So, so, so sorry for the long wait! Softball started up a couple of weeks ago so I have two hour practices each day, games, meetings.. but I won't bore you with excuses and I'll just let you get to reading it!

This one takes place in episode four, Keeping It Real. Originally I thought that they ended the episode with Macy being passed out, but I rewatched the ending earlier and realized that she's actually awake and helping to pass out potato salad. I'd already finished this chapter and really didn't want to start all over because I really love how it turned out, so I guess we can all just pretend she was still passed out. ;)

I don't mean to sound like a broken record, either, but reviews = better story. If there's something you really like or something you really don't like, please let me know so I can consider your thoughts when I start writing the next chapter! :)

Enjoy!

If Macy were awake to realize that two thirds of Jonas had not only carried - as in actually touched, lifted, and held - her outside, but also ran out to save her (after they'd forgotten her, of course) she would probably just faint all over again, especially according to Stella. Granted if she was in control over herself and her unpredictably scattered emotions when there were one or more Jonas' in the room, she wouldn't allow herself to faint because, to put it simply, it was always just so embarrassing. Her cheeks would burn a deep shade of crimson each time she awoke with a start, having no memories of how she got to wherever she was and whatever unusual position she was in - more than likely, sprawled across the hallway floors of Horace Mantis Academy - only to have Stella inform her, "You fainted because insert Jonas' name here showed up," or, "You passed out after I mentioned those pants that insert Jonas' name here wore at the concert last night."

If she was in control, she would not faint - it's that simple.

Unfortunately for her, whenever she would catch a glimpse of Joe's goofy grin, or Kevin's excited eyes, or Nick's intense ones she would just completely turn back to goop all over again and, in most cases, end up passed out on the ground.

Unfortunately for Kevin, Joe, and Nick that's precisely what happened when she woke up in the middle of a Lucas family group hug and later leaving them, after successfully managing to get all of their fans to leave with their mom's complimentary potato salad, with a passed out Macy laid out across the ground of her mother's thrift store.

"Uh, guys?" Kevin addressed the others as they begun packing up to leave, his brow furrowed. "What exactly do we do with her?"

"Well it is her mother's store," Joe shrugged in response.

"You're not seriously implying that we just leave her here," Stella suddenly chimed in to scold Joe, something he was quite used to by that point, and when she only got another shrug of the shoulders from him in response, she punched him hard in the middle of his bicep.

"Stella, when will you ever learn that there's just too much muscle there for me to feel your pathetic little punches?" Joe crossed his arms over his chest cockily before adding under his breath, "If you can even call them punches…"

"Pathetic punches?" Stella repeated with raised eyebrows that suddenly furrowed into an intense glare directed at him. "I'll show you pathetic," she said through gritted teeth as she raised her arm and curled her fingers into a clenched fist before suddenly being cut off by a voice.

"Guys, we get it: your banter is adorable," Nick said, causing Stella to hesitantly pull her arm back to her side and a shade of light scarlet color to coat Joe's cheeks.

"Anyways," Kevin shot a look toward Joe and Stella before repeating, "what do we do with her?"

"I don't see what the problem is with just leaving her here," Joe repeated with a shrug, earning three hard glares from the rest of the group. "Alright, then, what's Plan B?"

"Well," Stella began, "we should probably take her home."

"Right," Kevin agreed instantly, but after looking back down at an unconscious Macy he suddenly realized that it wasn't like he could just say, 'Come on, Macy, walk to our car with us,' because, you know, she was passed out and all. Looking around, he noticed Joe and Stella wearing similar thoughtful expressions as their gazes shifted between Macy and the door that led to the parking lot.

Swiftly, without warning nor explanation, Nick had knelt to the ground and was beginning to lean closer to her.

"Don't worry guys," he said, "thanks for all of your insightful contributions, but I think I've got it."

"What are you doing?" Joe asked with a creased brow.

"I'm checking her pockets for spare change," Nick bit back sarcastically, "what does it look like I'm doing?"

Joe, nor Kevin and Stella, could manage to say anything in response and settled into an undisturbed silence to simply watch him as he slid one hand underneath her knees and the other around her back. After making sure that he had a secure grip on her in both positions (because he reminded himself that if he were to drop her and she happened to injure her ankle or something, he'd really be to blame for her loss of her sports this time) he shifted his weight from his knees back to his feet. As he began to rise and her head lifted off the floor, it instantly rolled to lean against his chest and the top of her head rested just beneath his chin as her arms remained motionlessly hanging at her sides.

"Do you want some help?" Kevin offered after taking note of the way his arms shook subtly at the sudden deadweight he was holding.

