Stasia looked at Lance’s profile, she was so proud of him. He had been shaken when he got off of the phone with Carson earlier, but now, he was calm and in complete control of the situation.

Carson baited him, “What do you mean things have changed a lot?”

“Well Carson, my relationship with Stasia has changed considerably. It has developed into something more.” He looked at Stasia, who nodded her head slightly and smiled, then turned back to Carson, “Stasia and I are together now.”

“So are you saying that the press release back in January was inaccurate? It stated that there was nothing romantic happening between Stasia and any member of NSYNC.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. At the time of the press release, there was nothing romantic between Stasia and I, we have just recently discussed how our feelings have changed, and the fact that we were feeling more than friendship towards one another. This is actually very recent, but we wanted to make sure our fans know that Stasia and I have nothing to hide, we are together, but like I said, this is very new to the two of us.”

“It’s interesting that you say that. Because we have some audio, and some pictures we want to show you, apparently from last night in Washington D.C., then I’d like to get your reaction.” Carson cued the audio guy, and they all turned to the monitor, where pictures of Lance and Stasia, alone in the ballroom were flashing up, one at a time. The moment he heard her words from the night before, Lance closed his eyes.

“Oh God. I can’t do this.”

“NO! Please don’t leave...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that...it’s just that I...I had to let you know...that I...”

“Please don’t! Lance, we can’t do this. You don’t understand...I am afraid of what I’m feeling...I care about you more than I should...I know we can’t be together...I know that...but...”

“Why can’t we be together?”

“Because of your career. Because I work for you. Because I am too old for you. Because I’m not sure I can love you the way you should be loved. Because...because I am afraid I have already lost control!”

“ANASTASIA! STOP! Stasia, I don’t care that you work WITH me, right now, I don’t care if you work for the Pope. I don’t care about the affect this could have on my career. How could being with you hurt my career? You make me happier than I have ever been, that’s good for my career. I don’t care at all about your age - that’s just silly. I’m not worried about you not being able to love me the way I deserve to be loved, because you already do! And as for your control, I hope you never get it back. The only thing I care about at this moment in time is the woman standing in front me. The woman I fell in love with, without realizing it was happening. The woman that makes me feel alive. The woman, I...want...to...be...with. I need to know how you feel about me.”

“But...you don’t need this...”

“I didn’t ask if I needed this...I asked how you feel. I don’t want you to do or say anything you don’t want to, but I want to know what you’re thinking. I want to know what you’re feeling.”

“I’m in love with you.”

“Stasia, please don’t cry. I love you. God, that sounds so wonderfully strange. Anastasia... I...love...you.”

“Lance...I...love...you.”

“I love you.”

The tape stopped, and the camera panned over the faces of the group. Carson watched as the last picture, one of Lance holding her tightly to his chest, her head bent back and their lips tightly pressed together, flipped off of the screen. “That was a very emotional conversation. So what is your reaction to that?”

Justin was the first to answer, “My reaction is that I’m angry. I can’t believe there is a person who would take my friends most private moment and send it in to a TV station. I can tell you for sure, that no N Sync fan did this. This is just someone out to embarrass my friends, two very private people.”

JC looked sad, “I guess I’m hurt, that someone would invade Lance and Stasia’s privacy. I know we are expected to give a lot to our fans, but this is the most intimate conversation they could have stolen. Justin is right, if people knew anything about Lance or Stasia, they would know that these two aren’t the type who get excited about their first words of love being broadcast all over the world. ”

Joey laughed, “I’m so angry, I think it’s funny. I know that sounds stupid, but if I don’t laugh about this...I’ll end up hitting someone.” He shook his head, “I’d also like to know where this person was hiding, and why he didn’t offer us a seat next to him. But seriously, the only thing I can do is laugh, because if I let my emotions get the best of me, I will say something I regret. It’s just not fair to them. But I think our boy has some very smooth moves.”

