When Kevin had finished packing Ilyssa and Scott's backpacks, the doorbell let out a soft music, a jingling rhythm to the tune of 'Back To Your Heart', a song that he had written and which he was proud of. As a perfectionist, he wanted everything to be perfect. Even the doorbell.

Nick was in the living room playing Nintendo when the doorbell rang. He quickly tossed the controller over onto the couch and jumped to his feet. When he opened the door, a cheerful Dominique greeted him. "Hi! You're Nick, right?"

"You betcha! Come on in. I'll go and get Kevin and the kids," Nick said and let Dominique enter the house.

On the way to the kid's room, Nick stepped on a toy car and let out a painful shriek.

Kevin heard him and quickly came out of the room. He saw Nick leaning against the wall, his hand smoothing his right foot. "Nick, you're okay?" he asked in a concerned voice and helped him back to the living room.

Dominique had a quizzical look on her face as Kevin helped Nick over to the couch. "What's wrong?"

"He stepped on a toy car just now. Scott must have left that toy lying around," Kevin answered and turned back to Nick. "You just sit here and don't move," he told Nick and went away again.

Dominique noticed how the tone in Kevin's voice changed when he was talking to Nick. And the look in his eyes. She smiled a little at the realisation.

"Sister Domini!"

Dominique looked over and saw Ilyssa and Scott running towards her. Both of them were ecstatic to see her. She gave the two kids a big hug and received a kiss from both of them in return.

Kevin took their backpacks and handed them to her. He smiled while shaking his head. "It's only for the day and the kids already missed you so much," he said.

"Well, I missed them too," she replied with a smile. "So, when am I supposed to bring them home?"

"I think the meeting should end around 4pm. Could you please bring them home before five?" he asked as he walked her over to the door.

"That wouldn't be a problem at all, Kevin." Dominique smiled politely.

"Once again, thank you so much for offering your help. I wouldn't know what to do if my friends were to see little kids running in this house and to know that they were my children," Kevin said.

"No problem at all. But I do think you should try to let them know as soon as possible. These kind of matters doesn't go underground for long. It's better to tell them than to let them find out by themselves," she advised. 'If he ever knew what I was hinting at,' she thought.

Kevin smiled friendly. "I know. Thanks for the advice," he said.

Ilyssa and Scott ran over to Nick for a goodbye kiss before setting off with Dominique.

Dominique was amazed by how Nick treated them and how they had grown to be so fond of and attached to him in such a short period of time. 'These guys just have their way with children,' she thought.

"Nicky, sorry about that toy car," Scott apologized.

Nick smiled and ruffled his hair, making the boy smile too. "It's alright. Just remember to put your toys away after you are done playing with them," Nick said.

Scott nodded as his head as a promise.

"The two of you behave yourself when you're out with Dominique, okay?" Nick instructed. Both of them promised and Nick gave them a hug each before they dashed for the door.

...

Howie's vision jumped from AJ to Nick, and back to Kevin. He looked down at the schedule file that he was holding and scrunched his face. "Good lord... Kev, you're really planning AHEAD of time! We still have almost a year to go before our next album will be due..."

"It's never too early to plan things, dude." AJ argued.

Shaking his head, Howie stared blankly at AJ.

Popping a peanut into his mouth, AJ laughed. "Don't worry, Howie! I haven't turned into the next Kevin!"

Both AJ and Howie laughed and Kevin rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong if you're like me? Is it because I'm homosexual?" Kevin said. He wanted to hit himself a second later because he knew that his choice of words was not right when both AJ and Howie stopped laughing.

Nick put his own schedule file down on the table and frowned. "Kev, you know AJ didn't mean it that way."

Kevin shrugged and apologized to AJ. "Sorry, Bone. I wasn't in my right mind..."

"No problem, Kev," AJ replied with a smile. After that, a few seconds of silence sank in before AJ decided to bring back the cheery moment. "Well, hey - what's taking Brian so long? He is usually the early bird."

Just at that moment, the doorbell rang out that same soft music.

AJ wanted to go get the door when Kevin stopped him. "I'll get it," he said.

AJ nodded and sat back onto the couch. He gave Nick and Howie a sad look. However, Nick assured him that Kevin did not take that comment seriously.

"Hey man!" Brian greeted when he came face to face with his cousin.

Kevin put on an exaggerated look on his face, as if to show that he was very surprised to see his cousin. "Brian! Surprise, surprise everyone! We have a new nomination for the late-coming award of the year!"

Brian raised his eyebrows at his cousin's humor. And just when did his cousin ever have one?

AJ threw a cushion at Brian and laughed at Kevin's joke. "Thank you, Rok! I'll let you have the award."

