Can You Keep A Secret

Wednesday afternoon found Kevin sitting in a uncomfortable chair, wondering why the chair wasn't more comfortable as it usually had pregnant women in it, waiting for a nurse to call him and Danielle into the doctor's office. His wife sat beside him thumbing through what looked to be an old issue of Parenting and had been strategically ignoring him all morning, no matter what he attempted to say to her. The clock on the wall was ticking down every second and each time it did Kevin felt like his head was going to split open from the hangover that was only just starting to leave his body.

The night before he had invited a few investors in some of his side projects down to BLVD and had spent the evening upstairs in the restaurant with them; by four in the morning Kevin was certain they had drank the upstairs bar dry. Though every pound through his skull was more then worth it as they had guaranteed they would still be involved in Kevin's other restaurants; which meant he had Nick would be able to seriously discuss buying the building next door and turning it into a recording complex, rather then just dealing with the one large studio downstairs at the back of Crash Mansion.

"Kevin," Danielle hissed then and pulled his attention back to his surroundings and off of business. "The doctor is waiting."

Kevin nodded silently and stood next to his wife before following her and a nurse back to the examination room where Danielle's OB-GYN, Dr. Davis, going to meet them. He watched as Danielle began changing once the nurse handed her some gowns and simply took a seat in a chair, accepting the garments Danielle held out for him to fold and hold. He stared at his wife as she climbed onto the table, still unwilling to break the near constant silence that had fallen between them since the night she informed him she was pregnant, and considered the situation. Part of him was beyond thrilled about the pregnancy; there was no denying the fact that he adored his children, as he would adore this new one. Another part of him was sick over it because it made the conversations he had been having with his lawyers essentially null and void. He couldn't divorce her if she was pregnant; the courts would take one look at that and Kevin would lose everything, even more then he had feared he would lose. He was suddenly very glad he had never told Ryan he had been looking into a divorce, he didn't want to give her any false hopes and that's what it had turned out to be in the end.

The door opened at that moment and Kevin watched as a smile burst onto Danielle's face; Kevin was fairly certain he was the only one who could tell it was fake. Dr. Davis walked in chatting amicably, though Kevin could barely tell about what as his mind was only half focused on the goings-on in the room. He watched as the doctor washed his hands while asking questions about James and Nicole, who he had delivered, and finally settled in front of Danielle.

"So, Mom and Dad. It's always good to see repeat offenders here. How're you feeling Danielle?"

"Really good," she answered with a smile and Kevin almost snorted. "I haven't been sick yet, so here's hoping this one behaves like James did."

Kevin nodded quickly. James had been a dream pregnancy; Nicole however, had given her mother morning sickness from the first month of pregnancy almost to the seventh. If it wasn't for the fact that there were no signs of distress in either mother or child the Doctor's said they would have been more concerned. As it was Danielle just had a very inconvenient pregnancy that required a lot of bed rest.

"Well that's good to hear, let's see how the newest member of the Jonas clan is doing shall we?"

Kevin stepped up and stood next to Danielle as he knew would be expected of him, gently resting a hand on her shoulder and watching the Doctor as he went about the typical proceedings of her check-up. The appointment itself didn't take very long and once they were finished Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back, once again reclaiming his chair in the corner until he would be released and could go back to the club.

He watched as the Doctor and Danielle discussed some pre-natal care information; completely ignoring the strange looks he was receiving from the medical professional. Every other time the couple had been in this room Kevin had been almost overly attentive of his wife; he just didn't have the strength or energy anymore to pretend. Twenty more minutes passed before the doctor left and Danielle was able to change her clothes.

"You know," she said quietly. "You didn't have to come."

"I wanted to come," Kevin replied quickly. "That's my child. Right?"

Danielle visibly rolled her eyes at the comment and snapped, "Yes Kevin. It is your child. I'm not a fucking moron you know."

"Huh?"

Danielle laughed and shook her head, "If I cheated on you; I'd lose everything if we ever split up."

Kevin tilted his head as he hadn't even considered that possibility and finally stood up, "Well whatever. You know I won't leave the kids."

"I know," Danielle said softly. "Let's head home."

