In My Dreams by Leo

Index

Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Chapter 13: Chapter 13
Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This story was written before the series that I've been working on, so I was still building my writing skills. I hope you enjoy!

“You wanna hang out tonight? We can go to a movie or something.” Mike suggested. Lance shook his head.

“No. Sorry I can’t. You know that every summer, the guys and I stayed at one of our houses. Besides, I already promised them that I would be there in a few hours. Sorry Mike. Who knows, maybe I will find some time this summer and we’ll do something.” Lance explained hoping that Mike wasn’t upset at him for not being able hang out with him.

“It’s ok, Lance. I was just asking if you wanted to tonight because I’m leaving tomorrow for California with my girlfriend.” Mike said.

“That’s great! I hope you guys have a fun time!”

“Thanks man. You too. See in the fall.” Mike replied. Lance said bye and finished packing. Once he had all of his things in the car, he took off down the road in his Toyota 4Runner. He only had a little while until he got there or so he thought. He got up the highway a couple more miles until traffic was at a dead halt. He looked at his watch after throwing his car in park.

“I’m gonna be here for a while.” He said to himself as he popped in some Garth Brookes to listen to while he waited for whatever the problem was to be fixed and traffic started moving again.

“Man, I can’t wait until everyone gets here. We’re going to have a blast!” Chris said all excited. He was the first one to arrive at JC’s house.

“Chill out dude. We still have to wait for Justin and Lance to get here.” Joey told him trying to get him to calm down. Joey shook his head. He could never understand how Chris had so much energy. JC walked in from the kitchen and sat down on the couch beside Joey.

“When are they going to get here?” Chris asked not even five minutes later. Right when JC was about to reply the doorbell rang. Chris got all excited and started jumping up and down.

“I’ll get it! I’ll get it!” Chris yelled like an excited ten year old as he ran off to get the door before JC could even get off the couch. Chris came back in the room minutes later with Justin following close behind.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Justin asked as he sat down heavily next to JC.

“We’re good. We were just waiting for you and Lance to get here. How are you man?”

“I’m good Jace. I can’t wait for next year though. I will be a senior and get to rule the school.” Justin replied.

“Did you already put your stuff in a guest room?” JC questioned.

“Yeah. I threw all of my stuff in one of the rooms.” Justin said.

“You do know we all have to share one, except for me. I get my own room.” JC said already knowing that someone was going to speak up about the bedroom. It wasn’t that often that someone got their own room when they all got together like this.

“No way, dude! I already called it, JC.” Joey complained.

“I know, I know. I was teasing.” JC replied.

“I’m starving. Let’s order pizza.” Joey suggested.

“We have to wait for Lance. He should be here soon.” JC said looking at his watch. They decided to put in a movie while they waited for Lance to show up.

After an hour of sitting in traffic, it started moving again. Lance was an hour behind schedule but he didn’t mind. He knew the guys wouldn’t care if he was a little late. He was almost to JC’s house. He only had a half hour to go when his car just stopped. Lance looked down at his gages and saw that he had no gas left.

“Ah man. I should have filled it before I even hit the road.” Lance said as he looked around the area. He knew it well enough to know that just up the street a little bit was a gas station. It was getting dark so he knew that he would have to run there before it got really dark.

He’d managed to run to the gas station in ten minutes. He told them his situation and they let him take a gasoline container with him so he could fill it up without having to call a tow truck. He thanked them and ran off to his car again. Once he was there he filled it up and was about to get in his car again when he thought he heard a scream.

Lance stopped what he was doing and turned towards the woods because that’s where he thought he heard the scream come from. He walked toward the woods but he didn’t have to go into them because the source of the voice was at the tree line with a guy stabbing at what appeared to be a young woman. She had stopped screaming and her eyes looked glazed over. The woman’s face was portrayed with horror and fright. Lance had the same expression on his face because of the fact that this was happening. The guy looked up and saw Lance staring at him.

“What are you looking at?” The guy asked in a gruff voice. Lance froze where he was, scared to move. The guy’s eyes moved up and down Lance and finally stopped at his eyes. Lance was scared for his life. The guy appeared to be tough looking from what Lance could make out in the dark. When the guy’s eyes met with Lance’s he took off for his car and locked the doors. He started the engine and drove away. He kept looking in his rearview mirror to see if the guy was chasing him but he didn’t see anyone in his mirror.

He stopped at the gas station to return the gas container. He felt guilty for running away like that. He could have possibly helped that poor woman. Lance decided to use his cell phone and call the police to let them know what happened. He dialed 911 and waited to be connected to the police station.

“Hello. This is Officer Gill. How can I help you?”

“Hi. I noticed a something suspicious happening along the woods about five miles from an Exxon in Harris County. I just thought that you guys might want to check it out.” Lance said trying not to freak out from what he saw just minutes ago.

“Well thank you very much. We will be sure to check it out. Good bye.” Officer Gill replied as he hung up the phone. Lance felt a little better that he called for help but he was still really scared about what he saw. Lance was shaking from what he just experienced. Once he had calmed down, he pulled out of the gas station.

Lance began to have random thoughts in his head. Why did that guy choose there to do it? Didn’t he know that anybody could have seen him if they were looking that way or did he think he wouldn’t have to worry about that seeing as how it’s dark out? His eyes were just so cold and icy blue. His eyes kind of reminded him of Justin’s when he got mad. Will he come after me? I mean he hasn’t yet but wouldn’t you if someone saw you murder someone? Lance shook himself of his thoughts as he reached JC’s house. He parked the car and was telling himself to stay calm and be cool, to act like nothing happened.

“Well here goes nothing…” Lance said as he walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. He only had to wait for a few minutes before the door was opened. During that time Lance was trying to hide the probably scared face that he was portraying. He hoped no one would notice. The person standing at the door was JC.

“Hey man. We were expecting you sooner. Did something happen?” JC asked. Lance wanted to scream yes something did happen. A lady was murder and I saw the whole thing and….but he already promised himself that he wouldn’t tell the guys for their own good.

“I got caught in some traffic and then wouldn’t you know it, my car ran out of gas.” Lance explained with a small laugh as he was ushered in the door. Lance and JC walked to the living room where the guys looked up at their entry.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” JC said.

“It’s about time. Can we get pizza now?” Joey said licking his lips because he was so hungry.

“Sure. I’ll go call.” JC replied as he left to go order the pizza. Lance sat down on the floor beside Chris.

“Hey man. What’s up?” Chris asked upon seeing Lance sit down next to him.

“Nothing much. You know, just glad that school is over and I get a break.” Lance answered trying to avoid a lot of conversation. He didn’t really feel like talking to his ‘brothers’ as they referred to each other.

Lance didn’t really want to say anything else but being the polite gentleman he was, he said, “How’s work Chris? Get anybody that is really interesting?” Chris worked as a physiologist. Chris mainly worked with kids that have gone bad or someone that just needed to straighten their life out.

“No not really. I haven’t really had anybody interesting for a while. Even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to tell you their story because I’m sworn to secrecy.” Chris replied. Lance nodded his head in understanding.

“The pizza will be here in a half hour.” JC announced as he walked into the living room and plopped down on the big leather chair. Nobody was really saying anything else. They all were watching TV. except for Lance. He had too much on his mind to really care about watching TV.

JC was watching Lance trying to figure out what was bugging him. He’s only been here for 10 minutes and I can already tell that there’s something on his mind, JC thought. He looked kind of spooked when he walked in the door. He decided to ask Lance if any thing was wrong.

“Hey Lance.” JC called Lance’s attention from the floor.

“Yeah, JC?” Lance replied twisting his body so he could see JC better.

“Did something happen? You look upset by something.” JC said.

“Nope. I’m fine, just a little tired I guess.” Lance lied and even topped it off with a small smile. Lance wasn’t really sure how he managed to accomplish that. He wasn’t a very good liar, never was. Lance knew that the guys would usually be able to tell if he was lying so he would have to be careful with what he said from now on.

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Chapter 2: Chapter 2

“Hello.” Lance said.

“What’s your favorite scary movie?” the mysterious voice asked. Lance, thinking it was the murderer he saw, was afraid to say anything.

“Wha…What do you want?” Lance stuttered into the phone. After a few minutes of silence he heard laughing and instantly knew who it was.

“Chris! Jesus Christ! Don’t do that!” Lance screamed into the phone. He couldn’t believe that he had fallen for this trick. Every time they got together, Chris would do his phone prank to get a rise out of Lance. Normally Lance didn’t fall to it but he was just paranoid from what happened.

“Sorry man. I didn’t think you would really fall for it.” Chris replied instantly regretting his joke. Lance normally wasn’t the one to scream so Chris knew that he had upset him a great deal if Lance yelled at him.

Lance took a deep breath and a lot more calmly now said, “It’s ok. I just watched this really scary movie lately that was kind of like this. Anyway, come down for pizza. It’s ready.”

“Ok. Be right down.” Chris said as he hung up the phone and bounded down the stairs. Lance hung the phone up and turned around only to see JC standing there.

“You okay, Lance?” JC asked having heard the whole conversation.

“Yeah, I’m fine. He got me for once. He won’t let me live this down, will he?” Lance replied.

JC shook his head. “No way. You know he won’t. Let’s take this stuff into the living room so we can watch our scary movie.” JC helped Lance carry the drinks and plates into the living room. Every settled in their spots. This was a tradition when they got together. They would put in a scary movie and see who had nightmares that night. Usually Justin was the one to get the nightmares but somehow Lance knew that he wouldn’t be the only one.

Lance had sat down next to Chris to show that there was no hard feelings and Chris patted him on the shoulder as the movie started. The movie was almost over when it got to the worst part. Well it was the worst part for Lance anyway. A ghost was stabbing someone to death. All this did was remind Lance of what happened. Now Lance was certain that he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

The movie was over and everyone headed to bed except for Lance and JC. They were cleaning up the clutter of paper plates, popcorn, pop cans, and napkins. They had been working in silence until JC spoke up.

“You know that me and you are rooming together, right?” Lance shook his head.

“Ya. Joey got a bedroom to himself and Justin and Chris are sharing a room.” JC explained.

“Sounds like a plan.” Lance replied as they threw that last bit of garbage away. They both headed upstairs.

“You going to bed?” JC asked.

“No. I think I’m going to take a shower first.” Lance said.

“At 3:30 in the morning? Aren’t you tired?” JC stated.

“Yes I am tired but I really need a shower.” Lance answered. JC nodded his head.

“Enjoy it then.”

“I will. Good night.” Lance said.

“Night.” JC replied. Lance stripped off his clothes once in the bathroom. He stepped into the hot shower. Lance could feel his body physically relax and become less tense. After an hour of being in the shower, Lance turned off the water and got out. This shower made him feel so much better. It almost made him forget about the murder. He headed back to his and JC's room. Lance saw that JC was sleeping and wanted to try and get some sleep too but he doubt that he could.

Lance was lying there for a half hour when he fell asleep. It wasn’t a very fitful sleep though because he woke up screaming from his nightmare about two hours after he had fallen asleep. His screaming woke everyone up except Joey. JC tried to shake Lance of his nightmare as Justin and Chris came running in. No body really knew what to do so they started saying his name, trying to wake him up.

“Lance. Come on, Lance. Wake up.” Chris chanted while JC lightly smacked him on the cheeks. Finally Lance’s eyes opened. Lance was pale and his face showed fright but the thing that gave away his fright the most were his eyes. They were a bright green, brighter than they normally are. Lance had come to realize that everyone minus Joey was crowding around him.

“I’m so sorry that I woke you guys. Go back to bed.” Lance apologized knowing that he must have scared them with his screaming. He had flashes of his nightmare and shuddered. The dream had seemed so real. Lance dreamt that the murderer had found him and was going to kill him but killed his friends first. That’s why he screamed. What he was afraid of most was in his dreams. That’s why he couldn’t tell the guys.

“Are you okay, Lance? You look so pale.” Justin asked.

“Ya, I’m fine. Really guys, go back to bed.” Lance answered. Justin and Chris looked like they were about to say something but stopped when JC gave them a look that told them that he would figure out what was bothering Lance and to go to bed. So Chris and Justin left for their room. JC continued to sit on the edge of Lance’s bed. Lance felt his head begin to throb and closed his eyes. He could tell that this was going to be a migraine.

“What are you still doing up JC?” Lance asked as he opened his eyes to look into JC’s blue ones.

“I wanted to make sure that you’re okay. You scared us back there with your screaming. It must have been some nightmare.” JC said. Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“It was. I’m sorry I woke you guys.” Lance apologized again.

“Don’t worry about it. What was the dream about?” JC coaxed trying to get Lance to spill his guts. Lance knew what he was trying to do since they’ve been friends forever.

“JC, it’s not that big a deal. Go back to sleep.” Lance replied trying not to give into JC’s offer. He would love to talk his problems out with someone but he knew they wouldn’t understand.

“It is a big deal if it scared you so much.” JC stated. Lance sighed and massaged his temples. JC stopped trying to get an explanation out of Lance and looked at his friend worriedly.

“Headache?” JC asked. Lance nodded.

“Is it really bad?” Lance nodded again. JC left the room and came back a few minutes later with some aspirin and a glass of water. He tapped Lance on the shoulder. Lance opened his eyes and gratefully took the aspirin and water.

“Thanks, JC.” Lance said after swallowing the pills.

“No problem. You gonna try and get more sleep?” JC replied. Lance shook his head.

“It’s time to get up anyway.” Lance answered as he made a move to get up. JC pushed him back down on the bed.

“Lance, you need your rest. If your not going to go back to sleep, at least lay down and try to get rid of your headache.” JC sounded like his mom. Lance loved his mom to death but he hated when she told him what was best for him and that’s what JC was doing.

“Your not my mother, JC. Besides, I have stuff that needs to be done.” Lance stated.

“Ya but I’m a doctor and my orders are to stay in bed. Everything can be put off until tomorrow.” JC told the stubborn Lance and added, “If you don’t, I will get Joey to come in and sit on you.” Lance cracked a small smile at the joke about Joey’s weight.

“Ok, ok. You win. I will lay down for a while but I’m not staying in bed all day.”

“We’ll see about that.” JC replied smiling as he closed the door. Lance had fallen asleep almost right away despite what he told JC. He smiled as he thought about how much the others cared about him.

It was noon and all of the guys except Lance were sitting around eating lunch. Everything was pretty silent until Chris spoke up. “Did you find out what’s bothering Scoop?” JC shook his head and Joey had a confused look on his face.

“Why? What happened to him?” Joey asked confused.

“Didn’t you….oh ya that’s right. You slept through it.” Justin said.

“What did I sleep through?” Joey questioned.

“Lance woke us up from screaming. He had a nightmare.” Chris explained then turned to JC. “Why didn’t you find out what it was about?”

“He was avoiding the subject. It’s not like I wasn’t trying to pry it out because I was. But then he got a headache and I told him to lie down and get some rest. So unfortunately, I didn’t get anything out of him. All I know is that it must have been pretty bad because he’s had nightmares before but never reacted to them like that.” JC explained.

“Ya. I know what you mean. How do you think his head is?” Joey asked.

“It’s fine.” A voice said. Everyone turned and saw Lance standing in the doorway. “It’s a lot better now. Thanks JC for keeping Chris and Justin out of the room. I thought for sure I was going to get a special wake up call from them.”

“No problem. It was kind of hard to keep them out but then I promised they could wake Joey up if they left you alone.” JC explained.

“Ya. You’re lucky it wasn’t you. It was good old cold water and then getting smacked in the head with pillows. I’ll get them back good though.” Joey said.

“You wish, Joey.” Chris replied laughing about what him and Justin did to Joey earlier that morning.

