My Big Break

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(Analogy) Fiction : This Story :: Non-Fiction : An Encyclopedia

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Notes: 1) Let me know what you think! Writermurf@hotmail.com

1. I'm trying to get this first/third person thing under control, sorry if you get confused.

2. Stories to check out (in no particular order): Studio In The Country, Brian and Me, Search and Rescue, Lance In Shining Armour, Escape, Choices, Forever, Kevin and Justin, Twist of Fate, and the list goes on.

And lastly, 4) Hey! No emails from Scotty T for at least a month! (Just kidding, I don't know what I'd do without our witty little banter!)

+++++++++++++

My Big Break Part 2 Now That The Formalities Are Out Of The Way

+++++++++++++ The end of the last chapter...

"It's just his little post-performance ritual. To wind down he listens to some classical music and hates to be bothered. Well, it is when he's single at least, when he's got someone, his post-performance ritual is a little... Well, lets just say he doesn't listen to classical music, but he still hates to be bothered trust me, I know first hand. He just listens and zones out, he's probably not even on this planet right now."

"That, or he's in the middle of the North Atlantic freezing to death." Mark said coming up behind Tina.

"What?" JC chuckled.

"He's listening to Titanic tonight." Mark answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh, well what are you guys doing?" JC asked.

"We're just catching a movie in the back. Well, Tina, Alex and I are. Mel and Geena went to bed already. And Mary isn't riding with us on this little trip management needed to discuss some things with her."

"What movie?" Justin asked.

"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me." Tina answered.

"Cool, I'm there." Justin said walking to the back of the bus.

"Anyone else care to join us?" She asked as she, too, turned to the back of the bus. JC, Mark, Joey, and Chris followed, but Lance said he was gonna getting something to eat then head to bed.

Lance opened the mini-fridge, got a bottle of water, then sat down at the kitchen table, if that's what you could call it. He was just staring at me as I continued to conduct my imaginary orchestra. A smile came to his lips.

++++++++++++++++++ Part 2 Starts Now... ++++++++++++++++++

"Hey Scoop, I thought you were going to bed." JC asked coming into the kitchen. "Scoop? Lance? YOO-HOO? Anybody in there?" He continued while laughing.

"Wha ? Oh, hi JC." Lance said.

"And where were we just now?" JC said wiggling his eyebrows at Lance.

"Nowhere, just thinking."

"And staring, I might add."

"Well, a little of that too," Lance said blushing.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing, it's just - I don't know."

"You like him, don't ya?"

"I think so, there just something about him."

"Yeah, he's a hottie!" JC said laughing.

"Well, that too," Lance said giggling.

"Well, we could sit here all night and talk about him while he sleeps on the couch, or we could be nice and wake him up and help him to his bunk on our way to ours - we have a long day tomorrow and we need some sleep."

"I suppose we should help him to his bunk, maybe we could help him get undressed, too," Lance said giggling again.

"Very funny, but I don't think he's gay, so he might not be into that whole strip show for 'N Sync thing."

"Why is everyone who I like straight?" Lance asked as he got up, put his now empty bottle into the trash and walked over to me on the couch.

"I dunno, Scoop. Maybe we should go out," JC said.

"We tried that remember?"

"Oh yeah. Scratch that idea - we're much better friends."

"Agreed. So how do you want to wake him up?"

"We could suck him off."

"We could, OR we could just shake him."

"Maybe we should do it your way."

"YA THINK?" Lance said laughing. With that Lance bent down and started shaking my shoulder and calling my name softly.

"That's not going to work." A voice said from behind Lance and JC. They turned to see Alex in his boxers and wife-beater.

"Um, okay, what do you suggest?" JC asked while checking Alex out.

"Stop that, I'm as straight as they come," Alex said laughing at JC. JC just blushed.

"Sorry..." JC said bashfully.

"I'm just joking!" Alex laughed, " but not about the straight part." he added seriously.

"How did you know?" JC asked.

"Well, I kinda overheard you guys talking about Nick being a hottie that was a little clue for me, then the 'suck him off' comment kinda clinched it." Alex laughed.

"You're ok with it, right?" JC said.

"Oh, yeah, totally, you aren't the first gay guys I've been friends with."

"You won't tell anybody, will you?" Lance asked.

"It's not my place to tell anyone, so, no, I won't."

