The warm breeze off the ocean was gently moving the curtains. As Stasia slowly regained consciousness, she noticed there was a hair blowing across her cheek, a sleepy hand tried to push it away, but it just tickled her again. Her eyes refused to open and she swatted at her cheek again. ‘I wonder what time it is...If I could open my eyes, I could look at the clock...oh well.’ She turned onto her side, facing into the breeze, but the offending hair continued to brush across her face, finally she had enough, as the hair brushed across her face again, she smacked her palm against her cheek, trapping the hair, and causing her eyes to finally open. It was at that point, she realized the hair was not a hair, it was a string...attached to a hand...hanging over her head.

Stasia rolled over to see who the hand was attached to. “Good morning Chris.” she said sleepily. “Can I help you with something? Are you lost?” She pushed herself up into a sitting position.

“Good morning Miss Stasia. No, I’m not lost. Dani said you asked her to wake you up at 9:30 if you weren’t awake already, but she is busy making herself beautiful, so I said I’d do it. I think she just wanted me to knock on the door...or call...but what fun would that be?”

“So you crawled over the balcony again?”

“Yep.”

It was at that point they heard Dani’s voice from the hall, “OH GOD! CHRISTOPHER ALAN! WHERE ARE YOU?”

Stasia climbed out of bed and shuffled over to the door, when she pulled it open, she smiled at Dani and said, “I think I found your lost puppy.”

“Oh God! He didn’t!” Dani followed her into the room where Chris was standing, by the window, trying to shove the string into his pocket.

“Hi babe. I woke her up for you.”

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! Stasia has been with us for less than a day...and you creep in through her open window? You are a freak...you know that right?”

“Dani, it’s okay, I had to get up anyway.” Stasia grabbed her bathing suit, a pair of khaki shorts, and a t-shirt and headed to the bathroom. She jumped quickly into the shower, and even over the water she could hear Dani lecturing Chris about invading a person’s privacy, and he should know exactly how that feels. Then she started in on the fact that Stasia could have been sleeping in the nude. Stasia yelled, over the water to them, “I never sleep in the nude, I like pajamas too much.”

“SEE! I didn’t do anything wrong.” Chris yelled at Dani.

“You still broke into my room.”Stasia yelled as she stepped out of the shower.

“Well, there is that. But we are all friends here.”

Stasia slipped into her black two-piece bathing suit, shorts and her black t-shirt. She walked out of the bathroom to find Chris sitting on the couch in the corner. “You’re right, we are all friends here, well, you are all friends.”

“Hey don’t count yourself out of that. I like you, you are going to be just fine around this group. You didn’t scream when you opened your eyes and saw his ugly face first thing in the morning.” Dani put an arm around her shoulders.

“HEY! You’re right, she didn’t scream...maybe she thinks I’m hot.”

“Maybe not.” Stasia shot back as she pulled her hair up into a wet ponytail.

He jumped out of his chair and hugged her tightly, “I LOVE THIS GIRL!” He planted a wet kiss on her cheek. Even Dani couldn’t help laughing at that.

“Yuck! Dani, can you call him off please?”

Dani pulled Chris away by his ear. “I told you that you were going to freak her out. Nice work. Now go find Justin and terrorize him, better yet, terrorize Lance.”

Chris kissed her quickly, ran over, kissed Stasia’s cheek again and ran out the door. Stasia and Dani looked at one another and broke out laughing.

They grabbed their beach bags and went out the door where they were greeted by Lonnie. “Good morning ladies. It looks like you are going to be stuck with my ugly mug today.”

Dani looked at him and said, “It’s getting that bad? We are just going down to eat, and then to the pool.”

“Dani, you know the fans recognize you, and soon enough they will realize Stasia is with us too. If you don’t go beyond the pool I’ll hang back, but if either one of you sets foot on the beach, I’m going with you.”

“Deal!” She kissed his cheek, grabbed Stasia’s hand and pulled her toward the elevators. As they were standing there waiting for the elevator, Stacy walked up with Diane and two men she had never seen.

“Stasia, I’d like to introduce you to my husband Jim and our son-in-law Ford.” Diane pointed to each man as she introduced him. They each took her hand and shook it, warmly.

“It’s nice to meet both of you.”

Ford smiled and said, “You are all Stacy and Momma have been talking about since they met you.”

“I hope they have good things to say.”

“Nothing but.” Jim smiled.

The elevator doors opened and they rode down to the lobby. When they entered the dining room, Joey ran up and asked Stasia and Dani to sit at his table with his brother Steve and Chris. As they sat down, Lance walked into the room. And Joey waved him over as well. “Hey Lance! Come eat with us.”

