Justin’s eyes shot arrows. "What?"

"I said for you to pucker up. This girl has mistletoe over her head and needs to be kissed."

"Then why don’t you just do it? Her cheek is right there." Justin pointed at the air between Joey and Nick.

Joey sighed and shook his head. "Haven’t you learned anything, young blood? In order to be released from this mistletoe someone needs to really kiss you good on the lips. While I do like Nicky here, I have a feeling you could do a better job of it. That is, unless you want me to kiss her." Joey placed his hand on the back of Nick’s neck and slowly applied pressure for her to come to him.

"Don’t you dare kiss her, Joey," Justin seethed.

Joey stopped and smiled at his friend’s words. This is getting very interesting. I wish Gina could be in here watching our plan unfold.

"And why can’t he kiss me, Justin?" Nick asked almost too quietly.

Justin turned to her. "What was that, Nick?"

"I asked," her voice getting louder at every word, "why he couldn’t kiss me. Since you’re obviously not willing to kiss me why can’t he? Am I that awful that you can’t stand to even fathom kissing me? Are your lips so special that they can’t even kiss me, your best friend, under the mistletoe? If you’re not willing to do it why can’t he? It will be just another kiss in a long line that mean nothing to me because it wasn’t given by the right person. No offense meant there, Joe."

"None taken."

"So why can’t he kiss me?" She began poking her right index finger into his chest. "Why haven’t you liked anyone kissing me for as long as I can remember? You’ve never liked any of my boyfriends, you’ve never liked any of the guys I’ve liked. What is so wrong with me that these guys don’t deserve me?"

Justin took a step towards her but the look in her eyes told him not to touch her. "Nothing’s wrong with you. I’ve always thought they all those guys were too below you. You were too good for them."

"And is there anyone out there that is on my level, or is everyone just below me and I’ll be miserable and alone for the rest of my life?"

Justin grabbed her chin and made her look at him. "There is the right guy out there for you, Nick. He still doesn’t deserve you, but he can’t live without you."

"Then where is he? I’m tired of all this fizzle in my love life. I want rockets and fireworks and to feel nothing but his arms around me. Just like how I feel when-" She stopped, realizing what she was about to give away.

"When what, Nick?" Justin asked just above a whisper.

"Nothing, Justin. It’s not important."

"It is important to me." He sighed and bit his bottom lip. "Okay, I’ll do it."

"Do what?"

"Kiss you."

"What?"

"Isn’t that what you wanted? You wanted me to kiss you." Justin’s eyes started out with fire in them, but now there was nothing in them. No emotion- nothing.

"Don’t flatter yourself, Mr. Ego. It’s just that there’s mistletoe above me and someone needs to kiss me and since you wouldn’t, Joey was. Did you also forget you forbidding Joey to kiss me?"

She began to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let her. He tightened his hold on her chin and brought his other hand to her face. Nick saw something being to flicker in his eyes but couldn’t tell what it was. The only part of her with feeling was where Justin’s hands were touching her. She closed her eyes as Justin lowered her head but was surprised when the only part of his face to touch her was his forehead, which now leaned against hers. She opened her eyes to find his closed and an almost pained expression on his face.

"Justin, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to."

Justin’s shoulders jumped in silent laughter. "Trust me it’s not that I don’t want to."

"Come on, Justin, and kiss the girl. You’re taking way too long for you to make your move."

The hidden meaning in Chris’ words weren’t lost on Justin. This was an action he had played out in his mind for months. He longed to feel the softness of her lips against his. Just by the feelings that shot through his body when they touched he could tell that if he kissed her he’d be almost electrocuted by the power in her kiss. All these reasons led up to his next actions.

"Are you planning on kissing me anytime soon? I’m sorry for being impatient but-" She was cut off by his finger on her lips.

"Shh." Justin kissed her right cheek before moving to her left one. He pulled back and looked in her eyes. The intensity in them overwhelmed him. "I’m-I’m-I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I’m sorry." He turned his face away, ashamed.

