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Kayla desperately tried to conceal her nerves as she gazed up at the all-too-familiar face of Nick Carter. Now, she understood why all of the names in the initial file had been blacked out. Now, she understood why Peggy had refused to provide her with any specific details during the car ride over. The thought of dealing with a high-profile celebrity file had never even crossed her mind. After all, it wasn’t as though a lot of celebrities chose to live in the Kentucky suburbs. Peggy had handed her a copy of the uncensored file when they had pulled into the driveway, but Kayla had barely glanced at it. Apparently, she no longer needed to read it as Nick Carter’s face had just put everything in perspective.

Technically, Kayla was still in training. She had been shadowing Peggy for the last seven weeks; getting to know her clients and learning how to manage her caseload. The older woman was on the verge of retirement and was eagerly awaiting hip surgery. Although Kayla would eventually be assuming sole responsibility for all of Peggy’s files, her mentor wasn’t slated to retire for another six months. No wonder Peggy had seemed so agitated when the file had crossed her desk. A case like this was bound to involve a lot of work and the rest of Peggy’s caseload was a cakewalk. The older woman had obviously established a grand vision of slipping blissfully into retirement by doing as little work as possible; a vision that the appearance of the Littrell file had likely shattered beyond repair.

“Y-yes, Mr. Littrell is available.”

Kayla returned to the present at the sound of Nick’s voice.

“Come in.”

Peggy lumbered into the house, her breathing intensifying with the effort of lugging her excess weight up the short set of steps. Kayla lagged behind, clutching the clipboard to her chest as she brushed past Nick who was holding the door open for them. She gazed quickly around the large foyer; boxes were stacked everywhere in apparent disarray and an assortment of shoes littered the floor. There were also three car seats lined up in front of the hall closet amidst an assortment of diaper bags.

Kayla glanced quickly at Peggy in an attempt to gage her reaction. The older woman was surveying the mess in dissatisfaction, her lips turning white from the sheer effort of being forced together so tightly. It hadn’t taken Kayla long to learn that a silent Peggy was an unhappy Peggy.

“Brian’s just in the living room.” Nick informed them. He hurriedly shut the front door and led them through the foyer into an expansive, sunken living room.

The happy chatter ground to a halt as the three of them stepped into the room. Kayla sucked in her breath as she took in the scene before her. She tried to keep her expression neutral in an attempt to conceal the fact that she could easily name all of the men in the room without being introduced.

If the foyer had been messy, the living room was an outright disaster. The oversized couch was sitting at an awkward angle in the middle of the room, as were two co-ordinating wing-backed chairs. Bulging moving boxes were balanced in precarious looking piles in all corners of the room, and empty beer bottles, pop cans, and pizza boxes were strewn about. In the middle of the chaos were three small children, who all appeared to be under the age of one. Two other boys, who looked to be about seven and five years old, were sitting cross-legged on the floor, and an older boy was curled up in one of the wing-chairs.

Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, Kayla peered down at the information on the clipboard. According to the notes that she and Peggy had been given, Brian and his son had moved in more than two weeks ago. No wonder Peggy looked so angry. She could only imagine the unforgiving comments that the veteran caseworker was already formulating in her mind.

“Mr. Littrell?” Peggy voiced the same question for the third time that evening. Her eyes were feverishly scanning the room as she spoke.

Unlike Peggy, Kayla knew exactly who Brian Littrell was, and her attention immediately drifted to the blonde southerner sitting on the couch. She saw the flicker of confusion pass through his blue eyes as he tried to make sense of who they were.

“Yes, I’m Brian Littrell. What can I do for y’all?”

Kayla found herself subconsciously holding her breath as Brian rose from the couch and stepped forward to greet them. His soft, southern drawl was laced with apprehension as he took note of their clipboards.

“Mr. Littrell, I’m Peggy Peach and this is my colleague, Kayla Ford. We’re with Child Protective Services.” Peggy cut straight to the chase. “We’ve been instructed to carry out an investigation in order to determine your capacity to successfully parent Baylee Littrell.”

Brian stopped mid-stride and stared at Peggy in shock. “Who’s instructed you to do this?”

“The request was initiated by a member of the legal counsel acting on behalf of Ms. Leighanne Wallace of Atlanta, Georgia.” Peggy read the information from the first page of the report. “You currently have primary custody of your son, Baylee, is that correct?”

“That’s correct.” Brian stated. His lazy, southern drawl had turned icy. “I was unaware that Ms. Wallace had made such a request.”

“Nobody is ever aware of our first visit.” Peggy deadpanned. “Which one of these children is Baylee?”

