The next morning when Nicole woke up, she found that she was alone in her room, even though the guys had fallen asleep in her floor. She curiously got out of bed and began to search for them. She soon found them downstairs. Isaac was on the phone, Taylor was dozing on the couch, and Zac was, as usual, playing a video game. She sat down beside him and picked up the other controller.

“What’s going on?” she asked him.

“Ike’s on the phone with the mechanic,” Zac explained. “We’re going to go pick up the van in a little while. Everything’s fine; the engine got overheated yesterday.”

“Oh, okay,” Nicole said, relieved that there was nothing seriously wrong with the van. “Do you need me to drive you guys out there?”

“No, your dad’s going to take us on his way to work,” Zac said. “You can stay here with Tay. He doesn’t feel good.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Nicole asked, nervous about being left alone with Taylor again.

“He’s got a cold or something,” Zac said. “He says his throat hurts.”

“Well that can’t be good,” Nicole said. Isaac hung up the phone then and came into the living room.

“Ready to go Zac?” he asked. Then he saw Nicole. “Good morning!” he said cheerfully.

“When did you guys get up?” she asked him.

“About half an hour ago,” he said. Then Nicole’s dad came downstairs and told them that it was time to go. “Okay, we’ll be back in about and hour. We’re going to get something for breakfast after we get the van; want anything?”

“No, I’ll get something later,” Nicole said. Isaac kissed her on the forehead and then he and Zac followed Mr. Bauer out the door. Nicole looked over at Taylor, who seemed to have drifted off to sleep, and sat down on the couch beside him and flipped through the television channels. Then she suddenly became aware that Taylor was awake.

“Still tired?” she asked, feeling his eyes on her.

“Mmm hmm....,” he said, yawning. He had only yawned to cover the blush that rose to his face when Nicole caught him watching her.

“So have you had fun?” she asked. “You know, on tour and everything?”

“Well, it wasn’t really a tour,” he said. “Just a bunch of publicity concerts and TV stuff. It was pretty fun, but really tiring.”

“I missed you guys,” she said, not meeting his eyes.

“I missed you too Nic,” Taylor said. She could feel his breath on her cheek.

“Taylor, I....,” she started, cut off as their lips met tenderly. She let herself fall back onto the couch as Taylor leaned on top of her. They kissed for a few moments before he pulled back.

“I’ve wanted to do that for three months,” he explained. Then, seeing the look on her face, he blushed and looked down. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to--Isaac’s going to kick my ass, isn’t he?”

“He’s not going to find out,” Nicole responded. “And we’re not going to do anything else. I’ll be back in Tulsa in a month, and we’ll decide what to do then.” Taylor sighed and met Nicole’s gaze, nodding.

“Nic, we’ve got to quit putting this off,” he said. “When we get back to Tulsa, you’re going to say ‘wait another week’, or ‘another month’, or maybe ‘another year’! You can’t do that Nicole. You can’t just......”

“Me? Why are you yelling at me?” Nicole cried. “You’re the one who brought all of this back up! Why are we fighting anyways?”

She looked at Taylor sadly, trying to read his expression. What had happened to their friendship? What had happened to everything? She was trying to figure out these questions when Taylor took her hand.

“I’m sorry Nic,” he said emotionally. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. But everything’s gotten so crazy - it’s so hard to hide this from Ike. He’s my brother, and my best friend. And he’s your boyfriend. He would never do anything like this to us. I would do anything to be with you Nicole, and that scares me. I don’t want us to hurt Ike, but it seems like there’s no way to do this without hurting him. We have to tell him sometime, or live the rest of our lives wondering what would have happened if we had ever had a chance together.”

“I know,” Nicole whispered, tears running to her eyes. “I’m the one who should be sorry Taylor. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I shouldn’t have done that to you, or to Isaac. I shouldn’t have put you in this positon.”

“Nic, we’re both in this. It’s not anyone’s fault,” Taylor said sadly. “All we can do right now is hide it and pray that everything will turn out okay.”

"Well," Isaac said, "we've been everywhere, done almost everything, gotten thousands of marriage proposals...."

"And mom is about to pop!" Zac cried.

"When is the baby due again?" Nicole asked.

"January," Taylor said. "Really soon."

"Does she know what she's going to have yet?" Nicole asked.

"Nope," Isaac said. "I hope it's a boy though. I don't know if I can handle more Barbies, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Polly Pockets," he said with a grin. "Nah, I really don't care, as long as it's healthy."

"It will be," Nicole said reassuringly. "Speaking of health....how do you feel Tay?"

"Dead," Taylor groaned, rolling over on the floor where he lay.

"Maybe he should go to the doctor," Zac said.

"I'm not going to the doctor," Taylor moaned from his place on the floor. "Nothing's wrong with me guys. I'm just tired from all of the travelling, and I have a cold. No big deal." He coughed and closed his eyes momentarily.

"I'll make him go to the doctor when we get home tomorrow or on Monday," Isaac whispered.

"No you won't," came Taylor's muffled cry from where his face was buried in the carpet.

"Whatever Tay," Isaac sighed. "I'm not going to argue with you. But you know that mom will. So you better not get an attitude with her, okay?" When Taylor didn't answer, Isaac repeated himself. "Okay Tay?"

But Taylor didn't answer. Nicole doubted that he even heard his brother's speech. Because as she watched his back rise and fall rythmicly across the room, she saw that he was asleep.