Thanksgiving 1999
“You’re gonna burn the turkey!” Chris yelled
“No I’m not! Look!” Justin opened the oven for what seemed like the hundredth time double checking the turkey, “See? Golden brown, it was you that burned the turkey last year,” Justin told Chris with a wide grin on his face.

“Shut up!” Chris shoved Justin and the two started play fighting eachother in the kitchen.
Lance walked in the room, carrying a bowl of fresh mashed potatoes, he groaned and said: “What are you guys fighting about now?! Ya’ll shouldn’t be fighting, it’s the holidays…”

Chris and Justin stopped bickering with eachother, but Lance continued the conversation: “Listen, I need you to go outside and drop these off over at the homeless shelter, Lance handed them a huge bag of blankets, pillows, and other toiletries, also, take these pies as well,” He opened the fridge and gave them two pies.

“I can’t go though, I gotta finish here, Chris can go with JC or something.” Justin added

“I heard my name!” JC called out from the dining room and walked into the kitchen “what did you say you wanted me to do where to go??”

“To the homeless shelter, and bring all of this.” Lance told him.

“Alright, who’s coming with me?”

“I am.” Chris said.

“I’ll just grab my jacket and we’ll be heading out..”

JC’s car
JC noticed that Chris was silent, which was rare for Chris, cause he’s always have some sort of snarky comment or a comeback at someone.

“What’s wrong Chris??” JC asked, while driving and keeping his eyes on the road.

‘Justin annoys the crap out of me, it’s like, he has to do everything, he wants to be bigger than me or something, we always crash and fight for the stupidest things, I mean, I know he’s the youngest, but I’m the oldest.

“You just gotta give Justin time to grow, and figure out himself…”

“Yeah I guess..” Chris sighed, he looked out of the window, it was a cold night, minor snow flurries could be seen falling from the sky, he then saw something that caught is eye, a young pre-teen girl, with a fuzzy hat on her head, light brown curls falling down her shoulders, raggedy type clothes, she was hiding from something or from someone.

“Hey, hold on Jace..” Chris whispered to him.

“What is it??” JC told him, slowing down.

“There’s a girl there, sitting on the stoop, I think she’s alone..”

JC slowed down and parked to the side of the road. “Where is she?”

“Right there” Chris motioned to where the flickering street lamp was an the old red brick house where the girl was sitting.

“She looks lost, do you think she’s lost?” JC asked, looking around the dimly lit area, there was no one around cause everyone was with their families, but not this girl, she was alone…

“Let’s go talk to her..” Chris said, opening the door of the car, but JC pulled him back in, “Chris wait, what if she runs away or something.”

“But we can’t just leave her there!” Chris told him.

JC sighed, and beeped the horn to see if the girl would look up, she had her head buried on her knees, she looked up towards the sound.

“Hey!” JC shouted!

“You shouldn’t out here in the cold! Come on!” Chris stepped out of the car slowly but steady.

The girl was confused but didn’t say anything.

“Are you lost?” Chris told her.

“We won’t hurt you.” JC put the emergency signals on in his car and stepped out to join Chris.

She was about to speak but started coughing.

“Look you can’t be out here, you’ll catch pneumonia.” Chris gently went over to her, and grabbed her hand, she had broken gloves, dirt on her face, and the prettiest green eyes that had a tragic backstory.

“Come on, it’s okay, you can trust us..” JC added.

The young girl slowly got up, took JCs hand, and followed them to the car.

“Thank you.” She said in a tiny voice.

“No problem..” Chris added

“I’m Grace by the way, Grace Connelly” She introduced herself

“I’m Chris, and this is JC..” They both looked at her to see if their names rang any bells to her, but her expression remained unchanged

Minutes later and during the car ride, JC spoke up and said: “We’re on our way to the homeless shelter maybe we can get some info about you or something?”

“No! Don’t!” She shrieked.

Chris looked at her startled, “Why? What’s wrong??”

“There’s a bunch of creeps there and I always get treated like a nobody, it’s packed, and you gotta share with everyone, and it’s not right for me, just drop whatever you need to drop there and I’ll wait outside…”

Chris and JC exchanged glances but said nothing, when they arrived at the shelter, Chris told JC to wait in the car with her while he went inside.

“I’ll be right back..”

Once inside, Grace wasn’t kidding, the place was packed of people, and Chris wondered if these people were really homeless or if they just wanted to have free food, and free everything, this brought back painful memories to Chris back when he was a child, growing up in a low income family with his four sisters and his mom, it was difficult, and he didn’t want Grace to go through that either, she seemed like such a nice young girl.

Chris approached the older woman at the front desk, who went by the name of Joyce.

“Excuse me.”

Joyce looked up from her desk, a stack of papers in front of her: “Yes?”

Chris gave her the bag of food and other belongings and placed it on the counter, Joyce looked in the bag, “Oh thank you! Just sign here and you’ll be on your way.”

Chris signed his name on the sheet, and then asked her a question, “Also…” He started, “Are you familiar with the name Grace Connelly??”

“Grace, Grace, she looked in front of the papers and started searching, “Yeah, here you go.” She handed him the sheet.

“Thank you.”

“She’s been here since she was 11, I think she is still around, she has a rebellious streak so runs off whenever she feels like it, we tried to help those that need the help, but sometimes she doesn’t cooperate, she has no parents, they died when she was 4, so she has been going from homeless shelter to homeless shelter, she was even put up for adoption once, no luck.”

