The next morning, they tried to make it business as usual. Kevin and Nick went to the studio to record, and Taylor and Jamie went with them. Taylor wanted to see the five of them together, and to see if there was anything more anyone remembered about that day.

When they arrived at the studio, Brian was sitting in one corner of the recording booth sulking, reading the sports section of the morning newspaper. AJ and Howie were going through a sound check of the microphones. Jamie and Taylor walked into the control room, while Kevin and Nick went to join their bandmates.

"Morning, all," Kevin said softly. AJ and Howie returned the greeting while Brian acted as if he hadn't heard his cousin speak.

"Yo Frick, what's up?" asked Nick. Brian reacted by looking up, glaring at Nick, and returning to the basketball scores. Nick walked over, casually grabbed the paper out of Brian's hands and said, "What is your problem, Brian?"

"My problem? You want to know what my problem is?" Brian shouted. "I'll tell you what it is, it's this!" Brian picked up another section of the paper and threw it at Nick. Nick unfolded the paper to reveal the front page headline: "BACKSTREET RAPISTS?"

"What the hell. . .?" Nick turned to face the control booth, where Denise had joined Taylor and Jamie in the room. "I thought this wasn't going to be in the papers?"

Denise had just finished telling the girls about the morning press coverage, so they weren't as nearly shocked when Nick yelled. "Nick, we never said it wouldn't be in the press. All we said is that we would try to keep it minimal."

"Well, it doesn't look like you did such a good job there, Denise, now did you?" snarled Brian.

"Hey, easy there, Littrell," said AJ. "My mom did what she could."

Howie chimed in, "Relax Bri, you know how the press is, especially with things like this."

"Relax? How the hell can you all relax? Do you know what is going to do to us, especially if they are convicted? Our careers are over!"

"Hey, hey, hey! We are NOT going to be convicted, we didn't do anything wrong!" snapped Nick. The others stood in shock, mouths open at various levels. Kevin's hands began clenching and unclenching, a sign that he was very close to exploding. Jamie saw his hands, nudged Taylor, and the two of them left the control booth to go into the recording booth.

"Brian, you were there at the signing. You know nothing happened, why are you so willing to believe the papers all of a sudden?" asked Howie, trying to find a way to calm tempers before things got way out of hand.

Brian, however, refused to be calm. "I apparently don't know anything." He faced Nick and Kevin. "And when exactly were you two going to tell us any of this? At the trial? When we came for visiting day at the jail? When?" Brian's face was turning red and he looked as if he were about to hyperventilate.

"Why don't you believe us, Brian? Nothing happened, got it? Nothing!" yelled Nick. Nick and Brian faced off, each glaring at the other, each brightly colored. Kevin stood next to Nick, ready to join in. AJ and Howie were still standing in place, watching in shock at what was going on, neither able to say anything.

Jamie marched in and crossed over to stand in between Brian, Nick and Kevin. She faced Brian, and began yelling. "What the hell is wrong with you, Brian? Do you have any idea what they are going through? How exactly are you helping them? You are supposed to be supporting them, not blaming them. And you're only worried about your own damn career? Brian, this is their LIFE, this is not about you and how betrayed you feel. Get over this, and help us!" Kevin had a hand on Jamie's arm, but she shook it off.

"No, Kevin, let me finish this. I have been doing everything I can to make sure you get a fair trial, to make sure you don't get convicted. I ask all of you for a little help. AJ and Howie, at least, are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, as well as everyone else at the Firm. However, your own cousin, the one person you should be able to count on most, has already convicted and sentenced you. If he doesn't believe you, how are we supposed to be able to convince the rest of the world? You are NOT going to be convicted, I won't allow it, even if Brian will!" Taylor, who had been standing behind Kevin during Jamie's tirade, reached around him, grabbed Jamie by the arm and literally dragged her out of the room. Taylor stuck her head back in, and said, "You all better get things under control here, now. I will work on calming her down." Taylor disappeared, closing the door of the studio behind her.

Kevin turned back around and said to Brian, "She's right you know. If you don't believe in us, what are we going to do next?"

Brian sighed. "It's not that I don't believe you, I want to, really. It's just that, well, that. . ." his voice trailed off, and Brian had the grace to look embarrassed.

"It's just what?" said Howie, encouraging Brian to continue.

"I just can't believe you wouldn't tell me what's going on!" wailed Brian. Kevin and Nick exchanged looks. Howie and AJ slowly backed away, realizing that they had very little to do with this and leaving it to the others to work it out. Kevin shook his head, "No, this involves all of us and I think we all need to talk about it." AJ and Howie nodded and rejoined the three of them.

"Well," started Kevin, "I guess I didn't handle this very well. It was my idea not to say anything. Nick and Jamie both wanted to tell you about this, and I said no." Nick nodded in agreement.

"But why?" asked Brian, "I don't understand why you felt you couldn't talk to us about this." Brian had calmed down somewhat, but he still had the hurt and betrayed look on his face that had been there all morning.

Kevin ran a hand through his hair, "We thought. . ." Nick shook his head no. "Okay, I thought," he looked over at Nick, who nodded, "I thought if we didn't say anything, that it would just go away on its own. Almost like if you talk about something bad happening, then it would happen to you. Same idea, I guess."

