JC wasn’t having the best day, he wasn’t feeling well and he hadn’t gotten the best sleep or rather any sleep. Needless to say he was in a pretty crappy mood.
Dani came up to him,
“Man Chip you look like shit.”
“Well thanks.” He mumbled, “Didn’t already know that.”
“What crawled up your ass and died?”
“You.” He griped and she put her hands on her hips,
“Out with it.” She said and he groaned,
“Just leave me alone.” He turned his back on her,
“No.” She challenged and JC whipped around to see her face completely contorted and he bust out in laughter. Dani returned her face to normal, “That’s better. Catch a fiver on the couch. I’ll block everyone from you, okay?” She winked,
“You’re my angel.” He said flopping down on the couch. Dani leaned over kissing the top of his head.
“I’ve got to take care of my Chip.” She said ruffling his hair playfully and left the room to let him sleep.
On her way out she ran into Lance,
“Hey Dani, have you seen JC?”
“Yeah, but he’s taking a quick nap.”
“He doesn’t have time for a nap! We have the sound check soon.” Dani crossed her arms,
“Please, ten minutes will not kill you but it will really help him. Deal Lance.” She said sternly,
“But-”
“No buts, he looks like he’s coming down with something and hasn’t gotten a lot of sleep. Those ten minutes will do him wonders, the teenies can wait. I’ll have everything set so that he can go on as soon as he wakes up. Claim some technical difficulties or something, okay?” She said and Lance knew it was useless to argue with her and agreed,
“Okay, fine just go tell the stage manager so that he knows what’s going on.”
“Alright, I will and you should probably take a nap too, you look like you could use one too.”
“Okay mom.”
“That good?” She asked,
“Yeah perfect. How are you feeling today?”
“I’m sore, that’s for sure, but it’s not that bad.” She said standing up, “But look at this,” She said raising the back of her shirt and there was a large purplish bruise there, “Ain’t it great?”
“Jesus, Dani people are going to think that we’re beating you up.” He said half joking and she rolled her eyes,
“Please, like any of you could. Plus you know what they say, bruises and scars are just tattoos with better stories.” She teased and dusted off his shirt. He laughed,
“Okay, thanks for the nap. I really needed it.”
“I know, you’re welcome.” She winked and pushed him away, “Go before the teenies come back here looking for you.” JC just laughed with a wink and a wave as he walked on the stage looking and feeling ten times better after his short catnap. Dani had actually gotten him like twenty minutes by having everything set for him to go as soon as he woke up.
“Dude you’ve got one fierce tiger working for you.” Lance mentioned as JC passed by him,
“What are you talking about?”
“Dani, nearly bit my head off for wanting to wake you up for the sound check.”
“She did, did she?” He smiled smugly to himself,
“Hell yeah, when did she start working for you instead of Tony?” He teased and JC laughed,
“She doesn’t but I might hire her if she does what she did for me today more often.”
“Trust me, no one was going near you because they had to get through her.” Lance said and JC smiled,
“That’s Dani for ya.” He said and pulled his mike over his ear to start the sound check. Lance simply shook his head. This just added to his assumptions about them.
“Damn air conditioning.” She muttered to herself, crossing her arms and hunkering down further into her seat.
“Well don’t we look like the epitome of misreableness?” JC teased as he sat down next to her.
“Well aren’t we Mr. Chuckles today?” She grumbled,
“What’s wrong with you?” She glanced over at his t-shirt and jeans that he was wearing,
“Aren’t you cold? It’s like fifty below in this arena.”
“Dani, it’s like seventy. Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m freaking cold. No matter how many layers I wear, I just can’t get warm.”
“You can’t be serious.” Dani reached out and placed her hands on his arms,
“Damn girl, have you been sitting in a freezer?”
“Yeah here.” She commented, sitting back in her seat and blowing her nose.
“You wouldn’t be getting sick would you?”
“How? I haven’t been around anyone who’s sick.”
