"The Omega"
JC stared out over the crowd from the stage and sent them a little grin. There were people of all ages there for the benefit concert for AIDS research. Still, his heart wasn't there completely. It had been a month since Tammy's inevitable death, and he still missed her. The movie producers had received her script and loved it, launching immediately into the task of immortalizing her story on the big screen. When asked if they would like to play the parts of themselves, JC shook his head, remembering something Tammy had once told him. "Nothing annoys me more than a singer who thinks they can act, and an actor who thinks they can sing."
He glanced at Joey and nodded, signaling that he was ready. The five guys immediately launched into one of Tammy's favorite 'NSync songs, "Together Again". As Joey readied himself for his solo, his mind strayed to a time four months ago, when Tammy first came on tour with them.
"What's the problem?" Tammy asked, plopping onto the bed next to Joey, who was laying on his back looking dejected.
"Nothing," he said gruffly, "you wouldn't understand."
"Why wouldn't I?" she pouted playfully. "I'm a writer, it's my job to understand everything. So what's up you're butt? Wait," she grinned, "don't answer that. What's the problem?"
"I'm dumb," he shrugged simply.
"No, you're not," she laughed. "What would make you say such a dumb thing like that?" Catching his look, she backpedaled. "I mean," she said easily, "you're not dumb, but what you said kinda was. What makes you think that you're dumb?"
In response, Joey threw a magazine at her. She skimmed it quickly, then sighed. "So you mean to tell me that you care what these idiots have to say about you?" she asked incredulously. "Joey, it's their job to say stuff like that."
"But they're not the only ones," he complained. "Have you seen what's said about me on some of those humor sites on the Net?"
"Well," she shrugged, "yeah, but most of them don't think you're dumb, they're just copying what someone else once said. Very unoriginal in my opinion. Besides," she continued with a grin, "I doubt that they know that you're the only one out of the group that can read, let alone understand, Shakespeare."
"But I look at myself sometimes, ya know?" he said. "And I think that I look and sound dumb also. I mean, I know I get nervous on camera, but no one else knows, so I look stupid. Then, even when I don't sound stupid on TV, people just automatically see me like that. So maybe I am just dumb."
"And maybe you're not," she glared at him. "Joey," she scolded gently, "you have go to be one of the nicest, happiest people I've ever met. You can only be dumb if you fall into that whole stereotype that people have set for you. You are what you are, and only you can determine that, okay?"
"Okay," Joey grinned, feeling better. "Besides," he said, getting up off the bed, "imagine how cool it's gonna be when I start demonstrating how smart I really am and make everyone else look stupid."
"It's too funny to imagine," Tammy grinned back at him.
"I love ya, T," he thought as the song came to an end. Glancing out onto the audience, he grinned slightly, preparing for the next song.
As they launched into "God Must Have Spent", Lance's mind drifted back to happier times.
"We made it," he panted, looking down into the Grand Canyon. "I can't believe we hiked all the way to the top."
"Yeah," Tammy remarked dryly, barely out of breath, "best ten hours I've ever spent in my life."
"But it's worth it, isn't it?" he asked, sitting on the dirt and taking a swig from his water bottle. "This is just beautiful."
"You nature buff," she teased, sitting next to him. "But I must admit, this is awesome. I love places like this."
"Yeah," Lance leaned back and closed his eyes, "this is what makes life worth living."
"What do you mean?" Tammy wanted to know.
"You know," he said casually, "the whole 'NSync thing. I mean, I love the guys, and I love to sing and all, but I sometimes feel like it's fake, ya know? Like, you get so caught up in the glamour of it all that you forget about the important things in life. The important moments." He glanced at her. "Like these."
"Yeah," she sighed. "I hear ya. This is a wonderful moment. It's definitely goin' into my archives."
Lance stared at her, then sidled a bit closer to her. "I'm glad I'm sharing it with you," he said softly.
Tammy, who was looking out into the wide span of land wondering what in the world could have made a crevice that huge, failed to pick up on Lance's body movement.
"Are you glad that you're with me to see this?" he whispered in her ear.
