Sitting alone in the toy room, with her foot propped up on the coffee table, laptop open on her lap, Lyn typed away. She had been working solidly for hours. JC had left her when he had gotten a call that the little girl from Make -A-Wish had arrived. She had made all of the phone calls Lance had asked her to, and now she was waiting on Carson. He was supposed to call her in the next few minutes to set up the final details.

The door burst open, and Dev came running in, “Lyn we need you...NOW!”

Lyn hopped up, grabbing her crutches, “What’s wrong? Is Lis ok?”

“She’s a little freaked out right now. JC is...you just have to come with me.” Dev ran in front of her sister, who was moving as quickly as possible on her crutches.

“DEVONY! What is wrong with them?”

Dev pushed the door open to the room where the guys were meeting with the little girl and her parents. Lyn’s eyes scanned the room and they immediately landed the auburn curls in the corner, “Lis looks fine.” The little girl turned and Lyn’s jaw dropped, it wasn’t Lis at all. “Oh my God.”

“Yeah, I know. They could almost pass for twins.” The little girl smiled up at the two women.

Lance looked up with wide eyes, “Lyn, Dev, this is our new friend Theresa.” The little girl smiled, but continued to pet Jake’s stomach.

“Hi Theresa.” Lyn half whispered.

“Hi.” The little girl scratched Jake’s ear.

Lyn scanned the room and whispered to Dev, “Where’s JC?”

“In his dressing room with Lis.”

Lyn looked at her as if she was crazy, “Why? These things are very important to him.”

“He was fine. He talked to Theresa’s parents, they were telling him how this is honestly her last wish. Lyn, she isn’t going to make it, she's very, very sick. When they brought Theresa in...he lost it.”

Lyn looked down at Lance who nodded, “Lyn, I’ve never seen him like that. All he said was, ‘I need Lisy.’ Then he left the room.”

“I’ll go talk to him.” Lyn left quickly.

She was about to walk into his dressing room, when she spotted him sitting on the floor, with Lis on his lap. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, and he was crying quietly. Lyn’s hand covered her mouth, and her heart broke when he began to talk softly to Lis, “Lisy please don’t ever get sick. Please don’t ever hurt. I love you. You’re my baby sister. You know I love you don’t you?”

She hugged his neck with her little arms, “Uh huh.”

“You are a very special little girl Ellis. No matter what happens in your life, I love you. Lyn loves you, Bren and Cat and Dev love you. Please don’t ever leave us. You’re too little Lisy. You too little.” He began to sob.

Tears were running down Lyn’s cheeks, “Lis sweetie, there is a little girl the same age as you down the hall playing with the other guys and Jake. How would you like it if Dev took you to visit her?”

“JC’s sad.” Lis continued to hug the man.

“I know. I’ll stay here with him. Is that ok?”

Lis placed her tiny hands on JC’s cheeks, “Are you ‘k?”

JC smiled weakly, “Yeah, I’m ‘k. You go play with Theresa.”

“K.” Lyn flagged Dev over. Dev took her hand and led Lis down to the other room.

Lyn slowly moved to stand in front of JC, she laid her crutches on the couch and sat down next to him. He instantly laid his head in her lap. “I thought it was her. She came running in, with those curls bouncing. Dear God I thought it was her. My knees buckled. I thought it was her.”

“It’s not her JC. Lis is fine. Lisy is fine. I swear to you, she’s fine.” He pulled her closer, his arms wrapping around her waist, his head still in her lap.

“I think I frightened both of them. Lyn, they’re only four years old. It’s not fair.”

“I know. God, I know. But JC, she a happy little girl. She wants to meet you. You need to stop thinking of her as Lis. You have no idea how much I love you for loving Lisy like this, but you have to go see that little girl, you have to do everything you can for her, while you can.”

He sat up, and she pushed the tears off of his cheeks, “You are amazing JC. You will never stop being the most amazing man I know.”

“Why? Because I can’t hold it together when I find out that a little girl that looks like Lisy is dying? I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Lyn slapped him across the face. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped, “WHAT THE HELL?”

Her eyes flashed, “Don’t you EVER say there is something wrong with you! You FEEL JC, you are one of the most caring people I know, and it would kill me if you stopped being that way. So the next time you think of doubting yourself, remember...I’m close by to slap the sense back into you!”

“You suck.”

