"Breaking Point"

"Oh Raymundo, I love you so much it hurts."

"And I you, my sweet. My loins are throbbing to touch you."

At that last line, Lance cracked up laughing. "Loins? Tammy, I sound so stupid saying that."

"I know, Lance, but it's in the book," she grinned. "You gotta say it." The two were doing an activity that became one of their favorite past times on the long bus rides. One of them would pick a cheesy romance novel, the cheesier the better, and they would have to act out the parts as seriously as possible. It was the seriousness of the two that would make them look so hilarious.

"Okay," Lance giggled. He read aloud from the book, "Raymundo took Ashlara…"

"Ashlara?" Yasmine and Joey asked at the same time.

"Hey," Tammy shrugged, "that's what the book says her name is."

"Anyway," Lance drawled, glaring at Joey, "the book says that Raymundo took Ashlara into his arms and kissed her. But," he continued, looking at Tammy with a grin, "Tammy has already warned me that if I ever kissed her again…"

"You'd get the bow," she said with a smirk, gesturing to her elbow. With that, she swung her elbow swiftly into the palm of her hand with a loud smack, which was less than an inch from Lance's face, causing him to jump noticeably.

"Okay, let's do the scene already," Lance grumbled. He read, "Oh Ashlara, I need you so badly, I honestly think I will die."

"I hope his life insurance is paid in full," Chris cracked.

Tammy replied, "Oh Raymundo, never let me out of your arms." She and Lance were inches away from laughing.

Lance continued to read, "Raymundo grabbed Ashlara by her left leg, drawing it up to his hip." As he did so, Tammy bent her head and upper torso back so far that her body looked like an upside down "U".

"That's it!" Lance said, laughing. "I can't do this anymore."

Tammy straightened up. "Why not?" she giggled.

"'Cause this is the cheesiest one yet. We look idiotic."

"That's the whole point," she shrugged. The entire time, Lance still had her leg. Suddenly, the bus hit a bump in the road and Tammy went flying onto the couch, with Lance falling on top of her. "Eww, get off me!" she said in her Valley girl voice with a laugh. She pushed him off of her and onto the floor. "What the hell are you doing, perv? Like, that is so totally gross!"

"Bet the book didn't see that one coming," JC laughed, high-fiving Yasmine and Joey.

"But we can play this off," Lance said, getting off the floor. In a deep voice he started, "Oh Ashlara, my loins--", then immediately broke into hysterical laughter.

"C'mon Lance, get serious!" Tammy whined.

"Okay," he said, trying again. Looking deeply into Tammy's eyes, he said seriously, "Oh Ashlara, those damn loins--" only to fall out laughing again, this time joined by JC, Joey, Chris, and Yasmine. Justin merely glared at the two and went back to writing in his notebook.

"Would you come on?" Tammy said, trying to hold her laughter in.

"Okay, seriously," Lance replied, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the smile off of his face. He took a deep breath and said, "My fiery lance, I mean… loins…" Tammy immediately started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Fiery lance?" she gasped. "It's loins, not lance."

"I know!" he yelled through his laughter. His face was beet red as he tried to gasp for air. He finally got control of himself and tried again. Sitting on the couch next to her, he looked seriously at her, trying to be sexy, only to fall out laughing again. Falling to the floor with laughter, he said, "I looked so cheesy!"

"How do you know how you looked?" Tammy frowned, trying not to laugh.

"'Cause I just know," he answered. He took another deep breath and said, "Okay, this is it. Ashlara, I love you and I want to have your children…" He immediately started to giggle again.

"What?!" Tammy exclaimed, bursting into laughter along with Lance.

"You guys are never gonna get this," Chris laughed. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he spoke. JC meanwhile was holding his stomach in pain.

"Stop!" he gasped. "I can't take anymore!"

"It wouldn't be this bad if Lance could get serious," Tammy scowled. She started to laugh again while asking, "What the hell are you laughing at, Lance?"

"What are you laughing at?" he challenged, still chuckling. Getting to his feet yet again, Lance leaned in towards Tammy and wrapped his arms around her. "My loins are on fire," he said in a low growl, "and you are the fire that can put them out!"

"Thank the Lord!" Yasmine cheered. "He got it!"

"Oh Raymundo," Tammy whispered, stroking his face with her hand, "that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me."

Justin glanced up at that moment and muttered loud enough for them to hear, "Get a room, why don'tcha?"

Lance sent Justin a quick glare, but Tammy merely ignored him. "Love me, Raymundo," she pleaded.

"Me love you long time," he replied in an Asian accent, a lá 2 Live Crew.

Chris immediately jumped up and sang, "Oh me so horny. Oh oh, me horny. Oh me so horny…"

"Me love you long time!" JC and Joey finished, laughing.

