"Come on!" Brian stated in an aggravated tone. "Give that back right now!"

Laughter was all he got back. Nick and AJ were playing keep away from Brian with his notebook. "Nice poems, Bri. Who they for?" Nick asked as he tossed the book over to AJ.

"None of your business. Now give it back!"

"Walking down the path of darkness, you are the light..."AJ read and then threw it back over to Nick.

"This is not funny anymore. I need to write a song tonight. I need that back," Brian pleaded with them. "Please?"

"No way! This is too fun!" laughed Nick.

Assuming defeat, Brian sat down on the couch. When Nick and AJ realized that Brian had quit, it didn't seem that much fun anymore. Nick chose to sit opposite of Brian on the arm chair, but AJ decided to be adventurous and sit down beside Brian. He was safe though, because he didn't have the book. "Guys. Some of the stuff in there is really personal. I need that back."

"It can't be that personal or you would keep it under lock and key," stated Nick, rather matter of factly. He started thumbing through each page and scanning the contents. He turned the notebook upside down, pretending he didn't know what one of the drawings where. All of a sudden, an envelope fell out of one of the sections. "Well, well.... what's this?" he questioned while bending down to pick it up.

Brian's face turned white as he tried to grab the envelope before Nick. He failed. Nick opened it and pulled out what was inside. "It's from the hospital," Nick said, completely absorbed in the piece of paper. "Brian! It says you need open heart surgery!" Nick exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us about this?"

Brian lowered his head. "Well..... you see...." he started.

"Out with it!" AJ ordered.

"When I opened it, we had just started our tour and I knew if I told anyone, we might lose our contract."

"Why would you think that?"

"Our schedule! Can't you see? If our schedule was anymore full, we would be working all day every day! I didn't have a choice!"

Tears were forming in his eyes. He got up and left AJ and Nick sitting in amazement.

"What do we do now?" Nick asked a stunned AJ.

"How am I supposed to know?" AJ snapped at him. "Maybe you should think of something for once."

Nick thought to himself for a little while. After about ten minutes of silence, Nick finally spoke up, "You know, we gotta tell Kevin."

AJ shot a confused look towards Nick. "It took you that long to figure that out?"

"Don't get smart with me!"

"Nick, face it, anybody is smart compared to you."

"That's not nice," Nick pouted.

"Well, DUH!"

Nick folded his arms and sulked for a few minutes. Getting annoyed with the way Nick was acting, AJ stood up and started walking towards the door. "Were you are going?" Nick asked when he noticed AJ's hand on the doorknob.

"I'm going to work. I'm bored and I really don't want to be stuck here with you any longer. Plus, anything is better than sitting here trying to figure out what to do."

"Do you really think you should go?"

"It doesn't matter if I think I should or not," AJ stated as he walked through the doorway. "Oh, and don't forget to tell Kevin about what we found out."

Nick caught the smile on AJ's face as he closed the door. "He did that on purpose! He left me here so that I would have to tell Kev! That jerk!"

Nick got up, ready to storm out and follow AJ to give him a piece of his mind. Just as he reached the door, he heard someone yell his name. He stopped dead in his tracks. It was Kevin and he sounded ANGRY. Nick slowly backed up. He turned around cautiously. He pushed open the already cracked open door at the sound of glass breaking on the other side. What he saw was almost unbelievable. He saw a furious Kevin trying to stop Nick's dog, Simba. Simba was having fun breaking anything and everything that got in the way of his ever wagging tail. Nick almost started laughing, but he called his dog instead when he noticed Simba heading towards the brand new stereo system.

Just like always, Simba came right to him. He was excited and wanted to play. Kevin had other plans for him. "NICK," he gritted under his clenched teeth. "You are going to clean this mess up, because I have told you a million times not to let your dog in here!"

Nick just nodded his head. He knew he was in trouble and he also knew not to talk back to Kevin. He had learned that lesson the hard way. He grabbed Simba's collar and led him outside to be tied up. Immediately after Nick stepped back inside the room, he began to pick up pieces of broken picture frames, glass figurines, and lamps. As he was picking up a knocked over table, he heard the door creak open. "Nick, we have to go. Rehearsal in five minutes."

It was Howie. "All right. I'm coming."

Howie walked out as Nick grabbed his jacket. "I hope I will be able to go through with this...." Nick thought as he closed the door behind him. Then they got into Kevin's car and drove off.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the stadium, Nick noticed AJ's truck parked next to Brian's jeep. He thought over the events that had happened so far that day and was quickly reminded that he still hadn't told Kevin of Brian's condition. He looked up at Kevin in the front seat. "Kevin, I need to tell you something that AJ and I found out today. It's really important."

"Later Nick. Right now we have a deadline to meet," Kevin answered, very sharply.

'Fine,' Nick thought to himself. 'Be that way. It's only your cousin's life on the line!'

Howie turned around to look at Nick. The look he saw on Nick's face showed him that something was up. "You can tell me, Nick, if it's that important."

"I need to tell both of you," Nick shot back at him. "It's a situation of life or death!"

"Nick, it can't be that bad," Kevin softly said.

"Yes, it can be. Now listen up. Brian needs..." He was cut off by the excessive screaming from the fans stationed outside the stadium entrance.

Trying to weave his way through the crowd, Kevin stated, "How the heck did Brian and AJ get in here without help?"

Finally bursting through the crowd, Kevin's car came to a halt at the back entrance. They hurried out the doors and into the stadium. Ten minutes later they found themselves staring face to face with AJ. "What took you guys so long? If you would've come earlier, you would've beat the crowd," he said while taking a bite out of the sandwich he had in his hand.

"We couldn't," Kevin answered while giving a mean look in Nick's direction. "Blondie had to let his dog in the studio room. Stupid if you ask me."

"Shut up!" Nick yelled back. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Yeah, yeah. That's what you always say."

"What's going on guys? I'm sorry if I interrupted something important," cut in another voice, "but we sorta have work to do, and if you just continue fighting, we'll miss our deadline."

Four heads turned towards where the voice was coming from. It was Brian. Suddenly, Nick remembered what he was telling Kevin in the car. "Guys, I have something to tell you all. It's about Brian."

"What about me?" Brian questioned.

"He needs to have surgery," Nick spoke so quietly that you almost couldn't here him.

"WHAT?!?" cried Howie and Kevin, wide eyed.

"It's true," AJ added. "We found the notice earlier."

Kevin turned on his cousin. "Why didn't you say anything? How could you be so.... so.... I'm so mad, I can't even think straight!"

"I'm sorry, Kevin," Brian softly apologized, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I'm so very sorry."

"That's not going to cut it this time, Brian. You should've said something! Now what are we going to do?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Brian shouted.

Everyone jumped. This wasn't the Brian that they knew and grew with. This was a different man. A man they never knew before. A man they didn't want to know. "I don't know," he said a little softer.

He then turned around and took off down the hall. AJ started going after him but was held back by Kevin. "Don't even bother. We have work to do, and we are going to do it with or without him."

Kevin then led them through a doorway and they walked into a room where they would get wardrobe and make-up done. 'It's all my fault,' Nick thought during that time. 'I should've never said anything.'

Kevin's face was still red with rage. 'How could he do this? My own flesh and blood! I can't believe it!' his thoughts pounded inside his head.

'What now? What do we do next, Lord? We need your guidance,' Howie prayed to himself. 'Please tell us what to do next.'