.:Chapter Four:.

"KELLY?! Have you seen my car keys?"

Gustavo Rocque rooted around on his hands and knees, patting his hand on the carpet under his desk. When he didn't find the keys to his convertible there, he opened up a desk drawer and started to dig around in there. Papers, bank notes, bills, and ruined stress balls looked back at him. With a cry of frustration, he pushed the drawer back into the desk with more force than necessary.

"Why would I have seen your keys?" Kelly Wainright shot back, her voice traveling from down the hall. The clacking of her heels sounded along with her voice seconds before she turned the corner and over the threshold of his office. She was looking at her PDA and only glanced up when Gustavo made a sound of annoyance, flopping back into his chair. "In fact, I thought you have your convertible impounded because you parked in a fire lane."

"How was I supposed to know it was a fire lane?" Gustavo threw his hands into the air. "There was a big truck in the way and I was in a hurry!"

"God forbid Rocque Records actually burns down because you were in a hurry," Kelly replied.

"And it wasn't impounded," Gustavo continued. "The police merely parked it in a different spot."

"And wouldn't give it back until you paid them."

"Details, Kelly, are made to be overlooked."

Kelly rolled her eyes and gracefully lowered herself into the seat across from the desk from her partner. She was used to his antics at this point, but on the other hand, she was still aware that when they were working together, more often than not, it was like she was babysitting him.

"Anyway, are you ready to start talking marketing?" Kelly asked. She crossed her slicked legs. "I mean, we have to promote the boys' summer tour if it's going to be their last one."

Gustavo held up a hand, causing Kelly to trail off her thought. "It's not going to be their last tour," he denied. "They're going to come to their sense and realize that Big Time Rush will never die and that they need to get over it!" Kelly smiled as Gustavo sat back in his seat, crossing his arms. A smug smile slid onto his face. "Besides, we have to wait for Ronan, don't we?"

"Relax, I'm right here," Ronan said as he walked into the room. He took the other seat that was situated beside Kelly. He sat down, slouching a little so that he had enough space to cross his legs. His eyes shifted for a moment. "So where's Kacy, I figured she would be here too."

"She already had pans for the day," Kelly replied. "And this is just an idea of things that we're going to bring to the marketing team when we get closer to when the tour is going to start."

Ronan nodded.

Gustavo, on the other hand, stared hard at Ronan. Though he wouldn't actually admit it out loud, he would say that Kelly and Ronan were his best friends. They always managed to deal with his yelling and put downs and shot it right back at him. Kelly was his right hand man, able to know what it was he wanted and needed whenever the thought crossed his mind. She managed his finances—which had blown through the roof ever since Big Time Rush had come into their lives, when they weren't breaking things—and made sure everyone was happy. Ronan was like his dogs in some ways, they had known each other a long time and he got on Gustavo's nerves just as easily as Gustavo got on his.

And while he enjoyed Ronan's pain from time to time, it was strange to see how subdued he was now, compared to his usual outgoing nature.

"What's the matter?" Gustavo barked at him.

Ronan's green eyes shifted towards him. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"The fact you're not bugging me, for one," Gustavo replied. He sat up in his seat, pressing his fingertips together. "Now, are you going to tell us what it is or are we going to have to drag it out of you?"

"I wouldn't take that lightly," Kelly advised Ronan, placing her hand on his forearm. "I've seen him do just about the same if not worse to a bunch of little kids when he was supposed to be babysitting." She gave Gustavo a side-eye. "And we all know that didn't end well."

"They were bugging me," Gustavo defended himself. "Always whining and complaining; wanting this and that. Those little brats wouldn't know how to hold a grudge if it weren't for me."

"They're your niece and nephew," Kelly reminded him.

"And my sister better be glad that I toughened them up when I did."

Ronan laughed quietly. Sitting up, he rubbed his forehead, the smile slowly disappearing from his face. "If you can scare kids that badly, d'you think that you can do that to grown men?" He waved a hand. "I mean, you already scare me, but I'm talking about giving a verbal warning." Gustavo raised an eyebrow. "Kacy and I broke up," he explained.

"Really?" Kelly exchanged a glance with Gustavo. "Why?"