Chris was very serious, “I have to agree with JC, I’m hurt. I have a hard time believing that our fans will find this the huge news story that the press will make it out to be. I guess we give our fans a lot of credit, I know that they will be happy that Lance and Stasia are happy, the way that we were all happy when they told us last night. It hurts my heart to see these pictures, and to hear those words, Lance and Stasia were speaking from the heart...to one another. You can hear the emotion in their voices...those are not emotions that should have to be shared with the world. ” Everyone was a little shocked at Chris’s very serious approach to the situation. Normally, he would have been the first person to crack a joke, but in this, his first reaction was to try to protect his younger friends.

Carson turned to Lance, “What about you? What do you think?”

“I think someone violated our privacy. I’m embarrassed that the entire world is listening to my girlfriend and I kiss, and say that we love each other. I am embarrassed that the entire world is seeing pictures of us kissing, which is very intimate for us. Stasia and I are not the type of people who are into public affection. We will always be looking over our shoulders now, which is sad. Even when we think we are alone in a room, trying to express our inner most feeling, we will wonder if there is someone hiding around the corner. This person turned one of the best nights of my life into a news story. I think that’s sad. I wish I could turn back time, and keep this special for her. When you realize you love someone, you want to protect them from everything bad. The problem is, this person turned something wonderful, into something bad. I guess I’m defensive of her, because, I have grown accustom to having people follow me and take pictures of me, but that comes along with my job, I knew that. But Stasia didn’t ask to be in the public eye, as a matter of fact, she would avoid it at all costs if she could. I’m very upset someone did this to her.” He shook his head, and then looked over at Stasia, who was watching him very closely.

Carson turned to Stasia, “How do you feel? How does it feel to hear that conversation and to see those pictures?”

Stasia looked at Lance, and a gentle smile slid across her face. “At first, I was scared. It’s very frightening to know that there was someone in the room with us. But now...now I have to admit, I’m happy...no not happy...glad.” All of the guys worked hard to hide their shocked and confused expressions, they weren’t sure where she was going with this, but Lance just looked at her with unending pride. “I’m glad because, even though it wasn’t this person’s intention, they have given me a wonderful gift. The gift of memories. Last night flew by like a dream for me. My head was spinning, and my heart was soaring, so it’s hard for me to picture the whole night in my head. So many people forget what happened when they first told their significant other that they were in love. But now, because of this person, I can hear Lance’s words whenever I want. I can hear the first time he said, ‘I love you’ over and over again. When I need support, and we can’t be together, I can still hear his words. I can look at these pictures and relive the moment I found out that Lance loved me, the way I loved him. I can see the way we looked at one another, I can see the love in our eyes. How many people have that? I choose to look at this as a blessing, because this will help me remember the most incredible night of my life. And if I don’t look at it that way, I have to be afraid. I would have to be afraid of truly speaking my heart, and then this person would have gotten exactly what they wanted. And I refuse to be afraid to love Lance, I refuse to be afraid to tell Lance I love him.”

Everyone in the room was awed. She had been so forward and honest, they were all touched. The five guys sitting around her were proud to be her friends, they were proud to have her in their lives. They were all smiling at her, she truly was one of them now, and she had handled the situation better than any of them could have. Johnny was standing behind Carson, smiling and nodding, he couldn’t have handled the situation any better himself. He gave her the thumbs up.

Lance was practically glowing. His heart was ready to burst. She had decided to take the high road, she had turned a huge negative, into a beautiful positive. She had even made him glad that some freak had invaded their privacy. He smiled into her eyes and then they both turned back to face Carson.

“Thank you for letting me ask you about this. I realize that this tape and these pictures came out of nowhere for you guys. I appreciate your honesty. Stasia, I would like to thank you for joining us, and giving us your take on the situation.” Carson finished up the interview, and the camera crew packed up.

Stasia invited everyone out to dinner. “I feel like eating a meal with all of you. Justin...get Morgan, Joe I expect Angela...JC, can you find Lyn? Chris, I know Dani is in town...I expect her there too. Now, Carson don’t you even dream of saying no to me.” Lance watched her throw together a dinner party in less than five minutes. She was already on the phone setting it up and making sure the restaurant had cheeseburgers for Jonathon, no detail escaped her, he loved that.

Lance pulled her aside, “You were amazing. I am so proud of you.” He kissed her and Carson walked over.

