"That's good Kev," she said absentmindedly, comparing dates and requests. She was trying her best to lighten up the weight of their days, regarding Kevin with a less straining schedule. There would be enough pressure from everyone around him -- the guys, the executive and even her -- not to top that with a hectic day.

Kevin chuckled, picking up his coke from the center table. "Those girls were really nice."

"I'm sure." Ariadne's eyes were glued to her papers as she sat at the small dining room table, barely looking sideways at her watch. The guys would be back in twenty to thirty minutes.

"All they wanted were pictures and autographs."

"That's very nice." She wondered if the meeting with Mark and the rest of the executives had gone smoothly. She knew the guys would stand up for their friend, but she didn't trust their methods. Maybe she should have gone with them, but it wouldn't have been in Kevin's best interest to be left alone. And so, she had gotten babysitting duty. She sighed.

"There was even this girl--"

"Aha," Ariadne muttered. It wasn't that hard to keep an eye on Kevin, she realized. He liked talking with her, or to her, and all she had to do was pretend to be listening while she was doing what she was actually getting paid to.

"-- who wanted me to write my full name," Kevin finished with a chuckle.

"Oh," Ariadne said, frowning slightly, a thought entering her mind. She hoped Alex's temper wouldn't get the best of him, which happened recurrently when it came down to talking to the Firm.

"The funny thing is, I didn't remember my middle name. If Nick hadn't told me--"

Ariadne's head spun around so fast, her bones complained. "What?" Her hands tightened around the wooden back of her seat, his words catching her undivided attention as her legs rested against the side of the chair.

Kevin blinked, and took a moment to mentally rewind his own sentence. "There was this girl," he said slowly, "who wanted me to write my whole name. I wouldn't have minded, but I didn't remember my middle name."

Ariadne nodded, her chest constricting at the thought of Kevin baffled with something as simple to fulfill as a request for a full name autograph, and she wondered if the girl had noticed Kevin's lost of words.

"What else happened?" She asked just as slowly, carefully watching Kevin's every move.

"Nick helped me," he stated happily, his dimples showing just as his nose wrinkled.

Ariadne's worry eased somewhat. "How did he--?"

"Oh," Kevin cut her off, his enthusiasm taking the best of him, "he said it shouldn't be a problem, that I shouldn't have a problem adding Scott in my name."

Ariadne nodded, sighing softly. "Oh, that's good." She was more relieved than she could put into words. If Nick hadn't been there... she didn't want to think about it.

"Yeah, I just wrote it down and she didn't noticed."

Ariadne nodded again, half listening to Kevin's tale once again. He hadn't remembered his middle name probably because those knuckleheads Kevin had for friends had forgotten that little detail.

The boy didn't know his full name and they wanted him to pretend he knew a lifetime of songs and choreography? She shook her head inwardly. That was just--

Nevertheless that moment seemed to pause in time as thoughts in her mind were unlashed, situations and probabilities coming and going, a lifetime of details brought to her attention.

"Oh god," she groaned, hiding her face in her hands as the tension crystallized inside her, icicles that ran cold and clear from the recent discovery.

Kevin cocked his head to the side, his hand in mid air as he took a sip of the coke. "What?"

How had she been so stupid? How could she have been foolish enough to think she could take care of a lifetime of niceties in mere two weeks with nothing escaping her watchful eye?

"Idiot," she muttered under her breath, shaking her head from side to side, locks of hair falling from her low ponytail, her fingers pushing them behind her ear idly. "Idiot, idiot. You've saved them from a couple of messes and suddenly you're omnipotent? You think you have all the answers?"

Her voice was soft, but her anger audible and Kevin's confusion only deepened as she stood up in one quick motion and started pacing from one side of the other, questions being fired softly but it was obvious they weren't directed to Kevin. "Ariadne, are you--?"

Her resolution shifted in a heartbeat and she was decided to take matters into her own hands, to right the wrongs and do it as swiftly as humanly possible. And in an act lead by sheer conviction and decision, she tore up a shed of paper from her stationary, grabbed a pen and close to shoved it into Kevin's hand.

"Write your name."

Kevin lifted his eyes to hers and he could see his reflection in the lenses that concealed her stare just the slightest. "What?"

"Just sign your name." She paused for a second, giving him what she thought was an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about it, just sign. I need it."

He did as told, placing the coke on the coffee table, taking the piece of paper in his hands and with a swift movement of his wrist, his name was written on it in dark blue ink.

