Two days after the Entertainment Weekly hit the news stands, Stasia was woken up at 5:00 am by her cell phone ringing. She was very disoriented, and unsure as to what state she was in she knew they were on the West Coast, but not which state. She rolled over and flipped her phone open. “Hello?” She yawned.

“Stasia?”

“Yeah.”

“Hi it’s Jamie. I just opened yesterday’s mail, and I got a really strange letter for you. I knew I should call you right away.”

“What kind of strange letter.”

“Do you want me to read it to you? I can fax it or...I don’t know.”

“Just read it to me.” Stasia yawned again.

“OK...it says: Anastasia,
I finally found you. That is too bad for you. We have unfinished business. I’ll be seeing you soon.
Stasia, I just didn’t know what to do, I’m sorry to call you so early with this, but I didn’t know what else to do. What should I do now?”

A cold feeling rushed over her body, Stasia didn’t know what she should do next. All she knew was that without being flat out threatening, the letter was not a good thing. “OK, Jamie. I want you to fax it to me. At the front desk here at the hotel...do it RIGHT NOW. Then, don’t touch it again, put it somewhere no one will touch it. I’ll call you after I talk to some people.” She flipped her phone shut, grabbed a sweatshirt, pulled it over her pajamas, pulled on her slippers and ran out the door.

When she got out into the hallway, she saw Lonnie sitting on a couch near the elevators. “Where are you going in you jammies?” He grinned as she jogged toward him. When he saw the look on her face, his tone changed and he stopped laughing, “What’s wrong?” He stood up.

“I have to go downstairs, I have to get a fax. I have to see it.” She looked up at him and he could she was frightened.

“Ok, let’s go downstairs.” Lonnie pushed the button for the elevator. “You want to tell me what has you white as a ghost right now?”

“They got a letter at the office, to me...I think it’s meant as a threat, I don’t know. I have to see it. I have to look at it.”

The elevator doors opened and Lonnie stepped in with her. He pulled his walkie-talkie out and said, “Jay, get out in the hall, I’m on my way downstairs, we may have a situation.”

The walkie-talkie squawked, “I’m on my way. You need back up?”

“No, I’m with Stasia, I’ll fill you in when we get back.”

The doors opened in the lobby, and the both walked quickly to the front desk. Stasia looked at the man, “I am expecting a fax.”

“You must be Anastasia Blake. Here is the fax.” He handed her the two page fax, which Stasia held up so she and Lonnie could both look at it.

“What do you think Lonnie?”

“I don’t know Feisty, it’s odd, but not TOO threatening.”

“Yeah but after the thing at my apartment, this is really strange.”

“What thing at your apartment?”

“My apartment in Michigan was vandalized right after I moved out, some one spray painted, ‘Anastasia, Where are you?’ on the living room wall.”

“Well that changes things. Let’s get upstairs.” He put his arm comfortingly around her shoulders. “I don’t want you to worry about this Feisty, you’re in very good hands.”

“I know Lonnie. Thanks. It’s probably no big deal, just a joke.”

They got off the elevator, and Jay was standing there waiting. “What’s going on?”

Lonnie looked down at Stasia and said, “You go to your room, I want to fill Jay in on this, then we’ll come down to talk to you OK?”

“OK” She looked at them and they both smiled reassuringly.

“I’m going to send Lance down too.”

“Oh! Lonnie don’t wake him up! It can wait.”

“Go to your room. We’ll be down shortly.”

Stasia was pacing around the room, her thoughts were all over the place. Why would someone want to scare her? What ‘unfinished business’ did she have? Was she putting the guys in danger? Was she actually IN danger? Was this just a joke?

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on the door. She pulled it open to see Lance standing there, wearing green plaid pajama pants and pulling a t-shirt over his head. “Hey.”

“OH GOD LANCE! I asked them to let you sleep, I’m sorry.”

“What is going on? Why did Lonnie drag my butt out of bed at 5:15 in the morning and tell me to come down here?”

“Jamie called me...they got a letter at the office, addressed to me. It may be threatening...I don’t know, it’s just weird. Anyway Lonnie and Jay are talking about it, they told me to come in here and wait for them. I asked them to leave you alone. I’m sorry.”

“Stop! There is nothing to be sorry about. They’re right, I should be in on this discussion. Now do you think this has anything to do with your old apartment?”

“I don’t know.” She started her pacing again, she turned to face him and knocked her address book off of the table in the process. Several business cards fell out. She and Lance both bent to pick them up.

