November 1999

Washington, DC

Lance Bass stepped out of the court room in a haze; a smile plastered to his ace. He could hear his band mates, his friends, his brothers milling around him talking excitedly, but it was like he was underwater. Everything sound muffled, but his body was so energized. They had won. They had actually won!

Lance let out a groan of pain when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him, pulling him into something warm. His arms were pinned to his sides and he was lifted into the air. All the air was pushed out of his lungs as he was squeezed in a tight hug.

“Too tight, Joe, too tight,” Lance groaned.

He gasped in a breath of air when he was dropped and he nearly collapsed to the ground as his knees buckled.  But, he caught himself and got to his feet, straightening his tie to turn around and see Chris Kirkpatrick staring at him, his eyes narrowed, arms crossed over his chest.

“You thought I was Joey?” Chris asked, his eyebrows shooting up in mock annoyance.

Lance rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t breathe, it was getting too dark,” he said, going along with the joke. “I saw the light, man, I’m sorry.”

Chris grinned, shaking his head before shoving his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, I just can’t believe this…this actually worked,” he said before shaking his head back and forth. “I don’t know…after a while, I was beginning to think we were crazy to do this. To go against Lou.”

“If it wasn’t for Lou, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Lance pointed out to him, his smile fading slightly

Loud Pearlman. “Papa Lou.” The “sixth member” of *NSYNC. He was the one that, with Chris, put them all together and created their platform. Their popularity, their success, their albums, their schedules, their vocal coaches and choreographers, everything was because of him. Regardless of how much money *NSYNC had made, he got more of it, leaving them with way less money then they imagined they’d received after all their hard work touring and promoting overseas and in the United States.

He didn’t see it that way.

Lance remembered the feeling of betrayal just the year before when he ripped up his check of how much money he was supposedly owed. He hadn’t regretted that moment; it was a clear slap in the face. He had worked so hard, even harder than the other boys sometimes on his dancing, and came so far just to have someone he trusted pull the rug out from underneath him, sending him in a free fall.

If it wasn’t  for JC backing him up, and his dad having connections with lawyers, he didn’t know what would happen with the band. But, they had God on their side. He couldn’t deny that he had something to do with it. He had prayed and prayed day and night for things to go his way even when he had doubts; even when he thought all hope was lost.

They were *NSYNC; brothers for life. No one else would understand what they had been through and what they were going through now. Lance knew that as long as they were with him and had his back, then he knew that they would be ok.

“I can’t believe it,” Justin Timberlake said quietly. Lance looked over at him and saw that he was sitting on a bench outside the courtroom, his head on his mom’s shoulder as she ran her fingers through his curly hair. “I can’t believe we won.”

“I can’t believe Lou did this to us in the first place,” JC Chasez said as he loosened the tie around his neck. He was staring at the ground, but as he looked up at each of the boys, a smile came to his face. “But, we won. We were all in sync with each other, like always, and it paid off.”

“What’s done is done, man,” Joey Fatone said, clapping JC on the shoulder with one hand before grasping his friends shoulders with both hands, shaking him. “Can’t wait to get back on the road and finish this tour. I’m so pumped now. I’ve got all this energy!” He clapped his hands together as if to emphasize his point.

Lance grinned. He knew what he meant and how he felt. Joey was his best friend. They just understood each other, balancing each other out. Joey loved girls and was a shameless flirt while Lance was more reserved and enjoyed taking his time to get to know people. Joey taught him how to have fun and Lance taught him how to reign it in.

“Totally!” Chris cheered. “Aint No Stoppin’ Us Now for sure.” He did an odd dance step, causing everyone to laugh.

Lance felt a hand on his back and turned his head to see his mom standing by him. She looked up at him with misty eyes and he instantly stepped into her arms to accept the hug she was offering. “Aww, mom,” he said as he hugged her back, resting his chin on top of her head. “Everything’s ok.”

“It’s ok now,” Diane replied with a shake of her head before taking a step back to look up at him. She lifted a hand and smoothed it over his hair. Lance made a face for a moment before smiling warmly at his mom. “I just can’t believe…Lynn and I had our concerns…thank the Lord. I’m so happy for you boys.”

“I love you, mom,” Lance said with a smile.

“I love you, too, sweetie” Diane replied, patting his arms before hiking her purse up her shoulder. “We have to go to lunch to celebrate. I’ll go talk to Lynn. “ She reached a hand up and cupped Lance’s cheek, rubbing her thumb back and forth over his cheek bone before making her way over to Justin’s mom, her heels clacking on the linoleum floor.

“I could really go for some good eats,” Chris said, his stomach growling. He rubbed it with both hands. “And I’m sure our fans are waiting to hear the verdict. Let’s go.”

Lance gave a nod and sucked in a deep breath of air before looking over at Joey, JC, and Justin, who was now getting to his feet. They all nodded back at him and he felt himself nod before following Chris out of the lobby of the building. And then he was outside and greeted with the sudden rise of shrieks and cheers from the fans below.

Lance’s smile widened as he looked at all of the waving signs; pink, green, blue, yellow, white, every color he could imagine, all with words of encouragement. Some girls were crying and some were bouncing up and down on the balls of their feet, trying to stay warm against the Washington DC cold. He could barely feel the crisp air himself, the response from all the fans and the fact that they all came out warmed him up.

And then he saw her in the crowd. He locked eyes with her and she stared back at him, giving a small nod of her head as she pushed her hands deep into the pockets of her black coat. Her shoulders came up to her ears for a moment and she let out a breath of air in a white puff.

“Annaleigh?” Lance asked quietly. He squinted into the crowd, trying to see past the sea of girls and signs moving and jumping, trying to get his and the guys’ attention. The splatter of freckles across the button nose and the cocky, yet endearing smile were unmistakable. She removed her gloved hands from her pocket and slowly clapped, her smile widening slightly. “Ace!” He took a step towards her, just as she turned and disappeared into the crown. “Anna!”

Lance felt a tug on his arm and looked to see a burly man was guiding him towards a string of cars, past the flashing cameras, and screaming girls, reaching for him and his friends, trying to touch them. Lance continued to crane his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the mystery girl.

“What’s up?” Joey asked, falling into step beside him. He grinned wiggling his eyebrows. “See a special girl in the crowd?”

“Something like that, yeah,” Lance replied with a nod. “But, she disappeared.”  Joey made a groaning sound. “Yeah.” He then shrugged, turning back to his friend. “You want to know the one thing I’m looking forward to, though? Going home for a little while and just relaxing.”

“I can’t wait to start our next album with Jive Records,” Joey replied. “Just think, everything’s going our way now. We have a great manager in Johnny, great fans, and a great record company that wants the best for us, thank God.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, tilting his head back to look up at the fluffy gray and white clouds, “thank God.” Thank you.

Ages: Annaleigh is 17, Justin is 17, Lance is 19, Joey is 20, JC is 21 and Chris is 26.