Chapter 20

JC watched the elevator doors in anxious anticipation for the young girl who would soon be arriving with her parents. With an almost inaudible groan, JC attempted to stand up, but was promptly pulled back down to his seat by an exasperated Lance.

“JC…I swear to you…if you don’t stay in your chair, I’ll ask Dr. Shannon to prescribe something that will knock you flat on your butt.”

JC glanced over at Lance and saw how tired his friend looked.

“Sorry Lance. I’m just so nervous about this…” JC dropped his head into his hands and heaved a deep sigh.

“Boy…that one came up from your toes,” Lance chuckled as he gave JC a pat on the back before leaning his head back against the wall behind his chair. He wearily wiped a hand over his face before closing his eyes. JC sat back up and looked over at his friend.

“Still not caught up on your sleep yet?”

“No…not yet. I have been getting more sleep now though than I have in the last 4 weeks.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

The pair sat quietly for a few more moments before the silence was broken by the receptionist’s phone ringing. After speaking briefly, the woman hung up the phone and looked over at JC and Lance.

“The doctor is ready to see you Mr. Chasez and Mr. Bass.” JC looked up from the magazine that he had just picked up and gave the receptionist a nod, but remained in his seat while Lance stood up.

“Uh…JC…I think this is the part where you’re supposed to stand up, go over to that door, open it, and enter the room.”

“I know that…” JC whispered as he glared at Lance.

“Then…get up.” Lance walked over to Dr. Shannon’s office door and gripped the doorknob. He turned to watch as

JC wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans and took a deep breath before standing up and joining him. JC allowed Lance to open the door and enter into the office first. When he followed Lance into the room, he glanced over at the far side of the office and to his surprise on one of the couches sat a young couple and a small girl. Dr. Shannon’s voice brought him out of his surprised daze. “Hi guys. Glad you could make it.” Dr. Shannon shook their hands then guided them over to the occupied couch.

“Josh and Lance…I’d like for you to meet David, Sharon, and Emilianne Lewis. David and Sharon, this is Josh Chasez and Lance Bass.” David and Sharon stood and shook the hands of JC and Lance. “It’s very nice to meet you both,” said David Lewis with a smile on his face.

“Our pleasure,” said Lance while JC nodded at the couple before looking over at the little, red haired girl still sitting on the large couch. She had a splash of freckles across her nose as well as on her little arms and her long red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. JC saw that she was looking down at her little painted fingernails, picking at the polish. JC noted that her little blue jean overalls, white t-shirt and tennis shoes made her look like any typical kindergartner…not like a near drowning victim like himself. He inwardly kicked himself at the brief thought realizing that it had been completely ridiculous. What was a near drowning victim supposed to look like anyway?

Sharon looked at the young men standing before her. Dr. Shannon had told her and David who this Josh Chasez was and about his accident. He had explained that the accident had affected the other members of their famous music group and the young woman could see that the blond headed man. What was his name…his name…Lance…yes…Lance Bass, seemed very tired, while Josh looked like a scared rabbit, ready to run at the first sign of danger. Sharon glanced at David and he nodded his head, looking from JC to Emilianne. Sharon gave her husband a knowing smile. She knew that she needed to take the initiative with this situation.

JC’s thoughts were interrupted when Sharon reached for his hand and walked over to Emilianne.

“Emilianne…this is Josh. Josh…this is my daughter, Emilianne.” JC knelt down in front of the little girl and smiled at her.

The little girl looked up at the young man kneeling before her and gave him a small, shy smile and instantly, JC felt his nervousness begin to melt away. Sharon took a few small steps back in order to give the pair some privacy. She looked over at the others in the room and could see approving looks coming her way. Lance’s _expression seemed particularly pleased and he grinned widely at Sharon and nodded his head in silent thanks.

“Hi Emilianne,” JC said quietly.

“Hi,” she whispered. “I’m 6 years old.”

“Wow…you’re more than one hand,” JC said quietly in amazement as he held up 6 fingers.

Emilianne’s smile grew slightly. She glanced up from JC’s face to look at Lance who had remained rooted in his position beside Dr. Shannon.

“Is that your friend?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” JC turned to look back at Lance and waved him over.

Lance slowly walked up and knelt down beside JC.

“Hi Emilianne. My name is Lance.” 

”Hi. I have green eyes too,” she said shyly.

