Las Vegas, NV
Late at night

Shelby was on her own personal cloud nine for that night and the following morning. Justin had told her she was cute and kissed her on the cheek alert the media. They didn't have a chance to talk at all after that, but Shelby knew that he had to still feel something for her--right?

Brad had called her last night and apologized for what he said and told her he understood that she was her own person and she could make her own decisions. That would make life easier except for where Justin was concerned. She wasn't going to tell Brad what he did last night who knows what Brad would say. She just wasn't going to go barking up that tree.

To Shelby's excitement they were going to be meeting up with the rest of Nsync tomorrow. They were coming to see a few of their shows as well as hang out with them all in LA. They should be here tomorrow, Shelby was excited to see Joey again as well as Chris and Lance, but she really wanted to talk to Joey in person. Over all it should be a very pleasant experience. She hadn't seen Chris or Lance since she'd left the tour and she was overdue to see the crazy cats.

Talking to Brad last night made her call Nancy and talked to her for a while...

"Hey girl, what's up?" Nancy asked picking up the phone.

"I'm good how are you. Did you get things figured out with the baby?" Shelby asked.

"We're still thinking about it." Nancy answered.

"Can you do me a huge favor?" Shelby questioned getting straight to the point.

"What's that?" Nancy asked.

"Can you please come on tour with me and be my nanny? I can't do this on my own, but I don't want some stranger watching the girls." Shelby begged.

"I don't know I'll have to talk to the folks, but far as I'm concerned I'll do it. At least until the baby comes." Nancy answered.

Nancy asked her foster parents who readily agreed and it was arranged that Nancy would join them in LA. That was the soonest she could be done with school, then Shelby would pick up on her studies from the road. Everyone would win in the end.

Shelby couldn't wait to have another female on tour with her, she was going nuts with all of the testosterone she loved the guys, but she needed some girl time. She was also going to love not having to do everything on her own, Nancy would be there to make sure she didn't have her hands too full. It was going to work out just fine.

The phone rang disrupting her thoughts. She answered it and heard Ryan's voice on the other end.

"What are you doing?" Ryan asked.

"Just thinking about the past couple days." Shelby answered.

"Awesome. I hear Nancy will be joining us in a few days."

"Yeah, I can't do this on my own any more. I need help." Shelby nodded.

"You can ask us for help you know." Ryan reminded.

"Yeah, I know, but whenever I have to be somewhere y'all do too." Shelby smiled slightly.

"That's true. Well, I'm glad you're doing something to help yourself out." Ryan smiled.

"Dude, I'm bored." Jason said in the background

"Yeah, me too." Shelby agreed.

"You heard him?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I dunno, you're not on speaker phone or anything."

"Wish there was something to do." Jason sighed.

"We could play a game or something." Shelby suggested.

"Like what? We don't exactly have any real games here. All we have are, no offense, little kid games." Jason asked.

"I don't know, we could ask the others, I think they were staying in tonight too." Shelby suggested.

"Who has ideas about what?" Scott asked on the boys' end.

"We're bored and were thinkin bout playin a game. We were gonna talk to the J's and see if they wanted to join us." Ryan answered.

"Fun times. Nothing little kid and cheesy though right?"

"I think JC has a trivia game, that could be fun." Shelby shrugged.

"What about the girls?" Ryan asked.

"They're with Nicky. Danielle insisted on staying with her tonight and Gracie doesn't wanna be alone." Shelby answered. Nicky was the hairdresser for JC and Justin who the girls had become fond of.

Five minutes later they talked to Justin and JC who agreed to play games because they were equally bored. They decided to just go to Shelby's room as she had less stuff lying around. All of the other guys were just that--guys. Wherever they went a mess seemed to follow whereas Shelby was always neat, something she had to be with the girls.

"I don't have a trivia game per say I have pictionary is that okay?" JC said when Shelby opened the door for him. She shut the door behind him, but left the extra lock stuck in the door so the others could come in easily without having to knock and all that jazz.

"Oh good grief. We played this a few years ago, Ryan is a horrible drawer. I don't want him on my team." Shelby said plopping down on one of the couches.

"Hey, I resemble that remark." Ryan said entering the room then hit her arm playfully.

