Chapter Fourteen

"Did you have to grab the earliest thing that came up?" Rachel said as she quickly walked up the walk. Alison and Megan had been waiting in Lance's driveway when JC pulled in. It had taken them a little longer to get through traffic.

'I've been trying to each you all afternoon. If you would have replied you would have known the time we were flying out.' Alison typed. 'And we need to talk about that little display that just happened.'

Rachel rolled her eyes and she pushed opened the front door of Lance's house. His house was always unlocked; people were constantly in and out. At least that's what he told her but for the past few days there had been no visitors except for who was on the radio show. It made her feel bad and she hoped she wasn't scaring anyone away by living there.

'I'm serious Rachel. People are going to get wind of this and now Ben's allegations look to be true. Are they true?'

Rachel whirled on Alison. "You know they aren't true! How can you even ask that!" The scene Alison had witnessed was a hug and a small kiss before JC left. "Are you freaking kidding me right now Alison?'

'You know what this will do to your image? You won't forever be on this pedestal of a fallen star. Soon they'll start digging for something. And here you are handing them the one thing Ben's accused you of doing! You've given his story some weight now. Everyone is going to think that Ben punched JC because he caught you two together. You've played right in his hand!

"So what am I supposed to do Alison? Sit here in the house and do nothing?" Rachel yelled. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to! You're the one insisting I talk to everyone under the sun! What makes you think I'm going to tell the Today Show anything different? What makes you think my answers are different than what I've been tweeting. I still can't do my job. I can't hear the music to sing. And I don't know when that will change if ever.

"And then there is my favorite question! Do you miss it? What kind of question is that? No. No I don't miss it. I don't miss doing something I've been doing for years now. I'm perfectly happy sitting in California while the rest of my tour is cancelled. I mean this is the life isn't it? Who wouldn't want to be here? The sun, the sand, the celebrities. I got it made." She threw her arms out wide. "Who wouldn't want be me?"

'Stop throwing a tantrum. We got a plane to catch. I would like not to miss it.'

"You better have told them anything about my relationship with Ben is off limits. I really don't care to speak about him. He's just bitter that he can't live off my money. As for JC, well my relationship with him is not up for discussion either."

'You couldn't have waited to hook up with him? It's barely been two weeks since you broke it off with Ben. Now here you are with a new man. It looks fishy Rachel.'

"This is not a hook up!" She jumped when an arm curled around her shoulders turning her away from Alison before she could say more. Seeing the arm belonged to Michael she let herself be led away. Anger radiated from her as they walked down the hall to her bedroom. When they breached the threshold, she shrugged him off stalking to her closet. A black bag sat on the floor and she tossed it out the door into her room then set about finding what she would wear in New York.

Michael watched as the bag came out of closet with enough force to send it across the room. It landed on the dresser knocking into the flower arrangement. He made a gallant effort but he was seconds too slow. The pink rain boot vase teetered and fell off the dresser. It might have been okay falling to the carpeted floor but the bottom drawer had been left open. The vase hit the edge and broke, spilling water and flowers everywhere.

"Shit," Michael murmured staring down at the mess. Hearing a gasp he looked up seeing Rachel frozen looking at the mess.

"What happened?" She gasped falling to her knees in front of the dresser. Water soaked her knees. She reached for the vase. Her eyes watered holding the broken pieces in her hands.

Michael reached up and grabbed the dry erase board that had been sitting next to the vase. 'I tried to catch it. I'm sorry. The bag knocked it right off.'

"The bag..." Rachel looked up seeing the duffle back she had thrown resting on the top off the dresser.

Michael watched helplessly as Rachel burst into tears. He'd been happy when Rachel had text telling Lance she was going out with JC so they wouldn't be worried when they returned from the airport and she wasn't in the house. Rachel and JC had filled up much of the discussion on the way home. They went back and forth for awhile; Lance knew JC better than he did. By they time they got home, they were both in agreement. They were happy for whatever was going on between JC and Rachel and hoped they followed the feelings that were obviously there.

