Brian sat alone in his three story house, in the living room. The only sound that filled the room was the soft ticking of his huge grandfather clock.

He sat almost motionless in his big reclining chair, staring at the wall. In his hands was his basketball....one of his most prized possessions. He had picked it up right when he got home from the offices at TransCon, and had on impulse picked up the phone to call AJ and see if he wanted to come over and shoot some hoops. As he was halfway through dialing his number, he realized that he wasn’t talking to him at the moment, and that he wasn’t really talking to any of his best friends right now.

Brian sighed, as he spun his basketball on his forefinger. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, as he thought about that day when he received the phone call.

"....So as you all know, World War Two was quite a tumultuous time for the Americans.....not only were they fighting a war in Germany, they were fighting in Japan as well," the teacher said, as he pointed to the map.

Brian yawned, and tapped his US History book with his pen. ‘Let us out already!’ he thought restlessly, glancing at the clock. It was only one o clock, and he still had an hour and fifteen minutes left of school for the day.

He glanced out the window. The beautiful April sun had dazzled all of Lexington, and everything was in bloom. ‘It’s too nice to be inside,’ he mused to himself, looking at the clock again. 1:01.

All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. All twenty-seven students’ heads turned to the door, and saw the school secretary standing there, with a piece of paper in her hand. "Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Richwald, but is Brian Littrell present today?"

Brian’s ears perked up, as Mr. Richwald said, "Yes, he’s right here."

"Brian, you’re needed in the office," the secretary said, "there’s a phone call for you."

Brian stood up and walked to the doorway, followed by the glances of the other twenty-six students. ‘Oh great,’ he thought to himself, alarmed, thinking of all the possible horribles. He got to the office and picked up the phone. "Line two, Brian," the secretary said, as Brian clicked over to line two and said, "Hello?"

"Brian?" a familiar voice said over the line, "this is Kevin."

"Kev? Hey buddy, what’s up? Why are you calling me at school?" Brian asked, in a worried tone. "Well, it’s kinda important," he answered, "but don’t sound so worried.....nothing’s the matter."

Brian breathed a sigh of relief, and Kevin continued, "I’m calling because....well...right now I’m out in Orlando, and I just signed with this company to be in a musical group called the Backstreet Boys."

"Hey that’s great, Kev!" Brian said enthusiastically, not really understanding what this had to do with him. "And," Kevin continued, "well, we need a fifth member....Brian, how do you feel about coming out to Orlando and becoming the fifth Backstreet Boy?"

April 19, 1993 was the day he was called out of US History class to receive the call from Kevin, and the next day was off to Orlando to become a Backstreet Boy.

"What the hell happened?" he said out loud to an empty room. He couldn’t believe it at all; his four best friends in the world had broken the only thing that really mattered at all to him.

The phone rang suddenly, snapping him out of his daze. "Hello?" he said monotonously, picking up the receiver. "Brian," a stern voice said on the other end, "this is Lou."

‘Shit,’ thought Brian, but simply said, "Hi."

"Brian," Lou said again, "this is important. I just talked to AJ, and he told me everything that happened.....it needs to be discussed...we can’t just let it go....you can’t just break up without trying!"

"We DID try, Lou," Brian said, shakily, "we tried our hardest! There’s just too much conflict among us all.....we can’t work together, and this is the best thing that we could think of...."

"But what about your contracts?!" Lou interrupted, "you signed contracts for another couple years! You can’t just quit like this!"

"If a piece of paper is what is holding our friendship together, then I don’t want any part of it," Brian replied, choking up, "I want out, just as much as AJ, Kevin, Howie and Nick."

"I called the five of you here to discuss this matter," Lou said, as he stood in front of Kevin, Nick, AJ, Howie and Brian in his office, "this is very important, and I don’t want any screwing around."

The five boys sat in silence. ‘Deciding to even show up was hard enough’ thought Nick, ‘but sitting in a room with them is even harder.’

Lou picked a piece of paper off his desk. "See this?" he asked, "this, my friends, is a contract.....a contract which holds ALL of your signatures, which shows that YOU belong to ME legally for another two years!"

Nick rolled his eyes, and caught a look at Brian, who was biting his nails. He hadn’t even talked to his best friend since the other day in the office....even though Brian had stood up for him, it was just too weird.

