"You two be safe...and you know from the last time we were here that you just need to take the MAX west bound and stop at Pioneer Court House Square to get to the main shopping stuff," AJ said as he leaned in and kissed Justin on the cheek.

Justin nodded his head. "Yea, yeah," he said as he rolled his eyes and grabbed two baseball hats. "I remember." He and Nick got off the bus and took in the fresh air and bright sun shine. It felt good to be back on solid ground again. He turned around and waved a good bye to the guys before grabbing Nick's hand and walking around to the front of the arena where they could catch the train. He put one of the base ball hats on Nick's head before he put one on his own.

Nick stood waiting for the train and smiled big when he saw it coming. "Ohh lookie!" he said happily as it pulled up in front of them and they got on. Nick got a seat by the window and his eyes went wide as they went over the bridge that crossed the river.

Justin chuckled as he watched Nick look out the window at the beautiful scenery that passed them by.

Nick and Justin only rode on the MAX train for about ten minutes before it sopped right in the middle of Downtown Portland and in front of Pioneer Court House Square. Not much was going on in the square besides people walking through on their lunch breaks or bums and street musicians. Nick didn't care though his eyes were still as wide as quarters as he took in the new area.

Justin took a hold of Nick's hand not caring about the fact that people might get the wrong idea. He didn't want Nick running off and getting lost and this was the only way he knew that he could keep track of Nick.

"Where we go?" Nick asked as he looked around at the different things. There was a large mall to one direction, Nordstrom’s the other and then just some other weird odds and ends shops.

"How about the mall?" Justin questioned nodding over at the big building. "Or do you want to go to any of these other places here?" Justin pointed around them. "It's up to you since this is your first time."

Nick had no idea what the other stores were so he pointed at the mall. The door they went into just happened to be the one right by the Discovery Channel store and that caught Nick's attention right away. "Ohh lookie!" he said seeing a wall of a bunch of different kinds of stuffed animals.

"Oh bother," Justin rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath before following Nick inside the store to look at the stuffed animals. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a bunch of teddy bears and one of them in particular looked like Mr. Winky. He smiled. He didn't want Nick looking in that direction in the least because he wanted to get that bear and surprise Nick later on. Instead, he escorted them to the other side of the store to where a bunch of stuffed sea animals lined the walls.

"Ohh me want dis, and dis, and dis!" Nick said getting all excited as he saw every type of sea creature but then something caught his eye he didn't even know what it was. "What dat?" he asked holding up a stuffed shrimp.

"A shrimp," Justin said as he looked at it. It was an odd looking shrimp. "I think." Justin scratched his head. He then spotted a underwater sea world of beanie babies and knew that Nick would love that collection instead. "Hey Nick, look over there," Justin said pointing over to the corner.

"Oh, oh OH!" Nick said as he bounced over to the display. "Me have, me have?"

Justin looked at price tags and nodded his head. It wasn't as expensive as he thought it was going to be. These were on discount plus it was also one of those deals in which you buy two and get one free. "I think so, yes." He then looked over at one of the people that worked in the store. "Excuse me, ma'am," Justin asked. "How much would the whole thing cost?" Justin pointed to the display case. "If I were to get one of each?"

The young woman looked at the display and then she saw and recognized Nick. She swallowed hard as if she looked like she was about to cry. "You can have them for free," she said giving Justin the best smile she could but also looking at Nick knowingly, but being a great fan and not saying anything like she was supposed to.

Justin looked at her in shock for a second and realized that she must have recognized Nick especially by the way she looked like she was gonna burst out in tears any moment. "Hey Nicky?" Justin whispered as he looked at the nice girl in front of them. "This lady here says that you can have those for free. What do we say to her?"

Nick's big blue eyes went wide and he gave her the biggest hug in the whole wide world before politely saying "Tank you," he then walked over and started to pick out one of each sea creature.

The woman smiled big too and blushed a little. It may have not been the same Nick Carter but in a way that had been better. "He's a great guy...I’m so glad the guys came clean and told everybody," she said with a smile.

Justin watched as Nick started to pick out every single one of the beanie babies and then turned his attention to the girl. Smiling at her a bit sadly he said, "He really is a great guy. Well, the guys weren't gonna keep something that big from their fans, ya know? After all their fans are the ones that got them this far and they appreciate every support given." Justin paused. "Thank you again."

The woman scanned each of the stuffed animals so they wouldn't go off when going out the door and then put them in a bag. "Here you go young man, I hope you have fun with them," she said as if talking to a young child.

Nick smiled big and said "Thank you," again before walking out of the store with Justin, his new friends safely in the bag in his hand.

Justin followed Nick out the store and asked, "Where to now, young man?" Justin questioned.

Nick's stomach answered that question when it growled like crazy. His milk and small pop tart hadn't been enough that morning. "Me hungy."

"Food court, food court," Justin said to himself over and over again until he came to the mall's directory. "Aha." He looked at the map and looked for where the food court was. Taking Nick's hand he escorted them in that direction.

Once they were all the way down in the bottom floor of the Mall they headed towards the food court. Nick got all excited when they were there because in the middle was a full working fountain with rocks at the bottom. "Justin lookie!"

"It's a water fountain Nicky," Justin said as he walked them over to it. He smiled as he got his camera out, the one his mom had given him. "Sit down right here," Justin said as Nick sat down by the water fountain. Justin walked a few steps back and told Nick to smile before snapping a few pictures of Nick.

Once they were done with the pictures Nick looked around trying to see what he wanted to eat. "Me want dat," he said pointing at McDonalds.

Justin chuckled. "What else is new?" He questioned as he escorted them over to the line. "Let me guess, a Big Mac with no tomatoes, medium fries, and a small coke?"

"Uh huh!" Nick giggled, licking his lips.

Justin nodded and walked over to one of the empty lines to give in their order. "I'll have a big Mac, a quarter pounder, two medium fries, one small coke, and one medium coke, please." After placing his order he rested against the counter and looked at Nick. "To stay," he added quickly.

Nick was looking longingly at the toys that were supposed to go in the happy meals. He really wanted one of those toys in his meal but he never got one. He pouted a little, but didn't say anything about it.

Justin looked at Nick and then followed Nick's line of vision. When the guy who took his order came back he asked, "Hey do you think I could get one of those toys from the happy meal bag?" Justin questioned nodding over to the showcase that had the toys. "Please?"

The teen working the counter looked at Justin weird but did what he said and put the hot wheels toy into the bag along with the rest of their food. "There ya go."

Nick noticed their food was done and walked over to Justin so they could both walk to a table to sit. Nick found a spot right by the fountain.

"Thank you," Justin said before joining Nick. He started to take the food out and set their food down, opting to give Nick the hot wheels toy after they've done eating. "Here you go buddy," Justin said opening up the wrapping of the big Mac, squeezing some ketchup on it for the French fries, and sticking straws into their drinks.

"Tank you," Nick said with a smile as he started to eat, content to just eat and look around at all the people for a few minutes.

"So, Nick?" Justin questioned after a few minutes of silence. "What's up?" He knew that was a stupid question but he was just trying to make conversation with the other blonde. Something to talk about, anything.

Nick got a thoughtful look on his face as he thought of something he wanted to talk about. "Brian say me get ta wear oxers when me no go potty in diaper," he said thinking that was the most interesting piece of information he had in his little life right now.