“Sure Joe. Let me go say good morning to my parent's, they have to leave soon for that volcano thing.” He turned to his parents table where he kissed his mother and sister, and hugged his father and Ford. He talked to them quietly for a few minutes and left their table. He sat next to Stasia and gave her a weak smile. “Good morning. How are you holding up?”

“She made it through a Kirkpartick wake up this morning.” Joey informed Lance.

Lance looked mortified, “You didn’t! Chris! What is wrong with you? How did you get in her room?”

“It’s not my fault she left the door wall open!” Chris gave him an innocent look.

“Guys, it was really no big deal. I’m fine. He’s harmless, not to mention...he will be paid back double.” She popped a grape into her mouth. Everyone at the table turned to look at her smirking face, “Oh, I NEVER let a good joke go unpunished.” Her eyes were flashing silver, they all knew Chris was in trouble.

“I just flirted with her and she put me in my place, you are gonna DIE bro!” Joey clapped his hands. “I can’t wait!”

Stasia just smiled over the rim of her coffee cup.

“I thought we found out everything about you yesterday during our little twenty questions session, you never mentioned a mean streak.” Chris pouted.

“You never asked. Plus I wouldn’t say...mean...I’d say...feisty.”

Dani was the one that started bouncing in her seat this time, “Chris has met his match! Well, besides me.”

They all laughed again. Lance was just sitting back in his chair, watching Stasia interact with his friends. He was watching her eyes, his mother was right, those eyes were honest. When she was telling Chris to watch his back, there was a playfully evil glint. When she was telling them she wasn’t mean, she was feisty, the eyes were sparkling. Now she and Dani had their heads close together, whispering and laughing at something Dani said, and her eyes were just shining with happiness. He was wondering if his mom was right, were his own eyes that expressive? It was at that point that Steve leaned over to Lance.

“Hey, you’ve been staring at Stasia for ten minutes. She’s cute, huh?”

“What?”

“Stasia, I noticed you staring at her.”

“Oh, no. I was actually just thinking about something my mom said last night. I didn’t realize I was staring at her.”

“Whatever buddy.” Steve punched his arm.

The conversation had turned to the New Years Eve concert. Stasia said she had never been to an NSYNC concert. No one was overly surprised. She said, “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard any of your songs, with the exception of the song from Music Of My Heart.”

Joey gave her a hurt look, “That’s it? What about ‘I Want You Back’ or ‘Tearing Up My Heart’ or one of the Christmas songs?”

“Ok, I guess I have heard your stuff...I just didn’t realize it.”

Chris looked at her and said, “If you say you thought we were Backstreet...you and I are going to have to step outside to settle this.”

“Not even I could make that mistake. Backstreet freaks me out. First of all that blonde kid is WAY too full of himself. The guy with the big eyebrow is scary...one of them needs to cut off the silly ponytail...the ‘bad boy’ seems the nicest of all of them. And the last guy, well, he is too skinny.”

The guys all looked at her and burst out laughing. “Oh God, I am afraid of what you’ve said about us.” Joey said shaking his head.

“I can tell you.”

“Please do.” Chris smiled.

“Now keep in mind this was BEFORE I met you guys, I was going on one performance I saw you do on MTV at the Wanna Be A VJ thing.”

Joey, Lance and Chris all groaned in unison.

“Here goes nothing...Chris, the hair...may I ask what you were thinking? Joey, you actually looked fine with the exception of the goofy dancing. Lance, you were TOO BLONDE...it was a little extreme. Justin, had the same blonde problem. JC had the Caesar haircut thing going on...not my favorite look. You all had the Toughskins thing happening. Who the heck dressed you like four-year-olds? BUT on an up note, your voices were great, and you seemed really sweet, all of you. No one struck me as having a big head. I liked that.” She looked around the table at each of them, “You asked.”

“Goofy dance moves? Ouch.”Joey was still shaking his head.

“I liked the braids. Except they kind of hurt.”Chris said defensively.

“I was way too blonde wasn’t I?” Lance smirked. “You actually hit on all of the stuff WE wanted to change. Toughskins...I hadn’t thought of it that way...you’re right. I think I had the same outfit when I was four.”

“You guys have changed your image a lot since then. You have vastly improved.”

They all finished their breakfasts laughing and joking with Stasia that they were going to dig up her high school yearbook and see if SHE was laughing then.

“I went to private school, I wore a uniform, my yearbooks won’t do you any good.”

“College, everyone looks bad in college.” Joey suggested.