"Alexander James McLean, Kevin Scott Richardson, Howard Dwaine Dorough, Brian Thomas Littrell, Nickolas Gene Carter...all of your names are here in black and white! You can’t back down now.....we had a deal," Lou explained.

Kevin stood up. "Mr. Pearlman, with all due respect, we don’t care for your deal anymore.....we’re unhappy, and we want out of this....we don’t wanna be part of the Backstreet Boys anymore," he said, his voice choking up a little.

Howie blinked back tears that were forming in his eyes. ‘This isn’t happening,’ he kept telling himself, but every minute that went by told him otherwise. He snuck a sideways glance at AJ, who looked upset as well. "A deal is a deal," was all Lou could say.

"Then I guess this deal will have to be broken," AJ snapped back, standing up as well. "Well, children, it’s been a blast, but good things must come to an end.....adios." And with that, AJ was out the door.

".....Nick, I really think you should reconsider! I mean, boys get in fights all the time...you just need to work it all out," Nick’s mom, Jane, persuaded, "you’ve known these boys too long to walk away."

"Mom, it’s enough, all right? I just wanna be alone," Nick retorted, turning around and facing the wall. Jane sighed, and walked out of Nick’s room, shutting the door behind her.

Nick picked up his drumsticks from his desk and walked over to his drum set. He spun one of the sticks around in his hand, and sat down. All at once, he began pounding the hell out of the drums, trying to keep the beat. He continued like that for a good ten minutes, not caring if he was disturbing his family, or the neighbors.

Finally, he stopped. He threw his sticks against the wall, breathing hard from the workout. He was beyond the point of sad....he was angry. "Why the fuck did I devote so many years of my life to this, if I was just going to end up a has-been?" he asked the wall. He was scared to death that he was, in fact, going to be a has-been teen idol with no job and no talent. "They wanted me for my youngness and my blonde hair!" he screamed to the wall, "not for my singing and dancing!"

He collapsed on the bed. He needed someone to talk to....not his mom, who would try to convince him to make up with his friends.....not Brian, whom he usually talked to because he was scared of him. He needed someone who didn’t have a biased opinion.

He picked up the phone gingerly and dialed 411.

"Lauren, line three," the Holt Renfrew secretary said through the buzzer. Exasperated, she saved the document she was typing on the computer and picked up the phone. She clicked the Line three button and said, "Hello?"

There was no sound from the other end. "Hello?" she said again.

"Um, Lauren?" the caller asked, sounding quite unsure of themselves. "Yes, who is this...?" Lauren responded, but as the voice registered in her head, she almost lost it then and there. "Nick? Is that you?" she asked, trying not to let her excitement show.

"Yes," Nick said, "I-I just found your number through Directory Assistance, and I figured it was okay to call...."

"Nick! How are you?" Lauren interrupted, feeling herself smile uncontrollably. "I’m...I’m okay," he answered, "I just really need someone to talk to right now."

Lauren’s face fell. "What’s wrong? God, I really need to talk to you too.....I have a billion things I need to tell you," she said, "I...I just feel so bad...."

"Let me go first," he interrupted, "We’ve...well...we’ve had some problems since you...well...since you left......."

Lauren sighed. "I know...and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Nick....see I was really rash in my decision to come back here, but I needed time and space to think......"

".....and it’s been a lot more serious than you think," Nick finished, his voice choking up.

"What........?" Lauren pondered.

"Well, a lot of shit went down, but I think it’s safe to say that we’re not a group anymore," he answered.

"W-what?" she stuttered, not thinking she heard him correctly.

"Lauren," Nick said, "we broke up....the Backstreet Boys broke up."

"Wait, wait," Lauren said, backing up a bit, "you guys broke what?!"

Nick smiled, despite himself. It was so good to hear her voice on the other end of the line, even though she was thousands of miles away. "We broke up," he said sadly, "as in, we're no longer a group."

Lauren was silent. Even though it was so good to hear his voice again, she was shocked. "You mean to tell me that you five aren't Backstreet Boys anymore?" she was finally able to get out.

"Yes."

"Nick, I....." she continued, "I...I don't know what to say! But you guys were going so good! What happened?" Nick sighed, not wanting to tell her the real reason everything fell apart. The truth was, it all started with her. "We, uh, just had some disagreements," he lied.

