Late January 

“So first I wanna go do Rise of the Resistance then I want to do Smuggler’s Run then we can go to Oga’s Cantina and I wanna get the blue milk, not the green, and then…”

“Hold on, when did you start drinking milk?” Alice looked over at Patrick with an amused look as she tried to navigate her way to the Hollywood Studios parking at Disney World. He’d been giving off a low hum of energy all morning but now that they were close to arriving, his excitement was taking over.

“It’s not regular milk, Mom. It’s Batuu milk. Like Luke Skywalker drinks,” Patrick informed her.

“Oh, so, better?” she tried not to laugh. Honestly, she had no idea how much of a Star Wars fan Patrick had become. She’d missed a lot while she was trying to keep the peace the past few years but there were certainly worse things he could have gotten into.

“Probably. I don’t know, that’s why I want to try it,” he gave his mother back a huge grin. 

Alice inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Patrick finally be a kid again. This was what he’d deserved for years now and she knew it wouldn’t have been possible without some amazing friends. “Now remember, we’re guests here so let’s see what everyone else wants to do as well.”

“Technically everyone who isn’t an employee is a guest,” Patrick smiled, enjoying giving his mom a hard time. “Are you gonna, like, flirt with this guy?”

“No!” Alice quickly stated as she could feel her cheeks flush. “No flirting, no…nothing. Just, a nice day at Disney. Hanging out, riding rides, drinking blue milk, nothing more than that.”

Patrick eyed his mother as she pulled into a parking space. “So the fact he used to be on a poster on your wall when you were my age…”

“Slightly older than you but to answer your impending question, no, isn’t an issue,” she got out of the car. Explaining JC to Patrick had been hard enough but then trying to get him to realize who exactly JC was was almost worse. She couldn’t even wrap her own head around today without it trying to implode.

“Yeah right,” Patrick scoffed but left it at that. If this guy was getting them into Disney for free AND they could Fast Pass all the rides, he wasn’t about to complain, at least for today. His mother had reassured him this wasn’t a date many times and while he still didn’t believe her, he figured he’d at least have fun for the day while he watched what was going on. 

Alice and Patrick approached the gates as she looked around. It took her a minute but off to the side, she finally spotted him. Plain black long sleeved t shirt and baseball cap pulled down low but the stance and the beard she’d be able to spot any day.

“Um, hi, hey,” Alice awkwardly approached, somehow forgetting how common greetings worked.

“Alice?” his smile this early in the morning caught her off guard. “Hey, I’m Joey. Nice to meet you,” he pulled her into a hug. “And you must be Patrick?” he extended his hand to the young man.

“I am,” Patrick eyed the guy up and down as he shook Joey’s hand. Pop star he wasn’t so sure about but he knew him from somewhere…

“Nice to meet you both,” Joey smiled. “My daughter just ran to the bathroom so as soon as she’s back, we can get going.”

“Joey, I really can’t thank you enough for this,” Alice extolled. “I told JC none of this was necessary but he’d already arranged it all before he told me and I didn’t want to…”

“Hey, no worries,” Joey told her. “Always happy to help out a friend but certainly more than happy to help out someone who gave JC the swift kick in the ass he needed.”

“I think that was more a function of the retreat than me but…”

“Did you tell him to call?” Joey interrupted again.

“Uh, yeah, I think I mentioned that,” Alice responded, confused.

“Then you helped a hell of a lot and I owe you,”

Joey smiled again as a young girl about Patrick’s age ran up. “Ah, Kloey, say hi to Alice and Patrick.”

“Hello,” Kloey waved politely.

“Shall we?” Joey motioned toward the entrance.

Joey and Alice let the pre-teens walk ahead by a few feet to get to know each other as they did the same. “Wow, it’s crazy that I used to come here all the time as a kid and now it’s been years,” Alice commented.

“You used to live around here?” Joey asked.

“No, still Fruitland Park but everything was cheaper back then,” Alice chuckled, “and less crowded.”

“Oh this is nothing,” Joey noted the few hundred people ahead of them as they slowly made their way towards the gates. “Thankfully locals still get scared off if it goes below sixty degrees.”

“Well, I’ve got like three layers under this hoodie, so I’m not exactly immune,” Alice joked, now realizing she probably should have dressed up more for a day of galavanting through Disney World with an *NSYNC member.