All eyes in the room widened. They widened even more when the solid sound of the slap of Nick’s hand hitting Justin’s cheek echoed in the silence of the room. Justin’s jaw dropped and he couldn’t think of anything to say. They would both wish later that Nick had the same infection.

"I hate you, Justin Timberlake. You are the most selfish, arrogant guy I have ever come in contact with. You know that your fans fall all over you and no matter what you do you will always be perfect in their eyes but I’m not one of your fans. I will not fall all over you because you have a pretty voice and are good looking. You want to know why? Because I despise you. I despise you so much, Justin Randall, that I don’t even want to be in the same room with you. Forget that, I don’t even want to be on the same planet as you. Since the only thing I have control over is our rooms at this moment I’m out of here. And you’d best be sure that I’m going to be on the first flight out of here that I can get tomorrow. Have a nice life, Justin. Mine will certainly be better off without you." With that she stormed off.

After the shock began to wear off Jackie spoke up. "I think I’m going to go check on her."

At the mention of Nick Justin stormed out of the room, calling, "I’m going to the roof," on his way out. The slam of the door shook the walls and the clock fell off the night stand.

"Well, that sure was pleasant. As I said before I think I’m going to go check on Nick. I’m sure she’s mad, guilty and confused as all hell." Jackie shook her head and made her way to the door.

Lance gave her hand a squeeze as she passed him. "Do you want me to go with you or to get Gina?"

She sighed. "No. Thank you though, Lance. What I do suggest is that when those two," she pointed to the connecting room, "get out of whatever world they’re in have them go check on Justin. That will give him time alone and maybe they’ll make some headway on finding out why he did what he just did. Plus we want to make sure he doesn’t jump or anything. See you tomorrow." She gave Lance a kiss on the corner of his mouth and hugged the other two before leaving the room.

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

Gina stared at JC in shock. The sound of the slap had brought the two out of their haze. They continued staring breathlessly at each other as Nick’s words floated into the room. Gina sighed and brought her head to rest on JC’s shoulder.

"What just happened in there?"

"What I’m guessing is that your plan with Joey just backfired." He ran his hand along her hairline. "That was you plan, right? To get those two under the mistletoe? Not that I minded the mistletoe part."

Gina smiled as he kissed her temple. "That part for us I liked, but not for those two. I just thought it might give them a push in the right direction. Never did I think it’d end up like this." She sighed and moved forward so JC’s arm could bring her to him.

"I’m sure you didn’t, hun. I know you want the best for Justin, but sometimes you have to let things run their course. I’m sure that in time they’d come around. Don’t you think Justin would tire of the rest of us teasing him about it that he’d do something?"

"Yeah, but I thought that this could be the final push. He’s already made two moves today I was hoping that this would be the final one. A kiss isn’t just a kiss if it’s with someone you lo- care about." She blushed at her half-slip.

JC caught it and his heart warmed. So she does feel the same about me. After this Justin thing is settled we need to have a talk. He groaned as she pushed him away. "Don’t."

"Sorry, Jace, but I think someone needs to talk to Justin."

He didn’t even need to look at her to know who she meant. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Okay. I’ll go talk to him. Let’s go find out exactly what happened and see what damage control needs to be done." He grabbed her hand and began walking to the other room.

"When did you start making sense? I remember when all you talked was baloney."

JC stopped and kissed her cheek. "When you started realizing you were wrong."

He laughed at her perturbed expression and pulled her into the other room.

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

Jackie stood against the door as Nick paced the room before collapsing on her cot. The younger female brought her hands to her face and cried out a laugh.

"Why was I so stupid? Why did I actually think he was talking to me this afternoon on Rosie?"

"Because he was." Jackie sat next to her friend. "He was talking to you then and he sang to you in the studio. He meant all of that, Nick. When he sang those lines after you asked the girlfriend question he looked directly at you. There can be no mistaking it. His eyes were completely focused on you, and yours on him. Don’t deny that."

"I can’t deny that we were looking at each other but what if he was looking at me but thinking of someone else? What if he was only looking at me because I was a familiar face? What if there is some other girl in his heart? What do I do then?"

