Chapter Three

Lance stood and stretched before walking to the window. He stared out over the LA skyline. The doctor had allowed him permission to stay with his sister regardless of hospital rules. It had been a crazy few hours. After talking with his parents, who were flying out immediately, he had sat down with Megan and helped the overwhelmed girl. Lisa, his own personal assistant came to help. A lot of phone calls had to be made and media to deal with. Lance let Rachel's publicist handle the media. He did, though, release a simple statement himself in hopes to pacify the media who were already after him for quotes and comments.

He rubbed a hand over his face, turning to look at his sister. The pain medication made her drowsy and she fell asleep not soon after he returned to her room. She still wasn't speaking. According to the doctor there was no medical explanation. Lance knew there had to be a reason but until Rachel enlightened them, they were left in the dark and guessing.

Since she was sleeping, he took the time to take in his sister's face. He couldn't believe the amount of swelling. His sister was almost unrecognizable. The bruising was an assorted array of blacks, blues and dark purples. There were still specks of dried blood. Lance wanted to wash them away but he didn't want to cause pain.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he reached in, pulling it out. Looking at the screen he was surprised to see JC's name. He and his former band mate were still friends after the break up of NSYNC but their talks were infrequent. He had texted JC that morning after the video of JC covering The Lumineers came to his attention. His friend had definitely nailed that song. A short conversation between them had followed.

'How's Rachel really?'

Lance sat back in the chair he vacated minutes ago. Slouching down, he replied. 'Sleeping right now. On lots of pain meds. The airbag did a number on her. I can barely recognize her.'

'Damn. Docs say she'll make a full recovery? No lasting effects?'

'Rib, lung, skull fracture will all heal. But they don't know about her hearing. Waiting for swelling to go down.'

'How's she handling that?'

'Good I guess. But it just happened. She's still in shock from accident. She won't let me leave the room. And she's not talking.'

'Not that surprising she wants you near. You're close. Sure the weasel didn't like that. And what do you mean she's not talking? About the accident?'

'Ben wasn't happy. Pissed. He definitely got on my nerves today. Not talking at all. She hasn't said one word. Docs don't know what is going on.'

'Shit.'

The reply from JC summed up his thoughts nicely. He did wonder why JC called Ben a weasel. Lance never had a problem with his sister's boyfriend from the moment he met him. They got along great. Today, though, was making him think. He didn't want to hold it against the man considering what had happened. Everyone was on edge and upset. He was certain he was seeing something that wasn't there. He stared at his phone contemplating a reply or letting the conversation go when it buzzed with another text from JC.

'I'm feeling really guilty right now because she had text me around the time of the accident. I hope that wasn't what caused it.'

Lance blinked in surprise as he read JC's text. He didn't know they were talking. He shouldn't have been surprised; Rachel and JC were close. He wasn't certain but he thought Rachel had a crush on JC during the band years. 'Then we both feel guilty because she was supposed to be on my show but was running behind.'

Movement from the bed caught Lance's eye. When he looked up he found Rachel staring at him. Smiling he sat up and backed out of his texts opening his notes. 'Hey. How are you feeling?'

Rachel took the phone, grimacing from the pain surrounding her chest tube. She blinked her eyes against the light from the phone. It was the only light in the dark room. 'Hurting. But don't call the nurse. She'll knock me out. I'm sorry for making you stay. You must be pretty bored.'

Lance shook his head. 'I'm okay. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I was at home anyway, worried about you. I'm keeping busy. Was just talking to JC.' He saw an emotion flicker through Rachel's green eyes but it was gone before he could decipher. 'He wanted to see how you were doing.'

'I sent him a text earlier' Rachel smiled as she typed. 'He killed the Lumineers song.'

The same emotion passed through his sister's eyes again. He took the phone and quickly tapped out a question. 'What's wrong Rachel? Don't tell me nothing.'

'I don't want to talk about it.'

Lance rolled his eyes at the response. 'Smart ass. Let me tell you this then, he's feeling really guilty because he thinks you got into the accident texting him.'