"Hey," Michael drew Rachel into his arms, holding her against his chest. He held her through her tears. When the cries faltered and finally dissolved into sniffling he pulled back. She didn't raise her head to look at him but stared at the broken pieces of the vase in her hands. Her blonde hair created a veil around her face. Using his hands, he tucked her hair behind her ears then raised her head to look at him. He brushed her tears away like he would a child. 'Okay?' He mouthed.

"I'm sorry," Rachel whispered staring into his brown eyes before looking down at the vase. "It's just a vase..."

'No it's not,' Michael wrote quickly. 'Come on Rachel. You know it's more than that.'

"I loved this damn vase," Rachel spoke fingering the pieces. Tears welled again. "I can't believe it; I'm crying over a vase. I didn't even cry when I lost my hearing."

'Maybe you're doing it now,' Michael wrote. He held her against his side. 'It's okay to cry, to yell and throw things. I know I would have.'

"Well I've done all three of those in the last five minutes. I don't understand," she looked at Michael. "Ben was the cheating bastard who is spreading lies. Everyone knows they are lies because everyone has seen him cheating on me. I've talked to JC more in the last two weeks than in the previous... Jesus. How long's it been since NSYNC broke up? And damnit who the hell cares if I just broke up with Ben and now I'm with JC. Is there some kind of waiting period I have to endure before I'm allowed even thinking about seeing someone else? Where the hell is that listed in the handbook? It's my life damnit. Let me tell you, Ben and I were finished months ago. It just took until now to actually end it. Now I have Alison telling me I'm not allowed because it might look bad for my image."

'Alison's an idiot. I know you don't hear it but there are people in your corner. They know what a jerk Ben is and have been at your defense. No one with half a brain believes anything Ben is saying. They know he's just upset he lost his free ride. Unfortunately he'll be famous for awhile for the fact that he dated you. It won't last long before his name will be off the invite list and he'll crawl back into the sewer.'

Rachel sighed and leaned against Michael. She tilted her head into his. "I don't want to go to New York and be on the Today Show in the morning. I don't want to endure an awkward interview. I don't want to talk about how much I miss singing and hearing music. I don't want to talk about the Grammy's and how sad I am that I can't perform the really awesome idea we came up with. I just want to stay here and try to work my head around what this all means."

Megan knocked softly on the door. When Michael looked at her she smiled apologetically. "Sorry. But we have a plane to catch; we really need to get a move on." At his nod, she left the room, giving them their privacy.

'I wish you could stay here. I was looking forward to addressing more envelopes for you. Even though the pay is terrible.''

Rachel laughed as she lifted her head. She wiped at the tears, sniffling. "I need to clean this up. The water probably got all over my clothes." She grabbed the pieces of the vase and moved to the bathroom where she placed them in the small trash bin. Looking at the broken pieces sadly she took a deep breath trying to ward off the tears that threatened. 'It's just a vase.' She told herself. She shook her head and turned from the room.

Michael reached out touching Rachel's hand stopping her from picking up the flowers. 'Pack. I'll clean the mess up. You have a plane to catch.' She sent him a small smile and started packing the clothes she'd need for the short day trip to New York City. He gathered the flowers up and looked around the room, spotting the pink bucket that had held JC's second delivery. He took them both into the bathroom where he filled the vase up with water and stuck the flowers in.

After he was finished he sat them back on the dresser where they had been displayed and started cleaning up the water with a towel from the bathroom. The open dresser drawer had caught some of the water and he pulled out the clothes that were wet, tossing them aside in a pile he would gather later to wash for her. When he was finished Rachel was opening the bathroom door. Gone were the sweats and long sleeve t-shirt she'd been wearing. In their place was a pair of jeans and a pink cable knit sweater.

Tossing a few more things in her bag, Rachel zipped it close. She looked at the dresser and smiled sadly. "Thanks Michael for cleaning it up. I know it's my fault and I should... thanks."

Michael pulled Rachel into a tight hug trying to give her as much comfort as he could. He gave her a smile when it ended and picked up the dry erase board. 'Let's go interrupt Lance before you leave.' He grabbed Rachel's bag from the floor and shouldered it as they walked from the room. Downstairs he handed the bag off to Alison and told her Rachel would be out in a couple minutes. He felt good seeing the haughty look on her face at the thought of carrying Rachel's bag before she turned around and went outside.