"Hey!" Yasmine said in mock annoyance, "As an Asian American woman, I take offense to that. Besides," she added with a smirk, "You're supposed to pronounce 'horny' as 'herny'. Get the Asian accent correctly, atleast."

Everyone immediately started to laugh. Even Justin had to crack a tiny smile. "Okay, this episode of…" Tammy leaned over and read the title of the book, "…'Breaking Point' is over. Until next time."

"Besides," Joey said, "it looks like we're here."

"Yes!" Tammy screamed, jumping to her feet. "D.C.! Choco-city! Home of the sexiest black men in America!"

"What's wrong with vanilla?" Lance pouted.

"Nothin'," Tammy smirked. "'Cept chocolate is sweeter."

"Tastes better, too," Yasmine chimed in.

"Well you know what they say," JC grinned. "Once you put some cream in your coffee, you don't go back to drinkin' it black." He, Chris, and Lance immediately started to laugh.

Tammy kicked JC in the shin. "You got that line from one of my books! Ass rammer," she grumbled.

"Hey, it works," he shrugged.

Twenty minutes later, they were getting off the bus and walking into the hotel, amongst the screams and yells of many fans. Surprisingly, all of them weren't 'NSync fans; they were Tammy's fans who knew that she was on tour with the guys.

"Tammy!" a girl screamed. "Can I get your autograph?"

Tammy stopped to sign the piece of paper, but the security guard nudged her forward. "There's no time for that," he said curtly.

Tammy saw the girl's face fall and glared at him. "If you don't get yo' thick necked ass away from me, I'ma go Geoffery Dommer on your ass."

"What's that?" he asked, bored.

"That's when I chop your big ass up, put it in my freezer, and come back and kick it later." Everyone within hearing distance began to laugh, including the guys of 'NSync.

"Fine, whatever," the guard said.

Tammy hurriedly signed the piece of paper and walked into the hotel. As she fell into step with Lance, she grinned, "You're a pretty good actor."

"Thanks," he sneezed.

"Damn Lance," Tammy said, concerned. "You're still sick? You weren't sneezing for awhile. I thought you were over it."

"Nope," Lance shook his head. Beads of sweat started to form on his head. "I take a lot of medicine and I've been sleeping, so it's been getting better. It's just not gone yet."

"Don't strain yourself, okay?" she said, throwing an arm around his shoulder.

He smiled, then blew his nose. "I won't."

They got to their rooms and decided on sleeping arrangements. "I have my own room in the presidential," Yasmine grinned, "so if anyone wants a room to themselves, Tammy can bunk with me. If not, then the invitation is still open."

"Can I bunk with you?" Joey asked hopefully.

"No," Yasmine answered without hesitation, causing the group to laugh.

Justin looked up quickly. "Can I bunk with you?" Everyone looked at him in surprise. "We need to talk," he added.

Yasmine looked at Tammy, raising her eyebrows in question. Tammy shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay," Yasmine said, shrugging also. "The couch in the living room usually pulls out into a bed, so you can sleep on that."

"Okay," Justin nodded. With that, the two walked out.

"You haven't talked to him yet, T?" JC asked.

"Nah," she replied. She looked at the rest of the group. "Sleeping arrangements?"

"In other words," Chris drawled, "who gets their own room?"

"Exactly," Tammy nodded. "Rock paper scissors?"

"You got it," Lance said.

Lance wound up getting his own room, which was actually for the best since he was still sick, and everyone else just paired up. Tammy got paired up with JC again, so the two went to unpack. "I'll be glad when you and Justin start speaking again," JC remarked. "It's not fun when someone in the group is fighting."

"Just give it time," Tammy sighed. "I have a lot of stuff on my mind, man."

"Like what?"

Like whether or not I'm gonna survive our next battle, Tammy thought. Outloud she said, "Like how long it's gonna take me to finish this stupid movie. I still need to sit down with you guys and get the story of how it all started. And I don't mean that pre-rehearsed shit y'all kick out to the media."

JC nodded. "Okay. Just give the time and the place."

Tammy nodded and walked out, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be back." She went to the floor above theirs and walked to Yasmine's room. Justin answered after she knocked on the door. "Hey," he said quietly.

Tammy nodded in greeting and walked in. Justin watched her walk into Yasmine's room and sighed. He still didn't know why she was mad at him, and the thought infuriated him. Hell, he thought angrily, I have a right to know why someone is mad at me, what I did wrong. How can I apologize for something I didn't even know I did? Or, he thought, I could ask Lance. But he knew that was useless. Lance wasn't any closer to telling him than Tammy was. A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Justin," Yasmine said, waving her hand in front of his face, "you have to go shower. Tammy wants to go out, and she's gonna try to convince the others to go too. Are you okay?"

