Don't Let Me Go by Supergirl and Jane

"Hey there hot momma!" Lance Bass said as Manda walked past on the street. "How about I show you what it's all about!"

"How about you go and shove this!@$#^%*foot%$@!" She paused to take a breath, "*@%*&#!%$@cheesecake&*@^#$&*^$!%&*doorknob&^%&f#$^#*^!" "Playing hard to get I see!" JC said playfully nudging Lance in the ribs.

"Bastard"

"I AM THE DEVIL!" Chris blurted out of nowhere.

"What the hell was that?" Meg asked.

"That was weird!"

"Yeah...." (odd silence) "Well then, we'll just be leaving now..." Amanda said as she backed away awkwardly. NSYNC stood there foolishly as the two "fine looking ladies" quickly walked away.

"Damn it man! Why did you have to go and ruin my chances with Manda like that!" Lance said hitting Chris hard on the back of his head.

****************

Meanwhile, almost running now.... "That was vaguely terrifying!" Meg said out of breath.

"Vaguely?! That guy said he was the devil! Who where they?"

"That was Chris Kirkpatrick," Meg says rolling her eyes.

"I didn't know the devil's name was Chris Kirkpatrick!" They both laugh so hard they fall down.

"Hey there, may I help you up?" Manda looks up to see Nick and the rest of the Backstreet Boys.

"Hi!" Meg said as AJ, helped her up. "We just had the weirdest day! We ran into NSYNC and that weird guy, Chris, I think it was Chris, said he was the devil!" Meg said giving AJ a kiss.

"I don't think I'll ever be the same." Manda said in a dramatic southern voice.

"Wow, you should win a Oscar." AJ said jokingly, as he grabbed a hold of Meg's waist and kissed her back.

"Why thank you, I'd like to thank the Academy and all of the little people." Manda said in response, bowing.

"Hey we were just going to Starbuck's, wanna come?" asked Brian.

"Sure, that would be great!" Meg said enthusiastically, leading AJ by the hand.

When they arrived at the coffee shop, they walked in to find NSYNC sitting at a table in the corner. "Oh God, its them." Manda said in a dull voice. Nick got a furious look on his face, marched over to Lance and shouted violent phrases (that aren't meant to be repeated). Lance then got up and started throwing punches at Nick.

AJ, being the rowdy person that he is, joined in the fight, and pinned Joey to the floor. JC stood up and kicked Brian in the shin. Kevin ,Howie, Meg and Manda sat down and watched the fun begin, while Justin sat down next to them and started making bets on who would win. In the middle of all this, Chris stood up from his chair and shouted

"SATAN IS MY FATHER!" The fight stopped abruptly and they all turned to stare at him, he shrank back into his chair. "There he goes again!" said JC.

"Man what's wrong with you?" asked Justin.

"I'm scared, can we get out of here?" Manda said. As they began to leave, Meg glanced back at Joey and smiled, Joey smiled back affectionately. Manda then yanked Meg's arm and the glance was broken.

"What was that all about?" Manda asked.

"Nothing, it was nothing." Meg said looking down at the floor as she raced to catch up with AJ. Manda shrugged it off as they walked away from the coffee shop.

****************

NSYNC sat there as they put ice on there wounds and wipped off the blood from their brawl. Joey sat staring into space daydreaming of Meg. "What's up with him?" Justin asked pointing to Joey.

"Yo Joey what's up?" asked JC. No response. He smacked Joey with his ice pack, "Are you alive man?"

"What?!" Joey says shaking his head.

"Dude you were really out there" Lance said.

"I was just thinking..." his voice trailed off. "About what?" asked Lance smiling as he pulled his chair closer to Joey.

"Nothing, why do you guys always get on my case?" Joey screamed as he left the coffee shop.

****************

Meanwhile back at the house..."I can't believe you just did that!" Manda shouted angrily at Nick.

"What was I suppose to do, just let him talk to you like that? He should have had more respect for you!" Nick shouted.

"I'm not your property, you know!" Manda shouted in retaliation. "BUT GOD!...I LOVE YOU!" Nick shouted.

"BUT!...You love me?!" Manda said looking at Nick with a curiousity. They stopped shouting and stared at each other. The rest of the group looked at them oddly.

"You...You love me?" Nick asked with a shocked look on his face.

"Ya...I do...I...ya" They stood there still staring at each other.

"Awwww" said the rest of the group. They all laugh. Meg butts in,

"Does anybody what something to drink?"

"Coke!" AJ said letting go of Meg's hand as she got up off the couch.

"Cherry Coke!"

"Diet Coke!"

"I'll have a Coke Classic mmmm mmmm!"

"Me too!"

"Coke! I'll come help you." Manda said. They walked to the kitchen.

"MMMM I love my Coke!" Manda said laughing. "You get the Coke." Manda said.

"I'll get the glasses. That was kind of sudden" Meg says reaching into the cabinet.

"What do you mean?" Manda says smiling as she gets the cokes out of the fridge.

"Gee, lets rewind. You just declared your love for Nick. Out of nowhere, just said you loved him!" Meg says, placing the glasses on the table, as she added, "But we all sort of expected it, you guys are kind of obvious."

"Really?" Manda says.

"Ya you are" Meg says.

"Well what was that thing with that dude earlier?" Manda asks attempting to change the subject.

"What dude, there was no dude?" Meg says.

"That Joey, your eyes were locked in firery passion or something romantic like that." Manda says pouring the coke into a glass.

"There was no passion, no romance, there was no anything!!! OK!" Meg snaps, banging the a glass of freshly poured coke onto the counter.

"Whoa! if you snap that fast that means there's something going on." Manda says with a devilish grin on her face.

"Lay off OK?!" Meg shouts as she bolts out of the kitchen.

"Hey! I can't carry all of these drinks!" Manda says shouting after her. Howie comes into the kitchen and stares at Meg who is running into the living room.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing! Just help me with these drinks!" Manda says, throwing her hands in the air.

"Ok, sheesh!" Howie says walking towards the counter. Meanwhile Meg is running out of the house, "Hey where are you going!" Kevin shouts after her.

"Are you OK?" Brain asks. "Maybe you should go after her, she is your girlfriend and she looks upset," Brian says to AJ.

"Its probably ok, maybe its just a chick thing." AJ says flipping on the TV.

"Whatever you say man." Brian says shrugging his shoulders and leaning back into the couch.

While Meg is running she finds a park, and sees Joey sitting on a swing looking rather lonely. "Is this swing taken?" Meg asks in a gentle voice, pointing to the swing next to him.

"No go ahead," Joey says looking surprised. "What are you doing here?" Joey asks.

"I just needed to get some fresh air." Meg says noticing how pretty his eyes were.

"We never really introduced ourselves properly, I'm Joey."

"I'm Meg. Pleased to meet you." She says with a beautiful smile.

"Great now that we know each other, do...do you want to go get some coffee?" Joey says looking at Meg.

"Do you realize what time it is? It's midnight, nothing would be open." Meg says smiling at him

"Oh." Joey says as he looks at the ground looking pathetic.

"But we can some other time!" Meg says enthusiastically.

"God, where could she be? She's been gone for two hours." AJ says in a worried voice as the group walks around a corner towards a park.

"She's probably aright.....I hope." Howie says with an equally disturbed voice.

"Let's try that park" Kevin says pointing towards a park at the end of the block. As they walk to the park, two figures appear, one being Meg but they weren't sure who the other was. AJ sees them, lets out a gasp and runs away. Meg turns to the street and sees AJ running, knowing immediately what he must be thinking.

"Wait no, don't go, you've got it all wrong!" Meg shouts after him. She begins to run after him.

"Just get away from me, I can't believe you did that!" AJ shouts at Meg.

"I can't believe its not butter!" Meg shouts back at him jokingly.

"How could you crack a joke at this time, this is serious! What were you doing with that guy?!"

"I wasn't doing anything! I was talking! Can't I talk to some one?!" Meg shouts in retaliation., "You don't own me!"

"Oh God! I'm sorry, I just don't know what I was thinking, I..I just don't know what my life would be like without you!" AJ says affectionately. They share a warm embrace. "Maybe we should get back, it's pretty late." Meg says cuddling up to AJ. They walk back to the house holding each other closely. They walk in and everyone stares at them. "Where were you two?" Manda asks worriedly.

"We just had to talk, we're OK now." Meg says.

"We were so worried! You guys should..." Kevin tries to say, but AJ interrupts him,

"Well it is getting pretty late I think I want to go to bed." AJ says with a smile on his face, looking at Meg. "Yeah, I'm exhausted." Meg says sarcastically. They all say goodnight and go to bed.

****************

The next afternoon, Nick and Manda are sitting on the couch and watching 'IT'. Though it was through reluctance on Manda's part because she don't really like scary movies. "AHHH" screamed Manda, clinging to Nick's shoulder. Nick was enjoying this very much, so was Manda.

"I like this..." Nick says as he smiles down at Manda.

"Aaaaaaaaw!" Brian says from behind. "Kodak moment!" "Shut up!" Nick shouts.

"What?" Brian says laughing as he jumps back to dodge the pillows that Manda and Nick were throwing.

"Hey what's going on in here?" Kevin says as he is hit by a flying pillow.

"Hey! I'm gonna get you Brian!"

"No you won't!" they all shout as everyone throws pillows at Kevin.

"Hey did anyone here the door!" Meg says as she is hit by a flying pillow. "I'll get it!" she says rolls her eyes and throws the pillow back into the heap of bodies. "I'm coming!" she answers the door to find Joey holding her jacket. "Wow where did you find this? I have been looking for it all morning!"

"You left it at the park, I hope I didn't cause any trouble last night."

"Oh no, that's all right you didn't do anything, thanks for returning my jacket. How did you know where I live?" "Your wallet was in one of the pockets." He says as he pulls her wallet out of his back pocket.

"Hey, does that offer for coffee still stand?" Joey asks with a hopeful look on his face.

"Um, yeah, sure hold on." Meg says as she closes the door and runs to the living room.

"Hey Manda I am going to the coffee shop with Joey, I will be back later guys." Just then everyone stops the fight to look at Meg.

"Your going where? With who?" Brian asks with a motherly girlie voice.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Meg says smiling as she rolls her eyes. "I'll be back in about an hour if anyone asks."

"OK. Bye." Manda says as the fight begins once again. "AHHH" Manda says as she is smacked in the head with a pillow.

"Ahhh! Some one just touched my ass!" Nick screams in a terror stricken voice.

"Oh! That was me!" Manda says as she is hit with another pillow and giggles.

"So where were you born?" Meg asks as the two walk towards the coffee shop.

"In Brooklyn." Joey says

"Oh cool, I grew up in Philly."

"Parents?" Joey asks looking at Meg.

"They died when I was 6, my grams raised me until I moved here in 96."

"Wow, sorry about your parents." Joey says with a smile.

"So where do you live?" Meg asks smirking, remembering that he knew where she lived.

"Over there." Joey says pointing. "Oh cool!" Meg says "That's a really cool place to live. I've heard there are some really great condos! AJ and me looked for a place over there but couldn't find any." Meg says as Joey looks back to the ground and says,

"That's to bad." They get to the coffee shop and sit down in the corner. "Hey, this is where I met you!" Joey says smiling as Meg blushes and turns her head to hide it. Just then the rest of the members of Nsync walk in.

"Hey Joey!" JC shouts from the door.

"Oh, Hi." Joey says in a sad voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi? Who are you again?" JC says ignoring Joey and holding out his hand for Meg.

"I'm Meg, I met you yesterday I believe,"

"Oh, yeah you were with the Backstreet Boys and MANDA!" Justin says nudging Lance in the arm.

"Shut up man!" Lance shouts pushing Justin who is laughing really hard by now.

"Where is Manda?" Lance asks looking around the coffee shop.

"She's at home, sorry." Meg says giggling.

"Oh," Lance says looking at the floor, sounding disappointed.

"Oh, don't be sad," Meg said patting Lance on the back. "Hey wait! What time is it?"

"3:00." Joey says looking at his watch.

"Oh no, I said I would be back by 2:00, I have to go." Meg says standing up. "It was nice meeting you all. I wish I could stay longer. she says as she shakes every one's hand again.

"Oh! Well can I see you again?" Joey says standing up.

"Yes, here call me." Meg says writing her number on a napkin. "Thanks for the coffee. See you later, sorry I'm in such a hurry. Bye." Meg says as she leaves.

"Bye" Joey says waving.

"See ya" Justin says sitting down.

"Bye" says Lance sitting down next to Chris.

****************

Meanwhile at the house....."How is your head?" Manda asks Brian.

"Better, no thanks to you! Sheesh you hit hard!" "Sorry!" Manda says putting her hands in the air. "Joking, joking." Brian says laughing as h rubs his head.

"Hey ya'll want somthing to eat?" AJ asks walking into the living room.

