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He sat there for the longest, deep in thought, wracking his brain for answers he was determined to retrieve himself. He wasn’t sure what the four decided to do, whether they decided to confront their parents about the situation or not, but he decided not to. His mother was older, and he just couldn’t even begin to think of how much pain and pressure he’d put her under if he was to confront her about what he discovered last night. Although the truth was shocking, he would not consider Ann to be anything but his mother. She took him in as her son, she rose him to live a normal life and did everything a mother would do for their son. Ann was his mother period, no matter what anyone said.

So, there he sat by himself, trying to piece the incomplete puzzle together, trying to force himself to remember. Kristin tried her best to comfort him last night, although Kevin refused to open up to her about everything that had happened. Being the caring and understanding wife she was, she didn’t push the envelope; she simply tried to comfort him in the best way possible, reminding him that she would be here by his side.

When he awoke this morning, he suggested that she go out with her friends or Leighanne to do some shopping or something. She reluctantly agreed to leave, for she had a meeting with her agent later on in the day anyway. He didn’t want to come across harsh, but he just wanted the day to be alone, to drown himself within his thoughts and try his best to answer his own questions. He hadn’t talked to the other four since last night, and he knew he should call each one of them to see how they were pulling through.

“So, were you planning to lock yourself up in the house and stay here all day?”

Kevin was startled by the sudden voice that broke him out of his trance, and sharply whirled around to face the owner of the voice. He sighed heavily, trying to ease his racing heart when he realized who it was. “How’d you get in here?”

Howie grinned sheepishly, “Well, thought I’d play around a bit with my gift.”

Kevin smiled lightly, “Well, I’d ask you how you knew where to find me, but I’m gonna guess that you used your psychic gift too, am I right?”

Howie chuckled and rolled his eyes, “Dude, it’s called a cell phone. I tried to call your phone numerous times, but finally gave up and decided to call Kristin instead. She told me you were here.”

“Oh.” Kevin sighed. “Did you come by to check up on me or something?”

“Kinda sort of.” Howie replied as he sat down on the chair that was situated across from Kevin. “I was leaving my parents house when I decided to stop by.”

Kevin nodded, “Did you confront them?”

“Confront is such a harsh word. I did have a talk with them though.”

“And how did that go?”

Howie sighed heavily, “It was a tear fest of course… but to tell you the truth, I feel a lot more better since we were able to get everything out in the open.” Kevin glanced away, wishing he could have that same sense of relief. Howie noticed the sudden change in Kevin’s demeanor. “I’m guessing you didn’t talk to your mom about it?”

“I can’t.” Kevin replied, looking up at him. “I wanted to, I even grabbed the phone and punched in her number, but I…” he paused, looking over to where his phone was. Situated next to his phone was a photo of him and his mom. “one look at that picture, at her smile, and I was done for, I couldn’t do it. I saw everything play through my head man… from me telling her what I found out, to her sobbing and struggling with trying to tell me the truth. I can’t make her cry Howie… god, it’s heartbreaking just thinking about it. She’s getting older, and Jerald, Tim and I are really the only people she has left in her life… how could I possibly sit there and tell her or make her say that she’s not my mother after all that she has done for me?”

Howie remained silent, he didn’t even think about that when he approached his parents. “I know what you mean Kev… it was so hard to see my mother break before my eyes, and my father… he couldn’t even look me in the eyes. She was afraid that I would break all ties with them and wouldn’t consider them to be my family anymore. And you know what? After being confronted with the truth and all… I still find that woman to be my mother and that man to be my father, and nothing and no one is gonna change that.”

Kevin sighed and nodded, “I think in time I will let her know that I know and reassure her that everything will be okay because she’ll always be my mom, but I just… I just don’t think I can do that right now.”

“And no one is pushing you to do anything you’re not ready to do Kevin. Just know that if and when the time comes, everything will be okay.”

Kevin looked up at Howie and smiled, “Thanks man.”

“No problem bro.” Howie smiled back, then groaned. “Ugh, speaking of bro… I called the other three dweebs and told them to meet us here at your house, if you don’t mind.”

Kevin laughed, “I like how you ask me after the fact you gone and done it, but it’s fine by me. I would just love to know to what I owe the pleasure of hosting a sudden house party.”

“I just…” the smile fell from Howie’s lips. “I don’t think it’s in our best interest to be separated and alone. I don’t know what these SEC guys are…” before he could get another word out, the doorbell sounded out, interrupting Howie.

Kevin looked over at the door, then back at Howie. “Wonder who that could be.” he sarcastically stated with a smile.

Howie watched as Kevin rose from where he sat and made his way towards the door, opening it and finding AJ, Brian and Nick behind it. “Someone by the name of Howard Dorough ordered three strippers for a Kevin Richardson.” Nick said in a low voice.

Kevin rolled his eyes, “You guys want that house down there.” he said as he pointed to a house that was a couple houses down from his.

The three of them turned to see who Kevin was referring to, seeing a rather large woman, bent over and watering her plants. AJ shook his head as he quickly pushed past Kevin and entered the house, “That ain’t no damn Kevin Richardson.”

Brian shivered as he followed suit while Nick pretended to gag. Kevin laughed as he closed his door, “What happened to the somber and incensed feelings from last night? You three are way too damn chipper for me today.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that we all ended on good terms with our parents today.” AJ said as he glanced between Nick and Brian.

Nick rose his hand a bit, as if he was a student raising his hand to ask a question. “Actually, I had a long and good talk with my sister BJ. Kinda relieved at the fact that my parents are actually not my parents at all.”

Kevin chuckled and rolled his eyes, training his focus on AJ and Brian now. “And what about you two? How did everything go?”

AJ was the first to reply. “It went rather well. Of course, tears were shed here and there, but it felt good to have her answer my questions and tell me the truth, and it felt in-fucking-credible to still call her my mother after all of it.”

Brian smiled genuinely, “Same here. If it wasn’t for Harold literally pushing me to the front door, I don’t think I would’ve gone through with it. But after getting everything out and getting answers, I kinda actually feel better about this whole situation.”

Kevin grinned all the while, glad that his four brothers felt better than they had last night. Four brothers… he always referred to these four as his brothers, more like a metaphor, but now he knew that term had so much more meaning behind it. “Well, lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. We still have those guys from SEC to deal with.”

“Oh yeah, we’ll deal with them alright.” AJ said in a sinister voice, his eyes glowing as he snapped his fingers, causing a flame to flicker out from the tips of his fingers.

“Alex.” Kevin warned. “Not in my house dude, I will not hesitate to hose your ass down with a fire extinguisher.”

“So, what do we do?” Nick asked.

“We don’t do nothing for now. We stick together and try to lay low as possible. I’ll call management and have them work something out with our touring schedule. Until then, we train ourselves to be ready for whatever happens.”