Justin nodded his head. "And what do you think about that?"

"Me tink it sounds hard," Nick mumbled around a fry.

"It really isn't that hard," Justin said not realizing that Brian had already explained a little bit of this to Nick earlier. "You'll start to like it... not having to be changed. Not feeling comfortable. It's cool."

Nick looked at Justin skeptically, he still wasn't so sure if he should believe them. Sure, he knew they did it, but maybe they were just weird and liked that kind of thing. "Me still dunno...me happy how I am."

Justin smiled. "It'll take some time for you get used to the idea but eventually you're gonna have to learn how to use the bathroom." Just then he saw a man walking into the men's room. "See, like that man over there," he said pointing the person out. "He's going to the bathroom."

Nick looked at the man and realized he didn't look so weird, so maybe this idea wasn't all that strange. "Yeah...he is..." Then he noticed something else, this caught his attention more then anything. There was a little boy that looked about his age going into the bathroom with his daddy.

Justin took notice of the horrified look in Nick's eyes and he looked over to see what got Nick so scared. "Oh," Justin said spotting the toddler with his father entering the bathroom. "Don't worry Nick," Justin said as reassuring as possible. "You know how Brian is with you when it comes to changing diapers and stuff?" Justin questioned.

Nick nodded his head and smiled a little. Brian was always so nice and gentle with him when it came to that. Sure, most of the time he didn't like being changed but that was because he was busy with other things not because he didn't feel comfortable with it.

"That man is the same way with his son," Justin said and smiled when Nick smiled. "Not all fathers are bad, Nick," Justin added softly not sure how Nick was going to react to that.

Nick nodded his head and then thought of something else and he was curious. "He getting dipy change...or going potty?" he asked as if Justin would know if the little boy was being changed or going potty. Cuz now Nick was looking at is as 'if that boy can do it...maybe I can too.'

Justin thought at that for a moment. He didn't see the father carrying any extra bags with him so there was no way the boy was being changed. Shaking his head he said, "No, I don't think he's being changed. More likely that not that boy in being potty trained and that his father is going to be there helping him or something." Justin paused. "So, I say he's going potty."

Nick bit his lower lip as his little mind went over an inner dilemma. He needed to go potty, but he also wanted to finish his burger...but on the other hand he wanted to be a big, big boy like that other little boy with his daddy. He looked down at his burger and then over at the bathrooms again, not realizing the longer he took to think about it the less likely he would make it to the bathroom. It was just all something he was going to have to learn in time.

"Is everything okay?" Justin questioned as he noticed the confusion etched on Nick's face and the way he kept looking back and forth from his food to the bathroom.

Nick nodded his head as he just chose to go where he was. "Yeah me okay," he said with a small smile as he picked up another fry.

Justin watched Nick carefully but kept his mouth shut. He knew Nick was thinking about using the bathroom and he was definitely not going to push the other blonde into doing it. Nick will definitely come around. Justin finished off his quarter pounder and most of his fries before settling back in his chair. Thinking of something he remembered from his last visit to Portland Justin asked, "You maybe wanna go to the zoo?"

Nick smiled big and nodded his head, "Yeah me wana go!" he said as he finished off his food and drank all of his drink.

"Okay," Justin said as he grabbed all their garbage and walked over to the garbage box. He took out the hot wheels toy before throwing the rest away. Walking back over to Nick he handed him the toy and grabbed the bags that held the beanie babies. "Come on," Justin said. "I have one more stop to make before we go over to zoo."

Nick smiled big at the toy as he walked with Justin to where ever it was that he wanted to go. "Tank you," he said to Justin meaning thank you for the toy.

"No problem," Justin said as they walked back to the first floor and over again to the Discovery Channel store they had bought the beanie babies from. Justin bit his lip as he and Nick walked back into the store. "Nick, I want you to go wait over there, you can look around if you want but don't go anywhere too far away from my line of sight, got that? And I don't want you talking to strangers either, okay?" Justin said.

"Otay," Nick said as he walked over and started looking at some things, but being good and doing all the things Justin told him to do.

Justin quickly walked over to the same girl that helped him out earlier. "Excuse me miss? Hi, yes. I'm back again. I'm sorry to bother you but could you please wrap that teddy bear over there," he said pointing at the Mr. Winky look-a-like. "I'll pay for it and everything, please?"

The girl smiled as she got the bear and took it to the register to actually gift wrap the bear. "You guys just killing time before the show tonight?" She asked making small talk as she glanced up to look at Nick who was trying on a coon skin cap.

"Um, well, the guys are back at the arena rehearsing as we speak. They didn't want Nick to get bored and thought it would be fun if he got to sight-see this beautiful city of yours," Justin said watching Nick and then watching the girl wrap the bear.

Getting bored, Nick walked over to where Justin was just as the girl got the bear all wrapped up. "We go zoo yet?" he asked looking over at all the stuffed animals really wanting to go see the REAL animals.

Justin smiled at Nick hoping the girl wouldn't hand him the package yet. "Yes, real soon. I promise." And when Nick turned around he quickly grabbed the present and shoved it in the bag with the beanies... in the bottom so that Nick wouldn't suspect anything. Justin gave her forty dollars and waited patiently for her to ring up the tab and give him back his change of $14.02.

"Here you go," The girl said with a smile. "Have a good rest of your day."

Nick excitedly followed Justin out of the store and back out onto the street. Once outside they went to the MAX station to wait for the train so they could catch it and take it to where the ZOO was.

Justin sighed as he waited for the train to arrive. "Thanks for being patient and waiting back there for me," he said nodding his head in the direction they came from.

"It otay," Nick said with a smile as they boarded the MAX again and started heading towards the Zoo. He then started to drive his hot wheels car on the window ledge to pass time.

Justin remained silent as he noticed people giving them weird looks. Eh. Nick's childhood was taken away and now he was given a second to chance to relive it the way he was supposed to live it. So blah to all the gawkers.

It took about twenty minutes but soon the MAX was stopping inside of a tunnel and they got off and followed everybody else to an elevator that would take them up to ground level and the Zoo.

Justin smiled as Nick grabbed his hand as they waited for their floor to approach. Once the elevator dinged they walked out of it and looked around their surroundings.

Nick practically pulled Justin to the gates so they could pay for their tickets and go into the zoo. "Me wana see olar bears...and effents."

Justin nodded his head and laughed. "Okay, okay," he said as he paid the man at the counter and got their tickets. He wondered if he could get the under the age of 7 fare for Nick but then shook his head after taking a look at the guy behind the glass. There was no way this dude was gonna believe him. They checked their bags in and got the key number before entering the park.

The African exhibit was first so they headed in that direction and Nick had fun looking at all the things there, he has the best time at the elephants thought. They were down inside as Packy the zoo's famous male elephant was eating. "Why he not up with other effents?" Nick asked, not realizing that the boy elephant needed to be away from the girl elephants most of the time.

'Maybe he's gay too?' Justin thought to himself. "The males and females usually are kept separated until they are old enough but that's only with animals in zoo's though," Justin replied.

Nick thought about that and nodded his head until something caught his attention. Packy was beginning to get very 'happy' and Nick noticed it and to Justin's horror he blurted it out. "Effent got big pee pee!" he said loudly.

