Chris held the phone up to his ear and listened to the ringing as he waited for Derek to pick up. He felt bad about yelling at Derek like he had because he was trying to help and he didn’t know that JC would react like he did. The last thing he wanted was to lose an old friend over something that could have been avoided so he had decided to call Derek to apologize. It took less than a minute for the ringing to stop.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Derek,” Chris said.

Derek sighed. “Oh, hey Chris.”

“I wanted to apologize about earlier. I know that you meant well and had no idea that was going to happen,” Chris apologized.

“I really am sorry about that. I still think I could have helped if I had talked to him more, but I respect your decision,” Derek said.

“What can we do to help him?” Chris asked.

“Just give him some space.” Derek paused before he continued, “Don’t get on his case if he skips a meal unless you haven’t seem him eat all day. And as long as he’s sleeping, it doesn’t matter when he does it.”

Chris nodded in understanding even though he knew that Derek couldn’t see him. Movement caught his eye and he looked up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table to see JC reaching into a cabinet for a glass. “Thanks, man. I got to go, but it was nice seeing you again.”

“Yeah you too. Keep in touch,” Derek said.

“I will,” Chris promised, glancing over at JC who was drinking a glass of water. He wanted to get off the phone before JC left the room to hide in his bedroom because he figured now would be a good time to put his plan into action. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Derek said.

Chris hung up the phone and looked up at JC. “Hey, man.”

“Hi,” JC said quietly.

“How you feeling?” Chris asked.

“Fine.” JC paused before adding, “A little tired.”

“You know I was thinking we should go out tonight,” Chris said.

“Someone needs to stay with Lance,” JC replied. He placed his empty glass in the dishwasher.

“Justin’s going to stay with him,” Chris said.

JC sighed and turned around to face Chris. “I don’t want to.”

“C’mon, we’ve been cooped up in this house forever. This gives you a chance to get out.” Chris saw JC open his mouth and quickly added, “We don’t have to talk about anything. Not if you don’t want to. We’ll just go out, have a couple of drinks, and relax.”

“OK,” JC reluctantly gave in.

Chris grinned at him. “Good. You have a half hour to ready, so you better hop in the shower now. I know how long you take.”

JC rolled his eyes at Chris’ jab at him, but left the kitchen to take his shower. Chris watched him go and couldn’t help but wonder how tonight would go. He hoped he’d be successful in getting JC to let go and relax even if it was only for a couple hours. Sighing he pushed his chair back and rose from the table to find Justin and let him know that him and JC would be leaving soon.

Justin sat at Lance’s bedside. They hadn’t checked on him since Chris had brought him something to eat several hours ago and JC had been resting peacefully, so he had decided to see how Lance was doing. He reached a hand out to grab the washcloth that had been placed on Lance’s forehead to alleviate his slight fever to check to see if it had lessened at all. Justin sighed as he pulled his hand back. It seemed Lance’s skin was still warm, so he rose from his seat to rewet the damp cloth.

He came out of the bathroom a moment later and gently placed the now cold washcloth on Lance’s forehead. As Justin straightened from leaning over Lance, he looked up to see Chris walk into the room.

“We’ll be leaving soon,” Chris said.

“So you convinced him to go?” Justin asked.

Chris nodded as he stood across from Justin. “Yeah, it wasn’t a problem.”

“How soon are you leaving?”

“As soon as JC’s out of the shower,” Chris said. He nodded his head at Lance. “How’s he doing?”

Justin sighed and ran a hand through his curls. “I’m not sure anymore. I thought he would be better by now and he’s not.”

“We’ll give it another day. If he’s not feeling better tomorrow, then we’ll call the doctor,” Chris said.

Justin raised his eyebrows. “You took me to the doctor right away and you’re waiting to see how Lance is?”

“You passed out, Justin. I think that was a bit more serious. Lance just has a cold or something,” Chris replied.

“It’s more serious than a cold, Chris,” Justin said.

“I said that we’ll call the doctor tomorrow if he’s not feeling better. OK?” Chris asked.

“OK.” Justin nodded. Movement by the door caught his attention and he looked over to find JC freshly showered and clothed. “Hey, Jace.”

“Hey,” JC said.

Chris turned around to look at him. “Are you ready to go?”

JC shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Great. Let’s go,” Chris said, walking towards the door. JC, however, didn’t move.

“Are you going to be all right looking at after him?” JC asked Justin.

“Yeah.” Justin waved him off. “All he does is sleep anyway.”

Chris pushed JC out of Lance’s room and JC had no choice but to comply. Justin followed both of them downstairs into the foyer. As Chris bent down to tie his shoes, JC looked over at Justin.

“Are you sure you’ll be OK?” he asked.

Justin nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“Make sure he gets his medicine. He’s probably due for some more,” JC said.

“I’ll take care of it,” Justin replied.

