3hrs later- 6:00PM

"You're joking right?" Natalie glared at the man in the hideous red and green Christmas sweater who kept mumbling into his headset. "What do you mean they're not here yet? Are you fucking insane?!"

"Well, no, I..." The bald headed man was obviously starting to feel intimidated. "All I do is confirm what artists are here and who is to perform at what time. Innosense cancelled so that means you, the next big act, are supposed to go on in ten minutes."

"B-B-B-But I talked to the girls today!" Natalie insisted, her heart rate increasing dramatically. The pounding in her chest resembled the sounds of race horses galloping down a trail- Fast and hard.

She pulled her hair back into a loose bun and paced around the room, her palms turning sweaty.

"I haven't gone through makeup and hair yet! You can't just shove me on stage with a microphone!"

"According to your contract, we technically can and you're already in costume. One act cancelled, so the following act is next in line. The band's been informed and they're already on stage. Run a brush through those waves and meet me on stage left in four minutes. Got that?"

"Wha-" Before she could question the plans once more, the man had already left the dressing room.

"This is not happening to me," she shook her head, looking at herself in the mirror. "This can't be happening to me. Why... How... Wha..."

She started to feel her throat close up and the room started spinning. She didn't like spur of the moment performances. It made her weak. She was hoping that Innosense would warm up the crowd before she even went on but she rarely ever did completely solo performances. It always helped to share a stage and now, the only thing that she was going to be sharing the stage with was the puddle of throw up she knew would come to be if she went out there early.

A vibration from the vanity mirror table against the cream wall caught her attention and snapped her out of the trance of dizziness.

Natalie snapped the phone open, eager to hear a voice that would hopefully calm her down.

"Jace!" she exclaimed into the phone. Her breathing started getting harder when she heard a knock on the door.

"Nat, baby, what's wrong?" JC asked, concerned by her tone of voice. "I called to wish you good luck before you went into your ‘zone.'"

"Nikki cancelled on me!" she cried out into the phone. "JC, they want me to perform now! I-I-I-I wasn't supposed to do this now! I always have a plan a-a-and now I feel like everything's being screwed up! I feel like I can't remember the choreography and I can't remember the lyrics to any of the songs I'm supposed to perform tonight. God, WHY did Nikki cancel on meee?! I can't do this now! I... I'm too scared!"

"Calm down Nat, c'mon. You can do this. People are out there waiting to see you perform. You've been gearing up for this show for a long time! Now, it's time to make it happen."

"I look like shit!"

"I'm sure you look great babe."

"I sound like shit!"

"If you did your vocal exercises, then you're fine."

"Jaceee," she whined into the phone. "My first solo performance and I feel like I'm in a mess here. I... I need... God, I need someone to buy me some extra time out there! I'm not ready!"

"You are ready Natalie."

"I-It's Christmas Eve, r-right?" she stuttered, resuming her pacing. "People are with their families right now. The crowd shouldn't be too big."

"I talked to Riley before I called you," JC told her, recalling the name of Natalie's manager. "He said that Universal actually hired extra security to handle the crowd. It's gotta be bigger than they planned if they had to hire extra security."

"Jace..." Natalie sniffled. "I'm like.... Hyperventilating right now!"

"You're gonna be fine, baby!"

"There's no one to calm that crowd for me JC! I can't pull that off on my own."

"Then let your opening act take care of it Nat," JC whispered to her, kissing her neck.

Letting out a scream and almost dropping the cell, Natalie jumped away from the person standing behind her and her right hand flew to her chest.

"Jace?" she squinted her eyes as though to ensure she was actually seeing correctly.

JC had to laugh, stuffing the phone into his jacket pocket. "You're still talking into the phone, babe."

Natalie realized that she was and blushed, closing the phone and throwing it onto the couch beside her.

"Didn't I tell you to do those exercises for at least fifteen minutes? Your voice sounds like it's cracking a bit from that yelling and panicking."

Natalie giggled, meeting JC's teasing expression and ran up to him, letting him envelope her in his arms.

"Before you ask me why or how I'm here in the first place, can you please calm down?"

"I don't wanna go out there like this!" she said squeezing her arms that were wrapped around his neck.

"Natty," JC kissed the side of her head. "Can you listen to me for a sec?"

Natalie pulled away and looked at him. "Why are you here?"

JC's signature goofy smile that made his eyes get smaller broke out across his face. "I told Nikki to cancel."

Natalie's eyes bulged and her jaw fell open. She punched JC on the arm and screamed at him.

"Are you freakin' insane?! Why would you do that?!"

She punched him once more.

JC held on to his arm and backed away before she could let go another blow onto him. "Stop hitting me!"

"Uh oh," Chris chuckled. "Three years and you guys have finally fallen into the category of domestic violence."

"I didn't even do anything," JC muttered, walking over to stand where Chris was leaning against the door frame.

"You cancelled my opening act! On purpose!"

"We told him to do it," Justin said simply, popping his head in between JC and Chris. "It was our idea."

The frosted tipped, curly haired blonde smiled. "Hi Natty."

"Are you guys crazy?! I can't believe you did that!"

"She doesn't get it, does she?" Chris whispered to JC, all the while keeping his eyes focused on Natalie.

"I don't think so," JC chuckled.

"JC, I can't go out on stage feeling like this. I can't."

"I didn't say you had to, baby. We're-" JC motioned at Justin and Chris. "-We're your opening act."

"Wait..." Natalie frowned. "I don't understand."

"Lance and Joey are calling us," Justin said, staring down the corridor outside the door. "I think it's time for us to go on."

"Gimme two seconds with her," JC said to them before walking closer to Natalie. "I'll meet you guys on stage right."

Natalie waited for Justin and Chris to disappear before turning back to JC.

"That's why you're here? I thought you-"

"You know I wanted to spend Christmas with you this year and since you refused to come out to L.A., I came back to Orlando," JC beamed.

"You had to cancel a performance to get to me?" she squeaked.

"I wasn't gonna miss your first big performance. I know how important your career is to you now. I wasn't gonna not be a part of it. And I was talking to Nikki and the guys and they thought it was a good idea that we would fill in. Fans heard about it earlier today so I guess we attracted more people. I tried to keep the news away from you. Seems like I did a pretty good job," he smiled.

"What're you planning to sing?"

"We're starting with Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays first because it's Christmas Eve, and then This I Promise You and end it with Bye Bye Bye."

"And Innosense just let you take their spot?"

"I had to agree to take them on tour with *NSYNC this February for a week but they're fine with it."

"Well now it looks like you're just gonna steal the show," Natalie murmured. "Those fans love you guys like crazy."

JC smiled, tucking a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear and he kissed her forehead. "But they're gonna love my girl just as much as I do once you're done out there."

"You think so?"

"Just use these," he pulled out a small, white plastic bag from the pocket of his leather jacket and handed it to her.

"What's this?"

"Little packets of herbal tea. Add some honey, no milk. It'll soothe the pipes if you sip on it."

Natalie smiled, accepting the bag and she instantly felt the fears melt away slowly.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"I got your back, babe."

"Go do your thing," she encouraged him, nudging him closer to the door. "I gotta get ready now."

"I can't wait to see you out there in a half hour," he smiled.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Are you staying here after the show is over? Orlando I mean."

JC nodded. "We're going back to your hotel."

"You're spending the holiday with me?" her face lit up. "But I told you I had work to do tomorrow."

"I still got tonight."