"That hurt." Shelby said rubbing her arm then stuck her tongue out at him.

Jason came in next holding a case of Keystone in one hand and a brown bag with a bottle in the other followed by Scott who had a plastic bag full of who knows what and another case of Keystone in the other hand.

"Oh great, not the alcohol." Shelby said shaking her head.

"What, it'll make for more fun." Jason said with a grin.

"I'm sure it will." Shelby sighed. Thankfully they didn't have to be anywhere until one tomorrow.

Justin was the last to arrive and shut the door fully then walked into the living room where the guys were filling the sink with ice to put the beer. Hmm, alcohol? This was going to be interesting.

"You know I don't drink beer right?" Shelby said watching them.

"Which is why we got you whiskey coke and blue raspberry vodka." Jason said holding up the two bottles as well as the two liter bottle of coke.

"How thoughtful of you. Blue raspberry vodka? How does that taste." Shelby asked picking up the blue bottle.

"Why don't you have a shot and find out." Scott suggested grinning at her.

Shelby shrugged and opened the bottle. She gave it a sniff before pouring the blue liquid into a shot that Jason had produced from the bag. She lifted the glass and slammed it then set it back down and gasped in surprised. It did burn slightly but it was actually pretty good. It was about time to just loosen up and not worry about anything and just have fun with her boys.

"We need some music." She said turning on her iPOD which was connected to the system in the suite. The first song that came on was Dirrty by Christina Aguilera and Shelby found herself dancing to it and she just let herself go and danced around the room while the other set up.

"How are we doing teams?" JC asked setting the game up.

"I don't know. Two players to a team?" Jason suggested.

"Works for me. Let's just be fair and draw numbers or something. That way there's no way to say anybody cheated." JC said finding three slips of paper. He proceeded to write numbers on them and put them in the top box of the game.

He had the first three grab numbers, Shelby got a one, Jason got a three, and Ryan got a two. Then he the numbers back in the box then had Justin and Scott pick numbers and he took the last one. JC unfolded his paper and found a two on the inside. He held it up and told them what it was.

"I hope you can draw, because I can't draw worth shit." Ryan said acknowledging his teammate.

"We'll see." JC chuckled. "Who did y'all get?" he asked of Justin and Scott.

Scott opened his paper and saw a number three inside so Jason was his partner and Justin got a one so he would be partnering with Shelby. He knew this was going to need a little help so he grabbed a beer from the sink and sat down next to her on the couch.

"Guess we're partners." Justin said softly.

"Yeah." she replied breathlessly the alcohol seemed to already have an affect on here...or was it the presence of the man sitting next to her.

"You wanna draw?" Justin asked her.

"I don't care. Sure." Shelby shrugged.

"All right, you can do the drawing. I'm not the greatest. I can make a mean stick figure though." Justin smiled sending butterflies reeling through her stomach.

"If you two are done flirting, would one of you roll the die." JC said smirking at the pair.

Shelby grabbed a pillow that was close to her and threw it at JC hitting him in the head as Justin rolled the die. He rolled a six, the highest so far and handed it to Scott who'd roll it for their team. They only got a two so it was cast that Shelby and Justin would go first.

"What do we get if we win?" Ryan asked always one to play for stakes.

"Why does the winner have to get anything, you're not going to win Ryan." Shelby answered. She got up and quickly poured herself a whiskey coke and sat back down next to Justin, not missing a beat.

"How about the winner wins a date with Shelby?" Ryan suggested wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"And if I win? I take myself out? How about not." Shelby said rolling her eyes.

"If you win that means Justin wins too, so Justin could take you out." Ryan answered easily.

"I'm not a prize to be won." Shelby answered.

Both Shelby and Justin looked at each other and shared a memory about another time when someone suggested something similar.

Flashback

"I don't know." Shelby answered. "We could always play that Game Sysco again."

"No thanks, besides we don't have paper or pens." Justin replied from her right. "We could still play a questions game. Kind of like truth or dare without the dare. We could like ask a question and if you don't answer or don't want to answer you have to do a forfeit like tell an embarrassing story that happened to you." Lance suggested.

"Hey that sounds kind of cool." Joey nodded.

