Chris firmly planted his feet and took a second to line up his shot before he released the basketball. It hit off the backboard and went right through the hoop. As he hustled to grab the ball and get it bouncing again before it could roll into the grass, he glanced around the yard. The sun was setting, which meant that it was probably going on eight o’clock.

They’d had dinner nearly two hours ago and shortly after Lance and Justin had gone upstairs to get some much needed sleep. JC had gone to bed earlier, begging out of dinner. Chris had wanted him to have dinner with them because he figured that was JC’s way of getting out of eating, especially since he’d barely eaten lunch. It was just enough for him to take his pill. But JC insisted that he was exhausted. After that, there was no further protest because one look at JC showed that he was dead on his feet.

But that didn’t necessarily mean that JC would actually sleep. Chris remembered with remarkable clarity all of the instances that JC looked beyond tired, but didn’t sleep. On the occasion resulting in him collapsing. With that in mind, Chris went upstairs to peek into JC’s room to see if he really was sleeping.

He’d opened the door very slowly and saw that JC at least had his eyes closed. JC was normally a horrible faker, but Chris had watched him for nearly a minute before he was satisfied that JC really was asleep. It was a pleasant change from the norm, especially since they’d expected JC to layer on the guilt again because of the car accident.

Chris had left the room and quietly made his way downstairs. He’d briefly stopped in the living room where Joey had just set himself up in front of the TV with the remote in his right hand. After Joey refused his invitation to shoot some hoops, Chris walked into the backyard and picked up the basketball that’d been left there since the last time they’d played.

The physical activity made him feel good. It felt so stimulating to have the warm, fall breeze blow past him as he lightly jogged down the court, switching between dribbling with his left and right hands. Chris had a new appreciation for it, probably because of the close call he’d had in the past twenty-four hours. It could’ve turned out that he never would’ve woken up again let alone do the things that he enjoyed.

And the only reason why it hadn’t happened like that was because of Joey. He’d healed him. Chris had still been very skeptical, but after he’d watch Joey heal the scratches on his arm from the grill fork, there was no more doubt. It was pretty amazing when he stopped to really think about it. Really all of their abilities, or whatever they were, were impressive, but Joey’s took the cake. Besides JC and Lance being able to communicate anytime anywhere without a scrap of technology, Joey having the ability to heal him could turn out to be the most useful of their connections.

As Chris ran down the court, dribbling the ball as he went before trying to shoot a lay-up and missing, he sighed at the thought of their connection. Like most of their connections, it came at a price and his and Joey’s was no different. Joey could get exhausted if the healing was extensive like his coma has been. It’d been something he’d concluded after Joey’d said he was completely fine from healing his scratches. The severity of the wound must have a lot to do with how much it’d take out of Joey.

Chris wondered if they would’ve ever found out about it if the car accident hadn’t happened. And did Joey getting drunk have anything to do with it? It was unlikely that it was the reason, but maybe it’d been a stimulant in what’d made Joey so weak that he’d collapsed. Chris frowned at that and missed his shot again.

It honestly hadn’t been that surprising to find out that Joey had once again drunk himself to the point of passing out. Chris had talked to him about it right after Lance’s suicide attempt when Joey had been seriously considering grabbing a drink out of the liquor cabinet. They’d been interrupted by JC, but Chris had seen that Joey still felt he had a need to drink. It was time to finally finish their conversation and hopefully put an end to the excessive drinking.

Chris released the basketball one last time and half smiled as it went right in before bouncing on the asphalt below. He didn’t bother to pick it up or bring it in because they would play again eventually. Glancing around, Chris noticed that he’d chosen a good time to go in because the sun was almost completely hidden behind the trees. A minute later he was walking towards the living room where Joey was still sitting in front of the TV. After watching him and the program that he had on for a few seconds, Chris stepped forward and grabbed the remote off the coffee table before pressing the power button causing the TV to go blank.

“Hey!” Joey protested. “I was watching that!”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “You were watching a documentary about bears hibernating?”

“There was nothing better on,” Joey said, shrugging.

Chris nodded and silence fell over the room for a minute. He’d planned on talking to Joey about the whole drinking situation, but now that he was standing there he wasn’t sure how to start off. Anger seemed like a good place to start, but Joey probably wouldn’t listen to him if he just started yelling at him.

