Stasia rolled over onto her side, her eyes flew open and she yelped out in pain. “DAMN IT!” Her hand covered the bandage on the side of her head. Her eyes flew open, and the confusion set in. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, she looked around the room, her room. She was sitting in her own bed in Orlando, alone not knowing how she got there. She rubbed her eyes and swung her legs out of her bed.

There was someone talking in the livingroom, so she put on her slippers and shuffled out to find Lance sitting on the couch, talking to Jamie on the phone, trying to download the information they needed for the week. “I have no clue how she does this every day. Are you sure it’s set up the way you set it up for her? Well then I think I should just have to hit this box thing...big error message...ok, that can’t be good...no, I am not going to wake her up, I am going to have this done for her when she get’s up. She is doing better I think, yeah...fifteen stitches...I KNOW! I hope they never let me near the guy, or I may end up sharing a cell with him...OH MAN! Why did the screen just turn all blue?”

“Because you have somehow created a Windows error.” Stasia kissed the top of his head. “Good morning.”

“Morning Millie. Jamie, I have to go, I’ll call back later. Bye.” He threw the phone down next to the computer. “Is a Windows error bad?”

“It’s not good...but we can fix it.” She leaned down, hit a few keys, and the download bar popped up. “There you go, schedule in less than a minute.”

He pulled her down to sit on his lap, “I hate it when you do that.” He kissed her.

“Do what?” She snuggled up against him.

His arms slid around her waist, and she noticed Jake curled up next to him on the couch. “I hate it when you’re better at stuff than I am.”

“Well you better get used to it.” She teased. “Now it is up to you to explain how I got into my bed without realizing it.”

“I put you there. I got out of the shower on the bus, and little miss flirty was sound asleep. So I went to bed as well, not that you noticed the body next to you. We arrived in Orlando, and none of us had the heart to wake you up, so Chris and Dani helped me with our stuff, I picked you up in your quilt, put you in my car, drove you and Jake home. I put you in bed, brought our bags in, got in bed...slept the rest of the night, woke up, got out of bed and you were still sleeping like a baby.”

“I can’t believe that. I never knew getting smacked on the head could make you sleep so much. What time is it anyway?”

“Around nine.”

“NINE? I have a conference call with Carson and Johnny about my appearance on TRL at nine thirty! I want to jump in the shower before that, will you help me with this bandage? I get to take it off!” She smiled happily.

“Nothing would make me happier than to help you get rid of that.” He kissed her temple. “Before or after your shower?”

“Better do it before, come into the bedroom.” She stood up.

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” He hopped up and followed her.

She disappeared into the closet and emerged a few minutes later wearing a steel gray, long. Silk bathrobe. Lance’s jaw dropped, he had seen her wearing less, but somehow, the way the fabric was draping on her body, the way the color brought out her eyes, and the way the fabric slipped off of her knee as she sat down on the bed next to him was driving him insane. Her hand was resting gently on her thigh, keeping the soft fabric from falling completely open. He closed his eyes and made a mental picture of her at this moment, she looked so sweet, beautiful and completely sexy.

She pulled the hair laying over the white gauze back so he could have access to it. “OK...GET IT OFF! Looking at this thing is a reminder I don’t really want.”

“I can’t believe they have this thing taped to your hair. The doctor told me to take my time removing it, but Lord, I may have to pull each hair loose individually.”

“The nurse explained it was either this, or they were going to have to shave a big patch of hair, and because the cut isn’t straight and neat, it was going to be difficult to shave the area, so they opted for working carefully around my hair...that would have been nice, big bald spot...just what I need.”

“OK, here goes nothing. The second it hurts, let me know.”

“Oh, you’ll know!” She laughed.

His hands moved to the bandage, he pulled at the corner of the tape at the bottom of the bandage with a fingertip. He quickly learned that holding her hair tightly back made the tape release more easily. She was grateful for the care he was taking. Lance was not rushing and he was doing his very best to avoid causing her any further pain. He got one piece of tape free and she was amazed that there was not on hair attached to it.

“One down, three to go.” He kissed the long column of her neck.

“We’re getting there.”

His hands went back to work on the next piece of tape, running up the left side of the bandage, this piece came off more easily. He handed it to her, and she teased him, “HEY! This one has a hair on it...careful there buddy!”

“Millie stop moving, I do not want to pull your hair.”

“Yes sir.” She laughed.

He made quick work of the stip of tape on the right side of the bandage. He slowly lifted the entire bandage, and quickly pulled it upward, finally releasing all of her hair he handed her the gauze pad, with the last piece of tape still attached to it. His hand was holding her hair up, away from the cut. When his eyes settled on the gash on her head for the first time, he involuntarily sucked in his breath. “Oh God.”

There was a long jagged cut at least three inches long, running diagonally from near her temple, zig zagging its way to almost behind her ear. For the first time he could see the way almost the entire side of her head was bruised. The bruise was darkest in a straight line where the crowbar had connected with her head. The cut was running right through the center of the dark bruise. It was obvious that the doctor had taken great care to make the stitches as neat, and as small as possible.

His eyes closed tightly, and tears began to burn behind his eyelids. When Chris had told him that it had been a crowbar that did this damage, he hadn’t really believed him, after all, what kind of monster would hit someone on the head with a crowbar. Looking at her head, at the bruising, the cut, the stitches he suddenly realized that Chris had been right. He let her hair fall from his fingers, and for a moment, it was as if the whole thing had never happened. He couldn’t see the damage, her beautiful hair was shielding him from the horror he felt when he was looking at the gash on her head.

“Harry?” Her voice broke through his thoughts.

“Hmm?” His arms went around her, holding her tightly to him, trying to pull her into him, trying to find a way to protect her.

“How does it look?” She had watched his eyes slam shut, she knew it couldn’t be very good.

“It looks pretty nasty right now, but the bruising should start to fade soon.”