Rachel sucked in her breath horrified as she read Lance's words. She wondered how JC could even think that. She closed her eyes trying to think back to the accident. She didn't remember the whole thing. The accident was a complete blank in her head. A dull pounding started behind her right eye and she forced herself to relax. 'No!' She held the phone for Lance to see before taking it back. 'I don't... I don't remember. I remember being at the red light and listening to you. You were playing the JC clip.'

Lance watched his sister tap at his phone almost frantically. He could see she kept mistyping by how many times she pounded at the backspace button. The numbers on the monitor tracking her blood pressure, pulse and a couple other things started to rise. He took the phone from her hands and grasped her hand when she tried reaching for it. Placing the phone on the bed behind him, he stared at his sister, all the while holding her hand in his. It took a few minutes before he finally saw Rachel close her eyes and take a deep breath. Lance looked at the machine and noted that her blood pressure had fallen a couple points.

Taking the phone he read the message Rachel had been typing. 'He killed that song Lance! Hearing him sing again, it just hit me that I wanted to do a song with him on my next album. I sent him a text wanting to talk. Good thing I didn't ask him... kind of hard to sing now."

Lance frowned reading Rachel's words. It was true that JC did an amazing job on the cover. He had that conversation with him earlier. He had even asked when JC was planning on coming out with new music. But JC shot him down, saying, 'no one wants to hear my shit.' JC had been so wrong, judging by the twitter messages he got both to his handle and the radio show's account. While Rachel had been sleeping, he used Twitter to pass the time. Reading through messages about the show. Since the clip of JC singing had just broken today, there had been a lot of messages regarding JC. A lot of people asked when JC was going to release new music. He wished he could make JC see that despite the poor showing his solo album did, people still wanted to hear his music. JC had a voice that could outshine anyone singing in the industry today. If only he could see that. He looked up feeling Rachel touch his arm.

Rachel motioned for the phone in Lance's hand. 'I sent him a text and put my phone in the cup holder. I was at a red light. I remember putting the phone down, hearing JC then nothing. I don't remember the accident. Hearing JC is the last thing I remember.'

Lance breathed a sigh of relief reading Rachel's words. It took a lot off his shoulders knowing she hadn't run the red light in a hurry to make it to his house and he was sure JC would be relieved to know he hadn't inadvertently been at fault either. Fiddling with his phone, he copied Rachel's last message and pasted it in a text which he sent off to JC.

'Can you get my phone? I can still text and email. Don't give me that look.'

'You need to be resting and taking it easy. But I'll see if your phone was recovered from the accident. Anything else?'

Rachel shook her head. 'Thank you for being here.'

'No place else I'd be right now.' If he was sitting at home right now, he'd be going crazy. There would be no way he'd be able to sleep. He'd keep Michael awake and would end up calling the hospital every hour to check on Rachel.

'I feel less,' Rachel paused as she thought of the word she wanted to use. 'Alone. I can feel that you're here. That sounds creepy.'

'Not at all.' Lance typed back. 'Part of being twins. You can't hear me but you know that I'm here.'

'You're right. I know that you're here even if I can't hear you. I knew you were close earlier before you walked in here. I didn't know Ben was here and he scared me flying into the room.'

Once again Lance saw a flicker of emotion flash through Rachel's eyes. It was gone just as quickly but not before he was able to read it for what it was. Pain. The ringing endorsement he always gave Ben was slowly waning over the day. Something had happened that he didn't know about between his sister and her boyfriend and he wondered if it had anything to do with his earlier visitation.

'Well you don't have to worry. I'll stay the whole time you're in here.'

'Turkey might get lonely.'

'He'll understand.' He smiled thinking of Michael. Somewhere along the way, Michael had acquired the nickname Turkey. It stuck. 'If not, all three of us might be sharing that bed.'

'I was thinking today that I couldn't wait for the tour to be finished. I know I made some people mad at taking the next year off. But I just wanted to relax. Spend more than a couple weeks at a time at my house. I wanted to use that time to spend with you and Michael. You've been dating over three years and I still feel like we barely know each other. I hate that. I wanted to be on your show so often, listeners get tired of me. I wanted to write when inspiration hit instead of on a deadline.'

'He hasn't gotten your stamp of approval yet?' Lance teased. It was hard to carry on a conversation like this. Rachel had typed a lot of things he wanted to comment on.

