Chapter 4

emma sighed and rolled over to find nick staring at the ceiling wide awake. once they had left the hospital and gotten back home nick asked her to stay in his room cause he wasnt feeling very well. she had agreed and judging by the look he had on his face now, she didnt have a doubt he hadnt slept at all.

she sighed,"nick, you need to get some rest. tyke is fine."

nick nodded not wanting to tell her about his dream and have her laugh at him,"i know, ill be fine."

she sighed and nodded,"well tell me if you need anything."

"well...um...can you...my mom...when i was little...she used to rub my back to help me sleep..."

"roll over."

he managed to smile and rolled over,"thanks."

she nodded and gently rubbed his back until he had fallen asleep.

"so have you had any luck finding someone to work with the costumes?" howie asked at their meeting the next day.

"kevin sighed,"no and we leave for europe in three days."

"maybe mandy's costue person can do it," aj suggested.

kevin nodded,"maybe but we still need someone as our photographer and tahts a whole nother search."

"any ideas frack?" howie asked.

"huh?"

"any id...nevermind."

"hey guys we brought food,"amanda said coming in with bag of food and emma with another.

"ooh food," brian and aj said. brian had poor crippled tyke under his arm.

emma set her bag down and sat next to nick,"how are you feeling?"

he managed to smile,"better thanks."

amanda glanced at a piece of paper on the table,"whose looking for a photographer?"

"we are,"howie said trying to pry the bag from aj.

"em can do it."

"em can do what?" emma asked stopping her conversation with nick.

"photographer for the boys."

"your a photographer?" kevin and nick asked.

she blushed,"just hobby. i mean none of my stuff is very good."

"emma dont lie. you guys she really good. i think you should hire her."

kevin glanced at her,"do you want to do it?"

"are you sure? i mean youve never even seen my stuff..."

"well this is our careers, something i know amanda wouldnt screw us over with so i trust her with this. so will you do it?"

"um...yeah...i guess..."

kevin smiled and gave her a hug,"thanks. you have no idea how much this helps. now to find a costume mistress and all our problems will be solved."

she smiled,"your welcome."

nick glanced at her,"emma...can i talk to you...in private...?"

she nodded and he stood up and took her hand, leading her into another room.

"whats up?" she asked.

he looked down at his hands,"um...well...i..uh...i was wondering...if you maybe...um...."

"sweetie...look up...i dont think your shoes will be able to answer your question as well as i can."

he laughed slightly and looked up,"um...well..um...do you maybe want to go out sometime...? i mean...it wont be right away...probably not even until we get to europe when we have a free minute..."

"i would love to," she said quickly cutting in before he could go on.

"really?"

she nodded and smiled. he let out a long sigh,"okay...i was afraid that wouldnt go well..."

she laughed,"why?"

"you just got a hug from kev...most girls fall in love with him after that."

she kissed him on the cheek before heading out of the room,"im not most girls."

he watched her leave and mumbled under his breath,"definatly not."

nick watched emma pacing the downstairs hallway, wringing her hands,"em, whats wrong?"

she sighed,"i hate flying so much. most flights im okay but overseas flights freak me out."

he walked over and put his arms around her,"i know how you feel. usually going right to sleep works for me."

she nodded,"problem is, i tense up so much i CANT sleep."

"well when we get on the pl--" he started to say but was interrupted by the doorbell. "hold on a sec em." he went to answer the door.

"hey frack, em."

"hey bri," they both said.

"wheres your guys stuff?" brian asked.

nick pointed to the pile of suitcases and brian motioned for someone to come in and load them into the bus. emma went down to the limo while nick waited with brian to lock up the house.

"so whens your guys first date?" brian asked.

"we havent decided yet but i want to surprise her so i think ill take her out when we get to italy."

brian raised an eyebrow,"really? wow frack."

nick nodded as he locked the door,"bri if i tell you something you have to promise not to laugh."

"i promise," brian said handing nick his backpack.

he took a deep breath,"i feel like...like emma is the girl im going to marry...like shes the person ive been waiting my whole life for...i know that sounds cheesy."

brians eyes widened,"what?"

nick nodded,"i think thats why ive been dreaming about her so much."

"wow..." was all brian could say as they walked to the limo and got in.

nick sat down next to emma and put his arm around her,"feeling any better?"

she sighed and shook her head,"what were you telling me before?"

"huh? oh...i forgot..."

she managed to laugh,"okay."

they got to the airport, checked in, and boarded the plane. they were pretty much the only people in first class so the flight attendants told them they could sit wherever they wanted to. brian went to sit up front, kevin and howie in the back, and nick and emma in the middle section, a row in front of aj and amanda.

nick was trying his best to calm emma as the plane took off which helped to take his mind off his own fear. he sang to her and she finally calmed down enough to fall asleep.

"hey aj..."

aj leaned over the seats,"yeah?"

"can you get the blanket from the overhead for me?" he asked looking down at emma who was snuggled up against him.

aj nodded and got the blanket down. he handed it to nick,"hey frack, since shes asleep want to go bug the pilot or something?"

nick rolled his eyes and amanda grabbed the back of ajs sweater and pulled him back into his seat,"leave them alone."

aj pouted and folded his arms. nick undid the blanket and put it over both him and emma pulling her closer to him. she sighed and rested her hand on his chest. he looked down and took her hand in his, staring at her ring finger.

"this is the one dream i want to come true..." he mumbled under his breath.