Going The Distance

Charlene POV

It was 9am on a miserable rainy day in New Orleans when I was stood in a room overlooking the recording studio for New Orleans’ biggest radio station, with Joe right by my side for support.

Nick was being interviewed for the morning show where although football was touched upon, everyone knew the main reason for both parties was to discuss all of the allegations. Nick representatives had been divided over whether he should publicly address the rumours or not, but Nick had wanted to get his voice heard immediately.

“To be honest, I pity these women who feel that the only way for them to get ahead in life is to lie and try to destroy innocent people.” Nick continued, his hands intertwined on the desk in front of him. “Neither of them have ever met my wife and have only met me on a couple of occasions which just makes the whole thing even more absurd.”

The host nodded and took a sip of water, glancing at the board that showed how many millions of people were tuned in. Thankfully he and Nick had met a few times before which made Nick much more comfortable knowing the host wouldn’t purposely be an absolute twat. Plus, he was bringing in huge ratings for the guy.

“Your beautiful wife is here with you today,” He smiled at me through the glass and Nick then looked over too and smiled softly at me, “how did she handle the news?”

Nick chuckled coldly and stared at his hands. “Is there a right way to handle that kind of news? Of course she was upset, wouldn’t you be if you heard that your spouse had supposedly been playing around, and that it was global news?” Nick sighed and continued to stare at his hands, gently stroking his wedding band. “I flew straight to Oxford where she was and we just took some time out to be together and ignore everything that was happening back here. We trust each other so that was never the issue. The issue was the strain all of the media was having on our relationship.”

“And how are things now?”

Nick finally looked up from his hands and stared the host in the eyes. “Things are amazing. These nasty women really did pick the wrong guy to spread these lies about because anyone that knows me knows that I have only and will ever only have eyes for my wife.”

A soppy smile grew on my face as I watched Nick as the interview was all wrapped up whilst my heart exploded with pride for him. He’d bitten the bullet and confronted the lies head on rather than hiding before his representatives like most celebrities did. Joe squeezed my hand and smiled supportively.

“Never fuck with a Jonas.” He said with a grin that made me laugh.

I looked back into the studio to see them shaking hands before Nick headed out the door into where we were standing along with some of the crew. Nick shook hands with the crew there and thanked them before walking towards Joe and I.

“Glad that’s over.” Nick groaned, wrapping his arms around me, his body so warm and welcoming.

“You were amazing.” I smiled up at him, his own face lighting up slightly as he smiled back. He leaned down a pressed a soft kiss to my lips and then several pecks before pulling back as Joe coughed.

I cuddled into Nick as we both laughed and looked at Joe.

“Thanks for coming. It means a lot, Joe.” Nick smiled, giving his brother a hug before bringing me into his chest once again.

“Of course I was going to be here. Kevin would have been too if he hadn’t gotten sick a couple of days back. You did a great job. I’m proud of you little bro.”

“Who is five inches taller than you...” I smirked at Joe as Nick burst out laughing and squeezed my body. Joe just glared and pointed at me as he tried to hide his grin.

We all left the building in a surprisingly upbeat manner consideration the conversation that had just taken place. As we went through the main doors we were caught with lots of flashes of cameras and people yelling questions at us. Normally Nick would stop to speak to fans but it would have been impossible to get near them with the paparazzi shoving everyone in their way. Nick and Joe stood on either side of me to keep them away, with Nick’s arm wrapped firmly around my shoulders.

When we finally reached the car Nick held the passenger door open for me and smiled as I slid into the car with a soppy grin on my face. Moments later Nick climbed into the drivers seat and flicked on the radio, trying to block out the commotion outside.

“What dogs.” Joe grumbled as he looked out at the paparazzi as Nick reversed out and then sped off with his hand intertwined with mine on my lap for the entire journey home.

When we got home Joe charged into the house and ran into the TV room, instantly flicking on the sports channel highlights show which was the one thing that both of the boys watched religiously. As I walked past Nick, his hand gently touched my arm, instantly stopping me.

“What are you doing now?” He asked softly, his hand still on my arm.

“Walking the dogs.”

“Can I join?” Again his voice was so soft as if he was asking me something he knew he shouldn’t be.

“Of course you can.” I chuckled, wondering what was wrong with him. “But don’t you always watch the highlights show?”

He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around me gently, looking down at me with a soft smile. “I’d rather spend some time with my little family. I’m always at work during the day so I hardly get to go on my little family’s day walks.” He chuckled.

I grinned up at him and handed him a lead from the hallway closet before calling after a Bella and Winston who appeared, jumping all around us barking excitedly.

