In celebration of finishing a new ultra-special and successful song, Boyfriend, Gustavo bought nine tickets for the boys and Emily to go to the carnival in town. 

Logan and Camille went together, declaring their on-again, off-again relationship. 

Kendall obviously invited Jo.

Carlos brought his new girlfriend, but then dumped her when she came clean and revealed she hates corndogs. 

James, the only one not in a relationship, made a dramatic statement by bringing a small palm tree plant from the pool. 

After Emily intruded on James' carnival game and won a giant bear, James asked if she would be okay with the plant sticking around. Emily told him the plant can stay, but tomorrow he should break it off. 

Her, James, and his emotional support tree spent their time on the rides together. 

Now, they were awake, too early, for a performance on the KULA morning show. 

Gustavo and Kelly were to meet the boys and Emily at the studio. Mrs. Knight was so exhausted, she walked sleeping on Kendall's shoulder. 

"Can you believe this?" James gushed, taking it all in. "We're preforming on live TV."

"Can you believe it's 5 a.m.," Logan groaned, yawning. Emily, leaning on his shoulder, nodded as she took a small sip of her coffee. 

She convinced the boys she was allowed a cup since they would be awake so early. Logan did some math and estimated half a normal cup would wake her up to a normal energy level so early. 

Kendall yawned, "Why do early morning shows have to shoot so early in the morning?" He went to push his mom off his shoulder. 

Katie, enhanced by a video game, "Don't wake her!" Kendall froze, "She hasn't had her 8 hours of sleep yet."

A women with dark auburn hair approached, "Big Time Rush! Huge Fan," she greeted. "I'm Jane Kennedy, the producer, and welcome to A.M. L.A., L.A.'s number one morning show," she said, cheekily. "Come on." 

She led the group backstage, Carlos and James much ahead of the group and Kendall far behind with his sleeping mother. 

"My body is moving, but I think my brain is dead," Emily mumbled to Logan, absentmindedly. 

"That's how caffeine begins to affect normal people," he told her, encouraging her to drink more of the hot liquid. 

"That is L.A.'s number one morning host, Miles Bainbridge," she introduced, gesturing to the silver haired man ahead, reading over the segments. "Warming up L.A.'s number one teleprompter."

Emily stiffed a laugh, "Did the governor give you the ribbon himself?" She joked about the teleprompter. 

The producer cleared her throat, turning back to give Emily a blank stare. Emily's smile faded.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again," she mumbled, head low as she wandered over to walk with Kendall who was considerably farther away. "She doesn't like me."

"I thought it was funny," Kendall told her, balancing Mrs. Knight. 

Backstage, Jane led them into a large room with couches, "And this is the green room," the boys automatically darted towards the food and drink set up while Emily tried to not overstep again, "where you can relax, eat, and meet our other guests like actor-environmentalist, Ed Begley Jr."

Emily turned from tearing a bagel in half with Logan to see an older man on the couch with Katie and Mrs. Knight.

"Hey, guys," he smiled, standing as he showed off a saw, "I'm here to promote my new line of environmentally friendly-"

"Keep it fresh for the show, Ed!" Jane turned back to the band, "We're so excited to have BTR at A.M. L.A. and I just know that our 3 million viewers will be excited to." A women in red walked in, showing a clipboard to the producer. 

"Well, we are very excited to be here," Kendall replied, politely. 

"Yeah, the show's four minutes too long. You guys are cut. Wake up mommy and get out."

Emily's eye rose as she watched the bitter woman exit, as Carlos dropped his supply and James froze. 

"What just happened?" Kendall quaked. 

"The official term is "you got bumped,'" Ed told the group. 

Emily scoffed, shaking her head in disgust as she marched out after the woman. "Ma'am, excuse me," Emily called. The producer sighed heavily, turning around. As Emily began to speak, commotion and shouts ran up behind her. 

"What do you mean "cut"?" Logan asked. 

"It means I have to cut time from my show, and you were it," she responded harshly.

 James stuttered with anxiety, "Wait, but being on live TV is number seven on my list of things to do before I'm 20."

"You don't have a list," Logan denied. 

James whipped out a decorated notebook, showing it off, "Oh, I have a list."

"Look, you just said you were excited to have us," Carlos reminded her. 

"I'm a producer, I lie," she hissed out. "And my show is four minutes too long."

"Then plan better," Emily shrugged as she glared at Jane. 

The boys nervously laughed behind her. Emily felt hands pulling her back, as they all stuttered, trying to excuse her harsh behavior. 

