Nick had managed to almost avoid Brian the whole rest of the party but now it was almost eight that night and everybody except Justin was gone. He was thankful Justin was still over but he knew that wouldn't keep Brian from talking to him. "Justin wana play wit my new trains that Uncle AJ got me?" he asked trying to pull Justin out of the room while Brian was busy cleaning up the back patio.

"Sure," Justin said as he helped Nick pick up the train set and walk into his playroom, the one Brian had created for Nick‘s toys and things. The room already had a huge table with an elaborate train set system built up and the set that Nick had just gotten is the continuation of the system to go from the top of the table to the floor... kind of like going from the mountain top to the valley down below.

Nick glanced out back where Brian was before he walked with Justin into the play room. You could actually look out at the pool from it so Brian could actually see them playing. "Do you think we can get it set up tonight?" he asked with a huge smile on his face.

"It's going to take a while," Justin said looking at the pieces. "I mean, we're going to have to build a mountain type thing with the trees and pathway for the train tracks to be set up on..."

"Okay...well we can try," Nick said as he sat down on the floor and attempted to get the box open. He only prayed they could get it done and that the talk he was dreading never happened.

"Yah, I guess we could," Justin said as he sat across from Nick and started to open up the other boxes. He then wondered just how they were going to build the mountain. He then remembered the Lego sets Brian had gotten Nick and one of the sets was actually a mountain terrain themed set so that would be perfect. He then got up and walked over to the big closet by the back wall and looked through it. Once he found the box he brought it over to where the mountain would be and started to dump all the legos out.

Nick looked at Justin weird, "Why did you get out the legos?" he asked as he watched Justin dump out the legos next to the train table.

"I'm gonna use this to make the mountain for the train so it has some way of descending down," Justin explained. "Instead of getting to the edge of the table and plunging to it's doom."

"Ohhh," Nick said with wide eyes, just thinking about the train plunging to it's doom was making him make a face. "That would be a bad, bad thing."

"Yeah, hence why the need to build something... like a mountain for it to travel down on," Justin said smiling before letting out a huge face splitting yawn.

Nick giggled, "Justin you're sleepy...go to bed," he said before realizing that would leave him awake with just Brian. "You don't sleep enough...so you can sleep now. We can build train tomorrow."

"It's okay," Justin said after letting out of sigh. He knew how much Nick was dreading the talk with Brian and he would stay up just in case Nick would need him after the talk. He'd have plenty of rest when he's dead but not now.

Nick smiled a little and nodded his head. He glanced outside and groaned when he noticed Brian was getting ready to head back inside. "How are we gunna make the mountain?" he asked trying to focus on the train set and not Brian coming inside.

Justin looked at the diagram that was on the side of the lego box and pointed at it. "We're going to have to built from the bottom up, make it really big on the floor and really small kinda thing on the top," he explained as he got out the brown legos and started to place them on the floor, making the base/foundation for the mountain.

Nick tried to help Justin the best he could as they built the mountain part but most of it was a little beyond him. Instead he found himself looking at the picture on the side of his Thomas boxes imagining how it would look all put together.

Brian walked into the room. "Hey guys, what are you doing?" He questioned wrinkling his forehead as he eyed the mass of legos on the floor and the bunch of brown lego's that Justin was putting together. "Ooooh," he said noticing the picture on the box was that of a mountain. "Good idea." He then looked at the time and then over to Nick.

"Wana help, Daddy?" Nick asked, looking up at Brian with big blue eyes.

"It's kinda late right now," Brian said shaking his head. "Why don't you boys get cleaned up and ready for bed. You can play in the morning?"

Nick looked at the clock seeing it was now eight thirty...and Nick knew that wasn't late. When they were out on tour he was normally up past midnight so that's what his body was used to. "It's not late," he whined, forgetting he should probably be on his best behavior since he's already in hot water.

"It is late," Brian said in a firm tone. "I know you're body is used to sleeping a little past midnight but that's only when we're on tour. We're home now and boys your age have bed times. And yours is at 9," he said.

"But I don't wana!" Nick continued to whine. "Justin is over...I want to play with him," he said with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Justin's going to bed too," Brian said giving Justin a pointed look. "Did you see how he looked this morning? He's going to need to sleep so he won't faint or pass out due to exhaustion or lack of sleep and end up in the hospital. Come on, start putting the things away," he said clapping his hands and nodding at the unused legos.

