A/N: I am so sorry everyone that I have not updated in a long time but better late than never right? Anyway It was the start of a new semester at school, and drama runs til six at night and well...

Anyway, here is a new chap. If it's crap let me know and I'll do better next time. K?

Enjoy!

It was the beginning of December now, snow covered the ground, children watched in amazement as their breath became visible in the chilly air as they waited for their bus. James handed Carlos his hat as he reached the door.

"So Logie's not coming to school?" Chocolate orbs gazed up into the older boy's eyes, as if hoping he'd say other wise.

"I afraid so bud. Logan's sick remember, and we can't have him getting other kids sick, right?"

"Okay." Carlos whispered as he opened the door. "Bye." And off he ran for the bus.

"See you after school!" James called after his little brother. Once said boy was on his way to school, the brunette closed the door and headed up to his room. It was just him and Logan today, after watching Dave stumble out of the house to hopefully head to work, forcing Kendall to go to school so he could take an important test.

"Kendall go to school!"

"But James, Logie's si-"

"Kendall, you have a test today that you can't miss! I'll be here, now GO!"

It took a while to get Kendall to leave and he eventually gave up and went to school. But not without checking on his baby brother.

When James reached his room he immediately went over to Logan, who was in his own bed. The older boy felt his brother's forehead, the skin warm with fever under his hand. He watched as the boy slowly stirred at the feeling of a cool hand on his face, looking up at him with chocolate eyes that seemed dazed.

"Hey Logie. How ya feeling, bud?" James spoke softly, brushing the little six-year-old's hair back off his forehead. But Logan only shook his head. "I'm sorry. Do you want anything? Like water?" The small boy nodded. "Alright I'll be back in a sec." The brunette stood and went to retrieve some water.

Moments later he was back with a glass of water, some medicine, and one of Logan's favorite books. The Littlest Knight by Carol Moore. "I figured you'd be happy to hear your favorite book since your stuck home sick." James watched as the child smiled with delight at the book that was placed on the bed. "Okay, I need you to sit up so you can take your medicine." Logan nodded and sat up in bed. They quickly went through the quick, tasteless process of taking medicine, washing it down with water, and preparing for a story. James ended up sitting on the bed, his back pressed against the head board, with Logan leaning into his side under his arm so he could look at the book. "Ready?" The boy nodded with a smile. So the older boy began the story. "Once upon a time, long ago, even before the days of King Arthur, there lived a blacksmith only three feet tall..."

**High School**

Kendall made his way past the herds of students cluttering the hallway. His test today was over and he was currently debating on whether he should head to his third class of the day or head home to his brothers. The bell rang and the crowds disappeared. Deciding to go home, Kendall made his way to an exit,only to be roughly pulled back. Assuming it was a teacher, he started to make an excuse.

"Look I am going to cla-" He stopped short when he noticed it was his one of his least favorite person in the world: Edan Cooper, senior star football player, who found joy in harassing the juniors. "What do you want, Cooper?" Kendall was very irritated and just wanted to go home.

"I wanna know where that pretty boy brother of yours is, Knight." The football player demanded, sounding very irritated. The junior sighed, he didn't want to deal with this.

"He's home. Why?" Kendall knew this wasn't going to be good.

"He was supposed to meet me today." Was the response.

"Why would James want to meet with you?" The blond questioned. Edan pulled something out from behind his back. James' glasses. James had to wear them the day before, his eyesight was acting weird, and he didn't like to wear them, fearing this would happen. "What the hell are you doing with James' glasses?"

"I wanted to see if he was the same James without the extra set of eyes." The senior smirked. Kendall was livid. He stepped forward and-

-POW-

Edan was on the floor with a busted lip.

"What the fu-"

"If you ever come near James, or any of my family for that matter, again, I will give you a one way ticket to the nurses office. Understand?" He didn't wait for an answer. The blond grabbed the glasses and left.

On his way home, Kendall thought about why James didn't say anything. He would have to ask when he got home.

After walking for half an hour, Kendall finally climbed the stairs to his home and entered cautiously, taking note of the fact that all was quiet in the little house. The blond closed the door quietly, taking in the calmness that has never seemed to fall upon the place he called home for four years. He made his way to the staircase, and paused to listen. There were no drunks yelling, children crying, or media sources blaring. Just quiet.

