Things were slowly coming together. The wedding was all set and ready for tomorrow, and the excitement in the air was electric. Jamie and Justin had been getting along better than ever, and it was a relief to everyone else to see Justin so happy.

The wedding party had been staying at Johnny’s so that everyone was together and knew what was going on. Right now, most everyone was relaxing around the compound, enjoying Florida’s wonderful weather.

Johnny stood in his living room with a brunette that looked to be about thirty, and the members of NSYNC sitting, spread around the room.

            “Guys, I want all of you to meet Grace Freeman.” They all said their hellos and Johnny continued his speech. “As you all know, I’m getting married tomorrow.” He waited for their cheers to die down before he went on. “Anyway, I’m going to be taking the year off.”

            “What? Johnny you can’t do that, we have a tour in a month and a half!” Justin yelled out, and was met with nods of agreement from his band mates.

            “Calm down…that’s why Grace is here. She’s going to be taking over for me. She is extremely qualified, and she comes highly recommended. I’m not leaving until a week into the tour so I can prep her and welcome her into the madness that we call the NSYNC family.”

The guys all sat back, stunned. They had no idea of Johnny’s leaving, and here he is springing it on them not two months before a huge tour. They all eyed Grace, she seemed nice enough, but she wasn’t Johnny and that didn’t settle well with them. They didn’t have much time to ponder though, because Grace started to speak.

            “Now I know y’all aren’t very happy, and that’s understood. I mean, I’m a new comer and I’m going to be running the show and you don’t even know me. But I guarantee you that I will do the best I can to fill Johnny’s shoes. It’s going to be hard though, because I have small feet.” She stood there and waited for a reaction, but was met with silence. “That was supposed to be a joke guys.” They all shook out of their daze and Chris was the first to jump up.

            “Well Gracie, Welcome to the family! Sorry you have to be thrown into the madness so soon, but you’ll get used to us. And we’re not that bad, once you get past the first few dirty joke and pranks, you learn to ignore us!” Everyone laughed and that seemed to be the end of the tension.

“Hey J…did you know that Grace is from Tennessee?” Chris nudged Justin with his elbow and waited for a response. He and Justin were sitting outside, and he was trying to get a conversation going with Grace, who was joining them for dinner.

            “Really? That’s cool…where in Tennessee?” He seemed preoccupied, but he showed interest in the conversation, so Chris stopped hitting him.

            “Well…My biological mother was from Memphis. My foster mom lived in Somerville, which is just outside of Memphis.” Justin nodded his head in understanding.

            “Yeah, I think I’ve been there before, although it’s hard to keep track sometimes.” Grace chuckled with him and agreed.

            “I know what you mean.”

            “Grace, I didn’t know you were adopted.” Chris’ interest had been sparked, and he was now on a mission to find out everything about Grace Freeman that he could.

            “You never asked.” She laughed at the shocked expression that crossed his face. “I’m kidding. My mother was really young when she had me…about sixteen I think. She gave me up for adoption because her family wouldn’t stand for abortion, but they didn’t think it was a good idea for her to keep me. They were very religious.”

            “How do you know all this? I mean, did you get in contact with her, or did your Foster mother tell you.” Lance had now entered the conversation, also intrigued by this woman’s life story.

            “I was a pain in the ass about knowing who my real mother was, so my foster mom finally gave in and told me when I was about sixteen. She gave me enough information, that I actually tracked her down myself, and proposed a meeting. She said that she would love to…so when I was eighteen we met and I learned that she had married and had a daughter. I also learned that she had cancer and that’s mostly the reason that she agreed to meeting me. She said that she didn’t want a child of hers going through life not knowing who her mother was.”

All of the guys sat there, stunned. They had no idea that Grace’s background was so deep, or saddening. They all decided that it would be fun getting to know this woman, and who she was as a person. She seemed dedicated and very passionate about her job and they knew that she would fit in really well with the NSYNC crew.

            “Well Gracie, you’ve got yourself another family weather you like it or not…and five new brothers!” She looked horrified for a second before everyone burst out in laughter and she gave Chris a big hug.

            “Thanks guys, you have no idea how much this means to me.”

A few moments later Jamie walked out onto the deck carefully balancing three boxes of pizza and a plastic bag in her arms.

            “Um…Boys? A little help please.” They all watched as the stacked boxes teetered and Justin and Joey sprang up to grab them before they fell. “Thanks.” She set the bag that contained the drinks and chips onto the table and ran back inside to grab plates.