She shifted so she could look at him, she laid her palm against his cheek, “Thank you. I feel much better having that thing off of my head.”

His hand moved to the back of her head and he gently pulled her head down onto his shoulder. He was shaking and she was unsure as to what was going through his head. She leaned back a bit, “What is it?” Her eyes were searching his face.

He closed his eyes and whispered, “For the first time in my life, I think I’m capable of murder.”

She pulled his chin up, and his eyes opened, “He is not worth it. He is not worth you leaving me. If you were to go to jail, it would kill me, and he would have succeeded with what he was trying to do. We are stronger than this situation.” She placed a palm on either side of his face, “I know we haven’t been together long, God, I even know we haven’t known each other very long but...”

He shook his head, “Our hearts have been together forever. We have know each other for lifetimes.”

“I know. I was made for you. You make me whole.” She said matter of factly as a tear rolled down her cheek.

He wiped the tear away with his thumb. “I didn’t know that there was anything missing, I didn’t know I needed anyone, I didn’t know I needed YOU. I think the moment I looked into your eyes, I knew...my heart knew we belonged together.”

“My heart has been hurt so many time, in so many ways. My father leaving, my mother’s death, Noah and Nik...Garret...your love, the way you love me has heal my heart. I am stronger now, I am stronger because you love me. I am stronger because I know what it is to be in love. Honestly, I don’t think that there is anything life throw at us, that we can’t get through together. I got me brains bashed in, and we made it. Ok, Mr. Stalker, let’s see what you’ve got, because I’ve got James Lance Bass, and there is no way you can get by the two of us.”

He laughed, “Ok Mr. Stalker? God I love you! You’re right, noone is dumb enough to mess with us now. He tried to separate us, all he has done is brought us closer together.” His lips met hers.

“Closer huh?” She said against his lips, stilling kissing him.

“Want to see how close?” He said between kisses.

“Oh please.” He slowly lowered her onto her back, they never let the contact between their lips break. He was laying mostly on top of her, her leg slipped around his, and the feeling of the silk of her robe under his hands was like Heaven to him. Her arms went around his back and clutched at his shirt. He pushed them further onto the bed, and while he was leaning over her, she pulled his shirt over his head. She ran her hands over the warm skin of his chest. Her lips moved along his shoulder, onto his neck and she worked her way up to his earlobe. The tip of her tongue ran lightly over the sensitive skin of his ear, he moaned loudly.

His fingers pushed the fabric of her robe off of her shoulder slightly, his lips came crashing down on the newly exposed flesh. Her fingers dug into the hair at the back of his head. His mouth moved to her neck and she moaned. His fingers were tentatively playing with the neckline of her robe.

Stasia was lost in the most spectacular dream world. She felt warm and as if nothing could reach them. She was ripped from the wonderful swirling emotions she and Lance were lost in, when her cell phone began ringing.

He hand stilled where it was on her robe. His head flopped down next to hers. “Carson and Johnny.”

“This is not funny.” Her eyes were closed, one of her hands was resting on his bare back, the other was still buried in his hair.

“I hate this as much as you do...more...but you have to take that call.”

“I know.” She pushed up against his shoulders, and when he rolled off of her, she ran into the livingroom clutching her robe closed. “Anastasia Blake.”

“Stasia, it’s Johnny and I have Carson on the line.”

“Hi guys. How are you?”

“Fine Stasia, how is your head?”

“It’s Ok Johnny, I still have that dull headache, but the doctor told me I’d have it for a while. I’ll live.”

“Well make sure you follow his orders, I know he told you to get a lot of rest. You aren’t working today are you?”

“No, this call is the only thing I’m doing today. Lance just removed the dressing from my head, so I’m feeling a little more human, I’m just getting tired easily. I’ve got to slow down a little, it’s nice to be here in Orlando for the night.”

“Stasia, it’s Carson. I’m so sorry about all of this, are you sure you’re up to doing this thing?”

“Hi Carson, I’ll be fine. It’s ten minutes with a friend, I’m not worried.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that, the news department is going to try to do an interview with you about the attack. I was thinking it might be better if I did it while you’re here. If you want to do an interview about it at all.”

“Carson, I’m not sure she should do that. I don’t want to open up Stasia to more pain.” Johnny sounded defensive.

“Can you two hold on a second, I want to talk to Lance about this quickly?”

“Sure.”

Lance walked in, his bare chest made her stomach flip. “You want to talk to Lance about what?”

“Carson wants me to do an interview with him about the attack.”

“Why would you want to do that? I can’t imagine you’d want to hash it up again.”

“Harry, I’m not sure I want to, but it’s Carson. We owe him. Plus, if I do an interview, one interview, I can just say it was an exclusive, and be done with it.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah I am.”

“I’m coming.”

“You have to be at the press conference.”

“I have to be at the press conference when you’re on TRL, Carson can do the interview whenever we can be available together. You are not going to relive that alone.”

“Carson, are you still there?”

“Yeah Stasia.”

“OK, here’s the deal. I will do the interview, as an exclusive with you, and only you...don’t try to throw Kurt Loder at me at the last second. And Lance will be there. We are going to have to do it when we are both available. If you can agree to those conditions, I’ll do it. Johnny is that OK with you?”

“Stasia whatever you decide is fine. You know I’m behind you.” Johnny sighed.

“I can easily agree to that, as a matter of fact, I’ll bring a crew to you where ever you want.”

“We’ll do it the evening of the TRL interview at our suite at the hotel, is that ok? That way you and I can go back together after TRL, Lance can meet us there after the press conference, and I can rest in between.”

“You’ve got it. As for TRL, it should be easy enough, you talk about the talent search, you introduce the video, you’re done, we aren’t going to take audience questions.”

“OK, sounds fine. Johnny is there anything you need me to do while I’m in New York?”

“Yes, take care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry Johnny, I’m being very good.”

“OK, I will see you next week Stasia, it was nice talking to you Johnny. I’ve got to get going.”