"Yeah! I'm famished!" Howie says checking his hair out in the mirror.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too." Nick says standing up.

"Where's Meg? Didn't you say she'd be back by now?" "I'm behind you, sorry I'm late I lost track of time." she says as she kisses AJ on the cheek and gives him a big hug.

"Great! So I take it we are going to McDonalds?" Manda asks looking at AJ with a smirk on her face.

"Of coarse!" He says smiling "Where else?"

"I love McDonalds!" Brian says in a hick voice. "Great, we'll take the van."

"To the van Batman!" AJ says with a flying pose. "Yes Robin to the Batmobile!" Nick says as he leaps for the door.

When they get to McDonalds they pull up to the drive thru and order. On the way home Manda spills her pop onto Howie's shirt and they have to stop at a gas station. "I am sooo sorry!" Manda says as she does her best to sop up the pop from his shirt.

"It's OK, It will come out."

"With club soda!" Brian says holding up a bottle of Canfields Club Soda. "It'll get blood stains out of smocks too!" "Blood caked smock! I have a blood caked smock!" Manda says running over to Brian grabbing the club soda and looking at it happily. They finish checking out and go home. When they get home Kevin gets out and goes to check the mail and he finds a love note from Joey sent to Meg.

"Gasp! What's this?!" He says pointing into the air as if in a Sherlock Hommes movie.

"Give me that! AJ was so upset last night this will spark him off again!" She opens the letter and it reads:

Meg-

Go on and close the curtains cause all we need is candle light, you and me, and a bottle of wine and I'll hold you tonight. well we know I'm going away and how I wish it wasn't so. Take this wine and drink with me and let's delay our misery. Save tonight, fight the break of dawn come tomorrow, tomorrow I'll be gone. There's a log on the fire, and it burns like me for you. Tomorrow comes with one desire to take me away. It ain't easy to say good-bye. Darling please don't start to cry cause girl you know I got to go. And lord I wish it wasn't so tomorrow comes to take me away. I wish that I that I could stay. But girl you know I got to go. Oh, lord I wish wasn't so.

I'm not really leaving, I just thought it would portray my feelings for you.

Love,

Joey Fatone

"Oh, my GOD!" Meg screams.

"What?" Manda asks coming out of the house.

"Here read this!" Meg says pushing the note into Manda's hands.

"Oh wow!" Manda says. "He's GOOD! What are you going to do?"

"AHHHHH! I don't know!" Meg says as she collapses to the ground in a dramatic manner.

"Do you like him?" Manda asks.

"Yes, I do, but...."

"But you love AJ." "Yes, I do. Oh GOD!" Meg screams with her head in her hands. Manda says

"I am going to leave you here for a minute to think about this. You'll do the right thing, I know you will." she walks into the house.

"Hey babe what's up?" Nick asks as Manda walks into the game room.

"I don't want to talk about it. Wanna play pool?" Manda asks with an evil smirk on her face.

"What kind of pool?" Nick asks with a very evil look on his face, as he pulls Manda close to him.

"Um, no Nick, normal pool!"

"Ok" he says whimpering

"Oh, shut up!" Manda says as she playfully pushes Nick. They begin to play and Manda is about to make a prize winning shot when something pushes her and she misses her shot. "Oh, so sorry!" Nick says sarcastically.

"You jerk!" Manda says as she pushes Nick into the pool table.

"Ouch!" Nick shouts. "I'm gonna get you for that!" Nick says as he grabs Manda by the waist and begins to tickle her.

"Stop!" she manages to say between giggles. "Please.......STOP!" she says as she feels she is being tickled to death.

"You want me to stop, huh?"

"Yes!"

"Well, say your sorry."

"AHHhaaaa, ok......sorry..ahh! Sorry!!" Manda manages to scream.

"That's better, now give me a big kiss,right here, then maybe I'll forgive you." Nick says as he points to his mouth.

"Oh, poor baby!" Manda says as she leans forward and gives Nick a huge kiss on the lips.

"Hey! What's going on down here!" Nick and Manda look up to see AJ and Brian looking down on them with disapproving looks on there faces.

"Oh! Shut Up!" Nick says smiling.

"Hey we are going to a movie do you want to come?" Brian asks

"No! I think we are going to stay right here." Manda says looking at Nick.

"Oh, ok, wink wink!" AJ says nudging Brian in the arm. Manda begins to laugh as Brian and AJ walk up the stairs.

"Ah, peace and quite." Nick says as he pulls Manda closer to him.

****************

"This should be a good movie." Brian says as they walk to the center of the theater.

"Yeah I heard it's getting really good reviews." AJ says looking at Brian like he was crazy.

"What! Can't I read movie reviews!" Brian says as he sits down in the center chair, in the center of the theater. "Hey, do you know what is going on with Meg?" AJ asks sounding worried, "She hasn't been herself lately. She hasn't talked to you has she?"

"No she hasn't, she really has only been talking to Manda." Brian says, "If something is really bothering her don't you think she would tell you? She's probably all right." Brian says as he pats AJ on the back.

"Maybe she just wants some space."

"Great! Space!" AJ says as he leans into his chair, as the movie begins.

****************

"Hey, Nick I am thirsty am going to go to the coffee shop to get something, you want anything while I'm out?" Manda asks Nick as she picks up her jacket.

"No I'm OK." Nick says smiling.

"Bye" Manda says as she walks out the door. When she gets to the coffee shop she sees Lance sitting in the corner looking sad. Manda goes over to the cashier and orders a Mocha Frappachino. She hesitates for a minute but decides to go sit by Lance.

"Hi!" Lance says looking overjoyed.

"Hi" Manda says sitting down. "Where are the other guys?"

"They went to a movie."

"Wow AJ and Brian went to see a movie too."

"Wow what a small world." Lance says smiling not once taking his eyes of Manda. "So are you alone?" Lance says smirking.

"Yeah..." Amanda says reluctantly.

"Oh!" Lance says looking surprised.

"Why do you ask?" Manda says looking concerned.

"You just always seem to be with some one, I was surprised to hear you were alone." says Lance.

"Yeah well everyone needs to be alone every once and a while." Manda says smiling.

"You're not alone now." Lance says smiling wickedly as he moves his chair closer to Manda's.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Manda says shifting in her chair. "Um, I think I should leave now."

"Why?" Lance says looking worried. "Do you really have to leave?"

"Actually, yes I think it would be best if I left. I hope you know I am seeing some one else, I can't start anything with you, or anyone else, I am sorry. I really should go. I will see you some other time." Manda says as she gets up. Lance just sat there looking wounded. "I am sorry again, goodnight." Manda leaves the coffee shop looking back e at Lance and thinks to herself, "I hope he didn't take that too bad." She walks around the corner towards the house feeling awful, but in a way relieved. "He'll be fine." she finally tells herself. "He'll be great."

****************

"Hey, Lance we've been looking all over for you!" JC says as he runs into the coffee shop with the rest of NSync. "What have you been doing?" Justin asks sitting down at the table.

"Oh, just being depressed and having my heart torn into a million shreds."

"Man, what happened?" Joey asks sitting next to Justin looking worried.

"Manda came in here and we talked, I thought things were going well until she basically said she hated me and that she doesn't want to date me. I feel like a creep!" Lance says as he puts his head in his hands. Then he bolted up and said, "Hey! If she doesn't like me now maybe if I change she will like me more!" he says as he gets more and more excited. "I will do anything to get her to like me, anything!"

"Wait man, she just said she's not interested, you can't just change some one's mind like that!" JC says as he puts his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Maybe you can't but I can!" Lance says as he gets up and storms out of the shop.

"You think he's gonna do something dumb?" Justin asks Joey.

"I sure hope not." Joey says watching Lance run into the night.

****************

"Hey anybody home?" Manda asks as she walks into the house.

"Yeah! I'm here, we just got home." AJ says getting up from the couch.

"Hey can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah sure, what's on your mind?"

"Well, um, Meg has been acting strange lately. Has she talked to you about anything, I am really worried."

"Well, actually she has. Joey told her he likes her." says Manda.

"Really? He likes her?! I don't have to worry about anything do I? Is he hitting on her or something? Cause if he is I'll..."

"AJ! Shhh! Calm down! She is fine, he hasn't done anything."

"Then why is she acting so strange?" AJ asks looking directly at Manda. "Why!" he shouted.

"She is only confused that's all, she is confused." "But she's all right?"

"Yes, she just needs to think about this."

"OK, I think I am going to go talk to her."

"Be careful with what you say, she is really confused."

"Yeah I know you said that, I'll be careful, really." AJ said trying to convince Manda.

"All right, goodnight."

"Night, thanks for the help." AJ says as he runs up the stairs.

"Yeah, anytime." Manda says regretfully.

****************

"Hello? Can I come in?" Nick says knocking on Manda's door.

"Yeah, come on in!" She shouts through the door. "Hey!" he smiles as he walks over to where Manda is sitting.

"Hey" she says kissing him on the cheek. "What's up?" she asks.

"Well I was wondering if you would like to go out for dinner tomorrow night. Just the two of us." he said smiling hopefully.

"I would love to Mr. Carter of Orlando." Manda says in a stuffy British accent.

"Thank you Miss Clifford, I shall bring my carriage at 8:00." He says playing along.

"Wonderful Mr. Carter, I shall see you tomorrow then? At 8:00? Oh, and don't be late, I do hate to wait!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well then Mr. Carter it is getting late, I shall be going to bed now."

"OK, goodnight fair lady." Nick says kissing Manda's hand.

"Oh, Mr. Carter! What will everyone think!" Manda says in a shocked voice.

"Who cares." Nick whispers in her ear. "I love you!"

****************

"Meg? Where are you?" AJ asks as he opens the door.

"I'm right here, she says coming out of the bathroom, "What's up?"

"Well I was worried about you, you hadn't been acting like yourself so I asked Manda what was wrong. She told me, and I just want to say that I am OK with Joey liking you as long as he doesn't try anything. He seems like a good guy. I just wish that you would have said something to me."

"I wish I had told you too, but I thought you would get mad, you can get pretty mad. I mean look at what happened yesterday at the coffee shop. I didn't know what to do." Meg says as she sits down on the bed, hoping that was all he knew. "Yeah, your right, but next time just tell me OK." AJ says as he lifts Meg up and hugs her.

"Yeah, sure next time." Meg says smiling.

"God, I love you!" AJ says pulling Meg closer.

"And I love you Mr. McLean." Meg says smiling. She felt so much better, but she still couldn't get Joey off her mind....

****************

The next night at the restaurant......"Two for Carter." Nick says to the waiter.

"Yes, right this way. The waiter leads them to a little table in the corner.

"Is this OK?"

"Yes this will be fine." Nick says to the waiter who gives them two menus.

"Wow, this is a fancy place!" Manda says looking around the restaurant.

"Nothing is too good for you." Nick says smiling. "I'd go anywhere for you!" he says laughing.

"Aww! That's so....cheesy!" Manda says laughing.

"Yeah it was wasn't' it?"

"May I take your order?" the waiter says. As they Nick gives the waiters your orders Manda noticed four people sit down four tables away from her. At first she didn't think anything of it, then she looks again.

"Oh, god!" she says as the waiter leaves.

"What? I did order what you wanted right?" Nick asks grabbing her hand, looking really worried.

"Oh, no you ordered what I wanted but look behind you!" Manda says pointing.

"What? Oh! It's Lance, what is he doing here?" Nick says sounding annoyed.

"I don't know, last I heard he didn't have a girlfriend." Manda says sound confused.

"Wait!" Nick says laughing. "Check out his date!" Manda looks and sees nothing weird about her at first, then she sees it.

"Oh MY GOD!" she say shocked. "She's a blow up doll!" they both start to laugh really hard.

"Oh...we should quite down he might hear us!"

"I think he already knows we're here" Manda says as she looks over at Lance who is pretending to feed the doll, as he puts his arm around it. "I think he is trying to make me jealous!" she says smirking.

"Jealous?! That's a laugh!"

"Yeah!" they both begin to laugh again. When there food arrives Nick asks,

"Isn't that other guy Chris? How did he get a date?" Nick says jokingly.

"Oh, I don't know, he is so scary!" Manda adds. Just then they hear:

"DIE! DIE! EVIL BEING!" they look over to Lance's table just in time to see Chris lift his fork and pop Lance's "date". "BAM!"

"Oh, my god!" Lance says as he runs out of the restaurant. Chris stood there for a minute, then ran out with his date leaving the deflated blow up doll on the chair. Nick and Manda find it too hard to control there laughter so they decide to leave, before they are kicked out.

"I can't believe that happened!" Manda manages to say in the middle of her laughing fit.

"Neither can I!" Nick says slapping his knee. "That was hilarious!"

"Next time maybe Chris will bring a demon for Lance to date, we all know he knows some!" Manda says referring to him shouting "I AM THE DEVIL!".

