Lance’s eyes snapped open, abruptly pulling him away from sleep. Blearily, his eyes wandered around his dark bedroom as he tried to process why he woke up so suddenly. Another shrill ring sounded and immediately Lance knew what’d woken him. Reaching out, he grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand.

“’lo?” Lance asked, voice heavy with sleep. He’d thought about just letting it go to voicemail, but figured it could be something important. It wouldn’t be the first time he got a call from FreeLance about a problem.

“Lance?”

Hearing that familiar voice, Lance pushed himself into a sitting position. “Johnny? What’s up?”

“I just heard about Justin,” Johnny said.

“How’d you find out?” Lance asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. As soon as he’d heard Johnny’s voice, he had a feeling that was the reason he was calling. He wasn’t really surprised because he figured it’d get out, despite Joey’s optimism.

“It doesn’t matter. This needs to be dealt with.” There was a slight pause before Johnny asked, “But first…how is he?”

“He’s fine,” Lance said.

“Are you sure? He passed out,” Johnny replied. “Sounds pretty serious.”

“It’s not. He just…wasn’t feeling well. Migraine that just came on suddenly,” Lance lied. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed, hoping it sounded believable. It was the first thing that popped into his head that was at least semi-logical.

Johnny sighed. “Well, this still needs to be dealt with. It’s going to be all over the news, and people are going to want to know how he’s doing. I think it’s better to try to squelch this thing before it gets too big.”

“We’ll do whatever,” Lance said.

“Then I’m going to schedule a press conference at noon to let people see that Justin’s OK for themselves. But I want to see you, Justin, and Joey at the Compound at eleven so we can go over what’s going to be said,” Johnny instructed.

“We’ll be there,” Lance promised. “See you then, Johnny.”

Lance hung up the phone and sighed. Even though he’d expected it, he wasn’t looking forward to explaining to the public what’d happened. Not to mention it would take away from researching a way to help JC, but it couldn’t be helped. Slowly he stood and stretched before he walked down the hall to JC’s room so he could send Chris to bed. If he, Justin, and Joey were going to attend this press conference, then Chris would have to keep an eye on JC, which would be better if he got some sleep.

Pausing in the doorway, Lance could see that Chris was slouched down low in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. At the moment his eyes were closed, but Lance knew that he most likely wasn’t sleeping. A few hours of sleep would do him some good, so Lance softly rapped on the door to avoid startling Chris before he walked into the room.

Chris immediately opened his eyes before bringing up a hand to rub at them. He sat up straighter and looked over at Lance. “What are you doing up?”

“I just got off the phone with Johnny,” Lance said.

“He call about Justin?”

Lance nodded. “He’s scheduling a press conference at noon, so we have to meet him at the Compound at eleven.”

“I’m staying with JC,” Chris stated more than asked.

“There’s no point in you guys going because you weren’t even there,” Lance said.

“So I guess you’re here to relieve me?”

“You need some sleep. You’re really starting to look like crap,” Lance jabbed with a small smile.

“Always with the compliments, Bass,” Chris said sarcastically.

A soft sigh shifted Lance’s attention from Chris to the bed. Lance’s first thought was that JC was awake, but his eyes were closed and his breathing still even. He was satisfied that JC was still sleeping because he’d always been horrible at pretending to sleep. But then again, he used to be horrible at lying, and he’s certainly gotten better at that.

“He’s been doing that all night,” Chris said, gesturing to JC.

“What?” Lance asked.

“Sighing,” Chris said simply. “Every once in a while he’ll sigh. And he’s been waking up every couple of hours all night. A couple of times I asked him if he was all right and he gave me his typical ‘I’m fine’ routine before rolling away from me.”

“You think he’s having nightmares?” Lance asked.

Chris shook his head. “I just think he’s over thinking everything that happened yesterday.”

Lance nodded. That definitely sounded like JC, and Lance was sure that he was beating himself up for not completing his ritual. Eventually Lance would like to be able to sit down with JC and talk to him about what he was going to do, but knew that wouldn’t be for a while. There wasn’t time right now, but even if there was, Lance wasn’t sure he’d be able to talk to JC without yelling at him.

“Well,” Chris stood up from the chair he’d been sitting on, bringing Lance out of his thoughts, “I guess I’m going to hit the hay.”

