Chapter Thirty-Seven

Joey slowly slipped beneath the surface of the water as his vision grayed and threatened to turn to black. His mind was dull to all but one thought…he might drown…JC will be able to save him…Lance will save him…Jace…Lance.

Through blurred vision, Joey looked up at the surface of the water as it became more distant…further away…the blue sky was so beautiful through the ripples…clouds were distorted…the sun didn’t seem so harsh…all sound was muted…it was peaceful…tranquil. With an inward sigh Joey could feel himself slowly slipping away as the need to breathe became stronger with each passing second until the urgent desire to take in just one breath began to over ride his common sense not to. Just as Joey felt himself sliding into unconsciousness, he heard the sound of someone or something plunging into the water above him.



“Lance…call 911!” JC shouted as he ran toward the pool and jumped into the deep end to where he had seen Joey slip under the water’s surface. In disbelief Lance stood motionless as he watched JC surface then look at him.

“Do it…now!” JC yelled at Lance before taking in a deep breath and diving under the water.

Lance shook himself out of his trance and raced quickly over to his jacket and pulled his cell phone out of one of the pockets.

Meanwhile, JC swam down toward Joey who seemed to be feebly moving…trying to kick back up toward the water’s surface as a cloud of blood drifted about his figure. JC reached out and grabbed Joey’s outstretched hand feeling his weak grasp before pulling the unresisting form toward him. He quickly wrapped an arm around Joey’s chest then pushed off the bottom of the pool toward the surface several feet above them. Within seconds their heads broke out of the water and JC was more than relieved to hear Joey deeply gasping for breaths while at the same time, coughing and sputtering as he pulled him toward the shallow end of the pool.

“Take deep breaths Joe…deep breaths,” JC said to the struggling figure in his arms. The only response he got from Joey was more hacking coughs with moans in between.

Just as soon as his feet could touch bottom, JC supported Joey in such a way that he could float him on his back. Joey weakly reached a shaky hand to his head then pulled it away to see blood staining his hand. At the sight of the blood, Joey gave a low groan and his eyes began to roll, as his toehold on consciousness seeming to vanish in an instant. 

“Joey…Joey…stay with me…you gotta stay with me,” JC commanded his semi-conscious friend in a calm voice as he watched his friend’s eyes begin backward roll. Joey blinked heavily then nodded his head. 

“I’ll…try…C,” Joey murmured, not even sure if the words left his mouth or if he had just imagined them.

JC tore his attention from Joey just long enough to see Lance speaking quickly into his phone as he paced back and forth on the other side of the pool. As he watched Lance, he continued to pull Joey’s floating figure from the middle of the large pool toward one of the sides several feet away.

“That…really…kinda…hurt,” Joey said, his voice slurred as he struggled to stand with JC’s support when the water became shallow enough before another coughing spell hit him, causing the pair to stop in their tracks. Joey felt his knees giving out on him as his vision dimmed at the edges.

“Come on, Joey…stay with me man,” JC said as he helped Joey to once again float on his back.

“Okay…that really…hurts…C,” Joey whispered as he reached for his head once again.

“Yeah…you already said that,” JC said with a small, nervous chuckle as he and Joey finally stepped up to the side of the pool where they both held onto the wall until Lance finished speaking on the phone. JC was going to need Lance’s help in getting Joey up the pool steps…his legs were shaking so badly that he didn’t think he could support Joey’s weight by himself and Joey didn’t seem to be in any condition to make it out of the pool without help.

In the background, JC could hear Lance giving the 911 operator directions to Justin’s house then moments later a splash.

“How is he?” Lance asked JC as he joined the pair in the pool. In his hand was a towel and he carefully pressed it against the freely bleeding gash on the side of Joey’s head. Joey winced and moaned in pain at the contact but did not pull away.

“I think he’s pretty out of it,” JC answered as he watched Joey blinking heavily. “Let’s get him to the steps…we can just sit there with him until help comes.”

“Okay,” Lance replied. He moved to the other side of Joey and wrapped an arm around his friend’s waist without his seemingly being aware of the contact.

“Joe…let’s get you over to the end of the pool so you can sit down on the steps,” JC said quietly.

“Um…okay,” was the reply Joey gave and it took a minute or two before the trio made it to the shallow end of the pool. By then sirens could be heard in the background.