Jamie reached up to get the paper plates from the top of the cabinet but it was too high. She reached up onto her tip toes and almost screamed when she felt someone run their hands along her exposed waist.

            “My God Justin…you scared the crap out of me.” She turned to face him and the evil grin he had plastered on. She was about to ask what was going on but he placed his lips over hers and silenced her words with a kiss.

            “I’ve been waiting all afternoon to do that.” He smiled against her mouth and kissed her softly again. Jamie broke the contact and smiled at Justin.

            “It’s good to see you too. Now, will you help me get these stupid plates?” Justin laughed and reached up to easily grab the plates. Someone cleared their throat behind them and Justin turned around quickly.

            “Hey Grace,” His face turned a slight shade of red at being caught by someone he didn’t really know. “This is Jamie, my girlfriend. Jamie, I want you to meet Grace, she’s going to be filling in for Johnny when he goes on his honeymoon.” They two women shook hands and smiled courteously at one another. Grace felt some something strange about Jamie, but couldn’t put her finger on it. The moment was broken when Justin’s stomach growled loudly and he laughed. “I think it’s time to eat.”

Grace walked into her apartment and set her things down with a sigh. She was tired from her long day, and from meeting so many people. This job was going to be tough, and it was going to take dedication but she wasn’t going to let anything stand in her way.

As she made her way into her bedroom to change, her thoughts shifted to Jamie and the strange feeling she had when they met. There was something very familiar about Jamie, and it was driving her crazy that she couldn’t put her finger on it.

She pushed the thoughts from her head and made her way into her kitchen to get a drink. The light was flashing on her answering machine so she clicked the button and listened as she poured herself a glass of wine.

            “Hey Grace, its Dave. I just wanted to see how things were going in boy band land. I’ll be down in Orlando in about two weeks, so I’ll have some time to get together with you. Call me. Bye.” Grace sipped as she listened to her assistant say his good byes and the next message started.

At first it was a bunch of noise and she was about to skip it until she heard a voice come on the line. “Gracie! It’s me. You know…Chris? Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that you better be at the wedding tomorrow, we’ve saved you a front row seat! Well, it’s not exactly front row because that’s immediate family and then there’s Johnny and Erika’s close friends. But you’ll be right up there. Well…kind of, there will be a lot of our family too, because we all love Johnny…” She heard a voice yell in the background and Chris’ voice was distant. “Will you shut up?! I’m trying to leave Grace a message…Jesus, Mary and Joseph. No, I wasn’t talking about you Joey, I was just mumbling…” The message was cut off because it ran too long and she laughed, knowing the next message would be Chris.

            “Me again…Chris. I mean, its Chris again. Whatever, anyway I got cut off last time, but I just wanted to say that it was really nice meeting you and I hope that we didn’t manage to scare you away. I hope the message doesn’t scare you too much…I’m not usually this hyper I’m just really ex...”His voice stopped at someone grabbed the phone and she heard JC’s voice come on.

            “Sorry about that Grace, Chris is drunk as you can tell. I won’t take up any more of your evening with his mindless babble. I advise you to change your number.” There was a tone of amusement in his voice and Grace smiled. “Well, have a good night and we hope to see you at the wedding tomorrow. Good bye.” He hung up the phone and Grace was very touched at the guys’ attempts to make her feel comfortable. The fact of the matter was she felt comfortable already. She had her job, and she knew that she was capable of doing a good job at it. As terrible as it may sound, she didn’t really care if she had a relationship with the guys, because she wasn’t in this to make friends, but she was relieved just the same.

Being in the good graces of the people she worked with always made for a more pleasurable time. She didn’t want there to be any tension because that made it harder to get things done and she didn’t want to fail on her first big assignment. Finishing off her glass of wine, she poured another and went into her living room to light the fire and catch up on a little reading.

Jamie sat back as her eyes searched the room and a smile came to her face. The wedding had been beautiful and it had been what dreams were made of. Erika looked radiant even now, hours later as she danced with just about everyone.

Someone sat down next to her and she turned to see Justin.

            “Hey beautiful, what are you doing?” He kissed her cheek and took her hand. He had been clingy lately, but he seemed to be trying to respect the fact that Jamie wanted to take things slowly.

            “Just watching everyone. I think Chris has had a few too many, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Joey’s got a headache from getting slapped by the whole wedding party.” She giggled and Justin smiled at her. It was so good to see her happy.