“Oh don’t you worry. It will come.” Joey stated. Once conversation died down again JC said, “How much of our conversation did you hear?” JC wanted to know if Lance had been standing there the whole time unaware to them.

“I only heard what Joey said. Why? Did you talk about me the whole time?” Lance asked.

“We told Joey that you had a nightmare and that was pretty much it.” Justin said. Lance didn’t really believe them but he decided not to fight against it. Lance didn’t really feel like talking anymore so he walked out the backdoor to the porch swing and sat on it. Lance began to think about all of his options and if he should tell the guys or not. Lance was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice that Justin sat down on the swing next to him until he put a hand on his shoulder. Lance jumped five feet.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Justin apologized.

“It’s ok. What’s up man?” Lance asked sensing that Justin needed to talk about something.

“Well see I have this thing for this girl but she doesn’t even know I exist. What can I do to get her to notice me?”

“Try to do nice things for her like help carry her books or help her with her homework. You know, something to show her that you care.” Lance suggested.

“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Scoop.” Justin replied.

“Sure thing, Curly.” Lance said as Justin ran back into the house. Lance couldn’t understand why he was always the one the guys ran to for advice. He was always happy to help them but now he needed to talk to someone and he didn’t know who would be the most understanding. Lance had decided that if something happens like another nightmare or anything like that, that he would tell the guys. He knew something would happen sooner or later but the question was what and when.

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Chapter 3: Chapter 3

“Yes. Lance didn’t suspect a thing. I think he was a little too deep in thought to notice what I was really saying. He still gave me advice and everything. He just didn’t seem to realize what I was saying because normally he would’ve made a wise crack about how there’s a girl that doesn’t like me. But he didn’t say one.” Justin explained through some reasoning.

JC had sent Justin outside to ask him that so they could see if Lance was like his normal self. Usually they could determine that by what kind of advice he gave. If he gave less advice than he normally did then the guys knew something was up. “What kind of advice did he give you?” JC questioned.

“He told me to help her carry her books or help her with her homework. You know, to do something that will show her that I care.” Justin replied.

“That pretty much sounds like what he would say.” Joey said and everyone agreed.

“He totally jumped when I was out there with him. He didn’t even know I was there until I touched him and he jumped. He was really deep in thought.” Justin added trying to figure out what was causing Lance to be this jumpy.

“Really? That’s not like him. He’s usually very relaxed. Is he still out there deep in thought?” Chris commented. Joey went over to the sliding glass door and looked out.

“Yep. He’s still really thinking.” Joey answered.

“We should try to get his mind off whatever he’s thinking for now.” JC said. They all nodded.

“How about we go swimming?” Chris asked and there were no objections from anyone. So they all headed upstairs to change.

Lance saw the guys come out and head toward the pool area. He had been deep in thought about everything. Now Lance was trying to unwind. He was working himself up from all of his thinking about murderers, death, and weapons. He was starting to freak himself out. He looked up when he heard Joey call his name.

“Hey, Lance!”

“Yeah.” Lance replied.

“Come on in and swim with us.” Joey said.

“Yeah! The water feels so good.” Chris added.

“No thanks. I think I will just watch you guys.” Lance declined. Joey nodded and went over to Justin to tell him something. Lance watched with curious eyes.

“Here’s what you have to do.” Joey said as he whispered in Justin’s ear so Lance couldn’t hear them. Joey finished explaining what the plan was. Justin smiled and nodded. This drove Lance even more crazy because he could tell they were up to something.

“Does anyone have a watch?” Justin asked looking at all of the guys. All the guys shook their heads no.

“Hey Lance. Can you come over and time me?” Justin asked looking at Lance.

“Sure.” Lance agreed since he didn’t have anything else to do and figured that there was no harm in it. Lance rolled up his flannel pj’s as he stuck his legs in the pool. Lance got his watch ready.

“You have 30 seconds.” Lance stated as Justin began to prepare for going underwater.

“10 seconds left.” Lance started to count down and when he got to one, Justin went under and Joey came over unnoticed to Lance and pulled Lance into the water. While Lance was underwater all Justin could do was pray that Lance didn’t kill him. Lance surfaced.

“Why’d you do that Justin?” Lance said automatically thinking that it was Justin who pulled him under since he was right next to him.

“It wasn’t me. I swear! It was Joey!” Justin accused. Lance gave the look of death at Joey.

“Ah, come on Lance. You need to have some fun. Lighten up.” Joey replied. Lance couldn’t help to be mad anymore because Joey had a point.

“The water does feel good.” Lance admitted.

“See I told you.” Joey said. The rest of the day, the guys swam in the pool all day. Lance was actually grateful that he did decide to have fun because he needed a break from thinking. They all had gotten dressed and we’re sitting around watching the news. Lance had started off to the kitchen when the news reporter caught his attention.

“Today, a man murdered a 30 year old woman in her home early this morning. The police had him arrested when he escaped this afternoon. The police have advised everyone to watch their backs and don’t go anywhere alone at night. That is all the time we have today……” Lance didn’t hear anymore as he drifted away into his own little world. 

Justin noticed, walked over to him, and waved his hand in front of Lance's face. “Is he all right?” Justin asked looking at JC who remained calm while checking Lance over once he was sitting on the couch.

“No. He’s fine. He's just in shock.” JC explained as he began to lightly slap Lance on the cheek. After a few minutes, Lance opened his eyes and realized he was brought back to reality. Lance didn’t even have to ask what happened because he connected everything together and figured it out.

“Are you okay?” Joey asked as the guys made room for Lance to sit up properly.

“Yeah. I will be fine. I just need to….throw up.” Lance replied as he made a dash for the bathroom where he puked his guts out. He came out after cleaning himself off.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” JC asked Lance. Lance nodded.

“I just got a little dizzy.”

“Why don’t you go lay down upstairs for a while and I will be right up?” JC suggested. Lance nodded and headed upstairs. Once he was up the stairs, the guys started talking again.

“What was that all about?” Joey asked.

“I’m not sure but whatever it was must be some serious stuff. I mean, if it wasn’t serious he wouldn’t have spaced out like that.” Chris replied. JC nodded.

“We’re going to find out soon. We’ll make him tell us but for now let’s just let him feel a little better. I don’t think it was only dizziness that caused him to throw up. I think it was stress too. We’ll understand everything better once he tells us though.” JC explained. “I’m going to sit with him for a while. Why don’t you guys go get something to eat?”

“What about you?” Justin asked.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll make a sandwich or something.” JC replied as he headed upstairs.

“Alright, guys. Let’s get going.” Chris said as they all piled out of the door. Chris just hoped that JC could find out what was bothering Lance this time and that Lance was ok.

Lance had his eyes closed when JC reached his room. For a minute Jc thought he was sleeping until he said, “I’m sorry about that, JC.”

“It’s ok. You can’t help how your body reacts to certain stuff.” JC replied. Lance nodded his head.

“Where are the others?”

“They went out for dinner.” JC answered.

“I’m sorry that you’re missing out on it. You could’ve gone. I would’ve just slept anyway.” Lance replied feeling guilty that he ruined the guys’ day.

“Nah. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure they just went to McDonald’s or something. That’s all they really eat at.” JC assured. “Do you feel like talking about what happened?”

“Not right now. Maybe later.” Lance said.

“Sure. Whenever you’re ready.” JC replied.

“Didn’t get much done today.” JC stated and that made Lance smile at the great day that he had up until a few minutes ago.

“Yeah. I actually had a lot of fun. I’m kind of glad that I didn’t work today.” Lance said.

“You need to do that more often. You work so hard and that’s why you get sick all the time. You stress yourself out too much when you’re working but when you’re just relaxing with us, you’re fine.” JC replied.

Lance agreed. “Yeah, I know. I just hate it when I don’t get all the things done that I want to and then I end up stressing out because I stayed up all night to make a deadline. I always stress over stupid stuff like that but then I’m fine the next day.”

“It happens to the best of us.” JC commented. “I think you should get some sleep. Maybe you’ll feel well enough to eat when you wake up.”

“Maybe.” Lance closed his eyes but then opened them in a flash. “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” Lance paused for a minute then added, “That movie really got to me.”

“Of course I will.” JC agreed and Lance closed his eyes once again feeling better that JC would be in the same room as him. Lance slowly drifted off to sleep as JC sat there watching him.

“I can’t stand to see him like this.” JC said to himself. He had decided that he would figure out what was up with Lance soon before things got too crazy. JC knew the only way he would be able to help Lance was to help him over come whatever it was that he was so afraid of. Whatever it was that kept him looking over his shoulder even when they were just in the back yard or whatever was causing him those horrible nightmares. JC was about to leave again when he heard the bed sheets rustling.

Lance was flailing about in his bed. He was mumbling things that Jc could not make out in his sleep. He really began tossing and turning almost to the point where he fell off the bed. JC sat down on the bed next to him and started talking to him, trying to wake him up.

Lance was starting to become more audible. JC thought he said, “Please. Don’t hurt them. They didn’t do anything. I’ll do anything. Please. Just leave them alone.” JC was shocked at what he heard. He still had no idea what the dreams were about but just what Lance was saying and the fright in his voice was enough to tell JC that it was a bad dream.

“Come on, Lance. Wake up. I’m right here. Nothing is happening. You’re safe in your bed at my house.” JC kept saying comforting things to Lance when Lance opened his eyes. That look in his eyes was the same as last night and this made JC sad. JC wanted to fix Lance’s problem.

“Are you okay? You were having a bad dream.”

“Yeah. I’m fine. It was just really scary.” Lance replied. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Are you hungry?” JC asked knowing that he would need Lance to eat something because he hadn’t eaten all day. Lance nodded. “Okay. Let’s go downstairs and make you soup.” JC replied silently thanking god that Lance was hungry. Lance would need all of the energy he could get if he was going to tell the guys about his dreams. At least, this is what JC was hoping for.

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Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Author's Notes: I figured I'd post a new chapter real fast before the Super Bowl. Go Steelers!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

“You feeling ok, Lance?”

“Yeah. I’m just waiting for it to cool down before I try to eat some.”

“Stomach hurt?” JC asked. Lance nodded. “Well don’t eat any if you don’t think your stomach can take it. Although, I preferred you would so you will have something in your stomach.” JC had finished his sandwich and Lance had eaten a little bit of his soup.

“Are you finished?” JC stated knowing the answer already.

“Yes.” They had just finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher when the rest of the guys came in.

“Hey. How was your dinner?” JC asked upon seeing them walk into the kitchen and sit down at the table.

“It was good. Joey got stuck in the tunnel again and we had pull him out.” Chris said. Everyone in the room laughed while Joey just blushed. Whenever the guys went to McDonald’s, they liked to goof off in the tunnels. Usually, one of them would get stuck and the others would have to pull him out.

“How are you feeling, Lance?” Justin asked looking over at Lance. He didn’t look too well. Justin decided after looking over at him, that he would do something with Lance later to cheer him up a bit.

“I’m ok, just a little nauseous.” Everyone in the room nodded their head in understanding. There was a long silence until JC spoke up.

“Will you tell us about your dream now?” Lance looked thoughtful for a minute then shook his head. “Why not? It would make you feel so much better.” JC said.

“Come on, Lance. We want to know what’s buggin you.” Chris piped in.

“What makes you think there’s something bugging me?” Lance asked even though he knew that they knew something was going on.

“Oh don’t tell me that there’s nothing going on because we’ve seen the way you’ve been acting the past couple of days. You space out, you’re having nightmares, and you’re getting sick from not eating.” Chris replied. Lance looked over at JC for some help. JC just shook his head.

“You need to tell us, Lance.” JC said.

“But you told me that I could when I’m ready. I’m not ready.” Lance objected.

“Alright. Go lay down for a little bit but your telling us later, got it?” JC allowed. Lance nodded his head.

“I just need to think things through.” JC nodded and Lance headed upstairs. When he left, Joey was the first to speak.

“Why did you go and do that? We had him backed into a corner and then you let him go upstairs. Why, JC?”

“Because I did tell him that he could tell us when he’s ready and I don’t break my promises. It doesn’t matter anyway. We’re going to find out later. Just let him get his thoughts in order.”

“What do we do now?” Justin asked.

“Let’s put in a movie.” Chris suggested and everyone agreed. Nobody was really watching it though. They all were too caught up in their thoughts about Lance to pay any attention to the movie.

Lance couldn’t understand why the guys needed to know. It was his life after all, not theirs. So why care? But they cared whether he wanted them to or not. Not that he didn’t want them to care, he just didn’t want to have to tell them about what he saw and have him think he’s crazy. Lance started getting this idea in his head that maybe he was just seeing things but he knew deep down that he hadn’t. He was just afraid of what they would say after he told them everything. He didn’t know if his brothers would act differently around him.

Lance closed his eyes and fell asleep only to be haunted by another nightmare. This one was probably the worst out of all of them.

In his dream, him and the guys were watching a movie when they heard glass shatter. The next thing they knew, the power went out. When it was switched back on minutes later, there were big men with guns in the room. The guys moved closer together so as not to be separated but they were. The murder that Lance had seen before was there and went over to him. Lance was frozen with fear. All he could think about was how this was his fault and that he couldn’t believe he had found him and his friends. The murder pulled Lance’s arm to get him to stand. Lance had tried to wiggle away but the murder just put an even harder grip on Lance’s arm and whacked him in the back of the head with the gun. Lance winced at the sharp pain.

Finally the man spoke. “You fool. You honestly thought I wouldn’t find out where you lived? I’m not willing to go to jail as you have already found out. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen. Do your friends know about it? Do they?” Lance shook his head.

“You’re a liar!” The man shouted.

“No, really. They don’t know. I didn’t tell them.” Lance replied.

“I don’t believe you. So they all have to die.” The guy raised his gun to Lance’s temple and motioned for his men to do the same to the others. The guy began to count to three.

“1…. 2…3!” Once the man reached three all the guns went off except for the one at Lane’s temple. Lance watched his brothers’ expressions right before they were shot. All of his friends had a look of unexplainable fear on their faces. Lance felt so horrible.

“Now it’s your turn.” The man said turning to Lance and was about to shot him when the nightmare ended and Lance shot up in bed. He was sweating and panting from the horrible dream. JC had come into the room right when Lance had woken up so suddenly.

“Are you okay?” JC asked. Lance didn’t even notice he was asked a question until JC was waving a hand in front of his face. Lance snapped out of his daze.

“What, JC?” JC repeated his question to Lance again.

“Yeah, I’m…ok I guess. Just thinking.” Lance replied not wanting to tell JC that he had another nightmare but JC could see in Lance’s eyes that he did and that he was lying.

“Are you ready to talk to us?” Lance thought a minute. He couldn’t really say no because then JC would be worried that something happened. He didn’t really want to tell them but knew that they would drag him downstairs and tie him to a chair if they had to just so he would tell them. So Lance decided to go down freely.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” JC smiled faintly at him and they headed downstairs. Lance sat down on the couch in the living room while JC rounded up the rest of the guys. They all came in and sat down too. JC sat to the right of Lance and Chris was to the left of Lance. Joey and Justin were sitting on the chairs by the coffee table.

“Ok, Lance. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” JC suggested. Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t know what to say or how to word it without it sounding like he was going crazy.

“Is something the matter, Lance?” Chris asked. “If you’re afraid of what our reaction is going to be, I promise that it won’t be as bad as you think.” Lance nodded and sighed again. It was worth a shot.

“Well ok. Do you remember how I said that my car broke down?” Lance looked around the room and saw everyone nod. “Well, something happened after I filled my gas tank. I heard someone screaming from over by the woods. It turns out that there was a woman being stabbed to death. I was so totally freaked out that I ran back into my car. I didn’t feel right about leaving her without help so I called the police and told them something was going on and to check it out. Then I arrived here.”

