.:Chapter 07:.

"I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught." ~Winston Churchill

"Alright, guys I need to talk to you,"

Clasping his hands together, Ronan leaned back against the headboard of his bed, crossing his legs at the ankle. His kids were sitting all scattered around the room; Sydney was lying on the bed at his feet, Patrick and Riley were squeezed into one of the arm chairs, elbowing each other to try and get some space, Rhuben was sitting on the floor by the bed, and Noah was sitting on the window sill, his knees drawn up to his chest.

"And it's something really important, that we need to discuss sooner rather than later," He continued. He licked his lips, rubbing his hands together for a moment. "Ok, I'm just going to get right to the point. I think that you guys need to take a break from making music, and touring, and being so into the public eye." As he spoke, he watched to see his kids' reactions. "That being said, I think that you should forgo touring with the guys, and, instead, go back to Australia and take some time off."

There was a moment of silence before Patrick spoke up, his right eyebrow rising. "How would that be any different though?" He looked at Ronan critically. "We get a whole lot more attention from the media in Australia than we do in LA. So how does taking a break from music and going back home going to make a difference from staying out of the public eye?"

"Because in LA, they only care about your relationships with your friends and try to dig up dirt about that, while in Australia they care more about your career, as sad as that is to say," Ronan reminded him.

He had been in the music industry almost directly after he had graduated from college, born and raised in LA, he knew what it was like to see upcoming stars' careers get pushed aside because of the focus on who they were dating, who they broke up with, and who they were friends with. It was sad to see how those in America cared more about the celebrity's personal life instead of what they were out there trying to do. Shortly after he had signed the Jacksons to his record company, he picked up and moved over to Australia to work with them until he thought that it would be the right time to bring them back over to the US. He immediately noticed the difference between the media of the two different countries; yes people cared about who celebrities were going out with in Australia, but it wasn't as big a deal as it was in America. He had seen more about the drama of who got what song that a certain music producer wrote, who really deserved that specific award, who should collaborate with who, and can the person really sing more than relationship drama.

It was a nice change of pace, something that he really liked. He had heard that Australia was really laid back about their lifestyle and while he didn't permanently live in Australia, he liked to go and be able to relax while he was working. While in LA, he felt that he was constantly on the go (not including how he would run away from Gustavo's wrath over every slight problem).

In the silence that followed, he could clearly hear the waves crashing on shore and the shouts and screams of those that were running in the water and on the beach. "And you all know that you guys really deserve a break," Ronan continued. "Ever since you guys started, you've put out album after album each and every year. And that's not including the two years that you guys have spent touring to promote the albums beforehand, and then recording most of the new one while you were on the tour."

"That was fun," Noah said with a fond smile. His smile faded slightly. "We didn't get a lot of time off, but it was fun while it lasted."

"That was only because the more time we spent doing shows, recording, and sleeping, the less time that we had to spend with Robert," Riley pointed out. She took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. "Don't worry, Ronan, we think it's a good idea, too."

Ronan looked surprised for a moment then leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he looked back and forth from Riley to Rhuben. "You eavesdropped didn't you?"

"I prefer the word 'snoop'," Riley said. "It sounds better."

"And 'no'," Rhuben denied. She shook her head. "We didn't snoop. I just overheard a part of your conversation with Mama Knight recently and it didn't take long to figure out what you were thinking." She shrugged. "I mean, you're always thinking about the next step with our career and you were the one that had told Robert over and over again that we needed some time to take a break and not to continue to push out CDs whenever he felt like it."

"And we're tired," Sydney spoke up. Ronan looked down at him and, at that moment, he saw a normal, ten year old boy. Not a ten year old boy that had to wake up early every day to go to the gym and fill the rest of his schedule with recordings, harmonies, vocal work, appearances, photo shoots, and press junkets. He saw a normal ten year old boy that wanted to be able to hang out with his friends, sleep in, and just have fun. "I've been doing this all my life and…I'm not really having fun with it anymore."

The sad smile that crossed Ronan's face let the Jacksons know that he agreed with them. He then explained his feelings, "I noticed that too," Ronan said. He reached out a foot and lightly dug his toes into Sydney's side, causing the young boy to laugh and push his feet away. "If I would get a new sample of music and want you guys to listen to it, you used to get so hyperactive about it. But now, you'd just sit there and nod and say whether or not you like it. You're not as energetic as you used to be."