"Sometimes she can be a bitch," Rachel said as she opened the basement door. "But I love her."

'Women have funny relationships.' Michael showed her before they made their way down the steps.

~*~

"There you are," Lance said spotting Michael in the kitchen, hunched over the table. "I thought you'd be painting..."

"Something else was more important," Michael said as he tried to work the fractured pieces of Rachel's vase back together. After Rachel had left, he had tried to get back to his painting but his mind wasn't focused. He could still see the devastation in Rachel's eyes when she spotted the vase, broken on the floor. He'd gone into her room and crawled around on the floor searching for any small fragments and dug the vase from the trash in her room laying all the pieces out on the kitchen table. The real work proved to be fitting the pieces back together.

"What's that?" Lance asked and moved around so he could see what his boyfriend was doing. He sucked in a breath. "You're in trouble. Did you break that?"

"No," Michael said as he carefully put a strip of the glue he'd run to a craft store to buy on one of the pieces and carefully pressed it against its mate. While he held it in place he told Lance of the events that had transpired from the moment Rachel got home.

"Might be easier to buy a new one."

"That might end up being what I'll do. But seeing her face when she'd realized what she'd done...I probably would have done anything for her right then."

"I really wish she wasn't doing an interview tomorrow," Lance spoke as he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "She's been pretty strong since the accident. I've been waiting for her to have a meltdown; to get angry, cry, scream, shout."

"She certainly did some of that today," Michael said as he picked up the two pieces he had glued together earlier. It was the final part of the boot to go on. The rest were small pieces. He had a feeling those were the pieces that would be a pain.

"I wish this didn't happen last minute so I could have gone with her. Hate that she went alone. Do we even get the east coast NBC channel?"

"You gonna get up early and watch it?" Michael moved back as he glued the final piece in. So far it was holding. He wasn't sure if it would hold water or not but it was coming together nicely. He started in on the small pieces.

"We're getting up early and watching it," Lance corrected, grinning when Michael groaned. "I gotta watch; you know that."

"I know; we'll watch, text her, then go back to sleep." His eyes met Lance's and he smiled at him before turning his attention back to the vase. "What are we doing for the Grammys?"

"Well," Lance took a seat in one of the chairs surrounding their table. "Before the accident I thought we'd go to a couple parties. Now I have the hosting thing with E. And Lisa wants to hit Justin's concert. Why?"

"I was thinking that Rachel's not going to want to go anywhere. I don't think should be here by herself..."

"Are you dumping me for my sister?"

Michael laughed. "Just for one night."

"What were you planning?"

"Just staying back at the house and watching them together. If JC's free invite him over. Mainly just chill here and be with her so she's not alone. You said yourself you're waiting for her to break. Grammys are a big night and she was supposed to perform."

Lance was nodding halfway through Michael's statements. It did make sense. If it wasn't for the hosting spot on the After Grammy Party show on E, he'd probably be watching them from his couch. "Sounds like a good idea to me. Will probably have more fun than me."

Michael rolled his eyes and he glued the final piece in place. "Yeah right. Hitting up Grammy parties and don't forget the new Justin Timberlake concert." He was happy to be missing that. He had nothing against the singer, just didn't like the music on his new album. He lifted his hands away from the vase holding them in the air as he watched nervously.

"You expect it to crumble?" Lance teased.

"Breaking into a million pieces," Michael told him seriously.

"Well while that dries, let's go grab dinner somewhere." He grabbed his keys from the counter as they slipped into their shoes sitting by the front door. "So..."

"So..." Michael echoed as he climbed into the passenger seat of Lance's car.

"What did Rachel say about JC? What happened?"

Michael rolled his eyes as they pulled from the drive. In his mind this was the real reason Lance didn't want Rachel going to New York. With Rachel gone, he couldn't find out the gossip he wanted. "Well she really didn't say, but here's what I picked up on..."