Justin gulped as he smiled a little at the old lady who was standing beside them as she gave them a rather weird look before walking away to look at the other animals. Justin shook his head. "Nick," he said whining, his whole face red from embarrassment. "Don't say things like that in public and even if you wanna don't say it THAT loud, whisper it. I think you just scared that old lady over there, away." Justin pointed at the old lady.

Nick looked at Justin with a totally confused look on his face. "But it true...see look," he said pointing at the elephant.

"I know, I know," Justin said bringing Nick's hand back down. "I know but still some people might not want to know that little bit of information."

For some reason the elephant stopped being 'happy' and THAT confused Nick even more then anything. He didn't get why it just stopped being so big...but he wasn’t' sure if he should ask anymore.

Justin sighed as he transferred all the bags he was holding to his left hand and grabbed Nick's hand with his right. "Come on, let's go see the polar bears."

Nick nodded his head, thinking the polar bears would be much less confusing. "I tink dat good idea," he said as he walked out of the elephant place with the same confused look on his face.

"What's the matter?" Justin questioned as they walked through the halls and over to where the polar bears were. "What do you look so confused?"

Nick shook his head, not wanting to ask the question he had going through his head. "Noting," he said as he looked into the polar bear glass.

"Are you sure?" Justin questioned getting the feeling that Nick was holding the question in because of what he said a few seconds ago. "I know what I told you earlier but I also want you to know that you can ask me questions as long as you whisper it so that other people won't hear you and have us spoil their curiosity as well. Ask away."

"Why effent pee pee big den get small?" Nick asked, seriously looking confused about that, even though the question sounded really funny.

"Oh," Justin said as he thought about just how to answer that question. "Um, the elephant just got really excited and happy when he saw something he liked. That usually happen to males... or boys after a certain age. Um... yah. Then it got small again because he wasn't feeling so happy anymore." Justin had no clue of what the hell he just said and he had no clue if he was supposed to be telling Nick any of this. Good lord.

Nick made a face at that, but seemed to take in what Justin was saying. "Poor effent he no happy anymore," he said looking back in the direction of the elephants. "Hope he see it again...and is happy again," he said with a smile as he looked back at the polar bears swimming around, happy with Justin's response.

Justin couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, he will don't worry." Then he brought his attention back over to the polar bears after he ruffled Nick's hair and kissed his cheek. "You can be the cutest thing in the world, you know that?"

Nick smiled big, giggling. "Me know me cute," he said as he shifted his stance a little, trying to ignore the fact that his big Mac was going through him. "We go see monkey now?" he asked with the big smile still on his face.

"Sure," Justin shrugged. "If that's what you want, let's go."

"Monkey, Monkey, Monkey!" Nick chanted as he bounced out of the polar bear area and out into the sunlight. It was actually a very mild March day for Portland, at least it wasn't raining.

Justin laughed as he followed Nick over to where the monkey’s were. "You know, you're jumping around just like them," he said as he noticed one of the baby monkey bouncing on the tree branch.

"Me monkey," Nick giggled as he bounced around more making monkey noises. He didn't seem to notice the weird looks he was getting.

"Yes, you monkey," Justin said as he put his hand on Nick's shoulder to keep him from bouncing more. "And if you keep acting like a monkey you'll get thrown in there," he said pointing at the monkey’s cage, "with the rest of them by the zoo keepers."

Nick's eyes went as wide as quarters in horror. "Me no live in zoo... me not monkey me little boy," he said actually looking scared about being put in the monkey cage.

"Don't worry," Justin said mentally kicking himself in the butt. "Don't be scared. They wouldn't do that. I just was joking around with you, see... ha ha," Justin said. "Ha."

Nick looked at Justin strangely before they started walking onto some bird exhibit. "Justin you weird," he giggled before looking up at the sky with all the birds flying around.

Justin beamed at being called weird but still stuck his tongue out at Nick. "Why, thank you, young lad," he said in a British accent bowing, once, twice, three times before blowing kisses to all the birds that were there.

Nick started giggling like crazy when a guy to his left got pooped on by one of the birds. "Birdy go poopy on dat guy!" he giggled.

Justin looked over and wrinkled his nose before looking up. "Uh oh, we better get out of here too before it starts raining bird poop on us."

"Yeah dat be icky," Nick said as they got out of the bird exhibit. "Now where go?"

Justin looked around and noticed a sign for Wild Cats. "Oh, wanna see lions, tigers, and panthers?"

Nick's eyes went wide again and he nodded his head like crazy. "Me wana see dat...me do," he said as they started heading in the direction for the cats

Justin smiled too, excited to see the wild cats as well. "Oh, look there's Raja," he said referring to the tiger from Aladdin. "And there's little Simba," of course, referring to the Lion King. "And that dude," Justin had no idea what to call the panther.

Nick looked confused though, well actually thought that Justin had totally lost his mind. "Justin dat a tiger and dat a baby lion," he said also pointing at the animals. He had never seen Aladdin and the Lion King before. The only Disney movies he remembered were those made in 82 or before.

Justin looked at Nick for a moment as he frowned. "I know that," he said and then realized that Nick probably hadn't watched the movies he was referring to. "Oh, yah. You probably don't know," he said more to himself. "Looks like we're gonna have ask Brian to let you watch the Lion King and Aladdin next week." After a few seconds of Nick looking at him incredulously Justin put lifted his hands up with the bags and said, "I'm not crazy, I swear." He laughed.

"I tink you are," Nick giggled and then laughed even more when the lions started playing together. "Day have fun."

"Humph," Justin said and looked at the Lions only to have his eyes grow wide. "Come on Nick, let's go look at the cheetahs, all the way over there," he said quickly ushering them away. This was definitely turning out to be a day for a Discovery Channel field trip, learning how animals mate. Justin shook his head. He knew he wouldn't be able to explain just why the male lion was standing over the female lion.

Once at the cheetahs, Nick started growling at one of them wanting it to come as close as it could. "I tink he likes me," he giggled when one of the cheetahs actually looked in his direction.

"Either that or he want's to have you for dessert," Justin responded when he noticed that very same cheetah Nick was talking about stick his tongue out and lick his lips, er, mouth.

"Eeek," Nick said as he backed away from the viewing area a little bit. "Me no be Cheetah food."

"But you're just soo cute," Justin said pinching Nick's cheek. "So cute that you could be gobbled up." Justin laughed. "I'm just kidding."

Nick giggled as he walked a little farther down to get a better view of some of the other cheetahs. After standing there for a little bit he tensed up a little because it was getting a lot harder for him to ignore the fact that he needed to go to the bathroom. Sighing he continued to hold it. "Is dat a mommy or a daddy one?" he asked Justin pointing at the new cheetah.

Justin looked at the cheetahs and frowned. They all looked alike and for the life of him he had no clue as to what their genders were. Hmm. He squinted his eyes and looked down between the animals legs to try and get a sense of what it was. "Female."

Nick knew it was a mommy one and nodded his head. He was still wondering a little why there were no girls around the group but he didn't ask. "We go look some place else?" he asked.

"Where do you wanna go?" Justin questioned looking at Nick.

Nick shrugged his shoulders, "Can we go see Brian?" he asked, he was missing his 'daddy'.

"Um, hold on," Justin said as they walked a bit away from the cages and animals. Taking his cell phone out he dialed AJ's number.

AJ walked away from all the chaos that was still going on and answered his phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Aje?" Justin questioned not being able to recognize AJ's voice. "Um, this is Justin."