So it was decided, they would play this new game. THe only rule they set was if you forfeit the question you either had to tell the story of your first kiss, or an embarrassing story. Since it was Lance's idea it was decided he would go first.

"All right. If you don't have an embarrassing moment you have to kiss Shelby." Lance added at the last minute.

"No." Shelby shook her head.

"Why not?" Joey asked innocently.

"Easy for you to say when you're not the one who's going to get mauled. Besides we need to stay seated and buckled." Shelby reminded them.

"Yeah whatever." Lance flipped his hand as to ignore the rule.

"Okay, it'll work for Chris and Justin then." Joey said pointing to the two who were sitting right next to her.

"It's not working for anyone." Shelby said getting frustrated.

"What are you getting so riled up about Shelby?" Chris asked from her left.

"Don't you think that a kiss is sacred and shouldn't be shared with just anyone? Especially not in a game, its just degrading." Shelby explained her feelings.

"Why, Shelby, you're a true romantic." JC looked at her surprised.

"Why do I have to be a romantic to feel that kissing should be sacred." Shelby looked at them with a scowl.

"Not everybody feels the same way you do Shelby." Chris shrugged.

"Guys, lets just forget it and get to the game." Joey suggested.

End Flashback

"Well if we have a lot of time left, the winners can pick the next game or something. I don't know. Why do we even need a prize." JC put in his two cents.

"The losers have to chug a beer. Or in Shelby's case do a shot of whiskey and a shot of vodka." Scott suggested deciding everyone was still too sober.

"Whatever, let's just start." Shelby said getting antsy.

"I agree." Justin nodded.

The game started without a hitch, Justin easily guessing Shelby's first attempt and it wasn't before long they were easily in the lead. The others got one turn each before Shelby and Justin easily won. It was like they had that connection where they could easily read each other's thoughts. It wasn't something that hadn't been acknowledged for nearly four years. Everyone except Shelby and Justin whined as they chugged their beers, letting the alcohol loosen them up. They decided to switch games and went with something they could each do instead of using teams.

"I can't believe I'm playing truth or dare with a bunch of guys. Talk about a sausage fest." Shelby chuckled.

"What of it? You know you like the sausage." Jason said wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Whatever, you wish." Shelby said throwing the pillow at him this time.

"Just saying." Jason grinned.

"It's okay, Shelby, we're all friggin bored. Don't worry, we won't make it too bad on you." JC said with a wink.

"Let's just get this going." Shelby sighed. Somehow this wasn't going to turn out good. Alcohol mixed with the truth was never a good combination.

"Who's going to start?" Jason asked getting another Keystone.

"Let's let Shelby start since she's the only girl." JC suggested.

"Aw, thank you JC." Shelby said smiling at him.

"No problem." JC smiled back.

Shelby opened her mouth to speak when someone knocked on her door. "Who the heck." she mumbled before getting up to open the door.

The alcohol did already have a slight affect on her as she didn't quite move out of the way of the luggage rack on her way to opening the door. She let out a curse then yanked the door open, almost falling to the ground again.

"Walk much Shelby?" Joey asked laughing.

"Joey! What are you doing here. And Chris and Lance. Wow, come in." Shelby said opening the door for the trio.

"Wait for me!" another voice called out before Shelby shut the door.

Shelby held the door open for the third voice and her jaw dropped open when she saw who it was. "Aimee?"

"Shelby? My gosh, it is you." Aimee said seeing her.

Shelby felt herself wrapped in Aimee's embrace hugging her old friend tightly. Also grateful to have another female join the party.

"So this is where the party at or what?" Lance asked interrupting them.

"Apparently." Shelby nodded.

"Come here, I need a hug." Lance said opening his arms.

Shelby stepped into his embrace and inhaled his familiar scent. It was glad to be back among old friends and in the presence of current friends.

"Padime is that you?" Chris said easily falling back into the roll.

"Ani? It is I. How are you? Any disturbances in the force I should be aware of?" Shelby laughed.

"Not a one. Come here girl, give me a hug." Chris said running at her.

Shelby braced herself for Chris's running hug laughing when he nearly toppled both of them. Shelby greeted and hugged Joey next, took a shot of vodka with the four of them then sat down in her spot next to Justin. She introduced everyone who didn't know each other, the boys to the other Nsync members she then invited the others to sit down where they could find a spot, there weren't many left so Aimee ended up on Lance's lap and other suggestions were made.

