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Brian wandered down the stairs at 6:00 AM, yawning and carrying Baylee. He looked around the seating nook at the hotel, but for the first time since the Boys had arrived in New York, Kevin and Kris weren't there. He glanced at his watch to confirm the time, then held it to his ears to make sure that it was still ticking. It was. It'd become an unofficial ritual for the Boys to eat breakfast together in the hotel lobby, and Kevin and Kris had been the first ones there every morning. Brian sat down and looked at his son, sitting beside him on the chair he'd plopped him down on. "Your uncles are running late," he told him. Baylee stared at Brian with wide blue eyes. "Kevin's never late," Brian rambled on.

He glanced at the counter where the breakfast foods were waiting to be eaten and wondered if it'd be horrible to get his bagel while he was waiting for his friends to come downstairs. "Do you want some cereal?" he asked Baylee, who continued to stare at his daddy. Brian stood and hoisted Baylee up onto his hip, and walked to the counter, filling a styrofoam bowl with dry honey-nut cheerios. He was just reaching for his bagel when his cell phone vibrated against his leg from his pocket and he jumped. "Oh!" he yelped, reaching into his pocket and pulling it out. He looked at the display. A picture of Kevin with a rudolph nose, left over from Christmas, smiled up at him from the LCD. He rolled his eyes and opened it. "Where are ya'll?" he asked.

Kevin's voice sounded serious. "We're in my hotel room... Me, AJ, Howie, Nick and... a friend. Come on up here."

"How'd last night go?" Brian asked, handing the bowl of cereal to Baylee, who began stuffing pieces into his mouth, and headed towards the stairs.

Kevin hesitated, "That's what we need to talk about, that's why we're up here. Just come up, and we'll talk about it then."

Brian raised his eyebrow, even though Kevin couldn't see it. "Is everything OK?"

"Sure," Kevin replied slowly. "Just come up."

"I'm coming," Brian said. He paused, "Should I leave Baylee with Leighanne?"

"Yes," Kevin answered quickly, "Definitely." Then he hung up.

Brian slid the phone back into his pocket, "Want to go find mommy?" he asked Baylee. Baylee nodded, munching on the cheerios. "Where could she be?" Baylee pointed up the stairs with his free hand, his other one was wrapped arond Brian's neck, holding onto the hair at the back of his head to steady himself. Brian laughed, "Yup. She's up there." He took the stairs two at a time, and hurried down the hall to the room, sliding the key card and heading inside.

Leighanne looked up from where she was lounging on the bed doing her toenails. "That was quick," she said, eyeing Brian and Baylee suspiciously. "Everything OK?"

Brian nodded, "Kevin called me, they're doing breakfast in his room... He wants to talk about some stuff that went on with Nick last night. He doesn't want me to bring Baylee, though." He plopped Baylee and the cheerios down on the bed. Baylee promptly crawled over to Leighanne and leaned into her stomach, wrapping his little arms around her as much as he could.

Leighanne absently patted his head. "Well, let me know what's going on before you head to work, OK, baby?"

"Of course." Brian leaned across the bed and planted a kiss on Leighanne's nose. "I love you. I'll be back in a little bit."

"I love you too," Leighanne smiled, "Have fun. Try not to be too hard on Nick, honey."

Brian laughed, "I'll try not. It's just that this is the most outrageous thing that kid's ever said or done... It's hard not to find it humorous."

A moment later, Brian was knocking on Kevin's hotel room door. He heard the three security locks clink and clatter and finally the door creaked open and Kevin peeked out before opening it all the way. "OK, c'mon in."

"Wow, Mr. High Security," Brian laughed, stepping inside, "What's all the suspicion about? You're the one that asked me to come up..." Kevin closed the door behind Brian and relocked all three security locks again. "So what happened last night?"

Kevin guided Brian further into the room. Sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchenette was AJ, Howie, Nick, and some other random guy that reminded Brian of Jeremy Piven. All four of them looked up. Kristin was just putting a plate full of pancakes in front of the Jeremy Piven looking guy. He smiled, and thanked her, lifting his fork and shoveling in a large mouthful quickly as though he'd never eaten before.

"Good morning, Brian," Nick cried as Bri stepped around the corner and into the room.

"Hi," Brian answered, confused, "Who the hell are you?" he pointed at the Jeremy Piven guy.

Kevin took a deep breath. "You might want to sit down for this one."

"Who is it?" Brian asked, sitting in a desk chair to one side of the kitchenette.

"This," Nick said, sweeping his hand in the guy's direction, "Is The Gopher."

Brian's brow furrowed, "What?"