"Sure," she shrugged. "You're the only one who can appreciate a moment like this, and take advantage of it."
Lance took that as his sign to act on his desire, leaning forward and planting a kiss on her lips. The results were instant, and full of calm threat.
As her hand wrapped tightly around Lance's neck, cutting off the air to his lungs, she said calmly, "That was not cool, Lance. I really don't think you should do that again, okay?"
He nodded rapidly, starting to turn a bit blue. "Are you sorry that you did it?" she smiled, arching an eyebrow and letting him go.
As he drew in ragged breaths and began to return to his normal skin pigment, he sent her a watery grin. "No," he answered mischievously.
"What am I gonna do with you?" she laughed, pulling him to his feet. As they walked around the canyon's edge, she said, "You guys really need to learn where to draw the line between friendship."
"Well," Lance shrugged, "now that I know that you don't feel that way about me, the line has pretty much been drawn already."
"Good point," she grinned. As an afterthought, she added, "I think I'm gonna like being on tour with you guys."
"Miss you, Tam," he sent out a silent thought to her as the song ended. The audience sent a flood of applause once they finished, then cheered loudly as Joe walked out and joined them. The launched into "I Believe In You", during which Chris was haunted with memories of his "fallen angel".
"Go on!" she egged him on excitedly, handing him a thick phone book. "Do it!"
"Why do I have to go first?" he complained good naturedly.
"Because it was your idea," she snickered. She sat back on the floor of the tour bus' lounge area and watched as he flipped through the pages and found a name. "Don't forget to block your cell number," she advised, "some caller ID's have a device where they can trace your call anyway."
"Okay," Chris sighed, dialing the first number he saw. When the woman picked up the phone, he said in a professional sounding voice, "Hello, my name is Hugh Jazz and I am conducting a survey for Nads. What is Nads, you ask? It's a newly formed company that is specializing in a new line of undergarments. For your participation in this survey, you will receive seventy-five dollars. So you'll do it? Great!" He grinned at Tammy, who had covered her mouth to stop the escaping giggles, and asked the first question.
"First," he asked, "what company do you usually by your drawers, I mean, underwear, from? Haynes? Great. Second question, what type of material do you prefer? Cotton? Gotcha. Okay, and what size do you wear? Large. I see…" He gagged, then asked the next question. "How high is the cut of your underwear usually? You say you wear thongs? Oh my…" That was the end of Tammy right there. She buried her head in a pillow and started to laugh as Chris continued.
"How often do you change your underwear ma'am? Whenever it's needed… got it. And finally, do your underwear have skid marks at anytime?" From where Tammy stood, all she could hear was someone yelling into the phone. Chris hung up quickly, then looked at Tammy, a smile threatening to emerge. Finally, the two collapsed into laughter.
"Next number, please," he laughed, picking up the phone. After Tammy read off the ten-digit number, a man picked up. "Hello," Chris said politely, "my name is Hugh Jazz and I am conducting a survey…"
"You were the best," he said, opening his eyes, not even realizing that they were closed. The song had ended, and Joe was walking off the stage waving.
Justin sighed, which carried across the microphone, then blushed a bright red. "This one's for you, Tammy," he thought as they launched into "If Only Through Heaven's Eyes".
"Hey Justin," Tammy asked, dribbling the ball slowly, "have you ever wondered what's gonna happen after 'NSync isn't popular anymore?"
"I dunno," Justin grinned, trying to steal the ball away from her. "I try not to think about it."
"Well, maybe you should," she said, taking a step back and shooting off a three-pointer. It went in easily with a loud swoosh.
"Why do you ask?" Justin wanted to know, taking the ball out and dribbling slowly to the top of the key. "I mean, everything's great now. We're on top. We're number one, ya know?"
"I'm just saying," Tammy defended herself, "that you can't be on top forever. Once you're number one, there's no place to go except down. Besides," she continued, "don't you notice the trend?"
"What trend?" he asked, knowing full well what she was talking about.