“When do you think I started dressing like this, I’ve always been conservative. I hate to break it to you, but there is not a picture I am aware of that would upset me...I was never silly enough to put hundreds of little braids in my hair.”

“LOW BLOW!”

“Sorry Chris.”

Joey smiled, “Everyone has one picture they hate...I’m going to find yours.”

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”

“I’m not sure yet...but I’ll do it, just you wait.”

The guys left to do some interviews and a sound check. They wanted to be all set ahead of time so that they could totally enjoy New Years Eve. Nothing was being left to the last minute.

Stasia and Dani settled into a pair of lounge chairs and stayed there all morning. When they were hot and ready to go walk along the beach up to the little shops Dani had found yesterday, Lonnie appeared out of nowhere. “Are we on the move now ladies?”

“Hey Lonnie. Yeah, you get to go shopping with two girls...you are going to have SO MUCH FUN!” Dani teased him

The threesome made their way onto the beach and Dani spotted Danielle Fischel and Troy on the beach, “Let see if Danielle wants to come along. Is that OK with you Stasia?”

“Sure.”

Stasia stayed with Lonnie, who was explaining that he normally guarded Lance, but since the guys were all in one place, Lance sent him to hang out with she and Dani. Stasia was watching Dani talk to Danielle who seemed excited about the little shopping trip until Dani pointed to Stasia. After that Dani shrugged her shoulders, and Danielle settled back onto her towel. Dani jogged over to Stasia and Lonnie and said, “She didn’t want to leave Troy alone.”

“That’s too bad.”

The rest of the day was spent shopping along the beach. The girls did their best to amuse Lonnie, who watched them try on every hat they came across. They also forced him to eat lunch with them, he wanted to sit at a table by himself, but they would not hear of it. He had to sit there and listen to them chat about clothes, the guys, their jobs and hair do’s, but when they started talking about shoes, he tried to get up and move. Each girl placed a hand on his arm to keep him in place. “What would you like to talk about Lonnie? You name it, we’ll talk about it.” Stasia teased him.

“Anything but shoes. Women and shoes...unbelievable.”

“Lovely weather we’re having isn’t it?” Dani ventured, Stasia giggled.

“Oh man, I owe Lance for this day.”

“Are we really that bad?”

“Yes.”

Dani held up her hand and Stasia gave her a high-five. “Worse than Chris?”

“It’s not possible to be worse than Chris.”

Stasia looked at him evilly, “Is that a challenge Lonnie?”

He looked at her and said, “NO! You would make a liar out of me wouldn’t you?”

“I’d sure try.”

They laughed and spent the rest of lunch hearing about Lonnie’s family back in Chicago. Stasia liked him. He was huge, and scary to look at because his eyes were always roaming the crowd, he was always working, he noticed every movement and noise. Beneath the bodyguard, was a sweet momma’s boy. He talked about his mother, his brothers and sisters, and when he spoke of his nieces and nephews, he glowed.

As they walked into the hotel lobby, Lonnie had a girl on each arm, and all three of them were laughing at a joke Lonnie was telling. Diane and Jim were walking in another door with Stacy and Ford right behind them.

“The four of us have decided to host a little luau tonight. I expect ALL three of you to be there.” Diane said.

“Mrs. Bass, you don’t have to ask me twice.” Lonnie smiled.

“I’ll see to it that Stasia and Chris are there.” Dani volunteered.

“Good, we will see you at 7:30 on the beach behind the hotel. Hawaiian clothes are required.” Stacy looked at Stasia, “I hope you bought something Hawaiian today.”

Stasia patted one of her bags, “I’m all set, don’t you worry.”

Stasia and Dani went back to Stasia’s room, they bought sodas on the way up, and sat out on the balcony talking. Stasia told Dani about her family, she explained that the middle of January would make the second anniversary of Noah and Nicole’s accident. Dani was quiet while Stasia told the story. Then she got up and hugged Stasia, “You are so strong. I was impressed before, but now, I’m amazed. Thank you for sharing with me.” Stasia hugged her back, she and Dani were going to be friends. She already knew she could trust her, and that was a good feeling.

At 6:30, Dani went to her room to shower, and Stasia got into her own shower. When she got out she dried her hair, and pinned it up in a loose up-do. She took out the short, floral sarong she bought that afternoon and matched it with a plain red baby-t that ended exactly at the waist of her skirt . As she was digging her sandals out, there was a loud, steady pounding on her door. “It’s open.” The door bust open, and Chris and Joey came wrestling into the room, followed by Dani.

“I brought this for you.” Dani held out a red flower for Stasia to tuck behind her ear. “I knew you’d wear a red t-shirt with the sarong...it looks good. She helped Stasia secure the flower in place. “Are you ready? Joey has decided to be your date.”