Lance glanced over at the alarm clock on JC’s dresser and noted that it was nearly six o’clock. “I’ll probably wake Justin and Joey sometime after eight, so that gives you a couple of hours.”

“Oh goody,” Chris said sarcastically before he left the room. Once he was gone, Lance placed himself in the seat Chris had just vacated.

Lance fixed his gaze on JC who was sleeping on his side facing him. Looking at him now, it was hard to believe that nearly twelve hours ago he’d tried to take his own life.

And to make it even worse it had set off another incident. If JC hadn’t cut his hand for the ritual, then they wouldn’t have gone to the store where Justin passed out from a vision. Lance knew that it probably would’ve happened eventually because they had really lucked out at the club, but now they were forced to handle it sooner. He just hoped the press conference would go smoothly and they could refocus their attention on the demons.

Justin walked into JC’s room a quarter after ten that morning. Lance had woken him up at eight thirty saying that they had a press conference about what’d happened and had to meet with Johnny an hour before that. He’d gotten a shower before Joey, so he figured he would go check on JC since he hadn’t really seen him since they interrupted him last night.

Once in the room, his eyes immediately fell on JC lying in bed facing the wall. Justin stood there for a minute trying to decipher if he was sleeping or just lying there. Normally he would be able to tell because he knew JC so well. But after discovering that he was going to kill himself by summoning the demon, he was left feeling like he didn’t really know his best friend after all.

Justin turned his attention to Lance. It wasn’t surprising to see Lance sitting there. He’d figured that the guys would be protective of JC and refuse to leave him alone. “Is he sleeping?”

Lance opened his mouth to reply, but a voice behind Justin softly said “no.” Justin turned around to see JC had rolled over and was looking at him before lowering his gaze to the floor. It was obvious that JC felt as awkward as he did.

Justin turned back to Lance. “Can you give us a few minutes?”

“Just remember we’re leaving in fifteen minutes,” was the only thing Lance said before he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

“Where are you going?” JC asked, pulling himself into a sitting position. Justin took advantage of the space at foot of the bed to sit down.

“We have to meet with Johnny before the press conference at noon,” Justin told him.

JC sighed and nodded. “How’d he find out?”

Justin shrugged. “One of his sources, I guess.”

“What are you going to say?” JC asked.

“I’m not sure. Something about migraines, I think. At least that’s what Lance told Johnny when he called,” Justin said.

There was a slight pause before JC asked, “Are you sure you’re ready to handle this?”

“Yeah, I’ll be all right.”

“It’s just…” JC sighed and ran his right hand through his hair. “They’re not just going to ask question about you passing out. They’re going to freak when they see your cast.”

“Well, I guess that’s what the meeting with Johnny’s for. To prepare for that,” Justin said after a few seconds passed. Honestly he had completely forgotten that no one knew about his cast, but then again that fan in Walgreens had mentioned it. Normally that would be all over the Internet by now, which made Justin wonder if Johnny even knew since Lance hadn’t mentioned anything about Johnny asking him.

JC didn’t say anything, but nodded. An awkward silence settled between them. Justin wasn’t quite sure what to say. There was so much he’d wanted to say to JC, but now that he was actually face to face with him, he couldn’t think of one thing. He let his eyes bounce around the room before movement caught his attention. JC was rubbing the back of his left hand, trying not to disrupt the gauze that was wrapped around it.

“How’s your hand?” Justin asked.

JC dropped his right hand back into his lap and looked up at Justin. “Fine.”

Justin knew that he was lying. A cut like that had to hurt, but that was JC. He always felt like he needed to hide his pain from them so he could continue to look out for them. That was just another reason to add to the list of how unselfish he was. Suddenly with that thought, Justin felt the words come to him.

“I wish you were more selfish.”

“What?” JC asked, his head tilted to the side, clearly not understanding.

“I know that…” Justin sighed. “That you did…what you did for us. I just wish sometimes you would do things for you.”

“I was doing it for me,” JC defended. “Do you think I want to keep watching you guys get hurt?”

Justin shook his head. “You were doing it for us. I know you, JC, and I know that your reasons for doing it had absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with us.” He paused briefly, lowering his eyes before bringing them back up to meet JC’s. “If you had thought about you, then you wouldn’t have gone through with it. You want to live.”

“What if I don’t? What if I want to die?” JC asked softly, his attention focused on pulling a loose thread out of the comforter.