"Nick, don't lie to me," she answered back, hearing the uncertainty in his voice, "what's the real reason?"

Nick was silent. He didn't want to say a single thing. He didn't want to say how he's been miserable since she left; he didn't want to say that AJ hasn't been of sound mind since he found out they were siblings, and he definitely didn't want to say that he wasn't even speaking to his best friend. "I can't really say," was the best thing he could come up with.

"Nick...." she said, trying to coax more out of him, "please tell me?"

"I can't," he said, wishing he could, "but you have to promise you won't tell ANYONE about this....it's not official yet, and we don't want the public to find out about it yet."

"This is ridiculous," muttered Lauren, shaking her head in disbelief, "you guys were gold!"

"Lauren," whined Nick, "this can't go to anyone....you have to swear!"

"I swear I won't tell anyone," she promised, "but you guys can't do this....you know that, right? Something has to be done!"

"Like what?" asked Nick, "what do you suggest?"

"I don't know," answered Lauren, "but I'm going to be there to help you figure it out."

"AJ, honey, you don't look so well today....is everything all right?" asked Denise, AJ's mom when he was at her house.

AJ shrugged and said, "Well, if losing your job and friends counts, then, yeah I'd have to say that I'm not doing too well right now." Denise sighed and looked at her son. "Alex, I know you're upset about the whole situation with your father and everything...."

"Mom," he interrupted, "it's more than upset. I met a girl who I thought I loved, and it turns out she's my half sister! No one even bothered mentioning before that I had half siblings out there somewhere, and I was incredibly surprised!"

Denise gave a sympathetic look to AJ, and ran her hand lovingly down his cheek. "AJ, sweetie, I know you're upset, but I met Lauren, remember? And she was a nice girl.....she really cared about you. And as for the Backstreet Boys...."

"Mom," he interrupted again, "there are no Backstreet Boys."

"This is absolutely ridiculous," Lauren said out loud to herself, as she walked briskly through the airport in Orlando, Florida, "I don't believe I'm getting myself into this again."

After she had hung up the phone with Nick, she raced home, threw a bunch of clothes in a suitcase and made a beeline for the airport, hoping she could catch any flight available to Orlando that afternoon. Luckily, she had found a flight and was there in less than four hours. She hadn't even told Nick she was coming....she wanted to make it a surprise and try to set them all straight.

Lauren hailed a taxi and told him to go to the Holiday Inn, which was located five minutes from Nick's house. Her stomach was filled with nervousness and anxiety, all wrapped into one. When she got to the hotel, she booked a room, checked in, and threw her suitcase on to a bed. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered, as she quickly hailed another cab that took her to Nick's driveway.

Nick sighed as he aimlessly changed the channels on his T.V. He was wearing sweat pants and a ripped up t-shirt...his hair was a mess and he hadn't left the house for three days now. His parents were very worried about him, but he didn't care. He was a washed up superstar, and it didn't matter anyway.

DING DONG! The doorbell rang, making Nick jump a little from his seat on the couch. "Someone get the door!" he called to anyone in the house, but no one responded. "Mom!" he called again, but there was no answer. "BJ! Leslie! Aaron? Someone answer the door!" No answer. "Fuck," he muttered, when he realized that no one was home. He stood up and stretched. DING DONG! The doorbell rang again. "I'm coming!" he called harshly, as he made his way to the door.

He opened it up, and there stood Lauren. Nick's mouth dropped open, as Lauren smiled sheepishly. "Hi," she said shyly.

"What-what are you doing here?!" sputtered Nick, blinking numerous times, hoping he wasn't just seeing things. "I'm here to help," she answered, "that is, if you'll let me....can I come in?"

"Um, oh yeah, sure," he stuttered, opening the door wider and letting her in. "Do I get a hug?" she asked, holding out her arms. Nick smiled, as he realized what a slob he looked like. He just couldn't believe Lauren was standing in his front hall. He leaned over for a hug, as he felt all his old feelings for her come back in an instant. "I did miss you guys, ya know, even if some of you didn't miss me," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

Nick blushed and looked down. "Lauren," he began, "things are really different now....we aren't together....like, we aren't 'the five of us' anymore...we're just sort of.....separate."