"Look, L.A. needs their traffic, weather, stock reports, celebrity interviews, and cooking tips. What they don't need to see is a stupid boy band!" 

James yelped in response.

"Vocal group is a term that could also be used," Logan supplied. 

"So is, "you are cut from my show so get off my set.'"

She turned and walked away.

"I did not get up at 5 am to be treated like this," Kendall said. 

"Absolutely not!" Logan snapped. 

Emily reached forward snagging the schedule from Logan that was so rudely thrown at him, "Why don't we fix her schedule so you can perform?" She offered. 

Carlos nodded, "I like that."

"But," Kendall stopped, "you have to try to be nicer or she will hate us like how she hates you," he warned Emily. 

She gaped in offense, "You said my joke was funny!" 

"And it was, but she also hates you."

Logan interrupted the bickering, waving the schedule returned to his hands back and forth, "Let's go."

The group jogged out into the main studio, seeing Jane at her stand. 

Emily, directly behind her, tapped the woman on her shoulder, "Hi, it's us again." 

Kendall, on Jane's other side, "So, um, we looked at the schedule-"

"And if you trim just a little time from the weather, the chef dude's weekend recipe, the market update, and cut one Hollywood minute," Logan interjected.

"You'll have time for Big Time Rush," Carlos said. 

"And I can check "live tv face time" off my list," James mentioned, showing his list to the producer. Emily caught a glimpse of it, seeing her name. 

"Is my name on there?" She asked, reaching for it, but James quickly yanked it out of sight, nervously avoiding her question. 

"This is good," Jane said, in a sweet voice, "No this works, I think I owe you guys an apology." In surprise, Emily turned to Kendall, bumping fists. "Follow me," Jane said, leading them backstage. "I'm going to tell the director to make these changes right now, but I need for you guys to wait in our special waiting room," she smiled, pointing to a large door, the sign reading Special Waiting Room. 

Emily gave Logan a pleased look, opening the door. As she turned and stepped out, the girl quickly realized it was a trick and they were being pushed outside the studio. Emily turned quickly to go back in, but the over-eager boys just shoved her further outside as they flooded through the door. 

The boys realized what was happening, rolling their eyes in defeat. 

"Get out of my face, you stupid, singing teens!" Her voice snapped over the intercom. 

Emily grunted, trying to pull the tightly locked door open. 

"Of course, you realize," Kendall hummed. 

"This means war," the boys said. 

Emily sighed heavily in irritation, "Someone call Katie to open the door," she said, leaning against the chilly metal. 

Kendall nodded, pulling out his phone to call Katie. As he stepped to the side, Emily eyed James in suspicion. 

"So, what happens if you don't complete the whole list before you're 20?" She asked. "Do you turn back into a frog?" 

Logan and Carlos chuckled in response while James faked laughed, holding his list close. 

A small force pressed against Emily's back. She stepped off the door, turning to see it opening, Katie emerging, distracted by her game, and very frustrated with them. 

"I thought I told you to leave me out of this!" Katie snapped, eyes locked on her small screen. "I have to defeat the she-beast before she destroys the dwarf people."

"Won't happen again," James promised, running back inside while the rest followed him, each muttering a small apology to Katie. 

Once inside, the gang stuck to a back wall. Emily turned to her side, seeing what the plan was. She turned to see each guy wearing a bandana, except for Carlos who obviously had the helmet, and sunglasses. 

"How did you get those?" She whispered. 

"Here," Logan said, passing her a pair of dark sunglasses, while James slid a pre-tied bandana over her head. 

"Okay, now, operation "cut out time from A.M. L.A. so Big Time Rush can perform on live TV" is under way," Kendall told the group. 

"That's a really long operation name," Logan countered, Emily nodding in agreement. 

"How about Operation: Winter Blitz?" Carlos offered. 

Emily let out an "ooh," pointing at Carlos in agreement. James shook his head, "It's catchier but it's not winter."

"Just move out," Kendall snapped, exasperated, leading the group into a supply closet. 

On the way, Emily stopped a lone laptop. She slowly backed up, Logan as well who was behind the girl. The two gave each other a nod. Logan stole the laptop, while Emily grabbed two wires. 

Logan and Emily shut the door behind them, the other guys giving the two questioning faces. 

"We're going to hack the teleprompter," Logan smirked. 

Kendall and Carlos high-fived as they sat down on either side of Logan. Emily tossed on end of a blue wire to Logan, and held the other to James. 

"Sneak out there. You're going to plug this in to a large box, probably underneath the cart the teleprompter sits on," Emily advised. James gave her a thumbs up, tightened his bandana and slipped out the door. 

