Kevin nodded to himself as his eyes scanned the papers in front of him. There was so much to do, so much to make sure was right. He sighed softly, picking up the cup of coffee, taking a sip to calm his growing nerves.

He hadn't sleep right, and you could tell just by looking at his face. There was tiredness in his features and bags under his eyes. He knew it could be hidden by make up, but the guys would know the minute they saw him -- and that was something he wish he didn't have to relent.

Breakfast hadn't been in his room as usual, letting the guys sleep a little bit longer, knowing they have a morning show tomorrow and would have to be up at a very ungodly hour. But he was just delaying the inevitable. They did have an interview later that afternoon.

Kevin's eyes went over to Sarah's small figure at its own volition, gazing at her as she watched TV. There were things to be considered now. She was his. The thought in itself made a small smile make its way over to his lips. She was his. And he was going to make sure it stayed that way, his mother's words dying in his mind.

When Sarah turned back at him with a small frown on her pearl like face, Kevin chuckled. "You like that show?"

Sarah nodded slowly, picking up a cookie from the center table. He had ordered cookies with breakfast again. She seemed to be enjoying them.

Kevin smiled slowly, looking at her thoughtfully. He had changed her into a pair of soft fabric pants and a small sweater. She was looking lovely. He wondered if Allyson had gotten her what he asked her for. If she hadn't, the tomorrow, he would have to dress her in yesterday's clothes.

"We should get you some clothes, you know?"

He walked over her, sitting by her side. He was feeling much more comfortable with her now, barely even thinking twice before placing his arm along the back of the couch, barely touching her back. "I'd love to take you shopping, but it's a little bit more difficult for the guys and me than it was for your mother." He sighed. "I asked Allyson yesterday. I hope she had time to get you something."

Sarah thought about it, not really understanding why he couldn't just go to the mall and get her another pair of pants and another sweater, like her mother

used to do. But she believed him and shrugged.

He was going to say something else, to propose that maybe they should take a time off during the week and go just the two of them even though right now Allyson was the best way to go, when the door opened.

Kevin wasn't surprised, used to the guys coming and going like the room belonged to them, but Sarah lifted one small eyebrow.

"Good morning, darling Sarah," Nick said, going over to where both of them sat, plopping himself down on the armchair on Kevin's other side. He smiled at her, a package in his hands.

She barely tilted her head, gazed at him for a second, and then returned her attention to the TV.

Nick chuckled. "It's good to know the TV it's more interesting that I am." He was hoping for a reaction from her, but received nothing.

Kevin frowned as he looked at the blond. "Did you have breakfast?"

Nick rolled his eyes, glancing at Sarah. "Did you see that?" He waited for her to turn around and look at him. "That's the way he is. He won't say Good morning Nick, how are you doing. No. First thing in the morning it's Did you eat Nick? Did you pack Nick? Did you do the things I told you to do?"

Kevin glared at Nick. "I'm not like that."

Nick gave Kevin a murderous look. "You're not? Then why in the world did you just ask me?"

Kevin, being the clever man he was, decided to leave the conversation at that. Better withdraw while you're winning, he thought.

"Before I forget," said Nick, throwing Kevin the package he held in his hands. "Allyson gave me this for you."

Kevin eyes the package carefully, his eyes then moving to Nick. "Thanks."

"What is it?"

Chuckling, Kevin lifted an eyebrow. "And you didn't ask Allyson that?"

Nick pouted. "I asked her. She didn't say anything."

"It's nothing much," Kevin turned around, placing his arm along the back of the couch, almost on Sarah's shoulders. "This, I'm sure, are you clothes darling."

Sarah's eyes light up, and Kevin couldn't help but smile at her. Her happiness was his happiness, he realized.

"Clothes for Sarah? Why didn't you go shopping with her?"

"I can't." He paused. "Not yet."