"Hey baby...what's up?" AJ asked, trying to hide out tense and stressed he was and well was close to tears and some of the bad things that Lou had been saying and threatening.

"I haven't called at a bad time have I?" Justin questioned frowning and then looked at Nick. "I'm sorry If I am, I was just wondering if we could come over there. Nick's missing Brian."

AJ sighed, "I think it would best if you guys stay out until at least right before the show. Things aren't good here... but I'll have to explain later." He knew by saying 'before the show,' that Justin would know that Kevin was being forced to do it.

Justin placed the bags he was holding down before using that hand to rub his face. "Oh man," he said and then looked at Nick. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry you guys have to stay out longer," AJ said as he cleared his throat to try and hide the fact that he was really emotional right then.

"It's okay, really," Justin said. "Don't worry about us. We'll just go get some things that we were supposed to get and then probably head over to the bus or something like that." Justin could hear the strain in AJ's voice and knew whatever was going on was BAD. "You take care. You and the GUYS!" Justin didn't want to cut the call short but he knew that if AJ spent anymore time talking to him then AJ'll have to pay for it as well as the other guys.

"Bye baby," AJ said before he hung up the phone.

Nick looked at Justin with big blue eyes. "We no go back?"

Justin sighed as he placed his cell phone back in his jeans. Shaking his head sadly he said, "No, we can't. They are really busy, working for tonight's concert." There was a few seconds pause before Justin spoke up again. "Let's just get the medications we need to stack up the medicine cabinet and then head back to the bus."

"Okay," Nick said as he put a hand to his crotch as he started to pee a little, not really thinking at that point about saying he had to go potty. "We go on choo choo again?" he asked as they headed out of the park.

Justin looked over at Nick and nodded his head. He noticed where Nick's hand was and sighed. "Yes, we're going to ride the train again but we have to make a stop at the drug store before we go back to the bus. We need to get medicine for Kevin, okay?" They boarded the train and before long they got off at the same area they had earlier, where the mall and other knick-knack stores were.

By the time they got off the train and were walking towards a Rite Aid drug store, Nick was walking funny because he was still trying to hold in the rest of what he had to do. It was becoming almost impossible now though. "What we buy make Kevin better?" he asked trying to act as normal as possible as they walked down the isles.

Justin looked over at Nick. "Um, Nicky, do you need to use the potty?" He questioned his expression soft so that Nick would know that he was just trying to help and not force the other blonde.

Nick was going to say 'yes' but then he couldn't hold it anymore and just started to go right there in front of the pepto and Maalox. "No...I no gotta go," he said as he tried to act like he wasn't really doing a number on his diaper. He had wanted to say yes, and be a big boy but he held it so long that it just didn't work out that way, so now he was just going to pretend it didn't happen and hope Justin thought the same thing.

Justin frowned. He knew that tone and he knew that look. Nick was going potty in his diapers. They were going to be back on the bus soon, so Justin figured he might as well let it go and that he'd change Nick once they were there. "Fine," Justin said as he grabbed a bottle of pepto, Imodium, Maalox, a few boxes of Tylenol, Advil, Sudafed, Band-Aids, rubbing alcohol, and a thermometer. "I think that's it," Justin said. "We need anything else? You need anything else?"

Nick looked around and then saw a box of tissues; he always remembered that when people were sick they needed lots of tissues. Of course that was for a cold not the stomach flu but he didn't know that. "We need dees," he said putting two boxes of Puffs into the cart.

"Okay," Justin nodded. "That's it right?"

Nick nodded his head as he followed Justin to the register having a little bit of difficulty walking without looking funny. Something caught his eye while they were waiting in line. "Me want dat," he said pointing at the Kit-Kat bar.

"This too," Justin said picking up the candy bar and putting it on the counter for the guy to scan it. After everything was paid for Justin grabbed all the bags making sure they hadn't forgotten anything before existing the store with Nick and heading over to the train stop. "We're going back to the bus now."

"Okay," Nick said with a smile as they stood and waited for the train. He held protectively onto his bag of beanie babies and the surprise Winky doll that he didn't know about. Once the train came they got on but Nick didn't sit down next to the window. Instead he kinda stood up and looked deep in thought.

Justin raised an eyebrow as he looked at Nick and the empty seat in front of them. "Um, what are you thinking about?" Justin questioned. He figured the only reason Nick didn't want to sit down was because of the mess he'd made in the diaper but why was the look of thought on his face? Justin wanted to know.

"Me no wana sit down," Nick whispered, but he really, really wanted to look at the window as they crossed the river again. "But we wana look out."

"Okay," Justin said. "Here, do this." Justin bent down half way and looked out through the window, hoping Nick would catch on.

It wasn't all that comfortable but Nick did what Justin said and soon the train was stopping at the Rose Garden stop and they got off and headed across the street to where the buses were. One of the security guards almost stopped them before they realized who the guys that were wearing hats were and let them through.

They walked over to the bus and pushed the door open before walking in and placing all the bags on the kitchen table. "How about we get you out of those icky diapers?"

"Otay," Nick whispered as he looked down at his feet in shame. "Me not a big boy," he whispered sadly.

Justin was looking through Nick's bag for the diaper before he stopped and looked up at Nick. "What are you talking about? Of course you're a big boy!"

"I no use da potty," Nick said as he sat down on his knees on the floor as Justin got all his stuff out.

"It's going to take some time to learn Nick," Justin said in a soft voice. "It just doesn't happen over night. It's something that takes time. Don't worry about it." Justin spread the towel next to Nick and watched as he laid down. Leaning over Justin began to undo the diaper bracing himself for the mess he knew he was going to be met with. "I went through this phase too when I was about your age. I was in diapers until I was about 2 and half, 3 years old. But here I am, I learned, and so will you."

"Me dis many," Nick said holding up two fingers smiling big because he knew that. His mommy had actually given him a big kiss on the forehead when he told her that for the first time. He still remembered that.

Justin nodded his head. "Yes, you are. You are two years old," Justin said as he began to clean Nick's bottom and frowned when he noticed the red rashes. He looked in the bag and found the rash powder and applied a generous amount at Nick's bum before putting the new diaper on.

Once he was all clean, Nick got up and went to look out the window that faced the building. It was then that he remembered something. "Is Kevin in here?" he asked, remembering they had left Kevin to sleep before.

Justin finished placing all the dirty wipes and the dirty diaper in the plastic bag and walked over to the garbage can to throw it away. "No, Nick," Justin said as he frowned at the full garbage can. "He's with the guys rehearsing." He took out the garbage and walked over to the front of the bus. "I want you to stay right here, don't go anywhere. I'll be right back. I'm just gonna go over there and throw this stuff out, okay?"

Nick nodded his head as he watched Justin run out of the bus and over to a dumpster a little ways away. He was still in the exact same spot when Justin came back. "Me stay right here like you say."

Justin smiled as he closed the door and flopped down beside Nick on the couch. "Good boy," he said as he ruffled his hair. Looking at the time he noticed that it was around 5:30 P.M. and was surprised at the fact that Nick hadn't said he was sleepy or tired. Then he remembered that Brian had a stash of Disney movies and other kid’s friendly/family friendly movies. "Be right back," Justin said as he got up and walked to the back of the bus, into the studio and looked through the black box in the corner. The first movie he saw, he smiled. This was one of their favorite movies. Picking it up he walked back to where the TV was and inserted the DVD inside before sitting down next to Nick. "Okay, I know you'll love this movie."

