Lyn walked into her hotel room to find Lis napping on her bed. She smiled seeing Dev on the balcony writing in her journal. Making her way outside she sat next to her sister on the wicker love seat. “Writing about me?.”

Dev smiled at her, “I just don’t want to forget anything that has happened. I want to remember everything..” Lyn laid her head on her sister’s shoulder.

“We’ve had quite a week haven’t we little sister?”

“You could say that.” Dev giggled slipping the pen into the spiral of the notebook and closing the cover, “May I ask you a question?”

“Number four, you may ask anything you want.” Lyn smiled.

“How long have you loved him Lyn?”

Lyn smiled softly, “I’ve loved him forever. I have never NOT loved him. JC has always had my heart, he just had to tell me.”

“If that’s all it was going to take, I could have told you a long time ago.”

“I feel like such an idiot, I feel like I have wasted so much time with him. I feel like I could have been this close to him so much earlier. I really screwed up here didn’t I?”

Dev laid her palm on Lyn’s cheek and rested her head on top of Lyn’s, “You didn’t screw anything up. It all happened the way it was supposed to. Think of it this way, you have had years to get to know him and to have your feelings grow this deep.”

Lyn laughed, “You’re not supposed to be smarter than your big sister.”

“You’re just blinded by looove.”

“OH! And YOU’RE one to talk! Do you even know the date?”

Dev laughed, “I have no clue. I don’t even know what day it is, let alone the date. Isn’t it June?”

“Yeah...at least I think so. I don’t suppose you know what city and state we’re in?”

“No clue.” They both laughed, “Lyn, we can’t just send Lisy back home without calling Ma and Da about this. They are going to be so confused. Last they heard, YOU were going on a date with Ryan and JC was just plain old JC.”

“Good point. What, do we just call them and say, ‘hi Da, just wanted to give you a quick call to say we’ve got boyfriends and we’re traveling all over the country with them. Have a good day, bye.’ I don’t think that they’d appreciate that at all.”

“No I don’t think they would appreciate that. I don’t know, we have to do SOMETHING!”

“Hey pretty ladies.” Joey was leaning over the railing dividing the balconies.

“Hey handsome.” Lyn smiled at him.

“What are ya up to? I’m bored.” He climbed over and sat on the ground with his back against the railing.

“We are trying to figure out how to tell our parents about JC and Ryan. We’ve decided that we have to tell them before Lis goes home, but we don’t know how. It’s not exactly something I want to blurt out in a phone call.” Lyn shrugged, “But I don’t really think we have much of a choice.”

“Why not?” He chewed on a hangnail.

“Neither one of us can go home with her.” Dev pointed out.

“You can both go home with her.” He glanced up.

“Sure I’ll just tell Lance and Stasia I’m flying home and back, no problem.” Lyn rolled her eyes.

“Have I ever introduced you to my brother, and his video camera?”

Dev and Lyn looked at one another and back at Joey, “YOU’RE BRILLIANT!” Lyn squealed.

“I have my moments.” He grinned.

“I am suddenly very frightened Sweetpea.”

Lyn smiled up at him, running her fingers through his hair, straightening his collar and then kissing his chin, “Why is that?” She ran a fingertip over his newly shaved chin, “I like this, by the way.”

He grinned, “You’re making it difficult to concentrate on being frightened.”

“Sorry.” She kissed his neck.

He gripped her shoulders, took a step back and grinned at her, “Lynie, let me explain my fear.”

“Sorry.” She shoved her hands into her pockets.

“I am suddenly afraid of Da. I was fine with him as long as we were just friends, but now, now I’m a boyfriend. I’ve seen what he does to boyfriends. Dear God I HELPED him terrorize guys. God is going to punish me for that now!”

She burst out laughing, “JC, Snapdragon, the reason he was so hard on them, is because they weren’t you.”

“Snapdragon?” his eyebrow went up in question.

“I was sticking with the flower theme, and I thought snapdragons were pretty manly.”

“You’re father is going to kill me and you are thinking up manly flower names!” He threw his arms in the air.

Lyn rolled her eyes, “LANCE!”

Lance glanced up and smiled as he jogged across the room, “Yeah?”

“Will you please help me talk him down? You are the only one he takes seriously.”

“What’s his problem?”

“He thinks Da is going to hurt him.”

“You’re Da? That sweet guy with the Irish accent?”

“That Da.”

“Well that’s just silly. Why would he think Da would want to hurt him.”

“That’s my question exactly. I think he’s being silly, but he seems very serious about this whole thing. Apparently, he is frightened about the video.”