Kevin walked out of the room ahead of her, internally cursing pregnancy mood swings as he knew the next seven months would be hell. When they got down to the lobby of the building he hailed Danielle a cab and helped her in before speaking, "I've gotta head into work. Nick's supposed to meet me at five to discuss some plans for maybe getting that second building by next year."

"Right. Nick," Danielle scoffed.

"Yes. Nick," Kevin replied sounding annoyed. "Regardless of what you may or may not think, I do actually work when I say I'm working. And it's that very work that has kept you in the lifestyle you have become so comfortable in Danielle. I'll see you later."

"Will you?" she asked before she shut the taxi door and Kevin nodded.

"Yea, unfortunately you will," he whispered as he watched the cab drive away towards their home. He simply turned and began walking in the direction of BLVD; tightening his scarf and pulling his jacket a little closer to his body to ward off the February chill. The sidewalk was narrower then usual due to the piles of grey, and in some places black, snow that had been plowed onto the curbs downtown. New Yorkers rushed in a quicker pace then usual to their destinations due to the borderline freezing temperatures on this Wednesday afternoon; but Kevin simply strolled as close to the buildings as possible. He used the short fifteen minute walk as a way to clear his head, rather then deal with a crowded subway.

He spotted his building up ahead of him and felt a proud smile grace his face at the sight of the building that appeared to an observer to be small and only street level; but he knew in fact to be quite deep, not to mention the basement itself where Crash Mansion was housed. He fished his keys out and unlocked the front door of the club waving at one of his restaurant house managers who greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Everything set for dinner service?" Kevin questioned while unbuttoning his jacket.

"Yes sir," the manager replied. "Your brother is downstairs."

"Thanks," Kevin nodded and descended the stairs that led into the venue. He pulled open the glass doors that led into his bar and fully relaxed when he saw the bright red ponytail that was bopping along with the music being blasted through the speakers. He recognized Nick's voice, but didn't recognize the song - despite the fact that Ryan was singing along with it. "Hey gorgeous."

"Hey," she replied sullenly glancing up from the ledger she was writing in.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm looking over the books," she muttered and stabbed a few buttons on the calculator next to her.

Kevin paused from sliding his coat off and stared at Ryan for a moment before commenting,"That expression plus my fiances does not make me comfortable."

"No," she corrected quickly. "It's nothing terribly bad. I'm just trying to figure out how to give Alex that raise you mentioned."

Kevin nodded and crossed the room to pull the books over and look at them himself, "What are you looking to do?"

"Honestly? Reshuffle the promo budget. We don't really need it all at this point."

Kevin nodded and tapped the ledger with his fingers, "Do what you think needs to be done. You know I trust you."

"I know you do baby," she replied and tilted her head up waiting expectantly until Kevin lightly brushed her lips with his. "I love you."

"Love you too," he muttered, though his eyes strayed back to the books in front of him with a contemplative expression. "Hmmm, can we afford to cut Stacey?"

"Cut a bartender? I dunno, it won't be that much of a difference if we just cut Stacey. She's not exactly breaking the bank."

"Yea, but I was thinking of letting her go anyway. Have you seen her station after she works?" Kevin asked and Ryan nodded in agreement.

"Alright, well, that's at least one reason. But I'd rather replace her then just cut the whole shift. I'm gonna need someone at some point. I can't run this place smoothly with only seven bartenders to work the schedule around."

"Well, like I said, I trust you. Josh said Nick's here," was Kevin's reply. "And what are you listening to?"

"Nick is here, he's in the studio," Ryan replied pointing down the back hallway towards their small recording studio that Kevin's brother used for his clients. "And it's something new he was working on. He asked me to give it a listen. Kinda catchy don'tcha think?"

"Yea," Kevin nodded tilting his head. "It's a little too electric for me though," he added wrinkling his nose slightly.

"Be nice," Ryan warned without looking up from the ledger books she had again buried herself in. "He's trying something new. Now go in the back and talk business that you won't tell me about yet."

"It's a surprise," Kevin said with a mysterious tone that had Ryan shaking her head and rolling her eyes before she shoo'd him away from her. "Alright I'm going I'm going."

The smile fell off Kevin's face once he was far enough away that Ryan couldn't see him anymore and he slowly approached the studio he knew his brother would be ensconced in. He reached the door and glanced through the window and smirked because sure enough Nick was sitting at the monitor boards pushing buttons and listening to something through his headphones. Kevin tried knocking a few times and finally gave up, testing the knob and breathing a sigh of relief when the door opened.