Lauren bit her lip sadly, as she looked at the blonde beauty standing in front of her, with messed up hair and messy clothes. It looked like he hadn't seen the light of day in a while. "I wanna help you," she said, "and I wanna do as much as I can."

"Do any of the other guys know you’re here?" asked Nick, after the two were seated in Nick’s living room. Lauren shook her head. "Why don’t you call one of them and let them know?" she suggested.

Nick sighed and shook his head. "I can’t really do that," he answered sadly, "I haven’t spoken to anyone in a week or so...it’s just weird."

"Even Brian?" she asked incredulously. Nick nodded, his eyes filled with sadness. "It’s just too weird to call him," he said, "it’s not right."

"What exactly happened?" asked Lauren carefully, moving from the chair to the couch, where Nick was seated. Nick took another deep breath and said, "Laur, I really want to tell you....but it’s kinda not my place to say."

"It has to do with me, doesn’t it," she said, saying it more like a statement, rather than a question. Nick nodded sadly. "After you left, AJ was acting really weird...he wasn’t talking to anyone, and it always seemed like he was mad.......and I was......" Nick stopped, before saying something incriminating about himself.

"You what?" Lauren asked, but was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Are you gonna get that?" she asked, as Nick shook his head. "No," he said sternly, "I don’t really wanna talk to anyone right now."

"Nick, you have to at least try," she coaxed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Why should I be the one to try?" he asked, his eyes blazing, "why should I be the one to try to work it out?! The others are in it just as much as I am! It’s too damn late now! I’m already a washed up has been." His voice choked on the last word.

"Oh Nick," Lauren said, watching his blue eyes fill up with tears, "you aren’t a has been! Trust me....you’re so talented!"

Nick sniffed and wiped his eyes. "But without them I’m nothing."

Lauren watched his lower lip begin to tremble, as he messily wiped his tears away. "If you don’t answer the phone," she said, "I’m going to do it instead."

Nick looked up, shocked, as Lauren reached for the receiver. "Hello?" she said, calmly.

"Lauren!" hissed Nick, sniffing, "what are you doing?!"

"Uh, is Nick there please?" the caller on the other end said. "He’s not, can I take a message?" Lauren replied, watching Nick shake his head to indicate he wasn’t home. "Could you have him call Lou at the office? It’s important," the caller said.

Lauren agreed, and hung up. "Lou wants you to call him," Lauren said, relaying the message to Nick, "it sounded important."

Nick shook his head violently. "No way," he said, "all he wants is to try and coax me back into the contract....no fucking way!"

Lauren shook her head sadly at the whole situation. It was going to take a lot to get the boys back together.

"COMING!" called Brian, as he walked briskly through his front hallway and opened the door. "Hi Brian," Lauren said shyly, as he opened the door and stood there, with a shocked look on his face. "Lauren? What are you doing here?! I thought you went back to Toronto?!" he was finally able to sputter out.

"I heard what happened," she said sadly, walking into his house uninvited, "and I came to help."

Brian’s eyes widened, as he took a step back. "Who told you?" he asked, but the answered his own question, "I bet it was Nick, wasn’t it?"

"Brian, that doesn’t matter," Lauren replied. "Yes it does!" Brian shot back, "that little bastard wasn’t supposed to tell anyone!"

Lauren’s mouth dropped open at the sound of Brian’s harsh words toward Nick. Brian saw the look of shock on Lauren’s face, and turned his head away in shame. "It’s so different now," was all he could say in his defense.

"Nick is your best friend," Lauren said, walking closer to Brian and putting a hand on his shoulder, "you two were best friends!" Brian nodded and looked at her through sad eyes. "He was my best friend.....now I can’t even call him....it’s just too weird."

Lauren noted that Nick had said pretty much the exact same thing to her earlier in the day.

"Brian, I dropped everything I had reestablished in Toronto to come here and fix things up between you five....and I’m determined to help," she said.

"Lauren, there’s nothing you can do....trust me...we’ve been there, done that. AJ was walking around like a fucking zombie, not talking to anyone about anything, Nick was just plain upset, Kevin was pissed at Nick for acting like a baby, and I was there defending Nick! Howie was just smack in the middle of it all.....trust me.....anything you try short of a miracle can’t get us back together!"

"Maybe if I talk to AJ......?" Lauren suggested, but was cut off sharply by Brian, who said, "Lauren, you may be his sister, but trust me, he does not want to see you now."

