Chapter Thirty Six – Big Time Maxin' and (not so much) Relaxin'

"Guys, guys, I just had a brilliant idea!" Rhuben cried as she kicked open the door to the dance studio that Big Time Rush was practicing in. They were sitting on the ground, stretching and when Rhuben hurried in excitedly, her siblings following her with grins on their faces; they looked at each other seconds before jumping up and running.

"Bye!" They called in unison, only stopping when Sydney called after them.

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked, confused.

"Every time you, you, you, you, and especially you," James pointed from Sydney, to Noah, to Patrick, to Rhuben, and then to Riley. "Have an idea; it's pretty much a good way for us to get in trouble. So I figured that the best way to get around it is if we run away."

"Haha." Riley rolled her eyes.

"Where's Gustavo?" Patrick asked, moving from where he was cowering behind Noah. He slowly peeked out before moving completely from behind his brother, who gave him the stink-eye. "I'm surprised he's not yelling at you guys." He scratched his eyebrow. "Come to think of it, I'm surprised we didn't hear him coming from the hotel."

"He said that he had some stuff to take care of and he'll be here as soon as he can." Carlos replied as he started to stretch his arms. "Which I'm guessing is what brought you guys by." He added and then turned to Rhuben, sighing heavily. "So how much pain am I going to be in today?"

"A lot more if you keep mouthing off," Rhuben replied and then half-smiled as she placed her hands on her hips. "So, do you guys want to hear my brilliant idea?"

"Well, see, that depends really." Kendall stated as he rubbed his chin. "Is it anything that can potentially hurt us?"

"No." Rhuben replied, shaking her head.

"What about hurt someone else?" Logan asked, getting in on the jokes."

"No." Rhuben was starting to sound impatient.

"Animals?" James guessed.

"No."

"Does it have anything to do with food?" Carlos asked hopefully.

"No!"

"What about-"

"WOULD YOU PUT A LID ON IT?" Riley shouted at the same time that Rhuben yelled. "WILL YOU IDIOTS JUST SHUT UP?" The only difference between the two was that Riley opted to scream the words as loud as she could, while Rhuben yelled the words speaking really fast. They blinked and turned to each other, realizing that they had just said something at the same time and looked confused. "What did you say?" they asked in unison. "I said…" They paused, not hearing what each other said. "What?"

Patrick, Noah, and Sydney started to laugh along with their sisters as Big Time Rush stared at the two of them showing mixture of fear and amusement. Fear; because Riley had been good with holding down her temper around them and she had just completely blown up at them while Rhuben had yelled while giving them a death glare. Then they were amused because they had never heard the two of them, or Patrick and Noah, speak in unison for a while.

"At the risk of being beat up beyond recognition, what idea do you have?" James asked, slowly untangling himself from his friends.

"Tell them!" Sydney cried as he poked Rhuben in the side, grinning happily. "Tell them! Tell them! Tell them!"

"Relax, I am." Rhuben smiled and put an arm around her brother. "Anyway, my great idea, for the opening of the show, why don't we do…" she paused for dramatic effect. "A mash-up of one of our songs."

"You mean like, take a part of your song and a part of our song and sing them together?" Kendall asked, as he raised his eyebrows. He then smiled over at her. "Someone's been watching a little too much Glee."

"I've only seen like one episode and that's only because of Kevin McHale." Rhuben defended herself quickly. "Anyway, don't you think that it's a great idea?"

"We were thinking that the song that we could do is Eat You Up, one of our songs that we dance to, because this performance of ours is mostly when we're on our instruments." Noah added. He then raised his eyebrows himself. "We were thinking of what song of yours to do, but the decision is ultimately yours."

"THAT SOUNDS LIKE-"The Jacksons whirled around and backed up against Big Time Rush when Gustavo entered the room behind them, glaring at the five of them. Sydney gulped loudly and then moved behind Patrick, who, once again, was hiding behind Noah. Gustavo scanned everyone's faces and then smiled. "A really good idea." He finally finished. "No, seriously," he added when the friends looked at him skeptically. "It's a good idea, and I'm sure that no one has done it before at a concert, so you'll be sure to get a lot of internet hits." He turned to Big Time Rush. "What song were you thinking of putting with it?"

"We haven't decided yet," Logan replied and then looked thoughtful. "Come to think of it, we haven't heard your song yet."

"It's kind of new, that's why." Patrick replied as his chest swelled with pride. "We're not going to show the song until tonight, but it has a really good beat for you guys to mix one of your faster songs into." Sydney reached over and poked him in the stomach, causing him to expel the air that he was holding. "It sounds like this." Patrick though for a second and then started to beat-box the beat of the song as Noah overlaid it with some beat-boxing of his own. "Or something like that." He stated and wiped spit off of his lip."