“I’m sorry, but you needed it.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“I know. That’s why you suck. You always do the right thing. But next time, could you not do it SO HARD?”

“It wasn’t that hard.” She giggled.

He rolled his eyes, “Will you go with me to see Theresa?”

“Of course I will.”

He stood up, helped her to her feet and waited for her to get settled on her crutches, “Thanks. It is so good having you here. I knew I would like it, but I had no idea it would mean THIS much to me.”

Lyn looked up at him. His cheeks were still flushed from crying, one was a little redder than the other where she’d slapped him. His eyes were red and his nose was red from blowing it on the way out of his dressing room. His hair was disheveled and his shirt was rumpled from laying in her lap. Lyn couldn’t remember him ever being this attractive before.

Stasia was walking into the meeting room as they approached, she smiled and held the door for Lyn. As Lyn passed she whispered, “Is JC ok? He looks a little...rough.”

“He’ll be fine. His heart just got a little too big and it hurt for a little while, but he will be just fine.” The two women watched as JC crossed the room and sat on the floor next to Lance. He said something quietly to Theresa, who smiled and hugged him. Lyn smiled, “He’ll be fine.” Lis ran over and joined the hug, the two little girls knocked JC onto his back. All three of them were laughing.

Dev was sitting on Lyn’s bed in the dark when Lyn walked through the door, followed by JC who was carrying Lis’s sleeping body. Lyn flipped on the lights and jumped when she saw her sister. “Lord Dev! Why on earth are you sitting here in the dark?”

“I have a problem Lyn. I don’t know what to do.”

JC laid Lis on the bed and said, “I better leave you guys alone.”

“No. Can you stay?” Dev turned her face up to him.

“If you want me to stay, I’ll stay, buy Dev, if this is a...girl thing...you know...like...um...GIRL STUFF...Lyn is much better...”

Lyn put her hand on his shoulder, “JC. Shut up.” She sat next to him.

“OK.” He looked at his hands.

Lyn looked closely at Dev, “What’s wrong? What is the problem? I’m sure the three of us can figure it out no matter what. We love you Dev.”

“A lot.” JC nodded, Lyn rolled her eyes at him.

“Lyn, you’re part of the problem.” Dev took a deep breath.

“I am?” JC saw pain over take her face.

“Uh huh. See the thing is...” She took another huge breath, “See the thing is, Ryan asked me out on a date.” She said it so quickly, JC and Lyn both leaned a little closer to try to hear her better.

“What?” JC furrowed his brow. “Slower this time Dev.”

“OH GOD!”She covered her face with both hands, “Ryan asked me out.”

Lyn looked at JC and mouthed, ‘So what?’ He shrugged.

“Al..”

“DEVONY!”

“Sorry. Lyn, I would NEVER EVER consider going out with someone you dated...EVER! I would sooner die than date someone you’ve broken up with.”

Lyn and JC both burst out laughing. Dev peered at them between her fingers, “Why would that be funny? I WOULDN’T!”

Lyn hugged her sister, “Dev, I KNOW that. But this is Ryan. We went out twice. It wasn’t as if he was my boyfriend. Now if you were to tell me you were going out with Raegen, THEN I’d have a problem with it.” JC groaned at the sound of Raegen’s name. Lyn smacked his leg, “Shush. I know how you felt about him, but I’m making a point here.”

“I would NEVER go out with him. I’d sooner die!” Dev shook her head.

“Oh why? Because the guy was a monestrous son of a...”

“JC HUSH!” Lyn glared at him.

“I would have a problem with that, because he was an awful person and you deserve MUCH better. But Ryan, is a sweetheart. He is a good guy and I couldn’t be happier if you’d like to go out with him. RIGHT JC?”

JC nodded vigorously, “RIGHT! Dev, Ryan is a nice guy. We all like him, he’s just VERY wrong for Lyn.”

Lyn looked at him sideways, “OK. But the point is, if you want to go out with him, GO!”

“Really? You don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I think it s the sweetest thing that you thought of my feelings. You’re the best Dev.”

“Thanks!” She stood up, “I’m going to go talk to Ryan!”

“OK.” They both laughed as she practically ran out of the room. Lyn looked at JC, “VERY wrong for me?” She raised one eyebrow.

“He WAS! You guys aren’t the right fit. You need someone who knows you, everything about you, and still loves you.”