"It's fine," Nick replied, starting to make his way toward the exit but stopping once he reached it. The others stayed back in their same positions, anticipating his next move but finding that he was frozen in place as well. "Can someone get the door, please?"

"Oh!" everyone responded simultaneously, breaking their still positions and running toward the door. Stella arrived before the others and after the door was opened and she'd stepped aside, Nick was able to take his first step outside. Once in the parking lot, he was instantly met with a harsh wind that whipped his long curls across his lashes and sent Macy's own hair flying in every which direction. The cold breeze carried the vanilla scent of her curled auburn hair directly to the tip of Nick's nose, and as he took in a breath, the aroma danced across his senses.

Of course, it was completely accidental - because there was certainly no part of him that was curious about her scent or anything.

Realizing once more that there was a task at hand, he immediately began scanning the parking lot to find his parents' car. He'd always been that way - task oriented, that is. If an album was in the works (and sometimes, even if there wasn't) songs could be written by him practically by the dozens until the album was complete and he could check the task off of his internal to-do list. Granted there were always distractions, like Frankie loudly banging his drums in the other room or Macy's vanilla-scented hair, but focus was his repertoire and he always somehow managed to pass all obstacles.

Once he spotted his mother's '92 Sudan in the corner of the lot, he'd begun making his way toward it and with each step he took the image of his father standing by the trunk became more clear. Busy transferring jars and plastic cups of what was left of Mrs. Lucas' potato salad out from the bags they'd been carried in and into the back of the car, he didn't notice his son, nor the girl his son was carrying, until he'd already reached the backdoor of the car.

"Whoa!" Mr. Lucas jumped back in surprise at the sight before him, "Well, hi Nick and - uh," he paused briefly after realizing that he'd never learned the girl's name. He bent down slightly to take a look at her face, seeing that her eyes were still closed and her mouth was still agape, identical to how she'd looked earlier - sprawled across the floor in the middle of the Lucas family's group hug, and added quietly, "passed out girl."

"Her name's Macy," Nick informed him whilst trying to situate himself and Macy in a way that would allow his hand to reach around and grab the handle of the car door. Clearly struggling, Mr. Lucas stepped forward and opened the door for him, continuing to watch with an unconcealed curiosity and mild amusement as Nick gently lifted Macy and, after a momentary struggle, successfully placed her atop the leather backseat. Once he was sure that she was balanced and all of her weight was on the seat, he let go of her completely and started pulling away, but just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief her entire upper body had begun falling sideways and, if she continued falling, would result in a painful crash of her head against the doorframe of the car. Instantly realizing what was bound to happen, Nick jumped back to her side in an instant and her head instead landed on his shoulder.

"Good catch," Mr. Lucas commented under his breath, tearing his eyes away from the sight and returning to the bags of potato salad. Nick took a few moments to scan the car for different options of what he could possibly do next, but after minutes of thought it seemed that there was only one possibility.

Making sure that her head wouldn't slip off of his shoulder, Nick reached for Macy's right arm and gripped her wrist before gingerly lifting it over and around his neck. After wrapping his arm around her side again to support her weight, he simultaneously pushed her further into the car and took a step inside himself, sitting in the seat that she'd been resting upon not a minute before once she was situated again. With her head still on his shoulder, he returned her arm to her side and removed his hand from her waist.

And then, all was quiet.

He couldn't say that the stillness spread throughout the enclosed space wasn't calming in it's own way, because it was. And he couldn't say that the echoing sound of Macy's mingled breathing didn't provide a soothing sort of notion within him, because it did. What he could say, what he could admit to himself, was that after all was said and done that day, that he was glad that he was sitting in the car and he was glad that Macy was next to him instead of sprawled across the floor, alone, as Joe had originally suggested.

It was rather peaceful, he had to admit - serene in an almost perfect way.

But just as quickly as it had come, the passive silence was suddenly disrupted by the sounds of Joe, Kevin, Stella, and Frankie beginning to board the car. Frankie immediately hopped into the far backseat, oblivious to the fact that Macy was resting on Nick's shoulder a mere foot away from him, but he was the only one who hadn't taken notice of the sight.

"Her head just landed there," Nick remarked before anyone of them could speak a word of it.

"Of course it did," Joe replied with a heavy sarcasm dripping clearly in his voice, slipping into back seat with Frankie as Kevin jumped in next to him and Stella took the seat next to Macy. A thick and almost palpable silence formed between them, this one being much less calming and somewhat (completely) uncomfortable.