"He is one scary dude!" Nick says taking Manda by the arm. "May I escort you home?"

"Yes, you may." Manda says smiling, looking deep into Nicks eyes. "Thank you for a lovely night at the theater." Manda says laughing.

"Anytime, maybe next time we can actually eat!"

****************

"Oh, god! Now Manda will really hate me!" Lance says glaring at Chris. "I can't believe you did that!"

"Well..."

"You really need help man!" Lance says as they pull into there drive. They go into the house to find Justin and JC sitting on the couch, they were watching X-Files.

"Hey guys! How did the dinner go?" JC asks looking over to and Justin winking.

"Not good at all! No thanks to Chris!" Lance says shouting.

"Sheesh did he go crazy again?" Justin asks "Man you need help! What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it OK!" Lance says as he walks slowly up the stairs to his room. "My life is over!" He says as he slams the door.

"Maybe we should get Joey to talk to him." JC suggests.

"Yeah, but I don't know where he is, he has been gone all day." Justin said looking worried. "I asked him where he was going this morning and he said "Out". I told him that I could see that, and asks him where "out" he was going, he told me it was none of my business and left. He has been acting real strange lately."

"Yeah, I know what you mean...Ever since that day at the coffee shop." says JC.

"Maybe we should go look for him." Justin says getting up.

"No, he'll come home when he's ready. He'll be fine, he was raised in Brooklyn for crying out loud!" JC says laughing.

"Yeah, your right, hey it's back on!" Justin says pointing to TV.

"God! This is such a good episode!" JC says jumping up and down on the couch like a little girl.

"Oh, I know! Isn't Mulder just the greatest!" Justin says in a girl voice batting his eyes.

"Shut Up! It's starting!" JC says hitting Justin who is laughing really hard now.

"You need help JC." Justin says laughing at JC who just seems to be glued to the screen.

****************

The next morning at the BSB house...."Morning Manda!" Meg says as she walks into the kitchen yawning. "Did you have a good night?" Manda asks winking at Meg.

"Well..." Meg says opening the door. "Oh! Look here!" Meg says as she picks something up from the steps.

"Don't change..!" Manda stops in the middle of her sentence "What is that?" she asks walking over to Meg.

"It's another letter." Meg says with a blank look.

"From.....Joey?" Manda asks looking puzzled.

"Yes, it's his handwriting."

"Read it!" Manda says bouncing excitedly "He writes really good." Meg opens the letter and reads:

Meg-

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while your far away and dreaming. I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure. I don't' want to close my eyes, I don't' want to fall asleep, cause I'd miss you baby and I don't' want to miss a thing.

I miss you can I meet you at the coffee shop? Please say yes, I will be there at noon. Please there, I just need to see you, that's all just to see you.

Love,

Joey Fatone

"He's so romantic!" Manda says sighing. Just then AJ walks in

"Hey what do you have there?" AJ says grabbing the letter from Manda. Manda being smart runs out of the room. AJ reads the letter. He stops and looks at it, then up to Meg.

"How could you lie to me?" AJ asks with tears forming in his eyes.

"Oh God you don't understand!" Meg says trying to touch AJ as he backs away.

"You lied to me!" he says again as he runs out of the kitchen. Meg starts crying and drops to the floor, her back propped up against the wall. Brian comes into the kitchen saying,

"I'm getting your milk hold on!" he screams back out into the dining room. "Meg?" he says in a worried voice.

"Why are you crying?"

"AJ...Joey.......ahhh!....I don't know what to do!" she says between sobs, as she grabs for Brain and hugs him. "It'll be ok" Brian says hugging Meg, "You'll be fine." he adds as he wonders what just happened.

****************

Joey is sitting at the far table in the corner, he has been waiting for 30 minutes. "Oh, god I hope she comes." Joey thinks to himself. Just then he feels someone pull him out of his chair.

"YOU BASTARD!" AJ yells as he punches Joey in the jaw.

"Wait stop what the hell are you doing!" Joey yells trying to get AJ off him.

"YOU STOLE MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"What are you talking about?" Joey says looking confused.

"WHO DO YOU THINK I AM TALKING ABOUT? MEG!" AJ screams throwing Joey to the floor.

"What are you talking about? She's your girlfriend?" Joey asks looking even more confused than before.

"Oh, don't pull that on me, you knew very well that Meg was my girlfriend!" AJ shouts.

"NO I swear I didn't know!" Joey says getting up of the floor.

"That's bull! You stay away from Meg or I'll kill you! I swear to GOD I will kill you!" AJ says as he storms out of the coffee shop, leaving Joey dazed and confused.

****************

Manda walks down the stairs as Howie asks "Is she gonna be OK?"

"I hope so, she's really doing bad. Where's Nick?" Manda asks looking around longingly.

"He's in the backyard" Brian says pointing to Nick in the hammock.

"Thanks" she says as she opens the backdoor and creeps up behind Nick, who seems to be enthralled in his book.

"What ya reading!" Manda shouts causing Nick to drop his book.

"AHHH!" he screams "Don't' do that!"

"What ya gonna do about it?" Manda asks in a playful voice.

"Come here!" Nick says grabbing Manda, causing the hammock to tip. Manda lands directly on top of Nick. "Ooof!" Nick gasps as she lands on his chest.

"Good one!" Manda says laughing.

"I think so!" Nick says pulling Manda closer to him as they kiss softly on the lips.

****************

Later on that night: "Let me in, damn it!" Meg screams pounding on the door of her room.

"NO! not after you lied to me!" AJ screams through the door.

"At least let me in to get some clothes! Meg begged. "NO I never want to see you again! GO AWAY, I can't talk to you right now." AJ says touching the door.

"Please!" Meg begs hitting the door one more time. "I didn't do anything wrong!" she cried. When she heard nothing from the room again she walked slowly downstairs to the couch were she sees Kevin with a pillow and a blanket.

"I thought you might need these." he says placing them on the couch.

"Thank you." Meg says hugging Kevin.

"Goodnight." Kev says with a reassuring smile as he walks to his room.

****************

The next day.....Manda and Brian are in the game room shooting pool. "HA! I win again!" Manda screams.

"You owe me 20 dollars!"

"Hey with 20 dollars you could go out to eat!" Manda turns around to see Nick smiling at the bottom of the stairs. "I thought we could go on a picnic. I already made lunch." Nick says smiling.

"OH, that would be wonderful!" Brian says batting his eyes, "I didn't know you cared!"

"Maybe next time, love muffin, I am taking Manda out today." Nick says smiling.

"OH you cad!" Brian says pretending to faint.

"So shall we?" Nick says holding out his arm.

"Let's" says Manda. They drive up to a secluded picnic area, which is over looking a lake. "This is nice." Manda says looking around happily.

"I thought you would like it." Nick says setting up the picnic.

"Well I do." Manda say to Nick. "It couldn't be better." They eat and then cuddle for the next hour or so until Nick says,

"I have been thinking, I really, really love you. I was wondering if you would be my steady girlfriend."

"Oh!" Manda gasps as she begins to cry. Nick lifts her chin and looks deeply into her eyes.

"I love you!" he says as he pulls her close and kisses her.

****************

"Lance, come on open the door!" Joey says knocking softly on the door. "You have to come out sometime. How about you come out and we all go get something to eat."

"We can go to any place you want." JC says hoping he comes out. They wait about 1 minute and hear nothing.

"We have to do something, he can't stay in there forever! He needs to eat!" Justin says looking worried. "He's been on there for 3 days! He hasn't come out for anything!" "I'll wait another hour and if you don't come out I am going to bust the door down!" Joey says through the door, thinking he would come out. All he heard was silence. "OK, you have an hour!" Joey says walking away.

"I hope he is OK." Joey thinks to himself as he leaves the house. "He's got an hour."

****************

"Do you want to come eat with us?" Brian asks Meg who is sitting on the couch.

"No, I'm not hungry. I'll get something later." Meg says trying her best to smile. "You guys go, have fun. I'll be all right. Really, I will." she says convincing them to leave.

"We'll be back around eight." Howie says as he picks up his jacket.

"You sure you are going to OK?" Kevin asks looking worried.

"Yes! GO! Besides If I need anything Nick and Manda are upstairs, I am OK!" Meg says pushing them out the door, trying not to see AJ sitting in the car.

"Fine! If you need anything..."

"GO!"

"OK, bye." Brian says looking back one more time. When they finally leave she sits down on the couch and starts flipping through channels. She finally finds a show, and gets settled down.

****************

"I take it he didn't come out." Joey says as he walks up the stairs to see JC, Justin and Chris sitting by Lance's door.

"No, we haven't even heard a noise. Nothing, it's almost like he's not even in there!" says Justin getting worked up.

"Well we'll find out in a minute." Joey says as he backs up and kicks the door open. "Lance!" Joey shouts walking into the room. Walking in they see a cluttered room, clothes and sheets of paper all over the floor, but that isn't what bothered them. Lance wasn't in his room.

"Where is he?" JC asks looking in the bathroom.

"He must have jumped out the window." Justin says looking out the open window.

"We have to find him!" Joey says getting ready to leave when they hear,

"Guys! Wait!" it was JC. He ran out of the bathroom holding a note. "It was on the mirror." the note read:

I have gone to get Manda, please don't come after me, I need her and I know she needs me. She just doesn't know it yet!

Lance

"We have to stop him, before he does something stupid!" Joey says running out the door.

"How do we know where he is?" Justin asks running after him. "We don't even know where she lives."

"Yes we do." Joey shouts over his shoulder as he gets into his car. Justin and JC stop at the door and look at each other.

"How does he know!" Justin whispers to JC.

"Are you guys coming?" Joey shouts from the car.

****************

Meg was watching Poltergeist and thought she heard a thump come from upstairs. "Go Manda!" Meg thought as she giggled to herself, but thought nothing of it. A little bit later Meg hears another thump and wonders what is going on. She begins to get worried and decides to go upstairs. "Hey Manda are you all right? Nick?" Meg says as she walks up the stairs slowly. She thinks she hears a voice, but it's muffled. "What the hell?" she thinks and knocks on Manda's door. "Manda are you OK?" she hears another muffled voice and knows for sure something is wrong, she tries to open the door but it won't open. "MANDA!" Meg screams. The door finally opens and she sees Nick unconscious on the floor. She looks to her right and sees Lance. He has Manda by the waist, she has tape around her mouth and she has her hands tied behind her back. Lance has a gun in his hand. "Oh, god Lance what are you doing?" Meg whispers as she looks at the scene before her eyes.

"You shouldn't have come up!" he yelled. "I didn't want to hurt you!" Lance points the gun at Meg and the last thing she hears before she blacks out is the gun going off.

****************

"Oh, I hope we aren't late!" Joey says as he pulls into the driveway. They all run up to the door, which is open all the way. "Hello! Lance! Meg! Anyone!" Joey yells as he runs up the stairs. Walking up them he notices a few drops of blood. "Oh god no!" he thinks as he comes up to a hall. He looks left, he doesn't see anything. He looks right and sees a hand sticking out of a door, he walks slowly towards the hand and peeks into the room to see Meg lying on the floor, blood is pouring out of a hole in her chest. Nick is a few feet away from her by the bed. "GUYS! I FOUND THEM!" Joey screams as he rushes to see if they are alive. He feels for Meg's pulse and gets a weak one, but it still means she's alive!

"THEM?! Them who..." JC stops when he comes to the door and falls to the floor. "Are they alive?" he asks.

"Just barely." he answers "We have to get them to a hospital. Call 911!" Joey says motioning for him to leave, he takes off his jacket and puts it over the wound on her chest. "Please make it Meg!" he says as he begins to cry.

****************

"What is this?" Brian asks as they pull up next to the house. In the drive way they see an 2 ambulances and an unfamiliar car.

"Oh my god!" Kevin says as he jumps out of the car with the others.

"Excuse me you can't go in there." an officer says putting her arms out to block them.

"I live here! My girlfriend is in there!" AJ screams as he breaks the officer's grasp. He runs to the door on time to see the medics taking a gurney out of the house, he runs up to it and sees Nick. He is groggy, but awake.

"Nick! What happened!" AJ screams holding onto the side of the gurney.

"Manda......he took.......gun..." the rest of what he said was mumbled. AJ lets go of the cart as he sees another one come out of the house. Joey is by it, there is blood all over chest and on hands. AJ runs over and pushes him out of the way. He sees Meg lying on the gurney, unconscious, and there is blood all over her.

"Oh god, what happened!" AJ whispers softly trying hard not to cry but he feels the tears coming.

"Sir you can't come, you can't come!" one of the medics say pushing AJ back.

"Come on I have to go! You have to let me!" AJ shouts. Brian and Kevin come up to hold him while, the ambulance doors close.

"We have to follow them AJ, just wait!" Howie says helping Brian and Kev.