"That sorta makes sense, I guess," said AJ. "But it would have been easier on the rest of us if you had mentioned the little trip to the cops. Do you think we enjoyed that little scene at the airport? Nice surprise you gave us there, Train."

"It wasn't my intention to do that to you, J. Trust me, I would rather that hadn't happened."

"Yeah us too," said Howie. The tension in the recording studio disappeared almost as if it hadn't ever existed.

"I'm sorry guys. If I could do it over again, I would have told you. This hasn't been easy on Nick or me, and I guess it would have been easier if we didn't have to keep it a secret."

"That's the point, Kev. You didn't have to keep it secret, you chose to," said Brian. "If we knew, we could have dealt with it the same way we deal with everything, together."

"Okay, so we have established that I'm an overprotective idiot. Shoot me." AJ pointed two fingers at Kevin and said, "Bang!"

"Thanks, AJ. Always knew I could count on you."

"It's what I'm here for," said AJ. "Besides the singing, performing, and the girls of course." Kevin smiled.

Brian turned to Nick, "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Frack. I guess I figured you would tell me, and I'm disappointed you didn't." Nick flinched.

"Sorry Rok, but Kev asked me not to. Trust me, I thought about calling you and telling you so many times last week. But between being yelled at by you or Kevin, I thought it would be safer if you did the yelling." The others grinned, but Kevin frowned.

"I wouldn't have yelled at you."

"Uh huh, whatever you say, Kevin." Nick and the others remained unconvinced.

"Okay, so maybe a little bit of yelling." Nick rolled his eyes. "Okay, a lot, but I thought at the time it was for our own good."

"Yeah, well look where it got us," said Nick.

"Look, how many times do I have to apologize? I said I'm sorry for not handling this right. What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Washing cars could be a good start," offered Howie.

AJ piped up, "Cleaning apartments works for me."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it," said Kevin, exasperated. The four others started laughing.

"Can't blame us guys for trying. It's rare that you goof up this badly, and say you're sorry, so we want to take advantage of it," said AJ.

Brian looked over at Nick who was still laughing. "And why are you laughing, Nick? You aren't blameless in this, you know." Nick's laughter turned into a strangled choking noise.

"Okay, okay, y'all have had your fun. How about we try recording something? Since it's kinda why we're here," said Kevin, hoping desperately to change topics and get things back on track.

Nick looked around, "You know, we haven't seen Taylor and Jamie in a while. I wonder what's going on with them?"

Taylor dragged Jamie down the hall to a small sitting area with a vending machine and chairs. She pointed to one chair, and Jamie dropped down onto it.

"Nice tirade Jamie, feel better now?"

Jamie took several deep breaths, then smiled slightly, "Yeah, actually I do. Damnit, Brian gets on his little self-absorbed high horse sometimes and forgets that other people live in this world too. That drives me absolutely crazy."

Taylor poured two cups of coffee and walked back over to Jamie, handing her one. "I get that impression, but he really does seem to care, especially about Nick."

"Oh yeah, Frick and Frack?" Jamie started, "They are probably closer than Kevin and Brian are, it's kind of weird. I'm glad that Nick has someone he is that close to. His family is on the other side of the country now, rather than being just down the road. I worry about him sometimes, but I know he's a strong kid. Kevin is taking all of this pretty well I guess, but Nick is a little more fragile. He's broken down twice that I've seen. I'm willing to bet, though, he's actually done it more since this whole thing started."

"So how old is he again?"

"Nick? He's, lets see, nineteen, almost twenty."

"Damn that's awfully young to be in his position," Taylor said, shaking her head.

"Anyway, do you think that they will work it out okay? I mean, you think Brian will come around?"

"Yeah, probably. The guys amaze me sometimes with their ability to handle the crap they go through. They will all come around, it just might take some time."

Taylor fidgeted with her cup, "Good, I hope they do, we don't need any dissonance during this whole thing." She paused, "Um, Jamie, I need to go home tomorrow."

"You do?"

"Yeah, um, I have some loose ends I need to tie up at work, and. . ."

"And Mike is being an ass again?" Jamie said with a maddening tone. "Nick mentioned that he called last night."

"No, really, he just misses me that's all," Taylor took a long drink of coffee and closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the expression on Jamie's face.

"Yeah, whatever. Taylor, I swear you amaze me sometimes. That guy is such an ass and you can't see it. But if anyone else is dating someone like Mike, you're the first one to point out that he should be dropped like a hot potato."

"Jamie, please don't lecture me about Mike right now, I just need to go home and get some things sorted out, okay?"

"Yeah," Jamie relented, "Actually I do too. I have a case that I am supposed to be doing depositions on that I need to reschedule and sort out. We can both go home for a couple of days and then meet back here to really prepare for the trial, okay?"

Taylor nodded. "Wait, do you think it's safe to leave those two alone here?" She started to smile.

Jamie giggled, "It's never safe to leave those two alone together, but we'll warn the police we're leaving just the same. C'mon, we better go see what condition the guys are in, and who we need to patch up." They finished their coffee, and headed back to the recording booth.