“Yes you do, but yours are much nicer looking than mine.” With that remark, Emilianne’s smile grew large enough that both young men could see several gaps where she had begun to loose some of her baby teeth.

“Bet the tooth fairy has been visiting you lately,” JC commented with a grin.

“She came…” Emilianne began before looking up at her mother with a confused look. “When did the tooth fairy come Momma?”

“Last Friday sweetheart,” Sharon answered.

“Oh yeah,” Emilianne said with a smile. “She brought me a whole quarter.” Emilianne’s eyes grew quite large as she told them her news.

“Wow…that’s an awful lot of money,” JC said in amazement. The trio continued with their small talk for several more moments before Dr. Shannon cleared his throat.

JC turned to look up at the older man. He could see that it was time to get down to business and he instantly began to feel butterflies in his stomach. He turned around to look back at Emilianne and could see that her _expression had not changed. She was still grinning at Lance as they continued to quietly visit. ‘Well, at least one of us isn’t bothered by all of this,’ he thought.

Dr. Shannon joined the trio and gave Lance a pat on the back. Lance looked up and saw that the doctor was indicating that it was now time for JC and Emilianne to have a chance to visit by themselves. Lance returned his gaze to the little girl.

“Emilianne, it was so nice getting to talk to you. Do you suppose you and I could visit again sometime soon?”

Emilianne looked over Lance’s shoulder at her mother and dad and gave them a questioning look. Her parents quickly nodded, causing the little girl to beam.

“Momma and Daddy said yes,” Emily said in excitement.

“Good.” Lance patted the little girl on the knee and began to rise. Before he had even made it half way to a standing position, little Emilianne launched herself into his arms and gave him a tight hug. Lance had to swallow a lump in his throat as he returned her hug.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, okay?”

“Okay.” Emilianne released her hold on Lance and sat back down on the couch. With a wave, Lance made his way over to the office door. He took one more look at JC and gave him a smiling vote of confidence, before leaving the room with David not too far behind him. Before David Lewis left the room, he smiled at Emilianne and told her that he would be waiting outside the room with Lance. Emilianne did not seem disturbed by the news and gave her dad a small wave as he exited the room. Her mother remained seated across the room.

“JC, would you like to get more comfortable?” asked Dr. Shannon as he walked over to the pair.

“The floor is fine Dr. Shannon. Thanks for asking.” JC lowered himself from his kneeling position to sit on the floor, Indian style.

Dr. Shannon pulled a chair over to the other side of JC and sat down. He took and deep breath and gathered his thoughts together. He wanted this to go well, knowing that JC and Emilianne could benefit from each other’s near death experiences. It was going to be up to him to guide them through the process. With one more deep breath, Dr. Shannon proceeded.

“Emilianne…do you remember me telling you about Josh and his accident?”

“Yes sir,” was her whispered reply. She began to fidget slightly and JC instantly wanted to protect her. He sincerely hoped that Dr. Shannon knew what he was doing.

“What do you remember me telling you?”

“That he hitted his head when he was playing in the water.” Emilianne looked at Dr. Shannon with wide, innocent eyes before looking at JC.

“Did you cry?”

“What?”

“Did you cry when you hurted your head? I cried when I hitted my head. It hurted, but Momma kissed it. Did your momma kiss your head?”

JC felt overwhelmed at first with the rapid questions that the little girl was firing at him, but he did his best to answer them in a way that she would understand.

“When I hit my head, I didn’t cry because it made me fall asleep, but my mom did kiss it when I visited her.” His answers seemed to satisfy Emilianne because she began talking about how her momma could fix anything with a kiss. JC and Dr. Shannon listened to her monologue in amusement while Sharon listened in slight embarrassment. 

Moments later Emilianne came up with another question. Unfortunately, for JC, this question involved a topic that he had been

dreading…fearing…avoiding, seemingly at all costs. He had not spoken to anyone about it. Not his family…not the guys… He had just hinted around it with Dr. Shannon when he had to explain that he had not been sleeping well because of nightmares. He had been questioning himself all week long on how he could possibly speak about it with a 6 year old. For goodness sakes, he couldn’t even find the courage to speak to Lance about it and he was the one in the group he most frequently confided in. How? JC realized that it was too late for regrets when Emilianne looked him directly in the eyes and asked her question.

Twenty-One