“So…” Joey broke the silence, looking at Chris expectantly. “What’s up?”

“I want to talk to you about that little stunt you pulled with a bottle of whiskey,” Chris said.

Joey’s eyes widened. “You heard me?”

“What? No. Lance told me,” Chris said.

“Then I’m sure you know that Lance already laid into me about it,” Joey replied.

“Well, you haven’t heard it from me.” Chris crossed his arms as he stared down at Joey. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Joey sighed. “I wasn’t, all right?”

“No, it’s not all right,” Chris said, shaking his head. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”

“Why not? It’s my body. I should be able to do whatever I want with it,” Joey replied.

“So does that mean that we should’ve just let JC sacrifice himself to the demon since ‘it was his body’?” Chris asked with a knowing look.

“That was different,” Joey protested. “I’m not going to kill myself.”

“Maybe that’s not your intention, but if you keep drinking so much that you pass out then it’s bound to happen sooner or later,” Chris said. He was afraid that it really would happen. That was why he had to shake Joey of this. They still had to save JC from the demons, which would probably be the hardest thing they’d ever have to do. And they couldn’t have Joey getting so upset that he ended up with alcohol poisoning.

“You don’t know that.”

Chris sighed, but nodded. “You’re right. But I do know that if you start drinking again you’re going to turn out to be someone you’re not. You’re a completely different person when you drink.”

“No I’m not,” Joey objected.

“Yes you are. You’re more irritable and you let your misery cloud your judgment.” Chris paused. “We don’t want to watch you go through that again. It’s not right to see you miserable and snapping at everyone.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re making a big deal about this. I can’t be happy all the time,” Joey said.

“I’m not saying you have to be, but you have to realize that it doesn’t affect just you. It affects all of us.” Chris shook his head then. “You’re lucky that JC and Justin don’t know about what you did.”

“What difference would it really make?”

“They’re your friends and they care about you,” Chris said.

Joey nodded. “OK, but why am I lucky that they don’t know? You and Lance know.”

“Because Justin and JC take things more to heart, especially JC. You know that if he were to find out about this he’d be blaming himself and saying that it could’ve been prevented if it wasn’t for him.”

“He feels too strongly about us,” Joey said.

“But Justin’s the same way. He may not be vocal about it, but he looks up to you. It may not seem like it anymore since he’s gotten older, but he does. He looks up to all of us.” Chris moved forward and sat on the arm of the couch. “But if that’s not enough. Think about Brianna. That little girl loves you to death and thinks you’re the greatest dad in the world.”

“That’s all I’ve been doing. I can’t stop thinking about her and Kelly,” Joey said quietly, eyes lowered to the unfinished crossword puzzle that’d been left on the coffee table.

“Then why, Joey? Why start drinking again?”

Joey sighed and ran a hand roughly over his face before looking over at Chris. “There’s too much to deal with. And then the car accident…I really thought we were gonna lose you.”

“You didn’t,” Chris reminded.

“I know, but it was all I could think about. I wanted to go home so bad and be with my family. But I knew I couldn’t and that killed me.” Joey paused briefly. “I needed to numb the pain. All of it.”

“You’re allowed to go home whenever you want, Joey. We’re not keeping you here against your will,” Chris said.

“I know and I’ve thought about it, but I can’t leave. Not until we know for sure that the demons are gone and JC’s safe.”

“You don’t have to worry about JC though. Not if you want to go home. You know that we’ll keep you updated,” Chris said.

“But you guys need all the help you can get. There’s not even a plan yet,” Joey replied.

“Stop thinking about us. You’ve got to do what’s right for you.”

Joey scoffed. “Even if I did go home all I’d be thinking about is you guys and worrying about what’s happening.”

“But if you want to go home then you should go be with your family. I’m sure Kelly and Brianna would be so happy to see you,” Chris said.

Joey sighed again and dropped his head only to bring it up a few seconds later. “What should I do, Chris?” he asked.

Chris shook his head. “I can’t tell you that, Joe.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not my decision to make. This is something you have to decide for yourself,” Chris said.

