A/N: I'm sorry it took a while! My overall busy schedule combined with a nasty bout of writer's block held me up, but hopefully, I will be back to writing speed in no time.

Chapter Four: Where I'm Meant to Be

Nikko kissed Courtney good night and closed the door behind her, then turned around and leaned back against it; he missed her already, and now he had the tough job of apologizing to Stavros. Anyone who knew Nikko knew that apologizing for him was not an easy thing. At all.

Steeling himself, Nikko walked over to the door to his brother's room, took a deep breath, and knocked lightly on the wood paneling. "Come in," came a voice from inside, and Nikko pushed the door open a crack.

Stavros was sitting against the headboard of his bed, a book in his hands and reading glasses on his face. "Hey, bro, is this a good time?" Nikko asked.

Stavros took off his glasses and motioned to the spot next to him on the bed. "Sure, come on in," he said.

Nikko did so, closed the door behind him and made his way slowly to the bed. He perched himself awkwardly on the side. "Look, I'm really sorry," Nikko said, looking anywhere but at his brother. "I didn't mean to, you know, explode like that. But…well, it's just…she abandoned us. I've hated her for so long because of that, and I can't just…turn off the hatred, or whatever. It's not easy for me."

A soft touch on his shoulder finally caused Nikko to turn and look his brother in the face. Stavros was smiling. "I can't believe I just heard an apology out of you, Nikko," he said to lighten the mood. He patted Nikko's shoulder twice and then took his hand back, not wanting to push the whole 'touchy-feely-brother' thing.

Nikko laughed lightly. "Yeah, well, I was talking to Courtney and she made me think. She's really good at that…making me think, I mean."

"Heh, I've noticed. She's got you on a leash, bro," Stavros said.

Nikko lightly punched him on the shoulder and got himself more situated on the bed. "Shut up. Anyways, what about you? Anyone been trying to get you on a leash lately?" Nikko asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Stavros laughed, and a slight blush crept onto his cheeks. Nikko caught the look and knew instantly that something was up. "Oh, my god! There really is. Tell me about it!" Nikko said, feeling slightly silly (this was usually what girls did and Nikko found it a little embarrassing that he was doing it with his brother, but he was genuinely curious).

"Well…she's a nurse. I met her today, when, well, you know," Stavros said.

"And her name is…?" Nikko prodded.

"Quinn. Her name is Quinn. She asked me on a date for tomorrow."

"Really? Whoa…she moves fast! It took me forever to get the guts to ask Courtney out. Of course, that might have been due to the fact that we were too busy butting heads about the whole show-choir thing, but still…She's a forward girl, this Quinn," Nikko said in a slightly teasing manner.

"Yeah, well, she's a red-head, so I guess it comes with the territory. I was pretty shocked…I haven't been on a date in quite a while," Stavros admitted.

"I've noticed," Nikko said, and Stavros punched him in the arm once more.

"Anyways, you've got practice tomorrow, don't you? You might want to get to bed soon. Courtney will have your head if you fall asleep during rehearsal," Stavros said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know when I'm being kicked out," Nikko said, standing up and stretching. He had pulled a pillow up with him and tossed it back down at his brother before skipping out of the room and closing the door behind him, so that when Stavros tried to retaliate, the pillow hit the closed door of the bedroom instead of its intended target.

"Little brothers," Stavros said with a sigh, and then he set his book and glasses on the bed-side table and flicked the lamp off, then turned over to go to sleep.

~*****~

Stavros arrived at the restaurant first, and was nervously picking at his clothes and obsessively checking his hair in whatever reflective surfaces happened to be available to him at that time.

He hadn't been on a date in ages, and couldn't even remember the proper way one was supposed to act on dates so as not to seem weird or over-the-top in any way. Should he act casual? Or should he act formal, to show he was a gentleman?

