Joey and Lance were doubled over in a rage of laughter at the water spot on Justin's khaki pants when he sat back down in the booth.

"Oh, grow up you guys! You act like you're two years old, it's just water!" He picked up his fork and started mixing it around in his salad while rolling his eyes. "So what did that waitress want from you two?"

Joey eventually stopped laughing and started to explain what Bridget needed help with, but was interrupted when Trey noticed Justin raising the fork to his mouth so he cut them off and spoke loudly. "So, Justin is that a new shirt you're wearing?"

Justin looked down at his plain tee shirt and shrugged, shaking his head. "Nope, I've had this for like three years. Why?"

"Oh... just, uh.... just looks new, that's all."

"Whatever.", he brought the fork to his mouth again.

"JUSTIN!", Trey exclaimed in panic.

Justin took off his sunglasses and looked at his bodyguard strangely. "What?"

"I um, I thought I saw a spider on your shoulder... but, but it was just a shadow. Sorry...", he mumbled, thinking that there was no way out of this one, unless he stole the plate away from him quickly. Yeah, that's what I'll do... that way he won't get hurt... His large brown eyes roamed back over to Justin where he was eating his salad.

It was too late.

Trey rubbed his head in defeat. This was bad... this was going to be an absolute nightmare. Wait a second, was? It already is... He shook his head, and watched Justin carefully, waiting for a reaction to set in. It was only a matter of seconds.

Justin was laughing at something that Joey said, chewing his food carelessly.

"So then the bartender goes 'We don't serve your kind here!' and the mushroom says, 'Why not? I'm a FUNGI!", Joey laughed. "Get it? Fun guy? Fungi?"

The whole table was cracking up at Joey's stupid joke, until Justin suddenly stopped laughing and a confused, pained expression slid over his face. The fork dropped from his hand, and his adam's apple bobbed painfully as he swallowed hard. "Ow...", he whispered, his voice getting all of a sudden very hoarse. He tried clearing his throat but his voice only got worse. His hand tightened around his neck and throat, as if he didn't understand what was happening to him.

Lance finally stopped laughing when he noticed Justin's peculiar behavior. "Justin? .... Are you okay?"

Justin began to shiver uncontrollably, his mouth beginning to swell. His breathing became labored, forcing him to take extremely short breaths, trying to suck all the air he could into his lungs. Every breath he took was more and more painful.

Trey squeezed his eyes shut tightly and sighed. Finally, he stepped up and began to try to make up for the inhumane thing he just did. "Jason, call 911."

"What's happening to him??", the head bodyguard asked in a panic.

"Just get an ambulence here. He needs to go to the hospital.", he almost yelled and turned to Justin when Jason pulled out his cellphone. He grabbed Justin's free arm and slid him to the end of the booth. "Man, calm down. You'll only make it more painful if you freak out."

Justin was almost hysterical. His eyes were the size of cannonballs, wide with fear and panic. He was shivering so much you would think that he was outside rolling around in snow naked. Trey put a hand to his forehead. "You have a fever. Here, put this on.", he gave him his warm jacket and wrapped it around his shoulders. Then he handed him a napkin. "Um, w-wipe your mouth... you're kind of drooling really bad."

Justin touched his mouth where excessive saliva coated his lips. His throat was swelling pretty bad by now and he was growing very nauseas. He tried swallowing again, but it hurt too much so he spit onto his plate. Trey patted his back, cursing himself off. "It's okay, man. The ambulence should be here any minute."

A few tears ran down Justin's frightened face. He was so scared. Never in his life had he felt so much pain. He couldn't talk, his voice was completely inaudible, his throat was swelling under his hand and he was practically foaming at the mouth. He squeezed his eyes together to try to bear the pain, but he keeled over in the unbearable amount of agony he was in. This is it.... I'm dying. I can't die like this.... Oh God....

Lance and Joey watched everything in fear. Their eyes picked up on every little thing that was happening. This was almost unrreal... but see, that was the thing ...

It WAS real.