Chris looked at Joyce in shock, when he found his voice, he thanked her again, took the form, and wished her a Happy Thanksgiving.

“So I found some stuff.” Chris said, as he got inside the car, he handed JC the info that he found on Grace, JC read it over and he too was in shock.

He looked over at Grace who was sitting behind them in the backseat, “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

“Now you know.” She told them quietly and looked down at her jacket, started playing with a thread.

“Tell you what, you’re coming to my house for Thanksgiving.” Chris said looking at JC

JC was thinking then he agreed with him: “Yeah, you know that’s a great idea!”

“There is no way you are staying alone on Thanksgiving all by yourself.” Chris continued, besides, I’m sure the other guys won’t mind…”

Grace looked at them confused, but agreed with what they were saying

Meanwhile back at Chris’s house.

“Oh crap!” Joey was playing video games in the living room while Justin was still in the kitchen, Lance was sitting on the sofa reading the next set list which was scheduled in January.

“We gotta enjoy this vacation while we got it, we are going to be so booked for the year 2000.” Lance said, glancing over at Joey

“Yeah Y2K” Joey joked.

“Nothing’s gonna happen Joe, it’s just a conspiracy where people assume that something bad is gonna happen.”

“True, but we gotta prepare for anything Lance, and I mean anything…”

They both heard a car pull up in the driveway.

“That must be Chris and JC..” Lance said, getting up from the sofa, Joey then turned off his video game and followed Lance to the kitchen.

“Hey guys!” Chris said, getting into the house.
Justin looked startled when he noticed a young girl behind JC.

“Who’s she?” Justin said.

“This is Grace, and she’s gonna be staying with us for a while..”

“Staying?” Justin continued.

“Before you say anything, read this first..” JC told Justin, handing him the form, with Lance and Joey close to him, they read the form silently to themselves, and a look of sadness swept over their faces.

“This is so sad.” Lance whispered.

“I want her to stay with us, I have a bunch of my old sister’s clothes still, so gotta make a few calls later, she can hang out with us on tour, and plus we have a lot of support from my mom, your mom Justin, plus Melinda and Johnny, we’ll be good…” Chris added.

“You mean, she doesn’t know about us.” Justin said, motioning to the five of them.

“Not really.” JC told the three guys quietly.

“It’s a great idea though, I approve!” Joey shouted excitedly

Justin and Lance also nodded in unison.

“Besides, it’s Thanksgiving, this is the best thanks we can ever have, for all of us.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t have a family, and it’s sorta heartbreaking, especially now during the holidays.” Justin whispered to them.
Grace was sitting on the kitchen chair, she could hear the guys whispering about her, she felt calm, more calm, for the first time in her life she felt safe for once, the atmosphere in the room felt warm and inviting, something that she has been missing, she saw that one of the guys, a big guy with red hair and a goatee, a bright smile on his face.

“Grace?”

“Hm?”

“Didn’t properly introduce myself earlier, but I’m Joey, Joey Fatone, and you already met Chris and JC, but these two right here are Lance and Justin Timberlake..”

She gave handshakes to all of them.

“You know,” Joey continued, “We read about what you have been through, and it is very sad, but we want to make your life better.”

“How?” Grace told them.

“Well you see,” Justin spoke up, “We sing and dance for a living.”

“Like, sing songs and stuff, we travel everywhere and sing to our fans.” Chris continued.

“Yeah, we are a band.” Lance told her.

“Do you play instruments too?” Grace asked, her eyes lighted up when she said this.

“We can actually, but all the time.” JC said.

“So the five of you sing?” Grace continued.
They all nodded yes in unison.

“What’s the band’s name?’ She asked.

“We’re *NSYNC, because when we sing, our voices blend like no other group out there.” Chris said proudly.

“Yeah, we harmonize very well.” Justin told her.

“Can you sing a song for me?” She asked quietly.

“Sure!” JC told her.

“Do you think we should do the acapella version of “This I Promise You?” Lance whispered to them.

“Yes, that’s a good one.” Justin said.

The five of them talked excitedly amongst themselves and decided to sing the short version of “This I Promise You.”

When the visions around you
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surrounds you
Are secrets and lies
I'll be your strength
I'll give you hope
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call
Was standing there all along
And I will take you in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Til' the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
When Grace listened to this, a wave of emotions swept through her, and a burst of tears fell down her face, it was the most beautiful piece of music that she has ever heard.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry, it was just so beautiful, you guys are great!” She wiped the tears furiously off her face.

Joey wrapped her in a tight hug, “Aww, she’s so sweet!”

“Thank you for that, it really means a lot!” Grace said.

“We got plenty more songs that are a work in progress,”

“Can’t wait to hear them!” She beamed.

“We also have another surprise for you.” JC continued.

“We want you to live with us.” Chris told her.

“Like adopt me?” She asked them

“Exactly.” Chris continued.

Grace started crying again, and this time, all five guys wrapped their arms around her.

“You never have to go through pain ever again okay?” JC told her quietly, trying to hold back tears.

“You’ll be safe with us, we got security and plenty of food, and our mothers can take care of you, plus I got four other sisters, for you know, “girl things” Chris explained.

“I don’t know what else to say, thank you! Thank you so much!” Grace cried

“Happy Thanksgiving Grace.” They all said.

Grace never knew how lucky she was, one minute she was on freezing cold outside alone, the next minute she was gonna live with the nicest people on the planet, and it wasn’t just any people, it was the members of *NSYNC, she wanted to know more about them, and she was looking forward to a very bright future, away from the tragic dark past, that she has once endured.