Kevin looked at Brian solemnly. "Brian, Nick's telling the truth about the whole thing. I saw most of last night with my own two eyes... And as crazy as it sounds... Nick's not making any of it up."

Nick nodded, "I TOLD you guys..."

"What are you saying?" Brian asked, "That this guy -" he motioned at The Gopher, "-is a mobster?"

"Actually," The Gopher said, "I'm a loan officer at a local bank."

"This guy's the SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" AJ cried.

The Gopher laughed. "Why is that the shit?" he asked, the word sounded strange coming out of the guy - he seemed somewhat straightlaced.

"Don't mind AJ," Kevin answered him, "AJ gets excited over a Q-Tip if you catch him on the right day."

"The loan officer part isn't the shit," AJ explained, "The part where he swims in the Hudson river, gagged, blindfolded and with two hands tied behind his back."

Brian's eyebrows went up. "What?"

"It wasn't that big of a deal," The Gopher injected quickly, "Really."

Nick's eyes widened, "WHAT? No it was a HUGE deal! They totally tried to kill him! They were gonna make him go sleep with the fishes like I thought they were gonna do with me and instead it was him and they had him all tied up and it was really scary and I thought they were gonna kill him and then I heard a splash and---"

Howie held up his hand in front of Nick's mouth. "Calm down, crazy man.. Remember to breathe." Nick stopped. Howie turned to The Gopher. "Tell Brian what happened."

"YEAH!" AJ yelled enthusiastically, clearly enamoured with the guy's story.

The Gopher wiped his mouth with a napkin and put his fork down on the edge of the plate. He cleared his throat. "It started quite a long time ago, actually, almost a year now. There was a man who came into the bank I work at and asked me for a loan. The reason he gave for needing a loan was because he needed to pay off a debt. When I denied the guy his loan, he became very emotional and explained the truth to me - that he had gotten caught up with the mob, and needed the money to pay them, so that they wouldn't 'take him out'." He nervously poked at the fork. "I didn't give the guy a loan, I thought he was telling stories --"

"Just like ya'll thought I was doing!" Nick interrupted.

The Gopher paused, then continued. "Anyways, a few nights later it was in the news that the man was found dead on the shore of the Hudson River, under the Brooklyn Bridge, where he washed up. The authorities assumed it was suicide, that he'd jumped off the bridge at some point during the night, but there was no evidence - his neck wasn't broken and it's to be assumed that one's neck would've broken from that height. He'd drowned. About a week after the man's death, the police tracked down one of the mob members, and put him in jail for the murder and his involvement in the mob."

"Wow," Brian mused. "How did you get involved?"

"Well, apparently the guy had told them that he'd tried to take a loan out at my bank," he explained, and they realized that I was one of the only places that the information could have leaked from. I was at work over a month after the man's death when a shady hispanic man arrived at my desk without an appointment and introduced himself as The Goose."

Nick nodded, "That guy's creeptastic."

The Gopher continued, "He wanted money to preserve my life, and my pledge to the mob's Boss to ensure I wouldn't reveal further details they were certain I had. I didn't know anything, though, and I told him that. But he didn't believe me. After he left, giving me less than 24 hours to think about it, I went to the police immediately, telling him what The Goose had told me. They immediately entered me into the Witness Protection Program and relocated me to a place in Maine where they figured I'd be safe from the mob's grasp. I was, for nearly seven months, and then they showed up at my door step. They took me back here to New York, and held me in the Captain's boat on the pier by Folton's. I managed to escape, and I tried to return to the police, but they got to me before I could. Next thing I know I'm bound in the Captain's boat, and they're throwing me off the pier into the Hudson River."

Brian's eyes were wide as the man told the story. "What then?" he asked, intrigued.

"They'd tied a weight to my ankles. I went straight down to the bottom. But I got lucky because the one that'd tied the knots wasn't very good at them, and the weight fell off as I dropped, and I was suspended half way down. I got caught in a slight current, but managed to kick myself to the top, surfacing right under the dock. I could hear them, talking and celebrating above me. I got caught against a support beam, and the current held me there. I listened as they talked, and I heard when they dispersed. I waited until I was certain all of them were gone, and then I kicked off from the beam, and let the river carry me further down. I tired, and I thought I'd drown. The water pulled me under several times with it's natural currents. I hit my head on a large rock," he touched a bandage Brian just now noticed on the side of his head, "And blacked out. That's the last I remember until Kevin and Nick managed to wake me up in a cab on the way back here, to this hotel, where I am now, with you kind people."

"That's amazing," Brian marvelled. "Truly." He hesitated, "But... What happens if they find that out?"