"Honestly?" Ronan thought for a long moment. "It's because of Kevin being back. It's good for Kendall and Katie to have their father back around…to try and have things work for them. But…Kace is still hesitant about him being back in her life and she was starting to get stressed. It wasn't helping that he is acting like nothing had changed between the two of them and that things are OK." He waved a hand. "It caused a strain and we decided to cool it for a while."

"I knew it!" Gustavo said so loudly it made Ronan and Kelly jump. "I knew it! I knew it!" He pointed at Ronan. "I told you that Kevin being back wasn't going to help anyone! I was the one that said that the man was up to no good. Ever since he wanted to play that hockey game against Kendall and try to get back in his good graces…I knew there was something fishy about that guy." He drummed his hands on the top of his desk. "So, what? Is he finally going away? Is she gonna do something about it?"

"It's a difficult thing to deal with. I mean, on one hand she believes that his intentions with Kendall and Katie are real, but with their own relationship she's not so sure."

"That's terrible," Kelly sympathized. "It's no wonder she doesn't really want to talk today. Retail therapy helps wonders." She slowly turned back to Gustavo and gave him a winning smile. "What do you think I do every time I have to deal with your antics?"

"Go to the spa," Gustavo swiftly replied. "You say you need a massage each time you leave work every day and I gotta say it doesn't work. You're more high strung than usual."

Kelly glared at him.

"Now that we have that out of the way, can we please get started on this marketing stuff?" Ronan asked. He flipped open the manila folder that rested in his lap. "I'm only doing this as a favor and I have my own band to work with you know."

"Ah, you're going to see them when you go home, we need to deal with this now," Gustavo insisted. Ronan glared at him. "Fine, but don't ever say that I don't offer to help you with anything."

"You don't," Kelly and Ronan harmonized.

"Whatever."

"So this is what you're going to do," Kendall said to Katie, slowly closing the door to hers and her mother's bedroom behind him. Katie turned from her vanity mirror, listening intently, watching as her big brother moved across the room in two quick steps and kneeled down at her side. "You and Mom and Lizzie are going out to the mall right?"

"Right." Katie nodded.

"So, Mom's an attractive lady, we can all admit that," Kendall continued. He leaned closer to Katie, placing his hands on her shoulders and gently shaking her. "But what you need to do is make her seem unattractive to any gut that tries to hit on her."

Katie slowly nodded. "But what if no one hits on her?"

"Trust me, someone will," Kendall said. He let go of his sister and stood up. "And while you're doing that, us guys are going to try and figure out what Dad has planned for with Mom, whether or not he's telling the truth about wanting to get remarried or whatever." He waved a dismissive hand.

Katie tried not to laugh out loud. It was fun to see her brother back in his 'planning mode'. He had so much trouble with girlfriends and girl drama and something going wrong with his music in the past couple of years that he hadn't really had time to come up with many plans and schemes for whatever the problem was. He had grown up a bit, but she still missed this silly side of her brother, though he had learned when to play the part.

"Do I need a tree hat too?" She asked sarcastically, getting up from her seat. "What about your old camouflage paintballing gear? Do I need that too?"

Kendall pondered the thought, even going as far as to rub his chin. "No, we're going to save that for an emergency." He then held up his hand. "Do you think you can do it soldier?"

Katie did a mock salute. "You can count on me." She brought up her hand and the two did their own handshake. She and Kendall left her room as the front door to their crib opened and WayneWayne Dooley and Dak and Lizzie Zevon walked inside.

"Finally!" Carlos leapt up from the couch and grabbed onto Dak's and WayneWayne's arms, dragging them inside. "Geez, what took you so long?"

"Dak drives like an old lady, that's what took so long," Lizzie replied, tossing her blonde hair over here shoulders. She turned to Katie, rolling her eyes. "It took us more than twenty minutes to even get close to the exit."

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Dak defended himself.

"Yeah, and I'd rather get somewhere on time," WayneWayne shot back.

"And I'd rather get there in one piece than dead, Lizzie!" Dak then turned on his sister, who looked back at him innocently. "If you let her drive, you can basically set your watch to how she's either going to hurt herself or get into a car accident."

