Now, they were with the adults, as Nick liked to call them, even though they were really the group's managers: Donna and Johnny Wright. Kevin had been told that it would be mainly Donna who would be in charge of them, but Johnny would participate as well.

"This is so cool!" said the young blond for what seemed the nth time that very same hour. He was so very excited that everything was finally beginning to take shape that he couldn't contain his emotion.

Kevin laughed at the kid's antics and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, it is Nicky. It's great the rest of the guys liked Brian." He said while giving a meaningful glance at his younger cousin.

"Kev!" Brian said blushing slightly. He was speechless about the opportunity that had come upon his hands. He had always loved singing and when Kevin had called out of the middle of History class and explained the situation to him, and that Kevin had convinced his mother into letting him travel all the way to Orlando, Brian couldn't help but feel still a little out of the water.

The twelve year old giggled uncontrollably as he pointed to their newest member with one hand, while trying to cover his mouth with the other -- so very child like. "You're blushing!"

At the kid's words, Brian blushed even deeply. Focusing onto the carpet, the tried to regain some composure before looking up.

Looking at his very embarrassed cousin, ought to a kid, Kevin chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "It's ok cuz. You do know you sing great. I never had a doubt in my mind."

"Good one of us wasn't doubting; I was sweating cold." Brian acknowledged as he looked up, his deep blue eyes meeting his cousin's stunning green ones. He had been far more than just nervous; he had been half dieing while singing to them.

"Oh B." Kevin said in a soft voice. "Think about this, now that the group is ready, we can start thinking about what we'll do."

As if on cue Lou Perlman called everyone's attention. "Guys! Guys!" When the five young singers and two of their mothers were listening to them, he smiled and started speaking. "Well, as you know now we're finally the group we were hoping to be, so we can start thinking about what's gonna come next."

Donna Wright nodded. "Yeah, first of all we need to be known within the people. We'll have to start with small appearances here and there." She looked at the five young boys listening carefully. Even the youngest, who wasn't even thirteen, was trying his best not to look bored between the cousins. "First of all we've got to practice a lot, so the sound is good enough. I've talked with a coach for you guys, and he'll be joining us tomorrow morning for your first practice as a group. What ya say?"

AJ and Howie looked at the each other. The young kind shrugged while Howie nodded. It really didn't bother AJ to practice. He had experience in this kind of coaching stuff. Even Howie and him had shared coach once. Even little Nicky had some practice in this. He wondered if the Kentucky cousins did? He laughed to himself. Of course they didn't! They were country hicks, what could they know about vocal coaching?

Howie turned around and looked at AJ, lifting his eyebrows in a question manner, talking about his chuckle. AJ waved his hand dismissively. He couldn't very well tell him, Howie would probably get mad at him for thinking that about the cousins.

Both Kevin and Brian nodded at the woman's question. Even though it did seemed as if it was more of a rhetorical question than anything else.

"Yeah!!!" Jumped up and down Nick. "Practice is sooooooooo nice!!!" He said clapping his hands together, his voice high with excitement. "I like practice!"

Kevin laughed at the kid. When had it been the last he himself had felt so careless, so free? Before his father died. Before he could feel down about it, he forced himself to think about the countless time he had gone fishing with him. It was a lot better if he remember the good times instead of the bad ones. "You like it, don't you Nicky?"

"Of course!!!" Nick said as he looked up at Kevin. He had already gotten used at the older man's height. Despite how frightening he looked, Kevin had been nothing but nice to him. "You get to sing this funny words over and over again and you try to see who gets to sing most of them. You're going to like it!"

"They are kinda fun." Accepted Kevin. "Brian and I used to have to practice before mass, right Brian?"

Brian nodded. "Do you remember Miss Asian? She would make us sing the same song over and over again until our throats were dry." He laughed at the memory.

Kevin shivered at the thought. "That was awful. I hated it. She knew we knew the songs, but she kept making us sing them. I have the feeling she did it ought of pure torture."

This time it was Nick who laughed. "That's their job you silly!" He said as he slap Kevin's arm playfully. "They are suppose to make you sing till they see you wanna leave the place. Mom used to say that whenever I'd complain about the coach."

"Well, I think you are right Nick. That's their job." Kevin said with a small smile on his lips. He couldn't believe just how great it was for him to hang out with Nick, even though the kid was almost ten years younger than him.