He looked at the card in his hand, “Who’s this?” He held out the card for her to look at.

“Oh, that’s Mary. I sat next to her on the flight to Mississippi the day I met your mom and Stacy. She’s an FBI agent, I made a really stupid crack about the X-Files. She was really nice, she even told me to call if I ever needed any help, she’d see to it that I got the help I needed. She said I reminded her of herself at my age.”

“Why don’t you call her?”

“Why?”

“Um...maybe because of the writing on your wall and this letter. She might be able to do something.”

“I don’t think we need to call in the FBI.”

“It can’t hurt, she may just tell you to ignore it. What can it hurt? She said to call.” He flopped down on her bed.

“You think?” She sat next to him.

“Just call.”

She picked up her phone and dialed the number on the card. The phone rang twice, “Mary Grant.”

“Mary, this is Stasia Blake from...”

“From the flight to Mississippi. How are you Sweetie? Did you get the job?”

“Yeah, I got the job.” Lance looked at her and smirked.

“Well what can I do for you?”

“I seem to have a strange situation on my hands.” Stasia sighed. “I’m not sure I should be bothering you with this.” Lance poked her in the side, and gave her a stern look.

“Sweetie, it’s no bother. What is this strange situation?” Mary sounded concerned.

“Well, it may not be a big deal,” Lance poked her again, “but my old apartment was vandalized a few weeks ago, then I got a strange letter at the office this morning. I don’t know if they are related, but I’m a little frightened none the less.” She sighed, and Lance placed a hand on her shoulder, and gave it a little squeeze.

“What do you mean vandalized?”

“Someone spray painted ‘Anastasia, Where are you?’ on the wall in huge black letters. I don’t live there anymore, so I made sure the landlord filed a police report.”

“OK, that’s good. Now what about this letter? What did it say?”

“The letter says: ‘Anastasia, I finally found you. That is too bad for you. We have unfinished business. I’ll be seeing you soon.’ I have no idea what that means, but it freaked me out, so I called.” Lance rubbed her shoulder a little.

“Well I can see why it freaked you out. I’ll tell you what, let me check into this, I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best. Where was the police report filed? Where is the letter now? And how can I reach you?”

“OK, the police report was filed in Royal Oak, Michigan. The letter is at the Free Lance Entertainment office in Mississippi. And you can call me on my cell phone, I’ll be on the road all day today, we are on our way to Arizona for an appearance.”

“OK, until you hear back from me, just be careful. This could be nothing, so let’s not overreact. I’m very glad you called me, don’t ever hesitate. And if you get anything else, or anything strange happens, you call again.”

“I will, thank you Mary.”

She turned off the phone, and looked at Lance. “What did she say?”

“She said she is going to make some calls. And I should just be careful, but not to worry.”

“Stasia, please don’t worry...”

There was another knock on the door, when she answered it, Lonnie, Dre, Jay, Justin and JC were all standing in the hall. “Lonnie! Did you wake everyone up?”

“Shush! Justin and JC were coming down for your run, when Jay and I were heading down here, we just ran into Dre. Lance here already?”

“Yeah, he’s been here a while.” She held the door open so they could all enter, Justin gave Lance the thumbs up when he saw him laying on Stasia’s bed. Justin sat next to him and got smacked on the back of the head.

Lance sat up and said, “OK, this is what I want. Stasia goes nowhere alone. We are going to have to get another security person, because I want her covered at all times.”

Everyone in the room looked at him like he was crazy. Lonnie put his hands on his hips and cleared his throat.

Stasia turned to face him and said, “Um...Lance, don’t you think that may be overkill? After all, we are talking about a letter, that may or may not be threatening.”

“Stasia, you work for Free Lance now, your safety is my responsibility. I am not about to let anything happen to you. If I want more security, we will get more security.” Everyone looked from Lance to Stasia.

“I appreciate the concern, but come ON! I’m a glorified bookkeeper, I do NOT need a body guard. It is not your responsibility to get more security because some goofball sent a letter.” Heads turned from Stasia back to Lance.

“Don’t argue with me on this! Lonnie...arrange it!” The shocked faces turned again to Stasia.

“OK, where the hell is this coming from? What is with the overprotective routine? Lance, why don’t we wait and see what Mary comes up with?” Now jaws were dropping as they all looked back at Lance.

“She said be careful...we are going to be careful...you know what it’s like around us, one more member of security isn’t going to be a big deal. Besides, most of the time when you go somewhere, you are with one of us, so you are used to having security around, you’ll deal with it.” The heads snapped in unison back to Stasia, whose eyes were flashing with anger.

“OK, Mr. Caveman. Are you pulling rank on me? Is that what this is?” The jaws dropped again, a room full of men turned to see Lance’s reaction.

Lance ran a hand over his face and sighed, “Don’t make it into that. Stasia, just accept that this is the way it’s going to be.” The tennis match they were watching bounced back in Stasia’s direction.

“Lonnie! Help me here, will you tell him this is silly!” Stasia pleaded with Lonnie.

“I’m sorry Stasia, but he’s right. Lance I’ll have Ron meet us tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe this!” She grabbed her sweats, running shoes and socks off of the chair they were sitting on and stormed into the bathroom to change. She emerged three minutes later, changed, with her hair in a ponytail. “I’m going running. Jake COME!” She bent attached his leash, and they stormed out the door.

Lance growled, “Damn it!”

Justin and JC both jumped up and followed Stasia out the door. Jay, Dre and Lonnie all ran out behind them, Lonnie called over his shoulder, “You did the right thing...we’ll keep an eye on her.”

Lance was left standing in Stasia’s room, alone and confused. What had just happened here? He looked around and shook his head. He had been trying to do the right thing, he wanted to protect her, her wanted her to be safe. He didn’t want to upset her, he thought it would be comforting for her to have security. “Damn it!”

He walked out of her room and stopped at Chris’s door. He looked at the door and shrugged, the he knocked. “Chris?”

“GO AWAY!”

“Chris, let me in, I need to talk to you.”

“GO AWAY!”

“COME ON CHRIS! Let me in please.”

Chris opened the door, his hair was standing on end. “Would you like to explain to Dani and I why the devil you are waking us up at 6:00 in the morning?”

“Oh God, Dani I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were here.” She was sitting up in the bed wearing a t-shirt.

“It’s no problem, come in. What’s wrong? CHRIS! Get out of his way!” Chris stepped aside, as Lance passed him, he smacked the back of his head.

“It’s Stasia.”

Dani jumped up, “What’s wrong with Stasia?”

“We had a fight.”

“When?”

“Five minutes ago.”

“About what?”

“I told her she was going to have to have security with her at all times. She got ticked off, and said I was overreacting.” He sat in a chair and placed his head in his hands.

“Why on Earth does she need security with her?”

“Someone is threatening her.”

“WHAT?” Dani and Chris said in unison.

“Yeah...they wrote on the wall in her old apartment, and sent a letter to the office this morning.”

“Oh God! Poor Stasia! I should go over there.”

“Don’t bother, she out running with Justin and JC.”

“Stasia! SLOW DOWN!” JC begged. She had been running harder than they had ever run before for forty-five minutes now. “STASIA! Look at Jake, his legs are going to fall off!”

She slowed her pace a little, the three body guards breathed a collective sigh of relief. “I’m sorry, I’m a little aggravated.”

“We hadn’t noticed.” Justin teased.

“Shut up.”

“Sorry.”

“You guys didn’t have to come with me. I needed to vent a little.”

“Stasia, he’s just trying to do the right thing.” JC ventured. “None of us want to see anything happen to you.”

She sighed heavily, “I know, but the way he did it...an edict from on high! It ticked me off...I’ve lived this long without a father...I don’t need a twenty year old to fill the role.”

Justin looked down at her angry expression, “Did you ever think he might feel guilty...or responsible?”

“Why would he feel guilty, it’s not his fault.”

“Did you have freaks painting on your walls or sending you freaky letters before you met us? Before you started working for him?”

“No, but I doubt that my working for Lance is related.”

“But it’s possible, he knows that. We have all grown to care about you a lot in a short amount of time, the thought that being around us may be the cause of this situation is scary for all of us.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

JC pulled on her ponytail, “But all three of us have. Justin, Lance and I all have the same fear, a fear that WE have put you in danger.”

She slowed to a walk, “I’m so sorry. I don’t think this is your fault, I don’t think it’s Lance’s fault. I’m just not used to being told what to do.”

“I don’t think that’s what he was trying to do, I think he honestly just wants you to be safe. You know as well as we do, Lance is actually a sweet guy.”

“I am such a witch!” She bent down and picked up Jake, whose little tongue was hanging out of the side of his mouth.

“You are not a witch, and none of us see it that way. All of us had a hard time getting used to having security around all of the time, but you know we love these guys.”

The three body guards were walking at a distance, panting heavily. Stasia turned back to them and smiled. Lonnie waved her off. They all understood.

Dani took Lance’s hand in hers, “I’m sure she’s not really mad at you. Think about it Lance, Stasia has taken care of herself since she was fourteen years old. It is a hard pill to swallow for her, she has to admit that she needs help, and for her, that is one of the most difficult things you could ever ask her to admit.”

“And I just shove it down her throat. She was right, I was in caveman mode. I just didn’t think. I just want her to feel safe, not suffocated.” Lance shook his head.

“I understand that, but you have to make sure she understands.” She patted the back of his hand. “She really got to you, huh?”

“Yeah, I just never expected her to get upset about it. I didn’t mean to upset her. I feel like a total jerk.”

“But you are a jerk out of concern, that’s the best kind of jerk.”

Two hours later, they were all sitting in the dining room, Lance was at a table by himself when Stasia walked in. “Hi there.” She smiled down at him and he lowered the newspaper he had been reading.

“Hi.”

“May I sit?’

“Please. Stasia...”

“Wait! I need to say something...”

“No, please let me...”

“I’m sorry.” They said at the same time, and then smiled.

“Lance I feel terrible, you were trying to do the right thing and I jumped all over you.” She was looking directly into his eyes, they were soft and caring, and that made her feel even worse.

“No, I’m the one who needs to apologize. I just ordered you around, I didn’t even talk to you about it. You were right, I went on a total caveman trip.”

“Because you were concerned...I understand that...um, now.”

“But I know that you don’t need me to take care of you. I’m sorry I tried.”

“You aren’t a caveman, you were being a friend, I’m really sorry I said that.”

“I don’t even want you to think you are a glorified bookkeeper - you are so much more than that.” His tone was very serious, and his eyes were sincere.

She blushed a little, “Thanks. Are we OK now?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. I still think you need security, just until we figure this whole thing out.”

“OK, you win.” She held up her hands in defeat. “So who’s Ron?”

He grinned, “Ron is Lonnie’s twin brother. And the only person besides Lonnie I would want to guard you.”

“There are two of them - their poor mother!”

Lance laughed, “No kidding!” He decided to change the subject. “So how was your run?

She shook her head, “Well, Lonnie, Jay and Dre are ready to kill me. Jake is a sleep on my bed. Justin said, had he thought I was going to run so far and so hard, he would have let JC calm me down alone. And JC is asleep in his chair over there.” She pointed to JC, whose head was flopping down, dangerously close to his cereal bowl. “All in all, it was a good run.”

He laughed, “So you tried to kill all of them?”

“Well, I wasn’t TRYING to, but apparently, that’s what I almost did.”

Dani walked up and hugged Stasia tightly, “You aren’t throwing silverware at one another, that’s good.” They both rolled their eyes at her. “Can I sit?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Stasia my dear, how would you like some company on the bus today?”

“Are you kidding? I’d love it! Aren’t you riding with Chris?”

“Chris has Lance and the dogs, you have been riding alone - plus, he gets me when we get there.”

“COOL!”

Stasia and Dani were sitting in their bus’s lounge, talking about the Grammy’s. They were comparing notes, since they hadn’t had a chance to talk about them the day after, because Dani had to fly out on business.

“Stasia, can I tell you, the guys were floored. You seriously knocked their socks off! JC even told me he was proud to have you on his arm.”

“Well, at least I wasn’t an embarrassment...that’s all I care about.”

“No, you were a huge hit! And did you see our boy Lance’s face? I thought he was going to drool on you.”

“DANI!”

“What? It’s true. And you seem to have impressed Carson as well.”

“You know what, that was just odd. I didn’t know how to react, he’s a nice, and easy on the eyes.” They both giggled, “But you know that tingly feeling you get when you see the guy you want to be with?” Dani nodded. “It’s just not there. I could totally see myself hanging out with Carson, but not GOING OUT with him.”

“So when was the last time you had that tingly feeling?” Dani raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Stasia said unconvincingly, and the blush gave her away.

“LIAR! Spill it! You are turning beat red!”

“It was totally stupid, and it could never go anywhere, but there were tingles.”

“WHEN?”

“The Grammy after party.”

“JC? Are you serious? Wow!”

“No, not JC.”

“LANCE! OH MY GOD! LANCE GAVE YOU TINGLES?”

Stasia buried her face in Jake’s back.

“Was it Lance?” Dani was staring with her mouth open and her eyes wide.

“Uh huh.” The response was muffled by Jake’s coat.

“I want details! I need information! Let’s hear it!”

“It was stupid, I just reacted differently than I thought I would when he touched me.”

“HE TOUCHED YOU!”

“NO! Not like that! When he was guiding me to the dance floor, he put his hand on my back, and I got that...tingly feeling.”

“That is so cool! I love it!”

“Why, I could NEVER date Lance.”

“And why the heck not?”

“You want the list? OK. One, he is six years younger than I am.”

“Five and a half.”

“Same thing. Two, he is my boss.”

“Not like a REGULAR boss.”

“Whatever. Three, as Garret so pleasantly pointed out, my heart is basically dead.”

“Garret the ass, who you were smart enough to get away from, is not exactly a reliable source.”

“OK, you have a point there. Four, we just started getting along, I don’t think it would be smart to jump light years ahead, and start trying to date.”

“You went from barely speaking, to calling each other, Harry and Mildred - what is that all about?”

“Long story...laundry mat...old people...caffeine...odd combination. Five. I’m not exactly the rock star girlfriend type.”

“What does that mean?”

“I am not edgy and beautiful. I’m preppy and plain. Lance was with Danielle, who was a celebrity, it’s not like he’d start slumming with me.”

“OK! JUST STOP! None of those are valid reasons. Have you noticed the way he looks at you?”

“He doesn’t look at me. He still doesn’t talk to me much.”

“He watches you all the time. When you are on the phone, when you are talking to other people, when you are reading...you name it, he watches you doing it.”

“You are nuts.”

“So can you honestly tell me, that if he made a move on you, you’d reject him? You can honestly tell me you are not at all curious about how it would feel to kiss him, or to know what it feels like to be in his arms...I mean REALLY in his arms.”

“He has great lips.”

“What do you mean?”

“He has really soft lips.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW HE HAS SOFT LIPS?”

“He accidentally kissed me...nothing major, but it was nice.”

“ACCIDENTALLY kissed you? You have been holding out on me!”

“We were goofing off at the laundry mat, and I squirmed, he was going to kiss my cheek, but landed on my lips.”

“Sure he missed!”

“He did, he blushed and apologized.”

“Believe what you want, but I think it would be great.”

“Sure...whatever you say Dani. Now I have to get some work done, do you mind?”

“No, go ahead. I can make some calls too.”

Two hours later, Stasia was still working on something on her computer, Dani had finished her calls, tried to read, but her book wasn’t as good as she had hoped, now she was bored. “Stasia, when are you going to be done?”

“I’m not sure...in a little while. Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you grab a sweatshirt out of my bag, I’m freezing!”

Dani dug around in Stasia’s bag and finally found a sweatshirt. “Here you go.”

Stasia didn’t even look up, she pulled the sweatshirt on, and kept reading the contract in front of her, she wanted to complete the revisions, so it could be FedEx out today.

Lance was sitting in the lounge, trying to figure out the paperwork on Meredith’s appearance schedule, when a nerf ball bounced off of his head.

“Sorry.” Chris said.

“No problem.”

The ball hit him again. “Sorry.”

“Just try to be careful.”

Chris walked over and flopped down next to Lance, “What’cha workin’ on?”

“Some stuff for Meredith.” He kept reading.

“Can’t it wait? Wanna play Play Station?”

“I need to finish this before Stasia and I meet tonight.”

“Come on...just take a break. Come hang out with me. PLEEEEEEEASE!”

“Chris, I can’t...go play a game by yourself.”

“It’s more fun to beat up on you.”

“I’ll ignore that comment.”

The ball hit him in the head again. He shoved it in his computer bag, and began reading again.

“OH! I see how it is! You wanna play Daddy with me! Well fine! I’ll go find something else to play with.” Chris stomped to the back of the bus.

Ten minutes later, Lance was hit with a Nerf dart. “CHRIS! ENOUGH! I’m trying to work.!”

“You are no fun!”

“I know!”

Chris saw a sing for a rest stop, he walked to the front of the bus and asked Mike if they could get off at the rest stop so they could move around and take the dogs out. Mike radioed the other buses, and they all exited the highway.

“Are you coming Lance?”

“I’m seriously trying to work!”

“FINE!”

Chris and the dogs made their way to a field to run a little.

Dani walked over to Stasia, “Do you want to keep working? I’ll take Jake out, Chris is out with the kids.”

“Yeah thanks.” Stasia answered without even looking up.

When Dani saw Chris, she started running, “Stasia is being boring! She keeps trying to get work done!”

“Lance is doing the same thing! I’m telling you, they found exactly the right person to work with Lance.”

“Oh, I couldn’t agree more!”

Chris immediately noticed the twinkle in her eye. “I LOVE that look on your face...what evil plan do you have, and how do I get involved?”

“It’s not evil at all...but I’ll tell you about it on the bus, let’s get Lance to ride with Stasia...we need to annoy him right off the bus.” She grinned.

“OH! So you want to be alone with me huh?”

“Yeah Babe, I do...but not for THAT reason...I need your help. Now let’s go get rid of Lance.”

They boarded the bus, hand in hand and Dani sent Jake running at Lance. “Whoa! Hey buddy!” Jake jumped up into Lance’s lap. He looked up and was surprised to see Dani without Stasia. “Where’s Stasia?”

“Oh, she’s working...she’s been working FOREVER. I got bored so I thought I’d come over and say hi to Chris.” She kissed Chris on the neck. Chris pulled her into his arms and they kissed.

“Um...guys...yeah...I’m still here.”

Chris flapped his arm at Lance, and kept kissing Dani. Dani slid her hands up his back and into his hair.

“Ahh...guys!”

They pulled apart, and stared into one another’s eyes. “WHAT do you want Lance?” Chris asked, his voice was husky.

“Um...yeah...well how about Jake and I go ride with Stasia, we can get some work done that way.” Chris was already kissing Dani again. “OK, so that’s my plan...I’m just going to pack up and go onto the other bus...yeah, so...I’m going now. I’ll see you later. Come on Jake.” Lance grabbed his computer and Jake’s leash, which was hanging loosely from Dani’s fingers.

When Dani had gotten off of the bus, she had turned on the CD player. Stasia had loaded the CD’s the guys had given her, she was very curious as to what they sounded like on the albums. The changer clicked and “Everything I Own” began to play. Stasia glanced up, she like this song better than a lot of the previous songs...then she heard it...Lance’s smooth voice speaking through the sound system. “You know Baby, my love for you will always stay true. That’s right, ‘cause there is no me without you.” Her head snapped up.

“HELLO! Why don’t you get more solos? Let’s hear that again.” She hit the back button and listened to that portion of the song again. “Yummy! It wouldn’t hurt to hear that again.” She went through the same process six times before it sounded different. The spoken line was louder and sounded much better to her, that is when she realized it sounded exactly like Lance was there with her saying it. She slowly looked up from her computer screen. Lance was standing there, with his computer bag thrown over his shoulder and Jake tucked under his arm. It was at that very moment, that Stasia realized that the sweatshirt Dani had tossed to her, was in fact Lance’s. “OK...I realize I look like a stalker right now...there is a simple explanation for this horribly embarrassing situation.” She was beat red, and didn’t realize Lance had an enormous smirk on his face. “Um...how long have you been standing there?”

“Since, ‘Yummy! It wouldn’t hurt to hear that again.’ Yummy huh?” He set his computer bag down on the table, and Jake on the floor. Then he sat down across from Stasia, trying very hard not to laugh, and to keep a blank look on his face.

“May I please die?”

“No. So, what’s the story here?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“THIS IS ALL DANI’S FAULT!”

“I don’t doubt that.”

“OK, so she was trying to bug me, so she hit random play when she and Jake got off the bus...This song started, and I’d never heard it before...then I hit back a few times, as I’m sure you know...and I...well...Oh GOD!” She slammed her head down on the table next to her computer. “Am I fired?”

He couldn’t hold back anymore, his laughter filled the entire bus. Jake came running to see what the noise was all about. Stasia slowly rolled her head back and forth on the table. Lance grabbed her ponytail and lifted her head up. “No, you are not fired.” He took a deep breath and tried to stop laughing. “Stasia, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“RIGHT! I am sitting here, IN YOUR SHIRT, listening to the same song over and over, while you are standing there. I want to die. This is all Dani’s fault, I asked her to grab a sweatshirt for me and she got this one...I didn’t even pay attention. I honestly want to die.”

