Gina opened her eyes and groaned. She looked at the clock next to her bed. Whoever is calling me better be prepared to defend themselves, she thought to herself as she picked up the cell phone from the floor.

"Who is it, hun?" a voice called from behind her.

The masculine voice startled her more than the phone. She had forgotten that Justin had barricaded himself in his room and Lance and JC were forced to find other places to sleep. Lance spent the night on Joey and Chris’ couch while JC opted for Gina’s bed.

"I don’t know." She shuddered as the phone rang again. "Let me answer it and I’ll let you know. Hello?"

"Heya, Gina, what’s shakin’, roomie?"

"Your brain if you actually think I was up this early."

Lisa laughed. "Sorry. I was just calling to let you know you’ll be having two visitors in a few hours."

"And who would that be?" Gina’s mind was still filled with sleep and a yawn split her words.

"Me and Tyler. We’re going to be leaving here in about half an hour. That should give us about five hours before we get there, depending on traffic."

"Wait a sec. Today is Saturday, right? I didn’t just sleep through a whole day and skip to Sunday."

"Huh? Today’s Sunday?" JC’s voice floated over her shoulder.

"And who is that in your bed, Gina? I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?"

Gina laughed and knew Lisa’s eyebrows were wiggling her words. "No, it’s just that Justin holed himself up in their room and Jace needed a place to sleep. There are two other people in the room with us."

"But that doesn’t mean that in the middle of the night you two couldn’t have…ya know. Unless he’s a screamer…or you are. That can make it a tad harder. Moaning could kind of wake people up too though…"

"Lisa, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Why? Because it’s helping yours go down there and you don’t know if you can resist the urges to touch that fine man of yours for much longer?"

"Exactly. You know me. I tackle JC every chance I get."

"Ooooh, I like the sound of that." A long arm wrapped around her waist and a moist mouth found her neck.

Lisa’s laughter could be heard over the phone along with kissing noises. A new voice was heard over the phone.

"Come on, Li, we’ve got to get on the road. Traffic’s going to be bad enough as it is. What’s that sound?"

"Your brother kissing Gina and Gina being speechless." Tyler’s following whistle woke Gina out of her daze.

"All right, you two, enough is enough. So we’ll see you this afternoon?"

"Yup. I promise not to ruin your car too much, Gina."

Gina groaned. "Thanks, Tyler. Lisa, you’re driving the whole way I hope. You two have a safe trip. See you later."

Gina hung up the phone and rested her back against JC. JC placed his chin on her shoulder and they laid there for a few minutes before either talked.

"So Lisa and my brother are coming today instead of tomorrow?"

"Yeah. They said they’re leaving now and should be here in about five hours or so. Depends on the traffic." She brought a hand up and covered his hand that laid on her stomach.

"Oh yeah. 95 can be unpredictable and with people coming home from the holiday it can be a nightmare."

"Thanks for reminding me of what I have to go through tomorrow, Jace."

"But I’m worth it, right?" He stuck out his bottom lip and Gina laughed.

"Aww, you’re just so cute." She rolled her eyes sarcastically but he just continued to jut his lip out and the look was rising to his eyes. "Of course you’re worth it. Every damn hair pulling second of it you’re worth. Now don’t go getting a big head on me here."

JC laughed and pulled her closer. "Have I told you yet today that I love you?"

She shook her head against his chest, the friction of her hair and his shirt making a slight sound.

"Well, I do." He pulled her closer and wrapped both arms around her. He took a deep breath of her smell and was going to say something but the sliding of a key into the door stopped him. "I think someone is coming into the room. Shh."

"Okay, but before I shut up I want to say one thing. I love you too."

JC smiled to himself and watched the visitor enter the room and close the door almost noiselessly. Through his narrowed eyes he saw a bandanna and a long figure stop to look at the cot. The figure bent his knees and twirled the occupant’s red hair around their fingers. A soft sigh escaped his emotion taunt lips. JC and Gina laid still watching the young man engross himself in the female he couldn’t help but touch.

