In fields where they,
Lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter's night
That was so deep.

Noel, Noel,
Noel, Noel,
Born is the King
Of Israel!"

JC sang his favorite Christmas song softly to himself as he wrapped his friends' gifts. He glanced over the gifts he had gotten for his friends; new roller blades and padding for Chris, basketball gear for Justin, a mini stereo and the newest Garth Brooks CD for Lance, and water skis for Joey. He smiled, hoping his friends would like their gifts.

"They looked up
And saw a star,
Shining in the East
Beyond and far.

And to the herd
It gave great light,
And so it continued
Both day and night.

Noel, Noel,
Noel, Noel,
Born is the King
Of Israel!"

Just as he finished wrapping the last gift, he heard Justin open the door of the hotel room they were sharing. He quickly shoved Justin's gifts under the bed. No need in him seeing it, even if it is already wrapped, he thought.

"Yo, JC, we're going to leave in an hour or so. You all packed?" Justin asked.

"Yeah!" JC said, grinning happily. "Well, half-way, actually. But I'll be done soon, I can't wait to get home to see my parents and my brother and sister!"

"I know, I'm so anxious to see my little brothers!" Justin exclaimed. He glanced at the newly wrapped packages on the floor beside JC and raised an eyebrow. "Doing a little gift wrapping?"

JC grinned. "Never mind, nosy!" he said in a mock-snooty voice.

Justin plopped down on the floor beside him and said eagerly, "What'd you get me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" JC laughed. "You'll just have to wait until tomorrow morning!"

"Dude, it's Christmas Eve!" Justin exclaimed. "You know, in my family, we open presents tonight! We don't wait until Christmas morning!"

"That's a lie!" JC said. "I remember last year your mom went crazy because you were begging her to let you open 'just one present' Christmas Eve so 'the wait would be easier to bear!'"

Justin blushed. "All right, all right, so it's a new tradition!" He made a pouty face. "Please?"

JC shook his head. "Nope."

Justin frowned, then said, "Fine, be that way!" He grinned. "How soon will you be ready to leave?"

JC glanced down at the newly wrapped gifts scattered around him, then at his half-packed suitcase.

"Probably a half an hour." he sighed.

"Okay, no prob." Justin said, standing up. "It's going to take a while to pack up all the stage equipment, but we can leave a little earlier than the crew."

"Sounds good to me." JC said. "I'm ready to go home!"

* * *

An hour later, the guys were packed and on the road. JC stared out the window as the bus rumbled down the road. He watched the snowflakes drift down to the ground and sighed happily. Everything was peaceful.

CRASH!

JC whipped around as Joey stumbled out of the kitchen area of the tour bus.

"Joey, what happened?!" JC exclaimed.

Joey shook his head and blinked his eyes. "Let me just say this: Never try to take a bowl off the top shelf of a moving vehicle." he said, rubbing his head. "It really hurts when it falls on you."

JC laughed. "I hope it was a plastic bowl."

"I think so." Joey said. "But I've never seen plastic shatter like that…"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm just kidding!" Joey said quickly.

As JC let out a sigh of relief, Chris walked in.

"What crashed?" he asked warily.

"Joey." JC said simply.

"Oh." Chris said, nodding knowingly.

"What?" Joey asked innocently. "I can't help that I'm a little klutzy." Chris burst out laughing at that.

"A little?!" he repeated. "Joey, I hate to tell you this, but you could write a book on being a klutz! Five hundred pages plus!" JC laughed at that.

"Well!" Joey said indignantly. "If that's how you feel, I'll just go talk to Lance and Justin. They won't make fun of me!" he exclaimed, stalking off to the little TV room in the back of the bus.

"Aw, sure they will, Joe!" Chris called after him. "They're just nicer about it than we are!"

Joey looked back and grinned at his two tormentors. "Bah! Humbug!"

"Scrooge!" Chris cried, running after him. JC laughed and went back to staring out the window.

* * * * *

Within thirty minutes, JC began to notice something: the snow was falling harder! Soon he could see nothing but wildly falling snow. It was a raging blizzard!

Just as he was about to call the other guys in to see, he felt the bus tremble a bit, then stop completely.

"Dude!" he heard Chris cry. "What happened?"

"James!" Joey called to the driver. "What's going on?"

"Bus broke down, fellas." James said, coming out of the driver's seat. "Besides, we're in the middle of a blizzard. It'd be stupid to try and keep going even if the bus was working!"

"So," Lance murmured. "What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying we're stuck here for at least a few hours to fix the bus, and then maybe even longer because of the snow." James said. Upon hearing this, a chorus of groans came from the guys.

"Man, we gotta get home!" Justin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I promised my little sister I'd tuck her in and read her a Christmas story tonight!" Chris moaned.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry!" James said. "I can't help what the weather does. And the bus thing probably couldn't be helped either."

