"How's the recording coming?" asked Jamie in between bites of her cheese and chicken quesadilla. They had gotten take-out from a new little Mexican restaurant near Kevin's house, and were now eating dinner and catching up with each other. The two of them hadn't really been together for about a month, and they had a lot to talk about.

"Slowly. We still need a couple of songs before there's even enough for a full CD. And Brian is never happy with the arrangements, he must have changed the one we did today at least twenty times. He's kinda driving the rest of us crazy with this."

Jamie started to laugh, "Come on Kevin, you should understand what he's doing. I distinctly remember AJ and Nick complaining about your criticisms of them singing Back to Your Heart."

"But I wrote that! I know how it's supposed to sound and they wouldn't listen to me," protested Kevin. She rolled her eyes, and he grinned. "Okay, so I can be a little bit uptight about things like that. . ."

"A little!" she snorted. A crumpled napkin came flying over the table at her. "You could try the patience of a saint with your insistence on everything being perfect."

"Maybe, but I don't work with saints," he laughed. "Actually, I am working on being a bit more relaxed about the whole process, but it's hard."

"I can imagine. So what else have you been doing?"

"Radio interviews, signings, that sorta stuff. You actually picked a good week to come down, because we don't have anything like that to do this week."

"Good, but I still have to share you with the others, right?"

"Yeah, I still have to show up and sing."

"All right," she said grudgingly, but added a wink. "So how were the promotions?"

"I need a restraining order, Jamie," Kevin said with a slight smile.

"Oh really, what now?" she sighed.

"Nothing much, just the usual. There was one girl who was a little weird with me and Nick, but the others had their share of 'stalkers' too."

"A restraining order, huh?" She shook her head, "You do know I'm more of a contracts attorney than a criminal attorney, right?"

"Yeah, but can't you do those kind of things?" he asked with a smile. This was a running joke between the two of them, and Kevin always pretended ignorance about what it was she did.

"Is this the only reason you want me around? Is that all I am to you, your attorney?"

"Well, if I say the wrong thing, than that's all you'll be to me, right?"

"Damn straight, darlin'."

"Then I love you for being you. Your being an attorney is just an added bonus for me," he smiled. He reached over, rubbed a bit of sour cream off of her cheek with his thumb, let her lick it off his thumb, kissed her, then sat back.

"Right answer. I love you too."

"All right, enough about my ordinary, boring life," said Kevin, "Are you glad your negotiations are over?"

"Oh yes, I am. They were a bit difficult. The other side refused to admit they were responsible for anything, so they were all set to go to trial."

"What did you settle for?"

She shook a finger at him, "You know I can't talk to you about that. All I can say is that my clients were happy with the final offer, and the other side, while not exactly ecstatic, will honor the agreement."

"Congratulations, Jaim. I know how hard you worked for it. So what now?"

"Well, I'm doing a bit of pre-trial for a trademark infringement case. I need to do a little research before depositions start in two weeks so I sound somewhat competent."

"Whatever, you're a great attorney. I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"Thanks, but you have to say that because you're my boyfriend."

"No I don't. I would never say it just to say it." He was silent for a bit, then he said, "Hey, wait a minute, does that mean you're only saying I'm a good musician? You really don' t like BSB? You only say all this because we're together?"

She laughed. "I think the others are quite talented. But you, on the other hand. . ." Another napkin came flying at her. "Okay, okay, I'm kidding."

"Uh huh, and?"

"I'm not just saying it. I really do think you all are fantastic, and I for one can't wait to hear the new CD."

Kevin got up and began clearing the dishes from the table. "Well, you'll get to hear about 20 seconds worth of it tomorrow. If we ever finish this song, it'll be a small miracle."

Jamie picked up the glasses and followed him into the kitchen. "You'll get it, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Which song is it?"

"We don't really have a title for it either. I told you this is going slowly. We've just referred to it as The Song from Hell."

Jamie laughed. "Changing the squeaky-clean image are we?"

"What? Oh, no, it's just what we've been calling it. Although a change wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing," he said, a little wistfully.

Jamie stopped loading dishes into the dishwasher, and stood up straight to stare at him, "What do you mean? What's wrong with your image?"

"It's just that sometimes we get tired of being a 'boy band'. Do you know how hard it is for us to be taken seriously sometimes? As if we're not good enough to be 'real' artists, even though we are all talented singers and musicians. Sometimes we think change might be a good idea."

"I had no idea you were this frustrated, Kev."

He sighed, and ran a hand through his thick black hair. "It's not always frustration. I love being in Backstreet. We're not trying to become something completely different and change fan bases or anything. I mean, if it wasn't for our fans, we wouldn't be who and what we are. I wouldn't have been to the places I have, and done the things I've done. I'm not saying any of us want things to have been different, because we don't. This is our dream, and none of us would change any of it. But every once in a while we would actually like to be given credit for what we do. It's not easy, that's all."

Jamie walked over to stand in front of him, and wrapped her arms around his waist. Kevin's arms came up around her, and she held him tight for several minutes. Neither said anything, they just held each other. Finally, Jamie stepped back, took him by the hand, and led him to the living room. They sat down on the couch, and Jamie turned on the television.

"I'm sorry Jamie, I didn't mean to be depressing."

"No, it's not that at all. You have a right to those feelings, all five of you do. I just don't want you to do something you'll probably regret later on."

"We're not. Like I said, we like doing the pop and R&B, and we're not going to change it for people who wouldn't appreciate us no matter what we did."

"That's true enough."

"But we do want to get a little more exposure, and crossover to adult contemporary. We already have a little, and we just want to keep going that way."

"Good, I was afraid you were going to tell me you were going to become like Korn or Limp Bizkit or something."

Kevin laughed. "No, somehow, I just don't see us becoming that hard-core. Ever. Although with AJ, you never know. . ." Jamie started laughing too, and stretched up to kiss him on the cheek.

"True enough. He constantly surprises me. So what color is his hair now?"

"Well today it was blue and green, but it is a day to day thing with him." Jamie laughed, and Kevin grabbed the remote from her hand. Flipping channels, he found a Lightning-Red Wings hockey game, and they spent the rest of the evening curled up on the couch watching the game.

After the game, Kevin led Jamie upstairs to the bedroom, and they got ready for bed. Lying in the dark with her head on Kevin's chest, Jamie leaned in, kissed him and whispered, "I want you to know something."

"What's that, baby?"

"I happen to love your squeaky-clean image, and I wouldn't want you any other way."

He kissed her back. "All right, I'll see what I can do to keep it."

Kevin would have no idea how hard it was going to be for him to do so.