"Whatever." Kendall whipped two tree hats out from the back of his jeans, where the brims had been tucked into. "Put these on and let's go!" He led Dak, WayneWayne, James, Logan, and Carlos out of the apartment, closing the door behind them.

"What's that all about?" Lizzie giggled, turning back to her best friend.

Katie crossed her arms over her chest. "Long story short, my Dad wants to get back together with my Mom and now that Mom and Ronan broke up, we're going to try everything we can to make sure that it doesn't happen." Katie gestured towards the door. "The guys are going to be watching the Palm Woods to make sure no good looking men around Mom's age come in."

"And they need the tree hats for that?" Lizzie asked.

"Anything to have them blend in," Katie said. She turned and walked across the apartment, sitting down on the orange couch. Lizzie followed and sat beside her. "I'm just waiting for Mom, she'll be ready soon. So if you want to help us, then you can help me when we're at the mall." Katie looked over her shoulder and lowered her voice. "If there's anyone that looks like they're hitting on my Mom, we need to make her seem like she's unattainable."

"Got it." Lizzie gave a thumbs up. She then looked concerned. "I didn't even know they broke up. Noah never said anything."

"All of us only just found out a couple of days ago," Katie explained. "And, as usual, we're normally the last ones to find things like this out anyway." She pointed to herself. "Or, I am, anyway. So don't feel that you're out of the loop. Ronan may be taking it harder than any of the rest of us."

Lizzie nodded. "So what's so bad about him wanting to get back together with her?" She asked after a minute. "I mean, apart from the whole abuse thing. If you guys were able to, sort of, bond with him lately nothing's happened for a while…"

Katie was silent for a long time. What was wrong with it? What wasn't wrong with it? The fact she still didn't one hundred percent trust her father was a big indicator of how bad things would be. In fact, she wasn't even sure how she was ever supposed to feel. She didn't know him other than being the man her mother was married to, especially considering she was too young to ever remember him being around.

She remembered hearing her parents fight a few times. She remembered Kendall allowing her to sleep in his bed, she remembered him singing her to sleep, and that was all she knew. She didn't know what he was like when he was completely relaxed, she didn't know the sorts of things he was into—other than hockey—she didn't know his hobbies, his dreams and aspirations, his favorite color, favorite number or favorite food. Everything that someone would have been able to rattle off about their parents in a matter of seconds, she would be left guessing.

"It's just bad, OK," she finally replied.

"What's so bad?" Mrs. Knight walked into the apartment, hooking her purse up over her shoulder.

Katie and Lizzie got to their feet and went over to the older woman. "Nothing, Mom," Katie replied brightly. "Just talking about the sales and stuff that we're going to miss if we don't leave now." Mrs. Knight gave her a confused expression and Lizzie, standing beside her, nodded cheerfully.

"OK…" Mrs. Knight continued to look at Katie for a long moment. "Let's get going then." She turned on her heel and walked out of the doorway of the apartment and headed towards the elevator. Lizzie and Katie followed after Katie locked the door to the apartment and got into the elevator. They rode it down to the lobby and got out.

As soon as they did, Katie stopped walking and turned to glance at the potted plants that lined the corner of the lobby. She could have sworn she saw something wiggling out of the corner of her eye. But as she continued to stare, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but still.

"Kevin! What are you doing here?!"

At the sound of her mother's started voice, Katie turned away from the plants and stared when she spotted her father standing at the front desk, talking to Bitters. Having heard his ex-wife's voice, he turned to her with a warm, albeit nervous, smile. "Hey Jen," he replied then paused. "Or do you still go by your middle name?"

"Either," Mrs. Knight replied airily. "It depends on the person."

"Right," Kevin agreed.

"Dad!" Katie grabbed onto Lizzie's arm and pulled her forward. She forced a smile on her face. "You remember Lizzie Zevon, right?" She pushed Lizzie forward. "She's been out to lunch with us a few times."

"I remember," Kevin replied. He smiled at her. "The dancer and my daughter's best friend, how could I forget?" Lizzie smiled and nodded again. "Am I correct in assuming that you three are headed off to the mall?"