Nick nudged AJ with his elbow to get his attention. "See? The train still has its humor!" Nick said and gave AJ a wink.

Looking confused, Brian stared blankly at Howie, who was probably the only sane one right now.

"We had a bet earlier on that AJ will be late as always," Howie explained, still chuckling at Kevin's humor. "But it turns out to be you, which we had never quite expected."

Brian sat down beside AJ and groaned. "Alright, this is the first time in years that I'm late and you guys gotta make a big fuss about it," he said. "I was down at the program department of HHC to meet up with the new volunteers."

"Any gorgeous ladies around?" AJ beamed.

Brian rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, there are," he said with a southern drawl. "But too bad, you can't lay your paws on any of them."

AJ's guilty look emerged. "Well, no harm asking, right?"

Brian laughed and slapped his hand lightly against AJ's back. "So, have you guys started to discuss anything?"

"Yup. I was suggesting that we go down to some places to write a few songs. You know, we need some new stuff on the next album and I wanted all of us to co-write a song or two together," Kevin said.

"Hey, remember the song 'The Answer To Our Life'? The one that was not completed in time to be put on Millennium?" Nick suddenly brought up. "I think we should finally get down to that song. Howie, you kept that lyric sheet in the Orlando Studio, right? I called June and asked her to find it but she said that it wasn't there."

Howie's cup almost slipped out of his hand when Nick mentioned that song. "Nick-" he started. "I err... I have no idea. I just got to know from June that the lyric is lost too."

"Lost? How in the world can it be lost? Didn't Brian keep a carbon copy of it?" AJ asked.

Brian shook his head. "I didn't," he said. "I thought Nick had it on the computer."

"Look, I don't have it!" Nick exclaimed. "Oh great. Now everyone is pushing the blame to each other," he said as he ran a hand through his blond hair. A look of frustration filttered across his face as he sank back on the couch.

"Cool down, everyone," Kevin said. "D kept that lyric in the Orlando Studio, right. However, I went there a few weeks ago and took it back. Just suddenly had some inspiration to work on it," he said, feeling a bit embarrassed for the little misunderstanding that he had just indirectly caused.

Nick used his knuckles and playfully hit Kevin on the shoulder. "You should've told me," Nick said. "I happen to have the inspiration to work on it too."

Kevin smiled sheepishly at Nick. "Sorry, I didn't think any of you would be working on it."

AJ chuckled a little and shot a look at Howie who was also chuckling softly. "Sharing the same brain. Sharing the same brain." He started to sing out the words and Kevin threw a cushion at him.

"Shut it, Bone!" Kevin said in mock anger.

AJ made a face back at him and Nick was chuckling.

For the next three hours, they spend their time on discussing the rest of the new album stuff. From which songs they have reviewed so far, which place they wanted to go to and write their songs, to the schedule of the New Year. Every little detail was covered, except for the album's name and their next concert's theme.

As usual, Nick was the one complaining that Kevin had been too over eager on their planning. Especially when they were planning things in the current year for the next.

Kevin took note of that and decided not to go too far ahead and thus, leaving the album's name and their next concert's theme hanging.

In between their discussions, Kevin and Nick would make eye contact. Nick, being the giggling type, just could not help but giggle. In addition, both Howie and AJ kept smirking at the couple's actions.

Now, Brian was the confused one once again. He was confused about Howie and AJ's action earlier on when the latter started to sing that little song. He was aware of the sudden change in his cousin's attitude towards Nick. Most of all, he was aware of his best friend's actions. That little strange demeanor in Nick sent a shiver down Brian's spine. He knew that something was wrong. However, he shrugged it off.

As the minute hand reached three quarter past four, Kevin groaned inwardly. He had totally forgotten that Dominique would be bringing Ilyssa and Scott back at around four o'clock and the whole meeting had dragged until so late. He knew that she would appear with the kids any moment now.

Nick saw the intense look on Kevin's face, as Kevin wanted to get everything finalized quickly before the kids were back. He had forgotten about the kids too. Now, he could only pray silently, hoping that they were still at some theme park or wherever, still far from coming home. But alas, his prayers were not answered.

When the doorbell filled the house with that sweet melody, Nick and Kevin both paled at once.

"Let me get the door this time," AJ offered and got up from the couch. Kevin did not say anything this time. His mind was a blank and he could not imagine what was going to happen next.

Dominique was surprised to see Kevin's bandmates in his house and knew that she had brought the kids back at the wrong moment. She smiled shyly at AJ as both Ilyssa and Scott called out to Kevin and Nick. The kids ran into the house and headed for their daddy, who gave them a gentle kiss each before they went over to hug Nick. After which, they went to their room as Kevin instructed.