Nick was about to say something else, to complain about Kevin's lack of enthusiasm, lack of adventure, when he tilted his head to the side as he looked at Kevin. Blue eyes scanned green ones, landing on every inch of Kevin's face when something seemed to click on Nick's mind.

"You look like... crap Kevin."

Kevin closed his eyes in an almost pained expression, sighing softly.

"What happened?"

Standing up in one swift movement, he started making his way towards the small, closed, kitchen area on the other side of the room. He looked at Nick sideways, his eyes landing on Sarah's concern features for a second, then spoke. "I'm gonna make some coffee, you want some?"

Taking the hint, Nick nodded. "Sure." He stood up and followed Kevin.

It wasn't until they reached the small kitchen area that Nick turned around and looked straight at Kevin.

"What happened Kevin? You look like you didn't sleep." Nick paused, staring at Kevin for a second. "No. Scratch that. You look like you've been up since the Millennium tour."

The older man had to sigh as the words left Nick's mouth. This was serious, he knew, but what he didn't know was that Nick found it as serious as to have to change his entire behavior. Kevin stayed silent, trying to think of the words to say, trying to find a way to explain everything that had happened the night before.

"Kevin," Nick asked slowly, seriousness all over his words and features, "what happened?"

Biting his lower lip, he could only say tell Nick about the phone call to his mother, the way she had reacted and how, during the night, he could still hear his mother's words in his mind. What he didn't say, where the things she asked him to do, decision she tried to force upon him.

Surprise, stagger and amazement filled his features as he stared at Kevin. "What-- How?"

Kevin shook his head with a small shrug. "I don't know. She kept saying..." his eyes moved to the closed kitchen door, imagining Sarah sitting on the couch, watching TV as she munched the chocolate cookies he had asked. "She said I shouldn't have done it. That I was taking risks. That..."

Her words still rang in his mind as he shook his head. "I don't know," he said instead, not wanting to even pronounce the words.

Nick sighed, leaning heavily against the cupboards behind him. "I can't believe it. I was sure she... wouldn't like it. I didn't know she'd... " He shrugged. "I didn't know she'd do that."

Kevin shrugged almost nonchalantly, saying truthfully, "I hadn't expected that either."

He had been sure his mother wouldn't like it, knowing her like he did, but the reaction he had gotten -- that was even worse.

"Why?" Nick asked after a moment. "Why did she-- Why did she say that?"

"She has always had a plan for the three of us. I haven't..." He shrugged. "I didn't fulfilled it, per say."

"I get that, but what does that has to do with Sarah. She doesn't know her, she could try to get and know her, she's..."

Kevin nodded, pausing, the sighing softly.

They stayed in silence, each one of them deep in their own thoughts. When deafness was threatening to consume, Nick finally spoke up.

"There's still something to talk about."

Kevin nodded."

"When are you gonna tell the media?"

"I'm still not sure."

"You have to make up your mind soon. We've got an interview today--"

"I know that."

Nick continued like he hadn't been interrupted. "If you want to tell the public, then what better way to do it than in a interview."

Kevin nodded at Nick's words. He had been thinking almost the same thing just a while ago.

"There's always a press conference," Nick suggested.

Kevin shook his head. "No. Too... public. Too much of a deal."

"You have a little girl under your custody, of course it's a big deal."

Kevin tilted his head, giving Nick a hard look. "You know what I mean."

"You're running out of time."

Sighing, Kevin leaned against the small kitchen island. "This just isn't easy, alright?"

"I know that."

Kevin laughed ironically, Nick almost flinching at the sound. "No, you don't. It was easy to choose whether to keep her or not, but it's not as easy to tell the public."

Nick's blue eyes cleared suddenly, weird twinkle in them. Kevin knew that look by heart. He had seen it enough time as to recognize it with very -- almost none -- effort at all.

"Nick--"

But Kevin's warning seemed only to fuel Nick's decision. "You could always go for the easy way."

Kevin frowned as Nick's grin reached his lips.

