Ashlee Regent felt absolutely drained as she boarded the 767 that would be taking her home. Thankfully she was sitting in first class at her Dad's insistence, so she was led onto the plane without the normal delays. She had only been in Australia for 2 weeks, but visiting her Mother was always an event. This visit Maddy would not stop complaining about Ashlee’s living arrangements. Maddy wanted her to stay in Australia with her, while Ashlee preferred living in Florida with her Dad.
Ashlee knew that at the age of 22 she shouldn’t be living with either parent, but the after effects of last year changed that plan. Maddy turned into a smothering and critical Mother, while John turned into an over-zealous protective Father. Which also resulted in her Dad begging Ashlee to remain in the family home, where he was certain she was safe while he was away on business?
As the flight attendant showed her to her seat she noticed a large familiar man sitting opposite her seat, and she groaned out loud as Tim shrugged apologetically.
She couldn't handle the confrontation at this time so she sat down quickly without complaint, put her favourite CD into her disc-man and closed her eyes to the bright unnatural lights.
Although she couldn't hear the rest of the passengers she did notice a sudden flurry of activity pass over the first class compartment. But she refused to be disturbed from the darkness and the soft, beautiful harmonies her CD was emitting into her head. Her favourite song 'Gone' was just beginning when a shadow passed over her eyelids, then she felt the seat next to her shift as someone sat down. Not willing to face the world again Ashlee ignored the feeling that the person sitting next to her was watching her and kept her eyes closed.
The captain interrupted her solitude with the announcement that they were about to take off. Still she remained with her eyes closed and she soon felt the familiar feeling of the plane gliding off the runway.
Half an hour into the 10-hour flight from L.A to Florida Ashlee felt a tap on her shoulder. "What can I do for you Tim?" she asked quietly without opening her eyes. She felt the stranger next to her shift in surprise but she turned towards the person who had disturbed her. She opened her eyes to see Tim grinning broadly, and she smiled back cheekily and took the phone from Tim's outstretched hand without question.
Ashlee held the phone to her ear and said with a mixture of love and annoyance. "Hi Dad, why is Tim on this plane with me?" She paused giving her Dad time to think about her comment before answering.
"Hi Sweetheart, what are you doing?"
Ashlee sighed with annoyance. "No Dad. Don't change the subject. What is Tim doing on this plane with me?"
She heard her Dad sigh when he realised that he couldn't avoid her question. "Ashlee you know I don't like you travelling alone. Knowing that Tim is there with you helps me sleep at night."
Hearing this comment she softened her voice. "I know you worry Dad, but I am 22 years old, I think I can handle things by myself now," she finished firmly.
Ashlee heard him struggle with his voice when he spoke next. "Ashlee, I know you are an adult, but it didn't stop something from happening to you before. I can't let what happened to you last year happen again," he emphasised slowly.
This last comment brought tears to Ashlee's eyes and her voice became hushed with sadness. "I know Daddy... I don't want that to happen to me again either. BUT you can't keep sticking Tim on me without warning."
Her Dad sighed again at her resistance. "Ok Ash. I will keep you informed from now on, but he has been with you since it happened. I would have thought that you would be used to him by now."
She chuckled at this. "I am used to him Dad... It's a bit hard to ignore him," she said while looking over at Tim and winking. "But I thought you promised me that I could go on holidays without him. Yet here he is and I bet he was stalking me for the 2 weeks I was in Australia."
When her Dad didn't answer straight away she knew that she was right. "Well I hope he had a fun time following Mum and I around shopping. I know how much he hates doing that!" Tim pulled a face then smiled when Ashlee laughed at him, poking her tongue out at him.
Ashlee's cheeky tone cheered her Dad up. "So when are you coming in again?"
"My plane lands at 5.00am, so I will be home in time to see your flight off."
She heard a frown in her Dad's voice. "I'm sorry about that Ash, you just get home and then I leave you. We’ll have to take a raincheck on dinner tomorrow night."