After breathing a little sigh of relief, Lance said, "So back to the task at hand, how do you suggest we wake up sleeping beauty here?"

"You don't, he's out for the night."

"You mean we should just leave him here on the couch?" JC asked.

"No, we should move him to his bunk, because he'll have a hell of a sore back if we don't."

"He won't wake up?" Lance asked a little surprised.

"He hasn't yet."

"How many times have you moved him?" JC asked.

"This will probably be around the thirtieth or so time."

"God, and I thought Justin was a heavy sleeper!" JC said laughing.

"Alright, I wanna go to bed, so let's do this. JC you grab his feet and legs, Lance you get the mid-section, and keep your hands off of where they don't belong," Alex said laughing causing Lance to blush, "and I'll get his head and shoulders."

With that the three of them lifted me up and dropped me in my bunk for the night. Alex took off my shoes, socks, shirt and pants, leaving me in boxers and a wife-beater, 'cause the other two were too embarrassed to do it after being caught earlier. Then they went to their own bunks to get some rest.

The bus came to a stop sometime around ten. I wasn't the only one still asleep, in fact, Chris, Geena, and Mel were the only ones up. We had traveled to Las Vegas, "The city that never sleeps," or maybe it's "The city of lights," or, ah, who the hell cares what it's nickname is, that's where we were! Our friend Mary had somehow beaten us there, and radioed back to our bus that she wanted the honor of waking me up (being the sadistic bitch that she is :) ).

Miss High-and-Mighty waltzed onto the bus carrying a bucket of ice just in case.

"Hi guys, how are you?" She asked Chris, Geena and Mel, who were on their way off the bus with their stuff to take into the hotel.

"I'll be better when I get off this bus," Chris said walking by her.

"What he said." Geena responded.

"Shower. Need Shower." was Mel's response.

"Doug's got your room assignments and keys. He's waiting for everyone in the lobby." Mary said giggling at Mel. Then, she proceeded to the bunk area and started 'knocking' on the curtains. She got a groan from the first, then the curtain opened to reveal a very sleepy Joey.

"Time to get up Joey, we're at the hotel," she said happily.

"Okay..." Joey said climbing out of his bunk and grabbing his stuff in a very clumsy motion. Mary then knocked on the bunk below Joey's and didn't get a response. She pulled the curtain back a little to find the bunk empty. She then knocked on each of the other curtains waking up the bunk's occupants. Justin was a little tough, but JC had helped with him. Well, to be accurate, he just pulled him out of his bunk, letting him fall to the floor. A slightly unorthodox method, but one that worked, never-the-less. Then she came to the last bunk, mine. She knocked on the curtain and not surprisingly didn't get a response. Then she knocked again, and again, no response. Then she pulled back the curtain a little and -

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed as she fell back against the bunks on the other side of the bus. Seeing her surprise, I rolled over in a fit of laughter.

"I got you so good!" I said finally getting myself under some sort of control.

"Damn, you almost made me have a heart attack!"

"Oh, don't give me that crap, I see your little bucket of ice there, you wanted me to ignore you!" I said still laughing a little.

"You suck!"

"But you swallow."

"Get up and into the hotel, Doug's got your room key." She said laughing as she walked away. "I'll get you one of these times, mister." She threatened before stepping off the bus.

Thoroughly amused by her little threat, I got up, wondering a little how I got to a bunk, put on my pants and shirt from last night, grabbed my stuff, and headed out.

We were staying at the MGM Grand. And by the way, 'Grand,' does not do this hotel justice the sucker's huge. I went into the lobby and found Doug. He told me that they had an entire floor reserved, and gave me my key. Everyone else was already on their way up, so he came with me. We were here for three days, we had performances tonight and tomorrow, then had a free day the last day.

Deciding that I was already up, and starting to get hungry, I got a quick shower, got dressed, and headed over to Mary's room to see what everybody was doing today. On my way to Mary's room, I heard a lot of loud laughing coming out of one of the other rooms. So, being the nosy person that I am, I knocked on the door.

Lance opened to door, apparently this was his room, and invited me in. Everyone was there and they were wrestling over where to go for lunch. Well, again, to be accurate, Joey and Chris were wrestling, everyone else was just rooting for one or the other. They had apparently each chosen a restaurant, and, unlike normal people who just flip a coin or vote, they decided to wrestle. Everyone going where the winner wanted. It was pretty funny, but I could definitely see why Chris held the Weirdo Trophy - the man was a maniac.

