December 24th, 2000

Sparkle and Elvin were waiting for Justin, Lance, and Joey to wake up from their slumber; they had eventually fallen asleep at the cabin, they weren’t aware that they were being watched by the two elves that were in the room. Just then, Joey started to stir on the couch he was sleeping on, he yawned and rubbed his eyes and looked around the room.

“Oh man.” Joey grumbled, “What time is it?” He glanced at his watch and saw that it was about nine in the morning. He tapped Lance who was still asleep across from him, “hey Lance, wake up.” He stopped when he saw two figures in the kitchen area, he looked at them intently, it was a boy and a girl, and they were dressed in holiday colors, and they had Christmas hats with little bells on them.

“Hi Joey!” Sparkle said with a wave.

Joey just stared at them dumbfounded, “Uh..guys? Guys! Wake up!” He said a little louder this time.

Justin shot up from the other small sofa, “What Joey!”

“We have company.” Joey added.

Justin and Lance gave him a weird look and looked to the direction to where Joey was staring.

“Who are you?” Justin blurted.

“Elves, I’m Sparkle and this is Elvin, and we have so much to tell you, and I know that you probably don’t believe us, but you have to believe us, tonight is Christmas Eve and you have to come to the Christmas Eve party and hang out with us, that way you’ll be able to go home and take Chris and JC with you.” Sparkle explained.

Justin let out a gasp, “You know where Chris and JC are?”

“Of course we know, they have been here ever since, come on, we’ll tell you on the way.”

Without even thinking, Sparkle took Justin by the hand and Elvin motioned them to follow.

“Where we going?” Lance wondered.

“You’ll see.” Sparkle grinned.

Justin, Lance and Joey followed Sparkle and Elvin; this was all happening so fast, everything else felt like a blur to them. When they reached the wooden door, Sparkle gently twisted the knob and it revealed a beautiful ice room, right in the middle of the room stood a huge evergreen Christmas tree. It looked ten times bigger than the tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

“Wow.” Justin gasped.

Joey and Lance just looked at everything in amazement, everything was beautiful, the room had tons of toys and trains going around, this was like a dream.

“Chris and JC are in that room right there, we’ll be back with you shortly in time for the party.” Sparkle told them.

Were Chris and JC really behind this door? The guys wondered, it marked “Gym room.

“Maybe the guys were working out for our next album.” Joey joked.

Justin shrugged and pushed open the double doors to the gym room, inside the room was also made of ice, and everything was decorated with balloons, and there was a long table with a lot of plates and cups, a bowl of fruit sat right in the middle.

The guys gasped when they saw Chris and JC helping an older woman setting the table.

“Chris! JC!” They cried out loud.

They turned around and gaped in shock, Justin couldn’t hold back the tears and they all went running towards eachother.

“Is it really you?!” He gave JC a big hug and Joey and everyone else starting hugging and crying.

“Have you been here all this time?” I thought something bad happened to you guys, and we were all so scared, your parents are worried sick.” Justin, Lance, and Joey they all started talking all at once, they all thought time has stopped, they hugged eachother one more time, they even forgot about the older woman that was watching them, a huge smile on her face.

“Oh well this is just lovely, I love the bond that you all have.” She gushed

“Sorry Maggie, um Justin, Lance and Joey, this is Maggie, the party planner.” Chris introduced them to her and they all exchanged hugs.

“You have a lot of explaining to do you know.” Joey said, pointing an accusing finger at Chris and JC.

“We will tell you everything, believe me, this was hard to believe at first, but once you see this place, then you’ll know.” JC explained.

“Its Santa’s Workshop!” Chris blurted out loud.

“Santa Claus, as in the guy with the beard?” Lance joked.

“Dude, he’s real, everything here is real, I mean, we haven’t seen him yet, but we his sleigh and all the toys and its like surreal, its just wow.” Chris rambled.

“Yeah as kids grow older, the spirit of Christmas leaves out of them, some are lucky and continue to believe in it, others, not so much.” JC continued.

“So how did you guys get here?” Justin asked.

“On the day we went shopping at the mall, the snowstorm hit, and we kinda got lost on the way back to Joey’s house, and our rental car broke down, which was just up the road right there, we tried calling you guys but we never got a signal, it was kinda of frightening at first cause I knew that you all were worried sick about us, then we saw a light in the woods, we followed the light and it led us here, we decided to stay for the night and wait until morning, but Sparkle and Elvin found us and brought us to this magical place.” JC explained.

“And our car is being fixed.” Chris added.

“So that’s what happened to you guys.” Lance told them.

“Yep, and we tried calling a gazillion times but there’s no phone service out here.” Chris responded.

Joey nodded and his stomach growled loudly, “Sorry guys, we haven’t had breakfast yet.”

“Well come on, follow me, let me take you to Laurie, she’s the one that does the cooking around here, you’ll love her.” JC added.

All five guys talked amongst themselves and were all arm in arm, they were indeed together again.