"You bet!" Lizzie agreed. "I practically live there."

Kevin laughed. "I remember Katie saying that, that's why I assumed."

Mrs. Knight made a sound of exasperation. "Kevin, what are you doing here?" she asked again.

Kevin's face then turned serious. He motioned to Bitters, who was still standing at the computer behind the desk. His beady eyes shifted back and forth between the man and woman, his lips slightly curling up. Nothing was more entertaining to him than to watch people's relationships explode in front of his face. He had watched with great interest the many times one of the Big Time Rush boys did something wrong with their girlfriends.

Heck, I was why he had started that Palm Woods tour last year. Which reminded him, that he needed to sell tickets for the new tour.

"I was hoping I could talk to you," Kevin replied. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, there are just some things that I think we need to discuss." He took a deep breath and reached into his back pocket, producing a white envelope. "Like this." He held it out to her.

Mrs. Knight looked at it curiously before slowly extending her hand and taking the envelope. Bowing her head, she started to open the envelope, only stopping at a whizzing sound that blew by them. Katie and Lizzie exchanged a glance. They heard it too.

Then there was another whizzing sound, but this time there was a loud 'smack' that accompanied it. Katie's eyes immediately moved over to the Palm Woods pool, had someone just done a belly flop? Her hazel eye scanned the pool, there were people playing volleyball, but no one wincing in pain.

Katie turned back to Lizzie and shrugged. "What was that?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Lizzie whispered back.

Katie turned her attention back to her mother and watched as she pulled something out of the envelope and her eyes widened. She gaped up at Kevin in shock, his eyes trained on hers. "Kevin…this is all of the money you owe me for child support," she said.

"I know."

Katie's eyes widened as she looked up at her father. He continued to watch his ex-wife intently. There was an air of confidence about him that Katie suddenly realized that she and Kendall had inherited from him. When it came to things she knew about—mostly online Poker and extorting people of their money—Katie was hit with an immense amount of confidence that things were going to go her way. It rested on a borderline of arrogance and she could see a hint of that in Kevin's face.

What else have I gotten from him? Katie couldn't help but allow her eyes to fun over Kevin's face. He was almost the spitting image of Kendall, though his blonde hair had turned a darker brown than her brothers had become. His eyes, eyebrows, and nose were what Kendall definitely had gotten from him. Maybe his mouth was like hers? She never paid that close attention to her own mouth before. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, the way he moved his hands? She didn't know and was suddenly struck with the feeling of wanting to know. She knew there was a lot she had gotten from her mother, but she had been around her long enough to fully understand her.

Katie looked away. Why now? Why were all of these thoughts coming now? Why hadn't they been there before? What was it that had kept her from thinking about it? Maybe the emptiness and anger she felt for a long time. Maybe knowing it was her brother that had to, basically, give up his childhood to take are of her whenever she was working at the diner. Or how he had to take his first job when he was thirteen and willingly gave up half his paycheck for them.

There was another whizzing and smacking sound.

"You missed!" She could hear Dak's hushed voice from a plant behind her. "How could you have missed, he was right there!"

"Your big head got in the way," WayneWayne shot back. "What's your excuse?"

"Would you guys be quiet?" Logan's voice then came, a bit louder than Dak's and WayneWayne's had been. "I need total concentration." There was another whizzing sound and this time the smacking was that much closer as it had hit Bitters' computer screen, the next one smacking him in the face.

Mrs. Knight gasped, Kevin smiled, and Lizzie moved her hands up to cover her mouth and Katie watched as Bitters brought his hands up to wipe yolk and bits of egg shell off his face. "Who's throwing eggs in my lobby?!" He shouted. He continued to wipe off his face before turning to his computer screen. "Someone's gonna pay for the Palm Woods computer system too!"

Turning on his heel, he stormed back into his office, muttering something about 'teenagers', 'ulcers', 'heart attacks', and 'early retirement' under his breath as he went.

Kevin leaned over and looked at the egg as it dripped down the computer screen. "What kind of a place is this?" He asked, half joking half sounding serious. "I don't think that things were this bad when we were back in Minnesota."