*****

Her hand making some writings on her small notepad, Janet smiled at the boys. This wasn't her first interview with them. Actually, she was quite used to being send to head the question. In the five years she had been working for Rolling Stones, she had been send after the Backstreet Boys three of them.

Brian finished his comment, giving her a grin.

"Thanks Bri," she said, extending her hand, picking up her bottle of water that was standing in the middle of the table.

Nick said something to Alex, who chuckled at it. The older of the two reached inside his jacket, pulling out his Zippo as he got a cigarette seemingly out of nowhere. He lit it in one movement of his wrist, the flame extinguishing before she could even see it.

She liked this kind of interviews the best. Relaxing, just the five of them and her in Kevin's suite, talking to each other, talking to her, asking question back as she tried to get them to say something about their personal lives.

The atmosphere was confident enough for Alex to smoke. She was actually itching for a puff herself, being a smoker ever since college -- she still believed one couldn't get through school in one piece unless you have a habit.

However, Magazine policy requested of her the utmost respect for her interviewers -- which she had -- and forbid her to smoke. She half understood this aspect of her work, but that didn't mean she couldn't wish for one.

"There are just a few things before we wrap this up," she said, keeping the bottle in her hand, wanting to do something with them before she asked Alex for a puff.

"I knew it. Personal questions are coming."

Janet laughed at Nick's straightforwardness. Their private life, which was rarely ever private, was something ever present in any interview.

"Sorry Nick, but you know how it is."

The blond only smiled her. That was the smile that made teenagers go weak on the knees. The effect wasn't entirely lost in her, as she would die before being immune to that kind of look, but in her case, she only smiled back.

"Well, in my case, I don't have anything to say," Brian said, crossing his arms behind his head as he rested it against the back of the couch.

"That's right," Janet said, looking at him from across the center table of the wide living room area. "So, lets get this over with. Nick?"

The blond chuckled loudly. "Like I've got the time to meet someone."

"Maybe someone under wraps?"

He snorted. "Janet, I don't have time to sleep, where do you want me to find time to have a secret affair?"

The woman shrugged her slim shoulders as she gave him a smile. She pushed a lock of her shoulder length hair back behind her ear before answering. "I don't know. I heard somewhere that you were seen out at a party with a new girl."

Nick seemed to think about her words, before finding the time and place she was referring to. "Oh, that! She's a friend of Leigh's. It was her party -- but I'm sure you know that already. She asked me to dance with her." He leaned over the edge of the couch in sudden thought. "But don't write that! Leigh will kill me if she read it."

Brian snorted, grinning evilly. "She sure will."

"Janet won't print that, will you Janet?"

Except Brian didn't wait long enough for the woman to answer. "She doesn't need to. I'm telling Leigh, and Cassie for that matter, what you said."

"You wouldn't."

"Sure I would."

"Then I'm telling Leigh her last Christmas present wasn't a product of your thoughtfulness and your attention to her words, but that you called Cassie for advice."

Blue eyes widened at the thought, then squinted. "You wouldn't dare."

Nick only grinned at his older friend, his eyes telling a different story. "I'm not the one who will end up sleeping in the couch, now, am I?"

Brian sighed after a moment, shaking his head. "Next time, I'm not talking to you."

Nick shrugged. "It's not my fault you didn't have a clue what to get her."

"I told you because I needed your help!"

"And I helped you! It was my idea to call Cassie."

Janet lifted her hands, laughing as she did so. Watching Nick and Brian interact had always been the fun part of the interview. "Boys, boys, please, don't get into a fight in here if I can't print it." She winked at Brian. "Don't worry darling, your secret it's safe with me." She turned towards Nick, and stopped the blush going to her cheeks just in time. There had to be a law against being so gorgeous. "And about you, I won't print that either."

Nick sighed in relief, wiping his forehead from imaginary sweat just for dramatic purposes. "Thanks, just say that she's a friend of mine and we were just dancing. Period."

