Secret: - I think I could fall in love with this guy.

I’ve sat here for the past hour, listening to Austin talk about his life. I watched his dark blue eyes stare into mine. I saw him smile many times, listening to me talk about my life. There was no kissing, no flirting or anything else. We just listened to one another talk and I loved it.

I’ve loved being here with him with him so casually. My mind kept drifting back to Nichole and wondering how she was with Nick. I called once and Nick told me that they were coloring. I can’t believe that I actually left her with him. He did owe me one after saying that about me during that dinner. I just can’t fathom the idea of him wanting to see me, Savannah.

Austin told me tonight that I had nothing to worry about when it comes to my weight. He told me that I was beautiful the way that I am and that if I lost a lot of weight, that I wouldn’t look right. He didn’t mean it in a bad way, but sadly enough I understand him. He told me some people are born to be that way and I guess that’s what I was born to do – I was born to be bigger than normal women.

I could see myself falling in love with him. We have clicked so instantly that it almost scares me. He understands my feelings about my parents and I understand his feelings of living up to his parent’s expectations. They are the reason he’s becoming a doctor, not because of him. He’s doing it for them. If my parents were still alive, I would probably do the same thing.

“Savannah, can I ask you a question?” Austin asked, looking at me. I nodded my head and smiled. “Do you feel like this is something real here?”

”Us?”

”Yeah…”

“It’s different for sure,” I replied, staring into his eyes. “I really like you a lot.”

“I like you too. That’s why I was wondering if you would like to meet my parents this weekend,” Austin said, shocking me. “We could take Nichole and go over for dinner or something.”

”I’d like that,” I replied, looking at the clock. “We should probably head back to my place.” I said, standing up. I was actually nervous by him asking that. I knew that meeting someone’s parents was a very big deal. Hell, I had never done that before.

“Come here,” Austin whispered, leaning down to kiss my lips lightly. I felt his hand on my hip lightly, barely touching it as I sucked on his bottom lip slowly. “Okay, now we can go.” I smiled, watching him as he walked to the door. I wished that Diana had introduced us earlier than what she did. I would have know him longer and know him better. From what I know about him now, I really like him.

“Austin,” I said, pausing. He stood in the doorway, looking at me and smiled. “I want to ask you a question. I’ve been hurt a lot in the past and I want to know are you serious about me meeting your parents and me, or are you just playing around?”

“Why would you ask that?” Austin asked, walking back towards me. “I really, really like you Savannah. I like your daughter. I think she’s a great, smart little girl. I’m not playing around. Those days are over for me. I like you.”

”Okay,” I whispered, looking down at my hands as we walked out of his apartment. “Sorry if I seemed forward.”

”It’s okay,” he replied, reaching down for my hand. He entwined his fingers with mine and I smiled at him. “I know when my family meets you, they’re gonna love you too.”

“Too?” I asked, causing him to smile.

“You know what I mean.” Austin whispered. I laughed a little and nodded my head. “We’ve only gone out a few times but I’d like to have more with you.”

“I’d like to have more with you too,” I whispered as he pushed the button on the elevator.

I watched him as he drove me home. He had a smile on his face the entire time. He talked to me about his parents, his three brothers and three sisters. I wished that I had that growing up, but I didn’t. He has eight nephews and five nieces and can name them all and their birthdays. I’m sure he is a great uncle. I’m sure he would make a great father too someday.

That lead me back, wondering what Nick wanted with me. I felt bad for leaving Nichole with him. I’m almost positive that he wouldn’t do anything bad to her. He does seem genuinely nice and a good guy. If he hurt her or anything, I will kill him, before killing myself for leaving her with him.

I’m more than likely just letting my imagination get the best of me. It probably makes me look like a bad mother, leaving my daughter with just anybody. It’s not like Nick was a total, complete stranger who could vanish and never hear from him again. He’s a celebrity and the press follows him constantly. I think it would be better leaving her with him than some person that I had just met on the street.

“Savannah, can I ask you a question?” Austin asked, looking at me as he pulled into my apartment’s parking lot. I nodded my head and smiled, unbuckling my seat belt. “Where is Nichole’s father?” I paused, looking at him. He stared back at me and I had no idea what to say.

I didn’t want to start this relationship with a lie, but it was a personal detail of mine. “Well,” I said, looking down at my bracelet. “I adopted her after I graduated college because I had no family.” I looked back up slowly, seeing him smile. “Only one other person knows that and that’s Diana.”

”I think this makes me like you more,” Austin replied, leaning over to kiss me softly on the lips. “Thanks for trusting me to tell me.”

“No problem,” I replied, looking up at Nichole’s bedroom window on the sixth floor. “I would ask you in but –“

”Nah, it’s cool,” he said, reaching over to hold my hand. “I’ve got to go back home and get some sleep. I’ve got to get up at five in the morning.”

”Okay,” I replied, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

”You bet,” Austin whispered as I got out of his car. I shut the door, waving at him as he drove away. I sighed, knowing that I did the best thing. I told him the truth and now there would be no huge big secret if we ever did become really serious in our relationship.

Now I just needed to go deal with this Nick Carter. What exactly did he want with me? Did he find out just why I needed to go out with a celebrity? As I walked down the hallway to my apartment, I thought about how I would explain it to him. There was really no easy way of doing it. I unlocked my apartment door to see Nick sitting on the sofa, watching television. He leaped up, almost like a frog and started walking towards me.

“Is Nichole asleep?” I asked, taking my jacket off. I looked at him. He had a different look in his eyes. Not that I knew him personally, but the only two times that I’ve been around him, I had never seen that look. “Hi, uh, Mr. Carter? What did you want with Savannah?”

”You’ve been gone for three hours. Your daughter is asleep,” Nick replied, looking at his watch. “I need to talk to Savannah.”

