"When are you going to tell McKenzie?" Lance whispered, his head bent toward his sister.  They had been in the air for a couple hours now on their way back to California. Spring break was over.  Leaving Saturday gave Rachel and McKenzie time to recover on Sunday and get ready for the new school week on Monday. McKenzie had immediately claimed Michael as a seat mate. Their heads were bent together in the seats front of them and every so often he could hear his niece giggling. He had no idea what they were doing. He imagined working through the book of MadLibs again. McKenzie loved how Michael was able to come up with off the wall words. He fell more and more in love with his fiancé every time he was around his niece. He couldn't wait to marry him. He couldn't wait to have kids with him.

"I don't know," Rachel spoke back, her voice just as soft as her brother's. She had been able to pull herself together and finish out the week on a high note. McKenzie had questions, she knew, about what was going on but she never voiced them. They kept busy with things to do, finally getting down to the Gulf to spend the day at the beach. McKenzie had ridden with Stacy and her family on the way back, while she was in a vehicle with her parents, Michael, and Lance. Lance drove with their father riding shotgun. That had her and Michael playing rock, paper, scissors for the door. Diane had claimed the other door citing seniority.  No one disputed her. Rachel had lost and had to ride in the middle the whole way back. The sun had completely worn them out and she ended up curled against Michael's side sleeping the whole way back. Michael had eventually dozed as well, his arm around her, his head resting on top of hers. Lance had been quick to show the photos he had taken. Rachel had just been happy she hadn't drooled.

"Do you want me to be there when you do?"

Rachel reached over and took her brother's hand, giving it a squeeze. She smiled at him. "No, but thanks. I need to do this on my own."

"You don't need to do it on your own anymore," Lance told her, hating how she still wouldn't accept help.

"I know, but I need to do this on my own. I still need to tell Melissa and Joey. I know Kenzi might end up talking to Briahna about it and I want them to be prepared."

"Let me guess, you don't want me there for that either?" He sighed when Rachel shook her head. "Just let me know when you're gonna do it so I know when to expect Joey to call."

"I really hate how you guys are gonna talk about this," she told him, turning her head to look out the window. Lance had told her when everyone had returned from the water park, that JC had called him. At first she had been angry at the thought of them talking about her behind her back.

"Hey," he squeezed her hand and leaned forward, angling his body toward her. "I told you..."

"I know," she gave him half a smile. "I understand, I hate it, but I understand."

"You gotta give us some time to work through it as well." He worked through the denial stage pretty fast. He was stuck on anger and he knew he'd probably be stuck on that stage for awhile. It was the same stage JC was on. When he fielded his phone call at the water park, he had never heard JC so angry before. All he could do was sit back and let JC rant and rave, knowing JC needed to get it off his chest and Lance was the only one who he could talk to. "You gonna tell Chris and Justin?"

Rachel had mulled over that question a lot. She told Lance because he was her brother. She had to tell JC because they were in a relationship. She had to tell Joey because their daughters were best friends. Chris and Justin weren't close to her. Time and distance effected them the most. She couldn't wait for Lance's wedding so she could see Chris. "Can you tell them?"

"Yeah," Lance squeezed her hand. "I'll tell them."

"After I tell her... you'll be there for her if she needs you right? You and Michael?"

Lance sent her a look. "Come on now, of course we will."

"I know..." Rachel sighed. "I'm just worried how she'll react. She already thinks JC is her father... now I'm gonna come along and tell her..."

"Hey, no..." Lance dropped his sister's hand when he saw the tears well up in her eyes and lifted the seat rest up that was between them. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "We're not going to talk about that right now. No tears," he told her. "Let's change the topic. How about our Christmas vacation and the fact that your butt is gonna be up on skis."

"Oh my feet will be attached to the skis, but I have a feeling my butt will spend more time on the ground than up," Rachel said wiping her tears away. Before they left Mississippi, they were all able to sit down and hash out vacation plans. Since it was already late to be scheduling trips, Lance went ahead and booked them at a resort over the two week Christmas vacation. It made December kind of crazy with Lance and Michael's wedding happening the weekend before they left.

It was crazy trying to plan a trip with so many people. All together there were seven adults and four kids. They ended up booking two of the largest suites available that were across the hallway from each other. Each held multiple rooms and a large dining area. Adults would pick the rooms and they figured Kenzi and Leighton would pair off in one room and Kellen and Keagan in another. Somewhere in the planning had led the Fatones being invited as well. The girls had been excited when Joey and Melissa had said yes and Briahna would be joining them. Leighton and McKenzie had spent the rest of the night talking back and forth with Briahna planning what they were going to do. Rachel bet it involved very little sleep and a whole lot of giggling.

