September 1, 2006
JIVE Parking Lot
First Day of Tour

The last few weeks had been really busy for Shelby. She'd been packing for the tour and helping make Gracie feel at home while trying to grieve herself. She was really excited to get on the road and leave Orlando and some of her stress behind. It made her a little worried that they were back at JIVE Studios parking lot, but nobody had had a chance to ask any questions let alone stop her. Thankfully so far, she hadn't seen anyone she knew from the old Nsync tour.

It was going to make for an interesting tour for Shelby who now had two young girls with her. She loved traveling, she hadn't done it since she'd left those years ago, but the bit of traveling she'd done with Broken Angel had always made her feel liberated. She could sit with Danielle and look out the window and watch the scenery go by and just forget about all her worries. Now of course she'd be doing it with two girls, but they were the best two girls anyone could ask for.

They both got along really well, and they had similar interests and personality's. Sure they were little girls who hadn't experienced much life yet but they both had been through so much at a tender young age. It broke Shelby's heart to think of Gracie losing her mom, and Danielle would probably never get to know her father.

"How are you doing Shelby?" Ryan asked bringing her out of her reverie.

"We're doing good. Almost done getting things loaded." Shelby smiled throwing several duffels over her shoulders.

"Here let me take some of those." Ryan said grabbing the heavier hand cases.

"Thank you kind sir. Come on girls, take my hands." the quartet went off to drop the last load of Shelby's stuff onto their bus then went inside where they were supposedly having a meeting of some sort.

Shelby felt her stomach in knots as she entered the building and walked down the familiar hall. She took a deep breath and moved forward following Ryan to the room she knew they'd be going to. They made it to the room when Ryan stopped her and told her to take several deep breaths and that no matter what everything was going to be okay.

It was upon entering that Shelby knew why Ryan had spoke those words to her. The only other person in the room should happen to be JC Chasez. She felt really light headed as he looked up and saw them come in.

"Ryan, was there something you forgot to tell me?" Shelby gritted her teeth.

"It won't be as bad as you think." He whispered.

"Won't be as bad as I think? You have no idea how bad this will be!" She exclaimed a little louder than she wanted to.

"Shelby, is that you?" JC asked a look of recognition coming over his face.

"Hi JC." She nodded stiffly.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned standing up.

"Keys." she shrugged.

"You're Broken Angel's MIA keyboard player?" JC said everything coming clear.

"That would be correct. Seems Ryan here and the rest of the band forgot to mention who we were going on tour with." Shelby said glaring at Ryan.

"Well, you're obviously not on tour with Nsync. Although it is a co-headlining tour with Justin. You can relax though, he won't be here today." JC said the last when she tensed up.

"Mommy, who's that?" Danielle whispered in her child innocence.

"This is JC, he's an old friend of mommy's." Shelby said picking up her daughter.

"What's your name?" JC asked her.

"Danielle-Nicole," was Danielle's shy reply.

"We call her Danielle most of the time. Don't we sweetie." Shelby said grateful for the distraction.

"Yes. I got a new sister, her name is Gracie." Danielle said sticking her thumb in her mouth.

"Did you really? Is this her?" JC asked getting down to Gracie's level.

Gracie nodded her head and hid half way behind Shelby, shy around people that she didn't know.

"We should talk later kiddo." JC told Shelby standing back up.

Shelby nodded, knowing that she couldn't get out of it. They needed to talk, how she was going to get through a tour with Justin she didn't know.

They went to sit down in the back then Shelby lit into Ryan. She chewed him out for not giving her any kind of warning that Justin was going to be on tour with them and for accepting the tour knowing that he would be there. Ryan then had to remind her that she had agreed to it before knowing who it was herself.

Shortly there after the meeting began and Derek the tour manager explained everything that would be going on. Basically where everyone was supposed to be or what bus they should be riding. After the initial meeting, it would be up to each artist and band to be where they were supposed to be on time. Which for Broken Angel, Ryan had their full schedule as he was still their manager--at least until they got too busy for him to do both.

After the meeting, Shelby took the girls and boarded the bus, anxious to get on the road. Not only to get on the road, but to remain on the bus where she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she wouldn't run into Justin. She put the girls down for a nap on one of the couches in the back room. They'd been up since six and were getting really tired.

"You ready to do this?" Ryan asked sitting next to her.

"Yeah. I like the idea of touring again, I just don't like the idea of having to deal with him." Shelby nodded.

"Everything will work out regardless of how it may look." Ryan assured her.

"Thanks Ry." Shelby returned with a half smile.

"No problem, love ya sweetie." Ryan said kissing her cheek.

Ryan left her there with her thoughts and went to the front of the bus where the other two guys were putting all their snacks away.

~*~

September 8, 2006
New York City

The first week of the tour went really fast and thankfully Shelby had not once run into Justin. The two headliners seemed to keep to themselves or something. It was either that or Shelby was getting good at avoiding them. After Broken Angel's show was done, Shelby took the girls and went back to the bus so there was really no time to be spotted.

"Work you stupid machine." Shelby said nearly kicking the ice machine.

This was the third ice machine Shelby had tried and it seemed she would have the same luck as the other two. The hotel they were staying at was a five star, but apparently their ice machines were not included in the high rating. Cursing softly, Shelby went back upstairs to check on the girls who were watching Dreamer.

