Kevin and Brian were leaning up against Kevin's truck talking when Taylor and Jamie came up to them. Brian looked up when he heard their footsteps.

He nervously glanced at Kevin, then over to Jamie. "Jamie, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

Kevin gave Taylor a look as if to say 'We need to leave them alone for a bit' and said, "Come on Taylor, we need to get going, otherwise Nick'll be sitting on my doorstep. I hate to think of what would happen to my house if he's there too long waiting." He opened the door and held it for Taylor, who understood completely and didn't protest.

"I'll bring Jamie back to your house when we're done," said Brian. Kevin nodded, squeezed Jamie's shoulder then walked around to slide into the driver's seat. Brian took Jamie's hand and led her to his Jeep. He climbed up onto the hood, and patted the space next to him. Jamie climbed up next to him, and sat stiffly.

"Jamie," he said, then stopped. She looked at him, and said, "What?"

He sighed, "I want to say I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you these last couple of days."

Jamie sat there coldly, just looking at Brian. "Go on," she said. "I'm listening."

Brian gave her a weak smile, "You're not going to make this easy on me are you, cuz?"

"Nope, just like you haven't made it easy for me lately." The use of their nickname did nothing to alleviate Jamie's frosty expression and Brian grimaced, knowing this would be difficult.

"I know this isn't your fault, Jaim. I had no right to take it out on you at the airport or at the police station. I was just so hurt by the fact that none of you felt that you could talk to me about this."

"Kevin said he explained his reasons to you for it. Why are you going over this again now?"

"Because Kevin and Nick understand me well enough to know why I was upset and how to deal with me. You don't, and we need to change that." Brian relaxed a bit and continued. "You are an important part of Kevin's life, and so you are important to me as well. I feel like I need to explain my actions to you." He tried to pick up her hand, but she resisted slightly before allowing him to do so.

"Jamie, I never meant for you to take this personally. I need to blow off steam sometimes, and when I do, it's usually directed at whoever's around me. The fellas all understand how I am, and they either talk me out of it, or leave me alone until I've dealt with whatever made me upset."

"I've left you alone, Brian," Jamie answered in a monotone.

"Yes, but the difference is that once I've dealt with it, they come back and we talk about it, and we move on. But you didn't do that."

"I haven't really been in the mood to have my head taken off again, Brian. You just frustrate me so much sometimes."

He nodded, "I know, and I'm trying to apologize for it, Jaim." She relaxed slightly, and Brian continued with a more hopeful tone. "Look, I know that you're doing what you can to help Kev and Nick, and I'm grateful for that. Taylor wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, and from what I saw at dinner, they are in good hands with the two of you representing them. I truly appreciate that. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that."

Jamie looked at Brian, "I'm not helping Kevin because of you. I'm doing it because I love him and because I know he and Nick did nothing wrong. You don't seem to think that they are innocent, and I want to know why."

"I do think they are innocent, I really do. I guess at the time I panicked, and I was willing to believe the charges. It didn't seem like the police would arrest them unless there was something to it, and I went along with that idea. I should have known better, Jamie, and I do know that now. I will do anything I can to help you prove their innocence. I want this all to be over and behind us."

Jamie actually smiled at that, "If I didn't know you two were related before, I do now. You two sound exactly the same sometimes." Her smile faded, and she said more seriously, "Brian, can I be really honest with you?"

"You know you can."

"Kevin means more to me than anything, and I am so scared right now. I have seen lesser charges ruin stronger people and I am not sure that we can get through this. If something happened to Kevin. . ." She trailed off, staring down at the hood.

"Jamie, look at me." Brian lifted her chin so her eyes met his. "We've had our little fight now but from this point on, we're a brick wall. Every one of us is in this together, and we'll fight it together."

"I know, Brian, but. . ."

"No buts! I knew when I met you that you were in love with Kevin. I could see it in your eyes. You're in love with him, and for all the right reasons. You could care less about Kevin's career, his fame, whatever, that stuff doesn't mean anything to you." Brian softened a little, thinking back to his own failed relationships. "All you want is for him to be happy, that's it." Brian reached up and wiped a tear from Jamie's cheek, "And that's what I want too. For both of you, together."

