JC sat on the cot with his knees to his chest with his arms wrapped around his legs, trying desperately to ignore the way his clothes made his skin itch. Unlike when he'd been put in a jail cell in Orlando, they had made him strip and change into orange pants and a shirt. The usual prison attire that almost every criminal wore on TV and in movies, and it wasn't nearly as soft or comfortable as his t-shirt and jeans.

Then to top it off, he was locked away in this isolation cell where there was such little light that JC would've believed it was midnight if he hadn't known it was still morning. There wasn't anything he could do given how dark it was, which just left him sitting alone with his thoughts. The exact place he didn't want to be.

All he could do was replay that last day with Sabrina over and over in his head, berating himself for not reporting what'd happened to the police. That if he had, he likely wouldn't be in this situation. He wouldn't be sitting in jail. Because while it may temporary, he'd never felt more like a criminal than he did in that moment.

That combined with the stress of the last couple days caused him to break down shortly after he'd been left alone in his cell. He'd sobbed into his hands, no longer able to fight back the tears. A couple of times he'd tried to rein in his emotions, but given the dark, dank cell it was nearly impossible and he quickly gave up. He'd only stopped when he'd literally cried himself out.

He had no idea how long ago that had been, but his cramping legs told him it'd been much longer than his body wanted to be in such a folded up position. It didn't motivate him to move though. The most he did was let his head tilt back to rest against the wall behind him.

The brick was cool, which felt nice on his warm head. You'd think a cell with no window would be cooler since there was no sun streaming in, but it was suffocating in that small room. He was sweating, and crying certainly hadn't helped things as it'd just made him even hotter. And this wasn't like when he'd get sweaty from performing; this was more reminiscent of when he was sick with a fever, especially with the way his head was pounding from the aftereffects of crying. Only, the last time he felt this horrible he'd had someone to take care of him.

JC woke up to someone running their hand through his hair. The action was soothing, and it almost put him right back to sleep. At least it would have if his body hadn't suddenly betrayed him, forcing him to cough and further irritate his inflamed throat.

As he coughed, a hand went to his forehead. It was cool against his warm skin, and it caused him to shiver a bit even in spite of the blankets he was buried beneath. His mind was hazy from sleep and the cold that had knocked him on his ass late last night after the concert, and it made him feel like he'd regressed twenty years.

"Mom?" His voice was hoarse, and the single word had him swallowing harshly against the pain it induced.

"JC?" The hand moved from his forehead and went back to his hair, running through the freshly cut hair. "It's Penny."

JC's eyes snapped open as he realized what day it was. He had completely forgotten when he'd gone to bed last night that Penny was flying in to meet up with him and travel with them for a couple of days. His intention had been to take her out to dinner and maybe catch a late movie.

"Penny?" he rasped. He blinked a couple times to clear his vision, and he found her sitting back watching him with sympathetic eyes. She had a soft smile on her face, and even in the dim lighting of the hotel room he swore she'd never looked more beautiful. "Sorry. Just let me jump in the shower and we can go."

He moved his arms, trying to untangle himself from the blankets he'd cocooned himself in. Though, he was having trouble as his limbs felt heavy and didn't seem to want to cooperate with him. He managed to get an arm free, but he was stopped from doing anything further as Penny put a hand on his arm.

"JC, no. We're not going out tonight," she said.

JC squinted at the clock, trying to figure out what time it was. The numbers were blurry, but they eventually focused enough that he could tell it was nearly seven o'clock. He'd meant for them to be done with dinner by now, and her plane had gotten in at four which meant she'd already spent hours just waiting on him. "I don't think we'll make the movie, but we can do dinner. Just let me get a shower and-"

"If you want to get a shower to help open your sinuses, great. But we're not going out."

"Penny," JC started, but she gave him that no nonsense look that always silenced him. This time was no different. Though, he quickly recovered and tried to appeal to her by saying, "You didn't come all the way out here to sit in a hotel room and take care of me. We had plans."

She put up a hand to stop him. "We'll just have to do them later." She leaned in a little so she could look him right in the eye. "And JC, I came out here to see you. We don't always have to go out and do things. I already like you a lot - you don't have to bribe me into liking you more."

JC frowned, and he was going to protest that that wasn't what he had been doing. But then his cold took over making him sneeze several times in a row and he ended up losing his train of thought. When he had recovered, he found Penny holding a tissue out to him. He took it gratefully, blowing his nose even as he grimaced at the sound. His head was pounding, and he was going to lay back down when Penny intercepted him.

She grabbed his hand and tugged gently, pulling him out of bed. "Let's get you in that shower. That should help, and I'll order up some food and find a movie for us to watch. We can have a quiet night in while you recover."