"Guys!" This time it was Johnny who called out their attention. "We don't have anything else to do today. You can leave. Lets met tomorrow at 9am." After getting a couple of nods from both Howie and Kevin, he turned around to talk with his wife about the group.

"Guess we better get going." Kevin said as he turned to look at his cousin, waiting for Brian to nod.

"I gotta go with my mom. Bye!" Nick called out and waved at them before running over to his mother, who was speaking with Lou and Denise.

Kevin and Brian walked over to where Kevin had left his jacket. The older man picked it up and threw it against his shoulder with one quick motion. As they were walking to the office door, they saw Nick approaching them.

"What is it Nick? I thought you and you're mom were leaving." asked Kevin as he kneeled down in front of the kid, so he could be at even eyesight.

Nick sighed dramatically as he started moving his foot around the floor in a fed up manner. "Mom says she has to talk with Denise and Mr. Perlman about stuff." The young blond grimaced at the last word. "I have to wait for her and I'll probably be too bored. This sucks!"

Brian kneeled down as well and looked right into Nick's bright blue eyes. "You want me to stay and play with ya?"

Nick looked up from the floor as a huge smile appeared in his features, his eyes shining with happiness. "Can you?"

Brian turned to his older cousin, a silent question in his eyes.

Kevin looked at both kids. Brian was giving him a small smile, the same smile he'd give him whenever he wanted the cookies from the top shelve, the one he couldn't reach but Kevin could. Nick had his best puppy dog eyes and even a pout going on. He knew there was no way he was gonna be able to say no to that pout. He sighed. He had been outnumbered in the most surprising way. Taking a glance at his watch, he spoke. "It's early and there's nothing for us to do." Looking at the kids, he smiled. "Ok, but just for a while."

"Yeah!!!" They both cheered at unison.

Kevin laughed at them. Brian, even though he was a good five years older than Nick, could behave like another kid himself. That had been something unique of the young man's character ever since he was very young. Something Kevin had envy a little. His ability to be so carefree.

Jane turned her attention from both Denise and Lou to the sound of her son laughing his heart out. What she had in front of her eyes put a smile on her face. Her very young son was running around with his new friend Brian, Kevin watching close by. Suddenly Nick stopped, turned around and stick out his tongue to the older man. In response Brian glared at him and ran after the young blonde. Nick was laughing so hard he was loosing what little space he had between both of them. Then he took a turn and made his way down the hallway that lead to one of the practice rooms.

Just as Jane was about to call out to Nick not to run too fast that he might get hurt, something the blond hated every single time he was told, she saw the dark haired man, a small smile on his lips, started walking after the dynamic duo and calling after them.

"Guys don't run like that!" Kevin yelled after both of them, but was sure neither heard him. "Nick, don't run so fast, you can get hurt. Brian, you aren't helping either!!" He said even louder, but still thought he wasn't heard. Half laughing to himself at the task he had in hand - looking after his younger cousin and their youngest singer -, he jogged fairly quickly over to where they were still running around and laughing like their life depended on it.

Jane was amazed at the young man's instincts. Usually anyone his age -- he was just 21 after all -- would have stayed where he was and if any of them got hurt, it would have been their fault for running so fast and not paying attention to their actions. However he had done something totally different. He had gone after them to make sure they were all right and that someone was actually keeping an eye on them. The man was very responsible and there was no question about it.

She had been worried about the future of the new group ever since Nick came bouncing to her talking nonstop about the idea of forming a group with both AJ and Howie. But what had worried her the most was who would be made responsible for the guys. She'd go with them as often as she could, but even that wouldn't be so much. And even though Howie was already 19, Jane didn't think he'd be able to handle them all. Now Kevin... he did seem like the perfect man for the job.

"Jane? You with us?" asked Denise as she realized the other woman hadn't heard a word that had been said for the past two minutes.

"Ah? Sorry Denise, I was just looking at my son. Since I asked him to wait for me, he's playing with Brian and Kevin is watching them."

Denise nodded.

It was just then that Jane noticed Denise was there, but AJ wasn't anywhere near. "Where is Alex anyway? Isn't he gonna wait for you?"

"No. I told him he could leave if he wanted, no need for him waiting for me when he can leave on his own." She said as she turned around and continued her conversation with Lou.

