Chapter Twenty-Six

The alarm blared and JC shot awake. He sat up in bed in a state of confusion, blinking while the alarm sounded beside him. 'Why is my alarm going off? What time is it?' With a glance at the clock he groaned.

4 am.

'Who gets up this early?' He reached out and silenced the offending device and yawned.

"Is it time to get up already?"

JC started at the voice. Only when he looked down at his side did the confusion start to fade. Rachel lay next to him, her eyes still closed. 'Video,' he thought. 'Rachel's video shoot starts this morning.' He shook his head slightly, clearing the fuzzies that came with a late night, early morning. The wine from the night before didn't help matters any.

Grabbing his phone on the bedside table next to his alarm clock, he unplugged it and lay back down on the mattress. He smiled when Rachel moved closer, snuggling into him; her head resting on his chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Unlocking his phone, he ignored the messages waiting for him and pulled up the talk-to-text application. He had plenty of time to answer them. His time with Rachel this morning was limited.

"It is," JC spoke. Then he nudged Rachel so she'd open her eyes.

Rachel groaned at the brightness of the backlight on the phone. "Whose idea was it to stay up that late last night?"

JC grinned. "Yours. If you remember, I kept trying to nudge you to bed but you kept brushing me off."

"But I didn't want the night to end."

"We can always do it again tonight."

After the disastrous meeting yesterday, Rachel had shown up at JC's house angry and upset. She had unleashed all her pent up frustration on him. It was really unfair of her because after all, he didn't deserve her anger and loud words. JC understood. He'd been part of the music business longer than she had and knew all the frustrations that went along with it. More so than she did.

He had listened while she described the meeting with the record label in detail. He had kept quiet knowing she didn't want his opinion; she just wanted to vent. Only when all the anger had run out and disappointment set in, did he go to her and stop her angry pacing and draw her into his arms, offering his words.

Once she had calmed down, he had led her upstairs and drew a hot bath. There he was proud of himself for resisting her urgings to join her. He had left her to soak her tightened muscles while he tossed together an easy dinner. It had been a beautiful night so he'd set up dinner on the patio; complete with candles and wine.

There was no dressing for dinner. Each had donned lounge pants and t-shirts. Seated outside, they enjoyed quiet conversation that didn't have anything to do with the music business. After dinner was cleaned up and dishes done, they topped off their wine glasses and went back outside to curl up together on the lounger where conversation flowed - stopping only for a few make out sessions - well into the night.

"It's a date," Rachel said; a smile on her face as she thought about the previous night. "Though, I should probably make an appearance at Lance's. I mean, I do live there. It's just ever since the break-in..."

"Hey," JC sat up, causing the blanket to fall to his lap. He turned to look at Rachel. "You know Lance changed all his locks, actually locks his doors now and upgraded his security system."

"I know," her voice came out softly. "I went to open the door the other day, not expecting it to be locked and I ended up on my ass." She slapped his arm when she saw a smile break out on his face. "Not funny! It hurt!"

"I'm sorry, Baby," he leaned down kissing her. When he broke the kiss he ran his fingers down her cheek. "You do know you don't have to worry about Ben right?"

"I know..." Ben had been taken in for questioning about the break-in and destruction in Lance's house. It hadn't taken the police long in their questioning for him to confess. "He made bail though."

"Are you afraid he's going to come after you?" He cupped her chin, raising her head so he could look her in the eyes. "Rachel..."

"I know," she frowned. "It's kind of stupid isn't it?"

JC wrapped his arms around her and drew her to him. "It's not stupid."

Rachel took control of his phone so she could understand what he was saying. She leaned against his chest, letting him hold her. "I don't think he's stupid enough to do anything else. Of course I didn't think he'd do half of what he did. He has my lawyer and Lance's lawyer on his ass. I think it's more of the fact that he destroyed my things. It's not like I can go out and purchase them again. These were special to me. He destroyed special letters fans had written me. Destroyed photographs that I can't replace. Things I've had since I was a little girl I had to throw away. The vases you bought me, Michael's painting... Your Moon Man."

"I have five more of those you can choose from."

"That's not the point. You gave that to me. There's a story behind it..." she sighed. "I'm just being a girl."

"I like the fact that you're a girl," he squeezed her in his arms. "And I understand. There are a few things here that I'd be upset if they got ruined because there are no replacements for them. I'm sorry he did that to your things. I wish I could change that but I can't."

"Thank you," she lifted her head and met his lips. "I love you."

JC smiled and kissed her again. "I love you."

"I need to shower and get a move on. Megan will be here soon." With a lingering kiss, she slid from the bed and made her way to the bathroom.