“I don’t recall being asked on a date.”

Joey fell on one knee in front of her, taking her hand in his own and holding it against his heart. “Stasia Blake, will you do me the honor of accompanying me to the luau this evening?” He pulled her hand from his heart and kissed the back of it.

“How could I say no, when you ask me like that?” She helped him get to his feet. He offered his arm, which Stasia took with a smile.

There were long, low tables set up, with pillows on the ground to sit on. Stasia was seated at a long table with all of the guys, and their friends. All of the parents, management, bodyguards and staff were at a second long table behind the young people. Joey helped Stasia to the ground, next to Stacy, and across from Dani.

Dinner was wonderful and the entire group had fun. While they were waiting for the entertainment to start, Stasia went to the end of the table, where Justin was sitting with both of his little brothers who were having mini-tantrums. Steven could not have been more than two, and he was not happy. Jonathon, who was around six, didn’t seem much happier. “It looks like you have your hands full here.” She smiled at Justin.

“You could say that. Morgan went out to dinner with all of my parents, they had it planned before we even got to Hawaii, I didn’t think it would be so difficult to deal with these two, but they are both angry...they wanted hamburgers. GUYS! PLEASE STOP” Justin begged as the two little boys tried to smack at one another across Justin’s body.

“Burgers, huh? I can’t help there, but...” She leaned over and whispered something into Jonathon’s ear. The boy stared up at her with a look of disbelief on his little face. Stasia nodded her head.

“Really?”

“Only if you promise to be good for Justin the rest of the night.”

“I promise.”

“Ok, then you come with me.” She winked at Justin, and took Jonathon by the hand. They walked over to Stasia’s seat and she picked up her bag and pulled her cell phone out, then they walked away from the group, she dialed the phone, spoke for a second, then handed the phone to Jonathon. His face lit up and he had a very animated conversation with whoever was on the other end. He was nodding his head vigorously. Jonathon gave the phone back to Stasia who laughed at a comment the person on the other end made. The little boy hugged her around the legs. She took his hand again, and brought him back to Justin.

“What was that all about?” Justin asked.

“Stay-a knows Picachu! I talked to him on the phone!”

“You talked to Picachu?” Justin looked up a Stasia, who shrugged her shoulders and grinned.

“Yes. He said Stay-a is his friend.”

Steven looked at Justin and said, “Peek-chew? I wanna talk to Peek-chew!”

Stasia picked up the little boy and said, “I will call Picachu for you if you promise to be very good, and eat some of your dinner.” She had watched Justin begging him to eat earlier.

“OK”

She went through the same steps of taking Steven aside from the group, but this time Justin was within earshot. “Hi Picachu. It’s Stasia again.” She laughed at something, “My friend Steven would like to talk to you. Ok. Hold on, here he is.” She handed the phone to Steven.

“Hell-o?” Steven said. He was nodding his head. “Ok.” He was quiet again. “She will? OK!” He had a big smile on his face. “I’ll be a good boy Peek-chew! Bye-bye!” He handed the phone back to Stasia.

“Thanks for talking to us Picachu. What? You did? HA! OK...If you promised I would, then I will. Bye Picachu.” She turned off her phone and shook her head at it.

Justin smiled at his youngest brother, who was still perched on her hip, “Did you say hi to Picachu for me, Steven?”

“OOPS! I forgot! Stay-a we have to call Peek-chew!”

“I am going to be talking to him again tonight...I’m sure...I’ll say hi for Justin. Picachu promised I would find some ice cream for you guys, BUT only if you eat your dinner.” She started to set Steven down and he hung on to her neck.

“I wanna stay with Stay-a!”

“It’s fine with me, if you don’t mind Justin?”

“TAKE HIM! He’s all yours!” He laughed.

Stasia bent down and picked up Steven’s plate, and took it back to her seat with them.

Joey eyed Steven and said, “Are you trying to steal my date little man?”

“I’m sittin’ with Stay-a.” The little boy shot back everyone laughed.

Without Steven realizing it, Stasia got him to clean his plate. When Justin came over to make sure the boy was behaving himself, he saw the empty plate and raised an eyebrow at her. She pointed at Steven and nodded her head. She tilted her head toward Jonathon and Justin nodded.

“Boys, I believe Picachu promised you ice cream. Should we see if we can find some?”

“YES!” They answered together.

“Ok then, we’ll be back in a few minutes Justin.” She took Jon’s hand, and settled Steven on her hip again...they jogged back up to the hotel. They returned fifteen minutes later giggling at the leis she had found for them, Jon’s was almost touching the ground, and Steven’s was wrapped around his head like a crown. “Sorry we took so long, but we all decided to use the bathroom while we were inside.”