"What is it?" Nick asked as he rested back against the couch to watch the movie.

"Free Willy," Justin said with a smile.

"Who Willy?" Nick asked as the movie started, he didn't even hear talking outside until AJ came walking onto the bus, a little shocked to see Nick and Justin there.

"Oh hey guys, I didn't think you would be back...having fun?" AJ asked, trying to smile and keep his cool around Nick. He had just come to get Kevin a new undershirt to wear because he had once again gotten sick and needed a new one to wear under his clothes.

Justin looked over at AJ with a smile his face. "Hey babe, um, yah, we had fun," Justin said then looked over at Nick. "Right?"

Nick nodded his head. "Yeah we go shopping and I got cool stuff...den we went to the zoo and saw aneemals."

AJ ruffled Nick's hair as he walked by. "I'm glad you guys had fun." With that he walked to the back grabbed the undershirt and headed back out. "I just had to grab this," he said waving the shirt.

"Oh, okay," Justin said a little disappointed that AJ was leaving.

AJ walked over and kissed Justin softly on the lips before pulling back. "I will try to be back in like twenty minutes to talk a little before the show."

Nick didn't think anything of the kiss, he was used to seeing Howie and Kevin kissing sweetly like that. He just watched the movie and let the adults talk for a few seconds.

Justin nodded his head and watched as AJ walked out of the bus before turning his attention back to the movie.

Like AJ said he came back twenty minutes later and laughed a little to see Nick was fast asleep with his head in Justin's lap. "I take it somebody couldn't get through Free Willy."

"Nah," Justin whispered as he softly ran his fingers through Nick's hair. "We've had a very busy day and it was about time for his nap anyways."

"I could sure use one of those too," AJ said with a sigh as he flopped into a chair next to the couch.

"Everything alright?" Justin questioned looking over at AJ after he stopped the movie and turned the TV off.

AJ shook his head sadly. "No, everything is all fucked up. We had the nurse look Kevin over and he's got the same thing Nick had it's just a lot worse. He's dehydrated and still puking and having problems with the other end, but all in all Lou is forcing him to go on stage."

"Oh damn," Justin said with wide eyes. "That explains the shirt you took. Poor Kevin, I don't understand why Lou's like that!" Justin shook his head and looked down at Nick's face.

"All he thinks about is money. If we canceled the concert tonight we would have to reschedule which would throw us all off whack, plus they would have to pay for the arena again. The man is a fucking cheapskate is what he is." AJ said in a voice full of disgust and hatred towards the older man.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Justin asked worried that if they continue the way they were rehearsing that these guys would be hospitalized for some condition.

AJ shook his head and just closed his eyes for a minute to try and keep himself under control and to get his head to stop pounding.

Justin felt bad as his heart went out to the older man. "Come here," Justin said patting the seat next to him.

AJ hadn't wanted to disturb Nick but he got up and sat on the other side of Justin anyway. "I just...I sometimes think we would all be better off if we didn't have the group."

Justin looked at AJ with shock. "You really think that?" He questioned. He knew that what Lou was putting them through was horrible but he never thought that AJ or any of the other guys would regret forming a group.

AJ shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "I guess I'm just seeing it now as it's not worth us getting sick ya know. I mean Kevin is being the trooper he hasn't complained even once because he knows how much the group means to all of us. But I still don’t think it's worth it if we have to go on stage when we could easily throw up all over the fans."

Justin put his arm over AJ's shoulder and pulled him close so that he could kiss his forehead. "Hmmm," Justin said. He really didn't know just what to do to comfort or help the other man. "I bought the Maalox and pepto stuff," Justin said. "If he still needs it, we've got it."

"Yeah...thanks I'll take it to him when I go back in a few minutes. I just had to get out of there, I couldn't take it anymore," AJ said as he rested his head on Justin's shoulder. It wasn't very often that he let himself be comforted like this or put his guard down but he just didn’t' have the energy to deal with that today.

Justin rested his head on top of AJ's before whispering, "The bag right next to you on the floor, the Rite Aid one, it's got everything that Kevin might need."

AJ looked into the bag and laughed when he picked out a Kit Kat bar. "I really don't think he needs this right now."

Justin chuckled. "Uh, yah I don't think he'd need that either but Nick would."

"How did our little dude do on his grand adventure of Portland?" AJ asked as he looked at the very tuckered out two year old.

Justin smiled as he looked back down at Nick. "He loved it. We went to the mall and the girl at the discovery store gave him all the sea world beanies for free. Then we went to McDonalds and got ourselves something to eat and you wouldn't be able to guess in a million years what Nick was thinking about," Justin said with his eyes wide, excitement in his voice.

"I have no idea," AJ laughed at Justin's wide eyed expression.

"He's thinking about going potty like the big boys," Justin said nodding his head. "You should have seen him watching this other kids his age walk in to the bathroom. He was like looking back and forth wondering if he should go too." Justin beamed proudly.

"Did he?" AJ asked also smiling, happy to see that Nick had at least overcome his fear of the bathroom. Now it was just a matter of time for him to overcome all the normal obstacles that kids go through.

Justin's response was to nod his head and smile. "Yah, and then we went to the zoo and oh god," Justin said shaking his head. "It was a bit embarrassing the first few minutes when Nick loudly pointed out that the elephant had a big pee-pee."

AJ's eyes went wide and laughed. "What the hell...why would he say something like that?"

"Because the elephant took that moment to get 'excited' and Nick noticed and commented on it," Justin simply stated. "It was funny, too, because this old lady next to us gave us a weird and walked away as fast as she could." Justin chuckled. "Over all, Nick was a really good boy today."

"The poor elephant probably got embarrassed too," AJ laughed as he leaned over and kissed Justin on the cheek. He really wished they could get some more alone time that day but he knew he only had a few more minutes before he had to leave.

Justin's excitement slowly dissipated knowing that AJ kissing him on the cheek indicated that he was going to leave soon. "Will I see you before the concert or is this the last time until after the concert?"

"The concert starts at seven thirty so yeah," AJ said with a sigh knowing this was probably going to be the worst concert they have ever done since none of them was in the right frame of mind.

Justin sighed nodding his head. "Do you think we should attend the concert or should we just stay here in the bus and wait for you guys?"

"I think it would be best to just stay here, plus I'm sure Nick is tired and might sleep a while anyway," AJ said but then thought of something. "Then again you might want to wake him up fairly soon so when we get back he's ready to go to sleep too. I don't think Brian can handle staying up too late tonight."

"Of course," Justin said nodding his head. "That would be a good idea but what in the world are we gonna do for that long on this bus?"

AJ sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know baby...I'm sorry you're stuck here."

"It's what I came here for," Justin shrugged and then remembered something. "When's my tutor getting here?"

"She was supposed to be here today..."AJ said totally forgetting about that after all that had happened. "I'm not sure if things changed or not."

"Hmm," Justin said as he thought about it for a minute. "Maybe she came and then left?" Now, wouldn't that be interesting. He wondered what his mom would say to that. His mom. Damn, he needs to call her and update his blog. "Hey Age, before you go could you get me my laptop?"

"Sure," AJ said with a smile as he stood up and headed into the bunk area and then came back with Justin’s bag. "Here ya go."

