Big Time Rush wasn't the only boy band playing on radio stations. They weren't the only boy band in America. They weren't even the only boy band to come from Rocque Records. 

Still, Gustavo Rocque couldn't handle the new wave of British boy bands he had to compete with. Not to mention the stress of recording the third album. 

As the boys, mid-spitball fight, crashed into his office, they discovered the reality of the "invasion," just as panicked as their producer. 

Ever since the trial, Emily had taken more time off and time to herself. She'd been in her apartment for a week working on new songs for the album. The boys barged in every now and then to recount their hourly shenanigans, pester her about the album, and interrupt her and James' time alone together. 

Eyes closed, Emily sat on her kitchen counter, legs crossed, listening to her favorite BTR songs for inspiration for the song she promised Gustavo in return for taking the week off. 

"Yes, I may meet a million girls who know my name," Emily sang along, hearing the music through her headphones. "But don't you worry-"

The music was cut off. Opening her eyes to resume the song on her phone, "'Cause you have my heart," James sang, finishing the song for her. 

Startled to see four guys in her locked apartment, the girl jumped, slipping off the back of the counter, her torso hanging back. Emily grumbled, throwing the headphones off her ears, grabbing James' arms to pull herself up. 

"What are you doing here?" She snapped, looking at the four in irritation. 

Kendall smiled smugly, "You working on a new song?" 

Ignoring Kendall, Emily looked to see they had indeed entered through the front door which she had locked. "How did you get in?"

"You gave us copies," Logan reminded her, him, Kendall, and Carlos holding up a small gold key each. 

"Uh, no. I gave James a copy," Emily corrected, looking to her boyfriend who grimaced in guilt. 

"Yeah, they have copies of my copy," he admitted. 

Emily pressed her hands onto the sides of her forehead, exasperatingly sighing. "Why are you here?" She repeated. "This week I get alone time until 12, work time until 3, then you're allowed to bother me unless it's about work or my personal life," she pointed out. 

"We're being invaded!" Carlos cried, holding up his spitball straw cautiously. 

Emily creased her eyebrows, looking to Logan for confirmation who halfheartedly shrugged. 

"The British are coming!" Carlos screamed, jumping onto James who Emily noticed was also panicking over the alleged invasion. 

"Don't you watch the news?" James gasped. 

Kendall interrupted, explaining, "It's not a real invasion," he told his friends. "They're freaking out over the new wave of British boy bands."

The girl rolled her eyes, "Guys, there's always other artists, who cares about a few more?" 

James gasped, "Does Big Time Rush mean nothing anymore?" 

"You promised no dramatics this week."

Logan crossed his arms, glancing to Kendall, nodding that they needed to leave and talk without Emily around. "We can take care of this, Em," Logan assured her, grabbing Carlos' arm, dragging the paranoid boy out. 

"You just focus on that new song," Kendall smiled, eagerly waiting to hear the band's newest track on the album. "James, time to go."

He turned to Emily who stared bored at him, nodding to the door, "Out." She said. James groaned, slumping out the door with his spitball straw high in the air, Kendall shutting the door as they exited. 

***

Despite her clearly stated rules for the week, Gustavo decided to use his one emergency call forcing her to come into the office for the day. 

"I hope you used this wisely," she hummed, strolling into his office, seeing the entire band already gathered. The boys turned, surprised to see their friend break out of her home. 

"Why are you here?" Logan wondered. 

"We used our "One Time Emergency No Questions Asked Card,'" Kelly told them, punching a hole into the homemade coupon Emily had given them when she told Gustavo she needed a break for herself. 

"Why didn't we get one of those?" Kendall whined, offended. 

"Because you would waste my time," Emily shortly told him. "Now what's happening?" She asked, pushing through to see what they had been staring at on the desk. 

There was a large map of the country with little blocks of each boy band off to the side, some with arrows trailing behind them. 

"Oh no," she mumbled, disappointedly staring at elaborate display to exaggerate the boy band rivalry. 

"As One D and The Wanted launch their summer tours in Boston and Atlanta," Gustavo announced, playing the respected blocks on the map, "We launch ours in DC, thus protecting the capital!" 

Kelly placed BTR's block on the capital. Emily grimaced, her face hiding in her hands, wondering if taking a week off was the best idea considering she was the only sane one in the group. 

"But the next night they advance to Richmond and Baltimore," Kelly said, her and Gustavo sliding the blocks. 

"So we fall back to Kansas City."

"You just jumped over like five states," Emily pointed out, noticing a bunch of cities they missed on tour. 

"But that's when Hair 3, Colorful Pants, and-" James said.

"SCNBB start their tours," Logan finished. 

 Kendall frowned, "then all the bands move into the interior cities, which means..." 

As the people around Emily slid the other blocks around the map, she shook her head, slowly blinking her eyes. "Just head for the west coast."

"You're surrounded!" 

The group jumped, turning to see Griffin entering the office with Abdul. 

"Are you here to help us or making us feel bad?" Gustavo retorted. 

"Yes," He replied, not answering the question directly. "And the American-British music rivalry is nothing new." 