“He has nothing to be worried about. Besides, it’s a video, the worst thing that could happen in that your dad breaks his VCR out of anger, JC doesn’t even have to be in the room.”

“I hadn’t thought of that good point.” She smiled.

“I’m here to help.” Lance hugged her.

“ENOUGH!” JC held his hand up. “First of all, I’m right here, and you’re talking about me as if I’m not. Secondly, Da would never break an appliance out of anger. Thirdly, I get the point, I’ll calm down now.”

Lance patted him on top of the head, “Good boy.”

“Shut up Lance!” JC laughed and punched him in the stomach.

“Oof!” Lance doubled over, then flopped to the floor, “MILLIE! JC IS BEATING ME UP!”

JC’s head whipped around just as Stasia flung herself onto his back, hanging from his neck, “You take him on, you take me on!” She grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked.

“Stasia get the hell off of my back!” JC was trying to pry her legs loose, but the tightened around his waist. “I can’t breathe!”

“Good! Neither can Lance. Once he catches his breath, you’ll be allowed to catch yours too.” Her legs tightened again.

“I’M SORRY LANCE!” JC pushed at her legs.

Lance hopped up off of the floor, “No problem.” He shrugged, “I’ll just be taking her.” He slipped his arms around Stasia’s waist. “Nice move Darlin’.”

Her eyes were dancing evilly, “I bet I could have made him turn blue.”

“I think you’re right.” He kissed her temple.

JC rubbed his stomach, “Brut!”

“I prefer Bruiser.” Stasia straightened her ponytail.

“I bet you do.” JC tried to put her in a headlock, but she used her leg to knock his legs out from under him.

When he was laying flat on his back, with her sitting on his stomach, “Listen boney. After all this time, you should know better than to try to take me on.” She glanced up at Justin, “You wanna fight with me?”

“NOPE!” He backed away, holding his hands up.

“Chris? How about you?”

“NO thank you Miss Blake. I will pass on the butt kicking today.”

“Joey?”

“UH UH! See this scar over my right eye? That’s from the first time I thought I could take you on Stay-A.”

“I’m still sorry about that Joe.” She blushed.

“Lance had already warned me about the Cat-like ninja moves.” He held his hand down and she took it. She helped JC to his feet and hugged him.

Steve walked in the room, “Are you guys ready?”

Lyn looked up at JC, “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’m ever going to be...are you SURE we have to tell them?”

“Positive.”

“Ok then, let’s get this over with.”

“You’re not facing the firing squad...”

“Have you MET your Da? I’d rather face a firing squad!”

“Da is harmless.” Lyn giggled as she moved over to the couch. JC took her crutches and leaned them against the wall before settling in next to her.

All of their friends moved to stand behind Steve and JC stared at them, “OH NO!”

Joey grinned, “What?”

“All of you...every last one of you, GET OUT!”

Lance laughed, “We want to stay, maybe we could help somehow. You know, moral support.”

“You cannot stay, there is nothing you can do to help, and none of you have morals, so moral support is just a joke! Seriously guys, I’m nervous enough without all of you staring at me.”

Stasia pouted, “YOU are no fun at all! Lance and I let you hang out when Carson interview us.”

“THAT was completely different! Stasia, PLEASE don’t pick on me today.”

Her arms crossed over her chest, “FINE! But you OWE ME!”

“OK! I owe you, please get them out of here.”

She rolled her eyes, “Must I do EVERYTHING! Come on boys, let’s leave JC to wallow in his self pity!”

Chris flopped down on the floor, “I’m not going! I want to see him sweat!”

Stasia grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled, he crawled along behind her, “OW! OW! This is not fair! JC does not deserve back-up! Let go Stay-A!”

“JC, coffee. Tomorrow.”

“Done!” JC smiled weakly at her.

Lyn was laying on her stomach, typing on the bed. Lisy was laying on her stomach, on Lyn’s back watching her type. Her little chin was resting on the top of Lyn’s head and she was reading the words she knew as Lyn typed. Her arms were wrapped around Lyn’s neck and her fingers were twisting one of he sister’s curls, “Art-is.”

“Artist.” Lyn corrected.

“Alum.”

“Album. You’re trying some new ones.” Lyn smiled as Lis tugged on the curl wrapped around her fingers.

“Uh huh. I’m a good reader. I’m the best in my class.”

“Are you bragging Lisy?”

“NO! I AM the best reader, The teacher said so. I got a cert-i-kit.”