“I don’t believe that, but even if I did…you can’t die,” Justin said.

“Why not?”

“Because I need you.” JC brought surprised eyes up to look at him and Justin nodded. “My visions are becoming more and more frequent. And with everything new that I’ve learned about them…I’m scared.”

JC swallowed hesitantly before he asked, “What did you learn?”

Justin sighed as his mind raced. The guys had deemed it a bad idea to tell JC anything about what the demons had told him, but Justin knew that he had to finish this now that he started it. And to be completely truthful, he wanted to tell JC.

“Justin?”

JC’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, signaling that he’d been silent for too long. At least long enough to outlast JC’s patience. “When…when the demons kidnapped me…they…” JC put a comforting hand on Justin’s thigh and Justin took a deep breath before he continued, “They tortured me for information about my visions.”

“What did you tell them?” JC asked, quietly.

“Nothing. I mean, I don’t really know anything about them. Where they came from or anything. At least I didn’t until I realized…” Justin stopped. He knew that he had to finish getting this all out, but at the same time he knew that JC wasn’t going to take the new bit of information well.

“Realized what?”

Justin made eye contact with JC. “They’ve been through your perspective.”

JC’s eyes widened considerably as he breathed, “What?”

“Every single one I’ve seen through your eyes. Lance’s suicide attempt, the attack on Joey, the kidnapping…everything,” Justin admitted quietly. He wasn’t surprised by JC’s reaction. It’d been expected because he knew that JC would take it to heart.

“This is my fault,” JC mumbled so low with his head down that Justin almost hadn’t heard him.

Justin shook his head and put a hand on JC’s arm, causing him to look up at him. “I don’t want you to feel guilty because none of this is your fault. And that’s not what this is about anyway.”

“Then what?”

“You’re the one I go to when I’m scared and need to talk. The guys…they’re so wrapped up in helping you that they don’t talk to me.” Justin paused as he began to pick at his nails, knowing how that sounded. “But it’s totally understandable. Your life’s in danger. Mine isn’t, but I need someone to talk to.

“I can’t do this without you. I know you don’t always have answers to my questions, but it’s nice having someone to just listen. And I’ll especially need you once this is all over because I have a feeling my visions aren’t going to quit,” Justin confessed.

Justin brought his head up after a minute or two passed in silence. He realized JC hadn’t said anything yet. “JC?”

“I’ll always be here for you, J,” JC said softly. Justin could see the sincerity in JC’s eyes and closed his eyes in relief. It was comforting to know that JC wasn’t going to leave him to deal with all of this alone.

“Now,” Justin said as he opened his eyes and looked at JC, “You can’t tell the guys about what I’ve told you.”

JC frowned. “Why not?”

“Because they didn’t want me to tell you.” Justin saw the anger flash in JC’s eyes and added, “Please don’t get on their case about it. It’s not worth another fight.”

JC sighed, but nodded. “OK.”

“Are you sure your hand’s OK?” Justin asked, frowning as he watched JC absently massage his left hand. He hadn’t moved it much while they were talking either.

“It’s fine,” JC said, brushing off Justin’s concern, but Justin wasn’t going to give up that easily.

“Have you taken anything for the pain?” When JC shook his head, Justin rose from the bed. “Let me get you some aspirin.”

“You don’t have to do that,” JC said.

“You’re in pain,” Justin argued and JC reluctantly gave in. He opened the door and stepped out into the hall to walk towards the bathroom to get some aspirin. It didn’t take him long to reach the bathroom and dump two pills into his hands before placing the bottle back in the medicine cabinet. Walking back down the hall, he was nearly to JC’s room when he ran into Lance.

“We’re getting ready to leave,” Lance said.

Justin nodded. “I just need to give JC some aspirin first.”

“I tried that like ten times and he refused every single time,” Lance groused with a sour expression.

“Well, I wouldn’t take anything from the person who drugged me either,” Justin replied.

Lance threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?”

Justin didn’t answer, but gave Lance a knowing look. Lance sighed and turned to walk back downstairs. Five minutes later Justin was locking the front door behind him after he’d given JC some aspirin to ease the pain and he threw on some shoes. He slid into the backseat just like he had a little over twelve hours ago only this time Lance was driving and Joey was in the passenger seat.