Jane shook her head in an unbelievable manner as she heard the words of the other mother. She had never really understood the way she had raised Alex. He was a good kid, a little bit on the wild side, but a good kid nonetheless. It must have been hard for her to raise him, being a single parent and all, but she could never send her 15-year-old son alone to the house, especially when she was there to take him with her.

Deciding that the best would be just to forget about it, she paid attention to the matter at hand.

*****

"Nick!" Jane called out through the dim corridors. She had told her son it'd only take a couple of minutes and it turned out she, Denise and Lou had stayed up talking about the group for two hours. "Nick! Nick come here!"

She had lost sight of her young son after she had seen Kevin walking after both him and Brian. She had heard the running of two people on the floor above, where she now stood, but hadn't been able to find him so far.

Walking down the stairs to one of the practice rooms of the building, she could hear some laughter. "Nick?" Jane questioned as she turned around and walked towards the sound. "Nick, is that you?"

Just then she was able to see one very big and wide shadow walking from the practice room and another one, a lot smaller, walking side by side. As the hallway's light got to the two shadows, she smiled at the sight.

Kevin was walking towards her, Nick being carried by the older man like you would carry a small child. Kevin's left arm was under Nick's bottom, the other one around his middle side, just in case the young kid moved too much. Nick, for his part, had both his arms around Kevin's neck and was giggling uncontrollably. Brian was walking in a circular patter with both Kevin and Nick as his center, making funny faces and noises, on consequence, making young Nick giggle uncontrollably. Even Kevin himself was smiling.

"So there you are!" Jane exclaimed with a small smile as she confirmed her ideas that her son had been in very good hands. Very good indeed.

"Sorry Ma'am, but Nicky and Brian got to caught up in their game and it took me too long to convince them they could actually play tomorrow after practice." Kevin's southern drawl getting more evident by the word, something characteristically of the country boy whenever he felt bad about something. It was his very personal 'apologizing' tone.

Jane dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Nonsense. What is this 'Ma'am' thing again Kevin? I thought I had told you to call me Jane. We're gonna be seeing very much of each other now and I'd hate for you to get used to the Ma'am thing. Besides I'm not that old."

Kevin blushed slightly. "Sorry Ma-- I mean, Jane."

"There's no need to apologize." Walking over to her son, still in Kevin's protective arms, she ruffled his hair. "You are one funny fellow, you know that? You left and didn't even say where you were going."

"But I didn't leave!" Nick defended himself. "I was with Brain this whole time and Kevin was watching us. He even yelled at us when we were running too fast. He reminds me of you mom." The young blond said with a broad smile, showing his perfect white teeth.

At the words, Kevin blushed even a deeper shade of red. Something that didn't seemed possible with his tan complexion.

"Oh hush you!" Jane told Nick as she saw the older man blushing. "Kevin here is a good man looking after ya kids. He'll make a great father one day."

"Mom and aunt Ann always say that." Brian interjected looking between Mrs. Carter and his cousin. "The rest of my cousins, Kev's brothers, keep saying he's got 'mother hen' complex." The younger Kentucky cousin finished with a laugh.

"Brian." Kevin said with a warning tone that soon quiet his own flesh and blood. "Remember aunt Jackie told me I can ground you if I see it fitting."

"Damn!" Brian hissed through his teeth. "I've got to talk with mom. You with power, now that's a scary picture!"

Kevin glared at him and Brian only mutter a 'oops', then closed his mouth shut. An angry Kevin was a very ugly picture.

Jane laughed heartily. Those two were evidently family and Kevin, as she had thought before, had a good way with kids. It had been proved if he had handled Nick for two hours and the blond was still standing. And so was the place. "Thanks for watching Nick. He can be handful sometimes."

"Mom!"

Jane kept laughing. "I'm sure you've noticed that by now. You most certainly don't need more than two hours to see that!"

"Mom!" Complained Nick once again. And once again it felt in deaf ears.

"He's a nice kid." Kevin said as he mussed the blonde's hair while Nick tried to keep the mean hands away, falling miserably. "Time to go down." He said as he placed the young kid back to the ground. For someone of twelve, Kevin was sure Nick was too thin. He was as light as a feather, something he had noticed as soon as Kevin had picked him up and brought him to look for his mother, telling Nick that she most certainly would be worried sick about him.

"Thanks. I hope we didn't waste your time, making you stay here with Nick for two hours." Jane said as she looked at Nick, who was looking at the floor. Nick should have suggested they leave a long time ago. Poor fellas were probably wanting out for a while.

