By the time Jamie and Taylor got back to the recording studio, the guys were already in the booth working. They spent the afternoon listening to the guys record. The tension within the group from the morning had dissipated but it was still not the way it normally was when they recorded. The guys bickered a little back and forth about the music as usual, but the whole tone of it was slightly more complicated.

"Are the guys always this tense when they are recording," Taylor asked, "or do you think this whole mess is just bringing them down?"

"They are usually a little tense, at least I know Kevin gets very frustrated," Jamie replied. "But I'm sure that they are all worried about this, who wouldn't be. They're tougher than everyone thinks though, they'll get through it."

"You know, they are really talented, Jamie," Taylor said with a slightly surprised tone. "I guess I never realized how good they were. I never really paid attention to their songs."

"Yeah, I know. Everyone who really listens to them says the same thing," Jamie grinned back at Taylor. "I know it frustrates them that more people don't truly appreciate their talent, and that they are kind of dismissed because they are pop artists."

Taylor laughed slightly at that comment, "Guilty as charged, I suppose." She looked up and through the glass of the recording booth, pausing to look at each member. The guys were thoroughly immersed in their work and she could see the passion in their eyes. She stared at Kevin and Nick especially, trying to get a sense of who they really were. Taylor saw nothing but passion and sincerity in both.

Nick looked up at the control room to find Taylor watching him intently. He stopped singing and looked back at Taylor. They stared at each other for a moment before a small smile crept across Nick's mouth, bringing Taylor out of her trance.

"You really love Kevin, don't you," Taylor asked suddenly, turning to Jamie.

"Yes, I do, very much. But what made you say that?" she replied, puzzled.

"I can see it in his eyes, the happiness, the security. . ." Taylor paused, "It's that look you get when you know that you aren't alone and that someone really loves you, unconditionally."

Jamie looked down at Kevin and saw him smiling at her. She winked, grinned back and faced Taylor, "I guess I have that look too. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get here."

"At least you're there, and I'm happy you are."

"You know you could be too, if you would just. . ."

"Jamie, I said before that I don't want to get into this. I was only making an observation, that's all," said Taylor sharply. Jamie looked at her friend, noted the pained expression, and wisely dropped the subject.

The two sat there for a while longer listening to the recording session until the producer said that they were finished for the day. The guys filed out of the booth, joking around with one another. Kevin came over to Jamie and hugged her tightly as the rest of the guys gathered around them and Taylor.

Jamie turned around in Kevin's embrace and introduced Taylor to the rest of the guys. "Taylor Brett, I would like you to meet the rest of the Backstreet Boys: AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, and Kevin's cousin, Brian Littrell."

Taylor politely shook each of their outstretched hands and smiled. Jamie invited them all to go to dinner so they could talk. Taylor spoke up and mentioned that she wanted a chance to speak with each one just to get a sense of the group and talk about the case in general. They all agreed and headed out to dinner.

The group was quite cheerful through dinner, everyone chatting about the new record and getting to know more about Taylor.

"You should hear their nicknames for each other. . ." Nick laughed. "Heads and Tails."

The group laughed, AJ especially, "I don't think I'm gonna touch that one."

Jamie glared at Nick with that you-are-so-dead-later look and he stopped laughing. AJ glanced at her as he tried to stifle his laughter. "You won't AJ, not if you want to make it to dessert," said Jamie.

Taylor perked up, "Don't be so tense about it Heads, it's all in good fun."

"Oh yeah? Well, then you won't mind if I tell them the OSTRICH story then, will you?" Jamie laughed at Taylor's expression.

"Oh. . ." Taylor started, "Well wait a minute, there's no need for that, is there? Not that they would believe you anyway, me being the pristine, upstanding lawyer I am today." As she said that the two women burst out laughing while the guys stared at them curiously.

"Okay, you gotta tell us now," Brian said with a grin, "our curiosity has been piqued."

"I don't know if I want to hear about anything that involves you two and an ostrich," Nick groaned mockingly.

"Oh, I do," said AJ with a large grin. "This sounds like it's gonna be good."

Jamie just smiled devilishly. "Well, actually, it isn’t an ostrich at all, it's a North American Black Bear, and it wasn’t me and Taylor, it was Tails and our friend Kelly. . ."

"Okay, now I'm interested," Nick said, with a smirk.

Taylor just sat there with her head in her hands as Jamie carefully recounted the drunk evening in college when Taylor and Kelly had attempted to wrestle the bear during a promotion at the local bar where they all used to hang out.

"And needless to say," Jamie said, finishing the story, "the bear won, big time."

Thoroughly amused and thoroughly shocked, the guys all turned to Taylor who by this time had her head buried in her hands, her eyes barely peeking through her fingers.

"Okay, okay, you've had your revenge," Taylor said straightening up and looking around the table. "That was thoroughly embarrassing, Heads. Thank you so very much."

"Actually, I have a new found respect for you," AJ piped up, still chortling.

"Yeah, me too," Nick agreed, "even if you are a lawyer." Jamie and Taylor both glared at Nick with narrowed eyes, who suddenly decided that his steak was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. The two women cracked up, as did everyone else. Nick looked back up, a half smile on his pink face.

"Actually, speaking of being an attorney, the reason I brought you all here together is to. . ." began Taylor jokingly. Even though Taylor was not being very serious, the mood at the table shifted.

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Nick pouted. "I was just beginning to relax and have fun."