Rachel smiled. 'He got my stamp a long time ago after seeing how happy you were...Are. Even if you are robbing the cradle.'

It was Lance's turn to smile as he read Rachel's words. He was happy; happier than he had been a long time. The fact Michael was seven years younger than he didn't matter to him. He was completely in love with Michael. Like he did with JC, he copied his sister's last line and pasted it into a text to send to his boyfriend along with his own message. He laughed when he saw Michael's reply and held it out for Rachel to read.

'What a relief! I was worried, figured that's why she was never visited.' Rachel shook her head slowly. The pain was getting worse now; her medication was definitely wearing off.

'I'll go get the nurse.' Lance showed his sister the text before he tracked down a nurse to let her know Rachel was in pain. After the nurse administered more pain medication it didn't take long for Rachel to succumb to sleep. He leaned back in his chair and settled in for the long night.

~*~

JC lounged on his couch, one hand tucked behind his head, the television remote resting on his stomach. His days usually surrounded Girl Radical, the pop group he was managing. He was working hard toward their debut. That day was getting closer and closer. He was excited and could wait for the girls to be out there for everyone to hear. They were going to be well received.

Today had been different. Sure he still was surrounded by the pop group working with them. But his day had been broken up between the Bass siblings. First it had been Lance texting him about the cover of 'Ho! Hey!' he had performed the previous night for a sorority at USC. He had done it as a favor for one of his interns and he had a good time. It felt good to get out there and sing.

That didn't mean he wanted to jump back in the studio and record a new album. He did the whole solo album thing before and that didn't work out so well for him, getting dropped before he was able to release his second album. The only reason the video of him singing had gained so much talk and attention was because he was a member of NSYNC. Anytime any one of them did something, people talked. In doing so, it brought up talks of an NSYNC reunion.

For ten years now he fielded those questions. He tried not to come right out and give a definite no because anything could happen. Of course that didn't mean it would and the likely hood of the group reuniting was slim. He wasn't sure how he felt about regrouping with the guys. Singing with them again would be great, he knew that. There were times when he'd find himself missing the way their voices blended together.

Each member, though, was happy and doing their own thing. JC didn't religiously follow each of the guys' life, but he tried to keep up with what his friends were doing. Justin, after taking time off from music to act and more recently get married, had just released a new single and was slated to perform at the Grammys next weekend. The single had quickly shot to the top of the charts as the most downloaded. Joey kept busy with Dancing With The Stars along with a web dancing show and a cooking show on TV. Not to mention he had a wife and two kids now.

He wasn't sure what all Chris had going on. Out of the five guys, Chris was the only one that didn't live in the Los Angeles area. Instead he chose to live back in Orlando. JC heard he was writing songs and producing for artists but he didn't know which ones. JC also heard that Chris had been engaged to his long-term girlfriend. JC had met Karly and liked the young woman. He was happy for his friend. Lance had his weekly radio show. JC had caught part of the show once. He liked it well enough and was happy Lance had found something he liked to do.

His morning started off with the text from Lance and in the late afternoon, he had received a text from the other Bass twin. He didn't find the irony in Rachel using the same wording Lance had in describing his cover. Rachel and Lance constantly spoke alike, thought alike. It was nothing new to him after spending many years with them both. Rachel had often toured with the group.

He wondered what Rachel wanted to discuss with him. When the text had come through, he had been surprised and his interest was definitely piqued. He had quickly replied, 'Hey! It has been a long time! What's up?' He couldn't remember clearly the last time he had talked to Rachel let alone seen her in person. He thought it might have been over the holidays and he wished her a Happy New Year but in person? He didn't know. The last time he'd seen Lance in person had been Halloween when they ended up at the same Hollywood party thrown by Matthew Morrison.

Rachel hadn't been present, not that JC was surprised. A party thrown by Matthew wasn't at in the top echelon for Ben Starr. JC made a face when he thought of Rachel's boyfriend. He hadn't liked the guy from the first moment they met. He hadn't been impressed. JC got the feeling was mutual. From what he's heard through the industry gossip he was a real loser. Had somehow gotten his claws sunk into not only Rachel but Rachel's money as well. It made him sad that Rachel had ended up with someone like Ben.