Raucous soon filled the space again when their parents joined them. Mr. Lucas hopped behind the steering wheel as Mrs. Lucas took the passenger seat, her eyes immediately finding Nick's in the rearview mirror. A small and almost unnoticeable smile spread across her lips as her eyes flickered between Macy and her son, wanting to comment but knowing that she shouldn't.

"Everyone ready to go?" Mr. Lucas broke the silence. Everyone responded with quiet yeses and mumbled yeas, except for Frankie's Danny Zuko inspired, 'You know how it is,' and Mr. Lucas nodded in approval before his gaze shifted questioningly to Macy.

"She's not going to answer you, if that's what you're thinking," Nick said, earning an appreciative laugh from his father.

"I wasn't expecting her to," he replied, "but, what do we do with her?"

"That certainly is the question of the night, isn't it?" Joe commented from the backseat, earning a hard glower from Stella after she whipped around to face him. "And that's been a recurring theme, too," he added quizzically as he took note of the icy glare she was sending his way.

"Don't make me come back there and hurt you," she threatened through gritted teeth.

"I'm so sorry," he feigned fear with wide eyes.

"I choose to ignore that," Stella turned back around her crossed her arms over her chest. Joe cowered back in faux fear and shot a rather insulting look her way once she'd turned around completely and he was sure that he was out of her sight, but immediately after he did it, she said simply, "I saw that," and then he was seriously afraid for his life.

"Anyway…" Mr. Lucas trailed off, his gaze shifting back to Nick.

"Can we just take her home?" he asked, the annoyance in his voice evident to everyone including Frankie.

"Who burst your bubble, bro?" Frankie asked in a singsong voice, tapping him on the shoulder.

"She lives on Edison Road, by the old high school," Stella informed Mr. Lucas suddenly, interrupting Nick before he could say anything in response that could possibly hurt the poor kid's feelings. When Nick was annoyed there was no telling what he would say - something she'd leaned long ago and would have rather not had the experience repeated. Mr. Lucas nodded in understanding and made a silent agreement to take Macy home, shifting the car into drive and pulling out of the parking lot.

The first few minutes of the ride were rather silent, except for Frankie and Kevin's banter in the backseat (something about Batman and a two-horned unicorn) and the quiet conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Lucas in the front of the car. Joe was looking out the window as the sun continued setting in the sky, making the once blue color of it into a hazy mix between orange and purple. Stella too looked out the window for the majority of the time, but every few moments she would glance Nick and Macy's way and though she thought that Nick didn't notice it, he did - he just didn't say anything about it because frankly, he didn't really feel like he should have to say anything, and he was busy reflecting on the day.

Overall, it was a really long day. He'd woken up in the morning feeling rejuvenated and ready to start the day, but somewhere between taking out the garbage (how many fans were outside again - dozens? Hundreds? It had felt like so long ago that he could hardly even remember) and packing up the car with clothes to drop off at a thrift store, everything had become a blur. Few instances stood out to him - he vaguely remembered trying on a Santa Claus outfit, and he remembered seeing Macy faint - for the first time that day - in front of Kevin as she was asking him some questions for her fan site. He could somewhat picture Joe giving a pointless speech about taking out the garbage, and then he and Stella doing that weird handshake thing they'd made up in fourth grade - but other than that, pretty much nothing.

Pretty much.

The two things he could still see and feel clearly were rushing back inside the store after the mob of fans outside realized that the three guys standing next to them weren't actually doctors paged with a dire emergency and had begun chasing them, and the feeling of his stomach dropping once he realized that they'd left a defenseless, passed out Macy in the chaos outside. He could hear himself screaming her name, rushing to the door to get her but finding that Joe and Kevin were already rescuing her. His heart was pounding, his head thinking the worst as the few seconds he waited for their return seemed to stretch into years until they finally returned with her and he could breathe a sigh of relief. The relief didn't last long, though, and was soon replaced with guilt - because after all, it was his idea to bring her out there.

"We just need one more thing to really sell it," he'd said before he and Joe headed over to pick her up and carry her outside.

He thought of how guilty he'd felt when he realized that he could've put her sports at risk, but what if she'd been hurt? He knew for a fact that the top priority of Jonas fans when Jonas was in the vicinity wasn't an unconscious girl on the ground - it was meeting Jonas. If one of them had accidentally stepped on her while in a frenzied rush to get to them, how guilty would he have felt? He could only imagine it as being a thousand times worse than the feeling of only putting her sports at risk, because if she'd somehow gotten hurt in the mob then not only would her sports be at risk then too but, even worse than that, she'd be hurt.

And he'd be the only one to blame.