Christmas Eve party

Christmas music was playing in the background, all of the elves including, Sparkle, Elvin, Pepper and Toby were attending the party, Laurie and Maggie were also there, they were all at the gym sitting on the long table, each conversing excitedly, drinking hot cocoa, eating holiday cookies, and exchanging gifts, the members of *NSYNC were also enjoying the nice company, it was gonna be their last day at this magical place, and Justin, Lance, and Joey couldn’t believe that all of this actually existed.

“You guys will be able to go home tonight at midnight.” Sparkle said taking a sip of her cocoa.

“That is great to hear; you have such a wonderful friend to us, all of us, all of you.” JC told them.

“Yeah, this is like a fish out of water experience, never in my wildest dreams would I think of this happening.” Justin chuckled.

Sparkle smiled, “I just want a favor from you guys, if that’s okay.”

All the guys looked up from their plates and waited for her response.

“I want you to sing, Together Again.”

The guys just looked at her and then at eachother.

“We haven’t sung that song in three years.” Joey told her

“But, let’s see if we remember it.” Justin added.

Sparkle grinned and pointed to the small stage that was across from them, so they’ll be able to sing there, all five members rose up from their seat and headed to the small stage, which was decorated with stockings and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling.

Chris spoke into the microphone that was standing in front of him, “Ahem, ladies and germs, hi.”

Everyone in the room turned their attention towards the stage, voices turned into whispers.

“I hope you are all having a good time!” Chris continued, “Sparkle has informed us, that she wants us to perform a holiday song, and its called Together Again, honestly, we haven’t sang that song in maybe about three or four years, and so, as a gift for her, and for all of you in this room, we are gonna try our best in singing this, I hope you all like it.”

The members all huddled together and made a mental note to themselves.

“You guys ready?” Chris said.

They all nodded yes and went to their designated microphone stands, and they started to sing a rough acapella version.

How can I say that I love you
When you're so far away
So tell me why you had to go
Was it me, I need to know

What can I do to make you see
That I'm here, here for you
I really hope that you'll come home
So we can be together again

What can I do (what can I do)
To make you see (to make you see)
That I'm here (I'm here)
Here for you (I'm here for you)
I really hope (I really hope)
That you'll come home (that you'll come home)
So we can be (so we can be)
Together again (together again)

Ooh...together again
Ooh...together again

When they were finished, Laurie was wiping a tear from her eye, “That was so beautiful, I, you, you guys are amazing.” She then started applauding, and then everyone in the room started to give a loud applause, Sparkle and Elvin were giving out whistles and cheers, Pepper and Toby were throwing confetti , balloons starting floating around.

“You all have been wonderful crowd Merry Christmas Eve!” JC shouted into the microphone.

Just then, the large wooden doors from the gym room opened, and Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus  entered.

“I have just listened to the most beautiful sound in the world, and I know it had to come from you guys.” Mrs. Claus said.

This was actually the first time that the guys had actually seen Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus in all of the days they’ve been here.

“Thank you Mr. C and Mrs. C.” Lance added.

Chris started running towards them, “I am very honored to meet you, besides meeting the random guy at the mall who dresses like you.” He took his hand and shook it.

Santa laughed his trademark belly laugh, he was old and big, his cheeks were rosy, he was the real deal.

“I must be dreaming.” Justin added, pinching himself.

“No, you’re not.” Mrs. Claus replied cheerfully.

“You know, it’s almost time for me to go, you boys have to go home soon.” Santa told them.

The elves all rose up from their seats and started running around the room excitedly, and all headed to the room where Santa’s sleigh was, the guys followed them, when they arrived there the sleigh was set, the reindeers were tied to it, the giant red bag of toys was sitting in the back, everything was ready to go.

“Here’s your cocoa sir.” One of the youngest elves said, and handed him the warm mug of cocoa.

“Thank you.” He placed it inside the cup-holder, and he reached into his bag, and pulled out five boxes, neatly wrapped with ribbons and brightly colored paper.

“These are for you, Merry Christmas.” Santa smiled, handing them to all five members.

“No way.” Chris cried, grabbing the box.

“Way.” Joey chuckled.

“You take care of yourselves now okay?” Santa explained.

The guys all nodded excitedly and thanked him, they all watched him pull up, and the sleigh started to rise and float to the air, he waved goodbye to everyone in the room and blew a kiss to Mrs. Claus, who she returned the kiss back, and he headed into the nightsky.

“This is amazing.” Lance said, still looking up at the starry night sky.

Snapping away from his thoughts, Sparkle called out their names saying they had to go back home now. Elvin had brought their car out and they all headed inside.

“It feels great to be behind the wheel again.” JC said with a grin on his face.

Chris sat next to him, while Joey, Lance and Justin sat in the back, all of the elves were waving goodbye and thanking them, giving them hugs, it felt like a concert to them, only they weren’t being chased.

After giving their last goodbye to them, Sparkle handed JC the keys, she wiped a few tears from her eyes and whispered Merry Christmas and told the guys to continue to do what you all do best.” She whispered.

“We will.” Justin replied.

JC took the key and smiled, he put the key into the ignition, the car turned on and everything went white….