Janet nodded. "I can do that." She paused, gathering her line of thought. "Kevin, you?"

Kevin lifted his piercing green eyes at her for the first time in quite a while. Janet couldn't help but breath in slowly. No matter how many times she interviewed them, his eyes always baffled her. She had to say, he had the most stunning, piercing, mesmerizing eyes she had ever seen -- and she had been up close and personal with many stars.

"Me?" He asked innocently.

Janet nodded. His voice was sweet as hell. Slow and gentle, just like she liked.

Kevin shrugged, a smile on his lips. "I can't say I'm seeing anyone now."

Janet tilted her head to the side, trying to see behind those amazing emerald eyes. "You sure? No news at all? I can't believe no woman is after you at the moment."

Kevin didn't say anything, shrugging as he looked away over to the window.

"Hey!"

Janet turned to look at Nick, a frown on his face.

"How come you didn't say that I can't believe there's no one after you to me?"

Alex, who had long ago finished his cigarette, snorted. "Please, she knows no one is ever interested in you."

Nick was going to answer that when Kevin only looked Nick, the blond settling on his seat.

This was something else that seemed to make this group special among many others of the same specie. They were tight. She had to admit that she had never seen a group of boys as close as they were. There was camaraderie there, a friendship, that couldn't be pretended -- it was heartfelt.

They knew what buttons to push and when to keep quite. They knew that there were things more important than money or fame. And they knew when to listen to each other. Like just now, when Kevin only looked at Nick, like silently saying don't get into a fight for nothing at all and Nick seemed to understand that statement, realizing that the older man was right. It was enough for the two of them, as it had been for the rest of the group on more than one occasion.

She was about to ask again, try to probe a little bit deeper, knowing Kevin was probably going to make a cute comment she would love to write in her article, even if it didn't say much about his love life, when the door leading to the bedroom opened.

In a split of a second, she frowned, wondering who could be, since all five members were already sitting in front of her.

It didn't take long for her answer to present itself. Little feet clad only in socks walked out the bedroom and into the living room, pointedly right towards Kevin.

A little girl walked securely and confidently over to the older man man's waiting opened arms as Kevin picked her up with an ease that surprised her almost as much as the apparition of the girl itself.

"Sarah," Kevin murmured as he placed her on one knee, the girl sitting comfortably there, as it was the most natural thing in the world.

Seeming tired, the girl leaned her head against Kevin's chest, snuggling in between his arms. Kevin placed his head on top of hers, only tilting it to give her a small kiss.

Janet gasped, the bottle of water almost falling from her fingers at her surprise.

She blinked a couple of times, her hands going over to the bottle, fumbling with the cap as she tried to uncapped it. It took her a moment to accomplish it, drinking half of it in one gulp.

Kevin smiled at her when he lifted his face from the girl's hair. "Maybe I was wrong after all. There is something new."

"I can see that," she found herself saying, shutting up before Kevin lost his willing to talk with her. She had to let them talk, she knew that, she was just too astonish to follow the rules at the moment.

Kevin placed his arm securely around the girl as she let her head fall back against his neck, almost looking up at him from her position on his lap. He smiled at her, and identical green eyes seemed to smile back, even though the girl didn't show it in her face.

"Janet, I want you to meet Sarah." Kevin's smile only broadened. "Sarah, this is Janet. She's a friend of the guys, and mine."

Sarah tilted her head, her eyes locking with Janet for a second, and Janet didn't need another one to see the similarity in the eyes, the hair, even the expression. Sarah didn't say anything, just turned back to Kevin's chest and snuggled up even closer.

Kevin laughed and it rumbled in his chest, Sarah moving according to his laughter. "She's kinda shy with strangers."

She would have said that she wasn't, that she liked talking -- actually loved talking and would usually find herself being silenced by her mother's stern look -- but decided against it. Sarah only buurrowed her face deeper into the softness of Kevin thick sweater against her cheek. She liked feeling this safe in his arms.