”Was Nichole good?” I asked, walking past him to the kitchen. “How long has she been asleep?”

”We talked about music –“ he said as I paused, turning around to look at him, “What? I said we talked about music for an hour, I sung her a little song and she went to sleep and has been for the past two hours.” I turned around, looking at a post it on my fridge, telling me when my next gynecologist appointment was. That’s just what I needed to see right now. “I need to see this Savannah Shiver okay? The address that I got was this one here and it’s you. Yo, I’m really sorry about what happened on that little date of ours –“

”I’m Savannah,” I replied, giving him a shocked look. “My middle name is Georgia. That’s what my friend told your friend so I had to go along with it.”

”You’re Savannah Shiver?” he asked, looking at me. “So that means that little girl in there is your daughter?”

”Yes,” I replied, walking past him. I walked into the living room, turning the TV off and then looked back at him. “Why? What do you want with me?”

”I got your name from my lawyer,” Nick replied, walking over to his backpack. I watched him as he pulled out some papers. “Do you remember when I talked to you about the girl I was with a few years ago?”

”Uh, yeah, you got her knocked up.” I replied, crossing my arms. “So what?”

“She gave the baby up for adoption,” Nick replied, causing my heart to skip a beat. “I wanted to find her and it lead me to you.”

“What?!?” I yelled. I walked towards him, yanking the papers out of his hands. It was Nichole’s adoption papers. “This is Nichole. The name she was given at birth was Britney and I changed it and named her after my mother.”

“I didn’t even think about Nichole being the kid,” Nick muttered, putting his hands over his face. “My God, my daughter is right in that room.”

”Your daughter?” I asked, looking at him. “She’s not your daughter. She’s mine and how do I know this is even legit? Are you really sure that she’s your daughter?”

”Yes, by those papers, yes. We could always do a blood test to make positively sure.” Nick replied, looking at me. “I just want my daughter. I didn’t give her away.”

”You’re not taking her from me!” I yelled, throwing the papers at him. “She’s all I have and there is no fucking way that you are taking her from me!” I started freaking out. My heart was pounding out of my chest. For some reason, I kept hearing bells in my ears, ringing over and over again.

“Savannah, calm down,” he said, grabbing my arms. “I’m not going to take her away from you okay? I just want to know my daughter and be in her life. That’s why I wanted to look for her and find her. Well I thought it was a boy at first, but it wasn’t. I just want to be a part of her life okay?”

”She’s all I have,” I whispered, looking away. “It’s my worst fear that her mother or father would come and want her back.”

“I wouldn’t do that man. You don’t even know me really,” Nick replied. I looked at him questionably. “And why the hell did you leave me here with her tonight? You walked out on me on our date?”

”I thought I could trust you,” I replied, looking down. I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say really. I didn’t know if there was anything to say. “I just, don’t know what else to say,” I whispered. I walked towards my bedroom and leaned against the wall.

“She kind of looks like you,” Nick replied, looking at a picture of Nichole on a table. “She’s got the reddish tint to her hair and I think she has my smile now that I look at this picture.” I kept listening to him talk and tried to hold tears back. I wasn’t doing a very good job at it. “Listen, I know we started off on the wrong foot, but I never called you fat or anything –“

”That is the least of my worries right now –“

”I know,” he said, walking towards me, “but I want to make things okay between us. I mean, you’re my kid’s mother you know? I guess I should ask you if I can be in her life.”

”What do you mean?” I asked. I turned around to look at him questionably. “Do you mean as a friend of mine or do you want to be an actual father? What?”

”I just want to be in her life, how is up to you. I’m not even going to try to take her away from you.” Nick said. I looked away from him, not wanting to look in his eyes. “I just saw how you reacted and you would end up going crazy or something.”

“My parents are dead. My brother is dead and I have no family what-so-ever. Nichole is all I have.” I replied, walking past him. “That’s why I adopted her because I wanted someone to love and who would love me back. I wanted to make my own little family since I didn’t have one of my own. Since I was just a little kid I was raised by my grandma without a father figure.”

“She’s a part of me,” Nick replied. I sat down on the sofa, staring at my hands. “I saw how a lot of my friends grew up without fathers and I don’t want my kid to be like that. If I take on this responsibility it’ll help me too as a person.”

“I can’t believe it,” I whispered, staring into space. I didn’t know where my mind was currently. More or less I was in a state of shock. How in the world did I end up with the daughter of a teen idol, a bubble gum pop singer? How did I end up with the daughter of a guy I went on a random blind date with that I hated?

“Georgia…”

”Savannah.”

”Savannah, sorry,” he said, squatting down in front of me. “I’ll take a blood test if you want me to, to prove that this is true and if it’s not then I’m really sorry. I didn’t give her up. I didn’t even know she existed.”

He was right. He never gave Nichole up for adoption. He never knew he had a child until a few weeks ago. He didn’t know that he had a little girl, living, breathing the almost same exact air as him. If I told him he couldn’t have anything to do with her, he could take me to court. He would probably win too since he’s a celebrity and has much more money than I do.

“I need this,” Nick said, looking up at me. “Look, you wanted her because you had no family, but my family is falling apart all around me. I want to be in my daughter’s life so that I could have some sense of stability or I’ll end up dead, in jail, or crazy.” I stared back at him, looking in his eyes. He had a look on genuine concern in his eyes. They began to look glassy as if he was going to cry. “Let’s get a blood test done and we can make sure those papers were legit.”

”Okay,” I replied, staring at him. The next thing I knew, I felt his arms, wrapped around my neck, giving me a huge hug. I didn’t know whether to hug him back or stand there like a frozen ice statue. I didn’t know anything except that my life was about to become very complicated.