Everyone was silent when Lance finished telling them what he saw. Nobody knew what to say. They all were stunned that Lance had seen something so horrific. Lance felt uncomfortable in the awkward silence. He went to leave when JC pulled him to sit back down. Lance complied with a sigh. He knew that there would be more questions.

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” JC asked.

“I don’t know.” Lance lied. He knew that he had purposely not told them so the murder wouldn’t come after them if he chose to hunt down Lance.

“It feels like your not telling us everything.” Chris said. He had this feeling that there was something more to Lance’s problem than just what he saw.

“I told you everything! What else is there to tell you?” Justin looked at JC and yawned, hinting about his nightmares. Justin didn’t want to speak out for fear of getting Lance mad at him.

“What about your nightmares?” JC asked. JC couldn’t believe that he hadn’t remembered that. He would have to thank Justin for that later.

“What about them?” Lance questioned stuttering a little. It was because of this that the guys knew they found the other half of his problem.

“What happens in them? They must be something horrible to scare you so much.” Joey persisted. Lance sat as still as stone proving that he wasn’t going to talk about it.

“We’re not leaving this room until you tell us.” Chris said. Lance sighed and knew that he would have to tell them. Lance took a deep breath.

“Alright. Well my nightmares are based on what I saw. In every nightmare, he finds me but kills you guys. I’m afraid that it really will happen and that it will be all my fault. That’s what I’m afraid of the most, is you guys getting killed because of me and what I saw. I just wish that he would kill me and get it over with.”

“Why would it be your fault? You didn’t actually see him? Did you?” Justin asked and Lance nodded.

“I couldn’t really make out his features that great since it was so dark.”

“Did he see you?” Joey asked.

“Yeah. He made eye contact with me and told me to leave.” Lance shuddered remembering his icy blue eyes and gruff voice. There was some more silence and then JC said:

“You don’t have to worry about us. We’re all cautious.”

“I know that but I just can’t help to think that one of you will be walking down the street and he will shot you from behind. That’s why I just wished he would kill me so I don’t have to go through this.” Lance replied.

“That would never happen.” JC protested. “You don’t want to die and you know it. You just want an easy way out of this. It’s not right to wish you were dead.”

“I’m just so afraid of what can happen because you never know anymore with how crazy the world is.” Lance paused. “You just never know.” He whispered.

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Chapter 5: Chapter 5

“Hey Lance.” Justin spoke into the silence of the room with everyone lost in their own thoughts. They seemed to snap out of it once he spoke. Lance looked at Justin, his eyes dull and tired.

“Yeah?” Lance questioned staring into Justin’s blue eyes.

“I was wondering if you wanted to….play Life or Monopoly or something.” Justin suggested. Everyone noticed Lance’s eyes light up a little. Justin knew that this was a good way to get on his good side. They all knew that Lance liked to play Life and Monopoly; they were his favorite games. JC felt grateful that Justin was going to get Lance’s mind off things for a while.

“Really?”

Justin nodded. “There’s nothing to do and I don’t feel like swimming, so I figured why not.” Everyone knew that half of the reason Lance accepted was the fact that he didn’t want to be sitting there any more.

“Sure I’ll do it. Anybody else want to?” Lance asked. Chris looked at JC and saw that he wanted to talk some more by his facial expression. Chris shook his head at Lance’s question. Although he did want to, he felt that JC needed to talk and he would see what’s eating him, even though he had a pretty good idea.

“I’ll play with ya’ll.” Joey said as he stood up. “You sure you guys don’t want to?” Joey questioned looking at Chris and JC.

“Not right now. We might later.” The three nodded and headed for Lance’s room to play the games. Once they were gone Chris said, “What’s eating you Jace?”

“I just can’t believe that Lance saw something like that and then waited a couple days until he told us. He probably wouldn’t have even told us if we didn’t drag it out of him and force him to tell us.” JC replied.

“I see what you mean, but he might have told us.” Chris said.

“Yeah, he might have but there’s that other half that says he wouldn’t have so I don’t know. Then the fact that he wished he was dead. I just…..I could never see him killing himself, you know? He knows that he has a lot to live for, so I’m just worried why he’s thinking these thoughts.”

“Exactly. He does know that he has a ton to live for. He knows that he’s loved. It’s what you said, he just wants the easy way out. I don’t think he would ever actually carry out killing himself. He knows that it would be hard for his family to bear and he hates to see his family hurt.” Chris explained.

“I know. I keep telling myself that. I’m just worried about him. He’s different since he’s seen that murder.”

“We all are worried about him but we can’t let him know that. That might have been part of the reason that he wasn’t going to tell us because he knows that we would make a big deal out of it and bug him to death making sure he was ‘ok.’ And yeah, he’s different but wouldn’t you be if you saw a murder? Seeing horrific things really changes a person. So don’t worry about him too much. Let him come to us for help if he feels he needs it.”

“You’re right Chris. Knowing me I probably would bug him to death.” JC said as he chuckled lightly.

“Well, duh. I’ve only known you for forever.” Chris said jokingly and then said, “He was smiling when he left the room anyway. That’s always a good sign.”

“Yeah. I’m glad that Justin is doing that with him. He really needed that. It’s good that he’s getting his mind off of things for a while.”

“Yes, I agree. Let’s go join them. You need to stop thinking about this too.” Chris replied as they both headed upstairs. They opened the door to Lance’s room and saw all three of them lying on the floor on their stomachs playing monopoly.

“Hey guys.” Lance greeted as he noticed them in the doorway. Lance and Joey moved over from where they were laying to make room for JC and Chris. JC sat next to Lance and Chris next to Joey.

“Who’s winning?” Chris asked even though he probably knew who it was.

“I am!” Justin replied. Chris and JC looked at him.

“Really?” JC asked.

“Nah. Lance is still the champion. He’s whooping our butts.” Everyone looked over at Lance he had a grin on his face. He noticed them staring at him.

“What? I can’t help it that I’m this good.” Lance replied.

“You sound like Justin.” Joey replied and they all laughed. They finished up their game and now put in a movie. It was going on 8 o’clock.

“I think we should go and pick up some Chinese. I’m gonna order it. What does everyone want?” JC suggested and got everyone’s order. He came back in the room a few minutes later. “Does anyone want to ride with me to pick it up?”

“I will.” Lance said from where he was sitting on the couch.

“Alright let’s go.” JC said as they headed to the door. Lance got in the passenger’s seat and JC in the driver’s. JC pulled out of the driveway and once they were on the road looked over at Lance. He was looking out the window but still had a smile on his face. This made JC smile too.

“Who ended up winning Life?” JC asked as he was watching the road.

“Joey did, which surprised Justin and me. We weren’t expecting him to win because he was so far behind. He still managed to do it though.” Lance answered.

“I’m surprised you didn’t win. You’re the Life champion aren’t you?” JC commented with a smirk. Lance’s smile got bigger.

”Well he had the best job in the game. He was a doctor. If he hadn’t won I probably would’ve though.” JC nodded as he stopped at a red light. The city was always very nice when it was lit up at night.

“I love this city.” JC said. Lance nodded.

“It is very pretty. People say they like Las Vegas the best. It’s really cool but there are too many lights. It’s nice to be able to look up at the stars in the sky.”

“Yeah, it is.” The light turned green and they went up the road another half mile and pulled into the outlet.

“You just wanna wait here?” JC asked. Lance nodded. “Alright. I will be back in 5.” Lance was just looking absentmindedly out the window when he saw something that caught his eye. It was a shadow of a person next to the outlet in the dark. Lance wondered who it could’ve been. He didn’t know why anyone would stand in the shadows. A horrible thought donned on him; maybe it was the murderer. Could he have really followed Lance? He began to think these ideas, letting himself get carried away with his thoughts.

Could that be him? It’s hard to tell in the dark but then again I never really saw him good to begin with. What if it is him? Is this some kind of warning or something? Would he give me a note to let me know he’s watching my friends and me? Something really weird happened. Lance couldn’t explain it. He got this feeling in his stomach like something could go wrong. Lance shook off the feeling as just nerves but the feeling wouldn’t go away. Could this be a sign of something bad that’s going to happen? Lance wasn’t expecting an answer but got one. The weird part was that it was coming from him. Maybe, maybe not. It would be a good idea to keep an eye on your friends. Lance was afraid of answering himself. It was a very weird thing to happen. Oh God, he thought. Maybe the bad half of my conscious is coming out. His mind swirled with all the bad thoughts that could happen and how he could do nothing about it. He paled as he thought about these horrible things. Lance decided to make a promise to himself that he wouldn’t tell the others of these things, they would think he’s crazy and that he would keep a close eye on them the whole time.

Lance had no more time to think about it because JC jumped into the jeep. JC looked over at him and noticed that Lance wasn’t smiling any more and he was paler than before.

“Are you alright?” JC asked. Lance looked at him and nodded.

“I’m fine. I just saw something that freaked me out.”

“What was it?” JC pushed as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed for his house.

“Nothing. I just saw something move in the shadows. It must have been a cat.” Lance winced as he lied. He had to get better at this lying thing.

“Ok.” JC said not really convinced but hearing Chris’s words echo through his brain. He shook his head. He hoped that Lance would tell them more. He couldn’t understand why Lance wasn’t telling them everything from the very beginning. The rest of the car ride was silent. Both lost in their own thoughts. JC’s was about Lance and what he and the rest of the guys could do to help him. Lance’s were about all the bad things that could and might happen and how he had managed to come up with these thoughts when he never had any kind of these thoughts before. They reached JC’s house and walked into the kitchen where Lance sat down at the table. Soon everyone else joined them.

“I’m starving. The food smells great.” Joey said as he sat next to Lance. Everyone got what they wanted and we’re eating their food. Lance was eating but he was still wrapped up in his thoughts. The guys knew something was bothering him but didn’t want to bring it up in fear that it would just make Lance want to tell them less. So they talked about something else instead.

“Hey Lance. Do you know what you’re taking when you get back to college in the fall?” Chris asked.

“I’m going to take some more business courses. I want to have my own business.”

“Oh, really? What kind of business do you plan on having?” JC asked.

“I was thinking either an ad company or a company that helps get new artists coming out a chance to get onto main stream radio, something like that.” Lance replied.

“That sounds really cool! I think you should go with the music one.” Justin said.

“Maybe. We’ll have to wait and see.” Everyone by that time had finished up eating and they all headed upstairs to get ready for bed. They wanted to get out kinda early tomorrow and go do something. Lance had already taken a shower and he was in his room listening to his Walkman when JC walked in from being in the shower. Lance took off his headphones.

“Enjoy your shower?”

“Yeah. It felt good.” JC answered and Lance nodded.

“You sure you’re feeling ok?” JC asked still concerned about earlier. He hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Chris and it was too late now. It was 2 am.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m just tired.” JC couldn’t argue with that. Lance needed the sleep. He had hardly gotten any sleep the past couple of nights with his nightmares. JC decided he wouldn’t give Lance a hard time about it anymore until he talked to Chris and figured out what to do. JC also reminded himself to have the other guys come too so he could explain more to them and they could sort this thing out together. The only problem was getting Lance out of the house.

“Good night, JC.” Lance said as he settled into his bed.

“Night, Lance.” JC sighed as he rolled over in his own bed. He wished there was something that he could do to help Lance. Unknown to JC, Lance wasn’t sleeping. He was still shocked by the thoughts that he had been getting. Once JC and him got home, he pushed away those thoughts but they always ended up coming back. There’s no way he could tell the guys about this. They would definitely never leave him alone if he told them this.

Lance soon fell asleep, to his disappointment. He had hoped that he wouldn’t fall asleep especially now since he was getting those thoughts. He knew that he would have to be very careful and keep a watchful eye. He slept peacefully for about an hour when he fell into yet another nightmare. To his surprise, he didn’t wake up JC when he sprung up in his bed. He sighed with relief. He didn’t need the guys knowing about anymore of his nightmares. He knew he would have to do something soon in order for these nightmares to go away.

He pulled his Walkman into his lap and put in some sounds of the ocean. He imagined that he was at a tropical island where nothing bad happened. Where there were no killers, threats, and people worrying. That all the people were just relaxed and he was sitting on the soft, sandy beach listening to the waves as they washed up on the beach and the sea gulls fly over head. He wished he was there, in this wonderful place but he was sucked back into reality when he heard a window crash...

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Chapter 6: Chapter 6

He was looking in the living room when he heard something or someone bump into a piece of furniture that slid across the floor. Lance whipped around and turned on the lamp on the side table only to find Chris standing by the coffee table cursing because he stubbed his toe.

“Are you ok?” Lance asked breaking the silence between the two.

“Yeah, I’ll live. I heard someone moving around. What are you doing down here?”

Lance sighed. “I thought I heard something like a window crash or something.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Chris replied looking skeptically at Lance.

“I must have imagined it then.” He said shaking his head. He couldn’t be going crazy, could he?

“I’m gonna head back to bed. You coming?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Ok. Night.” Chris headed back to his room thinking it was kind of odd for Lance to be hearing things but just shrugged it off as a thought that he was probably tired and over working his brain.

Lance turned off the light in the living room and moved toward the kitchen. He sat down at the table and sighed while running his fingers through his messy hair. He kept on thinking about how he had to be going crazy. Only crazy people hear things that didn’t really happen. He shook his head and went to the liquor cabinet. He pulled out a bottle and started to drink from it. He normally never drank more than he should but he just felt that he needed it. Lance had always heard that drinking helps solve your problems or at least puts them off for a while. So he sat there and drank the whole bottle.

Once he was done he threw the bottle away and looked at the clock. He couldn’t see straight so he had a hard time figuring out what time it was. After 15 minutes of staring at the clock and try to get his eyes to focus, he decided that it was 4 in the morning. Lance groaned and headed up to bed before one of the guys woke up and saw him like this. He walked up the stairs as quiet as he could and successfully made it into his room without waking anyone up. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

It was 10 o’clock when JC woke up. He was surprised to see Lance still asleep. Normally Lance was up before all of them. JC just figured that Lance had to be really tired and was catching up on some uninterrupted sleep. This thought reminded Jc that he needed to talk to Chris and the guys. He wanted to talk to them right now but knew that Lance was a light sleeper. After several minutes of debate, JC decided to chance it. He hoped that Lance wouldn’t be up until they were finished with their talk. So with this in mind, JC headed downstairs where all the guys were.

“Morning.” JC said to them as he entered the living room where they were sitting around watching TV. There were a few ‘morning’s and some ‘hi’s. JC sat down on the couch next to Chris. Chris smiled at JC and JC gave one back. JC looked at Chris briefly and said, “Guys, we need to talk.” All the guys turned to him and once JC knew he had their attention he started again.

“We need to talk about Lance.” All the guys nodded.

“I’m surprised he’s still sleeping.” Justin said following JC’s lead to talk about it.

“I’m not.” Chris replied.

“Why’s that?” Joey asked.

“Because he was up at 3 in the morning and it looked like he didn’t get any sleep. Almost like he didn’t go to sleep at all.” Chris answered.

“Why was he up at 3 in the morning and how do you know?” JC questioned looking at Chris.

“He told me that he thought he heard something like a window crash or something. I came down here just to find out what was going on because I heard someone moving around the house.” Chris explained.

“I’m worried about him guys. He hardly eats, he probably doesn’t sleep, he won’t talk to us, he was acting weird when we were picking up Chinese, and now he’s hearing things.” JC said.

“Whoa! Hold up there. Go back.” Joey said.

“He’s hearing things?” JC questioned looking at him.

Joey shook his head. “Go back one more.” It then donned on JC what he was talking about.

“Him acting weird?”