He crept in and gently tapped Nick on the shoulder, chuckling a bit when the younger boy jumped a few inches and spun around, ripping the headphones off his head, "Asshole."

"Sorry bro," Kevin replied, dropping onto the small leather love seat. "You didn't answer my knocks."

"I was busy," Nick muttered and flipped a switch to turn the monitors off. "What's up?"

"Danielle's pregnant," Kevin said bluntly and watched his younger brother's jaw drop. "Yea, pretty much my initial reaction."

"What? Pregnant? But how?!"

"I'm pretty sure I have a niece. You should really know this," Kevin quipped and ignored Nick's middle finger flipping up.

"Very funny dick," Nick shot back. "I thought you two weren't sleeping together anymore?"

"We aren't," Kevin replied dryly. "However, occasionally I'm technically, I guess obligated, to keep the little missus happy. If you catch my drift," Kevin mumbled. "And I might have been fairly well blasted a few weeks ago. I don't really remember what happened."

"Fucking A Kevin," Nick groaned. "How far along is she?"

"Bout a month and a half or so. I dunno what I'm gonna tell the kids."

"Well," Nick replied. "Mommy's pregnant is a good place to start. Telling the kids isn't the difficult part Kev."

"I already told Ryan," the older brother interjected. "She took it way better then I expected her to."

"Ryan's reasonable. She gets this whole thing."

"Yea," Kevin whispered, thinking of the stories he head heard from his girlfriend about how she grew up. "Doesn't mean she should have to deal with it."

"Hey," Nick began and Kevin held up a hand to stop him.

"I know, I know. Easy way to fix it all. Not so easy now."

"Yea," Nick replied deflating. "You know," he added a few seconds later with a smirk. "If I had paid a little bit more attention ten years ago this could have all worked out far differently."

"Don't even try to play that game," Kevin leaned back in the couch with an eye roll as the long running joke was started by his younger brother again. "I woulda stolen her away from you the moment she turned eighteen."

"Oh really?" Nick asked.

"Yes really," Kevin insisted, still internally laughing over the fact that his girlfriend had at one point had a crush on his younger brother; something he occasionally used to poke fun at her with. "Ryan and I are like two peas in a pod. There are fireworks Nick. I woulda felt bad since you're my baby brother and all, but you woulda realized it was meant to be eventually."

Nick merely rolled his eyes at his brother's commentary and leaned back in his seat before asking the question that was on both of their minds, "So, what's the plan?"

Kevin shrugged and replied, "Your guess is as good as mine. I heard from my lawyers yesterday, if we want to put money down on the building we can. It's paid in half year intervals; 200 thou a year, non inclusive of utilities."

Nick whistled under his breath and cracked his neck nervously, "That's a lot of money Kev."

"I've got it," his older brother replied thinking of the various investments and real estates he owned around New York after a few years in the business market; specifically of the men he had entertained the evening prior.

"Yea, but I think you'd like to keep it. Isn't there anywhere cheaper?"

"There are a few places, but this is right here and it's empty."

"But it's gonna require a lot of work," Nick pointed out. "We have to re-do half the interior."

"We're gonna have to redo most of wherever we go Nick. We'd need to gut any place in order to install all the equipment and stuff."

"Why can't we just expand here?" Nick finally asked. "It's just the two of us. Joe wants nothing to do with this 'little venture' as he puts it."

Kevin rolled his eyes thinking of their brother and chuckled darkly, "Well if he doesn't want to put in the work he can't reap the benefits. And as to why we can't just expand here, that'd be the complete and utter lack of space bro. This a single level building and we want to start a label."

"Eventually," Nick cautioned. "Right now we just want to build a larger recording space."

"Yes I know that," Kevin replied. "But what's the point in just expanding somewhere when we know what our eventual goal is?"

"Because we don't know how feasible that goal is," Nick muttered. "You haven't been in the recording business in a while Kevin. I have. It's not really the same as it was."

"I know! That's the best part. Everything's independent now. We could really help launch some young talent."