“How’d it go with JC? You guys good?” Joey asked a few minutes into short ride it took to get to the Compound.

Justin nodded. “Everything’s good.”

Joey nodded in acceptance and Justin let his thoughts drift back to the conversation he’d just had with JC. He thought it went well considering at the beginning he didn’t have a clue what he was going to say. The best part was that JC agreed to always be there for him and thereby agreeing to live. Justin was grateful that he’d be able to talk to JC, especially now that he knew what was going on with his visions. And hopefully now JC was getting some rest because Justin was sure that he hadn’t slept well the night before.

“How did you know what JC was up to?”

The question startled Justin out of his thoughts and he leaned forward in his seat with a confused expression while Joey turned his head sharply to the left to look at Lance. “What?” Joey asked.

“What made you check on JC last night? I mean, if it wasn’t for you he might’ve…” Lance glanced quickly at Joey before turning his attention back on the road to change lanes. “We wouldn’t have found him until it was too late.”

“That’s what it said to me,” Joey said quietly as if he were talking to himself.

“What?” Justin asked, frowning.

Suddenly Lance’s eyes grew wide and he locked eyes with Joey. “The ghost?”

Joey nodded. “I woke up and it was just standing at the foot of my bed. It kept saying ‘It’s too late’ and that we should’ve kept a better eye on JC.”

“Did it say what JC was doing?” Lance asked.

“No. I just…had this feeling that I needed to check on him,” Joey said. He paused for a moment before he continued, “It didn’t even register in my mind what he was doing. I just saw him cutting his hand and knew I had to stop him from doing what it was he doing.”

“So do we trust this thing?” Justin asked. “I mean, I know we were uneasy, but it was right about JC being up to something.”

Lance glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “So you think it’s right about the cabin too? That that’s where it has to end?”

“I don’t know.” Justin shrugged. “But it’s probably something worth thinking about.”

“Well,” Joey watched as they pulled into the parking lot of the Compound, “That’ll have to wait until later because right now we have a meeting and a press conference.”

Justin knew that Joey was right, but that was the very last thing he wanted to do right now. From what they’d found out, it sounded like they could trust this ghost that visited Joey and told them to go the cabin. It was the first thing that really pointed them in the direction of a solution, and Justin wanted to dig deeper and develop a plan. Because there was no way the demons were going to get JC.

Chris shifted uncomfortably in the desk chair he sat on in JC’s room with his legs propped up on the edge of the bed. Briefly he glanced over his newspaper before returning to the article he’d been reading. It was testament to how bored he was because he usually only liked to read the comics and a few choice articles that interested him. But now he was reading an article about the effects of people relying too heavily on astrology. Definitely not something he’d be reading on a normal day, but he was dying for something to do. He knew he couldn’t leave JC alone while he watched TV downstairs.

A rustling sound quickly captured Chris’s attention. He folded the newspaper down to see over the top of it and saw JC shifting in his sleep. More specifically he was kicking off his covers. Chris frowned and folded the paper before lowering it to the floor. It was unlike JC to do that because he normally complained that he was cold.

On closer inspection, it was easy to see the beads of sweat that were forming on JC’s forehead and starting to run down the side of his face. Chris reached out to put a hand on JC’s forehead and frowned at the heat radiating off his friend. How the hell did he get a fever? He was fine a couple of hours ago when he was talking to Justin.

Chris began to search JC’s body for any obvious signs of what might’ve brought on a fever like this when his gaze stopped on JC’s left hand that was flung over his chest. It was red, which was a huge contrast to the stark white gauze wrapped around the middle. He gently unwrapped the hand and frowned deeper when he realized that JC’s hand wasn’t only red but swollen too. All signs that pointed to infection. At least that’s what all those medical dramas he watched said.

Knowing he had to find a way to treat this himself since he wasn’t allowed to drive, Chris ran down into Lance’s office and grabbed his laptop before hurrying back up the stairs. He didn’t want to leave JC alone in case he got worse. As soon as he sat in the chair with the laptop balanced precariously on his legs, Chris punched “infection treatments” into Google and hit search.

Quickly he browsed through the top ten search results and felt his stomach clench. Every single page he looked at told him to take JC to the hospital because it was too risky to attempt to care for the infected area himself. Chris roughly slammed the top of the laptop shut and rubbed at his eyes. He wished there was something that told him how to take care of this himself because he knew that if he drove he and JC would get into an accident.