Justin sighed as he let go of Nick’s hair. The overwhelming urge to touch her won again and he let his fingers graze her arm. He pulled back slightly when she shifted and swatted at whatever was touching her arm. He watched as she pulled her arm closer and smiled. Justin stood up a minute later when he couldn’t take looking at what he couldn’t have any longer. He was about to turn when he heard her whisper his name. He froze and looked at the figure in the bed. At first her mouth was turned upward in a big smile but that faded as a deep frown made its way onto her face. The frown broke Justin’s heart. He wanted to take that frown off her face, but he also knew that he helped put it there. He glanced at his feet before returning his gaze to the cot and an idea came to him when the smile returned and his name was mumbled again.

JC and Gina watched as Justin walked toward the door but to their surprise walked around the bed and knelt before Gina.

"I know you two are up. Did you two finally say the words?" His second sentence aimed at JC. JC nodded and Justin wanted to laugh, or was it cry he wondered, at the looks of happiness his friends wore. "Good. At least one couple can be happy. Maybe two but we’ll have to see how everything works."

"Only two? What about Jackie and Lance? You are planning on making you and Nick a happy couple, right?" JC’s voice full of confusion. Justin nodded.

"I don’t know but something is telling me something’s up there. We’ll have to see how it all ends up. What happens today will make or break everything." He looked at his hand and sighed.

Gina reached out and ran a finger down Justin’s cheek. "Don’t worry, Just, it’ll all work out. I know it will. What do you want us to tell her when she wakes up?"

Justin rubbed his hands together before running them down his face. "I don’t know. Jace, what are you two doing today?"

"I don’t know. Probably stay in the hotel. Why?"

"Well, do you mind if I borrow Randy this morning?" Justin laughed at his words. "Man, it sounds like they’re our slaves or something. Like we own them and they don’t have minds of their own. So what do you say?"

JC smiled at Justin’s comments. "Go ahead, J. I can see something cooking up in that brain of yours and if whatever it is gets you and Nick together I’m all for it. I’m not going anywhere so I’m not going to need Randy but I suggest you ask him first. Make him feel as if he has some say in it."

"Don’t worry, I will. If that doesn’t work I’ll just tell him you sold him to me for the day. Now just tell Nick to go to security when she wakes up and is ready to go," Justin added quickly as JC was trying to attack but was being held back by Gina’s arms. "You know I love ya’, Gigi. What you see in him, I don’t know, but I’d be glad to set you up with a guy less complicated and not as moody as JC here."

"No thank you, Justin. I think I like where I am, even with all the mood swings I have to put up with. As I told him earlier- he’s worth every second of every day we’re together."

"Damn, you’re so hooked. I’m off. See you later." He disappeared as quietly as he came. A few minutes later Randy’s outraged voice filtered through the hall.

"He did what? He sold me to you for the day? I think I’m going to have a word with Master Chasez."

"Hide me." JC curled his body behind Gina’s laughing one as the door to the room re-opened.

Here we go again. Across the room someone groaned and pulled the covers tighter around herself. She thought about the words the other three had said just minutes before. I think it’s time that he and I actually talk about what’s been happening between us lately.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Gina ran a brush through her hair and smiled. After Randy had finished lecturing JC on how he wasn’t an object JC had left to take a shower in his own room, now that Justin had vacated it. Satisfied with her hair she left the bathroom and threw the brush on her bed. She turned to find Nick searching frantically about the room.

"What happened to my suitcase? I swear I put it right here when I went to bed." The younger female pointed at where she left her belongings.

"I know nothing. I was told to tell you to go to security to find out about it." Gina shrugged and began walking out of the room.

"You know more than you let on. I know you do, Gina. If this has anything to do with the curly-haired bastard of an ex-best friend of mine heads are going to roll. First his and then any of his co-conspirators."

Gina shook her head innocently. "I have no idea where your bag is right now. All I know is that I was told for you to go to security when you wanted to leave. That’s all I really know."

"Liar."

