Saturday morning...

"What time do we have to be at Kevin’s?" Dawn asked from the doorway of the bathroom where AJ was finishing his shaving.

"He said noon but we could get there anytime," he told her as he rinsed his face.

Dawn smiled and went over to him and ran her hands down his back. AJ shivered at the familiar touch and smiled. He turned off the water and grabbed a towel and dried his face. Dawn continued to rub his back, loving the way his skin felt under her fingers. She placed small kisses on his shoulders as AJ turned around and wrapped his arms around her.

"We may not make it to Kevin’s today if you keep this up," AJ smiled as he kissed her passionately.

They were interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Whoever that is has the worst timing in the world," AJ grumbled against her neck.

"That’s probably your mother wondering when she should pick Arianna up," Dawn said as she pulled out his embrace and went to answer the phone.

AJ followed behind her with a pout on his face. Dawn laughed at him as she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey sweetie, it’s Denise. I was just calling to see what time you could have the little one ready."

"She’s dressed and playing with her dollies in her room so whenever you get here will be fine."

"Great, I’ll be there in about ten minutes. We are gonna have such a wonderful time today."

"I’m sure you are. She’s so excited about spending the day with her grandma and Alex and I are excited about spending the day with other grown-ups for a change."

AJ came out of the closet and did a happy dance that made Dawn laugh so hard, she almost dropped the phone.

"So I hear that you and Alex may have set a wedding date?" Denise asked out of the blue.

"Uh.." Dawn didn’t know what to say. She had only given him a time frame to shut him up and now he told his mother that they had set a date. Now Denise was going to start planning and she just wasn’t ready for that. She was furious at him.

"I’m so glad that you're finally starting to plan this. He was so excited when he told me about it," Denise continued.

"I’ll bet he was," Dawn said between her teeth as she glared at AJ as he left the room to check on Arianna.

"Well, I better get moving so I can pick up Arianna. I’ll see you soon honey."

"Yeah, see you soon."

Dawn hung up the phone and went downstairs.

‘How could he do that? Damn him!! Why does he have to pressure me? He knows how I feel about this.’ Dawn thought to herself. ‘What the hell am I gonna do now?’

"Momma!!" Arianna came barrelling into the kitchen carrying her favorite stuffed bear.

"Hey baby!" Dawn bent down as she ran into her arms.

"I going out with Gwamma today," the little girl told her excitedly, smiling from ear to ear.

"I know. You better behave for her," Dawn warned.

"I will. I pwomise," Arianna assured her.

The front door opened and Arianna flew from her mother's arms when she heard Denise calling for her. Dawn and AJ followed Arianna to make sure she had everything and to get a kiss goodbye.

After they left Dawn turned and went into the kitchen to get the vegetable tray she had made for the barbeque. AJ came up behind her and put his arms around her. Dawn pulled away and AJ looked at her puzzled.

"What’s wrong, Angel?"

"Nothing. We should get going," Dawn told him, not looking him in the eye.

AJ just watched her as she put on her shoes, grabbed her purse and the veggie tray and walked out the door. AJ sighed and shook his head as he grabbed the keys and followed her out the door.

They drove to Kevin’s in silence. Dawn just stared out the window. AJ knew something was bothering her but he couldn’t figure out what had happened to make her upset.

They pulled into Kevin’s driveway and noticed that mostly everyone had arrived already by all the cars. Dawn didn’t say a word as she got out of the car and went around the house to the deck. AJ just followed behind her, still trying to figure out what happened to upset her.

"Hey you guys!" Kevin greeted from the grill. He looked so adorable in his chef’s hat and apron.
Dawn had to laugh.

"Hey there, Chef Boyardee," Dawn joked.

Kevin smiled and turned his attention back to his burgers.

AJ went to join Howie, Brian and Leighanne in the pool as Dawn took the tray and set it on the table with the rest of the food. Jess came out and put some chips on the table. They hugged and watched as Brian let out a "Geronimo" and did a cannonball into the pool. They both laughed. They laughed even harder when Nick picked up D from her lawn chair and threw her in the pool. He ended up falling in too because she had a hold of his arm when she fell in. D was spitting water and curses as she came up for air.

