(A/N): I guess I have some explaining to do. Spring break happened last week and I was fully intending on posting this last week, but, for some odd reason, all of my friends wanted to hang out with me that week. Every time I would tell them that I wanted to stay home and write, they would ask me why when I was supposed to be on break. And the free time that I did have, I was getting my e-book ready to go. I've got an artist for the cover and almost everything is set up for it. Just gotta finish editing it and I'll be a moneymaking published author. So, here this is. A week late. Sorry about that.
Thank you to these people for your reviews: Awesmazing (Yep, Natalie used to be fat. That plays a BIG (no pun intended) role in a future chapter. I'm slowly building up Natalie's relationship with the guys. Just wait and see how she reacts with James and Kendall. Will the guys wish that it was them dating Natalie? Hmm… Well, that question deserves another. Has James completely gotten over Katrina even though she's dating his best friend? As for Emily's comment towards the end, there's an explanation for it and the characters come up with a few theories, but the answer won't be revealed for a while.), Leah Garcia (This has a lot of Kendall in it too, so enjoy that. And the hair? When do members of the Zizi do anything without reason?), Lucy Case (Hmm… That's always a possibility…), Dreamer1992 (A little bit less dun dun dunnnnn in this chapter.), niki1kendra1 (Those love triangles would work… Or, since James is still harboring a flame for Katrina, possibly a Carlos/Natalie/Logan/Katrina/James pentagon? THAT would certainly bring about some problems.), Derba (It could have something to do with my genes. My mom's always loved books and my dad implements a lot of creative problem solving answers. Put together creativity and books: natural born writer. At least, that's how my parents explain it. I chalk it up to the creative writing class I took. It helped me come up with stories by using prompts. As for the cloning, maybe if this was a science fiction story… But, it's a mystery, romance, friendship, family and a little bit of humor and adventure story. So, no cloning. Good guess though!), BlueRagingFire (A one time thing between Logan and Natalie? I could see it. Especially after this chapter. Emily had a reason for what she said. That doesn't mean that it's a hundred percent true…) and Reinoiswriting (Oh, this is just the beginning with Emily, I can tell you that much.)
I still have no right to Big Time Rush. A short disclaimer for this chapter. And now, here it is!
Chapter 79: Curiosity Killed The… Rat?
"For the last time, Kendall," Mrs. Knight spoke as she chopped up the vegetables for the meal she was preparing for dinner. "You and Evan are not brothers."
"But, Emily said that I was and the Zizi seem to know more than we do," Kendall retorted.
"I think I would know if I wasn't your mother," Mrs. Knight responded. "And I'm sure that I'm not Evan's. Therefore, you two are not brothers." Kendall tapped his fingers on the dining table, clearly believing there was something his mother wasn't telling him.
"Kendall," Katrina mentioned from her spot on the couch. "If you and Evan were brothers, then that would mean that we'd be siblings. Our birthdays are too close together for that to work."
"Your dad lied about his identity for your entire life," Kendall pointed out. "Maybe he lied about yours and Evan's."
"So, you're suggesting that we're fraternal twins and Evan is our older brother," Katrina raised an eyebrow. "Where does that leave Katie?"
"I don't know!" Kendall exclaimed, getting to his feet. "I'm just saying, the Zizi know more about our family than we do and I don't like it. They're probably planning something at this very moment and we can't stop them." Katrina and Mrs. Knight exchanged glances across the room. "What if it turns out that I'm Evan and Evan is me? I mean, we look alike enough that we could have been switched pretty easily."
"Evan is two years older than you," Mrs. Knight reminded him. "There's no way a two-year-old could be mistaken for a newborn."
"Okay, I get it!" Kendall gave up. "It's impossible for me and Evan to be anything other than cousins! Why would Emily say something like that then?"
Katrina shrugged, "To shock you so that she could get away? That girl is pure evil now."