Finally, after about ten minutes, we decided it was a draw so we weren't going to go to either of their choices, which I found out were Burger King (Joey) and McDonald's (Chris). Once I found out their choices, I couldn't say I was disappointed that we weren't going to either. Finally, we decided on one of Vegas' famous buffets. The one at the Luxor (The hotel shaped like a pyramid, for those who don't know) to be exact.

We headed down to the elevators laughing and joking on the way. I thought at that moment that it was a good thing that we had the floor reserved, 'cause we were a loud group of people! Stuffing ourselves into the elevator, the 'N Sync guys put on hats and sunglasses. I decided that I wasn't known enough yet to wear either, but they forced some sunglasses on me "just in case." I guess it made sense, I wasn't very famous yet, but if someone noticed me, they would probably recognize who was with me.

We walked out of the MGM, and over one of the Strips' raised pedestrian walkways over to New York, New York.

"Anyone wanna hit the roller coaster later?" Joey asked.

"Count me in. I've been on it before, but it's kinda cool." I said.

"We'll go," Tina said, speaking for herself and Alex.

"Scoop and I'll join you guys," JC said.

"I'm in," justin said.

"No thanks, roller coasters are high - me no like heights," Chris said.

"Come on, Chris, it's not that high, plus maybe if we all go, we can take a whole train!" Joey pleaded.

"Well, maybe, we'll see."

"He's in, what about the rest of you guys, pleeeeease?" Joey whined.

"Would you like some cheese with your wine, Joey?" I said laughing.

Everyone but Joey laughed he didn't get it.

We continued our journey over another crosswalk to the Excaliber, then down the block or so to the Luxor, cracking on Joey the whole way - he definitely wasn't the brightest in the bunch, but he was a genuinely nice guy and a really good sport about being teased incessantly.

The show went great, after it, we hit Studio 54, a club in the MGM modeled after the famous one in New York. We were all dancing, laughing, drinking, and just plain having a good time. We had secured a table that we just switched off 'guarding,' when someone wanted to dance, someone else would stay with the table. It was our pit stop when we needed a 'refill' - of the alcoholic persuasion.

At some point in the evening, Geena, Mary, Lance and I were sitting at our table, when a thought hit me. Lance seemed to be hanging around me an awful lot tonight, like maybe he liked me. And I know I was beginning to like him, so I decided to do the only thing I could think of to be close to him.

"Mary, would you like to dance?" I asked. Now how does this get me closer to Lance, you ask? Just wait impatient one... you'll see.

"Sure, Geena, why don't you and Lance come out there with us?"

"Sure, Lance, you wanna?"

"Sure, why not?"

That's how! It couldn't have gone better had I planned it Oh wait a sec - I did plan it! I told Mary and Geena what I was going to do when Lance left the table to get us some refills for our drinks. Sneaky! Sneaky! Proud of ourselves, the three who knew what was going on headed out to the dance floor with smiles on our faces. Now we just had to arrange it right so that Lance was next to me and the girls were next to each other. That's not a problem when that's the arrangement three-out-of-four dancers prefer! Of course what I didn't know, is that it was actually the arrangement four-out-of-four dancers preferred.

Well, at some point Lance and Geena started shifting and before I knew it Lance and I were back to back (not touching, but close) dancing to a really cool song. Then we both kinda threw our heads back at the same time-

"OUCH!" we both said rubbing our heads.

"Damn! You got a big, hard head there Lance!" (Get your minds out of the gutter people!) I yelled (so he could hear me) laughing.

"What you got in that noggin of yours, rocks?!" He yelled laughing and knocking on my head.

"Well, since we both felt that, I say we're not drunk enough let's go back to the table and finish off those drinks. That and recover from the concussion you just gave me!" I yelled.

Laughing, we made it back to the table. We talked (well, yelled) about this and that, and had a few more drinks. Then we hit the dance floor again. We found pretty much the rest of our group dancing in a 'group' thing, so we joined in.

A couple of hours and umpteen more beverages later, we decided to call it a night. By that time Lance and I had lost almost all of our inhibitions and were practically hanging all over each other. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the rest of our friends, but being the good people they are, managed not to say anything. Although, Geena did manage find her way in-between us, so that it looked a little more innocent, not to mention, hetero, to the hotel guests that we passed.

