As Nick stood by the newspaper stand waiting for Kevin to come, he bought a newspaper from there and started to flip through it.

Nick never had the habit of reading newspaper. It was only two years ago, under the influence of Kevin that he started to really read them as a daily chore. He never find reading newspaper any interesting but after Kevin pinpoint out all the advantages and interesting parts, he got hooked on immediately. And of course, the comics-loving Nick would always turn to the comic's section first before the others.

...

Kevin kept glancing at his watch as he walked quickly to the newspaper stand, knowing that he was already late. He was never late for anything and cursed himself for having to be late when meeting up with Nick. When he caught sight of Nick, he knew that Nick's thought was buried deep into the comics in the newspaper that he was reading. Seeing that Nick was so engrossed in the comics, Kevin figured that he would definitely jump if his voice just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He let out a snigger and decided to make his presence known.

Kevin quietly went up and stood behind him. "Pretty funny, huh?"

"Yup..." Nick answered back in a normal tone and Kevin raised his eyebrows.

"You know I'm behind you?" Kevin asked as Nick turned and faced him.

"Kev, besides the five senses that I've got, I have another and that is Boo-Detect sense."

Kevin was amused by Nick and laughed. "Maybe we should one day publish an 'Nick Carter's Sniglets'."

"What's that?"

"A book with any words created by Nick Carter that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should."

Nick burst out laughing and folded up the newspaper before he put it into his backpack. "I was already planning that for a long time!"

"So where are we going?" Nick asked as they continued to walk to the parking lot.

"I thought you love surprises? Well, you just gonna wait till we get there."

Nick pouted his mouth. "Alright and you'd better make sure that surprise is worth my curiosity!"

"It will and it's going to be really worth it." Kevin said and winked at him as they went into Kevin's jeep and sped off to the destination.

...

When Kevin's jeep came to a final halt, Nick looked up from his newspaper to his new surrounding. He was surprised to find that it was a children's home that they were going. Nick would have thought that Kevin might be bringing him to some special places but this was probably the only place that never crossed his mind.

Kevin looked at Nick and he smiled. "Okay, we are here."

"Children's home? Cool, I never knew you would bring me here. Any special reasons?" Nick asked.

Kevin smirked. "You'll find out in a while."

Nick quickly unclasped the safety belt and opened the door, literally jumping out of the jeep. "Hurry, Boo! I can't wait!"

Kevin chuckled. "You seem like those children more then your age."

Nick pouted and replied, "Whatever... I'm a child at heart, you know?"

'That's why I love you.' Kevin thought as he got out of his jeep.

As they walked into the children's home, a fresh aroma of food surrounded the whole place and greeted their nose. Kevin knew that it was time for lunch for the children and so they should be in the canteen. Nick followed Kevin into the canteen and not even one soul was in sight.

And just when Kevin was about to freak out, a lady came into the canteen and greeted the guys.

"Hi, Kevin! And this is Nick, your band mate, am I right?" The lady asked, smiling sweetly at Nick.

Nick smiled back and put out his hand, "Yup."

"Nick, this is Miss Anderson and she is the head of this children's home." Kevin introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Anderson." Nick said as Miss Anderson shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Nick."

"Well, I look into the security camera when I was at my office and was surprised to see the both of you." Miss Anderson smiled and continued, "And both of you are here to see Ilyssa and Scott, right? They are both in the field behind this canteen along with the others having 'lunch and story time'."

"Thanks, Miss Anderson. I was wondering where had the kids gone... I'd see you around. I got to go see the kids." Kevin smiled.

"All right." she replied and went back to her office.

...

Nick could not help but feeling even more curious. Who are Ilyssa and Scott? He wanted to ask Kevin but he knew that it was a surprise and it would be no more a surprise if Kevin would to say it now.

Kevin looked at Nick and smiled as they arrived at the field. "Nicky, saw that two kids, the boy wearing a white shirt with a blue cap and the girl wearing a pink dress sitting together at the far right corner?"

Nick's eyes search the right side and he found them. They were happily munching away from their lunchbox as they listen to a young lady telling them stories. The little girl looked rather familiar and he suddenly remembered that he had seen a photo of both Kevin and her at Kevin's house.


'They look like father and daughter. If someone tells me that she is really Kevin's child, I would be taken in for sure.' Nick thought.

"What are you thinking?" Kevin asked.

Nick smiled, "Just remember I had seen a photo at your house taken with that girl."

"Ilyssa is her name. And the other is Scott."

Nick could not hold back his curiosity no more and decided to ask him. "Boo, you know them?"

"They are my children, Nick."

A look of pure amazement wash over Nick's face. "Wow. You have kids?"

He knew Kevin loved children and recalled that he joked about adopting his own children on some occasions. They thought he was really kidding because it would not be possible due to their ever so hectic schedule. Unless he's married, the thought of Kevin having children would probably never cross their mind.

Kevin smiled and gave him a sweet look. "No... They are not my own blood. I adopted them."

Nick shrugged. "I know," he said briskly. "But why the decision to adopt them?"


"You know I love children, Nick. That's why I adopted them. The both of them caught my attention when I came here with Kristin a year ago and I love them so much. A month before our Millennium tour, I came back here to request for adoption and so they are now legally my children even though they had to stay here. I can't bring them on tour and would be too busy to take care of them."

Kevin paused for a while, looking at his children sadly and continued, "I wish I can bring them along and let the whole world know about them but I don't want those reporters come harassing them. And so, all along no one knows of this secret. Not even Kristin. But two months ago, two more persons found out about this secret."

"Who?" Nick asked.