"And you think that taking a year off of music would do that?" Noah looked a little skeptical.

Ronan sucked in a deep breath; this was going to be harder than the rest of it. "I think that taking a year off of making new music would do that yes." He regarded the slightly horrified expressions on his kids' faces. "I don't mean that you can't do performances or appearances or write or anything. I mean that it's not going to be as important as it was before. I want you guys to be able to experience life the way that kids your age are supposed to."

That caused the Jacksons to burst out laughing. "Kids your age," Patrick repeated before laughing even harder.

"We didn't even have to make an 'old' joke this time, he did it himself," Riley added.

"Ha ha." Ronan rolled his eyes. Although he couldn't help the smile that was forming on his face. Sometimes it was hard for him to remember whether that he was their father as opposed to their friend. Maybe that's the good thing. It's better than I can't put up a difference between being a friend and a father; it makes things easier that way. It makes our situations different. He looked at his five kids, his adopted kids, as they continued to laugh with each other. And they definitely are different.

"Well, what do you think about starting your break in Australia as opposed to be in LA?" Ronan ventured. That's what he really wanted to know. "I mean, it took a while for you guys to even admit that they were all your friends. Would you rather stay in LA at the start of your break?"

"No," Riley said immediately.

Ronan blinked, his eyebrows lowering as he turned to look at his eldest daughter. She had her chin resting in her hand, her elbow purposefully pushing into Patrick's stomach, causing him to wiggle to the side, trying to get some space. "Why not?"

"I don't like LA," She explained. Ronan was slightly offended for a second, as it was his hometown. He could understand it though. Not many people knew that he had a pretty famous family, and he was used to the way that people in LA acted. You never knew what people in LA were really thinking about you. Riley seemed to have noticed the sting that her words could have given, for she bobbed her head back and forth. "Let me rephrase that, I like some of the places and some of the people in LA, I just don't like the feeling of constantly being watched and being judged. It's so fucking annoying."

Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney all nodded in agreement.

"Ok, now that we have that out of the way, you guys are definitely going to be…hesitant on this idea…" Ronan leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "But I think that it'll help with your recovery and everything." The Jacksons glanced at each other before giving Ronan his undivided attention. Sydney got up from his stomach so that he was sitting on his knees, looking directly at him. "What do you think about telling the world about your abuse?"

He got stunned silence in reply.

"This past year, I adopted you guys and we all crammed into my penthouse, and we're still trying to adjust to everything." Ronan cracked his knuckles. "And you're going to therapy whenever you guys need it, but I think that your recovery process would work better if you announced that you were abused."

"What about the backlash?" Sydney whispered. He ducked his head, messing with the blue/black fringe that fell over his face. "I mean, that was why we didn't say anything for the longest time. We didn't want to be split up and we didn't want people to be mad that we kept it a secret for so long."

"That's what you're going to have to figure out, Little Man," Ronan reminded him. He reached out and ran his fingers through his youngest son's hair, causing him to smile, his dimples appearing in his cheeks. "We don't know how people are going to react to the news, and you don't have to make a decision right now, I just want you all to think about it."

"I hate it when parents say that," Rhuben said. She frowned, moving her gaze up to the ceiling. "They have the decision already made, but they say that you have time to figure it out for yourself."

"When have I ever done that?" Ronan grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. She grabbed it and threw it back at him with a 'duh' look on her face. Ronan didn't have to look at the others to know that they were all giving him the identical look. "Besides right now, I mean." He smiled and laughed.

"Crap!" All eyes turned to Noah as he slapped his forehead. "If we're taking the year off, what are we going to tell Steph?" He looked panic stricken. "We just hired her as a backup dancer and now we have to drop her at the last minute?"

"Well, we all know that you wouldn't want that," Patrick said. Noah stuck his tongue out at his brother, the troubled expression still on his face.

