~*~ April 28th 1999 ~*~

Chantal was working on her homework when she heard a car stopping outside. She looked out the window and saw it was Justin's car. She walked downstairs and opened the door before Justin had a chance to ring the doorbell.

"Hey sweetie" he said when he rushed inside.

"How are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm ok, I guess" he said pacing around in the hallway.

"Are you sure? You look nervous"

"I am nervous. What if it goes wrong? What if…" he said stopping abruptly.

"It will be fine! Really relax!" she said reassuringly.

"Yesterday we talked about the lawsuit all day and it was supposed to reassure us, to make us less nervous. It made me even more nervous than I was before it"

"It will be ok, the good guys always win remember?" she said giving him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah" he smiled slightly.

"Shouldn't you fix that?" she asked pointing at his tie.

"Ooh yes" he said while he rumbled with his tie.

"Crap!" he said frustrated when he tried to make a knot in it but the tie didn't co-operate.

"I'm too nervous, I can't do it!"

"Come here, I'll do it" she said and started on his tie.

"Now relax, sweetie. Take a deep breath" he calmed down she worked on his tie.

"Here you go, all set!" she said while she looked at him with a big smile.

"Where did you learn that?"

"My brother taught me" she said grinning.

"Feeling better?" she asked him but he still looked nervous.

"I am now" he said when they broke away from their passionate kiss.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed. But it will be fine" she said.

"Thanks, I hope you're right"

"Of course I'm right"

"Ooh I got to go now. I'll call you tonight okay?" he said while he turned around, he was in kind of a hurry and didn't see the person who wasn't paying attention either.

"Whoa" Bryant yelped in surprise when he bumped into Justin.

"Sorry" Justin said while he took a step back. "I was in a hurry, I didn't see you. I'm sorry" he apologized.

"That's ok, I wasn't paying attention either and actually….. I owe you an apology"

"For what?"

"For last time"

"Ooh"

"I apologize for snapping at you the other night. It wasn't you personally and it wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have said all the things I said"

"It's ok. You just wanted to protect your little sister"

"Excuse me? Little?" Chantal said pretending she was angry.

"You just wanted to look out for her and that's cool. I know what that is like I have 2 younger brothers and I want to protect them just as much as you want to protect your really mature sister" Justin said putting emphasis on his last words.

"Thank you" Chantal said satisfied.

"So we're cool?"

"Yeah" Justin said.

"Good luck with the lawsuit" Bryant said while presenting his hand for Justin to shake. Justin was a little shocked by this gesture but took his outstretched hand gratefully.

"I hear things" Bryant explained before Justin thanked him.

"I should be going now, I'll catch you later" he said to Bryant before he leaned in and gave Chantal a quick kiss.

"Bye, good luck" she said and then he went to his car and drove to the courthouse.

There was total chaos. A lot of people came to support Nsync. They were holding signs like.

"Leave Nsync alone!", "Lou Pearlman, You SUCK!" and "Nsync you are the best!" He smiled slightly at this kind gesture but when he walked in and saw Lou Pearlman just a few feet away the smile disappeared from his face. Please make sure everything will work out fine, he silently prayed before he joined his friends.

"All rise" the officer said before the judge entered the room.

"I've come came to a decision, after listening to both parties I've come to the decision that Nsync is in the right here. Nsync will no longer be obligated to stay with BMG and they are free to use the name Nsync. Case dismissed" the judge made it final when he hit the desk with the hammer he was holding and disappeared into his office. Joey, Lance, JC, Justin and Chris exploded from happiness and started jumping up and down. Hugging and kissing everyone they came across. Once outside there were a lot of journalists waiting to talk to them.

"Everything is settled now, we won and it turned out ok" JC informed the journalists who were anxiously waiting for any news on the trial.

"We did what we had to do in order to get a far deal and to protect ourselves and our music. We're really glad everything turned out ok and in the end people always get what they disserve" Justin continued.

"Thank you" Lance ended with a nod, and then they walked away, ignoring the many questions the reporters screamed after them.

"Hey!" Joey yelled when he spotted JC and Julie coming through the front door. Joey decided to throw a party that night since the lawsuit went so well today. Happy everything was finally settled and they could leave it behind them getting back to the real thing, making the music. He took their coat and threw them on the staircase.

"Joe!" JC said firmly.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"The coats are supposed... You've got to...." he stumbled frustrated.

"I think what he's trying to say is that you're supposed to hang those up" a voice called out from behind. He recognized the voice as Lianne's and quickly spun.

"Hi" JC said, in what appeared to Lianne, a voice that revealed that he was happy to see her.