"You gonna invite JC?"

The thought crossed her mind as they were planning, especially when they were trying to figure out how many rooms they needed and everyone was paired off except her. "I don't know..."

"Oh come on. Invite him."

"Maybe I don't want him to see what a terrible skier I'm gonna be."

"You can always just stay inside by the fire," he wiggled his eyebrows, laughing when his sister blushed. "Just invite him. You know he loves you."

"I know." Rachel smiled. "He told me."

"What!" Lance sat up straight. He ignored the looks he got from those sitting around him. Even Michael had turned around to look at him. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Sometimes I think you're secretly a girl. You gossip worse than I do."

"Shut up." Lance pushed her shoulder as he rolled his eyes. "Did you tell him or are we gonna have to wait another fifteen years?"

"I told him."

"Finally."

"It was really hard to tell him about..." she trailed off and looked out the window. "Maybe I shouldn't have done it over the phone. I needed to tell him before Kenzi said something though."

"She could have picked heckuva lot worse. You probably can't find someone better than JC."

"I just hope she feels that way after I tell her. I'm not sure how she's gonna react."

"Which is why I want to be there. Come on Rachel," Lance turned in his seat to look at his sister. "Don't do this on your own," he pleaded.

"Okay," Rachel relented. "Come over tomorrow?"

"I'm there."

*~*~*~*

"It feels good to be home," McKenzie said as she followed her mother through the front door. She dropped her bags inside the door and went to the couch collapsing face down.

"I need a vacation to recover from our vacation," Rachel said. She placed her bags next to the stairs intending to carry them up later. One good thing about staying with her parents is she never brought home dirty clothes. Her mother had made sure all their clothes were washed before they left, Lance and Michael's as well. Laundry was one less thing she had to worry about. Her clothes could go right upstairs and be put away.

"Is it too late to start counting down to our Christmas vacation?"

Rachel laughed as she went through the mail on the counter that her neighbor had gathered for her. "Skiing does sound fun, even though I think I'm gonna be terrible at it."

"I'll have to make sure my phone has enough space to take videos of you." Kenzi pushed herself up into a sitting position on the couch.

"There will be no recording of any kind, missy," she said sternly. It was ruined by the twitch in her lips.

"That rule just for me or for everyone?"

"What do you think?" Rachel asked her daughter, arching one eyebrow.

"Are you going to invite JC?"

Rachel paused flipping through the mail at her daughter's words. "I thought about it. Are you okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay with it?" Kenzi shrugged. "He is your boyfriend right?"

"He is." Rachel said. "Are you okay with that?"

Kenzi rolled her eyes. "Duh mom. I like JC. He's cool."

"He's cool," she chuckled.

"Yeah. He's not a dork. He actually listens to me when I talk and is interested in what I have going on. He's actually excited to go to my piano recital. He's been giving me pointers to help with my playing."

"Really?" Rachel asked surprised. "I didn't know that."

"I recorded myself playing when I was at Aunt Stacy's and sent it to him. I knew he was busy in the studio but he wasn't mad I sent it to him.  He was probably working with people a lot more important than me..." McKenzie shrugged. "But he still responded and we talked for awhile. Made me feel like I was important. That I mattered..."

"Oh Kenzi," Rachel sniffled. Her eyes welled with tears listening to McKenzie talk about JC. "You are important and you do matter." She drew her daughter into a hug.

"Mom?" McKenzie said as the hug broke.

"Yeah?"

"I know Leighton told."

Rachel froze feeling her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. This wasn't supposed to happen now. She was going to sit down and tell McKenzie at her own pace... tomorrow... with Lance present to help. "Told what?" She questioned, trying to deflect.

McKenzie sighed. "Come on Mom."

Rachel closed her eyes and blew out a breath. "Okay," she said blinking her eyes open. "I was going to do this tomorrow, but since you're asking. Let's go and sit down."

McKenzie sat back down on the couch. She clasped her hands in her lap. Her stomach was doing flips and she felt sick. She felt a smile grow on her face despite her nervousness. She was finally going to get the answers she'd been seeking. She was finally gonna know who her father was. ‘Well I already know who it is,' Kenzi thought. ‘This was just gonna be the confirmation.'

"Okay," Rachel breathed again once they were seated. "I wish you would have come to me instead of doing this in secret."