Emily nodded, "Exactly," she agreed, giving Kendall a pointed 'told ya so' glance beside her. 

"When the Beatles invaded in the 60's, they wiped out Elvis and the American rock scene. So we retaliated with the dance songs of disco. Then they launched a new wave of offensive that washed away our dance rebellion and rendered all my white suits useless. But grunge brought America back and although their angst filled lyrics made me sad, it made me money."

"Thanks for that history lesson," Emily groaned. 

"Emily. Welcome back," Griffin chirped. 

"I'm not really back."

Kelly grinned, "So you want us to fight off the invasion with everything we've got?" She beamed. 

"Close." Griffin responded. "I want you to surrender. It's time to ditch boy bands and find music's next big thing."

Gaping, "We can't surrender!" They boys cried. 

"Sure you can. Just wave these," Griffin said, pulling out a handful of small white flags from the briefcase. "From now on the studio and its resources will be used solely to find the next wave of music. Sorry, boys, it's over. It's been fun! But it's over." 

Despite finding multiple holes in Griffin's logic, Emily remained silent, waiting for him to exit the building with the boys chasing after him into the lobby to freak out before she tried to explain anything. 

As the group filed out, Emily noticed her boyfriend frozen, most likely not breathing. "Babe?" She asked, poking his chest. 

He flinched, panicked, as he scurried out of the office. 

"I'm a mega-songwriter, producer, and manager. I'm a triple threat!" Gustavo cried, Emily nodding in agreement besides Kelly. 

"Or maybe you're spread too thin," Logan muttered. Emily's eyes snapped over to the boy, narrowed in confusion. 

"What?" Gustavo seethed. 

"Maybe we need a new manager..." James suggested from besides Emily. The girl's eyes widened, wondering where this was coming from as she looked over to gape at the boy. "With fresh ideas that invigorates things and stuff."

"Oh. Okay, yeah. You guys go out and find a new manager that'll bring some fresh ideas to the band to help defeat the British invasion," Gustavo said quietly. 

"You don't have a problem with that?" Carlos hesitantly questioned. 

"I have a big problem with that!" the man shouted. "Enjoy your new manager because I quit!" Gustavo stormed out, pushing past the boys with Kelly chasing after him, glaring at the boys in frustration. 

"Guys!" She snapped leaving after Gustavo. 

The boys winced turning back to the remaining member. Emily sighed internally, shaking her head, as she started to leave and let the problem resolved itself on its own. 

"Do you think she's okay with it?" Carlos loudly whispered to Logan. 

"I'm not," she corrected, turning on her heel. "But I am still on personal time so goodbye."

"Are you mad at us?" James nervously wondered. 

"Us?" Kendall repeated, screaming. He turned to James gasping, knowing this was not his idea. 

"As a band? Yes! As my boyfriend? No," Emily shouted back at them, further down the hallway. 

As she turned the corner, out of sight, the boys turned to each other. "At least she's not mad," James hummed, content. 

"She is at us!" Kendall snapped. 

***

By the next morning, Emily thought she had seen it all. 

Kendall and Carlos split from Logan and James, picking two separate managers. She witnessed Kendall and Carlos being pelted with spitballs while on the news, then again while singing the National Anthem at the Dodgers game. 

Then morning, sitting at her counter, sipping her tea, she turned on the radio, hearing James and Logan's segment. "Hey everyone, it's Logan and James from Big Time Rush and we are guest hosting Saturday Top 40," Logan said. 

"Coming up next is a brand new hit from- oh no," James muttered. She choked down tea in a laugh hearing their screams as spitballs, no doubt, attacked them. 

Her phone buzzed on the table. A text from Kelly came in asking if she wanted to join her and Gustavo to watch their managers inevitably quit. She gladly accepted. 

Emily got herself ready and agreed to meet Kelly and Gustavo at the radio station where they would be getting kicked out any moment. The car dropped her off. Emily sighed to herself, looking around for spitballs and chaos. 

As she approached the front doors, she could hear yelling. 

"Okay, we're sorry," she heard her boyfriend say. 

"No, no. You are not sorry," she heard a man say. Emily turned around the bushes to see a short, bald man with dark sunglasses snapping at the boys. "You are an idiot!" 

Emily's jaw dropped, stopping besides Logan, covered in spitballs, who jumped surprised at her appearance. "Who do you think you are?" The girl spat, glaring at the man, along with the taller, older man she assumed was the other manager. 

"Who are you?" He fired back. 

"The idiot's girlfriend," she replied. "And the answer is yes, I have broken someone's nose before. Wanna see?"

After calmly dropping her bag on the ground, she leapt forward, the manager cowering away. Logan tightly wrapped his arms around her torso, tugging the girl back, her body swinging around into James' body who soothingly rubbed her shoulders, holding her back. 

"And you forgot to say "pretty,'" Kendall remarked, going to stand besides James who was still gaping in offense. "He's a pretty idiot."

"Thank you," the boy said. 

"Look at yourselves," the taller man said. "Has-beens before you're even twenty. All of you."