Nick stared at his brother in surprise; Kevin hadn't been excited over music in years. At least not until the last year when he started throwing around the idea of starting a label. But this was a different excitement then even Nick had seen recently, this was Kevin at nineteen talking about how being a musician was just his stepping stone to greater things. This was Kevin before the drugs and the women.

"You really want to do this?" Nick asked seriously looking his brother straight in the eyes.

"Yes!"

"Even without Joe?"

"Yes," Kevin said quieter. "It'd be nice with him. But, if it has to be without him then it has to be without him."

"This isn't gonna be like owning a venue and having a management staff Kevin," Nick pointed out quietly. "This isn't writing a check to become an investor and partial owner in a restaurant. This is going to be hard work. Longer hours then you put in now. Are you sure this is the right time for us to do this?"

"I'm sure Nicky," Kevin responded insistently.

"Ok," Nick finally breathed out. "I guess we're finally starting a label."

"I guess we are," Kevin repeated with a grin. "I'll get my lawyers started on the paperwork with the landlord for the building next door."

"What're we going to call this label anyway?"

"BLVD Records of course," Kevin replied. "It's part of the complex."

Nick raised an eyebrow, "You realize I'm part owner of this label right?"

"I know," Kevin replied. "Wait here. The second part of your Christmas present only just arrived yesterday."

"Kevin? Dude, it's February," Nick pointed out with a laugh.

"I know that, just stay here."

Kevin quickly hurried from the room and down the hall to his office. After he entered he headed directly for the safe and plugged in his combination, opening it up with a grin and grabbing an large manila envelope that lay on top. He closed up the safe, double checked the lock and walked back out of the office, down the hall and into the studio where he held out the envelope for his brother to take.

"What's this?" Nick asked in confusion.

"The other part of your Christmas present and the answer as to why we're calling our label BLVD Records," Kevin replied and leaned against the door frame as Nick opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. He saw Nick's eyes taking in the words and watched the very moment it fully registered on his brother what he held in his hands.

"Kevin," Nick whispered. "I can't accept this."

"Thirty-three point three percent of the company holdings," Kevin verbalized what his brother was reading. "The other thirty-three point three is Joe's. If he ever comes around and decides I'm worth regularly associating with again."

"If he doesn't?"

"Then I maintain majority shareholder," Kevin joked. "And if things get rough we can sell off that thirty-three point three percent. I've gotten more then a few offers," he added in a serious tone. "We'd still hold majority between the two of us."

Nick nodded, stood up, crossed the room and pulled Kevin into a tight hug, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You more then deserve it with everything you've done for me. Besides, it's a family business. It's always been a family business. I'd like to keep it that way."
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Kevin hurried out of the elevator in the small downtown apartment building and rushed up the hallway towards his apartment. He flung the door open and glanced around the empty living room in confusion as he tossed his jacket on the couch, "Dani?!"

"What is it Kevin?" his wife asked sounding annoyed as she walked out of the bedroom. "You're going to wake James up."

"Dani!" he shouted, only slightly lower. "I did it!"

"Did what?" she asked staring into his glassy blood shot eyes. "Another line?"

"No," he snapped and sighed. "Sorry, I bought the old BLVD complex."

"You did what?" Danielle asked him with a horrified expression crossing her face. "Kevin, that place is a hole in the wall!"

"But it wasn't a few years ago. It'll be amazing again. I'm gonna restore the entire thing. Rebuild. Crash Mansion will be the place to go again."

"God how could you be so fucking stupid," she hissed. "Spending money like that."

"It's not like we don't have it," Kevin replied laughing and flopped onto the couch.

"Well Kevin, I'd like to keep it," Danielle responded to him with a growl. "Do you know what it's going to cost to restore that club? The taxes?"

"You know," Kevin growled. "You could be happy for us."

"Happy for us?" Danielle snapped. "For us?! I haven't seen you in two days Kevin!"

"I've been out working the deal," he defended and then paused as he heard crying. "Great you woke the kid."

"The kid? That kid is your son."

"I know that," Kevin muttered. "Jamie kiddo. It's ok, Daddy's here," Kevin finally said ignoring his wife and trying to walk past her but freezing when she shoved him away from her. "Excuse me."

"You're not going anywhere near my son like this."

"I believe you just said he was my son," Kevin said with a laugh and tried to step around her again. "Move before I move you."