"Can't you just move?" Chris asked whining because he was sitting on the arm of the couch and it was up his butt.

"Where else am I supposed to sit? I'm not sittin on your lap." Shelby shook her head putting her foot down.

Everyone laughed at that and Chris just pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well move somewhere else so I can sit there. I'm your guest, you need to meet my needs."

"My goodness you are a whiner. You're worse than Danielle." Shelby laughed.

Justin leaned forward and whispered in Shelby's ear. "Just sit on my lap."

Shelby quickly turned her head to face him and saw he was very serious. She looked at his lap then back up at his face. Could she really sit on his lap? It would sure to be torture for her as he would consume her every sense. Justin didn't wait for her answer he just put his arms around her waist and gently lifted her onto his lap leaving one of his hands resting gently on her lower back.

"Thank you." Chris said plopping down in the spot she'd just vacated.

Justin's hand burned into Shelby's flesh and she could barely think with all of him touching her. She forced herself to turn her mind elsewhere and took a big drink of her whiskey coke.

"So Shelby, it's still your go." JC said bringing everyone's attention to the game.

"What are you playing?" Joey asked opening a beer.

"Truth or dare." Ryan grinned evilly.

"Oo, truth or dare and alcohol. This is going to be fun." Joey said getting comfortable.

"Let's make some rules. If you pick truth, you have to answer it, but if you pick dare and someone dares you something too outrageous and you don't want to do it, you have to chug a beer. Or take a shot if you're Shelby and you hate beer. Sound good?" Jason said adding the new rules.

Everyone agreed and the show began.

Shelby carefully studied the faces around her carefully choosing who she wanted to ask first. Who would be safest when it was their turn. Her eyes narrowed as she found her choice.

"Aimee, truth or dare?"

"Truth." she smiled sweetly.

"Is Lance good in bed?" Shelby asked trying to keep a straight face.

"Best I've ever had." Aimee smiled at her boyfriend whose lap she was sitting on.

The game continued on when Aimee asked her question and it was getting more risque as more alcohol was consumed and the questions got more personal and the dares more outrageous. Everyone had had a turn when Shelby found herself being asked another truth or dare only it was by JC who had a disturbing look on his face.

"Truth." She answered.

"How many people have you been in love with?" JC asked deciding not to ask what he was originally going to ask. He saw the pained look on Justin's face and wondered if even that one was something he shouldn't have asked.

"One." she answered without thought.

Shelby felt Justin's whole body stiffen beneath her as she said her answer. She desperately wanted to turn her head to look at him, but she fought with all she was worth to remain facing forward.

She picked Joey next for some reason as it was the first person she looked at. That was one of the biggest mistakes she could have made because he picked her again next. She knew she should stop it right there before something got out, but she couldn't help but continue.

"Dare." she said.

"I dare you to play 20 questions and answer truthfully." Joey dared her.

"That's like 20 truths!" she exclaimed.

"You can take the out if you want." Joey challenged.

"I'll do it." she said accepting his challenge.

"What's your full name?" Joey asked.

"What? You already know that."

"Just answer the question."

"Yeah, answer the question." Ryan added, knowing this was going to air out a lot of shit.

"Shelby Lynn Murphy."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

"Where are you from?"

"Minot, ND now I live in Orlando."

"Have any children?"

"Yes, two daughters one is my own and one came to live with me after her mother died."

"How old are they?"

"Danielle-Nicole will be four in May and Gracie is five." Shelby answered. This definitely not what she was expecting from Joey.

"Who gave you your first kiss?" Joey asked treading on dangerous ground.

"Justin." she answered.

"Why wasn't Brad your first kiss?"

"Because we were just friends for a long time."

"Why are you dating him now?" Joey asked his eighth question.

"Because he asked me out and I felt bad after we'd just had sex not to give him a chance." Shelby answered truthfully.

"So aren't you just leading him on?"

"No, he knows that I only love him as a friend. He wanted to try a relationship and I told him sure, but I don't think it'll go anywhere. I need a father figure for the girls." Shelby said her answer sounding shallow even to her own ears.