“What’s coming in?” Dr. Shannon asked after hearing over the radio that one of the ambulances was coming in.

“It’s a near drowning…a high profile,” one of the nurses replied as she and another group of nurses readied one of the treatment areas for Joey’s arrival.

“Really…who is it?” the doctor answered as he suited up in a gown, mask and gloves.

“A member of a music group…a…um…Joseph…” one of the nurses began.

“Fatone?” Dr. Shannon finished with a groan.

“Yeah…how did you know?” the nurse asked incredulously. 

“It’s a long story,” he answered as he quickly walked over to one of the phones with an outside line to dial a familiar number. Seconds later, someone answered the phone.

“J?” Lance asked as he sped behind the ambulance carrying JC and Joey to Mercy General Hospital.

“No…it’s Dr. Shannon,” the older man replied, realizing that Lance was probably following the ambulance due to the fact that he could hear sirens blaring loudly in the background. “What happened?”
”Oh…man, doc…you wouldn’t believe it. Joey was trying to get JC to get into the pool with him when he slipped on the pool ladder and hit his head. JC jumped in after him and saved him,” Lance babbled in one breath.

“JC jumped into the pool?” Dr. Shannon asked in disbelief then winced when he heard a car horn screaming loudly.

“You should have seen it, doc…he did it…JC really did it,” Lance said in an awe filled voice.

“How’s Joey?”

“He’s pretty out of it…he really didn’t know who we were or what had happened until after the paramedics arrived,” Lance answered in a voice that began to fill will emotion.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Lance,” the doctor quickly reassured the young man before ending the conversation. “Be careful driving, son…see you in a few minutes and don’t worry.”

The doctor heard a choked sob on the other end of the line then Lance’s quiet voice telling him good-bye.



Dr. Shannon opened his office door and stepped in to see that Lance and JC had changed from their wet clothes into hospital scrubs that had been loaned to them several hours earlier and had been eventually joined by Jan, Justin and Chris, who had arrived after a few frantic phone calls and a short game of phone tag. The group of five instantly jumped to their feet from their seats on the couches and floor of the room.

“How is he?” JC asked quietly with tears slowly tracking their way down his face. He had not been able to stop the tears since the reality of the situation hit him once he and Lance had been handed the dry clothes to change into in the office. 

Lance put an arm around JC’s shoulders while Jan stood at his other side, tightly holding his right hand. The doctor’s gaze traveled from them over to Chris and Justin who both looked almost as pale as ghosts. This had to have dredged up memories that the entire group had worked hard for the last two, almost three months to put away.



“Well…he’s doing fine,” Dr. Shannon said to the small, anxious group as he motioned for them to retake their seats. He waited until everyone had sat back down before giving the details of Joey’s injury and treatment.

“He’s really doing fine…resting comfortably.” There was a collective sigh of relief from the group and the air in the room seemed to become less thick with the anxiety that had been weighing it down not 5 minutes earlier.

“We put in about 12 stitches to close up the gash on the side of his head…here,” Dr. Shannon said as he lightly touched his own left temple. 

“He was pretty confused when he first came into the treatment room and drifted in and out for about an hour…hours and a half before fully regaining consciousness.”

“Do you plan on keeping him here overnight?” Jan asked. JC’s grip on her hand tightened somewhat with her question and she lightly stroked his arm with her free hand.

“Yeah…just to be on the safe side,” the doctor answered. “He had inhaled some water and we want to make sure that his breathing remains normal and start him on some stronger antibiotics to prevent any lung infections. We also want to keep him under observation for the head wound, although his concussion is minimal.”

“So, he’ll get to go home tomorrow then, won’t he?” Lance asked, knowing that was the question on everyone’s minds.

“Yes…he’ll go home tomorrow…I’d say sometime in the late afternoon,” the doctor answered, as he looked Lance and JC up and down carefully. He could only imagine the thoughts that had been racing through their heads as Joey’s accident unfolded before them.

“Now…how are you two doing?” The doctor leaned forward in his seat and placed a hand on JC’s knee looking at him directly in the eyes before moving his intense gaze to Lance.

