Chapter Thirty (end)

'Back in NYC. I feel like I was just here. But this time I dragged @JCChasez with me!''

'I'll be waking you up tomorrow and putting you to sleep. Make sure to catch me live on @thetodayshow and @LateNightJimmy. Set those DVRs!'

'I'll be giving you a sneak peek of my new video for See You Again on @thetodayshow directed by the talented ????. Don't miss it!'

'I'll be debuting a new song on @LateNightJimmy @JimmyFallon. It's a special song for me; one that I hold close to my heart. You don't want to miss it!!'

It was amazing to her to see the immediate response from her fans as they took her last four tweets and ran. Favorites and retweets came in by the dozens and her mentions exploded. There was no way to keep up with them.

"Do you like doing that?" JC asked as he came out of the bedroom of Lance's New York City apartment.

"Doing what?"

"Tagging me in a status and watch as I get buried with mentions," JC said as he took a seat on the couch next to Rachel. This was the first time he'd been in Lance's New York apartment. He liked it. It was nice. Rachel told him she used it whenever she was in New York. It was pointless to get a hotel or her own place when Lance had his own that was rarely used.

"It's fun," Rachel grinned at him. "Some of your fans are crazy. Do you see some of the things they write about you?"

JC nodded. "I'm afraid for what they don't tag me in considering some of the stuff I am tagged in."

"Maybe I should tell them to lay off my man," she gave him a wink.

He laughed shaking his head. "Don't. That will just cause a war you don't want to get involved with."

"If I've learned anything from being on Twitter, it's not to start any fights with faceless names; you'll never win. I like conversing with your sane fans. Followed a few of them a couple weeks ago."

"Following fans? That could be messy."

"I don't follow them on a whim. There's a lot that goes into it before I hit follow. The ones that I have followed I've talked to a lot before. And they are genuine JC fans who appreciate your talents and not your body. Though I'm sure that's appreciated," she grinned at him seeing a feint blush sweep across his face.

"Maybe I'll check them out," he told her. He was more than happy to talk with real fans, either his or NSYNC. It didn't matter. Sometimes he was a little turned off from the social media site when he saw his mentions over run with crazy messages that made him thankful the site wasn't born back in 2000. "Didn't you say Lance had someone staying here?"

"Yeah it was crazy," Rachel scrolled through her mentions to see what kind of reaction she stirred. So far it was all positive. There were a lot of questions and guesses about who directed the video and what she was planning on Jimmy Fallon. She wished she could answer them both, but she felt it would be better to just surprise everyone. "Lance hadn't used the apartment in awhile. He's always in California. Hardly makes it here anymore. He's been talking about selling it and when the real estate agent came to look at the place, found a guy living here unbeknownst to anyone. Lance had no clue." One of the JC fans she followed had responded, asking if she was going to post the interview and performances herself because being from Europe sometimes she was blocked from content.

'I'll make sure you'll be able to see it! I don't want you to miss out.'

"That is kind of creepy." JC watched as Rachel replied to another fan who was trying to get information.

"It is. But the police took care of the matter and there are new locks on the door and the alarm code is changed."

"So if Lance is selling what are you going to do? Get your own place?"

Rachel shook her head. "I'm not over here enough to justice buying my own place. Be a waste of money. I'll go back to slumming it in hotels."

JC laughed. "Slumming..." he shook his head, "you need to look that term up. Slumming is not staying at some swanky hotel with room service and concierges that will get you whatever you want, no matter the time, no matter how outrageous the request."

"Well you know me; quite the diva," she laid her head on his shoulder. She pressed the button on top of her phone, turning the screen to black. She placed it on the cushion beside her.

"Oh yeah," JC lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulders, pulling her closer into his side as they snuggled together in the quietness of Lance's apartment. "I can't remember the last time I was on late night TV."

"Nervous?" Rachel nudged his waist with her elbow.

JC chuckled. "I have never been nervous about being on TV or performing."

"Well I can tell you that I'm nervous."

"Why? Are you worried about So Small?" JC asked turning his head to look at her. "If you don't think it's ready, we don't have to perform it. It's only been two days working on it."