A more contented look crossed Jamie’s face as she struggled to maintain her composure. "Thank you. I know you do Brian, and I'm sorry that I lashed out. I suppose in many ways, we are very much alike, we yell at the people we love, knowing that they'll love us anyway."

Brian smiled back, and said, "Am I forgiven yet? I really am sorry for all of this, Jamie. I know this is hard on all of us, and my taking your head off like that probably hasn't helped matters any."

"No, it didn't. Brian, you are right, we all need to be one hundred percent behind Kevin and Nick." Jamie's voice was stronger now, "Any appearance of dissension among us and you really can kiss their freedom and your career goodbye. It doesn't matter if they're innocent or not, trust me on that."

"I know, I know, and I want to fix that. And I want you to know that I'm not worried about my career. I would trade anything in my life for them to be free and clear of all of this. I couldn't honestly continue my career knowing it was at their expense because I was more worried about me than them. That isn't in my nature at all, and I don't want you to think it is. I will do anything you need to help, I promise you that."

Jamie sighed, "All right, Brian, I believe you."

"And?"

"And you're forgiven, for now. But it still hurts."

"It still hurts you didn't tell me about all of this right away. I haven't entirely forgotten that you know."

"You act as if I didn't want to tell you. I did, I thought it was important that you, AJ and Howie all know what was going on. Kevin is the one. . ."

"I know, I know, it was Kev's idea not to say anything. But I guess I thought that you would tell me anyway, since I'm his family. And before you ask, I thought Nick would tell me too since we're best friends, and that hurt me also. But he and Kevin forgave me, just as I forgave them. Now we need to do the same."

"I just said I did."

"You didn't sound too convincing before. Please don't do this for my sake or Kevin's, do it for your own. I really am sorry, and I really want you to understand and accept my apology."

"I really believe you, and you are forgiven. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't apologizing for my sake or Kevin's either. That's what you two were talking about when we came up just now, right?"

Brian grinned, "Yeah, he was trying to convince me to apologize to you. He didn't know that I had already planned on talking to you after dinner anyway. I do feel bad about all of this." He leaned over to kiss her cheek, and she hugged him in return. He held her tightly for a minute to reassure her.

"Why don't we just blame this all on Kevin, it's easier that way," Jamie said laughing.

"Okay, now you have figured out the secret to our success," Brian laughed with her, "We always blame it on Kevin!" Jamie smiled at Brian, and he felt lighter, as if one major worry simply disappeared from his life.

In a mock falsetto voice, he said, "Okay, now that the touching make-up scene is over, I'll take you home now." Brian slid off the hood, helped Jamie down and they got in the Jeep. Brian drove back to Kevin's house, and pulled into the driveway.

As Jamie got out, she turned to Brian, "Are you gonna come in with me?"

"No, I have some things I need to do tonight. I'll see all of you tomorrow, though."

"Well, actually you won't. Taylor and I each need to fly home tomorrow to get things taken care of at work so that we can come back and devote ourselves entirely to the trial. So I'll be back in a couple of days."

He nodded, "Well, then I'll see you in a few, cuz." She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek, "Yes, you will, cuz." He smiled in relief upon hearing her use the nickname.

"In the meantime, make sure Kevin and Nick behave themselves while we're gone, and they don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Uh, you do know this is Nick and Kevin we're talking about, right?" Brian grinned.

She laughed, nodded, and waved goodnight. She slammed the door closed, and started up the walk to the house. The front door opened, and Kevin stood there in the doorway. Brian waved, and pulled out of the driveway.

When she reached Kevin, he pulled her into an embrace and asked softly, "Everything all right between you two now?" She nodded, and he said, "Good, I'm glad."

He kissed her, "Come on, Nick is trying to show Taylor the finer points of Mario Kart, and it's not a pretty sight."

"This I have to see!" Jamie chuckled, and allowed Kevin to guide her in the house.