“Bye Joe!” We called which got no response apart from Joe cursing at the TV, something about the referee as usual.

Whilst we walked through our private neighbourhood towards the park, our hands were intertwined as we held a comfortable silence, simply appreciating being together and trying as hard as possible to not think about all of the current drama outside of our little bubble.

When we reached the park we let Bella and Winston off of their leads, with Winston running off instantly to stretch his long legs whereas Bella just sat and looked up at us with what looked like a smile on her face.

“Bella, off you run.” Nick chuckled, whistling and clicking his fingers ahead of him. Bella jumped to her feet and barked before running as fast as her little legs could take her, all the way over to Winston. Little and large were never far apart.

Nick squeezed my hand and walked me over to ‘our tree’. When we first moved into our New Orleans home, we visited this park and spend a couple of hours just lying against this tree together, thinking about the new life we had ahead of ourselves. Nick had then scratched out our initials with his swiss knife keychain, like we were teenagers, which had made me laugh so much at his dorky ways. But in the time we had been living in our home, we’d only ever come here together three times, because Nick was always busy at work so got home too late to take the dogs to the park, meaning I always did it alone.

We sat and lay against the tree, Nick’s arms wrapped protectively around me as I lay my body in between his legs and rest against his huge chest. He pressed soft kisses to my hair and held me tightly, causing butterflies to form in my stomach, a feeling I always cherished.

I stared out at our crazy dogs running around in the empty park looking so happy and carefree. It was rare that both Nick and I would take them out together and it was clear they were both very aware of the presence of us both and the special moment we were having. Dogs were weird like that. They sensed things.

“We’re going to do this more often.” Nick whispered, kissing my ear.

“I hope so.” I whispered back, looking up at him over my shoulder.

“We will.” He assured me, leaning down and softly kissing my lips. “The past month hasn’t been ideal for us, but apart from that we’re perfect and you know that. I’ve asked the coach for reduced promotional hours and though he can’t obviously guarantee anything, he said he’s going to try to arrange for there to be a bigger variation in the players on promo trips so it’s not always me that has to go.”

“But you’re the Saints biggest name...heck you’re one of the NFL’s biggest names, so of course you’re needed on those tours.”

He shook his head and softly stroked my cheek, bringing a smile to my face. “But I also have my own life. Most of the guys would kill to do all of these promo tours and get more publicity and then endorsements and all that. But I’ve got all of that and I’ve got a lot more that I’m leaving behind at home than a lot of the guys.” He kissed my forehead and held his lips there, speaking so softly against my skin. “My biggest thrill is simply by being with you at home, not by being at events with loads of cameras flashing and having damn microphones shoved in my face. You mean more to be than anything else, Charlene, and you know deep down, that if you asked me to give it all up then I would without even a second thought.”

I looked up at him and placed my hand on his cheek and guided his lips down to mine, gently kissing him whilst he pulled me even closer.

“I would never ask you to give it all up.” I whispered against his lips.

“But you know that I would if it meant that much to you, don’t you?”

I nodded slowly, almost guiltily knowing how much power I had over him and visa versa. We were each other’s biggest weakness and strength, and despite all of the crap that comes out of our mouths in arguments sometimes, neither of us could do anything without the full support of the other. Whether or not that was entirely healthy, it’s questionable but I wouldn’t want it any other way.

...

“Hurry up Charlene!” Joe yelled from the living room as they waited to start the film whilst I warmed some popcorn for everyone. I shuffled through the corridor holding onto the huge bowl of popcorn which smelt amazing. I definitely was going to need a trip to the gym tomorrow.

Nick and Joe both looked up at me when I entered the room and eyed up the popcorn as I placed it on the table, which wasn’t going to last long with these two around. Nick opened his arms for me and smiled as he lay on the couch. Joe coughed and I looked over to see him him lying on the other couch with a huge grin on his face with his arms spread out too.

“We all know I’m your favourite Jonas, Charlene.” He grinned, looking over at a laughing Nick. I ran over to Joe and jumped on top of him, laughing as he rubbed my head with his fist. Nick then stood and walked towards us before jumping on top, squashing us both.

“Nick you’re so heavy!” I laughed as I lay in a Jonas sandwich with two of my favourite people in the whole world.

“Jonas love!” Nick yelled wrapping his arms around us both. I continued to laugh as Nick stood up and picked me up wedding style, carrying me over to the couch where he dropped me and then gently fell on top of me, tickling my sides.

“Nick, stop, stop!” I screeched with laughter.

“That’s not what you were saying this morning no doubt Charlene...” Joe laughed.

