Nick was laughing at Brian's latest comment as he turned to tell Aaron. "That was good, wasn-" Nick froze realizing that his brother was no longer with the tour group. "Bri, where is Aaron?" Nick asked cautiously, grabbing his best friend's arm.

"He was with you the last time I saw. Why?"

"Cause I don't see him. He's gone!" Nick started looking around, panicked.

Howie heard the entire exchange and took charge. "Okay, calm down, Nick. He couldn't have gone too far."

A feminine voice broke into the conversation. "Can I help you guys with something?" It was Jacquie.

"Oh, no. We should be fine. Nick's little brother just sort of wandered off," Kevin said calmly after being filled in.

Arching her eyebrow again, she spoke up. "I could call security if you'd like."

"That would be great," Kevin replied. Jacquie took out the two-way radio and called security.

"Amy, here."

"Amy, can you check the monitors for a little blonde kid hanging around the museum. A member of my group has lost his baby brother."

The voice returned. "Is he about twelve?"

Nick perked up at the news. "That's got to be him."

"Looks like it, Ames."

"I just say him headed toward the Rain Forest exhibit earlier, but I haven't seen him since."

Jacquie smiled at the relieved expression on Nick's face. "Thanks, Ames. We're heading that way now."

"Okay, let's split up and look for him," Howie ordered. "Brian, Kev - you two stay with the tour, AC might decide to come back here. Nick, AJ, and I will head to the information booth and look for him around there."

"Good plan, D," AJ commented, throwing an arm around Nick's shoulders.

"Alright, let's get to it," said Howie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So she's been a fan ever since she saw him in concert?" Alexandra was still chatting with Nikki.

"Yeah, I took her to the All That Music and More Festival. She saw him and thought he was cute. It was a bonus that he was her age, so she developed an instant crush," Nikki laughed.

"That's so cute!" Alexandra cooed, scrunching her face up in a smile. "What was that kid's name again? I might check out his CD."

"Aaron Carter."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick's mind was racing as he hurried to the information booth with AJ and Howie. He wasn't necessarily worried about Aaron, himself, but what other people might do to him.Who knew what kind of crazies were living in New York, he thought. Not to mention the legions of fans that always seemed to be right on their tails no matter where they went.

The three were rushing past the gift shop when Nick's attention was diverted as he heard his brother's name. Not paying attention to where he was going, he crashed into a tall plant sitting outside the gift shop entrance. Howie and AJ burst into gales of laughter at the crash that caused Alexandra and Nikki to turn around to see what happened.

"Smooth move, exlax," Nikki murmured, trying to stifle a laugh. As she turned away from the scene outside, she noticed that Miranda and Aaron were no longer by the beanie babies. "Now where did those two go?"

"You were talking about Aaron Carter," Nick tried to straighten his hair as he stumbled into the store. "Do you know where he is?" He asked the two girls by the counter.

"He's right there..." Alexandra's voice trailed off noticing the two kids were gone. Turning back to the tall boy, she added, "They were right here."

"They?" Nick brushed some dirt off his shirt.

"The little girl who's with me. She's a huge fan of Aaron's. They were talking right here by the beanie babies," Nikki answered as she frantically searched the store.

"So they're gone?" Nick pulled a leaf from his hair.

"Seems that way, Einstein," Nikki retorted. "Are you always one to state the obvious?"

Ignoring the girl's attitude, Nick turned back to his friends. "D? AJ? Can you two stay here in case he comes back? I'm going to go check around the museum." Both guys nodded.

"I'm going with you," Nikki declared to as Nick rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Fine, come on," he waved for Nikki to follow him as he ran out of the shop.

"Hi," Howie walked up to the counter. "I'm Howie and this is AJ."

"Hey, I'm Alexandra. How do you two know Aaron Carter? Are you body guards or something?"

Howie and AJ exchanged startled glances.

"You mean you don't recognize us?"

"Umm.... no... OH MY GOD!" Alexandra exclaimed, slapping the counter. "You're those guys from that boy band, *NSYNC, right?"