Jamie sighed, "Nick, you know we need to do this. The sooner it happens, the sooner we can talk about anything else you want."

"Like the new Sega Dreamcast?" Brian seemed to cheer up a little at Nick's suggestion, but the others groaned. Taylor just looked baffled.

"Sega?" asked Taylor. "Aren't you a little old to be playing with that stuff?"

"Uh Taylor, Nick's about college age, remember? What do you remember most about Jason and our other male friends?"

"Oh yeah, right, that damn Playstation. I was beginning to think they didn't have hands, they had controllers at the ends of their arms." The guys all laughed at that, and Brian and Nick colored slightly.

"Anyway," said Jamie, "we do need to talk about the signing. Sorry to ruin the fun here."

"Right, right," said Taylor. "All right, let's start at the beginning. What exactly were you guys doing at the promotion?"

Kevin spoke up, "Well, we were at Tower Records. We released our latest single in the US for the first time, so we went to meet fans, sign the CD, posters, whatever."

"Wait," said Taylor. "You're working on a new album and you already released a single from it?"

Howie shook his head, "No, Taylor, it's from our last record. But single releases are supposed to bridge the gap between records. And we haven't really released any singles in the US for sale from this last album, so it is a big deal. I remember a lot of people there, we were there almost all day it seemed."

"Okay, I got it now, so you were there to promote yourselves. How close do you get to your fans?"

AJ said, "Pretty close. Sometimes, they get a little too close, if you know what I mean. But for the most part, we sit at a long table, the fans are on the other side, they give us something to sign, we sign, maybe take a picture and talk to them, and pass it down to the next person to sign. And so on and so on."

"So you're all signing stuff. Do any of you remember Molly?" They shook their heads no.

"Actually," said Howie, "I have no idea what this girl even looks like. Wouldn't be able to pick her out of crowd if I had to." Brian and AJ agreed.

"Besides," added Brian, "There were just so many people there, I'm lucky I remember the other guys' names and what they look like. There's just no way to tell who came through the line or not."

Taylor looked slightly disappointed until Kevin said, "But that wouldn't matter. She met Nick and I when we took a break."

"Yeah, Kevin and I had gone to use the restroom. When we came out, she was standing there, just hanging around," added Nick.

"Standing there? Were there others around waiting to use the restrooms too?" asked Taylor.

"No, they were in the back for us to use and employees," said Nick. "Actually, she shouldn't have been there at all."

"Isn't that odd?"

"Not really. You wouldn't believe what some fans do to get into the places they aren't supposed to be. We know there's always gonna be at least one person where they shouldn't despite all our bodyguards and security and whatnot," said Kevin. The others nodded.

"And where were your security people?"

"Don't remember. I'm sure they weren't too far away though."

"Okay. So was she waiting for you or someone to come out of the Ladies' Room?"

"When we came out, she jumped up and came over, so I guess she was waiting for us."

"What did she do?"

"She stuck a CD in our faces, and we signed it," said Nick.

"She's somewhere she shouldn't be, attacks you, and you oblige her by signing an autograph?" Taylor was dumbfounded.

Nick laughed, "Sorry, we have manners even if everyone else doesn't. She was still a fan, so we talked to her. I guess now it wasn't such a great idea. I highly doubt if I'll ever do that again."

"No, it probably wasn't the best idea, but what's done is done," agreed Jamie. "So, what happened next?"

"I know she said we propositioned her, but actually she's the one who did the propositioning. Something about taking both of us on or pretty close to that," said Kevin, flushing. Nick squirmed in his chair, and the others looked uncomfortable.

Taylor merely raised an eyebrow. "Then what?"

"We laughed a little at it, we get suggestions like that all the time. But she seemed to be really serious about it, so we did what we usually do in those types of situations."

"Which is?" she prompted.

"Laugh nervously and hightail it out of there. We left her standing there, and went back to the table. I don't know what happened after that, I know I didn't see her again, and she didn't come through the line," said Nick.

"Okay, so nothing happened really," Taylor started talking almost to herself. She looked over at Jamie who was deep in thought herself. "Motive, that's what we really need to figure out. What is her motive for all of this?"

"She's pissed off? She's hurt? Jamie retorted. "She's just plain psycho?"

The guys looked at each other knowingly. AJ spoke up, "What, some of our fans? Psycho? You've got to be kidding." Sarcastic smiles spread across every face at the table.

"Okay, even so, two things don't make sense," Jamie continued, "First of all, who would want to put themselves through something like this, the trial I mean, for kicks? This is going to be just as bad on her at times. And second, if she was really a fan, why would she want to hurt you guys?" Jamie looked at the guys for answers as she kept going, "From what I can tell your fans are nothing if not loyal, so it makes no sense that a fan would do something like this."

The guys all shrugged their shoulders, looking very confused. No one had an answer for Jamie. After paying the bill the group filed out to the parking lot and into their respective cars. Jamie and Taylor hung back from the group both racking their brains for some type of logical explanation.

"Maybe that's just it," Taylor looked over at Jamie. "Maybe she wasn't a fan at all."

"Like, it was some kind of set up?" Jamie looked skeptical.

"Why not?" Taylor asked. She started ticking points off on her fingers. "They're rich, they're famous, they're handsome, it wouldn't take much to see why someone would want to jeopardize that."

"I don't know, Tails, I think you may be watching too many made for TV movies."