~!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!~

 

A half hour later, Nick walked into the kitchen to find Micah seated Indian style on one of her kitchen chairs with a bowl of Lucky Charms resting on the table in front of her. Much to Nick's dismay the robe was gone. Now she was dressed in a black pant suit with slim faint silver vertical lines, and a white tank top underneath the suit jacket. Her hair was in the normal french braids, with a black visior in it's regular position.  

Without even having to turn her head in the slightest, Micah sensed Nick's presence in the room. "I have cereal and pop-tarts. They are in the pantry next to the fridge. Take your pick."

Nick bit his lip, thoughtfully as he walked into the pantry to grab a box of cereal. After he had made his choice, he walked back into the kitchen to find that Micah looked as thought she hadn't moved an inch but oddly enough there was an empty bowl, an unused spoon and a carton of one percent milk sitting on the table in front of the chair next to her.  

"Micah...we need to talk about last night." Nick announced this as he settled himself next to her.

She turned her head towards him. To his surprise, when she looked at him there was no animosity. Her eyes were open and inviting. "We need to forget about last night, Nick."

The comment caught him off guard even more than the look she was giving him did. "Forget it?"

"Yes. Or don't talk about it. It will cause too much stress on tour and God knows that's already stressful enough. We were both relatively drunk and we got caught up in the heat of the moment. We need to stay professional and just be friends for the sake of your band mates and my band mates and everyone else touring with us. For the sake of our sanity."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I felt emotions last night that I never knew existed and I know DAMN well you felt them too. I'm not just going to forget about it or not talk about that. I want to follow through on that."

"Contrary to what you famous people think...you don't always get what you want, Nick."

"And why not? You felt exactly what I did, Micah. Now I may not be able to EXPLAIN that but I know what it felt like and I'm not going to pass that up." Nick watched Micah's gaze turn from inviting to steely cold. He couldn't believe she was requesting this of him. He was astounded to say the least.

Micah sighed and shook her head. She couldn't make Nick understand without completely explaining and she wasn't ready for that. NICK wasn't ready for that. Even if she did explain, she had a feeling Nick still wouldn't give it up. "Nick...look, okay? If all you wanted was casual sex, I'd be perfectly fine with that. MORE than fine with that. But that's not what you want. I can't give you want you want. Not right now."

"I'll wait."

Micah snorted and shook her head. "You might be waiting quite a while."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"What makes you think that? I'm a whole lot smarter than I seem in the media and all that bullshit."

"I know you are, Nick...I know you are."

"Then why can't you explain?"

Micah looked down at her watch and then up at Nick. "Well first of all we don't have enough time. I have to leave in like ten minutes-"

"I'll come with you."

"You have to be at the arena for soundcheck."

"Not until four."

Micah sighed and Nick knew how close to relenting she was. "You can come but I'm still not explaining."

Nick leaned back in his chair as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. From the way she had just given into him, he knew that eventually she would relent to everything he wanted. Eventually she would let him love her. Eventually she would explain. Eventually everything would be the way he wanted it.

 

~!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!~
 

"I'm not really sure what's happening today...So I don't know what I'm doing...but most of it won't be appealing to you..." Micah rambled as Nick pulled his Jeep into the VIP parking lot in the back of Micah's building. Micah smiled at the awed expression on Nick's face. The building in front of them was fifteen stories high -- all different parts of Duckie -- with  huge duck ponds to the right and left of the building. Directly in front of the main entrance was a seven foot high Roman sculpture fountain. She knew Nick had expected a Mom and Pops type business. "I could probably get someone to give you a tour of the building and stuff...I'd do it myself but I've got too much shit to get ready before we have to leave."

"That's fine." Nick responded, getting out of the car and before Micah could exit her side of the car Nick was standing in front of her door and opening it. She smiled wanly at him before she started for the building. She held the heavy swing doors, with ducks inscribed into them open, for Nick. Micah had come up with the ducks on the doors and she had also insisted that they glow at night. Every door in the building had one on their doors. "I'm sure it'll be okay."