Justin smiled. "Thanks," he said as he took of his laptop after much difficulty since he was only using his right hand. Finally, he placed his laptop next to him and turned it on. Looking up at AJ he smiled.

"My baby going to look at porn while I'm gone?" AJ asked with smirk on his face as he watched Justin boot up his computer

Justin stuck his tongue out at AJ before chuckling. "No," Justin said shaking his head. "Upload some pictures I took of Nick today onto my blog and update my mom."

"I still think you'll be looking at porn. I mean aren't you supposed to be a horny teenager?" AJ continued to tease as he walked into the kitchen to get a drink.

Justin made faces at AJ. "I'm a hungry teenager not a horny one!"

AJ pouted playfully. "Awe man, I want my money back so I can get a horny teenager," he teased a smile coming on his face to show Justin he was totally teasing.

"Humphf," Justin said giving AJ a mock glare before smiling. "Whatever."

AJ moved back over to where Justin was and leaned down for a full blown kiss, knowing Nick was out for the count right now.

Justin more than happy accepted the kiss and the tongue. When AJ pulled away he said, "There better be more of that later on."

AJ smirked as he pulled back. "I would love to give you more of it now, but I've gotta get going. We should be back around ten if all goes well."

Justin sighed and nodded his head before watching AJ walk off the bus. He then turned his attention to the screen of his laptop and logged on into account before typing in everything that had happened since the day before. When he was done he took out his digital camera and uploaded all the pictures to accompany the events. When everything was done he closed his laptop and took his cell phone out. He knew his mom was going to be pissed since he hadn't called her last night like he had promised he would. He smiled when his mom answered the phone. "Hey mama."

"Well glad to know you're still alive," Lynn said, humor evident in his voice. "How are things honey?"

"Hectic, mama," Justin said as he rested his head on the back of the couch. "Lou's killing the guys right now."

Lynn had a feeling that Justin wasn't far off from the truth with what he just said. "What's going on? I would think the man would have let up with all that happened."

Justin snorted. "Not happening. He's actually got the guys working more now. Heck, mama, Kevin was sick today. He was like puking every half hour and all that stuff but Lou still made him go to rehearsals and perform tonight," Justin said, anger evident in his voice. "Yesterday, Lou was here and he was yelling at the guys. I don't know what it was about because I had to get Nick out of there but yah. That man's awful!"

"How's Nicky handling life on the road?" Lynn asked, wondering how the boy would handle the change in his life once again.

"He seems to be liking the 'seeing new places and meeting new people' a bit. And he's been a very good boy lately, the cutest," Justin said chuckling. Sure he's mom has heard that phrase, 'Nick's the cutest,' a zillion times but still who else could he tell those things to?

Just then Nick's eyes opened and he looked up at Justin talking on the phone. He had heard his name in the conversation and wondered who Justin was talking to.

"I'm glad he's adjusting so well, and he's really lucky to have all you guys who care for him," Lynn said with a smile and then groaned. "Honey I hate to do this but I have to get going your father is taking me to dinner."

Justin smiled. "It's okay, mama, I updated the site so you can check that out whenever you're free. Tell dad I love him," Justin said. "I love you, mama. Bye."

"I love you too honey," Lynn said before she hung up the phone.

"Who dat?" Nick asked as he looked up at Justin.

Justin flipped his phone shut and looked down at Nick. "My mom," he said as he smiled down at Nick. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah but me woked up cuz me thirsty," Nick sad as he licked his dry lips.

Justin bent down and looked in Nick's bag that was by his feet. He asked, "Milk or apple juice?"

"Juice," Nick said with a nod of his head as he sat up on the couch and stretched his long legs out in front of him.

"Here you go," Justin said taking the bottle out and removing the cover before handing it to Nick.

Nick smiled big as he started to drink the bottle. "We see show?" he asked after a minute, wondering if they got to watch the show today like they did the other night.

Justin shook his head sadly. "There's going to be way too many people not just in the crowd but running around backstage and everything. Brian and the guys think it'll be safer for us to stay in the bus," Justin said.

Nick pouted a little but nodded his head. "Okay but what we do?" he asked looking around the room not having any idea what they could do in the bus. "And me want Brian," he whispered. He hadn't seen Brian for hours and he really, really missed him now.

Justin was afraid of that. "Um, you wanna color?" Justin questioned spotting one of Nick's coloring books on top of the TV.

"Ohh yeah!" Nick said excitedly as he got off the couch and went over to his coloring books. "You color too?"

"I don't know," Justin said shrugging. He didn't want to color and finish up Nick's books. "Do you mind if I do?"

Nick handed Justin one of his spider man coloring books before he went about coloring in his own. He actually was using different colors in different places and things were the color they were suppose to be. Sure it wasn’t in the lines and looked scribbled but for a two year old this was amazing.

Justin chuckled as he got down on his knees beside Nick. "Hey buddy," Justin said. "You need to color inside the lines, like this." Justin opened up his coloring book and grabbed a blue crayon to color in Spiderman’s tights.

Nick's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth in concentration was he tried to color just like Justin was. It wasn't exactly perfect but he did do a pretty good job of trying to color in the lines.

"Wonderful," Justin said watching Nick color. "Keep practicing and you'll be an artist one day."

"Me wana sing ike daddy," Nick said, not realizing he was actually calling Brian his daddy.

Justin scrunched up his face trying to think if Bob sang but when he came up with a negative he figured it was probably Brian. Justin smiled. "You will," he said in a serious tone. "In a few years, you could be the fifth member of the Backstreet Boys, then every thing will be complete. You will sing and dance and have so many girls confessing their undying love to you, so many offers of marriage, and no time to be with me," Justin said getting sad all of a sudden.

Nick's eyes went wide and he shook his head like crazy. "Me never forget you...you my Justin. Me be wit you...and no sing," he said showing he would rather be best friends with Justin then be famous.

Justin smiled at that but he could never do that to Nick. He knew that Nick's life was in music and there was no way he could live with his conscience if Nick did something else because of him. "I'll always be yours Nick, always. But I also know that music, that traveling the world, doing things like that is something you dream about... something you think about." Justin knew this because Nick had told him when they would spend the night in their childhood tree house. He told Justin that it was his dream since he was two to be a famous rock star. Either that or a marine biologist.

"Well me still little...me have lots and lots of time," Nick said as he went back to coloring, thinking about things like that rather then the future. It was then that it hit him and his eyes went wide. "Me gotta go potty," he said, knowing he had said it soon enough this time but he wasn't sure what to do. He didn't really have to go that much and could probably hold it but he felt it and didn’t Brian say to do something once you feel it?

Justin looked at Nick. "You have to go or did you already go?" Justin questioned sitting up.

"Me gotta go...me no go." Nick said meaning he hadn't gone in his diaper yet but the feeling was becoming stronger and stronger and his eyes kept getting wider and wider.

"Okay, okay," Justin said. "Get up and let's go to the bathroom." Once they did that Justin pulled down Nick's Jeans and undid the diaper. He then scratched his head. "Um, sit down on the toilet and uh, pee."

He knew that it would be easier for Nick to stand up and pee but he figured that Nick might miss and it be less of a mess if he got Nick to sit down.