“Yeah. What’s up with that? I didn’t notice anything extremely wrong with him.” Joey replied.

“Well when we picked up the Chinese he was waiting in the car and when I came back, he was paler than he normally is and he wasn’t smiling anymore. It looked like he saw a ghost, like he was spooked from something he saw. Then when I asked him about it he’s like ‘I saw something move in the shadows. It’s probably just a cat or something,’ and he wouldn’t tell me anything else. I didn’t press though because I remember what you told me, Chris. But damn it! He won’t talk to us about anything and I’m worried.” JC explained to everyone.

“We are too.” Justin assured. “We just don’t know what to do about it. We’ve never had to deal with this kind of situation before.”

“I know. It’s just…I hate to see him like this.” JC said with a sigh.

“We could try to get him to see someone.” Joey suggested.

“What makes you think that he’ll tell a stranger his whole life and story when he won’t even tell us, his best friends, about what he’s feeling.” JC exclaimed.

“It was just an idea. Chill out, Jace.” Joey said.

“I think that it’s a good idea. It might help him. I know people that are really good at this kind of stuff and that could possibly help him.” Chris stated.

“What if it doesn’t help him? What then?” JC asked.

“Then we’ll come up with something else. We’ll do what he have to.” Chris replied then added, “For now we just wait and see if he talks to us.”

Everyone nodded. “Are we still going to the mall or some where?” Justin spoke up.

“If you want to.” JC said.

“I do. I want to get out.” Justin replied and everyone agreed with him.

“Alright then, I’ll go wake up Lance.” JC left to go wake Lance up. JC opened the door to their room slowly letting the sunlight filter into the room. He looked over to Lance’s bed and saw that he was still buried under his covers. JC moved to the bed and sat down on it.

“C’mon Lance. It’s time to get up.” JC said softly as he began shaking Lance. JC was getting no response with this and decided to smack him in the head with a pillow. He got up and grabbed a pillow off his bed. He went over to Lance and smacked him with the pillow. JC grinned as he heard Lance moan. He kept on doing this to Lance until Lance sat up in bed and gave JC the look of death.

“Sorry Lance but it’s time to wake up. It’s afternoon.” JC studied Lance’s features. Instead of him looking awake and refreshed from getting sleep, he looked even more tired than he did when he went to bed and his eyes looked clouded. Lance closed his eyes. He had a horrible migraine from all the alcohol he drank.

“You up?” JC asked after a few minutes. Lance nodded.

“I’m up.” Lance replied as he got out of bed and went directly to the bathroom for some Tylenol. JC followed him and Lance didn’t bother closing the bathroom door. Lance opened the bottle that he took from the medicine cabinet and popped four pills in his mouth as he swallowed them.

“You got a headache again?” JC asked breaking the silence that Lance was in. Lance looked at him in shock that he was standing in the bathroom with him and nodded his head.

“You going to get ready to leave?”

“Leave where?” Lance asked. Lance winced as he heard his voice. It still sounded like he was drunk but JC wasn’t really paying any attention to it so Lance just shrugged it off.

“I don’t know. We just want to go out and do something, that is unless you’re not up to it.” JC answered. Lance shook his head.

“I want to go.”

“Ok. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Lance watched him leave and changed into his clothes after making his bed. Before he went downstairs, he looked into the mirror. He looked tired, his eyes all puffy and watery, his face ten times paler than it normally is. Lance sighed. He didn’t know how JC didn’t notice that he had been drinking. JC normally could pick up on that kind of stuff real fast. Lance decided to just forget about it and headed down to the guys.

“Hey, look who finally decided to wake up.” Joey joked as Lance walked into the living room. Lance rolled his eyes.

“Are we ready to go?” Lance asked his words slurring just slightly so that if you weren’t really listening to him you couldn’t really tell but Joey picked it out.

“You get drunk last night, Scoop?”

“No. What makes you say that?” Lance asked defending himself. There was no way that he would let the guys know that he got drunk last night.

“You slurring and the way you look. I’ve seen that look before. I’ve gotten drunk before. I know.”

“I’m just tired.” Lance replied and JC gave Joey a look telling him to forget about it. JC didn’t want to believe that Lance could have gotten drunk last night.

“Whatever you say man. I don’t want to start nothing. I’m sorry I even mentioned it.” Joey dropped it just so they could leave. He knew that Lance was drunk even though he wasn’t completely drunk; he knew Lance was drunk.

The guys all left. They decided to go to the movies because it would be nice and cool in the theater. They had gotten all of their snacks and pop when they sat in the back of the room. The movie started and Lance had tried to stay awake but the beginning was just so boring that he fell asleep. He could feel himself being shaken awake a little while later. He opened his eyes and saw Justin.

“Hey man. You slept through the whole movie. We’re going home now.” Lance nodded and got out of the seat. His muscles screamed with pain. They were so cramped from sleeping in a cramped position. Lance made it into the very back of JC’s car where Chris sat. Chris wrapped his arm around Lance’s shoulder.

“Feel better that you got more sleep?” Chris asked. Lance smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah, it felt nice.” Lance answered and Chris laughed.

“I swear you’re worse than JC.”

“What’s wrong with me?” JC asked from the driver’s seat.

“Nothing. I was just saying that normally you’re the one to fall asleep when we go places but definitely not Lance. He’s usually the last one to go to sleep no matter how tired he is.” Chris explained.

“I was tired and besides the movie didn’t look very interesting anyway.” Lance replied and everyone laughed. The rest of the ride home Lance was lost in his own thoughts. The guys didn’t notice though since they were busy having a heated discussion. Lance was thinking about committing suicide because of him going crazy. Also he didn’t want to put the guys in danger just because of what he saw. Lance wasn’t sure if he would go through with it but if he did decide to go through it, he wanted to know how he would do it. So he thought about all the possible ways. He thought about cutting his wrists but decided that it was too messy and that there was no way he could inflict a cut on himself. The next thought that came to mind was a gun to the head. Lance thought about it for a minute. It definitely would be the quickest way but he didn’t know if he could pull the trigger. Lance began to think of suicides that were in movies when he thought of overdose. He could do that. He wouldn’t have to inflict any wounds, he wouldn’t have to pull a trigger, and it wouldn’t be that hard to over dose considering he already took four Tylenol today. Lance made up his mind. If he were to go through with it, he would do overdose.

They made it back to JC’s house and ordered pizza. The food came and they all were in the kitchen telling stories and reminiscing. Lance still had a really bad headache and didn’t know why. He felt better.

“Lance aren’t you going to eat?” JC asked and Lance shook his head. “Why not?”

“I still have a bad headache and my stomach hurts.” Lance replied. “I’m going to the bathroom.” Lance stood up and went to the bathroom that’s right off the kitchen. He went in and closed the door behind him. While they were eating Lance had decided that he was tired of living like this. He couldn’t take anymore of this. He wanted to end it. He didn’t want to end up in some mental hospital because that’s surely what would happen if he told them about his thoughts and him hearing things and being paranoid. Lance had contemplated during the ride home from the movies on how he was going to do it and he chose overdose.

He opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle of Tylenol. It still had a lot left. He dumped them into the palm of his hand. He counted the pills. There were ten pills. Lance brought the pills closer to his mouth and was about to dump them in when the door opened. Lance had his back facing the door and went to turn around to see whom it was. Unfortunately, when he turned he bumped his head off the open medicine cabinet and that threw off his balance. Lance fell and his head hit off the toilet that was next to the medicine cabinet. The pills went flying all over the bathroom and Lance fell into unconsciousness.

A/N:  I know, I know, another cliffhanger. I'm really sorry. I don't know why I write so many of them. I promise I'll get the next part up soon. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

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Chapter 7: Chapter 7

JC decided to call for Joey and Justin to help carry Lance up to his room. “Joey! Justin! Come here for a minute!” Joey and Justin came running to where JC was hearing the urgency in his voice. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Lance unconscious and all the pills everywhere.

Justin was the first to speak up. “Is he ok?” JC looked at him and saw the worry in his face.

“Of course he is. He just hit his head. We need to take him upstairs to his room.”

“Ok. Let me guess, you want us to carry him up?” Joey replied.

“Yep, if it’s don’t too much trouble.” JC said.

“No, of course not. Let us know what happened though when we come back down.” Justin answered.

“I’ll be coming up so I will just bring Chris up with me and we can talk about it.” JC stated. “So don’t bother coming down.”

“Ok. See you upstairs.” Joey said as he and Justin moved over to Lance. Joey bent down by Lance’s knees and picked his lower body off the floor while Justin, who had the upper body, did the same. They both managed to get Lance out of the bathroom without dropping him but right when they made it to the doorway, they had a little trouble getting through. They ended up banging Lance’s head against the doorframe. After that they managed to get Lance upstairs without any further complications.

JC cleaned up the bathroom and took a band-aid for Lance’s head. JC was headed into the living room to get Chris when he bumped into him on the way there.

“Whoa, Jace. Why are you in such a hurry?” Chris asked noticing that JC was running around like a mad man.

“Chris, you were just the person I was looking for. Lance hit his head when I went into the bathroom to check on him. I had Joey and Justin take him upstairs to his room. I will tell you more but first let’s go to Lance’s room so Joey and Justin know what I saw.”

“Ok.” Chris replied. Chris was a little nervous about what happened to Lance. He knew that it had to be something bad because he could tell that JC was trying very hard to keep his feelings to himself so as to not lose control of the situation. Chris followed JC up the stairs. Once they reached Lance’s room Chris pulled a chair over by Lance’s bed. Chris looked him up and down. He noticed dried blood on Lance’s forehead.

“Geez what happened to him?” Chris spoke breaking the tense silence in the room. JC sighed and sat down on the foot of the bed.

“Alright. I will tell you guys what I saw and we can figure out something from there.” JC paused to take a breath before relaying what he saw. “As you know, I left to go check on Lance. I walked into the bathroom and surprised him. He didn’t realize that someone else was there with him. Lance turned to see me, I guess, and bumped his head on the medicine cabinet.” JC said pointing to the gash on his forehead. “That must have thrown off his balance because he lost his footing and hit his head on the toilet. That’s all I know beside the fact that he was going to kill himself. He was going to overdose.”

Everyone was a bit startled by this information. Finally after a long silence Joey spoke up, “How do you know he was going to overdose? Couldn’t he have been taking more aspirin and maybe he took to many from the bottle and was going to put them back until you scared him?”

“Joey that could be a plausible reason but I don’t think so. I wish it was though.” JC sighed. He had no clue how he was going to handle this. JC moved to Lance’s upper body where he cleaned his head and put on the band-aid. Then JC left the room. He came back with the supplies he would need for taking the blood test. The others looked on with curiosity.

“What are you doing?” Justin asked.

“I’m going to take a sample of Lance’s blood to see if he overdosed. I’m pretty sure that he didn’t but I just want to be sure.” JC replied as he drew blood from Lance’s arm. JC had finished taking the blood and put the test in the bathroom so he could wait for the results.

“I can’t believe he was going to kill himself.” JC said with a sigh as he collapsed on the bed next to Lance’s feet.

“How do you know for sure that he was going to kill himself? You just walked in at a bad time and maybe you didn’t see everything.” Chris stated for the first time since given the information that Lance attempted suicide. This thought made shivers go down Chris’s back. He never would have thought that Lance would think about doing this. Lance always seemed so happy-go-lucky.

“I don’t know.” JC answered after a few minutes of reflecting his thoughts. “I just assumed.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just this came as a shock and…I think we should wait to hear his side of the story before jumping to conclusions.” Chris replied. JC agreed with Chris and went into the bathroom to see if the results had come through. They had. It showed, like JC had thought, that Lance didn’t overdose but it showed something interesting. It showed that Lance had a low alcohol level. This made JC mad. He couldn’t believe that Joey was right. JC didn’t want to admit it though. JC went back into Lance’s bedroom.

“Guess what?” JC asked the others as he entered the room.

“What’s that?” Justin replied.

“The results came in and Lance didn’t overdose but Joe…you were right. Lance was drunk last night.”

“Really? It’s not like him to drink. I was just pulling his strings.” Joey said. JC shrugged.

“Well you were right. I can’t believe this. Do you know how deadly it is to overdose with alcohol in your system? It’s like ten times worse than just overdosing especially on an empty stomach.” JC commented.

“What do you think has caused him to think that he needs to drink and die?” Justin asked.

“Who knows? We’re going to find out though.” JC answered before Chris could say one word. That was not the answer Chris would’ve said.

“Jace, I know how upset you are. We all are but you can’t force him to tell us everything. He’s an adult he can make decisions on his own.” Chris informed slowly letting it sink in.

“Yeah he does it real well too! He thinks drinking will solve his problems and then wants to kill himself. Oh yeah, he’s making real great choices. We’re his friends; it’s our job to make sure he does choose the right decision.” JC exclaimed.

“He might not be making the right decisions but he’s lost and confused. Everyone makes mistakes and you don’t need to hover over him. He can take care of himself and you know it!” Chris shouted back at JC. Chris had enough of JC being pushy and not seeing that the things he was saying were wrong. JC worked his jaw and was about to go off on Chris when Joey interrupted.

“Guys, Lance is waking up.” All eyes turned to Lance and Lance opened his eyes slowly. He blinked rapidly as the bright light came into contact with his eyes. Lance had a throbbing headache. It hurt like hell. He felt as if he had been hit by a train.

“Am I dead?” Lance asked still in a haze.

“No. We stopped you before you could.” JC replied coldly. JC was pissed at Lance and there was no doubting that. Lance recalled what had happened before he fell unconscious.

“Look, guys. I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to end up like this.” Lance said. Lance felt disappointed that they stopped him but he also felt relieved that they had.

“Would you like to tell us why the hell you felt the need to drink and kill yourself?” JC asked.

“JC,” Chris interjected. “You can’t ask him all these questions when he just woke up. Give him a few minutes to adjust.”

“No. I want an answer.” JC said ignoring Chris’s request. Lance sighed. He didn’t know whether or not to tell the guys. They would think he’s crazy. Lance then remembered that he promised himself he wouldn’t tell them so he decided against telling them.

“It’s none of your business.” Lance stated and that had really done it for JC. He felt enraged by Lance’s comment. How could it not be his business? This was affecting not just Lance but all of them. So it damn well was his business.

“None of my business? That’s bullshit and you know it! It is too my business if you try to kill yourself. You doing something stupid affects all of us not just you.” JC scolded. “So don’t you dare tell me it’s none of my business when you know it is!” The room was silent after JC’s outburst.

Lance knew that what he said pissed JC off but he was pissed off himself that JC was always in his business. “Don’t I have a right to privacy? You just barged into the bathroom without even knocking!” Lance shouted back at JC. He didn’t care that he had a headache. He was fed up with JC meddling.

“You know he’s right.” Justin spoke up all the sudden and JC turned to glare at him.

“Whose side are you on, anyway?” JC replied angrily.

“No one's, I’m just listening to everything from both perspectives. So chill out, dude.” JC sighed and turned his attention back to Lance.

“I just figured I’d check on you to see if you were alright and it’s a good thing I did.”

“You’re not my mother, Joshua.” Lance said. Lance only called JC 'Joshua' when he was really mad at him, which wasn’t often. “I don’t need you watching my every move and thinking that I can’t handle anything or that you think all the decisions I make are wrong. People make mistakes. I’m human but I don’t like being treated like a two year old because you don’t trust me. I’m sick of it.”

Some of what Lance said hurt JC’s feelings but he wasn’t going to let Lance see or the other guys for that matter see that. “Well you’re going to have to make better decisions than the ones that you’ve been making recently. The decisions that you’ve made have made me question the type of person you are. You’re different than before, Lance. I don’t know why you felt it necessary to drink too. Then to top it all off going to overdose when you knew you had alcohol in your system.”