"Yeah right," McKenzie rolled her eyes. "You freak out at the mere thought of my father. I couldn't. I figured I'd figure it out all on my own and when I knew, I'd ask you. Then all you'd have to do was say yes."

"There is a very good reason I freak out at the mere thought of your father," Rachel said slowly. "I should have better prepared myself for this day, but I had hoped it would never come."

"I don't get the big deal," McKenzie said loudly. "It's just my father. Don't I deserve to know who that is?"

"Yes, yes you do." Rachel told her, swallowing roughly. "This is very difficult for me to talk about it. I never told anyone for the longest time. In fact, this week was the first time I told anyone. When your Uncle Lance was still doing NSYNC, he lived in Orlando. He did high school through a correspondence class. When I graduated high school in Mississippi, I moved in with him."

"I know this Mom." McKenzie said exasperated. "I just want to know who my father is."

Rachel's jaw snapped shut. She closed her eyes and took another breath, trying to calm herself. "McKenzie, sweetie, when I was in Orlando, I was raped..." she paused to take another breath. "I was raped and as a result, I got pregnant with you."

"What?" McKenzie whispered, shaking her head. "That's not... That's..." She shook her head again, unable to think of what she wanted to say. "No... I...but JC..."

Rachel reached out putting her hand over her daughter's. "Kenz, I know how much you wished that JC was your father, but that's not the case. JC and I were never in a relationship."

"No," McKenzie withdrew her hand from her mother's and stood up. "No. I saw the papers in the attic. There are notebooks filled with drawings of him. You wrote his name over and over. You practiced your signature as if you would marry him. The photos... the photos...your conversation with Melissa."

"Wh..what conversation with Mel?" Rachel asked slowly.

"I overheard you talking about JC. You were talking about having... sex with JC."

Rachel flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. But Sweetie, JC and I never had sex. We never even kissed. I had a huge crush on him I loved him, yes. But I never told him... I was gonna tell him but..."

"No," McKenzie shook her head. The denial was building in her head. This simply couldn't be true.  "No. This isn't true."

"McKenzie," Rachel stood up and tried to pull her daughter into a hug. She tore from her arms and Rachel felt her eyes well with tears.

"You're lying to me!" McKenzie yelled. "This is a lie. Why are you doing this?"

"McKenzie, I'm not lying to you. I would never lie about something like this," Rachel said softly, feeling tears roll down her cheeks. "Please calm down."

"No..." she shook her head again. "This isn't true. This is not true!" She back away from her mom.

"McKenzie," Rachel tried reaching for McKenzie but she stayed out of her grasp.

"You ruined it. You ruined everything!" McKenzie exclaimed feeling her own tears start to roll down her cheeks. "JC's supposed to be my father! It fit! Everything...fit," she covered her face with her hands, sobbing.

"McKenzie," Rachel immediately went to her daughter, drawing her into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

"No!" McKenzie broke from her mother's arms. She glared at her, angrily wiping away the tears. "Stop it!" She shook her head, backing up. "This isn't true. You're lying to me." She turned around and yanked opening the door, stopping short seeing JC standing there, his hand poised to knock.

"Hi," JC said with a smile. The smile faded when he saw the tears on McKenzie's face. "What's wrong?" He went to reach for her and was shocked when she slapped his hand away. "Kenzi?"

"This is all your fault!" McKenzie shouted at him.

"McKenzie!" Rachel said harshly, taken back by the anger in her daughter's voice.

"What's going on?" JC asked looking at McKenzie to Rachel. McKenzie eyes were shiny with unshed tears, but were still blazing with anger. Her cheeks had tear stains. Rachel... the pain shining in her eyes was enough to make his heart stumbled. The tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"This is your fault! If you had just stayed away. Just left me alone. None of this would have happened."

JC didn't know how to respond or what to even think. He had no idea what was going on. It crossed his mind to leave, but he dismissed it just as quickly. He couldn't leave, not with something of this magnitude happening.

"McKenzie! You stop this right now. This is not JC's fault."

"Yes it is! If he had just stayed away. None of this would have happened. I wouldn't..." she felt a lump rise in her throat. "I wouldn't..." her voiced cracked and she released a sob. Arms grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She struggled against them, but they just tightened around her. She fought harder, but she couldn't get away. The arms wouldn't release her. "Let me go."

"No," JC whispered, tightening his hold against her struggles.

"Why couldn't you stay away?" McKenzie cried, her struggles lessening.

"Because I love you," JC said softly. The hands that had been pushing him away gripped his t-shirt in an attempt to hold on to him. Her forehead pressed against his chest as she sobbed. He simply held on tight and let her cry.