JC looked at her, seeing the concern in her eyes, and he couldn't help but give her a weak smile of thanks. He still felt guilty about ruining their night out, but he appreciated what she was doing. He was touched that she cared so much and didn't seem the least bit concerned about getting sick.

JC gave a sad sigh at the memory. Penny had been unlike any girlfriend he'd had. The level of concern she had for him - something that had started the very day they'd met - only grew as they became closer. She cared for him deeply, and while he'd known it from the beginning, it never failed to surprise him when he saw the worried look in her eyes.

Sabrina had never been so caring. He'd gotten sick quite a bit when he was with her, always running himself down from the jobs he worked constantly. And then when he wasn't working Sabrina always had them off and running or had him doing things for her. She expected a lot out of him, and those expectations didn't lower when he was sick. She'd never taken care of him the way Penny had, and with every day he spent with Penny he'd started to believe that maybe it was possible to truly be equals in a relationship.

They did have their fights and problems, but lately it had been hard to remember those times. The only thing he could think that would explain it was that he'd gotten used to her support and the way she took care of him when he was down or not feeling well. And in this situation he'd never been more terrified, which had him wishing for that comfort she so willingly gave whenever he needed it.

He had the guys though, and they would have to be enough. He had blown it with Penny, so if he wanted any comfort it would have to come from his friends. Joey's presence had helped greatly on the plane, and he'd been grateful for the breakfast Joey had bought him. It really made him feel guilty for not telling the guys the truth about everything, but he couldn't. If he did, they would look at him like he was a horrible person and he'd surely lose their friendship. It wasn't something he wanted to risk.

There was a knock on the metal door, the loud sound echoing through the small space. JC jerked his head up, his heart pounding in his chest from being startled out of his thoughts.

"You have a visitor," the voice said on the other side of the door. JC didn't recognize the voice, but it was obviously a police officer that worked within the building. But then his words registered and JC jumped to his feet.

As much as he hated the guys seeing him like this (and now that he was in prison garb it would be so much worse), any excuse to get out of the suffocating cell was more than welcome.

The lock loudly slid out of place, and the heavy door swung open. JC had to blink at the bright lights from the hallway that immediately flooded the dark space. As his eyes were getting adjusted, he sensed the officer step into the cell and cuffed his wrists together. It seemed now that he was dressed like a prisoner, he was being treated like one as well.

The cop grabbed onto his arm and led him out of the cell. JC suspected he was being led back the way he had come originally hours ago, but he couldn't say for sure since he hadn't been paying attention at the time. Regardless, they moved through a couple hallways without running into anyone before they reached a door.

"Your lawyer is in there. You have fifteen minutes," the man said. Then he twisted the knob and opened the door while simultaneously giving JC a push into the room.

The door shut behind him, but JC hardly noticed. All he could do was stare at the person in front of him. Todd, his lawyer, wasn't seated at the metal table waiting for him. It was Sabrina.

JC was paralyzed. He'd known this was coming - that he was going to see her at some point. But he hadn't expected it to be now.

"You better sit down before that cop makes you sit down," she said, nodding towards the window. They had been left alone in the room, but the cop was standing right outside ready to step in at a moment's notice should he need to.

JC wanted to refuse because he didn't want to let her think she could tell him what to do. Those days were long gone. But he knew she was right, that if he didn't sit down the cop would come in and who knew what else would happen.

So JC took the seat across from Sabrina, the long chain from the cuffs around his wrist clanging against the table. She was watching him with amusement, and he couldn't help staring back at her.

Even though he hadn't seen her in a year, she looked exactly the same. The only difference was that instead of the straight hair she normally sported, her black hair fell in soft curls. In anyone else it would've softened their features, but her green eyes outlined with eyeliner were just as striking. They held an intensity that told you she would get what she wanted no matter the cost. She could get many people to do this just from a single look - for months he had been one of them. But he wasn't going to fall under her spell this time.

"I see you finally grew your hair out of that awful thing you had last time I saw you," Sabrina said. She leaned forward, the corner of her lips twisting upwards. "You're way hotter than you were when we were together. And something tells me it's not just your hair that's gotten better."

Her eyes were with dark with lust and her tone was suggestive as hell. JC narrowed his eyes, wanting to show her that he wasn't affected by it at all. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sabrina didn't look put off by his tone or rude words, but she did sit back in her chair, crossing her arms casually. "You'd think you'd be happy to see me."

"Why the hell would I be happy to see you? It's your fault I'm here in the first place."

She tilted her head, feigning innocence. "It is?"

