A few weeks later after a rigorous practice with the Backstreet Boys for the Music Video Awards coming up in less than a week, Carlos met his girlfriend for dinner. Afterwards they got ice cream cones and enjoyed them together at Palmwoods Park under the moonlight.

"Carlos," Alexa patted the spot on the bench next to her as she licked her chocolate cone. "I've got something to tell you."

Happy-go-lucky Carlos sat down next to her licking away at his strawberry cone.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" Carlos stopped licking his cone.

"With those big brown eyes."

"But, they're the only eyes I have."

"And I love 'em." She held his gaze with her brown eyes. "There's no easy way to say this."

"Oh my gosh, you're breaking up with me!" Carlos exclaimed.

"No."

"Good. Oh, I know!" He bounced in his seat. "You've been cast as part of a popular book-to-film series and will be spending three years in New Zealand!"

Alexa creased her brow. "No." She put up a hand. "Stop guessing. I'll just tell you." With her free hand she grabbed his free hand. "I've been assigned a mission leaving in about a month."

"OK?"

"I'll be in Europe. For three months. Maybe longer."

"Three months!" Carlos's eyebrows darted toward his hairline and he almost dropped his cone.

"Yeah. I can't say no. I…don't…want to say no." She looked away. "But, hey, it's not three years, it's not New Zealand, and I have no idea what you meant there."

"Long story—Jo—Kendall, um, anyway…when do you have to leave?" He ignored the ice cream melting down his hand.

"No exact date has been given, yet, but it won't be for about a month."

"So you'll still be able to see us perform at the MVAs?"

"Absolutely." She smiled.

"Well, all right," Carlos sighed. "I don't like this, but it is what it is. You'll call every night, right?"

The smile fell off Alexa's face. "You know I can't. I can't do anything that could give anything away."

"But, we always talk. Every day."

"Except when I'm on a mission. You know that."

Carlos bowed his head. "I know."

"Chin up. It's just three months."

"I know." Carlos looked at her. "Well, we got one month until you leave so we will do everything you want to do." He grabbed Alexa's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Well, you know what I'd first like to do?" She looked at her sticky hand with ice cream all over it.

"We'll get to that, but first let's wash our hands."

Alexa giggled as Carlos pulled her away.

.O.

"And 5, 6, 7, 8," Mr. X counted off at rehearsal the next morning. "Carlos, Carlos, Carlos," he sighed.

"Sorry!" Carlos bent down to tie his shoe.

"You've been distracted all day," Kendall said. "Are you okay?"

Standing up, Carlos bumped into Brian.

"Yeah," he pulled Kendall away from the guys. "Alexa got called on another mission."

"Yeah, she gets those all the time."

"But, this time she'll be gone for three months in Europe!"

"Hey, not until you have your girlfriend leave you for three years do you have the right to complain."

Carlos rolled his eyes. It wasn't like Jo was actually gone for the full three years, but of course, Kendall hadn't known that was going to happen when she originally left.

"This is X-cruciating!" Mr. X complained getting in Carlos and Kendall's faces.

They went through the dance number again. Big Time Rush was going to start with "I Want it That Way" and then the Backstreet Boys were going to enter with "Windows Down" and then it was going to be something of a lyrical battle between the two until they ended on the song "Everybody." Don't get confused. Yes, they were singing each other's songs, but the guys liked it and it sounded cool.

"CARLOS!" Everyone yelled when he either bumped into them or found himself in the wrong spot.

"We need an X-break." And with that Mr. X walked out of the room.

"Sorry." Carlos looked sheepish.

"When we resume," Gustavo started in his usual loud voice, "Dogs, I want you to get your heads out of the clouds. Dress rehearsal is tomorrow. You should be able to do this in your sleep."

"Is everything okay?" James asked.

"You're not having problems with Alexa, are you?" Logan asked.

"She's going away for three months," he admitted.

"You've dealt with this before," Kendall said.

"Where's she going?" Howie asked, handing two bottles of water to the BTR guys. Kevin appeared with the other two.

"Filming in Europe," Carlos lied. Well, she was going to Europe, so that wasn't a lie. He turned back to Logan, James, and Kendall. "I know, but not this long. And when we're gone that long she's able to visit. She's not able to visit this time."

"Why don't you just visit her?" Kevin suggested.

"Not allowed."

"What are you afraid of?" Logan asked.

"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just gonna miss her, is that so wrong?" He took a long gulp of his water.

"Well, you need to get your head in the game before Gustavo kills us," Kendall said.

"Alexa is Carlos's first girlfriend," James informed Howie and Kevin.

Carlos made a face. This wasn't because she was his first. Maybe, but he knew it was more than that. He knew it was true love. But, he never really experienced love before so how did he know if it was true? It felt true. Just the thought of her leaving made his heart break and he had almost an entire month before she had to go.

"Cheer up, Buddy," James sat down on the hard dance floor next to Carlos who had absentmindedly sat down himself. "We've got the MVAs in two days."