“FUNNY!” She glanced down at Lis. “Geeze, this kid can sleep through anything. I should learn to keep my voice down.”

JC smiled, “I guess we both should.” He stood up, “So what are you going to do now?”

“I was going to find one of the girls to help me paint my toe nails. If the world is going to be looking at them, they should look good.”

“Bad news Sweetpea. They are all swimming right now.”

“Oh well. I’ll live. I can do the good foot, I just can’t manage the foot in the cast. I guess I could do one and wait for one of them to do the other.” She shrugged.

“I’ll do it.” He offered.

“You’ll do it?” She looked at him skeptically.

“Sure. Why not? It can’t be that difficult.”

“If you say so...” She smiled.

He rocked back on his heels, “So...um...how do we start?”

“You grab some nail polish out of my bag over there.” She pointed to a bag on the dresser.

“I can do that. See, I told you I could handle this.” He dug around and pulled out several small bottles of polish, “Which one?”

“I don’t care.” She shrugged and got situated so they could both be comfortable.

He looked at the collection of bottles in his hands. There were several neutral colors, some earth tones and one bottle of bright red. He smirked, dumped all of the bottles except for one in and walked back over, “I get to pick right?”

“Sure.” She glanced at him, “Why?”

He held up the bottle. “I like this one.”

“Oh geeze. That’s not even mine. It’s Morgan’s. Could you pick something brighter?” Her sarcastic tone was not lost on him.

“I tried, but this was the best I could do. The rest must be Stasia’s cause they are BORING!”

“Brat.”

“I know. You hate me don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll get a different color if you want.”

“You like the red?”

“Yep.” He grinned up at her.

“Then red it is.”

“I win!” He laughed, “You caved easier than I thought you would.”

“I’ll tell you a secret.”

“COOL!”

“I secretly love the red.” She giggled.

“I knew there was a wild side in there somewhere! RAR Lynie! RAR!”

She was laughing so hard there were tears rolling down her cheeks by the time he had finished with the nails on one foot. He had a look of intense concentration on his face, the tip of his tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth and he’d been holding his breath so long she’d lost count of the seconds. He let his breath out in a huge burst, “MAN you’re toes are tiny!”

“They are not. They’re just smaller than your’s.”

He held up her good foot, “THEY ARE TINY!” He pointed at her little toe.

She threw her head back and laughed, “Need I remind you that this was YOUR idea?”

“NO! I remember, and I’m doing a good job. I’m just saying that I cannot believe your feet are his tiny. How do you stay upright?”

“They are completely proportional to the rest of me.”

“I guess so.” He shrugged. “I’m glad we picked the red.”

“Me too.”

He set her cast in his lap, “This oughta be interesting.” He was in the middle of her second toe when someone knocked on the door. “It’s open.” JC called over his shoulder.

“This is MY room JC.” Lyn smiled at him, “It’s open.”

They both laughed. Justin walked in and looked at them, “What is this? JC’s House of Beauty?”

“Yeah. You want the next appointment?” JC rolled his eyes.

Justin rolled his eyes, “Are those stupid rumors about you and Lance true?”

Lance walked through the door, “What rumors?”

“The thing about you being a couple.”

“DAMN! JC, he caught us.” Lance threw his arms around JC’s neck. “Stasia isn’t really my girlfriend, she’s my long lost sister.”

JC laughed, “What gave us away?” He held Lance’s arms around his neck and they gazed up at Justin.

Justin rolled his eyes, “Oh I don’t know. The PERFECT nail painting maybe!”

“Oh, so because I paint perfect toenails I’m gay? Have you always been this stupid?”

Lyn sighed, “JC, he was joking. He was being INCREDIBLY insensitive and thoughtless, but he was joking. He doesn’t know it took you two hours to paint seven toes.”

Justin laughed, “TWO HOURS! What’s wrong with you? ANYONE could do all ten, ten times in two hours.”

“HA! I don’t see you trying! Not to mention, I stayed in the lines.”

“I could do it just as well in half the time.” Justin scoffed.

“I bet you that you can’t.” JC finished Lyn’s toes.

“Same stakes as always?”

“Hundred bucks.”

“Fine.” Justin looked at Lance, “Lance, take off you socks.”

“Get the hell away from me!” Lance kicked Justin in the stomach.

“You ass!” Justin rubbed his stomach. “You are no help at all!”

“You are NOT painting my toenails!”