“See you later, J,” Chris said as he opened the front door.

“If you need something, call,” JC told Justin as Chris gently pushed him out the door.

“I will,” Justin promised. “Bye guys.”

Chris pulled the door shut behind them and Justin watched them get into JC’s car before pulling out of the driveway. Once they were gone, he turned back around to go upstairs to give Lance his Nyquil. Justin didn’t really think that it would help because they had been giving him medicine since he got sick and it didn’t seem to be working. But he knew that JC would ask if he had given him his medicine when they got home so he figured he would do it now. He was able to go straight up to Lance’s room because the package of pills was sitting on his nightstand.

Justin walked into Lance’s bedroom to find him trying to get out of bed. He quickly rushed over and pushed Lance back down into bed. Lance didn’t settle back against the mattress like Justin had wanted him to and continued to struggle against Justin.

“Justin! We need to help JC!” Lance exclaimed as he continued to push against Justin who was trying to force him to lie down.

“Lance, listen to me,” Justin commanded as Lance tried to get out of bed again. “JC’s safe. I promise.”

“No, he’s not. Katrina could be doing something to him right now,” Lance protested.

“Katrina?” Justin repeated confused before he realized what Lance was talking about. He had heard from Joey and Chris about how Lance seemed to be having delusions from the past and he recognized that Lance must be referring to when they had spent a week’s vacation at the cabin. This just further cemented his feelings that Lance needed to see a doctor.

Suddenly Lance fell back against his bed with a cry of pain. He didn’t stay like that long before he tried to sit up to reach his legs. “What’s the matter?” Justin asked, frantically eyeing Lance for any visible injuries worried that something was seriously wrong with him.

“Get it off!” Lance yelled as he continued to reach for his legs and pushed his arms out as if he were trying to push something off of him.

“Get what off?” Justin continued to stare at Lance afraid of what was happening.

“The tree!”

It hit Justin that Lance must be remembering when the tree had fallen on his leg. Knowing that there wasn’t anything he could do to make Lance believe that the tree wasn’t on him, he left Lance’s bedroom and walked a few feet down the hall to JC’s room. He walked over to his dresser and began to look for the sleeping pills that JC had given him a few days ago because he felt that was the best thing he could do for Lance to get him to calm down.

It wasn’t hard to find the pills and Justin immediately swiped them off his dresser before walking back into Lance’s room. He wasn’t surprised to see Lance still reaching for his leg with pain etched on his face. Justin retrieved a glass of water from the bedroom and punched a pill out of the packet.

“Lance.” Justin waited until he had his attention before he continued, “I need you to take these.”

“Get it off!” Lance repeated.

“I will, Scoop, but this will help with the pain,” Justin said calmly. He didn’t want to freak Lance out so he did his best to stay calm.

“OK,” Lance said. Justin handed him the pill and the glass of water. He watched as Lance swallowed the pill and washed it down with the water.

Justin stood by Lance’s feet and pretended to push the tree off his leg. He felt so stupid pushing air, but knew that Lance thought he was otherwise he would have said something. Stealing a glance at Lance who was watching him through half lidded eyes, he continued to go through the motions of removing the tree from Lance’s leg. Five minutes later he stopped and looked up at Lance who had fallen asleep.

Justin straightened up and pulled the covers up to the middle of Lance’s chest. He shut the door softly behind him once he left the room and walked downstairs. Heaving a deep sigh he sat heavily on the couch and stared blankly at the TV. Lance had him even more worried than he had been when he had talked to Chris earlier. Justin knew it wasn’t normal for Lance to have delusions that were so real especially since he wasn’t that sick, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He made a mental note to tell JC about it later.

A sharp throbbing pain intensified in his forehead and Justin reached up a hand to try to massage his temples in an attempt to ease the pain. He figured it must’ve been caused by trying to calm Lance down and worrying about him. If his previous experience with his other headaches had taught him anything, it was that aspirin didn’t help at all, but he didn’t know what else to do. Slowly he stood up from the couch and went to walk into the bathroom to get some aspirin when everything began to spin. Justin reached out to grab onto the arm of the couch to steady himself and tried to stop his vision from swimming in and out of focus by closing his eyes. However, it had the opposite effect and he fell forward onto the carpet.

From where he was dancing with a pretty brunette, Chris could see JC sitting at their table in the VIP section nursing a Rum and Coke. The song ended and Chris excused himself from his dance partner to walk over to JC to try to get him to dance a little and loosen up. He reached the booth where JC was sitting and plopped down in the seat across from him. JC barely looked up at him.

“Having fun?” JC asked, watching the amber liquid slosh around in the glass as he rolled it in a circular motion.

“Yeah. You should get out there, dude,” Chris answered.

“Maybe later,” JC said.

“We’ve already been here for an hour and you haven’t danced at all,” Chris replied.

JC finished off his drink. “I don’t feel like it.”