Janet did a double take, her eyes going over to Sarah, who was still lying against his chest, then back at Kevin. "Is she yours?"

Kevin nodded. "Yep. My girl." He tightened his hold on her to prove his point.

"You have a daughter?" Janet wanted to get things straight, in case she printed that and then found herself in the middle of a lawsuit for defamation.

He nodded again. "Yes. She came to live with me only two days ago."

Janet frowned. "She's your biological daughter?"

Kevin would have loved to say yes, to acknowledge her as such, but he knew he couldn't do it. He knew that, had it been his, he would have been with Sarah every second of her life. And he couldn't do that to Lizzie either. "No. She's not mine in that sense, but in every other way."

"Excuse me, Kevin," she said, leaning towards the edge of her seat. "You've adopted her?"

Kevin sighed. Having thought his answer before he even agreed to do this didn't help the matter much. "No. Her mother and I, we were best friends since school. A couple of months ago, she got sick. We decided Sarah would stay with me."

"Her mother--?"

Kevin nodded, and Janet caught the meaning, not wanting to say the words in front of Sarah. "She's mine now. I'm her guardian and therefore, completely responsible for her."

Janet sighed, leaning against the back of her seat. She looked around the room, the other four staring back at her expectantly with a look mixed between seriousness and assurance. They all stood behind Kevin on this, that she could see.

Her eyes stayed on Alex for a second, an unlit cigarette in his hand. He kept fumbling with his Zippo, making round movements with it in between his middle finger and thumb.

"If you're not going to smoke that one, can I have it?"

Alex smiled at her as the words left her mouth. It was a wicked smile she knew by heart, having seen it in more pictures than she could remember, and it made her feel like she was just hanging out with friends.

"Sorry babe, no can do. Can't smoke with Sarah in the room. Group's policy."

Janet's eyes once again moved over to the little girl sitting on Kevin's lap. Her name was Sarah, her face burred in Kevin's chest -- and what a cherubic face at that. Janet didn't think she would forget Sarah's face for a long time to come, specially predicting the fact that that very same face was going to be part of millions of pictures that would fill inboxes all over the world.

Kevin's daughter. A little girl now part of the Backstreet Boys. The first Backstreet Baby. She could see the headlines as clear as the she could see the boys sitting before her.

And she had the exclusive.

"Why me?" Janet found herself asking, her eyes staring right at Kevin.

Kevin understood the question. He placed a protective arm around Sarah's shoulders, her breath tickling his throat where it met his clavicle.

"I know you. I know the way you write. I know you wouldn't abuse this information. I know you will write a good, accurate and tactile article." He paused. "You've done great pieces on us for the past three years. I know I can trust you."

"It doesn't have to do with the fact that you had an interview with me today?" She didn't know why she was asking this, especially since she had a story in her grasp.

Kevin shook his head. "She's been with me for two days already and people don't know yet. If I had wanted someone else to have this, I could have kept it quiet until then. But I didn't want anyone else. I wanted you first."

Janet nodded, feeling herself honored at having Kevin's trust. She knew how much their privacy meant to them, and if Kevin believed in her integrity enough as not to squeeze the juices of this very particular story, then she would do her best to live up to that trust.

"Thanks," was all she could think of saying.

Kevin nodded. "Thank you."

Taking a deep breath, Janet closed her eyes slowly. When she opened them she realized that Sarah was looking right at her before the little girl lowered her head back onto Kevin's chest. Janet let out the breath she didn't even know she had been holding.

"You have a beautiful little girl Kevin," she found herself saying.

Kevin smiled, a very private smile she had never seen him wear. It seemed that his smile had changed in the last couple of days. Maybe it had to do with newfound parenthood.

Changing the tape inside her small but ever so confident tape recorder, Janet slid over to the edge of her seat, her eyes wide as she looked at Kevin. "Now Kevin, tell me the story."