Justin shook his head, “You’re just jealous because you know I’m going to be better than Picasso over there and YOU would be worse than him.”

“HA! Even I could beat two hours.”

“Put your money where your mouth is Bass.”

“FINE!” Lance stood up and stalked out of the room, he returned seconds later pulling Stasia behind him.

“Why am I here?” Stasia looked around at the faces in the room.

Justin got up and smiled at Lance, “Good idea.” He ran out of the room and returned quickly with Morgan over his shoulder, “WOMAN! STOP KICKING ME!”

“Put me down and I won’t kick you! You kidnaped me you fool! Put me down!” He set her on the floor and held her by the shoulders so she couldn’t run away.

“I need you.” Justin held her in place.

“I know that, but I want to take a shower.” She squirmed.

“Woman, SHUT UP and sit down.”

“EXCUSE ME?” Her hands went to her hips.

“Please?”

“You are on VERY THIN ice.” Morgan narrowed her eyes at him.

Stasia sighed, “What are you guys up to now?”

Lance gave her a cock-eyed grin, “Millie Darlin’ I need your feet.”

“You need my feet?”

“We’ve made a little wager.”

Chris’s head popped through the door, “Did someone say wager?”

“Justin and I bet JC that we could do just as good a job painting toenails as he did, in less time. That,” He pointed at Lyn’s feet, “took him two hours.”

“Two and a half.” Lyn corrected, “But you guys were distracting him for the last half hour.”

Chris was bouncing, “I want in! I don’t care what I have to do, I want in!”

Dani sighed, “Here we go again.” She leaned against the door jam.

“OH WAIT! I get it. So WE have to let you paint our nails?” Morgan laughed.

“Yep. I was going to paint Lance’s, but he kicked me in the stomach.”

“I don’t blame him.” Morgan rolled her eyes.

“Would you just SIT?” Justin huffed.

“What do WE get out of this deal?”

“Dinner?”

“SOME DEAL...you undoubtedly get a hundred bucks and I get DINNER?”

“What do you WANT Morgan? Besides driving me up the wall?”

“I need to consult with my girls. Ladies.” They all huddled around Lyn.

After several minutes of whispering, Stasia stepped forward, “We have decided.”

Justin threw his arms in the air, “WHAT do you want?”

“We want one solid, uninterrupted day with you guys. No promotional stuff. No phone calls. No phones at all. No faxes. No cameras. No fans. No security. No email. NOTHING BUT YOU GUYS! Twenty-four solid hours.”

The guys looked at one another and Chris said very seriously, “We must deliberate. These terms are very demanding.”

“Whatever.” Morgan shrugged.

They guys huddled, occasionally one of their heads would pop up and eye the girls. Finally, Chris stepped forward, “I have been elected to represent the male contingent. We have decided to accept your offer, on one condition.”

Dani moaned, “Which is?”

“We get to pick the location of said twenty-four hour period.” All of the guys nodded.

“We must confer again.” Stasia said flatly.

“Please do.” Chris nodded.

After a few more minutes the girls turned to face the guys, “As long as there are no amusement park rides or forced sporting activities, we agree.” Stasia grinned.

“OH COME ON!” Justin threw his arms in the air.

“Nope. We will not be forced to play basketball. We will not be forced to play baseball. We will not be forced to play any sport.” Stasia’s arms crossed over her chest.

“You are SUCH a lawyer!” Chris groaned.

“Those are our terms, take them or leave them.” She shrugged.

“FINE!” Justin screamed, “Can we get on with this?”

“Sure.” Stasia sat on the couch.

Lance walked over and kissed her cheek, “The great negotiator.”

She winked, “I can’t help it.”

“Thanks for getting me out of basketball.”

“THAT is how much I love you.”

After all of the guys argued over which color they got to use, and after the girls had all approved of their selections, JC began timing the progress of the group. He ran to Morgan’s room for the nail polish remover when Chris knocked his bottle over. They all agreed to split the cost of having the carpet cleaned.

“WOMAN! Hold still! If you make me lose, because you can’t sit still, I will kill you!”

“Justin, SHUT UP! You are going to lose, because you SUCK at this! I have not moved in, how long JC?”

JC glanced at his watch, “One hour, forty-five minutes.”

“I haven’t move in almost two hours! So shut up and paint, so I can get up my butt is completely asleep, I have a cramp in my calf from you holding my leg at the bizarre angle for HOURS, so GET ON WITH IT!”

