Justin sat hunched over on the couch with his right hand propping up his head. Chris was still sitting next to him with a comforting hand on his back and was whispering more reassurances. But Justin wasn’t listening to him though he was glad to have him there. The things that Chris had said made him feel a little better, but he still felt guilty. Even though what JC had said was hurtful, he knew there was some truth to it. His first concern should’ve been about Chris and why this was happening.

It was just hard to believe that something else had happened again because the last few days had been so similar to how things used to be before all this demon stuff that it looked like everything was getting back to normal. That was probably why they’d acted like they had in the kitchen. They’d fallen back into their old ways, and it was almost like they’d forgotten that there were demons after them, trying to kill JC. He’d even been free of visions for the past couple of days, so it really sucked that something serious like this had to happen and send reality crashing back down on them.

Out of the corner of his eye Justin saw Lance shift to lean against the chair that Joey was currently occupying. Lance had his arms crossed and a frown on his face, which made it obvious that he wasn’t happy. Justin suspected that he had come from talking with JC since he hadn’t come into the living room until a few minutes ago and Joey had already joined him and Chris while they were talking. It wasn’t often that Lance was pissed, but, then again, it wasn’t often that JC got so mad that he fought with one of them. That really worried Justin because this whole ordeal with the demons was changing JC and not for the better.

There was a part of him that said JC was probably even angrier now because Lance most likely went upstairs to yell at him. And if he did come downstairs he probably would be on the receiving end of glares from not only Lance but Chris and Joey too. Chris was pissed at JC; there was no denying that. Even Joey had a frown on his face as he sat in the armchair clearly wanting to help, but he probably didn’t know how so he was leaving it to Chris. Justin wished that he could rewind the past few hours and do things differently because he hated fighting with JC.

A throat cleared and Justin looked up to see JC hesitantly standing in the doorway. “Can I talk to Justin?” There was a slight pause before JC added, “Alone.”

“Who says he wants to talk to you?” Chris retorted, glaring at JC.

“Chris,” Justin said softly. He appreciated what Chris was doing, but he wanted to talk to JC.

Chris silently acquiesced as he stood up, but continued to glare at JC as he left the room. Joey and Lance briefly hesitated before following him leaving the two of them alone. JC lingered in the doorway for a moment longer before moving forward and taking a seat in the chair Joey had just vacated. Justin waited for JC to speak because he knew that JC must have wanted to talk to him for a reason.

“Justin I…” JC let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I should’ve never said those things to you. You may not believe it, but I didn’t mean to hurt you—”

“I do believe it,” Justin interrupted. It was true. He did believe it because JC had never been one to really upset him and it was easy to see that JC was appalled by what he had done. If he had intended to hurt him, then he wouldn’t be feeling horribly for doing so.

“You do?” JC looked surprised as if he was expecting a different answer. Justin reasoned that JC had suspected him to be angry and unforgiving.

Justin gave him a small smile. “Yeah, JC.”

“I really am sorry, J. I just…” JC paused. “I need my privacy sometimes, you know?”

“I respect that, but there’s a line between privacy and locking yourself away,” Justin said.

“I don’t lock myself away,” JC protested.

“Yes you do,” Justin insisted. “And it always leads to you getting sick.”

“I’m tired of this conversation,” JC complained. “All you guys do is remind me of my screw ups.”

“Well, we need to because you can’t seem to get it through your thick head that you can’t keep neglecting yourself,” Justin said.

JC shook his head and said, “I’m trying.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it,” Justin replied, thinking about how JC kept everything bottled up instead of talking to them which led to his collapse on stage and making himself sick.

“But I am.” JC leaned forward. “I’m getting more sleep.”

Justin nodded. That was true. JC had pretty much fully recovered from what’d happened earlier that week and was now almost getting back onto a normal sleeping schedule. It was starting to become less rare to see him up and about with them in the afternoon. “Yeah, you are.”

“And I’m eating again,” JC added.

“I know you are and I’m not saying that you’re not doing good because you are. It’s just…I don’t want you to let yourself go again.”

“I won’t,” JC promised.

“We won’t know for sure until you prove it to us,” Justin said.

“I know, and I’m working on it.” JC sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It’s just a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

Justin scooted down to the opposite end of the couch and placed his left hand on JC’s arm. His cast made it a little awkward, but it would still have the desired effect. “That’s what we’re here for. You don’t have to keep everything to yourself.”

Justin stopped and looked down, wondering if he’d said too much. He didn’t want to get on JC’s case and get him mad again, but he needed to know that he could share his problems with them. It was important to make sure that JC knew that and hopefully he would take advantage of it instead of constantly locking himself in his room.

“You’re right,” JC said softly, causing Justin to look up at him. “I’m going to try to do better.”

Justin gave him another smile. “That’s all I ask.”