"Don't play that game with me," JC growled. He didn't have patience for her crap anymore, and that was even more true with everything that had happened. "You and I both know that Marc didn't die from a stab wound in the neck."

She raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? I mean, you couldn't have known for sure he was dead when you came into the office."

JC stared at her, unable to believe he had never thought of that himself. In the moment when he'd seen Marc lying on the ground not moving his mind had immediately gone to dead because he knew the kinds of things Sabrina did to get what she wanted. But because she had stopped him from feeling for a pulse, there could have been a chance that Marc hadn't been dead. That maybe he had just passed out and she'd only killed him once he'd run out of the house.

JC shook his head, trying to clear it of those thoughts. It hadn't happened like that. He knew in his gut that Marc had been dead when he'd walked into the study, and the little smirk on Sabrina's face as she watched him solidified that thought. She was playing with him. But to what end? There was always a reason.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Sabrina uncrossed her arms and sat up in her chair, looking him in the eye. "I need something from you."

"Let me guess, more money?" JC shook his head, knowing that had to be it and completely unable to understand why she had gone to all this trouble. "Why didn't you just call me and demand it?"

"Because you could have easily said no," she replied simply. "But now? I have a feeling you'll agree to just about anything I ask in order to get out of jail."

JC glared at her. "I'm not the pushover I once was, and I don't need you to get out of jail. There is no proof I killed Marc."

"You mean besides the murder weapon?"

JC fumed, but he bit his tongue, forcing himself not to respond knowing she was goading him. Still, she smirked at him like she knew how her words affected him.

"Oh, JC, how I love this side of you. As good as things were before, it would be even better now. We could have so much fun together."

JC gritted his teeth, still trying to rein in his anger. Even though he knew she could see through his poor attempts at hiding it, he didn't want to make it quite so obvious. "Never gonna happen," he ground out. "And I don't need you to get out of here."

He wasn't entirely sure that was true. She had been the one to provide the police with the so called murder weapon, and it seemed pretty damning. Though, his lawyer seemed to think there was nothing substantial the cops could put on him to pinpoint him at the scene of the crime or definitely prove he was the one who wielded the knife to kill Marc. It may take longer that way, but JC felt that eventually the cops would agree and have to let him go.

She lifted an eyebrow. "No? Maybe I'll just have to find something else to motivate you then."

She hummed like she was thinking, but JC could tell it was fake. He just waited for her to reveal what she no doubt thought was the ace up her sleeve. And when she did, he wasn't prepared for what it was.

"I'll just have to go to one your friends to get what I need," she said. JC could feel his blood begin to boil, and it got worse as she continued on. "I'll probably go to that curly haired kid. Justin, right? You guys seem close."

At the mention of Justin, JC saw red and jumped out of his seat. He nearly lunged across the table as he gathered the front of her shirt into his fists, pulling her close as he threatened her. "If you touch him..." he growled.

JC's eyes bored into hers, all of his attention focused solely on her. So much so that he was surprised when his arm was gripped tightly and he was pulled off Sabrina. He turned his head to see the cop that had been standing outside of the door.

"I think that's enough for today," the man said gruffly, beginning to pull JC towards the door.

JC wanted to protest, but he knew it wouldn't do any good as the cop surely wouldn't listen to him anyway. It might be a good thing anyway to get away from Sabrina because he wasn't sure what he might do if he continued to sit with her, especially if she kept threatening the guys. Even though he did want to make sure that she wasn't going to go anywhere near them.

But Sabrina spoke up, bringing the cop to a halt. "It's okay," she said. "We're not quite finished yet, and I know he won't do it again."

The cop stared at her unsure, and JC anticipated he was going to shoot her down. But much to his surprise, the cop relented. Though, after he directed JC back into his seat, he made a point of cuffing him to the table.

"Just in case you don't know him as well you as you think," the cop told Sabrina. Then he turned on JC. "And if I see you even trying to do that again, you'll be getting no more visitors for the rest of your time here. I don't care if they're your lawyer or not."

JC gave the cop a slight nod to show that he understood, and he refused to look at Sabrina until they were left alone once again. As soon as he heard the click of the door shutting, he raised his head to see her smirking at him.

"Oh, JC," she said, shaking her head. "You haven't changed one bit. I'll get you to bend to my will, just like I always did."

JC glared at her. "You're wrong. Whatever you brought me to LA for, it's not gonna happen. And you won't even be able to get within ten feet of my friends."

"You sure about that?"

She was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and amusement in her eyes. With every look she gave him, he was assaulted with more and more memories of the things they had done together. Things that more often than not she'd forced him into doing. But that wasn't going to happen again.