Dani groaned, “Chris, I have to clean up this mess! Could you PLEASE try to stay NEAR the nail? My entire little toe is pink.”

“Babe, it’s always pink. Your skin is pink.” He slapped another coat onto her toe.

“NOT THIS COLOR PINK!”

Lance had been quiet for quite a while. He looked up, screwing the top onto his bottle, “Done.” He was lightly massaging the arch of Stasia’s foot. She was smiling with her eyes close and her head resting on the back of the sofa.

“YOU ARE NOT!” Justin’s jaw dropped.

“Yes I am.” He yawned, “What do you think Millie?” He held her leg up.

“Perfect Harry.” She grinned.

All of the guys leaned over, JC laughed, “Impressive. You win dude.”

“Thanks.”

“What if mine turns out better?” Justin protested.

“Yeah, like THAT’S possible.” Morgan rolled her eyes.

A slow smile spread across Justin’s face, “You just have to push ALL of the buttons don’t you?”

“I try.”

“I know you do.”

“It’s my one true talent.”

Justin grinned, “Oh Morgan, you have SO MANY talents.”

“None that you will ever...see.” Her eyes were flashing..

Lance glanced up at Stasia who simply smirked.

Lyn began giggling and JC looked up at her, “What’s so funny?”

“If I had known this is what being on tour was like...I would have gotten myself fired years ago.” Everyone laughed and JC flushed a little, Lance looked at Stasia again, her eyes were dancing.

Lis rolled over on the bed, rubbing her eyes, she yawned, “Hi.”

Everyone in the room laughed and Lis smirked. Chris pointed, “That was SUCH a Lyn face!”

Lis crawled across the bed, off onto the floor and into JC’s lap. She rested her head against Lyn’s legs. Lyn stroked her hair and JC snuggled closer to Lyn’s legs so Lis could be more comfortable. Dani and Stasia both sighed.

Lis looked at Stasia, “What are you doin’?”

“The boys were painting our nails.” She smiled at Lis’s sleepy face.

“How come?”

“We were being silly.”

“Wanna paint mine?” She wiggled her toes.

“SURE!” Chris crawled over and quickly painted her tiny toe nails pink. She giggled happily and smiled at him.

Lance slowly shook his head, “OK. HE wins.”

Dani looked down at her feet, “I can tell you I DON’T WIN!”

Lyn was braiding Lis’s hair when Stasia walked through the door. She had on her reading glasses and was reading as she walked. Without looking up she said, “Lyn, have you read Jess’s email?”

Lyn nodded her head and pulled the elastic band out of her mouth, “Yeah. I don’t completely grasp all of the legal speak, but I think it’s pretty accurate.”

Stasia looked at her over the rim of her glasses, “You didn’t tell me all of this stuff.”

Lyn snapped the elastic in place and quickly tied a ribbon around Lis’s braid. “Lisy, can you go make sure Dev is awake?”

“Yeah.” Lis stood up and ran out the door, with her braid bouncing behind her.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?” Stasia sat on the bed next to Lyn.

“I guess I didn’t want to admit it had gotten as bad as it had.” She shrugged, “You know how I can be, if I ignore it, it will go away.”

“That didn’t pan out for you did it?”

“Not so much.” She looked down at her hands, “JC is going to...”

“What am I going to do?” They both looked up at the sound of his voice.

“You’re going to...” Lyn swallowed hard.

“I know I’m getting the hell out of here.” Stasia stood up and started out of the room. She stopped next to JC, “Don’t react before you think.” She left the room and closed the door.

JC stared at the closed door, “What was that all about?”

“I want you to read something.” Lyn was rolling the pages between her hands.

“Sure.” He sat next to her.

“You need to understand, this is the complaint that Jess is going to file against Powers.”

“OK.”

“And that it is going to be a matter of public record.”

“OK.” He searched her face, “Why am I getting all of this information, before I get to read this thing?”

“Well..” She looked into his eyes, “I didn’t give you ALL of the details, but Jess had to lay them all out, so...”

His expression hardened, “Let me see it Lyn.”

She handed him the stack of paperwork and closed her eyes tightly. JC began reading the first page, he was shocked for some reason to see her name on the top of the page in bold letters: Now comes ALLYN McLACHLAN through her attorneys...