"We'll just call her now." Ronan reached over and grabbed the phone off of the nightstand. He placed it in the middle of the bed as Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah climbed onto the bed and crowded around him a he picked up the phone and started to dial a number. When it started to ring, he hit the 'speakerphone' button and waited for it to be picked up. They only had to wait a few rings before Stephanie's voice came through the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Steph, it's Ronan," Ronan said, leaning into the phone.

"Hi Stephie!" Sydney called, giving a real smile.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"What's up?"

"Oh, hey guys!" Stephanie replied, sounding excited to hear from them. "How's Hawaii? I bet it's really fun. Sorry we haven't talked much, Gustavo said that we should give you all some space so that you're not distracted from, what he says, is the only vacation that you all will ever get."

"You can tell he really cares," Rhuben said sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's what Camille and I were saying," Stephanie agreed. "We're actually really bored without you guys here, which is really funny, considering whenever the guys are around, we can't wait to get rid of them."

"Don't let Carlos hear you say that," Patrick teased.

"Yeah, yeah. So what's up?"

"Well, we wanted to talk to you about being a backup dancer," Ronan said. "Before you freak out, I'm not saying that you're fired or anything. I just wanted to let you know what we're planning for the next year. It really sucks that we just hired you, but we think that it'd be a really good idea if my kids took the year off just to get a break from everything. That way they can really figure out what it is that they want as we push forward."

"Oh yeah, I totally get that," Stephanie said quickly. "I think it's a good idea, actually." She took a breath. "To be honest, being a fan of your guys for a while before I met you, I was surprised you didn't, like, drop dead from how much you had been working."

"Well…thanks for being really supportive about this," Riley said. She twisted her mouth to the side. "It sucks that we just hired you and you're not really doing anything, mate,"

"That's ok," Stephanie said quickly. "It's…not the most important thing." But they could hear the disappointment in her voice. It did suck, it would equate to getting a job in a movie or a TV show and then becoming dropped and replaced with a different actor after the test pilot or the test audience gave their opinion on the project.

"We're still going to be doing appearances and stuff," Noah reassured her. He glanced at Ronan, who nodded encouragingly. "You're still going to get paid for that and everything, you're still going to need to learn all of our routines. So it's not like we're dropping you completely."

"And we'll all help you when we get back," Rhuben added.

"Get back from where?"

"From Oz," Patrick explained. "When we take our year off, we're going to start back home, where there's not as much pressure and everything." He rubbed his forehead with his fingertips as if he suddenly got a headache. "We don't know when we're going to be going back to LA, but we're not going to be away forever."

"Ok, I think that's a good idea, too. We'll definitely keep in touch, especially since we won't have Gustavo breathing down our necks."

"He will," Ronan denied. "Trust me." He looked at his watch. "Well, thanks for being so understanding Steph, but we have to get going. Not much left in Hawaii before we have to get going, we're leaving in a few days actually, so we need to cram in as much surf, sun, and sand as we can."

Stephanie laughed. "I understand, I'll see you guys later, then."

"Bye!"

"Here's a question," Sydney spoke up as Ronan hung up the phone. His dark blue eyes showed the concern that he was feeling, he twisted his fingers together in his lap. "How are we going to tell the guys that we're not going to go on tour with them?"

Ronan gave a funny smile. "Knowing Gustavo, he's going to tell the before you guys get the chance. Mrs. Knight and I will think of something, don't worry about it." He clapped his hands together. "But let's not worry about that now, let's have some fun."

Carlos smiled and hummed to himself as he pulled his stick of roasting marshmallows away from the fire. He brought the stick up to his face and frantically started to blow out the flames that caused his dessert to brown and puff up. Laugher arose around him as the fire continued to eat away at his marshmallow.

"Careful Carlos, don't get it too close," Kacy warned, pulling her blanket tighter around her. She stretched her legs out into the sand in front of her, being careful not to get her feet too close to the bonfire that was roaring in front of the group, casting their long shadows behind them. It was the perfect juxtaposition to the cool air that befell around then with nightfall.

"Too late for that," Sydney said around a mouthful of a s'more. He wiped his hands off on a napkin and then frowned when the paper got stuck to his fingers."He already burned off his eyebrows, Mama Knight; I don't think he can burn anything else other than his forehead."

