A week later, the album was finished. There would be no promotion done, as Nicky wouldn't have been able to take it, and the other four wouldn't want to do it without him. As had been said before, Westlife had always been, and would always be, a five some. Under no circumstances would they have continued without any of the members, un-regarding of what the reason for their departure was.
Shane was troubled, he knew Nicky was about to get worse for a while. He had known it would be coming, and he was aware that he would get better again, but he still couldn't take it. Every night when he held Nicky he was aware of how much weight he'd lost. It made it impossible to push the fact that Nicky was slowly, very slowly, fading away from him. And, there was nothing he could do about it.
He had thought about it for some time now. He wanted to make sure Nicky knew he was always there. And he wanted something to remind him of Nicky when the end finally came. He had asked around, and people seemed to be happy with his decision. So, he had planned the vacation, booked the tickets, let the close family and friends know, and prepared for a surprise for Nicky.
The hardest bit had been getting Nicky to accept. He'd packed all the bags and decided to tell Nicky the morning of their departure. He wanted it to be the best surprise he'd ever given him. He knew this would be against Nicky's beliefs, it was against his own, but he wanted it so bad. Let's face it, what they had already was against their beliefs anyway, so there was no reason to drop anything he really wanted.
So, he packed Nicky into the car, and drove to the airport. Shane's parents had agreed to take care of Shauna for the week Nicky and Shane got off on a vacation all alone. Nicky seemed passive but he was sure it would all be fine once they arrived and he unveiled his surprise. Actually, he knew it would.