Once the elevator doors opened on our floor, though, all bets were off. This floor was ours, we could do as we pleased here. In fact, as the doors were opening I 'accidentally' pushed Lance from behind, causing him, in his drunken state, to loose his balance, and fall to the floor. We all laughed, and stepped over him. Then, being the caring person I was, I grabbed his hand and started dragging him down the hall to his room. JC apparently found this to be a good idea, so he helped, when it became obvious that, in my drunken state, I needed help. Together, JC and I devised a brilliant plan (Well, it at least seemed brilliant at the time). I dropped Lance's hand, JC and I each grabbed a foot, and again started on our way down the hall, the three of us laughing all the way. Once we had made it to Lance's door, we dropped his feet, and he tried to stand up. Neither the atomic wedgie he had gotten on his trip down the hall, nor his drunkenness helped, as he failed miserably at his first, second, and third attempts. JC and I would've helped, but we were too busy laughing at him, of course, he was having a healthy dose of laughter himself. The three of us finally managed to get him to his feet, then we said our goodnights as he stumbled into his room, and JC and I stumbled to ours.

When we got back to our rooms we crashed. All tired and some (including me) a little tipsy, ok, flat out drunk. I laid down on my bed then all of the sudden a hand was grabbing my wrists and tying them to the bedframe. In my drunkenness, I could barely put up any kind of fight, so my attackers task was pretty easy. Then my mouth was duct- taped and my boxers were ripped from my body. My feet were then tied down and I found myself lying face down spreadeagle. I strained my neck to try and get a look at who the attacker was, but I couldn't see very much, only the outline of their - his - body. He was built about the same way I was, not overly muscular, but not fat. Hell, he could have been any of the guys on tour with me.

That's when it hit me, this was all a joke, 'N Sync was trying to get us back for the soap. Then he hit me. Not 'this is a funny joke we pulled on you hit me,' but 'OUCH! THAT FUCKING HURT' hit me. That's when I realized that this wasn't a joke and I really tried to get free again. He hit me again, and I looked back at him. All I could make out was blond, spiked, hair, like Alex's or Lance's. But he couldn't be either of them, could he? No. No way. That's when I felt him grab hold of my short hair and yank my head back. I tried to scream in pain, but the tape effectively stopped that.

He then climbed on top of me. I could feel his naked flesh rubbing up against mine. He let go of my hair and my head fell back onto the pillow. My tears started flowing. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. Then I felt him start to press into me. No this wasn't happening, please tell me this wasn't happening. I began kicking and yelling and struggling as best I could. All it got me was a fist to the kidneys. Crying, and feeling defeated, I stopped struggling, I stopped seeing, I stopped hearing, I stopped feeling - I stopped being. Right then my life had ended. He could do - and was doing - whatever he wanted to my body, but my mind was no longer there. It had closed itself off. At some point through the ordeal, I passed out.

He finished, punched my limp body a few more times. Then, satisfied with what he had done, got dressed and walked to the door. He opened it cautiously, and looked up and down the hall to see if it was empty. No seeing anyone, he opened the door some more, and walked quickly out. He walked swiftly down the hall, and just as he passed Mark's door, it opened. He started sprinting down the hall.

"What the hell? Hey how'd you get on this floor!? SECURITY!!" Mark yelled not liking that he was seeing a man sprinting down the private hallway.

Gary, the security guard on duty at the time, heard the commotion and looked down the hall at the man running towards him, and Mark in hot pursuit. Gary started towards the man, so that he could stop the man from getting to the stairway or elevator. Gary grabbed at the man, but he was met with a fist to the face. Pissed off now, Gary tackled the man as he was about to get to the door to the stairway. Mark came up shortly thereafter and helped Gary restrain him.

Gary called down to the front desk for some extra security guards to come up and for the police to be called. He didn't know what had happened yet, but he knew that this man was far from innocent. Innocent people, who just happened to be on the wrong floor, don't do what this man had just done.

When the extra security came up, Mark and Gary walked down the hallway to see what the man had done. They knew he had done whatever it was somewhere past Mark's room, but the hallway looked fine, nothing out of place. They decided they needed to check the rooms to see if everyone was okay. There were only three rooms past Mark's. They knocked on Tina's door, whose room was next to Mark's. After a few seconds, Tina opened her door clumsily, as she was one of the ones who had come home drunk.