"The thing that bugs me is that Evan and I do look like we could be brothers," Kendall brought up, starting to pace the room. "You and Katie get compared too, but not as much as me and Evan. You two look like cousins that just seem to have similar features. Natalie even told us that we have enough similarities to be considered brothers." He paused in his pacing. "The weird thing is that she also said that you and I were similar enough too." Mrs. Knight dropped her knife on the cutting board, eyes widened at this revelation. The teens didn't notice.
"Odd," Katrina agreed. "We haven't been compared like that before." Mrs. Knight quickly picked up her knife and resumed cutting.
"That's because Evan's usually with us and I look way more like him," Kendall reasoned. "But, now that I think about it, back when we didn't know that we were related, the guys mentioned that we were somewhat alike. Mostly stubbornness."
Katrina chuckled, "Yeah, we both tend to be a little more stubborn than most people."
"Katrina," Mrs. Knight grabbed her attention. "Don't you have physical therapy soon?"
Checking the time, Katrina winced, "Crap, I'm not gonna make it in time if I don't leave now. Aunt Jenn, can you take me? Logan was going to, but he's too busy fussing over Evan with Natalie. The two of them think that something else is wrong with him after that powder attacked him yesterday."
Mrs. Knight shook her head, "I can't or dinner's going to be late."
"I just got my license," Kendall offered. "I can take you." He gestured to his mom and she tossed him the keys to the van. "There's nothing better to do since Jo's working."
"Okay," Katrina agreed, getting to her feet. She grabbed her crutches and used them to follow Kendall to the door. "This way we can come up with more ideas as to why Emily would say that you two are brothers." Kendall opened the door for her and the two left the apartment.
"Can I go back to my apartment now?" Evan asked. He was sprawled out on Natalie's couch, an ice pack tied to his forehead. "I would really like to be depressed by myself."
"Nope," Logan and Natalie responded. The two of them were dressed in lab coats as they worked at Natalie's lab table. They were testing the powder that had exploded from the drum set the day before, trying to figure out if it was just penicillin.
"You've still got a fever and elevated heart rate," Natalie added. "We can't let you out of our sight until you're a hundred percent healthy."
"Plus, you being depressed means that someone should stick by you," Logan continued. "Katrina's had suicide attempts meaning that, since you're her brother, there's an increased chance that you'll try it."
"And we can't take you to a hospital because of the Zizi thing," Natalie went on.
"And I'm sure that you don't want Mrs. Knight to find out that you've got sick symptoms," Logan finished.
"There's nothing wrong with me!" Evan insisted. "Those symptoms are because I found out that my long lost childhood love is trying to kill me!"
"That might explain the heart rate, but not the fever," Natalie retorted. "Just stay right there. We almost have it."
Suddenly, the door burst open and Carlos and James ran inside. They took one look at Evan on the couch and winced.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Carlos mentioned. "Logan and Natalie have become mad scientists and are using Evan as a live test subject."
"Let's get out of here before they get us too," James suggested. The two boys turned to leave the apartment.
"Hold it!" Natalie called out and the boys froze. "I need you!" They turned on their heels to face her, smiles growing on their faces.
"Anything you need, we can handle," Carlos offered.
"Just say the word and we'll do it," James agreed.
Natalie picked up a locked wooden box and handed it to Carlos, "I need you to give this to my producer." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and gave it to James. "This is the address. Do not, I repeat, do NOT open that box. And -" She grabbed an envelope and put it on top of the box in Carlos's hand. "I need you to put this letter in the mailbox. It's for my boyfriend back in England." Frowns spread on the boys' faces. "What are you waiting for? Go do my tasks!"
"Wait, what do we get if we accomplish these tasks?" James asked.
"A guest role on my TV show," Natalie responded without missing a beat. The guys seemed to agree with this because they raced out of the room.
"Weren't you gonna give them guest roles anyways?" Logan spoke up.
"Yep, but this way, they get my stuff done," Natalie joined Logan over at the lab table. She pointed to a flask on the table. "Let's get back to figuring out what made this liquid blue. Penicillin doesn't do that." Logan nodded and the two of them went back to performing tasks.
Kendall drove the van into a parking spot at the building where Katrina had her physical therapy. Looking out the window, Katrina groaned.