“Doesn’t matter, come here and give me your hands.”
“Jace…” She whined and he rolled his eyes,
“I’m trying to help.” He said taking her hands in his and rubbing them. “Jesus, your hands are like ice.”
“I know, I’m almost contemplating putting on some gloves.”
“Just how many layers are you wearing?” He eyed the bulky clothing she was wearing,
“Six shirts and a sweatshirt.” She shrugged and JC stared at her, she was looking a little pale,
“Dani, baby, you are mostly definitely sick. Get up, you’re coming with me.”
“Jaaace…” She protested but he pulled her up to him and wrapped an arm around her waist guiding her backstage to Tony’s dressing room. He let her in and made her lay down on the couch.
“I’m fine Chip.”
“And I’m Donald Trump.” He retorted covering her with a blanket.
“Where’s Ivana?” Dani grumbled and the coldness of all the new items covering her made her even worse and her teeth began to chatter. “Ja-a-ace, this is-s-sn’t work-k-k-king. I’m fuck-k-king f-f-fre-ee-ee-zing.” She shivered as her body shook with tremors.
“How about some soup?” He asked and she shook her head,
“My st-t-tomach c-c-can’t hand-d-dle food, right-t now.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I d-d-don’t c-care as long as I g-get warm an-nd st-t-top chatt-tt-tering my teeth.” JC looked around the room looking for an answer and then back at the poor shivering Dani. He sighed and pulled back the covers crawling under them with her. “C-c-chip, w-w-what ar-r-r-re you d-d-do-o-oin-g-gg?”
“Helping you get warm, Einstein.” He said wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him. She resisted at first, “I’m not going to bite, I swear.” He scolded her and she sighed letting him pull her to him. He rubbed her arms and back trying to calm her cold tremors that shook her body.
JC’s body radiated an endless supply of heat and she snuggled closer trying to get warm. It worked and in a few minutes her body was still and she wasn’t chattering.
“Better?” He asked,
“Yes, thank you.” She said quietly,
“Anytime, I’ve got to look out for you when Tony’s not around, don’t I?”
“Well I appreciate it. Who knew you’d be such a great hot water bottle?” She teased.
“I’ve got to do something to pay the bills.”
“Oh, that’s right.” She smirked and rested her head on his chest as she got sleepy, “Can you stay as long as possible? I’m finally warm and I just want it to last a little longer.”
“Sure, Dani.”
“Thanks, Chip.”
“You know Dale’s not even here.”
“You’re still Chip, plus the n’ here.” She smiled and yawned,
“So we’re just Chip n’?”
“If it makes you happy, you can be Chip n’ Nsync.” She laughed at her own joke.
“How about Chip n’ Dani?” He teased,
“Like I’d ever want to be linked to you! Bad enough I have to be related to Tony.”
“I thought you were sick?”
“No, you thought I was sick and dragged me in here so you could have your wicked way with me.” She smiled mischievously and JC rolled his eyes,
“Oh right, that’s what I was doing. I wasn’t trying to save you from dying of hypothermia or anything.”
“So now I have hypothermia? First I have a cold, now I’m on my death bed.” She yawned again closing her eyes slowly. JC was about to throw a comment her way but at the sight of her eyes and her even breathing he bit his tongue. He decided that a quick nap wasn’t that bad of an idea and was oddly comfortable with Dani practically on top of him. So he quickly fell asleep.
“Hey Tony.” JC said sleepily and looked down at Dani who was completely passed out.
“What’s all this about?” Tony asked crossing his arms and JC slowly slid out from under her.
“I think she’s coming down with something.” He said tucking the blanket around her before adding another one. “She was absolutely freezing.” He whispered, “She’s wearing six layers of clothing and she couldn’t get warm. So I brought her in here to lie down and she just started shivering like mad. I crawled under the covers to help her get warm.” Tony began to look a little worried,
“She’s always cold though, doesn’t mean anything.”