Shelby was very reluctant to go to the floor above them, as that was the VIP floor and she knew Justin was in one of those rooms. She had to get ice for the soft drinks she had picked up at the vending machines on her floor so she inhaled deeply and headed up the stairs. The coast was clear as she poked her head out the fire escape door. Shelby didn't bother taking the elevator as it was only one floor up so she opted for the fire escape stairs.

The moment she stepped in the hallway, she was surrounded by two enormous body guards who were not smiling, or even looking pleasant.

"This is a private floor." one of the men stated.

"I just need to get some ice." Shelby said holding up her ice bucket.

"Go to another floor." the other one spoke up.

"They're all broken. Just let me get some ice and I'll be out of here."

"We're not authorized to do that ma'am. You need to exit the premises."

"Come on, I'm on this tour too; in Broken Angel. Please just let me get some friggin ice and be on my way." Shelby said starting to get irritated.

"We have a situation up here." the one on the left said into his walkie.

"What is it?" the voice on the line asked.

He explained the situation and instead of getting a straight answer, he was told someone would come help out.

"Someone will be here in a moment." he told Shelby.

"This is ridiculous. It's just ice." Shelby rolled her eyes.

It took about five minutes before 'the backup' came to investigate what was going on. Shelby's jaw dropped when she saw who it was.

"Shelby? Is that you?" Mike asked seeing who they'd detained.

"Mike? Goodness, how are you?" Shelby said moving forward to hug the giant man.

"I'm good, getting into trouble I see." Mike laughed returning her hug.

"I just wanted some ice and these two mountains wouldn't let me."

"Guys, she's okay. Let the girl get some ice." Mike told his two security members.

"Thanks Mike." Shelby said walking in the direction of the ice machine.

"Good to see you babe. I'd love to stay and chat, but I gotta be off." Mike told her before walking off.

Shelby walked toward the ice machine with her head down, thinking how good it was to see Mike again after all this time. She wasn't watching where she was going when she ran into someone.

"Whoa, careful there." the very familiar and masculine voice said running chills down her spine.

Shelby looked up and saw the one person that she didn't know if she could ever stomach facing again. There was no hate or bad feelings on his face, in fact there was no recognition at all. It was clear that his mind was else where or he just didn't recognize her.

"Pardon me." she said softly before she moved on.

"You okay?" Justin asked turning around watching her walk away.

"I'm fine." she waved not turning around.

Shelby kept walking, praying the whole time that he wouldn't catch on to who she was.

"Shelby? What are you doing up here?" JC asked leaving his room.

"Getting ice." Shelby said finally filling up her ice bucket.

"How'd you get up here? Security was supposed to be really tight." JC questioned.

"They were. Those two mountains stopped me at the door and I just wanted ice, they wouldn't let me and I wouldn't take no for an answer so they called for backup. Backup came in the form of Mike who recognized me and let me through." Shelby answered.

"Okay. Makes sense. So how are you?"

"Good for the most part. I just ran into Justin. Thankfully he didn't recognize me though."

"Really? That's good I guess. Are you busy? Do you think we could talk now?" JC asked walking with her back toward the fire escape.

"Sure, the girls are watching a movie. If it's okay with you, I'd be eating."

"That's fine. So it's okay I come down with you?"

"Yes, please do. I could use some grown up non-band member talk." Shelby smiled.

"All right." JC smiled.

JC followed Shelby down to her room and waited for her to get settled. The girls were too busy eating pizza and watching their movie to bother listening to their conversation or really acknowledge their presence.

They both kind of just sat their for a few minutes, neither one knowing what to say. JC complimented her on their band and how well they sounded, they talked about that for a few minutes then JC brought up the important matter.

"What happened Shelby? Justin came back a torn person, it was even worse than when Britney left him. We tried to talk to him, but he just shut us out and started getting really pissed off when we'd talk about you." JC asked.

"I don't even know where to begin." Shelby said taking a deep breath.

"Just start at the beginning." JC encouraged.

Shelby told him everything that happened with Tony, including when they first met and all the things that Justin had accused her of. She poured her heart out and told him how he thought she cheated on him and that she would never dream of cheating on him. Justin was her world at that time.

"Did he even give you a chance to explain?" JC asked.

"I tried to explain, but he just kept yelling and didn't listen to anything I said." Shelby shrugged. "Please don't take this the wrong way, JC, but I really don't want to talk about this any more. It's in the past and I'd rather it just stay in the past. I ran into Justin earlier and he didn't even recognize me. That alone just points out that he doesn't even remember me. He gave me the greatest gift and with that it's time I let go of all my bitterness and pain. I don't want to face him any time soon, but I need to let go and stop being the victim."

JC looked at Shelby in a new light. In front of him sat a young woman who had matured far above her twenty-two years. It dawned on him what she meant by her words 'the greatest gift' and his heart went out to her.

"Are you going to tell him? He has a right to know."

"So he can throw more accusations back in my face?" Shelby sighed deeply.

"All he has to do is look at her with the knowledge and he'll believe you. It may not be obvious to someone who doesn't know, but once the truth is revealed it speaks for itself."

"I know."

"It's been a long day and I have things to catch up on so I gotta get going. Don't stress yourself over Justin, it'll only do you harm." JC said standing up.

"Thanks, I won't." Shelby smiled walking him to the door.

"Call Joey. Your leaving affected him alot. He worried himself sick." JC said pausing.

"What's his number?" Shelby asked.

JC gave her Joey's phone number then left for his own room. The three girls then watched one more movie and turned in early as they would have to leave early in the morning for the next city.