"If you say so." Gina shrugged. "Well, I’m off to have breakfast with JC. Go to security and see what happened with your stuff. Bye, Jack."

A ‘bye’ was mumbled from under the covers on the far bed. Gina laughed and opened the door. She gasped at the sight in front of her. On the other side of the door JC stood there with his hand ready to knock dressed in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt that outlined the muscles in his chest. Since his hand was raised the sleeve of his shirt rode up and the definition of his arm was visible. What completed the look for her were the sandals on his feet and how comfortable this look was on him. Her heart sped up as he analyzed her look and smiled.

"I came to see if you were ready."

"No, you came because you haven’t seen her in about, oh…twenty-five minutes and you couldn’t stand another moment without her," Jackie stated matter-of-factly from her sitting position on her bed.

"Aww, come on, Jackie, I was trying not to sound pathetic here. Trying to show some strength."

"Well, you are showing some strength and I’m surprised," Nick joined in the teasing. "You haven’t touched Gina yet. This must be a record for you."

Gina smiled. "Har har, you guys. Very funny. What do you say we leave these two and go have some breakfast."

"Great idea. I had some sent up to my room. This way, my lady." JC held out his arm and waved down the hall to his room.

"Hey, Nick, did you notice how some tension was relieved when Gina took his arm?"

"Yeah," the younger female agreed, "and can you guess how much more she can relieve him after they spend time alone together. I’m sure that Justin and Lance would appreciate you staying on JC’s bed for that part."

"Bye, guys," JC called out as he closed the door behind them. "Your friends certainly have dirty minds."

"And yours don’t?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

He laughed and opened his door. "Okay, so all of our friends have sex on the mind constantly. But enough about them. Today’s about you and me, at least until Tyler and Lisa get here, so let’s just enjoy this time alone."

"Ooh, I like the sound of that. We never get time alone." Gina saw the table in the center of the room. "Oh my gosh, you ordered me a waffle with fruit on it. You are the best boyfriend." She kissed his cheek. "I never get waffles at school. Oh how I love you."

"Love ya too. Here you go." He pulled out her chair and handed her a napkin. He sat in his chair and saw her reach for a covered plate. "Uh-uh, that’s for later."

"And I’m guessing you’re not going to tell me what’s in there."

"Correct. Now just enjoy your breakfast and we’ll get to the fun stuff later."

"Fun stuff?"

"Eat first, then you’ll find out." JC gave her a crooked smile and cut into his pancakes without another word.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

"So, Jay, do you have any idea where my bag is?" Nick sat on her cot. "Gina was no help."

Jackie shrugged. "I’m not really sure. I know Justin was in here earlier and took it but where it went from there I have no clue."

"Justin was in here? What did he say? What did he do?" Her eyes glowed with curiosity.

"Why would you care? You walked out of his life last night."

"But… Argh!" Nick sighed as she laid on her bed. Jackie sat beside her friend.

"Nick, I know you still have pretty deep feelings towards Justin. I know you don’t want him out of your life and by coming in here this morning and looking at you the way he did he doesn’t want you out of his either."

"I know, but I just can’t live like this anymore. I do love him as the friend he is but-"

"You also love him deeper and you want him to express it clearly that he wants the same before you take the plunge."

"You sound like I’m getting ready to get married, but, yeah, I want a definite from him before I’ll accept him deeper into my heart."

"Nick, if he goes any deeper he’ll start traveling through your arteries and veins."

"What a pleasant thought." Nick scrunched her nose in disgust and Jackie hit her arm.

"You know what I mean. You are completely in love with him."

"Okay, so I am, but that has nothing to do with the way he discarded me last night."

"Discarded? He’s not the one who ended the relationship last night."

"But we weren’t in a relationship," Nick interrupted.

"A friendship is a kind of relationship. I like to think the two of you were starting a different, deeper, kind of relationship before last night happened."

"But last night did happen. If he does feel the same about me why didn’t he kiss me?"

"There’s only one way to find out, Nick." Jackie stood and stretched.

"Umm, have one of you guys find out and tell me what he says?"