"The paparazzi are here," Katrina complained. "They must have figured out my therapy schedule."
"Did you want to call and reschedule?" Kendall asked.
Katrina shook her head, "No, it took so much convincing to get Gustavo to give us this time off anyways so that I can even go to therapy. He won't like it if I have to take extra time off."
"Then, we'll have to brave the media," Kendall decided. He turned off the van and climbed out. Katrina opened the door and used her crutches to help her out. The cousins each took a deep breath before they roamed into the flashes of cameras and microphones in their faces.
James and Carlos walked through the lobby, heading for the exit to catch a bus over to the studio that Natalie's producer was at.
Suddenly, the two of them stopped and turned to each other.
"Aren't you curious as to why Natalie told us we can't look in this box?" James asked.
"So curious," Carlos agreed. "Let's open it!"
"Wait," James stopped him. "We can't open it." He took the box from Carlos's hands. "But if we were to drop it and it opened on its own, then we won't get in trouble for it." James dropped the box on the ground. The two boys stared down at the box that continued to be closed.
"It didn't open," Carlos stated the obvious.
"I realize that," James retorted. "It's probably locked. We'll have to find a way to pick the lock."
"You thinking who I'm thinking?" Carlos responded. James nodded and the two boys ran back to the elevators.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Natalie mentioned, holding up a test tube with a sickly green colored liquid.
"What does green mean?" Logan asked, flipping through an instruction book for the kit they used on the powder. "Let's see. It means-" Logan's face paled. "There's poison in it."
"WHAT?!" Evan screamed, sitting up from his spot on the couch. He immediately went into a coughing fit and had to take a drink from a glass of water.
"This is not good," Natalie shook her head. "We need to narrow down that poison." She gave Logan a heavy book. "This is a list of poisons. There's an entire chapter on ones that can be in powder form. Compare the symptoms with Evan's. While you're doing that, I'm gonna try to narrow it down by using chemistry." She cracked her fingers. "Let's do this."
The paparazzi were still outside the building when Kendall and Katrina left. The cousins tried their best to ignore them, but they were eventually surrounded. They looked frantically around at the cameras, microphones and tape recorders pointed at them.
"Kendall! How long have you and Jo been an item?"
"Katrina! How's your brother doing after that attack on him last night?"
"Kendall! How do you feel about your cousin dating one of your best friends? Who would you side with if they broke up?"
"Katrina! Now that your music career is taking off, are you going to give up modeling?"
"Kendall! What was it like to find out that you had two cousins you never knew about?"
"Just ignore them, Kendall," Katrina advised. "If we ignore them, maybe they'll go away."
"Katrina! What is your opinion on what to do with the polar bear crisis?"
That almost got her. The only reason Katrina didn't answer that question was because the paparazzi went silent as they parted. Confused, Kendall and Katrina looked through the opening between the reporters. Walking towards them was Freight Train. Big Time Rush's bodyguard stopped in front of the cousins. The men and women of the crowd stared up at the large man with awe in their faces.
"Gustavo wants to see you," Freight Train revealed. Without asking them, Freight Train picked them up and placed each of them over his shoulders. Kendall and Katrina exchanged glances behind his head as Freight Train grabbed Katrina's crutches and headed for the limo.
"Uh, Freight Train," Kendall got the attention of the large man. "I'm happy that you saved us from all of that, but what about my mom's van?"
"Gustavo will send someone for it," Freight Train answered, tossing the cousins into the limo. The two of them looked at each other again while Freight Train got in. Once everyone was set, the limo drove off.
"Katie!" Carlos and James called out once they entered apartment 2J. The girl looked up from her spot at the counter. The laptop was in front of her.
"What?!" Katie exclaimed. "I'm in the middle of my stock meeting!" The boys checked the screen over her shoulder to see a bunch of people in suits staring back at them.
"Nevermind that," James shut the laptop. "We need you to pick this lock." He held out the box that Natalie had given them.
