Just as she was ready to tell JC whatever he wanted to hear so that he would let her go, his stomach growled loudly.  Immediately JC put a hand over his stomach and smiled in embarrassment, his face instantly turning red.

Against her will, a small smile caused one side of her mouth to turn up before she could stop it.  Ducking her head, she let her hair fall so that he couldn’t see her face.  Kate jumped when JC placed a light hand on her shoulder. 

“How about we –”  JC broke off his words when Kate ducked away from him as if she were expecting to be hit.  She tried to cover her actions when she realized JC wasn’t going to hit her, but she crossed the room to the bathroom quickly and shut the door behind her, the lock was loud in the silence. 

“Careful, JC, this is more complicated than you thought.”  He whispered under his breath as he gazed toward where Kate disappeared. 

The words to the song ran through his mind. 

Crying, desperate, fighting
Questions scared to let go

We used to be so beautiful
But the days go by and
Things get better

I'm weary from the war
I'm losing half my soul
But the days go by and

Past the point of reasons
I just want you to believe
That it's not your fault

Cry your eyes to sleep
It's like a thousand rainy nights
Oh, drowning lows

Photographs, the close up, what we had
Come undone

Where did it all go wrong?
The days go by and
Things get better

**  Excerpt taken from JC Chasez’s Dear Goodbye

Now that he had met Kate, the words took on new meaning and when she flinched away from his touch, he found they had even greater meaning.  Was the war that she had written of abuse?  Abuse from her boyfriend?  Husband?  He hadn’t seen a ring on her finger so he would put the husband thought out of his mind right now.  A shudder ran through him at the thought of him basically kidnapping another man’s wife. 

So when the bathroom door opened, JC instantly wanted to clear the air.  “I need you to be honest with me.  Answer this one question for me and we can leave the rest alone for right now.”  Kate studied him, wary of his serious tone.  But slowly nodded her acceptance.  “Are you …are you married?”

Serious herself, she shook her head. 

“Engaged?”

Another shake.

Relieved he posed one final question.  “Is there someone you need or want to get in touch with?”

Still holding his gaze steady, she finally spoke.  “No, there’s no one.”

He considered her response for a moment.  Then slowly nodded.  “Then let’s get some breakfast.”

He didn’t miss the quick glance she made toward the door.  While he didn’t like keeping her against her will, he was willing to overlook that little detail until he got the answers he was looking for.  And just looking at the body language she was trying to conceal, he knew that she would take any opportunity to run from him again, but he had a plan now. 

From scoping out the room last night, he knew that Pete had left some zip ties on the dresser so without further ado, he took charge of the situation and tried to distract her from what he was doing and the sound of tightening a tie around his own wrist and beginning one for her. 

“So I’m thinking we will head down and grab some breakfast, we can bring it up here if you want to or eat down there, but after that we can run by your room and you can grab a change of clothes if you want to then I’ll want to shower real quick and then we can talk.”

When JC turned back around, one arm behind his back, Kate looked at him strangely and backed away from him as he approached.  But that didn’t stop JC.  He tried to pay no attention to the guilt that he felt, grabbing her wrist gently but firmly in his warm hand.  He quickly slipped a zip tie over her hand and then looped another one through hers then the one on his own wrist. 

This was done so quickly that Kate was simply stunned.  She lifted her own arm and JC’s followed suit.  Now the guilt was full blown on JC’s face and he bit his lip as he avoided her eyes and tugged the long sleeves of both their shirts down to hide the binding as best he could. 

Looking back up at Kate, he noticed that she had no words, only her mouth opening and closing in shock as she stared at JC.  “Let’s head down to breakfast, okay?”

Without waiting for a response, he laced his fingers through hers and once again adjusted the sleeves so the ties couldn’t be seen.  Satisfied, he tugged Kate along behind him and out the door. 

Hopefully, she would hold her tongue until they were alone again…