Jackie shook her head.

"How about I go home and see if he calls to tell me about it?"

"There’s a couple of things wrong with that one. The main one being he could think you really did want to end whatever you two have and might never call."

"So he’ll just forget about me then."

"Nick, Nick, you’re so young and naïve. He’ll never forget you and you’ll both be miserable wondering what could happen. Now that those options are gone what do you think you’re going to do now?"

"Well, if you’ll let me borrow a shirt I’ll take a shower and then head to security to find out where my stuff is, but I’ll bet anything Justin has it wherever he is."

"You’re learning." Jackie rummaged through her bag and pulled out a shirt. "Here you go. Now hurry and go make things right between you and Justin before you both die from the stress you’ve put yourselves under about this."

Nick saluted the older woman before grabbing the shirt and took a quick shower using the toiletries provided by the hotel. She got dressed and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She wished she had her belongings so she could fix her hair a bit or at least wear all her own clothes. She sighed when she realized she had done all she could do and walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey, Jay, do I look okay?" She checked herself in the room mirror.

"You look fine. It’s not like he cares how you look. He’s seen you in all forms of disarray."

Nick sighed and turned from the mirror. "You’re right. He’s seen me right after I wake up, while I’m bawling my eyes out and more times when my looks have been the last thing on my mind."

"That’s the spirit. Now go get ‘em tiger."

"Thanks. But can I make him suffer a bit before I let him win?"

"Do whatever you want, Nick, but I really think the two of you have suffered enough through this whole ordeal. Just go and see what he has to say-"

"Not like I’m going to have a choice. He does have my suitcase."

"All right. You may not have that much of a choice but since you’re there listen to what he has to say. Don’t play with him anymore. Let him speak and then do some speaking of your own. You two might awaken yourselves to something you never thought possible."

"Okay, this conversation is getting a bit deep for," Nick looked at the clock, "a little after ten in the morning."

"You’re right. I think my brain might start hurting if I keep talking like this. So are you ready for this?"

Nick nodded. "The most ready I can be. Wish me luck."

With that she left the hotel room and slowly walked to the room that was made into a security headquarters. She knocked on the door and patiently waited for the door to be opened. After hearing a low ‘come in’ she opened the door and smiled at the five large men in the room.

"Hi everyone. I was told that if I wanted to retrieve my belongings that I have to come here. You guys don’t happen to have my suitcase do you?" she asked hopefully, not wanting to have the conversation she and Justin were likely to have if they were to see each other.

"Nope. By that look of disappointment I can see you were wishing we did," Lonnie started. "Well, we wish we did to, but the kid had plans of his own."

"What do you mean we, Lon, you’re not the one who has to go along with what he wants to do. I am."

Nick looked at the man sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. "So Justin has recruited you for this, Randy? I thought I’d be with Mike."

"What? My company not good enough for you, Miss Nick?" Randy held up a hand in mock hurt.

She smiled and walked over to hug him.

"Aww, you know I love you, Randy."

"But not as much as the kid, I know." He pretended to ignore her look of shock. "Now let’s get the show on the road. I’ll meet you back here in about five, ten minutes so you can say good-bye to everyone just in case you don’t come back later." He watched the young female leave the room before picking up his cell phone and dialing a familiar number. "Hey, Mike, it’s me. Yeah, we’re leaving in about ten minutes or so. Yeah, I know what to do. The things we do for these guys. See you later."

He hung up and shook his head. He loved the guys like family but he still couldn’t believe what they could talk him into doing. Even helping in straightening out their love lives.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

"Damn, boy, you sure know how to treat a girl right," Gina got out as she ate the rest of the fruit on her plate.

JC shot her a delighted smile. "I aim to please, especially you, my senorita." He shuffled the last bit of egg onto a piece of pancake and moaned at the taste of the food. "Man, this hotel makes like the best breakfast of all the hotels we’ve stayed at."

"Now that’s saying a lot."

"Yeah, but you have some experience under your belt too. Unless you forgot about the four months you were on tour with us this summer."