“Certificate, big shot.” Lyn smirked.

“Al?”

“LIS!”

“Um...Lyn?”

“Yes?”

“Are you comin’ home with me?”

“No sweetie, you’re going home with Stasia. I’m going to stay with the guys. You know I work for Lance now right?”

Lis was quiet for a long time, “How come he needs a teacher?”

“Lis, it’s, ‘Why does he need a teacher?’ He doesn’t need a teacher. I’m not teaching right now. I’m working for Lance, helping him with his company.”

“How come...I mean, why aren’t you a teacher anymore?”

“I’m still a teacher. I’m just not teaching right now. I’m taking a break, I might teach again.”

“But why aren’t you teachin’ now?”

Lyn closed her eyes tightly, Lis’s questions were always important to her. Lyn never wanted to leave a question unanswered, but these were a little more difficult than normal, “I’m not teaching right now because the principal asked me if I wanted to take a break for a little while.”

“Oh.” She tied Lyn’s hair in a knot, “Why did he want you to go on vacation?”

“Well...” She was thankfully interrupted when Justin walked through the door with Jonathon on his shoulders.

“Hi Lyn. You seem to have grown a hump in the last few hours.”

“Yeah. I’m going to have to find a good doctor to have it removed. It’s pretty cute though, isn’t it?” She reached back and tickled Lis’s sides. Lis squirmed and giggled then returned to styling her sister’s hair in a series of knots.

“Adorable.” Justin flipped Jon off of his shoulders and tucked him under his arm. “I have a growth myself.”

“I see that. Hi Jon.” She waved and winked.

“Hi!”

“WOAH! Mine talks!” Justin looked down at Jon with wide eyes, the little boy laughed kicking, his legs wildly.

“When did you get here Jon?”Lyn grinned.

“Now. I flew on the plane and I talked to Momma from the plane. And I talked to Justin from the plane. And I got to visit the pilot. And I came all by myself, because Steven is too little, and Momma won’t let him go on the plane by himself, like me.”

“Oh yeah? That sounds like a lot of fun! So what are you guys up to now?” Lyn grimaced as Lis yanked on her hair.

Justin smiled sympathetically, rubbing his hand over his own nearly shaved head, “Well, we have to go to that...meeting...where um, we’re going to talk about...stuff...and Jon is going to play in my room with the dogs and I thought Lis might like to hang out there too.”

“OH! I forgot about the...meeting about the stuff!” She wrapped an arm around her back and rolled over as she pulled Lis over her side to lay next to her, “Lisy, how would you like to play with Jon and Busta and Korea and Jake while I go to a meeting?”

“OK.” Lis crawled off the bed, walking over to Justin, who scooped her up under his free arm and carried the two squealing children out the door. JC walked in as Lyn sat up.

“Nice hair Sweetpea.” He kissed her lips lightly.

Lyn roughed his hair up, “As if you one to talk. Besides, this is an Elis original.” She patted her curls.

“OH! I didn’t know that!” He attempted to run his fingers through the tangled mess, but gave up when she squealed. “You ready for Carson?”

“No.”

“Why not? It’s not even an on air interview. He’s just going to slip it in on TRL. We are so lucky that guy is on our side, cause he could murder us on air.”

“I guess you’re right.”

He helped her to her feet and handed her, her crutches, “I’m always right.”

She rolled her eyes, “Believe what you want Snapdragon.”

“That name is NOT going to stick Allyn.”

“I think it fits.”

They made there way into the conference room, where Stasia and Chris were playing catch with Joey’s hat. Lance was on the phone, working on details for the official premier of ‘On The L’. Joey was on the phone with Angela, trying to keep Dani from taking the phone out of his hand. Morgan was sitting on the floor eating a big pile of french fries, when Justin jogged through the door he screamed, “WOMAN! Who said you could eat my damn food? I swear! You’d steal the shirt of my back if...”

“It wasn’t God awful ugly.” She offered as she dipped another fry into the ketchup.

“Oh no you DIDN’T!”

“Yes, yes Justin, I did.” He ran over and tried to wrestle the plate away from her, “GET OFF OF ME YOU FOOL!”

“LET GO OF MY FOOD!” The rolled across the floor, Lance lifted his feet as they rolled by her chair.

Chris tossed the hat to Stasia, “Sexually frustrated?” He nodded at the pair on the floor.

“Without a doubt.” She agreed.

Morgan stopped rolling, “WE ARE NOT!”

Stasia grinned evilly, “You’re not?”