"Sure Dad, we can do it when you come back. I'm going to go now and leave you to get some sleep, ok? I love you. See you shortly, Bye."
"I love you too Ash, Bye."
Ashlee turned back to Tim who was hovering wordlessly and gave him the phone back. He looked at her sympathetically. "Sorry Ashlee, but I had my orders from your Dad to bring you home safely." "It's ok Tim. I understand you're only doing your job. But you could have warned me," she said with a grin.
Tim grinned back with mischief. "Now where would the fun be in that? You should have seen your face when you saw me, I thought you were going to deck me," he chuckled.
Ashlee laughed back. "You're lucky I'm so tired because I seriously considered it," she said while gently pushing him away. "Now go away and stop tempting me."
Ashlee closed her eyes and sighed loudly. Again she felt the person next to her shift in her direction and she turned and opened her eyes. She found herself looking into a pair of expressive green eyes and her own opened in surprise, while the stranger's eyes darkened with emotion as they registered her reaction. Ashlee focused on the rest of the stranger, and her eyes widened even further as she recognised the blond spiky hair, strong jaw-line, and full mouth.
When the stranger noticed her recognition, he blushed slightly with embarrassment and turned away. Ashlee blushed also when she realised she was making him uncomfortable and she mumbled a quiet sorry before turning around again.
Feeling like a complete idiot for staring at the guy, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart that was beating a mile a minute after staring into his handsome face. Ashlee had often thought that he was the cutest out of the five guys that made up N’sync, and she had longed to hear him sing solo. These thoughts made her heart beat even faster and she felt a headache coming on, causing her to rub her temples.
Ashlee felt a slight tap on her shoulder and she looked over at the cute stranger in surprise. He looked at her with concern in his eyes and said in a deep, steady voice. "Excuse me. I have some aspirin if you have a headache."
Ashlee was surprised by his kindness and she smiled shyly at him. "That would be good, thank-you."
He smiled in return and held his hand out in welcome. "I'm Lance Bass."
Ashlee smiled in embarrassment as she held up her CD cover that had his face and the rest of the N'sync members on it. "Yeah I kind of already knew that... I'm Ashlee Regent. It's nice to meet you."
Lance chuckled softly. "It's nice to meet you too Ashlee, even nicer considering you're not a 12 year old teeny bopper."
Ashlee laughed along with him as she registered the relief in his voice and smiled brightly as he handed her two aspirin and a bottle of water. She was about to take the pills when she felt Tim's presence looming over her and she looked up in surprise. Tim frowned at her, and held out his hand for the pills that she was about to take. Ashlee stiffened in anger and embarrassment as Tim inspected the tablets carefully then handed them back with a look of annoyance.
"Ashlee you know better than to accept things from strangers, especially pills." Ashlee clenched her teeth in anger. "Tim I am not a child. This man was nice enough to offer me some aspirin for my headache and you turn all gorilla-like on me. You completely embarrassed me, not to mention you probably offended Lance by insinuating that he was trying to harm me. Not every person in the world is a threat to me, and I should be able to judge for myself who and who not to trust in this world."
Tim tried to hide his smile that appeared after Ashlee's speech and he held up his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok I'll back off... as long as you promise to be more careful."
Ashlee tried not to laugh herself at his act of surrender "Ok I promise to be more careful in the future Tim and I know you are only doing your job."
Tim did a quick salute and returned to his chair with a laugh, and Ashlee turned back to Lance with an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry about that Lance, but he takes his orders very seriously. I know you weren't trying to hurt me but Tim has to watch my back."
Lance smiled wryly and his eyes showed understanding as he pointed to a large man sitting opposite him that she hadn't noticed before. "That's ok. Lonnie over there does the exact same thing, it sucks but that's what they're paid for."
"Yeah I guess it's better than getting hurt. I'm lucky I like Tim though. I wouldn't stand it if I didn't."