"Then let's go! Come on we'll lose them!" AJ says running towards his car.

****************

At the hospital all they could do was wait. Meg had been shot near the heart and the bullet had nicked one of her lungs, she had been in surgery for two hours. Nick was doing better but he had been beaten very badly He had a punctured lung and a broken arm. Soon after they arrived at the hospital he had slipped into a coma. No one knew where Manda was but they had a feeling that Meg and Nick would know. Joey and the rest of NSync were on the other side of the waiting room, they didn't want to intrude on AJ or anyone else, but Joey didn't want to leave. "Hey man! Why are we here?" Justin asked.

"You didn't know them that well did you?"

"Actually, I do." Joey says with his head in his hands. "I know Meg." JC was about to ask how but Chris grabbed his arm and shook his head.

****************

When Manda woke up she didn't know where she was, for a minute she had forgotten what had happened at her house, but then she remembered.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up!" Lance said as he turned off the radio and continued driving. Manda looked over to her left and saw him smiling he drove.

"God, you bastard!" she thought, remembering what he had done to Nick.

"Are you cold? Here I'll turn on the heat." Lance said turning on the heat. "There is that better?" Manda just looked at him with hate in her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes." he said smiling and turned back to the road. "I hope you like the mountains." she looks out the window to see pine trees that seem to be never-ending. She tries to speak but remembers the tape. "Sorry, I can't take that off for a while. There are some houses on this road and I don't want you to get any one's attention. I know you think what I am doing is stupid but you'll understand soon, it's because I love you." Lance says turning to Manda and smiling. She makes a noise and flinches as he says this. They continue to drive down the dirt road until the road seems to just end and Lance turns. "This is my grandpa's cabin, he died two summer's ago so we don't have to worry about him getting in our way." Lance says laughing at his joke. "Well here we are!" Lance says happily "I hope you like it, I always have!" "That makes me love it." Manda thinks to herself as Lance comes around to her side of the truck and opens the door. "Come on now!" Lance says reaching out for Manda. She turns and kicks him in the balls then starts to run for the road. She can hear him start to get up behind her. "I wish you hadn't done that!" he yells as he starts sprinting after her. She is running as fast as she can but trips on a rock and falls.

"DAMN!" she yells in her head, and makes moaning noise. She feels his hands fall onto her back and gives out a grunt. He picks her up by her shirt. "God I wish you hadn't done that!" he yells in her face! "Why can't you just see that I love you!" he shouts. The last thing she sees before the welcoming blackness comes is Lances fist coming down on her head.

****************

"The surgery was a success." The doctor says coming into the waiting room. Everyone lets out a sigh of relief, Brian says a prayer, and AJ starts to cry again, and Joey feels as though he could fly. "She is doing better but we won't know anything for a few more days. I advise you to all go home and get some rest."

"Can we see her?" AJ asks looking up at the doctor with pleading eyes.

"Not yet, but you may go in to see Nick." the doctor says giving them his room number. "You all really should go home, it would do you some good."

"Thank you!" Kevin says shaking the doctors hand. They all go to room 269 where Nick is hanging on to life. When Brian walks in and sees his best friend in the hospital bed he falls to the floor and begins to pray. Howie and Kevin come up behind him and do the same. Joey and the rest of NSync stood by the door with there heads down. Kevin stood up and walked over to them. "I just want to thank you for saving them, that means a lot to us. We just want to know how you knew what was going on." They all sat down and the guys told them about Lance and gave them the note.

"God!" Howie whispered.

"We have to go to the police. We have to find them!" Brian says standing up.

"I'll go with you," Kevin says,

"We'll go with you too!" Justin says getting up.

****************

When Manda woke up her head felt like a wrecking ball had hit it. She tried to move but she was tied, in a sitting position, to a bed. She looked around the room, in front of her there was a small TV, and a coffee table. To her right there was a small table with a lamp on top. To her left there was another table with a tray of food on it. It smelled so good, she hadn't realized how hungry she was and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. Then she heard footsteps coming towards the door, she looked up and saw Lance walk in.

"I bet your hungry." he said walking towards the tray of food. Manda nodded, she didn't mean to, but she was starving. "I will forget what happened yesterday if you say your sorry. So I am going to take of the tape. You can forget about screaming for help because there isn't a soul within 15 miles of here. Ready?" he asked. Manda nodded her head. "OK." he said as he pulled of the tape.

"YOU BASTARD!" Manda screamed at him. Lance laughed.

"OK, I deserve that, but do you want your food or not, say your sorry, for yesterday. Manda looked at Lance then at the food, she didn't want to but she felt she had to. "I...I'm...I am sorry." she managed to say. "That was one of the worst things I have ever had to say." Manda thought to herself.

"That's better, now here you go." Lance said as he picked up a spoonful of food.

"Couldn't you untie me so I could feed myself?" Manda said in the sweetest voice she could manage.

"Oh! Come now, Manda you don't think that I am that stupid now do you!" Lance said smiling. "Now eat up."

****************

Two days later...."He has been at the hospital everyday since Wednesday, he hasn't shaved or taken a shower, I tried to get him to leave but he wouldn't. Brian listened to Denise who was talking to him on the phone. "I understand, I know, I wish you could get out here too. They picked an awful time for a strike didn't they. The police are looking all over the area, they have no clue where Manda and Lance could be. We just hope they find them soon. I better go, I see the doctor going into Meg's room, I'll call you back later." Brian walked over to Meg's room just as the doctor was saying,

"She is doing fine, her wounds are healing and she looks much better. Now all we have to do is wait for her to wake up."

"Thank you!" AJ says getting up and shaking the doctor's hand. When the doctor left AJ was the first to speak. "It's all my fault!"

"What? Why do you say that? Howie asks getting up from his chair.

"This isn't your fault!"

"Yes! It is! If I hadn't gotten so upset and just believed her then she would have been with me that night. We were going to go to dinner, but I had to be a jerk!" AJ said crying.

"No! That's not true, anything could have happened, and if I were you I would have gotten mad at her too. But let's forget about that, none of this is your fault." Kevin said giving AJ a hug. "Are you going to be ok for now?"

"Yeah, thanks man!" AJ said wiping his eyes.

"Excuse me, but Mr. Carter is waking up." a nurse said quickly, motioning for them to follow her. They all ran into Nick's room.

"Hey, buddy!" Brain says smiling as he kneels on the floor next to Nick's bed.

"Excuse us for intruding but we need to ask Nick some questions." said an officer from the door. Everyone filed out, and Brian looked back wishing he could talk to his best friend. A second officer walked in.

"Nick we need to know what happened that night. We need to know everything!" Officer 1 said sitting down next to Nick.

"Well, me and Manda were watching TV in her room, I heard a noise by the window."

"Was the window open?" (Officer 2)

"Yes, it was, I walked over to the window and looked out. Then I saw a fist come flying at me and I fell to the floor. He jumped in."

"Who is he...for the record." (Off. 1)

"He is Lance Bass. He jumped in and started kicking me, Manda tried to stop him but he hit her and she fell down, when she hit the floor I could see a big red mark on her face. He was yelling at me, I don't remember what, but I heard him yelling anyway. I was blacking out, but I remember trying to get away from him, then I blacked out."

"So you don't remember anything else?" (Off. 2)

"No, nothing."

"Well thank you for the information. Are you sure that you don't remember anything else? A name of a place that he was going to take her, anything?"

"No! I wish I did but I didn't hear anything." Nick said getting frustrated.

"Thank you Nick, if you remember anything else call me." he said giving Nick a card. The other guys walked in and started asking him questions, he told them the story again, and AJ told him about Meg.

"Oh, god! I forgot about her, she was downstairs! She's doing better now right?" Nick asked looking frantically at AJ.

"Yes, she is doing better." AJ said doing his best to smile. It hurt to talk about her. He hoped that she would wake up, and soon.

****************

Manda is running, it's dark. All around her the darkness feels thick and heavy. She is getting tired. It's behind her, she can't get away. Her legs begin to ache. She can see the light in the distance, she isn't getting any closer.

"I have to get to the light!" Manda says her voice weary. She falls and screams, she can hear it closing in. She feels strong arms wrap around her and holds tight.

"It's all right Manda." she hears a voice say. Nestling into the body she says,

"Oh, god Nick, it's after me!" Manda says leaning into the body for dear life.

"What! What did you say?" the body jerked back and Manda looks up, it's Lance. Manda gasped. Lance grabbed Manda by her shirt and pulled her up.

"AHH!" Manda screamed in pain as the ropes cut into her wrist.

"You'll be screaming a lot harder if you don't get him out of your mind!" he screamed pulling her closer to his face. Manda nodded mutely, as Lance threw her against the bed. He stormed out of the room and a few minutes later she heard his truck start. She listened until she could hear it no more. Manda shrunk back unto the bed and balled up. She wept wondering if she'd ever get away from him. Manda cried herself to sleep hoping her dreams would comfort her.

****************

The next day when Manda woke up, Lance had not returned. There was still no sign of him at noon, and she was getting hungry. The thought fleetingly crossed her mind that he might have left her here to die. Manda told herself not to think about that, she had to keep her hopes up. If she didn't she might go crazy. Manda feeling hopeless, none the less, fell back asleep.

****************

AJ jerked his head back up, he couldn't fall asleep, Meg might wake up. Howie walked in to see him slumped in the chair next to her bed. "I brought you some coffee," Howie said handing AJ a cup of coffee. "Man, you look terrible!" Howie said looking concerned. "Maybe you should go home and get some..."

"NO!" AJ said straightening up. "I can't go home! I have to be here for Meg. What if she wakes up and I'm not here." AJ said calming down and gripping onto Meg's hand tighter.

"Come on man," Howie says putting his hand on AJ's shoulder. "You stink!" Howie said playfully giving him a small push.

"Gee thanks!" AJ said smiling. "But really, I have to be here, she needs me." he said looking at Meg on the bed. "I have to be here." he adds looking up at Howie who nods and walks out of the room. AJ sank back in his chair and turned on the TV. "Maybe this will keep me up!" he thinks turning to Meg's favorite show.

****************

When Manda woke up it was dark, she guessed it might be 10 or 11 but she wasn't sure. There was a bug flying around the ceiling, it looked like a moth, she watched it for a while. She wished she was that moth, if she was she could fly away and see Nick again. Manda looked out the window and didn't see Lance's truck. "Where could he be?" she asked aloud. Manda felt a sharp pain in her stomach and knew she had to get some food. She hadn't eaten since the night before, she was so hungry. Manda tried to ignore the pain by thinking of Nick. She thought of all the things they had done and all of the things she wished they could have done. "We could have done!" Manda sighed, she missed him, was he dead? She wasn't sure, thinking back she remembered him on the floor. He moved for such a long time! Had Lance killed him? Thinking of that made her cry again, she had to get away from him. Manda sniffed and straightened up, "I am going to get out of here! I am going to see Nick again, I don't care what it takes! I will get away." Manda declared out loud to the moth. The moth didn't answer it just continued to fly around the ceiling. Manda watched the moth until she fell asleep again.

****************

Manda was awakened by the sound of knocking. She turned to the door and saw Lance. He walked towards her, she flinched and tried to back away. "It's OK," he said putting his hand out, "Don't be scared, I...I wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I did this morning." he pulled out his other hand and put some flowers on the table next to her bed. "I thought these would cheer you up!" he grinned as if nothing had happened. "So am I forgiven?" he said sitting on the bed next to Manda. She looked at him for a minute. She knew that if she said no he might go crazy again, she was so hungry! "Am I forgiven?" he repeated looking frustrated.

"Ye....yes." Manda said softly trying not to look him in the eyes.

"Oh, Good!" he said cheerily. "You must be starved!" he said getting up. "I'll go heat you up some chicken." he said walking out of the room, down the hall. Manda tried not to cry again, but felt the tears coming. A few minutes later Lance walked in again. He was holding a tray of food, he began to feed her again. He was looking at her. She hated it when he looked at her, he always looked at her with this look...this look...of love, or at least what she thought was love. That disgusted her. She hated him so much. Manda found herself glaring. "What's wrong? Am I giving you to much?" Lance said putting the fork down.

"No I am OK, I just had something in my eye, it's gone now." Manda managed to spit out. All of the sudden she felt very sleepy. Too sleepy, she swooned and looked at Lance who looked very pleased. "Wha...what did...you put..." Manda managed to say before she passed out.

****************

Manda woke up not knowing how long she had been out, or what day it was. She tries to sit up and is very weak, "It must have been what Lance put in my food." Manda thinks to herself. She doesn't hear anything from downstairs, "God! I wish he would just let me go!" She missed Nick and was worried about him, last time she saw him he was unconscious on the floor of her room. And Meg....she didn't want to think about Meg. Lance had shot her. In the heart! She has to find some way to get untied so she can walk around, find a phone, she doesn't know what she will do if there isn't a phone, but she needs to get away from the cabin.

