Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 34
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

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"Aunt Rachel?"

"Yeah, honey?" I said quietly. I thought Katie had fallen asleep already since she was so still, curled up against me in the backseat of her father's car.

I loved that she and Colleen fought over who got to sit in the backseat with me. I was the coolest aunt in the world, especially when I agreed that they could sleep over with me tonight. But we'd all eaten too much Thanksgiving turkey and pie, and they were both practically falling asleep. I didn't think there'd be much fun slumber partying when we got to the house. Maybe we'd paint each other's nails over breakfast, and then I'd take them into town to start their Christmas shopping.

"Did Nick ever cry for you?"

I hadn't even realized I was singing along with the song on the radio. He was headlining the Christmas show for the Long Island station, so they were playing the crap out of the new single.

"Oh, yeah," I told her, trying not to laugh. He'd cried plenty for me.

"Why?"

Brat. Jon caught my eye in the rearview mirror and I glared at his smirk. I was never having children. Nieces were bad enough.

I sighed, pulling Katie closer. Colleen was looking at us now, twisted around in her seat.

"Plenty of reasons, brat. Sometimes when we got into fights… sometimes just because we weren't together." And there were lots of tears when I had the abortion…

"Did you cry over him?" Colleen asked.

I still do.

"Yeah," I answered, smiling at her. "Same reasons."

Katie moved so she could look at me, and now she and her sister were giving me the same confused looks. "But you always seemed so happy with him."

"I was, baby. But… we still got in fights sometimes. That happens when you're in love. You get all… emotional, and mixed up, and you say things you don't mean." I smiled to myself, remembering our arguments. "We used to argue on the phone with each other, and we'd hang up, then three minutes later, we'd go crazy calling each other back and apologizing."

Only it really hurt when he stopped doing that.

"Did he not apologize for something? Is that why you broke up?" Colleen almost whispered.

Damnit. They deserved an explanation, didn't they? They loved him, too, and I just ripped him out of their lives.

"Sorta," I admitted. "We broke up for a lot of reasons. It wasn't just his fault, it was mine, too." I wanted to tell them it was just a break. Not forever. It's what I told myself all the time, when forever just seemed like too long. But that wasn't fair, to get their hopes up.

They were both looking at me expectantly, and I shook my head, smoothing Katie's hair down. "It's complicated, sweeties. I'm not even sure if I understand it all. But he didn't do anything terrible, and neither did I. We just… we were just fighting more than we were having fun, and after a while, we couldn't figure out how to be happy together any more. He needed… we… he's five years younger than me. That's like you dating a seven-year-old!" I teased Katie, poking her.

Both girls squealed in unison, agreeing that was gross.

"It's not so bad when you get older, things even out a little. But he grew up so differently than I did, always touring and performing and stuff. There were things he wanted to do, and he couldn't do them with a girlfriend, really."

"Like what?" Colleen asked.

I sighed, catching Jon's eye in the mirror again. He was so enjoying this torture. "Why did you guys not quiz me this way when I broke up with Jeremy?" I asked them. "We went out forever."

"Jeremy is not a Backstreet Boy," Jon answered, and I had to laugh, but Katie yelled at him.

"That's not it, Dad!" We all looked at her as she sat up from my embrace, annoyance written all over her. "I don't even care if Nick is a Backstreet Boy. He was nice, and funny, and he kissed Aunt Rachel all the time, and made her way happier than Jeremy did. I might be a kid, but I'm not stupid."

"I wasn't…" Jon started, obviously shocked by her outburst. "I was just joking, honey."

"No, you weren't. You think that Col and I just liked Nick because he was a Backstreet Boy, and that's not true."

"That's why Dad doesn't like him," Colleen offered, and Jon almost drove off the road.

"What? I liked him!"

They both rolled their eyes. Colleen was only ten! She was not allowed to be doing the eye roll yet!

"Did not," Colleen countered.

"I… you…" Jon sputtered, looking at me for help, and I just shook my head. He didn't help me when they were asking the hard questions. Besides, I wanted to see him get out of this one. "I did like him. I just didn't trust him with my baby sister."

We pulled into my driveway and he turned off the car and looked at the girls seriously. "I'm a boy. Boys don't like it when other boys try to take their girls away. That's why you two are never dating."

"Dad!" they whined, and I burst into giggles, especially when he went on.

"As a matter of fact, I might just put you in the convent now."

"Jon, Daddy used to threaten me with that all the time, and look at me now."

He groaned, banging his head against the steering wheel. "I am not raising wanton sex goddesses! I refuse!"

"Too late!" I taunted. "They're Connors, there's nothing you can do! Connor women are irresistible to men! Right, girls?"

Giggling now, they agreed with me, and Jon sighed. "I'm doomed, aren't I?"

"Sorry, Jon," I admitted. "Your sister is an international sex symbol and your daughters are going to follow in her footsteps. Get used to it."

"My daughters are not dating pop stars!" he asserted. "That is a hard and fast rule. You either, Rache. You've had bad luck with them."

"But I like pop stars," I whined. "They're so cute!"

"I'm marrying Aaron Carter, Dad," Katie insisted, cracking us all up again. I needed to ask her if Aaron had called her lately.

"That would make it very uncomfortable for Aunt Rachel, Katie, you don't want to do that, do you?" he attempted, but she shook her head, snuggling up against me again.

"No, it'll be fine, because Nick and Aunt Rachel will be back together by then and be married and have five kids."

I shrieked slightly at that. "Five?"

"Five," she nodded. "Nick, Jr., Jonny, after Grandpa…"

"Jonny would be first," I corrected her. "Johanna, if it's a girl."

She grinned, amused that I was playing along with her. "So, Jon, Nick, Bob, Sienna and Cicera."

"No, Chimera," Colleen corrected. "The little one is Chimera Cerulean."

"You've discussed this?" I asked them, horrified, and everyone laughed at me.

"They share a room, Rache," Jon said. "I hear giggling on the nights when they don't hate each other."

"Why do the girls get weird names and the boys get normal names?" I asked. "Why can't we name the boys Ridge or Thorne or Warhol?"

The girls both squealed 'ew!' and I let them tease me as we got their stuff and went into the house.