They were just about at the turnstiles when Patrick turned abruptly and pointed at Joey. “Holy cow! You’re the “I shit my pants” guy!”

“Patrick!” Alice gasped. “Language! And manners and…probably a couple other things.”

Joey responded with a loud laugh. “That I am. I got t shirts with the saying on it if you want one.”

“Uh, no,” Alice intervened. “Let’s not give the eleven year old a shirt about shitting on it, but, uh, thank you for the offer.”

“Fair enough. I should probably follow that advice,” Joey chuckled.

“Hey, I wear mine as a sleep shirt. I’m not giving it back,” Kloey protested.

“Do I even want to know?” Alice asked as they entered the park.

“It’s from Impractical Jokers,” Patrick explained. “He had to do the thing where they feed him lines and actions through an earpiece and he had to do them so they made him yell that he shit his pants in a crowded restaurant and it was so funny.”

“Sounds it,” Alice had to work to hide her smile at Patrick’s reaction and put on her Mom face. 

“Eh, it’s all in good fun,” Joey waved it off as they made their way towards the back of the park. “Those guys come up with some off the wall shit but it was fun to give it a go. You should check it out. Not cuz I was on it or anything just cuz it’s funny.”

“Yeah Mom, it’s great. I used to watch it at Andy’s house when I’d go over.” Alice watched something shift behind Patrick’s eyes as he remembered exactly why he couldn’t go over to Andy’s anymore. His back stiffened a little. “I don’t know how you haven't seen it? Isn’t that, like, your job as a fan?” Patrick said a little more pointedly.

“Sorry, my job as a Mom took precedence,” she teased back, letting him get the barb in. Both their therapists had told her to expect Patrick to pick at her when something bothered him. Really, that was true of any almost teenaged boy but Alice had decided to give him some leeway, as long as he didn’t cross the line.

“Don’t worry, I won’t rat you out to the other guys. Your fan club card is still safe,” Joey gave her a nudge with his elbow.

Staying on course with Patrick’s plan, the foursome headed straight to Rise of the Resistance then hit up Smuggler’s Run. After trying both varieties of Batuu milk, Patrick begged to give Smuggler’s Run another go as Kloey filled him in on all the tricks she’d learned from riding it. Alice’s stomach couldn’t take another round so quickly so Joey offered to stay with her and meet the kids at the exit.

“Sorry, I don’t know when the motion sickness on rides kicked in. Then again, I don’t remember the last time I was on any rides like this,” Alice apologized as they found a bench.

“No worries, I ride them enough I’m still used to them,” Joey settled in.

“So where are we in relation to the old MMC studio?”

“Over there,” Joey pointed. “It’s now Toy Story Mania.”

“Think we can ride it before we go? It’s different but, still, lots of memories in that building.”

“Oh? So when JC said you were a fan, he meant like an all the way back fan,” Joey smiled.

“I mean,” Alice began to blush, “I was an MMC fan before anything else, before he was even on the show.”

“But once he joined,” Joey winked. “I get it. He’s pretty. I’m man enough to admit when my friends are attractive. Add in the voice and yeah, I get it.”

“Look, I was a teenager and, you know, I had a crush. Then I met him, met all you guys, and you were all so sweet and, well, it was easy to root for you all over the years so the crush never went away.”

“Well if a week cooped up with him didn’t cure you of it, I don’t think anything will,” Joey joked. “Seriously though, it seems like that retreat helped the both of you out so that’s really awesome.”

“It’s been…a shitty year,” Alice breathed. “Hoping for a better one this year. This is definitely a good start though so thank you again for doing this.”

“My pleasure. Yeah, uh, JC told me your husband passed away. My condolences.”

“Uh, thank you. It’s…a bit more complicated than that but I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Sudden, I take it?”

“I guess that’s a way to put it,” Alice shifted.

Joey could sense her unease and quickly switched the topic. “Were you at any of the MMC concerts?”

“I made the one where JC sang Two Princes,” Alice told him then blushed. “Sorry, that’s the main part I remember.”

“It’s all good,” Joey laughed. “I used to go to a whole bunch of tapings cuz I went to school with a good chunk of the cast and I worked at Disney so I was able to get in for free.”