Joey frowned and dropped his eyes to the floor. Chris knew that he was trying to figure out what the best thing would be while leaving himself out of the decision. It was rare for Joey to give himself something that he wanted. Although, it seemed to be a trait that they all had, especially when it came to looking out for each other.

Finally Joey’s eyes met his and he said firmly, “I’m staying.”

Chris nodded. “OK.”

He thought about fighting with Joey about it. Going home would make Joey so happy, but Joey did have a point about how he’d just be worrying constantly about them if he did. And that wouldn’t be fair to Kelly. Chris just hoped that this whole demon thing would end soon, so Joey could go back to his family and things could get back to normal.

Joey was bent over with his head in the fridge looking for something to eat, but he hadn’t found anything. He was about to give up when he spied a half gallon of orange juice. Sighing in relief, he pulled out the carton before grabbing a glass out of the cupboard. His relief turned into frustration as he tipped the carton and nothing came out.

“Damn Justin,” Joey griped to himself. “Knows I like to have juice in the morning and puts an empty carton in the fridge. Can’t throw it away like normal people.”

He angrily swiped the carton off the counter and started to cross the kitchen to throw it away only to abruptly stop when the kitchen faded. The sudden change of scenery caused him to stumble slightly. Joey saw Lance unlocking the front door like he’d done yesterday, but instead of taking the keys out of the lock like he normally would, they were left behind. Then the image dissipated as fast as it’d appeared.

Joey was left standing in the kitchen, confused. He had no idea what’d just happened. Why had he seen Lance unlocking the front door? It was very strange, especially the way it just came on suddenly. Part of Joey felt that it was almost like the visions that Justin got. But that sounded crazy. Why would two of them have visions?

Absentmindedly Joey threw the empty half gallon of orange juice into the garbage before he walked down the hall towards the front door. He wanted to know if there had been any truth to what he’d just seen. Joey turned the deadbolt to the right before he opened the door, and his eyes widened as he saw Lance’s keys sticking out of the lock. Unsettled, he slowly pulled the keys out of the lock and closed the door.

“You found my keys,” Lance said, walking out of his study and into the foyer where Joey was still standing.

“Uh…” Joey looked down at the keys in his hand. “Yeah.”

Lance took them from Joey and asked, “Where’d you find them?”

“You left them in the lock,” Joey said, pointing over his shoulder at the front door.

“What?” Lance stared at him with a horrified look. “Someone could’ve just walked right in and stolen all of our stuff.”

Joey raised an eyebrow. “We’re being attacked by demons and you’re worried about your stuff getting stolen?”

“Very funny,” Lance said sarcastically, punching Joey lightly in the shoulder. Joey laughed, knowing that Lance had caught on that he was joking. It was refreshing to see that the demons weren’t the only things they worried about because it’d become such a huge problem within the last few weeks.

“So where you going?” Joey asked after a few seconds passed, gesturing to the keys in Lance’s hand.

“The grocery store,” Lance said.

“Good thing. You have like nothing to eat, dude.”

Lance rolled his eyes and laughed. “Well, that’s why I’m going.” He paused briefly. “You want to come?”

“Sure,” Joey agreed easily. “Just give me a minute to change.”

Lance agreed and Joey quickly made his way up the stairs. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, which was what he normally slept in. When he woke up nearly twenty minutes ago at six o’clock he’d been so hungry that he hadn’t bothered with getting dressed, especially since it was so early.

It didn’t take him long to get dressed and grab a clean pair of socks. He slipped on his shoes by the front door and together he and Lance got into the car. Lance didn’t say anything, which allowed Joey’s thoughts about what’d happened earlier to occupy his mind.

Lance didn’t seemed too bothered by the fact that Joey’d managed to find his keys even though he hadn’t known that Lance had been looking for them. But it freaked Joey out. It was very weird that Lance had been looking for his keys, which he’d just so happen to find through some sort of vision.

Joey knew whatever it was he saw couldn’t have been a vision, but he didn’t know what else to call it. Justin’s visions foretold what was going to happen, but what he saw was something that’d already happened. But the most confusing thing of it all was why it happened and with Lance.