Stasia sat back down next to Joey, and Steven crawled into her lap, “I’ve gotta take notes, this kid has got fool proof moves.” Joey said in her ear.

“Look at this little face.”

It was a long night, there were hula dancers, men juggling fire, which Chris was desperate to try. They all danced to Hawaiian music, and tried to learn to hula. All night, Justin’s brothers stayed closed to Stasia, who danced on her knees with each of them. She skipped around in a circle with Chris’s little sisters, and Justin’s brothers. By the end of the night, Stasia sat quietly talking to Dani, Stacy and Britney, while Steven slept peacefully in her lap, with his little head on her shoulder.

Justin walked over with Jon hanging over his own shoulder. “Did you want me to take that little guy off your hands?”

“Actually, I was just thinking about going up to bed, I’ll help you take them upstairs if you’d like.”

“Are you an angel?”

“Ha! Far from it! I just love kids. Let me say good night to everyone, and then we can go up.” She said good night to the people sitting with her. Joey offered to carry Steven, but he was still having a good time talking and dancing, Stasia told him to stay put. She walked over to Diane and Jim.

“You are wonderful, you know that don’t you?” Diane said as she placed her palm on Stasia’s cheek.

“Well thank you. I had so much fun. Thanks for inviting me.”

“Little Lady, you have an open invitation, to anything we do.”Jim smiled down into her eyes.

“Thank you. Good night.”

Stasia and Justin got his brothers into their pajamas, and into bed. Stasia started to leave, but Justin grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the balcony with him. “Thank you! You have no clue how much I love you right now! But I have to know...Picachu?”

“My best friend’s fiancé. Who is going to kill me for calling him at the office and making him do Picachu...but it was worth it! Besides, he owes me.” She grinned.

“I hope he owed you BIG!”

“I introduced him to his fiancé.”

“Oh, that is big...but you may be even now.”

“You haven’t met Jess yet, he still owes me. Good night Justin.”

“Good night Stay-a.” They both laughed, as he walked her to the door.

The next two days were spent preparing for the New Years concert. It was going to be a major event and everyone was excited.

Stasia had spent time going over the basic information about Free Lance with Lance, Diane and Stacy. She had already found a few minor changes she wanted to make. She was given the go ahead to trade in the computers for a new networked system that she and Lance could access from their laptops on the road. She wanted to change the banking system, but was going to postpone that until she had an opportunity to review the books in depth, and decide what the best approach to the banking would be.

They had a new chain of command in place. Stasia and Lance were going to be working hand-in-hand to run things from the road. Any meeting Lance thought he couldn’t take, Stasia would handle. Anything that was too much for him, she would have complete control over, but it was her intention to clear everything through Lance. Stasia would review all contracts before they were signed-off on.

Everyone was happy with the arrangements they settled on. Lance was much more comfortable, Stasia had approached each change as a suggestion. She laid out all of the pros and cons and left the others make the decisions. She was very well researched, she had already figured out what was needed to help things run smoothly. She assured the group, that tele-commuting was not only possible, but it would be simple.

Stasia was very satisfied with everyone’s willingness to listen to her advice, and take most of it. The only thing she had left to do was review the banking, and that should be a breeze.

JC walked out onto his balcony and took a deep breath, the air in Hawaii was amazing. He glanced to his right where he could hear a voice softly carrying on half of a conversation. He saw Stasia, sitting on her balcony with her laptop open on the table in front of her. She had her cell phone up to her ear and was talking as she typed. He decided to go over and say hello. He climbed over the railing, and on to the Bass’s balcony, he quickly ran to the other railing and jumped over landing next to Stasia, who turned and waved to him, then motioned to the chair across from her.

“Brent, I do not owe you. I asked you to help me out by doing the Picachu voice, I did not ask you to turnover your first born child to me...although...” She was quiet for a minute. “Ok, I will talk to her about it, you do not want to have swans at the wedding, I think I can handle that.” She was quiet again. “Brent, shut up and put Jess on.”

She put her hand over the phone. “JC, I’ll be done in a second, I just want to check on Jake.”

He nodded his head and motioned for her to finish her call. He got out of his chair and walked into her room, it was spotless. Her luggage was all stacked neatly in the corner, everyone else had clothes strewn all over the place, but Stasia’s room was completely neat. He made his way over to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water.