Retrieving it from Kevin's grasp, murky eyes stared at the soft strokes, the fluidity in the letters, the pressure made from the pen and, as much as she recognized the handwriting, she also realized it wasn't the same. She needn't more than a second to see that there was a difference, a very visible one, starting in the marking of the 'i's to the form of the 's's, his 'n's holding a staggering variation from the ones she remembered. And then her hand moved to her mouth, a sigh leaving her lips as she closed her eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Kevin kneeled on the couch, his neck twisting around, wanting nothing else but to see the piece of paper once again. "Did I misspell it?"

Ariadne closed her fist as Kevin's words reached her ears, a second before Kevin's eyes could read the writing, the paper crumbling between her fingers, the memory of the differences enough to last her a lifetime. "No Kevin, you didn't. Everything it's all right." The corners of her lips twitched upwards in a comforting smile as not to have Kevin worry, and her mind started processing every piece of information she had gathered in the last couple of minutes, making a mental list of all the people she'd have to call and the meetings she'd have to arrange.

So she had forgotten about a thing or two, which would have been prejudicial if she hadn't seen it the precise moment she did, but she could arrange things. She would make the wrongs right, no matter how much it cost her.

And she was ready for it in a heartbeat, her mind going a mile per minute, opening her agenda and writing down, scraps of words here and there as she didn't have the time to write the whole words, her mind going faster than she could write. One thing led to the other, one detail to the next, and her brain was suddenly swamped with forgotten things that would need to be verified out.

"Ariadne, is something wrong?"

Her mind still caught in the things that had to be taken cared of; she managed a shake of her head and an absentmindedly "Nah."

"Ariadne?"

Sighing softly, she lifted her eyes and, gazing at him intensely, she shook her head. "No Kevin, there's nothing wrong."

"You sure? You look..." Kevin bit his lower lip, trying to find the word, "worried."

Air leaving her lungs through her nostrils, the corners of her lips twitched upwards, a lock of hair falling over her face. She pushed it behind her ear with the tip of her fingers while her hand still clutched her agenda, her other hand resting on Kevin's shoulder, squeezing it slightly. "I'm not Kevin. Don't worry."

"So, nothing is wrong?" Kevin asked hopefully in a childish manner that reminded her of her friend's ten-year-old sister back when she wanted to go to the mall with them.

"No dear, nothing is wrong," she said casually, the word of endearment leaving her lips like the most natural thing, surprising herself, "but there are some things I did forget to take care of." Before Kevin could ask if it was that which was wrong, Ariadne continued, "but it's nothing I can't solve, so don't worry."

A bright smile unexpectedly illuminated Kevin's features, and Ariadne recalled a second in time when Kevin's features weren't distressed with concern, but blissfully happy, green eyes shinning and nose wrinkling, very much like it was now, and she wondered what had made him so happy back then.

"What is it you have to solve?"

His wide eyes and his quirked lip heralded the inquisitiveness of the man; it seemed childish, as Kevin had never inquired on things regarding her work, her methods, or her assignments. He had always let Ariadne handled things without a word of worry or doubt, and even though it wasn't doubt this time, still, it surprised her. So very childlike, all right. It reminded of little Cassie, Olga's ten-year-old sister back when she used to behave like this.

"Well," Ariadne started, not really knowing how to explain this kind of things.

Truth it's always the best, Olga had said back then, as she started explaining why a ten year old couldn't go to a senior's party with them.

Maybe Olga had been right, maybe the truth was the best, but right now, Ariadne couldn't picture herself saying those words.

"Does it have to do with me not knowing my middle name?"

"No dear, it's not that." She paused and prompted herself to lie. "I had totally forgotten to call a representative of a magazine. They had said they wanted to have an interview. That's all." And when she finished lying, she felt even worse.

But Kevin was smiling once again, a candid smile, a grin she was sure he had worn back when he was young, back when he didn't have schedules to worry about, or interviews to set. It stunned her to realize, in this moment out of them all, that he very much held that mentality, the one he had had when he was under his parent's guidance, when his father would take him fishing and his mom would make cookies. He held the heart of a child now, no worries in his mind. And instead of scare her, it made her blissful. Kevin didn't have anything to be concerned about now, he didn't hold the troubles an adult mind bares; that was the best gift anyone could have given the usual preoccupied man.