AJ debated on throwing Dawn in, too, but she was mad enough as it is. That wouldn’t be a smart idea. Nick came over to him and dunked him as he started swimming towards the side of the pool to try to talk to her. D got out of the pool and went over to Dawn and Jess, who were still laughing at her.

"I am gonna KILL Nick Carter," D told them as she dried her hair with her towel.

"Oh you know you enjoyed it," Jess teased, still laughing, as she went to check on the Kevin and the burgers.

"So where’s the little one?" D asked, wrapping her towel around her waist.

"She’s with Grandma today. She offered to babysit and give Alex and I some time with the adults." Dawn explained.

"And some time alone later," D suggested with and evil grin.

Dawn just looked away. Time alone with AJ right now was not something she wanted. She was still angry with him.

"What’s wrong?" D asked, concerned.

"It’s nothing," Dawn assured her with a smile. She didn’t really want to get into it. They were supposed to be having fun today.

"Are you sure?"

Dawn nodded.

"Okay. OH, I have something to show you."

D grabbed Dawn’s hand and took her to where she was sitting before Nick threw her into the pool. She reached into her bag and pulled out some magazines and handed them to Dawn.

"AJ told me you guys were close to setting a date. He wanted me to bring some bridal magazines so I thought we could take a look at these today."

"I can’t believe he did this," Dawn whispered, staring at the magazines.

Now he told D about the wedding? Who else had he told?

"I was kinda surprised that you had set a date. The last time we talked about it you were pretty reluctant to set a date."

Dawn threw the magazines onto the chair. She couldn’t deal with this right now. It was too much.

"This isn’t a good time to talk about the wedding. I just want to have some fun today. I appreciate you bringing these but I’m not going to be needing them just yet." Dawn told her calmly.

It wasn’t her fault and she wasn’t mad at her. AJ had blabbed and she was furious at him, no one else.

"Ok, I’ll take them home and whenever you’re ready we can look through them. What do you say about go fixing ourselves a drink?" D suggested, smiling.

"That sounds like a great idea to me!!"

Dawn and D walked into the house to fix their drinks. When they came back out they noticed a man talking to Kevin and Jess. He was extremely good looking...tall with short dark hair. He was wearing green khaki shorts and a black tank top that showed off his muscular build.

"WHO is that?" D asked, her mouth dropping open.

"I have no clue. He’s cute though," Dawn observed, cocking her head to the side.

"Cute?? That’s not cute..that’s perfection!!" D corrected as Kevin waved them over.

The girls approached them and the man looked at them and smiled. Kevin made the introductions.

"Dawn, this is Noah Willams, your tour manager."

D almost choked on her drink. Dawn looked at her and gave her a warning look.

"It’s nice to meet you," Dawn told him, shaking his hand.

"Likewise," he smiled back.

"And this is D."

"It’s very nice to meet you Noah," D flirted, shaking his hand.

Dawn elbowed her in the ribs.

"Why don’t you go find Nick and tell him he can eat," Dawn suggested, emphasizing the word Nick so she got the hint that she was taken.

"Alright, geez," she mumbled, going to find Nick.

"So how do you and Kevin know each other?" Dawn asked Noah.

"I met Kevin at Jive this morning and he asked me if I had met you yet. I told him that I was planning on calling you for a meeting. He said that he was having a barbecue today and that you would be here. He invited me over to meet you and have some burgers." He explained, smiling.

"Great, why don’t we grab some burgers and sit down somewhere and talk," Dawn suggested.

"Sounds great," Noah agreed.

They went to fix their burgers and sat down on the grass. They ate as they talked about the upcoming tour. AJ fixed something to eat and went to sit with Dawn but he noticed she was already eating with someone.

‘Who the hell is that?’ he wondered. ‘And why is he sitting so damned close to her?’ AJ sat down at the picnic table and ate his lunch not taking his eyes off Dawn and this guy.

A little over an hour later, AJ was sitting on the swing watching Dawn and Noah talking. She hadn’t spoken to him once. She spent all her time talking to D or Noah. Nick had told him that the guy Dawn was talking to was her new tour manager.