"You lay one hand on me and I'll have your ass in jail so fast your fucking head will spin."

"Move Dani," Kevin warned and she merely raised her chin in defiance. "I'm not fucking kidding," he snapped as the one and a half year olds cries grew louder from his bedroom. "James Daddy's coming," he yelled and finally just stepped past his wife, nudging her just slightly out of the way.

"Don't you go near him you fucking asshole," Danielle shouted and grabbed Kevin's arm yanking hard and stumbling back when he ignored her and kept walking towards their son's room. "Kevin," she yelled.

He only paused when he heard the sound of Danielle dialing a phone, "What are you doing?"

"I warned you," she told him. "I have one more button to hit and I've got the cops on the line. Lord knows what they'd find on you right now."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," she said. "Get out of the apartment. I don't want to see you again until you're sober."

"I'm perfectly sober right now."

"Yea, ok," Danielle muttered. "So you weren't drinking. That doesn't mean you're sober."

"Put the phone down Danielle."

"Get out and I'll put the phone down."

"Fine. Fuck you," he muttered and grabbed his jacket from where he had thrown it on his way in before storming out of the apartment and slamming the door shut. He stormed down the hall, bypassing the elevator in favor of running down from their seventh floor apartment and didn't even begin to relax until he stepped into the cold December air. "Fucking bitch kicking me out of my own apartment," he growled and began pacing in front of the building. "Fuck!"

Kevin took a few deep breaths, pulled pack of cigarettes out, lighting one, and then headed east to grab a cab. Once he was inside a vehicle he gave the driver the address Don Hills on Greenwich Street. He stumbled out of the cab and straight through the door of the upscale hipster club that conveniently masked itself as a dive bar. The inside was a mess of bodies as a DJ spun a mix of industrial and punk and Kevin nearly dove headfirst into the crowd as he worked his way towards what passed for VIP. Once he dropped off his coat he looked around to see who was there and was pleasantly surprised to see not one person he knew.

"Perfect," he whispered as he met the eyes of a leggy blonde from across the room. She smirked and approached him, coming to a stop once her body was flush with his. "What's your name?"

"Tammy. You?"

"Kevin," he replied. "Wanna dance?"

"I wanna do more then dance baby," she whispered in his ear, biting the lobe lightly and causing Kevin to shift back uncomfortably.

"I'm married," he replied carefully.

"I don't care," she grinned and ran her fingernails up his thigh. "I don't kiss and tell baby. Do you?"

Kevin stared transfixed at her green eyes and long blonde hair thinking of Danielle's screaming and the constant pressure from his family to do something worthwhile now that the band was done. It wasn't enough that he had made millions as a teenager, married his girlfriend and given his parents their first grandchild - he had to be like Joe and immediately launch a successful acting career or go back to school like Nick. He wasn't allowed to just exist.

"Can we just exist tonight?" he asked the blonde, Tammy, in a quietly dazed voice.

"We can do whatever you want to do," she told him and yanked his mouth down to hers, grinning when he kissed her back hungrily.

Kevin finally released her lips a few seconds later and breathed out into her ear, "Bathroom."

The blonde nodded quickly and followed Kevin through the crowd towards a small single person bathroom in the basement. They entered together before Kevin locked the door and shoved the blonde up against the wall hard, claiming her mouth again.

As they kissed he kept her pushed back against the wall with one hand while his other undid his belt and lowered the fly on his jeans. He pulled back, kissing his way down her throat until he reached her ear again, "Do you want it?"

"MMmhmm," she whispered excitedly and Kevin pulled a small orange vile out of his pocket, letting it dangle from a chain that was attached to the black lid.

"Work for it," he whispered and shoved her down by her shoulder, smirking when she yanked his jeans the rest of the way down and took his hard length in her mouth. Kevin groaned appreciatively and quickly took a hit off the full vile, while trying to ignore the sudden feeling of guilt that overtook him and tried it's hardest to kill his high. Minutes later, all guilt was forgotten, as he thrust into the blondes mouth and held her steady while he climaxed. "Thanks," he muttered as she stood up.

"Well?" she snapped impatiently while Kevin zipped his pants up.

"Here," he replied and tossed her the rest of the vile. "You were worth about half that. I'd get practicing sweetheart," he added before walking out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and heading up into the crowd to dance.