Logan smirked, "We're in. The teleprompter is ours."

"Give us a good intro," Carlos pointed at the screen, leaning in to watch Logan type. 

Emily stood to the side of the door, cautiously looking over as she saw it open. Her nerves settled seeing James return. "Be in the greatest band in the history of the world, check!" He smiled, checking the item off his list. 

"That's your intro?" Emily asked incredulously. 

Kendall scoffed. "Hey," Carlos said, "we could be the greatest band in the history of the world."

Emily rolled her eyes, kneeling down in front of Logan, leaning over to point at the laptop screen. 

"Now to shave some time off morning update," Kendall told them. 

"Right, the teleprompter has different speed levels so the words will pass through faster," Emily told Logan, pointing to the settings bar at the top of the screen. 

"How do you know all that?" James asked. 

Emily shrugged, not thinking much about it, "I just know technology." 

"Faster," Carlos muttered. Logan up-ed the speed. 

They all looked at each other, "Faster," they smirked, watching the words fly around the page, blurring together. 

Then the door burst open, a furious producer standing there holding the blue wire. The teens all jumped in fright. Emily's body flipped around, seeing the woman standing there. 

"Hey there, you," Kendall greeted. 

Unamused, Jane tugged roughly on the wire, the other end disconnecting from the laptop. They all jumped to their feet, awkwardly addressing the lady. 

"Great news," James told her. 

"We just shaved a whole minute off your show," Kendall said, pointing excitedly to the schedule. 

"De nada," Carlos shrugged. 

Staring them down, Jane held a radio to her mouth, "Secruity."

At the woman's menacing tone, Emily shrunk back, "Do we run now?" She asked the boys behind her. 

"Yup," they all answered, squealing as they shoved Emily out the door and took off down the backstage hall. 

Three massive security guards with black sticks and bright yellow jackets stomped after the five teens. Running back down the hall and out into the studio, Emily ducked under cameras and around crew members. She turned to see the boys were no longer following her. Yet she heard their collective screams. she turned vigorously to see them running in front of the green screen where the weather report was currently taking place. 

"Guys, get out," she yelled, watching them run back through the set, but now knocking over the poor weather man. 

She ran to the side, urging them to hurry up and get off the set. She muttered the word idiots a few times as she led them back down the backstage hallway, and through a massive metal door. 

Slamming it shut, the five sighed heavily, turning to rest against the back of it. 

Ahead of them was another door, opened by the three security guards. They all gasped, screaming in fear. 

"Retreat!" Carlos shouted. 

Turning around Kendall yanked on the handle, discovering it was locked. 

Logan laughed nervously, "It's locked."

The man in the middle held up a radio, "We got the perps. Are we authorized to use force?" 

Her heart rate picking up, Emily laughed nervously, shaking her head along with the boys. 

"Absolutely," Jane answered. 

Her heart dropped, shrinking back into Carlos as the men pulled out their sticks. 

"Get beat up by security guards?" James mumbled, flipping through the list. "Nope, not on my list."

The five huddled together tightly. Emily squeezed herself back  in between James and Carlos, holding Carlos' shoulder tightly as she ducked her head into it in anticipation. 

"Logan, options now!" Kendall snapped. 

"Well there's five of us and three of them, but they're huge, so," Logan shrugged, "scream?"

The boys began screaming in fear. Emily took the helmet off Carlos' head and held it out in defense. Then the security guards froze and started shaking. 

"It's working," Carlos gasped in amazement. 

Finally the men fell to the ground, unconscious, revealing Katie with two tasers. 

"Katie?" They all said in wonderment. 

Katie harshly dropped the tasers, "Thanks. I was just about to beat the castle guards so I could get to the final boss level," she complained. 

Emily held up her hands in defense as the boys each muttered an apology. 

Rolling her eyes, Katie went to leave, until Kendall stopped her, "Oh, Katie," he said, "Could you keep mom asleep? She doesn't need to see any of this right?"

Katie groaned in response stalking off. 

"But seriously, where'd she get that taser?" Logan asked as they all hesitantly left the corridor. 

"I want one," Emily commented. 

"No," they all snapped, fearfully. 

Her face scrunched together in offense as she bent down to lightly kick one of the security guards. 

"Em, what are you doing?" Kendall asked. 

She bent down, slowly stripping the jacket off one of them, "I'm taking the jacket," she whispered. As she successfully detached the yellow material from the scary man, she slung it over her shoulders. "Unless you wanna get chased again, we need to blend in," she advised. 

The boys nodded in agreement. 