Lance nodded his head in agreement and Ashlee laughed at the absurdity. "Isn't it strange that we are having this conversation? Here I was, quietly listening to your CD, and the next minute you're sitting next to me and we're having a conversation about bodyguards... I didn't even realise you were there until a few minutes ago."
Lance shrugged his shoulders and smiled understandably. "Just because you like our music doesn't mean you have to recognize me. Actually, I rather like the fact that you didn't."
Ashlee laughed softly then corrected him. "Oh, I recognised you straight away. I just had to open my eyes first."
Lance nodded his head in agreement and said cheekily. "Yeah, looking at someone with your eyes open does always help."
Ashlee became aware that they were once again looking into each other's eyes and she felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment. She had to silently tell herself to look away from his gorgeous face. Just looking at him made her throat dry and she unconsiously took a sip of water.
"How's your headache now?" Lance inquired.
"I hadn't even noticed, but it's gone now. Thanks again for the aspirin. I don't like asking the fight attendants because they fuss over me, and then Tim starts to."
Lance looked at Ashlee with inquiring eyes at her comment, and Ashlee stumbled embarrassedly over her explanation. "Oh, umm… my Dad kinda owns the airline, so when I fly, everyone tends to crowd me," she answered.
“Well I can understand why that would be a problem, especially when you want to be left alone,” Lance answered insightfully.
Ashlee nodded slowly. “It does have its advantages, though, like sitting in first class, but sometimes it also has its disadvantages.” Ashlee blushed again when she realized how ridiculous she sounded. "Oh I'm sorry just ignore my whining, I have nothing to complain about, but I’ve had a rough week and I'm feeling sorry for myself."
Lance took one long look at her, an idea forming in his mind. "You just need to relax, have some fun," he said waving to get his bodyguard's attention.
Ashlee saw Tim frown at this movement because he couldn't see who the man was and she held up her hand to calm him. Lonnie turned around and Ashlee was surprised that he spoke so softly for a man so large. "Yeah Lance, you need something?"
"Yeah, thanks Lonnie. I want you to meet Ashlee Regent. She's going to come to our Charity concert tonight at Tampa stadium. Can you organize it for me? Give her some tickets and all the right passes."
Ashlee looked at Lance in surprise and then at Lonnie who grinned. "Sure thing, dude. I'll give her the V.I.P treatment."
"Um, I’m sorry Lance. I would love to come to your show but I can't go anywhere without security clearance."
Lance smiled and waved Tim over. "Hi Tim, I'm Lance Bass and I was hoping you could give Ashlee clearance to come to my concert tomorrow night."
Ashlee held up her CD cover to show him that Lance was legitimate and Tim shook Lance's hand firmly and looked back down to her pleading face. "I don't see any problems with that Ash as long as I go with you."
Lance smiled. "Yeah, we’ll have security too so there won't be any problems. Speaking of, hey Lonnie! Come over and meet someone."
Tim laughed when Lonnie stood up this time, giving him a clear view of the bodyguard. "Hey man! What are you doing guarding a pop-star?"
Lonnie laughed along with him. "Tim, man, I haven't seen you around the old neighborhood for a while. I've been guarding pretty boy's ass over there for a few years now. I see you got yourself a pretty girl to cover, you lucky guy."
The two bodyguards continued to talk while Lance and Ashlee looked on in amazement. "I guess you two know each other?" Ashlee asked, interrupting.
Tim grinned broadly. "Yeah, Lonnie and I grew up in the same neighborhood, and then went to training together, but we haven't seen each other for a while," he said, turning back to his conversation with Lonnie.
"Well this just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Ashlee said turning to Lance, “But it does look like I can come now. Thank-you for inviting me."
"My pleasure. You look like you could do with a night out. I'll leave it up to those two to set up the technical stuff and we'll see to the normal stuff. The concert starts at 8.pm, so if you come at 6.pm we can have dinner together and you can meet everyone. Is that ok?"