"Nah! It's ok. Brian was having a blast with Nick. Besides, it's not as if we have anything more important to do." Kevin reassured her with a smile. Out of Kevin's great features, his enchanting and hypnotizing green eyes only beat his beautiful and charming smile.

"Hellooooo! Kentucky boy here!" Brian said as he started waving his hands around the room, trying for them to notice him. "I don't like being talked in third person. Thank you very much." He finished with a smile.

"Sorry." Kevin apologized as the four of them started walking to the entrance. "So you're done for today?" He asked Jane.

She nodded. "Yeah. Denise, Lou and I got talking about the group's future and some plans we've had for a little while. Sorry it took me this long Nicky."

"It's ok mom. I had fun with Kevin and Brian."

"You two heading home?" Jane asked as they walked over to the building's parking lot, where her car was waiting for them.

Kevin nodded. "Yeah. Aunt Jackie, Brian's mother, left him under my care. She wanted to come here with him, but she's got work and couldn't miss a week so easy. So, right now I'm in charge of this little bugger." Kevin said as he ruffled Brian's hair.

"Kevin!!" Brian kept complaining as Kevin made good use of his advantage in height against the younger man. After about a minute, Kevin finally left him alone. "It's at times like this that I wished mom could have missed job." He muttered.

Looking at his younger cousin, Kevin couldn't help but laugh. He knew Brian was joking, and that in itself was funny. "Hey! It was either me or Harold, and you sure don't want that!"

"Agh!! Don't even think about it!" Brian said with a clearly disgusting tone and to top things, he even started making gagging noises.

"Harold?" Nick asked with a puzzled face, his eyes squinting just a tiny bit.

"Harold is Brian's older brother, my older cousin. Let's just say him and both my brothers were brought up the old way: torturing younger siblings is a blast." Kevin explained as he remember just how many times both his brothers had scared him with the silliest of things. "I'm not that mean."

"You're right there Sherlock, not that mean." Turning conspiratorial to Nick, Brian leaned over so he would whisper in the younger man's ear, even though he said it loud enough for everybody else to hear it. "He can torture when he wants too."

Nick only giggled at it. It was like being with a couple of brothers. They acted so... related!

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Remember is me the one you're living with. I can starve you to death and nobody would notice until it was too late." Kevin joked as he half glared at Brian.

"Brian is staying with ya?" Jane asked as she saw the young man stick out his tongue to his older cousin.

"Yeah. I've got this small apartment, big enough for both of us. Besides, it's better like this. Aunt Jackie would die before letting her 17 year old son live alone."

Jane smiled and nodded. Of course Jackie, even though she really didn't know her, would much rather let Brian stay with Kevin. Especially after what she'd just seen. Kevin cared deeply for his younger cousin and would always keep a close eye on him. Yeah, he'd make a great father one day.

"Well, we better get going." Jane hugged Brian as his blue eyes smiled at her. Then hugged Kevin, even tighter than she had his younger cousin, then gave him a peck on the cheek. When she saw him blush, Jane spoke. "That's for keeping an eye on my son."

Kevin nodded as the corners of his lips twitched up slightly.

Nick run over to where Brian was, hugging him as well, as he spoke with delight. "I had fun. Thanks for playing with me!"

"It was my pleasure kiddo!" Brian answered as he ruffled Nick's hair, something that had already become a habit in both him and Kevin. The young blonde's only response was his laugh.

Then, Nick proceeded to hug the life out of Kevin as the older man had kneeled in front of him so he could return the hug properly.

The small kid looked, and felt, even smaller in Kevin's arms as he accepted the bear hug. When they pulled apart, Kevin hold his forefinger and middle finger like a hook as he 'got' Nick's nose in it. Yeah, Kevin knew it was silly, but it was a game he used to play with his dad when he was younger. A game he missed terribly. "We'll see ya tomorrow Nicky, ok?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah! In practice!" With that he got into his mother's old Toyota and waved at them.

Jane turned around and looked at Kevin. "We can give you a lift if ya want?"

Kevin shook his head. "Thanks Ma--, I mean Jane. Thanks, but we've got to do grocery shopping anyway. Thanks though."

Jane nodded as she saw the lie right through his eyes. The boy didn't want to bother, that was for sure. She smiled. "See ya tomorrow boys."