"We know, James. Sorry for jumping down your throat." JC said apologetically. "We know it's not your fault. Right guys?"

"Yeah," grumbled the rest of the guys.

* * * * *

"Just perfect!" Justin muttered after James went back to the driver's "cockpit". "One of the few times we actually get to go home and see our families, and we're stuck in some… Some… Farm!" he sputtered angrily.

"Aw, Justin, chill out." Lance murmured quietly. "It could be worse."

A second after he said that, all the lights shut off, and so did the heat.

"I don't see how it could get any worse than this." Chris growled.

* * * * *

Thirty minutes later, all five of the guys were huddled together at the bus' fold-out table, trying to keep warm. The temperature had dropped so quickly that they could already see their breath in the air as they breathed.

"I'm freezing!" cried Lance.

"This is the most miserable Christmas I've ever had." moaned Justin.

"S-s-s-same h-h-h-here." replied Joey with chattering teeth.

"And to think," muttered JC, "that only two hours ago we were all perfectly comfortable in our nice, warm hotel rooms."

Chris just stared out the window. "Hey… Hey!" he cried suddenly. "I see Christmas lights out there! Hey, maybe there's a house where we can stay until the bus is fixed!"

The moment he said that, all four of the other guys jumped up and practically ran for the door. Chris followed them as quickly as his frozen legs could carry him.

* * * * *

When they got outside, they saw a huge field covered by about two feet of snow and a little farmhouse about a five-minute walk down the icy road. It was the only shelter the guys could see for miles around. They could see Christmas lights hanging all around the rim of the house's roof, and though it was a small house, it looked very welcoming with the decorations and the river of smoke that flowed from the chimney. They quickly began to walk towards the house, hoping that whoever lived there would be kind enough to let them stay.

* * * * *

As they neared the house, Joey could see Christmas lights in the shape of a small tree shining through the window. The guys walked carefully up the slick walkway to the house and rang the bell.

Moments later, the door was opened by a young man that looked to be in his early thirties and a little boy that looked about five years old.

"Can I help you?" the man asked, looking a bit puzzled. He's probably wondering why there are five guys standing on his doorstep in the middle of nowhere, thought Lance.

"Um, yes," Chris spoke up. "Uh, you see, our bus broke down, and we're stranded out here with no heat or electricity or anything, and we were wondering if… Well, we were wondering if you wouldn't mind letting us stay here until it's fixed."

As he said this, a little girl who looked no older than seven or eight walked up behind the man. A wondrous look came over her face as she saw the visitors on her doorstep and she tugged on the man's shirt and whispered, "Daddy, that's *N Sync!"

The man looked down at his young daughter and whispered, "Are you sure?" The little girl nodded. "Okay," he whispered. "We'll let them stay." He looked back up at the guys and said, "Won't you gentlemen come in?"

"Thank you!" said Chris and they all followed the man into the house.

"I'm Adam," the man said, shaking each guy's hand. "And this is my daughter Jillie, and my son David. And this," he said, walking over to a playpen and scooping a little baby up out of it, "is my youngest daughter, Chloe."

"Hi, Chloe," JC said gently, tickling the little girl under her chin. Chloe giggled. "I'm JC."

"Can I hold her?" Chris asked.

"Sure," Adam said, handing the child to him. Chris cradled the little girl in his arms.

"How old is she?" he asked.

"Four months." Adam answered. He turned to Jillie and said, "Sweetie, go upstairs and tell Mommy that we've got guests."

"Okay!" she said, blushing a little bit as Joey smiled at her. She turned quickly and went charging up the stairs.

"She's cute." Justin said, laughing a bit.

"Yeah," Adam said. "And she's so happy you guys are here. You're her heroes!"

Joey and Justin grinned bashfully and JC and Lance blushed. But Chris didn't even hear it. He was too busy playing with the baby!

Chris gazed down at the tiny baby and smiled. The little one was beginning to doze off and her eyelids were drooping. Within moments the baby was sound asleep in his arms.

"Chris?" Justin said quietly. "Are you falling in love or something?" Chris looked up and laughed.

"Yeah, I think I am!" he whispered.

At that moment Jillie came bounding down the stairs followed by a lovely woman.

"See, Mommy? I told you *N Sync was here!" she cried happily.

The woman looked stunned when she saw the five young men standing in the living room.

"Um, hi." Lance said. "Our bus broke down about half a mile down the road, and your husband was nice enough to let us stay until it's fixed."

"Oh, good!" the woman exclaimed. "Nobody deserves to be stuck out in this weather. Especially not on Christmas Eve. My name's Rachel. You've obviously already met Adam, Jillie, and David."

"Yeah, and Chris is in love with Chloe!" JC said. Rachel smiled.

"She likes you, Chris." She said to the younger man.

"I like her!" Chris cried happily.

More coming soon…