Finally, Quinn made her way over to his table. "Stavros, hey! Sorry I'm a little late. It took a while for my relief to show up at work," Quinn explained. Stavros hopped up and pulled the chair out for her, deciding that he should at least be a little bit formal, at the risk of seeming rude otherwise.

"Not at all. Don't worry about it. How are you?" Stavros asked. He was vaguely aware that he was talking a little quick, a product of his nervousness.

Quinn smirked; she knew that he was nervous around her. She found it quite adorable. "I'm fine. And yourself?" she asked, picking up a menu.

"Good…great. I mean, fantastic, even…hehehe!" Stavros replied. He blushed again and looked away. God, he was making a mess of things. He sounded like a total creeper.

Quinn sighed, reached over the table and took Stavros's hand. "Could you stop trying to be someone you're not and just be yourself?" she asked.

Stavros glanced down at her hand on his, a warm blush flooding his face. Then he glanced up at her and smiled. "I'm just nervous," he admitted.

Quinn retracted her hand. "I figured," she muttered.

"Hey!" he protested, and she laughed at him. Thus, Stavros let go of all he had been fretting over and was finally himself, leaving it up to God whether or not this relationship would work, or if it were doomed to failure; after all, he could only do his best, and if that wasn't enough, then nothing would be.

~*****~

Monday came before Nikko was ready. He didn't feel like waking up and going to class. After all, it was his senior year and it was almost over. There was nothing new being taught, and yet they were required to attend. It was ridiculous.

Nevertheless, Nikko rolled out of bed and got dressed, yawning as he did so, and then stepped out of his room. What he hadn't counted on, however, was someone being there already.

"Nikko!"

Nikko felt his blood freeze and stared in front of him; it was Zoë. She was giving him a vacant smile. Without saying a word, he walked over to Stavros's room and stepped inside without knocking. Stavros was not dressed. In fact, he was in the process of getting dressed when Nikko came in and nearly fell over when his angry younger brother stormed in.

Without preamble, Nikko glared. "What is she doing here?" he asked, his voice low with anger.

Stavros, after recovering from his shock, finished pulling on his pants. "Don't worry. She's not staying. I'm taking her out around town with Quinn," Stavros said.

Nikko felt some of his anger, although not all of it, begin to fade. "Why?"

"Because I care for her, Nikko, despite what you think. She deserves to spend time with at least one of her sons," Stavros said.

Nikko folded his arms and leaned back against the wall next to the door. "You said Quinn was going with you. I didn't see her. Where is she?"

"Probably in the bathroom," Stavros said, adjusting his tie in the full-length mirror next to his closet.

"You sure got close to her in a short period of time. Wasn't your first date just yesterday?"

"Yes, but it was a good first-date, and I wanted to spend more time with her. She had work today, so I told her we could walk around town with Mom and then, when she got off, she could come over and have dinner with us. Do you think Courtney would want to come tonight, as well?" Stavros glanced at him from across the room.

Nikko shrugged. "Probably…but Mom isn't going to be there, is she?" Nikko said.

Stavros sighed and rolled his eyes. "No. She's not allowed out of the hospital after 5 PM. Why would it have mattered?"

"I don't want Courtney to know that I have a cracked-up mother that's holed up in an asylum," Nikko growled, pushing off of the wall. "Anyways, I have to go to school. See you."

With that, Nikko swept out of the room. Zoë glanced up at him when he walked out, and for an instant, he thought he saw a little bit of the mother he had known when he was a child in her eyes…but then it was gone, and Nikko didn't stay to talk to her. She was dead to him.

~*****~

The day moved swiftly, despite Nikko's dread earlier that morning. Before he even realized what was going on, he was at lunch and Courtney was beside him. Janet, Caspian and Tajid were sitting there as well; the other 'Taccies had different lunch periods.

The school was serving chicken tenders today and Nikko had a tray of them in front of him, but he was barely touching his food. Courtney glanced at him.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

Nikko started, as if he were just being woken from a particularly bad dream. "No, I'm fine. Just tired," he said, using the first convenient excuse that came up. He didn't want Courtney to worry.