Nick sat on the toilet no fear in his eyes now, he trusted Justin and all the rest of the guys. Nobody would ever hurt him like that ever again. Once sitting down he automatically pushed his thing into the toilet so he wouldn't end up peeing on the floor. It took him a second to relax enough to pee but soon you could hear it and the look on Nick's face was priceless. He was so excited that he almost jumped up off the toilet while he was still going.

"Whoa there buddy," Justin said laughing as he put his hands on Nick's shoulders to keep him from jumping up. "You can get up AFTER you've done your business, not during."

"Me do it!" Nick said still very excited and proud of himself.

"Yes, you did do it. See, you're beginning to be a big boy, day by day," Justin said beaming at how happy Nick was.

After a minute Nick knew he was all done. "Me done now..." he said not sure what to do now.

"Okay," Justin said. "Stand up and let's get your diaper back on." Once they accomplished that task he said, "Now we wash our hands."

Nick walked over to the sink and washed his hands like a big boy then dried them off. "Me tell daddy me big boy...me go potty in the potty!" He didn't know when he started thinking of Brian as his daddy and calling him that but now it just seemed to flow. It was almost as if he was slowly beginning to block out his old life all together.

Justin nodded his head. "Daddy will be so proud to hear that but you're going to have to give him an encore 'cause he missed the first time you went potty all by yourself." Justin walked out with Nick and sat back down by the coloring books.

"Me do it again...and again...and again," Nick said still smiling so big.

Nick turned his head to the door when he heard the guys bordering the bus. "Day back!" he said to Justin excitedly.

Justin looked at the time and was surprised at how fast the time flew. He too looked over at the door with a smile which soon turned into a frown when he saw four sagging, tired, sweating bodies climb onto the bus very slowly. They all looked like they were going to pass out any second especially Kevin. Justin quickly got up and reached Kevin just in time before the older man could fall. "Oh god," Justin said as he held Kevin in his arms and kind of carried and dragged Kevin over to the couch.

"Yeah that was the most interesting concert in the world," AJ mumbled as he sat down at the kitchen table the closest thing he came to.

Kevin groaned, still feeling terrible. He had made it almost all the way through the concert but then on the second to the last song he had lost it on stage. He was happy though that all the fans that he noticed seemed sad and sorry not disgusted.

"You guys look like the living dead," Justin said as he let go of Kevin and walked over to the kitchen to wet a few bounty napkins with cold water before heading back over to Brian, Howie, and Kevin who were seated on the couch, putting the wet napkins on each of their foreheads. He then walked over to AJ and gave him one too. "Cold water to drink? Anything?" Justin questioned walking back over to Kevin and began to take his shoes and socks off. He did the same for each of the guys since they looked like breathing had become a chore.

Brian nodded his head. "Water would be heavenly," he barely was able to get that out of his mouth.

"Yup," was all Howie said as he closed his eyes and rested his head back on the couch.

Nick looked at the guys with wide eyes and he almost looked like he was going to cry again. He didn't like them looking like that. "Day sick too?" he asked seeing them looking a lot worse then they had at the other concert.

AJ shook his head as he took the water Justin handed to all of them. "No buddy...we're just really tired."

"Yah," Justin said. "Just give them a few more minutes to relax and catch their breaths." Justin then looking back at Brian, Howie, and Kevin he asked, "You guys going to take a shower or are ya'll just gonna crash here on the couch? If it's the latter, I'm gonna go get your blankets and pillows, maybe a foot stool or something, now," Justin said.

Howie mumbled out a, "I'm going to crash but in bed." And though he tried to get up and go over to the bed he couldn't. "Help."

Justin walked over and helped Howie up and walked them over to his bunk. He helped Howie out of his sweaty clothes and handed him a wifebeater, since Howie opted to just sleep in his boxers and that shirt. When Howie was tucked safely in the bunk he walked back out and looked at the other guys.

"I'm crashing here," Kevin mumbled as he lied all across the couch. "Close to...the bathroom."

Justin nodded his head as he walked over to Kevin's bunk and grabbed a pillow and a blanket before walking back and placing the pillow under his head and covering him with the blanket.

Brian smiled a tired smile at Justin. "I'll go shower and then crash in bed," Brian said as he willed every single energy cell he had in him to work so he could get up and do just that. He ruffled Nick's hair as he passed the young boy on his way to the bathroom.

Nick tried not to look sad as Brian passed by him. He felt like he was totally lacking on Brian time that day...but for some reason he just felt he shouldn't say anything.

"I'm gunna shower once Brian is done...then I wana spend some quality time with my man," AJ said with a smile. He knew he was tired but he wasn't too tired to chill with Justin.

Justin smiled at AJ and then sat down on the floor beside Nick. "Hey," Justin said nudging Nick with his shoulder. Just then someone else got on the bus and Justin was relieved to see that it was only their bus driver. "What's with the long face?"

"Me want daddy," Nick whispered trying hard not to cry. This had been the longest time he had spent away from Brian and he really needed him.

Justin's heart went out to Nick. "I know buddy," he said as he hugged Nick. "Maybe I can ask him to stay up just a little bit longer for you so that you could tell him all about your day, okay?"

Nick sniffled and nodded his head and then looked at the bathroom door when he heard the shower turn off. The shower only had enough hot water for a five minute shower but it worked to get the sweat off.

A few seconds later Brian emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He made his way into the bunk area.

Justin took that moment to get up and go talk to Brian. "Hey Brian," he said as he walked in and saw Brian pulling on his boxers before taking his towel off. "Um, Nick really wants to spend some quality time with you. He's missed you like crazy today," Justin said.

Brian nodded his head as he pulled on his sweat pants and then a t-shirt. "I missed him too, and of course I'll spend some time with him. I wanna know just how he spent his day today." Brian smiled at Justin. "Thanks for everything," Brian said referring to taking care of Nick and helping them out when he came back from the concert.

Justin smiled. "Don't mention it," he said before walking out and going over to Nick. "Hey, why don't you go in there and talk to Brian, okay?"

Nick got up and walked into the bunk area where Brian was and looked at him kinda sheepishly. For some reason thinking Brian really didn't want to spend time with him.

Brian smiled from where he was sitting down in Nick's bed. "Hey little man," Brian greeted as he opened his arms waiting for Nick to give him a hug. "Come here, I missed you today."

Nick climbed into Brian's lap and snuggled in so his face was in Brian's neck. "Me have good day," he mumbled.

"Yah? What did you do today?" Brian questioned as he held onto Nick tightly as he rested his cheek on Nick's head.

"Me went to the mall, girl let me have whole stuffed aneemal things for no money...den we had Mc Donald’s for lunch...den we went to zoo. Me saw effent wit big big big pee pee...den it got smaller," Nick said explaining all of the things he did that day. "Den guy go poopy on by birdie."

Brian pulled back from Nick so he could get a better look at the younger man's face. He tried to hold in his laughter and at the same time tried to stifle his yawn. "That's something," Brian said. "Birdie pooped on a guy huh? What else?"

Nick tried to think of other things that happened, then he remembered the biggest most bestest part of the day. "Ohh me go potty...in potty!"

Brian eyes widened. "You DID?" He questioned shocked, surprised, and thrilled. "You actually used the bathroom instead of going in your diapers?"

Nick nodded his head a huge smile on his face. "Me willy, willy did."

"And I MISSED IT!" Brian stated pouting and shaking his head. "Oh man, why do I keep missing the important things?"