“NO!” Justin agreed with Morgan, who was sitting in his chest, with a french fry stuck in her hair.

Chris threw his arm around Stasia’s shoulder, “So when did you kids start doing the nasty monkey dance?”

Stasia cocked her head, “Chris, monkey love dance is a lot nicer.”

“You think these two have nice sex? HA! Look at the passion they have for fries, can you imagine when honey, chocolate sauce or whipped cream is involved?”

“Chocolate sauce...RAR!” Stasia licked her lips.

Lyn giggled from the chair she was settling in, “Stasia, hot fudge, girlfriend!”

Everyone in the room turned to face her. Lance had his hand over the mouth piece of his phone, “GUYS! BUSINESS CALL!”

Stasia flashed a smiled, “OK, no hot fudge for you.”

“Bill, I’m going to have to call you right back.” Lance flipped his phone shut, “Now Millie, let’s not talk all crazy!”

“That’s what I thought.” Stasia slipped onto his lap, whispered something in his ear that made his cheeks flush, and then smiled, “LYN! Hot fudge huh?”

“I DO NOT KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE!” Lyn turned bright red.

“Sure you don’t!” Dani teased.

“I SWEAR! TELL THEM JC!”

“Sweetpea, I can honestly say I am speechless.” He grinned at her.

“Lyn, how would you come up with that if you didn’t know from experience?” Chris was loving her discomfort.

“GAH! HAVE YOU GUYS MET BRENNA?”

Stasia nodded, “OH! Now that makes perfect sense!”

“Told you! See she was telling us...ok, never mind what she was telling us.” She shook her head.

The phone on the table rang and Lance glanced at JC, who nodded. Lance hit speaker phone, “Hello?”

“Bass! How you doing? Stasia dump you yet?”

Stasia giggled, “Hi Carson. He’s still stuck with me.”

“Smart guy. So who’s there?”

They all shouted loudly and he laughed, “Should I have asked who isn’t there?”

“Easier to answer that one.” Lance agreed.

“So who is missing?”

Joey answered, “Just Ang. She says hi.”

“Hi Angela! So, JC you there?”

“Right here Carson.”

“SOO! You finally got smart?”

JC rubbed Lyn’s shoulder, “We both got smart.”

“How do you want me to handle this? Can I get a call on air?”

“How important is it?” JC closed his eyes.

“It would be helpful to put it in a better light. I mean, this is going to hit out of nowhere for some of your fans. A call might really help.”

“OK. Same number as usual?”

“You know the one. So we’ll see all of you guys next weekend right? Stasia are you going to be able to make it?”

“Carson, I wouldn’t miss your wedding for anything.”

“Cool. I’ll see you guys next weekend. And JC, I’ll talk to you later today, call in at 3:45.”

“Thanks Carson. 3:45, you’ve got it.”

Lance hit the button on the phone, “I was afraid he was going to ask why Johnny wasn’t here.”

“It’s a valid question.” Chris glanced up.

Lyn looked down at the cuticle on her right thumb, which was suddenly the most interesting thing she had ever seen. JC looked at her with concerned eyes. “What is going on with him? He has NEVER been like this before.”

“Do you think he’s pissed we are doing more on our own now?” Justin pulled the fry out of Mor’s hair and tossed it on the plate.

Lance sighed, “Who knows. He growled something to me today about Free Lance. I’m supposed to talk to him at six. Millie, Lyn?”

Stasia nodded, “I’m there.”

Lyn inspected her cuticle more closely before swallowing hard, “I’ll be there.”

“Thanks girls.”

JC squeezed her shoulder and she covered his hand with hers, smiling up at him. She had always shown amazing grace under pressure, but he knew she was very uncomfortable. He knew that the last thing she wanted was to sit in on that meeting.

“After you guys meet with him, we’ll talk again. If things are still all weird, we’ll decide...something.” Joey shrugged.

They all got up and started to go in their own directions. Lance, Stasia and Lyn looked over some paperwork and then started down the hall. Justin walked out of Mor’s room and straight into his. He came flying backward out the door with his hand clamped over his eyes, “DEAR GOD! MY EYES! MY EYES!”

Lyn looked frighten, “What’s wrong?”

“LIS! JON!” Justin managed to choke out before he rubbed his eyes and then pressed his palms into his eye sockets.

“Oh God! What?” JC and Lance each supported Lyn, running down the hall to the open door.

They all tried to squeeze through at the same time, but stopped cold. Lyn gasped in horror. “LIS!” Jon was laying on the bed, shirt off, pants around his ankles. Lis was leaning over him, her ear pressed against his chest.