Nick chuckled and then stopped, pressing a kiss to my smiling lips, sliding to the side of me and cuddling me from behind as the movie began. I looked over at Joe who was smiling at us both and pretended to wipe a tear away.

“You guys are so damn cute!” He mocked, laughing as Nick threw a pillow at his face.

We fell silent as George Clooney and Brad Pitt appeared on screen, with Joe’s constant munching of the popcorn being the only sound in the room.

Nick gently pressed his lips to my shoulder and then to the back of my ear. “I love you, beautiful.” He whispered, pressing another kiss to my ear. I tilted my head back and smiled, pouting my lips for a kiss which he happily gave.

“I love you too, handsome.” I smiled, kissing him again before turning back to the film and cuddling back into his arms that were wrapped around me, our hands intertwined as always.

I glanced over at Winston who was tucked up in his dog bed sleeping soundly. That dog slept through everything. I smiled at how serene he looked, our big fluffy guard dog. At that moment Bella bounded into the room and ran straight for Winston, jumping all over him and barking happily as Winston opened one sleepy eye to look at her and then us, a pleading look in his huge eyes.

Chuckling, I stood and walked towards our fluffy babies that were both so unbelievably perfect. Bella jumped at my feet, wiggling her little tail and Winston looked up at me with his tongue hanging out. I bent down and stroked both of them before lifting Bella and putting her in the bed next to Winston’s. She sat there for approximately half of a second before jumping all over Winston again. I groaned and looked over at Nick who was watching us with a smile.

“Bella, come here you little bugger.” Joe chuckled, grinning as Bella ran towards him and jumped onto the couch where she climbed all over him before finally settling down on his chest. My attention was brought back to Winston as he rubbed his furry head against my hand, looking up at me with those deep eyes begging for a stroke. I smiled and rubbed his head, scratching behind his ears.

“You’re so cute.” I smiled, continuing to stroke Winston as his tongue hung out of his mouth whilst he stared up at me.

I rolled my eyes as Nick began whining from the couch, begging me to come back and cuddle. They were all the same.

“See Charlene” Joe sighed, “I am by far the least needy person in this house. You’ll never want me to leave.” He grinned as I laughed and walked back to a pouting Nick.

“What am I going to do with you little boy?” I laughed, cuddling into Nick and stroking his face which he quickly nestled into my neck.

“Little?” He mumbled, nibbling on my skin.

Joe sighed loudly and looked down at Bella. “I don’t know how you live with these two horny people, Bella. I really don’t.”

...

Nick POV

I walked out of mine and Charlene’s bedroom with a small smile on my lips, having been locked away in there for a good hour, away from prying ears aka Joe. I had quickly thrown on some boxers and a large navy sports top before heading downstairs whilst Charlene had opted to stay in bed tucked up with her laptop to do some online shopping as always.

“And here’s the big man!” Joe laughed as I walked into the living room. He was still sat with Bella on his stomach who was sat up staring at me. Joe lifted up her front legs and shook them in the air, “and the crowd goes wild, woooo!”. I laughed and picked Bella up from Joe, wondering what weird conversations Joe had no doubt had with her and Winston. “Where’s Charlene?”

“In bed...recovering.” I smirked as Joe burst out laughing. “No, she’s on her laptop.”

“You missed the best CSI episode ever, dude.”

“I think I spent my time better, Joe.” I said, rubbing Bella’s tiny head and smiling as she stared up at me with sleepy eyes. “Me and Charlene are going out to dinner tomorrow night and before you ask, you cannot have an invite.”

“You’re such a nasty little man, Nicholas.” Joe said whilst wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. “Besides, I’m sure Charlene will want her second favourite Jonas there anyway.”

“Joe,” I laughed at how he knew how to annoy me “It’s date night and there is only one Jonas that she will want for that.”

“Yeah...me and Charlene were meaning to speak to you about that...” He grinned, dodging a pillow I chucked at him with my spare hand.

“You’re such a pain in the ass, you know that?” I laughed loudly with Joe nodding and laughing back.

“And bloody proud of it little brother.” He smiled widely, turning up the volume of the sports channel and putting his hands behind his head.

I chuckled as I walked out of the room and into the kitchen to get some apple juice to take upstairs, Bella still firming in my arms. She whined and nudged my leg once I placed her on the ground in order to carry the two glasses, which Joe clearly heard.

“Told you Nick wasn’t very nice, Bella!” He yelled jokingly from the living room. If I didn’t love him so much, I’d want to punch him.

