When they arrived there was a moment when they all stood in wonder. Ashlee knew that her house always got that initial reaction so she gave them a tour as Tim gave the guys bodyguards the access codes to the house before they left. The only time the guys would need their protection during their stay with her was when they left the contained grounds, so the bodyguards left with the secure feeling that the guys would be perfectly safe.
Firstly she led them through the front of the house through to the kitchen in the back to meet Ashlee’s replacement mother/ caretaker.
Marie was pulling out some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies when she walked in followed closely by 7 strangers, Marie's eyes widened in surprise as Ashlee moved in closer to give her a quick hug.
"Marie you know how I went to that concert tonight?" When Marie nodded 'yes' Ashlee continued. "Well these guys are it... Nsync... Also known as Lance, JC, Justin, Joey and Chris, and these two lovely ladies are Dani and Kelly, Chris and Joey's girlfriends," she explained as simply as possible.
Marie just took all this information in her stride as she welcomed everyone into her kitchen to eat, with the guys going straight for her cookies.
"The guys have had some bad press Marie so I offered them a safe haven here for a while," Ashlee explained further with a smile. "Dad's aware and Tim has the security fixed up with the guys bodyguards, so we are going to have a 7 plus household for a while."
Marie pulled Ashlee to her side. "That was very nice of you Ash." She said not commenting on the obvious connection between the young man named Lance who kept looking at Ashlee with a soft smile on his face.
"Why don't you show our guests to their rooms and I will whip you up something to eat."
Ashlee nodded in agreement but JC stepped forward to disagree. "You really shouldn't be going to any extra effort for our benefit Marie, we can look after yourselves."
"I'm sure you can JC but it would be a pleasure to cook for more than two people, and for people that will most likely eat more than a bird, like some young lady I know."
"Hey," Ashlee amusedly took offence to this. "I eat plenty Marie. I just refuse to eat 24/7 like you would want me too. But then I would be fat as a house," she answered with a slight smile on her face while trying to look stern.
Ashlee heard a familiar snort of laughter coming from the kitchen doorway and she turned smiling brightly. "Are you laughing at me Beth?" she innocently questioned as she walked over and hugged her best friend.
"Hell no! That was a snort of disbelief! You could never be fat Ashy."
"Nor could you Bethy, thank-you. So what do I owe for the pleasure of your company tonight?"
Beth didn't appear to hear Ashlee, instead her gaze was drawn to the obviously curious crowd behind her. "Ash either you have finally decided to turn this mansion into a hotel or you have some very brazen burglars in your house."
This caused the room to break into laughter and Ashlee blushed in embarrassment, "I'm so sorry here I was blabbering along and I didn't introduce anyone... Beth these are the members of Nsync, Lance, Justin, JC, Joey and Chris. And behind them is Dani, Chris's girlfriend and Kelly, Joey's girlfriend. Everyone this is my Best friend and Business partner Bethany Winston."
Everyone exchanged hugs and kisses much to Beth's surprise as Ashlee looked on laughing, while Beth still looked confused. Ashlee saw her mouth open in question but she intercepted. "I met Lance on my flight home last night and he gave me tickets to their Charity concert, so I went."
The fact that Ashlee had ventured out by herself without Beth for the first time in a year surprised Beth but she was happy for Ashlee and she pulled her into a big hug. "Oh I'm so proud of you Ashy… but you took Tim with you didn't you?" She asked in concern.
"Yes Bethy I'm not stupid, and I'm glad I went I had a blast," Ashlee said while shyly looking at Lance through the corner of her eye. But she didn't fool Beth who caught the action and raised her eyebrow in question, and when Ashlee started to blush Beth laughed in understanding.
"So what's with the party?" Beth said as she caught JC's eye and smiled, they continued looking at each other until Ashlee's answer forced her to look away. Beth looked at the smirk on Ashlee's face, and this time it was her turn to blush, "The guys have some bad press at the moment and I offered them a place to hide."
Beth blinked in surprise. "That was very nice of you Ash… But is that wise?"