Justin nodded his head as he started to do what Brian had asked him to do. He then looked over at Nick and shook his head silently telling him to obey Brian or he would be in a lot more trouble, at least he'd hope Nick would understand that.

Nick sat there on the floor not moving an inch. He was four years old and that logic didn't exactly click in his brain yet. All he knew was he didn’t' want to go to bed...and he sure as hell didn't want to clean up those legos.

"GET UP," Brian said in a firm tone as he narrowed his eyes at Nick. "Do you really want me to talk to you in front of Justin or would you rather him hear your punishment and how a naughty boy you've been?"

Nick stood up but also stuck his tongue out at Brian before walking out of the room as slowly as he possibly could.

Brian sighed as he looked over at Justin with a helpless look on his face. "I'm really starting to lose my patience with that boy," he said, defeated.

Justin looked up at Brian with sympathy etched on his face before standing up and walking over to him, pulling him into a hug. "Things will get better as the days go by," he said trying to be optimistic. "I'm sure of it." He pulled back and smiled at Brian. "If it helps any I'm thinking about reducing my course load to four courses a semester and dropping out from the basket ball team."

Brian widened his eyes as he looked into Justin's serious ones. "Are you kidding me? I mean, why... no, why?" He questioned. "Don't do this for me or for Nick, Justin. Quitting basket ball? WHAT!?" He was baffled.

Justin shook his head. "Let's not talk about that now," he said sighing. "Just go easy on Nick, okay?"

Brian sighed, too, as he ran his hand through his hair and nodded his head. "I'll see you in a few," he said as he walked out of the room and up to Nick's room.

Nick was sitting in the middle of his bed with Winky and Joe on his lap. He wanted to hide in the closet and never come out but he knew Brian would probably just come into the closet to punish him. He knew he had done a lot of things that day that he shouldn't have done.

Brian walked in to the room and closed the door behind him before pulling up a chair to Nick's bed and sitting in it. "Okay, so explain to me just why you lied," he said. That's the most important issue at hand.

Nick wasn't really sure what Brian was talking about. "Huh?"

"Why did you lie about Justin using the potty when clearly it was you?" Brian clarified.

"I didn't..." Nick started to say he didn't use the potty but caught himself. He still wasn't sure if Brian knew he had, had an accident or not. "I thought he was using the potty...what was he doing if he wasn't..." he said not realizing he was digging himself an even bigger hole. The problem with little white lies was that they always grew.

Brian rubbed his temples. "Nick... you were with him in the bathroom," he said. "You KNOW Justin wasn't using the potty. He was there for you..."

Nick sighed and looked down at his lap, not saying anything else. He didn't know what to say to make things better.

"Do you know what happens to those that lie?" Brian questioned leaning forward. "Hmmm?"

"They get in trouble?" Nick answered back with a little uncertainty in his voice.

"Yah," Brian said. "They do get in trouble but what's worse is that the word gets around that they are liars and people don't believe them when they tell them something, even if it IS the truth. They lose trust and trust is a very important thing. One little lie is just as big as another other lie. You say it once and then you have to make up another one to cover up the first lie and then another one to cover that one up... and before you know it, everything that's coming out of the mouth is a lie." Brian paused. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Nick nodded his head sadly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, hoping and praying that saying he was sorry would get him out of the heap of trouble he knew he was in for the other things that had happened that day.

"What do you understand and just why are you apologizing?" Brian questioned, wanting and needing to know if Nick really understood him or if he was just saying it to make him think he got it and let him off the hook.

"For lying about Justin using the potty when he wasn't...and for still trying to lie about it now by lying again." Nick explained, showing he did understand and he really was sorry for lying.

"Okay, then," Brian said, nodding his head. "Now... can you tell me why you didn't use the bathroom to go potty?"

"I didn't mean to...it was an accident," Nick said right off the bat, something he was getting used to saying a lot. It was true he hadn't meant to but he probably could have prevented it if he had really, really tried. It wasn't that he was trying to be rebellious...he was just having a very hard time of understanding his body. It seemed his mind and body were like minutes off from each other.