“Come on Bell’s.” I cooed as I walked from the kitchen and towards the stairs with Bella right beside me. She jumped up every step so animatedly that I couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she was, trying desperately to keep up with me.

As I got closer to the bedroom, I couldn’t help but think how perfect everything was between Charlene and I, regardless of what all of the magazines were saying. We still hadn’t spoken about the argument we had in Oxford, about her feeling isolated in New Orleans and I knew I had to bring it up at some point, but I was petrified of ruining our little bubble.

Charlene sat on the floor by the bed with Winston lying by her feet, absolutely soaking up all of the attention she was giving him. Bella barked when she saw the two and ran towards them, jumping all over Winston and then Charlene. I laughed as Winston tried to push Bella away so he could go back to being pampered, but Bella was having none of it. She was a ballsy little thing.

“Bella, you interrupted a little moment here.” Charlene smiled, cuddling Bella in her arm whilst she continued to stroke Winston’s huge fluffy head. Charlene looked up at me and grinned as I placed the glasses on the bed side table and then sat opposite her on the floor. Bella looked at me as she sat cosily in Charlene’s arm whilst Winston stared up at me with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“These are some well pampered pooches we have here.” I chuckled, rubbing Winston’s body which he then turned to lie on his back so get me to rub his belly.

“Imagine how spoilt our children are going to be.” She smiled, playing with Bella’s tiny paw. I drifted off into thought as I rubbed Winston’s belly, imagining the family I was going to have with Charlene, a soppy grin on my face as I did so. “What’s that grin for?” Charlene laughed softly, her features happy and vibrant.

“Just imagining our little brood that is to come.”

She beamed up at me and my heart pinched at the sight. Seven years later and she still made me feel like a teenager.

“It’s going to be amazing.” She said softly, rubbing Bella’s soft head much to her delight. Both of the dogs absolutely adored Charlene and it was understandable seeing as she gave them so much love and attention. Our children were going to be lucky to have someone like her as their mum.

Ten minutes later Winston was snuggled into my side and I looked down to see him yawn, his mouth open so widely he probably could have swallowed Bella in one.

“I think it’s time to move these little ones before they fall asleep.” I said, noticing Bella on the verge of sleep in Charlene’s arms. Charlene always wanted to let the dogs sleep in the bedroom with us, but whenever they did, they spent the entire night jumping up onto our bed and lying all over us. Waking up with fur in my mouth wasn’t exactly ideal.

Charlene stood slowly with a dozy looking Bella staring up at her. As soon as the dogs were outside of the room, Winston plodded off downstairs where he could hear the tv still blasting. He always preferred to sleep downstairs anyway, like he was the house protector. Bella, on the other hand, just casually walked between our legs and back into the bedroom. Charlene laughed and picked her up, placing her in the corridor once more, where she again attempted to stroll back in.

“Bella.” I laughed, picking her up and carrying her downstairs to Joe. I knew how upset Charlene got whenever we closed the bedroom door and heard the dogs whining from the other side, desperate to get in. So whilst Joe was here, he had to deal with giving the puppies all the attention they wanted. “Bella has come to say hi.” I smiled, placing her on the couch by Joe who she began jumping all over.

“Cheers bro.” Joe said in a very monotone voice as Bella barked loudly over the sport commentary.

I laughed and headed back upstairs to see Charlene now buried deep beneath the duvet on her laptop. I flicked the light off and closed the door behind me before heading towards the bed and sliding in next to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

“That’s nice.” I pointed towards a very low cut top on the clothing website she was on, and she looked up at me with an eyebrow raised.

“You would let me wear that in public?”

“No, I meant for during Nick and Charlene time.” I grinned, kissing her temple whilst she laughed. Her laugh was one of my favourite sounds and I could never help but smile when I heard it.

She closed her laptop down and placed it on the floor, then turning and cuddling into my arms. I smiled down at her and ran my hand through her hair, her deep brown eyes staring up at me warmly.

“I love you.” She said softly, kissing my adams apple.

“I love you too.” I whispered back, ducking my head to capture her lips with mine. “You mean everything to me.”

She smiled and kissed me again, lacing her arms around my neck.

“I have something to tell you, Nicky.”

“Hmm?” I smiled, rubbing my nose against hers as a gentle smile played on her lips, though her eyes were full of life and happiness.

She slightly pulled her head back and stared into my eyes, her fingers tangling in my curls. I held her close and chuckled at the suspense.

“Well go on, or am I going to have to tickle it out of you?” I chuckled.

She laughed and pressed a soft kiss to my lips once more before taking a huge breath and whispering the words I’d dreamed of hearing for years.

“I think I’m pregnant.”