“I knew it...I knew this was going to happen...or that it was already happening.” He looked down at Stasia and smiled, “Are you sure you’d rather be with this bum rather than me? I’d treat you right.” He winked at her.

“I’m sorry, but I love the bum.”

“I was afraid of that. That’s the smart choice. Lance, the better man won.” Carson held out his hand, and Lance shook it.

“I owe you, man. You could have easily blind sided us with this, and gotten your story, but you didn’t.”

“We both owe you.” Stasia was holding Lance’s hand tightly.

“I’ll remember that.” He looked strange and then said, “There’s something else you should know.” He looked around, “Are we ok to talk here?”

“Yeah, we’re fine, sit down.” Lance ushered them over to the couch. “So what’s up?”

“In the package with the pictures, there was a letter.” He looked down at his hands, and sighed, “Guys, it threatened both of you.”

Stasia’s heart stopped for a second. She looked at Lance who closed his eyes tightly. “Do you know what it said?”

“I’m not exactly sure what it said, but it was something along the lines of, ‘Enjoy it while it lasts. EVERYTHING is going to be over soon.’ I know that’s not word for word, but it’s pretty close.”

“Why did MTV decide to keep that information back? I should think that would be a big news story.”

“I know it doesn’t look like it right now, especially with the network wanting to spring the pictures and the tape on you guys, but we don’t want to exploit your lives. Not like that. The network realizes that this information could put you both in danger, they turned it over to the police. I would never put up with them endangering either one of you.”

“Thanks for telling us. But this isn’t the first threat. I seem to be the target. This is just the latest assault. This person seems to be getting bolder and bolder, and now we have to deal with the fact that they were able to get into a secure area, with a camera and a tape recorder. I was really hoping that this was just a reporter trying to get a big story. ” Stasia sighed. “I’m going to go call Mary. Thank you Carson, thank you for everything.” She got up and left the two men alone in the room.

“Lance, had I know you two were this serious, I never would have flirted with her. You know I like you guys a lot. If you need help...with any of this stuff, just call. How long has all of this been going on? Is she safe? Are you safe?”

“It started right after she started working for Free Lance. I have her covered by security 24/7, but it scares the crap out of me that this freak got into the room at the hotel. They had to be following us, that part of the trip was not publicized. Lonnie and Ron had checked the room right before Stasia and I went in. Not to mention the fact that someone tipped off the press that we were still in town.” Lance held his head between his hands, and rested his elbows on his legs. His voice softened, “Carson, you have no idea what I am willing to do to protect her. Between you and I, I would walk away from NSYNC if I thought that this shit would stop.”

“I can understand that. Have you guys called in the police.”

“We’ve gone one step further than that...we called the FBI. Stasia knows the Head Profiler. She’s working on this.”

“There’s not much else you can do. If you want, I’ll put out the feelers and see how the reporters in DC got tipped off.”

“I would really appreciate that.” He sighed deeply, “I owe you an apology. I was so busy denying that I was in love with her, that I didn’t realize I was being totally rude to you, because I saw you as competition.” He laughed and shook his head, “You didn’t deserve the obnoxious attitude I had. And now you are offering to help, no questions asked. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, if I had thought I really had a chance with her, I would have been an ass too.” Carson held out his hand. “You don’t need to apologize to me. Friends?”

“Yeah.” They shook hands.

Stasia came storming into the room talking on her cell phone, “I faxed the list of dates to you, I mailed the list of dates to you and I e-mailed them. It is not my problem that you lost them...three times. I am getting another copy of the dates, I am going to fax them to you while we are on the phone, so they can’t get lost...again!” She pulled some documents out of a folder in her bag, rolled her eyes at them and huffed back out of the room.

“Dude you have your hands full with that one.” Carson shook his head.

Lance smiled and laughed, “I know it...but I think that’s a good thing.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a very good thing.”

Justin walked back into the studio with Jonathon on his hip. “Lance, I don’t suppose your woman told you what time we are going to dinner, I have to tell Morgan what time we are picking her up.”