"Me do again for you," Nick said with a nod of his head to make Brian feel better. "Me big boy." He then thought of something and pouted a little. "Me poopy in diaper dough," he said sadly.

Brian furrowed his brows. "Before you went potty or after you went potty? Eh, whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. It's all about taking it one step at a time. What matter's is that you used the bathroom. I'm so proud of you," Brian said as he kissed Nick's forehead and then his cheek. "You're my big boy!"

"Me no scared no more...you my daddy now," Nick said as he hugged Brian tightly. By saying that he was showing that he had pushed his old daddy to the back of his mind so now Brian could be his new daddy in his new life with no fear of things.

Brian froze as Nick called him his daddy and hugged him. That little fact hit him hard as it all finally started to really get to him, the fact that Nick isn't his... HIS... Nick anymore that he'll be a father figure to Nick. That hurt and Brian couldn't help the tears that feel from his eyes. Today was an emotional day and he just didn't know what else he could do at the moment but cry. "Da..d..dadd..dadddy?"

Nick pulled back and looked at Brian with scared eyes. He didn't understand why Brian was crying. "Why cry?" he asked all worried now.

Brian forced a smile on his face as he saw the worry and fear in Nick's eyes. "You called me daddy," Brian said. "I'm just so happy!" That last bit came out forced.

Nick smiled too, but he wasn't dumb and knew something was wrong. "Otay," he said before snuggling up to Brian again.

AJ had just came out of the shower and over heard the conversation and sighed. "I think we have a problem," he said to Justin as he walked back into the main room.

Justin looked over at AJ from where he was watching the scenery pass them by. They'd already started driving to their next destination. "What problem?"

"Nick is calling Brian 'daddy' and Brian doesn’t seem to like it," AJ said as he sat down next to Justin. "He started crying and it wasn't happy tears."

Justin sighed. "Nick started calling Brian daddy since we got back to the bus today," he said. "Like you said earlier, Brian's going through a lot since he just lost the love of his life and now has to take care of a two year old version of him. It's gotta be tough on him. He just needs time, I think."

AJ nodded his head as he scooted closer to Justin. "Do you wana snuggle with me in my bunk tonight?" he asked softly. "I don't mean do anything else just snuggle." He wanted to make sure Justin knew he wasn't just trying to get in his pants and for some reason felt like he had to keep telling Justin that.

Justin looked over at AJ and smiled. "I like the sound of that, yah," Justin said. "But let me take a quick shower first."

AJ had the question 'can I come' on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't ask it. "Okay baby."

Justin kissed AJ's cheek before scooting out of the booth type seating by the kitchen table and made his way in to the bunk area to grab his PJ's. He froze in his tracks when he saw that Brian and Nick were snuggled fast asleep in Nick's bunk and something about that scene brought back memories from the past. He gulped the rock that appeared in his throat and walked over to his bag to get his clothes. Taking a deep breath he walked back out and headed into the bathroom to take his shower throwing AJ a wink before closing the bathroom door.

AJ moaned softly, he had pictures in his head now of a very wet and soapy Justin and yeah...he was instantly hard.

Justin quickly took a cold shower knowing that Kevin and Howie would need the hot water in the morning when they wake up. Within five minutes Justin emerged from the bathroom dressed in his PJ's and shivered slightly as he was met with the cool air of the air conditioned bus. He walked into the bunk area and placed his clothes in the laundry bag before walking back out to sit next to AJ. "Hey," Justin greeted.

AJ smiled as he wrapped an arm around Justin and his eyes went wide. "Baby you're freezing, we don't need YOU getting sick next," he said as he pulled him in close. "It's going to be amazing if we don't all catch it anyways," he said making a face.

Justin nodded. "I know but I wanted to save some hot water for Howie and Kevin incase they wanted to take showers when they wake up," Justin said shrugging. "I don't mind besides," he smirked, "I got you to keep me warm."

AJ smirked back, "You have got a point there, and I like keeping you warm."

"Hmm," Justin said smiling as he licked his lips before leaning close to AJ for a kiss.

AJ moaned softly into the kiss as he pulled Justin closer to him. He knew Kevin was fast asleep, maybe even passed out so he didn't feel weird totally getting into the kiss and kissing Justin passionately,

Justin let his tongue out and licked at AJ's lips asking for permission and he moaned when AJ's lips parted and their tongues met in the middle. Justin could feel himself reacting to this sensual kiss and he couldn't help but tilt his head to deepen the kiss some more. Justin, somehow, with expert maneuvering managed to arrange himself so that he was seated on AJ's lap, his back resting against the window, and his arms around AJ's neck, all with out breaking the kiss.

AJ kept the kiss going for a good few minutes before he had to pull back. "Wow," he said as he panted for air, trying to get his breathing back to normal. He knew Justin could tell just how much that kiss had affected him since he was sitting right over the top of it.

Justin smiled as he opened his eyes and looked into AJ's. "Yah, wow," he agreed. "Someone's a little excited," Justin said wiggling his hips a little.

"Yeah me and the elephant, but at least the zoo keepers don’t make me stay away from my mate," AJ said with a laugh and then groaned when Justin wiggled his hips on him.

Justin chuckled at what AJ said. "Hmm, baby," Justin said as he brought his hand to AJ's face and let his fingers outline the older man's features. "You look beyond exhausted." He then brought his hand up and gently ran his hands through AJ's hair.

"I am," AJ said with a sigh. "But I don't want to go to bed because we haven't seen each other much today."

"I know," Justin said. "But hey, tomorrow is your day off, right? We could spend all day tomorrow with each other in Seattle."

AJ nodded his head, so thankful for the day off they all would need it. "Yeah and it's a good thing too because we all need it to relax some so we really don't catch what Kev has."

"Yah, that would suck otherwise," Justin said agreeing. "'Cause then Nick and I would end up having to look after all you guys." Justin chuckled as he tried to get off of AJ,

AJ smiled at that, "Nick was a really big boy today once he got over the initial being scared of Kevin throwing up. I mean he tried to help and everything."

"Uh huh," Justin said nodding his head. "He even used the bathroom instead of going in his diapers." Justin finally managed to get off of AJ and stood up holding a hand out for AJ to take.

"He did?" AJ asked in shock as he got up and took Justin's hand. "Wow, I bet he was very proud of himself."

"He was," Justin said. "He was so excited that he was about to jump up off the seat while he was still peeing." Justin walked them into the bunk area and stood there not knowing what to do now.

"Climb in, I'll get on the outside," AJ whispered as they got to his bunk. "Hopefully he'll continue to use the potty like a big boy but I'm sure we're not out of the woods yet really. He's still young and this is still so new."

Justin nodded his head as he did what AJ said and climbed up into AJ's bunk. Once he was in he opened the sheets so that AJ could get in easily.

AJ climbed into the bunk and automatically snuggled up to Justin. It was a smooshy fit but that was okay because it was better to snuggle like that. "Mmm this is nice."

"Yah, it is," Justin said as he let out a content sigh. He wiggled a bit before throwing his right leg over AJ. "Good night," Justin said as he let a yawn escape him.

"Night, night," AJ whispered as he closed his eyes and drifted almost right to sleep. It had been a beyond stressful last few days and he was happy to finally be able to get some sleep.

Justin watched AJ sleep for a few minutes before he felt himself drift off to sleep.