"Hi" she said a little shy by the attention she gained all of a sudden.

"Nice to see you again" Joey said cheerfully. "although I didn't really see that much of you last time since there was…" Joey rambled but stopped quickly when he caught the look JC was giving him. Lianne giggled and the memory of the day at the beach crossed her mind realizing JC didn't want Julie to find out that they'd spent almost the entire day together.

"Thanks for inviting me" Lianne said to Joey.

"I'm glad you came, can I take your coat?" he offered sounding like a real host.

"Yeah" she said while unbuttoning her coat. "thanks" she continued while she handed him her coat. She felt JC's eyes practically boring holes into her and looked at him, he smiled and she smiled back before lowering her gaze to the ground.

"I'm Julie" she introduced herself when she realized neither JC nor Joey was going to.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lianne" she said a little shy and she hadn't expected that the girl who was standing next to JC was going to introduce herself. Nobody said anything and eventually it was Joey who finally broke the silence.

"But…… anyway let me show you around" he said while offering her an arm and she took it. She meekly smiled to JC and allowed Joey to pull her along to the room where the party was.

"JC?" Julie asked while nudging him to get his attention.

"Huh yeah?" he said distracted, tearing his eyes away from the two people who were walking towards the party room.

"Shall we?" she asked referring to the party.

"Uh… yeah" he said still a little off and walked into the party room hand in hand with Julie.

"I'll be right back" Chantal said to Justin when the song ended and she pulled out of his embrace.

"Don't go" he said with his best pout while he grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her back into his arms before he slowly started kissing her. He tightened his arms around her waist while Chantal forgot what she wanted to do before he started kissing her.

"Justin…I…baby" her voice was muffled against his lips. She surrendered to his sweet convincing kisses

"Dutchie" his voice muffled by her lips. She pulled away when she heard what he called her and looked at him with a confused look on her face. He laughed and said innocently,

"What?"

"You know what!"

"What?" he asked again, he tried not to smirk but he knew it wasn't working.

"Where did that come from?"

"Where did what come from?" he asked still in his innocent character.

"The name!"

He pretended he was thinking and exclaimed, "Ooh that!" when he pretended he finally knew where she was talking about.

"Yeah that...." she said waiting for an explanation.

"Well I said I'd give you a nickname right?"

"Yes…" she said suspicious while the memory of their first night out crossed her mind.

"So I did" he stated simply.

"Why Dutchie? Curly" she said putting emphasis on the nickname she'd given him.

"Because it fits and I bet nobody calls you that" he said smiling brightly.

"You're right about that" she said smiling.

"Alright, alright fine you can call m…" she started but her sentence was cut off when Justin pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers. After a few moments they finally pulled away and then Chantal remembered what she'd been meaning to do before Justin distracted her with the whole nickname thing.

"I won't be long" she said tempting and Justin felt his knees weaken by the tone in her voice. He watched her make her way through the crowd and stretched to see where she was going. He saw Lianne standing in the direction Chantal was going and he understood what her destination was.

"See anyone interesting?" Chantal asked while she followed Lianne's line of vision.

"No" Lianne said startled, not wanting Chantal to find out who she'd been looking at.

"Ah come on, you've been standing here for the last hour"

"It hasn't been THAT long"

"Yes it has, you haven't danced once"

"So?" Lianne said a little irritated Chantal was bugging her.

"Chris has been bugging me all night. He would like to dance with you but was afraid to ask you"

"Chris? Afraid? Yeah right" Lianne said full of disbelief.

"Alright he wasn't afraid but he does want to dance with you. Common" Chantal said while she pulled Lianne with her. Chris saw her approaching and opened his arms as far as they would go to welcome her into his embrace all the while smiling brightly. Chantal joined Justin again for their umpteenth dance.

"I'm going to get something to drink, you want some?" Chantal asked a few songs later.

"Yeah anything, I don't mind"

"Alright" she answered before she walked away holding Justin's hand as long as possible.

"Have you seen JC?" a voice coming from behind him asked. Justin turned to face the questioner.

"No, I haven't seen him a while actually, sorry" he answered Julie's question.

"Where could he be?" she sighed frustrated while she stretched as far as possible so she could see over the crowd. She was standing on her toes but still couldn't look over the crowd, Justin saw her attempts and helped her by letting his eyes wander over the crowd in search of his friend.

"Who are we looking for?" Chantal asked when she came back with the drinks and saw them both searching the crowd.

"JC" Julie said without looking at her.

"I haven't seen him in a while" Chantal answered while she also started to search for JC.

"Ooh can I play?" a very cheerful Chris asked when he joined the people staring over the crowd. Chris jumped up and down to look over the crowd.