Before Lance could answer Stasia’s voice filled the room, “His ‘woman’ hasn’t told him what time dinner is yet.” She flopped down on the couch next to Lance, her head hit the back of the couch and rolled over to look at him. “The Planet Hollywood guy in LA is a pain in the butt.”

He started stroking her hair, “So I gathered. Did you two work out the schedule?”

“Yep. We are ready to roll. No thanks to him.”

“Stasia, babe, dinner...what time?” Justin shifted Jonathon to his other hip.

“Oh, sorry J. We have reservations at 7:00...I didn’t want it to be too late for Lil’ J.”

“Cool. We’ll see all of you at 7:00.”

“Hey! No one under the age of six leave this room without hugging me! Come here Lil’ J.” She held out her arms. Jonathon squirmed out of Justin’s arms and ran over to the couch. He climbed up on her lap and hugged her neck.

“Will you sit by me at dinner?”

“I sure will.” She kissed his cheek, and he pushed away.

“YUCK! STAY-A STOP IT!”

“OK...but we have a date for cheeseburgers tonight.”

“K” He slid to the floor, and ran to Justin. “Let’s GOOOO Justin. You said I could go swimming if I was good.”

“I know I did, but I don’t know if we’ll have time. You’ll have to take another bath before dinner.”

“JUUUUUUSTIN....”

“Please stop whining. Please...we’ll go swimming...we’ll go to the moon...just stop whining.”

Everyone laughed as the little boy grinned evilly back at them, and dragged his big brother out the door.

“Does anyone else think that Justin and Jonathon are going to be booking a flight on the space shuttle tonight? He is so much like Justin it’s scary.” Lance laughed.

“I should go back to the hotel. I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”

Lance jumped up as Carson was almost out the door, “Stasia and I will pick you up for dinner at 6:30...if that’s ok with you. It only gives you an hour.”

“Yeah that would be great. I’ll see you then.”

When Carson had left the room, Stasia cocked her head at Lance, “What was that all about?”

“I was a total jerk to him, because he was flirting with you, I have a lot to make up for. Giving him a ride to dinner is the least I can do.”

As she unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with Dani, she heard movement inside. Just as she was about to push the door open, Dani pulled it open from the inside. She looked from Stasia’s face, to Lance’s, then back to Stasia’s. She squealed, and then hugged both of them.

Stasia laughed, “I take it you talked to Chris.”

Lance looked at her, “You think? I figured she just missed us.”

“Oh SHUSH! Both of you! I am so happy! I can’t believe you finally got together. Chris told me about the tape...I’m so sorry! But I have to admit I want to see those pictures.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “I’ll make sure you get a copy.”

They all moved into the living room, where Chris was sprawled across one of the couches. “Hey.” Dani went to sit with him, his arm automatically went around her shoulders.

Lance and Stasia sat on the other couch, facing them. She settled back against his chest, with her head resting against his shoulder. He turned his head and kissed her temple. “Hey.”

“There is a rumor flying around, that MTV has a breaking story about NSYNC today.” Chris commented dryly. “I don’t suppose you two know anything about that.”

“MTV has a breaking story about NSYNC every other day. I wonder what it is this time.” Lance said, sounding very uninterested and biting at a hangnail.

“True, but apparently, this particular story is only about one member of the group. I wonder which member it is today.”

“Justin seems to make a lot of headlines.”

“That’s true. But I have a hunch it’s someone else this time.”

“Hmmm. Interesting. We’ll have to watch and see.”

“You’re right. Babe, where’s the remote? I feel the need to watch a little TV.” Dani handed him the remote and shook her head at Stasia, who rolled her eyes.

Chris turned on the TV and glanced at the clock on the wall it read 5:48, “Hmmm...in two minutes, it will be ten to the hour...do you know what happens at ten to the hour, every hour?”

“I believe I know the answer to this one. I believe that MTV shows the news at ten to the hour, every hour.”

“Shall we sit here and wait, the...” Chris glanced at the clock, “...minute?”

“Sure. I can sit for a minute.”

They sat in silence for the next sixty seconds, Stasia and Dani were fighting their laughter. Brian McFayden came up on the screen. “In NSYNC news, Lance Bass confirmed his relationship with Anastasia Blake, of Free Lance Entertainment. There will be a half hour special with Carson Daly, Lance, Anastasia and the rest of the guys from NSYNC, tonight at 10 pm.”

