"Are we in Wisconsin?!" Brandon asked excitedly as we waited for our luggage, holding onto my hand tightly.

"Yep."

"Wow!" he beamed. "I've never been to Wisconsin before! Do you speak a different language here?"

"No," I told him. He looked disappointed. "But sometimes people wear cheese on their heads."

"Wow! Really?! Wisconsin is so weird!" he laughed.

"You're great with Brandon," Steve smiled at me. He turned to Mitchie. "I like him."

"Yeah, I kinda like him, too," she smirked.

I let go of Brandon's hand to grab my suitcase from the conveyer belt. Our flight had been way more peaceful than we expected. We took the back entrance into the airport in LA to avoid the paparazzi, and only a couple people approached us on the plane. There have never been any paparazzi in Wisconsin, thankfully, so we could relax a little.

"Nate...where's Brandon?" Mitchie asked.

"He's right…" I turned to where he had just been standing, but he was gone. "He was just here…"

I heard his voice and followed the sound. "Hi! I'm Brandon!"

"Oh, shit," I cursed.

He was near the door, surrounded by cameras and reporters. How did they even know we were here?

I bolted towards him, leaving my bags on the floor.

"Where did your hair go?" one of the reporters asked.

"Brandon!" I shouted, trying to get his attention so he wouldn't talk to them. He didn't hear me.

"I was sick, but I'm okay right now!" Brandon explained happily. "Sometimes I get sick again, but not in Wisconsin! Have you seen anybody with cheese on their heads? I want to meet one!"

"You'll have to go to a football game," one of them told him.

"Leave him alone!" Mitchie screamed.

She ran passed me – I didn't know she could run that fast. She scooped her brother up and set him on her hip, trying to hurry him back to get their bags. A photographer jumped in front of them and snapped a picture. She grabbed his camera and threw it to the ground. The lens smashed into a million pieces.

"Do NOT mess with my family," she said angrily.

"This is my sister! She's the best sister in the whole UNIVERSE!" Brandon shouted to the reporters while they were still in earshot.

"Mitchie…" I started, trying to make eye contact with her. She looked like she was going to cry.

She shook her head, silencing me. "Not right now." She set her brother down next to her father. "Stay with dad, okay? And don't talk to anyone else. Don't let go of his hand. Promise?"

"I promise," the little boy replied, the smile gone from his face. "Mitchie, are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad at you. I just don't want you to get hurt, okay? You know you're not supposed to talk to strangers."

"I'm sorry…" he told her.

Mitchie grabbed her bags and walked past the reporters silently. The rest of us just followed her lead. Luckily, I'd arranged a car to meet us at the airport so we didn't have to wait, and we piled inside quickly. Mitchie was silent the entire right. Brandon was staring out the window, asking me about every building we passed. After about twenty minutes, we pulled up to my parent's house.

"Wow! A horse!" Brandon shouted ecstatically as soon as he was out of the car, running towards it. His father followed him, amused by his son's amazement.

"Baby, I'm so sorry," I sighed, taking advantage of my first moment alone with Mitchie.

"For what?" she asked.

"I should have been watching him…"

"Nate, no," she stopped me. "This isn't your fault at all. Even if he'd been handcuffed to you, they still would have seen him when we came out, and he still would have talked his head off. I didn't think there would be any paparazzi here. I don't know why I thought that, but…"

"There's never been any before," I told her. I was just as surprised to see them as she was. "But I guess bringing you home with me is more interesting than when I come by myself."

"Please don't blame yourself. Let's just forget about it for the weekend."

"Okay," I agreed, kissing her softly. "How many cameras have you broken now?"

She laughed. "A few…"

Steve pulled Brandon away from the horses and rejoined us.

"I never would have guessed you were from the country," Steve told me.

I smirked. "I'm a closet farm boy, I guess."

I laced my fingers through Mitchie's and led all of them up the walkway towards the house, but before we even got to the porch, my mother threw open the door happily.

"My baby!" she grinned.

"Hey, mom," I replied as I hugged her.

My dad jogged down the porch steps to meet us and hugged me, too. "Good to have you back, son. I was beginning to think you forgot the address."

I hadn't been home in awhile. Not that I didn't want to, but I was always so busy. Taylor had flown out to visit me a couple of times in LA, though.

"And you must be Mitchie," my mother said. "I'm Debra. Aren't you just the prettiest little thing? Jack, isn't she prettier in real life?"

"She certainly is," he grinned, shaking her hand. "But the way Nate talks about her, I knew she would be."

My parents introduced themselves to Steve and Brandon while Mitchie and I went inside – I don't know why the hell they had to do introductions outside, it was like ten degrees and snowing. Gotta love a Midwest winter…

"Where's Taylor?" I asked as they all finally filed into the house.

"Jill took her to the store with her," my mom told me. "I forgot to get potatoes when I went this morning."

"Jill's here?" I asked with as much fake enthusiasm as I could manage.

Jill was my cousin. She was a couple years older than me, and I know this is mean, but she was a huge bitch. For as long as I could remember, she would do whatever she could to get me in trouble and then she'd pull the protective older cousin card on me. Like once, when I was fifteen, she badgered me into admitting that I took a puff of a cigarette with my friend Mark once and then I started coughing and never did it again. Then she told my mom and when I got mad she said she was worried that I was 'falling in with the wrong crowd' and she just loved me so damn much she felt that she had to tell so I could 'get help'.

"Nateeeeeey!" Taylor screamed, throwing her arms around my waist. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Tay. Hey, I want you to meet someone…" I started.

"Mitchie Torres! I have your CD! You're awesome!"

"Thanks," Mitchie laughed. "I bet you're pretty awesome, too."

"Nathan," I cringed as I heard Jill's voice. She was the only person who called me Nathan, ever. "I haven't seen you're ugly face in awhile."

"Nice to see you too, Jill…" I said through a fake smile.

She turned to Mitchie and looked her up and down. "And this must be the girl who's turned your world upside-down."

I smirked. "Something like that."

"Well, this will be fun," Jill said, almost mischievously.

I was afraid to know what she meant by that, but I was sure I'd find out soon enough.