“OK.” Chris tried not to look disappointed. While he had expected JC to act like this he had hoped that he would let go long enough to have a little bit of fun. “You want to come get another drink with me at the bar?”

“Sure.” JC shrugged. Chris smiled at him and led the way to the bar. He was glad that JC had agreed to at least come over to the bar because there was a greater chance of him striking up a conversation with a woman there instead of moping in the VIP section.

After a minute or two of making their way through the throng of people, they reached the bar. Chris ordered for both of them. “I’ll have a Budweiser and a…Rum and Coke.”

The bartender nodded and placed the two drinks on the bar a minute later. Chris slipped him a twenty. “Keep the change.”

Chris handed JC his drink and turned his back to the bar so he could look out at the people moving their bodies to the pulsing beat of the club. He scouted the floor for a girl that looked like JC’s type. Despite what JC had told him he knew that if he found JC a girl and brought her over to him he wouldn’t refuse her of a dance. Finally he spotted a blonde that seemed to be with a few of her friends, which was good because that meant he would have someone to dance with too.

Chris elbowed JC to get his attention. “Hey, hot girl at two o’clock.”

JC turned around on his bar seat to get a glimpse of the girl that Chris was talking about. He studied her for a minute before he said, “Not bad.”

“Not bad?” Chris repeated. “I find you a hot girl to dance with and that’s all you say?”

“If you like her that much why don’t you go talk to her?” JC asked.

“Because she’s more your type. I’ll go talk to her redhead friend and see if I can get them to join us,” Chris said. He stood up and started to walk towards the dance floor before he turned to look back at JC to ask if he wanted to come with him when he tripped over something that sent him stumbling into someone. Laughing, Chris looked up at the guy that he ran into and spotted a wet stain on his shirt, and he realized that he must’ve spilt his beer on him when he tripped. “Sorry, man.”

“Watch where you’re going, Shorty,” the bigger man growled.

Chris narrowed his eyes. “It was an accident.”

“I’m sick of people like you coming in here thinking you can get away with anything,” the man replied.

“I don’t know where you got that idea, but I suggest you get that stick out of your ass,” Chris said.

The man glared down at Chris. “Are you trying to start something?”

“What if I am?” Chris asked, glaring right back at him.

“Chris, man, I think it’s time to go,” JC interjected as he pulled at Chris’ arm.

“You better listen to your boyfriend,” the man taunted Chris.

Chris stepped up to him to get in his face and pushed him. “You leave him out of this.”

“Keep your fag hands off me,” the man growled as he roughly pushed Chris causing him to fall backwards into JC.

JC steadied Chris before tugging on his arm. “C’mon, Chris.”

“Fine,” Chris said as he allowed JC to lead them away from the bar and towards the exit.

“Sure, kid, run away. You know I’d whoop your ass,” the man called after them.

Chris tightened beneath JC’s hold and JC muttered to him, “Just ignore him.”

It didn’t take long before both of them were outside. Chris turned to look at JC. “Why did you stop me? I could’ve taken him.”

“What are you talking about? That guy was like two times the size of you,” JC said.

Chris waved that fact off. “Size means nothing.”

“That’s what you think,” JC replied and shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips.

“What’s so funny?” Chris asked noticing the small smile that was starting to form on JC’s face.

“Do you realize how ridiculous you looked? That guy was towering over you and you were looking up giving him your death glare.” JC laughed this time. “And your comeback was so lame that it cancelled out the look of death you were giving him.”

Chris wanted to protest, but he realized that it must’ve looked pretty funny and joined in JC’s laughter. “At least I did something. You just stood there.”

“I wasn’t the one who spilt my drink on him!” JC paused before he asked, “What did you trip on anyway?”

Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably his big feet.”

“And you wonder why you get into so many fights,” JC said.

“Hey, it wasn’t like I was trying to pick a fight with this guy. He was the one who got all wound up.”

“You spilled a drink on him, Chris. Did you want him to give you a hug?” JC replied.

“Can you imagine what that would’ve looked like?” Chris laughed harder at the visual he got and JC joined him. He looked over at his friend glad that JC was smiling even if he knew it wasn’t going to last long. It looked like taking him out had been a success after all.

Justin slowly sat up and clutched his head. It seemed that his headache had escalated even more than before. He glanced at the clock on the wall above the TV and was surprised to see that he had been out for almost five minutes because when he passed out in driveway he had only been out for about a minute. Just like last time he had passed out he had seen himself writing in a notebook, but there had been new images too. The new images made his head spin and ache even more.

He had seen himself rush upstairs and run into Chris in the hallway at the top of the stairs. After that he made a left to enter Lance’s bedroom and when he didn’t see him, he walked into the connecting bathroom. His eyes fell upon Lance’s unconscious body lying on the floor surrounded by white pills and tiny shards of glass from the broken mirror above the sink.

