"You do realize today is not fifty years right?" Lance Bass said as he sat down in the chair on the back patio of JC's house.

"Yeah man, your fiftieth isn't until next year in September."

"That usually how anniversaries work. You celebrate them on your wedding."

"Rachel and I were worried you wouldn't make it." JC grinned across the table at Chris.

"Fuck off." Chris snapped good-naturedly. "My new hip makes me feel like I'm fifty again. I should have done this a long time ago."

Joey snickered. "Probably could have toured a lot longer."

"Before we got back together I should have told the doc to replace both my hips and my knees. Could have been a version of the million dollar man."

Justin laughed. "Maybe the two hundred and fifty thousand dollar man."

"You ain't as spry anymore either. I hear you making all sorts of noises when you stand up."

"Still younger than you."

JC rolled his eyes at the bickering.  Some things never changed. As he stared at the men sitting around the table he realized some things did. These men where his best friends. He had known them the majority of his life. Over fifty years of friendship. Lance. His silver hair. The thin framed glasses on his face. Joey had finally given up dying his hair. It now had more grey than white and started receding much like his father's had. There were a lot more white hairs. A lot more wrinkles. Definitely a lot more aches. But they still cut up much like they had all those years ago.

"Grandpa watch!"

Every head at the table turned in time to watch a toe headed girl jump off the side of the pool making a huge splash.

Lance's granddaughter, Ellie, shirt for Eleanor Ann. Named for Lance's grandparents.

They were grandpas, poppops, papas, Pops, dads, and daddies. So much change.

Then again... not so much change.

JC grinned when he caught sight of his wife walking toward him. Her hair was still long. The blonde turned to grayish-silver. Her eyes were still has blue as the day they met on 5th Avenue in New York. Her blouse was dotted with water, no doubt by the splashes of their grandkids in the pool. He was certain she would soon join them. He had heard the kids yelling for their Gramma. But right now she was on her way to him.

"There you are," Rachel smiled at her husband as she slid her hand across his back around his shoulders. She leaned against him as his arm came around her waist. "Thinking of getting the band back together?"

"We can't all be the Backstreet Boys," Lance drawled.

"They may have had the longevity, but they never became immortalized by a meme."

"Fuck off," Justin grumbled. "Fifty years and that shit is still going around."

"It's gonna be on your headstone."

"Good thing you fuckers will be dead before me."

"Chris keeps getting more body parts replaced artificially he may outlive us all."

"We'll see who's laughing when I can do a cartwheel and you can't get out of bed."

"Bet Karly will like the artificial dick you're getting next."

"Fuck you. Ain't nothing wrong in that department."

"Yeah," Joey chuckled. "I seen the blue pills in your pill box."

With a tug of her hand, Rachel pulled JC up from his chair and left the four guys arguing about pills and sex. Walking hand and hand, they made their way across the yard away from the party. The sun was high in the sky. A small breeze blew over the Nebraska plains. Beyond the yard horses and cattle grazed. They had moved to Nebraska a few years ago. Back to the land she grew up on. Her brother Nate had worked the farm for many years before passing it on to his son, Daniel. She and JC had a swatch of land from the main parcel. They had a small house built. After living so many years in Los Angeles, it had been nice to retire and move back to the country. The peacefulness. The quiet.

Living in Nebraska they still spent a lot of time traveling. Their four kids were scattered all over the United States. Noah lived in Florida working behind the scenes for Disney. Noah's song writings had appeared in many Disney animated films. Their daughter Emma lived in Nashville, who despite growing up in a pop world had been bitten by the country music bug. Madeline lived in Los Angeles. The sun and sand would forever be in her blood. A nurse by day, a beach bum by night. Alex, their youngest, lived right there in Nebraska. Working the land right beside his cousins. Between the four kids, she and JC had ten grandkids to spoil.

"Can you believe it's been fifty years?" Rachel asked as she rested her arms across the top rung of the wooden fence.

"Seems like yesterday." JC wrapped his arm around Rachel's shoulder as he stood next to her.

"I must have thanked my mom a hundred times for dragging me to New York that week." Rachel laughed. "If it hadn't been for that trip, none of this would have happened."

"It would have happened," JC said confidently. "We would have eventually met each other. Somewhere. Somehow. We would have run into each other. I can promise you, I wouldn't have been able to speak then either."

Rachel looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

"That smile still captivates me..." JC turned her from the fence and pulled her into his arms. "You've been doing that since day one. Making me lose my train of thought with just a smile."

"We've had so many ups and downs."

"Thankfully more ups than downs."

"We've been blessed."

"Yes we have." JC kissed her softly. "I know we haven't technically been married for fifty years, so everyone keeps telling me."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Maddie has informed me to such a million times. Probably because she wanted to throw a big party next September for our anniversary and this takes the wind out of her sails."

"By then we'll be great grandparents." JC shook his head in disbelief. Grace, Noah's oldest daughter, had announced to the family earlier in the party she was expecting her first child with her husband Liam.

"We've created such a beautiful family."

"We have..."

"I would do it all over again in a heartbeat."

"Me too." JC kissed Rachel once again and hugged her to him.

"Here's to another fifty years or however long we have..."

"We have forever."

"Forever."

Well honey, that's fifty years, here's to you and me