"I’ll tell you what we’d do. You, me, Gina, JC, Lance, Chris and Joey will kick his ass for putting us all through this. You for all these feelings and the rest of us for putting up with his whiny attitude because he thought he couldn’t have you. That’s what we’d do." She smiled when laughter lines appeared on the redhead’s face.

"Thanks, Jack, I needed that. But I am so confused. While kicking his skinny, scrawny, squeezable butt would feel great I still would like to be the one who would make it all better, just like he’s done for me all these years."

"He’s really done a lot for you, hasn’t he?"

Nick nodded and curled her legs beside her. "You have no idea. People tell me it must be so hard to have a best friend in Justin’s position, but if the alternative is to live without him in my life I know I couldn’t handle it. I’d rather put up with all the nonsense then to face a day that I’d know he wouldn’t be by my side, or at least have my back. I guess you could say I couldn’t live without him." She sighed and rested her chin on her hand. "Sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?"

"No, you don’t sound pathetic. You sound like someone who has figured out that they have what they want. Now you have to just go get it."

"But what if he doesn’t want me in return? What if he’s figured out that I’m not the one for him? What do I do then?"

Jackie shot her a "you are crazy" look. "You surely can’t be that in the dark here. You don’t have a thing to worry about. You-" She sighed when a light knock on the door interrupted her pseudo-speech. She opened the door and turned back to Nick. "I’ll be right back in." She slowly closed the door and faced the couple.

"So how is she?" Concern laced JC’s voice.

She shot him a look.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah," Jackie sighed as she ran a hand along her neck. "She thought she had read his signs earlier, but now she’s just trying to twist them around. He had her right where he wanted her. Why’d he have to do something stupid like this?"

JC shook his head. "I don’t know, but I think it had to do with a certain plan the two Italians in the group had."

"Please, JC, I feel bad enough and I know Joey does also. We had good intentions in our hearts when we thought of the mistletoe scheme." Gina closed her eyes and buried her face in his shoulder.

"So that was planned." Jackie saw the look on her friend’s face. "Don’t worry, Gina, we all know that you wanted to do something good for the couple but it backfired like plans are prone to do. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. So I take it you two haven’t been up to see him yet?"

Gina shook her head. "No. I was going to send JC up there and stay here with you and Nick."

She moved to the door but was stopped by Jackie’s hand.

"I’ve got her, you two go see about him. He’s a harder nut to crack. She’s already spilling her guts but I have a feeling it will take a lot to get Justin to even open his mouth and I think he needs you two there. He needs to see what he’s missing and maybe he’ll make a decision or something. I don’t know. I just wish we weren’t in this situation. When two people love each other they shouldn’t hide from it. It needs to be embraced and nurtured. You two are the perfect example. Plus, you’re both really close friends with him. Double whammy. Now go talk some sense into the boy so maybe we can get this girl in here to stop crying."

Jackie slowly opened the door and sighed as she saw Nick hugging a pillow to her chest. She grabbed Gina’s jacket before giving all her attention to the girl who was an emotional wreck. The threesome said their good-byes and went their separate ways. Down the hall JC and Gina stopped by the guard at the elevators before being allowed to enter them alone. JC pushed the highest floor and grabbed Gina’s hand.

"Jace, you know you’re not supposed touch me in public." She tried to shake her hand out of his.

He groaned, but didn’t let go. "I know, but this is our hotel and it’s kinda late at night, plus we’re just going up a few flights, so I figured it would be okay." He glanced into her eyes and smiled sheepishly. "And it was the natural thing to do. It being right or wrong for my rep never crossed my mind. I wanted to hold your hand so I did."

Gina looked away and a happy grin crossed her face but it was replaced with a serious look as the elevator doors opened to the top floor, their mission returning to her. They slowly made their way to the staircase that would lead them to the roof and the sulking young man who had taken shelter there. The door had a special keyhole but upon trying to open the door the two people found it unlocked.