"No-no," she shook her head and wormed her arms around his waist. She brought her legs up onto the couch, tucking them beneath her. "We can't make it any better than it is now. That's why I'm nervous. Afraid I'll mess it up."

"That won't happen," JC hugged her to him and pressed a kiss into the top of her head. "And if anything does happen, which I know won't, I'll be right there next to you."

Rachel tightened her arms, giving JC a squeeze. "I like that. You next to me."

"I will always be next to you," he said softly and rest his head against hers. With his right hand, he reached down where her hands were clasped together at his waist and took her left hand in his. He threaded their fingers together. "Always. Even when I'm not there physically, I will still be there. Next to you, in your corner, supporting you no matter what you do or where you are."

"I love you," Rachel lifted her head from his shoulder and kissed him softly. She broke the hold he had on her hand and caressed his cheek. The skin was slightly rough against her palm with the beginnings of a beard.

"I love you," JC whispered pulling her closer to his side. She clasped her hands around him again and laid her head on his chest.

*~*

'Turn on those TVs! I am on after the commercial break! #BassToday'

"Our next guest is no stranger to this show," Al Roker stated when the show returned from break. "In fact she was just on last week talking about the miraculous return of her hearing after losing it in a car accident back in January. Today, she is going to be giving her first performance; singing her 17th number one hit, 'See You Again'; let's give it up for Rachel Bass."

The audience clapped as Rachel appeared and Al stepped out of the way. She smiled brightly and waved to the small gathering. The microphone was already set up for her and she stood in front as the music started. The nerves she was feeling disappeared as she started singing. She could see the audience mouthing the words as she sang and it was one of the best feelings in the world. Nothing was better for a singer than to have people singing their song back to them.

By the time the final notes faded away, Rachel was ready to continue singing. She was excited and pumped. She had missed this.

"You haven't missed a beat," Al said coming back onto the stage.

"I missed this," Rachel said, taking the microphone off the stand. "It's been such a long time since I was actually in front of people performing. I'm ready to give a concert right now."

Her words brought cheers from the crowd.

"I think they want you too," Al said with a laugh. "You just performed See You Again. As I said earlier, it's your 17th number one..."

"Incredible," Rachel said with a small head shake. "I never ever believed I'd have one number one single let alone seventeen. I have amazing fans. Everyone has just been so amazing and incredible. I came on the scene in 2005 and was just so overwhelmed by it all. I was never the one to be in the spotlight and there were times I just wanted to run and hide."

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say we're glad you didn't. See You Again is special to you."

"It is," Rachel nodded. "We actually were writing songs to be used in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I loved See You Again and honestly thought they'd end up picking that song. I said whatever we don't use I want it for my album. I'm so glad I was able to put this song on my album, it just fit. See You Again was the first one we had in the can. I have loved it for that long."

"Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of The Dawn Treader came out in 2010, I believe."

Rachel nodded again. "Yes. They ended up choosing another song, 'There's A Place For Us' which I wrote with Hillary Lindsey and David Hodges. We also wrote, 'See You Again' together."

"There was a time when it looked like there wasn't going to be a video for See You Again, tell us about that."

"My record label has been real supportive of me. They released See You Again as a single knowing there might not be a supporting music video. I felt bad because I know fans out there wait for the video to come out so they can see the visual behind the song. There are songs out there by other artists that I bounce around impatiently waiting for the video to come out because I want to see the story. So I know how the fans feel."

"The whole video sparked when I was on a run with Michael, Lance's boyfriend. I was out there running, dying, because I wasn't able to listen to music so I was just stuck with my own thoughts and sometimes that's a scary place," she said with a laugh. "I just wanted to do something to help promote this single. I wasn't able to go to radio stations and plug it. And this song meant so much to me, so I hated the thought of not being able to push it like I normal do."

"So the video idea was born?"

"More or less," Rachel nodded. "I knew what the song meant to me. I asked Michael what he thought of when he listened to the song and together we put together the storyboard behind the song."

"And just like that we have a video?" Al asked.

"Oh no," Rachel laughed. "There were a lot of bumps along the way. I wanted to film the video before I got my hearing back but after some circumstances it didn't work out. The idea was shelved and it wasn't until last week that it was brought up again. We got everything pulled together and shot the video this week." She smiled to the audience when they clapped.