“Well, it seems that the breaking story is about you. Huh? That’s interesting. What do you think about that?” Chris smiled.

“I think that it’s about time, I was in the news.” Lance shrugged.

“I think it’s about time you were in the news for something so good. Dude, I am so happy for you.”

“Thanks, I am too.” Lance pulled Stasia tighter against his chest.

“You two do realize that we all knew this was going to happen.”

Stasia blushed, “Apparently everyone knew except the two of us.”

“Yeah, you guys were really slow. We were starting to worry. But once you shacked up on the bus...we knew things were in the right track.”

“We didn’t shack up on the bus, we simply conserved space.”

“So you mean to tell me that you two didn’t hook up at all? Not even a peck on the cheek?”

“Chris, this is totally none of your business.” Lance answered, but he and Stasia both turned beat red, and Chris and Dani both burst out laughing.

Lance looked up at the clock on the wall. “Are you guys about ready to go? We have to stop at the hotel and pick up Carson on our way, and now that MTV is doing teasers, I have a feeling there are going to be reporters everywhere.”

“Good point. We should go.” They all stood, Chris kissed Dani quickly. “You know what just dawned on me Babe? We are no longer the only open couple, we get to share the heat.”

“Heat?” Stasia looked at Dani.

“Well, most of the fans are totally great...but there are always a few that hate us, because they think that they were going to end up with Chris...now you will have to deal with the Lance stalkers.” At first Stasia thought she was joking, but then, she realized Dani was totally serious. “That’s why our number is unlisted, our address is unlisted. We do our best to lay low, I’ve had fans in the bushes before. That’s why we live in a complex with security gates.”

Lance looked down and Stasia sadly, “I wish she was exaggerating, but she isn’t. Things are going to be crazy for us, it’s not going to be easy for us.”

“Sure it will be. So I have to put up with a few teenage girls in the bushes...that’s just because I have what they want. As long as they don’t trample my flowers, I don’t really have much to get upset about. So people follow us when we go out to dinner, oh well, I still get to be with you, so, in the end...I win.”

Lance looked at her, and then at Chris and Dani, “How did I get this lucky?” He kissed the top of her head.

“Dude, I have no idea...you don’t deserve her at all.” Chris was shaking his head.

“Oh SHUT UP Chris!” Stasia shot him an evil look.

“Oh GREAT! Now she’s defending you. This doesn’t look good for the rest of us.”

They walked out and got into Lance’s car, as soon as the security gate at the bottom of the driveway opened, the reporters ran in front of the car. There were at least ten reporters, with microphones, tape recorders, and cameras. They were screaming and shouting out questions.

Dani rolled her eyes from the back seat. “Oh they are loving this. Two NSYNC couples, are better than one. Lance, I’m loving your window tint right now.” She was quiet for a second and said, “Hey guys...how did they know Stasia lives here now? It’s not exactly common knowledge. As a matter of fact, it’s not even uncommon knowledge. And the story ran, what? Ten minutes ago? How is news about you two traveling so fast this week?”

Lance looked at her in the rearview mirror, “Those are all good questions Dani. I wish I knew who was feeding information to the press.” He looked over at Stasia, took her hand, and smiled, “We are going to plug the leak, I promise you that.”

“Harry, don’t worry. I’m not concerned, I told you, I KNOW this is part of the deal. I know, that reporters are not above following me, that’s why I have Ron.”

“Do you always have to be so logical. I keep wanting to protect you, and you keep being level headed, and making me feel useless.” Lance laughed. “Why is it we made this little trip over here without security? I’m being as careless as possible.” He shook his head. “That won’t happen again.

“I think you’ve seen quite enough breakdowns out of me. For some reason, you make me feel stronger.”

Chris and Dani were exchanging looks in the back seat. Lance and Stasia were so relaxed with one another, they didn’t even seem to realize that there were people in the back seat. They pulled up at the hotel, and Carson waved from inside the door and quickly dashed out to the car. He climbed in back with Dani and Chris.