"Big Time Rush, Famous, Any Kind of Guy, and This is Our Someday can be ones that can fall over it." Gustavo commented. "Anyway, you guys better get to work or you're not going to be ready for your dress-rehearsal later tonight for the concert tomorrow."

"Gustavo, something's different about you, today." Kendall commented as he looked at his music producer. "You seem a little more…" he waved a hand as if waiting for the word to come to him. "Guys, help me out." He stated when he couldn't think of the word."

"Nice." James supplied.

"Supportive." Logan added.

"Like you're not going to scream our heads off." Carlos added.

That was true, for whatever reason, Gustavo Rocque seemed to be almost downright giddy and that was definitely not like him at all. Stomping, screaming, and threatening to kill people, that was definitely Gustavo. But standing here and encouraging them and agreeing with ideas that they had, that was not Gustavo. It was then that Carlos realized that Kelly wasn't there. Since it was Carlos, his mind started to whirl with different ideas of what Gustavo could have done to her to get her away from them, because Kelly was always around when the guys were working. Especially since she was the one that helped the guys and Gustavo keep from arguing.

"What did you do with Kelly?" he asked as he pointed an accusing finger to Gustavo. "Did you kill her?"

"Do you want me to go to jail?" Gustavo shot back, looking offended.

"Well, that depends really." Riley replied honestly. "'Cause there are times where you can be a huge jerk and are very unreasonable, but then again there are times where-"

"Landy, that was a rhetorical question." Logan whispered into her ear.

"Oh."

"Kelly is working on something that I know that you guys are going to love." Gustavo replied and rubbed his hands together eagerly. "That will show Griffin not to worry about me when I'm in another country."

Kendall rolled his eyes. That explained it, Gustavo always got crazy whenever his boss, Arthur Griffin called or stopped by his office to talk about something. Usually it ended up in disaster and that's why Gustavo hated him so much. But still, there were times where he had a good idea, but went about it the wrong way, causing a sort of stand-off between him and Kelly and Gustavo. If you add in the fact that he could fire the two of them whenever he wanted, it gave them reason to freak out whenever he called.

"Is Ronan helping her too?" Noah asked, moving his hair from his face. "We didn't see him when we got up this morning."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Gustavo waved a hand. "Now get to work!"

"Touchy." Rhuben pulled her hair into a ponytail and faced her friends and siblings. "Alright guys, let's get to work so we don't completely bomb tomorrow. We're going to start with the mash-up as I've already through of the footwork that can go for it, with a little help from Noah and Sydney." She added, flashing her brother a smile.

"A little help?" Patrick prompted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ok a lot of help," Rhuben corrected herself. As she walked by her brother to move to the center of the room, she lifted her foot and twisted it so she kicked him in the butt and kept going as if she didn't even move. "But still, I was the one that put it all together. So, everyone get into a line behind me, I need to figure out how I'm going to space all of you."

Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, Riley, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney did as they were told and moved into a line behind her. Rhuben hummed to herself as she tapped her chin, looking back and forth between all of them. "Actually, Syd, I think this would be a good song for you to be front and center." She stated and motioned for him to move forward and stand next to her. Sydney beamed and moved over to his spot as Patrick muttered something under his breath. "What was that?" Rhuben asked him sharply.

"Nothing." He replied giving his easy going, crooked smile.

"I thought so." Rhuben replied slowly. "The way I see it, it would be better if we went in height order, so since me and Riles are, annoyingly enough, shorter than Patrick and Noah, it will be our regular 'V' formation, but with Patrick and Noah in the back, when we start on the stage. "As she said this, her siblings moved into their spots." Rhuben then backed up a few steps and looked over at the guys. "Ok, then Kendall and Carlos move over to this side and James and Logan over there." She motioned for them to move and they did so, then she nodded in approval. "Ok, that's the formation that we're going to be in when everyone is onstage together. The only difference is that BTR will be using hand-mics while we'll be using head-mics so the spacing and movement will be a little different."

She then moved over to the boom box in the corner of the room. "We already know what our dance moves are, but I need to show you guys yours and then we'll work on everyone's together, alright?" She asked the boys and they nodded and smiled in encouragement. "Alright, here we go." Rhuben pressed the 'PLAY' button on the boom box.

