"Mami?" Carlos answered his phone as he hurried to get dressed for morning rehearsal.

"Carlos, how are you?" Before he could answer she kept on, "what's this about a pregnancy? All the girls at work are talking about the rumor that one of your girlfriends is pregnant."

"Mama, I only have one girlfriend."

"Your friends' girlfriends. Tell me, am I going to be a grandma and why did I have to find out from celebrity gossip and not my beautiful son?"

"Alexa's not pregnant. You're not going to be a grandma anytime soon."

"I would love any baby you brought into this world, but I am glad you are waiting until you are married." He shared a look with Alexa who sat on the bed tying her sneakers.

"Uh, yeah. Mama, I gotta go—rehearsal with Gustavo. I'll talk to you later?"

"Have fun, but tell me, is it true?"

"Is what true?" Carlos desperately wanted to get off the phone. He wasn't good with keeping secrets and if he continued talking he was sure to blab.

"That one of you guys's girlfriend is pregnant."

"Um, well, I'm not allowed to say. Look, I gotta go."

"So, it is true! I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Mama!"

"OK, OK, te amo, mi bebe."

"As soon as he tells his mom I'll tell you. Love you, Mama." Carlos tucked his phone into his pocket and then reached his hand out to pull Alexa off the bed. As he went to the studio she was going for a morning workout at the gym. "You know, if my mom's hearing these rumors, James's mom is hearing these rumors."

"I already told my parents."

"You what?"

"I had to! I didn't want them to think it was me and besides, they don't know James or Lucy's parents."

"Talk about blabbing."

"I'm sorry, but they're not gonna tell anyone. They'll just be able to confirm it's not us."

Carlos and Alexa parted ways when he met up with Kendall, Logan, and James in the lobby. It was a few days after the weird meeting with Jo's manager and fortunately, she hadn't mentioned anything else about it to Jo.

"News has hit Minnesota," Carlos announced.

James coughed.

Logan patted his back.

"You knew you were gonna have to tell your mom sometime," Kendall said. "Better to get it over with."

"You know my mom!"

"Why are you so afraid? You're not a kid anymore. You're a successful pop star. You've got a healthy bank account."

"Not until we're 21."

"OK, when you're 21 you get to come into all that money. Until then you get a nice paycheck from Griffin and Lucy's career is doing well. This isn't like you're becoming a teen father."

"All my mom will see is I'm nineteen and not married."

When the boys arrived at the studio James was in a sullen mood. Carlos felt bad for telling but he knew he had to warn him. Fortunately, the paparazzi were not present as they probably figured they were wasting their time trying to get anything out of them. As they entered the building, they all looked around suspiciously in case someone was hiding in the bushes.

Waiting for them in the lobby were the Backstreet Boys: AJ, Brian, Kevin, Howie, and Nick. They all greeted each other, shaking hands. AJ shook Carlos's hand. Brian and James shook hands. Kendall shook Kevin's hand. Logan and Howie shook hands. James and AJ shook hands. Brian shook Kendall's hand. Kevin and Logan shook hands. Nick shook Carlos's hand. Kendall and AJ shook hands. Brian and Logan shook hands. Carlos shook Howie's hand. James shook Nick's hand. AJ and Logan shook hands. Nick shook Kendall's hand. Howie shook James's hand. Carlos and Kevin shook hands. Logan shook hands with Nick. Kendall and Howie shook hands. Kevin shook James's hand. Brian and Carlos shook hands. At some point Howie and Brian shook hands and maybe Kendall and Nick shook hands twice.

"Now that we got that out of the way," Gustavo bellowed, "Into the studio! Now!"

All nine boys scrambled to fit into the now seemingly tiny booth.

"I think that's my foot," Brian.

"Pardon me," Kevin.

"Pardon me," AJ.

"Pardon me," Logan.

"Hey!" James exclaimed.

"Oh sorry," Nick said.

"Dogs!"

Everyone snapped to attention at the sound of Gustavo's voice.

"I don't think we fit in here," Kendall stated.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Gustavo said. "We'll have to do this in the dance studio."

Everyone sighed as they entered a room where they could breathe.

"Is it true?" Howie asked when they stopped for a fifteen minute break. All nine of them sat on the wooden floor downing bottles of water.

"Is what true?" James asked.

Carlos shook his head. He knew exactly what Howie referred to and he assumed James did, too.

"The rumor that one of you is gonna be a dad," Nick joined in.

"Let's see…Kendall just got engaged to Jo Taylor. It's not them. That'd be too obvious. Congratulations, by the way." AJ said. "Alexa Vega just moved into the same apartment building as Carlos. It could be…but no. That's not why she moved in. Logan's not serious enough with Camille Roberts."

"Hey!" Logan exclaimed.

"So that leaves…" AJ pointed a finger at the brunette pretty boy. "James and Lucy Stone!"

.O.

"Lucy Stone!" Her manager, Lou Rudolph, screeched dropping the gossip magazine on his desk. "Please tell me this is not true."

"It's not true," Lucy said unable to look her manager in the eye. Like every other day since the beginning of last week she had rehearsal but didn't feel like being there. She got almost no sleep last night due to this "all day sickness" that consumed her life lately. She couldn't wait for this stage to be over.

"Are you kidding me? Do you think I'm stupid?" Lou stepped closer to Lucy. "That outfit in the picture is what you wore yesterday when you arrived to rehearsal late again!"

"I'm sorry."

"Why, Lucy, why?"

She took a deep breath summoning up a huge amount of strength, trying to turn the brave façade she wore in front of others into something real.

"I'm pregnant and I didn't tell you because you just scheduled my North American tour for the summer and this ruins it."

"I'm—I'm—" Lou fumbled.

"It's James's and we didn't plan this."

"This kid is seriously ruining your career."

"He's not ruining my career."

"First you leave your European tour because you have to make out with the guy and now you might not even start your North American one because he got you pregnant."

"He did not get me pregnant."

"Are you or are you not pregnant?"

"Yes, but I had a part in this, too. It takes two to make a baby. Don't you dare blame all of this on James." Lucy pierced her lips together and ran to the bathroom.

Logan is serious enough with Camille, but they only just reached second base (not that BSB would know that) so actually, he's just not advanced enough.

November 2 1990: Peter Jackson is the producer behind the LoTR movies.

Thank you for your ideas, Rusher Driver. I will consider them and perhaps use one or two in my story! I appreciate any suggestions.

I'm really going to work on making my chapters longer. I think they should be longer. It's just that I find the ending so satisfying for an ending that I end there.