"Sure, that works for me,” Ashlee said with a smile then she ruined the effect by yawning.
Lance laughed. "We have a few hours left so why don't we try to get some sleep."
"Yeah, I think I'm about to fall asleep talking. Sorry," she said while lowering her chair and she once again closed her eyes, immediately falling asleep.
Lance did the same but he didn't fall asleep straight away, his eyes were drawn to her beautiful, peaceful face as she slept. He couldn't believe his luck when he was seated next to such a beautiful and charming girl. For the first half an hour of the flight he had been watching her, thinking that she was asleep, but thankfully she wasn't aware that he had been staring. He was lucky that she was a fan. It gave him an excuse to see her again, but she did look like she could do with some cheering up. As he sat pondering the pain he saw in her eyes, his own eyes became heavy with sleep and he soon slept peacefully facing Ashlee.
Lonnie and Tim were still chatting over the good old days when Lonnie noticed they’re sleeping clients. "I think my boy likes your girl. I haven't seen him take to a girl like that in years. But it's a good thing though. He could do with some love from a good woman, and I have a feeling that your girl is a good woman."
Tim smiled at this. "Yeah she is a good woman, but she could do with some love herself. Ash has had a rough year and I would love to see her happy again," Tim said with sadness.
Lonnie looked at Tim with inquiring eyes and Tim sighed. "She has had some run-ins with some bad people, which is why I'm here. Her Dad would kill me if something happened to his little girl again."
Lonnie raised an eyebrow in concern. "Again?"
Tim shook his head in sadness. "Her Dad is a very wealthy man, and so is she in her own right, which has made her a target for some greedy people. Last year she got kidnapped," Tim said with anger.
"What happened?"
"She was kidnapped going home and she was missing for 2 weeks before we found her. She was in bad shape but she's a fighter and she got through it. She's 22, so she reacts badly to my presence, but I would do anything for the little scrap."
Lonnie nodded his head in understanding, and looked over at the sleeping kids "Yeah I know what you mean. I would do anything for Lance and if he wants Ashlee, just know that she would always be safe in my care."
Tim sighed in relief. "Thanks man. She deserves to be happy and I think your boy maybe what she’s been waiting for. I have never seen her open up to a stranger like this before, let alone a guy, I think it's a good sign."
Lonnie smiled slyly. "Well we’ll just have to give them all the encouragement they need."
Tim laughed along. "Yeah man, I agree!"
Ashlee awoke later to the feeling of the plane descending and the flight attendants telling her to push her chair into its upright position. She looked over at Tim who grinned and winked towards Lance's still sleeping form and she blushed in embarrassment as she lent over to gently shake his shoulder. "Lance you have to wake up now, we're landing." His eyes slowly opened and he blinked in surprise.
"Have we arrived already?"
"Yep. It appears that we managed to sleep through the entire flight,” Ashlee said with a smile.
"So, I guess I will see you later on tonight. Remember, 6 o’ clock.”
“I'm looking forward to it, Lance," Ashlee replied while exiting the plane.
They waved to each other as they went in their separate ways but Ashlee was interrupted by a voice at her shoulder. "Who's that young man you’re waving at Sweetheart?"
Ashlee squealed in surprise and pulled her Dad into a tight hug. "Hi Dad, what are you doing here?"
"Well I couldn't have my girl getting off a plane to an empty room and without a hug could I?" he laughed.
Ashlee hugged him again as they walked towards the waiting car but she turned around once more to look at Lance's retreating back.
Lance laughed lightly when he saw the man sneak up on Ashlee as she was waving good-bye and was happy to see her hug the man back in response.
Lonnie nudged him as he watched. "That's her father, John Regent. The man is loaded and so is she apparently."
"Lonnie, is that the only thing you found out about her?" Lance asked in amusement "She looks happy to see him. doesn't she?"