JC sat in the same position even after he heard his shower turn on thinking about what Rachel had said. He wanted so badly to give her cherished treasures back to her. The painting Michael did wasn't fixable. It had to be trashed. The fan letters that Rachel held on to couldn't be replaced. Those were gone forever. He wasn't sure what all knick knacks she had in her room that she held on since childhood, nor was he sure of all the photographs she had displayed.

He was still thinking about the conversation after he kissed Rachel good bye at his front door and watched as she climbed into the passenger seat of Megan's car and drove away with a wave. He scratched his chest through the t-shirt he'd thrown on to walk Rachel out. When he shut the door, the idea came to him and he quickly unlocked his phone scrolling for the familiar number.

"I need your help."

"Is Rachel hurt?

"No but..."

"Are you hurt?"

JC rolled his eyes. "No, I need..."

"Then you better have a damn good reason for calling me at five in the morning, C," Lance's grumpy voice came through the phone.

"Yell at me later. I need yours and Michael's help for a surprise for Rachel," he explained quickly knowing the Lance was liable to fall back asleep on him and not remember the conversation at all. When he was finished, he waited silently for Lance to speak.

"You got it bad JC." Lance said amused.

JC grinned, rolling his eyes. "So you'll help?" He didn't bother to acknowledge Lance's statement. They both knew it was true.

"Yeah, we'll help."

Lance hung up in his ear, but it didn't hurt JC's feelings any. The sleepiness had faded and he was too excited to go back to sleep. Back upstairs he went into his closet and dug out a small box that Lance had given him a few weeks before. Armed with the box, he sat on his bed and fired off a couple of texts, enlisting others to help in his surprise for Rachel. Luckily for them - and him - they were on the East coast and already had their day started. When that was finished he opened up the box and stared at the contents of the broken Moon Man.

"How am I gonna fix you?"

*~*

"Cut!"

Rachel stopped moving and closed her mouth seeing Declan shake his head and turn away from the set. She blew out a breath and lowered her gaze to the floor. She wasn't sure how much usable footage they obtained for the music video. Judging by the amount of times Declan yelled cut and the look of annoyance on his face, she figured not much.

Looking at the extras cast for the music video, she read the looks on their faces. Some held annoyance and irritation at being stopped again. She could tell a lot were over the scene (and even the music video) already. The scene was taking too long. Everyone was tired. They had been shooting since six that morning and had been on set even longer. She was doing the best she could, but apparently it wasn't enough.

The video wasn't like she had imagined. She always pictured the video placing more emphasis on the meaning of the song rather than on her. In the video she and Michael dreamed up, she was walking through a room where white sheets hung from the ceiling like curtains, long enough to pile on the floor. They'd be moving gently in the breeze as she made her way through with the camera in front of her. Sometimes she'd be singing, other times just drifting along. She imagined herself in a white dress. With the proper lighting and right angels, it would give off sort of an angelic feel.

That had been the only part of the video, Declan - the director - had kept. He took the idea of her walking through sheets and ran with it. Instead of her drifting as if in thought, she was making her way through the curtains as if she were chasing ghosts. There was a man dressed as a Marine supposed to be her young husband tragically killed overseas. An older couple playing the part of her 'grandparents'. These ghosts were always just out of reach or gone before she got there. The concept was nice in its own but there was so much happening and with the broken communication barrier it was not working out as planned.

Megan walked up to her boss, handing Rachel's cell phone to her. "We're taking a break." She informed her. Her eyes followed the director across the room. "Between you and me, I hope you never work with him again."

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Rachel spoke after reading Megan's words. "I'm walking through these sheets searching. I don't know how I can look like I'm searching more than I already am."

"You're doing fine. I don't know what his problem is."

"Apparently I'm not doing fine." She sighed. She had to stop herself from rubbing her hands over her face. Make up wouldn't be pleased.

"He's being a jerk," Megan said frankly. "He hasn't stopped muttering and complaining the whole time."

"Then why is he even shooting the video?" Rachel asked. "He had to have known what he was getting... oh..."

"What?" Megan asked taking her eyes off Declan as he talked to his crew. She looked back at Rachel.

"He's cashing in," Rachel answered flatly. "He's jumping on the train of trying to make a buck off me. Everyone is going to be all over this video when it comes out because I can't hear and now I've made a music video. Deaf. People will be talking about it. They'll want to know who directed the video and they'll want to talk to him. People will make offers to him to direct their videos."

"Asshole," Megan muttered. She saw Declan motioning toward her and put a smile on her face. "I'll be right back."