Once again, Kayla’s eyes swept the room. Her gaze eventually came to rest on the three babies who were squirming around on a play mat in the middle of the floor. The oldest of the three, a little girl, was chewing determinedly on a plastic toy. She seemed beyond content, despite the fact that drool was dripping off her chin at a rapid rate. The other two baby boys weren’t really doing much of anything, aside from wiggling around on their stomachs, but they appeared happy enough.

“Baylee is over there.” Brian gestured towards the oldest boy who had his eyes glued to an iPad. “I still don’t understand why you’re here.”

“Who do these other children belong to?” Peggy ignored Brian’s statement.

Brian sighed. It was apparent that he knew that he wasn’t going to be getting any more information out of Peggy. “The two blonde boys, Mason and Max, are my cousin Kevin’s children. The two dark haired boys, James and Holden, belong to my friend Howie, and the little girl, Ava, is my friend AJ – errr – Alex’s daughter.”

Brian pointed to everyone in turn as he identified the parents of the respective children. As Kayla followed his hand gestures, she took note of the fact that AJ was missing. For each face that Kayla examined, she was greeted with an expression of intense concern and apprehension. She had a feeling that the visit was not going to go well.

“I see.” Peggy stalled and began flipping through the pages on her clipboard. “What is your relation to these other people?”

“As I said, Kevin’s my cousin.” Brian repeated. It was obvious that he was stalling as well.

Peggy pursed her lips together in irritation. Kayla knew that the information was blatantly spelled out for her in the information packet, but it was standard procedure to have a client confirm their relationship to every person who had been named within the initial request for investigation. Although she hadn’t had a chance to read the non-censored version of the request, Peggy’s persistence led Kayla to assume that Brian’s band mates must have been mentioned.

“I mean the others.” Peggy pressed. “Specifically, I need to know how you’re related to Alexander McLean, Howard Dorough, and Nickolas Carter.”

“I’m not related to them.” Brian clarified. “We’re friends.”

“The information that I’ve been given indicates that the five of you work together; that you’re in a band. Is that right?” Peggy raised her eyes from her clipboard and waited, pen poised.

“That’s right.” Brian confirmed. “We’re the Backstreet Boys.” He made the last comment with a hint of derision, and Kayla couldn’t quite tell if it was directed at the group or at Peggy.

“Thank you, Mr. Littrell.” Peggy forced a smile onto her face. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to take a quick look around the rest of your home. It says here that you moved in two weeks ago, and I have to say that my first impression is that things are still a bit ... disorganized.”

“It says what?” Brian asked. He strained his neck in an attempt to get a look at the document, but Peggy quickly pulled the clipboard towards her chest. “I just moved in today.”

“That would explain the disorganization.” Kayla offered. It was the first thing that she had uttered since she had introduced herself to Nick on the front porch, and everyone in the room turned to stare at her. It was like they had forgotten that she was even standing there.

Brian’s gaze flittered from Peggy to Kayla, and his face softened slightly as their eyes locked. “Exactly; I don’t actually live like this.” Brian gestured wildly at the clutter to emphasize his point.

“Regardless of how you normally live, Mr. Littrell, we still have to file a report about how your home looks today.” Peggy explained. “The paperwork that we’ve been given states that you closed on this house two and a half weeks ago, and that you moved in fifteen days ago.”

“Well, your paperwork is wrong.” Brian challenged. “I did close on the house over two weeks ago, but I didn’t move in as scheduled. I was on a promotional tour in Japan.”

“And where was Baylee during that time?” Peggy questioned.

“He was with me in Japan.” Brian answered. “Where else would he have been?”

“I think it’s better if you let me ask the questions, Mr. Littrell.” Peggy retorted. She finished scrawling some notes in the margins of the report and looked at Brian expectantly. “You can show us around, or we can wander around on our own. It makes no difference to us.”

“Right this way.” Brian mumbled. He made a sweeping arm motion, indicating that the two women should return to the foyer, as he carefully stepped over the makeshift coffee table.

“Kayla, if you could fill out the checklist as we go along that would be great.” Peggy instructed.

Kayla nodded in understanding and quickly flipped to the final two pages of the report. She hated this part of the job. No matter how impeccable a client’s house appeared to be there always seemed to be something that made them lose marks. Kayla had learned early on that it was almost impossible to pass the initial inspection, and she stifled a groan as she skimmed the first few questions:

1. Is the home neat and tidy?
2. Is the home free of hazards and/or objects that could be harmful to children?
3. Is there evidence of alcohol consumption in the home?
4. Is there evidence of illegal drug use in the home?