"Here goes nothing," JC muttered as he opened the door and took a hesitant step onto the black surface. He slowly made his way forward as his partner looked around in the dark night.

"This is so weird. It’s almost pitch black up here. I never thought there would be somewhere outside in New York City that would be this dark, even at night there are so many lights."

"Yeah, it is amazing but don’t forget our mission here."

"If it’s to talk to me forget it," a strained voiced called to them. "Or if it’s to save me from jumping you’re too late. I’ve already eliminated that as an option."

"Good. At least we don’t have to worry about there being someone down there who would all of a sudden be covered with the insides of Justin Timberlake but if it were a fan she might not be that mad. She’d always have the top story about meeting you guys." Justin came into view as Gina moved toward his voice.

"Yeah," JC agreed, "and we might have to find another young heartthrob. I don’t know if Lance can handle the pressure of being the youngest. He does have blondish hair so I wonder if any of the mags will compare him to Nick Carter like they do you?" As soon as the name Nick came out of JC’s mouth he wished he could take it back. Justin had physically retracted as memories of what had just happened replayed in his mind.

"I would like it if you two would leave me alone. I already said I’m not going to jump so please just leave." He turned his back on them and looked over the edge of the building.

"Sorry, Justin, but we can’t do that. We’re your friends and friends don’t let friends wallow in their own self-pity." Gina wrapped her arm around his slumped shoulder. "Plus, my guilt won’t allow me to know that you’re unhappy because of something I did."

"Huh?"

"You see, Justin," JC leaned against the rail next to Gina, "my wonderful girlfriend here had a little something to with what happened. You don’t think that Joey pulled out that mistletoe for Lance and me to get kissed, do you? Especially when he had no one to kiss. Think about it, Jus."

"But he was willing to kiss Nick. I had to stop him as he pulled her close."

Justin turned to face his friends and the fact that he had tears in his eyes didn’t surprise them, but the fact that he not only allowed them to see his tears but he didn’t stop their continuous flow down his cheeks shocked them. Justin never let anyone see him cry. Even if he twisted something in practice tears were never shed.

"And you did stop him, didn’t you?" JC asked him.

"Of course I did. I couldn’t let him kiss Nick. Why would he do that if he knows how I feel about her?"

"I don’t know, Justin. Why would he pretend to kiss her if he knew you’d stop him and maybe do it yourself?"

"Maybe he did it because he knew you’d stop it?" Gina continued the thought her boyfriend started. "Justin, we just wanted this game to be over that you two are playing. You both have feelings towards one another and we just wanted those feelings to be brought out and excepted. We really didn’t mean to hurt either one of you and that’s what it looks like we did. I’m really sorry, Justin." Gina hung her head and Justin squeezed her hand.

"I’m not saying I completely forgive you for the antic you played, but I know it was in good faith and I’ll give you a little leeway. Just promise me you won’t try it again." He sighed and looked down. "Not like you’ll ever have a chance again."

"What was that, man?" JC asked, Justin’s last remark nothing but a whisper.

"I said she’ll never have the chance to screw up my love life again since Nick hates me and I doubt I’ll fall in love with anyone else." Justin laid his head on his hands.

"Don’t say that, Justin." Gina began running a hand over his curls. "I’ll have plenty of time to screw up your life again but it won’t be with Nick. You want to know how I know? Because I know that after this all blows over, maybe even tomorrow, you’ll corner her and tell her how you feel."

"But it can’t be tomorrow because she’s leaving early tomorrow morning and walking out of my life in the process," Justin said into his hands. "Face it. I just lost the best thing in my life."

JC walked around Gina and forced Justin to stand up and look at him.

"Listen, Justin, I’m only going to say this once so listen up. I love you. You are like a brother to me. My parents only blessed me with one brother but along the way I’ve acquired four more here and it’s all because of you. If Chris hadn’t called you and if you hadn’t called me I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Maybe I’d become a famous singer one way or another, but I wouldn’t take any of the past five or so years back. If I did I wouldn’t be standing here right now with one of my best friends and the woman who has made all my dreams come true. I wouldn’t have Gina if it weren’t for you, Justin. My life is the way it is because of you. Now I love my life so I have a lot to be thankful to you for."