They sat in silence for a minute. Justin didn’t know what else to say and was sure JC didn’t either. Everything was pretty much back to normal after their talk, but the air was still a little awkward. It must have been because they weren’t quite sure what to do. Quickly Justin came up with a plan to try to get JC to stick around with him.

“I was getting ready to watch a movie. You want to join me?” Justin asked, silently hoping that JC would say yes, especially after the talk they just had.

“Sure,” JC smiled at him, and Justin could practically feel the tension disappear. Silently he stood up and crouched down in front of Lance’s movie collection feeling victorious. Maybe things would be easier now that JC was going to try harder at taking care of himself. Their fight seemed to have done some good after all because JC probably wouldn’t have talked to him otherwise. As Justin popped in Silence of the Lambs, he couldn’t stop the smile that spread over his face.

The next afternoon Justin gently pushed open the door and slipped in as soon as there was enough for him to squeeze through, so he wouldn’t disturb Chris from the light streaming into his room. The shades were closed making the room dark and cool. It had been like this since an hour ago when Chris claimed to have a bad headache and went to lie down to try to get rid of it.

“Chris?” Justin said his name softly in case he happened to be asleep.

“What?” Chris said equally as soft, probably so he wouldn’t agitate his headache further.

“How are you feeling?” Justin asked, coming closer to his bed.

Chris groaned and opened his eyes, blearily looking at him. “Like crap.”

“Is there anything I can do? Get you aspirin or anything?”

Chris started to shake his head no, but abruptly stopped with a grimace on his face and said, “No. I’m going to try to sleep a little longer before I take some more.”

“All right. Get some rest.”

Chris didn’t answer and just closed his eyes. Justin was sure that he would’ve nodded, but even moving his head seemed to cause him more pain. As quietly as possible Justin slipped out of his room and pulled the door shut behind him. It was odd that Chris had a headache, especially one that was this bad because he hardly ever got headaches. That made Justin believe that Chris must be having his headaches because he often had headaches like that. Of course he didn’t know for sure, but he had a feeling that he was right and he hated that because Chris shouldn’t be taking his pain away.

As Justin started to descend the stairs, he wished that they had never gotten into all of this because if they hadn’t then Chris probably wouldn’t be able to feel his pain. But regardless of how much he wished for things to be better, the truth was that they had somehow been dragged into this mess. Now, this new development was just one more thing to add to the list of weird things that had happened ever since this first started. The sooner they figured out a solution to this the better.

Justin suddenly began to feel lightheaded and his vision started to darken around the edges. He shook his head trying to shake off the effects, but it seemed to make it worse because everything turned dark.

Lance pushed himself away from his desk as he rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost quarter after two, and he’d been at this since noon so he figured now would be a good time for a break. Not to mention that if he were to continue looking at websites about all these demon lovers, he was going to destroy his computer. The frustration just seemed to continue to mount the more he tried to find an answer, but he was determined to find one because there was no way the demons were getting JC.

His break wouldn’t be long, just long enough for him to rest his eyes and clear his head. Lance walked out into the hallway and saw Justin walking down the stairs only to pause a few steps from the top. Initially he thought that Justin must’ve forgotten something from upstairs and was going to turn around, but that was before he started to sway.

“Justin?”

Lance watched as Justin shook his head and pitched forward a moment later. He immediately tried to run forward to help, but by the time he made it to the stairs Justin had already landed at the bottom in a heap. Crouching down over Justin’s body, Lance tried to check him over for visible injuries and winced when he noticed a cut across his forehead that was bleeding freely. Before he could even assess how deep it was, the sound of feet running from both above him and beside him echoed through the house. Joey abruptly stopped at Lance’s right while JC stopped a few feet from the bottom of the stairs.

“What happened?” Joey asked, his eyes fixed on Justin.

“I think he fell down the stairs,” Lance answered before he suddenly remembered that Chris must’ve felt that, especially if Justin hit his head off one of the stairs. He turned to Joey. “Go check on Chris.”

Joey’s eyes widened and he nodded. Lance was sure that he must’ve forgotten too since this was such a new thing and they hadn’t had to deal with it much yet. He felt bad for Chris since this probably made his headache worse. But he didn’t have time to think about it anymore as JC’s voice pulled him back to reality.

“How’d he fall?” JC asked.

Lance frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Did he trip?”

“What kind of question is that?” Lance replied.

“Just answer me,” JC demanded.

“I think he fell forward,” Lance said.

JC raised an eyebrow. “You think? You mean you don’t know for sure?”

“It all happened so fast!” Lance defended. “But I’m pretty sure he fell forward.”

JC nodded and it seemed like he was thinking. Lance wanted to know what he thought happened and asked, “Why? What’s it matter?”

“I think he’s having a vision,” JC said.

“But he hasn’t had one in days,” Lance protested.

JC shrugged. “There’s no other explanation for him falling down the stairs without tripping.”