For the next three hours BTR and DE worked on their dance routine for the concert the next day. At one point Kacy, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Katie, and WayneWayne stopped by to watch and all agreed that it was going to be a really good performance to start off the show and that it would definitely be original. So they continued to work on it, especially when there was a tough stunt for Carlos. He had to toss his microphone to Logan, then grab onto Patrick's and Noah's hands, where they would help him do a back flip with a twist. It was much like the move that Logan did for the song Big Time Rush when he did the front flip, but it was more difficult and it was hard for Carlos to do, but Rhuben thought that it would be a good one for Carlos so other people could see that he could do difficult dance moves as well as anyone else in the band. Unfortunately, it had caused Patrick and Noah to get kicked in the face on more than one occasion. But after thirty minutes of working on it, he got it down, it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for someone who had never really had a dance background.

The music got louder with every step as they continued to practice. The tempo increased and sweaty bodies moved together in perfect synchronization. Hearts pounded and breathing came in shallow gasps. When the music seemed as if it could get no faster, it stopped. All you could hear was deep breathing.

Everyone inhaled fresh oxygen into their lungs and went for their water bottles. Towels were put in gym bags and zipped up.

"Good job everyone" Rhuben stated and clapped her hands enthusiastically. "This is going to be such a great concert, and I know that you all are going to do a good job." She stated, slapping James on the back.

"Thanks for the help, Beautiful." James replied as he put an arm around her shoulder in a hug. "It was really helpful.

"What are friends for?" Riley replied with a shrug and then looked a little sad after the words had come out of her mouth. She shook her head and then forced a smile, which looked more like a grimace. "So we have the rest of the day off except for the dress rehearsal tonight. So what do you guys want to do now?"

"What do you think?" Noah replied as his stomach growled. He blushed a little bit. "Let's go and get something to eat.

"Now you're speaking my language." Carlos agreed.

They all left the dance studio with high spirits and went on a search to find some food that tasted good (for Patrick and Carlos because they could basically eat anything without worrying about taste) but was still healthy (for Kendall, because he refused to eat a lot of fast food unless he had a choice in the matter.) Finally, they just went to a grocery store and bought a bunch of junk food and brought it back to the Jacksons' suite, saying that they were going to have a huge party to celebrate their last concert in Australia before heading back to the States.

So that's where everyone was about thirty minutes later. Playing video games on the TV in one room, watching TV in another, and letting the adults have the large TV in the common room. For two reasons really, one; so none of their conversations could be eavesdropped on, and two; because the kids felt that they deserved something after having to watch them for months at a time, especially when they didn't have to do it.

It was when Ronan went into to check on the kids again when he noticed it. Sydney was sitting far away from the others, looking out the window. Ronan watched as Sydney sat on the windowsill, his face pressed against the window, fogging it each and every time he breathed.

He had no idea why Sydney had flinched at the weather report. The forecaster had come on, stating that strong thunderstorms were headed their way, and would probably hit in the middle of the night. After that, the news changed promptly to the local reports, and he might've been interested, had Sydney's reaction not worried him. It was nothing to be bothered about, but the boy had flinched as if someone had raised a hand to strike him, his face visibly drawing up into one of nervousness and more than a little fear. Much like it did when Robert was still around.

Ronan narrowed his eyes.

"Sydney, what's the matter?" Ronan asked, his hand poised to change the channel on the TV.

"What?" Sydney jumped in shock, and nervously twisted his shirt in his small hands, "Oh… uh, nothing Ronan. I'm fine." Ronan looked at him sharply as Sydney's eyes widened innocently. "No, I'm fine, I really am! Promise!"

"Hn," was his only reply, and Sydney once again curled back onto the couch, his chin resting on his knees. Sydney looked mostly fine now, with only a few traces of the worry he'd shown remaining, but Ronan was still bothered and more than a little perplexed by his actions.

Surely thunderstorms weren't so bad?

"What's wrong with Syd?" Katie asked as she turned from the TV, speaking mostly to Patrick and Noah, but Riley opted to answer, looking up from her laptop, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"He's afraid of storms." She explained quietly. "Always has been, which is funny because he is, like, the only person that is brave enough to go up to a snarling dog, and he's afraid of storm." She shrugged. "But I don't blame him; storms down here can get pretty aggro."

"Is it possible for tornadoes?" Katie asked, starting to feel a little worried herself. The hotel was huge and probably had a lot of good places to go, just in case there was one. But now that she thought about their rooms being so big with so many windows and glass vases everywhere, it nerved her a little, to think about it.

"Yeah, but we really don't get anything more than a severe thunderstorm." Riley replied.

"And bad brushfires." Rhuben added, chin in her hands, staring at the TV. "There have been a lot of brush fires over here recently because it gets pretty hot and we have strong winds as well."

"That too.

"Oh." Katie nodded and went back to watching TV.