"Remember what I told you about having accidents?" Brian questioned as he ran his hand through his hair. "If you can't learn how to control or time everything then you're going back to wearing the pull-ups," he paused. "Starting tonight."

Nick's head shot up and his eyes started to tear up. "No...please...I'll try harder...I promise," he said, once again saying something he was getting used to saying. It just seemed that trying harder didn't even work. "I'm not a baby...I'm a big boy."

"Until you learn to use the bathroom regularly," Brian paused shaking his head. "I'm sorry Nick, you're going back to using the pull-ups." He got up and walked over to the closet and took out one of the pull-ups before walking over to Nick. "Go change."

Nick looked at Brian with the saddest blue eyes as he took the pull-up from Brian and grabbed his jammies off of his pillow and made his way into the bathroom to change and brush his teeth for bed. Stripping out of his clothes he sat down on the toilet to go to the bathroom as he sat there he kept having to wipe at his eyes as tears fell down his cheeks. He had left the bathroom door open like he always did, but didn't talk to Brian like he normally did.

Brian let out a heavy sigh as he sat back down in his seat, grabbing the story book, waiting for Nick to finish up and come back out.

Once he was finished, Nick turned off the bathroom light and walked back into his room and over to the bed. Climbing under the covers he grabbed Joe and Winky and looked at Brian hoping he hadn't been such a bad boy that Brian wouldn't read a chapter from their book. Right now they were in the middle of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. "Y...You gunna read?" he asked softly through sniffles.

"Yeah," Brian said waving the book in his hand before sitting on the edge of the bed, resting his back against the headboard so that way Nick could also see the pictures as he read the story out loud. He opened up to the page where they last stopped and started to read.

After Brian was reading for a few minutes Nick stopped him, looking up at him with his big blue eyes. "Daddy...do you still love me...even if I was bad today?"

Brian looked down in to Nick's eyes. "Of course, I still love you," he said, face serious and then explained. "I will always love you even though sometimes you might feel like I don't and even though I'm grounding you or punishing you... I'm doing it for your benefit... with your best interests at heart." He paused for a few seconds. "Don't ever think that I don't..."

"Tomorrow I get my boxers back?" Nick asked his eyes turning hopeful, even though he pretty much already knew the answer.

Brian shook his head. "No, not until you can prove to me that you're capable of using the bathroom without any accidents."

Nick sighed looking down at his lap. He felt like Brian was giving him an impossible task because even though he tried his hardest like he always promised it never worked. "I don't lie when I say I promise to try," he whispered, hoping Brian didn't think he was lying every time he had said that. "I do try daddy."

Brian closed the book and placed it on the table before putting his hand over Nick's shoulder and bringing him close to him. "I know you do," he said as he kissed his forehead. "But you're going to need a little more time... a little more practice to get things right until then I can't let you wear boxers because it's too much of a hassle for me."

"I sorry," Nick whispered, really meaning it, tears coming to his eyes again. He knew sometimes he was bad...or just a lot of work and he hated being a hassle. "I don't mean to be."

"Don't worry about it," Brian sighed, he was beyond exhausted with everything. "You're four... and as much as you don't like being called a kid... that's what you are and it's okay to do certain things because... frankly, you just don't understand the logic behind things... yet. But as you grow older you'll learn more and understand things better." He prayed that Nick would because he didn't know what he'd do otherwise.

Nick nodded his head planning to do everything in his power to be a very, VERY good boy tomorrow. "Okay..." he then yawned dramatically and snuggled down in the bed. He really wasn't all that tired but he knew this is what Brian wanted. "I'm really sleepy...night night Daddy."

Two years with Nick and Brian knew just about every trick in the book that Nick could possibly try to pull off on Brian. He decided to humor Nick and go along with it. He got up and made himself comfortable in the chair as he watched Nick close his eyes and 'sleep' knowing it wouldn't be long until Nick either starts to fidget getting bored with pretending to sleep or actually fall asleep.

And with Brian's good luck, Nick laid so still for a good ten minutes that he actually ended up putting himself to sleep and was snoring softly within fifteen minutes of closing his eyes.