A long, heavy silence fell over the room. AJ looked at The Gopher. "Yeah, what does happen?"

"If they find out," Gopher answered, "I am in very real danger... and so are all of you."

Brian looked nervous, Nck shuffled his feet, Kevin wrapped a protective arm around Kristin, Howie bit his lip and AJ's eyes widened. "But they can't kill me," AJ suddenly stated flatly, "I'm too good lookin' for that."

Nick snorted. "Like they care about what you look like, dude."

Kevin took a deep breath. "Well clearly we'll have to up security, and--"

"They got past security once already, Kev," Nick said, fishing into his pocket to pull out the note from The Goose. He tossed it onto the counter. "If they did it once, they'll do it again."

Brian stood up. "I need to send Leighanne and Baylee home. Now."

"Leighanne and Baylee?" Gopher asked.

"My wife and son," Brian explained.

Kevin nodded, "Yes, I think that would be a good idea," he said, "And I think, Kristin, that you should go, too."

"Kevin, I --" she started to argue, but he held up his hand to stop her.

"I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you."

They all stayed silent for a moment, thoughts mulling in their minds. Kevin spoke first. "Well, let's get the wives a flight, immediately, if not sooner, and I'll have Johnny call and alert security. We should probably all stay in one room for the remainder of the time in NY, and call the cops--"

"Don't." Gopher's voice was urgent, "Don't involve the NYPD. They can't do anything - they're no match for these people. It's too obvious, and it's not enough. We need something else - something more reliable."

Nick bit his lips, "We need an undercover agent.. or... something. An ambush. Something that'll get all the mobsters at once, including the boss, and take care of them all."

Kevin looked at Nick, "For a blonde, you certainly are smart sometimes."

"I know, I try," Nick smiled. He paused, "Plus that's how they get rid of the bad guys in the movies."

Kevin took a deep breath, "Now we've just got to figure out how to get on that."

"Hey -" Nick looked at their new friend. "Is your name really Gopher?"

The Gopher laughed, "Yes, actually. Timothy Gopher, but everyone always has called me Gopher, kind of like Beaver Cleaver, I guess."

Brian pointed to the door, "I'm going to go call and get the tickets booked."

"And I'll call security," Kevin added, "I'll also try to figure out how to get working on that undercover plan."

Gopher grabbed his fork, "And I'll destroy the evidence of the presence of pancakes."

AJ pointed to Howie. "Don't worry. Me and D will take care of the promotional stuff for today."

"We will?" Howie asked, "But shouldn't we work on helping them with all the other stuff first? I mean that seems more important, doesn't it?"

AJ shrugged, "If we want to have the element of surprise... we probably shouldn't let on that we're planning anything at all. Postponing the album the day before release is kind of a red flag to a problem. Someone's got to do the promo. And tomorrow, we've all got to be involved. So keep that in mind, guys."

Kevin, Brian and Nick all nodded. "And I should help them," Nick decided, "The fans'll miss me if I'm not there."

"True," Kevin agreed. "And if only Brian and I are missing you can say we had to go home to Kentucky for something, but that we'll be back tomorrow."

"Which will explain the paparazzi pictures of us at JFK," Brian added. "It's all falling into place perfectly."

"Of course," Kevin nodded, "That's because we're just too good."



Brian burst into the hotel room a few moments later, and grabbed Leighanne's suitcase from the closet on his way in. Leighanne sat up on the bed as Brian hoisted the purple flowered case onto the bed next to her. She looked at him, confused, "What happened? Did you have a fight?"

"You're going home," Brian replied flatly, "No arguments. You're going home."

"Why?" She moved Baylee to the mattress beside her and stood up, going to Brian and resting a hand on his chest. "Aren't you coming too? What about the album release tomorrow, you wanted me in the audience at GMA, remember?"

Brian shook his head. "No, I want you to go home."

"What is this about? Are you mad at me?" she furrowed her brow at him, concerned.

"No," Brian replied, "I love you and I love my son, and you both mean everything to me and more. That's why you have to leave. Now, right now. And Kristin is coming with you."

Leighanne hesitated a moment, then looked square into Brian's eyes. "Nick was telling the truth, wasn't he?"

Brian swallowed hard, looking back into her eyes. "Yes."

"Are you in trouble now, too?" she asked, her voice trembling. Brian didn't answer. He turned to the dresser, pulled a drawer opened and began taking Leighanne's things out and packing them. Leighanne waited a moment, then reached out and touched Brian's arm gently. He stopped and looked at her for a long minute before she stepped closer to him, and wrapped her arms around him like she would never let go.