“I don’t know…I honestly don’t know,” JC answered in bewilderment. “He was in the pool, trying to get me to come in and pretend to rescue him, but…then…geez…I…” JC’s voice faded and the tears began to fall in earnest. Dr. Shannon took one look at the young man before him, then stood up and quietly reached out to him. Without hesitation, JC stood up from his seat and stepped into the older man’s embrace.

“I am so very proud of you, son,” the doctor said as he held the trembling figure tightly in his arms. “You really came through when the chips were down…you did it.”

JC nodded his head against the doctor’s shoulder and for several moments there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Everyone was releasing the tears that they had all been holding back for such a very long time. It seemed that now, they could all begin their healing.

“It’s really over,” JC said, his voice muffled against the doctor’s coat.

“What?” Dr. Shannon asked as he stepped slightly back…just far enough to hear as JC repeated what he had said.

“It’s really over…I really did it,” JC repeated. He turned to look at his friends who were now all standing around him. 

“What made you do it?” Lance finally asked, breaking the silence.

“I didn’t want him to see the light like I did,” JC replied in a matter of fact tone. “It just wasn’t time for him to see the light.”



One week later, everything seemed to have finally fallen into some form of the normalcy that had not been seen for quite some time. In celebration of JC seemingly overcoming his fears and of Joey’s rescue, the group planned a small, informal party. The list of guests was short and simple. The guys were there, along with Lynn, who had returned from San Diego late the night before, Jan, Dr. Shannon and his wife and daughter, and the Lewis family.

Everyone had contributed their favorite dishes and the meal had been a wonderful way for everyone to get to know each other better. After cleaning up and more small talk, it was time for part of the group to loosen up.

Lynn excused herself along with Jan and the two left to go shopping in town, while Dr. Shannon and his family left due to the fact that he was on call and needed to get back to the hospital to make his rounds. The last to leave were David and Sharon Lewis. The guys had reassured the couple that they would take care in watching over their daughter, Emilianne, for the next couple of hours and the couple left knowing that she was in good hands.



“Bonsai!” Chris yelled at the top of his lungs as he raced to the end of the 5-foot diving board and jumped into the pool.

Emilianne giggled at the older man’s antics from the shallow end of the pool where she was playing with Lance.

In the meantime, Justin and Joey were standing beside JC on the deck at the deep end of the pool.

“Come on…you can do it,” Justin urged his older friend. He was bound and determined to somehow get JC into the pool once again. “I know you can.”

“I know…it’s just…you know…” JC said quietly as his voice trailed away.

“It just that you don’t have to this time,” Joey said for him, voicing the emotions swirling around in JC perfectly…and Joey was right…this time he didn’t have to jump in and for some reason that caused him to be overly cautious in jumping in after Chris. 



In the meantime, Chris swam under the rope dividing the shallow end from the deep to join Lance and Emilianne who were busily dropping weighted hoops into the water and retrieving them from the bottom of the pool.

“He won’t do it,” Chris said to no one in particular as he stood up in the water, not taking his eyes off the group at the other end of the pool.

“Yeah,” Lance commented in a sad tone of voice. “He’s still pretty shaky about even being out here.” Lance looked up at the group. “It’s just going to take time, I guess, Chris.”

Chris looked back at Lance. “How much time though Poofu? How much?”

Lance shrugged his shoulders and stepped closer to Chris, forgetting the fact that he had only, minutes earlier, been playing with Emilianne.

At the same time, Emilianne stood off to the side and listened to their conversation, knowing that JC was the one who Mr. Lance and Mr. Chris were speaking of. She took her gaze off the two men before her and looked across the pool at the three other men. Mr. JC had a scared look on his face while Mr. Justin and Mr. Joey looked a little tired. 

Emilianne bit the inside of her mouth as she realized that her mom and dad had had the same looks on their faces when they had been trying to help her overcome her own fears of the pool.

In Emilianne’s little mind, she decided that she could help Mr. JC get over his own fears…she would be the one to do it. With a look of determination on her little face, Emilianne slowly made her way toward the steps of the pool unnoticed by Chris and Lance, who continued speaking, not even realizing that their young charge had left their sides to climb up the steps and walk along the side of the pool over to where JC, Justin, and Joey were still standing.



“It’s just so hard…so incredibly hard,” JC said quietly as he nervously ran a hand through his hair, keeping his gaze trained on anything but the pool.