Brian got up off the chair and turned the lights off before turning the bed light on, leaving the door just a crack open as he walked out of the room. He headed down the stairs to the play room and noticed that Justin was still there, awake and putting together the mountain of legos. Shaking his head he walked into the room and crossed his arms over his chest. "I meant what I said earlier, you gotta get going to bed too," he said, tone serious.

"I know, I just want to finish this." Justin said, glancing up at Brian. "Nicky asleep?"

Brian nodded his head to answer Justin's question about Nick. "You actually think you're gonna finish the mountain by tonight?" He questioned eyeing the three layers of lego's Justin had so far completed for the base of the mountain.

Justin shrugged his shoulders as he added a few more pieces. "I'm just trying to get as much done as I can." He explained. "Did you lay into him good?" he questioned, asking about Nick. He knew the boy was out of line a lot that day, but he also felt a little sorry for him since something still didn't seem quiet right.

Brian wrinkled his forehead as he semi-shook and nodded his head. "Um, kinda," he said. "I made him wear the pull-ups, that's until, you know, he proved he can use the bathroom without any more accidents..." Brian paused. "So, what's up with you lately? Don't see you in like months and you show up looking like you've been living off of caffeine... and what's this nonsense about quitting basket ball? You love it just as much as I do.."

"You've pretty much got it right there. I have been living off of caffeine. Between all the school work I have to do and basketball life has been insane," Justin said shaking his head. "And as for basketball you know I love it but something is telling me I have more important things to work on before I worry about that. I mean this is only my freshmen year I can try out next year...if I really want to."

"I suppose," Brian said something in his gut telling him there was more to that than what Justin was revealing. "So, how is second semester so far?" Brian questioned. He hadn't been able to really talk to Justin about everything that was going on and figured now is as good time as any since even though they both are beyond exhausted but couldn't sleep.

"Insane," Justin laughed. "I thought first semester was bad but second is like three times worse. All the classes I have give out huge ass amounts of homework and with basketball going on too I find myself up until at least 3am every night doing home work."

"Geeez," Brian said shaking his head as he watched Justin continue making the mountain. "Nick missed you like crazy, you know." Sure, he's told Justin that numerous of times but he still felt like he should say it. "Especially AJ," he then added.

Justin's stomach knotted up at the mention of AJ's name. "I know they missed me..." he whispered and then sighed knowing he had to tell Brian. "Alex and I broke up this morning."

Brian stared at Justin for a few minutes, not even blinking. Did he hear things right? "Say what?"

"AJ and I broke up this morning," Justin repeated.

"But... you two... today... why... wh.. how...," Brain stuttered out, not understanding that because they seemed anything but broken up the way they were acting earlier that day.

"We just didn't have enough time for a relationship." Justin said, trying to not think too much about it so he wouldn’t end up crying.

"Well, yah, I know THAT much," Brian said running a hand through his hair. "But you two went this long together... through so much... and now... now your reducing your course load and all that... even then you guys broke up?" He didn't know that AJ didn't know about Justin's plans.

Justin sighed as he brought his knees up and hugged them to his chest. "He doesn't know that I'm thinking about quitting basketball and reducing my courses," he said in a soft voice. "I've been thinking about it for a while but no one really knows about it... well, now you do, but besides that no one."

Brian bit his lower lip as he walked over to Justin and knelt down next to him. "If you tell AJ this I'm sure that you two could get back together," he said pausing. "Now that you'll have more free time."

Justin shook his head. "It's not just about the free time, Bri, it's more like I don't think we're IN love with each other," he said. "I mean, yes, I still love him and that's never going to change but things are different now... I'm... we're not IN love, anymore." He looked over at Brian. "It's about time... you know. I kinda saw this coming and it's better that we ended things now because if we didn't ... god only knows all the things that could have gotten ruined."

Brian didn't know what else to say to that. "I'm really sorry," he said.

Justin put a smile on his face. "Not your fault," he said. "Don't worry about me, THAT's the last thing you need to worry about right now, Mr. Dad." Justin nudged his shoulder with Brian's trying to lighten the mood.

Brian chuckled. "Maybe so," he said as he brought his hand up and rubbed it on top of Justin's head. "But you can't make me stop worrying about you and I don't want to, so tough."

Justin smiled. "Nick's lucky to have you," he said.