He settled down after her reassurances, holding the pillow, once again, tightly against his chest and placing his chin on top of the cotton material.

"Scott it's a pretty name, don't you think?"

Ariadne nodded, the question taking her by surprise. "Yeah, I think it is."

"And it rhymes, you know. Kevin Scott Richardson," the name sounded sassy as he spoke it. "It rhymes."

She damped her lips, in that particular manner she had, her tongue curving as it touched her lower lip, then pressing it against her upper one. "It's good that you like it and your whole name it's pretty."

"Yeah, I like it." He tilted his head to the side, his eyes apprising her in an uncanny way, very similar to other times she had been seen by him, but with a diverse feeling on it, seeming she was being gazed by someone else. "Do you like your name?"

Electricity ran through her veins for a second, shock consuming her. The words dripped like icicles that ran blue and silver, melting in the icy air, unbidden; and although she knew she was mistaking the action, the warning went unheeded. A spark of hope ignited inside her as a memory came as a detached remembrance, a whispered thread from a past that seemed too far removed to be real.

"Ariadne Fowley, nice to meet you."

A throaty chuckle as green eyes shone. "Ariadne it's a good name. It sounds... mysterious. I like it. What, don't you like it?"

But just as quick as the memory came, it was gone. The comment, it had been nothing. It wasn't his memory, but her own. It wasn't a recollection of his words from years prior, but hers now that she heard them, once again, from his lips and in his voice. The tone was different, the octaves lower and the force had changed. It wasn't his voice anymore. This voice, this voice was Kevin's now, and she'd have to get used to that too.

"Hmm..." she muttered, clearing her throat as she tried to buy some time and pull herself together. She chuckled nervously, but Kevin didn't seem to notice the difference between this and her natural laughter. "Yeah, I guess. It's fine." She lied; she didn't want to think of her own dislike for the name and how Kevin had seen it the second they met.

A scowl crossed his face, tilting his head to the side, lips pressed tightly. "Doesn't look like it."

This time, the chuckle came easy. Things that formed the character stay on a person's personality; apparently, appraisal was one of them. "It's an... uncommon name, to say the least. Not easy to carry."

"Ariadne it's a nice name," Kevin said with a candid smile. "What's your full name?"

There was a loud snort, indicating she wouldn't give him that piece of information. "I don't think so pal." Ariadne swirled around, picking up the papers she had been working on, almost forgotten after the moment's revelation.

"Why?" Kevin asked, kneeling on the edge of the couch, elbows resting on the armrest, eyes curious. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Because it's got nothing to do with the conversation."

"Sure it does," Kevin said, a wicked grin on his lips. "I told you my full name, I wanna know yours."

Ariadne chuckled, mirth in her features. "It's not that easy."

"Why not?" Kevin bit his lower lip. "Don't you like your name?"

Ariadne rolled her eyes. Apparently, stubbornness had also stay in the personality. "It's not that."

"Then?"

And pushy; pushy as hell. "Well..." she sighed, taking off the crunchy that held her hair together, running her fingers through dark waves of hair as they fell onto her shoulders. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail with two swift movements of her hands. "I'm just not really fond of it."

"So you don't like it?"

She sighed once again, and had the urge to ask him to stop it, but instead, she closed her eyes slowly. She had to be lenient with him. There were things he wasn't used to by now, and her privacy was one of them. Ariadne opened her eyes, swirling around to gaze at her employer. And there he was, staring at her with a relaxed look -- something she hadn't seen in a long time -- and a sincere smile, and she couldn't help but smile back and relent.

Ariadne shook her head, disbelieve taking the best of her, as she couldn't fathom the fact that she was about confess her name -- and there was nothing short of a gun pointing at her. "Ariadne Persephone Fowley." She shrugged her shoulder, her lips twitching up.

Kevin grinned from ear to ear. "Ariadne Persephone?" She nodded with a grimace. "I like it. It's..."

"It's anything but a nice name, let me tell you. And all of that, such a long and weird name, just because my mother loved Greek mythology." She snorted, shaking her head. She had never liked her name, to say the least.

"It's a nice name."

Another snort. "Yeah, right."

"I mean. You probably didn't have to worry about sharing your name in classroom."

"I would have very gladly taken a name like Mary to save myself from the jokes about my own."

"It's a nice name. Ariadne Persephone. Beautiful."