"I won!" he yelled all of a sudden.

"With what?" Chantal asked him.

"I spotted the guy with the green hair first!" he said excitedly al the while not having a clue what his friends we're doing.

"Well he's hard to miss" Justin said sarcastically lowering his gaze to his friend who was bouncing up and down but stilled his movements the moment Justin looked at him.

"Ooh" He said disappointed. "then what's the point?" he asked confused.

"There is no point"

"HUH?"

"We're not playing a game" Justin said without looking at him.

"Ooh then what ARE you doing?"

"We're looking for JC" Julie answered.

"Ooh, then say so!" Chris stretched and helped by looking over the crowd as well.

"I don't see him" Chantal said giving up first after a few moments of searching.

"Me neither" Justin agreed while lowering his gaze.

"Where did you leave Lianne?" Chantal asked noticing only now that she wasn't with Chris anymore, while the last time she saw her friend was when she was dancing with Chris.

"She hasn't been with me for a while now. She left after the second dance"

"If you'll excuse me I'm going to look for JC" Julie said when she realized she'd have spotted him by now if he were in the room.

"May I have this dance?" Chris asked Chantal while he bowed.

"Well of course my lord" she said in a funny voice while she did a dainty curtsy.

"It's an honor my lady" he said in a British accent while he put on hand on her hip and grabbed her hand with the other. Justin watched the scene with an amused smile on his face until he saw his hand slid down from her hip.

"Kirkpatrick don't even think about it" he said. Chris faced him with an evil grin and Justin knew exactly what he was thinking. The corners of Justin's mouth twitched into a smile while Chris started running. Justin pretended that he was going after him but stopped his movements abruptly.

"I'll get you later" he yelled after him. "there are more important things I need to do at the moment" he continued while he pulled Chantal closer and kissed her as if it had been a year since they touched each other.

"Whoa" Lianne exclaimed when she bumped into someone on her way out of the bathroom. She was a little angry at first but when she saw who it was her anger disappeared like snow in the sun. JC had grabbed her by the arms to steady her and was still holding her even though she was already balanced once again. He smiled warmly and let go of her although it was against his will. She melted when she looked into his deep blue eyes. She'd been craving for those blue eyes.

"Hi" she finally managed to get out while lowering her gaze to the ground.

"Hey" he replied.

"I'm glad everything worked out today with the lawsuit" Lianne said a little bit uncomfortable not really knowing what to say to him. She'd been dreaming of seeing him again ever since that day at the beach and now when she was finally looking into those beautiful blue eyes again she didn't know what to say.

"Yeah me too" Silence fell between them and Lianne waited for him to say something since she had absolutely no clue if he even wanted to talk to her.

"How's the musical going?" JC asked genuinely interested while he started walking towards the party room.

"Can't believe you remembered that" she said more to herself than to JC.

"I may be a pop star but I still have a brain" he joked.

"That's good to hear" she teased him.

"But the musical is doing well, at least once we got rid of the director" she said smiling while searching for eye contact. JC laughed with her and turned his head in her direction. They were lost in each other's eyes for a few moments. Unaware of the fact that they'd reached the few steps that led to the study room which was situated in between the living room and the kitchen. Lianne who wasn't familiar with the house wasn't prepared for the few steps ahead of her and lost her balance. JC however was prepared and reacted quickly when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him. He caught her easily and held her protectively close to his body. Her eyes locked on his once again. She realized she was trembling and that her hart was racing. You would say it was because of the fact that she almost fell but Lianne knew the cause of her trembling and the fastening paste of her hart beat was the man who prevented her fall.

"Thanks" she barely whispered, still lying in JC's arms. JC didn't know what was wrong with him. Why couldn't he make himself let go of her? Why couldn't he tear his eyes away from hers? Why was it so hard to look the other way? A sound coming from behind interrupted his thoughts but it seemed so far away. After a few seconds he finally realized that it were footsteps, heels as a matter of fact. He released his hold on Lianne's waist keeping her balanced and quickly spun feeling caught. He felt even worse when he saw who was standing in the doorway with an angry but yet sad look on her face. Julie walked out quickly and JC sped out the door following his girlfriend.

"Julie!! Wait!" he yelled after her and caught up with her very quickly grabbing her arm in effort to stop her from walking away. He spun her around till she was facing him.

"Don't make conclusions without knowing the whole story. It's not what you think" he pleaded.

"She fell and...."

"And what? She couldn't stand without your help?" she asked anger overtaking the sadness she was feeling.

