The next few weeks went by quickly.   The new Backstreet Boys album was released and it flew off the shelves. They broke the record for first week sales by a million albums. It was phenomenal. D and Dawn couldn’t have been more proud of them.

They threw them a party to celebrate their success. It was going to be just the Boys and their significant others. They just wanted it to be them…no record company bigwigs or reporters. It had been a while since they had all gotten together. They couldn’t think of a better opportunity.

Things with AJ and Dawn were also going well. They were as happy as ever. She decided to move back in with him. She felt it was time to move on, to put everything behind them. She missed
being at home. It’s where she belonged.  AJ had just painted the rec room, so Dawn was staying at D's until until all the paint fumes were out of the house.

The morning of the party, D was at the store getting last minute things for the party and Dawn and AJ were at the house baking while Arianna was napping.  Dawn had just put a batch of cookies in the oven and AJ sat down at the kitchen table. He had a lot on his mind, he had been thinking about it all day, actually, longer than that.  He was quiet as he sat and thought about how to bring up what was on his mind. 

"Hey Angel?"

"Yeah?" She answered as she placed more cookie dough on a baking sheet.

"Umm, I was thinking, now that everything is okay between us, you’re moving back home, and with the baby and all….." his voice trailed off.

She stopped what she was doing and looked over at him.  The tone in his voice told her that this was serious.

"Umm, I was hoping maybe we could…."

He was afraid to say it, he didn’t want her to think that he was pressuring her.

"Say it, baby," she said quietly as she walked over to him. 

She watched him look down at the ground then start playing with the hem of his shirt.   She knew
what he wanted to say, at least she hoped she did.

"I was thinking, hoping rather, that, y’know, you still wanted to marry me and we could
discuss…………….setting a wedding date?"  He looked up at her hoping, praying that she didn’t get mad at him or tell him to go to hell.

She couldn’t help but start laughing at him.  He looked at her with a hurt look on his face.

"What?  What’s so funny?"

"You," she laughed.  "You’re so nervous!"  She couldn’t control her laughter.  "I don’t even think you were that nervous when you proposed!" 

He sat back in the chair with his arms folded. 

"I still don’t see the humor."

Dawn stopped laughing and knelt down between his legs.

"Did you really think I didn’t want to marry you anymore?" She smiled.

"I don’t know, a lot has happened…."

"I’m still wearing the ring, aren’t I?" she cut him off.

"Yeah," he whispered as he looked down at the ring on her finger.

"Look at me," she told him. 

His eyes met hers and she instantly felt bad for laughing at him.  He looked so sad, or worried….or both, she wasn’t sure. 

"Baby, I still want to marry you, more than anything. That hasn’t changed."

He smiled at her as all his worries seemed to slowly fade away.

"And as far as setting a wedding date, I think now would be a good time to talk about it.  As long as we give ourselves time to plan it, with your tour coming up, and the baby….." 

AJ’s eyes lit up at her words.  

"You really wanna set a date?" He asked, excitedly, as he practically jumped out of his chair.

She ran her fingers gently through his hair, that had been dyed back to dark brown, just as he had promised.  

"Yes, I do," she smiled.

He gave her a tender kiss then looked at her attentively. 

"So, umm, what month do you wanna do it?"

"I still like October, not too hot.."

"October it is…..what day?"

"Well, a Saturday…." Dawn began.

He stood up then helped her to her feet as they both walked over to the calendar hanging on the wall.  They flipped the pages to the following year then looked at October.   AJ stood behind Dawn with his arms around her, gently rubbing her stomach. 

"Okay, then we have the sixth, thirteenth, twentieth, or twenty-seventh."

"Not the sixth, too close to Kevin’s birthday."

AJ gave her a puzzled look. "So?"

"So, he’ll be thirty next year, we’ll be partying!"

"Okaaay, the thirteenth?"

"No, I don’t like that number."

He laughed. "Okay, we’ve narrowed it down to two dates.  The twentieth or the twenty-sixth."

"I like the twentieth".

"The twentieth it is then." 

He grabbed a marker and circled that date then turned to face her and pulled her into his arms. 

"How long will it be by then, soon to be, Mrs. McLean?"  He gently leaned in and began
kissing Dawn’s neck.

"Ummm," Dawn answered, barely able to concentrate as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back.  "A long time," she gasped.

He chuckled against her neck. Suddenly, she pushed him away.

"Alex, stop.  You’re not playing fair."

"What do you mean?" He asked innocently, trying to pull her back into his arms.