“I thought you worked at Universal?”

“Eventually, but first I was a “friend of Tigger,” so to speak,” Joey made air quotes.

“When was that?”

“Uh, high school, so…93 sounds right?” Joey tried to do the math.

“I KNOW I have a picture with Tigger from back then,” Alice eyed Joey suspiciously.

“Good chance it was me,” Joey smiled. “Look at us, friends all these years and we didn’t even know it.”

“So I’m guessing we probably were at a few of the same MMC tapings too…”

“Yeah, I mean, I never missed a concert so I at least was at the one you were at.”

“It was so long ago but I do remember being directly in front of one of the cameras.”

“Oh God, I have no idea where I was but we can figure it out,” he leans over to pull out his phone. He brings up his YouTube app and types “JC Chasez Two Princes” to find the video.

“We’re really gonna watch this?” Alice giggled.

“Why not?” Joey shrugged and started the video. Soon enough, the indelible image of a teenaged JC came running out on stage, flannel shirt tied around his waist with thick red suspenders falling overtop; it was so 90s, it almost hurt.

“There, that’s me,” Joey paused about a minute in, pointing to a very blurry person with dark hair. Alice could make out a white t shirt and overalls but no other features so she had to take Joey’s word on it.

“Keep going,” she said, concentrating on the video. Joey hit play again and about 20 seconds later she reached over and paused. “Blonde hair, black scunchie; that me,” she stared.

“You’re like, two rows behind me,” Joey looked on in amazement. “How the hell about that?”

“Nearly 30 years ago, crazy,” Alice was processing it all. She’d been there to see JC most of all but had no idea she’d been that close to his future band mate.

“We’ve come a long way,” Joey smiled as he started the video again.

“You’ve come a long way, I’m still the girl in the video.”

“And I’m still the guy,” Joey said evenly. “We’ve had our own journeys but it doesn’t change who we are.”

“Someone tell him that,” Alice pointed back at the screen to the young JC belting out the song and entertaining the crowd. “God, how does he…?” Alice stopped herself.

“What?”

“Not miss this?” she finished.

“He’s scared,” Joey said point blank. “Yeah, he’s a perfectionist and yeah got burned hard with his solo stuff but he knows deep down it’s never gonna be like it was so it scares him to try.”

Alice pulled back and really looked at Joey. “Wow, that’s…really insightful.”

“Well honestly, you kinda helped me come around to that realization,” he confessed. “When JC called while at the retreat, he said you discussed that something happened at the Star Ceremony that changed his demeanor and he didn’t know what so I sat and thought about it, a lot. That day was incredible and emotional to see how many fans were still there supporting us, not just in person but we were told the live stream too, both the numbers were record breaking. I remember talking to JC the day after and he was just dumbfounded by it all. And he said something like “I don’t think we can ever give them what they deserve from us” and I told him he was an idiot and moved on but I think, now, he just got overwhelmed by it all. He feels like if a reunion isn’t as big as we were at our height, it’s somehow letting all our fans down and definitely doesn’t want to do that so, he’s scared to try cuz he doesn’t want it to fail.”

Alice took all of what Joey was saying in and thought about all her talks with JC during the retreat. They’d only touched on the reunion topic once or twice, it clearly being an issue for JC but what Joey was saying certainly made sense. “You tell him this?”

“Not in so many words. Normally I’m not Mr. Subtle but he’s definitely changed since he came back and working hard to figure out a lot of shit with himself. I’m not gonna push him on it…yet.”

“You’re a good friend, Joey,” Alice smiled at him.

“Try to be,” he shrugged as he turned off the video. “Seems like you are too.”

“Working on it. Long way to go.”

“Dad, Boba Fett is over at the Cantina!” Kloey shouted as she sprinted by, Patrick hot on her heels.

“Hey!” Joey stood up and shouted to his daughter. His tone stopped both children in their tracks.

“Daddddd,” Kloey whined impatiently. “When has Boba Fett ever shone up? Like, never! Come on, we gotta go!”

Joey stood his ground, curling his finger to beacon his daughter over. Alice looked over at Patrick, his eyes wide and breath coming too quickly as he didn’t take his eyes off Joey. Alice carefully stood and made her way over to Patrick as Kloey trudged over to Joey.

“What is the rule?” Joey reprimanded her. 

