"I'm gonna get something to drink. You?" Nick said as he walked over to the kitchen.

Kevin only nodded. "A coke." Running his fingers through his short spiky hair, Kevin gave in to his instinct to sigh. He couldn't do much now.

"I called the guys," Nick said, coming out of the kitchen with two cokes in hand. He gave Kevin one, opening the other. "Just like you asked me to. They'd be here in..." he checked his watch, "half an hour or so."

Taking a sip of his coke, Kevin nodded. "I gotta tell them right away."

Nick could only agree. He had no idea how Kevin would manage that but if there was someone who could do it, it was Kevin.

Kevin frowned for a second, remembering they weren't alone in the room -- not that he could forget that for long. He turned around, his eyes squinting slightly when he saw Sarah still standing in the middle of the adjoined living room/dinning room. She hadn't moved since she arrived. Kevin took a couple of steps towards the little girl, placed the coke by the table, smiling softly at her. "Why don't you go the living room?" Kevin said lowly, reminding him of the way he used to talk to Nick when the boy was scared. "You can watch cartoons."

Sarah looked up, tilting her head to the side. She, then, turned around and walked toward the couch. She took a seat, placing her backpack by her side.

Kevin picked up the remote from one of the corner tables, turning the TV on. He zapped for a moment, trying to remember the number for Cartoon Network.

"Twenty three," Nick said with a smile.

Kevin grinned, nodding at his help. "Thanks." He pressed the button, a scene from Pokemon coming to life in the 27" TV. He didn't know if she liked that show, or would rather see something else, but he didn't see her displeasure either. He sighed. This was going to be harder than he had thought -- even though he really hadn't had much to think about it. He had decided more on instinct that anything else. He had been running on gut feelings so far.

He placed the remote close to her, in case she wanted to change channels. Something in the back of his mind told him that she probably wouldn't change it, even if she hated the show.

This was not going well, Kevin couldn't help but think.

Giving Sarah one last glance, Kevin turned around, jerking his head on the direction of the kitchen.

Nick seemed to get the idea, walking over there, taking a seat by the kitchen island. "Is she alright?"

Kevin sighed, long and slow, picking up his coke and taking a large gulp. After a moment of thought, Kevin only nodded. He, too, settled on a chair across from Nick, his back to the living room and turned slightly to his side, keeping a watchful eye on Sarah. She seemed to be caught by the cartoons, but he couldn't be sure. "I really don't know," he said softly, if it was either because he didn't want to be overheard by Sarah or a different reason altogether, Nick didn't know.

"She seems nice."

Kevin nodded again. "She is, or at least I think she is. I haven't really had much time to get to know her." Kevin closed his eyes tightly, stress all over his features. "She won't talk with me and I have no idea how to reach her."

"You'll come up with something," Nick stated with a soft smile.

Kevin opened his eyes, staring right into Nick. The corner of his lip quivered and Nick was surprised at the amount of emotion he could see in Kevin's eyes. "And what if I don't?"

Nick didn't say anything; he couldn't dare to, afraid of the same thing. The only thing he could risked to do was giving the older man a small smile.

They fell into comfortable silence, Kevin's eyes going from Nick's face over to Sarah's small profile, staying there for a moment. The only sound in the room was Ash's chuckles and Pikachu's particular language.

*****

Kevin only sighed softly, looking at the guys before him.

They had arrived not even ten minutes ago, all three of them asking them same silent question about the little girl sitting in Kevin's living room.

It had taken Kevin a full minute before he could explain properly. And now, they just sat there around the small kitchen island, surprised.

Kevin sighed again. His gaze moved over to the living room, where Sarah still sat watching cartoons. He was sitting with her right in his line of sight. She had barely acknowledged them when the guys first come in. He had done his best to introduce her to them without actually asking her to come and greet them, and all she had done was look at them, then stared back at the TV. Every time he looked at her, all he felt was that he wasn't reaching her properly. Lizzie would have hated him.

"How?" Howie was the first to speak, clearing his throat. "How did you decide?" He picked up the glass of water Nick had poured all of them while waiting for the information to process.