"You should just get rid of him in my opinion. He was better off as just a friend." Joey answered.

"Well thank you, I get that all the time."

Justin really didn't like the way this was headed. He wanted to put his arms around Shelby and shelter her from the world the same time he wanted to get up and leave so he wouldn't have to listen to anything else. He knew Joey well enough to know that he was going to bring up what happened in the past, but he could--he would be able to sit and listen to her without getting pissed off. He really could.

"Back to the questions, what happened when you left the tour?" Joey asked hitting the question that Shelby wanted to avoid.

"You already know what happened." Shelby said looking down at her hands.

"Just answer the question." Joey prodded.

"Ryan, get the woman a shot." JC added.

Ryan placed a shot glass full of blue raspberry vodka in front of Shelby and encouraged her with his eyes then went back to sit down. Shelby took the shot and put the glass back down on the table and took a deep breath.

"A few days after I got back this guy came over to my house stating that his phone was out and he called the phone company from my phone. I was listening to AFI and he asked me if I liked them and I said yeah. He said he was surprised because most girls there liked pop music and boy bands. I said that I liked Nsync and he saw a picture of me with Justin. He asked me if he was my boyfriend and I said yes. He asked me if I liked Taking Back Sunday and I said I'd never heard of them. He invited me over to his apartment to listen to them. I went over where I met them," Shelby stopped and pointed at the boys in her band. She paused and took a deep breath then began again. "He gave me a TBS CD then invited me to go with them all to see The Used and I agreed because I love them. He was weird the entire show, trying to buy me stuff and tried to act like my boyfriend."

"I remember telling him to stop it, and even they did too. Every time we hung out after that he was just weird. He'd be all touchy feely and I hated it. I told him to stop, but he just played it off and said he knew I had a boyfriend I loved, but he still did it."

Shelby started getting tears in her eyes. She was almost to the most heart breaking part and she did feel tears fall when she started talking again. "The night that Justin took me out for my birthday he cornered me at the restaurant where we had dinner, he posed as a photographer and took our picture, but when I went to the bathroom he stopped me and kissed me. I tried to get away, but he was very forceful. I didn't remember it at the time, but I remember somewhere a flash went off as if someone was taking our picture. That was the last time I saw him."

Shelby again had to stop and catch her breath. The world didn't exist to her any more. Everything was fuzzy as she lived in her pain, trying to force it all away. Justin on the other hand was in the same boat. Hearing the full story from Shelby's mouth as she could barely control her tears really made his heart break. All the arrows were pointing at Shelby's innocence, but why was there a tiny bit of doubt in the farthest corner of his mind.

"Justin came to my apartment a few days later with these pictures and asked me about them, but I couldn't explain any of them. I never really got a chance to say much, that was it. I couldn't handle it any more. I didn't go back into my depressed ways or anything like that. I would have been at a loss though if it wasn't for these boys. They were my rocks."

"We never talked to him again either. We couldn't believe he was such an asshole." Ryan added, proving Shelby's story true.

"Wow. Just wow." Aimee whispered looking at Shelby who sat there with her face in her hands shoulders shaking with silent tears. She was sitting on Justin's lap who wasn't looking so good himself. It seemed to shake him to the core. From what she could tell Justin had blamed her and she had just come back into his life. He looked torn between hate and love.

"I think that counts as five questions." JC said feeling a little teary himself.

"Yeah." Joey nodded. "If you could change anything about what happened, would you?"

"I wouldn't have stayed friends with Tony after the concert. I don't know if that would have changed anything, but I don't know. There were pictures of us wherever we went and we always looked intimate. Whoever took them was a professional. Somebody wanted this to happen."

Shelby felt awful. Her head was spinning from the alcohol and her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her head was starting to hurt. She wanted nothing more than her bed and silence. Two things she didn't think she'd be getting for a while.

"Why didn't you tell Justin about him sooner?" Joey asked.

"I didn't even think of it. I told him I'd made some friends, but it didn't even cross my mind to tell him what was happening." Shelby shrugged.

"Does Brad know any of this? What did he say when it happened?"

"Brad knows some of what happened, but I've never told anyone except these guys the whole story. He knew the gist of it, but he didn't know the full details. He wanted to find Justin and kick his ass, but I told him it wasn't Justin's fault. It was Tony that needed an ass beating."