"His nonexistent mustache, maybe." Katie laughed to himself. She pressed a graham cracked against her marshmallow then balanced her stick against her lap. Carefully, she picked up her extra graham cracker and smushed it on top of the marshmallow. Smiling to herself, she started to pull it off of her stick, but lost her grip and dropped it to the ground. "Darn it!"

"Here you go." Patrick's hand appeared in front of her face, holding onto two already made smores. Katie slowly reached up and took the dessert from him, not sure what to say. He seemed to sense her plight and shrugged, wiping his hands on the sides of his pants. He placed his paper plate on the ground in front of him. "I've eaten, like, twenty of them and it's painful to watch you try and make one, mate."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

"You're welcome!"

Carlos ignored Mrs. Knight's warning, blowing out the last flame, causing the smoke to twist and turn towards the dark sky that was littered with stars. He made sure that each of his eight marshmallows were cooked perfectly before he turned to find a place to sit down on a log.

"Is this seat taken?" He asked, moving to Rhuben's side.

"It is now, Care Bear," Rhuben replied with a smile, moving over so he had room to sit down. "If you give me one of those marshmallows."

"Deal." Carlos sat down and peeled one off of the stick before putting his plate in his lap to start making his own dessert.

A bonfire was the perfect way to end a vacation. Their trip had flown by quicker than they anticipated. That day they had gone into town to see the locals, drove around the islands, and went snorkeling nd surfing again. The group also got to meet Alana Blanchford and Bethany Hamilton, which made Riley and James very happy (for two different reasons). The whole time they had gotten more than enough footage for BTR's music video and they had a great time as well.

"You know what I'm thinking?" Kendall's voice broke the comfortable silence.

Riley and Patrick groaned. "I smell speech," Patrick remarked.

"More like a heartfelt statement," Noah corrected him.

Kendall smiled as the other's laughed. It was just the way that he was, he was so loyal and so into his friends being ok that he had a habit of making speeches and saying heartfelt things to show them how much he cared. He did it so much that they could tell when he was getting ready to say something.

"Let him finish," Ronan chided them. "Go ahead, Kendall."

"I was just saying that it's been kind of a while since we've all ended up in the same spot together." Kendall shrugged. "We've all been so busy with our own stuff; us with our bands," he motioned between himself and the Jacksons. "You guys going back to Australia every six months, Mom being our Momager, Ronan working with Gustavo, which is a job in itself…" He gave a peaceful smile. "I'd just like to say, it's nice that we were all able to come here to spend a vacation together."

"You know, you're right." Riley nodded. She tilted her head to the side and gave a smile, raising an eyebrow. "I feel like I'm in the middle of some sort of holiday special," she added sardonically.

"Yeah, but I think the group hug is a little premature," Logan said with a laugh. He put his arm around Riley's shoulders and giving her a hug, rubbing her arm. She leaned into him, her smile widening a little. "However, I'm sure we'll find a way to become estrange again in no time." He added, jokingly.

"Well, before we do…" Kendall held up a finger. "I would just like to say that in a world where people who raise you wind up letting you down," he frowned for a moment, but his smile replaced it. It was inevitable, no matter how long he was around his friends, he was always going to find a way to smile and genuinely be happy. "It's an honor and a privilege to have you guys to turn to. And even if we end up splitting apart and going our separate ways in the future we still have moments like these. We'll always have each other to turn to."

The comfortable silence enveloped them again. Here and there, they nodded at each other. Though Kendall did have a tendency to be annoying with his 'go, team, go' attitude and wanting to prove that he could be friends with whomever came his way, he was really good at making speeches. "Well, I can't wait for the Stanley Cup acceptance speech," Rhuben said, breaking the silence again.

"There's not going to be a dry eye in the house," Katie and Sydney agreed in unison.

Ronan stood up, stretching his arms over his head before gathering up his trash. "I'm beat and we have a flight to catch tomorrow, so I'm going to go in and get some sleep." Mrs. Knight started to clean up her trash as well, sliding her feet into her flip flops. He looked around the group. "Anyone else coming in?"

"No," Riley spoke up before anyone else could. She and Rhuben exchanged glances. "We're going to hang out here a little bit longer." She gave a disarming smile, which caused Ronan to turn towards her. He looked like he was about to say something, but then held up his hands and shook his head as if to say 'leave me out of it.