His eyes falling to his folded hands on top of the counter, Kevin didn't really know what to tell them. "I don't really know," he said softly, his eyes drifting once again to Sarah. She barely tilted to the side, placing her hands on the couch as she pushed herself deeper on the sofa. "She was there, sitting alone." Kevin turned around and looked at his four friends. Nick gave him an encouraging smile. "How could I leave her?"

Brian nodded, understanding Kevin fully. He, too, turned around to see her. He could see Elizabeth in her: the shape of her eyes, black hair pouring onto her shoulders and that perfect little nose. It was all Elizabeth's.

"She's very pretty," Brian said out of the blue.

Kevin nodded, chuckling slightly at the comment. "Yeah. She got that from Elizabeth, I'm sure."

"What did you say her name was?"

Kevin turned to look at Howie. "Sarah. Sarah Grayson."

"Sarah is a lovely name," Alex said after a moment. He took a sip of the water, rubbing his left eyebrow. "What I don't really understand is why she isn't speaking?"

Kevin sighed softly. He hated having to talk about this. "The woman in the center said it was a result of the trauma of her mother's death. She said Sarah will start talking when she feels comfortable, even though I'm not sure how much we can trust that woman."

"She could see a specialist. That should give you some hindsight in her condition," Howie added as an afterthought.

But Kevin shook his head. "I'd rather not. I wanna give her some time, see if she actually opens up. If nothing changes in... say a month, then I'm taking to a psychiatric myself."

"It's not going to be easy," Brian said, feeling rather lousy by stating the obvious and something, he was sure, Kevin didn't want to talk about.

Kevin nodded sadly. "I know. It'll be hard on her too." He had thought about it. And even now, with her with him, he wondered if he had done the right thing. If it got to be too hard on her, he would never know unless she complained. He wasn't sure she would, not to him at least. "I just hope I can protect her."

"We all can," Alex said, looking right at Kevin. Green eyes met brown, a devious twinkle on them. Alex grinned.

Kevin smiled back. There was more meaning in those three words than in a million. And he understood them completely.

"Management will have a field day," Brian added after a moment, angry at the prospect of having to explain to them why Kevin had done what he had done.

Howie nodded. "They'll ask question and complain. And say she should stay with your mother."

Kevin shook his head sternly, sure of his choice. "They have no power over my life," his eyes drifted to Sarah for just a second, "or Sarah's. I choose. Not them. And she's staying with me all through the tour."

"Are you sure?" Howie asked with a soft smile, making sure Kevin understood it was only a question.

"Yes. I took her with the decision not to leave her. She'll stay with me."

"That's good," Alex said, leaning heavily against his chair, placing his hand over the back of the hair and resting his hand on top. "If they say something, we'll fight them."

Brian nodded. "It's us against them. They don't win when it's us against them."

"Besides," Alex said with a smirk, "she looks like a lot of fun once you get to know her."

"We can teach her to play Nintendo," Brian said with a grin.

Nick nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. And she'll beat you in no time."

"You wish! I'm sure she'll kick your ass," Brian said, gasping slightly as he placed his hand over his mouth, just realizing what he had said.

Kevin chuckled slightly. He didn't need to tell them not to curse with Sarah around.

"Sorry," Brian said with a grimace.

"It's alright." Kevin looked around at the table. "We'll just have to make some adjustments," Kevin said softly, letting the under meaning slid off naturally. If either of the guys had a complaint, they had open table to voice them.

But all of them nodded, smiling. And Kevin grinned as well.

"It'll be easy," Alex added. "Besides, a kid it's always a lot of fun."

Kevin frowned slightly. "You weren't."

Alex lifted his hand to give Kevin the finger, but stopped himself with hand in mid hair. He thought about it for a second, his palm in a fist, and only let free his index finger.

Kevin laughed at AJ's antics, and his initiative for changing just a blunt courser over one... milder.

"I was fun!" Nick said changing subjects, complaining as he pouted.

Kevin pretended to think about it for a moment before Nick slapped him on the shoulder.

"I was!"

"Depending on the day."

"No, I was fun all the time."

"Fun, I'm not sure. A handful, always."

Nick sunk lower on his seat, pouting as he crossed his arms on his chest.