Dev and Ryan were walking down the hall, when Dev heard Lyn scream Lis’s name they both began running. Everyone came running to see what the problem was. Lance and JC both burst out laughing.

Dev gasp, “ELIS KATHLEEN McLACHLAN!”

JC wiped a hand over his face, fought hard to regain his composure. He made sure Lance had Lyn’s weight settled on his shoulder. He walked into the room and snickered and Lis and Jon starred up at the adults in the room. “Lis, sweetie, what are you doing?”

“Playin’.” She looked at him like he was crazy.

Chris snickered loudly, and Dani elbowed him hard. Stasia began having a coughing fit.

“What are you playing Lis? Why doesn’t Jon have a shirt on?”

Lis looked at him very seriously, “JC, we’re playing hospital. I’m the doctor.”

Lance was shaking hard, and gasping for breath. Lyn’s head was resting on his shoulder as she fought to maintain composure.

JC squeezed his eyes shut, his lips pursed, fighting off the smile that was fighting hard to be seen. “Jon buddy, how about you put your shirt on...OH! And your pants too!” He laughed.

Jon sat up pulling his shirt on with a shrug. “Where’s Justin?”

JC glanced at Justin, who was curled up on the floor in the hallway, still pressing his palms into his eyes. “He’s out there with Mor.”

“Oh.” JC helped him slip his pants back on.

“Guys. Um...you probably shouldn’t be playing doctor. Lis, where’d ya get the stethoscope?”

Jon pointed at Justin’s bag, “I found it in there.”

JC burst out laughing, “In JUSTIN’S bag?”

Morgan slowly turned to face Justin, “What have you been DOING? Bringing poor, defenseless teenies up her for ‘check-ups’? You are one NASTY boy Justin Timberlake! ”

“SHUT UP MORGAN! I haven’t been doing anything. It is a prop, It Makes Me Ill . You guy know that.” He glared up at Lance and Chris through his fingers. They were both laughing so hard they had tears rolling doing their cheeks. Joey slid down the wall snorting uncontrollably.

“OK! WHATEVER JUSTIN! YOU make me ill!” Morgan rolled her eyes, an evil grin sliding across her face, “Pretty sad really.”

Justin’s hands were still covering his face, “What is sad?” His voice was filled with anger.

“The fact that the Tiny Timb get’s more play than you do.”

“OH NO YOU DIDN’T!”

“When was the last time you found someone willing to play doctor with you?” She giggled Chris finally lost it. He laughed so hard that Dani jumped and squeaked, causing Stasia to burst out laughing, she slid down the wall next to Joey and they held each other, shaking and gasping for air.

JC ran his hand over his face again, “Lis, sweetie I thought you were going to marry me, what happened?”

Lis put her little fists on her hips, rolled her eyes and huffed, “JC, we were just playing around.” The stance, the comment and the tone of voice were all identical to Lyn’s when she was annoyed.

He turned beat red, burst out laughing and pulled her into his arms, “Interesting phrasing sweetie.” He kissed her cheek, “OK, no more doctor on our watch, it might kill Justin.” He kissed the top of her head, “No more games where people take their clothes of, OK?”

She shrugged, obviously not seeing what the big deal was, “OK.”

JC knew very well that she was just trying to shut him up, he slowly shook his head, “Allyn, Devony, TALK to her!” Dev held out her arms and Lis jumped into them. Dani ran and grabbed Lyn’s crutches, which had been dropped half-way down the hall when Lance and JC had carried her to Justin’s room. The sisters walked into Lyn’s room with Lis looking very confused.

Lance coughed once, “J, you want us to help you explain this to Jon here?”

“I want YOU and JC to explain it, I’m going to stay here until the image fades. My eyes, my poor eyes.”

Lance rolled his eyes, and walked into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed next to JC. Joey and Chris dragged Justin’s body into the room and the door closed. Morgan, Dani and Stasia all stopped dead when the heard Justin scream in pain. They glanced at one another and then kept walking.

JC closed his eyes and waited for Carson to pick up the phone, “Hey JC. You ready? We’ll be back from commercial in one minute. You are ‘Mystery Caller’.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Mystery Caller huh?”

“So what exactly do you want me to say?”

"You could say, ‘grass is green, sky is blue and JC and Lyn kissed and YAY’ it won’t matter. They are going to eat me alive."

