The knocking on his door intensified and Nick remembered it had been that what had woken him up. Standing from his bed, he stumbled as he reached the door. He wasn't the most coordinated person at this ungodly time of the day.

"What?!" He asked, somewhat still asleep and mad at whoever it was that was standing in the door. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Nick tried to recognize the face in front of his door.

"Mr. Carter?" the strange woman, dressed in a dark skirt suit and with a very serious face -- something Nick didn't relate with the middle of the night -- asked him.

"Yeah?" Leaning against the side of his door, Nick continued rubbing his eyes. Who was this woman and how in God's name had she gotten pass security?

"My name is Detective Soplin, I'm with the New York police department. We'd like to speak with you."

Nick looked at him confused. Police department? Talk, with him? "Huh?"

"We've already awoken the rest of your party, you're the last one. If you would just step onto the hallway, it'd all be cleared out in just a matter of minutes."

The young blond blinked in confusion. What had happened? The rest of the guys had been woken up? Kevin had let this woman wake him and the rest of the guys up when he knew they had an interview at mid morning?

"Sure," Nick said after a minute. If Kevin had let this woman wake him up -- because he was sure they had gone to talk with Kevin first, since he was the one who took care of most of the group's things -- then she sure had a very good explanation.

Nick stumbled onto the hallway, dressed only in his pajama bottoms and a thin T-shirt. Turning around, Nick saw Brian, Howie and AJ, the three of them leaning against the wall, their eyes half closing. Two of their security guards were standing by their side.

Where's Kev?, Nick thought as he realized the older man wasn't with the rest of the guys. Nick was sure they had said they had woken up the rest of the group, then where in god's name was Kevin?

"Where's Kev?" Nick said aloud as he looked at his friends.

Brian was the first one to acknowledge the fact that the youngest of them all had finally joined them. "I asked the same question not even five minute ago Frack. They won't tell us."

"Did something happen?" Nick turned around to see the detective. Her and someone else -- who Nick imagined as her partner -- walked over him and the rest of the gang.

"Gentlemen, we're here to talk with you. I was hoping we could use one of your rooms." The man asked the four of them.

Brian looked at his friends, then shrugged. "Sure, we can use my room."

The four of them and the two detectives entered the suite. Brian turned on the lights as he walked over to the couch. He took a seat and soon enough Nick joined him. Howie took the nearby armchair while AJ, way too tired to even care where he was, sat on the floor by Howie's side.

The two security guards tried to entered the room, but Det. Soplin placed her hand on the man's chest. "It'd be better if it's just the guys."

Lucas looked over to the guys, a question in his eyes.

Howie stared at the two detectives in the room. If they thought it'd better if it was just the four of them, then something was most definitely wrong. Nodding slowly, he spoke. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

The tall and very bulky man nodded as he motioned for Adrian to walked out of the room with him. "We'll be right outside if you need us." Lucas waited long enough for Howie to nod one more time before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"Now, what the hell is wrong and why are you here?" Brian's anger was evident not only to his long time friends, but also to the detectives. The coldness in his voice was mirrored in the dark blue shade his eyes had taken.

Det. Soplin looked at her partner, who motioned for her to speak, and took a step forward, closer to the four singers. "I'm Det. Karen Soplin with New York Police Department and this is my partner, Det. Diego Brehaut. We were hoping we'd be able to speak with you."

"Look, lets cut the bullshit and go straight to what we've been asking ever since you woke us up at his ungodly hour." AJ said the first coherent thing since they had gotten him out of his bed. "Where the fuck is Kevin and why won't you tell us?"

Det. Brehaut sighed. "That's the reason we're here. Mr. Richardson was found in an alley not even three hours ago."

Nick felt like the air had left his lungs in a span of a millisecond. Something had happened to Kevin. Something had happened, and there was this huge possibility that it was a horrible thing, otherwise, two detectives of the NYPD wouldn't be bugging them at this hour.

Oh God. Oh God. Please, please, let him be alright.

Howie thought the words through twice before even mouthing them, "What happened?" He looked between the two detectives. Everything seemed kinda surreal, a dream he'd wake up soon enough from.

"Apparently he was robbed." Det. Soplin continued. "A man was walking down the street when he saw Mr. Richardson being attacked by another guy. He, then, heard a gun shot and saw the guy leaving the scene. The man called the police and they found Mr. Richardson unconscious on the floor. It took us two hours before realizing who he was, since he didn't have any ID with him. We were able to trace the band down to this hotel."

"Where is he? Is he ok?" Brian's voice was frantically, afraid for his cousin. What had made Kevin leave the hotel so late at night. And alone. They knew better than that. Hell, Kevin had gone ballistic more than once whenever one of them went out without their bodyguards. Kevin'd never do anything like that...

"He's in surgery right now. As far as we know, he's in critical condition. I'm afraid we don't know anything further."

"Oh fuck," AJ mumbled under his breath. Kevin was in surgery. Critical condition. That meant... that meant a lot of things he didn't even want to think about.

"Go over to your rooms," Nick started as he looked at his three friends, not really caring about asking, but only telling, "get some jackets and pants. We'll meet in the hallway in five. We're going to the hospital."

The guys barely nodded before leaving the room in a hurry, Brian running to his bedroom to look for a sweater warm enough for New York's cold night.

Nick got to his room first, not really caring about anything but getting a shirt over his head and sneakers on his feet. Picking up his cell phone and key card, he run out of the room. Brian and Howie were there, AJ joining them barely a second later, his shirt still on his hands as he tried to put on his sneakers. Out of them all, AJ was the one that slept only in boxers. Their bodyguards were already in the hallway, waiting for the four of them. The two detectives took the lead as they entered the elevator.

Nothing was said during the ride out of the hotel. The minute they entered the small van, they looked at each other. The four of them were alone in the place, the detectives in their car in front of the van.

"He's gonna be fine. Right?"

AJ's question brought the guys attention to the main subject. And the question neither of them had the guts to say aloud.

"He has to," AJ answered himself, his eyes not focusing on anything or anyone, but dancing from face to face. "He has to. Kevin's strong enough."

Howie was the only one who ventured himself to nod slowly, like the movement in his neck was painful enough. No one said anything else for the rest of the ride.