"I mean, you know what that does to me when you kiss my neck, and we can’t have sex.  So, that’s not fair!"

"Noooo," he pulled her to him, "we can’t have intercourse, there are other things we could do that would be equally as pleasurable."

"Hmm, Mr. McLean..I like the way you think," she said as she took the cookies out of the oven then walked over and kissed him passionately as she pulled him into the bedroom.   

Everyone arrived for the party around six. Arianna was very happy that Brian and Leighanne brought their dogs. She took them back to her room to play dress up which amused everyone but Brian. They were all having a wonderful time talking, laughing, and celebrating. It was great having everyone together in the same room. AJ passed out some champagne and made a toast to the guys and the success of the new album.

"And here’s to my beautiful fianc� who has decided to move back home with me. I couldn’t be happier. She’s even decided to still marry me," he added. "And we’ve even set a wedding date!" He informed them happily.

Everyone cheered.

"So when’s the big day?" Howie asked.

"October twentieth of next year. So mark that day on your calendars. It’s gonna be one hell of a party!"

He raised his glass and smiled then leaned down and gave Dawn a tender kiss. Everyone was discussing the wedding when the doorbell rang. D ran to answer the door and couldn’t believe her eyes when she opened it.

"Hello, D. Having a little party?"

"Noah. What the hell do you want? And how did you know where I lived?"

"I have my ways. Mind if I come in?" He asked innocently.

D was just about to say "hell no" and slam the door in his face when Dawn appeared behind them.

"Noah?? What are you doing here?"

She was more than surprised to see him. She hadn’t seen him since the airport and really didn’t want to.

"I came to see how you were. I hope you don’t mind."

"I mind," AJ said, joining them with Nick by his side, glaring at him with his arms crossed.

Noah smiled at her as she led him to the kitchen so they could talk.

"So how have you been? You look wonderful."

"Thank you, I’ve been fine. I have to keep the stress down to a minimum stay off my feet until the baby is born."

"Everything is fine with the baby?"

"Yes. Alex went to the doctors with me to have my first sonogram. The doctor said the baby was fine."

"I’m glad the baby is okay. So you and AJ are back together?" He asked surprised.

"Yes, we are."

"Why would you do something like that? After what he did to you."

"What I did was no better, Noah. We kissed and that was wrong. I was being a hypocrite. I had to tell him about what happened between us. It was only fair."

"And he was okay with it?"

"No, he wasn’t okay with it! He was pissed off! I didn’t see him for a long time. Finally he came and we talked things out. We decided to work things out."

Noah turned around and ran his hands through his hair.

"I can’t believe you forgave him for sleeping with that whore."

"Yeah, well I did and we are as happy as ever. We even set a wedding date," she threw at him, getting upset.

He turned around and looked at her sadly. How could she do this? Didn’t she understand that AJ was no good for her? If he cheated on her once he would do it again.

"What happens when he goes on tour again? He’s just gonna go to some bar and find himself another stripper to…"

"Noah, I think you should leave," she said, walking towards the door.

"I’m sorry Dawn. I shouldn’t have said that."

She opened the door and looked at him.

"I don’t need this stress right now, Noah. It’s not good for the baby. Not to mention, you have absolutely no right to judge Alex."

"I’m sorry, I just……." he paused as he looked at her.

He wanted to tell her how he felt about her, but the way this conversation had gone, he knew she wouldn’t listen.

"If you need anything don’t hesitate to call me."

He kissed her on the cheek and walked out the door. Dawn closed it behind him and sighed. She walked into the living room and everyone looked at her. AJ was standing against the wall, unable to sit still.

"Did he leave?" He asked with clenched fists.

He still couldn’t believe he had the nerve to show up. There was nothing he wanted more than to rip Noah’s head off and shove it down his throat.

"Yes," Dawn answered, kissing him.

"What happened? What did he say?"

"We’ll talk about it later. Let’s just have some fun."

The party went on until well after midnight. Everyone had gone home and D and Nick were in the kitchen cleaning up.

"I can’t believe he had the nerve to show up here!!" D said angrily.

"I know. That took a lot of balls."

"Yeah it did. I’d like to rip those balls off and shove them down his fucking throat," she said angrily.

Nick cringed and chuckled.

"I thought AJ was gonna rip his head off when he saw it was him at the door."

"I was hoping he would. He deserves it."

"Yes he does. That bastard needs another beating."

"God, I hope J never finds out Dawn slept with that asshole," D quipped.

"Excuse me??"

A voice behind her said. D shot around and looked at the doorway.

"Oh God," she whispered.

Chapter 46
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