Lauren’s eyes filled with tears, as she realized the harsh reality of it all. "Maybe if....."

"How can you say that?" Lauren said darkly, hiding her impending tears, "how can you wash four years down the drain like that?!"

"It’s not as easy as it looks, but trust me, it’s possible," Brian answered, fidgeting with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, not looking Lauren in the eye. A tear fell from her eye, as she witnessed Brian fall apart before her eyes. He used to be such a cool, crazy guy....definitely the craziest in the group. He always had a funny joke or a comical look on his face, but now he was stuck in his world of harsh reality.

"I don’t care what you say, Brian!" Lauren burst out suddenly, as the tears continued to fall, "I’m going to see AJ, and I’m going to try to work things out! It’s my fault that this is happening to you, and I’m going to fix it! It can’t be worse than it already is, and I’m not gonna sit here and watch your lives fall apart because of me!"

With that, she reopened the front door and walked outside, shutting it on her way out. Brian stood there, stunned and speechless. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes. It was true that he had felt some sort of resentment toward Lauren for indirectly screwing things up, but he was more sad now, than anything. He knew she was sorry, and now he was just upset.

Lauren paced outside AJ’s huge house. She brought her finger to the doorbell, but pulled it away before she could ring it. ‘This is a very, very bad idea,’ her conscience told her. He hands began to shake as she walked back and forth in front of his front door. She drew in a deep breath. "Do it, Lauren," she said out loud, sternly to herself, as she rung the doorbell.

The instant she rung it, she almost instinctively ran away, hoping that AJ wouldn’t see her, but her feet stood planted on his front doorstep. She also was pretty sure he was home, as his car was in the driveway.

She could hear the bell echo throughout his large house. Her palms began to sweat and every second that went by made her more and more nervous. All of a sudden, the door swung open, and there stood AJ in a pair of grey sweat pants and a white tank top.

It took more than a couple seconds for AJ to comprehend just what was going on, but when he did, his eyes grew wide with fear. "Hi AJ," was all she could say, trying not to let her fear show through her voice.

"What exactly are you doing here?" he was finally able to choke out, staring incredulously at her through the doorway. "I’m here to fix things," she said, faking her security.

AJ shook his head. "Haven’t you had enough fun?" he said disgustedly, glaring at Lauren, "didn’t you get enough satisfaction when you ruined my life and split up the best thing I had to live for?!"

Lauren stepped back, her breath catching in her throat. ‘Stay strong,’ her mind told her, but her body was saying otherwise. Tears welled up in her eyes for the second time that day, as she felt her heart almost being ripped out of her chest. However, she didn’t let it bring her down. "You think I did this purposely?! You think I wanted my whole life to change in front of my eyes?! If you honestly believe that I ASKED to be born without a dad or a family, you are seriously mistaken!" she shouted back.

AJ made a noise. "This sympathy thing isn’t going to work on me, ya know," he retorted back, "if YOU think I’m gonna feel fucking sorry for you, then YOU are seriously mistaken as well! You waltzed into my life, became my friend, and then told me you were my sister?! How did you expect me to take that, huh?! You knew I had feelings for you, Lauren!"

"It wasn’t easy trying to tell you!" she shouted tearily, "I wanted to tell you right away, but I didn’t think you’d believe me...and I didn’t want to mess things up! I know I shouldn’t have waited so long, but it was too hard..." she trailed off.

AJ looked away. Lauren almost though he was going to break and try to smooth things over, but it was a thought too good to be true. "When I said I needed to not be around you, I wasn’t joking," he said darkly, "and I’m not sugar coating it at all.....the main reason the Backstreet Boys broke up was because we all had our differences, and they all revolved around you."

"That’s impossible!" she cried, as the tears now began to fall, "how could I by myself cause the downfall of the Backstreet Boys?! It’s just impossible!"

"You’d think," he said sarcastically, holding back his own tears, "but when there’s one person whose life has been affected negatively by you, and another person who is infatuated with you, it causes conflict."

"But...." Lauren sobbed, but stopped when all of AJ’s words sunk in. "Infatuated?" she asked meekly, "what are you talking about?"

