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Finally we get to get off those stupid busses!" Chris declared walking into the lobby of the hotel.

"I know what you mean.” Aaron agreed.

"Hey, at least you guys aren’t stuck on a bus with your dad listening to old music." Frankie complained.

It was an early evening in June and the Backstreet Boys were in the middle of a year long tour for their new album. They had a few days off and decided to stop at a nearby hotel in the next city for some rest and relaxation. They had some family members with them and among them were their children. They became single parents at early ages and tried their best at giving their children the best of everything and raising them right
Jesse's parents died when he was 8. It was in his mother’s will that Nick was to get custody of him. Therefore Nick adopted Jesse as his own.

"Nick where's Jess?" Aaron asked noticing Jesse wasn't two steps behind him as always.
"Crap!" Nick said and ran out-side.

"I swear he would loose his head if it weren’t attached." Kevin joked.

"Kev, ya know my brother has a short attention span," Aaron reminded him.
"Yeah, well he better start paying more attention to Jesse," Kevin said. "He ignored everyone’s warning that he couldn't take care of Jesse and adopted him instead of leaving your parents do it."
"Jesse is a Nick Junior," Alexander said. "He's immature just like Nick was...is." He smiled as the others just looked at him.
"Well I’m gonna go help Nick find Jesse," Aaron said walking away, as the guys looked after him.
"Jesse?!?" Nick called running out side the door. "Ok, Nick, think. If I was a 12 year-old boy where would I be?" Nick said to himself.
"How about in his bunk playing that stupid video game you bought him?" Aaron said walking up behind him.

Nick looked at Aaron then they both took off running toward the bus. "Jesse!" Nick screamed running up the stairs.
"Jess!" Aaron yelled. "You in here?"
"Jesse McCartney-Carter!" Nickolas yelled and searching through the bunks as Aaron did the same.
"I don't think he's here man," Aaron said.
"He's gotta be here somewhere," Nickolas rebutted. "Jesse!" He went around searching the whole bus, but could not find him. He stood between the bunks, as Aaron looked out the front window and smiled.
"Hey, Nick, I think I found him."
"What?" Nickolas ran to the front of the bus and looked out the window. Sure enough there was Jesse standing outside talking to some older girls.
"Jesse?" Nick kind of questioned what he was looking at.

"Those girls are like... 16 dude." Aaron said hitting Nick on the shoulder.

"Yeah and Jesse's 12." Nick said and started to leave the bus.

"And what do you expect for a 12-year-old when one of your role models is Alex?" Aaron kind of questioned following Nick off the bus.
"Jesse!" Nick said getting his attention and Jesse looked at him annoyed.
"Go away, man," Jesse said. "I'm busy."
"And you're in trouble," Nick said. "Excuse me ladies." Nick grabbed Jesse's arm and pulled him away from the girls.

"Nick!" Jesse said and looked at him.

"Jesse your 12. Those girls are 16." Nick told him.

"You’re wrong they are 17." Jesse said.

"That’s even worse." Nick said.
"What's your point?" Jesse questioned. "It didn't stop Aaron any with that 28-year-old he was seeing."
"Excuse me?" Nickolas said looking at his brother and Aaron just looked away not saying anything.

"You're not my father ya know," Jesse said.
"I am your father," Nickolas said leading Jesse into the hotel.
"My father's dead," Jesse rebutted.
"But Nick was kind enough to adopt you and give you a great home," Aaron stated, as they joined the others.
"Whatever," Jesse said rolling his eyes and releasing him self from Nick's hold.

"Look, Jesse you're way too young to be talking to 17 year old girls. I didn't have a clue about Aaron but that’s not the point."

"So what is the damn point?" Jesse screamed at Nick. It was obvious Jesse was mad.
"The point is you do as you're told and not what you see the rest of us doing," Nick said.
"When did you become a dad?" Jesse asked. "The second you seen me talking to some pretty girls? You're not my father for the last time and as far as I’m concerned I don't need a father!"
"Jesse!" Nick yelled, as Jesse ran from them and left the hotel.
Nick started to run after him but was stopped by Kevin. "Let me." He said then ran off after Jesse. Nick just stood there. Aaron began to slowly walk away. "Where do you think your going?" Nick said.
"To get a room," Aaron said.
"Not so fast little brother," Nick said and Aaron just looked at him. "Tell me about this 28-year-old you were seeing."
"There's nothing to tell, Nick."
"Uh-huh."
"It was only a couple days and then she dumped me."
"And what exactly happened between you two?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing happened, Nick, and that’s the truth."

"I've been 18. I know what its like." Nick told Aaron.

"We kissed. That’s not what I'd call having sex." Aaron stated. Nick began to speak but Aaron cut him off. "You know what Nick. You're right. You have been 18. You do know what its like but you've also been 12. You should know what that’s like too." He said then turned to walk away.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Stop being so hard on Jesse, man. He was eight when his parents died and he's still hurting over that loss. Try to understand what he's going through. You were 12 and you know what it's like to grow up with a bunch of older guys in your life and have no one around that’s your age. Be there for him and be more than a father to him, if that's what you want to call it." Nick just looked at him and Aaron continued, "Be his friend, his mentor, his brother. Let dad be a dad to him because he obviously knows a lot more about fatherhood than you do." With that Aaron walked away.
"Dude what’s going on? Where was Jesse?" Greg asked.
"Yeah air-boy, what’s all the screaming about?" Howie asked.
"We found Jesse flirting with 17 year old girls." Aaron said.