            “Yea, Joey’s used to it. Let’s dance.” He stood up and tugged on her arm. She took his hand and followed him out onto the dance floor. They passed Grace and Lance dancing and Jamie was happy to know that she was fitting in so well. She knew all too well how overwhelming this group of guys could be.

            “Grace looks like she’s having a good time.” She whispered into Justin’s ear as he pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

            “Yea, she seems really cool. Hey, does she look familiar to you? I mean, she reminds me of someone, but I can’t figure out who it is.” Jamie turned and glanced at Grace shaking her head.         

            “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. I mean, you know a lot more people than I do.” He shrugged, resting his cheek on the side of her head, loving the feeling of her in his arms.

            “I’m glad you’re here with me James, it would be very lonely with out you.” She smiled against his shoulder.

            “I can’t think of any place I’d rather be.”

Grace thanked the taxi driver and walked up the stairs to her apartment. The night had been busy and chaotic, but she had had a lot of fun. She knew that being apart of this group was going to be a blast and an adventure. She yawned and walked inside, tossing her purse on the table by the door. Taking off her shoes she let out a heavy sigh. Her feet were killing her.

Every one of the guys had insisted that she dance with them, a few more than once. Justin had asked once, but she had said no, knowing that he would rather be with Jamie. They seemed to be great for each other, ever thought she didn’t really know them. Grace had had that nagging feeling about Jamie all night long, like she knew her from some place, but she didn’t know where. It had bothered her for a while and she really wanted to know what it was.

She went into her room and spotted the old photograph of her birth mother sitting on her bedside table. She dropped the jacket in her hands and her eyes were about to pop out of her head. There was no way it could be real...she wasn’t seeing what she thought she was. Rubbing her eyes she focused on the picture again and was upset to see that she was in fact right. She went to the picture and picked it up, taking it out of the frame. It was dated a while back and that placed her mother around twenty years old.

            “There’s no way…”

It was finally here. They had practiced and prepared for weeks, and tomorrow was the day they would start their tour. Excitement couldn’t even begin to describe the atmosphere surrounding the five men of NSYNC. Everyone was anxious and ready to get the ball rolling. This tour was going to be much less flashy than their last adventure, but they were still nervous about how the audience would react.

The guys were all in last minute stage rehearsal to make sure the little kinks were out, and the crew knew exactly what they were doing. They looked exhausted and rightfully so. They had been going since about six this morning, and it was closing in on 11:30 at night.

Jamie watched as they ran through a dance number again and she was amazed. They had more dedication and passion for the job that they did than anyone else she knew. It stunned her how they could spend so much time going over and over and over something, still be ready to go at it one more time, and still have the love for their profession at the end of the day. She knew that she would be sick of singing the same songs night after night, and dancing the same choreography time and time again.

These five men had a love for their job and a passion that was unparalleled. They enjoyed what they did and you would be hard pressed to find five other men that were as dedicated to each other as these five were. That’s what made this group special. Not only did they love the music, they loved each other.

She turned when someone sat beside her and she smiled at Toni, their choreographer.

            “How does she look?” He asked, watching as the guys ran a number again.

            “Incredible. You have done amazing work…and the dances…kick ass.” Toni’s grin spread across his face and his ego raised a few notches.

            “Well…I do try. This is an incredible group to work with, I’m very glad they asked me to be apart of this.” He watched as they finished the routine and he raised the microphone he was holding to his mouth. “Great work guys. Joey, remember to pull in on that last step there. All right, I’d say that’s a wrap!” A cheer was heard from each of the guys as they started off the stage in search of water bottles.

            “Wait! You’re not done yet.” They all groaned and Chris fell to the stage in a dramatic heap. Johnny laughed and grabbed the mic from Toni.

            “I just want to say how proud I am of all of you, for the hard work. Good luck tomorrow. Kick ass and take names.” The crew that was around stopped and clapped a little at Johnny’s speech and the guys all jumped off the stage.

Justin grabbed his towel and water bottle and made his way over to Jamie.

            “Hey James, what did you think?” He wiped the sweat from his face and neck and Jamie almost fainted when he removed his t-shirt to reveal just a wife beater.

            “Um…I…whew! That was great Justin, you guys are awesome.” He grinned at her stumble and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

            “Are you all ready for tomorrow? You’re all packed right?” They walked together over to the side of the arena and Justin put his things into his bag and put on another dry shirt.