"Are you okay, Tina." Mark asked.

"Yeah, I'm just little out of it, I'll be fine in the morning." Tina answered, not having any idea of what had just happened out in the hallway.

"You didn't have anyone over just now, did you?"

"Alex, but other than him no, why, what's going on?" Tina had finally registered that something was up, they were not just making sure she wasn't too drunk or something.

"We caught a guy running down the hallway. He hit Gary before we got him. We're just making sure everyone's alright. Is Alex still here?"

"Yeah, he's sleeping, we're both fine."

"His room is next-door, right?"

"Yeah, then Nick's."

"Okay, thanks. Just checking on everything, I'll let you get back to sleep now."

"Night, Mark, see you in the morning."

"Night, sorry I bothered you."

"We should check Alex's room, just to make sure he wasn't in there." Gary said.

"Okay, you have all the keys for the floor right?"

"Yeah."

"Good, 'cause I don't want to bother Tina again just to get Alex's key."

Alex's room looked fine, except for the unmistakable fact that Hurricane Alex had been there.

Mark and Gary then moved to my room and knocked. Not getting an answer the first time Mark got a little worried, but then remembered how I slept and just knocked again, only louder. After not receiving an answer the second time, Mark motioned for Gary to open the door.

Once the door was open, they walked in and flipped on the light.

Mark just stood there, in shock, his mouth was moving, but nothing came out, a thousand thoughts were flying through his head while he was looking at my naked, bleeding body.

Gary, being trained for situations like these, immediately got on his radio and had them call for an ambulance. Gary shook Mark to get him back to reality and motioned for him to untie one side of me, while he got the other.

"But try not to touch much," Gary pointed out, "or the police may not be able to do their jobs and that guy might get off."

As he was instructed, Mark touched as little as possible while untying my wrist and ankle. Gary pulled the blanket off of the spare bed and covered me with it after he finished untying my other wrist and ankle.

After a few minutes, the ambulance got there and carted my unconscious body off to the hospital to see exactly what was wrong with me. The man was arrested and the police sealed off my room.

Not knowing exactly who to tell, Mark called Phil, our manager, and told him the situation. He also woke up Mel and Mary, who didn't have that much to drink that night, and they went to the hospital as Mark explained what had happened.

When they got there, there was little news on me - they managed to find out that I was still unconscious, but that's about it. After a couple of hours, a doctor came in and briefed them on my condition.

"Nick's got some bruising in the area of his kidneys, we haven't gotten the x-rays back to see if his kidneys themselves are bruised, but we do know that they are working normally, so we're not too worried.

"Luckily for him, there wasn't too much damage from penetration, so he won't need surgery, but he will have to take it easy for a while. He'll also be in a fair amount of pain for the next few days. I've prescribed him some medication for the pain." the doctor said.

"Is he awake? Can we go see him?" Mel asked.

"No, he's not awake yet, we're hoping he'll come to in the next couple of hours, because there's absolutely no reason he shouldn't. And yes, I'll allow you to see him, but only for a little while. Follow me and I'll show you to his room."

Mel, Mark, and Mary followed the doctor to my room.

"He's in here, please keep your visit short, and if he wakes up, let one of the nurses on duty know."

"Thank you doctor." Mark said. He walked off. The three steeled themselves for the worst. They really didn't know what to expect when they walked into the room. They didn't know if I'd have a lot of tubes running everywhere, or if I'd have bruises on my face, or what. After a deep breath, they opened the door and walked in.

Much to their relief, I only had one tube in my arm, for medication, and I didn't have any visible bruises - at least on the parts of my body they could see.

After a few minutes of staring at me, all silently praying that I would wake up, they decided that they needed to go tell the others. So they went back to the hotel to wake up Geena, Tina, and Alex. They decided that they would tell 'N Sync at breakfast.

After hearing the news, Geena, Tina, and Alex got ready in a flash and the six headed over to the hospital. When they got there this time, they were told that I had woken up. They were taken up to my room, but were only allowed to go in two at a time. They were also instructed not to make sudden movements, as I had already gone ballistic with one of the nurses who did.

Mel and Mark were the first ones to go in.

"Nick?" Mel asked tentatively.

I looked at who was speaking to me, but I didn't really respond.