"Never mind," he snapped back, "it was a nice try, but nothing’s gonna get the Backstreet Boys back together....nothing." With that, he closed the door, leaving Lauren standing on the front step, crying.

She leaned against the side of the house as her tears overtook her. Her whole body shook with silent sobs that seemed to come from nowhere.

AJ shut the door, and leaned against the wall of his front hall. His hands shook with fear and sadness, and the tears that had been lingering in his eyes finally fell in a silent stream down his cheeks. He sniffed loudly, as the tears continued to fall. "Goddamn it," he sobbed, grabbing on to the wall for support, unable to control himself, "why?"

Lauren was down, but not out. She paced around her hotel room, thinking of endless ways to try to get the Backstreet Boys back together....but none of them seemed to make any sense. "Come on, Lauren!" she said to herself, trying to make sense of the whole situation, "you gotta think of something!"

She sat down on her bed, as she thought back to earlier that day when she had been at AJ’s house. ‘When there’s one person whose life has been affected negatively by you, and another person who is infatuated with you, it causes conflict,’ AJ had said, and now Lauren couldn’t get it out of her mind.

"What was he talking about?" she said out loud, "what the fuck was he trying to say?!"

She racked her mind, when it hit her like a ton of bricks. "Oh my God," she whispered, as she put all the pieces together in her mind: AJ had fallen for her, and when she had told everyone she was his sister, he was naturally hurt and upset, and that’s what caused AJ to become apathetic and dispassionate....but there was something else that hadn’t made sense up until now. Why would this one thing by itself cause the downfall of a music group and a strong friendship?

It was all becoming clear to her: Nick. Nick was the one that was "infatuated" with her, and it was the missing piece of the puzzle. While AJ was busy crushing on her, Nick was doing the same, and felt awful that he couldn’t share his feelings with anyone. And when she had left Orlando to go back to Toronto, Nick was upset and hurt as well......causing conflict in the group.

"Why didn’t I figure this out before?!" she pondered, her heart becoming weak, "why did it take this long to figure this out? Am I really that blind...?"

So that’s what it came down to: she had had both AJ and Nick in the palms of her hands without even realizing it....and look at what it had caused. "It IS my fault!" she suddenly burst out, standing up, "AJ was right! It was my fault that they broke up......everyone’s problems revolved around me! AJ was upset, Nick was upset, Brian was upset because Nick was upset, Kevin was frustrated, and Howie was caught in the middle! It’s all my fault...."

She trailed off as the realization stabbed her like a knife. "God, it would have been a hell of a lot better if I hadn’t decided to come to Orlando at all....what was I thinking?!" she mused to herself, "did I expect an instant ‘Nuclear Family’? I never wanted to hurt anyone!"

She let out a huge sigh, as she kept on thinking about how much better the lives of these five boys would have been, if she hadn’t decided to grace them all with her presence.

‘I can’t think about that,’ she thought, ‘what’s done is done.’ She had always been a firm believer that certain things happen for a reason, and she was almost certain that her meeting her long lost brother was part of some Devine plan that she couldn’t explain.

"It was fate that brought me here," she reassured herself, picking up the phone, "but now, I’m taking over the role of fate....I’m taking matters into my own hands now...I’m going to get these boys back together."

"You get points for effort, but it won’t work," Kevin said sourly over the phone. He was the last of the boys that she called, and he wasn’t being any more cooperative than the others. "Kevin," she said sternly, "you must cooperate with me...it’s the only way."

"Welcome to reality," he retorted, equally as stern, "sometimes things don’t always go as planned."

She sighed loudly, well accustomed to this attitude. The four others had been rude and unwilling (including Nick), but somehow she had managed to get them all to meet with her the next morning at their dance studio. Her last mission was to convince Kevin. "Please, Kev," she pleaded, trying not to sound too desperate, "it can only help."

Kevin sighed an equally loud sigh. "I guess," he said, finally giving in, "but I’m just warning you that things aren’t the same...."

"Kevin, I know," she interrupted, "honestly, I’ve seen enough to make me sick....it’s just that I became involved the minute I heard you guys weren’t a group anymore, and now I’m here to stay...that is, until I can fix whatever is broken."

Kevin snickered skeptically. "I know your intentions are good," he said, "but I don’t want you to be too disappointed with the outcome.....it takes a while to get used to, but I think the Backstreet Boys are gone for good."