"And I'm lucky to have Nick..." Brian simply replied before standing up and taking a deep breath. He reached his hand down and grabbed a hold of Justin's arm, pulling him up.

"What are you doing?" Justin questioned as Brian dragged him out of the room and down the hall to another guestroom, the one he would sometimes stay in when he stayed over, the same room he'd been in earlier.

"You're going to sleep whether you like it or not," Brian said as he opened the door and turned the lights on.

Justin sighed. He didn't know if he should tell Brian that he'd been having problems in the sleep area, he basically just couldn't sleep even though his body begged for it.. his mind was always on over drive, not wanting to shut off. Most nights the only way he could get to sleep was by crying himself to sleep... forcing his mind to exhaust so he could go into a restless night of sleep.

Brian walked over to medicine cabinet in the bathroom and took out two Tylenol PM's and filled a glass with water before walking out backing out to the bedroom. "Here," he said handing Justin the pills. "I'll get you your PJ's."

Justin shook his head and was tempted to throw a tantrum saying that he wasn't a child and that he could take care of himself. He didn't need Brian telling him what to do and when to sleep but he sighed instead and did as Brian told him to do. He knew it was better just to go along than to put up a fight especially when it came to Brian, he could be a stubborn motherfucker just like Nick, if he wanted to be. He took the pills and drank the water and smiled as Brian handed him his sleep wear. He walked into the bathroom and changed out of his clothes and into his PJ's before walking back out only to find Brian sitting on the edge of his bed. Justin looked at him, incredulously. "Don't tell me you're going to tuck me in, read me a story, and kiss me good night?"

Brian laughed as he moved a little so Justin could get in bed and under the covers. "If you want me to, I will," he said, serious. "But I'm going to stay here till you fall asleep before I go back to my room and pass out."

Justin rolled his eyes and let out an overdramatic sigh. "Oh come on," he said with a snort. "I'll go to sleep, don't worry about it. I'm not a little kid that needs to be watched, Brian. Go, you need your sleep too."

Brian was skeptical at first but he finally gave in. "Okay," he said getting up and out of habit he started to tuck Justin in not noticing the amused expression on the younger man's face. But when he stood up straight and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead like he does with Nick was when Brian noticed and blushed. "Oops, sorry."

Justin started to laugh. "This has to be one of the most bizarre yet interesting things that's ever happened to me," he said shaking his head and then shrugging. "But I don't really care. It's nice to be tucked in now and then." He smiled up at Brian.

Brian chuckled as he nodded his head and leaned down to kiss Justin's forehead before turning the light off. "Good night, J," he said walking to the door. "See you tomorrow." With that he walked out the door, leaving it a crack open and a few seconds later walked back and closed the door before making his way to him room to get ready for bed.

Justin stared at the dark ceiling, laying completely still, for a few minutes before grabbing his cell phone and dialing Scott's number. He made a promise and he's not the kinda guy to ever go back on his word, if he could help it.

Scott put his coke can down on the coffee table and reached for his phone. "Yo?" he said as he propped his feet up on the couch. He was just at home watching a little TV before thinking about calling it an early night.

"Hey," Justin greeted in a whisper. "What's up?"

"Hey...not much watching old CSI reruns." Scott laughed as he got more comfortable hoping this was going to be one of their long conversations.

"Oh, fun," Justin said as he wiggled a bit to loosen the tightness of the sheets tucked in around him. He rolled onto his side and sighed. "Tell me something funny."

"Ummm...well I heard today that somebody went to the top of the Space needle in a huge furry dog suite," Scott said laughing a little. "One of the dudes at the station interviewed the guy but he would only bark answers so they had to stop the interview."

Justin chuckled at that as he let his body relax and took in a deep breath. "So, besides moving to LA sometime in the next two months... any other good news?"

"Not really..." Scott said pausing as if he was trying to think. "How come you sound so sad... I thought you were excited to be going to the party today. How can a four year-olds party not be fun?

"This is Nick we're talking about..." Justin said. "He got pissed and then I got depressed and then he got happy and I was semi-happy and then he didn't use the bathroom and he lied about it and then Brian got pissed and punished him and Brian tucked me into bed and here I am..." He rambled out in one breath.