Katie sighed, grabbing the box and placing it on the counter. Taking a good look at it, she held out her hand to the boys, "Bobby pin." James pulled one out of his pocket and handed it to her, leading to weird looks from the other two. After deciding to not ask about it, Katie went to work on the box. With a click, it unlocked. Grumbling, she handed it back to the boys. "Here's your box. Now, let me get back to my meeting." Without another word, she opened up the laptop and concentrated on that again. James and Carlos took a second to stare at her before rushing out into the hallway.
"And now we 'accidently' drop it," Carlos spoke once the door shut behind them.
"Whoops," James dropped the box. It hit the ground and the lid flew open.
Suddenly, a rat jumped out of the box. It hissed at the two boys and ran off, disappearing under the crack of a door. Carlos and James were left staring down the hallway, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"Uh oh," the boys mumbled. Carlos grabbed the box and they raced after the rat.
Evan cried into the couch pillow, "I'm dying!" He coughed making Logan look up from the book on poisons he was checking. "Emily's killed me!"
"Shut up and relax," Natalie ordered, not even taking her eyes off the test tube in her hand. "The poison will most likely work quicker if you're anxious. Lie down and keep calm. I got this." Logan cleared his throat and Natalie rolled her eyes. "We got this." Furrowing her eyebrows, she whispered so that only she could hear, "What are you?"
"Maybe we should take him to the hospital," Logan suggested. "Or at least call a poison control center."
"If we knew what type of poison, then maybe I'd agree with you," Natalie responded. "But that's probably what the Zizi want us to do. We need to fend for ourselves now." Using a pipette, Natalie dropped some clear liquid into the poison. It turned red. "The poison comes from some type of plant."
"That narrows it down somewhat," Logan quickly flipped through the pages to find the poisons that came from plants. "There are still a lot of plants it could be."
"Maybe I can develop an antidote from this sample," Natalie suggested. "The problem is that it could worsen the situation and I'd need Evan's permission for it."
"DO IT!" Evan exclaimed.
Natalie put down the test tube and cracked her fingers, "Let's try it then." She grabbed a clean flask and went to work.
Freight Train dropped Kendall and Katrina into seats in front of Gustavo's desk. Gustavo and Kelly stared at them from the other side.
"I'm getting really tired of being brought in here against my will," Kendall complained.
"Too bad!" Gustavo yelled. "Right now, you two are on the hot list of celebrities."
"The phone's been ringing off the hook since last night," Kelly mentioned. "Everyone wants an interview. And not just any interview, a joint one."
"An interview with two of the most famous cousins in Hollywood, Kendall and Katrina!" Gustavo exclaimed. The cousins blinked in response.
"What about Katie?" Kendall asked.
"And Evan?" Katrina added.
"Katie's not famous!" Gustavo screamed. "And Evan's not popular enough yet! The people want you, not your siblings. And we want to give the people what they want."
"We scheduled an interview for next week," Kelly informed them. "They wanted it sooner, but since a photo shoot was involved, we told them they had to wait until Katrina could stand without help."
"What if we don't wanna do an interview?" Kendall asked.
"YOU'LL DO THE INTERVIEW!" Gustavo screeched, getting to his feet. Kendall and Katrina jumped at his scream. Settling down, Gustavo sat back down. "That's not the only thing I want to talk to you about. Katrina, Wolff Pack has to decide on which three songs we'll be putting on the demo to give to Griffin."
"Wait, I thought that Wolff Pack was automatically on the label," Katrina responded. "Why do we have to submit a demo?"
"You're on Rocque Records, yes," Kelly answered. "But the RCM CBT GlobalNet Sanyoid family won't promote your music until Griffin approves of your demo. Once that happens, then Wolff Pack can record a full album. Luckily, we know exactly how the process works since Mercedes Griffin picks the demos."
"Good luck with that," Kendall told Katrina.
"Do you know if she likes our music?" Katrina asked.
"There's only one way to find out!" Gustavo exclaimed.
James and Carlos ran through the hallways, searching for any sign of the rat. The boys whistled, hoping the rat would show up out of nowhere.
"Maybe we should call Katrina for help," Carlos suggested. "If anyone can find a rat, it's her."
"Oh yeah, we'll get her to come by," James spoke sarcastically. "And when she finds out this was Natalie's rat, guess who she'll tell!"
"Then we ask Natalie for help!" Carlos replied.
"Do YOU want to be the one that tells her we opened her box?" James brought up. Carlos shook his head. "Didn't think so." The boys looked down the hallway they were walking down.
Suddenly, they stopped. At the end of the hallway, the rat stared at them, sitting up on its hind legs. Its nose twitched as it had a stare down with the boys.
"How do we get it without scaring it?" Carlos whispered.
"No idea," James responded. They went quiet as they continued to stare at the rat.
The boys and the rat jumped when a nearby door opened and Guitar Dude stepped out. Hissing, the rat ran off again.
"'Sup?" Guitar Dude gave the boys a 'rock on' symbol. He watched as James and Carlos groaned and chased after the retreating rat.
Logan flipped hurriedly through the book of poisons, "I'm not finding anything!"
Natalie tossed a test tube into a bin with a biohazard symbol on it, "I'm not having any luck either!"
Placing his head in his hands, Logan moaned, "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know about you, but I'm trying again," Natalie grabbed a fresh test tube. "I just don't know where to start."
"You said it's a plant," Logan reminded her. "Have you tried smelling it?"
"Isn't that how Evan got to where he is? By inhaling the powder?"
"Don't inhale it! Just sniff it."
Natalie shrugged and brought the sample up to her nose. Taking a whiff, her eyebrows furrowed, "Wait a second." She sniffed again. "I know this smell."
Logan and Evan looked over at her, "WHAT?!"
"It smells like this perfume that my boyfriend got me," Natalie admitted. She took another whiff of it and sighed sadly. "God, I miss him."
"Natalie!" Logan yelled. "What poison is it?!"
Shaking her head, she immediately got focused again, "Right. I'll go get the perfume bottle and check."
Mercedes looked up at the sound of her office door opening. Kendall came in first and held the door open for Katrina using her crutches. Gustavo and Kelly followed them in.
Smiling, Mercedes greeted them, "I know why you're here. Daddy told me that Wolff Pack is sending in their demos soon."
"So, since we're on friendly terms, you're gonna pick us right?" Katrina assumed. All four of them smiled hopefully.
"No," Mercedes responded and the smiles dropped away.
"WHY NOT?!" Gustavo screamed.
"Right now, I'm leaning towards the rock band, Racing Stripes." She held up a CD with a picture of a blurry racing car. "Then again, I still haven't heard your band. You're late with the demos. Not a good start."
"We're working on it!" Kelly insisted.
"I'm sure you are," Mercedes replied. "And I might even decide that Wolff Pack is better. It might help if you gave Fruipy a spa session." She patted the dog sitting on her desk.
"Done," Katrina agreed. "Kendall, go get Fruipy." Grumbling, Kendall picked up the small dog. "Anything else?"
"We'll see," Mercedes spoke, flipping a page of her magazine. "Now leave and don't come back unless you're dropping off Fruipy or the demos." The group didn't want to push their luck so they rushed out of the room.
"I'm telling you," Carlos led James through the lobby. "I saw the rat heading this way!" The boy had his helmet on and carried a net, ready to capture the rat when he saw it.
"It's trying to make its escape!" James decided. "We better guard the exits."
Suddenly, they heard triple screams from the pool area.
"Or check the pool," James suggested.
The two of them ran into the pool area. Their eyes scanned for the source of the scream. Over on the other side of the pool, the Jennifers stood on some pool chairs, trying to keep as far away from the rat as possible. Nodding to each other, James and Carlos went to action. Carlos got there first, capturing the rat with his net. With a quick scoop, Carlos raised the captured rat up in the air. It squeaked, getting tangled in the netting. Carlos quickly put the rat in the open box James held. With a thud, the box was shut and the boys cheered.
That's when they noticed that all of the Palm Woods kids were staring at them. Laughing guiltily, the guys hid the items behind their backs.
"You didn't see anything," James told the crowd. A second later, Carlos and James disappeared into the lobby.
"Castor oil!" Natalie exclaimed, coming into the room with a perfume bottle in one hand. "That's what I smelled! It comes from the castor oil plant. The castor oil plant has beans as their seeds. These beans contain a poison called ricin. The problem with ricin is that the symptoms don't usually get really bad until a day after."
"You mean like what's happening with Evan now?" Logan pointed to the boy on the couch that was sweating profusely.
"Exactly!" Natalie agreed.
"IS. THERE. A. CURE?" Evan strained with each word. His symptoms had gotten worse.
"That's another problem," Natalie responded sadly. "The leading cure is something the United Kingdom's army is working on, but it hasn't been tested on humans yet. I know how to make it so we could try it."
"How would you know how to make something that only the UK's military knows?" Logan asked.
"My boyfriend's a military researcher," Natalie revealed. "At least, that's the job he got when he graduated from college last spring. He tells me all about the experimental drugs they have going on." She looked to Evan. "Do I have your permission to try this experimental drug?"
"Yes," Evan nodded slightly.
"Logan, get over here," Natalie gestured for him. "This is a two person job." Logan came over to stand next to her, ready for her instructions.
"I can't believe that you're giving a dog a massage," Kendall spoke. Katrina looked up from her spot beside the table Fruipy was lying on. Her hands were deep in the dog's fur as she massaged him. The two of them were in Penny's Pet Care.
"It's part of the spa package," Katrina told him. "Brandon usually does a better job of this than I do. I'm more into the training aspect. But Brandon's on vacation with his parents for the next few days so I'm stuck with this."
"At least you're not doing acupuncture," Kendall mumbled.
Katrina hesitated before revealing, "That's later."
"You do realize that you don't need to do this," Kendall insisted. "Your music is good enough for her to pick."
"But what if it's not better than Racing Stripes?" Katrina asked. "I can't have gone through all this just to lose."
"Then you'd try again!" Kendall exclaimed. "That's the thing that Wolff Pack has that Big Time Rush didn't. You won't be sent out of the state if you fail. And you've always got modeling to fall back on."
"Kendall, this is a service that Penny's Pet Care offers," Katrina replied. "It's been offered since Penny's Pet Care was created. I can't say no to a customer."
Sighing, Kendall decided to change the subject, "So, what do you think was the reason behind what Emily said?"
"Honestly, I think it was a distraction," Katrina admitted. "The Zizi just lost one of their big battles with us since we all came out of the hospital alive. Emily probably lied to you so that you'd get hung up on this. If you're distracted, then we wouldn't be ready for the next big battle the Zizi throw at us." She stopped massaging Fruipy so she could look Kendall dead in the eyes. "Even though Evan was the last one of us to get attacked, I feel like they're focusing on us. Without us, everyone else wouldn't be here. If I had died because of that accident, Evan would still be running around and getting in trouble, Brandon wouldn't have left his parents' house and Natalie would be in England with her boyfriend. If you hadn't convinced Gustavo to make you guys into a singing group, you all wouldn't be in LA and we never would have met. Without us in the picture, the Zizi would have moved on to their next famous family to terrorize." Kendall stared at his cousin while she went back to the massage.
"You really think that?" Kendall checked.
"Either that or Emily just needed you distracted enough to get away," Katrina shrugged. "I don't know what goes on in her mind. What do you think is the reason?"
"I think there might be some truth to this, but she stretched it," Kendall suggested. "They know something that we don't."
"I agree with you on that one," Katrina nodded. "The Zizi definitely have their secrets."
The door to Natalie's apartment opened and James and Carlos walked in. Logan and Natalie jumped at their sudden appearance. Natalie dropped a beaker filled with an orange liquid, but Logan caught it before it hit the ground.
"Does anyone knock before they enter apartments in this place?!" Natalie complained.
"Did you want us to go out and knock?" James asked.
"No, just wait there until Logan and I finish up," Natalie insisted. She and Logan concentrated on putting together the antidote to Evan's condition.
"Is it just me or are they being nice to each other?" Carlos whispered. "It's like when you and Katrina started modeling together and were nice to each other." These words seemed to make James happier. Carlos, on the other hand, couldn't look away from the two science nerds working together.
"Okay, this has to be fast," Natalie reminded Logan. "Mask and goggles on." The two of them put on goggles and masks to cover their noses and mouths. "Right after one drop of this-" Natalie held up a pipette with some liquid inside. "-Into that," She pointed at the half-full beaker in Logan's hand. "You pour it into that beaker there." She pointed to a beaker on the lab table with enough liquid to cover the bottom. "Remember, if this isn't done quick enough, the beaker will explode in your hand."
"Oh, is that it?" Logan responded sarcastically.
"Did you want to save Evan or not?" Natalie asked.
"Alright, let's do this," Logan took a deep breath to ready himself. After a quick nod to him, Natalie let a drop fall into the liquid. Smoke came from the liquid the drop touched. The beaker began to tremble in Logan's hands. Before it could get any worse, the smart boy poured the liquid into the beaker on the lab table. The smoke immediately stopped getting produced.
"And it should be almost done," Natalie took off her goggles and mask. "All that's left is to dry it out."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Logan asked.
"Put it in the oven," Natalie spoke as if it was obvious. "Why do you think I preheated it earlier? This is gonna be a crude antidote, but it should, hopefully, work. Unfortunately, if it does, no one can know."
"Why?" Logan seemed surprised. "Shouldn't everyone know that there's a cure?"
Natalie sighed, pouring the liquid antidote into a dish, "Yeah, they should. But then we'd get arrested." She looked over at Carlos and James. "You hear me? No one can know what we've done here!" The boys nodded. Grabbing the dish, Natalie took it over to the kitchen and placed it in the oven.
"Why would we be arrested?" Logan asked.
"Because we're minors performing an experiment on a living human being who could be killed by what we're doing," Natalie replied. "Even if he doesn't die, we're not doctors and only doctors should be doing what we're doing."
"Then why did you ask for his permission?" Logan continued to bombard her with questions.
"Because it'll look better to the jury if we had his consent," Natalie explained. Logan was out of questions at this point, choosing to stare at her instead and wonder if she was telling the truth. Natalie ignored him and turned to James and Carlos. "Now I can talk to you two. Did you do what I asked?"
"Yep!"
"I bet you're wondering what was in that box," Natalie smirked.
"Nope," James shook his head.
"Not at all," Carlos added.
Natalie's smile disappeared, "You opened it, didn't you?"
"Actually, we dropped it," James informed her.
"It was locked," Natalie reminded him.
"Katie picked the lock so that when we dropped it, it would open," Carlos blabbed. James glared at his friend. "What?"
"You two are IDIOTS!" Natalie exclaimed. "Do you KNOW what that rat was?!" The boys shook their heads. "It was a mutant rat! I bred it for my show! Do you know what would happen if that rat bit someone?!"
"They'd turn into Ratman?" Carlos suggested.
"NO!" Natalie screamed. "They would die from radioactive poisoning!" The boys stared at her.
"Does this mean that we're not going to be guests on your show?" James checked. Natalie yelled in their faces. "I'm gonna take that as a no."
Logan leaned into the conversation, "I would run if I were you." Without a second thought, James and Carlos bolted from the room. Natalie followed them, growling as she did.
Running through the hallway, the trio passed Kendall and Katrina heading for Natalie's apartment. The two of them turned to watch their friends disappear.
"What'd we miss?" The cousins asked their retreating forms. Since they didn't get an answer, they went into Natalie's apartment anyways.
Evan could barely lift his head to greet them with a slight smile. His head fell back against the pillow. The boy's skin was pale and sweat rolled down as his body was losing the battle against the toxin in his system.
"Is he gonna die?" Katrina asked her boyfriend.
"Unless this antidote works," Logan replied. Katrina sat down at the dining table, trying to comprehend what was happening.
"Kat," Kendall placed a hand on his cousin's shoulder.