“Hey guys. You are a hot topic today. My phone has been ringing off the hook since I got back to the hotel. Because of your plan, MTV is happy with me, and you guys got to be a little bit in control. I guess this turned out to be a win, win situation.”

“We can’t thank you enough Carson.” Stasia turned in her seat to see him better.

“Sure you can. You’re paying for dinner, right?”

“OF COURSE!” Everyone laughed.

When they got to the restaurant, most of the group was already there. Morgan and Angela both ran over to hug Stasia. Angela hugged her tightly, “I hear I have you to think for my night at school.”

“Oh, I just gave him a little shove in the right direction. The whole being in love thing was all Joe.” She winked at Joey, across the room.

“Well, thank you anyway. You have had a busy week! Joey was talking a mile a minute last night, that you and Lance are together now. I am so happy...you guys are totally perfect for each other.”

“Thanks Ang.”

JC walked into the room with Lyn, and she ran straight for Stasia. “HI!”

“HI! God it’s good to see you!” They hugged, and JC smiled brightly.

“I wish you could have come to the Oscars...so much has happened since I saw you last, I have so much to tell you!”

“You are going to have to start with EVERY DETAIL about you and Lance! I almost passed out when JC told me.”

The guys were gathering over near the table. Carson looked around, “Joey, it looks like I totally missed the story with you and Angela.”

“We checked the room for cameras before we started making out.”

“FUNNY!” Lance smacked the back of Joe’s head.

“OUCH! Take a joke!”

Carson interrupted, “You guys are surrounded by incredible women. How do you do it? Seriously, how did you five get this lucky? Justin, you and Morgan have known each other for years right? Joey, you went to high school with Angela, isn’t that what you told me? JC, Lyn is absolutely beautiful. What’s up there? And Chris...Dani...I still don’t get that. Now, Lance stole Stasia right out from under my nose.”

“OK, why does it sound like you are insulting us, and wanting our females?” Justin shot him a dirty look. Then bent down to tie Jonathon’s shoe.

“Justin, can I go play with Stasia?”

“Sure buddy. But don’t interrupt, make sure you’re polite.”

“K”

Jonathon ran over to the cluster of women, and slipped his hand into Stasia’s. She bent over and picked him up and they spun around. Justin and Lance smiled at one another. “I love that girl!”

“Justin, I wasn’t trying to insult you guys, actually, I was trying to compliment you. Every one of these girls is remarkable. I was just trying to say that, the odds of five guys, finding five perfect women, aren’t very good.”

“Well, three out of the five of us have found ‘the one’ JC and I are still looking.” Justin said simply.

“Whatever dude. I can’t believe you and Morgan aren’t going to end up together.”

“She’s way too good for me.”

“You’ve got that right. But then again, Angela is way too good for me, so who am I to talk?”

“I’m not saying a word, LOOK at Dani, she’s beautiful and smart.”

“I’m afraid Stasia is going to wake up tomorrow and realize she made a mistake wanting to be with me.”

“Oh, yeah, because you guys are such bad catches.” Carson’s sarcasm cut through the pity party that had begun. “Guys, did you ever stop to think that there are millions of girls who would kill to be in this room with you five right now?”

“You have a valid point there.” Chris joked.

When they all sat down at the table, Stasia kept her promise to Jonathon, she sat between he and Lance. He was so excited that he was with the grown ups, that he was bouncing. Stasia pulled his fingers out of his mouth and winked at him. He smiled shyly, then whispered something into Justin’s ear. As he was whispering, Justin was looking over his little head at Stasia and smiling, trying hard not to laugh. He was nodding in agreement.

“You’re right Jon. Stasia is very pretty...maybe even prettier than Mommy.”

Stasia turned beat red and all of the guys burst into laughter and all of the girls said “AWW!” in unison.

Lance straightened his face quickly, “Jon, are you trying to put the moves on my girlfriend?”

“Nah uh.” Then he looked confused, “What are ‘the moves’?” The entire group was laughing so hard at this point, that most of them had tears rolling down their faces. “WHAT?” Poor Jon was confused, and looking at the faces around him. Slowly, his bottom lip started to slide out and quiver.