"Which is good for us because you have brought us a clip of the video," Al was cut off by the audience clapping again. "Tell us about the video. You tweeted last night; 'I'll be giving you a sneak peek of my new video for See You Again directed by the talented...' are you going to tell us the director?"

"I am," Rachel grinned. "When the idea for the video first came to head, with the song being so special to me and everything that I was going through, I wanted the people close to me to be a part of it. Mostly for moral support because at the time, I was going to be doing this without my hearing and that was scary."

"Can I render a guess?" Al asked.

"Sure!"

"Was it Lance?"

Rachel grinned triumphantly and shook her head making a buzzer sound. "Nope. Close. But no." When she said those words, the audience cheered as they figured out who the director was.

"I figured I had a 50-50 shot at getting this right and I didn't want to pick the obvious choice of the man backstage." Al grinned. "So Rachel, the director of your video is..."

"JC Chasez." She paused, waiting for the clapping to die down. "And there goes his Twitter mentions. Poor guy won't be able to keep up with them today," she grinned devilishly.

"You heard it hear first," Al spoke. "JC Chasez directed Rachel Bass's See You Again music video. Tell us a bit about the video then we'll play the clip."

"I don't want to give it all away," Rachel started. "But JC directed the video and both Michael and Lance make an appearance. The song takes a positive spin on moving on into the next life. To me, it's not the end. There is a heaven. It's very sad to lose somebody here on Earth, but having that faith and knowing that you're going to see them again is such an amazing thing, such a comforting thing, such a happy thing."

"Alright then," Al turned to face the face. "Here is a clip of Rachel Bass's new video See You Again directed by JC Chasez."

*~*

"Are you with me?" JC asked in Rachel's ear. She was sitting between his legs, resting back against his chest. Their arms were tangled together across her middle. They sat on a blanket in Central Park in the middle of the afternoon, killing time. Lunch had already been finished and thrown away. Now it was just relaxing on a blanket.

"Of course I'm with you," Rachel murmured letting her head fall back to his shoulder. "Just enjoying the quiet. Thinking."

"About what?"

"Lots of things. You. Me. Us. Fallon..."

"I was on board with all those things until you added Fallon into the mix." He tightened his arms around her, nuzzling her neck.

"Well I wasn't thinking about Fallon in the same aspect as I was about you or us," Rachel giggled.

"What about us?"

"Just the fact that I love you. That I'm happy with you. How crazy it is that we've known each other forever but took us this long to wind up together...I have a confession."

"What's that?"

"I harbored a crush on you from the moment I first met you." Rachel could feel the blush cover her face. "You broke my heart when you started dating Bobbie."

"I had no idea..." JC spoke. He was shocked. He had no idea Lance's sister had a crush on him. She surely didn't show it when she was around. He wasn't sure what he would have done if he'd known. Now, looking back he'd like to say he would have pursued her but he wasn't sure. He never really looked at her in that light. She was Lance's sister. "I'm not sure I wouldn't have broken your heart back then."

"I had dreams you'd realize you were in love with me. It was very straight up romance novel. I don't think I was any better than the fans in the stands screaming your names."

"I'm not sure I'd lump you in with them; some of them were crazy. I was sure if we got pushed into them we'd never make it back out alive."

"I'm sure you'd make it out alive; scarred and naked I'm sure, but alive."

"And with therapy bills."

Rachel laughed and turned her head capturing his lips in a soft, quick kiss. "I'm sort of happy about the accident. It brought us together."

"Didn't I tell you before that we would have ended up together without the accident?" This moment was one of the memories JC wanted to box up and store away to make sure he would never forget. It was all so cliché. The weather was perfect, no clouds in the sky. People were walking by; a few guys were throwing a Frisbee back and forth. Somewhere nearby, someone was strumming a guitar, its chords being carried over the grounds.

"You did. But this expedited the process. If not for the accident I would have gone back on tour instead of hanging around LA. This would have been the last month on tour. Finishing out US then a week in Canada."

"It would have happened," JC said firmly. "Judging by how much I love you now in just the small amount of time we've been together...there's no way these feelings wouldn't have came up after your tour."

