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Brian clutched the papers to his chest as he sank down onto the couch. He curled his fingers around the edges of the hefty document, relishing the feel of the paper yielding under his grip. He was so mad that he didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or punch someone in the face. He couldn’t believe that he was being investigated by Child Protective Services. He wasn’t a deadbeat dad who didn’t give a shit about his son. He was the complete opposite; he would do anything in the world to make Baylee happy and to keep him safe.

True, the visit hadn’t gone very well, but that wasn’t his fault. If that stupid Peggy Peach woman had only listened to what he was saying, then maybe things would have gone a bit better. Yeah, the house was a mess. He couldn’t argue with that. All he could argue was the fact that the current state of the house was in no way reflective of his regular living condition. His stomach churned with anger the more he thought about the situation. Leighanne had known that he had pushed back his move-in date in order to accommodate the Japan trip, so she had obviously provided the wrong information to her lawyer on purpose. It was no secret that she was seeking primary custody of Baylee, and she would clearly stop at nothing to get her way.

“Brian?” Leigh’s soft voice cut into his thoughts. “Are you – do you need us to do anything?”

Brian blinked rapidly to refocus his vision and raised his eyes to his friends. They were all staring at him with concerned, yet determined looks on their faces.

“Whatever you need.” Howie confirmed. “Just ask.”

Brian sighed. He was still trying to digest all of the information that Peggy and Kayla had thrown at him before they left. The only thing that he knew for sure was that he had failed the initial visit, and that he would now be subjected to the entire investigation process. C.P.S. would be conducting a minimum of three at-home follow-up visits, plus they would be carrying out at least one visit while he was on tour. They were also going to be looking into the backgrounds of everyone who had been named in the initial document. Apparently, they had to determine if he was subjecting his son to people of ‘questionable moral character’, or something to that effect. Brian couldn’t remember the exact term that Peggy had used, but it was a load of crap. He could only imagine what the outcome was going to be when Peggy ran a background check on Nick.

“I’m going to need you all to write a statement.” Brian muttered. “You know, like a reference, to say that I’m a good dad or whatever.”

“Consider it done.” AJ stated. He shuffled into the room and began distributing plates of Lorna’s casserole. “I’m really sorry about what happened earlier. I thought that they were just some more of your neighbours.”

“Honestly, AJ, it’s fine.” Brian accepted the steaming plate of food from his tattooed friend and grinned. “It was hilarious!”

“I feel like a complete ass.” AJ finished handing out the food and plopped himself down on the floor next to Rochelle. “Peachy Peggles, or whatever her name is, must think that I need to wear mittens all year round.”

Nick snorted so hard that he practically choked on his mouthful of chicken. “It’s Peggy Peach.”

“You did put on a pretty good show.” Brian laughed. “Where did you even find that apron?”

AJ shrugged. “It was sticking out of one of the boxes that the girls had already opened. I just didn’t want to risk getting any cheese on my shirt.”

“And the Lady Gaga impersonation ...” Nick teased. “... is that something that you regularly do for fun?”

“Gaga is an amazing artist.” AJ mumbled; his mouth stuffed with casserole. “I have nothing but respect for her and her army of Little Monsters.”

“I can’t believe that I missed the whole thing!” Kevin moaned. “Why didn’t any of you think to record it?”

“Did you see the look on the younger one’s face?” AJ grinned. “What’s her name? Kayla? She looked like she was trying to stop herself from busting a gut.”

“That’s because, unlike Peggy, she knows who we are.” Nick pointed out. He shoved another heaping forkful of casserole into his mouth and chewed noisily. “She recognized the irony of bad-boy AJ McLean wearing a frilly apron.”

“What do you mean she knows who we are?” Kevin narrowed his eyes. “She didn’t act as if she gave two shits about meeting any of us.”

Nick swallowed loudly before responding. “I could tell by the way that she looked at me. She knew who I was before I even opened my mouth. It was more than just recognition though. I think she’s a fan.”

“You’re kidding?” Howie challenged. “She was so stoic.”

“I would put money on it.” Nick affirmed. “She’s a fan, maybe not a huge one, but she doesn’t hate us, that’s for sure.”

“If Nick is right, that could work in your favour.” Rochelle turned towards Brian. “If Kayla is able to sway Peggy to see you in a good way, maybe you won’t have to go through with the whole investigation.”

Brian took another bite of casserole and chewed it slowly as he thought about Rochelle’s words. She made a good point, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to manipulate Kayla. She and Peggy would have to come to their own conclusion, regardless of whether or not Kayla was indeed a Backstreet Boys’ fan.

“Regardless if Kayla knows who we are or not, I want C.P.S. to make a decision based on my ability to take care of my kid. I don’t want our celebrity status to have any bearing on their decision.” Brian concluded.

“I think who you are is going to impact their decision, at least a little bit.” Rochelle planned her words carefully. “Peggy did say that she was going to carry out an on-the-road visit.”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” Brian sighed. “Right now, I have got to focus on getting this place together before they come back on Monday.”

“Two days isn’t much time.” Kristin conceded. “I wish that we could stay longer and help you out, but it’s hard with Max still being so young.”

“You guys have already done more than enough.” Brian acknowledged. “Besides, Nick will be here to help me.”

“It’s only going to be for a few days.” Nick promised. “Kev has assured me that his place will be move-in-ready by Wednesday.”