"Our bodyguards-" he started, but she quickly cut him off.

"You mean the ones that I had no problem getting around at Disney?" she asked, giving him a knowing look. She then leaned in closely so their faces were inches apart. "You're going to give me what I want no matter what. Why don't you make it easy on yourself and let me make all this go away?"

JC's hands clenched into fists. It was hard to admit, but she was right about how easy she'd gotten around the bodyguards at Disney. She hadn't even been stopped by them. To be fair, he'd purposely gone out of his way to meet Sabrina in the most discrete way as possible, but he knew from experience just how she was able to work things in her favor. It terrified him thinking about just what she would do in order to get his cooperation.

The door opened, and JC looked up to see Justin step into the room with Lance right behind him. Once they were clear of the doorway, the cop stepped into it and glanced at Sabrina. "Maximum two visitors at a time," he told her. Then he looked at JC, his eyes narrowed. "You'll have ten minutes and that's it. This ain't your damn tour bus where you can entertain numerous people all day long. Some of us have work to do."

Sabrina stood up from her chair, drawing JC's attention back to her. He wasn't the only one either - both Lance and Justin had similar confused looks on their face. Before they could ask who she was, Sabrina confidently crossed the room to them and smiled as she stuck her hand out.

"You must be Justin," she said, shaking his hand. She tossed JC a quick glance before looking back at Justin. "It's great to finally meet you."

Justin looked thrown for a second, but he quickly recovered. "Uh, yeah. It's nice to meet you..."

He was hinting for her name like they did with those fans that were too shy to offer it outright. Sabrina released his hand and smiled wider as she gave him her name. Justin's eyes widened, and JC frowned, unable to even guess why he would have such a reaction. Though, he tried to cover it. Lance, at least, seemed to be as confused by Justin's reaction as he was.

The cop cleared his throat. "Miss, you need to leave." Then he looked at Justin and Lance. "And you're down to eight minutes."

"Hopefully I'll see you boys around," Sabrina said, giving a smile to both Justin and Lance though her gaze lingered on Justin a bit longer. She looked at JC with a raised brow, silently asking if he was really going to let her leave and not take her help.

JC said nothing, and she walked toward the door. He looked at Lance and Justin, and in that moment the confused expression on Justin's face made him seem so much younger. It caused an intense feeling of protectiveness to wash over JC, and he immediately reacted.

"Wait," he cried, stopping Sabrina just as she was about to step out into the hall. Wordlessly, she turned towards him, and he gave her a single nod. "Okay."

Her lips curled into small smile, one that held all sorts of secrets. "Okay," she replied before finally leaving the room. The cop closed the door behind her, leaving JC alone with Lance and Justin.

He sighed, leaning back into the uncomfortable metal chair. It made him nervous thinking about what Sabrina would demand of him in return for getting the murder charge dropped, but whatever it was he was certain he would find a way to handle it. And at least he could rest easy knowing she had no reason to get his friends involved.

"You okay?" Justin asked quietly.

JC forced himself to sit up straight so he could look him in the eye, trying to give him his best reassuring look. "Yeah, I'm okay," he said.

On a reflex, he started to lift his hand to run through his hair only to stop short when he realized his hands were cuffed to the table and didn't have much slack in the chain. This was the worst thing he could've done because it drew their attention to it, and the look of horror on Justin's face wasn't something he was going to forget to anytime soon. Lance's expression was equally as hard even though he was more sad than freaked.

Justin shook his head, anger clouding his young face. "Don't do that. Don't pretend like everything's fine. You're cuffed to a table in a police station wearing a prison jumpsuit. I'm pretty sure you're not okay."

The words had gotten louder and quicker as Justin went on, and JC's heart clenched at the emotion on Justin's face. There were tears pooled in his eyes, but he stubbornly refused to let them fall. And JC wasn't sure if Justin was more upset or angry.

"I'll be okay," JC said softly, trying to soothe Justin's fears and worry. "This is all just temporary and it'll be cleared up soon."

"How can you know that?" Justin asked. "What did the police say?"

JC sighed heavily. "Justin..." It was all he said, and he let that single word hang, letting them know just how much he didn't want to talk about it.

"No!" Justin objected loudly. "You've been keeping this whole thing from us. For years! We deserve to know what's going on."

JC knew Justin had a point. They did deserve to know just who they were friends with. Because while JC hadn't been entirely himself when he was with Sabrina, he'd had enough sense to know better and the fact that he hadn't continued to refuse participation in her antics had left him with such guilt. Something that had him working hard to be a good Samaritan and give back whenever he could.