“Bye Carson....Bye Johnny.”

“Good bye.”

“Take care.”

She closed the phone and dropped it on the table. “Is it turned off?” Lance looked at her.

“No.”

“Turn it off.” He picked up his own phone and turned the power off.

“But...”

“Off.” She smiled and hit the power button. “OK...it’s off.”

He slowly walked across the room, “Good.”

“So...um...Harry...you decided against putting that shirt back on, huh?” He was walking with purpose, she felt her cheeks flushing.

“My plan is to pick up where we left off.” He gently put his hands on her shoulders.

“From now on you are in charge of plans...all plans...you are the plan man...”

“I’ve been waiting to say this for a while now.”

“Say what?” She stepped in close to him. “You have already told me you love me...which pretty much made may day, but what else do you have to say...”

“Shut up Stasia.” He smiled.

“Using my own favorite phrase on me?”

“Yep, now seriously, shut up.” He lowered his head and his lips claimed hers. Her arms went around his neck, pulling him closer. He bent, and his arm went under her knees, he carried her the few steps over to the couch. He lowered her on to the couch and lowered himself down. His lips were blazing a path down her neck.

They heard the sound at exactly the same time, there was no mistaking the sound of keys turning in the lock. In their scramble to get off of the couch, Lance slipped onto the floor, which brought Jake running from his bed in the corner of Stasia’s room. Stasia was trying to sit up while, keeping her robe closed, Lance was fighting hard to get off of the floor but Jake was jumping across him trying to play. Dani and Chris burst into the room, laughing. Dani stopped short and Chris slammed into her, “Babe what is wrong with you?” He steadied himself.

“Guys, I’m SO SORRY!” Dani was almost as red as Lance and Stasia were, Chris on the other hand was standing behind Dani with his eyes wide and his mouth gaping.

Stasia pushed her hair back as Lance caught Jake around the middle and set him on the floor. “No, Dani...I’m sorry! We were...ahh...”

“Stasia, it so doesn’t matter! Just let us get out of here and you can...”

“NO!” Chris walked into the middle of the room. “I’m not going anywhere. I want Lance to explain to me why he is laying on the floor, without a shirt, Stasia is trying to look like she wasn’t laying on the couch, in her BATHROBE...and not much else from what I can see.” He flopped down in a chair.

Lance glared at him, “Chris, if I begged, would you drop this now?” He pushed up off of the floor, and walked into Stasia’s bedroom, returning with his shirt on.

Chris looked at Stasia, then at Lance who sat down next to her, and laughed as she buried her face in his chest. “For Stasia’s sake, because she has had a rough enough week as is, I will let this one go...for now.”

“Thank you.” Her voice was muffled by Lance’s chest.

“Yeah well, don’t expect this kind of charity much longer...I’d say one day per stitch is about all I can promise.”

She slowly lifted her head, “OK...fifteen days...I think I’m going to get in the shower.”

“You going to wash her back for her?” Chris looked straight at Lance.

“Shut up Chris.” Lance glared back.

“You’re getting too good at that. Leave the ‘shut ups’ to me.” Stasia got up, kissed him and walked into the bathroom.

When Stasia emerged from her bedroom, in fresh clothes Lance expected to see her smiling, but she looked on the verge of tears. He jumped up and ran over to where she was standing. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I opened the bag from the hospital.”

Lance’s face fell, “Oh God! I meant to get rid of that.”

“I didn’t realize...there was so much...” She brought her hands up, and she was clutching the blouse she was wearing when she was attacked. It was difficult to see what color the fabric had been, because most of it had been completely saturated with her blood. It had dried to the sickening red-brown that spoke of horror that the people around her felt two days before.

He took the blouse from her hand and held it out behind him. Chris sprung up out of his chair and took the blouse from Lance, he walked quickly into the kitchen, where Dani was pouring lemonade. When he walked into the room, she turned to face him. She covered her mouth with her hand, “My God!”

“She found it, in her room. It was in a bag from the hospital.”

“Should we get rid of it?”

“We sure as hell should not let her see it again.” He opened the cabinet under the sink, and shoved the blouse into the trash can.

Lance was still standing where Chris had left him. Stasia was standing in his arms, shaking violently and crying. She hadn’t had the opportunity to really see how much she had bleed. Seeing her own blood, dried in that morbid pattern on her blouse, it had shaken her to the core, it had made the whole attack more real. Seeing the amount of blood she had lost, made the attack a reality. She had woken up with the stitches. The bandage had been there when she came to. The headache had been there when she woken up.

Stasia looked up when she heard Chris and Dani walk into the room. For the first time Stasia realized that Chris had been wearing scrubs when came into see her at the hospital. She knew Chris had taken her into the hospital. She looked straight at Chris and said, “Tell me what happened.”

“Stasia, I don’t know if...”

She looked him square in the eye, “Chris, PLEASE tell me.”

Lance helped her over to the couch, Dani handed her a glass of lemonade, and she took a long drink. Chris looked at her with pleading in his eyes, “Stasia, I don’t want to think about it.” He buried his face in his hands, sighed and said, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Lance put his arms around her and Dani sat next to Chris, holding his hand.

“Joe and I were coming outside with the kids after sound check, I was hoping to pawn them off on you and Lance. You guys have gotten predictable with the walks after sound check. So anyway, Joe and I were trying to get out the door, Ron was trying to help that crew guy get the case out of the doorway, the kids had tied Joey and I together. We saw you laughing at us, you were standing with Jake near the fence. We had just gotten lose when I saw the guy standing behind that chick from Little Rock. I was starting to walk over in your direction when Justin and JC came outside making a racket. I turned to look at those two idiots, when I turned back, the guy had the crowbar up over his head. I screamed you name, and you laughed, so I started to run over I jumped and tried to knock you out of the way, but I was too late. I’m sorry.” There was so much pain in his eyes it made her heart break.