“Of course I’m different. I’ve gone through far more than you’ll ever be able to understand. And so what if I’ve made some bad choices. They aren’t going to completely change my life just because of a few bad mistakes.” Lance replied.

“Yeah but they were ones that are life threatening choices.” Joey said jumping into the conversation a bit.

“The drinking wasn’t really that life threatening. You’ve drank before, Joey. That isn’t what’s going to kill me.” Lance defended.

“I have drank before and no it didn’t kill me but it will kill you if you mix it with overdose. Just think next time. Come to us when you need to talk. Don’t do something drastic like this because you think it’s the easy way out.” Joey encouraged.

“We’re all here for you to talk to Lance. Don’t feel like you can’t ever come to us with a problem especially if you think it’s worth killing yourself over it. Come to us first and we’ll be able to find you a better alternative.” Chris said entering the conversation as well.

“Yeah, what they said.” Justin said mainly so he didn’t feel left out. The tension in the room died down a bit. Everyone was calming down now.

“Thanks guys.” Lance said half-heartedly. He mostly said it just so they would get off his back. There was no way they would ever understand what he was going thru.

“Anytime Lance.” JC replied feeling a lot better than a few minutes ago. He still had a feeling though that there was something else they could do to help Lance but he didn’t know what.

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Chapter 8: Chapter 8

The guys had been sitting in silence since JC was the last one to speak. The silence seemed comforting to everyone and no one wanted to break it. Lance had taken this opportunity of silence to close his eyes to try to get rid of his headache. Joey noticed this and decided to get him and the guys to leave Lance alone for a while.

"I'm going to go and watch a movie. Does anyone want to come with me?" Joey spoke up. Everyone seemed to snap out of their thoughts that they got lost in with the silence. Lance opened his eyes to look at the guys.

"I'll watch something with you." Justin said and soon after all the guys excepted Joey's offer except Lance but Joey wasn't really expecting Lance to watch the movie with them.

"I think I'm just going to lay here and try to get rid of my headache." Lance told everyone and they all nodded. One by one they filed out of the room all telling Lance to join them if his headache got better. Chris was the last one in the line and stopped at the doorframe to talk to Lance.

"You know if you ever want to talk I'm here for you. I'm always open to talking, that goes for the other guys as well." Chris said.

"I know. I promise that this will all make sense soon. I'm just…a little confused myself and need to straighten things out."

"I understand. I'm not sure JC understands though. I hope you know he means well. He's just worried about you we all are."

"I know and I understand JC. I've been a pain lately." Lance replied.

Chris chuckled lightly, "You haven't been that big a pain. Maybe a small pain but never a big pain. Well get some sleep and maybe you're headache will be gone. Good night." With that said Chris walked out Lance's room closing the door behind him to ensure Lance a good night's sleep.

"Night." Lance closed his heavy eyes and fell asleep almost immediately. Lance had a dream that he had really killed himself and he was seeing the life that his friends led. He watched them mourn his death. Then the dream warped into a few years later where Lance watched what their lives were like without him in it. They seemed so… distant. They weren't as good friends as they used to be when Lance was alive. They each seemed involved in their own life and not too worried about their friends'. Lance couldn't believe what he was seeing. What he was seeing was the strong bond that the five of them had together being broken apart. That wasn't the worse part. The worse part was the fact that since they weren't as close they didn't talk with each other which led to an early death for them. They had so many problems and no one to talk to that they died of heart attacks from all the stress they had with their problems.

Lance awoke with a start. He now realized that that was the reason why he was still living, because he had the friends that loved him and cared about him. Lance realized that they were just being good friends by stopping him. Lance had been mad at them before but after this dream that he had it was hard for him to be. He seemed to understand now that everyone on this earth has a purpose in life. Lance's was to be the one who listens and keeps his friends out of trouble. This is one of the things that was holding the bond with his best friends together. He decided to talk with someone and let them know what is going on before it becomes something Lance can't control anymore. It won't be too much longer before Lance loses control to what his subconscious tells him. Lance looked out the window and saw it was still dark. He decided to get more sleep all the while thinking about how he was going to tell someone.

Lance awoke early the next morning. Lance felt so much better than he had the previous night. He no longer had his headache. Lance rolled over on his side to see that the bed where JC usually slept was empty. Lance decided to go downstairs and start making breakfast for everyone. It wasn't that early. It was only seven in the morning and he knew the guys would be waking up soon. As soon as Lance made his bed he went downstairs without bothering to change out of his pajamas. The house was very still and quiet. Almost too quiet for Lance's liking.

Lance stuck his head into the living room and saw that this was where all of his friends fell asleep. He figured that they must have fallen asleep to the movie that they were watching. He walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast. It wasn't long before Joey and Chris with Justin joined him. Lance had finished cooking and was starting to set the table when they had come in.

"Morning." Lance said to them as he poured orange juice for everyone.

"Morning. Are you feeling better?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better now." Lance replied and the other guys smiled glad that Lance was getting better. "Well that about does it. Can someone go wake up Sleepy?"

"Sure thing Lance." Justin said. "You wanna help, Chris?"

"Absolutely." Chris answered and both of them went running into the living room. Joey and Lance followed just to see what Justin and Chris planned on doing to wake up JC. Justin and Chris were holding up fingers and counting to three. When they got to three they screamed, "JC, JC!! Wake up! The house is on fire!" JC jerked awake with his eyes wide thinking the house really was on fire but then looked around and saw all of his friends laughing at him. The one JC really noticed was Lance. JC smiled. It had been a long time since he'd seen Lance laugh like that.

"Guys that wasn't funny. What if the house was really on fire? You guys scared me half to death." JC complained. Justin and Chris just shrugged.

"That was the point. We were told to wake you, we weren't told how to do it." Justin said as he looked at Lance. Lance just smiled and shook his head.

"I had nothing to do with this." JC just shook his head and got up. All of them went into the kitchen and sat down at their normal spots. For an hour they caught up on a lot of things while eating their breakfast which they complimented Lance on. No one dared bring up last night or what happened. After breakfast the guys helped clean up and everyone went their separate ways. Lance went upstairs to take a shower after deciding that he really stunk. Joey and Justin decided to go play some pool in the basement. JC had decided to sit down and do his bills while Chris left to go food shopping with a list a mile long.

While Lance was in the shower he decided on whom he would tell about his `problem.' Lance had decided on Chris even though he knew that the guys would probably find out sooner or later he trusted Chris more not to tell his secret. So after his shower, Lance went looking for him only to realize that he wasn't there. Lance went to where JC was in the kitchen to ask him where Chris had gone.

"Jace, do you know where Chris went? I can't find him anywhere." Lance asked. JC took of his glasses and looked at Lance.

"Is there something you want to talk about because you know I can help?" JC said putting off Lance's question.

"Nah. I just wanted to ask him something." Lance lied; at least he was getting better at it or at least that's what he thought.

"Oh well he went food shopping." JC answered. Lance looked at his watch and saw that it was almost noon. Lance had no clue when Chris would be back and he wanted to talk now. Lance went back upstairs to his room to grab his car keys only to find that they weren't on the dresser where he had put them. Lance ran back downstairs and into the kitchen.

"What happened to my car keys? Did Chris take my car?" Lance asked.

JC sighed debating whether to lie to Lance or not. JC decided not to and said, "No Chris took his own car."

"Then where are my car keys?" Lance repeated with a sigh. He was growing agitated at JC for not telling him where they were.

"I have them." JC said looking up at Lance. Lance's face held a frown.

"Why would you have them? I mean, I don't care if you use my car I just would like it if you guys asked first."

"I have them because I don't know if I can trust you anymore." Lance stared at JC in shock and he continued on, "I cleared out all of the alcohol in this house and I don't want you to be able to drive and get some from a friend or anything like that. I just don't want a repeat of what happened last night." A heavy, thick silence fell over them. The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife. JC thought that he was doing the right thing. He even got Chris's approval, which JC was surprised to get. Chris seemed to be taking Lance's side thru this whole thing and was shocked when he went against Lance.

Finally Lance spoke up breaking the silence. "Just because I made a stupid mistake doesn't mean I'm going to make it again. I'm not that stupid."

JC sighed. "I didn't mean it that way. I just think that you shouldn't go anywhere before I can trust you again."

"Fine if I can't drive then I'm going to walk." Lance replied heading toward the door. He stopped abruptly and said, "You're not going to hold me under house arrest."

JC jumped out of his chair and caught up with Lance. "Yes I am. You aren't going anywhere, not until I can trust you."

Lance was becoming flushed with anger and had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't say something to hurt JC's feelings. Lance knew that there was no point in arguing with JC. Lance knew that there was no way that JC would let him out without JC or the others going with him. Lance decided to go upstairs away from JC before he said something he didn't really mean. He left with a frustrated sigh.

Lance angrily grabbed his cell phone off of the nightstand and dialed Chris's number but then heard his phone shut off. Lance angrily tossed the phone back on the nightstand.

"I can't believe I forgot to charge it." He said to himself. Lance wanted to call Chris and tell him what a pain in the ass JC was being. Lance just figured he'd tell Chris later while he was telling him everything else. After thinking everything over for an hour Lance decided that what JC was doing was wrong and that he was going to go out even without his permission. Lance opened the window. It just so happened that his window was facing the backyard and that made it easier for Lance to leave. Lance crawled out the window and jumped into the yard landing a little hard on his foot but shrugged it off as nothing.

Lance managed to sneak out of the house and backyard. He looked back at the house and got this feeling in his stomach that told him he should be in there but his subconscious wouldn't let him go back to the house. His subconscious had completely taken over after Lance had failed in reaching Chris on his phone. JC putting him under house arrest was the last straw and a new Lance submerged. Lance didn't care really where he was going; he just wanted to get away from that house. The new Lance had told him not to care about anyone any more and he didn't. He suddenly felt anger toward his friends that he had never felt before. He could explain it. Lance neared the city while limping on his bad foot that he landed on.

The first thing Lance saw was one of the local bars. Lance was hungry but heard that alcohol could be filling at times. He was about to walk in when he heard what he thought sounded like voices of concerned friends that seemed so far off. Lance shrugged them off as nothing. Now that his new self was in control there was no going back to the old Lance. Lance had stayed until the wee hours of the morning drinking. When Lance finally decided to leave he stood up and almost fell over. He was wasted. Lance came out of the bar and realized that it was still dark out. Lance thought he heard something down in the alley next to the bar and walked back there to check it out.

Lance saw that it was just a group of kids that looked like they were part of a gang. He wasn't worried though. The old Lance might have but this one wasn't. He tried to walk thru them in a straight line but failed miserably. He ended up banging into one kid and the kid wasn't happy. Lance looked over at him and saw from a small light that the back of the bar provided that the kid looked no older than 16, had brown eyes, and small pieces of brown hair sticking out of his backwards baseball cap. The kid's eyes were fierce. The kid pushed Lance and his buddies stepped aside to let Lance fall to the ground.

Lance tried to get up but failed miserably. He was to drunk to hold him self up let along pull himself off the ground. All of the kids took turns punching Lance and beating his head off the ground sufficiently leaving Lance unconscious. Lance lay there with a gash on the back of his head that was bleeding pretty badly. The boys left him where he lay to die.

A/N:  I hope you enjoyed that. Thanks to you guys for reviewing. It really means a lot.

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Chapter 9: Chapter 9

JC had gotten no sleep at all. He stood in the kitchen pacing back and forth. JC was beginning to regret putting Lance under house arrest. Now he didn't know where Lance was or what happened to him. What JC did know was that it was six o'clock in the morning and Lance still wasn't back. JC remembered noticing that Lance was gone when he went upstairs to talk to him at three in the afternoon.

JC was worried and was driving the others crazy. All of them were up too worried about their friend to sleep. Finally Joey couldn't take anymore of JC's pacing and said, "C, will you please stop pacing? You're going to put a hole in the floor." Joey was trying to make a joke out of this stressful situation. JC had stopped long enough to let what Joey said sink in and then sat down at the kitchen table next to Justin.

"Do you think he's ok wherever he is?" Justin asked to no one in particular.

"I hope to God he is, but I don't know if he will be when I see him." JC responded. Everyone could tell that JC was losing his patience with Lance. Chris was about to say something to challenge what JC just said but the phone rang before Chris even got a chance to get a word out. JC jumped out of the chair he was in and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Is this Mr. Chasez?"

"This is he. May I ask who's calling?"

"I'm Doctor Skyler from Mercy Hospital." The female voice said. "I'm calling about a friend of yours. I think his name is Lance Bass."

"Oh my God. Thank you so much for calling. We'll be right over." JC hung up the phone and grabbed his keys off of the counter.

"Come on, guys. We got to go." JC said as he ran for the front door. The others had no other choice but to follow JC if they wanted to find out what was going on.

"Who called?" Chris asked once everyone was situated in JC's car.

"One of the doctors from the hospital. They have Lance." JC replied.

"Well is he ok?" Justin asked from the backseat.

"I'm not sure. I didn't ask. I just figured we'd find out when we got there." JC said speeding through the neighborhood to get to the hospital as fast as he could. JC was no longer angry but worried. He knew that if Lance was in the hospital that it must not be something good. The rest of the car ride was silent, all of them praying that Lance was ok. They pulled into the parking lot and jumped out of the car as soon as JC had parked in the space. JC and Justin were the first ones into the hospital. They waited for Joey and Chris who weren't far behind and went to the front desk.

The receptionist behind the desk was busy typing away on the computer. She looked up when she saw four men approach her desk. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

"Yes, actually you can. We're looking for what room our friend is in." JC said speaking up.

"Name?"

"Lance Bass." Justin supplied. The receptionist nodded and typed the name into the computer.

"Your friend is upstairs on the third floor in room 315." She replied cheerfully.

"Thank you." JC said as he and the guys walked to the elevator. Chris pushed for the third floor. JC was more worried now than he was when they had first entered. Chris noticed something was wrong with JC, but figured that he was just worried about Lance. Chris didn't want to say something that would upset anyone any further than they already were.

This floor is for patients who got hurt pretty bad but will recover. It's probably just a precaution. I'm sure nothing is really wrong with Lance, Jc assured himself as the elevator doors opened to their floor. The four of them walked down the long hallway until they got to room 315. JC paused at the door and after a moment opened it. The others followed him in. When they walked in they saw Lance lying in the white hospital bed looking almost as white as the sheets with bandages wrapped around his head. Lance seemed to be sleeping.

Joey, Chris, and Justin walked over to Lance's bedside while JC went to the foot of the bed to check out what Doctor Skyler had observed. JC read over what the doctor had wrote. When JC was finished he walked over to the group to relay the information that he just gathered from the medical sheet. Chris, Justin, and Joey noticed JC's presence and gave him their full attention.

"Guys, it said on the chart that Lance has multiple bruises over his body. It also mentions that he's suffered from a mild concussion. The last thing that really sticks out to me was how much alcohol was in Lance's system. Lance had consumed so much that he needed his stomach pumped." This news had startled the guys to say the least.

"How could this have happened?" Joey asked after a few minutes.

JC just shrugged because his guess was as good as Joey's. "I'm not sure but we'll find out." The guys all nodded when there was a rustling sound of sheets coming beneath them. They all turned their heads to watch Lance's eyelids flutter and then fully open showing his dull, glazed green eyes.

Lance eyed every one of them before saying, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." It was hardly above a whisper but everyone had heard what he said. Lance's head pounded so bad that Lance would close his eyes every once in a while to relieve the pain a bit before opening them again. No one really knew what to say. They had all thought of a ton of things that they were going to say once they saw Lance but all of that was thrown out the window once they saw how delicate he was. Lance realized during this silence that he was his old self; the good ole Lance that everyone knew.