“I won’t let that happen. Are you ready? They are counting down, next thing you say will be on speakerphone.” It was quiet for a second, and then JC could hear the crowd begin screaming. “Welcome back! I have a special Mystery Caller on the line....Are you there Mystery Caller?”

“I’m here.” JC tried to sound happy.

“Mystery Caller, you are related to one of the news stories we are going to talk about today, isn’t that right?”

“Yeah Carson. That’s right.” He rolled his eye, nice how his love life was a news story.

“Can anyone guess who the Mystery Caller is?”

“PUFF DADDY?” A girl squealed.

“Mystery Caller, are you Puffy?”

JC laughed, “Nope, not Puffy.”

“I guess they need another hint...he is on tour right now.” There was a loud squeal and Carson laughed.

“JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!”

JC laughed hard, “Close.”

“OH MY GOD! JCCCCCCCCC!”

Carson laughed, “Dude, I think we have a winner. Say hi JC.”

“Hi JC.” He laughed at his own joke.

“How’s the tour going buddy?”

“Great! Everything is great right now. The tour is bigger and better than the last one, and we are having fun seeing our fans again!”

“OK JC, as you’re friend, I’m going to pry into your personal life...just ignore my friends here in the studio.”

He forced a laugh, “OK.”

“Buddy, it has been brought to my attention...by you...that you have a girlfriend now.”

He closed his eyes, wishing it would block out the sound of the girl in the audience screaming, “NO!”

“Yeah Carson, that’s true.”

“That is GREAT! I am lucky enough to know this girl, and what I want to know is, HOW did you get so lucky?”

“I caught her at a weak moment.” JC laughed.

“Can I tell everybody a little bit about her?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“For those of you who don’t know, JC is dating Lyn, from Free Lance Entertainment. Apparently, Lance is also in the business of giving jobs to beautiful women.”

“You’re right about that!”

“I know it! ANYWAY! Lyn works for Free Lance, and has been your best friend for years. You guys have a lot of history.”

“Yeah, yeah we do.”

“Well JC, on that happy note, I know I have to let you go! Thanks for calling in, I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye Carson! Bye everybody!” JC gladly hung up the phone and sighed.

Lance walked through the door, and sat in the chair across from him, “I watched.”

“Was it as bad as I thought?”

Lance smirked, “It wasn’t bad at all. Trust me, it will get easier. Think about it, the fans love Millie now.”

“I’m worried about her.” JC looked down at his hands.

“I know. But give her credit, she knows what she’s getting into, and she cares enough about you to deal with it. It will be hard for her, especially at first, but if you are there for her, she’ll be fine. We are all going to be completely supportive, you know that.”

“Yeah. I know that.” He looked up, “Thanks.”

“I’ve been there. You were there for me, I’m here for you, this is what it’s all about, really. The friendships. I love the music, but not as much as I love you guys.”

“She’s good for you. You talk like her now. You have a new ability to take things to the most simple point, a point of clarity.”

Lance laughed, “I learned from the master. But don’t kid yourself, we don’t have every problem solved...yet.” His eyes darkened.

“Crowds still?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure that will ever go away.” He sighed.

“You couldn’t blame her if it didn’t, but we’re talking about Stasia, she’ll get past it.”

“I pray you’re right. I LOATHE the fear in her eyes.”

“We all do. Lance she was attacked, she has every right to be afraid.”

“He did this to her. I know I shouldn’t, but GOD! I HATE HIM!”

“Lance, none of us SHOULD, but we all DO. He took part of her away.”

“I want to give that back to her.”

“You’ll find a way, I have no doubt in my mind, you’ll find a way.”

Lyn looked at herself in the mirror, she knew she had to loose the look fo terror before she walked into the meeting with Johnny. Lance and Stasia were depending on her. She turned as JC walked into the room, “Want me to go with you?”

“No. I have to do this myself. This is part of my job, and I have to deal with it.”

“Putting on a brave face?” He crossed the room, his hands finding her waist.

“Something like that.” She sighed, resting her forehead on his chest, “Why does Johnny suddenly hate me?”

He put a fingertip under her chin and forced her eyes to meet his, “Stop it. He doesn’t hate you. Think about it, he’s targeted all of us. I don’t know what snapped in him, but I wish it would...unsnap.”

She laughed, “Unsnap?”

He blushed, “I couldn’t find the word I was looking for.”

Stasia stuck her head through the door, “Lyn?”

“I’m ready.” She smiled. JC grabbed her crutches and handed her files to Stasia.

“I’ll be in my room when you’re done. You, Dev, Ryan and I will all take Lisy out for her last night. Sound good?”