He read the first page quietly, it basically just explained who she was, who Powers was and what Hazelwood was. He turned the page and began reading the long list of offenses Lyn was suing for, that is when he began to feel his pulse pounding in his head. He pointed to the third paragraph, “WHEN did he grab you by the arm?”

Her eyes were still closed, “The third day of school.”

He turned back to the page, “Groupie Whore?”

She just nodded.

“Whose groupie?”

“Yours.” She whispered.

He continued to read, turning the page, “Item twenty-eight says that he threw a photo of you with a friend at you. Who was the friend?”

“You. In Michigan at Stasia’s in April.”

“Item thirty-three says that the day you were fired he had YOUR personal photos form a party, in which you were pictured with two friends, holding multiple beverages. That’s the picture of you, Justin and Joe right?”

“Yes.”

He finished reading the document, set it down next to him on the bed, ran both hands over his face and growled. Lyn cringed at the sound coming from his chest. He turned to look at her, “Lyn, open your eyes and look at me.”

She shook her head, “I can’t.”

“YES you CAN.” She slowly raised her eyes to his, “How many times did he touch you? How many times did he grab you?”

“I don’t know. Several.”

“How many times did he use your friendship with me or the other guys against you?”

“A few.” Tears began streaming down her cheeks.

He got up and went to the door, “ANASTASIA! GET IN HERE!” He moved back to the bed and sat down next to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, “Shh. Stop crying. It’s not your fault.”

“YES IT IS!” She began sobbing against his chest.

Stasia came flying through the door with Lance right behind her, “WHAT?” She took one look at Lyn and said, “JC!”

“Stasia, SHUSH! I didn’t yell at her. I am however, going to yell at you.”

“Excuse me?”

“WHY is it that I am referred to SEVERAL times in this thing, yet my name is never used. WHY is it that Justin and Joe are referred to, but their names are never used?”

“JC, we decided to do that to keep your name and the NSYNC name out of the press. If we include your names, or the name NSYNC, we have to involve Jive and WEG.” Stasia sat in the chair across from them.

“So INVOLVE THEM.” His eyes were leveled on her.

“We can’t do that without letting all of them read this first. If that is what Lyn wants, we’ll do it. If not, we file it as is.”

Lyn shook her head vigorously, “NO! I’m not going to drag all of you into this. This is my problem.”

“ALLYN...” JC began, but Lance stopped him.

“JC calm down.” He sat on the arm of Stasia’s chair. “Lyn, I want to fill you in on a few things.” JC’s eyes were watching Lance closely as he spoke, “Remember the conversation you and I had about being friends? We agreed that even though JC was your friend FIRST, we are friends now?”

. “Yeah, I remember the conversation, but...”

“But nothing. You are our friend. We don’t let our friends go into battle without back-up. See how I’m covering JC’s back here, because he is getting all irrational?”

“Lance...”

“Shut up JC.” Lance rolled his eyes, “My point is you are part of this group, part of our family, you deserve our support, and you have it. JC and I will talk to the other guys, we will explain the situation. If they agree with us that we SHOULD be involved, will you let us be?”

“I don’t know...”

“May I talk to the other guys?” Lance leaned forward.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“OK. I’ll be back in a little while.” He stood up, “JC, give me that thing.” JC handed him the paperwork. Lance and Stasia left the room, leaving Lyn with her head bowed next to JC’s stiff form.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“For what?”

“For getting involved in this whole mess. For getting you involved. For getting the guys involved. For not being able to handle it on my own. For wanting you to make it better.”

JC slowly turned to face her, “You WANT ME to make it better?” His heart was suddenly pounding in his ears.

“I...yes.” She sighed, “I know that’s not fair. I know that you have already done so much for me...”

“Like what?” His brows furrowed.

“Like you have always bailed me out of trouble. In high school, you kept the creepy guys away from me. When I was breaking up with Raegen you helped me put my life back together.”

“Lynie, that’s all in the past. This is now. In the past you’ve helped me get through just as much, if not more. You need me now, I’m here.” Her cupped her cheeks between his hands, “Please let me be there for you.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes fluttered closed, “I’m so tired. It’s eight o’clock in the morning and I’m exhausted.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead, “I know.”

Lance knocked on the door as he walked in, “SHIT! Sorry!”

JC released her cheeks and watched her eyes open reluctantly, “About what?” He asked, knowing full well why Lance was beat red.