Ashlee knew what Beth was talking about but no one else in the room did so she spoke softly. "It will be fine Beth, they are really nice people and I wanted to help them out."
Beth hugged Ashlee again while whispering in her ear. "I knew you would come back to the land of the living but I didn't expect you to do it with 5 of the hottest guys in the world."
Ashlee laughed at this. "You know that when I do things I do them with style." Beth and Ashlee continued to giggle, completely forgetting that they had an audience.
Lance looked on with a smile on his face. It's one thing to get to know a person, but you get to see a completely different side of them when they are with the people they loved and when they are comfortable. At this moment he was able to see the love and happiness shining from Ashlee's eyes with no hint of the sadness he had seen many times, and his feelings for her intensified. She was truly beautiful.
Beth noticed Lance's gaze on Ashlee, recognizing the longing in his eyes. Beth smiled brightly, Lance must to be a nice guy because otherwise Ashlee wouldn't have invited him into her home. She had noticed the look Ashlee had slid Lance's way and knew that her friend must be attracted to the handsome man, which must absolutely terrify her. Beth fully intended on cornering her friend to get the full details.
Beth and Ashlee stopped giggling as they remembered that Ashlee had guests. "Oh sorry," she said to the amused group. "Let's head upstairs and I'll show you to your rooms."
Ashlee led them up to the third level, placing Dani and Chris in one room with Kelly and Joey in another, knowing that the couples would appreciate more privacy than the rest of the group. All the rooms had their own bathrooms and sitting rooms, insuring complete privacy and comfort.
Leaving them with instructions to join the rest of the group in the kitchen in half an hour, Ashlee lead the rest of the group down to the second level where her room was located. She placed JC in the room opposite her own, next to the room Beth used when she stayed, and placed Justin in the room to the left of her own. Lance was left with the room next to hers on the right, which was joined by a connecting door, each room also had the same luxuries as the third floor rooms.
Half an hour later Marie had prepared several homemade pizzas along with salad and an oven baked bread, which was wholly appreciated by the hungry group. The next hour was spent with life stories and humorous experiences but soon the adventures of the day caught up with everyone and they were forced to retire to bed.
No one had shared the house with Ashlee apart from Beth and her family since the kidnapping, so Beth was a bit wary of the group’s reaction to Ashlee's sleep patterns. So she left for her own house with the assurance from Tim that he would keep a close eye on Ashlee, who she would see at the office the next morning.
Lance, JC, Justin and Ashlee walked to their rooms together with JC and Justin biding them a quick 'good-night' leaving Lance and Ashlee alone.
"Thanks again for this Ashlee, you will never know how much this means to us."
"It's my pleasure, and anyway you are doing me a favor. I don't like staying here alone when Dad's gone so it worked out well for all of us." Ashlee couldn't hide the yawn that escaped when she finished speaking, causing Lance to smile.
"Get some sleep, and I will see you in the morning," Lance said as he gently pushed her into her room. He leant down and kissed her gently on her cheek then turned and left. "Night Lance," Ashlee replied quickly before he closed her door with a smile.
Lance awoke with a start as the terrified screams of a woman broke through his consciousness. He ran towards the connecting doors that joined his and Ashlee's rooms knowing that something was very wrong with her and that he needed to help her. When he first entered her room he couldn't find her but after his eye's adjusted to the darkness he located her body curled up on her bed, and his heart broke when he realized she was having a nightmare. She was in a fetal position in the middle of her bed, sobbing uncontrollably but still sleeping. Without thinking he ran over to her and pulled her gently into his arms.
"It's ok Ashlee, nothing can hurt you now, it's just a nightmare. Wake up Ashlee you're safe now!" He continued to talk to her as she woke up but still continued to cry.
"Please don't let him hurt me anymore! I didn't do anything to deserve this. Please don't hurt me. Daddy please save me, please Daddy." Ashlee continued to cry and Lance didn't know what else to do, so he continued to hold her and talk to her softly.