"The whole 'boy band' trend," she rolled her eyes. "First it was the Backstreet Boys. They were the number one everything, ya know? But then you guys came out, and they had to really fight to remain at the top. Slowly, but surely though, they faltered a bit and you guys were the heavy favorite. Once the second album came out, you guys were riding high about breaking the record for the highest album sells in a week, but guess what? You guys faltered, too. Backstreet's number three, y'all are number two, and guess who's number one now?"
"Hanson," he sighed. "I know, T. You don't think I lay in bed at night thinking about that?"
"I know you do," she said gently, "I'm just saying that because teens can be so fickle in what they like, you have to be prepared to fly, or crash and burn. Which brings me back to my original question."
"Write music," he answered instantly.
"Huh?" she asked in confusion.
"I wanna write and produce music after all this is over," he shrugged. "I've always loved to sing, but when I got that first taste of production, man, I was just… I dunno, blown away. It was like, this is mine. I created that." He gave her a sheepish grin. "Now I know how parents feel. I felt like it was my baby."
"That's cool," she said, stealing the ball from him and then going up for a lay-up. "Atleast you've been thinking about it. Tell ya what," she added, passing him the ball, "I'll let you co-executive produce with R. Kelly on my next movie. Cool?"
"Yeah," he nodded happily. "That's really gonna give me a whole new perspective on producing. I mean, JC's the resident expert on it, but now, for me to get some experience, and with one the producing geniuses of our era… that's gonna be awesome." Enveloping her in a hug, he sighed, "Thanks, Tam."
"Thanks," he said quietly as the song faded out and the took a bow. He was already hard at work with R. Kelly on the soundtrack, and was learning a lot. R. Kelly, upon seeing a creative spark in him and appreciating his excitement and willingness to learn more, had taken him under his wing regardless of his age and how different Justin was from him. Surprised at the loud cheer all of a sudden, Justin turned to see what the big deal was, then smiled as he saw Gloria Estefan walking onto the stage.
JC gave her a hug, then turned back to his mic as the opening chords of "Music of My Heart" began to play. "My angel… my muse," he thought as he started to sing. The lights in the entire room dimmed to the point where they were almost off, allowing his constant thoughts of Tammy to resurface.
"Dammit!" JC screamed, pounding the piano keys.
Tammy looked up from her laptop and laughed. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"This song," he sighed wearily, "it just doesn't sound right. I'll never get it done by the deadline."
"Well, that's your first problem right there," she shrugged, getting to her feet and walking towards him. "If you sit and worry about a deadline, your writer's block will get worse. The first thing I do when I sit down at a computer to write is say, 'Fuck the deadline'." She watched as JC grinned slightly. "The second thing I do," she continued, "is sit back with my eyes closed and think about what I wanna say."
JC did what she suggested, yet felt nothing at first. In the distance, he could hear Tammy's voice floating to him, "Don't force it, J. Just let it come, ya know?" He placed his hands on the piano keys and started to tap out a beautiful, yet haunting melody.
Tammy reached over quietly and pressed the "record" button on the tape player, then picked up her guitar. She started to strum along with him, until the two instruments blended into one and the song came to life. After a couple of minutes, JC started to sing a song about a girl who was always there for him, ready to pick him up when he had fallen. At the beginning of the chorus, he called her "his angel".
Tammy nearly choked, then missed a key on her guitar. JC opened his eyes and stared at her. "Problem?" he asked.
"Nope," she coughed, trying to play it off, "if anything, the problem has been solved." Gesturing to the tape recorder, she grinned, "Sounds like you've got a helluva song, JC."
"Thanks to my muse," he laughed, giving her a little noogie. "It's so weird," he said thoughtfully, "the entire time I was singing, all I could think about was you."
"What a compliment!" she laughed, hoping she was able to cover up her discomfort. "You never know how right you are about some things, JC."
"And how right I was," he mused as they neared the bridge of the song. As they reached the climax of the song where JC and Gloria had to hold a high note together, the lights in the room raised, and JC was able to see a figure in the front row wearing a stylish hat with a black Armani suit. But it was the shoes that caught his attention. The person was wearing black Timberlands, and JC knew only one person crazy enough to walk out of the house in such an expensive outfit with shoes that absolutely did not match.