Abruptly he opened his eyes and jumped to his feet, pulling his cell phone out of the pocket as he did so. Chris flipped his phone open and pressed speed dial four. He listened to the ringing as he waited for Lance to answer, but a few seconds later his voicemail picked up.

“Damn it!” Chris cursed, roughly pressing the end button, effectively severing connection. He thought for sure that Lance would’ve had his phone on. Mr. Business couldn’t go five minutes with his phone turned off, but couldn’t put it on vibrate while he was in a press conference. And the kicker of it all was that the press conference probably only started like five minutes ago, so if Chris had figured it out sooner then he’d probably be talking to one of the guys right now.

Chris decided to try Justin and Joey because maybe one of them had left their phone on. A minute later, Chris let out an aggravated growl of frustration.

“They are so hearing it from me later,” Chris grumbled to himself. He glanced over at the bed and sighed heavily. JC needed a hospital, and Chris was determined to get him there.

Lance’s words were clear in his head. He knew that Justin’s vision was about him and JC getting into a car accident, and doing just that was a recipe for disaster. But Chris knew that there wasn’t any other choice. If he waited for the others to get back to take JC to the hospital, JC would get sicker as the infection would spread and there was a real possibility he could lose his hand. That was if the infection didn’t kill JC because he knew that JC’s neglectful behavior towards his health would help the infection progress. Chris didn’t want to be responsible for any of that.

But on the other hand he didn’t want to be responsible for getting them into an accident and seriously injuring JC or maybe even killing him. Chris tousled his hair as he sighed heavily. Either way the situation wasn’t good and could possibly lead to death.

Maybe the accident wouldn’t be that serious. Chris knew that wasn’t rational because Justin’s visions were always about terrible things happening, but if he focused on the possibility that it could just be a fender bender it might not be as bad. And if he kept his eyes open for crazy people swerving or cutting him off, then maybe it could be avoided all together. Mind made up, he left the room and ran downstairs to grab the keys to get the car open so it would be easier to get JC into it.

Chris left the passenger door open and ran back into the house to get JC, knowing that the sooner they got to the hospital the better. He reentered JC’s room to find that he hadn’t really moved in the two minutes that he’d been gone. It was unclear whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. But Chris didn’t think about it anymore as he strode to the side of JC’s bed and reached out a hand to shake him awake.

“Jace,” Chris said, shaking JC’s shoulder. “C’mon, you need to wake up.”

JC moaned and tried to roll away from Chris, but he was held in place by a restraining arm from Chris. After a moment JC blearily opened his eyes and squinted up at him. “Chris?”

“You need to get up. We’re going for a ride,” Chris said, pulling on JC’s arm. He sighed in relief when JC didn’t fight him and sleepily complied with the upward motion Chris was forcing on him. It was now that Chris decided JC still sleeping was a good thing because a sleepy JC was very compliant since he wasn’t fully awake to comprehend what was going on.

Chris led them out of the room and carefully down the stairs with his right arm wrapped around JC’s waist. JC rested his head sleepily on his shoulder, barely awake but enough to move without Chris having to carry him. He’d almost forgotten how affectionate JC was when he was tired. When they were on tour, especially in the early days it hadn’t been uncommon to find him curled up next to one of them on the couch.

They made it to the passenger side of the car where Chris helped JC in and buckled his seatbelt. Satisfied that JC was secure, he closed the door and hurried over to the other side. Quickly, Chris slid into the driver’s seat and fastened his own seatbelt. He checked his mirrors to make sure it was clear to back up and he reversed out of the driveway before throwing the car into drive. They’d just made it onto the main road when Chris saw the traffic light suddenly turn red and nearly had to slam on the brakes to stop in time. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the motion jerked JC awake and withheld the sigh he wanted to let out. He knew what was coming.

“Chris!” JC looked over at him with more focused eyes, but they still had a glassy look to them. Probably from the infection and fever. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Taking you to the hospital. Your hand’s infected,” Chris said firmly. He was doing the right thing. Even though he knew JC was going to fight him on it.

“I don’t care! Pull over!” JC yelled.

“JC—”

“Pull over, Chris. We can call an ambulance or something. Just pull over!”