“Man, just keep an eye on her. I’m sure it’s just a cold.”
Dani’s cold worsened to the point where she was restricted to bed rest. So she moved from the hotel bed to her bed on the bus.
There was a knock on her door,
“Come in!” She scratchily yelled and JC popped into her room with his backpack. Dani instantly cover her mouth. “Chip, go away! You’ll get sick!”
“It’s okay, I’m fine. I came bearing gifts because Tony needed to do some things.” He said and sat down next to her opening up his bag. She flopped back in bed,
“I would just like to say that I warned you.”
“I know, but how could I eat all this Lucca homemade chicken noodle soup by myself?” He said and she just stared at him,
“I’m going to hurt you if you’re joking.” JC held up the plastic container,
“Your mom made some yesterday and shipped it frozen over night. I just heated it up.” He pulled off the lid and the steam came rising out.
“I think I just fell in love with you.”
“All this time all I needed was some soup.” He laughed as he got up and fixed each one of them a bowl. Dani dug through his bag,
“If you brought me some Robatussin, I’ll marry you.”
“Front pocket.” He said laughing again, “There’s also cough drops, tissues, sunny D and a couple of movies in there.” He put her bowl by the bed on the table and went to get his own.
“Chip you can have my first born for all of this.” She said pulling everything out,
“Can I hold you to that?” He said and Dani laughed as she found a piece of paper and pen from his bag.
“I, Danielle Marie Lucca, here by bequeath my first born child to Joshua Scott Chasez.” She said aloud as she wrote and signed the paper before shoving it into his backpack.
“That’s gonna be something to explain when I show up on your doorstep expecting your baby.”
“I’ll deal.” She mumbled as she slowly ate her soup. “This is so good, mmm.”
“Glad you’re happy.” He said sitting down on the bed with her,
“Happy doesn’t even begin to describe it Chip.”
“So, you wanna watch a movie?”
“I don’t want you staying and getting sick.”
“Tony had the morning shift, I’m just taking the evening shift. You were helping me from getting sick the least I can do is help you get better.”
“All I did was get you a nap.”
“But you don’t understand how grateful I was for that nap.”
“Not enough to get this cold.” She protested,
“Please, I’ve had my flu shot. I’m good.” He said getting up and putting a movie in.
“You had a shot? When you didn’t need too?” Dani wiped away a fake tear, “My little boy is all grown up.” She joked and JC rolled his eyes,
“They made us have them so that we wouldn’t get sick on tour. Preventative crap and all that.” He said and flopped back down on the bed with her
“Whew, you had me worried there for a moment.” She teased him and he groaned,
“For someone who’s supposedly so sick, you sure are coming out with them tonight.”
“That’s because I’ve been all alone lately and you’re really easy to make fun of.” She said playfully,
“I should have your first two kids for all this.” He muttered,
“You just want my kids because they’re gonna be just like me. You’re in love with me and just don’t want to admit it.” She teased,
“Yeah that’s it. Not like Tony paid me to be here.”
“He so didn’t, because that boy doesn’t have enough money to pay anyone to be here with me like this.”
“The scary thing about that statement is that it’s so true.” JC laughed,
“I know, so what movie are we watching?” Dani said snuggling under the covers after she had finished her soup.
“The Phantom.” JC mentioned and Dani looked at him,
“That’s my favorite movie, especially when I’m sick. How did you know that and where did you get it?”
“Off your bus and Tony told me. I never really saw it before, is it any good?”
“Well I like it, whether it’s a good movie or not is a totally different story.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Guess you’re gonna have to find out for yourself.” He looked at her,
“Well why do YOU like it?”
“Easy, Billy Zane in a tight spandex outfit that looks damn good on him.” She smiled and he chuckled,
“So I’m gonna guess that I’m not going to like it.”
“Catherine Zeta Jones is in it in a cat suit so you might find it interesting.”
“Catherine Zeta Jones? I’ll be just fine.”
“I thought so.” She smiled