Stasia was saying, “How’s my baby?” As he walked back outside and set a bottle of water next to her. She whispered, “Thanks.”“Jess, he better not weigh twenty pounds when I pick him up.” Silence. “Ok, I love both of you too...oh, yeah, all three of you, I guess I love Brent...if I must.” She laughed, “Bye!” Stasia clicked off the phone.

“Hey there Stasia.”

“Don’t you guys know how to use doors? If your management saw you climbing across balconies, wouldn’t they freak out?”

“I suppose so. May I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Is Jake your... son?” He asked quietly.

He was shocked to see her burst out laughing, she laughed so hard tears she had running down her cheeks. “I suppose you could say that. Didn’t I tell you guys about Jake?”

“No. How old is he?”

“He’s three.”

“Pre-school right?”

“Nope. He’s done with school.”

“Excuse me?” there was a look of confusion on his face.

“JC”She was trying to stifle a laugh, “Jake...is my dog.”

“Oh God! I thought you were insane.”

“I know, you were trying so hard to be understanding...did you know that when you are confused, your eyebrows touch?”

“Funny.”

“Sorry.”

“What type of dog is he?”

“Jack Russell Terrier, he is one smart little guy. Sometime, when you are in Mississippi, you’ll have to come over and meet him.”

“I’d love to.”

“Are you ready for the show tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m excited. Are you ready? Rumor has it, this is your first NSYNC show.”

“The rumor is right. I’m looking forward to it. Honestly, I never thought I’d be at an NSYNC show.”

“I heard that too...bad caesar hair huh?”

Stasia blushed, “They told you about that?”

“Oh, yeah, but it sounds like you were dead on, with the things you mentioned. They were a lot of the reasons we left Transcon. You don’t think Lance WANTED to look like an albino, do you?”

“Albino? HA! That’s a good one. You didn’t have control over anything did you?”

“No, we couldn’t even suggest a change. We were told where to go, what to say, what to wear, what to sing, how to dance, and what our personalities were supposed to be.”

“Was it worth it?”

“Now that we have a fair deal, and have a lot of control at Jive, yes. A year ago, Lance couldn’t have hired you. We weren’t supposed to have ANY women on tour with us, they made Justin’s mother travel separate from him.”

“No wonder you left. I hope it all works out for you in the end.”

“We’ll find out soon enough, we’ve got a new album coming out in March, that is going to be the true test of our fans. I hope the wait for new stuff wasn’t too long. Plus this album is VERY different from the first.”

“I haven’t ever heard the first, how will this one be different?”

“It’s hard to explain, first of all, this one is a lot more personal, because we had to fight to get it made, we wrote some of the songs, and we hand picked the rest. We recorded it on our own time, and on our own dime.”

“So this is going to be the ‘meet the REAL NSYNC' CD. I think that is exciting. I’ll have to get my hands on the old CD, so I’ll be able to compare when the new one comes out. None of you seem overly...proud...of the old one.”

“There were a few cuts we liked, but not a lot.”

“That’s sad to hear, when people outside of the music business hear about someone putting out their first album, you assume that it is exactly the way the artist wanted it. I never realized that so many other people could be in control of what YOUR NAME is on, that amazes me.”

“Well, you understand why we walked. We, the guys and I, make all the final decisions now.”

“Is this what you always wanted to do? Performing.”

“No, I wanted to be a builder, or architect, something along those lines. I actually fell into it accidentally. I got the Mickey Mouse Club thing, and then I realized music was really a passion. I honestly love what I do, even after the lawsuit, I have no regrets. What about you? Did you always want to be in business management?”

“No, I’m good at it, but I wouldn’t say I have a passion for it. I actually wanted to teach kindergarten. I love kids. I’m a lot like you in that, I fell into what I’m doing. This is sort of a summer job, that got completely out of control.”

JC laughed, “That’s an interesting way to put it. So you worked in management as a summer job, and now that’s how you pay the bills?”

“Sort of...I started doing this stuff as a summer job, I did filing and typing, and worked my way up from there. The firm I was working for at the time, offered to pay for my classes if I stayed with them after graduation. So I took them up on it, but by the time I finished school, the partners hated one another, and they dissolved the firm...leaving me jobless. That is when I ran into Diane’s Uncle Josh, who had been my mother's boss. Now, I work because I’d go crazy if I didn’t.”

“You don’t have to work?”

“No. I’ve invested well. When my mother died, my brother and I invested the bulk of the insurance money for college. When I had college paid for, I just kept reinvesting the money. I’m all set, for a long time.”

“I’m sorry about your mother. How long ago was it?”

“Twelve years ago, this month. She died of Cancer, so as hard as it is to think about, at least her death ended her pain. It was very bad for her near the end. We had time to prepare ourselves. You are never completely prepared, but we were able to soften the blow a little.”