“I just...oh...never mind.” He lunged into the room when Chris shoved him.

“Move it. We’re all standing out in the hall here, the least you could do is let us come in and see what’s going on.” Chris flopped on the bed behind JC and Lyn. “Hi kids.”

Lyn smirked, “Hi Chris.”

Joey sat on the dresser, “So. Lance was telling us about this lawsuit. We read it. We want to be involved.”

“That means so much to me, but...”

“But nothing.” Justin interrupted, “We have sued anybody in...DAYS! And we haven’t been sued in like, TWENTY MINUTES! We need a little legal action!”

Lance smiled, “Please let us help, if we can. It seems to me your suit would be stronger with as many specifics as possible.”

Stasia walked through the door, “Correct as usual, my love.”

Lyn looked up at her, “Can we win without them?”

Stasia shrugged, “With Jess doing opening and cross, possibly.”

“What about with them?”

“Probably. Think of it this way. How long have these guys known you? How well do they know you? They can easily testify about your moral fiber and your behavior when you are with the group.”

“Oh.” She looked down and her lap.

Chris wrapped his arms around her waist, “PLEASE LYN!!! Please let us play too!”

She couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Are you guys sure about this?”

All five of them nodded. JC said, “You know better than to ask us that question.”

Stasia looked at Lyn, “I’ll make the calls, Jess can make the changes in an hour.”

“OK.” Lyn nodded.

Lyn was sitting in a folding chair in the middle of the stadium the guys were playing. She loved the outdoor concerts, and she was soaking up a little sun while typing a proposal for Ryan’s merchandising. He was about to have his own t-shirts, and stickers. She chuckled at the thought of a little girl plastering her locker at school with the stickers she was in the process of picking out. Dev came bursting out of the tunnel from the stadium, “AL!”

“Damn it Dev!” Lyn rolled her eyes, “You KNOW I hate that!”

“Yeah I know, but you know what? I DON’T CARE RIGHT NOW!”

“Huh?” Lyn was shocked.

“I looked everywhere for you! I had gotten frustrated twenty minutes ago! Why are you in an empty stadium? You know, you can explain that in a minute I NEED to talk to you.”

“SLOW DOWN! What’s wrong?” Lyn sat up straighter.

“Nothing is wrong. I needed to TELL YOU SOMETHING.”

“So sit down and tell me.” Dev lifted Lyn’s cast of off the chair in front of her, sat down and rested her sister’s foot in her lap. “GEEZE DEV! SPILL IT ALREADY!”

“OK! Lyn, we kissed!”

Lyn’s eyes grew wide and a big grin spread across her face, “You and Ryan?”

“No! Me and the mailman!” Dev threw her hands in the air.

Lyn began laughing, “So? How was it?”

“Allyn, I thought I was going to pass out! My head was spinning, my stomach was flipping, I think I saw stars!”

Lyn stopped laughing abruptly, “Maybe more like fireworks?”

“EXACTLY like fireworks, in my head!”

“Are you sure?”

“OH YEAH!” Dev’s cheeks flushed.

“Come here!” Lyn held out her arms. Dev put Lyn’s foot on the floor and lunged at her sister.

“Thank you for not liking him!”

“No problem! Anything for you!” She kissed her cheek, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you! Lyn, is it possible for me to be falling in love?”

“Of course it’s possible.” she smiled.

“Oh God! I can’t believe this! This is all happening so fast! My head is spinning.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“I know. I’m sorry to drop this on you and then run, but I’m going out to lunch with him.” She stood up, “OH! I almost forgot, Lance and Stasia took Lisy for ice cream. Dani and Mor are shopping. Joey and Justin are playing basketball. Chris is sleeping on his bus. You find out a lot when you look all over the place for someone.” She laughed, “I guess you’re on your own until everyone gets back for the show.”

“Yeah. I guess so.” Lyn smiled, “Good thing I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“Do you need anything before I go?”

“NO. I’m fine. I have my crutches, you go have fun.”

“Thanks Lyn!” Dev ran back through the tunnel into the stadium.

Lyn watched her sister disappear and the smile fell from her face. She knew Dev deserved the best. She knew Ryan was a sweet guy and she also knew that for the first time in her life, she was horribly jealous of Devony. She sighed heavily and ran both hands through her hair. She was aware of the fact that she was being silly, she knew there was someone waiting for her, but it was hard to see everyone around her pairing off, and she was still alone.