“I guess.”

“Let’s get him to the couch and we can clean up that cut,” JC said.

“OK,” Lance agreed, as he helped to lift Justin’s limp body off the floor and carry him into the living room before gently lowering him to the couch. Once he straightened up, he looked at JC. “So we’re waiting for him to wake up?”

JC nodded. “Yeah, he seems to always wake up by himself.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” Lance asked. He was worried about Justin because they didn’t know for sure how hard he’d hit his head and how that would affect his wellbeing after he woke up. “What if he has a concussion?”

“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” JC said. “But I don’t think he does because he probably didn’t hit his head that hard since the cut’s pretty shallow.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Lance watched as JC left the room only to come back a minute later with a wet rag to wipe the blood off, peroxide, and a bandage. He stood back, letting JC take of Justin’s head wound. Before he could say anything else, Joey came walking into the room, a look of worry on his face.

“How is he?” Joey asked, gesturing to Justin.

“He’s…all right.” Lance paused. “How’s Chris?”

“He’s really freaked out. He was ready to come down here and check on Justin, but I forced him to stay in bed and take some more aspirin. His head’s really killing him,” Joey said.

Lance nodded. “I figured it would.” His eyes landed back on Justin and he came to a realization. He looked back over at Joey and asked, “How’s Chris’s arm?”

“Fine, I guess.” Joey frowned in confusion. “Why?”

“I just thought Justin might’ve broken it again from the fall,” Lance said. “But if Chris didn’t mention his arm hurting then I think we’re fine.”

“We need more peroxide,” JC said a minute later as he cleaned out Justin’s cut and set the empty bottle on the floor next to him. Lance just nodded, dismissing it because that was the least of his concerns right now.

JC finished bandaging Justin’s forehead and the three of them sat back, watching Justin and waiting for him to wake up. Minutes passed and Lance was getting worried. “I think it’s time we consider him having a concussion,” he said.

“Why?” JC asked.

“Because he’s been out longer than last time,” Lance replied.

“He’ll come out of it. Just give him a few more minutes,” JC said.

Lance sighed. “JC, that’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

“Even if, when,” Lance corrected himself quickly, “he wakes up, who’s to say that he’s not going to be affected from this?”

“What do you mean?” Joey asked.

“Passing out all the time can’t be good for his body. You would think there would be some after affects,” Lance clarified.

“He seems fine when he wakes up,” Joey said. “Kind of tired, but OK.”

“So what? You want to take him to the hospital and have them run a bunch of tests?” JC asked.

“If that’s what it takes to make sure that he’s really OK, then yes,” Lance said.

“But he’s fine,” JC stressed.

“These…visions are happening more frequently. What’s going to happen when we’re out in public or performing onstage and he passes out?” Lance replied.

“Who says we’re even going to be performing?” JC asked.

“JC--” Lance warned.

“What? I was just going to say I thought the plan was to go into the studio,” JC said.

Lance glared at him. “You meant if you’re even around to perform with us.”

“It’s a realistic thought,” JC mumbled.

“No, it’s not,” Lance countered. “You’re not going to die.”

“He’s right,” Joey added when JC opened his mouth to protest. “Lance has been doing a ton of research and we’re going to find a way out of this.”

“Even if you do find a way you don’t even know if it’ll work,” JC said.

“Quit acting like you have a death sentence. Your attitude isn’t helping,” Lance replied, daring JC to refute that. He was really getting sick of JC thinking so negatively because he had to know that they would do whatever they could to save him. There was no way they would just sit idly back and do nothing to stop the demons from coming for him.

JC didn’t answer and shifted under the scrutiny of Lance. But before Lance could add anything else Justin shifted slightly on the couch and opened his eyes. There was collective sigh of relief, and they all moved closer to him.

“Hey, buddy,” Joey greeted. “How are you feeling?”

Justin shrugged. “OK.”

“You took a nasty spill down the stairs,” Lance said.

“Oh yeah.” Justin nodded in remembrance then looked at them worriedly. “How’s Chris?”

“He’s all right,” Joey assured.

Justin nodded and fell silent. Lance could almost see the wheels turning in his mind and couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking about what he’d seen. He was sure he was, which led him to ponder about what Justin saw and was going to ask, but JC beat him to it.

“What did you see?”

“Nothing,” Justin said.

“Justin, we need to know what you saw so we can stop it from happening,” JC insisted.

Justin sighed. “I saw myself…uh…get kidnapped.”

“The demons?” JC asked.

“Yeah.”

“Do you know where?” Lance asked, dread filling him. It wasn’t that he was expecting Justin to say something good because his visions seemed to be related with bad things, but it was still hard to hear. He could only imagine what Justin was feeling.

“The garage,” Justin said.

“OK, so the garage’s off limits,” Joey said. “Problem solved.”

JC frowned. “I don’t know if it’s that easy.”