            “Yea, I think I’m all set. I have no idea what to expect, but I am all packed.” Just then Johnny walked up to them and tapped Justin on the shoulder.

            “J…I need to talk to you, Jamie and the guys. We’re having a last minute meeting about tomorrow.” Justin nodded and threw his bag over his shoulder and took Jamie’s hand.

The others were seated in a group toward the back of the arena. JC’s girlfriend Stacey was seated next to him and Lance’s “friend” Melissa was next to him.

            “All right, now I know you all hate this part of the deal, but we need to go over the publicity thing. Since all of the ladies are new to us this tour, we need to set some ground rules.” They all listened as their Public relations manager went over the dos and don’ts of being an NSYNC girlfriend. “You need to listen to security and what they tell you, you need to stay out of the way and respect the fact that fans may not like you. I know that you’re here to keep the guys company, but they have jobs to do. They have an obligation to their public, and as much as you and I hate this, that means trying to keep your relationships as low key as possible.”

Grace sat next to Johnny and scanned the group until her eyes found Jamie and Justin. She felt a pang of resentment at the two and turned quickly to speak to Johnny.

            “They’re allowing the girlfriends to come too?” Johnny nodded and glanced at the group himself.

            “Family and friends, even girlfriends are the guy’s way of staying sane. Touring gets lonely and very hectic, so it’s good for them to have someone they trust to lean onto. I really haven’t had any problem with any of the guys, and I like for them to be comfortable while they’re on the road.”  He flipped through some paper and showed a few things to Grace.

            “Are any of them public with their relationships? I mean, is that allowed?” Johnny chuckled and looked at Grace.

            “JC has spoken of his girlfriend a few times, but never really commented. They guys all like to keep the private lives private. It’s up to them weather or not they speak of the women in their lives. We’ve all really passed the stage of worrying about losing fans because they’re not available.” Grace’s eyes traveled back to Justin and Jamie and she hated the feelings growing inside of her. She shook them off and looked back down at the papers she was going over. Now wasn’t the time to get jealous over Jamie and Justin.

Justin threw his bag into the backseat of his car and leaned on the top of it to peer at Jamie.

            “James, do you mind driving? I’m so tired.” She looked up and smiled warmly.

            “No, not at all.” He tossed her the keys and made his way over to the passenger side door, stopping to grab her waist and kiss her before she passed. “Am I driving to my house…your house…Johnny’s house?” She waited as he pondered her question and rubbed his temples.

            “Your house, I can drive home from there, it’s not very far.” Jamie nodded and shifted the car into gear and headed for home.

Grace watched as the drove away and that same angry feeling rose in her again. After doing a little research on the picture in her bedroom, she found her assumptions to be true, and that bothered her. It bothered her a lot.

The shrill sound of her cell phone caused to her break from her thoughts.

            “Hello?”

            “Hey Grace, its Dave.” She smiled as she heard the voice of her long time assistant and close friend, it was good to hear a familiar person.

            “Hey Davie, what’s going on?”

            “Well, I’m back in town, and I thought maybe we could get together for dinner. You know, catch up on all that’s happening, how the Pop Princes really are.” He chuckled at his own joke and Grace smiled.

            “That sounds great Dave.” Her voice was flat, and that wasn’t a good sign.

            “Grace, sweetie, what’s wrong?” concern flooded his voice and Grace suddenly longed to be in his presence.

            “Nothing, I’ll tell you about it tonight. Why don’t you grab some Chinese food or something, and come over to my place. I’ll get the wine.”

            “That sounds great. I’ll see you in about half an hour.”

            “OK, thanks Dave.” She clutched the phone, not really wanting to let go of his comforting voice.

            “No problem sweet stuff. Bye bye.” She mumbled a faint good bye and hung up her phone.

Dave had been by Grace’s side for about four years now. They had met each other in college and had a pretty good friendship, but time and busy lives pulled them apart until recently. They met up again at the office where they worked now. Dave wasn’t really a boyfriend, or a lover for that matter, what they had was purely plutonic. He was Grace’s rock, and best friend. He knew what she was thinking, and he always had the right things to say.

Grace knew that Dave might possibly want more out of their relationship, but she wasn’t ready and she didn’t have the time. She was too busy building on her career to mess with romance right now.

Sighing she stepped into her car. Waving one last time at one of the crew members she started her vehicle and drove home, looking forward to a night of comfort and maybe a few laughs too.