She was pulled away from her pity party by the sound of the piano on stage. She squinted into the sun to see who was playing, she wasn’t at all surprised to see JC sitting at the grand piano. She shoved all of her stuff into her back pack and stood up, slipping the back pack on and grabbing her crutches, she made her was to the stairs, and onto the stage. When she was standing right next to him, he glanced up, “I’m sorry. I know you were trying to work, did I disturb that?”

“Nope.” She sat on the bench next to him and he helped her slip the bag off of her shoulders, “So you’re writing?”

“Ehh...more like banging around on the keys.” He grinned at her.

“I couldn’t help but notice that it sounded a little...angry?” She studied his features carefully.

“Why is it you’re the only person in the world that would notice that?”

“Because I know you.” She smiled and took his hand, “Why was it so angry?”

“I don’t know. I think I’m more upset about everything you went through than I thought I was.”

“JC, I wish...”

“Why didn’t you tell me everything?” He looked at her with so much pain in his eyes that her breath caught in her throat.

“For the same reason I didn’t tell Dev or Stasia. I didn’t want you to think less of me. I didn’t want to be...dirty in your eyes.”

“Good God Lynie! You couldn’t do anything to make yourself dirty in my eyes! NOTHING will ever change that. Don’t you know how much I love you?”

“Yeah. I do.” Her hands moved to the piano keys. She plunked out a few notes, “It’s been a long time.”

“Why don’t you play anymore?” He watched her fingers glide over the keys.

“I don’t know. I got busy, I just...stopped.”

“You’ve always been good.”

“RIGHT!” She began playing the first notes of a song.

He bumped her with his shoulder, “So ya gonna sing for me too?”

“Oh HELL NO! I’ll leave that up to you.”

“No. I ALWAYS sing. It’s your turn.” He knew if he egged her on, she’d cave.

“Oh that’s nice logic.”

“Come on Lynie! I miss singing with you. I used to love standing next to you in choir, screwing up on purpose just to throw everyone else off.”

“We were evil weren’t we?” She grinned.

“We still are. PLEASE sing for me.”

“Will you SHUT UP if I sing?”

“Yep!”

“FINE!” She cleared her throat, tilted her head back and belted out, “ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT!”

“That doesn’t count! BRAT!”

“OK, OK...it was worth a shot.” She stuck her tongue out.

He moved over so she could play more easily, “I guess I’ll have to use the peddle for you.”

“Oh ya think?” She asked with so much sarcasm he burst out laughing.

Her hands found the keys and she slowly began to play, “Oops.” She hit a sour note.

“Keep going.”

Your love
is better than ice cream.
Better than anything else that I've tried
and your love
is better than ice cream
everyone here know how to fight

and it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way
down to the place where we started from.

Your love
is better than chocolate
better than anything else that I've tried
and your love is better than chocolate.
Everyone here knows how to cry

and it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way
down to the place where we started from.

JC’s eyes were closed, Lyn had no idea what she was doing to him, the words she was singing were cutting so deeply. He wanted so desperately for her to MEAN them the way HE meant them. She had always had the voice of an angel, but hearing her singing about love, about love that started as less and grew to be so much more. He wanted so badly for the words to be about him.

Lyn looked over at the pained expression on JC’s face and her heart hurt. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to pull him close and comfort him. His eyes opened and slammed into hers. Lyn reached out and her fingers lightly brushed his cheek before finding their way to the soft hair at the back of his neck. His weight shifted, and he turned to face her completely, his face was flushed and she suddenly realized the look in his eyes had nothing to do with pain.

Suddenly flooded with emotion, she felt her own cheeks become hot. She was confused. She loved JC, he meant the world to her. His hand moved to her waist, pulling her slightly closer. As if they had a mind of their own, her fingers tightened on the back of his neck. JC’s eyes searched her face desperately, and she slowly laid her other hand on his chest. He looked down at her hand, against his t-shirt and back up at her eyes, “Lyn?” his voice was quiet.

The corners of her mouth began to slowly turn up, “Yes JC?”

He leaned forward, and his lips brushed the corner of her mouth. Her nails bit at his neck and he smiled millimeters from her mouth. He moved so his forehead was resting on hers, “Want to go talk?”

“Uh uh.” She shook her head against his.

Lyn's song is Ice Cream By Sarah McLachlan