“Ok, but I did tell you!” Kloey protested.

“What is the rule?” Joey reiterated, his eyebrows raising a touch. Alice watched as well and as she got near Patrick, his hand grabbed hers quickly and tightly. Alice took a breath, realizing what this was starting to bring back for her son.

“Don’t just run off places,” Kloey rolled her eyes, clearly having had this particular talk many times.

“Good attempt but yelling where you're going as you run off does not count,” Joey gave the slightest hint of a smile. “Being at the Happiest Place on Earth…”

“Doesn’t make it the safest,” Kloey echoed. “Ok, I’m sorry. I just got really excited. Now can we pleaseeeeeeee go?!” Kloey pleaded.

Joey sighed but couldn’t contain his smile anymore. “I am owed one public kiss,” he teased, bending down and pointing at his cheek. Kloey obliged but Joey captured her in a giant hug with her half laughing and half protesting. Alice and Patrick watched it all unfold. Eventually Joey let go and gave his daughter a gentle shove towards the Cantina. “Go. Get Boba Fett’s autograph for me. Alice and I will be right behind.”

Kloey smiled and ran a few feet before turning back to Patrick. “You coming?”

Patrick continued to stare at Joey, his breath starting to calm but his eyes wary nonetheless. Joey turned to look at the pair and suddenly realized something was wrong. He looked to Alice for guidance. “Patrick, what do you need?” Alice asked her son as calmly as she could manage.

The moment felt like an hour until Patrick finally answered. “Yeah, I’m coming,” he said loudly, not so much for Kloey to hear him but for both the adults to. Without taking his eyes off Joey, Patrick carefully pried his fingers from his mother’s hand and crossed over to Kloey, then the two were quickly out of sight.

Alice let out a large breath she didn’t even realize she was holding, bending and putting her hands on her knees. Joey approached cautiously. “Alice, I…I’m not really sure what I did but I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything, Joey,” Alice stood back up with a sigh. “You were being a good dad. Patrick doesn’t really have much experience seeing that in action, save for my brother.”

Joey looked at her, starting to put the pieces together. “JC mentioned your husband wasn’t a great guy.”

“A fairly large understatement but yeah, not a great guy.”

“Did he…I mean, with Patrick, did…?”

“It’s a really long story, Joey, and a hard one. I don’t want to turn the day into a downer,” Alice told him, not wanting to get into it on a day meant to be joyful.

“No pressure, sorry, I just…I don’t wanna scare the kid again,” Joey replied sheepishly. 

His reaction made Alice smile a touch. Joey might be silly but he always came off sure of himself. To see him uneasy was a side she didn’t expect. “I promise, it’s ok,” she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I’ll check in with him after they meet that Boba person and see how he’s doing.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say “that Boba person”?” Joey asked incredulously.

“This is a bad time to tell you I’ve never seen any of the Star Wars movies, isn’t it?” Alice admittedly. Joey feigned a shriek and staggered backwards, his hand going to his heart. “Ok look, I know the basics,” Alice laughed. “Boba Fett has the helmet and flies and is probably related to the Mandolarian, right? Oh, and is a bounty hunter but I have no clue how that relates to the story.”

“Considering how big of Star Wars fans we *NSYNC guys are, this may actually cost you your fan club card,” Joey teased.

“If you hadn’t been cut out of the one prequel movie, I would have watched them,” Alice countered. “Technically this is George Lucas’ fault.”

“Fair but Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon. It has to be witnessed at least once,” Joey argued then had a thought. “You know what? I’m gonna teach you. I have decided I take you as my padawan.”

“Your what now?!” Alice laughed in confusion.

“My padawan. My apprentice, so to speak. And I shall be the galant and suave Jedi Master, guiding you on your journey,” he stated confidently then quickly resorted to begging. “Come on, it’ll be fun! I never get to introduce someone to these movies anymore plus it will be really great that you can actually talk to Patrick about it if you understand it.”

Alice had to admit Joey made a very valid point and his enthusiasm was definitely rubbing off on her. “Ok, I accept Jedi Master Joey.”

“Jedi Master Joey. Oh yes, I like the sound of that,” he smiled as he wrapped an arm around Alice and they headed for the Cantina. “Wonder if I can get that embroidered on a bath robe?”