She eyed him, as if she could sense the lie in him, but he just stared steadily at her. Finally, she smiled lightly at him. "If you say so," she stated, which was her way of saying she thought he was lying but wasn't going to pry. Nikko was grateful.

Courtney then turned a grin to everyone. "Alright, so I was listening to one of Nikko's old demos yesterday, and I think we have a great idea for the next Spectacular hit! I thought I'd run it by all of you, see what you thought," Courtney said.

Janet perked up. "Oh, really!?" she asked excitedly. "I can't wait to hear it!"

Tajid and Caspian nodded beside her. "Do you have it on you?" Tajid asked.

"Of course!" Courtney said, reaching back behind her to grab her bag. She quickly pulled it into her lap and rifled through it. Several sheets of paper were sticking up out of it and Courtney carelessly moved them aside on her quest to find the CD in question.

"Wow, Court! What a mess," Nikko teased, trying to dispel any lingering worry. He took the bag away from her and then he began taking out some of the stray papers and stacking them on the table next to his tray. "Do you need all of this junk?" he asked her.

Courtney sniffed. "Some of it might possibly come in handy!" she defended.

"Oh, right. Like, a paper on how music defined certain eras that you wrote when you were a freshman will really be useful," he said. Courtney shrugged and chose not to answer.

"And what's this?" Nikko pulled out a book with a flowery design on its bindings. Several stray sheets were sticking out, but the book itself was latched closed. It was clearly a diary and the year on the front was from when they were all in the eighth grade. "When was the last time you even opened this diary? Most of this crap should be tossed. Face it Court, you're a packrat!"

Courtney grabbed her diary and her bag, her face a slight shade of red. "That diary is important to me, Nikko," she said.

Nikko felt rotten all of a sudden. He hadn't meant anything offensive. I mean, hey, at least he hadn't opened it and read it out loud. He didn't understand why Courtney was so upset, but he didn't like making her unhappy.

"He didn't mean anything bad by it, Court," Janet said, looking between them. "Right, Nikko?"

"Of course not!" he said. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, okay?" He reached over and placed his arm around Courtney's shoulders and kissed her head affectionately. She smiled at him.

"I know you didn't mean anything bad by it," she admitted softly, then reached into her bag once more. "Here it is!" she said, finally pulling out 3 copies of the CD. She passed it out to each of them just in time, before the bell rang. "I'll give copies to the other 'Taccies after you 3 have gone over it and approved."

They all rose from their table and picked up their trays to carry over to the washing window, talking excitedly about what their next hit was going to be like. Courtney and Nikko held back from the group a bit.

"Courtney--"

"Nikko---" they began at the same time. Both of them stopped and then burst out laughing.

"Okay, you first," Courtney said.

"I just wanted to say I was sorry again, for the diary. I didn't know it meant so much to you," Nikko explained.

"I know…It's just…it was the last year my dad was alive, and it has all of my memories of him in it. That's why I've kept it," Courtney said, sadness creeping into her usually chipper voice. She then quickly smiled. "But it's okay. No worries."

Nikko lightly smiled back. "I love you," he blurted out. While he had known for some time that what he felt for her was love, he had never actually voiced it out loud to her and it took them both by surprise when he did.

She shot him a glance. She was almost speechless, but it didn't take long to recover and Courtney gave him the brightest smile she had ever given him, one that completely touched her eyes and showed in all of her face. "I love you, too, Nikko," she answered.

Nikko suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Courtney, what were you going to say before?"

"Nothing. It's not important. I'm just happy, that's all," Courtney said, and then the two of them separated to go to their classes, Nikko giving her a quick peck on the lips. The two of them were possibly the happiest couple at Lincoln High School. No, they were the happiest couple at Lincoln High School, hands down. Who knew that their love would be challenged by various situations that arose from their pasts?

~*****~

A/N: Alright, here is the chapter! Please review! ^_^