"Yeah, Tim said that they are real tight, especially after what happened to her."
Lance looked up at Lonnie in surprise and growing concern. "What do you mean, Lonnie?"
Lonnie looked uncomfortable as he realized he said something that he shouldn't have. "I didn't mean to say that,” he said shaking his head. Tim told me that she got kidnapped last year and she was missing for 2 weeks."
Lance swore softly then sighed in understanding. That was probably what her conversation with her Dad was about on the plane and it also explained Tim's fierce protection of her.
"She must be a trooper to get through something like that,” he said aloud to no one in particular. This thought made him like her even more and he smiled broadly as he was ushered into the waiting car.
Ashlee was sitting uncomfortably under the intense scrutiny of her Dad in the backseat of the limo. Finally she couldn't take it any more. "What are you looking at, Dad?"
John smiled at his daughter's annoyance. "I was just wondering why you have a big smile on your face? I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the guy you were waving at."
"Oh. That was Lance," she mumbled in embarrassment. I met him on the flight.”
John tried to hide the smile that appeared from his daughter’s reluctant answer. "So who is he, if you don't mind me asking?"
Ashlee felt her face redden with embarrassment and she quickly turned away from her Dad as she searched for her CD cover to explain.
John was taken by surprise when Ashlee turned back with a satisfied smile and tossed him a CD cover. He looked down at it without understanding and looked back over at Ashlee for an explanation.
"The guy on the right Dad," she explained with patience.
"The blond with the glasses?"
"Yeah, doesn’t he look familiar?" she said with a smirk.
"Hey, that's the guy, the guy you were waving at. He's in that group you always listen to, right?" John asked in amazement.
"Yep. Imagine my surprise when I opened my eyes and he was sitting next to me. We ended up comparing bodyguards, which is really strange because Tim knows Lance's bodyguard, Lonnie."
John looked at Ashlee in surprise. 'She doesn't normally talk to strangers', he thought. He looked at her more closely and realised that a soft smile had appeared on her face since she mentioned Lance's name. 'She likes this guy', he thought with mixed emotions. He wanted his daughter to experience love, find a person that she wanted to share the rest of her life with. But he also knew that she was afraid to trust her own heart, and she feared the thought of rejection. Because of these fears she was unwilling to open her heart to new experiences.
John looked down at the picture of Lance, hoping that the young man wouldn't hurt his little girl. He knew what some famous people could be like, but he had a feeling that this man was different. He saw the way Lance smiled at Ashlee when she was leaving. Maybe Lance would be the man Ashlee needed to open her heart up to.
Ashlee stopped talking when she realized that her Dad wasn't listening. Instead he was looking at the CD cover with a strange smile on his face.
"Dad, are you ok?"
"Sorry Sweetheart, what did you say?" John questioned after pulling himself away from his thoughts.
"I was asking if you were ok. You had a funny expression on your face."
"Oh I did, did I? I was just wondering if Lance was the "typical" pop star."
"I thought he would be, but he's not Dad. He was really nice, just like any other person I guess," Ashlee replied with a smile. "Actually he invited me to their Charity concert tonight."
"So are you going?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah. Tim said that security wise I would be safe. Lonnie will be there too with the rest of their security team so I guess I will be really safe."
John read the hesitancy in Ashlee's eyes. "I'm sure you will be fine sweetheart, so try and have some fun," he said trying to ease her doubts.
Ashlee sighed, taking notice of her father’s acceptance and let the giddyness overcome her. "Oh my God, I just realized that I don't have anything to wear."
John laughed at his daughter’s behaviour. "I'm sure you can find something suitable in the hours you have remaining before you have to go Ash."
Ashlee grew silent as she mentally walked through her wardrobe. John also grew silent but his thoughts rested on his daughter. This young man had obviously stolen her thoughts, and maybe he was on the way to stealing her heart.