Being with you guys makes him truly happy. He has always been more than up front about his personal life with his fans and they still love him, that's probably even why they love him so much. He's always been honest about everything. He never tried to hide your relationship in any way, and he's never danced around the fact that he has a daughter. I'm sure he's already thought about how his getting married will affect his career, so don't you worry about it. Just concentrate on your life and what makes YOU happy, I know already what that is and I know you do, too".

Dawn looked over at her.

"Alex", she whispered with a smile.

"That's right. Other things in your lives may change, people and friends may come and go, but at the end of the day, there will always be one thing that will always be there, and that is your love for each other. The only thing that matters is the two of you, it doesn't matter what anyone else says or does. When this is all over and done with, you'll still have each other, you have to remember that."

"You're right. I don't know why I let what Noah said get to me. I feel so stupid. I should have had more faith in our relationship. Thanks for talking some sense into me."

Dawn leaned over and hugged her.

"No problem, that's what I'm here for. Now get your ass on that phone and call that fiancé of yours and tell him how much you love and miss him while I go vomit."

Dawn laughed and got up to hang up some of her clothes.

"I'm gonna go down to the bar for awhile, wanna go with me?" D asked, heading for the door.

"Thanks, but I'm gonna call Alex then I think I'm gonna take a shower then crawl into bed. Or maybe I'll wait to call him until after my shower and I'm already in bed". A sly smile crept across her face as D rolled her eyes.

"You two never get enough, I swear. No wonder you have that boy so wrapped around your little finger, that freaky mind of yours keeps him on his toes!" 

They laughed and D closed the door and headed downstairs.

When she got down to the bar she noticed that there weren’t very many people there. She sat down at the bar and ordered a Slo Gin Fizz. She was innocently flirting with the very cute bartender and on her third drink when Noah sat on the stool next to her.

"You left Dawn all alone in her room? I thought you were supposed to be glued to her side?" Noah asked sarcastically, ordering a Scotch on the rocks.

D just gave him a look that said ‘ha ha very funny’.

"She wanted to call AJ before she went to bed. You know, her fiance'".

Noah laughed and took a sip of his drink.

"I know quite well who AJ is."

"I think that you should remember who he is and what he means to Dawn the next time you go opening your mouth," D warned him, staring him straight in the eye.

"I figured she’d tell you all about it," Noah said, shaking his head and taking another sip of his drink.

"She didn’t have to tell me. I heard everything. I wasn’t asleep when the two of you had your little conversation. I didn’t tell her I heard everything. The things you said were pretty harsh, Noah."

Noah didn’t say anything. He just looked at his drink and sighed. D grabbed his arm and turned him to look at her.

"Let me just warn you right now. Dawn and AJ are very much in love and if you think for one second that her career is going to come between them you’ve got another thing coming. AJ is going to do nothing but support her through this. He’s the one who got her to start singing again for Christ’s sake. I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself from now on if you know what’s good for you."

D released his arm and Noah stared at her with a slight smirk on his face. She paid for her drink and got up to leave.

"D?" Noah called as she was walking away.

She turned to him with an annoyed look.

"I can see that this is going to be a long tour, and I wouldn’t want to threaten me if I were you."

D crossed her arms and smiled.

"Oh really?"

"We wouldn’t want Nicky to find out that you were cheating on him would we?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I never and would never cheat on Nick."

Noah got up and paid for his drink. He walked towards her with a smile she wanted to slap right off his face.

"I saw you flirting with that bartender earlier. We wouldn’t want it to get back to Nick that you and he had a fling in your hotel room now would we?"

"You think he’d believe YOU?" D asked, laughing.

"Nick thinks very highly of me, remember? Why would he not believe me?"

"But I’m his girlfriend.."

"Who he hasn’t known for very long," Noah finished. "The two of you don’t have the kind of relationship that your friends Dawn and AJ have. But then again, that relationship isn’t really on solid ground, either, from what I hear."

D’s eyes narrowed and she stepped closer to him so she was right in his face.

"Don’t even think about interfering in their relationship, Noah."

"There you go threatening me again. I guess you don’t really value your relationship with your boyfriend do you?"

"Of course I do, but I value my friendship with AJ and Dawn as well. They have a family. That’s more important. I can always get another boyfriend but AJ and Dawn belong together and I won’t let you come between them."

Noah smirked at her and walked away. D closed her eyes and sighed.

‘Shit...what did I just do? Now I’m gonna lose Nick for sure’.

Chapter 17
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