Carlos hummed, "That's a little harsh."

"I've written three top hits, kissed Dak Zevon-"

"It was still your cheek," Kendall groaned. 

"-And save the world, and I'm not even 18. What have you done?" She sarcastically questioned. 

The shorter man chuckled, "Your careers are over."

Kendall shrugged, glancing to her friends, "Well in that case..." Emily stepped back, gesturing for them to go ahead. 

"You're fired," they said before firing spitballs in unison at the two men who frantically ran off, dusting the spitballs from their suits. Kelly and Gustavo arrived, walking up at the managers fled. 

"Heard you on the radio this morning," Gustavo called, walking over. "And it was really bad."

"Before you say anything, we just fired our managers," James told them. 

"I'm surprised they lasted this long," Kelly admitted, Emily nodding back at her. 

"So, what do we do now?" Carlos wondered, looking out into the street at all the British boy bands posters posted on buildings, billboards, and taxis. 

"I don't know! I'm scared!" Gustavo wailed. 

Emily grimaced, inching closer to Kendall as James bent over, throwing up from stress in the bushes. She extended her arm from a distance, comfortingly rubbing his back.

***

The team all curled up in defeat on the long orange sectional in the crib. Once James brushed his teeth and cleaned the spitballs off him, Emily agreed to sit back besides him. 

BTR started playing with Mama Knight entering with a broom, dancing to the music. When she turned to face the couch, she shrieked to see an audience watching her. 

"Well that was horrifying," Gustavo observed. 

"I actually thought she was getting better," Kendall said. 

James shook his hand, unsure, letting his arm relax again around Emily's shoulders as the two slumped into the cushions. 

"I don't care what you guys think because I am having fun," the woman told them. "And when is the last time any of you guys had fun?" 

"It's been a while," Emily hummed in thought. Logan snorted back a laugh at her comment, the two sharing a quiet laugh as James panicked over the invasion. 

"How are we supposed to have fun when a foreign army of boy bands in about to invade our great land and capture all our fans?" James remarked. 

"Well, that is not gonna happen because this is America and, uh, we invented the boy band," Mama Knight reminded them. 

"Right!" Kelly agreed, standing. "From the Platters to Jackson 5 to New Kids to Backstreet to you guys."

"So what do we do?" Carlos asked again. 

Determined, Gustavo stood up, "I will tell you what we're going to do. What are we going to do," he hushed to Mrs. Knight in fear. 

The woman stuttered, unsure how to answer after being put on the spot. Suddenly it hit the girl and she sat up on the couch. "You do it like nobody's around," she realized. 

The boys all turned to look at her. Emily pushed herself up, sitting on the back of the couch, elevated. "You- You dance and sing like no one is watching because that's what makes you happy. You write songs because you love it. You don't have to always be working to top other producers."

"Keep going," Kendall egged on. 

"You guys didn't move across the country to focus on what other bands are working on. You're here because Kendall forced you to join his solo career and abandon your other dreams."

While the adults stiffed a laugh at the girl, the boys rolled their eyes, Kendall shoving her off the back of the couch sending her, laughing, into Logan who shoved her off, hiding back a tight smile.

"Seriously, who cares what other people think? Just do what you want."

"And Griffin?" Carlos reminded them. 

Emily shrunk back, "Last time I stood up to Griffin he fired me, so..." she said, looking to Gustavo and Kelly for answers. Mama Knight suddenly swung the mop forward, twisting it around. 

"I'll take care of Griffin."

"Well, I guess we didn't need a new manager," Logan admitted. 

"We just needed Em to come back," Kendall smirked. 

The girl sarcastically nodded her head, tossing her hair over her shoulder. 

"Does that mean this "Self Reflection Isolated Therapy" is over?" James wondered. 

"Because we missed you," Logan told her. 

"I missed you more," Carlos told her, Logan throwing his hands up in defeat. 

"If I promise to come back, can the sappiness end?" The girl asked. 

***

"Gustavo added dates in Portland, Phoenix, and an extra night in New York," Emily relayed to Kendall over the phone from across the pool. 

She saw his speak to the guys, cheering as they surrounded Katie in a pool chair ready to help her find contenders from the boys who just moved into the building. 

She slipped her phone away, scouting out the boys with Camille and Jo, silently pointing to the gang across the water. 

"You! Come here!" James called, pointing. "You in the ugly shorts!" 

Emily shrugged, shaking her head a James, not knowing who he meant. 

"Em! The ugly shorts!" He shouted. 

"You have a very picky fashion sense. Anything could be ugly!" She shouted back. 

***

Okay, first: i've been awol, i know. i took a break, then started moving, then moved, then started school. and now i'm in a new state for school that's online so here i am. 

second: this wasn't the best episode to lead with just because there isn't a great plot for emily. but i figured it's better to post asap then write a whole second chapter to post with this one and make people wait longer. 

third: that ending was super short and awkward but i thought i'd add it anyway. next one is the scandals episode and i'm thinking it's gonna be a good one. 

enjoy :)