"And how do you suppose I can forget about something like that? Do you really want me to forget about how we got together?" She arched her eyebrows at him.

"No," he agreed, "but I would like to forget about some of the stupid fights we had. Some of them were just awful and we just had some of them to irk each other. But I wouldn’t mind remembering that last day you were with us."

Gina smiled at the memory. "That’s because we had stopped fighting and had admitted our feelings. Do you know how much easier being with you was since I knew you were ‘sleepygoof?’ That you two were one in the same?"

JC sighed contentedly and stood up. "I know. The whole thing was weird but us being who we were helped a great deal. I knew ‘senorita78’ was an amazing person who I was attracted to, but not knowing her physically always hindered something. Then finding out you were her just blew me away. I think that’s when I really got scared."

"How so?" Gina watched as he stacked their plates.

"Well, I had all these people telling me we were meant to be and when I found out you were the person who I guess I was kind of falling for on-line that just stunned me beyond belief and I pushed you away more. Even though my mind was starting to compare the two of you and making it clear that you two could possibly be the same person and that…that I was falling for Gina Gacona too, not just ‘senorita78.’"

Gina stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. "And it scared the hell out of me that Josh Chasez was the same person I had met on-line and that I really did care about him, no matter how much I tried to not let it happen. I knew I couldn’t live without our conversations we had. That last week we were in Orlando I buried myself into Chris’ page so I couldn’t think about it, but everywhere I turned there you were."

JC grabbed her hand. "For some reason I found myself wanting to be near you and the first words out of my mouth were always fighting words. It’s like I had no control over what I was doing. Every chance I had I found myself outside that office door and a bitter taste of pride in my mouth."

"And I replied with my pride in my mouth and harsh words of my own spitting out. We really were a pair, weren’t we?"

"The best," JC leaned down and placed a soft peck on Gina’s forehead, "and we still are."

"I’ll drink to that." She handed him his drink before picking up hers. "To the improbable way we let ourselves overrule our heads and let our hearts find each other."

JC clinked glasses with her and hooked his arm through hers before taking a sip. Gina stared at him for a second before following his example. She looked out of the corner of her eye and found a challenge in his. With a small smile she accepted his challenge and they both continued to drink their juice with their arms linked until both glasses were empty. They put their glasses down and JC grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips.

"My, my, Mr. Chasez, you’re full of surprise aren’t you?"

"Always for you, my darling." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Now onto the fun part about food."

He reached to the covered plate and grabbed the knob on top of the silver cover. He was just about to pull it up when a knock was heard on the door.

"Go away," Gina yelled at the person on the other side of the door and JC bit back a laugh.

"It’s me. Nick. I’m going now and I don’t know if I’ll be back."

"We can’t not say bye to our friend now, can we?" JC walked over to the door an opened it. "Come on in, Nick."

"I’m not interrupting anything, am I?" she asked after seeing the ire on Gina’s face.

"No, not at all. We were just finishing up breakfast. Come on in. So you’re leaving now?"

She leaned against the dresser. "Yeah, I’m off to find my luggage, which I’ve been told was stolen by Justin. I knew you were lying." She shot an accusing look at Gina who just shrugged.

"You asked me if I knew where your suitcase was at that time, which I didn’t. I just knew that Justin carried it out of here. What he did with it after that I have no clue."

"Whatever. Well, I’m going to get going and I’m betting that wherever I’m going Justin is going to be there. That’s going to be interesting. That boy never listens to anything I say."

"I think he might this time, Nick, and I think you’ll be glad he didn’t listen to you last night when you wanted to end your friendship." JC reached out and hugged the shorter female. "Just make sure you listen to him, too. It’s a two way street."

"You guys heard what I said last night? I thought you two were of in your own little world in Chris and Joey’s room."

"Well we were until we heard a slapping sound come from the other room and your yelling afterward. I guess after that we knew there were more important things other than making out."

"Thanks." She hugged JC again and let her head rest on his shoulder for a few extra seconds. "You two are one of a kind. I hope one day I have a relationship that’s as good as yours."