“I’m just waiting for the painters to do some touch ups and for the kitchen guys to finish installing the new granite.” Kevin explained. “I didn’t think it would take this long. Of course, when I booked in all of the trades I didn’t anticipate that anyone would be living in it.”

“It’s fine.” Brian smiled. “I don’t mind the company ... or the help.”

The next morning, Brian found himself awake before seven. He had spent a fitful night, awaking every few hours after having the same dream; one in which he watched helplessly from the stage while Baylee was dragged away by a group of armed guards. It had been one of the roughest nights that he had spent since the initial stages of the divorce, and he had a horrible feeling that the lack of sleep was going to continue until the situation with C.P.S. was resolved.

Brian peeked quietly in at his son before he descended the stairs. Baylee was flat on his stomach, fast asleep and snoring softly, his left leg sticking out of the blankets and resting on the floor. Brian had been too tired to assemble the bed-frames the night before, so they had both spent the night sleeping on mattresses in the middle of their respective floors. He would definitely have to tackle the bedrooms right away. Peggy had made it perfectly clear that Baylee’s room needed to be in pristine condition by the time she returned.

Satisfied that Baylee was fine, Brian trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. He found the unfamiliarity of the house to be a bit unnerving, but he pushed the thought aside. Once everything was unpacked he hoped that his new place would at least start to feel a little bit more like home. Brian stopped upon entering the kitchen and looked around. The girls had done a superb job of setting everything up and putting everything away, but that did nothing to change the fact that he had no groceries.

“Looking for this?”

Brian turned as Nick strode into the kitchen; Dunkin Donuts take out bags clutched in his hands. He was also balancing a tray with two extra-large cups of coffee and a small orange juice. Brian smiled appreciatively as he relieved his friend of the beverage tray. He placed the cardboard tray on the expansive island that stood in the middle of the kitchen and removed the bottle of orange juice that he knew was for Baylee. He opened the empty fridge and placed the orange juice inside, laughing slightly at how ridiculous it looked against the stark whiteness of the interior.

“You’re up early.”

“So are you.” Nick pointed out. He opened one of the take-out bags and tossed a wrapped breakfast sandwich in Brian’s direction.

Brian easily caught the sandwich and looked around for a place to sit. When he realized that he had no idea where his kitchen chairs were, he swung himself up onto the island and planted his backside firmly on the granite. He removed one of the coffee cups from the tray and motioned for Nick to join him.

Nick followed Brian’s lead and scooted up onto the counter. His long legs dangled only inches from the floor as he positioned himself on the hard surface. He picked up the remaining cup of coffee and took a long sip before peeling back the wrapper on his own sandwich.

“This is kind of hard to believe, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Brian took a small bite of his breakfast bagel and gave Nick a sideways glance.

“Us. All of this.” Nick gestured at the disorganization that surrounded them. “I never thought that we would be here ... like this.”

Brian stalled and took another small bite of his sandwich. There was a lot of weight behind Nick’s words. It was no secret that their friendship had all but disappeared; lost amidst a haze of drugs, alcohol, and women. For the longest time, Brian had felt that he would never be able to forgive Nick for the choices that he had made and for the way that he had behaved. To make a long story short, he had been hurt. He had been devastated that Nick had turned to drugs instead of him.

After finding out about the impending divorce from Kevin, Nick had sought Brian out. At first Brian had been sceptical, but he had desperately needed someone to talk to. He had felt guilty unloading his sorrows on the other guys who were all relishing in the joy of their relationships and their new babies. It had been awkward at first, but he and Nick had managed to slowly chip away at some of the resentment that had built up between them over the past few years. When Nick had decided to end things with Lauren, Brian had been the first person that he had called. It was at that moment that Brian had come to the conclusion that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life hating Nick. It was also why he had offered to let Nick stay with him when Lauren had essentially kicked him out. Now seemed like as good of a time as any for them to pick up where they had left off so many years ago.

“We’re good.”

Nick stopped chewing at Brian’s words. He tore his eyes away from the mess of boxes and turned to face the older man. “We’re good?”

Brian nodded. He popped the final bite of food into his mouth and took a sip of coffee before he continued. “I need my best friend back.”

Nick swallowed what was left in his mouth. A slow smile began to tug at the corners of his lips. “Is this the part where we’re supposed to hug things out and cry about how much we’ve missed each other?”

“You’re such an ass.” Brian shook his head. “This isn’t a Nicholas Sparks movie.”

“I missed you.” Nick grinned. “Even though you’re a sarcastic prick.”

Brian let out a genuine snort of amusement, but a heavy knock on the front door prevented him from coming back with a biting comment. He slid off of the counter and began walking towards the front of the house. As much as hoped that it wasn’t Peggy and Kayla coming back with another list of stipulations, he didn’t think that anything could completely destroy his sense of relief. Frick and Frack had returned.

“Took you long enough.”

Brian blinked in surprise as he opened the door and stared into his cousin’s face. AJ and Howie were also standing on the porch, holding take-out cups of coffee and smirking.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We sent the kids and the girls home.” Howie explained. “You didn’t really think that we would all just take off and let you and Nick sort this shit out on your own, did you?”

“You guys don’t have to do this.” Brian stammered. “We’re going to be on the road again in a few weeks. You should be at home, spending time with your families.”

“There’s no way that two people can set up this entire house in two days.” Kevin countered. “We have to make sure that you pass the next inspection.”

“Are you ready to get started?” AJ asked. He pushed his way into the foyer and surveyed the mess. “We have a shit load of stuff to do.”