"And your point is…?" Justin asked impatiently.

"My point is that I love you, I know Gina loves you and when we have kids they’re going to love their Uncle Justin. You are an incredible, lovable person and if Nick doesn’t see that than maybe she doesn’t deserve you."

Justin’s eyes widened in surprise before igniting in flames. He grabbed the lapel of JC’s jacket.

"She doesn’t deserve me? You’ve got the wrong, Jace. I don’t deserve her. She is an amazing person who is everything I want in a woman. How in the world am I going to get her to love me? What can I do to let me in her heart." He let go of JC dejectedly.

"All you have to do is tell her you love her, Justin," Gina interjected softly. "You’re already in her heart. Yes, as more than a friend," she added as he opened his mouth. "Now go fight for what you both want."

"I’m still questioning that she feels the same about me, especially after her words, but doesn’t the saying go ‘fighting gets you nowhere?’"

"Justin," JC began as he moved behind Gina and pulled her into his arms, "sometimes fighting gets you everywhere you want to be."

Justin stood and watched his two friends loose themselves in each other. He saw the tenderness in their eyes as unspoken words passed between them. He longed for someone who he could tell his whole heart to without uttering a syllable. He wanted someone who could make everything in his life right just by breathing. He wanted the one person in the world who could stabilize the craziness life created. In essence he wanted Nick. As thoughts of her ran through his mind he sighed deeply and stepped away from the couple.

"Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be going to bed. I’ll leave you two alone. Now, JC," he paused until his friends were looking at him, "I think it’s time for you to follow your own advice." He raised his eyebrows knowingly before leaving the couple alone on the roof.

Once as Justin left a silence filled the night. Gina’s mind raced to try to think of what Justin was talking about and what was going through her boyfriend’s mind. She knew he had something important to tell her but had no idea of how nervous he was getting as he was staring out into the night.

JC’s mind raced as fast as his heart was pounding. He knew what he wanted to say, and was pretty sure of how she’d react, but getting the words past his throat was the hard part. He had said these words to past girlfriends, but none of those words had as strong feelings attached to them as these did. How did he tell her that she made him feel feelings stronger than he ever felt possible? He found it amazing that this one woman would challenge everything he had viewed as fact about himself and change some of those views into doubts. In the three months since he admitted his feelings he had changed dramatically. He realized any feelings of love he had felt before were nothing compared to his capacity of love for this petite woman with brown hair and hazel eyes.

He let her go and waited for her to turn around. Once as she faced him he held her hands in his, eyes softening at their touch. Words were floating through his mind and he had no control over what came out first.

"I meant what I said in your dream." Gina stiffened in his arms and JC mentally slapped himself. Nice way of not saying anything about the dream, JC. He had to wait a minute before Gina was able to speak.

"What?"

"I’m sorry, hun, what I meant was-"

"How did you know about my dream? Who told you? Was it Jackie, Nick or had they told one of the guys?" she demanded.

JC sighed. "It was none of those. I was there in your room when you had it yesterday. I’m assuming we’re talking about the one before dinner yesterday, unless you’ve had another one."

"Yes, that’s the one I’m talking about but how do you know about it? I only told Jack- You were there? What do you mean you were there?" She had pulled her hands back and her eyes turned cold.

"Here let me explain. Why don’t we sit on that thing over there?" He pointed at a brick pile behind them before running a hand across his eyes and down to his neck.

Gina sat and waved for him to continue. She was too angry to completely understand what he was trying to say. Her mind focused on the fact that he invaded her privacy and not the fact that he was trying to express his love. JC paced before her, trying to figure out how to get his point across without having to give away everything.

"Okay, here we go. On Thursday I was sent up to wake you from your nap. Well when I got up there you were talking in you sleep."

"And what was I saying?"