"Up again I see." Manda looks away from the window to see Lance in the doorway. "I have a present for you!" he says happily. His hand is behind his back and when he pulls it out in front of him, Manda sees a kitten.

"I'm allergic to cat's." Manda says looking right at Lance with hate in her voice.

"Oh...I...I knew that!" he says turning back to go down the hall.

"Wait!" Manda shouts after him. "Do you trust me?" Manda asks smiling as sweetly as she could.

"Of coarse I do." Lance says feeling his heart leap,as he leaped over to the bed, she looked so beautiful, so sweet.

"Then instead of giving me something, how about you untie me?" Manda says warmly. "I would like that very much, these ties are hurting my hands." Lance looked at Manda for a while with a blank look on his face. It seemed like hours before he finally asked.

"Do you love me?" Manda was hoping he wouldn't ask that, she didn't want to say she did, that would be horrible, but she had to. Leaning forward she said happily and very clearly,

"Yes, I do Lance Bass, I really do." Lance once again looked at her with a blank look. He was looking into her eyes and searching for the truth.

"What will you do if I do?" he asked plainly.

"I will want to go outside, I miss nature." she says pointing to the window. "I want to look at the flowers out there, they look so beautiful!" she said smiling but still looking out the window.

"Well....I guess I could..." Lance said then paused, he was looking at her face. She looked so happy, "She wouldn't lie to me, would she?" he asked himself. "What I said the other day must have really affected her!" he thought happily. "Yes, of coarse I will untie you." he says hurrying to her side. Manda's was so happy! She almost exploded! "He is so gullible!" she thought to herself, then laughed aloud. He smiled and helped her out of the bed. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, she tried her best not to, but she flinched. He didn't seem to notice and Manda's heart leapt. He helped her out of bed, and led her downstairs. She was so weak she could barley stand up straight. She quickly looked around to see where the keys to the truck would be. When she didn't see them, she remembered one thing; when he helped her out of the truck, he had left them in the ignition! She prayed that he always did that and decided when they got outside she would make her move. He led her outside and she was so excited that she was laughing aloud, which helped her out, because Lance thought that he had done the right thing. She saw him loosen up a bit, which would help her. When they got by the flowers she looked around quickly to see how far away the truck was, "Oh! YES! It's not far" Manda screamed in her head. It was only about 5 feet away. She needed something to hit him with! She was too weak to kick him or hit him very hard...

"Here they are!" he said proudly, She looked over to the shed and saw a hoe, that would work! "I helped my grams plant them." he turned to look at them and Manda saw her chance. She grabbed the hoe and hit Lance with it as hard as she could. The first time Lance didn't fall, she continued to hit him. Long after he was on the ground Manda stopped, she looked down at him, he was bleeding bad and she thought she might have broken some bones. Manda turned and ran to the truck. She opened the door and looked for the keys. THEY WEREN'T THERE!

"SHIT!" Manda screamed aloud. She looked over to Lance who was unconscious on the floor. She needed to get rid of him so she dragged him upstairs to her "room" and tied him to the bed. She then ran downstairs to look for the keys, she opened every drawer she could see and looked on every counter top there was. She turned the cabin upside-down looking for the keys, she couldn't find them! "I know!" Manda screamed. She ran back up the stairs to the room and looked at Lance. He appeared to still be unconscious, but she walked slowly anyway. She looked in his shirt pocket first, they weren't there. She then looked in one of the pants pockets, they weren't in there either. She paused for a moment to pray and looked in the other pocket...THEY WERE THERE! "YES!" Manda screamed. Lance seemed to be effected by this and began to move. Manda ran out of the house to the truck. Without looking back once. She didn't want to remember this place ever!

****************

"Brian! Kevin! Howie! Everybody! SHE'S WAKING UP!" Joey heard AJ scream from Meg's hospital room. He ran from the coffee machine and was the first one there, he went over to the window so he wouldn't be in the way. A nurse came next them the other guys. The doctor was last. AJ was kneeling by Meg holding her hand, while the doctor asked her questions and looked her over.

"Well, Meg welcome back to us, we've misses you!" the doctor said smiling.

"So, she's...she's all right?" AJ asked.

"Yes she is fine! But she should stay here for another week or so, so she can heal, and we can make sure she's really OK." the doctor said smiling, as AJ loosened up a bit. "Once again gentlemen, we are going to ask you to leave." Officer 1 said coming in to the hospital room. They officers asked Meg questions and she answered them all.

"Thank you ma'am. We will be checking on you later to see if you remember anything." Officer 2 said. Not everyone else was aloud back in at once, she needed her air. AJ was the first one in.

"Hi! We've missed you!" he said with tears in his eyes. "I've missed you!" AJ whispered as he kissed Meg's hand. "How do you feel?" he asked still smiling.

"I'm allright, I guess. It hurts to breathe." Meg said trying her best to not cry, but she began to anyway. "Um, about what happened before..."

"Forget it," AJ said interrupting her. "I understand, you didn't do anything." AJ interrupted. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad, if he likes you, and you don't like him, you should just tell him. He has been here the whole time. He was the one who found you, he seems to really care."

"Maybe I should talk to him then." Meg said as AJ got up and opened the door.

****************

Manda was driving so fast she hoped that she didn't miss the house she had seen on the way up. But she had been driving for a long time! She slowed down and searched through the trees, all she needed to see was smoke, or a road leading somewhere. She just needed to find the house! After what seemed like an eternity she saw a road turning left. "Yes!" Manda said, but softly she didn't want to get to excited then end up finding nothing. She drove down the road about a mile and saw a house peeking through the trees. Manda felt like screaming! She ran as best she could out of the truck towards the house and began knocking on the door as hard as she could while shouting, "Help me! Please somebody! Help!" she was laughing and crying she was so happy to see the house. She heard some one shout

"Hold On!" in a crabby voice.

"Oh, great!" Manda thought to herself, "Just what I need."

"Hello?" someone said through the door. "Yes, um, excuse me I need to use your phone! I was kidnapped and I got away, I need to use your phone to call the police. Please!" Manda begged.

"Hold on." said a curious voice. A tall, skinny woman opened the door, she looked maybe 25 or 26. "Oh, my god!" she gasped. "You look awful! Come in! The phone is over there." she said pointing to a table by the staircase.

"May I ask what day it is?" Manda asked still glowing from getting away and finding the house.

"It's Thursday." she said still staring at her. Manda looked up and found herself staring back at herself, she gasped. Manda was pale and had a giant bruise on her face starting at her forehead ending down the middle of her cheek, covering the entire right side of her face. And she was skinnier, at least she thought she was, that didn't matter now, she had to call the police. She called them and gave the phone to the woman so she could give directions. After all that had happened over the last week Manda was going home!

****************

"Meg?" Joey said walking in and sitting on the floor next to her bed, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did actually. It's about your letters, I think your really sweet," Meg paused to take a breathe, "they were really nice, but."

"But, you are in love with AJ, I know. When he saw you on the gurney at the house, he seemed so panicked and when he looked into your eyes I knew, I should back off." he said doing his best to smile.

"We can still be friends." Meg suggested.

"Yeah, whatever." Joey said as he left the hospital room. Knowing what that meant. Brian, Kev and Howie came in to see her.

"Welcome back!" Brian said, but Meg wasn't listening, Joey had stopped by the window and she could see him standing there. He looked so handsome, so sad....For a minute she asked herself if she had done the right thing, but that question was answered in a second.

"Yes." she said softly out loud.

"What?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, it's good to be back." Meg said, not looking at Joey anymore, she didn't need to, she knew she was home.

****************

The police arrived at the woman's house an 30 minutes later and Manda pointed the police towards the house where Lance was, she couldn't go back there, ever. They found the house and found Lance he was still out when they found him, she hadn't realized how hard she'd hit him but it must have been bad, he had a concussion. But that didn't matter, what mattered was getting home. She had to get home. The Police told her where she was and that it was so close to Orlando that if she had kept driving the truck down the road for another hour she would have been able to see it! The police first brought her down to the station and she tried to call home, no one was there so she paged Nick. Then she remembered what had happened to him and, just to be safe paged Brian too. It was Brian who called back. He was so happy to hear her voice that he forgot to tell her about Nick and Meg, he just said he'd be right over. When Brian saw her, she was sitting in a chair.

"God I am glad your back!" Brian said, looking worried.

"You're just in time too, Meg woke up this morning!" "Wait! Meg is alive! I saw Lance shoot her! She fell down, I thought, she was dead! She's not!"

"Hold On!" Brian said patting Meg on the shoulder. "Yes, she is alive, Nick too, he was unconscious, but he woke up first, on Friday." Manda was so happy she started to cry and she couldn't stop.

"Excuse us, we have to ask you some questions now." a police officer said as he opened a door for her.

"Sir, you can't come in, this will only take a minute." he said with his hand out to Brian.

"Thank you for your time, we just have to ask you some questions." a man at a desk said. "I am Detective Roberts, you can call me Rob." he said smiling. "OK, first, we need to know what happened the night you were kidnapped."

"From the beginning?" Manda asked.

"Yes, we need to know everything."

"Well Nick and I were sitting on my bed watching TV when Nick said he thought he heard something at the window. He got up and walked over to it, the next thing I knew he was on the floor and Lance had crawled into the window. He began to hit him, and kick him over and over again. I tried to stop him and he knocked me down. My head was throbbing and all I could do was watch him hit Nick." Manda paused to take a breathe, she was getting very worked up.

"It's OK, go on, he can't hurt you anymore." Roberts said handing Manda a tissue.

"Thanks, after a while Nick was out cold and Lance walked up to me, he grabbed my hands and tied them to my back, then he taped my mouth shut. The next thing I knew Meg was yelling at me through the door and she busted it open. Lance was holding me and yelled at Meg, I can't remember what because as he was yelling at her he pulled out a gun. I tried to scream but the tape was covering my mouth and the next thing I saw was Meg on the ground bleeding." Manda started to cry hard and Roberts waited for her to stop when she did she went on to tell him about what had happened at the cabin. When she finished Brian was allowed to come in and he went over to Manda.

"You'll be OK." he said trying to calm her down.

"We have to get you to the hospital to check you out." Roberts said.

"Thank you." Manda replied, "Thank you" she repeated as she was escorted to a squad car to go to the hospital. Brian had to follow in his car.

****************

When Manda arrived at the hospital she first went to get checked out. When she was done Brian brought her to Nick's room, when she opened the door she saw Nick asleep on the bed. At first she didn't want to wake him up, but she missed him so much! She walked over to the bed, bent down and gave Nick a kiss. He woke up very surprised and pushed Manda away from him. "What....Oh my god! Manda? Am I dreaming?" Nick said looking at Manda with a shocked look on his face, "Is it really you?" he asked sitting up in bed, never taking his eyes of her. "Please don't tell me I'm dreaming." he added tears forming in his eyes. "You aren't dreaming." Manda said in a shaky voice, she was beginning to cry also. "It's me I'm back!" she said as she took a hold of Nick's hand and looked deeply in his eyes.

"I don't believe this!" he said crying. "How did you get here? Are you all right? You look awful, you aren't sick are you?" Nick said leaning forward.

"No, I am fine. I was just checked out, they said I'll be fine." she choked out, "Please let's not talk about that now." she said moving closer to Nick, "I just want to be with you." she said as he grabbed her and hugged her.

"I never want us to be apart, ever. I love you Manda!" Nick said holding Manda close to him. Nick pushed Manda away from him, then looking deeply into her eyes said, "Manda I love you more than anything in the world." he paused then added, "Will you marry me?"

"YES!" Manda nearly screamed. She grabbed him and kissed him again, "I love you!" she said with tears streaming down her face, "I love you so much!" Manda and Nick sat there on the hospital bed holding each other, until there was a knock at the door.

"Hello, Mr. Carter, it's time to take your shot." Nick let go of Manda and saw the nurse at the door.

"Thank you Amy." Nick said wiping his eyes.

"Who is this?" Amy said smiling at Manda.

"Oh! I'm Manda." she said shaking the nurse's hand as she wiped some tears of her face. "I hope you have been taking good care of Nick for me." she said smiling down at Nick who was looking at the needle with a grimace on his face.

"Oh, we have been taking really good care of him." she said sticking the needle in Nick's arm.

"I still can't get used to these shots!" Nick said looking away from the needle in his arm.

"Well don't worry," Amy said smiling as she put a Charlie Brown band-aid on his arm. "This is your last one." "Yes!" Nick said cheerily grabbing Manda's hand.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Manda said walking towards the door after the nurse.

"What?" Nick asked watching Manda leave his room. Manda came back about a minute later with a wheel chair.