‘That’s just great’ he thought. ‘She’s gonna go on tour with this guy for the next few months. Wonderful’.

"What are you doing?" D asked, sitting next him on the swing.

"Just sitting here."

"You’ve been staring at Dawn and Noah for the last hour. You aren’t getting all jealous or anything are you?"

"I’m not jealous."

D just looked at him. He looked back at her and then down at his hands.

"She hasn’t said a word to me all day. I don’t know what the hell I did. We were getting along fine this morning and now she’s pissed off at me."

"Did you ask her what was wrong?"

AJ nodded.

"She said that it was nothing. I know something’s wrong. Now she’s talking to this Noah guy," his voice trailed off.

D sighed.

"AJ, he’s her tour manager. They are talking about the tour coming up. This is exciting for her. It’s completely innocent and professional."

AJ thought about what she said as he watched Noah touch Dawn's arm and tell her something that was obviously funny because they were both laughing.

"Why does he have to keep touching her arm like that? If it’s innocent then why does he do that? That’s not very professional. And when they’re not talking he’s always looking at her."

"That’s all in your head AJ. I haven’t noticed him doing any such thing," D lied.

She had seen Noah stealing glances at Dawn all day. She wasn’t really sure herself what his intentions were. She didn’t want to tell this to AJ because he was upset and she wanted to reassure him.

"You know that Dawn loves you AJ. She’s marrying you. Noah is just her tour manager and nothing else. You have to trust her even if you don’t really trust him. Besides, I’ve heard some great things about Noah Williams from Nick. He’s very professional."

AJ looked at D and she gave him a reassuring smile. He was glad that she was his friend and he was glad that she and Dawn had hit it off so well. He trusted her and knew she was being honest.

"Thanks D. I know she loves me but I don’t trust this guy. Gut feeling tells me not to. I’m gonna go and get my fiance' and go home and enjoy some time alone. Maybe I can get out of her what’s bothering her."

AJ got up and went over to Dawn and Noah.

"Excuse me," AJ said, getting their attention.

Dawn looked up at him and said nothing.

"I’m ready to go home."

"So go," Dawn told him, and turned back to Noah.

AJ just stood there in disbelief. Why was she acting like this?

"I was hoping you’d come with me."

Dawn stood up and looked at him, getting angry again.

"I’m not ready to go home. I’m talking to Noah about the tour. This is important AJ. We have a lot of things to discuss."

"So do we."

Dawn crossed her arms in front of her and scowled at him.

"Do we?"

"Yes, now please come with me."

"I told you I wasn’t ready to go home, dammit!" Dawn said, raising her voice.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the couple fighting with concern.

"What is wrong with you? You’ve been ignoring me all damn day. What the hell did I do?" AJ lowered his voice, knowing everyone was looking at them. He was losing his patience with her.

"I’m not talking about this with you right now."

"Fine then lets go home and talk about it."

"I’m not finished talking to Noah yet."

"I think that you’ve talked to Noah enough for one day. You can talk to him tomorrow or next week. Right now WE need to talk."

Dawn stood there with her hands on her hips glaring at him.

"You’re jealous."

"I am NOT jealous!! I just want to talk to my fiancé because I haven’t talked to her all damned day!!!"

"Alright FINE, we'll talk!!! You wanna know why I’m mad, Alex?? I’m mad because you told your mother that we set a wedding date!"

AJ just looked at her dumbfounded.

"THAT’S why your so angry with me?? I told her so we could start planning the wedding. I thought that’s what you wanted."

"That’s not what I wanted Alex, that's what you wanted! You're pressuring me into this. I don’t want to plan anything right now! I have to get ready for this tour. I don’t have the time right now for a wedding. You know how I feel about this Alex," Dawn’s eyes started to fill up. "Then you told D to bring those bridal magazines.... It’s just too much right now. I can't deal with this, not now".

She started to walk away, then turned around and looked at him.

"And what makes this worse is that you know why, you know the reasons behind it, and you don't care!"

Tears started to roll down her cheeks. She quickly turned and walked into the house, leaving everyone watching after her, shocked.

Chapter 10
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