"Last question. Do you hate me for asking these questions?" Joey asked.

"I don't hate you." Shelby giggled shaking her head. "I do need a tissue though."

A tissue was placed in Shelby's hand then she proceeded to blow her nose and dared a look at Justin through the corner of her eye. He didn't seem to be mad at her, in fact he seemed torn up. She didn't dare talk to him as she feared his reaction. He didn't throw her off his lap and run for the door so that was a good sign right?

"I need some air. I'll be right back." Shelby said getting up. "I guess if it's my turn, I'll pass my question to Ryan." She made her way to the door and stepped out into the cool hallway. She leaned against the hallway and inhaled deeply.

She wasn't out in the hallway for more than thirty seconds before Joey came out and pulled her back in the room. "Come here for a minute. We need you."

"Why?"

"Don't kill him, but Ryan has dared Justin to kiss you and we're out of beer so there's no out option." Joey answered.

Shelby looked from Joey to Justin who sat there with a stunned look on his face. "Why do you have to involve me in his dare?"

"Because I wanted to. You can go get your fresh air, in three minutes." Ryan answered.

"Why three minutes?" Shelby asked confused. She didn't know what was going on.

"Because, just go with it Shelby. Justin get over here, Joey shut that door. Last thing we need is for the whole world to see." Ryan said ordering everyone around.

Joey led Shelby over to stand in the middle of the room and he grabbed Justin's hand and pulled him up. "Now get to your dare."

Shelby felt so on the spot. She didn't do anything nor did she know what to do. She just stood there looking at the ground. She heard someone tell Justin to just get it over with. Shelby took an involuntary step towards Justin and he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Counting all the while. Neither one of them responded to each other, just standing there.

"Ryan it isn't working." Joey whispered.

"Just wait." Ryan shushed him.

"Seriously, it's been a minute already and nothings happening."

"There it is." Ryan nodded to the couple.

Justin brought his hands up to frame her face deepening their kiss as Shelby stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed each other as if nothing else existed, it was like coming home for the both of them. They'd wanted it so long and it was finally happening. They both gave up counting and melted in each other's embrace.

"Should we stop them?" JC asked after nearly five minutes had passed.

"No, they're coming up for air anyway." Ryan said watching the couple.

Justin pulled away first and saw the position that he and Shelby were in. His first reaction was to get mad at the situation, but it wasn't her fault. He grabbed her hand and pulled her the crowd of people and out into the hallway. He walked the few doors down to his room and led her inside. He shut the door behind her and put the safety latch on so nobody else could get in without being let in.

"What are we going to do Shelby?" Justin asked pulling her into his arms again.

"I don't know. I feel sick." Shelby answered feeling her world spinning.

She rushed out of his arms and into the bathroom, she threw up into the toilet and started crying again. She hated throwing up. She felt Justin before she heard him come into the bathroom and knelt beside her. He rubbed her back gently as she threw up again. She grabbed the toilet paper and wiped her face then got up and rinsed her mouth out.

"Here, use this mouthwash." Justin said pouring her a small bit of the green mouthwash sitting there.

"Thank you Justin." she said as a few more tears fell down.

Justin dug through his bag and found an oversize beater for her to wear and handed it to her.

"Change into this, you'll be more comfortable."

Shelby nodded then shut the door and changed into the shirt. Justin took that moment to gather his thoughts and catch his breath. This night had been more than a shock to him. His whole world seemed to have tilted from its axle. He watched her walk out of the bathroom and his heart felt love for her that he hadn't felt in a long time. He pushed it back down and led her to the bed.

"We'll talk some other time, right now you need sleep." he said sitting on the bed beside her.

Shelby nodded and gazed into his eyes, loving every minute of spending time with him.

Justin smiled tenderly then went around to the other side of the bed and slipped in between the sheets. He took Shelby in his arms and held her tightly. Shelby leaned over and shut the bedside lamp off and snuggled up in Justin's arms. She smiled softly and inhaled deeply.

Justin softly kissed her lips, this time out of his own desire to instead of being forced. He softly whispered good night and Shelby relaxed in his arms. Yes, all in the world was right.