He sighed again. "You were begging me not to tease you. At first I was confused, because I had just walked into the room, but then I realized you were asleep. And then…"

"And then what?" She stared up into his eyes and he gave everything up. He realized there was no way to just tell part of the story.

"What did I do then? What did you do then? Wake me up? But you said something about meaning what you said? Did you say something to me and I responded?" She was thinking about what had happened in the dream and her heart pace quickened.

"Actually you talked first and then my mouth automatically responded to you. Or should I say my heart did?" he asked after sitting next to her.

"I talked first?"

"Yeah, you did, but I still didn’t help stop you…"

"You woke me up after that, right? No harm done?" She paused waiting for him to answer. "Right?"

"Umm, yeah."

"JC, what happened? All I know is that I was dreaming about kissing you at your parents’ and then you were waking me up for dinner. Did I do something like kiss the pillow or something?"

"Yeah, or something…like me."

Gina’s eyes widened at his words, shock evident on her face. JC closed his eyes and hoped she’d go easy on him.

"How did- I mean, why was-" She took a deep breath before trying to speak again. "JC, what do you mean I was kissing something like you?"

"I mean that you weren’t just kissing something like me, you were kissing me. I must say that even in your asleep you’re a pretty fine kisser."

"Pretty fine, huh? JC, that still doesn’t explain the fact that you were in my bed kissing me while I was asleep. Are you demented or something? Then again look who I’m asking," she muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

His jaw dropped but he picked it up when he saw the corners of her mouth turn up. "Okay, you win. I’ll tell you everything." He paused before continuing. "I knew dinner was going to be served soon so I went upstairs to wake you up. When I got there you started talking to me and it took a moment to realize you were still sleeping.

"Then I got the brilliant idea of trying to figure out what you were going to do with the pillow that was between your arms. Yes, you had a pillow on your arms and, yes, I did something as stupid as try to play a part in your dream. Well, a bigger one than I originally had." He shot her an amused look and she blushed at the thought of what happened in her dream.

"So I actually kissed you and ran my hand under your shirt and told you…told you…"

JC reached out and cupped her chin in his hand and smiled at her uneasiness. He nodded.

"Yeah," he whispered, "you told me you loved me. What’s more is that I told you it right back with no hesitation. That’s what I meant when I said I meant what I said in your dream. What I was really trying to tell you is that I love you, Gina. I’m ‘completely and utterly in love’ as Joey said this afternoon. I’m completely and utterly in love with you. I can’t picture it any other way."

There was a silence as Gina closed her eyes and allowed his fingers to caress her cheeks. In her mind she thought of small smile playing on his lips. She recalled the feel of those lips on hers and she recalled all the comfort that came from the words he said and the sound of his voice. He was slowly becoming her best friend. Not only did he know how to comfort her, he knew what made her tick and didn’t use it against her. Anymore that is, as how they started crept into her mind. She looked up and got lost in his crystal eyes.

"Oh, Jace," she breathed.

He placed a finger over her mouth. "You don’t have to say anything. I can see it in your eyes."

She shook her head and removed his hand.

"Yeah, I do have to say something. I’m glad you can see it in my eyes, but I need to say it. I love you, JC. I love you."

They leaned in and their mouths met in a sweet kiss. JC pulled away and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to bring her to him in a tight hug. Her arms slowly rubbed his back as they sat holding each other. They sat there until JC shivered at the outside temperature.

"I think it’s a little cold out here," he mumbled into her neck. He tried to pull back but Gina pulled him closer.

"I’m pretty comfortable here. Nice and cozy." She slid closer to him.

"That’s because my arms are shielding you and the wind is coming from behind me so I’m getting hit with the cold wind." He stood and offered her his hand.

"Aren’t I enough to keep you warm?" She stuck out her bottom lip playfully.

"Come on, you maniac," He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. He pulled harder than he meant to and she fell into him. He ran a hand down the side of her face. "I love you, Angelina."

"Jay-Cee," she whined and he laughed.

"Sorry, honey."

"It’s okay." She smiled and quickly kissed him. "I love you, Joshua."