Just then, it occurred to him. Lance wouldn't tell him why Tammy was mad, and neither would Tammy, but maybe Yasmine would. "I was thinkin' about Tammy," he said, frowning. "She's still mad at me."

"You mean to tell me you haven't apologized about her necklace yet?" Yasmine asked, rolling her eyes.

"Necklace?" Justin asked. "What necklace?"

"The necklace Tammy always wears around her neck, or should I say, used to wear around her neck. That is," she drawled with a sharp glare, "before you threw her into the Atlantic Ocean, causing her to lose it."

Justin's mouth immediately fell open in shock. He knew the story behind Tammy's necklace; he was the only member of the group that knew, atleast to his knowledge. Tammy told him about it's significance one night while they were laying in their beds. The lights were out and Tammy happened to be playing with it. The moonlight reflected off of one of the cracks in the bullet, creating a strange image on the wall that resembled a snake. Justin couldn't help but ask her why she never took the charm off. Tammy had replied with a sad chuckle that it wasn't a charm, it was a bullet, and the rest of the story came out.

Justin stared at Yasmine, unable to speak. Finally, he managed to force out a few shaky words. "But--" he whispered. "The necklace… it--"

"It what?" Yasmine asked, arching a challenging eyebrow.

"It meant everything to her," he finished. "It can't be gone."

"Well," Yasmine drawled, "it is. How could you not have noticed?"

"She wears it all the time," Justin defended himself. "It just became something that was always there. Something I always expected to be there, like an arm or something. Besides," he added, "it's not like she shows off her neck or anything. She keeps it tucked inside her shirt. How was I supposed to know?"

"Well, now you know," Yasmine scowled. "So what're you gonna do about it?"

"Apologize, I guess," Justin sighed.

"You guess?" Yasmine repeated, her scowl deepening.

"I mean, I am," Justin nodded. "I'll talk to her right now. Let's go," he said, pulling Yasmine out the door.

Once they entered down to the bandmate's suite, Justin saw his groupmates engrossed in a heavy debate with Tammy.

"But I wanna go!" she whined. "C'mon! Stop being such babies!"

"Who sounds like a baby?" JC asked, staring pointedly at Tammy. "Not me."

"Me either," Lance said, wiping his nose yet again.

"Me either," Joey chimed in.

"Me--" Chris started, but Tammy cut him off. "Okay, okay, I get the friggin' point!" she scowled. "But y'all are still actin' stupid."

"What's the problem?" Justin asked, hoping that perhaps Tammy would forget she was mad and answer him. She didn't. As she looked at the floor with a frown, JC answered, "Tammy wants to go to the mall, but Johnny just came down here and told us that because we've been running behind all day, we're gonna have a late rehearsal."

"But that's at eleven," Tammy argued. "It's only eight-thirty now! We have almost three hours to chill."

"I said we should rest," JC told Justin, ignoring Tammy, "but Tammy and Joey wanna go out."

"We have been cooped up on the bus all day," Joey reminded him.

"But think of all the sleep we could catch up on," JC said. He continued, "We're gonna be dead tired after the rehearsal, and then we gotta get up at five."

"C'mon JC," Tammy pouted. "Please?" It was times like that Tammy wished she had Isabella's power to control someone with her eyes. Really, she thought, JC could be such a prude sometimes.

"Yeah," Yasmine nodded, "stop being so responsible all the time. Just get up and go. Trust me, you'll wanna experience the best D.C. has to offer."

"But we won't get anything done!" he complained. "The fans'll be there, and it'll turn into yet another autograph signing." His hands ached just thinking about it.

"No it won't!" Tammy said. "It's almost nine o'clock. All the little chicadees are in bed. Besides, this is D.C., home of the Original Black Man. I can count on one hand how many black 'NSync fans there are."

"Yeah, if your hand had a thousand fingers," Chris remarked, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, why are you making this so difficult?" Tammy asked finally.

"Oh alright already!" JC scowled good naturedly. "We'll go. But if I'm cranky in the morning 'cause I haven't had any sleep…"

"Say no more, Josh-meister," Tammy grinned, yanking him to his feet.

A hour later found them in the mall, walking around. "Tammy," Lance asked worriedly as two girls whispered to each other and pointed at them, "are you sure no one will know who we are?"

Tammy laughed. "Of course not. Look at all these black people. The reason everyone is starin' at y'all is 'cause y'all have on those dark sunglasses and serial killer hats."

At that, the guys took off their hats and sunglasses, looking around warily. Not even two seconds after the act, the same two girls approached them. "Oh my gosh!" one exclaimed. "Y'all are 'NSync!"

Tammy and Yasmine walked off, laughing at the guys as they smiled, shook hands, gave autographs, and took pictures. "No one recognizes us, huh?" Joey asked, glaring at Tammy.

"They don't count," Tammy smirked. "They were white."