"Let's go visit Meg!" Manda said excitedly as she and Amy helped Nick into the wheel chair. "Brian is the only one who knows I am here! He must be busting trying to hold in the news!" Manda said as she wheeled Nick out into the hall.

****************

"Have you heard any news about Manda yet?" Kevin asked as he walked into Men's room holding two cups of coffee. He handed one to Brian and sat down at the window.

"Yeah, you were at the police station for a long time!" Meg said holding AJ's hand.

"No no news, I just got stuck in traffic." Brian said smiling, trying so hard not to tell everyone about Manda. "Really?" Howie asked smiling from his chair in the far corner.

"Are you not telling us something?" Just then Meg gasped.

"Manda?" she asked as everyone turned there gaze from Meg to the door.

"Oh God!" AJ said as he tightened his grip on Men's hand.

"Manda!" Meg said trying to get up.

"No you don't!" Manda said trying to control her tears, "You can't get up yet." she said kneeling on the floor next to Men's bed.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't save you! You look terrible are you OK? " Meg said crying.

"It wasn't your fault." Manda said with tears on her eyes, "It's no one's fault. We all did everything we could. And I am OK, I was checked out before I came here" she said as she squeezed Men's hand.

"It's good to have you back." Meg said smiling. By this time everyone in the room had gathered around Men's bed. There wasn't a person in the room who wasn't crying. Just then Nick wheeled his way in between Kevin and Manda,

"Me and Manda have an announcement." Nick said grabbing Manda's hand. "Me and Manda are getting married."

"Oh My God!" Meg said as she grabbed Manda and hugged her.

"Wow!" was all Kevin could say as he leaned down and hugged Nick, who was getting pats on the back.

"Congrats!" AJ said smiling at Meg. She was looking at Manda and smiling. "Maybe I should...." AJ thought, "No, not now." he thought turning back to Nick. Meg looked over to AJ, he was looking at Nick,

"Should I ask him?" Meg said thinking for a minute. "No, he doesn't want to get married." she thought turning back to Manda.

****************

Three weeks later at the hospital: "Are you ready?" AJ asked Meg who was getting up, with some help from Kevin and Brian.

"Yes!" Meg said cheerily, "I can't wait to get home!" Manda walked in and said,

"The van is ready."

"Great! Let's go!" AJ said as he wheeled Meg out to Nick's van.

"Oh! Fresh air!" Meg said smiling as she let the sun fall onto her face.

"It's good to see you out of a hospital bed!" AJ said looking at her warmly.

"Hey come on!" Nick yelled from the van. AJ helped lift Meg into van. When they arrived at the house Meg looked out to the window and saw a crowd of people on the lawn.

"What's this?" Meg asked looking over to everyone in the van.

"Surprise!" Brian yelled! "Kevin went over to the side of the opened the door. AJ helped her out and brought her over to a chair.

"Wow! Denise! It's good to see you!" Meg said as AJ's mom Denise walked over to Meg and gave her a hug.

"It's good to see you too." she said smiling. JC, Justin and Chris walked over to her and handed her a present,

"This is from us to you, we thought you'd like it." Justin said smiling.

"Thanks," Meg said looking at the present, she opened it, it was a video...Poltergeist! "What?" Meg asked looking at JC.

"We heard you never got to finish it." JC said smiling.

"Oh!" Meg said laughing as Justin and JC leaned down, Meg kissed them on the cheek. Then out of nowhere Chris said,

"I felt terrible when I heard you hadn't finished the movie! It's the best one ever made!" He said as he jumps up and down pepely.

"Oh, My god!" Meg gasped "You spoke!"

"And it was something normal!" Nick adds squeezing Manda's waist tighter as he hugged her.

"Actually , I am quite normal." he said seriously putting his head up in the air. Every one burst out laughing and Chris blushed. Meg looked up to see Joey looking down at her, he s smiling. She smiled back and she said,

"Hi Joey! I never really got to thank you, for what you did..." Meg stopped not really sure what to say.

"It's all right." he said still smiling. "You have done the same for me. I...I got you something too." Joey said as he pulled a package from his pocket. His eyes alive with anticipation. Meg grabbed it and opened it. It was a gold locket, she turned it over saw writing. The locket said: I'll never close my eyes.

"Thank you." Meg said trying not to cry. Joey bent down and kissed Meg's cheek. She breathed in deeply and smelled him, he smelt so good! When he got up she still had her eyes closed. She couldn't get rid of his smell and kept thinking about his smile. He was so gorgeous! Meg opened her eyes and watched Joey walk over to the food table where JC and Justin were. AJ was looking at Meg, she was staring at Joey! She looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head! AJ's grip on Meg's chair tightened. He closed his eyes for a minute and breathed out hard. When he opened his eyes Meg was still looking at Joey, his back was to her. AJ couldn't take it anymore, Meg was his girlfriend! He pushed Meg's chair forward and charged towards Joey. Meg landed in the grass shocked and confused. She looked over to AJ who was running towards Joey.

"YOU ASS HOLE!" AJ screamed as he jumped onto Joey's back causing them both to fall to the ground. AJ flipped Joey over and began punching him in the face. Joey grabbed AJ's hands and tried to make him stop.

"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted struggling with AJ. AJ got lose from Joey's grip and grabbed his neck. Brain and Kevin were trying to get AJ off of him, but he wouldn't budge. Joey's face was turning red and he was having a hard time moving AJ off of him. AJ kept pushing Brian and Kevin away and when he did it again Meg ran forward and screamed, with tears running down her face,

"Please stop AJ! You're going to kill him!" She grabbed his arm and AJ shook her off, he let his arm off of Joey and swung it at Meg,

"You Bitch!" He swung his arm at her and his fist was tightened. Meg had no time to react. AJ's fist came flying at her and hit her left cheek hard sending her falling back to the ground. AJ had a shocked look on his face and loosened his grip on Joey, who started gasping and coughing for air. JC, Justin, and Chris ran over to him and helped him up. Everyone's eyes were on AJ. Meg was in the grass with her hand to her cheek. Tears were streaming down her face. AJ was so shocked, he didn't know what to say, or do.

"Meg...." he said with his hand out, "I'm so sorry." he began to slowly inch towards her. Meg was crawling backwards and then got up and ran into the house. AJ tried to run after her, but Howie and Nick blocked his way. AJ looked around at the crowd of people surrounding him and with tears in his eyes. He slowly turned to his car and drove away. Manda, who had been standing by Nick, ran into the house after Meg.

"Meg!" she shouted, "Where are you?" Manda ran upstairs to Meg's room. "Meg?" she said as she softly knocked on her door. Manda opened the door and walked in to find Meg lying on her bed. "Meg!" Manda said as she walked over to where she was sitting and hugged her.

"He hit me!" Meg managed to say through her tears. "OH! God! he hit me!"

"Shhh! I know it's going to be all right." Manda said doing her best to comfort her friend.

****************

Joey was in the back seat of Justin's van. They had just been to the hospital, Joey had gotten stitches. Some of AJ's rings had cut his face up. The ride was extremely quite and when they got to their house Joey went straight up to his room. He closed the door and sat down on his bed. He open the door to his night stand and pulled out a crumpled napkin. It was the napkin Meg used to write her number on. He smelled it and remembered the way her hair had fallen onto her face as she bent down to write it. He picked up the phone slowly and dialed the numbers as best as his shaky hands would let him. The phone rang two times and someone picked up.

"Hello." a dreary voice said.

"Hello...I...I'm Joey Fatone, I wanted to see if Meg was all right."

"Oh!" a surprised voice said. "Well...After what happened today she isn't doing to well. Her and Manda have been up in her room since it happened. An hour ago Howie went up there to give them some dinner. She ate some of it, but not all of it." the voice said.

"What.....what about...what about.."

"AJ" the voice asked.

"Yeah him." Joey said tightening his fist.

"No one has heard from him since the...the party." the voice said softly.

"Oh, I just wanted to know if she'd be okay." Joey said feeling a sudden rush of tiredness fall over him.

"Well call back tomorrow and maybe I can tell you more." the voice said.

"OK thanks." Joey said hanging up the phone. He sighed and fell back onto the bed, he fell asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow, dreaming of Meg.

****************

Manda woke up and she was back in the cabin! She tried to get up but her hands and feet were tied down. She screamed for Nick and Lance walked in. He had blood all over his clothes and skin, he was dragging something on the floor. He picked it up and threw it up on the bed. She saw a body of a man, it was bloody and...there was something missing! The body had no head! She looked at Lance who was grinning and he said in a sarcastic voice,

"Oh, wait! I forgot something!" He reached down under the bed and threw something at her face. When she opened her eyes she saw Nick's face staring back at her.

"AHHH!" she screamed as loud as she possibly could. "Manda what is it? Are you okay?" his head said. Manda screamed again and tried to push the head away. "Manda! What is it? It's me Nick! You're home! You're home! You're safe!" Nick screamed shaking Manda.

"Nick? Oh my god! I was so scared!" Manda said grabbing Nick and clutching to him for dear life.

"Shhh! It's okay, I'm here now." Nick said caressing Manda's head. "I'm here!"

****************

Meg woke up with a terrible headache. She walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and the bruise on her face had darkened. She looked like a zombie. Meg washed her face and went downstairs, hoping everyone was still asleep. She walked into the kitchen and found Nick drinking coffee at the table.

"How are you feeling?" Nick said smiling weakly at Meg. He looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep, and he hadn't shaven yet.

"I've been better." she said doing her best to smile. "Why do you look so bad?" Meg asked pouring some coffee into a mug.

"Manda had another nightmare." he said looking into his mug. "She doesn't have as many as she used to, but they really scare her....and me."

"Looks like everyone had a bad night." Manda said glumly as she sat down across from Nick.

"Yeah" Nick said sighing.

"Where is Manda? Is she all right now?" Meg asked with worry in her voice. "She's upstairs taking a shower. She'll be all right, this one wasn't as bad as some of the others." he said putting his head in his hands. Meg got up and walked over to Nick. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, it's okay, come on." Nick grabbed Meg's arm and began to cry. "Shh, it's all right, it's OK." she said as she pulled Nick close to her and hugged him. "Shh." Meg said as she rocked Nick in her arms, beginning to cry herself.

****************

Joey was on the park where he had met Meg. He sat down on one of the swings and closed his eyes. He could see her smile, hear her laugh. He wanted to see her, he needed to see her. Joey opened his eyes and took a deep breathe. He saw two kids playing in a sandbox and began to watch them. Maybe he could go to her house. But it might be to soon! He didn't care! He needed to see her. He wanted to make sure she was all right, he had to know! Joey got off the swing, at first he walked. Then he began to jog. He turned the corner to her house, he could see it looming in the distance! He started running. He leaped up to the steps and rang the doorbell twice, his heart was racing. He heard some one coming towards the door, hoping it would be Meg. The door opened, it wasn't Meg, it was Brian.

"Hello?" Brian said with a puzzled look on his face. "Um...yeah, I wanted to see Meg. If I can, can I?" Joey said gasping for air.

"Well...I don't' know."

"Please! Please Brian! I need to see her!" Joey pleaded. Brian paused then turned around and walked towards the stairs. Joey shifted from eagerly waiting to see Meg, not knowing why he felt he needed to see her so bad. Could it be that he loved her?

****************

Meg was sitting on her bed, the same bed that used to belong to her and AJ. OH! She hated that thought, that awful thought! He used to be so kind, so loving! She looked around the room and saw things that belonged to him and wanted to through them out the window! She wanted to....(knock knock) "Hello!" Meg said.

"May I come in?" it was Brian.

"Yeah, sure." Meg said still on the bed.

"Meg.....um Joey is downstairs...Should I let him in?"

"Tell him I'll be right down." Meg said hesitantly. "Joey? I wonder why he's here." Meg went into her bathroom and brushed her hair. She quickly checked herself out in the mirror, then walked downstairs. Joey was standing was standing by the fireplace with his back turned to Meg. "Hi, Joey."

"Oh! Meg! You scared me!" Joey said turning around. Joey stood there for a few minutes just looking at her. She had a big bruise on her face, it made him want to kill AJ. "It's good to see you." Joey said looking into her eyes, her beautiful green eyes.

"Yeah." Meg said smiling weakly. Joey looked down from Meg's face and saw the locket he had given her.

"I see you like your present." Joey said pointing to the locket that was around her neck.

"Oh, yeah. I like it a lot." she said picking it up and looking at it. There was a few minutes of silence then Meg said, "How are you doing?" she reached up and touched his stitches.

"I hope he didn't hurt you, I'm sorry if he did." Joey reached up and grabbed Meg's hand.

"Don't be, it's not your fault." he said caressing her hand. Meg looked into his brown eyes, and blushed. She averted her eyes quickly from his and pulled her hand away.

"I guess your right. He shouldn't have....have done that. He has a bad temper you know."

"I just wanted to know if you were okay." he said lifting her head up.