"No, but we were just recovering from the shock, it scared us we needed a minute to get ourselves together" she looked away not wanting him to see the tear that slowly made it's way down her cheek.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked her while his eyes pierced almost through her. She felt the intent gaze and looked at him.

"I do but...." she cut herself off not wanting to finish the sentence she'd started and JC took over.

"I love you, baby" he said sweetly while he continued looking into her eyes.

"I love you too" she said quietly and allowed him to take her into his embrace. Not realizing Lianne had been watching them. Did she get the wrong impression? Did she misread his actions and feelings because she got blinded by her own. Didn't he just make a move on her? Didn't she feel his hart beating more rapidly than usual? Did she misunderstand his glances? Did she make it up? The fire, the chemistry? Where they all just in her imagination? She shook off all her thoughts and fled outside. JC turned slowly with Julie still in his arms and glanced back at the spot where Lianne had been standing just a few minutes ago. He sighed disappointed when he saw she was gone.

"Hey what are you doing outside?" a familiar voice asked.

"I just needed some fresh air" Lianne said to her best friend while she took a seat next to her.

"Isn't it a little cold for that?" Chantal asked her while rubbing her hands over her arms to warm herself.

"Chantal" Lianne stated.

"What?"

"It's Florida you're talking about, it's never cold here" she said laughing at her best friend.

"It can be" Chantal said pigheaded and noticed Lianne's smile slowly disappearing.

"Is everything alright?" Chantal asked concerned, something was bothering her she could see it in her eyes.

"Yeah" she said trying to sound convinced.

"Everything is fine" there was a short silence before Chantal spoke again.

"I thought you were going to bring Jamie with you"

"Yeah that was the plan but he had tons of work so he couldn't make it" Lianne said, her voice filled with no emotion what so ever.

"He's crazy about you, you know that don't you?"

"Who?" Lianne asked shocked thinking she was talking about JC.

"Jamie"

"Who did you think I was talking about? You don't have 3 other boyfriends hidden in you pocket do you?" she asked smiling. Lianne tried her best to laugh with her but felt guilty. Guilty for her feelings which only drove her insane.

"I think I'm going to go home. I'm kind of tired"

"Yeah sure" Chantal nodded.

"Could you say thanks to Joey and well I'll see you alright?" she said while she stood up.

"Sure see ya" she mumbled while she watched her best friend heading inside to leave.

"Lianne" a voice whispered behind her when she was in the hallway making her way to the front door. She jumped not expecting that there would be anyone else but her.

"I'm, sorry I didn't mean to scare you" JC said while he walked towards her.

"I'm glad you're still here, I thought you'd left. I'm sorry" he apologized again.

"For what?"

"For disappearing"

"That's ok" she said while her mind was screaming that it wasn't ok!

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine" she said while a smile slowly spread across her face.

"You look really beautiful tonight" he complimented her. All night he hadn't been able to think about anything else but her, especially since he'd held her so closely.

"Thanks" she said shyly. She felt that she was blushing and lowered her eyes. JC slowly leaned in giving into the desire he was aching for since the first moment he'd seen her. Lianne looked up thinking he might have left since he didn't say anything but was happily surprised when his lips slowly made contact with hers. A wave of passion, love and desire washed over her. She totally gave in to his kiss and allowed him to pull her closer. Neither one wanted to think about the consequences or what would happen after the kiss. For a while they were both totally taken in by their lips connecting with each others. Their slow and long kiss ended when finally realization hit them. What were they doing? They were both dating someone else!

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that" JC apologized since he started the kiss.

"Don't apologize" she urged him while she pulled him back and kissed him with new found courage after their first kiss which he started. JC was taken by surprise at first but surrendered to her kiss soon after. Lianne couldn't believe what she just did, she'd taken charge and was now kissing the man she'd been craving for. Those lips, the warmth of his arms around her and their bodies pressed against each other felt even better than what she could have ever imagined. Their kiss lasted a while longer before she finally pulled back and took a little step back, like she could examine the thing that just happened better if there was a little space in between them. They glanced at each other not really sure of what just happened. There was a long silence between them, both their minds were racing with questions and thoughts. Lianne was the first one who broke free from her thoughts and said,

"I should go"

JC nodded slowly in reply but she saw it was more his mind answering than his heart. Just like her mind made the decision to leave while her heart was screaming for more. She slowly stumbled away still dizzy from the buzz caused by the passionate kiss she'd just received. She grabbed her coat on the way to the door. Once she reached it she looked back one more time at the man who was following her with his eyes. She opened the door and disappeared through it. Once outside she rested her back against the closed door to gather herself. 'Wow' was the word what everything inside of her was screaming. Nothing had ever felt so good before and at the same time had been so wrong...