Hola readers. Prepare for a long author's note. This is my first Big Time Rush fanfiction, so some parts might be a little rough. Those of you who might have read my stories for Glee: this is going to be a total contrast to that. This story is going to be heavy and pretty dark, but my other stories were more light and humorous. Don't worry though, my sarcasm will still show up a lot in this story. Fair warning, things are going to get pretty crazy and dramatic, but not in the Degrassi kind of way, though there will be romance. I may have to up this to M in the future (this is going to be a really long story) because of the heavier themes. I think that's all I need to warn you about. Probably the only pairing that lasts the whole story is KendallxJo, but their relationship is not the focus of the story. Here's the prologue! I do not own BTR or any of their music.

Kendall's POV

"Carlos, we can't take over another music video. We barely got away with The City is Ours and allowing Camille to stay at the Palm Woods," reasoned Logan.

"If we did it once, we can do it again. We're a team, guys," I said.

"I agree with, Kendall," seconded James.

"Me too!" shouted Carlos.

"Shh! Let's not yell and bother the good people of the Palm Woods anymore, today. They already had to deal with James and Carlos's random dancing. Look, Gustavo's already mad at us for coming down with Hollywood fever. Why don't we just go with the director he brought in for Stuck? He's not that bad!"

"Logan, Logan, Logan," started James, "you really need to learn to live a little."

"We'll discuss this later," I said calmly, "my mom probably doesn't want to listen to us argue."

Everyone shut up as I opened the door to 2J.

"Hey, Mom! We're- Mom? What happened? Is everything OK?" I asked as I hurriedly made my way over to her and Katie. My mom had tears and black makeup running down her cheeks, while Katie was full out sobbing, and Katie never cries.

"Logan, Carlos, and James, could you all go in the other room so I can talk to Katie and Kendall alone?"

"Uh… sure," stammered James as me made his way to the bedroom with a speechless Carlos following him.

"Of course, Mrs. Knight," whispered Logan as he went to join James and Carlos in the other room.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Your cousin Alina…"

"What's wrong with Alina? Is she… dead?"

"No, she isn't dead."

"Then what the hell happened to her?"

It took my mom a few minutes before she could answer. The silence made my worries grow bigger and thicker. Alina was 14, two years younger than I was, and besides the boys of Big Time Rush, she was my best friend. She lived in Virginia, and we talked on the phone so much that originally Carlos thought she was my girlfriend.

"Her family, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Cameron, and your cousins John and Steven were all… m-murdered."

"What? No! By who?"

"They don't know yet. They're working on figuring that out. It turns out, not surprisingly, that we're next in line to take care of her. So, she's being adopted into the family as my daughter and you and Katie's sister and is coming to live with us at the Palm Woods. She'll sleep in Katie's room in the extra bed. She won't be coming for a while because of all the legal aspects of it, but we should warn the other boys so they're not surprised."

"A-Alina's going to be m-my s-sister?" asked Katie, who was still sobbing. I would have been comforting her had I not been shocked.

"Yes, she is. This is going to be hard to work out since she'll be grieving and everything, but I couldn't say no."

"Of course not," I said through a tight throat, "she's family."

This was really short because it's the prologue. I promise that the next chapter will be much longer and the author's note will be much shorter. I just needed to 'set the stage.'