The green eyed boy carried onward up the staircase and down the hall to his room. The door was open when he arrived. Kendall slowly entered the room to find James sitting by the window, rag over one shoulder. Looking around he noticed Logan was tucked in bed, quite pale, and sleeping.

"I know you're there, Kendall." The tall brunette still stared out the window.

"Why didn't you tell me about Cooper?"

"I found it to be an unimportant topic to bring up."

"James, he had your glasses!"

"Shh!" The boys looked to Logan hoping he was still asleep. They sighed when he simply shift and relaxed under the covers. James turned to Kendall. "Please, it's in the past. I figured I could handle Cooper. Now let's just forget about it." He held out his hand to the blond. "It's a good thing that I pretty much memorized that book." He nodded to the book on the end of Logan's bed as his glasses were returned. The older boy looked to see The Littlest Knight.

"I guess so." Kendall smiled softly. "How is he?"

"Well toward the end of the book, he managed to run to the bathroom, to empty his stomach." James wrinkled his nose. "Nasty by the way. Then he fell back asleep as soon as I got him back into bed. After that you showed up, and why aren't you in school?"

"I took my test and felt like I should to come home." The blond bit his lip. "Maybe we could elaborate our plans for LA."

"The van is about done. A few more parts and clean out the back a bit and we should be ready to rock and roll."

"Good. Um, back-roads or highway?"

"Well if someone reports us missing we would be more noticeable on the highway. Just back-roads would take forever."

"We'll split time. Bring the essentials. We should start packing soon." Kendall sat on the edge of Logan's bed.

"We're actually going to do this." James whispered.

"We have to James." Green eyes flickered up to glance at the other boy then back to the sleeping child. "For them."

***Later that day***

Carlos tiptoed through the door quietly, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. He heard murmurs upstairs, telling him that his family, minus Dave of course, was home. The second grader softly closed the door and noiselessly made his way to the first floor bathroom.

Looking in the mirror Carlos was met with the sight of himself with a black eye. That would pose as a problem. He wanted his little argument at school to stay at school.

"Stupid Johnny!" The boy whispered to himself.

"What about 'Stupid Johnny?'" Carlos jumped at the sudden voice behind him. "Carlos is that a black eye?" The small boy turned to see Kendall standing in the doorway. "Carlos. What happened?"

"Uh... Nothing." The boy sheepishly smiled at the blond. The taller sighed as he crouched down in front of his brother.

"Carlos what did Johnny do?" Green eyes gazed upon the hesitant child as he bit his lip.

"He- Well- I- I told the teacher that Logan was out sick today. Then at recess Johnny came up to me and started calling me names and saying that I don't have a mom and dad and that Logan was gonna- gonna-" Carlos choked on his words as he started sniffling. Kendall was shocked as he pulled his brother into a hug.

"Shh.. Car, shh..." The blond soothed. "What did he say?"

"H-he said that because Logan was really little and getting sick, that Logan was gon-gonna die!" The boy sobbed into Kendall's shirt. "He's not gonna die right?" He pulled back to look up at the older boy's face. "Logie won't die?"

"No of course he won't die." Kendall brushed away Carlos' tears. It was the blonde's turn to bite his lip. "In fact, we are going to move to Los Angeles so he can get better and we can leave Dave."

"Really?"

"Yes. Now how about we go upstairs to James and Logan?" With a nod from the younger, Kendall stood carrying Carlos, who was chattering about how great their new lives would be.

(Later that night.)

"Carlos loved the idea? That's great." James whispered as he made a list of things they would need for the trip, happy that they were finally going to get away from their miserable lives in Minnesota.

"Yeah now all we can hope for is a smooth road ahead." Kendall responded as he checked on Logan one last time before heading to bed. "And Logan should be better by the time we leave. Might want to give our bosses some notice that we are leaving so we can get our final pay. Then hit the road."

"Do you think we'll make it in LA?"

"I don't know, James. I don't know."

A/N: Okay there it was. The boys are gonna leave just got to get the van ready, who knows what will happen though.

Reviews?