"I like to think that," Rachel crossed her arms over JC's on her stomach and leaned her temple against his chin. "I have like fifty dates that were cancelled. Looking into creating a short tour at the beginning of the year after the holidays. I just feel really bad for everyone who had tickets..."

"You know they understand," JC said softly. "Tours get cancelled like this sometimes. It's not your fault."

"I know...I just feel bad. They are working on dates and arenas. I'm not even sure if Hunter is available to open up again." She spoke of her opening act, Hunter Hayes.

"Then you'll get a new opening act. Don't stress over this, Baby. You have a team in place working out the rescheduling. Some cities might not make the cut because of issues and that will suck for the fans in that area but they are still gonna be your fans and when you go on tour for your next album, they'll be buying a ticket when you hit their city again."

A small smile grew on Rachel's lips. "Yeah; I just hate not being able to reschedule dates and they have to be cancelled. I'm sure it will work out. Until then, I get to spend all my time with you."

"Now that sounds like a good idea."

*~*

'Are you tuned into @LateNightJimmy?? I'm on in 5...4...3... you don't want to miss it!'

"So after calling and calling and calling, begging with me to perform on the show tonight, I finally said yes, just to get my next guest to stop nagging me," Jimmy Fallon grinned. "Getting her hearing back after losing in a January car accident in Los Angeles surely did the world a favor because she is one of the true talents in the music industry today. Fresh off her debut performance on The Today Show... guess I wasn't that great to score that performance. But I was good enough to score this performance. Here to perform a brand new song; so brand new you can't even find it on iTunes, YouTube or a backdoor sharing site... Rachel Bass!"

Rachel walked out from behind the partition waving and smiling to the crowd who was up on its feet and cheering. She took a seat on the lone stool and adjusted the microphone to her height. "Thank you," she smiled at the crowd. "I hope you don't mind being the test subjects of a new song. As Jimmy mentioned, this song is brand new as in I only fully heard it two days ago. My band hasn't even heard this song yet."

"This is sounding like it's going to be lovely," Jimmy spoke. He grinned at Rachel before turning his head away and blanched causing the audience to laugh.

"I promise you it's going to be the best you've ever heard," Rachel said and looked back at the crowd. "So if you don't mind, considering the fact that this song is so new and the music hasn't even been written if I invite a guest out to help me." She grinned as the audience clapped their approval. When a figure walked from backstage holding a guitar the audience stood up and cheered loudly as they recognized JC.

"Thank you," JC waved with his free hand as a stage hand brought out a stool and an extra microphone.

"Ready?" Rachel asks him with a smile and saw his nod. At her word the audience quieted down. "Before my accident - literally seconds before - I sent JC a text wanting to discuss something with him. Of course I didn't tell him what it was or else he wouldn't have a reason to return my text," she winked at him. "As you all know I had an accident and woke up in the hospital unable to hear. This man brought me flowers, a balloon, stuffed teddy bear, my favorite candy..." she smiled hearing the awes in the crowd. "Ulterior motive ladies."

"It was not," JC cut in with a smile.

"Well the bright idea that hit me right before I sent JC that text was that for my next album, I wanted to tap into JC's head and take advantage of underappreciated talents..."

"My head can be a scary place," he cut Rachel off. He could feel himself blushing as she talked about him; singing his praises.

"I know," Rachel grinned turning her head to look at him. "I also know what a talented individual you are. So I told him, that on my next album I wanted to do a little writing together. See if he could come up with some country songs to... blow everyone away."

"Wah wah," JC chuckled.

"After the accident I told him not to worry about. I wasn't looking toward singing any new songs. I wasn't even looking to singing any of my old songs. But he didn't listen and I'm glad he didn't. I was able to follow along with some of the writing process as he put this song together and even without hearing the melody he was working out on the piano, just by the words, I fell in love with it. I knew, when asked to perform, this was the song I wanted to do. I won't keep you waiting any longer. Written by JC Chasez, here is So Small."

JC waited for Rachel to look at him before he started the opening chords.

"Mmmm yeah yeah yeaaaaaah," Rachel started; holding onto the microphone with one hand even though it was on the stand. "What you got if you ain't got love, the kind that you just wanna give away," she sang with her eyes closed. "It's okay to open up, go ahead and let the light shine through I know it's hard on a rainy day. You wanna shut the world out and just be left alone but don't run out on your faith."

"Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand," JC sang with Rachel as she dipped into the chorus. He caught her looking at him and he smiled quickly. "And what you've been out there searching for forever is in your hands. And when you figure out that love is all that matters after all, it sure makes everything else..."

"Seem so smaaaall," Rachel sang by herself as JC dropped out. When they first started going over the song, JC hadn't meant to provide the backup vocals but from the minute she heard him singing with her she knew it was right. For the acoustic version, his vocals had to stay.

JC scanned the crowd to gather their reaction to the song and was in awe seeing them almost riveted staring at Rachel. Some swayed with the song while others bobbed their heads. The crowd cheered and clapped as she raised an octave and held notes longer than others. JC had to fight with himself to keep playing. He just wanted to sit back and listen; lose himself in the music. It hit him then that this was his song. Rachel was singing his song on late night TV. There were millions of people watching. This was what he wanted. To write music people would love and listen to over and over. He wanted them to connect with a song he'd written. With this song, he achieved it. There was no greater feeling than achieving a dream with the woman he loved.

As the song faded out the audience jumped to their feet clapping and cheering loudly. Rachel opened her eyes and smiled. Tears welled in her eyes seeing the reaction and she blinked rapidly keeping the tears at bay. 'Thank you,' she mouthed to the audience. 'Thank you.' She looked over as JC stood and she followed suit. They came together in front of their little setup and wrapped an arm around each other soaking in the reaction.

"Rachel Bass and JC Chasez everybody!" Jimmy yelled as he came to stand next to them. "If this is what we get every time they collaborate together; look out. Talents like these... A match made in music heaven. See you next week. Good night!"

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY A match made in music heaven indeed! The words spoken last year by Jimmy Fallon proved true in regards to Rachel Bass and JC Chasez. The two appeared on the late-night host's previous show 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' offering up a brand new song, written by Chasez. Bass sang an acoustic version of So Small backed by vocals from the ex-NSYNC member. The song blew up; surpassing eleven million views on YouTube within twenty four hours. Bass' record label took advantage of its popularity releasing the song on iTunes as a single. So Small quickly shot to number one on the Billboard Hot Country 100; where it stayed for twenty consecutive weeks. The song since has been cleaning up at award shows left and right; winning Single of the Year, Song of the Year, and Vocal Event of the Year at the American Country Music (ACMs) awards in April. The song gave Chasez his first Grammy Award winning Song of the Year. It also surprised everyone winning Record of the Year beating out top songs from Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus. At no surprise, Bass also won the Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. With nominations coming out last week for the Country Music Awards, it looks to be a clean sweep across the board for So Small. The Song was nominated for Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Musical Event of the Year.

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) The remaining *NSYNC bachelor is off the market ladies! That's right! JC Chasez and Rachel Bass have taken their relationship to the next level and are engaged. The country superstar took to her Twitter last night to announce the news. 'Sorry Ladies! All *NSYNC members are officially spoken for!' Attached to the tweet was a photo of Bass and Chasez. In the photo you could clearly see a ring on Rachel's finger. There must have been confusion because Bass tweeted later that JC had indeed popped the question. The two began dating in April of 2013 after a serious car accident that left Bass deaf. The engagement comes as we eagerly await the wedding of Lance Bass and fiancée Michael Turchin. (The Turchin-Bass wedding will be a made-for-TV special on E!) Does Lance's twin have any plans on following her brother on TV? "No way," Rachel told us with a laugh. "That is not us at all." We asked the couple about the quick engagement hoping to learn if we'll soon be seeing a baby bump. "I'm not pregnant!" Rachel told us with a laugh. Sorry Rachel, but we're still gonna be on bump watch! After busting our dreams of a Bassez baby, Rachel went on to say, "We are just that much in love with each other. There is no set time frame you have to date before you get engaged or be engaged before you get married. My head and heart is saying be with this man; I need him. I love him. Who am I to argue when my head and heart agree?" Chasez added, "There is no one else that I see myself with. I can't see how I can love her anymore than I already do." Trust us, our hearts were bursting as we listened to these two over the phone. "I love JC and I can't wait to start this chapter in our lives as husband and wife."