"Sleep well," Rhuben added. "Catch some zeds." She waited until Kacy and Ronan had walked out of ear shot before jumping to her feet and grabbing the bucket of water that was sitting by the fire. She poured it over the fire, makings sure all of the embers had been snuffed. "Beauty! Let's go!"

"And where, may I ask, are we going?" James crossed his arms over his chest as the Jacksons started to lead the up the beach, away from the bonfire.

"You said that you wanted to get some other stuff for your video right?" Noah lifted his hand and put it on Rhuben's shoulder, brushing sand out of his flip flop. He didn't give the guys a chance to answer. "Well, we heard about a party going on up the beach and figured that it'd be good if you got some shots with the locals."

"Why do I have a feeling that there's something that you're not telling us?" Katie asked.

"Probably because you're right," Riley said. She exchanged glances with her siblings and they all started to laugh. Kendall looked over at James, Logan, and Carlos and the three of them exchanged glances of confusion. Their laughter blended together, sounded a little bit like evil, malicious laughter. However, the boys could see that they had a good time during their vacation and it was all that they wanted.

"But, there is something that you need to know," Sydney said slowly. He started to walk backwards, looking up at the guys. "We're…not going to be going on tour with you guys," he said quickly. "We're going to be going home to start our break. We're going to take a year off of making music."

"You think that your career can handle that?" Logan's eyes widened.

"We do rock music," Riley said. Her back still towards the guys, she shook her head, her pigtails bobbing as she did so. "And unlike pop music, rock never dies."

"Low blow," Kendall commented.

"Oh, I could go lower than that."

Again, the Jacksons started to laugh. Kendall smiled, enjoying their ability to have a good time. "Seriously, though, can your career handle taking a year off?"

"A year away from making music is nothing," Rhuben said with a wave of her hand. She chewed the inside of her mouth. "The thing is, though, we weren't sure how you guys would react to us not going on tour with you lot this time."

"You deserve the break," James said helpfully. "I mean…" he ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, it's gonna be weird not having you guys there, but if you think that it's something that you need to do, then go ahead and do it. We can deal." He looked over at Carlos, who was pouting. "Well, Carlos might not, but the rest of us can."

"Sheesh." Patrick blinked once. "If we knew that you were going to make it that easy, we would have told you sooner." This time, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, and Katie all laughed with the Jacksons.

The sounds of laughing, cheering, and music headed in their direction. As they rounded the bend, a large teenage party appeared in front of them. There were three bonfires roaring, kids their age were talking and dancing with each other as music from a truck parked on the beach had all of its doors open, the stereo blasting.

"Wow," Katie murmured.

Her eyes moved over the group of teens and she suddenly felt out of place. Parties were never really her thing. They were when she was younger, it was just a bunch of your friends hanging out, eating, and playing games. But the older you got, the weirder the parties got. She didn't like how people cared so much about trying to get the opposite sex's attention the whole night. She liked to have fun any way she could, she didn't want to have to worry about how she looked when she did it. Living in LA, even for the short year that they had been there, she noticed the quick difference between the parties there than the ones in Minnesota. I hope the parties here aren't the same way.

Katie jumped when she felt a spray of water hit her in the face. Sputtering, she used a hand to wipe the droplets away and then turned to find the culprit, glaring when she noticed Noah smiling at her, lowering a water gun. "Sorry, I couldn't resist." He didn't sound apologetic. "The look on your face was just asking for it."

Katie looked at the cooler that was by his feet, holding four other water gun and she ran over, grabbed one, and turned to chase Noah across the sand.

"Wow, this party looks like it's been going on for a while," James said. He had an appreciative smile on his face as he watched a girl in a bikini walk by him. She smiled and winked at him and he tilted his head back as he watched her go. "And it looks like it'll be very good to me."

"Put your money where your mouth is, Handsome," Riley said. She elbowed Rhuben in the side and the two grabbed the guys' attention, pointing over towards a ping-pong table that had been set up. A group of teenage guys were standing around the table, leaning against each other and laughing. "Anyone want to play beer bong?"