"Faith and her friend, Dominique. It's that young lady who is telling the children stories right now." Kevin said and looked over to the blond-haired girl sitting on a stool.

"Faith? She knows?"

He could not quite figure out. Faith was one of his best female friends and he had always been so sure that she will tell him everything. Maybe she had finally understood that secrets told to you are meant to be kept and not to be spread. His mind turned a playful cartwheel for her while making a mental note to congratulate her on it.

Kevin nodded his head. "Dominique came here to work as a teacher and she happens to be Faith's friend. I don't know about it until I have a small chat with her. Faith then came to know about my adoption of the two kids but I told them to keep it as a secret."

"That's cool... Talk about what a small world this is."

Kevin smiled at him and then looked over to the field. Dominique greeted him with a smile and then motioned Ilyssa and Scott to look over to Kevin's direction. Huge smiles spread across both of their faces when they saw Kevin and they turn to look at Dominique, who slightly nodded her head. Both of them jumped up, leaving their lunchbox behind and run to their beloved father.

"Daddyyyyyyy!" Ilyssa squeaked in her loudest voice as Scott jumped into Kevin's hug. Kevin put Scott down and hugged Ilyssa.

"Miss daddy?" Ilyssa nodded her head, her chin hitting softly against his shoulder. She looked up and saw an unfamiliar face standing behind her daddy.

"Daddy, who is he?" she asked. Kevin put her down and put his hand out to Nick, taking his hand into his.

"This is Nick, your daddy's-" Nick moved nearer to his ears and whispered, "Don't tell them now, they are still too young to understand."

Nick saw a little sadness in Kevin's eyes. He smiled at Kevin and slightly shaked his head. Kevin let out a sigh and turned to the kids. "He is daddy's best friend and you can call him Nicky!"

Nick raised an eyebrow at him and Kevin threw a cheeky smile back at him. Nick then went over to Ilyssa, carrying her up and sat her on his arms. "How old are you, Ilyssa?"

"Five! One, two, three, four, five!" she said, putting out her small hand and close down each of her little finger as she count.

Nick liked her already. She was so adorable and resembled so much like Kevin. Her big brown eyes, long fluttering eye-lashes and long dark brown hair already make her looked like a small beauty queen. He was so sure that Kevin must be very proud of her. He looked over to Scott, who was standing there looking at him. Then, he put Ilyssa down and went over to him.

"So, Scott, how old is you?"

"I'm six," he said proudly, putting on a huge smile.

"Kevin-" Nick started, "You named him Scott, am I right?"

Kevin looked at him, amazed at that question which Nick had just asked. He nodded his head and laughed. "You must have gotten some inside information. I named him by my middle name. He is called Daniel before. And I named Ilyssa too. Her name used to be Scarlett."

Nick laughed and shook his head, "I don't need inside information, Kev. That name just gives it away. And Scarlett is a nice name, why change to Ilyssa instead?" he asked.

"Nick, do you remember my nine years old niece who passed away a year ago?"

Nick thought for a while and looked at him. "Ilyssa? Oh, you named her after your niece?"

Kevin smiled at him and nodded. "She's my favorite niece and it is really sad that she had to leave us at such a young age. 'Scarlett' reminded me of her and so I decide to name her 'Ilyssa'."

He looked down at his watch and it read 1:45pm. "Ilys, Scott, do you want daddy to bring the both of you out today?" Both of them started to squeak with excitement and he laughed.

"You're bringing them out?" Nick asked.

Kevin turned to face Nick. "Yup. I have planned for us to go out today-" he moved closer to him and whispered into his ears, "So that you can get to know them better and let them get used to you."

Nick was really surprised at all the things that Kevin had done this past few days. He could not believe how deep the love Kevin has for him and he was really touched. Kevin was slowly revealing all his secrets and sacrificing most of his precious things just for him. What did he do to deserve him?

'Even if I had a choice to choose between him and someone else, it will always be him. Always and forever.' he thought.

"Nick, come on! Let's go to Miss Anderson's office. I need to let her know that I am taking the kids out."

"Okay!" Nick said and took Scott by his hand and Kevin took Ilyssa's as they walk to the office.

...

Kevin knocked on the door and came into the office alone, while Nick stood outside looking after Scott and Ilyssa.

"Yes, come in."

"Miss Anderson, I am taking the both of them out today. We need to spend some time together and it's been a long time since we last did that."

Miss Anderson looked at him and nodded her head, "Well, I'm glad that you are able to take them out. The kids really missed you and I hope that all of you will have a wonderful time."

"I know... I haven't been doing my duty as a father and I am feeling very bad. Now that the tour is over, I could spend some quality time with them."

"Do you want to take the both of them home for a few weeks or so?"

Kevin looked at Miss Anderson, the expression of his face turning very excited at the thought. "I could bring them home?"

Miss Anderson laughed. "Of course, Kevin! They are your children legally."

He smacked himself on his head and laughed, "Oh, you're right."

"You can come down tomorrow to sign the relevant documents before bringing them home."

"Thanks, Miss Anderson." he looked up at the clock on her office wall, "I'll be here tomorrow at 10 am. But I have an interview to do tomorrow afternoon... Maybe I'll come and bring them back the day after. I have some shopping to do for the kids."

"Alright then. Now you and the kids go enjoy yourself!" She suddenly remembered that there was another guy, "Oh, and I suppose your friend, Nick is going too, right? Hope all of you have fun."

Kevin smiled and thanked Miss Anderson once again before leaving the office, with Miss Anderson bidding them goodbye as they walked out of the children's home.