The person raised their head, and JC's jaw dropped, disabling him from singing. Justin and the others noted his look, then followed his gaze, then also allowed a micro-second for their shock.
Their amazement then turned to immense happiness, as shown when they continued to sing, this time with huge smiles on their faces and a lot more feeling in their voices, for they were singing to one person and only one person. At the end of the song, they all bowed, and Justin murmured into his mic, "For Tammy", sending her a grin.
JC, on the other hand, leapt off the stage and wrapped her in a big hug. "I missed you," he murmured in her ear. "C'mon!" he said, pulling her towards the entrance to the backstage area. When she got back to their dressing room, the rest of the group whooped and cheered, hugging her immediately.
"I missed you!" Joey yelled, spinning her around.
"We all did," Lance grinned, giving her a hug. "We thought we'd never see you again."
"Yeah," Justin whispered as he closed the door and locked it, "how'd you do it?"
"Do you believe in miracles?" she asked coyly.
"Yeah," he shrugged. "I've experienced a few in my day, thanks to you."
"Well," she snickered, "so do I. And it was a miracle that I suddenly got the idea to go seventh density. We all did, and it saved out lives."
"What's so special about seventh density?" Lance asked, toweling himself off as he stared at Tammy, still unable to believe that she was right there in front of him.
"Well," Tammy explained, "I already explained up to fourth density to you guys, so I'll just say that sixth density is where we send our foes after they die. You could say it's Hell. Fifth density is closed off to everyone. It's where you go after you've achieved perfection. Seventh density... well, that's our equivalent of Heaven, you could say." Smirking a bit, she said, "Where the hell else would five angels go?"
"So where's Yasmine and the rest of them?" Chris wanted to know.
"Outside on your tourbus waiting for y'all," she grinned. "The original plan was for all of us to be on the bus to surprise y'all, but you know how much I love to see you guys perform."
"So what are we waiting for?" Justin jumped up, then ran towards the door. As an afterthought, he turned back to Tammy, "Hey," he asked mischievously, "you think now that me and Isabella have, uh… you know, that she might think about hookin' up wit' JRT?"
"Doubt it," she said seriously, then laughing as he shrugged.
"Do you think that Serena can atleast restore my memory so I can remember the uh… time in Vegas?" he snickered.
"Nope," she shook her head, then laughed some more as Chris and the others ushered him out of the room.
JC stayed behind with her, noting her secretive smile. "Okay, what is it?" he asked. "No more secrets, T."
"Notice anything different about me?" she grinned. JC looked at her closely, then shook his head. "Nothing?" she asked, slightly disappointed.
"Are you pregnant?" he asked with worry.
"No," she rolled her eyes. Lifting up her sleeve, she showed him her tattoo. "Now do you notice anything different?"
"Yeah," he said, staring at it, "it's eyes are closed. What's up with that?"
"It's dead," she answered simply. "As long as it’s eyes are closed, it's powerless, and I can't draw any power from it."
"You mean--?" JC asked, not wanting to speak it aloud.
"Yep," she grinned widely, "I'm normal. No more super powers, no more nothing. I'm just plain old Tammy."
"Powers or not," he shook his head, "you'll never be plain."
She laughed, then shrugged again. "Maybe, maybe not."
"But what about the child?" JC wanted to know.
"What about him?" she asked. "He's safe. There's no need for us as of right now."
He nodded, then picked up his jacket, sending his trademark smile her way. "I'm happy for ya. Let's go before they leave us. Besides, I'm anxious to see Serena and all of them."
"I'm right behind ya, Josh!" she called as he walked out of the room. She looked down at the snake tattoo, smiling knowingly as it opened its eyes and hissed once for old times sake. "Yeah," she repeated, "the child's safe. There's no need for us as of right now. But you never know what can happen in the future." The snake stared accusingly at her, then glanced at the door JC had just exited out of. "I know, I know," she grumbled, answering his unspoken question, "I lied. But what's one little white lie between friends? Besides," she grinned to herself as she exited the room, following JC, who was far in the distance, "I'm an angel, remember?"
The End
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