“Sounds great.” Lyn followed Stasia down the hall to the room she and Lance were sharing.

Lance was talking to his sister on the phone, “Stace, I’ve got to go, the girls just walked in....Yeah...I’ll call after we’ve talked to him...I love you too...Stasia loves you too...GOODBYE STACY!” He closed the phone, it rang immediately, “Hello?” He threw his head back, “OK, I’ll tell her.” He turned off his phone and smiled at Lyn, “Stacy says she loves you too, apparently I cut her off.”

“She is so sweet.”

“So sweet she’ll give you a tooth ache.” He rolled his eyes.

“JAMES LANCE BASS!” Stasia leveled him with a look.

“Sorry Darlin’.” He grinned at her.

Johnny walked through the door and Lyn made a mental note about the way Lance and Stasia both visibly switched into business mode. The each adopted different posture. Lance leaning back in his chair, closely watching everyone in the room. Stasia sat up straighter, grabbing her signature fountain pen, ready to jot down anything she wanted to remember.

It was at that point, Lyn realized the moment Johnny walked through the door, she had shrunken down. She pushed herself up, straightened her sweater, and rested her elbows on the table. She could see Stasia smirk out of the corner of eye, which put Lyn a little more at ease.

Johnny rolled his eyes as he sat down. He sat across from Lance, glancing at Stasia and Lyn, who were sitting on either side of Lance. Lance smiled, “Hi Johnny.”

“Lance.”

Lance nodded, “So why the meeting? What’s up?”

“I don’t want to deal with this crap anymore.”

“What crap?”

“When we went into business together, there wasn’t all this drama. I sick of having to deal with all of the extra crap. This is a business, not a hobby. I don’t want to deal with your family, your girlfriend, or your friends.”

Lyn glanced at Lance, who was glaring at Johnny, “OK, now we’ve established what you don’t want. What is it that you DO want? John, we’re partners, let’s work this out.”

“I want all of them out of this. I’ll work with you, but I will not continue to work with every stray that wanders through the door.”

Lance leaned forward resting his elbows on the table, his tone was very calm, “So what you want me to do, is fire Stasia and Lyn?”

“As well as your mother, father and Stacy.”

“I see.” He leaned back in his chair, “So what do you propose we do about their contracts?”

“None of them are contracted.” Johnny shrugged.

Lance glanced at Lyn, who pushed the file he had asked her to bring, over to him. He pulled out five pieces of paper. He spread them out in a line and pushed each one across the table. “They are ALL under contracts.”

“Just because you have a file full of paper with signatures, doesn’t mean that they are legally binding.” Johnny laughed.

“You’re right.” Stasia nodded, “They weren’t COMPLETELY binding until we had them recorded.” She pushed a file folder across the table, this one containing registered copies of each of the contracts, “Johnny, you signed all of these, do you remember that?”

“You RECORDED THEM?”

“They are CONTRACTS of course I recorded them. They wouldn’t have been as iron clad without being recorded.” Lance answered, “I protect my loved ones. Did you think you were getting into business with me and I would never question anything you did, or said? You know me better than that.”

Johnny didn’t answer.

“Johnny, want do you want to do?” Lance asked simply, “They aren’t going anywhere, and quite frankly, I’m incredibly insulted you would even suggest that we fire them. So the next move is yours.”

“I want out.”

“I’ll have to discuss this with everyone else and get back to you.”

The three of them watched in silence as he walked out of the room. Lyn’s eyes were enormous when she turned to face Lance. Stasia’s hand was covering his, and his eyes were closed tightly. With his free hand he pinched the bridge of his nose, “Shit.”

“I’ll call Momma and Stacy, they should be waiting for the call.” Stasia pulled the phone across the table.

Lyn started to stand up, “I should let you guys discuss this.”

Lance’s eyes opened and he smiled at her, “Oh no. You stay, we were preparing for this.”

“You expected this?”

“I didn’t think he was calling a meeting to say he loved us.”

“God! I’m so sorry about this!”

“Why? Johnny has lost his mind, that isn’t your fault.”

Stasia smirked, “I’m glad he didn’t notice the date.”

Lyn cocked her head, “What date?”

“The date these were recorded.” Stasia smirked, pushing the file folder across the table to Lyn.

Lyn’s eyes grew wide, “This is yesterday.”

Stasia laughed, “I know. I had a funny feeling. They hadn’t been recorded. They would still have been binding contracts, but we wouldn’t have been AS safe. Law school pays off from time to time.” Stasia hit speakerphone when Jamie went to get Diane and Stacy. Diane’s voice was full of concern when she answered the phone, “How did it go kids?”