"I'll be okay." she said with tears forming in her eyes as she looks back down at her feet.

"I know you will." he said putting his arms around her. Meg cried into him, leaning into his body. It felt so good, so comforting, she never wanted to let him go.

****************

AJ parked his car across the street from his house. He finished off his beer and threw it onto the passenger seat with all the other cans, then opened the door. He fell out, then some how got back to his feet. He staggered to the door and pushed heavily on the doorbell, never letting his finger off of it so there was a constant buzzing. Meg came to the door and opened it.

"Oh, my god! AJ..."

"Hey honey! I'm home!" he slurred as he stumbled towards her with his arms open. He roughly kissed her and squeezed her body into his. Suddenly, his body went limp and fell to the floor. Meg backed away from him and stared at him eyes wide with shock. Joey came in from the bathroom laughing, and said,

"You really have nice wallpaper in...WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE!" Joey heard a noise behind him, and turned to see Howie and Kevin running in from the kitchen.

"I heard a scream!" Kevin said.

"I heard a scream also!" Howie added feeling left out. Joey turned and rushed to Meg's side,

"Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" he asked grabbing her shoulders.

"Yeah...Yeah I'm ok, he didn't hurt me." Meg said lifting her hand to her head.

"How did he get here?" Manda said, walking down the stairs.

"I heard the doorbell and I opened the door....he was just standing there...then he kissed me! He's been drinking!" Meg said getting worked up.

"He kissed you?" Joey asked looking at AJ's limp body.

"We should get him upstairs to the spare room." Kevin said lifting AJ by the feet. "Howie help me!" Kevin said pointing to AJ's head.

****************

The next day when AJ woke up he wasn't sure what happened, all he new was that he was in Manda's old room and that his head was throbbing. The last two days was a blur, he remembers the party...and going to the liquor store and getting beer, but everything after that was blurry. AJ stumbled out of bed and walked over to a mirror. He looked awful! He needed to shave and he had to take a shower really bad. AJ walked out into the hallway, he saw Nick asleep by his door in a chair. "Hey, man, wake up!" AJ said nudging Nick's arm.

"Huh, I...Oh AJ!" Nick said getting up from the chair.

"What's going on?" he asked Nick.

"Well you came over and passed out. Then Meg refused to stay here and got some of her things. She went over to stay with...Well that doesn't matter..."

"Yes! It does! Where is she!" AJ shouted, inching closer to Nick.

"Calm down! I don't think you should know!" Nick said pushing AJ back a little.

"AJ we all think it would be best if you don't know. Last night we all decided that when you wake up that you should get your things and leave." AJ turned around to see Brian and Kevin.

"What? Leave? No! Where's Meg?" AJ screamed.

"Calm down! We can't tell you where she is, you will get angry!" Nick said as Brian slapped him over the head.

"OH! She's with him!" he said. "Fine! I'll get my things! But I'll be back! I'm not letting her go that easy!" he yelled as he pushed Kevin out of the way and ran to his room to get all of his stuff.

****************

Meg woke up on a couch. At first she didn't know where she was, then she remembered. After AJ was brought upstairs Meg said that she didn't want to stay here if AJ was going to be there, so she said that she was going to stay at a hotel. Joey wouldn't have that, he asked her to stay at his place, he said that he wouldn't take no for an answer. She had excepted his offer and gone to his house. When they had gotten to the house he showed her where she was going to sleep. They sat around for a while and watched tv. Then Joey got tired and went to bed. They both didn't realize what they were doing, but it seemed so normal! When Joey got up, he had bent down to kiss her! They both had stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, then they both had started to laugh, and said goodnight. Meg rolled over on the couch and saw the TV. She decided to turn it on, she watched Reggaes and Kathy Lee. She heard a thump thump noise coming from behind her and turned to see JC and Justin running down the stairs.

"Shut up! Mulder and Scully didn't kiss! That wasn't Mulder! And she didn't kiss the guy! You dork!" JC yelled at Justin.

"Yes, it was Mulder! I AM NOT A DORK!" Justin said pushing JC.

"Um, hi guys." Meg said waving from the couch. "Wha...What are you doing here?" JC asked walking slowly down the stairs.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we have about 3 months." she said smiling.

"Oh, OK. Oh god! Your cheek! Does it hurt?" Justin asked coming towards Meg.

"Oh, it did, but it doesn't now." she said putting her hand on her cheek.

"It looks awful!" JC said.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Joey asked walking in from the kitchen. "I made breakfast, anyone who wants food follow me. JC, Justin, and Meg walked into the kitchen.

"Wow, you made all this? You should have woke me up! I would have helped you!" Meg said as Joey pulled her chair back and helped Meg sit down.

"I didn't want to disturb you. You looked too peaceful, too beautiful." he added with a smile. Meg blushed and JC hooted. "Shut up!" Joey said hitting JC with his towel. Meg laughed,

"It's good to be smiling again!" she said eating some scrambled eggs.

"Where's Chris?" Justin asked looking around.

"I don't know."

"I'm write here!" he said as he walked into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't get used to you talking." Meg said laughing.

****************

Two days later: "Hey! It's good to be back home!" Meg said as she walked into the house.

"AHH! You're back!" shouted Kevin, who was running towards her.

"How are you?" she asked hugging him.

"I'm okay. How are you? You look better." he said patting her back.

"Oh, I am better. Being away did me a lot of good. Did AJ get his things? Is he gone?" Meg asked stopping at the stairs and turning to Kevin.

"Yes, he got his things, but he was really mad, Nick accidentally told him where you were. He said he wasn't going to give you up that easily." Kevin said lifting up her suitcase. Meg walked up the stairs thinking about that. What did he mean? What was he going to do? She had never seen him so angry before! She just hoped it wasn't anything bad. When they got to her room, Kevin stopped, well here you are! it might look a little empty, he took his dresser and the chair that was in the corner. A lot of his things are gone. Well actually all of his things are gone." Meg opened the door and walked in, the room had a strange feel to it. It felt very empty and it still felt like AJ should be in there, even though all of his things were gone. "Thanks, Kev." she said kissing his cheek. "I have a lot of work to do!" she thought to herself, "A lot."

****************

Nick walked around the corner of the house and saw Manda sitting in the hammock.

"Hey Manda!" he said sitting down next to her. "Are you okay? Can I do anything to help you?" he asked smiling.

"No! Dork!" Manda said playfully pushing him.

"Well a guy can try can't he!" Nick said putting his hands in the air. "So what are you thinking about?" Nick said as Manda sat up and looked him in the eye.

"I got a call from the police station this morning. Lance was found guilty and he got 8 years."

"Only 8! He should have gotten life!"

"Calm down!" Manda said, "He's still in jail! Now I know he can't hurt me!" she said with tears in her eyes. "He can't hurt me now." Nick grabbed Manda and hugged her.

"That's right! He can't, I would never let him anyway." he added squeezing her. "I love you."

****************

One week later: "Meg!" Meg turned around from her coffee and saw AJ behind her.

"Oh god!" she mumbled. "AJ what are you doing here?" "I want to talk to you and I knew you would be here. Please just talk to me, believe me I won't yell. I have been calming down for the past week, I will listen to you, If you listen to me." he said in a pleading voice.

"Well...."

"Please! Just give me five minutes."

"OK." Meg said regretfully.

"OK, I know I was a big jerk at the party, there is no excuse for that."

"No there isn't!" Meg said almost ready to leave. "Don't interrupt me! You said you'd hear me out! OK, now I want to say that I am sorry. I really am, I am sorry, I didn't mean to hit you." he paused to see if she was still listening, she was. "And I just want another chance. I think I deserve one, I love you! I do! I need to be with you, I don't know what my life would be like without you!"

"AJ...I know you love me, and I love you some where deep down inside, but I can't forget what you did. I don't' know if I can forgive you either." she couldn't look at him but had to, "And I know that you are sorry for what you did, but you can't just walk in and say that you're sorry and have everything turn out happy like a fairy tale. There is more to it than that. You have a temper, and some times you scare me."

"I.."

"Let me finish! What you did at the party scared me more than ever. I think it would be best if we just didn't go out anymore, I can't be with you anymore, I just can't." when she finished she got up and said, "I think you should just think about this, don't say anything, just think about it." Meg turned and walked out of the coffee shop, never looking back.

"Meg you have a message on the machine!" Howie said with anticipation in his voice. Meg walked over to the answering machine and set her back pack down. She pushed number 5 to get her message and heard a voice singing,

"There's a log on the fire and it burns, like me for you! Hey Meg when you get this call me, okay?" Meg giggled and ran upstairs, she closed the door to her room and picked up the phone. She dialed Joey's number and waited excitedly for some one to pick up.

"Hello."

"Hi! JC, it's Meg, can I talk to Joey?"

"Yeah sure! Joey!" JC yelled. "He'll be right here." "Thanks."

"Hello. You can hang up JC." they both waited until he hung up then Joey said, "Hello?"

"Hi, it's me. You wanted me to call you?" she asked trying not to laugh.

"Yes, I was wondering if you would like to get a cup of coffee."

"Well, I don't see why not! Could we do it tomorrow though? I just came from the coffee shop." Meg said worriedly.

"Oh, yeah, sure! That would be fine! I just don't know if I can wait that long to see you!" he said dramatically. "Oh! I think you can!" Meg said laughing.

"OK, then, I'll see you tomorrow, let's say noon?" "Sure that would be great!" Meg said,

"See you tomorrow! Bye." Meg hung up the phone and plopped back down onto her bed. She didn't understand why she was so excited to see him! Maybe she loved him!

"That's silly." she said to herself. Plus it was too soon, didn't she still have to get over AJ? Or was she already over AJ? She didn't miss him anymore, she didn't cry about what happened anymore either. Maybe she was ready to move on.

****************

The next day Manda, Meg and Nick all went to the coffee shop to meet Joey. When they walked in they saw Joey sitting in the famous corner.

"Hey!" Meg said waving to him. They all walked over to Joey and Meg gave him a hug. "I hope you don't mind, but Manda and Nick came along, they really liked the idea of a cup of coffee." Meg said sitting down.

"Oh, no that's fine, I thought after this we could go to a movie, like maybe Apt. Pupil or something."

"Oh! I've wanted to see that for a long time! Is that okay with you two?" Meg asked turning to Nick and Manda.

"Well, I would like to go, but Manda get scared easy."

"No I don't! I want to go!" Manda snapped at Nick, who practically fell out of his chair.

"Whoa! Okay then, we'll go." he said smiling at Joey, who just nodded his head.

"Great! What are you going to get?" Meg said smiling at Joey.

"I don't know what are you going to get?" he said jokingly.

"No really, what are you getting?" she asked hitting him with her menu.

"I think I am just going to get a plain, black coffee, nothing in it, just coffee."

"That is so boring!" Manda said shocked. "Here let me order, I will get there best coffee, then you tell me that black coffee is better!" Manda rambled on about how great coffee was for about 5 minutes. Meg thought she might go in to how coffee was made, but she didn't.

"Well, thanks for all the info, but I think I'll stick to the black coffee."

"Come on!" Manda said pleadingly. "Just try something." She snapped her fingers for the waitress to come. "Hey Nancy, get us 4 of your specials." winking Nancy walked away.

"Can I trust her?" Joey whispered to Meg. Giggling she replied,

"I think so, she's been my friend for 12 years, just try it." 10 minutes later Nancy came back and handed Joey the "special".

"Well, here goes!" he said lifting his cup towards Manda, who's eyes were bright with anticipation.

"Wow! That's pretty good!" Joey said with a shoked look.

"See I told you that she could be trusted." Meg said laughing. When they were done drinking there coffee, they all went to the movie theater and got the tickets. Joey paid for them all, "You didn't have to do that." Meg said, "I'll pay you back."

"No, you don't have to. I wanted to pay." he said holding out his arm for her. Meg took his arm and they walked into the theater. She couldn't help but notice how good he looked in the dark. Meg sat down next to Joey and Manda took a seat next to Meg, Nick of coarse sat down next to Manda. When the movie started Meg leaned back in her chair and got comfortable, Manda rested her head on Nick's shoulder. Joey wasn't even looking at the screen, he couldn't take his eyes of Meg. He was so happy that she was here, with him, that he couldn't pay attention to anything else. Meg getting the feeling that she was being watched turned her head to Joey.

"What?" she asked smiling,

"Nothing, I just couldn't help but notice how nice you looked today." he said putting his hand on Meg's. Meg blushed and grabbed Joey's arm, she put it around her shoulders and cuddled up to him. Joey spent to remainder of the movie in pure bliss.

****************

That night when Meg got home she plopped down onto the couch next to Brian.

"How was your "date"?" he asked laughing to himself. "Well it wasn't really a date, but I had a good time." Meg said smiling happily.

"If it wasn't a date...who paid?" he asked smiling, knowing that Joey paid.