That’s when it hit Joey that maybe this could be their connection. He hadn’t known what to make about the whole idea that there was this chain that connected all of them in some way, but it made sense, especially after his and Chris’s had been proven. The only connection that hadn’t happened that could was his and Lance’s, and it was possible that this was it. But Joey didn’t know what the purpose of this connection would be.

And he wasn’t sure if he should say anything or not. Lance clearly didn’t think what’d happened had been too weird, but if this somehow was their connection then he probably should say something. At the very least it would help to talk it out with Lance and they could figure it out together, but Joey didn’t want to bring it up if it was nothing.

“Joey!”

Joey turned his head to the left to see Lance with an impatient look on his face. He must’ve been trying to get his attention. “Yeah?”

“You coming in or going to sit in the car?” Lance asked.

Joey glanced out the window and saw that they were in the parking lot of their local grocery store. He hadn’t even realized that the car had stopped. “I’m coming,” he said, opening the door and getting out.

The two of them strolled into the grocery store, pausing only briefly to grab a cart. They moved at a leisurely pace as Lance pushed the cart and Joey walked ahead of him. The store was nearly empty, but that was to be expected since it was so early in the morning. It was nice to not have to worry about fans, especially after what they’d had to deal with just two days ago.

“What’s up?” Lance asked as they turned down the first aisle they came to.

Joey glanced back at him questioningly. “I don’t know. What’s up with you?”

“You were pretty quiet in the car,” Lance said.

Joey sighed. “I don’t know if I should say anything.”

“OK, now you definitely have to tell me.”

“I just don’t want to say anything if it ends up being nothing,” Joey said.

“Joey.”

“It’s kind of weird…”

“Joey, just tell me,” Lance demanded, grabbing a loaf of bread and placing it into the cart.

“I didn’t just find your keys earlier. I saw you leave them there,” Joey said.

“Well, then why didn’t you bring them in with you yesterday?” Lance asked.

“No.” Joey shook his head as he put five cans of soup in their cart and glanced up at Lance. “I saw you leave them in the lock like…how Justin sees things.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at him and said in disbelief, “You saying you had a vision?”

Joey sighed. “No. He sees things that are going to happen. What I saw already happened.”

“So you think you can see the past?” Lance asked, confused.

“I don’t know,” Joey said honestly. “It’s really confusing.”

“All right. Take me through exactly what happened and what you saw,” Lance said, stopping to compare two different types of paper towels.

Joey grabbed one out of his hand and tossed it into the cart, leaving Lance to put the other one back on the shelf. “I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat when the kitchen kind of…faded away or something. The next thing I know I’m seeing you unlocking the front door and leaving your keys in the lock.”

“That’s it?” Lance asked after waiting a minute.

Joey looked back at him as he shrugged and nodded. “Pretty much.”

They turned down the breakfast foods aisle and Lance said, “That is weird.”

“I think it might be our connection,” Joey said as he added a box of Cookie Crisp to the rest of their groceries.

Unbeknownst to Joey, Lance frowned, reaching into the cart and putting the sugary cereal back on the shelf. “What makes you think that?”

“Because of what happened. I mean, you’re looking for your keys and I just happen to find them through some vision thing or whatever the hell it was.”

“I don’t know, Joey…”

“But what if this is the final link in the chain? Everyone has some kind of connection except for us,” Joey persisted.

“Yeah, but so soon? I mean, we just found out about yours and Chris’s yesterday. All of the other ones had more time between them,” Lance pointed out.

“I know, but what if this really is it?”

Lance sighed again. “Let’s just wait and see if anything like it happens again. OK?”

“OK,” Joey agreed reluctantly. He wanted to push the issue some more, but it was clear that Lance was kind of skeptical about the whole thing. Not that he could blame him because it was a hard thing to comprehend even with all of the weird things that’d been happening lately. And for now there was no harm in waiting to see if another instance occurred.

JC stepped out of the shower with a cloud of steam. He immediately dried himself off with a white, fluffy towel before he pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers. His hair was towel dried before he lifted his arms and pulled a blue t-shirt over his head. It clung to his still damp chest, which was sore from the angry diagonal bruise the seat belt had caused during the accident. Quickly but carefully he wrapped his left hand with some clean gauze he’d found in the medicine cabinet knowing it was necessary to help it heal.