Based on her observation of the living room, Kayla already knew the answers to the first three questions. Brian definitely wasn’t off to a good start. She prayed to God that she didn’t have to circle ‘yes’ to question number four as she followed Brian and Peggy down the hallway towards the kitchen. Along the way, they passed a formal dining room and a home office. Both rooms were stacked with boxes and improperly placed furniture.

The house was so out of sorts that Kayla had pretty much completed the whole check list before they had even set foot in the kitchen. All that she had left to answer were the questions that were specifically related to the kitchen and the bedrooms. She was so engrossed in the paperwork that she failed to realize that Brian and Peggy had both stopped dead in their tracks.

“Watch yourself!”

Kayla jerked her head up at the sound of Nick’s voice. His hand curled gently around her upper arm, and he pulled her backwards just before she ploughed head-long into Peggy’s back. Startled; Kayla stumbled backwards into Nick’s solid frame. She hadn’t even been aware of the fact that he had accompanied them on their little tour, but she was glad that he had. The last thing that she needed was to be responsible for pushing up the date of Peggy’s impending hip surgery. The woman complained enough about the state of her failing joints as it was.

“Sorry.” Kayla mumbled. She could feel herself blushing furiously and she knew that her usually pale skin had probably turned a refreshing shade of lobster red.

“Don’t be sorry.” Nick stated. He gently released her arm, his fingers lingering on her skin for a fraction of a second longer than necessary. “You were involved in your work.”

“Yeah.” Kayla confirmed. “I was.” She took a step forward so that her back was no longer grazing Nick’s chest and lifted her eyes to see what had caused Peggy and Brian to stop so suddenly. What she saw took her breath away and not necessarily in a good way.

A man, who Kayla immediately recognized as AJ, was standing in the kitchen. He was wearing a frilly, canary yellow apron overtop of his practically all black outfit. His heavily tattooed arms bulged at the seams of his tight t-shirt, and he was carefully ladling heaping amounts of casserole onto an assortment of paper plates. An iPhone was propped up on the counter and Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ was coursing through the speakers. AJ was stinging along softly with the song and wiggling his hips in time with the beat as he dished out the food. He appeared to be completely oblivious to the fact that he was no longer alone.

“What the fuck?” Nick choked out.

AJ whipped around at the sound of his friend’s voice. If he was at all embarrassed at having been caught wearing an apron and singing along to Lady Gaga, he didn’t show it. Instead, he plastered a huge smile on his face and placed his left hand on his hip. He whipped the ladle, which was still firmly clasped in his right hand, into the air and sashayed forward.

“Heeeeyyyyy” He trilled. “Ya’ll are just in time for some casserole!”

Kayla stared at AJ in silent disbelief. She was doing everything in her power to stop herself from laughing uncontrollably. Poor Brian was staring at his friend with a mixture of horror and amusement, and Peggy looked as though she had no idea what to make of the strange, bearded man who stood before her. Kayla could only imagine the conversation that was going to take place during the drive back to the office.

“Are you Alexander McLean?” Peggy finally broke the silence after consulting her clipboard.

“The one and only, darlin’” AJ kept up the gag, complete with his high-pitched southern accent, as he answered Peggy’s question. “It was so nice of ya’ll to drop by for some dinner. I’ve been positively slaving over a hot stove all day.”

“Jesus.” Nick muttered.

Kayla dared a quick glance over her shoulder at Nick. His face was turning red from the effort of suppressing his laughter, and it didn’t look as though he was going to be able to hold back much longer.

“I’m Peggy – Peggy Peach.” Peggy stuttered, clearly flummoxed.

“Peggy Peach!” AJ positively squealed. His voice was so high pitched that Kayla wasn’t even sure if it was actually him speaking. “If that ain’t just the cuuuuuuuuuutest name I’ve ever heard!”

Kayla watched as Brian slowly closed and reopened his eyes. He was obviously at a loss for how to get his friend to behave less like a mental patient and more like a responsible parent. Kayla knew that she couldn’t let AJ’s performance continue for much longer; Peggy was probably already formulating the precisely worded recommendation in her head.

“I’m Kayla!” She slid around Peggy’s bulky frame and locked eyes with AJ. “Peggy and I are from the Lexington office of Child Protective Services.”

“Oh shit.” AJ immediately dropped the act. His raspy voice returned and he removed his hand from his hip. He shot Brian a worried look as a gob of melted cheese came loose from the ladle and dropped heavily onto the tile floor. “I’m sorry - I didn’t – shit - I don’t usually wear a fucking frilly apron.”

“That’s good to know.” Kayla sighed and returned her eyes to her check list:

24. Does/Do the adult(s) who is/are regularly present in the home appear to use any form of profanity on a consistent basis?