"Well, Joey paid for my ticket...BUT HE PAID FOR NICK AND MANDA'S!" she shouted happily, thinking she won.

"It was a date." he said still knowing he was right, "Did he put his arm around you?" he said defiantly.

"Well...it wasn't a date." Meg said smiling as she sank into the couch.

"He seems really cool." Brian said turning the TV station,

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, nothing I just thought that I should tell you."

"Brian?! What?"

"Nothing! I'm serious! I just thought that I should tell you how I feel about him." he said still smiling. "Whatever! Hey you want a coke?"

****************

"Hey Joey! When did you get home?" Justin asked sitting down next to Joey who was at the computer.

"A long time ago!" he said giving Justin a funny face.

"Where have you been?"

"Here, at the computer." he said pointing to the screen.

"Oh, How's Meg? She doing better?"

"Yeah, I thinks she's fine."

"No I meant her health!" Justin said laughing, "I know you think she's pretty!"

"Shut up man!" Joey said smiling as he pushed Justin. "HEY JOEY YOU HAVE A PHONE CALL!" JC shouted from down the hall.

"Thanks I got it!" Joey shouted back picking up the phone.

"Hello."

"Hey, it's me. I was wondering if you would like to officially go on a date with me." (it was Meg)

"Wasn't today a date?" he asked puzzled.

"Well you never said anything to me, I guess it was." Meg said.

"Okay, well where do you want to go?"

"How about we....I don't know!" Meg said feeling embarrassed.

"I have an idea, I'll pick you up at 7:00, it'll be surprise." he said smiling at Justin, who was making kissy faces.

"Where are you going to take me!" Meg said with frustrated excitement.

"You'll find out tomorrow." he said laughing at her. "Fine, then I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, and before I forget, bring some shoes that you can easily take off."

"What?" Meg asked confused.

"Just do it, you'll see why tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye" Joey said hanging up.

"Aww! That's so cute!" Justin said in a motherly voice. "So, where are you taking her?" he asked seriously.

"If it's a surprise for her, it's a surprise for you." he said getting up.

"Oh come on!" Justin said begging.

"No, you'll find out tomorrow."

****************

Nick and Manda woke up in each others arms. "Morning." Nick said squeezing Manda.

"What time is it?" she asked with her eyes closed. "It's ten."

"Ten! I have to be at the hospital!" Manda said getting up.

"The hospital? Why?" he asked sitting up.

"My therapist moved her office, she is next to the hospital now, sorry, it's easier to remember hospital."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Here I'll drive you." he said getting up.

"No don't do that, it's easier of I just drive, you stay here relax!" Manda said kissing him. "I gotta go!"

"Do you have to?" he asked grabbing her by the waist. "Nick! I have to go!" Manda said kissing him again. "Okay, okay. Hurry back!"

****************

Meg sat by the window waiting anxiously for Joey to come. It was 5 to 7 and she felt like she was going to burst. Finally he pulled into her drive.

"Bye! I don't know when I'll be back!" Meg shouted to the house, as she ran out to meet Joey in his car. She opened the door and got in.

"Hey!" she said smiling.

"Hey, are you ready for some fun?"

"Yeah." she said smiling, "Are you going to tell me where we are going yet."

"You'll find out when we get there." He said as he pulled out of the drive. They drove for about 30 minutes then Meg saw what they were headed for.

"The beach!" she said happily.

"Yup!" he said turning into a parking lot.

"I thought we could eat something then take a walk." Meg smiled as Joey came around the car and opened the door for Meg.

"Thank you." she said smiling as they walked to the beach. "It's so nice out tonight!" Meg said looking up at the stars. Joey laid out a blanket and they sat on it.

"Here." Joey said patting the spot on the blanket next to him. Meg looked at him puzzled and sat down.

"Do you see that star?"

"Yeah," Meg said looking up.

"I am going to name that star after you."

"That is real sweat but, that isn't a star." Meg said trying to not laugh.

"It's not?" He asked looking puzzled into the sky.

"No, it's Pluto!" she said laughing.

"Oh!" Joey and Meg laughed for a bit, then Joey turned on the radio. It was "Don't Want To Miss A Thing". Meg got up and grabbed Joey's hand to pull him up. She smiled and he looked at her neck. She was still wearing his necklace and it was shining in the moonlight. He grabbed her waist and they began to dance, when the song stopped, they didn't. Meg felt to comfortable and at ease she never wanted the night to end, but it had to sometime. After a while they stopped dancing and Joey led her out to take a walk. They walked slowly up and down the beach for hours talking and having a good time. All of the sudden Joey tripped and fell into the water, he was holding Meg's hand and she was pulled into the water with him.

"Ahh!" Meg screamed. "The water is so cold!" she stood up and he was laughing. "What?" she asked looking at herself.

"Nothing, that was just a really funny scream, not to mention you look pretty funny all wet!" Meg splashed some water at him with her foot and he splashed her back.

"Oh!" she gasped. "You jerk!" she said playfully as they began to splash each other. Joey reached out and grabbed Meg by the waist. She screamed and he threw some more water in her face. She was on his lap now and tried to get away, but he held tight. She stopped and asked for a truce.

"What happens if I say no?" he asked splashing her again."

"I'll never speak to you again!" she said in a proper British accent.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to stop." he said as he leaned down and kissed her. Meg was surprised at first, then she wrapped her arms around him and they both enjoyed one of the best kisses in history.

"Wow!" Meg said with her eyes closed.

"Yeah." Joey said looking at her with loving eyes. Joey got up and helped Meg to her feet. They were both extremely wet. "Let's get you home, I don't want you to catch a cold." he said putting his arm around her. They walked slowly back to his car and Joey wrapped the blanket from there picnic around Meg. "Won't you get cold?" Meg asked as Joey shut the door to his side.

"No." he said smiling at her as he started the car. On the way back to Meg's house Joey asked if he could see her again, she said yes. When they got to her house he walked her to the door.

"Thank you for a lovely evening." she said handing him the blanket.

"No you keep it." he said pushing it back to her. "Thanks." she said putting it back around her shoulders.

"I'll call you tomorrow." he said as he leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss.

"You'd better." she said laughing. Joey walked backwards all the way to his car so that he wouldn't have to take his eyes off Meg. She waved as he pulled out. Then she walked in. The house was dark, she quietly walked up to her room and closed the door. She changed and got in bed, thinking the entire time about the kiss Joey and her had shared. It was the best kiss that she had ever experienced! She really liked him, maybe even loved him! She rolled over and fell asleep, her dreams full of Joey.

****************

For the next two weeks Meg and Joey saw each other every day. If they couldn't for any reason they talked on the phone. They grew so close they felt as if they had known each other for years! There love grew with each moment of the day. Each moment spent apart was hell, and each moment together was like heaven. Tonight Meg and Joey decided to just stay at home and watch a movie. They rented Titanic, not watching most of it, they were to busy kissing each other. Joey moved his hand up Meg's skirt. Meg grabbed his hand,

"What if some one walks in."

"Oh, that would be a problem. Come on." he said smiling as he lead her upstairs.

****************

The next morning Meg woke up with Joey's arms around her. She shifted a little and watched him sleep. She leaned over and kissed him, he gasped.

"Hey!" she said smiling.

"Oh! Hi!" he said with a big smile. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "How long have you been up?" he asked. "For about 2 minutes." she said snuggling up close to him. "I love you." she said closing her eyes and breathing in his love.

"I love you too." Joey said smelling her hair. "Meg?" "Yes."

"You'll probably say it's too soon, but," he pulled her into a sitting position and looked into her eyes. "What I am trying to ask is if you'd marry me." Meg looked at him, shocked, not knowing what to say. Her eyes began to tear up, Joey looked at her with anticipation. Meg looked down for a minute, then looked up into his eyes.

"Yes, I will!" she said smiling as she hugged him. "Yes!" she said again louder. Joey started laughing, he was so happy! There laughter echoed through the house causing everyone to wake up.

****************

Joey and Meg went downstairs, hand in hand, after a long shower and walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning!" Joey said cheerily waving to all the dead people at the kitchen table.

"You guys could have just pounded on the walls to wake us up!" JC said holding his head.

"It's 8:30!" Justin said with his eyes closed and his head on the table.

"Why don't you go back to bed?" Meg asked still smiling.

"I tried, we all did. We can't!" JC said dramatically as he plopped his head onto the counter.

"Well you are lucky you didn't!" Joey said squeezing Meg's hand. "We have to tell you all something!"

"What?" said Chris sounding annoyed.

"We're getting married!" Meg practically screamed. The kitchen went silent, JC and Justin picked there headed slowly up from the table and Chris dropped the coffee pot. "Well...." Joey said anxiously.

"Oh, my god!" Chris said grabbing a chair. "You guys, barley know each other!"

"Yes we do!" Meg said looking confused. "We've known each other for months!"

"Whatever man." Chris said getting up. "I guess I'll just be happy for you."

"Thanks." he said as Chris hugged them both. JC and Justin got up and did the same.

"Let's go to my house! I want to tell every one!" Meg said pulling Joey's arm and beaming.

****************

"Hey guys! Guess who's getting married!" Meg shouted as she opened the door to her house, leading Joey by the arm. She walked in and stopped at a halt. Her eyes widened, it was AJ.

"You're what?" Manda got up from the couch. Meg just stood there, it was all she could do. AJ was staring at her, he looked like he was going to explode.

"AJ..." she said. He got up from the couch and pushed past her and Joey. Manda repeated her question, this time Joey spoke.

"We're getting married!"

"Oh my god!" Manda screamed smiling as she hugged Meg who was still in shock. Meg shook off what just happened and tried to enjoy this moment. Brian and Kevin ran in,

"Did some one say there getting married?"

"ME!" Meg screamed as she ran to them and hugged them both.

"Are you sure?" Brian whispered to her.

"Yes Brian, I am positive." she said smiling.

"I'm so happy for you!" Kevin said hugging her. Just then Howie and Nick came in from the kitchen,

"What's going on?" "Meg's getting married!" Manda said running over to Nick and hugging his arm.

"Wow! That's so cool!" he said hugging Meg. For the next hour or so every one talked busily discussing a wedding. When Joey and Meg were finally able to get away from the mob of happy people they decided to go to a jeweler and get Meg a ring. The closest one was within walking distance. They began to walk slowly down the block. Joey and Meg were hand in hand enjoying the wonderful morning.

"I love you!" Joey said squeezing Meg's hand and looking deeply into her eyes. They strolled past the park they first talked at and felt like nothing could tear them apart. They were about to turn the corner to get to the jewler's when Meg heard a gunshot. She jumped and turned to Joey. His face was stuck in a shocked position. He crumpled to the floor, Meg fell down with him,

"Joey!" she screamed. She grabbed him and began rocking him in her arms. She looked down at his chest and saw a hole that was squirting out blood. "Oh Joey!" Meg looked around frantically she didn't see anyone! "HELP ME! SOME ONE PLEASE! HURRY!" she screamed looking back down at Joey. He was looking at Meg, there was so much pain in his eyes and his body was in convulsions. "Oh, Joey!" Meg said pushing the hair out of his face. "I love you! I love you! You're going to make it! HELP!" she yelled again. He was in such pain, he didn't want her to see him like this! He tried to speak, but it was so hard! She was looking around with anguish in her eyes, for help he guessed, it was hard to think with all the pain! She was so beautiful, so smart, she was the best person he ever knew! She didn't deserve this! Not after all that they had been through! He didn't want to die! It wasn't his time yet! MEG! She felt Joey's hand on her cheek. Looking down she saw that he was coughing up blood, "Meg....I...love you." he paused to swallow and said as best he could, "Please...don't forget me....but don't...don't let this stop you're....life. For me!..Please....move on." tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Stop talking like that! You're going to be okay! You're going to be okay!" she said rocking him with tears streaming down her face. He was turning blue and tears were running down his bloody cheeks like a river,

"I love you!" he said again. "I love you!" Meg said kissing his face over and over again. "I need you!" she screamed, "Don't die! You can't die! Not now!" He began to cough up more blood and the hole in his chest squirted more blood with each cough. He was trying so hard to hold on for her, but couldn't! He felt that he was dying and wanted to scream, scream in pain and in hatred! The only person he had ever loved was holding him in her arms, watching him die! She looked into his eyes and new that she would never find any one like him again. "You're going to live!" she whispered. "You're going to live!" She bent down and kissed him one last time. She looked down at him with more love in her eyes than she had ever experienced or ever will experience again. As he took his last breathe, the last glimmer of hope and happiness flooded out of Meg's heart like the blood that was streaming onto the pavement. "Joey!" Meg said caressing his cheek, "Joey!". Meg sat in the street crying, holding her dead lover in her arms. She rocked him and cradled him in her arms, never wanting to let him go and knowing that she never would.