Stasia sighed, “Exactly as we thought it would.”

“Oh no.”

“Momma, he want to fire everyone, except me.”

“EVERYONE?”

“Yeah. He wants out. We have to decide what to do. I’m not going to force him to stay Momma.”

“I agree, that wouldn’t be wise. He’s pulling out a lot of capital.”

Lance’s head hung, “I know.”

“Let me talk to your Daddy and Stacy.”

“Call me later.”

“I love you, all of you. Keep your chins up, we’ll figure all of this out.”

Lyn tapped on JC’s door, “OPEN!” She smiled as she pushed it open, propping her crutches against the wall and hopping across the room to flop face first on the bed. “It went that well?” His voice was soft as he set his notebook down on the table and crawled across the bed to lay next to her, his arm across the small of her back.

“REAL WELL! Johnny wanted to fire everyone except Lance. When Lance said no. Johnny said he wants out of Free Lance.”

“Oh man.”

“Fun times for Lyn! I swear, I am the kiss of death!”

“You are not...I’ve kissed you, and I’m alive.”

She smirked, turning to face him, “True.”

He kissed her lightly, “See, I’m fine.”

“That wasn’t really much of a kiss, maybe it takes a...deeper kiss to kill you.”

He laughed and kissed her slightly longer, with a little more pressure. “There.”

“You need help.” She grabbed the back of his head and pulled his mouth to hers. She felt his lips curl up against hers. His hand began rubbing slowly up and down her back. Her hand cupped his cheek and her fingertips found the rough hair of his sideburns. JC used the arm wrapped around her back to pull her onto her side, pressing her tightly against his chest. She allowed her body to form itself to his, her own arms tightening around him.

His tongue ran along her lower lip, slipping gently into her mouth. Her tongue met his and her groaned. He clutched at her back and she raked her nails lightly down his. He rolled slightly, so she was partially under him, his right hand finding her curls and his fingers gently playing with them.

He leaned back slightly, looking down at her flushed cheeks, “God I’ve wanted this so badly. I wanted YOU so badly.” His hands pushed her curls off of her forehead. Her hair was a mountain os shining auburn waves, with his hands buried in them. He gazed at her eyes, her nose, her slightly swollen lips, as if it was the first time he was seeing her.

“You are the most incredible thing that has ever happened to me. You friendship was a gift, and this...this is a miracle.” She said softly.

“I’m looking at you, realizing how incredibly beautiful you are. I always knew you were a pretty girl, but I never took the time to see just how beautiful you are.”

Sitting in the waiting area at the airport with Lisy on her lap, Lyn sighed and hugged the little girl tighter, “I’m going to miss you.”

“Me too!” Lis squeezed Lyn’s neck.

Dev wrapped her arms around both of her sisters, “Don’t leave me out of this!” They all laughed.

Stasia and Ron were checking in with the flight attendant while JC and Dre stood close to Lyn. JC was wearing a hat and sunglasses, trying hard not to draw any attention to himself. Lis looked up at him, “JC?”

“Yeah sweetie?” He squatted down in front of her.

“You still mad at me?”

“NO! I was NEVER mad at you honey! You just...frightened me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Come here you!” He held out his arms and she gladly went to them, “I love you. You know that right?”

She lifted the bill of his hat, “Yeah. I love you too!”

“We’re going to see you in a few weeks in Las Vegas. You be a good girl, and remember the new rule.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“No clothes off games.”

“Good girl!”

Stasia walked over, “They are going to let us board now.”

JC let Lis go back to Lyn and Dev. He turned to Stasia, “You be careful, and study hard.”

“I’ll see you guys Saturday in New York for Carson’s wedding.”

She Hugged him lightly, and was stepping back when he crushed her to his chest, “I love you Stasia. Thank you...for everything.”

“I love you too! I haven’t done anything.” She smiled up at him.

“I wouldn’t have her if it weren’t for you, I know that.”

“You want to talk about this NOW?” She grinned.

“No. I just want you to know, I owe you. And after everything...before, you deserve to know how much I love you, and that you are one of my best friends.”

“You are going to make me cry, and if I cry, I will kill you.”

He kissed the top of her head, “I sorry Lance couldn’t be here.”

“He has to deal with all of this stuff with Johnny. I can’t believe I have to leave with all of this up in the air.”

“It will work out. It has to.”

“I hope you’re right.” She sighed.