"Of course," JC replied, rolling his eyes in annoyance. They decided to split up for awhile, hoping to reduce their chances of being recognized, so Tammy headed off to a department store as everyone else walked off in their own chosen directions. Little did Tammy know, but she was being followed by not one, but two people.

Justin ran up to her and fell into step with her. Tammy rolled her eyes and walked faster. Justin merely increased his pace and caught up with her. "You can't ignore me forever," he stated.

"Try me," she replied, then scowling as she realized that she had broken her vow of silence.

"So now that you realize it's possible to talk to me," Justin said, "you think you wanna grow up a bit and stop ignoring me?"

"Me? Grow up?" Tammy scowled. "Fuck off, Justin. I don't have anything to say." She stopped at a powder and perfume counter, and suddenly became very engrossed in the scents.

God she can be so annoying, Justin thought. Still, he wasn't about to give up. "Well," he announced, "you may not have anything to say to me, but I have something to say to you." Tammy kept spraying the perfumes, determined not to acknowledge his presence. In the distance, two girls stopped in their tracks and stared at Justin, trying to decide whether he was who they thought he was.

"I'm sorry, T," Justin said sincerely. Tammy still didn't respond, so he asked, "Did you hear me, Tammy?" No response. Justin sighed in annoyance, "I'm getting pretty fed up with this game, Tammy!"

At that, Tammy turned to him, her glare deadly. "Game, Justin? You should talk. You play entirely too much. Because of your stupidity, I lost the most valuable thing in my life, yet all you can say is that you tire of me playing?" She jabbed her finger into his chest just as the girls started to approach them. "Well let me clue you in on something Timberdickhead," she growled. "I'm tired of your games. Your silly antics. And I'm definitely tired of you ruining all my clothes, all my jewelry, and all my hairstyles with your uncontrollable addiction to throwing me into some body of water!"

"Is that what this is about, Tammy?" Justin asked incredulously. "Some stupid clothes that I can easily replace?" The fans that wanted an autograph noticed the confrontation between the two and hung back, not wanting to be rude, yet wanting to hear what it was about.

"Do you think that's his girlfriend?" one asked.

"No," the other replied, "that's Tammy, the writer. She's on tour with them 'cause she's doing a movie about them."

Meanwhile, Tammy stared at Justin with a mixture of shock, anger, and pure disbelief at his denseness written all over her face. "No, this is not about some fuckin' clothes, Justin! This is about an important necklace that I lost because of you. And the thing is," she scowled, "is that you can't do a damn thing to get it back. You can't replace it. That's what this is about."

"I said I was sorry," he said, frowning. He crossed his hands over his chest and glared down at her.

Tammy's gaze never wavered as she glared back. "And I'm saying sorry isn't good enough," she replied through clenched teeth.

"What do you want from me, Tammy?" Justin asked, shaking his head in defeat.

"I want you to disappear," she replied seriously. Justin's face went pale as she continued, "I want you to act like you never knew me, never ruined my life. I want you to turn to dust," she finished, turning her back to him.

As the fans decided to approach him, figuring the argument was over once Tammy turned her back, Justin whispered, "You don't mean that." In a louder voice he repeated, "You don't mean that. Tammy, talk to me. I refuse to believe anything you just said to me."

At that, Tammy turned to him and blew a huge handful of powder directly into his face. As Justin coughed and sputtered, blinded temporarily by the powder, she repeated, "Dust," and walked away.

Justin tried to wipe the some of the powder off of his face and leaned against the counter. Just then, he noticed the two fans out of the corner of his eye. Turning around, he smiled half-heartedly. "Wassup?" he asked. "Want an autograph?"

The older of the two stuttered, shaking her head, "No, that's okay. You seem busy."

Justin sighed, and tried to smile wider, gesturing for the two to come closer. "Nah," he drawled. "It's no problem. Besides," he sighed again, "when's the next time you'll see me again?" He signed the sheets of paper the girls extended towards him.

The younger one look deeply into his eyes. "I don't mean to pry, but are you alright?" she asked, concern written all over her face.

"Yeah," he tried to smile. "You know how hard it is to fight with a friend. It kinda hurts," he shrugged.

"She'll get over it," the older one said. Her companion nodded in agreement.

"I hope so," Justin shrugged, turning away. He turned back and waved while walking away. "It was nice meeting y'all," he called.

As Justin left the store, a figure in all black watched him, while standing against a far wall. He observed the entire exchange between Tammy and him, and followed Tammy as she left the store. He saw her walk over to a group of guys and a girl, whom he recognized as Yasmine, and say something to them. They must be her friends, he observed. He decided quickly that that was good information to have. He'd use it against her when needed, he decided. Chuckling softly to himself, he walked off. Killing Tammy and the other Deadly Venoms and finding the child was going to be easier than he thought.