“We fell onto the ground, somehow I picked you up and ran over to the gate where there was a police car parked, the cop helped me get into the back with you and he rushed to the hospital. On the way there he told me to talk to you, to let you know you weren’t alone. I begged you to wake up. I ordered you to wake up. I told you we all needed you, that Lance couldn’t live without you.”

Stasia had tears rolling down her cheeks as he continued, “We got to the hospital and I was so frightened, I wouldn’t let go of you, the doctor had to talk me into letting go of you. They took you inside and I freaked. I thought you were going to die. You had lost so much blood, you and I were both covered. I looked down at my hands and they were covered with blood.” He held out his hands and looked at them as if the blood was still there.

“A few minutes later the guys showed up. The co took me to get cleaned up, because when Lance saw me he almost passed out.” Stasia turned to Lance who nodded.

“Then the doctor came in and told us you were going to you were going to be ok. You know the rest.” He looked at his hands again, turning them over, as if her blood had permanently stained them. She looked into his eyes and said, “Chris, you couldn’t have done any more, and you saved my life. I will never be able to thank you.”

Lance looked at his friend, “ I will never be able to thank you. You have given me a chance to try to show her how much I love her.”

Tears were rolling down Dani’s cheeks. “I can’t believe this. Why does it take something like this to make us see how important we are to one another?”

Stasia looked at the three faces looking at her, “I will never be able to express to all of you what it meant for you to all be there with me, when I woke up and knew I wasn’t alone, for the first time in a long time, since Noah and Nik died, I felt like I was part of a family. I felt like I belonged. I felt loved.”

“You have no idea how much you are loved.” Dani looked at her friend.

Stasia glanced at the picture frame sitting on the end table next to her, it was a picture of the guys from their first concert. She thought about her friends, the guys she had quickly come to love like brothers. The guys she would be sitting around a table with later that night at Justin’s mother’s. She wondered if the fans realized that it was the truth that they chose to spend time together, even when they didn’t have to.

She thought of Justin, who in the picture she was staring at had white blonde hair and big silver hoop earrings, at this every moment, he was dragging Morgan and Trace around a mall. He was shopping for a gift for his mother, he had been talking about this shopping trip since Little Rock. He was excited to be able to spend time with his two best friends and to but his mother the tennis bracelet she had always wanted.

Standing next to Justin in the picture was a clean shaven Joey, who was spending the day with his family and Angela. They were doing what every couple did, they were watching TV and eating Mrs. Fatone’s heavenly food. They were just spending some much needed quality time together.

JC was smiling brightly next to Joey, with his famous caesar haircut. Today, he was tucked safely into his own bed, where he would stay until Lyn came over after she left school. They would talk quietly together until they absolutely had to leave for Lynn’s house. He was having, what in his mind was, the perfect day...sleep and Lyn’s company.

Chris was on JC’s back in the picture. She looked up at him, he was telling them a story about his Molly’s school. He got so much joy out of his relationship with his sisters. Dani loved them like her own sisters, they were all very close, she loved that about him. He was exactly where he wanted to be on his precious day off, with Dani.

She couldn’t help but smile when her eyes landed on Lance’s very blonde head. The picture seemed to be a hundred years old. She pulled her eyes from the picture, to the man sitting beside her. The hair was longer, and darker. His face was more mature and more masculine. But the eyes, the eyes were the same hauntingly deep, reflective green pools they had been when the picture had been taken. The were the same eyes that now turned to meet hers with a smile.

They were all older, and wiser than the day that picture had been taken. They had all fought battles, always side by side. They had bonded into a family that noone could tear apart. They had incorporated their loved ones and friends into that family. Morgan, Angela, Lyn, Dani and now Stasia were part of that warm, protective inner circle. She was so blessed to know these people.

“You look a million miles away. Are you OK?”

“Everything is perfect.” She kissed him and he smiled against her lips.

She stood in the corner of the room where NSYNC’s press conference was about to take. They were going to talk about their HBO special, Challenge For The Children and the current leg of the tour.

She waved slightly to catch Lance’s attention, when he smiled slightly at her, she pointed at her watch. He excused himself from the reporter he had been talking to and made his way across the room to stand in front of her. “Are you on your way out to MTV?”

“We are leaving right now. I wanted to say good-bye so you didn’t think I had just disappeared. Are you ready for the press conference?”

“Same old drill...I’m not overly concerned. A few reporters have already asked me about you.” He kissed her forehead.

“Why do I feel so nervous? It’s just Carson.” She swallowed hard, “And a live audience, on live TV being aired nationally...live...”

He laughed and hugged her, “You’re right. It’s just Carson. Don’t worry about the people. He is going to go out of his way to go easy on you. And remember, you don’t have to talk about the attack at all.”

“Until tonight.”

“But I’ll be there, holding your hand the entire time.” He looked around to make sure noone was listening in, “If I were to say, ‘and so it goes’ would you know what I’m trying to tell you?” He looked into her eyes.

Her heart picked up it’s pace, of course she would know. That was the song that he had used to tell her he loved her. It was the song she thought of every time she thought of the amazing night when they had taken the huge step into this relationship, the relationship she drew her strength and courage from.

She hugged him and whispered into his ear, “I love you too.”

He smiled at her, “See, I can say that, and noone knows what I’m saying to you. It’s our thing.”

“I like that.” Lonnie waved at her from the door. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you back at the hotel.”

“Knock ‘em dead Millie.”

“Yes sir!” She saluted him as she walked away.

Ron was standing behind her rubbing her shoulders, Lonnie was leaning against the wall, laughing at her. “I didn’t think you could get any whiter than you already were.”

She glared at him. “Shut up Lonnie.”

“Now I’d like to introduce a good friend of mine, my special guest today is Stasia Blake from Free Lance Entertainment.”

The audience cheered and clapped and Carson hugged her tightly as she took her spot next to him.