"Some things never change, I guess," Mrs. Knight replied. She replaced the check into the envelope and placed it in her purse.

"But some things do," Kevin contradicted, looking meaningfully at her.

Barf. Katie grabbed onto Lizzie's arm and dragged her over to the potted plants. She reached out and grabbed onto a branch, pulling hard enough so that James had to lean forward so that he wouldn't fall over. "Ow! Katie! Watch the hair! It's delicate!" Logan, Carlos, Kendall, Dak, and WayneWayne came out from behind their plants as well; all armed with cartons of eggs, sling shots, and wearing camouflage tree hats.

"Eggs?" Katie planted her hands on her hips. "Your master plan was to hit them with wayward eggs?" She reached out, smacking Kendall upside the head. "That's the dumbest thing you've ever come up with!"

"Not to mention that it could have ruined my outfit," Lizzie added. She stuck out her white boot clad foot. "I spent all day picking it out." Katie and Dak both rolled their eyes.

"The eggs were Carlos's idea," Kendall defended himself, pointing over to the shortest member of Big Time Rush. He had his helmet on, and the tree hat jammed overtop of it.

"It's a good idea!" Carlos looked down at his own carton that was now missing half of the eggs. "If he didn't move so much. It's no wonder he's so good at hockey, he's so fat!" Logan frowned and reached over. He picked up an egg and smushed it into Carlos's face, to get him to shut up.

"OK, so maybe the eggs weren't the best idea," James agreed. He lifted a finger, grinning. "But, I totally got Bitters in the face. He should be thanking me. Eggs are a good home remedy to clear skin."

"That explains why you always smell," Carlos muttered. Now James smacked him in the face with an egg.

"Everybody chill," Kendall said, holding out his arms so that his body resembled a 'T'. He looked at everyone before speaking again. "So this was just a minor setback. Besides, it's not like Mom is going to listen to what Dad has to say."

"Kendall," Lizzie said gently. "He gave her all of the child support he hasn't paid in years."

"In one big, fat check, too," Katie agreed.

Kendall blinked, slowly taking in a deep breath. While on the outside he appeared calm, cool, and collected, something he was famous for, she could see her brother white-knuckling the slingshot that was in his hand. "Hockey pucks."

"Don't worry, Kendall," Logan said. He reached out and patted Kendall on the shoulder. "We're just going to have to go to plan B."

"Which is?" Katie pressed.

"We'll let you know as soon as we think of it," Kendall replied.

Katie knew, from those words alone, that it was bound to have something to do with the Jacksons. If there was one thing she knew for sure, plans always seemed to work when both Big Time Rush and the DarkElements were involved, and that there was more chaos involved when they were all together. Who knew what outcome was going to come from this one.

Kendall placed a hand on Katie's shoulder and tilted his head back towards their mother. "Go have fun at the mall, Baby Sister. I'll see you later."

Katie glanced at him. "Are you sure you're going to be OK, Big Brother?"

Kendall smiled. "I'll be fine."

Katie nodded and looped her arm through Lizzie's and went back to Mrs. Knight who hurriedly finished her conversation with Kevin, flashed a smile to the girls, and walked out to the car. She looked over at Kevin, who continued to stand in the lobby for a few moments, before answering his cell phone and walking out of the lobby and to the other side of the parking lot to his own car.

There was one thing she knew for sure she had gotten from her father; she was a better liar than her brother and mother.

A/N: If you don't know what handshake I'm talking about that Kendall and Katie do, it's because it was only seen once in BTBreak, when Katie was helping expose Jo as not having a boyfriend.

So I wanted to balance this chapter with silly and serious and that's and I hope I pulled it off well, as well as bringing in Katie's views on her father, especially considering it's different from Kendall's. Katie really didn't know Kevin at all, so she is, in a way, the one that has the most to lose, a father she never had before.

Hmm, I might change the plot to this story slightly, you'll know by the next chapter. It really depends on how it would eventually work out in the long run as I think about it. Considering it's the second genre of the story, the romance aspect starts with the next chapter, I just wanted to set up some parts of the plot of the story, as well as bring in all of the characters, first.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles