Jake ran up and jumped up, leaning one paw on Lance’s leg, the other on Stasia’s. They both looked down and laughed. “He wants to help.” Stasia sniffled and turned to face Lance again. “Thanks Harold.”

He grinned and touched her cheek again, “Anytime Mildred.”

She stepped out of his arms, and picked up Jake. Lance reached out and scratched Jake’s head, “Jealous little guy?” Jake stretched to lick him.

“Yeah...but I’m the one he’s competing with.” She set Jake down, and he ran over to nudge Lance with his nose.

“What do you want buddy?” Lance crouched down and Jake jumped up onto his knees, he lost his balance, and landed on his butt with a thud.

“You let a ten pound dog knock you over?” Stasia laughed at Lance who was sitting on the floor of the bus wrestling with Jake.

“OH YEAH?” Lance pushed her leg a little, then raised an eyebrow in challenge. “You think you can take me little girl?”

“I don’t think it...I know it.” She started to walk past laughing, when Lance’s arms went around her knees and brought her falling down onto his lap. “OH NO YOU JUST DIDN’T!”

He smiled down at her, his green eyes were dancing and playful. “Oh YES I just did.” Jake was climbing over them, now he was worked up too.

Stasia turned around to face him, “See, now that was a big mistake...now I’m going to have to bust out my cat-like ninja moves on you.”

Lance started laughing so hard he was gasping for air, Jake barked once and Lance looked at him shocked. “Cat-like ninja moves? OH NOW THAT’S A GOOD ONE!”

Before he knew what had happened, Stasia knocked him flat on his back and straddled him at the waist, holding his shoulders down to the floor and grinning ear to ear. “I warned you.”

“OK....cat-like ninja moves...accurate description. Um...Stasia, where did you learn that?” He squirmed a little trying to push her off, but his arms were pinned at his sides by her legs.

“I’m a...vertically challenged person,” She watched to see if he was going to make a comment, he smirked a little but he used some restraint, “as was my sister-in-law Nicole, so Noah made the two of us go to self defense classes, we wound up taking kick boxing together. Noah wanted to make sure we could take care of ourselves if we needed to.”

“Mission accomplished. Can I get up now?”

“Oh, yeah.” She stood up and offered him a hand. He accepted it and stood in front of her. He pushed some loose hair away from her eyes.

“Noah was a smart guy.” Lance saw the pride in her eyes when she talked about her brother. She looked so happy when she mentioned Noah’s name. It made him think of Stacy and how he needed to be a better brother.

His thoughts drifted to the small girl standing with him, on a bus, in the middle of nowhere. There was no place he’d rather be at that point in time. He hadn’t felt that way in a very long time, his thoughts were often at home in Mississippi, or on his much neglected bed. He loved what he did, but having Stasia around was a good distraction, not only because he knew his business was going well, but because she brought life to the group.

Lance furrowed his brow, he knew how everyone else felt about her, JC and Justin looked at her like a sister. She had Justin and JC waking up to run at 6:00 every morning. Lance had been completely shocked when JC told him he asked Stasia to the Grammy Awards, but when he saw them together, he realized JC looked at her exactly the way he looked at Heather.

Justin was awed by her ability to deal with his brothers. And Justin was on a one man mission to see Stasia in jeans, he had a plan to help Stasia loosen up her style...so far he hadn’t had any luck, but he wasn’t going to give up. Justin looked to Stasia for guidance and advice, on everything.

And Joey, Joey was different with Stasia than he was with everyone else. The two of them flirted shamelessly, but she brought out a side of him that was deeper then even his band mates knew he had. Joey would go to Stasia’s room late at night to talk...not to be hyper and bounce around, but to really talk. Maybe that was because Stasia expected more out of him than everyone else seemed to, so he showed her more. Joey saw her as one of his best friends already. There were not many people around that he trusted completely with his feelings, but somehow, Stasia helped him understand his feelings. She respected his ideas, and defended him a lot around the other guys, when she thought their teasing had gone too far, she put an end to it. That whole thing made Lance wonder if Joey had mentioned to her that the comments and jokes, bothered him, but that was an entirely different issue that he would think about later.

Chris talked to her in a language that no one else understood, he had never had anyone so close in age, Lance found it hard to believe, but Stasia and Chris had a lot in common. Chris saw Stasia as a peer. The two of them talked about goofy eighties music, and presidential elections that Lance didn’t even remember. They talked about the experience of being away in college and attending classes in your pajamas. Lance had a hard time believing Stasia ever went to class in pajamas. Chris talked to Stasia about Dani and her thoughts were taken very seriously.

She and Dani had bonded quickly. Dani loved Stasia, there was no other way to put it. The two of them were inseparable when Dani was around. Dani brought the seldom seen ‘girly’ side of Stasia, they giggled and shopped, it was amusing to see Stasia around Dani, because they really were a contrast. Where Dani was striking and stylish, Stasia was pretty and conservative, but somehow it just worked.

That brought him back to himself. Lance liked her, more than he had thought he would. She was more than his employee, she was his friend, but he felt so different around her. He felt protective and happy and alive and excited when she was around. When he had been holding her, she felt so good in his arms, but it was more than the good feeling you get when you hug a friend. What was he thinking! This was insane, he was thinking about Stasia here. She could make him laugh with a look. She could make his heart hurt when she talked about losing Noah and Nicole, or the way Garret had treated her. He shook his head, why did she have such an effect on him? They WORKED together, they were friends...nothing more.

“Lance?”

Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He ran a hand over his face and looked down into her eyes. “Yeah, sorry...I guess I was daydreaming.”

“It’s ok, you just looked a million miles away.”

He sighed, “I never left this bus.”

She eyed him, OK...I’ll leave that one alone. Hey you never pick out new music.”

“Wanna hear ‘And So It Goes’ one more time...I know how you like to hear stuff more than once.”

“You are NOT funny...not at all!”

“Oh yes I am...wait until I tell the guys about that whole thing, they are going to love it!”

“Lance!”

“Oh don’t freak. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I know.”

“Want to watch a movie, Millie?”

“Millie?”

“Yeah...Mildred is too formal.”

“Oh...ok...Millie it is. Sure, let’s watch a movie Harry.”

Stasia was in her room organizing her paperwork and listening to the radio that evening. She like their new habit, since everyone on the floor was with N Sync, they all kept their doors open unless they were on the phone or getting dressed or in the shower. Hotels were not thrilled to have people shouting back and forth between rooms, but they didn’t really care, it almost felt like a big family, shouting back and forth that way. So when she heard the first notes of the next song, she ran to the door. “CHRIS! GET IN HERE!”

He ran through the door, “Yes dear?” She pointed at the radio and his eyes got wide. “It can’t be.”

“It is!” They looked at one another, she turned up the volume, and the two of them began singing UB40's ‘Fools Rush In’ at the top of their lungs. Then the dancing started. They two of them were bouncing all over the room. The commotion peaked everyone’s interest. Stasia and Chris were bouncing up and down on the bed holding hands when Justin, Lance and Dani walked into the room.

Justin watched for a minute, rolled his eyes and said, “Old people.”

The pair froze, mid-bounce, and turned to look at him, “WHAT?” Chris and Stasia both flew off the bed at Justin. They landed in a heap on the floor with a crash.

Lance yelled, “Watch out for her cat-like ninja moves!”

“You tell him Harry!” She was sitting on Justin’s stomach, her legs were both next to his right side, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. “Who you calling old Curly?”

“NOT YOU! Cat-like ninja moves...I don’t even want to know.”

“No you don’t.” Lance laughed then offered Stasia his hand so she could stand. “She can put the smack down on. TRUST ME.”

Dani and Chris exchanged smirks and she helped him get off of Justin. “You showed him Baby.” Chris puffed out his chest and strutted around Justin, who was still laying on the floor.

“Now we missed the end of our song you fool.” Chris and Stasia burst out laughing, they looked around at the confused faces. Chris rolled his eyes, “Fool...we were listening to ‘Fools Rush In’...get it? Oh never mind...Stasia got it.” He threw his arm around her shoulder.

“That’s what frightens me, Stasia is starting to understand you. Lance, I think you need to limit her exposure to Chris.” Justin got to his feet.

“I have no right to limit Millie’s exposure to anyone...if she wants to hang out with crazy people, who am I to say no?”

“You tell him Harry!” They smiled at one another, Chris and Dani exchanged another look.

Lance thought he caught a look between Dani and Chris, but he blew it off, the two of them seemed to have their own language. He envied the relationship they had. Chris and Dani were able to not only maintain a relationship while he was on the road, but their relationship had flourished over the last year, Lance had never seen Chris this happy, and that was all due to Dani. The public saw the joking side of Chris, the guy they called ‘Crazy’, but what people didn’t realize, was that ‘Crazy’ had a very sensitive side, a side that his friends loved and a side that Dani brought out better than anyone. She was the only person who could actually control him, and it was because he had given more of himself to her than he had ever given anyone.

Lance looked over at Justin who was digging through Stasia suitcase. “Um...Millie...did you notice J over there?” He pointed to Justin.

Her jaw dropped, “Justin, can I help you find something?”

“Stasia, this is sad. What time is it?” He was slowly shaking his head back and forth.

“It’s six, why do you ask?”

Justin completely ignored her, “Lance are you going anywhere tonight?”

“No...why?”

“Because I want to borrow Lonnie, until Ron gets here.” He walked out into the hall, talked to Jay and Lonnie, walked back in the room, grabbed Stasia’s purse, threw it at her and said, “Let’s go. You’re coming with me.” He took her hand and pulled her out the door, leaving everyone else standing in her room.

Jay and Lonnie were standing at the elevator, waiting patiently for the two of them. Jay handed Justin a hat and a pair of sunglasses. “Thanks Jay.” Justin leaned causally against the wall, grinning at her.

“So, yeah, Justin. May I ask where we’re going?”

“Just enjoy the ride little lady.”

Justin put on the hat and sunglasses, he bowed his head a little, then took hold of her hand and rushed out to the waiting limo. “Why is it every time I go anywhere with one of you guys, I end up being dragged around by the arm?” She rubbed her shoulder as she settled in next to Lonnie. “Hey do you know where we’re going?” She whispered into his ear.

“He’s taking you...”

“SHUT UP LONNIE!” Justin screamed. “I would like for this to be a surprise. Stasia just sit there and be quiet. You should be thrilled to be spending some quality time with me.”

Jay laughed loudly. “I think it may be the other way around J.” Justin shot him a deadly look.

They rode along for ten minutes, chatting about the upcoming trip to New York, Stasia was excited she was going to be there when the album was released. In one week, they were going to be back in New York, releasing the album. It was going to be the beginning of the insanity, they were all trying to prepare.

The car pulled into the mall parking lot and Stasia rolled her eyes, “Justin....what are we doing here? Neither one of us has time to look for more baby blue crap for you.”

“This trip is all about you Babe. I am sick of seeing you wearing khaki...it’s time to enter our world. You need to loosen up a bit, and I am just the guy to help you with that. So out we go...we are about to shop till we drop.”

“You’re just the guy to loosen me up? I think letting you loosen me up is criminal.”

“Stasia, get out of the car. I can’t believe you are making THE Justin Timberlake wait.”

“Jay, do I really want to do this?”

“No, but I don’t think you have a choice in the matter.”

Stasia got out of the car and followed Jay and Justin into the building. Justin took her arm and they walked towards the GAP, then he stopped short, “I think you are a little too GAP already...that is where your problems started.” He pulled her in the other direction. They went into store after store, Justin pulled clothes off of racks and threw them at her, when she was almost buried, he’d steer her to a dressing room and make her model for Jay, Lonnie and himself. The three men would consult and he would instruct her as to the outfits she would be keeping.

Lonnie and Jay were gladly carrying shopping bags. They could not believe what a good sport Stasia was being about this whole trip. She was letting Justin drag her from one store to another, throw clothes at her, try on clothes, model clothes. But everyone was having a good time. Stasia made guarding her not seem like a job, not only did she expect them to walk with her, not behind her, but she linked her arm through Lonnie’s and walked with him behind Justin and Jay, making sarcastic comments and cracking jokes. Stasia had this amazing ability to make Lonnie feel like a friend and not an employee, he realized he didn’t work for her exactly, but she was his responsibility when he was assigned to her, which he liked now.

She pulled on his big arm a little. “Hey Lonnie, am I going to get along with Ron?”

“You like me don’t you Feisty?”

She swatted his arm, “You know I do.”

“If you like me, you’ll like Ronnie.”

She looked up at him, “OH NO! You do NOT call him Ronnie!” She rolled her eyes. “Lonnie and Ronnie...how cute!”

“Oh hush up girl!”

“WHAT? I said it was cute...annoyingly cute as a matter of fact.” Lonnie picked her up and tucked her under his arm like a football. “OK...it’s not cute...it’s manly...is that better? Can I change the subject?” He set her down.

“You watch that tongue of yours Feisty...it’s going to get you in trouble one of these days.”

“As if it hasn’t already. How much longer is Justin going to drag us around this mall? What do you say you and I go get a frozen Coke over there? Think he’ll notice we’re gone? He has been talking to us for ten minutes, and still hasn’t noticed neither one of us is responding. I’ll buy.”

“Well then, I’m in.” They walked over to the frozen coke booth and ordered. Lonnie nudged her with his elbow and pointed, “He noticed.” Justin’s head was whipping around in every direction. He smacked Jay on the arm. They couldn’t hear what Justin was saying, but they could tell Jay was getting an ear full. Lonnie began chuckling, the clerk handed each of them a drink. “Should we let them suffer a little longer?”

“Of course we should. He has dragged us into every store in this mall, he has made me try on and buy a new wardrobe...he suffers longer.” They sat down on a bench in the center of the mall. “Hey Lonnie?”

“Yeah Feisty?”

“Do you think that letter was a big deal?”

“I don’t get a good feeling about it. But I don’t want you to worry, Ronnie is going to take good care of you...or I’ll kill him. He’s is my baby brother you know.”

“By what five minutes?”

“Nine, but who’s counting.”

“Apparently YOU are! Ronnie gets here tonight doesn’t he?” She ducked down behind the plant next to her when Justin and Jay looked over in their direction. She and Lonnie laughed as the two men went rushing by, not seeing them. Poor Jay, was still carrying several of Stasia’s bags, which were smacking against he and Justin as they rushed around looking like they were lost children. She half expected one of them to start crying for his Mommy.

“Yeah, he’s probably at the hotel already.” He looked at his watch.

A teenage girl walked up to the table. Stasia and Lonnie both looked up at her. Stasia looked at Lonnie and shrugged, “Hi there.”

“Hi.”

Now it was Lonnie’s turn to shrug. “Can we do something for you?”

She eyed Stasia. “What’s your name?” Lonnie gave Stasia a stern look.

“I’m Ana. Do we know one another?” Lonnie smiled at her, nice cover, he nodded. He knew, if she said Anastasia, the girl, who was holding a copy of Entertainment Weekly in her hand, would put two and two together, and if Justin and Jay showed up, Jay and Lonnie couldn’t control the situation alone. Once again, Stasia had exactly the right reaction.

“Oh, I thought you were someone else.” The girl still didn’t look convinced. She looked over at Lonnie who gave her a toothy grin. “You look familiar too.”

“I’m Bob. Have WE met?”

“I don’t thinks so. Aren’t you Lance Bass’s bodyguard?”

“I’m Bob, sitting in the mall with my friend Ana - I don’t see Lance Base around here.” He looked around to prove his point.

“Lance BASS not Base. Never mind!” She turned on her heel and stomped off in the direction she came from.

Lonnie and Stasia started laughing, “She’s ticked at us, she knows who we are, so we better get out of here before she comes back.” They gathered her bags, their drinks and stood up. Justin came running over with Jay in tow.

“Oh my God! We thought you two were kidnapped or something! What happened to you?”

Stasia held up her cup, “I got thirsty.”

Lonnie sucked on his straw, “Me too.”

“Oh NICE! We are running around the mall searching everywhere for you and you two are getting drinks. You could have said something. How were we supposed to know someone didn’t kill both of you?”

Lonnie rolled his eyes, “First of all, we were together, no one is about to tangle with the two of us.”

Stasia nodded her head, “That’s right!”

“And secondly, I think you are going overboard here J, have you been taking lessons from Lance.”

“Good one.” Stasia nudged him with her shoulder.

“Thanks, I thought you’d like that one.” He bumped her back.

Justin threw his arms up in exasperation. “Jay do you believe this? They are tag teaming me!”

“Now you know how we feel about you, J.” Jay laughed.

“Not you too!” He flopped down on the bench. After looking at all of the bags they were carrying, his brow furrowed. “I’m not sure if we got everything you should have.”

“Oh SHUT UP, Justin! There are more clothes in these bags, than I have at home already! We are done! Jay, Lonnie and I are starved, Ron should be at the hotel, I need to meet him and Lonnie might like to see his brother. The mall is going to close in twenty minutes, a teenage girl recognized Lonnie and I, so we lied...all in all...IT IS TIME TO GO!” She looked to Lonnie and Jay, who both nodded in agreement. “Let’s roll boys!”

The three of them began walking towards the exit, leaving Justin, still sitting on the bench, not believing she had just ordered him to leave a mall, no one spoke to him that way, except Morgan. He missed Morgan, maybe Stasia could help. He got up and followed he group.

“Way to guard me Jay! Just leave me here for the fans to eat alive.”

“You were fine, and it’s time to go, Feisty said so.”

After loading all of the bags into the trunk of the car, they were on their way back to the hotel when Stasia’s phone rang. She looked down at the number on the display and giggled. “Hi Harry. Worried about us?”

“Where did he drag you off to?”

“The mall...apparently I needed a new wardrobe and I didn’t know about it. Now I have three new wardrobes. He wasn’t done yet, but I put my foot down...I’m ready to eat his hat.”

“Well that’s why I’m calling. Do you guys want to meet us for Mexican food?”

“I don’t care about their opinions...we’re there! Where do we go?”

After Lance gave her directions for the driver, he assured her he would be fine without Lonnie, because Ron had arrived and was coming with him. She hung up and looked at the men around her. “How does Mexican sound?”

“Like Lance chose where we’re eating.” Lonnie laughed. “Sounds fine to me, I’m with you, I’m about ready to eat pretty boy’s hat.”

The limo pulled up to the restaurant and they entered to find the young hostess giggling on the phone to someone, when she saw Justin she quickly said, “I’ll call you back!” She then slammed the phone down and said, “Well hello! I guess you are here to meet the group who just sat down.”

Justin smiled at her, “I believe your right. When you call your friend back, say hi for me.”

“Oh GOD! She’ll die, she loves you!”

“Make sure to thank her for me too. So where is our table?”

She led them into a private dining room, where Lance was sitting between Dani and a man, who if she hadn’t known better, she would have called Lonnie. When they walked in, Lonnie walked over and hugged his ‘baby brother’, “Hey Ronnie, how was your flight out?”

“Pretty good, Big Brother, what’s up with you?”

“Not much, you know Justin and Jay, and this little lady here, is Stasia...I call her feisty, she’s the reason you’re here.”

Ron stood up and extended his hand to her, “Feisty huh? That can’t be a good sign.” He had the same warm laugh Lonnie had.

“Yeah, I have already been a pain in Lonnie’s butt!” Everyone laughed and they sat down at the table.

Stasia was sitting between Lonnie and Ron, and she felt as if she was sitting between two mountains. Both of them were two full heads taller than her, and they were just huge. She couldn’t even see Lance on the other side of Ron. Lonnie and Ron were catching up with one another over her head, and she was talking to JC about a new book on Plato he had bought that afternoon, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked behind her, to see Lance leaning so far back, and left that she thought he was going to fall out of his chair trying to reach around Ron’s back.

She leaned back and smiled at him, “Yes Harry?”

“Did Justin tell you about the Oscars?”

“No. What about them?”

“Music of My Heart was nominated, they just asked us if we’d perform it live on the show.”

“That’s amazing! Are you excited?”

“Yeah, but it’s the week the album is released, so we are going to have to move some stuff around, but I think it’s worth it.”

“I should say so.”

“On they way back to the hotel, do you mind if Justin and I switch places?”

“Not if he waits for us to help carry all the crap he made me buy tonight.”

“OK, I’ll see what I can do on that one.” He laughed and sat back up in his seat.

When they had finished dinner and were all getting in the cars, Lance, Lonnie, Ron and Stasia climbed into the car and Lance sat right next to her. “Stasia, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s wrong Lance?”

He laughed, “Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to ask you to be my date for the Oscars. I know for a fact, Justin, Joey and JC are all planning on asking you, but I wanted to be first. Would you like to go with me?”

“I’d love to Harry!”

Ron looked at his brother and raised an eyebrow. Lonnie smirked, shrugged a little and then barely nodded his head. Ron smiled and stifled a laugh with a cough.

“Well it’s a date then. It will be the same drill as the Grammy’s, I’ve already called the stylist and she said she has the perfect dress in mind for you, I guess it will look good with what I’m supposed to be wearing.”

“I’m telling you! You guys are easy to date, I don’t even have to shop for the dress. At least I won’t have to hear JC’s ‘I love you like a sister’ speech again.” She and Lance both laughed.

When the vans pulled up to the MTV studios, Stasia’s jaw dropped, she had never seen so many people crowded on to the street in her life. She and Ron were the first off of the van, he put his huge arm around her shoulders and guided her straight into the building. They were standing in the lobby waiting for the elevator, while the guys were outside signing autographs, when Stasia heard someone calling her name. She turned to see Dave Holmes walking toward her.

“Dave! Hi!”

“Hey girl. Can you believe all this hype? Your boys have made a mess out of Time Square!” He gave her a quick hug.

“MY boys? Don’t try to dump that mess in my lap.” She laughed.

“Carson is going to be glad to see you.”

“He is?”

“Yeah, not many girls shoot my boy down. You have him fascinated.”

Ron smiled at Stasia who rolled her eyes. Dave acted as if he had just noticed Ron. “Oh hey. Hi Lonnie.”

Stasia giggled, “This isn’t Lonnie. Dave I’d like you to meet the poor man stuck guarding me, this is Ron.”

“HOLY COW! Twins right?”

“Yeah.” Ron extended his hand.

“Yep! I get on and Lance gets one...we’ve got the matched set.” She nudged Ron.

“I feel sorry for you man. I’ve had dinner with her once, and I can already tell she’s going keep you very busy.”

“I have a very bad feeling that you’re right.”

The elevator doors opened and they got on, suddenly Chris came screaming through the front door of the building and straight into the elevator. “DAVE!” The doors closed behind him and the four of them rode up together. When the doors opened again, they were on the floor where the guys would be interviewed and N Sync on MTV would be done.

As Stasia stepped off the elevator, she walked right into Carson. He put his arms around her to steady her. “WHOA! Hey there. I didn’t think you’d be throwing yourself at me when we saw each other, this is a nice change.” He hugged her tightly. “Where is the rest of the crew?”

“Hey Carson. They should be on their way up right now.” As she was speaking, the elevator doors next to them opened, and Lance walked out with Lonnie, JC, Justin, Dre and Jay. “There are my boys now.” She smiled at them.

Lance looked odd. She wasn’t sure what had happened downstairs, but he didn’t look overly happy right then. She pulled back from Carson and said, “I think I can stand on my own now.” He reluctantly let her go and she walked straight over to Lance. “Hey Harry. Are you OK.” Carson watched her take the few steps in Lance’s direction and sighed.

Lance finally smiled when she walked over. “I’m fine Millie. He tugged on her ponytail.” She smiled, whatever had been bothering him, seemed to be forgotten. “Hey, have you heard from FedEx on those contracts, we need them tomorrow.”

She had been on the phone with FedEx two dozen times in the last two days, it seemed that they had lost a package containing several contracts that needed to signed and returned to Mississippi in two days. Stasia was getting edgy about it. “No, they still haven’t located the package. I’ll go call again.”

Before he could stop her, she walked away opening her cell phone. He could see she was frustrated, but he was too, they needed those contracts. It was too late to get another set sent, so it was either return them late, or get FedEx to find them. One option was not a good one, he was just starting to do business, he did not want to be late with documents already. The second option left everything up in the air, and up to a company that had lost the package in the first place.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he’d have to leave this up to Stasia, he had no choice. He could tell her conversation was not going well, she was pinching the bridge of her nose and pacing in a circle. That’s when he heard her shout, “WELL FIND IT!” She flipped the phone shut, and walked over.

“The last time they tracked it, it was in Japan. Why it was in Japan, they can’t tell me. Harry, I’m going back to the hotel so I can work on this. Ron is coming with me. I’ll talk to you when you guys get back tonight, my phone is on if you need me.”

“Are you OK.”

“No, I’m about to kill someone at FedEx. I have to get somewhere quiet, so I can figure out what to do.”

“We’re going to be late tonight Millie, I’ll check on you when we get back OK?”

“Yeah, I hope I’ll have an answer by then.”

He watched as she and Ron got on the elevator, he felt bad because she had been so excited about being there with them today, and now she was leaving. She was talking quietly to Ron who was nodding. He knew she had some sort of plan, he just had no clue what it was, and he was not about to question her.

(11:45 pm that night)

They all got out of the elevator quietly, it had been such a long day. Ron was sitting on the couch in the hall reading a newspaper, with Jake curled up on the couch next to him. Lance walked over and said, “Hey. Did the package arrive?”

Ron shook his head, “No she screamed at everyone in that company, then nine hours ago, she sent me out with her credit card to get a printer, a printer cable and a box of paper. I came back, gave it to her and she’s been working in there quietly ever since. I haven’t heard a sound out of her in at least eight hours...she should eat something soon.”

“You haven’t checked on her in eight hours?”

“She asked me to leave her alone, her door is open. I really didn’t want to bug her. She’s been working really hard, I could hear her typing all day. Once she screamed. I went in there and she said something about not being able to read a fax.”

“OK, I’ll go see what’s up. Thanks a lot Ron.”

“Honestly, she’s a dream...anytime you need me to watch her...I’m there.”

Lance looked down at the carry out box in his hand, he had known to order for her. He knocked lightly on her open door. “Millie?” When she didn’t answer, he walked into her room. There was paper everywhere. Her new printer was set up on the desk next to her and there were contracts stacked neatly on the bed. The box of paper was now half empty. “Oh God.” He realized that she had recreated ten, one hundred page contracts. The last one was still on the printer. Her head was down on the desk, wedged between the printer and the laptop.

A slight smile pulled at his lips, her hair was down, falling over her keyboard and in front of her face. She was wearing a Michigan State sweatshirt and one of the pairs of jeans Justin had forced her to buy, and her stupid VW slippers. He walked over and gently pulled the hair that had fallen in her face back. “Millie.” She picked up her head sleepily.

“Harry? What time is it?” Then her head whipped around. “Where’s Jake?”

“He’s fine. Ron has him. Come sit on the bed.” He helped her stand, she arched her back to stretch. They walked over to the bed and she sat carefully so as to not move the contracts. “Why did you do this?” He pointed to the contracts.

“I refuse to get them there late. It would make you look bad. It wasn’t that big a deal, I had them fax all of them, I just retyped them. After that, I faxed them back for them to review and makes sure that they match the originals, I made a few revisions, now they are ready for you to sign.” She yawned, and stretched again. “Man my back is stiff.” Lance sat next to her and pushed her a little, when she turned, he began to message her muscles.

“It’s no wonder you’re sore, you feel asleep all hunched over. I brought you some carry out.” He picked up the box next to him and reached around her with it.

“You are a lifesaver! I thought dinner was coming out of a vending machine tonight.”

“Why didn’t you send Ron for something?”

“He’s here to guard me, not wait on me. Besides, I had already asked him to go out once.” She pulled open the box to find a grilled chicken breast, steamed vegetables and rice. “Harry, this is perfect! How did you know what to order?”

“This is all you ever eat. I took a poll, we all came up with the same answer, chicken, vegetables and rice.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a can of Dr. Pepper. She laughed and took the can.

“I’m that predictable?”

“I don’t think anyone would call you predictable. It’s just something we knew you’d eat.” He started to rub her back again and she groaned.

“I don’t know how you do it, I sit at a desk for one day and I can’t move, you guys dance for days at a time and you never complain. I guess I’m a wimp.”

“I wouldn’t say that, anyone would get sore sitting in the position you were in. I should go and let you eat.” He stood up and started for the door.

“Hey Harry?”

“Yeah Millie.”

“Would you mind hanging out with me while I eat? I know it’s late, but I hate eating alone.”

He walked back in and started clearing a space at the table in the corner of her room. “Sure, I’ll stay, come over here and sit.” He lounged back in a chair and ran a hand over his face. “Man, this has been quite a day for all of us. I still can’t believe you retyped all of these contracts. Honestly, we could have sent them late.”

Stasia took a bite of her chicken and shook her head, “No we couldn’t, I know that just as well as you do. How bad would it look, the very first thing we do with each of the companies, and we get it to them late? I don’t think so, that’s not the way you do business, and it’s not the way I do business. So I had to type a few documents, big deal. It’s done. Mind you, I don’t want to go through this nightmare again, but it’s done now.”

“I don’t ever want you to go through all of this hassle again, if something goes late, it goes late. This was not part of your job description.” He smiled weakly at her, “But thank you for doing it.”

“You know I’d do it again.” She gave him an evil smirk. “Hey, I wanted to let you know, I faxed one of the contracts to Jess. I didn’t like the language, I notified the company, so they know we are reviewing it for changes.”

“What was the problem?” He scowled and motioned to the paperwork sitting on the bed.

“It’s the third on the left. It left Free Lance open to a lot of liability if a record isn’t cut within a certain amount of time. I asked Jess about it, and she wanted to see the language, she agreed with me that it was out of line.”

“Stop talking and eat.” He picked up the contract she directed him to and started to read. “I hate all this legal language.”

“They just do it to prove they went to law school, I swear, it’s just an attempt to show one another they paid attention in their contracts class. I don’t know why they need a hundred pages to set out a simple agreement. The clause I’m referring to is on page eighty-four.” She took another bite of chicken. “What do I owe you for dinner?”

“Oh shut up Millie! I wouldn’t take a penny and you know it.” He furrowed his brow as he attempted to translate the legal document into english. “I’m not be on contracts, but this does seem out of line with the others.”

Her phone rang and she looked at the number on the display. “Well, this is just the person to tell us if it is out of line.” She flipped the phone open, “Hey Jess. Yeah...yeah...right...what about...ok...oh...that makes sense...big idiot...” She looked up at Lance and rolled her eyes, he chuckled and shook his head a little. “Right...no, I don’t think I’ll actually tell them their attorney is a big idiot...I know I should...ok...I’ll tell him for you...big idiot...go back to law school...right...I’ve got it. Thanks Jess. I love you too. Bye.”

“I take it you were right about the contract?” Lance smiled.

“Apparently. I’m supposed to tell them their attorney is an idiot that needs to go back to law school if he thinks any client of hers is going to sign a joke of a contract like this. I guess you are her client now.” She shrugged.

He raised his eyebrows, “I am? Well, I have no problem with that.” They both looked up as Jake came running into the room. “Hey buddy.”Lance leaned down to scratch his head.

“Did Ron finally get sick of you?” He ran over and jumped up on her lap. “Hey puppy. You’ve been a very good boy.” She hugged him and he licked her face.

“He’s always good.”

She smiled at Lance like a proud parent, “He is, isn’t he?” She kissed his nose. “You probably want to go out don’t you?” She put the last bite of dinner in her mouth and stood up. “You want to get some fresh air with us Harry?”

“Sure.” He stood and was very shocked when she shouted out the door.

“Chris, want me to take the kids out?”

“YES!”

“Send them down.”

“OK!”

Two minutes later, Busta and Korea ran through the door with their leashed attached to their collars, dragging on the floor behind them. “Hi kids. Let’s go.” Korea and Busta each barked and did a little dance. “Oh...I guess I should put on some shoes.”

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere with you if you wear those slippers. Where did you get those?”

“I’ll give you one guess.”

“Jess.”

“Bingo.” She pulled on a pair of shoes, “Am I acceptable now?”

“You are ALWAYS more than acceptable.” She blushed a little.

“Thanks.” They walked out of the room, leaving the door open. They got on the elevator and took it to the roof of the building, which was covered with grass, potted trees and patio furniture. “This amazes me, it’s like a private park in the middle of all of this insanity.” She walked over to the edge of the building and looked out at Manhattan. Lance walked over and stood next to her. She smiled up at him, “Do you realize I have seen more of this country working for you, than I had in twenty-five years?”

“You hadn’t traveled much?” He turned to face her.

“I had been out of Michigan once, here. That’s it. I love it, the travel I mean. Although, I can see how it gets old. I t helps having all of you though. Justin and JC remind me so much of my brother, Justin thinks he can order me around. JC and I talk about a lot of the same things Noah and I used to talk about. Chris is so much fun, but people outside this group don’t give him credit for being as insightful as he is. And Joe, he is so special. I love having him around.” She had a slight smile, her hair was blowing back off of her face and her eyes were reflecting the city lights.

“What about me?” He stared at her profile, suddenly, it was very important to him to hear her opinion of him. He needed to hear how she viewed their relationship, maybe he was looking for some insight as to the confused feelings he was having. She impressed him in so many ways, that he was afraid that he was starting to interpret those thoughts as attraction, but he knew that would be a huge mistake. There were so many reasons he and Stasia couldn’t be together.

“What about you?” She turned to face him. She met his eyes and she smiled brightly.

“What do you think about me?” His stomach did a flip when he asked. He cleared his throat, for some stupid reason a lump had developed, that he couldn’t seem to swallow down.

“You are my Harold.” She said simply. She started to turn away, and then thought better of it. “Harry, when I told you that you were the first person to see me cry in over two years, I was telling you the truth. Not even Jess has seen me cry. But for some reason, that I still don’t understand, my heart knew I could trust you with that. You are so much more than a boss to me. I like spending time with you...now that you’re done being an ass.” She smiled at him, making him remember that night in Mississippi, when they had quickly bonded.

“I’m still sorry about that.” He was still looking right into her eyes, for some reason he could tell that there was something else she had to say, but he knew he should drag it out of her, he knew she would tell him whatever it was when she was ready.

She raised an eyebrow at him, “What do you think about me?”

“I think that, as usual, my Momma was right. You are over qualified, good for the business, good for my friends, good for me to have around. You have renewed my faith in women.”

“I’ve renewed your faith in women?” She hopped up onto the ledge and sat with her legs hanging down toward him, her back to the city. “Why had you lost your faith in women.”

He shifted so he was standing directly in front of her. He closed his eyes tightly, sighed and said quietly, “After Danielle, I wanted nothing to do with women, I didn’t even want female friends anymore. I was going to avoid all of you like the plague, I figured it would be easier that way. I had even started avoiding Dani, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was. Then you came along and blew my plan right out of the water. You were open and funny and smart and totally competent, not at all what I expected. Then you really screwed things up when you were forgiving, and strong and independent. I had no choice but to like you. You are my Millie.”

“I’m sorry she hurt you so badly. The right person is out there, you are going to find her when you least expect it, I promise you.” She grabbed the shoulders of his shirt and pulled him against her, she hugged him tightly. He stood there for a moment, in the tiny circle of her arms, then he brought his own arms up to hold her against him.

“It’s not your fault. Garret did the same thing to you. You didn’t give up on men completely. I guess you’re just smarter.” He rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Oh, I don’t think so, I’m just very used to having guys around. It started with Noah, now most of my friends are guys, but I think they are all friends, so I don’t have to deal with the messy business of getting romantically involved. I guess that’s my defense mechanism, if he’s my friend, I won’t get hurt. People hurt their friend a lot less often than they hurt they people they claim to be in love with. But then I see couples like Jess and Brent or Chris and Dani, and see what I’m missing.” She turned her head and rested her cheek on his shoulder. They were getting the comfort from one another, that they didn’t think the opposite sex could give them.

The door at the top of the stairs burst open and Lonnie and Ron came charging through, the two huge men stopped short, tripping over each other when they saw Lance and Stasia embracing on the ledge. Lance and Stasia let go of each other and stared at the men. Lance whispered, “Crap, we’re in trouble.”

“Why?”

“I don’t suppose you told one of them we were coming up here.”

“OOPS!”

“We’ve got a lecture coming.”

The two huge men started walking in their direction, whispering. They stopped in front of Lance and Stasia, Lonnie sighed and said, “Lance, you know better.”

“Sorry Lon...I didn’t even think about it. We were just coming up here, I knew no one else was allowed up here, so we’d be safe.”

Stasia hopped down to stand next to Lance. “It’s not his fault, it was my idea, Jake needed to go out, he just came along to keep me company. I’m sorry Ron.”

“We understand you guys want some privacy, just let us know where you’re going. OK?” Ron looked down at Stasia and winked at her.

“I promise, it won’t happen again.”

“OK.” Ron smacked Lonnie’s arm and they turn and walked away together.

Lance looked at her, “That was so much easier than normal, what’s up with those two?”

“I have no clue. Lonnie was trying very hard not to smile, did you notice that?”

“Yeah. Who knows with those two...some twin thing for all we know.”

“You’re probably right. Are you ready to head back in, it’s almost 1:30, we both have to be up early tomorrow...I’ve got to be measured for my dress for the Oscars. Rumor has it I’m wearing blue, to match your HAIR?”

“The rumor is right...but the hair is going to match my tie, so it all works.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She whistled sharply, and all three dogs came running. She attached their leashes and they walked back into the hotel.

Lance walked her to her door and said, “Thanks for the talk Millie.”

“Thanks for dinner, and the talk Harry.”

He kissed the top of her head, inhaling the smell of fresh air mixed with her shampoo and perfume. “Good night.”

“Good night.” he closed the door and looked down at Jake. “This is SO BAD Jake! I have to stop thinking like this...bite me if I start getting that goofy look on my face...the one I know I have right now.” She rolled her eyes, smacked herself on the forehead and flopped down on the bed.