“Hey Stasia! I haven’t seen you in a while!”

“Well, we’ve been on the road for the first leg of NSYNC’s, ‘No Strings Attached’ tour. You are going to have to come out and catch the show...it is AMAZING!”

“The guys always put on one hell of a show, they never disappoint their fans!” Carson smiled. “So Stasia, you are here with an exciting announcement from Free Lance...what have you got to tell us?”

“Well Carson, I think everyone knows about the Free Lance Entertainment National Talent Search that is going on right now. It is going so well, that we have even gotten MTV involved. The finals are going to be held right here, in this studio! We are going to have some very cool judges here with us to help chose the next Free Lance artist. We are all excited about welcoming a new member into the family.”

“Whoever the new artist is, they going to be managed by some of the best people in the business.”

“I may be a little biased, but I have to agree with you.” She laughed.

“So Stasia, I was hoping that while you’re here, you could do me a favor and introduce today’s number one video.”

“I’d love to!” She looked into the camera Carson pointed to and smiled, “Today on TRL, you voted the BEST VIDEO out there, by five hottest guys out there, to number one! Here is your favorite video, NSYNC with ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’!”

They came back from the video clip and Carson put his arm around her shoulders, “I want to thank Stasia Blake, from Free Lance Entertainment for stopping by. And I’ll see you all tomorrow, same time, same place!”

The camera man gave him the sign that they were clear and Carson hugged her. “Great job!”

Lonnie and Ron immediately moved to stand behind her when the fans started to approach she and Carson. Three girls walked up and one of them said, “Stasia?”

“Hi!” She smiled.

“We saw the thing on Entertainment Tonight about you getting hit at that concert, and we saw you leaving the hospital with Lance. We wanted to give you this card and let you know not all of NSYNC’s fans are crazy stalker freaks.”

She moved to hand Stasia the card and Ron took a step forward, and Stasia stopped him by placing her palm on his chest and shaking her head at him. She took the card and read it carefully. “Thank you so much!” She looked at each of them, “So who is Emily?”

“I am!” A pretty little redhead smiled.

“And Jenny?”

“That’s me.”

“So you have to be Laurie, right?” She looked at the quiet girl next to Emily.

“Right. We just want you to know we’re really happy you are OK.”

“Well thank you, that means a lot to me. NSYNC really does have the best fans.” She looked at Carson who nodded.

“Will you say hi to the guys for us?” Emily asked quietly.

Stasia turned to Lonnie who was holding her computer bag, she reached for the bag, dug around for a few seconds and pulled out three Meet and Greet passes and three back stage passes for the first show at Madison Square Gardens. She looked around to make sure noone was watching them and she hand each girl a set of passes. “Why don’t you say hi yourselves? But you have to promise to come find me, so I can give you a quick tour and introduce you to some of my friends.”

The girls were staring at her like she had just given them her first born child. “Now keep this quiet, I don’t need to be mobbed, but will you come see me at the Garden?”

“Are you kidding? THANK YOU!” They all hugged her, and she happily hugged them back. They said good-bye and left giggling.

She looked at Carson, “I’m glad Lance gave me a stack of passes, that was fun.” She tucked the card from the girls into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

“I’m going to go change, round up the crew and we can get out of here.”

“OK, I’ll be waiting.”

She slipped her keycard into the lock and held the double doors open so Carson and his crew could enter the suite. She heard Lance’s voice drifting out of the bedroom so she left Carson and his crew to get settled and excused herself to change her clothes.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed facing away from her. She slowly approached him and lightly kissed the back of his neck. He jumped about six feet into the air and she giggled as he spun around to face her clutching his chest, “Hi honey...I’m home.”

He shot her a dirty look, then kissed her cheek. “No Stace, I’m fine, Stasia just scared the crap out of me.”

She went to her suitcase and pulled out a pair of black pants and a celery green shirt. She went into the bathroom and changed quickly. As she walked out he was turning off his phone. “Stacy said hi.”

“How was the trip, did she find anyone she thinks is promising?”

“She said there were a lot of talented people there. So, how did TRL go?” He flopped back on the bed, and put his hands behind his head.

She put on her diamond stud earrings and started to brush quickly through her hair as she recapped the TRL interview for him, she was so excited, and talking so quickly, that she wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing. When her brush raked over the cut on the side of her head, she shouted out in pain, “DAMN IT!” Her hand flew up to the cut, when she looked at her fingertips, there was blood covering them. “Shit.”

Lance sprung up off of the bed and ran over, “Let me see.” He lifted her hair and looked closely at the cut. “It’s not too bad. You just scratched over the surface. Her, hold your hair back.”

She held her hair as he ran into the bathroom. He returned a few seconds later with a damp washcloth. He held it against the torn flesh until the bleeding stopped.

“OK Millie, thee bleeding stopped.” He kissed her temple, “You need to be more careful.”

“I was just babbling and not paying attention, geeze that hurt.” She lightly touched the side of her head.

“I know. Do you want to lay down?” He rubbed her back.

“No, I want to get this interview over. Do I look presentable?”

“I’ve never seen you not presentable. In pajamas, in your running clothes, and especially in MY pajamas. You look beautiful, and your shirt brings out my eyes.” He tickled her side.

“Well the gray you a wearing brings out mine...want to trade?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“Oh let’s not get started. The next thing you know, Carson will walk in here, and you and I will be topless. I can see that on MTV.”

“I guess that would be bad, your fans might not be quite so understanding about topless photos huh?” She playfully unbuttoned his top two buttons.

She turned on her heel and started for the door, he grabbed her arm and pulled her against his chest, “Evil, you are truly evil.”

“Mmm hmm.” She agreed as she kissed his neck.

“Don’t get started with that.” He tilted his head back further to allow her easier access. “We need to go out and do the interview.” He lowered his lips to hers and they kissed deeply.