The rest of the night went by in a peaceful blur. Katie taught Sydney how to play Texas Hold 'Em and Black Jack to keep his mind off of the storm, and then was stuck being beaten hand after hand by the smirking boy as his dimples seemed to get deeper and deeper in his cheek as his smile continued to widen. Sydney's eyes were wide and smiling as he set the flush on the table, unable to hide his pleasure at Katie's hand of absolutely nothing. With a scowl Katie sat back, and made a mental note to never gamble against the kid, not unless she wanted to lose all of the money that she had made from tricking people the past few years.

It was the middle of the night when the storm hit, just like the forecaster had predicted. For once, he was right. The first crack of thunder rattled the windows, and lightning pierced the sky in bright, jagged arcs; the rain was practically a monsoon, beating against the windows.

The thunder rolled, and Ronan slept on.

He didn't even so much as twitch.

He did, however, jolt awake when something zoomed under the bed sheets, and his hand unconsciously curled into a fist and reared back to—

"Ronan?"

Sydney's voice crept out from under his blankets, and he pulled his hand away, somewhere in his mind vaguely pissed at his youngest son for scaring him like that. Ronan rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to clear the sleep out of them.

"What?" He managed to finally say, his voice cracking horribly. He lifted the blankets up to get a clearer view of Sydney, his eyes still squinted. Sydney was curled up in a ball, his knees pulled to his chest, his arms tucked under them; he looked scared to death.

"Can… can I s-sleep with you t-tonight? P-please?" His quivering voice pleaded, and his wide eyes wide. Ronan almost could have sworn that he saw tears gathering in his eyes, but he knew that Sydney didn't cry that easily. Well, lately he hadn't, but he knew that there were times where he would think about his dad and everything that he had been through and would just burst out frying.

Ronan was quiet a moment, staring in Sydney's direction but not really seeing him before rubbing his eyes yet again.

"What?"

"Please…" He begged, and let out a small, choked sob when thunder once again cracked through the house; he buried his face into his knees. "Please, don't leave me a-alone…"

"Sydney—"

He never got a chance to finish because, at that moment, a blinding flash of lightning lit up the room for one split second, and Sydney dove onto his father, burying his face into his chest, trembling violently. If it wasn't so scary for the young boy, he would have burst out laughing. The look on his face was priceless.

Ronan had no idea what to do. He'd never comforted a woman, or a child, or anyone for that matter in a very, very long time. It was awkward, to say the very least, the way Sydney was pressed against him, and there was no way he could just push him away and say go back to your own bed, not with him like this.

Sydney was almost hysterical, shivering and shuddering, crying out when the thunder rumbled ahead. He knew he should do something, but was a little lost at exactly what to do. He wasn't the sort with the words of comfort, with the long winded speeches intended to make someone feel better, hell, it took him everything not to bore his kids to death when he was trying to give them a lecture whenever they did something wrong.

"I-I hate storms…" Sydney's muffled voice was faint, and laced with fear, but at least it wasn't hysterical any longer; that was a definite improvement.

Ronan nodded, but realizing Sydney couldn't see he smiled to himself. "I noticed." He sighed and moved to the side. "Fine, go to sleep." Sydney smiled and hurriedly crawled to the top of the bed before pressing his face into a pillow, curling himself up into a ball again. Ronan went back to sleep himself, but was woken up again twenty minutes later when he felt himself sink into the bed. He opened an eye to see Noah climbing into the bed as well.

"I'm just making sure Syd's ok." Noah whispered and pulled the blankets up over him.

Ronan nodded and went back to sleep again. But, of course, he was woken up again when Patrick gently pushed open the door to his room and padded into the room himself, shaking Noah's shoulder.

"I woke up, and you weren't there." He said in a slightly whining voice.

"I was making sure Syd was ok." Noah replied in a light whisper. Ronan's back was to them and he could tell that they thought he was still asleep. But with all of this talking that was definitely not going to happen.

"Oh, ok." Patrick climbed onto the bed as well and everyone went to sleep.

They slept soundly for a few hours but then, for no reason, he woke up again. Frustrated, he turned on his other side and fluffed up his pillows. He nearly jumped when he looked down at the bed and saw that Riley and Rhuben had joined their brothers and they were all sleeping peacefully.

Ronan smiled and pulled the covers back over himself and went to sleep.

A/N: Well, for the ending of this chapter, I realized I hadn't really had a family moment between the Jacksons in a while, so I thought of, what would happen if there was a thunderstorm and that's where I came up with the idea. Anyway, it was under 5000 than I thought it was going to be, but it was still longer than the other ones I've done recently. But I know for sure that the next ones until the end will be over 5000. I hope you guys liked it.

Cheers,

-Riley