Suddenly the absence of warmth on his shoulder pulled him away from his memories and he turned to see what had happened, immediately being met with the sight of a nearly hyperventilating Macy as she took in her surroundings.

"Calm down, Mace," Stella quickly coached, reaching an arm across her back to provide a familiar comfort that would hopefully relax her. "We're just taking you home, okay?"

"Oh, uh, okay," she replied, her voice shaking as she took one more look around the car. After fixing the wrinkles that had formed in her 'Jonas Number One Super Fan' t-shirt, she turned to her left and noticed that similar wrinkles covered the cloth wrapped around Nick's shoulder. Her eyes flickered between his shoulder and his face as realization slowly became clear in her head. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed loudly. "I didn't mean to - I'm sorry for, uh, you know," she started gesturing to his shoulder, "the whole, um," she continued struggling and felt her cheeks begin burning.

"I didn't mind," he reassured her, smoothing out the wrinkles on his sleeve as well.

"If I'd been awake, I-"

"Don't worry about it."

"But I really didn't-"

"Macy!" Stella interrupted suddenly before soothingly exhaling, "Relax."

"Okay," Macy exhaled as well, folding her hands across her lap and facing ahead of her. "I'm sorry," she couldn't help but add once more in a whisper, leaning closer to him momentarily so he could hear her before realizing every embarrassing detail of what could possibly happen if she were to brush against him accidentally and instantly pulling her body back. She swore she could hear - well, not a laugh exactly, because really it couldn't even be defined as a snort, let alone a chuckle - but it was something and instantly her heart began to beat quicker. As always, though, she told herself it was her imagination, because Nick Lucas would never laugh due to something she'd done because she was Macy Misa and he was Nick Lucas - it was just that simple.

Ignoring her heartbeat, she took notice of the familiar shapes and figures the car was passing as the looked ahead through the front window. It only took a moment to realize that they were in her neighborhood, a mere block away from her house.

"Oh, Dad of Jonas!" she said suddenly. "Take the next left!"

Mr. Lucas pulled the car to a sudden halt in order to take the left that he'd just about passed onto Edison Road. He eased up on the gas pedal and soon the car began traveling what seemed like centimeters per hour.

"Honey, you can drive a little faster than that," Mrs. Lucas chimed in from the front passenger seat.

"I don't want to pass her house," he whispered back.

"Uh, it's the last house on the left," Macy offered from the backseat.

"Oh, well, okay," Mr. Lucas stammered, applying more pressure to the gas until they'd passed what must have been fifteen houses before reaching an intersection. As the car came to a stop, those in the car that were unfamiliar with the area (those of whom being the Lucas family) shifted their gazes to the left to be met with the sight of a charming little house with blue shudders and a white picket fence wrapped around the picturesque front yard. Quaint would be a good word to describe it - maintaining a size not too small, but large enough to house a family comfortably.

Macy began squirming at the sudden silence that had formed as everyone else observed her house, and after a minute or so she finally cleared her throat and said, "I can probably leave now."

"Right," Mr. Lucas agreed from the front seat, reaching over to unlock the doors so she could get out. Upon hearing the click of the doors unlocking, Macy turned to her left to leave before realizing that Nick was in between herself and the door as the skin of her knee brushed across his.

"Sorry!" she squeaked, her cheeks becoming red.

"It's okay," he murmured, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door before stepping outside and waiting for her to do the same. After a few moments of waiting, he poked his head back in the car and asked, "You coming?"

"Yeah, sorry," she responded quietly, trying to get her legs to move but finding the task much more difficult than anticipated. After all, she had just fainted twice in the past few hours.

"Here," Nick extended his hand toward her, her struggle to get out becoming evident. Slowly (and I mean ever so slowly) and after much internal debate on whether to actually grab his hand and let him lead her outside or not grab his hand and embarrass herself profusely for about the six hundredth time, she finally extended her hand as well and wrapped her fingers around his. His hand was rather cold, she noted, but it was also soft in the most perfect way, and once he'd successfully guided her out of the car and released her hand, his fingers left a burning sort of trace where they'd lingered on hers.

"Thank you," she said, her voice coming out more shakily than she would have hoped.

Nick, noticing the way her voice faltered when she spoke, asked curiously, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she tried to assure him, and she took a step toward the pathway that led to the door only to have her knees give out suddenly and feel the familiar notion of gravity pulling her quickly to the ground. Just as she began anticipating the fall, a pair of arms wrapped suddenly around her and her body came to a halt before hitting the gravel of the sidewalk. Before she had time to attempt and pull herself back up, she was already being lifted by the same person who'd caught her and was soon enough face to face with a smirking Nick Lucas.