The other three men were in shock as they looked from Dominique to Kevin, and then to Nick. They had never seen this young woman or the two children before. The first thought going through their minds was, 'do these two children belong to the young woman?' And the second thought, 'was Nick or Kevin the father of these two children?'

Brian got a grip on himself and snapped himself out of the rude starring. "Kevin... Care to introduce?"

Kevin knew that there was no way that he could run away from this now. He took in a deep breath and smiled the best smile that he could manage now. "She is Dominique-" Kevin started. "She is a teacher in a children's home."

Dominique smiled uneasily as she exchanged greetings with the three men. She did not like the atmosphere and the look that these three guys were giving her. Her intuition was telling her that they were assuming she was the mother of the two children and that they now had some dirty linens with Kevin. The thought made her irritated, but when she wanted to explain herself, Kevin stopped her by shaking his head. Kevin's action did not infuriate her, infact she was glad he had stopped her. She knew that Kevin could do a better job explaining the situation.

"Before the thoughts in your mind go elsewhere... These two kids are my children, yes, but, no, Dominique is not their mother..." Kevin explained.

Brian and the guys let out a relieved sigh, but their minds were in a muddle. What did Kevin mean when he mentioned that these kids were his children?

"I adopted them," Kevin continued.

The guys were quite surprised. Nonetheless, they came to accept the fact fast as Kevin had mentioned countless time that he wanted to adopt children. However, there were still two questions hanging. Why do the children seem so fond of Nick? Did Nick already know about them before the guys did?

"I am surprised, Kev. But it's nice to know that you have adopted children. They are adorable," Brian commented. "But, why were you keeping this from us? We are cousins and friends, Kev... Why does Nick know about this and why didn't we?"

A lump formed in Kevin's throat as he was searching for the right words to answer Brian's question. However, Nick answered the question before he could.

"I found out by accident when I was here a few days ago," Nick started. "Well, you guys know me... I have itchy hands and I was going through Kevin's wallet when I saw this photo of him and the two children. I knew that he would never keep a photo in his wallet unless it's photos of his family or close friends. So, I was pressing him on, he got kinda irritated, and he spilled everything out. He really wanted to keep this as a secret until he was ready to tell everyone and so I kept my mouth shut. And to fill my curiosity, I had Kevin bring the kids out the other day and well, the rest is history."

Kevin raised his eyebrows at what Nick had just said. He was impressed with the way Nick had handled the situation even though he was lying through his teeth.

"As far as I know, Kevin only had a group photo of ours, his family and a photo of Kristin in his wallet..." Brian said.

Nick smiled and turned to face Kevin. "Your wallet?" he asked.

Kevin's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when Nick asked for his wallet. 'Doesn't Nick know that I don't carry their photo in my wallet? What is he thinking?' he thought. When he felt the three pairs of eyes looking at him, he knew that he had to play on. He did not know what Nick was up to and he just hoped that Nick was playing his cards right.

Taking the wallet from Kevin, Nick swiftly flipped it open and flashed the photo to the guys. Kevin notice that their eyes grew big and the next second, big smiles appeared on their faces.

"Geez, Kev... I never knew that you were a Power Ranger besides being a Ninja Turtle too!" Howie commented as the rest laughed along.

Kevin was confused and when he took the wallet back from Nick, he knew that Nick had played his cards right after all. He figured that Nick must have found this photo in one of his drawers and slipped it into his wallet without his notice. The thing that surprised him the most was, Nick had already prepared everything before the guys came over. He smiled as Nick gave him a secret wink.

Even though Kevin was glad that he had come clean with the guys about his adoption, another problem lingered on. But for now, he decided to enjoy the happy and blissful moment with them before everything went out of track.

All of the guys stayed for dinner and Dominique offered to cook. She was glad that her wrong timing did not cause any problem for Kevin. She was happy for him that he had finally told his friends about the adoption. She had only wished that he would have the same courage to do so for his other secret. The secret that she had discovered a while ago and was not disgusted by it.

During dinner, everyone was praising Dominique's cooking. AJ even cracked a joke about wanting her as a girlfriend when Howie kicked him on his leg under the table as a friendly reminder.

When Kevin brought up about the Grammy Awards, which were going to happen next week, all the guys groaned. Kevin could never keep the topic away from work for a second. They discussed the Grammy Awards throughout the rest of the dinner.

Now, Dominique finally understood what Faith meant when she told her that these guys were dedicated people. They were dedicated to their job, their fans and their family. She hoped that three of these dedicated guys would not turn their backs on the other two, who had a forbidden secret to be revealed in the coming future.

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