Rachel watched Megan walk up to the group and Declan start talking. She used to love making music videos. The aspect of putting a visual story to a song fascinated her. But now... though she probably wasn't being fair. She still loved music videos. This was just putting a bad taste in her mouth. The video was nothing like she wanted it to be. The director was a hard ball. She wasn't sure if he was always like this or if it she was just special. "What's the verdict?"

"He's gonna work on the scenes you aren't in," Megan said after the short meeting was over.

"Of course he is," Rachel sighed. "So now I have how much time to sit here?"

"Not sure."

"Lovely."

"Go find a corner to hole up in and text JC," Megan told her boss. "You'll be much happier after you talk to him. It's been..." she paused to look at her watch. "It's been five-six hours since you've talked to him."

"I know how long it's been."

"You turn all mope-y when you don't talk to him for awhile."

Rachel frowned looking at Megan's smiling face. "This sounds like a bad Snickers commercial."

Megan laughed loudly, shaking her head. "Just call him and I'll find some lunch."

Rachel took her iPad and phone to a corner of the set where she would have some sort of privacy. She looked around but didn't spy anything she could sit on. If she wasn't in a white dress, she would have taken a seat on the floor no problems. Resigned to the fact she would have to stand, she pulled up JC's contact information and tapped Face Time. While it tried to connect she wondered what he was doing. It had been hard to drag herself out of his arms and warm bed that morning.

"Hey you," JC smiled when Rachel's picture came up on his screen.

"Hi," she smiled, the first real one all day, giving him a small wave of her fingers. "I wasn't interrupting was I?"

"No, I'm just hanging out at the house. Very boring," he scooted back on the couch from where he had been leaning over the coffee table searching through photos on the Internet for vases he wanted to replace the ones that Ben had destroyed. He still wasn't sure he wasn't going to get the same ones yet. Browsing never hurt and he might find something better. Lance was tasked with getting copies of the family photos. His task had been easy enough since he had the same photos. The only problem for him, was actually finding the photos. Michael started a new painting, using a photo from Rachel's Instagram account to make sure he copied it right.

He also enlisted the help of Melinda Bell and Kari Sellards, two of the ladies who worked for *NSYNC. They were in charge of tracking down and finding photos from the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. He thought about asking Joey's brother Steve. Steve was always recording everything they did. He had hundreds of hours of footage of them from the very beginning up until the final moments. He supposed if Melinda and Kari couldn't find the picture of he and Rachel, Steve would be his last hope. Searching the Internet hadn't turned up the photos he wanted. He had caught himself wishing something like Instagram or Twitter was around back then because he knew - without a doubt - that Rachel would have captured that moment and posted the photo.

Other than replacing the vases, JC also tasked himself with fixing the Moon Man. It wasn't broken too bad, and he wondered if there wasn't a way to just sort of glue it all back together. It wouldn't be in mint condition, but it would still be the same one he gave Rachel all those years before. If it was done right, you wouldn't be able to tell it had been broken unless you were inspecting it.

"I wish I was hanging out with you. I'd rather be anywhere but here. This is gonna be a long day."

"What's going on?" JC could see the lines on her face and frowned. "How's the shoot going?"

"We've been shooting for what? Five hours now or something like that and I don't think we've gotten anything."

"You're kidding me?" JC asked incredulously. "Nothing?"

Rachel shook her head. "Nothing that I've seen. Maybe they aren't showing me any of the playbacks," she shrugged. "It doesn't help that I don't like the idea for the video. Maybe they can tell."

"I still think it's a bunch of bull that they didn't use your idea."

"You know my feelings on that," she sighed. "There's just so much going on," she continued. "I'm supposed to do this. I'm supposed to do that. I don't like right there. I'm not singing the right part here. I just..." she could feel her eyes watering and she looked down hiding her face from view. She couldn't start crying now.

"Rachel..." JC started. His heart ached and there was nothing more he wanted at the moment than to take her into his arms and hold her; tell her everything would be alright.

"It's just so overwhelming," she lifted her head again. "I don't think I thought this through. There are so many people here; there's a lot of directions being yelled at and it gets confusing because I have to wait for Megan to show me what was being said. She has to stand out of the way so it's a lot of starting and stopping and I know everyone is getting tired. I feel like that slow runner that falls out of a group run making everyone in the group turn around to go pick them up. They are all tired as hell and want to get to the end and I'm making them do more work."