"You positive about that?" he asked, and had it not been for the erratic pounding of her heart in her chest she probably would have been able to pick up on the fact that he was amused. More so, had she actually noticed that his lips were curved into a smirk, she probably would just faint for a third time so maybe it's for the better that she didn't notice.

"Thanks," she said breathily, her body remaining completely rigid in his arms.

"Do you want me to walk you to the door?"

"Oh no, you've already done enough!" she declined quickly. "I really don't want to impose-"

"Macy," his eyes narrowed, "do you realize the predicament you're in right now? You've fainted twice in a four hour span of time and if I let you go right now, you'd fall without question."

"Okay," she agreed quickly, not bothering to fight it because she knew he had a valid point and she wouldn't even dare try fighting a Jonas anyway.

And before she knew it, in one swift motion, he'd wrapped his arm around her waist tightly and begun leading her down her walkway to her front door. All the while, his hand gripped her side securely as her head began spinning at the realization that her dreams, in that moment, were literally coming true - because she couldn't even begin to explain how many times she'd dreamt of a Jonas walking her to her doorstep - though in her dreams it was more than likely after a first date of sorts and the promise of a searing kiss on the lips was hanging in the air of the distant future. She knew that the circumstances weren't ideal and they weren't exactly (not even close to) how she'd dreamt them, and a kiss certainly would not end this evening, but nevertheless Nick Lucas was actually walking her to her door with his arm around her and at that point it was all her mind had the ability to focus on.

Somehow, and she wasn't exactly sure how because she felt like she'd been zapped into some hazy dream world, they'd reached their destination and had faced each other once they were stopped in front of the door. His hand remained securely resting on the small of her back for a moment, as if she was a fragile porcelain doll that would tip over in the wind and break once he released her. Gently, he pulled his hand away and it grazed across the skin of her arm as he pulled it back to his side.

Inside, she was squealing.

"You good?" he asked, holding up a hand in front of him just in case her knees decided to give out again - and while his eyes had locked with hers, a subtle hint of genuine concern written in the way they never once blinked, she honestly wouldn't be surprised if they did.

"Yeah, I'm good," she responded despite her thoughts, a thick silence soon forming between them after the words were spoken. While neither of them were quite sure what to do next (Macy for obvious reasons, and Nick because he was partly worried she'd faint again and partly unnerved for reasons unknown even to him) the honk of the Lucas' van caused both their heads to whip toward the direction of the source of the sound and were immediately met with six pairs of glaring eyes. Macy's eyebrows furrowed at the sight of Stella, three fourths of the Lucas brothers, Dad of Jonas, and Mom of Jonas' eyes glued on her. She turned back to Nick, who was wearing a glare that matched if not surpassed the intensity of all of theirs' combined. She couldn't help but momentarily admire his profile, and the way he could express his thoughts completely with a simple look (or, in this case, glare) before ducking her head back down and smiling sheepishly.

"Looks like I should be going," Nick turned back to her, his eyebrows still furrowed in the remnants of his glare.

"Yeah," Macy agreed quietly, not quite sure what else to say before suddenly adding, "well, thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied simply, nodding his head in her direction and pursing his lips before the uncomfortable silence formed between them again. Awkwardly, Macy began turning toward the door and reaching for the doorknob, praying to any and every god in heaven that she wouldn't lose her balance or anything again, before suddenly the sound of Nick's voice calling her name stopped her.

"Yes?" she responded shakily, turning back to face him just as he began digging for something in his pocket. As her curiosity grew, he finally found what he'd been looking for and pulled the small plastic cup - with a lid, of course - out of his pocket. He extended his arm toward her with an open hand, the cup resting on his palm and a confused Macy's eyes flickering between the cup and his face.

"Complimentary potato salad," he stated simply, and for some unknown reason Macy couldn't help but smile a genuine smile. Though she was still confused (because honestly, she'd dreamt about standing on her doorstep with Nick Lucas but there had never been any potato salad involved - even in her wildest dreams) she snatched the cup from his hand and held it gently in both of hers.

"I'll see you later, Macy," Nick said, his demeanor remaining deadpan but his voice coming out softly, and their eyes met momentarily before he hopped off the doorstep and down the pathway while Macy remained frozen in her place.

And he ignored the stares, glares, and grimaces once he got back in the car just as she ignored the fact that she was still smiling when they (he) drove off.

Thoughts?

Also, in an unrelated note, I made a YouTube account the other day completely dedicated to uploading Nick/Macy scenes from JONAS. So, if you feel like watching any or all Nacy related scenes, you can check that out here - http:// www. youtube .com /user/ NickLovesMacy

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