"Disguise time!" James announced, the boys taking off towards the rack of clothes. Within seconds they each emerged wearing a different disguise. 

Kendall had a beard and top hat. James looked like his was going on a fishing trip. Carlos was a cop. And Logan, poor Logan, was a pharaoh. 

Emily stood, frozen, "This is no blending," she told them. 

"I think we look great," James told her, snapping his vest on. 

"Move out!" Kendall declared. 

The group jumped behind the clothing racks, poking their heads out from the hanging clothes. 

"We got to cut three more minutes from the show to perform," Carlos said, reading the schedule. 

Kendall nodded, standing over him, "Then Operation "We love Ed Begley Jr. but need to cut his segment short to perform" is under way."

Logan groaned, "Okay, next time I'm in charge of operation naming."

Emily snapped her head to her left hearing a harsh slapping sound to see Logan holding his cheek. 

"Ow!" The boy cried in a hushed tone, "What'd you do that for?"

"Number 11," James said, the one who hit Logan, "Slap a pharaoh, check!"

Emily gave the boy a sarcastic smile, "What a big day for you."

"Move out," Kendall ordered. Emily nodded, sliding past Carlos as she joined Kendall's side, and went over to time the segment and calculate the remaining time to cut. 

James used the fishing rod to steal the solar powered spinning tie rack. For what purpose that device would serve, Emily and Kendall couldn't decipher. Logan drank all the of energy drink. And Carlos hijacked the bike. 

Carlos, in a long wig, pedaled furiously to power the toaster, until the force was too much and the still bike broke from the stand and Carlos sped into the Hollywood Minute set, crushing the backdrop to the ground. 

Emily gasped in shock, going to fist bump Kendall. "An extra minute, nice," she cheered, crossing time off the schedule. 

Kendall nodded knowingly as the two went over to an extremely distressed producer. "Okay," he said to her, "with Ed's segment shortened and the Hollywood Minute..." They all looked over, seeing the set gone, "gone, we only need to cut another minute from the show and-"

"We can sing!" The three other members of the band cheered, coming over, partially out of their disguises. 

"You will never perform on my show," the woman spat. "Security! I need security!" She shrieked into the radio. 

Slowly shaking the yellow jacket off her arms, Emily cautiously looked at the boys, "Do we run again?"

They all nodded, "Yup!" The boys discarded their disguises as the five sprinted to safety before any security guards could find them. 

Kendall led his friends back to the green room. Halting to a stop upon seeing a sleeping Mrs. Knight, Emily's torso bent forward as she steadied herself, seeing the woman unbothered by the slight noise. 

"You know that producer lady is going to have every security guard on the lot after you," Katie whispered, her eyes on her game. 

"Not if my baby sister, whom I love, creates a distraction," Kendall begged. Emily and the boys each gave Katie a pleaded look. The girl sighed, setting her game down. 

As Katie regretfully left the room to create a disaster elsewhere, Emily turned to the boys. 

"Okay, we have to cut one more minute and every security guard is after us. Ideas."

"We could ask nicely for the other segments to give up their slots," Kendall thought. 

"Unlikely."

Logan snapped his fingers, "We could hack the network and stream an emergency broadcast that  aliens are invading and the show abruptly ends."

"Irrelevant."

"We hijack the other segments and give the reports ourselves," James offered. 

"Not bad."

"Oh, we blow up the stage!" 

The group turned to Carlos, each giving him a disappointment shake of the head, 

Emily clapped her hands together, taking a deep breath, "James wins. Let's go to the floor under us."

She pushed through the boys, swiping one of Ed's saws on the way out, bursting into the stairwell. 

"Why are we leaving the floor?" Logan asked, nonetheless following her.

"No security guard is going to look on a different floor," she pointed out, slowly watching the ceiling as she counted her steps in her head. 

Stopping, she turned to the boys who plainly watched her devise a plan. "One of you lift me up so I can hear," she said. 

James and Carlos stepped forward, locking their hands together. Emily grabbed each of their shoulders as she placed one foot into their hold. The boys slowly lifted her up. She bent her neck down, tilting her ear towards the ceiling as much as possible. 

Everything was muffled, but there were plenty of footsteps and a few drops of metal utensils telling her they were above the mini kitchen set. 

She tapped their shoulders, telling them to put her down. 

"Kendall, get that ladder," she pointed out. Emily turned to Carlos, "Chef Carlitos, are you ready for your debut?" She asked. 

The boy widened his eyes, mouth gaping in excitement, "I've never been more excited."