If Ariadne had ever wonder whether Kevin had lost his grip with reality or not, she was sure of it now. "Anyhow," she said, changing the way the conversation was heading, "you said you liked the autograph signing."

Kevin's face lit up once again, his eyes dancing and his nose wrinkling, a look that could very easily become him, and as she stared at him, her heart soared at such an innocent person in such a troubled world. His mind, childlike as it was at the moment, needed protection. And she wasn't sure if the guys and herself were the best for the job, for they, as many in this industry, had lost such their ingenuousness a long time ago.

"Yeah," Kevin admitted, holding the pillow even tighter, his eyes losing focus for a second. "I liked it. Those girls, they were so happy. They just wanted me to sign her photos and they were so happy." He paused for a second. "Do we always make people this happy?"

Ariadne nodded with a small smile. "Yes, you're great at that."

"That's good," Kevin said softly, his tone heralding contemplation and awesome. "I didn't know that."

She frowned for a second. "The guys didn't tell you that?"

The shake of Kevin's head was enough to answer her and she bit back the groan that threatened to leave her lips. She placed her agenda on the table as her hand moved to the bridge of her nose. Another thing those dorks had forgotten to tell Kevin. Great. What was next? The boy didn't know his birthday?

Merely that phrase seemed to speak volumes for her and she wondered if their stupidity knew no boundaries. "Do you know when your birthday is?"

Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes, please say yes....

While the words ran through her mind, Kevin thought about it for a moment then shook his head again.

This time, she did groan. Loud and clear. And a couple of not ladylike words left her mouth as the fingers of her right hand tightened into a fist while she promised to dismember their bodies in the nastiest way she could think of, probably making a mobster or two too jealous of her creativity.

It took her a couple of minutes to regain control over her anger, taking in deep breath, looking as if she were counting to ten but finding it too low a number.

"Well, I think I've got a couple of words to exchange with the boys, but that will be another time," she said to herself, her heart deciding that running the Grand Prix would be bad for her health, then sighed. "Your birthday is on October the third." Ariadne gave him a small smile, wondering what else he'd have to find out the hard way besides his name. "You're a Libra."

"Oh." He shrugged and it seemed like the information held very little importance to him at the moment. "When's yours?"

Ariadne laughed in frustration and she wondered what was this fascination of his with her personal information. "Is it really necessary?"

Kevin pondered her words for a second before shrugging. "Friends' know each other's birthday, don't they? You know mine, so I wanna know yours."

His logic was fairly certain, if it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't know Kevin thought about her as a friend. An employee, of course, but a friend? She had never been the kind to get too involved with her work, deciding that could only damage the employer/employee relationship. But in this case, it was hardly easy to stay unattached when you spend 24/7 with these kind young boys you can't help but think as your charges.

She was fond of them, she could admit that much, but there still was gab between them and her. She kept them at arm's length, believing it was not only the best for them, but for her as well. If she didn't put her feelings into her work, then she'd be more accurate in her decisions. Or so she thought.

And now, Kevin words had surprised her in a way she didn't even know she could be surprised.

"You're great at what you do, did you know that?"

She had nodded, gave the man a small smile then settled back to work.

Kevin had thought of her as a good employee, but he had never, ever, said anything about a friend.

They had never gotten that far, and for her, it had been more than all right. Even Kevin had seemed willing to place that space between work and personal live.

To this point, she wondered if that Kevin had known her birthday. He had never asked her, of that she was sure. Just like he had never asked her for her phone, but he knew it by heart -- it's one of your priorities when you work with someone that close. But knowing a phone number it's completely different than knowing a birthday. A phone number was a necessity, primary in the work place, but a date was a luxury.

Why would Kevin want to know her birthday? It was pointless. It wasn't like the Firm didn't send her a fruit basket every year, that was enough of a token to remind her she was getting older with every tick of the clock.

She knew the boys' birthday because it was a necessity. She would plan interviews around them, trying not to cop them up in such an occasion, opposite to her own. She barely even noticed, as the days would blur together, making a huge mass of appointments, interviews, photo shots and concerts. It was a miracle if she got a slice of cake in such day. It would mostly contain ice-cream, if she staid in a hotel over night, a phone call from a couple of her friends, another from her parents, and a nice hot bath.

So, for her, she hadn't been friends with Kevin, or the rest of the boys for that matter.

Then why had things changed? What had shifted so slightly that now she found herself in such a predicament?