"Is... is he choking!?", Joey sputtered, his eyes wide in fright.

Trey shook his head and pulled the jacket tighter around Justin's shoulders. "No."

"What's happening? How can he not be choking? He's not even BREATHING RIGHT!", Lance practically screamed.

This time, Trey exploded. "I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT! JUST STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!"

Suddenly, a few paramedics burst through the restaurant doors and ran towards the last booth in a frenzy. A few diners in the building became curious and crept over to where all the action was, a few people staring in shock that the paramedics were tending to Justin Timberlake...as in THE Justin Timberlake.

He was still shaking, his mouth was still watering, and his forehead was crinkled in pain. His condition was only worsening. The young paramedics helped him out to the parking lot where they laid him on a stretcher and wheeled him into the ambulence. The sirens sounded as Jason hopped in the back with him and Lance, Joey and Trey bolted to the limo to get to the hospital.

On the ride there, Jason sat next to the trembling figure of America's leading heartthrob, his own heart feeling Justin's pain. His sad eyes held complete sorrow as he watched this young boy squirm on the padded cot in agony. Justin's sweaty fingers suddenly tugged at Jason's much larger ones, until he finally got the message to him. Jason forced out an encouraging smile and secured his hand around Justin's trying not to visibly flinch when the young star's hand held his so extremely tight that he thought his fingers would turn purple. Justin's breathing was exceptionally short and painful sounding, like his body wouldn't allow any air to get to his lungs and a dribble ran down the shape of his quivering jawbone.

Jason sighed slightly, and closed his eyes. "I wish I knew what was wrong with him..."

(a few hours later)

The room was quiet, almost like there was no inhabitants living there at all. But that was the difference... a tired, ill boy lay on the soft bed sheets, his mind racing, his throat aching, and his heart beating faster and faster each milisecond. The monotone beeping of a machine at the bed's side was the only sound in the room, and that beeping was the reminder of where he was. That and the fact that there were tubes hooked up to his nose to help him breathe.

The door creaked when it opened, causing Justin's eyelids to slowly re-open. He focused in on his mother's soft blonde curls and his four best friends. His free arm reached out for his mom's comforting touch, and when she got closer, he noticed the dark mascara stains running down her cheek. He opened his mouth to tell her not to cry, that he'd be okay... but nothing came out. It was like his voice had been stolen away from him... his most prized possession, just taken right out from under him. After realizing it would be pointless to try to talk, he struggled to give a strong smile and reached his arms up to wrap around her neck. Lynn smiled through her tears and kissed his forehead, running her fingers through his hair. She knew he would fight till the death at this battle, and no matter how hard anyone tried to bring him down, he always came out on top. She had no doubt that this would be different.

The concerts scheduled for the next few days had been cancelled, so that Justin could overcome this sudden "sickness". Police had been called to investigate what had happened at the restaurant, given the known information of the chef's and waitress' names. Everyone prayed that they would find what they were looking for.

When Justin had arrived at the local hospital, they had given him a pain killer, pumped his stomach and hooked up an IV to his arm. At the moment, they were trying to find a strong enough antidote so the healing process would be quicker and he could get himself up on stage in a shorter amount of time.

Justin's head began to spin out of dizziness, so he pulled away from his mother and rested it back down on his pillow, his eyes searching the room for the person he wanted to see.... but knew wouldn't be there. She was half way across the country and why would she fly all the way out here to see her ill boyfriend? A slight smile crossed his wet lips as his mind told him the answer. Because she cares about you... He snapped his fingers to get one of the guys' attention and signaled with his hand for a pen and paper.

Chris looked confused. "What do you want?"

Justin moved his fingers like he was writing something.

Chris' jaw dropped. "You want to sign autographs at a time like THIS?"

Justin rolled his eyes and again moved his hand furiously in an example. JC got the hint and handed him a pad of paper and a pen. Justin wrote in big letters on the paper and finally held it up to his family and friends' faces.

They all leaned in close to see the printed words. "I want to see OLIVIA!"