Chris sighed, but nodded. “All right. As soon as we make it through this light,” he said, gesturing to the light ahead of them that just changed from red to green.

JC didn’t say anything, but relaxed in his seat a little. The car just passed under the traffic light and reached the middle of the intersection when a car coming at a fast speed from the left slammed into the driver’s side. Chris and JC’s bodies were jarred from the impact as the other car’s momentum caused theirs to slide twenty feet across the intersection. A pileup started to form around the accident that left the two members of NSYNC unconscious.

Lance followed Joey and Justin out of the room where the press conference had been held and let out a mental sigh of relief. It had gone as well as could be expected. They’d stuck with the migraine story saying that Justin had a headache when they went into Walgreens, but hadn’t thought it was that bad. There had been questions about how long Justin had migraines and the cast on his left arm, but they had been prepared for those.

Once it was settled that Justin was indeed fine and nothing was seriously wrong, questions started popping up about what their plan was once their break was over. They’d been prepared for it, but it was still hard to answer because they didn’t know. A lot of it depended on what happened with JC and the demons. All of the personal questions had been dodged and the press conference was wrapped up.

“Can you believe they asked if I was seeing someone?” Justin complained. “I mean, I just passed out in Walgreens.”

“I don’t think that has anything to do with your love life,” Joey smirked.

Lance listened to them marvel at the questions that’d been asked while he turned on his phone. He frowned when he saw that he had a missed call from Chris, but no voicemail. “That’s weird,” he said.

“What’s weird?” Justin asked, abandoning his conversation with Joey as he looked over at Lance.

“Chris tried to call me, but didn’t leave a message,” Lance said.

“That is weird,” Joey agreed. “Why would he be calling when he knew he would be in a press conference?”

The three of them barely exchanged worried glances before Justin and Joey both dug into their pockets and pulled out their phones. After turning them on, they saw the same thing Lance had.

Justin swallowed nervously. “Do you think something happened?”

“There’s one way to find out,” Lance said. He called Chris only to frown when a female voice answered. “Who’s this? Where’s Chris?”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Joey and Justin exchange worried gazes. Lance tried not to focus on them as the woman started talking again.

“My name’s Elizabeth. I’m a nurse at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Chris Kirkpatrick has been in a car accident.”

Lance inhaled sharply. This couldn’t be happening. Not after he made Chris and JC swear they wouldn’t leave the house. “How is he?”

“He’s currently in surgery,” Nurse Elizabeth said.

“For what? How serious is it?” Lance asked, his voice rising a little. Joey and Justin leaned closer as if they would be able to hear what was being said on the other end.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t disclose that over the phone. It would be better if you came down here,” she said.

Lance sighed and ran his free hand roughly through his hair, causing it to lay flat in places. “What about JC?”

“JC?” There was a slight pause. “Was that the one who came in with him?”

“Yes. JC Chasez. Do you know how he is?” Lance asked.

“Just a moment. I’ll check.” A moment later she said, “He’s got a mild concussion and a few cuts and bruises, but he’ll be fine.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“I’m sorry. He’s getting his hand stitched right now, but you can come down here and see him,” the nurse said.

“We’ll be there,” Lance replied and hung up the phone, not waiting for a response. He turned to Justin and Joey who were wearing grim expressions.

“Car accident?” Joey asked.

Lance nodded. “Chris is in surgery right now, but JC’s fine. Concussion and a few cuts and bruises.”

“Where are they?” Justin asked.

“Orlando Regional Medical Center,” Lance said.

“I’ll drive,” Joey volunteered. The three of them hustled out of the Compound and into the parking lot. They jumped into the car and Joey squealed tire as he pulled out at a faster speed than necessary.

“Why the hell did they get into the car? I told them what would happen if they did, but here we are. Left the house even though they knew what a bad idea it was,” Lance ranted.

“I’m sure it was a good reason,” Justin said.

“It damn well better be. For their sakes.”

“Can you at least wait until you know they’re OK?” Justin muttered.

Lance sighed and nodded. It was good to know that JC wasn’t severely injured, but he was scared for Chris. They had no idea how serious it was or why he was in surgery. Maybe a nurse told JC and he knew. Mentally Lance reached out to JC, but frowned when he couldn’t feel him just like right after Justin had been kidnapped. He frowned deeper, thinking that maybe JC wasn’t as fine as the nurse claimed.