"It's alright. We're just glad that you're ok. You have no idea how worried we were about you." Justin spoke breaking the silence once again.

"I'm sorry I scared you guys like that. I don't really know what I was thinking. I couldn't really control it though." Lance replied.

"What do you mean you couldn't control it?" JC asked thinking that Lance was trying to blame this on something or someone other than himself.

"Just what I said; I couldn't. As crazy as that sounds, I couldn't. You'll think I'm crazy if I try to give you an explanation."

"Try us." Chris said trying to get Lance to finally open up to him and the others.

"I don't know. I'm afraid you guys won't be my friend if I tell you. Most of all I think I'm afraid of your reaction. I'm afraid you'll put me in an insane asylum and throw away the key." Lance replied trying not to lose hold of his emotions. Lance had it in his mind that that's what would happen to him if he told the guys.

They were shocked to have heard that come from Lance. They had no idea why Lance thought that way or how he came up with that idea.

"You know that's absurd. We'd never do that to you, Lance. We're always going to be your friend no matter what. So why don't you go ahead and tell us." Chris said trying to knock some sense into Lance. Lance was happy that that's what the guys felt. He still was a little skeptical and was about to open his mouth to protest once again when the door opened. All five of them looked up; it was the doctor.

"Oh good. I'm glad you're awake, Lance. I'm your doctor. My name is Skyler." Skyler said. "And I'm guessing you're his friends? Which one of you did I talk to earlier on the phone?"

"It was me." JC replied. "My name is JC Chasez. I'm a doctor here too." JC reached out and shook hands with Skyler.

"I know I've heard so much about you. You're an excellent doctor."

"Thank you." JC blushed slightly but quickly recovered to introduce Skyler to the rest of the gang.

"Now I'm guessing that you already looked over my chart?" Skyler asked JC. JC nodded. "Ok, good. I'm assuming everyone else knows too?" There were nods all around.

"I don't know." Lance spoke up suddenly.

"Well then we should tell you. You have multiple bruises, had a mild concussion, and a large amount of alcohol in your system. There was so much of it that we had to pump your stomach so it wouldn't kill you or counteract with the medication we've given you." Skyler said looking directly at Lance.

"That explains the headache and why my stomach hurts." Lance commented.

"Right. You should only have to be here for one more day. We want to make sure you're in the best of health before we send you home." Skyler told Lance as well as everyone else in the room. She looked at her watch and looked back at Lance. "I have to go check up on some other patients but I'll be back to do a full examination on you." The guys thanked the doctor as she walked out the door.

"You still owe us an explanation as to how all this happened." JC reminded. Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Can I talk to Chris alone?" Lance pleaded. JC looked skeptical while Joey and Justin looked understanding.

"Sure. We need some coffee anyway. Especially C. He's been up for the past 24 hours." JC began to object, but realized it was no use and followed Justin and Joey out of the room.

Once they were gone Chris said, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to tell you what happened last night. I just didn't want the guys to hear just yet." Lance explained.

"Ok, go ahead. I won't say anything until you're done." Lance smiled. This is why he chose Chris. Chris had more patience and understanding.

Lance had told Chris everything. Even all the way back to when the nightmares first occurred and he started hearing his subconscious. Chris listened intently waiting until Lance was finished before he said anything.

"My God, Lance. How did you keep something like that to yourself? You should have come to me sooner and we could've prevented this." Chris said indicating where Lance was now. Lance nodded slowly.

"I know. I was just scared. I think I just totally lost it when JC took my car keys and didn't trust me."

"Well you can put some of that blame on me because I approved of it. We knew something was up but you wouldn't tell us. We just wanted what was best for you."

"I hate how everyone thinks they know what's best for me. They have no idea what I've been through. It's horrible to wake up from nightmares that break you out into a cold sweat and then have people tell you it's going to be ok when they don't have a clue what they're talking about. This is why I didn't want to tell anyone." Lance exasperated.

"You needed to tell someone, Lance. Look how much stress it put on you. We can help you now that we know. We can get you the best help available." Chris said.

"So you think I'm crazy?" Lance practically shouted. "I knew it. I knew this was going to happen. I think I am going crazy. I had to have gone crazy to tell you about what's going on with me." Chris sighed deep. He wasn't expecting this kind of reaction from Lance.

"Lance, I don't think you're crazy. Take deep breaths. We'll stop talking about this for now. Get some sleep." Lance's eyes, which a minute ago had been bright green full of anger and fright were now the way they were before; dull and glazed. Lance listened to Chris by taking deep breaths letting all the anger flow out of his body. The anger was replace with exhaustion. Lance was asleep peacefully within minutes. Chris sighed. He knew what he had to do but he didn't want what happened just now to happen when he would make Lance tell the others. It wasn't Chris's job to tell them, it was Lance's. So Chris was leaving it up to Lance. Chris could only hope that Lance would see things his way and let him and the others help.

A/N:  No cliffhanger, yay! Again thanks to everyone for reviewing. I love reading your comments. Until next time!

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Chapter 10: Chapter 10

"I'm sure Lance will tell us eventually." Joey replied.

"Yeah. Maybe he just wanted to tell Chris because he knew that he wouldn't freak on him like you would JC." Justin kidded.

"I wouldn't freak on him." JC objected and got glares from Joey and Justin. "You think I would?"

"We know you, JC. You almost freaked on Lance when he wouldn't tell us and then asked for us to leave." Joey said.

"I guess you're right. I just wish he would tell us." JC finished his coffee and moved to go throw it away. Justin and Joey followed.

"You think we gave them enough time?" Justin asked as they made their way to the elevator.

"Yeah. It's been an hour. I think that's good enough." JC answered. All three of them stepped into the elevator and got off at the third floor. They reached Lance's room. JC knocked to give them fair warning that they were back then opened the door. They saw Chris sitting in a chair next to Lance's bed and Lance asleep.

"Did you guys get to talk?" JC asked Chris.

"Yeah. I'm not allowed to tell you guys. Believe me I would, but I promised Lance. Besides, I think it would be better if he told you himself."

"Ok. Just as long as we know soon. I can't take much more of him hiding things from us." JC said.

"When did Lance fall asleep?" Joey spoke up.

"About a half hour ago." Chris replied.

"So it didn't take you guys long at all to talk?"

"No, not really. Lance did most of the talking. I think he likes it better that way instead of interrupting him with questions."

"I'll keep that in mind." JC said as he looked around the room. JC spaced out while looking out the window but was sucked back into reality when he heard Justin speak.

"I think he's having another nightmare." They all just sat and watched Lance go through his nightmare with his arms flailing about. JC watched Lance's body toss and turn. JC moved closer to the bed to wake up Lance because he didn't want Lance to pull the tubes out of his arms while he was shifting in bed. JC was about to wake him when Lance's eyes popped open. Lance's eyes frantically moved about the room before he realized where he was.

"Are you ok, Lance?" Joey asked looking down at Lance. Joey could see the beads of sweat on Lance's face.

"Yeah…I'm…fine."

"Want to tell us what the nightmare was about?" JC asked looking over at Chris because he probably knew.

Lance shook his head. "Not now. Later."

"Whenever you're ready." Justin said. Just then Skyler came in.

"Hi. How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok." Lance answered.

"Headache still?" Lance nodded.

"Ok. Well I'm here to do the full examination. Would you guys mind stepping outside for a few minutes?" Skyler asked.

"Sure. We'll be right out here if you need us, Lance." JC said and Lance smiled. They exited the room.

"Your friends seem nice."

"Yeah they are. They're a lot of fun too." Lance admitted looking up at the ceiling. Skyler did everything she was supposed to like checking his heart rate, breathing, etc.

"You're lucky to have friends that care so much about you." She said looking at Lance making him meet her eyes.

"Yeah I am."

"You're all done. You'll be discharged tomorrow. Probably sometime in the afternoon. I'll see you one more time tomorrow before you leave."

"Thank you." Lance said as she disappeared out of the room. The guys came in right after she left.

"You all good to go now?" Chris asked.

Lance shrugged. "She says I'll be out of here sometime tomorrow afternoon. So I guess nothing else is wrong."

"You like her?" JC asked and Lance smiled.

"Yeah she's nice."

"I think he likes her for other reasons." Joey joked and everyone laughed while Lance blushed.

"I'm starved. I'm going to pick up some McDonalds for everyone." Joey said looking at his watch. It was 4 in the afternoon and they hadn't eaten anything since 7.

"Are we staying the night?" Justin asked.

"Yes." JC replied.

"I thought that normally wasn't allowed." Chris objected.

"Well it isn't but since I'm a doctor here I'm allowed. So we're spending the night. No sense in driving back home when Lance is getting released tomorrow."

"Yeah that makes sense." Joey said. He took everyone's orders and left to get some food. Lance was staring off into space when he heard someone say `earth to Lance.' He blinked and shook his head of his thoughts about going crazy and everything that went along with it.

"Sorry."

"You were pretty far out there. What were you thinking about?" JC questioned.

"Nothing." Lance said.

"What's with the short answers?" Justin asked.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm still out of it." Lance looked toward Chris to see if Chris had told them about what he told him earlier. Chris shook his head and a look of relief washed over Lance. Joey came back with the food and was handing it out to everyone. Chris figured this would be a good time for Lance to talk to the guys since they were alone.

He waited until all of them were done eating and said, "Lance, I think now is a good time to tell them." Lance shot Chris a look that seemed to ask if he was crazy.

"Tell us what, Lance?" JC asked pretending to have forgotten all about it but it's what's been on JC's mind all day.

"I don't know, Chris." Lance said.

"You should tell them. Now is as good as time as any."

"Ok, fine. You guys have to promise not to interrupt and wait until I'm finished to ask questions."

"It's a deal." They all agreed on it.

"Well I still have nightmares about what happened…"

"Is that what this past nightmare was about?" Justin asked.

"Yeah now let me finish."

"Sorry."

"Ok. Well this may sound a little crazy but you know how sometimes people talk to themselves?" The guys nodded. "This is kind of like that. I ask myself questions, just to run stuff through my mind and my subconscious answers me. It's really weird. It's almost like the bad half of you. That's what happened last night. I was myself until I found out that JC took my car keys and didn't trust me anymore. Then I think that's when I lost it and a new me, a bad me, submerged."

Lance stopped to take a breath and sort out the rest of what he was going to say. It was silent until he started again. "So being mad at JC I went upstairs to my room. I was going to call Chris and tell him about everything but my cell phone was dead. I sat up there for an hour or two before I just decided I was going out. I climbed out my bedroom window and landed on my foot in the back yard. It hurt but I kept moving. I got out onto the street and looked back at the house and got this feeling that I shouldn't be doing this but the new me wouldn't let me go back. I went to a bar, I don't know which one, and drank until 3 in the morning. I went outside and saw someone in the alleyway. The new me wasn't afraid of things that I would be. So I went to check it out. There was this gang of kids. I was walking through them when I bumped into one of them. They got pissed off. They…" Lance was starting to lose his emotions now but still managed to hold them back.

"They threw me on the ground and started beating me all over. They bashed my head off of the concrete a few times. I remember how bad that all hurt. It hurt so bad. I wanted to get up but I could hardly stand up when I left the bar so how was I supposed to get off the ground? I remember them finally quitting and leaving me to die I suppose. Then I ended up here."

"The new Lance sounded like a bad ass." Joey joked and the guys laughed for a few minutes thankful for some comic relief from a very serious topic.

"I can't believe that happened to you. I'm so sorry, Lance. I shouldn't have pushed you like that." JC said.

"It's not your fault. It was something that couldn't really be prevented. I was going to crack sooner or later." Lance replied.

"We're glad you're ok. That was a pretty amazing tale you just told." Justin spoke up.

JC turned to Chris. "What do you think we should do now?"

"I think that Lance's subconscious won't be around anymore. So we don't have to worry about that."

"Do I have to see a shrink?" Lance questioned listening to what they were saying.

"Only if you want to. I think you should talk to me and the guys a lot more though. I'm sure you'll like talking to us better than a stranger." Chris answered.

"I don't want to. I'll try talking to you guys about my problems more." Lance said.

"Good. We want you to come to us. You bottle up all your emotions and make yourself sick. You need to let your emotions go." JC replied.

"You shouldn't be afraid to cry in front of us." Chris said.

"I'm not." Lance thought out loud.

"Yes you are. When you were talking you looked like you were going to but you blocked them from falling." Justin pointed out.

"I just don't want you guys to think I'm a wuss."

"We don't and would never think of you as that. We're your friends and friends don't do that." Joey said.

"Don't you feel better now that you told them?" Chris asked making everyone laugh.

"Yeah I do."

"Let's get some sleep guys." JC suggested and they all agreed. Lance lay there in bed thinking about everything. He was glad that he told them but something still didn't seem right. Lance knew the nightmares would continue until they caught the guy. He closed his eyes and fell into another nightmare but this was unlike any he's ever had before.

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Chapter 11: Chapter 11

"Why do you think you can get escape me?" The voice asked. Lance was shocked. He couldn't believe that it was him. He knew that voice anywhere.

"Wha…what…what do you want?" Lance asked his voice trembling.

The man moved his mouth right next to Lance's ear. "To kill you." The man's voice icy and cold just like his blue eyes. Lance shivered. The cool night air no longer felt refreshing but chilly. The guy pulled a knife from his coat pocket with his free hand. He wrapped the arm with the knife around Lance's waist and stabbed him in the stomach. The guy removed his knife and arm around Lance's neck. He collapsed onto the ground in pain. The man bent down, the knife still in his hand, and continued to stab Lance in the stomach and the chest. He left leaving Lance bleeding to death on the sidewalk in front of the park.

Lance woke up screaming. He was screaming no. The guys awoke upon hearing him scream. Even JC, the heaviest sleeper of them all, had woken up to his friend's terrifying scream.

Joey was the closest to Lance's bed and began to shake him telling him everything was ok. "Lance. Look at me." After a few minutes Lance had stopped screaming but still had the terrified look in his eyes. Lance stared at Joey and then visibly relaxed a little. Lance sat back in his bed.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Joey asked.

"Another nightmare?" Chris questioned and all Lance could do was merely nod. He was still too shaken up by the dream to speak just yet.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" JC spoke up. Lance shook his head no and hugged his legs to his chest.

Just then a nurse popped her head into the room but didn't flip on a light. "Is everything alright in here? I heard someone scream." All of the guys had given her their attention; all of them except for Lance. He was still lost in his mind.

"Our friend just had a nightmare." Justin explained to the nurse.

"Ok. Do you want me to give him a sedative to help him sleep?" The nurse asked.

"No ma'am. We have it under control." Chris said. The nursed nodded.

"Good night then." She left the room. The guys turned their attention back toward Lance. He was still hugging his legs like he was trying to disappear from the world.

"Lance, tell us what the dream was about." JC pushed but Lance just shook his head.

"Can you say something so we know you're ok?" Joey asked but received the same answer from him.

"C'mon guys. Let's go back to bed." JC shot Chris a look like he was crazy. Their friend was scared and all he could think about was sleep. Chris saw JC's look and said, "Do you want someone to sit with you?" Lance hesitated for a minute not really wanting to inconvenience his brothers but figured that they wouldn't be getting any sleep anyway. Lance nodded.

"Who wants to sit with him first since we probably won't get any sleep?" JC asked.

"If we're all going to stay up then why don't all of sit with him?" Justin answered.

"You got a point." Joey said. The four of them grabbed their pillows and moved closer to Lance's bed. Lance felt better knowing that his brothers were there but still felt afraid.

"Lance, why don't you stretch out your legs? They must be getting cramped." Chris suggested. Lance shook his head. For some reason he felt safe sitting like that.