"Come on Jess! Old bones don’t work as well as young ones do." Kevin shouted. Jesse stopped running. "That's more like it," Kevin said chuckling and trying to get Jesse to laugh, but not succeeding. "What's going on, little man?"
"Nothing," Jesse said.
"Don't give me that. We all seen what was going on with Nick."
Jesse sighed and said, "I don't want to live with Nick anymore." Kevin looked at him surprised. "Yes I’m thankful for the home he gave me, but it's just not working out. He doesn't spend time with me or pays any attention then when I talk to a couple of pretty girls he wants to play daddy right away. I don't need a daddy."
"What do ya need then?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe you should sit down and talk to Nick about how you're feeling."
"What good would it do, Kev?"
"I don't know."

"Jesse, I’m sorry." Nick said from behind them.

"For what Nick? Treating me like a two year-old?" Jesse said still upset.
"Jess, I was wrong for yelling at you like I did." Nick turned away. "God, I swore if I ever had a family I wouldn’t be like my dad was to me." Nick turned back to them. "But I've done it. I did to you just what he did to me." Nick finished.

"Why the change of heart?" Jesse was a bit confused. "Aaron reminded me I was 12 once. Man you must be one special kid because the only 17 year old girls that talk to me when I was 12 was most always some girl AJ or one of the others was dating." Nick said sitting on a bench.

"Well, I am pretty hot," Jesse said with a little grin.
"Spoken like Alex," Kevin stated.
"Jess, I know I’ve been pretty hard on you lately," Nick began, "but I’m trying to not treat you the way I was treated when I was your age. I've been there and I know how tough it is." He sighed. "I adopted you when I was 21 not having a single clue about what I was doing. I still have no idea what I’m doing."
"What are you saying?" Jesse asked.
"I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think we should try to work together to make this work out between us," Nickolas said. "I promised your parents I would take care of you and that’s what I want to do. I don't want to break my promise to them."
"You haven't been there for two years, Nick. Why now?"

"You mean almost 4?" Nick shook his head. "I was stupid."

"We already knew that." Kevin said and Jesse laughed. "Jess, I was so busy wrapped up in myself that I forgot what being 12 is all about. What being a parent is all about; and as much as I hate to say it...Aaron was the one who reminded me. He was right." Nick said.

"Yeah," Jesse said.
"So what do ya say?" Nick asked. "Do you want to work together and try to make this work out?"
"And if it doesn't?"
"Why don't we just take it one step at a time?"
Jesse sighed. "Alright. You have until the end of the tour to prove to me that you wanna make this work and if I'm not completely satisfied with the results I’m gone."
Nickolas thought about it a moment then said, "Fair enough." Nick pulled Jesse into a hug.

"Aww, where’s my camera." Kevin teased.

"Alright, Train." Nick said and stood up. "We better get going. We don’t even have a room yet." They all walked back to the hotel.

"So how'd it go? Brian questioned concerned once he saw Kevin, Nickolas, and Jesse walk back into the hotel.

"It's cool," Jesse said grinning. "We came to an agreement."

"That's good," Aaron said.

"Hey, Jesse," Frankie began, "what do ya say we let these old men get the rooms and we go into the bar and get you some ice cream."

"How old do you think I am?" Jesse asked. "Six?"

"It was just an idea," Frankie said.

"And a great idea," Jesse said then turning to Nick. "May I go?"

"Yeah, sure," Nickolas said and the boys started to walk away.

"We'll be in in five to ten minutes," Kevin said. "Don't go wandering off either!"

"Yeah, yeah," Greg said.

"Hi may I help you?" The lady said.

"Yes we need some rooms." Kevin told the lady at the desk.

"Ok I need to know how many rooms and how many people in each room." She said.

"One for two." AJ said.

"1 for 2" Followed Kevin.

"1 for 3" Brian said.

"Two adults?" She asked.

"No just 1,” he told her.

"I need 1 for 3 also. Aaron ain’t staying by himself after the 28 year-old story." Nick said.

Howie came up to the desk.

"Let me guess 1 for 2." The lady said.

"Umm no. Just one. 1 for 1," Howie said then looked down.

"I can stay with D," Aaron suggested.

"I don't think so," Nick said.

"Why not?" Aaron and Howie asked in unison.

"Because my brother ain't learning any of your player tricks," Nickolas stated.

"But Howie's by himself and you need to work on your relationship with Jesse," Aaron stated. "I can bunk with D."

"It's not a problem, Nicky," Howie assured him. "Three's a crowd, right?"

Nickolas looked at them for a while and they both smiled at him. Nickolas shook his head and gave in, "Alright. But I don't want to hear about anymore 28-year-olds or anyone over the age of 20. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Aaron said saluting his brother.

"Ok you’re all on the same floor except for you." She said pointing to Brian. "You’re on two floors." She handed him 2 keys.

"Alright," Brian said and they all took their keys.

"Enjoy your stay at the Ritz Carlton," the lady said.

"Thank you," the guys said and walked away.

"Aaron, we'll take the bags up to the rooms and you go in and keep an eye on the boys," Kevin said.

"Ok," Aaron said walking the opposite way of the Boys and going towards the bar.

"Alright, Bri. I don’t get it. Two floors?" Nick asked.

"Its called a honeymoon suite. The room has an upstairs which is where the bed is located." Kevin said.

"Oh, well why does he get the nice room?" Nick asked.

"Because I have 3 people in my room." Brian said.