When he finally pulled his head back, they were both breathing hard. “Let get out of here, somehow bedrooms have become dangerous for us.” He took her hand and they walked out of the bedroom together.

Carson was set up and ready to start the interview. He stood up and offered Lance his hand, “Hey how are you?”

“Good. How have you been Carson?”

“I’m great. Lance you are going to be so proud of Stasia when you see the tape of today’s show. She a pro.”

“I know, she’s good at everything...except basketball.” She squeezed his hand.

“Are you guys ready? Lance are you going to sit wit Stasia or behind the camera?”

“I’d like to sit with her, if it’s ok with both of you.” Stasia nodded and held up her arms for the sound man to help her put on her microphone.

“Yeah, I was hoping to have both of you in the shot.” Lance was quickly wired with a microphone.

Stasia sat in the corner of a loveseat, Lance settled next to her, with his arm around her shoulders. She leaned back against him and sighed happily when he rested his free hand on her forearm. Carson smiled at the two of them and began his introduction. “Today I am sitting down with Anastasia Blake, from Free Lance Entertainment and her boyfriend Lance Bass of NSYNC. They have granted MTV an exclusive interview about the attack on Stasia at Atlanta’s Phillips Arena on May 18th.”

He turned to Lance and Stasia. “Stasia, Lance I want to thank you both for sitting down with me. I am well aware of the fact that this is difficult for both of you. But I want to ask you about the events of that day, a week ago in Georgia.”

Lance’s hand squeezed her arm affectionately.

“Stasia, you were brutally attacked outside of Phillips Arena in Atlanta, with a crowbar, is that right?”

She nodded her head, “Yes.”

“You have some injuries as a result of that attack don’t you?”

“I have fifteen stitches in my head,” She lifted her hair to show Carson the gash on the side of her head he winced at the sight of the ripped flesh, “Some rather serious bruising, a concussion and I was knocked unconscious.”

“Stasia, can I ask you about your feelings towards NSYNC’s fans now that one of them may have attacked you?”

Lance looked down at her as she answered, “Carson, I can tell you for sure, I am POSITIVE that the person who did this to me was NOT and NSYNC fan. The fans have been remarkably supportive of my relationship with Lance, and of my recovery. Several thousand NSYNC fans were completely silent at a concert FOR ME, to help my friends show me they cared about me. NSYNC fans have sent me cards, flowers and gifts wishing me well. NSYNC’s fans DO NOT attack people. I should know, because I am one of their biggest fans.”

Carson looked at Lance, “What do you think about that?”

Lance lightly rubbed his fingertips over her arm. “I think that Stasia is right. NSYNC fans do not attack people, especially not people we all care about. I think that this person can’t possibly know anything about Stasia, because if he knew anything about her, he could have never done this to her.”

“Stasia, it is my understanding that Chris Kirkpatrick was there when you were attacked, but that he wasn’t able to stop it in time.”

“Actually, Chris saved my life. If I had taken the complete force of the blow to my head, had he not knocked me most of the way out of the path of the crowbar, I would have been killed. Chris threw his body under mine so I wouldn’t hit the concrete after I was hit. He carried me to the police car that took me to the hospital, and he talked to me the entire time, so I knew I wasn’t alone.”

“Lance, where were you when Stasia was attacked?” Stasia felt Lance flinch.

“I was still inside the venue. I wasn’t there.” He looked down as her hand moved to his knee and she squeezed it.

“How did you find out about it?”

“Justin came in to get me. Chris was already on the way to the hospital with her. I arrived at the hospital with the rest of the guys and our security, five minutes after Stasia got there.”

“How did you feel when Justin told you what happened?”

“Honestly, at that point, I had never been so horrified in my entire life, I didn’t think I could ever be more frightened but I was wrong.”

“When had you been more frightened?”

“I hadn’t been...it was when I walked into the hospital, and saw Chris covered in her blood. That was the most terrifying moment of my life. That is the moment the reality of the situation hit me full force.”

“Stasia, are you going to stop attending NSYNC’s concerts now, will you pull out of the spotlight?”

“I will NOT stop going to NSYNC’s concerts. I don’t think that the spotlight is mine, actually I think the spotlight is Lance’s. I am with Lance, from time to time, I end up standing next to the spotlight. I am not about to pull away from Lance in any way. I am here, with him to stay. My job is to be where Lance is, I work for Free Lance, and we are currently doing a talent search, we are both highly involved in that search, we work hand in hand.”

Lance was nodding slowly, “Stasia will be with me. We have tightened security around all of us, but more specifically, around her. If for any reason she doesn’t feel safe, we BOTH will pull back for a while, until she is comfortable. The guys all understand that, and will completely support us if it came to that, the same way I would support them in the same situation.”

“You both seem pretty sure of a lot of things. Your relationship, NSYNC’s fans, your working relationship and your friendship with the other member of the group.”

Stasia smiled, “As far as our relationship goes, I think that we are even more sure of our feelings now.” Lance nodded his agreement. “As we both said, this attack had nothing to do with NSYNC’s fans, who are the best fans in the world, they have been nothing but wonderful.”

Lance tackled the last two categories, “Our working relationship is even better now. We are friends, we are in love and we work together, for us, this is the perfect arrangement. I have the person I love with me 24/7 and that is exactly the way I like it.” Stasia smiled up into his eyes as he looked down at her affectionately. “And the guys, they are our family, they only want what’s best for me...for Stasia...for the two of us together. If they thought she was frightened, they would be the first people to tell me to take care of her.”

Carson was about to ask another question when there was a knock on the door. Stasia and Lance looked at one another, “Chris.” They said in unison. Lance stood up and pulled the door open.

“Hey Lance...” Chris looked at Carson, “Oh! Stasia’s interview. Is that now?” He walked in and sat down next to Stasia.

Lance was still standing at the door, “Come on in Chris...make yourself at home.” He walked back to the loveseat, “Move.”

“I want to say hi to Carson. Hi Carson.”