Moreover when she turned around, her eyes going to Kevin expectant face, youthfulness in his eyes and a soft smile on his lips, she saw it plainly clear what had changed in such a manner. She saw it, just like she had seen it minutes ago.

Kevin was new at this. Naïve in ways he hadn't been in ages. He was an innocent child asking the birthday of one of his six friends so far.

Hence, she gave him that date. Because it was an innocent question from an innocent man. And she wasn't about to deny something so simple, so permissible from a child at heart young man.

"August the nineteen," she said with a smile. And with those words, with that plain fact of her life, with a date she wished no one could remember, for she didn't like it at all, she sealed a new friendship with an amazing man she found herself seeing from the first time, gazing at him like she gazed at the stars at night.

Subsequently Kevin grinned happily, a million new questions running through his mind now that he had been given this one, and as he was about to ask the next one, the door opened and he turned around, staring at the guys as they waltzed right in.

"Hello, hello," Nick said with a big grin on his lips, walking into the living room area and plopping himself down on the couch.

"Hey there." Brian took a chair and placed it close to the couch, sitting down.

Alex raised his arms, reaching for the ceiling as his knuckled popped up. "What ya say we call for dinner? It's getting late and I'm hungry."

Howie shrugged. "Sure." He turned his brown eyes over to Ariadne. "You wanna join us?"

The woman blinked her eyes a couple of times before her features changed into a scowling demeanor. The nerve of these boys.

She turned around, her eyes softening as she looked at Kevin. "Kevin, dear, why don't you go to my room? You can watch TV there for a little while. I'm sure you'll find something you like."

Kevin, slightly perplexed by the boys' actions and Ariadne's request, shifted his eyes from the young woman before him to the boys on his left.

A silent question was asked and Nick nodded. "Sure. We'll call you for dinner."

Kevin nodded, standing up and walking over to the door he knew led to the bedroom. Ariadne's room wasn't that much different from his own. Opening the door, he walked inside.

"Close the door after you, please."

Nodding at the woman, Kevin closed the door behind him.

"Something wrong?"

Ariadne took in three deep breaths, trying to find a source inside herself to be able to calm down and not just rip their tongues out their throats, which was her master plan at the moment. She didn't care what Brian thought about her for not answering his question.

"Yo, Ariadne, you ok?"

Ariadne snorted at Alex's stupid and pretty pointless statement.

Nick stood up from the couch, walking over to where the woman was standing and placed his hand on Ariadne's shoulder. "You can tell us, you know?"

Ariadne's head swirled to the side, looking up at the blond that was gazing down at her with such a patronizing face that it made her insides twist in anger. And in the spur of the moment, an action fueled by the adrenaline and worry she felt running through her veins, anger peaking like sharp spikes of seething hot metal, Ariadne twirled around, placed both her hands on his chest and roughly shoved Nick backwards.

The blond staggered back, catching his step just as his back was about to hit the wall. "What the hell?"

Ariadne glared at him and fumed so visibly, Nick shut up in a second, straightening up and waiting for her to explain.

"Ariad--"

But she shut Howie up with a swirl of her head and a glare. The man bit back the words, swallowed tightly and just waited.

"Arg!" She groaned, shaking her head at their stupidity. "Idiots! Do you know that? You're all a bunch of idiots!" She turned around and started pacing the room back and forth, her eyes squinting as she was seeing red at the moment. "I leave you all alone for three weeks to do one simple task and you don't even get to the middle of the same."

"Now Ariadne don't--"

"He didn't even know his birthday, did you know that?"

The guys stared at her, stunned at the coldness in her voice and at their own foolishness.

"We didn't--"

Except Alex didn't finish his sentence, Ariadne didn't let him, his voice muffled by her own, her pitch raised and fury so audible it made their eardrums hurt. "What would have happened if you hadn't been by Kevin's side, Nick? Huh? He would have made a fool of himself because he didn't even know his middle name!"

"That wouldn't have happened!"

"Oh, yeah, and how would you have stopped it?"

"Because I wouldn't leave him alone!" Nick took a step closer to the woman, yelling at her face, her eyes dilating and her face red with rage and he towered her.

"That's not enough, is it?"

She clenched her hands into fits, biting back the instinct of pushing him once again. What she wouldn't give for a couple of inches more when it came down to yelling at Nick. It totally put a cringe to her style being only 5"6'. She turned around, walked over to the table and held onto the edge of the same, her knuckled turning white, her groan dieing in her throat.