"Get some sleep. You'll feel better once you get more sleep." JC said.

"N…n…no." Lance stuttered. He was afraid that he would have another nightmare.

"Why not? We're right here. Nothing's going to happen." Justin replied. "We promise." Lance felt a little better after hearing this and closed his eyes. He had them shut for no more than five minutes when he jerked up.

"What's the matter, Lance?" Joey asked.

"I…I…"

"You keep seeing it every time you close your eyes, huh?" Chris asked having a hunch that it was something bad. Sometimes he had cases where people would have these really bad dreams that would haunt them everytime they closed their eyes. Lance simply nodded his head to Chris's question. Chris had guessed right.

"It's alright you don't have to go to sleep." Lance laid back down and then curled himself into a ball while the other guys whispered to themselves. Lance spaced out. Eventually falling asleep. The others fell asleep soon after.

It was eleven o'clock by the time all of them woke up. Lance was the first one up. He didn't get much sleep. There was a knock on the door and the doctor walked into the room.

"I heard that there was a bit of noise coming from this room last night." Skyler said. Lance's cheeks turned a shade of pink.

"It was nothing. We had it under control." JC spoke up.

"I'm sure you did." Skyler looked over Lance once more briefly before saying, "That's it. You're free to go. I don't want to see you back here again." Lance nodded.

"Thanks, doc." JC said as him and the guys straightened up the room and gathered their things to leave. Skyler left after telling Lance to be easy on his foot. Lance got changed and the guys walked beside him incase he would need their help. They made it to the car without any problems. Lance sat in the passenger seat while Justin drove. JC watched Lance the whole ride home. JC wanted Lance to tell them what his nightmare was about. He knew that this wasn't healthy for Lance. They made it back `home' as they called it for the summer and went inside. Everyone collapsed in the living room.

After they relaxed for a bit. JC brought up the subject of Lance's nightmare. "Lance, will you tell us about your nightmare now?" Lance sighed. He hadn't forgotten about it but he was starting to feel more at ease.

"O…ok." Lance said shakily.

"I'm walking through the neighborhood. It's a nice night. I'm almost home when I get grabbed from behind. I was down by the park. The murderer that I had seen had his arm around my neck. I fought to get away from him but he just made his arm tighter against my neck. He asked me why I thought I could get away from him. I asked him what he wanted. He said…" Lance couldn't hold his emotions anymore. He began to cry. One tear after another fell silently down his cheek.

"He told me that he wanted to kill me. Then he stabbed me in the stomach. He pulls the knife out and let's his hold of me go. I fall to the ground. He bends over me and stabs me some more in the stomach and in the chest. Then he left me there, bleeding to death. That was it."

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Justin was sitting next to Lance on the couch. Nobody knew what to say or do. Justin pulled Lance in for a hug. Justin didn't try to pull away and neither did Lance. He held onto Justin for a long time before finally letting go. Justin was bigger than Lance and he took that as comfort.

"It's ok. We won't let anything happen to you." Justin whispered to him. They all noticed how pale Lance looked.

"We'll protect you. Nothing's going to happen as long as you're with us." Joey stated.

Lance nodded his head there was nothing else he could do. He didn't have enough energy to object. His body was worn out. He knew that he was probably letting this affect him a lot more than it should but he was so scared.

"You want to go lay down upstairs?" JC asked Lance.

"I…I want to stay down here with you guys." Lance said. He didn't want to be left alone right now. He was afraid of what would happen if he was.

"Ok. Do you want any thing to eat?"

"No. I'm not hungry."

"Lance you need to eat."

"JC, I don't…feel…well."

"Alright. Maybe later then." JC replied as him and the guys put in a funny movie; something to take Lance's mind off of his nightmare for a while.

Lance ended up falling asleep during the movie. It was about nine o'clock. Justin looked over and saw him sleeping.

"C?"

"Yeah Justin?"

"Should I wake up Scoop?" Justin asked.

"Nah. Leave him go. He needs the sleep." JC answered. Justin shrugged and got up from his place on the couch. The guys turned off all of the lights and went upstairs to bed. Unknown to them, someone was breaking in. The figure slipped in without a sound and you couldn't see the figure considering it was wearing black. It headed into the living room. It knew where what it wanted was. It would spy on him. The figure walked up to the sleeping Lance on the couch.

It pulled out a piece of duct tape from its bag and placed it over Lance's mouth to keep him screaming. Lance woke up and started screaming but you could hardly hear it since it muffled his voice. The figure pulled out a crow bar from the bad and hit Lance over the head with it. Lance was knocked unconscious and fell next to the couch on the floor. It put its items back into the bag and dragged Lance to the front door.

No one had woken up in the midst of all this that happened. That was the way this person intended it. The figure continued to drag Lance outside. When it reached the van it opened the back and lifted Lance inside. It would worry about tying Lance later because the part of the van he was in had no door handles or windows. It looked back at the house once more before driving away to its destination.

The four guys awoke the next morning only to find that Lance wasn't there. They searched all over the house and didn't see him anywhere. So now they were sitting in the kitchen trying not to think of the worst and where he might be.

"Maybe he went out for a walk?" Chris suggested.

"I doubt it. You saw how he was last night. I don't think he would go out by himself especially this soon." JC replied.

"What if that guy did come for him?" Justin asked.

"I…I don't know. If that guy did take Lance let's hope he didn't do anything to him." JC answered unsure himself if that happened but figured that must have been it.

"I'll go call the police and let them know." Joey said getting up from the chair he was sitting in. The room was silent while Joey was gone. He came back a few minutes later.

"They said they'll be looking into it but they can't do anything just yet since we're not sure if that guy really took Lance or not. They said to call back if we heard anything from the guy if he did in fact take him." Joey explained breaking the silence.

"That's a bunch of bullshit!" JC exclaimed. He started mumbling to himself what a bunch of idiots the cops are and cursed them up and down.

"Calm down. Ranting and raving doesn't help Lance one bit. You need to sit down and relax for a few minutes." Chris reasoned. JC stopped, letting what Chris said sink in and sat down next to him.

"You're right. This isn't helping."

"That guy took Lance I know it." Justin said.

Just then the phone rang. The four of them looked at each other. They didn't speak one word but had chosen who was going to answer the phone. It would be JC since he's the most responsible and able to keep his cool better.

JC got up and walked over to the phone. He picked it up.

"Hello?"

A/N:  This story is almost at a close. Just three more chapters. I hope you're enjoying it so far. Thanks to those who have reviewed.

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Chapter 12: Chapter 12

"I've got your friend." A voice said. JC was confused. The voice that had spoken was female.

"Who are you?" JC asked.

"It doesn't matter. It means nothing. So about your friend…" She began but was interrupted by JC.

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. He's fine. That is unless my boyfriend does something to him. You know, you have a very nice house. I like it a lot."

"What do you want?"

"Me? Nothing but my boyfriend does. He wants to kill your friend." JC was silent. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Why? He didn't do anything."

"On the contrary. He witnessed my boyfriend murdering a woman. My boyfriend doesn't want the cops on his tail and figured the best way for that not to happen was to get rid of your friend." She paused and added in a softer tone, "But he's a generous man. He considered the fact that your friend had seen him do it but didn't report it to the cops. So he's willing to make a deal."

"What kind of a deal?" JC asked wearily.

"The deal is: one of you brings 500,000 dollars to an address that we will give you. You will drop of the money in a certain spot and then leave. We will wait two hours to make sure everything is good then we will drop off your friend. Is that a deal?" She paused giving JC sometime to think about it.

JC knew that he had a couple hundred thousand dollars saved for emergencies. This was definitely one. He knew that the others would have to pitch in money too. He knew there would be no problem with that though. "What if we don't want to do it?"

"Then my boyfriend will torment and kill him. If you do agree to this and bring the cops into this and he finds out. He won't hesitate to kill him. It's your choice but if I were you I would go with it because he's not someone you want to mess with."

"Yes, we'll do it." JC wanted to prevent Lance from going through any more.

"Good. I'll keep an eye on your friend for you and call back later with the information of where to drop off the money. Thanks for your corporation and I'm very sorry about this." And with that she hung up leaving a worried and confused JC listening to the dial tone.

"Great job sweetheart. I couldn't have done it better myself."

"Anything for you, John." John made her call so that Lance's friends wouldn't be able to recognize the voice if they did report it to the police. The two of them were standing in the kitchen talking while Lance was tied to a chair in the basement.

"I feel kind of bad for the poor kid and his friends."

"I know you do, Melanie. You have a soft heart like that. That's why you're so special." John said to his girlfriend.

"I think next time we call we should put him on the phone. It must be really hard on the poor kid." Melanie suggested to John.

"I don't know. He might tell them where we are."

"He won't because we're standing here. I'll make sure of it." Melanie promised and John relented.

"Let's go see how he's doing." John and Melanie walked down the stairs to the basement. There Lance was tied to an old, antique chair. He wasn't gagged though. He eyed the two strangers that were approaching him wearily.

"Enjoying yourself?" John asked viciously knowing very well that Lance wanted nothing more than to leave this place. "We just got off the phone with your friends. We're going to call back later. If I'm in a good mood I might let you talk to them real briefly. That won't be until tomorrow though."

With that said John turned and went upstairs. Melanie lingered behind.

"I'm really sorry about this, you know? He made me do it. Said he would kill me if I didn't. I didn't mean to hurt you. At least you have something to look forward to tomorrow."

She turned to leave when Lance said, "Why are you with him?"

"When I first met him it was about love. But now I'm just afraid of what he'll do to me if I leave him." She looked at him and added, "I would give you something to eat but he doesn't want me to feed you. Sorry." She left and Lance said nothing more. He got lost in his own thoughts.

They just kept going back to his friends and how they were doing. He prayed to God that he would make it out of this alive and be able to see them again.

"JC? Anyone in there? Hello?" Justin started waving his hands about in front of JC's face. JC snapped out of his train of thought and hung up the phone. He moved to go sit down at the table and tell the guys what was said on the phone.

"I guess you guys want to know what happened." JC stated. Of course they did. They couldn't hear it and Lance is their friend too, he thought. The others nodded.

"It was a woman and she said they had Lance."

"They? Who's they?" Joey asked.

"It was the murderer that Lance saw and his girlfriend. They said Lance was fine and that they wanted to make a deal with us."

"Like what?" Justin questioned with worried eyes.

"Like we pay them 500,000 dollars then we wait two hours, they pick up the money, make sure it's all good, then they drop off Lance. They said they would call back with the address that we're supposed to drop the money off at. The only thing is that we can't call the cops."

"Why?" Chris asked.

"Because they said if they find out that we have the help of cops that they would torment and kill Lance." JC explained. All of them didn't know what to say.

"I think we should notify the cops about this. We already called them so they're already apart of this." Chris spoke up.

"Are you crazy? We only told them that our friend was missing. Things could get way worse if we call them." JC complained.

"Things could get a lot worse if we don't call them." Joey objected and JC knew he wasn't going to win this argument. Joey had a point at least with the police they could track down the location.

"Alright. Go call them." Joey went to call the police and tell them about this new information. He came back in the room a half hour later.

"They say that we shouldn't pay the money. They think we should wait it out. The detective that I talked to said that most kidnappers only say that to insure that they get their money. He said he was coming over to talk to all of us." Joey explained everything and the guys agreed. Joey told them that the detective wouldn't be over for a couple hours so he suggested that they all go lay down and rest.

Justin and Chris decided to play a video game, Joey went to shoot some pool by himself, and JC continued to sit in the kitchen letting his imagination get away with him. He imagined all the bad things that could happen to Lance. Finally JC couldn't take it anymore and got up from his chair to start pacing just like he had done so many times before. The doorbell rang telling the guys that the detective was here.

They all stopped what they were doing and met in the kitchen except for Justin who was the one to open the front door and let the cop in. Justin led the cop to the kitchen where all of his brothers were waiting.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I'm detective Bartley." He shook all of their hands while each of them telling him who they were. He took a seat between Chris and JC.

"Who called this case in?"

"I did." Joey said to the detective.

"Now I understand that one of you talked with one of the kidnappers."

"That was me." JC spoke up from the left side of him.

"Just explain to me everything about the conversation." Detective Bartley listened to Jc and took notes. JC finished explaining.

"Ok. That's basically the same thing I heard from Mr. Fatone. Did he tell you what I told him on the phone?" They all nodded. "I think we should still stick with that plan."

Justin decided to voice what had been bugging him. "What if they see there's no money and kill Lance?"

"He's right. I think we're all worried about that." Chris said. Detective Bartley scratched his beard in thought.

"I'm not going to lie to you guys. It is a possibility but there's an even greater chance that once they have their money their going to keep Lance to make sure they get to where they want to. Therefore you probably wouldn't see him again. From what you guys have told me though is that he's a smart kid. I'm sure he'll do anything to avoid any of that."

They all took this in for a few minutes and agreed with what the detective had said. They would chance it and hope that everything worked out for the best.

"So we're all agreed?" They all nodded yes.

"Good. Now I'm going to put a phone-tracing device on your phone since they will be calling back. It would probably be best for the same person to talk as last time." He turned to JC. "You have to keep him on the phone for at least two minutes. That will give us enough time to trace the call."

"I'll try." JC promised. Once the detective had the tracer installed he made a move to leave.

"I'll be working on this as much as I can and I'll call you as soon as I find something. Try to get some sleep. I know this must be hard on you but try anyway. Good bye." He left and all the guys looked at each other not knowing what to do now.

"How about we order pizza?" Justin suggested. They all agreed half- heartedly. The pizza came a half hour later and they all ate it slowly.

"I wish there was something more we could do." JC sighed deeply wondering where Lance was and if he had eaten.

"I know what you mean. We're just sitting around waiting. I want Lance back." Justin agreed with JC.

"We know, Curls. We all do. We'll get him back." Joey said trying to be optimistic but really he didn't know if they would or not. All he and the others could do was hope for the best.

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Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Morning couldn’t have come any faster. No one had gotten a lot of sleep the night before. It was understandable in their case. So now they all sat around in the kitchen not really saying much just taking the time to reflect on what happened. None of them wanted to go anywhere or do anything in fear that they would miss the kidnapper’s next call and word on how Lance was doing. They went their own separate ways so they could be alone or do their own thing. It was about noon when the phone rang.

JC had just gotten in from taking a dip in the pool, trying to clear his mind. He picked up the phone hesitantly know exactly who it would be from. "Hello."

"Here’s the deal: we’re going to give you the address of where to drop off the money and if you corporate well, you will be able to talk to your friend." Melanie explained.

JC agreed. "Ok. I suggest you write this down." Melanie instructed. "You will drop off the money in a brown paper bag at the willow tree on the corner of Turner and Sunset. Then afterwards we wait two hours to see if it’s legit and if so we drop off your friend but you already knew those details from our conversation yesterday. Have you contacted the police?"

"No." JC said with little hesitation.

"Good. I didn’t think you would but I had to be sure. Now give us a minute and we’ll put your friend on. We told him beforehand what he’s allowed to say and what he isn’t. If he says something we told him not to then he will suffer the consequences. So don’t push him into answering where we are located or anything like that. Got it?"

"Yes." JC breathed into the phone. All he wanted was to hear Lance’s voice to make sure that he was ok. He drummed his fingers nervously against the countertop as he waited. Then he heard a shaky, "Hello?"

"Lance?"

"JC?" Lance asked still in disbelief that he was allowed to talk to one of his brothers.

"Yeah it’s me, Lance. How are you? Did they hurt you?" JC fired off questions. He didn’t mean to it was just his fatherly instinct kicking in high gear.

"I’m fine. I just want to be home."