Scott eyes went wide and he laughed. "I forgot how exciting it was being with you guys." He then thought of something else. "Shouldn't you be spending time with AJ?"

Justin wrinkled his nose and stared at the wall in front of him. "As a boyfriend I would be..." he trailed off before rolling onto his back and resting his hand on his face.

"What do you mean, Justin?"

"He and I broke up this morning, before the party," Justin said.

Scott's eyes went wide, "No shit...why?"

"We just weren't in love with each other," Justin said. There was no emotion in his tone, it was just flat.

"God man I'm sorry...it's awful when things like this happen but you guys are still friends and stuff right?" Scott asked, knowing that would be the worst if Justin and AJ were no longer able to be friends.

"Yea, of course," Justin said. "We can't not be friends, you know... I mean, I still love him and I still care about him as much as I did when we were still dating but... yah."

"Are you sure this is what you want J?" Scott asked softly, "To me it sounds like you don't really want this."

Justin remained quiet for a few minutes before he spoke up. "If we stayed together things would have just gotten worse to the point where he would have probably hated my guts. You should have seen him this morning when I showed up at Brian's place. He was all happy to see me but the second he realized that we hadn't seen each other for months he got really pissed... ignored me and all that," he said. "Besides, it's too late now, to do anything about it."

"I'm sorry Justin." Scott said with a sigh. "But it probably is for the best."

"Yah, I know," Justin said. "It still doesn't fill in the void that settled in within me."

"Where are you right now?" Scott asked.

"Um, Brian's place," Justin said trying to stifle a yawn. "He gave me Tylenol PM and made sure I changed into my pj's before tucking me in. Why? Where are you?"

"I'm just at home, I was just wondering where you were staying tonight," Scott said with a smile when he heard Justin yawn. "How about you go to sleep and call me tomorrow. I'm sure tomorrow will be better...don't you get the whole day to just chill with Nicky?"

"Yah," Justin replied. "I have this week off... I don't know why but the university is closed or something like that. I just hope Nick's not mopey."

"Why would he be mopey?" Scott asked, he hated hearing that the boy was sad about something and that was all he had heard as of late when he talked to either of the guys.

"He had another accident today... well looked like more than once today," Justin said. "Brian punished him by having him switch back to wearing pull-ups till he could prove he could use the bathroom regularly."

Scott made a face knowing that would make Nick feel really sad. "Oh man, the poor kid...the last time I talked to him on the phone he was going on and on about these boxers his grandparents gave him for Christmas and how he was wearing them now and stuff."

Justin smiled at that. "Yah, but Brian was getting sick the messes Nick would make in the boxers..."

"I wonder why he's doing it if he so badly wants to wear the boxers?" Scott questioned. "My nephew, the reason he was like three and a half before he was totally potty trained was because he told my sister he still wanted to be a baby...but it doesn't sound like that's how Nick is."

"I don't think he's getting the timing right... I mean you know he's been diagnosed with ADHD... I think his mind that wanders to whatever is more fun and interesting that he doesn't really notice just he's gotta go until he's actually going," Justin explained, giving his two cents. "You know what I mean? But I don't know if that's the reason because when I asked him he says something along the lines of 'I didn't mean to' or 'I tried to but I couldn't.'

"Well whatever it is make sure he knows he's still a big boy even if he's having to wear pull-ups again. If you let himself think he's a baby again then that's how he's going to act and he may just quit trying," Scott said laughing a little. "I listened to my sister go on and on about this for over a year...Brian sounds a lot more patient then she ever was so Nick's lucky."

Justin chuckled. "Yah... I supposes," he said. "I'm sure he'll get his act together cuz he really, REALLY, loves wearing boxers."

"You would think he would try to keep them clean then," Scott said as he shrugged his shoulders. "But anyways, I have an early day tomorrow...have to be up to help the morning show with some contest thing. Talk to you tomorrow?" he asked, hating to have to hang up but he needed sleep to survive the morning crew...a group of guys he personally couldn't stand.

"Uh huh," Justin said, sounding sleepy. "Tomorrow." He yawned and let his eyes close. "Night Scott."

"Night Justin."

Justin flipped his cell closed with his hand and let it drop next to him on the bed. Within seconds he'd succumbed to the sleep the pills were causing him.