“Hey Chris. What’s up?”

“Oh, not much...I’m just hanging out. I came down to see if Stasia wanted to take the dogs out with me. Guess not.”

Carson looked at all of them, “Could I ask Chris a few questions about the attack?”

Lance and Stasia both shrugged, Chris stood up, “No. Sorry Carson.”

“Why not Chris?” Carson looked confused.

“Watching one of my best friends get attacked, and almost killed, then bleeding all over me is not something I want to relive over and over. I can’t deal with it right now.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Stay-A, do you want me to take Jake out with me?”

“Please. He’s in the bedroom, I’ll go get him.” She stood up and went into the bedroom, Chris followed her. He was surprised when she shut the door after he walked in.

“What’s up?” He looked at her.

Stasia walked up and hugged him tightly, when his arms finally went around her waist she kissed his cheek and pulled back. She placed a hand on either side of his face and stared into his eye, “I am so sorry I put you through all of that. Chris, you and I have always had a special...bond...but now, I owe you my life as well. I am so sorry.”

“Stay-A, you know I love you don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I will always blame myself for not getting there fast enough.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It will never be your fault. PLEASE, try to stop blaming yourself. Please try for me.”

“I’ll try, but I close my eyes and I see you laying in the back of that police car...”

“OPEN your eyes. See me standing here. See me happy, and safe BECAUSE OF YOU. I know I can’t make the visions in your head go away, but SEE the truth. The last thing I want is to cause you more pain.”

He hugged her tightly. “You are a sight for sore eyes Stasia.”

“I know...I can’t help how cute I am, it’s a curse.” They both laughed.

Chris left the suite quietly with Jake. Lance could have sworn he saw tears in his friends eyes. They settled back in across from Carson.

“Who do you two think this whole situation has affected the group dynamic?”

Lance smiled, “I think we are all tighter now. We are watching out for each other a lot more. Sadly, the negative situations we have had to face together have always pulled us closer. We circle the wagons and fight for each other. It happened with the law suits, it happened with Lou and it has happened again with Stasia.”

Stasia gazed at Lance, “The guys, all of the guys draw strength form one another. If one of them can’t stand on his own, the others hold him up. That support reaches out beyond just Joe, Chris, Justin, JC and Lance. It extends to the people they each care about, even if I wasn’t close to each of the guys individually, they would support and protect me because Lance cares about me. This is a fiercely loyal group, that’s one of the things I love about them.”

Carson looked down at his notes, “Are the police close to finding the attacker?”

“Honestly, we aren’t completely sure about the investigation, other than to say that we know that the Atlanta Police Department has been following hundreds and hundreds of leads, many of those leads are from fans who were at the venue. We are confident that they are going to find the man who did this to me.”

Carson thanked them and the crew packed up. When the camera crew had left and Carson was preparing to go he looked at the two of them, Lance standing behind her, with his arms around her waist. Her hands resting on top of his, and her head leaning bach against his chest. His chin was resting on the top of her head. “Guys, do you have dinner plans?”

“No, we were going to eat in so she can get some rest. The doctor doesn’t want her pushing herself, so we’re keeping a much lighter schedule. Why don’t you stay?”

“I’d like to. Would you mind if I invited someone?”

Lance and Stasia both craned their necks so they could look at one another. Her eyes were twinkling, “We wouldn’t mind at all. You can use the phone in the bedroom if you’d like.”

“Great! Thanks. Stasia, I really want you to meet her.”

Lance clamped his hand over her mouth, because he knew the excited squeal was coming. His hand did a good job of muffling the squeal.

After Carson made the call and told them his friend would be there in two hours, Stasia looked at her watch. Lance was watching her carefully. “I’m going to lay down for a little while. The headache is getting pretty bad.”

She went into the bedroom, kicked off her shoes and Lance laid a blanket over her before turning out the lights and closing the door.

Carson looked at him, “How are you holding up?”

He settled on the couch and ran his hands through his hair. “Carson, I don’t want her out of my sight. I’m afraid if I turn my back this freak is going to try to kill her again.” He looked up and leaned his elbows on his knees then his head dropped and he stared at his hands, “He tried to kill her.”

“I know. Is there anything I can do?”

“I wish there was.”

“I did find out about the press in D.C.” Lance’s head snapped up.

“What did you find out?”

“All of the local news papers, radio stations and TV stations received phone calls from a man tipping them off. All of the calls went to the music editors. They were all from a man. One of the camera guys noticed a new photographer as well. They all cover the music beat, so they all basically know each other, there was a new guy, and they haven’t seen him since.”

Lance’s eyes were huge. “Are you SERIOUS?”

“Yeah. I’ll keep digging if it will help.”

“Carson, you have no idea how helpful you have already been.” He grabbed his phone, “Can you tell a friend of ours all of this?”

“Who’s the friend?”

“Her name is Mary, she’s with the FBI, she is unofficially working Stasia’s case.”

“Sure, I’ll talk to her. I told you, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Lance quickly dialed the number that had become all to familiar to him. On the first ring he was greeted with her strong, quick paced words, “Mary Grant. What’s up?”

“Mary, this is Lance.”

“What’s wrong with Stasia?” Her voice was filled with concern.

“No, everything is ok, for once. A friend of our was able to get a little information about the press in Washington. I thought you might want to talk to him.”

“YES! I want to talk to him.”

“Alright, Mary I’m going to put Carson Daly on the line, hold on.”

He handed the phone to Carson who relayed his information to Mary, when they had talked for a few minutes Carson handed the phone back to Lance. “So what do you think?”

“I think this could be very helpful, but I also think you guys need to be careful about running your own investigation Lance.”

“Honestly, that’s not what we’re trying to do, it’s just that we can look into stuff with the entertainment reporters without tipping off the whole world to the fact that Stasia has been stalked for the last several months.”