"Hi sweetie, how are you?" She asked

Again, I just continued to stare at her blankly.

"Nick?" Mark asked.

My stare shifted to him.

"You okay, man?"

Again, no audible response. Mel and Mark looked at each other and asked the other with their eyes, 'what now?'

"Nick? Can you hear me?" Mel asked reaching for my arm. As soon as I felt someone touch my arm, I jerked it back. "It's okay, Nick, it us, Mel and Mark, we're not going to hurt you," She said in the most caring and heartfelt way she could. Again, I offered no response.

"Well, we gotta go outside, Mary, Geena, and T & A, wanna come in and see you, too," Mel said.

"We'll be right outside if you need us, okay?" Mark asked not really expecting a response, but hoping for one anyway.

They then left the room. Before letting Mary and Geena in, they let them know that I barely acknowledged that someone was in the room, and not to touch me. So they shouldn't expect too much.

"Hi, Nick, it's Mary and Geena." Mary said, thinking 'Great Mary, could we have thought of anything more stupid to say, he doesn't have amnesia! He should know who we are.'

Like Mel and Mark before them, I only stared at the speaker, but never offered responses. After a little while, they gave up on getting a response from me, and decided that they better let Alex and Tina in to see me. They walked out, and all eyes went to them for some good news that I had spoken, but they had none to report.

Tina and Alex were next. Tina went in first, followed by Alex.

"Hi, Nick." Tina said all bubbly. "Are you okay in there?" she joked. She was trying to get me to at least smile, or blink, or something. She didn't want to come into my room and help me to feel down, she wanted to be the comic relief, so to speak. She knew how I had always enjoyed how she made people laugh before, so she thought that this was the best approach for her to take.

Then Alex spoke.

"Hiya, Nick." And I turned to the speaker, like I had done with everyone else. Then I saw it - the blond, spiked hair - and I started screaming and flailing around.

"Nick, Nick, it's me Alex, I won't hurt you. Please Nick." He begged, but I continued.

A nurse came rushing in and removed Tina and Alex from the room causing me to calm down nearly immediately.

The nurse stormed out of my room.

"What did you do to him!?" She demanded of Alex and Tina.

"Nothing! We just went in to see him, and I said hello, then Alex said hello, and Nick started screaming." Tina answered. The nurse was looking them over when Mark came to their defense.

"Look, I know they wouldn't do anything to him. We're all his best friends. None of us would do anything to hurt him."

"Well, something happened in there." The nurse said.

"Wait a minute, Tina, you said 'Hi' first, and he was non-responsive, right?" Mark asked.

"Yeah..." Tina responded, not knowing where this was going.

"Then the minute you said something, Alex, he went off, right?"

"Yeah." Alex answered also not seeing where this was leading.

"You look similar to the guy who attacked him last night. More so than the rest of us because of your hair. It was almost the same style. Hell, from the back, you could be him. So could I, if I had blond hair."

"So he's seeing him and not me?" Alex said.

"Well, not exactly. The detective was here earlier, and apparently got Nick to speak. According to the detective, all Nick saw was the guys blond, spiked hair because the lights were off. So he's more like seeing your hair and freaking out." Mark explained.

"Great, so now when I go near him, he's gonna freak."

"We're gonna have to give it time, he knows you. He knows you wouldn't have done something like that to him." Tina said trying to comfort Alex. "Just give him time."

Alex, looked down at his watch, it was going on 10:00.

"Well, since I can't really go in and see him, 'cause I don't want him to freak again, I'll head back to the hotel, and let 'N Sync know what's going on." Alex said sadly.

"I hate to bring this up, but there is one other thing we have to discuss," Mary said. "What are we going to do about the concert tonight? He can't perform like that, and I'm not sure that even if he seems better by tonight that he should."

"Well, he definitely won't be dancing for the next few weeks doctors orders." Mel said.

"I agree, and I don't think that Phil would disagree." Mark said.

"Does Phil know about this?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, I called him before we came over this morning." Mark said.

"Okay, so I'll call Phil and make sure that they don't have a problem with it, and even if they do, I'll make sure Nick's not going to perform tonight. Alex, when you talk to 'N Sync, let them know they're an act short for tonight, and possibly longer." Mary said.

"Okay. Well, I'll head back and tell them then," Alex said.

"I'm coming with you, I'll call Phil from the hotel," