Kevin eyed the building as he parked his car in the parking lot. Felt like ages since they'd pictured the TransCon building as the home of opportunity. He remembered the day they'd signed the contracts in there, started recording...met Fatima. Getting comfortable he leaned back in the chair and focused on the entrance. Not a lot of people going in and out this time of day, course it was summer so maybe there were some on holidays.

Hearing the door to his office shut, David turned his chair around and smiled seeing E, "Look who decided to show."

"You seem to forget I have another job."

He laughed, "Well I thought as a freelance writer you set your own hours."

"Sometimes. Any ideas how to stop them from exploding?"

"Not a one. And I don't think its only the husbands we need to be worrying about. Ty and Jenn looked fit to kill."

"They're protective."

"They all are."

Ty shut the door and looked around the beachhouse. She could faintly hear voices coming from the dining room. "Hello?" she called.

Alec walked out of the dining room. "And where'd you disappear off to? Romantic evening with Howard?"

"Not exactly. Are the other wives around?"

"Should be soon. Why? What's going on?"

"I think we all need to talk."

"Did something happen?"

"We'll talk when everyone's here." Ty said, "I'm gonna go upstairs for awhile."

JC glanced at the clock, it was almost noon so he could call now. Wouldn't risk waking anyone up. Before the guys left they'd contemplated calling David first but they decided to go with Kevin and if they couldn't get ahold of him then they would call David. Picking the phone up he dialled the number on the card Kevin had handed him and waited.

"Hello?" Alec answered.

"Hi is Kevin there?"

"He's out right now."

"Oh..." he paused, "This is JC."

"I can give you his cell...its a private number but I don't think he'd mind me giving it to you."

"Great thanks."

"No problem." She gave him the number and hung up.

Locked in his home office, Howie rewound the tape for the eighth time and waited to hear the conversation again. Hearing Paul's voice he clicked it off and set the recorder down on the desk. There was only one way out, he knew that now. It didn't matter now if JC came through, he'd take care of this himself.

Lou walked out of his office, coffee mug in hand. "Kendal do I have anymore appointments today?"

"None. You were going to check out the prepared releases for Monday."

"Right. If anyone calls..."

"I'll let you know. Oh Kevin Richardson called..."

He took a sip of his coffee, "And?"

"I scheduled him in on Monday. Is that all right?"

"Perfect." he gave her a smile and headed back into the office, shutting the door behind him. He knew Paul would most likely stop by in a few hours with a progress report. Sitting down behind his desk, he picked up the phone and began dialling.

"Richardson."

"Hi Kevin, its JC. Alec gave me this number. Hope that's all right."

"Its fine, I should have thought to write it on the card."

"Its okay, I just wanted to let you know I met with the guys."

Kevin held his breath, preparing for the worst. "And?"

"And even though Justin was trying to hold out I swayed them. If you can stop Lou, maybe he won't come after us."

"Good. Thanks."

"Welcome. If you wanted to come by I can talk your ear off..."

"Great. Mind if I bring David along?"

"Not at all..."

*****

Nick looked at the house then back at Lis, "What are you doing here?"

"I want to see my friends."

"You want Rok to talk me out of this don't you?"

"I want you to wake up." she said getting out of the car. "You're not the only one in this Nick..."

"That's why I want to go!" he said, following her to the door. "Right now there's only two people who matter to me Lis...that's us."

"Don't your friends mean anything anymore Nick? They were your brothers for years and now you're tossing them away?"

Nick sighed, "How can they mean something when they're not my brothers anymore. AJ turned on us!!"

Lis forced herself not to defend AJ. "I'm going in, if you want go..."

"Maybe I will."

"Don't let me stop you."

He glared at her, "Okay then." he walked down the walkway and turned around to see her heading inside. What the hell was he doing, he wondered as he headed back to the car.

Brian smiled seeing Lis walk through the door. "She returns!"

She gave him a weak smile, "For awhile anyway. Rok when did your best friend turn into the biggest ass alive?"

"What now?"

"He's hellbent on us leaving. I'd say right now he's outside brooding in my car."

"I'll go check on him. I think you're in time for a wives meeting."

"Great." she sighed, "More trouble."

He gave her a quick hug, "This can't go on forever can it?" he said, trying to cheer her up.

She shrugged, "I hope not."

Brian frowned seeing Nick sitting in the car, blaring Nirvana. Opening the passenger door he got in and turned the radio down. "Well."

Nick's eyes opened, "Don't touch the stereo man." his hand went to turn the music back up but Brian swatted it away.

"Frack..."

"Frick..."

"Are you thinking at all?"

"About what?"

"That's what I'm wondering. Us, you, Lis..."

He sighed, reclining the drivers seat back. "Rok no one understands right now all right."

"Understands what? Talk to me Nick."

"I'm tired of this whole thing. Everything. You know what I realized?"

"From what Lis told me, you don't want this anymore."

"Yeah."

"Okay then, bye Nick." he opened the door and went to leave.

"Bye??"

"What do you want Carter? Me to beg and plead with you to stay? I don't work that way. Hell there may not be anything for you to stay for, so go. I just don't think Lis is going with you if you leave."

Shan set the plate of food in front of her friend. "Eating is good Lis."

"Why?"

"Just a feeling. Aren't you hungry?"

Lis rolled her eyes, "Not right now." she pushed the plate away. "Another group meeting?"

"Sounds that way. Ty came back and told Alec she wants to talk to all of us."

"Who's missing?"

"Jenn...Her and AJ never came back last night." Shan stole some of the food of Lis' plate. "Alec's called a few times but no answer."

AJ rolled over, falling out of bed with a resounding thud. "Damnit." he muttered, getting to his feet. Jenn was still sound asleep in bed. "Takes an earthquake to wake her up," he said smiling to himself as he headed out of the room to grab a shower, deciding to check the messages before doing anything. The blinking red light of the machine caught his attention and he turned the volume down as he hit play. Alec's voice filled the room, "Hey McLeans if you're there pick up? Okay if you can head over here to the beachhouse some time today that would be great. Ty's calling a meeting for the wives...just show up. Bye."

The second message caught his attention, "J its Kevin...don't know exactly why I'm calling...JC's going to talk to me today. Thought maybe you'd be interested. Bye."

Startled by someone wrapping their arms around him, he nearly jumped off the stool he was perched on. "Jenn!!"

"You know I'm so close to getting you some valium or something so you don't have a heart attack."

"Wouldn't have one if you didn't appear out of nowhere."

"Uh huh." she glanced at the machine, "Who called?"

"Alec...meeting at the beachhouse so soon as we shower and change we'll head over...Kevin called..."

"What he have to say?"

"JC's willing to talk."

"That's good isn't it?"

"I guess. I'm going upstairs." he gave her a quick kiss and headed upstairs, leaving her to hit play again on the machine to hear the messages for herself.