"We know you do. We’ll see you soon though. I promise. You’re coming home today." JC reassured.

Lance, however, wasn’t convinced. "Are you sure about that?"

"Of course I am. We could never just leave you there." JC replied choking back tears.

"Thanks, Jace." Lance said.

"Lance I—" JC was cut off by Melanie. "That’s all the time I’m allowed to give you. You both did very well. Don’t forget the money needs to be at the spot by 2:00. Don’t be late." All JC was left hearing now was the dial tone. He knew that he didn’t have time to think and reflect like he did yesterday. There were things to be done. The first thing he did was call the police station to see if they got the location.

"Detective Bartley here."

"This is JC Chasez. I just got off the phone with the kidnappers."

"Ah, yes. You kept them on for almost three minutes but for us to track the location we need three minutes or more and they hung up before the three minutes. So unfortunately, we don’t have a location. We got everything on tape and heard all of it. We’ll have an undercover cop at the location just in case anything happens. Remember, we need you guys to go back to your house after you drop of the supposed money so we can reach you."

"Alright. Thank you, sir."

"Sure thing. Bye."

"Bye." JC hung up the phone and went to go change. After he did that, he told all of the others about the phone call and the plan. It was decided that Jc and Joey would go. JC got in the driver’s seat. He had refused to let Joey drive even though it was probably a better idea because JC was in no condition to drive at the state he was in.

It was completely silent on the way to their destination except for the radio, which was playing softly in the background to act as a diversion. JC was driving faster than the speed limit and he had a death grip on the steering wheel. It was so hard that his knuckles were white. Joey noticed this but said nothing knowing how hard this was to accept. They each handled it in their own way. It just so happened that JC’s way was staying up all night, spacing out, and being very paranoid.

They got there with plenty of time to spare. Joey got out of the car and stuck the empty bag, which was supposed to have money, in the hole of the willow tree. They both wanted to stay and see if the kidnappers would actually show up or not but they knew that they needed to be back at home so they could get wind of what’s going on. They headed home with Joey driving this time while JC looked blankly out the window. They arrived back at JC’s house and made themselves comfortable for a long wait.

As soon as Melanie hung up the phone with JC everything was kicked into full speed. They were four hours away from where they had told them to drop off the money so they had to get moving right away. John had untied Lance from the chair but kept his hands tied. He led Lance to the dark blue Cavalier and threw him into the back seat. Melanie and John sat in the front. They were on the main highway within 20 minutes.

Once they were on the highway, John spoke to Lance. He said, "Too bad you’ll never see your friends again."

Lance was confused. "What do you mean? You said that if they paid the money that I get to go home."

"Well I lied, obviously. This is just a scam. We never planned on letting you go. At least not until we got to Mexico." John explained and laughed at Lance’s shocked face that he could see in his rearview mirror. "Don’t look surprised. Deep down you knew that it wouldn’t happen. That’s why you didn’t believe your friend when he told you that you were coming home today."

With this said Lance was left to his thoughts for an hour and a half. He had been thinking about his brothers and how much he wanted to see them. During this whole time he had been contemplating the idea of him getting out of the car and walking the rest of the way. He knew that it would be dangerous because he might break something while he was rolling. But he also knew that he could live from this. After contemplating this he decided to do it. While John wasn’t looking he shimmied over to the door opened the handle. There were loud protests from John but Lance ignored him and jumped the best he could out of the car. He rolled down a hill, off of the highway, and into a wooden area.

His left arm smashed up against a tree trunk and he could feel it snap in half. The pain was excruciating. He could feel bruises starting to form all over his body. He laid on the ground for several minutes making sure that he was very well indeed still alive and that he wasn’t bleed severely. Once he was sure of these things, he used a large tree to support himself as he stood up. He was afraid that the kidnappers would turn the car around and come back for him so he decided to walk along the wood line. He knew that he had a long way to go before he would make it to JC’s. So he began his long trek along the woods, checking the signs every so often to see how much further he had to go. He was determined to make it home even if it killed him.

After walking for three hours Lance saw that he still had 15 miles to go which would take him another two hours. He found a rock and rested there for a few minutes. He was very exhausted. Walking through the woods was a lot harder than walking on a flat surface. Lance was to the point where he was going to give up but he knew he couldn’t especially if he only had 15 miles to go. He knew that his body was up to its limits especially since he hadn’t eaten for two days. He wished that he had money in his pockets so he could call the guys or get a ride but he didn’t and he knew he had to walk.

He repeated to himself I think I can, I think I can, over and over again. This might have seemed stupid at the time but it was just what he needed to keep himself moving. So he picked himself back up and continued to walk the rest of the way home with a new hope that he was almost there and that the kidnappers hadn’t come back for him. Finally, some things were starting to look up for him or so he thought. It started pouring. He still kept up a steady pace even though he was exhausted and he kept slipping in the mud. He prayed to God that he would be able to make it home alive.

It was almost 9 o’clock in the evening and the guys still hadn’t heard a word on Lance. The police station had called them and told them that the kidnappers did come to the stop but were disappointed to see there was no money and sped off. They said that they tried to catch them but they weren’t fast enough. The cops figured they were probably out of the state by now. They said that they would check local hospitals and things of that nature and give a call if they found him. So the four of them were sitting in the living room with a movie on to try to get their mind off things but they couldn’t help but worry about Lance.

"I’m worried." JC said for probably the hundredth time in the past seven hours. That’s all he seemed to say anymore. They all were and had no clue what to do except wait and that was the last thing they wanted to do. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

They all looked at each other in surprise. They weren’t expecting anyone and no one else knew about what was going on. So who could it be? Justin decided to answer it since he felt like he hadn’t done anything all day. He went over and opened the front door. At first he didn’t see anyone but then he looked down and saw Lance lying at the top of the stairs. From what he could see Lance was bruised from head to toe, extremely pale, and was caked with dirt and mud. Justin pulled Lance in and called for the guys.

"Hey guys! C’mere! Lance is home!"

A/N: All right, guys, one more chapter left. I'm glad you guys have been enjoying the story. I'll post the final chapter probably by the end of the week.

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Chapter 14: Chapter 14

They listened again to Justin yell and JC had managed to pick out what he said. He wasted no time in telling the others. He bolted toward the front door. Joey and Chris gave each other knowing looks and took off after JC. They reached Justin and couldn’t believe their eyes. Lance was home! JC moved to kneel beside Justin.

"Is he going to be ok?" Justin asked looking at JC with teary eyes. JC looked Lance over. He could see multiple bruises, but nothing else so he began to run his fingers gently down Lance’s body. He felt the break in Lance’s broken arm and continued his examination.

"Yeah, I think so. His left arm is broken and he has several fractured ribs. We don’t need to take him to the hospital though. I have everything I need here to fix him up. Joey, help me lift Lance up and take him into the living room. Taking him upstairs would jostle his body too much and we don’t want that." JC explained. Joey nodded and took the opposite end that JC wasn’t at. They lifted Lance up very gently and carried him into the living room and put him on the couch without Lance waking up at all.

"Alright. I’ll be right back. I’m going to get what I need. You guys keep an eye on him and let me know if anything happens." JC instructed as he headed for the basement where his equipment was. He gathered everything he needed as fast as he could and managed to carry it all back.

"Did anything happen?" JC asked and they all shook their heads while moving out of the way so JC could do what he needed. JC first put Lance’s left arm in a cast then moved onto bandaging his torso. "I think that about does it. One thing’s for sure. He’ll have one hell of a headache when he wakes up."

"What do you think happened to him?" Joey spoke up; as he looked Lance’s bruised, beaten, pale body over. JC shook his head.

"I’m not sure. All I know is that he’s home now and we’re gonna take great care of him until he feels up to par." The guys all nodded in agreement.

After a long silence filled the room it was broken with Chris saying, "We should go to bed. I think we’ll be able to sleep better now that Lance is home. We haven’t really gotten any sleep."

Justin and Joey agreed with Chris but JC didn’t. "I think I’m going to stay up just incase Lance needs anything."

"JC, I really think you should get some sleep. You’ve gotten the least sleep out of all of us. Besides, Lance will be sleeping."

"I know. I just want to be here incase he needs someone." JC explained looking Chris hard in the eyes. Chris just sighed and gave in. He knew there was no changing his mind when he got that look.

"Ok. See you in the morning." The guys left after saying good night. Once they had left JC pulled a chair closer the couch and sat down in it. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He suddenly felt anger surge through his body. He was mad that something like this happened to Lance and he couldn’t do anything to prevent it. Then there was movement that came from the couch, which caught JC’s attention. He watched as Lance struggled to overcome unconsciousness before he finally opened his eyes. After Lance opened his eyes, JC took a brief look at the clock. It read 2: 39 a.m.

JC’s attention was drawn back to Lance when he tried to sit up. JC immediately pushed him back down and Lance winced in pain. "Yeah. It would be a good idea if you don’t move. You have a couple fractured ribs. Do you need anything?"

"Wa…water." Lance managed to rasp out. JC nodded. "I’ll be back with your water." He returned a couple minutes later and handed Lance the glass of water. Lance drank half of the glass before JC pulled the glass away from him.

"Don’t want you to get sick." JC explained and Lance nodded. JC sat there and watched Lance for a few minutes. He noticed that his eyelids were starting to droop. "Go ahead and go to sleep. You’re home now and nothing else is going to happen. I’ll be right here when you wake up." Lance fell asleep soon after hearing this and JC went back to thinking. It bugged him that he didn’t know what happened with Lance. He wanted to find out but didn’t want to press Lance when he first woke up.

Then JC began to reminisce about everything before this whole mess started beginning with Lance seeing a murder. Eventually JC fell asleep and letting all of the problems lay at rest for now.

Chris was the first one up that morning. Joey soon followed but Justin remained sleeping. Neither Joey nor Chris had the heart to wake him up since he got just a little more sleep than JC did. This situation had affected Justin a lot because he always looked up to Lance, as well as the rest of the guys, as older brothers and it scared him what had happened to Lance. Chris and Joey moved downstairs into the living room to find a scene that surprised them.

They saw JC sleeping in one of the kitchen chairs and his arm laid on top of Lance’s to show that he was there. Chris and Joey thought Lance was asleep but was surprised when he greeted them.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Joey asked.

"Better. I feel like I’ve been hit by a train but better. I’m just glad to be home. I missed you guys."

"We missed you too." Joey and Chris wanted to hug Lance but didn’t want to wake up JC so they decided against it. "I’d hug you right now but I don’t want to wake Sleepy up." Joey explained.

"Who said I’m sleeping?" Came a tired reply from JC. He looked up at Joey with a small smile. JC got up to stretch while Chris and Joey hugged Lance. Each of them held onto each other longer than they’ve ever done before. Chris finally broke the embrace and surveyed JC. He concluded that he didn’t get that much sleep because he looked worse than he did before, if that was possible.

"What time did you go to bed?" Chris asked.

JC yawned before answering. "Lance woke up around 2:30 and I went to bed a little after 4:30. What time is it now?" Joey looked at his watch.

"It’s six in the morning. Man, you hardly got any sleep at all. Aren’t you tired?" JC just shrugged. Just then the phone rang.

"I’ll get it." JC said picking up the cordless that sat on the TV. "Hello?"

"Yes this is him."

"Uh huh. Really? That’s great! So it’s all over now? Great. Thanks so much for your help. Uh huh. Bye." JC hung up the phone and looked at the guys.

"Who was that?" Chris asked.

"That was Detective Bartley. He said they caught the people who kidnapped Lance last night. They were robbing a convenience store since they hadn’t got the money from us. He says it’s over. Both of them get life in jail because they’ve had a long crime history." JC explained. Everyone was quiet, letting what he said sink in.

"You mean it’s finally over? He can’t hurt any more?" Lance whispered looking into JC’s blue eyes that we filled with concern and brotherly love.

"Yes, it’s over. He can’t hurt another soul as long as he lives." JC replied looking back into Lance’s eyes that were still filled with pain but there was also relief. Just then Chris and Joey started jumping for joy and slapping high fives with everyone. Justin came into the room in the middle of this, rubbing his eyes.

"What’s going on?" The others filled him in on what they had found out on the telephone and Justin started celebrating with them. Eventually everyone’s energy died off and they were sitting around the living room relaxing.

JC decided to bring up what he had been thinking about for a while. "It’s great to have you back home, Lance. I just want to know one thing. How did you get here? It’s obvious that you didn’t come by car because of the mud and how banged up you were."

Lance sighed deeply and closed his eyes while he told the tale, reliving it. "After I got off the phone with you, they took me into this car. The guy had told me how I wasn’t going to see you guys again because this was all just a scam and that he might drop me off when they got to Mexico. I figured if I stayed with them then I would get killed. So I jumped out of the car and rolled down the hill. My left arm hit against something hard and I could feel the bone break. I made sure I was actually alive before pushing myself toward your house. All I could think about was getting home and here I am."

The guys all moved closer toward Lance. "Well we’re glad that you’re ok and made it here. We were so afraid of what happened to you. We were really worried. JC was a real mess." Justin said.

"What do you mean was? He still is a mess." Joey joked half-heartedly because it was kind of true. He could still see the worry in JC’s eyes. JC didn’t rise to defend himself. He was too tired to even think of a good comeback.

"JC? JC? Hello? Is anybody home?" Chris asked waving a hand in front of JC’s face. JC snapped from his trance where his mind had just gone blank. Once Chris knew he had JC’s attention he said, "Are you ok, JC?"

"Yeah I’m fine. Why?"

"Why?" Justin asked incredulously. "Because you were so far gone and you had this blank look on your face."

"I’m just tired, J." JC replied.

"Well then go to bed." Joey said.

"I don’t know…" JC was trying to protest. Chris gave him a hard look and then looked at Lance and saw that he looked just as tired as JC. This gave him an idea.

"No way. You’re not getting out of this. You haven’t slept or eaten ever since Lance left. So you’re going to eat some breakfast with Lance and then both of you are going to bed." Chris explained leaving no room for argument. JC stopped trying to protest seeing that it was useless. Instead, he got out of the chair and helped Lance off the couch. JC made Lance use him to support his weight and took them into the kitchen where they both sat down next to each other. The other three made a quick breakfast for JC and Lance. Both of them ate mostly in silence with a few words said here and there.

They had finished and Joey and Justin escorted them upstairs to their room. They both lay down in their beds. Once Joey and Justin left, JC rolled over on his side, facing Lance. Lance remembered that he wanted to ask JC something.

"JC?"

"Hm?" JC responded looking at Lance.

"Is it true what Chris said? You haven’t been eating or sleeping since I had been kidnapped?"

"Yeah. I was too worried about you to sleep and I was too busy thinking to remember that I needed to eat. The guys bought pizza and I ate a piece of that but that was it. I just couldn’t stand to eat not knowing if you were being fed or not. This was driving all of us crazy. I just handled it the wrong way."

"I can’t believe you did that. You’re always the strong one. I never would have thought that you would reach a breaking point."

"Yeah me either. I’m glad this is over."

"Me too, JC. Me too." That being said, both of them fell into a dreamless sleep; the first one for Lance in months. This was a definite sign that Lance was going to be ok. Chris came up later to check up on the two of them. They were both sleeping peacefully. Chris knew that there were still some obstacles that Lance would face like getting over what happened to him but he knew that everyone and everything would get back to normal. There was no doubt in his mind about this. He knew though that these two would help each other to the end. Chris stole one more look at JC and Lance before tiptoeing out the door.

A/N:  Well, that's the end. I hope everyone enjoyed it. It's not the best story I've written, but I'm fond of it. I hope you are too. Anyway, I want to thank everyone for reviewing. Hopefully next weekend I'll have a new story up for you guys to read.

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