Stasia put her hand up to stop the laughing. They all stopped when they saw the look on her face, as well as the very unhappy look on Jon’s. She leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and he nodded tentatively, then wrapped his arms around her neck.

She pulled his tiny form onto her lap, and they began digging around in her bag, she pulled out two pens, and some paper. She started a game of tic-tac-toe. Joey put his hand up in the air and waved it a little. Stasia looked around and then said, “What the devil are you doing?”

“Just trying to find out if we’re all allowed to talk again.”

“Why wouldn’t you be?”

“Have you ever seen the look you gave us? It could freeze boiling water.”

“It could not!”

“GIRL! You gave new meaning to the phrase ‘evil eye’.” Chris ducked down under the table.

Stasia turned and looked pitifully at Lance, “Harry? Was it really that bad?”

“Millie...you silenced this entire group...what do you think?” He rubbed her back.

“Sorry guys...but did you SEE the lip? It put’s Justin’s to shame!”

Justin looked over defensively, “I don’t have a ‘lip’. What lip?”

“The one that sticks out of your face every time you don’t get your way.” JC’s voice was flat.

“Justin makes faces when he doesn’t get his way? Daddy says it’s bad to make faces when you don’t get your way.”

“Did you hear that J? Daddy says it’s bad to make faces when you don’t get your way.”

“Shut up Chris.”

“Daddy says it’s bad to say shut up...it’s rude.”

Justin took a deep breath, then forced a smile at his little brother, “Daddy’s right, it’s rude to say shut up. I’m sorry Chris.” He said with sugary sweetness.

“Well, it’s ok this time, but please consider my feelings next time.” Justin was shooting daggers with his eyes across the table at the older man.

Chris was batting his eyelashes, trying to look as innocent as possible.

As they sat through dinner, Lance and Stasia trying to answer all of the questions their friends had. Stasia was chewing on her chicken listening carefully to Lyn. “Stasia, when did you realize that you were in love with him? Was there a moment where it hit you?”

She thought for a minute, she looked at Lance and smiled, “It was in Mississippi, when he read my brother’s journal to me.”

Dani looked curious, “Why did he read it to you? I would think that you’d want to read Noah’s journal alone...not to mention the fact that Lance was still being a total jerk to you at that point.”

“Thanks a lot Dani!” Lance gave her a hurt look.

“Are you trying to say you weren’t being a jerk?”

“No, but you don’t have to point it out in front of everyone.”

“Dude, it’s not like we didn’t notice you were a jerk...we were all there.” Chris tried to help.

“HEY! I went over to her house to talk to her. I was trying.”

“Harry, I was there, I know how it happened. Do you really care what Chris thinks?” She winked at him and he laughed.

“OH! NOW THEY ARE GOING TO GANG UP ON ME ALL OF THE TIME! I see how it is!” Chris crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip.

“Babe, it doesn’t work for you the way it works for Justin.”

“Not you too! You are not allowed to hang out with Stay-A anymore, she has been a very bad influence on you!”

“She has been a very good influence on me, and we live together now, so I can’t listen to you, even if I want to.”

Angela decided to put an end to the little spat happening next to her. “SO. Lance, when did you realize you were in love with her?”

He smiled at the memory, “Actually, it was the same night as Stasia.”

Stasia looked at him, “It was?”

“Yep, and I even fell in love first.” He teased.

“Harry!”

“I realized I was in love with you, when you opened the door, and you looked like you had been crying, at that point, I wanted to do anything I could do to make you smile again.”

“So you started off by apologizing for being...how did you put it? A total jerk?”

“Yep...total jerk, that’s what I said.” He kissed her temple.

“OK, you guys are so cute, I think I’m going to throw up.” Justin rolled his eyes.

“You’re sick?” Jonathon asked innocently.

“My stomach is just a little upset buddy.” Justin cursed himself silently for not thinking before he spoke when Jon was around.

Carson had been very quiet all night, “You guys, I know I’m an outsider, so thanks for letting me come to dinner with you. I wish your fans could see this part of your lives. OK, that sounds bad coming from me, but I just wish that they could understand that you have lives, private lives. And even I never realized that you hung out when you’re not working. I guess I figured it was part of the whole image.”