“But Jace…you did it the other day,” Joey said in disbelief, not understanding that today should be any different while Justin tried hard to put himself into JC’s shoe’s but found, unfortunately, he couldn’t.

“I can’t even begin to understand what you are feeling right now, C, but we’re all here and we won’t let anything happen to you,” Justin said in a pleading tone.

JC gave him a look that instantly told him that he had made a wrong choice of words and Justin stumbled in his effort to correct his mistake.

“C…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean anything…well…you know what I meant,” Justin stammered as he reached out and grasped JC by the shoulder and was startled to feel it lightly shaking under his grip.

He looked over at Joey and completely missed the little girl who had joined them unnoticed. 

Emilianne looked up to see that the three men looked very sad…just like her parents that seemed to even further help her resolve in helping Mr. JC.

She quietly made her way over to JC’s side and grasped his hand, giving it a slight tug. In surprise, JC looked down at the little girl then he glanced back up at Justin and Joey only to see that their faces probably mirrored his…weariness…worry.

“Come on, Mr. Josh,” the little red head said, interrupting any further thoughts as she pulled JC away from Joey and Justin. Without any additional words, the little girl kept a firm grasp of JC’s right hand and the pair moved toward the ladder leading up to the 5-foot diving board leaving Justin and Joey behind, looking at each other in bewilderment.

In the mean time, when Chris became suddenly quiet, Lance’s followed Chris’s questioning gaze and was surprised to see that Emilianne had slipped right by them. 

“What’s going on?” he asked, but became silent when Chris shook his head no at him. Chris had an idea what the little red head might be up to and didn’t want to miss anything in the process.

Both men watched in rapt attention as a mini drama of sorts, unfolded before them in the distance.



JC stilled his reluctant steps toward the ladder and looked down at the little girl holding his hand. Emilianne looked back up at JC and gave him a questioning look.

“Sweetie,” he began in a slow tone as he gestured toward the diving board at the end of the pool. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea if you go on that diving board by yourself.”

Emilianne looked up at JC and gave him a look that said ‘of course not,’ before she cocked her little head to the side and spoke.

“I’m not going to be by myself,” she said with a toothy grin as she pointed at JC. “You’re going to go with me.” With that said, she turned and once again began to tug at JC’s hand, leading up to the foot of the tall ladder.

“Emilianne…honey…I really can’t,” JC quietly protested as he stopped dead in his tracks and looked down into the little face peering up at him, her free hand shielding her bright green eyes from the sun shining down on them from overhead.

“Yes you can, Mr. Josh,” Emilianne said innocently, nodding her head in affirmation before continuing in a matter of fact tone of voice. “I did it…so will you.” 

Time seemed to stop for JC after the little girl uttered those 6 little words…’I did it…so will you.’ They made sense. If a 6-year old girl could overcome her fears…so could he…so would he. JC took a deep breath, bent over and picked the child up into his arms.

“Thanks for the pep talk, little one,” he murmured as he felt Emilianne’s little arms tightly encircle his neck.

“Can we jump now?” she whispered into his ear, her excitement evident in her tone of voice.

JC was almost too choked up to answer so he simply nodded his head, stepped up to the ladder rungs and placed Emilianne’s feet on the second rung.

“After you,” he murmured as he watched the little girl smile widely then scamper up the other rungs to the top of the ladder. With a deep breath, JC climbed up after her. Once at the top of the ladder, he stepped out onto the board and felt a little hand slip its way into his.

“Ready Mr. Josh?” Emilianne asked squinting up at the man beside her as they made their way to the end of the board.

“More than you know,” JC replied. “More than you’ll ever know.”

JC missed the toothy grin that the little girl gave the remaining members of Nsync along with the little wink that she also sent their way, but the rest of the group didn’t...even through tear filled eyes.

With unashamed tears now flowing from their eyes, the four young men stood in their various locations and intently watched as JC and his little companion counted to three and jumped, hand in hand, into the deep waters of the pool. Seconds later, the pair surfaced, laughing and giggling in shear delight and were quickly joined by the rest of the group.



Things were indeed going to be back to a form of normalcy given time to heal...time to recover. Things would never quite be able to go back to what they had been before the accident…not when a second chance at life had been miraculously been given, but with the help of friends and the wise words of a little child, things could only get better.

The End

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