Micah back at him for a minute and sighed. "Yeah..." She turned to smile and nod at the main receptionist. "Marie, can you buzz Liselle and tell her I'll be up in a minute or two, please?" Marie's mouth hung slightly open as she looked back and forth between Nick and Micah. Micah smiled before she introduced Nick and Marie. She knew that everyone would be pretty surprised to see Nick Carter trailing behind her, especially with her relationship with *Nsync. Micah flipped her eyes up to Nick and asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah..." Nick was too stunned to really say anything. The marble and glass that made up the lobby were definitely impressive. He followed Micah to the elevator and they got on. Less than five minutes later they breezed by the receptionist desk into Micah's office. The whole office was done in cream and golden hues with extremely comfortable looking armchairs in front of Micah's huge mahogany desk. Directly in front of the desk sat a plasma flat screen TV and next to it was a massive entertainment unit. "Pretty nice."

"I guess so..." Micah sat down behind her desk and motioned to one of the cream colored arm chairs that sat opposite. She gave him a small half-smile before reaching forward to buzz her receptionist. "Liselle? Come in here please?" Then she turned back to Nick. "I can get one of the interns or someone to give you a tour of the place while I get a majority of the stuff out of the way. I should be done by noon." She looked down to shuffle through a few papers that were neatly placed on the desk in front of her.

"You really don't have to...I'll be fine." Nick felt like he was five all over again and he needed to baby-sat and constantly entertained.

Micah's eyes moved up to meet his. "I want to show you the place anyway, but I don't really have the time to do it, right now."

"Some other time, then." Nick offered calmly, leaning back in the chair.

"Nick-" Micah started to respond but was interrupted as Liselle walked into the room.

"Hey!" she greeted, offering a nod in Nick's direction before sitting down in the chair next to Nick's.

"Nick, Liselle Martin. Liselle, Nick Carter." Micah made the introductions whlie staring down at a sheet of paper, while motioning with one hand, back and forth between the two people opposite of her. Pleasantries were tossed back and forth between Nick and Liselle before Liselle turned her attention to her boss.

"You have two meetings with new prospects. One at eight and one at nine. In between then your supposed to call B2K's manager. You have an appointment with O-town to listen to some of their new songs for their album in about twenty minutes. You have to do the same thing with Christina Aguilera, Willa Ford, and Sum 41. There is a couple of demo tapes we got sent that a few of the branch heads wanted you to listen too. Plus the branch heads from the R&B branch and the Pop branch needed to see you."

"Okay..." Micah muttered, distractedly. It was obvious to Nick she hadn't heard a word of it. "What's this?" She handed a piece of paper to Liselle.

"Ohhh yeah!" Liselle cried, looking up anxiously at Micah. "You've earned the most revenue in the year of 2002 and somehow it got leaked to the press and now Money Makers wants an interview which we can do over the phone while your on tour. YM, Teen People and Cosmo Girl want a photo-shoot and an interview because your the first woman in ten years to earn the most money. Maxum and Spin want you too."

"I'm not doing it." Micah answered, immediately while Nick sat stunned yet again.

"It's good for the label, Micah."

"You don't see Clive Davis doing this do you?"

"Clive Davis didn't bring in the highest revunue of the year did he? And Clive does interviews."

"I still don't want to do this."

"But you'll end up doing it anyway."

"I will not-"

"Okay well, O-town will be up soon. Do you want anything?"

"No...." Micah grumbled. She hated anything that had to do with publicity. She let everyone else handle that. She was a record label head and a musician. She was not a star. She was not meant for the spot light.

"Okay well it was nice meeting you Nick." Liselle said, standing up. She quickly made to the door.

"Oh wait!" Micah cried out before Liselle exited the room. "Get an intern or someone to give Nick a complete tour of the building okay?"

"Okay." Liselle answered, before closing the heavy wooden door of Micah's office.

"Wow...highest revenue?" Nick said.

"Don't tell anyone Nick."

Nick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I won't...but why not?"

"You know why..."

"No actually I don't."

"When people find out how much money you have, they treat you differently. I don't want that."

"Sometimes it has perks."

"For me, the negative out weighs the positive, Nicky."

"If you say so."

"I do." Micah nodded crisply, before nodding towards the door. "If you wait out there someone should be there to give you a tour." Nick sighed and stood up. He glanced down at her, as she ignored him.

Why was she trying so hard to push him away? She liked him, and he knew it. But what reasons did she have to keep him so far away? Why couldn't she let herself love him, the way he wanted her to?