"We're up for three awards." Logan sat down with them.

"Best Tour, Best Music Video for 'We Are,' and Best Live Performance for Tween Choice Awards 2013," Kendall added walking around the three instead of sitting down.

"You're performing with us," Howie stated.

"And your girl's not leaving for a month," James finished.

"Whose girl's not leaving for a month?" Nick asked, walking up to the group with Brian and AJ behind him.

Carlos raised his hand. "Alexa's leaving for a three month stay in Europe." He really didn't want to talk about it. It made him miss her even more even though she hadn't left yet.

"X-break is X-over," Mr. X exclaimed suddenly appearing in the room. "Whatever was on your mind before has now x-vanished and we are only working on the performance for Friday's show."

.O.

Before Carlos knew it they were onstage at the Nokia Theater. The award for Best Rock Duo/Group had just been given out, well pretend given out as this was just the dress rehearsal, and as Sarah Hyland and Shay Mitchell walked off the stage the boys walked on in total darkness.

Kendall began the intro to the song and Carlos stood in the back with James. A spotlight was supposed to shine first on Kendall and then the other three got their own. But, the light didn't come on. Kendall kept singing. All four boys were supposed to get into a straight line right before the Backstreet Boys came onstage, but since none of the spotlights came on they couldn't see and ended up bumping into each other.

Once they got the spotlight figured out they started the number again. This time, however, Carlos's mike didn't work.

"Aarrgghh!" He screamed in frustration.

"You know what they say about a bad dress rehearsal," Logan said. He put his arm up to stop Carlos from throwing his microphone across the stage.

"Can we take a break?" Kendall suggested to the stage manager.

"No!" She stamped her foot. "We're not stopping until we get this right."

"Finally!" Carlos said to himself as they headed to their dressing room having gone through three or four, he couldn't remember, runs each one ending with some mishap or another.

"A bad dress rehearsal foretells a good opening night," Logan stated. "Given this isn't the theater, but it is a stage, and this was our dress rehearsal before our real performance tomorrow."

"Well, then, we're going to have an amazing performance tomorrow," Carlos said with a big sigh.

"It's not your fault," Kendall said patting him on the back.

"I made the most mistakes. I'm the one who knocked over the Backstreet Boys, whose mic didn't work, whose earpiece fell out, and who made us go through the routine a million times until we got it right."

"Stop being so hard on yourself," Kendall continued. "You didn't break the spotlight or cause James to trip over his shoelace."

"Whatever." Carlos flopped down on the couch.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Kendall sat down next to him.

"Yeah, I almost knocked out the assistant stage manager when I tripped over my shoelace." James sat on the other side of Carlos. "At least you didn't do anything like that."

"Don't you remember? I knocked over all five Backstreet Boys."

"Yeah, but none of them got hurt," Logan said.

"And they forgave you," Kendall added. "Come on, let's go home and…" Kendall paused.

"Hockey?" James suggested.

"Movie?" Logan brought up.

"I think I'd like to spend the evening with Alexa, if you don't mind," Carlos said.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Lucy all day," James said. "I've been here. With you guys."

"We could go hang out with Jo and Camille," Logan suggested.

"So, this is us now, separating for our girls instead of hanging with the guys," Kendall complained.

"Alexa's leaving in a month. I'll have all the time to hang out with you then," Carlos said.

"Lucy's pregnant," James stated.

"You're marrying Jo, what does that say?" Logan laughed.

Carlos sighed loudly as he entered Alexa's apartment that evening.

"How was the dress rehearsal?" She asked sitting next to him when he slumped onto the couch.

Carlos sighed again.

"That bad, huh?" She put one on his shoulder and ran the other through his hair.

"I was a total screw-up."

"I don't believe that."

"Why?"

"I don't date screw-ups." She kissed Carlos on the cheek. "You're a great singer and dancer. Everyone has bad days. Tomorrow is a new one."

Carlos sighed again.

"All right." Alexa pulled Carlos to his feet. "You're not gonna sit here and wallow in your self-pity. You've got nothing to be pitiful about."

"Where are we going?" Carlos asked as Alexa dragged him out the door.

"We're going to drown your sorrows…well, you're too young to drink…we'll think of something."

Carlos smiled. He loved hanging out with Alexa. It didn't matter what they did, just being with her was…it made up for all the bad stuff.

The next morning Carlos awoke feeling bloated. What the heck did he eat last night? He rubbed his face with his left hand trying to remember what happened when something gold shone in his eyes.

"Oh…my…gosh…" he glanced over at Alexa asleep with the covers bundled up to her chin.

Feeling like he wanted to puke, the bloated feeling was turning into indigestion; he turned over and spotted a piece of paper lying underneath one of his Chucks.

The only thing he could make out was "iage License."

I know you all ask for this and for that. I can give you this and that, but I can't give it to you all at once so patience. I feel bad I can't give it to you all at once, but that would be one messy story.

Rusher-driver: Interesting ideas. I'll consider them. Thank you for your review.