After he shut off the light, he stepped out into the hall. He peaked into Chris and Justin’s bedrooms as he passed them and saw that both of them were still sleeping peacefully in their beds. But Joey and Lance’s beds were empty. JC walked down the stairs, figuring that was where they’d be since it was still early.

A quick glance at the clock on Lance’s answering machine on the table in the entryway told him that it was almost eight o’clock in the morning. JC’d gotten up almost an hour ago feeling more rested than he had in a couple of days. Last night after he’d begged out of dinner was when it really hit him how exhausted he felt, but sleep hadn’t been something that came to him easily anymore. However, it was necessary to make sure the guys didn’t get on his back about not sleeping.

That was when he’d remembered that there must still be some sleeping pills left and had searched for them before he found them in Lance’s room. He’d fallen asleep shortly after he’d taken a pill and slept through the night for the first time in a long time. But JC’d felt even better after he took a shower since he’d gone nearly as long without a shower as he had without sleep.

JC poked his head into the study thinking that maybe Lance was in there because that’s normally where he always spent his free time so he could work. But it was empty, so JC walked further down the hall. He’d made it into the living room when he heard the front door open and the voices of Lance and Joey drift down the hall. Turning on the spot, he retraced his steps until he met them in the foyer.

“Can you get the rest?” Joey asked when he saw him. “There’s only a few bags left.”

“Sure,” JC agreed, slipping on his sneakers. He walked out to the car and grabbed the four bags that were left in the trunk. At first he tried to grab a couple of bags with his left hand only to cry out in pain when closing his hand pulled on his stitches, so he managed to switch them over to his right. Once he had a hold of them, he shut the trunk before making his way into the kitchen.

“Thanks, man,” Joey said. “We went a little crazy.”

JC nodded as he started to unload the bags that he’d carried in. “I can see that. What’d you guys do? Buy the whole store?”

“We had to get enough food to last us for a while. Lance had nothing, dude,” Joey said.

Lance rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored Joey. “How’d you sleep?” he asked, glancing at JC.

“Good,” JC said simply, barely looking up from his task of putting cans of Pepsi in the fridge. He could feel Lance’s eyes on him and knew that he was analyzing him to make sure he wasn’t lying. It was satisfying to know that Lance wasn’t going to be able to get on his case since taking a sleeping pill the night before had helped him get a good night’s sleep.

“Where the hell is it?” Joey muttered to himself as he started rummaging through bags.

“Where’s what?” Lance asked.

“The Cookie Crisp,” Joey said. “It should be in here.”

“I put it back,” Lance told him.

Joey stopped his search and looked at him. “You what?”

“It’s just cereal. Besides, it’s not good for you anyway,” Lance said.

“If that’s true, then why do they tell you it’s part of a well balanced breakfast?” Joey asked.

Lance sighed in aggravation. “Because they want you to buy their product.”

“Which is what I was going to do!” Joey started to unload the rest of the groceries they’d set on the table and grumbled to himself, “Can’t believe you wouldn’t let me have my cereal.”

JC just shook his head at the exchange. It was kind of childish, but it was refreshing to witness a normal, silly conversation about something so meaningless. They had certainly decreased in number ever since they found out demons were after him. That was something that gave him hope that they would make it once he was gone.

They continued to put away all of the food in silence moving around each other as they needed access to different parts of the kitchen. Nearly all of the bags were off the table and the food put away when Lance said, “JC?”

JC looked up at him as he picked up the empty bags off the floor and threw them away. “Yeah?”

“We never meant to ignore Justin,” Lance said.

JC sighed and leaned against the counter. “I know you didn’t, but that’s how Justin feels.”

“I don’t know why,” Joey said. “I mean, I don’t ever remember him trying to talk to one of us. Do you, Lance?”

“No, but I mean he has to feel that way for a reason,” Lance said.

“Maybe he figures you guys should’ve noticed that he wanted to talk,” JC replied.

“We’re doing the best that we can,” Joey said. “It’s not like we were doing it intentionally.”

“I know, but I want him to talk to you guys. I don’t want him to rely on me so much to listen to him, especially since I’m not going to be around forever,” JC said.

“JC!” Lance and Joey cried in unison.