Justin didn’t know what to make of what he saw. Lance wasn’t one of those people who committed suicide; he didn’t have it in him. However, Justin couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that was telling him he had to have seen what he did for a reason. Shaking his head he pushed himself off the floor, but instantly regretted it because standing seemed to have made the pounding in his head even more prominent. He looked over at the clock again to see that it was almost midnight, and he knew that Chris and JC would probably be back soon.

Slowly Justin made his way down the hall and into the bathroom where he opened the medicine cabinet to get some aspirin for his head. As he dumped the white pills into his hand he couldn’t help but think back to what he had seen with Lance. Justin shook his head gently before he swallowed the pills and walked back into the living room to lie down on the couch. He figured that maybe if he lied down he could get rid of his headache and maybe even try to get what he had seen off his mind.

A couple minutes passed before he could hear the front door open and close softly. There were hushed voices and then footsteps that were heading his way before they stopped. Justin slowly opened his eyes to see JC standing in the doorway of the living room watching him.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?” JC asked quietly as if he didn’t want to disturb the silence that encompassed the house.

“No. I wasn’t sleeping,” Justin said equally as quiet. He was trying to keep the noise down so as not to agitate his headache. His eyes slowly took in JC’s appearance and it was then that he noticed that JC had a small smile on his face. “I take it you had a good night clubbing.”

JC shrugged. “It was all right. Chris almost got beat up by some guy that was twice his size.”

Justin gave a weak smile as JC laughed softly. “Sounds like it was a typical night.”

“Yeah.” JC nodded and paused as he looked closer at Justin. “Hey, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I just have a headache,” Justin said. He wasn’t ready to tell JC that he passed out again and what he had seen with Lance, especially since he didn’t know what to make of it. Plus JC was actually in a good mood and Justin didn’t want to ruin it.

“Again? Is it bad?” JC asked concerned.

“Yeah.” Justin saw JC turn around to leave the room and quickly added, “I already took some Tylenol. I’ll live.”

“I’m just going to get you a cold washcloth,” JC said. Justin watched him leave the room and reenter a couple minutes later carrying a damp cloth. JC gently laid the cool cloth on Justin’s forehead before he took a seat in the chair next to the couch.

“You know, I thought I’d stop getting headaches all the time now that my nightmares are gone,” Justin told him, his eyes closed.

“They’re really gone?” JC asked.

Justin shrugged. “Seems like it. I haven’t had any in the past two days.” He opened his eyes to look at JC. “That’s got to be progress, right?”

“Right.” JC nodded. “So you think your nightmares and headaches were connected?”

“Yeah. I always seemed to have one when I woke up.” Justin paused before he added, “Why? Didn’t you?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, I had headaches, but I don’t know if they were from the nightmares or if it was from not eating,” JC said. He thought for a few seconds before he said, “If you’re concerned we can make an appointment to see the doctor.”

“No. I don’t think that’s necessary. Besides, I was just there. You would think if something was wrong, he would’ve noticed,” Justin replied.

JC nodded. “You’re right. Well, I guess I’ll let you get some sleep.”

“Hey.” Justin stopped JC. “Where’s Chris?”

“Upstairs checking on Lance. I’ll be heading up there in a second,” JC said.

“Don’t bother. Lance is sleeping,” Chris said as he walked into the room and stood next to JC. He nodded at Justin. “Hey, J.”

“Hey,” Justin greeted.

Chris frowned as he noticed the washcloth on Justin’s forehead. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah, just a headache,” Justin said. Chris nodded in acceptance.

“Did you give him his medicine?” JC asked, bringing their conversation back to Lance.

Justin sighed. “No, not exactly.”

“Why? What happened?” JC gave Justin a curious look.

“He was really bad,” Justin started. “He thought that we were back at the cabin and you were hurt. Then he thought the tree was on top of him. I tried to calm him down, but he seemed so out of it, so I ended up giving him one of your sleeping pills.”

“He was really that bad?” Chris asked, frowning.

Justin nodded. “He was freaking out trying to get the tree off him. It was so bizarre. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

“Sounds like you handled it well,” JC told him and gave him a small smile.

Justin returned the smile, relieved. He was glad that he hadn’t done anything wrong because he hadn’t known what he had been doing and if it was going to help Lance.

“Get some sleep, man,” JC said.

“See you in the morning,” Chris told him.

“Good night,” Justin said and watched the two of them walk out of the living room. He closed his eyes and was about to drift off to sleep when he heard voices talking out in the hall. That could only be JC and Chris. Justin strained to hear what they were saying.

“I think it’s time we call the doctor,” he heard Chris say.

“OK,” JC said. That seemed to be the end of the conversation because he could hear footsteps and the stairs creak. Justin sighed in relief that Lance was going to get some help. That thought put his mind to ease and allowed him to fall asleep.