Olivia paced back and forth in her room, glancing at her watch every five seconds. He said he would call after the show, and it was way past the end of the concert. "Why hasn't he called, Ser!?! He said he would and it's been like three hours!"

Serenity flipped through the booklet of the Home For Christmas album and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe he just didn't get any free time yet. I'm sure he'll call eventually." She turned over on her back and smiled. "You sure got a nice catch here, Liv. This boy is one fine piece of meat... I think I might ditch my Oldies for this group."

Liv grinned and stared at a picture of her and Justin from a party they had went to. "Yeah... he's, he's something all right." She toyed with the key...his key , that was hanging on a chain around her neck and sighed. "But I'm kind of getting worried... he never forgets to call...."

"Livia, I'm sure he's fine...I mean wh--"

The shrill cry of the phone interrupted Serenity's words and she laughed when Olivia practically dove at it. "See, told you he'd call!"

"JUSTIN!? WHAT TOOK YOU SO -- Oh, hi JC."

JC's collected voice calmly told her what had happened and that Justin was in serious condition at the hospital. Olivia's heart almost stopped when his words hit her ear. "I-Is he okay?"

"He's improving a little, but his mouth is still irritated and he's been throwing up a lot....And he can't talk at all, his voice is completely gone. Let's put it this way: It's not a very pretty sight. "

"I...I need to see him.... is, is there a plane that leaves tonight do you know? W-where do I find the listings?"

JC helped her with travel arrangements and as soon as she hung up with him, she pulled out a suitcase and began throwing clothes inside, while dialing the airport with her free hand. Serenity watched in confusion. "Something's not right...."

JC quickened his pace to get back to Justin's hospital room and quietly opened the door in case he was sleeping. When he stepped foot into the room, he was met with two doctors and three police officers. They were talking to Justin's family and friends who were gathered around in the room, and Justin himself who was propped up against pillows, his face pale and eyes bloodshot.

"Well, what happened was..."

Justin snapped his fingers to interrupt the doctor who was speaking and motioned at JC to come over to the bed. JC walked over and looked into his hopeful eyes. "She'll be here by late tonight. Her plane leaves at ten so I'm guessing she'll arrive in Louisiana at around midnight. Which means she could get to the hospital anywhere between one and one-thirty."

Justin's face immediately lit up and a smile actually crept over his swollen lips. JC could only imagine what his expression would be like when Olivia actually walked into this room, and he was almost one hundred percent positive that it would be priceless.

The doctor smiled and resumed talking. "So do we want to know what caused this reaction, Mr. Timberlake?"

Justin nodded slightly, listening intently to the doctor's voice.

"Well, you ingested a poisonous mother-in-law plant called dieffenbachia seguine or otherwise known as dumbcane. The effects of chewing on it are as what you have seen, irritation of the mouth, throat and tongue..."

Chris took it upon himself to jump in on that last comment. "Aw, your tongue Justin. That really sucks, since you find SO much use for that thing." He smirked and wagged his own tongue at Justin.

The doctor cleared her throat and continued. "...labored breathing, excessive salivation, and vomitting. And as you can tell, the main effect of dumbcane is the fact of speech impediment where your voice will become unintelligible or completely lost, hence the name dumbcane. Unfortuantly, that can last up to several days. "

"Is it always an immediate reaction like that? He went into excruciating pain only a few minutes after he ate it.", Lance asked.

"Yes, the reaction is instantaneous and along with everything I said before, it is EXTREMELY painful. The inflammation and the intense pain can last for several days, but we have treated him with a pain killer and an anti-inflammatory which should help reduce some of it."

"How did the plant get into his food is what I want to know.", Lynn asked, crossing her arms over her chest in question.

One of the police officers stepped forward. "We have a team working on that now, but my guess would probably be that someone slipped it into his food while he wasn't looking or he wasn't at the table. We have checked with the restaurant's manager and chef and both of them were as surprised to learn what had happened as we were. However, we DID check the records for the waitress' name... you said it was Bridget?"