At the same time though, he selfishly wanted to hang onto this secret. The things he had done were in his past, and he'd done his best to atone for them. In his mind it would be better if things stayed buried. Just because Sabrina had dredged up all this up for him again didn't mean he had to get the guys involved in something that happened before they had ever gotten the group together.

"I can't," JC said finally. He raised his head to look Justin in the eye, knowing his answer was going to anger his youngest friend and hoping to appeal to his sensitivity. "Not now."

Justin's nostrils flared in anger, and JC thought for sure he was going to do some more yelling. But Lance jumped in before Justin could get a single word out.

"Why don't we start simple," Lance said. He looked straight at JC. "Who was that girl?"

JC hesitated. He didn't want them to know anything about Sabrina. It was bad enough that she had introduced herself to them. He'd known they were going to have questions, and he didn't want to answer any of them. Not when he knew that each question would lead them closer to finding out what'd happened, and that wasn't something he was ready for.

"She was your ex-girlfriend, wasn't she?" Justin asked. "She's the reason you broke up with Penny."

JC couldn't help but roll his eyes. Even in the midst of being extradited and accused of murder, the guys still found ways to bring up his recent ex-girlfriend. "No, she's not."

But Justin wasn't at all convinced. He stared at JC knowingly as he said, "She messed you up. That's why you haven't been able to have a decent relationship since MMC ended. Isn't it?"

"I'm not talking about this now." Not ever. At least if JC had anything to say about it. The guys would never know what happened between him and Sabrina - or him and Penny for that matter.

"It doesn't matter," Justin said. "I know I'm right."

JC clenched his fist, trying to rein in his anger. It didn't matter that Justin was right; he just wanted someone to respect that he didn't want to talk about her or Penny. Lance seemed to sense that JC was close to snapping and spoke up, though he didn't exactly steer the conversation away from Sabrina like JC had hoped.

"Why was she even here?" Lance asked. "Johnny would've told us if something had gotten out, so how did she even know you were here?"

Justin gasped suddenly, his eyes widening like they did when he got an idea. His eyes swung back to JC's and demanded, "She framed you for the murder, didn't she?"

JC stared at him in surprise, unable to believe Justin had been able to jump to that so quickly. But Lance shook his head, frowning like he thought Justin was being completely ridiculous.

"Justin, no," Lance said. "JC obviously called her. I'm not sure why, but clearly he thinks she can help somehow."

Lance turned to JC expectantly, waiting for him to explain why JC had called Sabrina and how he thought she could help. Justin on the other hand had turned away from them and was mumbling to himself. JC's brows furrowed as he tried to catch was Justin was saying, but he could only make out a few words here and there. Things like "makes sense" and "should've known", but there was one particular phrase that caught his attention, coming through loud and clear as though Justin was shouting it rather than talking quietly to himself.

"She didn't keep her word."

JC looked at Lance, but Lance was still watching him, waiting for an answer to why he'd called Sabrina even though he hadn't called her. Lance hadn't heard Justin, but those words were echoing in JC's ears. There were so many questions popped into his head, and JC's heart pounded with each new one.

"Justin," JC waited until Justin turned and looked at him before continuing, "do you know Sabrina?"

The question just spilled out of his mouth, and as the words left his lips he wanted to take them back. It was a waste of a question. Of course Justin didn't know her. If he had, their interaction would've gone much differently. Today had been the first time they'd met, but that didn't mean that they hadn't known about each other before. The thought made JC's stomach churn anxiously.

But before Justin could say anything, the door opened and the cop was there. "Time's up," he announced.

JC looked up at him. He got to his feet, but with his hands cuffed to the table he was left in a stooped position that had him hovering above it. "No, please. Five more minutes."

"You've had your time," the cop said gruffly, walking over to JC and unlocking the cuffs from the table. "You're done for the day."

"But-"

"Don't worry, JC," Lance said. "We'll talk to Todd and we'll be back. We'll do whatever we can to get this taken care of."

JC closed his mouth, knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing with the cop. And he couldn't explain to Lance that there was nothing for them to take care of. It was in Sabrina's hands, and as long as she kept her word, he imagined he would be out of here before the day was over.

It was a thought that should've comforted him, but he was too overwhelmed with other anxieties. The first was wondering just what Sabrina wanted from him because he would definitely owe her for getting him of out jail. And the second, which was just as concerning, how the hell did Justin know Sabrina?

As JC was led back to his cell, his stomach tied up with knots as he realized he might not be able to keep Sabrina away from the guys. Sabrina was his past and what he had with the guys was his future, and he had a feeling the two were going to collide in a horrific way.