Downstairs, as Joey climbed on to the bus with the guys he asked, "Hey, guys. Do you think we could add a little something to the show tonight?"

"Let me guess, something else for Fantasia?" Lance asked.

"Yeah." Joey said sheepishly.

"Dude, save something for the honeymoon!" Chris joked. Joey just rolled his eyes. If the guys only knew about her past they’d understand why he was doing all of this.

"So what’s your idea?" JC asked.

Joey explained his plan and asked, "Do you think we can pull it off?"

"I think it’ll work, but we better rehearse it a few times." Justin said. The guys decided to lock themselves in their dressing room to rehearse.

A couple hours later, after Fantasia helped the guys stretch and get ready for the show, she went to find her seat in the VIP section. Just as she was settling in, Todd, one of the bodyguards came over to her and said, "I’ve been instructed to seat you somewhere else tonight." He led her to a front row seat on the left-hand side of the stage.

"Let me guess, this was Joey’s idea?" she asked.

"I’m not at liberty to say." Todd replied with a wink and a smile.

Meanwhile, backstage, Lance cornered Joey and asked, "Do you have any idea why Fantasia wouldn’t take that one beanie?"

"Yeah." Joey said slowly.

"Well?" Lance asked. Joey let out a deep sigh. "Let me guess, you can’t tell me." Lance said.

Joey just shook his head and said, "I wish I could."

"Well, I don’t want to do anything to make her mad." Lance continued.

"Then don’t bring it up! And don’t get her that beanie… actually I’d stay away from Bald Eagles all together." Joey said.

"Why? Was she attacked by one or something?" Lance asked a little worried.

"No, not really. It’s just a sore spot for her." Joey said.

"Why?" Lance asked confused. Joey could tell that Lance was worried about her.

"If I could tell you that I would." Joey replied.

"You know, Joe, you can tell us. We won’t tell her you said anything." Justin said joining the conversation.

"No, I can’t." Joey said firmly, "Fantasia’s had enough people in her life betray her. I’m NOT going to be one of them!" The guys could tell that they weren’t going to get anything out of Joey and decided to drop the subject.

About an hour later the opening acts were done and it was time for the concert to begin. As the show started, the fan in her came out and Fantasia started screaming her head off. As the guys started to fly out over the audience Joey went right over her head. Instinctively, Fantasia reached up to touch Joey’s hand. For a brief split second their fingertips touched. Joey was just glad that she was having such a good time. About midway through the show the guys started reading letters from the fans. JC read the first letter and then the guys sang Something Like You. After the song was over Joey started to read the next letter. Fantasia could not believe her ears. It was a letter that she had wrote to the guys two years ago!

As Joey finished reading the letter he said, "This letter is especially special to us because this fan is now our physical therapist. And today is her 23rd birthday! Happy birthday, Fantasia! We love you! This song is for you." As Joey said this he couldn’t take his eyes off Fantasia. When the guys started to sing she couldn’t control herself anymore. They were singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight just for her!

When the concert was nearly over Fantasia dashed back stage to meet the guys. Joey scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. He was dripping with sweat, but she didn’t care.

"Come on! We gotta go." JC said pulling on Joey’s arm. He put Fantasia down, grabbed her hand and they raced off towards the bus. They went back to the hotel. The guys only had forty-five minutes to shower, change their clothes, pack their bags and get to the party.

When everybody was ready, Fantasia, Jamie and the guys hopped into the limo and left for the party. When they got there Joey helped Fantasia out of the limo. That didn’t surprise her. Famous people are always getting helped out of limos like they are incapable of doing it themselves. What did surprise her was that Joey didn’t let go of her hand, not even when he paused to pose for some pictures. He did have to temporarily let go to go to sign some autographs. Fantasia wasn’t sure if she should wait for Joey or go on inside. It wasn’t like any of them were there to see her. She glanced over at Jamie to see what she was doing. Jamie was just standing next to Justin waiting patiently. Just then Joey finished signing autographs. He took Fantasia’s hand and they went inside.

Fantasia couldn’t believe how many celebrities were there! Most of them she wasn’t a fan of, but it was still amazing. She was going to try her best to remain calm. There were also a lot of reporters there. Some of them had been at the *Nsync concert. All they wanted to talk about was the guys’ tribute to Fantasia. *Nsync had never done anything like that before. The press wanted to know why her, why now.

"We’ll let Joey handle this one. He knows her better than any of us." Justin said.

"Thanks." replied Joey in a sarcastic tone. The other guys scattered themselves throughout the party, leaving Joey and Fantasia to handle the press.

"So is Fantasia here tonight?" one reporter asked as he looked around the room.

"You’re looking at her." Joey replied. The press just started snapping pictures like crazy. Fantasia thought she was going to go blind from all the flash bulbs going off.

"But I thought you said she was 23?" another reporter asked confused. Fantasia just started giggling. She always found it amusing when people mistook her for being younger than she really was.

"I am 23." she said, "But don’t worry about it. Everybody makes that mistake. Even Joey and the other guys." Joey just smiled sheepishly.

Once they were able to get away from the press, Fantasia followed Joey around the party as he mingled and talked business. Fantasia was still looking around to see who she could see. After about twenty minutes Fantasia was walking next to Joey when she stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it?" he asked a little concerned.

"Is that 98*?" she asked in a hushed tone. Joey just grinned and asked,

"Do ya wanna meet them?" Fantasia just nodded. As they started walking over towards 98*, Joey asked, "So how much do you know about them?"