Ashlee's outside door suddenly slammed opened with a bang and Lance looked up to see Tim, Justin and JC looking in with concern, they were soon joined by a sleepy looking Chris, Dani, Kelly and Joey. All wondering what the noise was, Tim moved to walk into the room but Lance held up his hand to stop him.
"It's ok guys, she just had a nightmare but she’ll be fine."
Tim sighed in concern and frustration. "She's had them ever since we got her back, only her Daddy seems to be able to calm her after one of them."
Lance looked down at the weeping girl and moved to lie her down on one of her pillows but she protested. "Please don't leave me Lance," she pleaded softly through her tears.
"I wasn't going to. Ashlee. I was trying to make you more comfortable."
"No don't move, just hold me please."
"I'm going to stay right here with you until you feel better Ashlee."
Lance looked back up at their audience. "She's going to be fine, you guys should go back to bed... Tim can you go get her a cup of tea or something?" Lance looked back down at Ashlee as everyone left the doorway and pulled her more closely against his chest. She curled herself into his arms and buried her face into his neck. Lance could feel her hot tears against his skin and he felt hopeless, he wanted to protect her from her fears but he didn't know how.
"Hush baby, you're safe now," he murmured softly as he rocked her gently. "Please stop crying, sweetie, I don't know how to help you. Please stop, you are safe now, I would never let anyone hurt you again!" But still she cried.
There was only one thing else he knew how to do so he started to sing 'God must of spent a little more time on you', his deep, husky voice seemed to have an immediate effect on her as she slowly stopped crying and settled against his body more comfortably. He finished the song as her breathing became deep and rhythmical. He shifted their bodies so that they lay flat on the bed, with Ashlee curled against his chest and her head tucked neatly in his shoulder and her hand resting over his heart.
When Tim returned with the tea that Lance had requested, he stopped short in surprise before entering the room. Lance had miraculously calmed Ashlee down and she was now sleeping peacefully in his arms. Lance had her enfolded tightly in his arms as if he never wanted to let her go, as he too slept.
Tim backed quietly out of the room to find 6 expectant faces looking at him. "I thought Lance told you all to go back to bed."
JC stepped forward. "Ashlee told us about her kidnapping but should her nightmares be so intense? It happened a year ago and when she told us about it she didn't seem that terrified. So we want to know what else happened to her and we want you to tell us.
"Tim looked at the other faces, recognizing their determination and he knew that if they were going to help Ashlee they needed to know all the facts. "Come down to the kitchen, I'll tell you down there."
When they were all seated Tim hesitantly began, "I was hired after Ashlee was found again, so I wasn't there to experience it all first hand but I do know the facts.... She told you that she was kidnapped.... Well she was kidnapped while leaving work and she was missing for 2 weeks. There were three of them and they asked for 6 million, which her Daddy was willing to pay, but the F.B.I decided against it and they tracked the guys down. They found her in a remote cabin, and she had been beaten.... Beaten badly."
Tim's voice lowered in sadness. "It appeared that one of the guys thought she was a pretty little thing and he took a fancy to her. But Ashlee wouldn't play along with him so he got nasty and put her in the hospital for 3 weeks with a further weeks and months in plaster and physical therapy."
"So what happened to the kidnappers and the one that hurt her?" Justin asked in anger.
"There're in jail now and they will never get to Ashlee again, but their brutality will always be remembered by Ashlee, and as a result she has those nightmares.... I think Lance must have the magical touch though, she was sleeping again when we left." J.C smiled at this. "Lance is really falling for Ashlee and I think Ashlee knows that she is safe in his arms."
Dani and Kelly couldn't even begin to comprehend the horrors Ashlee had gone through and Dani had a feeling that the one who beat her did more than what Tim was saying. "Does Lance know all this?"
Tim nodded his head. "Yeah I told Lonnie who told him, but I'm unsure if he knows the complete story."
JC stood up slowly. "Well there's nothing further we can do about it tonight, so I suggest that we all go back to bed and try to get some sleep." Everyone agreed and soon the house was silent again.