Suddenly, Katrina burst into tears, "My brother is dying right before my eyes and I can't do anything about it." Logan and Kendall exchanged looks, unable to say anything encouraging at this point. After a couple sobs, Katrina mumbled, "Why?" She took a deep breath and screamed, "WHY?! Why us?! Why is the Zizi doing this to us?! Haven't we suffered enough?!" Her words were incomprehensible as the tears finally took over.
A second later, Natalie stormed in, grumbling about how James and Carlos had gotten away. She stopped when she saw her best friend in tears, "Jeez, what's wrong with you?"
"My brother's dying!" Katrina exclaimed through her tears.
"Relax, there's nothing the Zizi can throw at me that I can't handle," Natalie responded. "I am WAY smarter than all of them." The timer on the oven went off. "And the antidote should be ready." Quickly, she got the dish out of the oven. The moisture had been dried up, leaving a powdery substance in the dish. Natalie didn't waste any time. She cooled the dish down by placing it in an ice bath. A minute later, she took it out and brought it over to Evan. "I can't inject it in you because I don't have a syringe so the best way to get it into your system fast is for you to inhale it." Since Evan could barely move, Natalie blew the powder into his face. Evan coughed as he inhaled the antidote. "And now we wait." She sat down at his feet, staring at the boy on her couch.
The next few minutes felt like hours as they waited to see if the antidote would work. Logan came over to Katrina, taking her hand in a comforting gesture. Noticing that Kendall was even starting to tear up, Katrina reached over and grabbed his hand. Kendall gripped her hand tightly and sat down next to her, unable to keep to his feet as they waited. The only sound in the room was the sniffing back of tears.
Suddenly, Evan sat up, taking a deep breath. The others in the room watched silently, hoping that it was a good thing. Evan's deep breathing slowed down to a normal pace. Gradually, his skin was getting pinker and he smiled at the group watching him. He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse, "I think it's working."
A second later, Katrina was next to him, hugging her brother tightly, "Don't you EVER do that to me again, Evan, or I'll be the one to kill you." Everyone laughed as the tension in the room finally broke.
"Love you too, little sis," Evan hugged her back. He looked over Katrina's shoulder and noticed Kendall across the room. "Hey cuz, come over here. I need to thank you." Kendall smiled as he made his way over and joined in the hug with his cousins.
Natalie walked over to join Logan as an observer, "You did well. If you weren't in a band, you'd make a hell of a doctor."
Logan seemed shocked by the compliment, "Thanks." He looked over the family that was still hugging, grateful that they were all alive. "You do realize that this is the second time you've stopped the Zizi from killing. Aren't you worried?"
Shaking her head, Natalie replied, "Nah. They can't hurt me. Nothing they do can make me hesitate from doing what I think is necessary."
Raising his eyebrows, Logan mentioned, "Really? What about your boyfriend?"
"He's in England," Natalie reminded him. "They can't touch him. And my parents don't live around here anymore so keep that out of the equation. The only people they can hurt are you guys and they keep failing at that, so I'm pretty confident right now."
"Whatever you say," Logan whispered, clearly believing that Natalie should have something to worry about.
(A/N): Well, what do you think? Does Natalie have something to be scared about? She and Logan seem to be on better terms now. Is this going to make Katrina jealous? After all, England is on the other side of the world… What about James? Is he going to take advantage of Logan's sudden friendship with Natalie to get closer to Katrina? And how does Carlos feel about all of this? Kendall and Katrina have an interview coming up! A joint interview! What could the media want to know that only Kendall and Katrina can answer? How is that interview gonna go anyways? Wolff Pack has to come up with their demo CD. They've got a lot of songs to choose from. Which ones are gonna make it on the CD? Is Mercedes gonna like their music? Is she gonna take advantage of their determination to get a full record deal? We still haven't gotten the answer about Emily's comment from last time. What could that be? You'll have to wait to find out!
Remember that you're still allowed to vote! And you can change it at any time if you wish! Which member of Big Time Rush should Natalie end up with? Kendall, James, Carlos or Logan? I'm not gonna end this voting contest until you all get a chance to see how Natalie reacts with each boy individually. You've seen her work with Carlos and Logan, but I've still got to show you how she works with James and Kendall. So, until next time, happy reading!