"I have a feeling if everything goes as planned you’ll have your own relationship that’ll make people jealous." Gina hugged the red-head. "I must admit it’s fun making Joey want a relationship, even though he has that phobia of being in one."

Nick shrugged. "Well, we’ll have to see. And if things don’t go out well will you keep in touch, Gina? I know I’ll be losing a few of you if Justin and I don’t keep in touch, but I don’t want to be out of the loop. That is, if you’ll still talk to me if today doesn’t work out like you all say it will."

"You’re worrying about nothing. Sure I’ll still keep in touch but I think it’s useless to think that you and Justin can’t work through this."

"Thanks for being a friend, Gina. Oh, and you too, JC. I don’t know what I’ll do without all you. Enough sad thoughts. I’m off to wherever."

The couple watched Nick leave the room slowly. Neither could still believe the doubt in the minds of the younger couple. Did Nick really believe that she and Justin couldn’t work this thing out? Did she really have that little faith in their relationship, in him? If she did then there could be a possibility that the perfect match could miss.

"Whatcha thinkin’ about, hun?" JC sat on his bed and pulled her down with him.

"I’m thinking about how there could be another stubborn couple in this group that might delay their own happiness. This time because of their doubts and lack of faith in each other and themselves."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his chin on her shoulder. "I know. Did you really mean that you’d keep in touch with her if she and Justin don’t work this thing out?"

"Of course I did. I’m not going to just dismiss her, even if the thought of her hurts one of my closest friends. Plus, if I keep in contact with her then maybe there would still be a chance for those two to get together."

"My girlfriend, the brain. Do you know how sexy I find that?"

"Enough to tell me what you have covered on the table over there?"

JC turned his head toward the table and laughed. "Yup, that much. You’re just dying to know what’s under there, aren’t you?"

Gina nodded.

"What if I tell you you have to wait even more?"

"I’d say you were a meanie."

"A meanie? Now I couldn’t be known as a meanie, now could I?" She shook her head. "I guess I’ll just have to let you in on my little secret." He walked over to the table and slid the plate on one of his hands and steadied the top with the other. When he stood in front of her he lifted the top and watched as her eyes widened.

"Strawberries and whipped cream? You’re hitting all my favorite foods today, aren’t you?" She reached for a strawberry but he pulled the plate away.

"Uh-uh. I go first."

"Hmph," she pouted. "You make me wait for strawberries and I can’t even have the first one? What kind of boyfriend does that? One that I can live without that’s for sure. One that-" She was silenced as he kissed her softly.

"You sure you want to live without that? Last night you said you were having problems with that." He smiled wider and kissed her again. "I never said you weren’t going to eat the first one."

"But you said you went first."

"Well, let me show you what I meant and then you’ll understand it and won’t be mad at me."

"Oh, Jace, I’m not mad at you."

"I know." JC placed the silver cover on the table before kneeling in front of Gina. He took one of the strawberries out of the carton and dipped it into the whipped cream. He twisted it until it was almost all white and held it up to her mouth. "Open up."

Gina slowly opened her mouth and the juicy flavor assaulted her senses. She gently bit off the end of the plump fruit and went to take the second bite but JC pulled it away from her. He placed it back at her lips but pulled it away again as she went to take another bite. He did this a few more times, making her face near his before she groaned and he gave in. She slowly took the second bite and savored it in her mouth. After she swallowed she tilted her head back and let out a satisfied moan.

"You like?"

Gina nodded and brought her head back down. Now their faces were a few inches away. "Yeah, I liked, but I’m not done yet." She took the strawberry stem out of his hand and held his palm while licking the excess whipped cream off his fingertips. When she was done she licked her lips. "Now I’m done."

"You know what I like about just as much as eating a strawberry?" He placed the plate on the floor and brought a hand behind her neck.

"No, what?"

"Tasting it on someone," he whispered as their mouths met. The sweet taste of the fruit added a kick to the kiss that made JC glad he was already on his knees. He pulled back as Gina began pushing him away.