"I would make it enough."

His tone, the way the words left his lips, made Ariadne turned around and looked at him with a critical gaze. Nick seemed tired, exhausted, and with far too much responsibility upon his young shoulders. And, somehow, she could see a pained expression in those usual clear blue eyes that made her wonder if maybe she wasn't seeing things right.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the cobwebs that seemed to pry around the edges of her mind and make a sudden maneuver to try to subdue her own control. She could still feel her throat burning, her neck searing to the touch, but she yield it down, forced herself to regain her poise, her stance measured and decisive.

When she opened her mouth to speak, she wondered, for a brief second, if her anger would subside -- ever. "There are things we haven't accounted for."

Nick gave her a severe look, and she matched it, notch by notch. The subject was drop. Just as easily. With just a sentence from her part, they were to let it go; forget it was ever brought up. And he hated it. He hated the fact that he knew, in the very back of his mind, that he had failed. He had promised himself he would protect Kevin and in the first three seconds he could, he had let Kevin down.

I leave you all alone for three weeks to do one simple task...

Nick groaned inwardly, his hands clenched into fists and Ariadne gave the movement a sideways glance, but didn't comment onto it.

What would have happened if you hadn't been by his side?

He didn't want to think about that.

"What things?"

Ariadne turned around and went to pick up her agenda from the table, opening it to where the black ribbon marker laid, scanning the page. Her next moves were written there, but the main subject was carved into her mind. She sighed softly. "We forgot to think about his signature."

It only took a split of a second for recognition and understanding to fall into place and into the faces of the guys. They seemed just as stunned for their careless as she had been.

"God," Brian said, hanging his head down, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers going to his hair as his head rested on his palms. "I didn't..."

"I'll contact the necessary people and try to set it up for tomorrow, two days time tops."

"Set what?"

"The change of his signature," Ariadne told Howie, who only nodded at her answer.

Neither of them said a word for a moment, the seconds ticking by as they crystallized in the immensity of time.

With too many things in her mind, things to do and prep for, Ariadne broke the icy cold silence. "You should ask for dinner."

The sentence was structure in a sense of which she gave them an opening for them to leave if they wished to do so, or stay if they decided to do it. Either way, she wouldn't mind. Her words say it, as they had more than once, and Alex wondered for a brief second how could someone say so much in so few words.

"Yeah," Brian said, standing up and walking over to the counter, picking up the menu. He needed to do something with his hands, otherwise he'd feel he had too much time free in his hands while his reality just seemed to tangled into a more complicate life than he had ever expected it to be. "What do you want?"

She didn't need to be asked twice to know the question had been directed to her, even though she wished it hadn't. Alone, she could think. Alone, she could figure out how in the world she had screwed things up so bad when she was the one supposed to be on top of things.

"Chicken. Plain. And a Sprite."

Brian nodded, turned around and proceeded to look through the menu, anticipating what the rest of the guys would want. Howie turned on the TV, he, too, needing to do something and longing for sound in this consuming silence that threaten to devour them. Alex joined Howie on the couch, his eyes fixed onto the screen but seeing nothing, his mind going somewhere else.

Nick, for his part, walked over to the door and knocked on it. He only waited a moment before Kevin appeared on the other side, a question on his face.

"Dinner," Nick said softly, the corners of his lips twitching in half a smile, which, at the moment, was the best he could give anyone -- even Kevin.

The older man nodded, emerald gems shinning back at him from the prettiest setting Nick had ever laid eyes on. Only that subtle grin filled with glee, those thin pink lips turning up in a ghost of a smile, jade eyes dancing brightly, a small nose wrinkling up cutely, had this effect on him, making Nick feel like a jolt of electricity had run through him and he felt invigorated, and this time, when Nick smiled, he felt it reaching from his insides out.

His hand moved abruptly to Kevin's shoulder, breaching the short distance between them with a quick step and in a second, he stopped just as unexpectedly, his smile faltering for half a breath, his hand stiffening. But as quickly as he had changed demeanor, he relaxed, his smile softening and he stepped back, motioning for Kevin to walk into the living room area.

Kevin walked in, nodded at Nick, and made his way over to the TV, settling by Howie's side.

All through this, a soft pair of brown eyes hidden by dark glasses watched carefully and avidly the young blond, his happiness lessening, and his hand now held rigidly by his side, his eyes distant and unfocused.