“You’re not going to die,” Joey added.

“No, I know. I was just saying that just in case—”

“Just in case you don’t make it?” Lance finished for him. He crossed his arms. “You’re not really onboard with this, are you?”

JC rolled his eyes. “Yes, I am. I’m just being realistic.”

“More like pessimistic,” Joey replied.

“Can we focus on the matter at hand here? I was just saying that I might not be around forever. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. The point is,” JC looked at Joey and Lance, “I want Justin to talk to you guys more.”

“It’s not like we don’t want to talk to him. He just always goes to you,” Lance said.

“Which is what I want to break him of,” JC persisted.

“Why are you making a big deal about this now? You’ve never had a problem with him coming to you to talk before,” Joey pointed out.

JC knew that what Joey said had some truth to it. When he’d decided to go ahead with his own plan of sacrificing himself, he’d first thought of Justin. Especially after the promise he’d made to Justin that came up again. It was then that he’d realized he couldn’t have Justin depending on him to be there forever to help him get through his visions. That’s why he wanted the guys to get comfortable with listening to Justin and helping him through them.

“After what happened with the car accident…I wasn’t able to help him deal with any of it. I don’t want to have to worry about him if something were to happen to me,” JC said.

“All right,” Lance said, nodding. “We’ll keep a better eye on Justin and be more open to listening to him.”

“Well, I’m going to make breakfast. I’m starving,” Joey said, breaking the silence that’d settled over the kitchen.

JC pushed himself off the counter to give Joey room to cook and sat down at the kitchen table. He watched as Joey started making scrambled eggs while Lance fried the bacon and sausage. They kept on running into each other, which was pretty comical, especially when Joey had accidentally spilt some eggs on the floor. The toast had just popped up in the toaster when Chris came walking into the kitchen with his arms above his head as he stretched, and Justin was right behind him.

“You guys are just in time. We made breakfast,” Lance said, as he began to dish out the food into bowls and set them in the center of the table.

“We could smell it from upstairs,” Justin said.

“Personally I was surprised the smoke alarm wasn’t what woke us,” Chris joked.

Joey rolled his eyes. “Hardy har har,” he said sarcastically. “I’ll have you know that I didn’t even burn the eggs.”

“Well, it looks good,” Justin said, sitting down at the table next to JC.

Lance set a plate of toast on the table before he joined the other four at the table. Immediately they began to pile food onto their plates. Except for JC. Chris looked up at him and frowned.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Chris asked JC.

JC shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat something,” Lance said, frowning. “You barely ate anything for lunch yesterday and completely skipped out on dinner. Besides, you need to eat something, so you can take your medicine.”

“All right,” JC agreed reluctantly. He put some food onto his plate and ate a few bites. It wouldn’t have done any good to fight with them about it.

“So where’d the food come from?” Chris asked.

“Lance and Joey went shopping this morning,” JC said.

“Did you get me my donuts?” Chris asked, glancing up at Joey and Lance from his plate.

Lance shook his head. “You don’t need donuts.”

“He wouldn’t let me buy Cookie Crisp either,” Joey said, seeing the disappointed look on Chris’s face.

“Dude, what the hell?” Justin asked. “You have something against sweets?”

“I don’t think sugary foods for breakfast are good for you,” Lance said.

“You’re such a freak,” Justin said. He looked around the table. “Did you get juice?”

“It’s in the fridge,” JC told him as he pushed his eggs around on his plate.

“That reminds me. I have a bone to pick with you, Justin,” Joey said, pointing at him accusingly with his fork.

“What did I do?” Justin asked as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

“You drank all the juice and put the empty carton back in the fridge!”

Chris burst out laughing at that. “Oh, God! That’s awful, Justin. Sometimes I forget how bad you are in the kitchen.”

“I’m not that bad,” Justin protested as he sat back down in his chair.

“Dude, you always have month old leftovers sitting in your fridge when I come over,” JC said.

Justin’s jaw dropped before he said, “You do too!”

“But yours has expired so long ago that it’s growing mold on top of mold,” JC said.

He smiled a little at the affronted expression on Justin’s face. Sometimes it was just too easy to get Justin worked up. JC was certainly going to miss moments like this when he was gone.