“You’ve been out with us before. You never noticed this about us?” JC was trying to figure out Carson’s angle.

“Yeah, but every time I’ve been out with you before, it was basically work related. I mean, I’ve hung out with Joey and Chris, but never all of you like this...I feel like I was invited to a family dinner. The vibe is different.”

“I guess you have a point. But you put your butt on the line for Lance and Stasia today. The people here tonight, are trusted, by all of us. You earned our trust today. You have every right to be sitting at this table.” The guys all nodded in agreement. JC was right, Carson deserved to be trusted.

“Carson, I will find a way to repay you. You saved us today. If we hadn’t known in advance, I would have been sitting there stuttering and we wouldn’t have been able to make this look good to our fans.” Lance leaned his elbow on the table. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to repay anything, I only did what was right. Dinner is more than enough.”

“Well it’s a start.” Stasia smiled.

After dinner, Dani invited all of the girls over to the apartment for a big slumber party. “We don’t ever have the chance to hang out and have a girls night. We always have these...ahh...major studs around. Plus, we have to pump Stasia for information about Lance.”

Justin looked at all of the women sitting around the table, then laughed, “Guys, does anyone else want to be a fly on the wall tonight?”

“I want no part of that mess.” Chris shook his head. “They are going to say mean things about us.”

“We are not going to say mean things...about all of you.”

“Are you going to say mean things about me?” Lance nudged Stasia’s arm.

“I have nothing mean to say about you.”

“STOP! I’M GOING TO THROW UP! You guys are so cute!” Justin rolled his eyes. “Guys, I can’t go out because Jon and I don’t have security with us, so while the women are busy guy bashing, why don’t you all come over and hang with Jon and I?”

“Oh, so boys night, the same night as girls night. Interesting concept...and what exactly are we going to do J?”

“I have Pokemon for PlayStation.” Jonathon offered.

“I’m all over that Little Man.” Joey gave Jon a high five.

Lance, Chris and Carson were dropping Stasia and Dani at the apartment, as they pulled into the complex, there were more reporters outside. The security gates closed, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Dani kissed Chris, and climbed out of the car. Stasia was getting out, when Lance caught her hand. “Hey you.” She smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to leave without kissing me good night?”

“I was hoping you would want to walk me to the door.” She gave him a look that had him out of the car immediately.

He offered her his hand and she clasped it between both of hers. They walked to door and he looked down at her. “This has been one heck of a day. Are you still sure you want to do this?” He put his arms around her back and took a step closer.

“I’m positive. Now I didn’t want you to walk me to the door so we could chat about our day.” She leaned up on her toes, and for the very first time, she kissed Lance.

Before that moment, she had let him know that he was welcome to kiss her, but she had never initiated a kiss herself. Her hands quickly slid into the hair at the nape of his neck, his arms tightened around her back and his head titled to allow her a more comfortable angle. Her lips were urging his to part, and he was more than happy to oblige her. She barely touched her tongue to his lower lip, and he moaned into her mouth. She smiled against his mouth and they both started to laugh.

“If we keep this up, Carson is going to have another big news story.” She whispered to his neck.

“Oh please don’t say that...not now...I’ll leave them in the car all night if you want me to stand here and hold you.” He kissed the top of her head. “I have no will power right now. We have not had a chance to be alone since last night.” He pulled back and looked at her, “I want a date, a regular, just the two of us date.”

“When would you like this date...you do realize we are together all of the time, right? And that we have not really slept in two days.” She was beaming up at him.

“Oh stop it. You and I are going out on a date tomorrow night...that is, if you’re free.”

“I’ll check the book and see if EITHER one of us is free.” She rested her cheek on his chest, “I suppose I should be trying to say good night.” She sighed, and then titled her chin up so she could look at his face.

“I suppose so.” His head dipped down, and as his lips were about to touch hers, his horn started honking.

“Chris.” They said together.

He shook his head, quickly kissed her again, and as he was walking away he said, “I’ll make sure Ron is here first thing in the morning tomorrow. Night Millie, I love you.”

“I love you too Harry.”