“Man! Why don’t I pry into your life a little more! I’m sorry.”

“I don’t mind, honestly. So, Stacy tells me you are the ‘thoughtful’ one. That if I want to talk philosophy, you are the man to see.”

“The thoughtful one? I always thought that was Lance. Philosophy? That is a little hobby of mine. I like to figure out what the great minds were really talking about.”

“Well, you’ve met your match...I did my senior thesis on Plato’s Republic . It has always intrigued me, how, the great truths in the world, never actually change...as much as people would like to believe we’ve made huge strides in our thinking, but in reality, Plato had most of it right...hundreds of years ago.”

Their conversation went on for hours, they challenged one another’s thoughts on everything. JC loved the fact that Stasia was not only well read, but that she could intelligently defend her position, and even make him rethink his own positions. The discussion took a dramatic downturn, when somehow, the topic of the best female jazz singer came up. JC refused to think anyone other than Billie Holiday fit the description. Stasia on the other hand was willing to put up a good fight for Ella Fitzgerald.

“Stasia, all I have to say, is that Ella sold out...she did a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial. You cannot defend that.”

“That is a low blow! That has nothing to do with her talent...It may have been an odd decision, but it does not take away from her long list of remarkable songs.”

Stasia had to get up to answer the door. Lance was standing there, looking upset. “Hi, Lance. What’s up?”

“Hi Anastasia. Um, have you by any chance seen JC? We’ve been looking all over for him. This is the last place I could think of to look.”

She pulled the door open the rest of the way and pointed to JC, sitting on the balcony, facing out at the ocean. He was shouting over his shoulder at her, “I can’t believe you think Ella is better than Billie...you are nuts...”

Lance rolled his eyes, “You got him going on jazz artists? He may never leave your room.” He walked over to the door wall. “Um, JC?”

“Hey Lance. What’s up?”

“JC, are you wearing your watch?”

“No DAD, I’m not. Why?”

“JC, it’s 6:00. We were supposed to meet in Johnny’s room at 5:30.”

“Oh God! Stasia! What time did I crawl over here?”

Stasia picked up her cell phone, and pushed the button to retrieve the information on her last call. “I hung up the phone with Jess...at 12:45. Oh! We’ve been talking for more than five hours? I’m sorry I made you late!”

“You didn’t. I did. I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you at the show tonight.” JC and Lance ran out the door, and Stasia followed them into the hall, where she saw Diane and Stacy talking. Stasia walked over to the women.

“Stasia. I was just on my way to come see you. Here is your ‘all access’ pass. Anytime you want to get into ANY restricted area, you need to be wearing this.”

“So this is the coveted pass...the one the fans would kill for? I’ll hang onto it.”

“We’d like it if you would ride with us to the concert tonight. We are leaving at 7:00, and don’t forget, it’s not going to be a dressy thing. OH! I have one more gift for you.” She pulled a small box out of her bag, and handed it to Stasia.

She pulled the lid off the box, and inside she found a pair of earplugs. Stasia raised one eyebrow at Diane, who smiled and said, “You’ll thank me later. Be ready at 7:00. And don’t forget your pass.”

At 7:20, the limo was rolling up in front of the venue for the concert, there were fans everywhere. Stasia had been overwhelmed by the fans gathered at the hotel, and this group was thousands and thousands larger than that crowd had ever gotten. Ford nudged her with his elbow, “Pretty impressive isn’t it?”

“A little.” She responded sarcastically. “I’ve drawn bigger crowds brushing my teeth.”

Everyone laughed at her. As they got out of the car, Stasia noticed many of the fans calling out to Diane, Jim, Stacy and Ford by name. She asked Stacy about it. “They are calling you guys. Does that happen often?”

“Some fans even sent Ford and I wedding gifts. They will do anything to get to the guys, and it is only gong to get bigger from here on out. Trust me, in no more than three weeks, they will be calling your name. Some of them will want your autograph, just because you have been near the guys. It’s strange.”

“Sure, they’ll want my autograph. I highly doubt that. I’m a business associate, not a family member.”

“Want to make a bet?”

“Name your stakes.”

“Looser buys dinner and a chick flick.”

“Deal. Three weeks?”

“Three weeks.”

“Stacy, you can’t pay or prompt anyone to ask for an autograph...it has to be legitimate.”

“Cut me off at the pass? That’s ok, I’m not worried. I’m picking out my chick flick as we speak!”