“Please don’t die. I’m getting used to you being around.” The bus started moving and Stasia looked panicked. “Oh, in all of the excitement, I forgot to tell you...you get to ride the rest of the way with me. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh God.”

“Stasia stop! This is funny...why would I be upset? Oh NO! You like one of our songs! Eeek. Or you are wearing my sweatshirt...God help us! I am wearing JC’s sweater. Joey has on my t-shirt, and Justin is wearing my pants, we share around here, it’s no big deal. Not to mention, the look on your face was priceless.”

“Are you thirsty? I suddenly feel the need for a drink.”

“Whatever you’re having is fine with me.” She walked to the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of Dr. Pepper she set one down in front of Lance and popped open the other for herself. “So what other CD’s do you have in here?” He looked around. Stasia pointed at the box tucked neatly under the seat next to him. He pulled it out and chuckled, “Alphabetized, why doesn’t that surprise me? OH! By artist, then by album title, impressive.”

“Oh shut up.”

He reached into his bag and tossed his CD case at her, the CD’s were alphabetized by artist, then by album title. She giggled. “Oh.”

“Yeah, I’m just as bad.”

She picked up the remote for the stereo, just as ‘And So It Goes’ started to play. Lance looked over at her and smiled. “You like this song don’t you?”

“It’s one of my favorites. Listen to the lyrics, it’s about giving someone your heart, even though you’ve been hurt in the past. It’s all about that leap of faith you have to take when you are falling in love. I think for me right now, this is a good song to listen to.”

“He looked at her and then grinned, “Why are you planning on falling in love sometime soon?”

“NO! It’s just that my last relationship, left a bad taste in my mouth as far as dating goes, and I am a little gun shy. I think I need a little break from the dating game. I never thought it really was a game, but with Garret, that’s all it was.”

“Sounds like he was a real winner. But I know what you mean about being gun shy, I haven’t dated anyone since Danielle.”

“YOU and DANIELLE?”

“Fischel, yeah. You didn’t know that?”

“Um...NO!”

“Yeah, but it ended a log time ago. We’re still friends.”

“Isn’t that hard? I mean, it’s different because she’s not mean, but I couldn’t just hang out with Garret.”

He looked down at his hands, “Yeah...she’s not mean.”

“Or is she?”

“She didn’t say anything I hadn’t thought. She just said it out loud.”

She could help but see the hurt in his eyes, she knew what it was like to have your flaws and faults thrown in your face. That had been Garret’s normal operating procedure. He had a way of ending an argument by bringing Stasia’s fears down on her. He had a way of pointing to everyone of her flaws. She knew what it was to be questioning herself because of someone else’s ability to get inside your head. “Lance. That’s bull.”

His head snapped up from his hands, and his eyes met hers, they were still filled with hurt. His eyes were met with hers, flashing with anger. “What is bull?”

“Just because you thought it, or she said it, does NOT mean it’s true. NO ONE has a right to make you question yourself! If she wasn’t smart enough to see how wonderful you are...IT’S HER LOSS! Don’t you ever believe the bad!”

He saw that she was completely serious. Stasia had seen in two minutes, what Danielle hadn’t seen the entire time they were together. Not only had she seen it, she got protective and the only thing he could figure out, was that she understood. “He did the same thing to you, didn’t he?”

The anger left her eyes and was replaced by pain, “Yes. He told me my heart was dead.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “He may be right.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “No one has seen me cry in two years, and now every time you and I are alone, I start bawling.”

Lance stood up and pulled Stasia up and into his arms. “Thank you.”

“For what?” She sniffled.

“For trusting me with the tears. Don’t make me give you the same speech you just gave me. Garret is NOT WORTH IT.” His arms tightened around her tiny frame. “Stasia, you amaze me every day. You deserve to be with someone who sees how special you are, how beautiful you are.”

She tilted her chin up to look in his eyes again, they were filled with warmth and understanding. He ran his thumb under her eye and wiped a tear off of her cheek. His hand cupped her cheek His hand slid around to the back of her head and pulled her cheek against his strong chest. Stasia knew that he was trying to comfort her, but she had never felt so alive. She felt his heart beating strongly against her cheek.

Lance was breathing in the scent of Stasia’s shampoo and perfume. He rested his chin on top of her head. She was so small, he just wanted to pick her up like a child and protect her from the Garrets of the world. She had felt nothing but pain in her past...she deserved some joy. And for some reason, he wanted to bring her that joy.