The cell phone on the table above his head vibrated, sliding across the top. With little movement as possible, JC reached over his head, searching the table with his hand until he found the phone. There were not only text messages but emails as well. Scrolling through the emails, he saw most wanted his comments on Rachel's accident and condition. He sighed and closed his mail out without replying.

His text messages were no different. Texts from people he considered acquaintances had text in hopes he'd have inside information to further their gossiping. He didn't reply to them either. A new text from Matthew caught his eye and he opened it.

'Wasn't Rachel in a serious accident today? Then why is her boyfriend partying it up tonight at Avalon?'

JC felt his anger grow as he read Matthew's text. 'Are you kidding me?'

'No man. He's drinking and having a good old time. Safe to say he's not going home alone tonight. Girls all over him. He's eating it up.'

Seeing that text message really caused his blood to boil. He wanted to go to Avalon and confront the bastard. One of the rumors going around had been Ben having plenty of women in the wings especially when he chose to stay back in California while Rachel was on tour. It caused him to wonder why Rachel hadn't done something already, like toss the bastard out on his head. He wondered if Rachel even knew. He hoped she wouldn't ignore something like this.

'Guess he wasn't all that cut up like Lance said when Rachel wanted Lance to stay with her over Ben. What a bastard.'

'So that's what he's doing....drowning his sorrows. She could do so much better than this turd. Someone like me.'

JC laughed, rolling his eyes. 'Renee would castrate you.' He mentioned Matthew's girlfriend of almost three years.

'True. Since I'm completely, 100% taken. Happily mind you. You should toss your cap into the ring.'

JC coughed when he sucked in his breath too quickly after reading Matthew's text. Date Rachel?

'Think about it Man. The blonde and the brunette. You both have amazing voices. Could make beautiful music together ;)'

'How much have you had to drink?' JC replied but the damage was done. His brain was already thinking about Rachel in the non-friend term. The whole time he had known Rachel, she had never moved out of the friend zone. He always considered her one of his close friends. During the group they talked a lot and hung out together. Rachel was the one he'd drag along places when one of the guys didn't want to go and he didn't want to go alone. When he first tried his hand at writing, he had sounded the songs off Rachel before trying them out in front of the guys. For some reason she was safer.

Then the group broke up and just like the other four guys, Rachel had drifted from him too. It was really no one's fault. He had been concentrating on his solo effort after the group and after that ended, she had sky rocketed to the top in country music. No one had been more surprised than he was when he heard her first single. He had sat frozen in his desk chair, staring at the video on his computer unable to comprehend. The video must have played a dozen times and each time he was in awe over how beautiful her voice was. From then he had been a fan. He had called Rachel with his compliments and shock; bought every CD and single she released. Each and every time she won an award, whether it was a CMA, ACM or Grammy, he would send his congratulations. When her last tour, Play On had been in Los Angeles, he had made sure his calendar was clear so he could attend. The concert blew him away. He could hardly believe the shy, quiet blonde who grew nervous and blushed when she was singled out was the same woman performing on the stage.

Had be been secretly harboring feelings for Rachel the entire time and just now realizing? He groaned out loud. 'You're a bastard.'

'LOL!'

"Bastard," JC muttered back out of Matthew's text window. He wasn't in the mood to talk to his friend anymore. He damned him for putting thoughts in his head. Back on his text screen he saw Lance's name in bold, signaling a new text. He anxiously tapped his name and tried to tell himself he was just worried about Rachel. His brain didn't believe him.

'I sent him a text and put my phone in the cup holder. I was at a red light. I remember putting the phone down, hearing JC then nothing. I don't remember the accident. Hearing JC is the last thing I remember'

After reading the text JC let his eyes drift shut in relief. She hadn't been texting him at the time of the accident. He couldn't describe what that did to him; how it made him feel. He was just completely and totally relieved. Ever since he caught wind of the accident and the time, he had been worried that he had someone been the blame. Sure she hadn't been replying to a message he sent. She had been the instigator, but he still felt some of the responsibility because she had been texting him.

Thinking of the text brought him full circle. What did Rachel want to discuss with him?