"Let me put it this way. I love their music, but I can never remember who’s who." she said sheepishly.

Joey let out a small snort of laughter. "Don’t worry, I won’t tell them." Joey said slipping his arm around her waist.

"I do know that they put themselves together. They’re not some fabrication of a record company just to make money. I hate those bands." Fantasia said. Joey just smiled. He was glad to know that she wasn’t into those fake groups.

As they reached the group of guys Nick asked, "Hey, Joey! Is that Fantasia?"

"It sure is." Joey replied. The four guys of 98* introduced themselves to Fantasia and shook her hand. It was going to take every ounce of her strength to remain calm. Joey and Fantasia stood there chatting with 98*.

After about ten minutes another guy joined the group. He was tall with shaggy blonde hair. Fantasia started making small yelping, squeaking noises and her eyes were nearly bugging out of her head. "Do you know him, Fantasia?" Jeff asked.

"That’s only Trey Parker!" she exclaimed, trying not to scream.

"That’s not the guy that created South Park." Joey said confused. Everybody else just burst out laughing. "What?" Joey asked whining a little.

"Wrong Trey Parker." Fantasia replied still giggling.

"Don’t worry, I get that all the time." Trey said trying to console an embarrassed Joey.

"This Trey Parker is better known as Kid Blink, the newsie." Fantasia explained.

Trey just laughed. "It’s been a long time since anybody called me by that name. So I’m guessing you’re a Newsies fan."

"I love that movie!" Fantasia exclaimed.

"What’s a newsie?" Joey asked confused.

"Don’t tell me you’ve never seen the movie Newsies." she said.

Joey slowly shook his head and said, "I’ve never even heard of it."

"You’re in the music business, you love musicals, you’re a New York native and you’ve never seen Newsies?" she asked shocked.

"So? What does that have to do with the movie?" Joey asked even more confused.

Fantasia rolled her eyes and started to explain, "Newsies is about the newsboys’ strike in 1899. It takes place in New York City and Brooklyn. It’s a musical made by Disney and it has some of the best choreography I’ve ever seen!"

"Oh…." Joey said finally understanding.

"So, what’s your favorite dance number?" Trey asked Fantasia.

"Well, my favorite dance number is Seize the Day reprise, but my favorite song is The King of New York." She replied.

"And I guess I’m your favorite newsie." Trey said with a confident smile.

"Well, you’re in the top four." she replied, "You and Racetrack are tied at number three. Mush is number two and Spot Conlon is number one." Fantasia and Trey spent the next hour talking about Newsies and Trey’s new group, E.Y.C. All too soon it was time for Fantasia, Jamie and the guys to leave.

The group left through the back door and climbed on to their awaiting buses. Fantasia and Joey climbed on to the bus that they were sharing with Lance. Lance was already climbing into his bunk to go to sleep. Joey led Fantasia to the back lounge. The small room was decorated with dozens of electric candles. There was a black satin comforter spread out on the floor with two matching pillows. It wasn’t much, but Fantasia thought it was perfect. Joey once again pulled her into his arms and whispered, "Happy birthday." The two of them curled up on the blanket.

When Joey was sure Lance was sound asleep he asked Fantasia, "Why didn’t you get mad at Lance for getting you that one Beanie Baby?"

Fantasia paused to listen for the gentle sounds of Lance snoring down the hall. "I realized that if I got mad at him I would have to explain everything. And not just to him, but everyone that was there. I wasn’t about to do that."

"You know, I meant to warn Lance about that Beanie." Joey said, starting to apologize.

"It’s ok." Fantasia said, "I’ll consider this his warning. If he does it again he’s really going to get it."

"Let me guess, his underwear will turn up on Ebay." Joey said with a smirk.

"No, nothing that drastic. I’d probably just post an embarrassing picture of him all over the internet." she replied with an evil grin. Joey just started laughing.

As they laid there holding each other, Joey had something else he wanted to ask Fantasia. He just wasn’t sure how to go about it. "Can I ask you something?"

Fantasia looked at him a little confused and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess."

Joey thought about his question for a few seconds, not really sure how to word it. "Why…. What makes you think you don’t have any good ideas?"

"I never said that. I said nobody ever likes my ideas." she replied. Joey nodded his head.

"Ok…. Why?" Fantasia shrugged her shoulders again. "I wish I knew. The kids I went to school with thought that because I was bald, I was stupid. When I made the honor roll, they erased my name off the list. When I suggested something, like during a group project, they acted like it was the stupidest thing they ever heard. If the idea would’ve come from somebody else, it would’ve been ok. I remember this one time when I was in 4th grade. The class was broke up into groups of six and each group was given a math problem to do. In my group, I came up with one answer and everybody else came up with another answer. I knew I was right, but I just couldn’t convince them. I tried to show them how I did it, but they wouldn’t even look at it. Finally, the teacher heard us arguing and came over to investigate. She looked over our papers and announced that mine was right."

Joey burst out laughing. "I bet that felt good." he said between chuckles.

Fantasia nodded. "Yeah, it did. I’ll never forget the looks on their faces. Unfortunately, it didn’t change what they thought of me. They still thought my ideas were stupid."

"You know that’s not true, right?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." she replied, but she didn’t sound like it. Joey took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Fantasia, you are the one who noticed that Wade looked like me." Joey said referring to the Pop music video, "You saved our butts that day! I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t suggested that."

Fantasia didn’t know what to say. She threw her arms around Joey and buried her face in his chest. Joey held her tight and kissed the top of her head. They continued to lie there talking, but before long both fell asleep in each other’s arms.