The two high-fived as the other boys stabilized the ladder. Emily climbed up, holding the saw down in one hand, She forcefully cut into the ceiling, beginning to saw a circular hole. 

Emily covered her head and moved to the side, feeling sawdust rain on her head and a chef collapsed through the hole. 

"He'll be fine," the guys said. 

Carlos, in a red apron and chef hat, climbed the ladder and jumped through the hole, taking over the segment. 

Emily hopped off the ladder, waving for the other guys to follow her. 

"Okay, let's go. Kendall get up there and direct Miles with cue cards," she told the boy. Kendall snapped his fingers as he took off back upstairs. 

James and Logan set the ladder down where Emily stopped pacing. "James, go up with Kendall and hide behind the weather panel until they jump to the weather update," she told him. James nodded, winking, as he chased after Kendall. Emily began climbing the ladder to saw another hole in the studio, "Logan, you're giving the financial update," she told him as she squeezed her eyes shut so dust couldn't get in them. 

"What do I talk about?" He asked.

Emily shrugged, feeling the floor start to fall, "I don't know. Promote Ed's products."

The two covered their heads as sawdust poured over them again. She hung on the side as Logan climbed up, taking the saw from Emily. Watching him through the whole, Emily tossed the empty energy drink bottle up. 

After he caught it, Emily could hear him promoting James' weather segment. She smirked to herself, jumping off the ladder, and racing to get back up to the main floor. 

Upon entering the studio again, Emily found Logan and Kendall laughing to themselves. She ran over, high-fiving them each. James popped in the huddle, "I checked being a weather man off my list!" 

Carlos was snacking on fish sticks with Miles over at the main desk. The boy darted away as the three security guards returned, chasing him off the set as the show went to commercial. 

Carlos laughed as he joined the rest of his friends. 

"Okay, change back and get the dust out of your hair before commercial break ends," Emily told the boys. They nodded, rushing off to get ready to perform. Emily went back over the schedule, seeing they cut all four minutes for the band to sing. 

"Why are we back? We don't have any more segments!" Emily heard the producer scream. 

Seeing the boys come back over, she eagerly urged them to follow her. They approached the hectic woman casually. 

"If only there was something to be done to fill that time," Kendall sarcastically thought aloud, the group stepping in front of her stand. 

"Never!" She growled. "Do you hear me? I'd rather have four minutes of dead air and get fired than lose to you!" The woman screeched, reaching over and then aimed two tasers at the teens. 

Emily jumped, ducked her head, and squeezed herself behind James and Kendall, who was using Carlos as a shield, and the other using the piece of paper. 

"As long as I'm standing here, Big Time Rush will never perform on live TV-" She screamed, before gasping. Emily peaked out behind the boys seeing the producer gone and Katie on a small golf cart. 

"I did it! I defeated the evil she-beast!" Katie cheered, not realizing she just ran a person over. 

Emily quietly pointed for Katie to look ahead of her as she bit the inside of her lip. 

"I was playing while driving again, wasn't I?" Katie winced. 

"Yep!" The boy told her. 

Emily turned, waving to get Miles' attention. As the man looked at her in response, she urgently pointed to the band who was heading over to their set. 

"Let's give it up for Big Time Rush!" Miles announced, the cameras panning to the boys who began performing Till I Forget About You. 

Emily danced along to herself, watching the boys sing and dance when it occurred to her Gustavo and Kelly never showed up. 

She pulled out her phone, texting the two. Why aren't you here? Are you watching?

Immediately she got a text from Kelly. Griffin. You guys saved Rocque Records!

Intrigued and confused, the girl slowly turned her phone off wondering what that could have meant and what nonsense Griffin came up with this time. 

"I can't forget about you!" The boys finishing singing. 

The entire crew broke out in cheers for the band. Miles ran over to address the cameras, "This just in. Big Time Rush rocks!" he screamed. 

The boys cheered together, giving Emily a point off stage who clapped back to them. A crew member stepped in front of them, "And we are out!" 

The boys stopped waving to the camera as Emily ran over to them. 

"Perform on live TV?" James called out, holding his list. 

"Check," Emily said with the other guys, giving in to James' list. 

"Hey, guys!" The group jumped seeing Mrs. Knight finally awake. She stood over Kendall's shoulder. "Oh, did I miss anything?" She asked disappointedly. 

They all looked at each other, giving silent nods. 

"No."

***

I'm back yet again. 

I have another chapter I'm posting right after this. Disclaimer: wasn't thrilled with it so I apologize in advance, my friends. I'm halfway through the chapter AFTER next so hopefully that will be up for most by time you finish the next two. 

:)