“OK, but lay off the behind the scenes work OK? I was going to call you anyway. Lance, we gotten our hands on the security tapes from Phillips Arena, they are really doing their best to help us out on this. My guys are working on a freeze frame of the attacker. It was pretty clear the last time I checked in with them, I’m going to go down there in a little while, as soon as I’ve got a useable picture, I’m going to fax it to you, then I will overnight a clear copy for you.”

“I’ll make sure everyone even remotely related to us, or the venues or the hotels has a copy. Thanks Mary. Make sure it comes to my attention, she doesn’t need to wake up and be greeted with his picture.”

“You’ve got it.” She was quiet for a moment, “How are you two holding up?”

“We’re OK. I thin we will both be better when this guy is caught.”

“We all will be. You take care of her.”

“I will. Thanks Mary.” Lance hung up the phone.

He looked at Carson, “How long can you hold up airing that interview?”

“I don’t know, a couple of days. It’s already been a week since the attack, so they want it on air as soon as possible...why?”

“How would you like to run a picture of the attacker with the story?”

“You are kidding me! That would be incredible, not to mention the number of people who would see it if we air it.”

Lance smiled, “I know.”

Stasia opened her eyes and sighed when Jake snuggled against her stomach. Lance always made a point of putting him on the bed with her when she napped. She loved waking up with his warm little body next to her.

She looked at the clock next to her and yawned. It frustrated her that getting hit on the head had taken so much out of her. She had been getting tired easily all week. She had quickly become the queen of cat naps. The guys had been great about being quiet. The floor they stayed on was normally noisy, no matter where they stayed, she always felt bad for the people staying above and below them, but recently, they had been quiet when they knew she was resting.

She stretched and sat up on the bed. She could hear soft voices through the door so she carefully ran a brush through her hair, straightened her clothes and made her way out into the livingroom. She was surprised when noone was there, and the TV was on. She slipped on her shoes and stuck her head out into the hall. She didn’t see anyone in the hall either, and she knew better than to wander around alone, so she picked up her cell phone and hit speed dial.

“Hello?” Lance’s rich voice meet her ears and brought a smile to her face.

“Hi.”

“Good! You’re up! Carson and I are in the meeting room. I’ll be right down.”

“Harry, I think I can walk four doors down the hall by myself.”

“Yeah, OK.”

She grabbed Jake from the bed and tucked him under her arm. She pulled the door closed and started down the hall. She jumped about ten feet she heard a voice behind her. “Hey lady! What are you doing here?” The voice was so familiar it frightened her, but she couldn’t place it.

She turned to see a hotel security guard. His navy uniform and hat concealed his identity. She smiled at him, “Oh hi. You scared me. I’m just going down the hall here.”

“You are going to have to leave. This floor is off limits.”

“You don’t understand, I belong here. I’m with NSYNC.” She tried to get a look at his face.

“NSYNC is not here miss.” If he recognized her, he wasn’t giving her any indication.

“Yes they are. As a matter of fact Lance Bass is in this room.” She pointed to the door next to her.

“You need to leave.” He reached for her arm. When his fingers closed around her upper arm, she suddenly panicked. He tried to drag her down the hall.

She tried to pull her arm away and it knocked his hat off. Her blood suddenly ran cold when she recognized his face. Her ears began ringing and her head was spinning she did the only thing she could think of, “LAAAANCE!” Stasia screamed at the top of her lungs. She screamed so loudly that it made her head hurt horribly.

Jake jumped out of her arms and began barking and growling. The door next to her flew open as well as every door up and down the hall. Ron and Lonnie both bolted out of the room with Lance and Carson. Justin burst out of his room, which was right behind the security guard’s back, he actually jumped on the security guard’s back and began pulling him away from Stasia.

Joey dove at the man’s legs. Justin, Joey and the guard all went crashing to the floor. Lance pulled Stasia into his arms. She was quivering Carson held the door open for him and Lance scooped her up and carried her into the meeting room. He set her down on the couch. JC and Chris came running in behind them. “Are you OK?” JC was panting.

She could see Justin and Joey rolling around on the floor with the man who had grabbed her. Justin was sitting on his chest, Joey on his legs. Ron, Jay, Lonnie and Dre were trying to pull the guys off but Joey was screaming, “DON’T YOU EVER LAY A FINGER ON HER AGAIN! I SWEAR WE WILL BEAT YOU SENSELESS! LET GO OF ME DRE! YOU STAY ON HIM J!”

Justin was just as irrational, “WE’VE GOT HIM! WE’VE GOT HIM! LONNIE! STOP PULLING ON ME! DID YOU CALL THE POLICE? GET OFF OF ME LON!”

It took Lonnie and Ron to pull Justin off of the confused man. Justin’s long arms and legs were still flailing around in the air as Ron shoved Justin into the room with Stasia, and the others. He ran right over to her, “We got him. Don’t worry he can’t hurt you!”

Joey was still sitting on the man’s legs, “DRE YOU HOLD HIM! J, CALL 911 DUDE!”

Dre and Jay finally yanked Joey off of the man who was staring at them all like they were completely insane.

“What in the HELL is wrong with you people?”

When she heard his voice again, she sprang off of the couch and lunged at him. She knocked JC over in the process. She would have landed right on him if Ron hadn’t caught her in midair. “YOU BASTARD! HOW DID YOU FIND ME?” She was trying to crawl over Ron’s shoulder.

Ron held her tightly, “FEISTY! CLAM DOWN! WHO IS HE?”

Lance ran over, he held her face between his hands, she settled down a little when his green eyes locked with hers. Jay, Dre and Lonnie were standing right behind him holding the man. His voice was calm and even. His tone was very soft, “Millie, who is he?”

Her eyes were black, the only time they were this dark was when she was either deathly afraid or at her angriest. He was searching her face for answers. “Peter.”

Lance looked at her with confusion in his eyes, “Peter?”

Her voice was quiet and shaking, “From the jet. The flight to LA.”