"Jo?  I'm panicking," Lance's voice said.

"Hon calm down.  What' the matter?"

"A magazine just called me, they said they know that I'm gay and they're publishing it in two days whether I like it or not."

"Can they do that?"

"They just said they're going to so...I need your help."

"Okay.  Let's be calm about this.  Who knows?"

"You."

"That's it?!"

"And a few boys I've fooled around with.  Joey I couldn't do it."

"Well, babe," she sighed.  "It's time to put your big boy panties on and get it over with.  I'll handle how we tell the world.  It should be your story, not someone else's.  I'm Justin's co-manager, I might as well be yours too."

"Are you with him?  Should I call him?"

"Why don't we start with mom and dad?"

"Yeah...okay."

"You got this.  Call Justin last.  I'll talk to you after that."

She hung up the phone and excused herself to a break room.  She made a few phone calls on behalf on Lance and was able to convince People magazine that they needed to handle an important announcement from Lance Bass.  They agreed to have a photographer and reporter at Justin's home tomorrow.  She exhaled, and her phone beeped.  It was a text from Mollie: "Have you spoken to Lance today?"

She shot back a quick reply: "I already knew.  No problem for me, love him just the same.  Handling the business end of it, talk to you soon xo"

She rubbed her temples, a growing headache getting stronger.  She headed back to the studio and slipped in just as they were finishing up.

"Where've you been?" Justin asked.

"Bit of a crisis, had to do some firefighting."

"Should I be worried?" he asked as they headed for the door.

"Nope."

They headed home and as they pulled in the driveway and got out, Justin's cell phone rang.  He pulled it out a raised an eyebrow.

"Answer it," Johanna prompted. 

"Hey Lance, what's up?"

Johanna changed her clothes and waited for Justin in the kitchen.  She started cooking dinner and tried to avoid eavesdropping on their conversation.  When she heard footsteps, she turned to meet his eyes.

"That was an intense conversation.  Lance, uh, just told me he's gay."

"I know," Johanna admitted.  "He confessed not long after we first met.  He needed to get it off his chest and I was the least threatening person to know the information." 

"Keeping secrets?"

"Not my secret to tell." 

"If I'm being honest, I sort of always thought that."

"I'm already on damage control." 

"Yeah, he said they're writing the story over here tomorrow?"

"Yup."

They shared a nice dinner and before they knew it morning had come.  Johanna made coffee and downed two cups before getting dressed.  The people from the magazine started arriving and she ushered the photographer and stylists to the backyard and to the living room to set up in either spot.  The reporter waited in the dining room.  Lance arrived late, looking like he was going to throw up.  She hugged him when he came in and he cried into her shoulder.  She spotted Justin coming down the stairs at that moment and shooed him away.

"You're going to be fine.  Everyone you love already knows and still loves you.  This is just some random person."

"Thanks for this Jo, I don't know what would have happened if I didn't have you to take care of me." 

"You would've been just fine."

He went through the house and headed to the stylists. Justin came down the stairs, enveloping her in his arms from behind.  He placed three quick kisses on her temple.

"And that's why I love you," he said, walking past her towards the other room.

Johanna was momentarily stunned by his declaration of love but shook it off to help out.  She sat in on the interview, making sure Lance was comfortable at all times and that nothing invasive was asked.  After that they moved on to pictures, Lance notably lighter after getting his story off his chest.  She had them all cleared out by noon and as she shut the door, she felt a wave of relief.  She headed back into the family room and found Justin and Lance playing a video game, like nothing had changed.

"Good to see everything is back to normal," she said, plopping down on the couch.

"I'm sorry did something change here?" Justin asked. 

"I'm just a little gay," Lance stated.

"You were always a little gay."

They all laughed, letting go the pressure and tension of the morning.  The doorbell rang.

"Lance I think you should get that." 

"Aren't I a guest here?  Shouldn't one of you answer the door?"

"Lance, get the door!"

Lance huffed and got up to head to the foyer.  Johanna raised an eyebrow at Justin and he winked. 

"Oh my God! What are you doing here?"

Johanna jumped up and found Joey, his wife Kelly and their daughter Brianna at the door.

"We thought you could use some fun after the very serious 24 hours you've had so when Justin called and invited us to come to Disneyland, how could we say no?" 

"Thanks guys," Lance said.

Johanna ran upstairs to change her outfit.  She had been wearing something professional when the magazine was here but for a day out and about she'd need to be comfortable.  She slid into some shorts, a tank top and some sneakers.  She ran back downstairs and jumped in the car.

Once inside Disney, they couldn't help but transform into little kids.  They rode every ride they could and ate a bunch of junk food.  Johanna swung their hands as her and Justin trailed behind the group.

"This was an awesome idea.  He's totally not thinking about the article anymore," Johanna said, gesturing to Lance who was walking with Brianna on his shoulders.  "And that's why I love you."

"You caught that earlier, huh?" 

"Yeah...but maybe I haven't made it clear.  I love you."

"Love you too baby," he replied, pulling their hands up to kiss the back of hers.

They joined up with the group and continued their tour of the park.  When the sun went down, they watched the fireworks and headed for the car.  Justin carried a sleeping Brianna and they piled in for the drive home.

The next morning they got up early and dressed for the meeting, when they got there, the label loved everything, shockingly and everyone agreed on a single.  They would start soliciting directors for a video and shoot that soon.  Justin requested the photos be done with Terry Richardson, an edgy photographer.  All in all, the label was pretty agreeable.

They headed back to their Florida hide-a-way later that night on the red eye and the phone calls began as soon as they woke up the next morning.  Johanna was fielding press requests from people looking for Justin's comment on Lance's news and the label was calling to try and convince Justin to go back in the studio, they were unsure of the new style.

Johanna was about ready to throw her phone across the room.  The whole point of their trip home was to pack more to prepare for the endless amounts of travelling they'd be headed out on in the next few weeks.  They had a trip to New York scheduled next week for photos and an interview with some radio stations to introduce 'Sexyback.'  From there they headed to Spain to shoot the video.  Then they would stop home for a day and be headed out to Los Angeles for a long term stay.  Justin would be working with choreographers and beginning to plan a tour.  There would be promotion after that and probably another single.  He'd been out of the game so long, they wanted to give the fans a lot of new music pretty quickly.

She argued with Johnny and the label, assuring them that Justin wouldn't budge and stating that they would be shooting a video that was already paid for pretty soon, so what would be the point of changing it now.

This manager thing was going to be one wild ride.