The concert was huge. Stasia could not believe, that after the show, the guys were practically bouncing off the walls. After the show they just put on, they should have been curled up in the fetal position, sleeping soundly. There were fireworks, flashing lights, and non-stop running and dancing. The crowd knew every word, to every song. She was impressed. Very impressed.

Justin walked over to her and asked, “So. What did you think?”

“I think I under estimated you guys. I have never seen anything quite like that show. I actually had tears in my eyes at one point.”

“But you didn’t actually cry? We’ll have to work on that...”

“Now you have a new goal to set. It’s not an easy one to accomplish. Basically, I don’t cry.”

“You haven’t heard the new ballads yet...we’ll talk then. I’m glad you’re on board now, Stasia. LOOK OUT!” She quickly turned in the direction he was pointing, to see Steven and Jonathon running at her full steam. Rather than dodging them, she fell to her knees, and hugged both boys at once.

“Are you two handsome men going to give me New Years kisses?”

“YUCK!” Their little arms were pushing her away, but she managed to plant a kiss on each boy’s little cheek.

“No kisses back?” They both looked up at Justin who was laughing and nodding his head. They each kissed one of her cheeks. “Those are the best kisses ever!”

“You just haven’t been kissed properly.” Joey teased from above her.

“Is that an offer?” She released the boys who went running off to play with Chris’s sisters. As she got back to her feet, Joey grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her, dipped her backwards, and kissed her squarely on the forehead.

He set her upright and grinned, “Now wasn’t that Earth shaking?”

“No. I like theirs better.” She patted his shoulder and walked away.

Justin finally could not stop from laughing out loud. He burst out in a fit of giggles, “Joey, she is going to be a blast to have around.”

“You are so right man. Feisty...I like her.”

“I think we all do...Chris couldn’t scare her, she held her own with JC, she got my brothers to behave, she filled me in on all of the football scores, we’ve seen her put you in your place...more than once. Has she even talked to Lance?”

“She was saying they got a bunch of work done, but I don’t think he knows much about her. I know, she doesn’t know anything about him.”

“Once we hit the road, they won’t have any choice. They’ll know more about each other then they ever wanted to know.”

“Don’t I know it? I know more about your skinny butt then anyone should be forced to know.” Justin reached out and smacked Joey on the head. “Why do you guys always go for the head?” He rubbed the spot Justin had hit.

“We’re just trying to knock some sense into ya Joe.” Justin grinned and walked away.

Stasia talked to Chris and JC about the show, they wanted to know everything she liked, and everything she thought was stupid. Stasia was a fresh perspective, one that was going to be around for a while, and she didn’t feed them the girlfriend lines... ‘It’s perfect honey...I wouldn’t change a thing sweetie...No, I didn’t notice you fell...’

Stasia was even comfortable to the point that she was able to tell JC, his fly had been down after the first costume change. “I was hoping no one noticed that.”

“JC, your fly was down...you were dancing...it was hard to miss...be thankful you wore underwear today!” His mouth dropped open. “You didn’t think I’d say something like that? You learned that lesson the hard way...too bad.”

Chris laughed at JC, “She smoked you! Dude, you look like a fool!”

“Chris, I wouldn’t be so quick to laugh at JC. At least he didn’t forget half the dance steps to that Giddy Up song...and by the way...what the heck is up with that song?”

Chris stopped laughing, “I didn’t forget...I...um...”

“Don’t even try.”

“Dang girl, you’ve known us, what, three days, and you think you can walk in here and tell me I forgot our dance moves?”

“I can, and I did.” She gave him a challenging smile.

“OK, I was just checking...”He looked down at the floor, and when he looked back up he gave her his best puppy dog face.

“Poor Chris, was I picking on you?”

“YES!”

“I’m sorry.” She hugged him. “But I did owe you.”She kissed his cheek and wandered off to find Dani.

Chris and JC stood there watching her talk to Dani. JC was the first to speak. “Are we ready for her?”

“Oh yeah! She’s gonna keep me on my toes. For some reason, I don’t think she’s done paying me back for the way I woke her up the other day yet.”

“I have a feeling you’re right. Having Stasia along is going to make being on the road interesting. Lance got lucky when his mom hired her. Have you noticed how smart she is?”

“It’s hard to miss. Speaking of Lance...where’d he go?”

“He’s probably talking to Danielle, which can’t be good. He needs to move on, she did.”

“Maybe he’ll fall madly in love with Stasia, and forget all about Danielle.” Both men burst out laughing.

“He’d need to know Stasia’s name first...I don’t think we have to worry about that, I’m not sure he even likes her.”

“I noticed him avoiding her too. He’s not usually rude like that, what’s up with him?”

“Who knows...Let’s go get some food!”