"You play?" Kendall frowned as he watched the two girls move over to the table and grab a set of ping pong paddles and set up the cups. Part of him wasn't surprised; there was still a part of their friends that he and the other guys didn't know about. They knew that the Jacksons (as they had constantly said it) got in trouble a lot when they were back in Australia, but they never clarified on the kind of trouble that they got in. But still…They freaked out whenever Robert got drunk, so why would they willingly play the game? He winced, placing a hand on his stomach as he thought back to the party that they had at the PalmWoods. He didn't know the lemonade was spiked and ended up completely wasted. That was the last time that he was going to get a hangover.

"Only cause we never lose," Rhuben said. She brushed her hair behind her ears. "Actually, we've lost a couple of times, but it's whatever." She held a paddle out to the guys. Her eyes flashed as her eyebrow twitched. "D'you wanna play or not?"

"No," Carlos said quickly. "My Mom would kill me."

"Same here," Logan agreed.

His eyes were narrowed as he looked at the twin girls. They looked back at him, expressionless. Their dark blue eyes moved over to James. He shuffled his feet and bit his lower lip, torn. On one hand, he always wanted to try it, just to be able to say that he could, and because he was a teenager, he would like to be able to try. But…he still had a public image that he had to worry about. There were many things that he and his friends had done in Minnesota that their fans would either hate or think was hysterical.

That was no big deal.

However, if it came out in the media, they would probably be blacklisted.

"No thanks," James finally said. Kendall's stance, his hand still on his stomach, showed his idea of the whole matter.

Riley smirked. "Good choice," she said before turning to the table and tossed the paddle back onto the table. She reached over and grabbed onto a cup and tilted her head back, downing the liquid that was inside. Riley crushed the cup in her hand before tossing it to the ground. "It's soda."

So it was just a test? Kendall looked over at Rhuben, who was spinning her paddle between her hands, her eyes moving over the crowd. Her upper lip curled as a guy fell over onto his hands and knees and started to puke in the sand. Maybe I should get Katie out of here. This isn't the kind of party that she'd be used to. How the fuck do they always get us into this sort of thing? Then again, it is Hollywood, these things probably happen more than we think.

"Where'd Syd go?" Logan changed the subject, looking around him. "He was just right here."

Kendall looked around, and then wordlessly pointed. The others turned and laughed when they saw him walking along the beach, dragging a long hose behind him. He walked over a to a long black tarp and twisted the top of the hose in-between his hands and a jet of water shot out onto the tarp. A second later a girl pushed by him and slid down the tarp, a spray of soapy water splashing up as she went.

"A SLIP N' SLIDE!" Carlos cheered, throwing his hands into the air. He tore off his shirt and raced off to slide down the slide.

"Hopefully they enjoy it while it lasts," Rhuben murmured as she watched the boys. "Being on their first headlining tour…it can easily break them down."

"I think they can do it," Riley replied. "They wouldn't be the guys for nothing."

A/N: I know I ignored Katie and Mrs. Knight these past couple of chapters, but they get bigger parts starting with the next chapter. This was the last chapter in Hawaii and the story moves from Hawaii to Australia and the guys on tour. Now more drama can really get started. Yeah, it's not at season 3 yet, but it's getting there. Not a huge fan of this chapter, but I like parts of it. In fact, I wish I just jumped right into the guys being on tour and DE being in Australia when the story started, but what's done is done, I probably won't feel that way later.

Yes, Riley and Rhuben have played beer pong before…what we think that we do a good job with our characters is that while they're trying to prove that they're not bad people, they will continue to do things that people will consider 'bad'. And at this point of their lives, they're not completely freaked out about people drinking more than they are about someone being completely out of control when they're drunk. DE are in a gray area of 'bad' versus 'good' but a bit more on the dark side. I hope that made sense.

Sidenote, I have nothing against LA and people there and what not, I'm only basing their opinions about the media and stuff from things that I have about the trends in media and celebrities nowadays so that's what I got it from. I hope you liked the chapter.

Oh and Rhu and I reference each other's stories all the time, so when it comes to origin stories as they're the same idea, but done different ways, we'll reference each other sometimes.

Constructive Criticism is welcome.

Cheers,

-Riles