"It's not your fault," JC said adamantly. He had half a notion to drive to the video shoot. It sounded like no one was on Rachel's side. If she was feeling overwhelmed, he can't image how Megan was. Megan was only a personal assistant - a daunting task of it's own considering how popular and busy Rachel had been before the accident. She didn't have that managerial tenacity to make sure her client was being treated fair and right. "I told you yesterday given the right director he could work with anything. It doesn't sound like your guy is one to adjust. Who is it?" He didn't recognize the name Rachel told him. It wasn't a name he knew.

"I guess he's directed Taylor Swift," Rachel explained. "He's not... He..." She paused trying to think of what she wanted to say.

Megan reached out clasping Rachel's arm drawing her attention. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked following Megan. She was led to a chair set up in front of two cases stacked on top of each other creating a table.

"Your table Madam," Megan said with a grin.

"Thank you," Rachel gave a bow, giggling. She sat in the seat, a plate of food and a bottle of water already in front of her. Resting her left arm on the chest she was able to hold the iPad with that hand and eat with the other.

"If it's easier I can let you go so you can eat." JC offered.

"No no," Rachel shook her head, quickly swallowing her food. "Please don't. You're giving me my sanity back." The plea worked and she spent the rest of her break draining the battery on her iPad talking to JC

*~*

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Declan yelled. "For the love of... Are you stupid or something! You're supposed to be wondering through the sheets in search of your loved ones who have already passed on not going for a Sunday stroll! And the lyrics are 'I can here those echoes in the wind at night. Calling me back in time, back to you' You do know the song right? You have learned the lyrics. Unbelievable."

Rachel waited for Megan to step onto the set and show her the words. Her eyes widened and she glared at Declan. "I wrote the lyrics! And just what am I not doing!" She threw her arms wide.

"Here we go," Megan muttered. She'd been waiting for Rachel's anger to appear the whole day. She was proud of her boss for holding it together as long as she did.

"I have done everything you told me! I have smiled, smiled not so much, smiled a little more. I have looked this way and that way. I've looked coy. I've looked sad. I have done everything right and you still aren't happy! I'm supposed to walk through the curtains in a mysterious way. I'm searching for ghosts that aren't there..."

"This was your idea! I had to put this in here! I didn't have the option to can it!" Declan yelled. This day had been a complete waste of his time. He turned down a couple other big acts to shoot this video. Shooting Rachel Bass's video while she was deaf would catapult him to the top of the 'most sought after' list.

"This was not my idea! I don't need to be walking about searching for people who aren't there! The lyrics are I will see you again. This is not where it ends. I will carry you with me. I'm not searching around for ghosts! I know when I die I will see them again. Is this the reason for all the white? At the end of the video am I going to be the one dead?"

"This is why your video idea was canned," Declan told her. "You have no creative geniuses in you."

"Right," Rachel laughed. "Without my creative geniuses you wouldn't be here shooting a terrible video for this song."

"Shooting a video?" Declan laughed loudly. "Lady I haven't gotten one viable piece of tape I can use."

"Then I guess that's because you aren't this fantastic A-list director everyone boasted about," Rachel smarted and watched as Declan's eyes darkened in anger. "Because I know plenty of people who can take the footage you've shot here, slice, dice, lay the track over and have it win Video of the Year."

"Did that accident knock something loose in your head?" The anger rolled off Declan. "Need I remind you of what videos I've directed and with whom?"

Rachel stared at him after reading his words. "Am I supposed to be impressed? Is that supposed to impress me? I'm not some new star struck artist you can manipulate with stories about who you worked with and on what project. You're working with me now and you are the worst director I have ever had the pleasure of being around."

"Lady I don't know who you think you are," Declan started stepping closer to Rachel. "I can ruin you in this business," he threatened.

Reading his words, Rachel laughed. "Right," she drawled; a smirk on her face.

"Like I don't know how you made it in this business in the first place," Declan spat. "It was pretty easy seeing who your brother is. Your road was a cake walk with him paving the way."

Rachel rolled her eyes and turned away. She was not getting into the discussion of how Lance did not pave her way and introduce her to the right people in hopes of getting a record deal. Her record deal came by accident. She earned everything she received. The conversation was pointless. She was done; done with it, done with the video shoot.

"Hey; I'm not finished," Declan spoke. He reached out grabbing Rachel's arm stopping her exit.

Rachel glared at Declan meeting his gaze straight on. Her eyes dropped to his hand on her arm. "I have earned my way in this business. My brother did not open any doors for me. I got to where I am through hard work, dedication and having the right people around me who believed in me. I am not going to stand here and be disrespected like this any longer. Megan, let's go."

"G-go!" Declan sputtered. "We have a video to shoot!"

Rachel shook her head. "There is not going to be a video. I'm done. You had your one chance with this and you blew it."