Lance and Joey nodded. Justin snapped his fingers and wrote on the pad, giving it to the officer when he finished. "She didn't have a name tag on."

The officer nodded slowly. "That's because there is no Bridget that works there."

"WHAT!?", Joey yelled. "I can't BELIEVE this! She tricked us into --"

"Joey, that's not important.", Lance interrupted him. "So you're saying that she was probably in on whoever did this to Justin...?"

"That's what I'm saying.", he nodded. "Our team has found some evidence in the jacket that Justin was wearing when he got to the hospital and they have taken that to the lab to be tested. We'll definitely let you all know what we find out when we find out." He acknowledged everyone in the room with a nod and headed out with the other two officers behind him.

The doctor also nodded and turned to look at Justin. "Okay, superstar... here's what we're going to do. You are going to rest now, and I'll be back in about two hours to give you another pain killer, because it will come back and hurt even worse if I don't. Since you aren't allowed to be eating or drinking anything tonight, tomorrow you're going to be loaded up on lots of liquids. That will help the healing process a lot. Also, when we release you from this hospital, you are NOT to be singing or dancing for at LEAST one and a half weeks. I'm STRONGLY recommending that you rest for two weeks though. So get some rest now and I'll see you in a few hours."

Justin nodded and closed his eyes. He felt his mother bend down and kiss his cheek softly and he heard her whisper that she'd be back the next day. He heard the guys give him support and encouraging words and he listened as they left the room.

It was quiet again, the beeping of the machine still echoing in his ear, the tubes still feeding him oxygen through his nostrils, the IV still giving him nutrients, and the nausea in his stomach still rolling around, giving him that queasy feeling. Nothing had changed.... except for one small thing. The one small thing that made him smile.

Olivia was coming.

(a few hours later; around midnight)

The door slowly opened, the figure peeking in to see Justin's lank body laying in the bed, the sheets pulled up to his chin. She sighed sadly and crept into the room, walking over to the side of the bed. He was beautiful even with the tubes on his body. She tucked her hair behind her ears and sat down next to the bed, touching his hand.

A few minutes later, his eyelids fluttered open and his hazy eyes focused in on the girl sitting next to his bed, holding his hand.

Her soft, friendly voice broke the silence. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

It wasn't the voice he wanted so desperately to hear. He frowned and shook his head against the pillow. She continued to talk softly. "I got here as soon as I got the message. I had been wondering why you hadn't shown up at my house. How are you feeling?"

He gave her a thumbs down and looked at her through his tired eyes. Her blondish/brown hair fell to her shoulders and her brown eyes held complete sorrow. She was pretty, but she wasn't a knock out... He sighed and closed his eyes for a minute, envisioning the woman he fell in love with not too long ago. The one that he wished would walk through that door right this second, the one that he wished was sitting next to him right now, instead of the person that was.

He opened his eyes again when he felt Britney's hand on his forehead. It was burning up, yet he was shivering a tad. She frowned. "You poor baby... do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

No, not really, Britney. Jesus, where is Olivia?? he thought, watching the clock on the wall impatiently. It was only twelve fifteen. He glanced back at Britney who was already making herself comfortable, so he just shrugged and turned to watch the clock again.

An hour later, Britney still watched him, still holding his hand. He had drifted off into dreamworld not too long ago after staring at the clock until it became a blurred object. He wondered if he could fly home to rest instead of being cooped in a hotel for two weeks. He decided he would and began to think of Olivia, closing off the rest of reality.

Not a minute after, did the door creak open and a lithe body enter the room quietly. Her frantic eyes rested on the beautiful teenager with the huge heart sleeping peacefully in the soft bed... and she smiled. Then, her eyes landed on the girl next to him, watching him with love in her eyes, and her heart stopped beating. Britney. Sitting next to HER boyfriend, leaning over and kissing HER boyfriend's forehead, holding HER boyfriend's hand.

Olivia stood in the shadow of the doorway and felt her world begin to crumble.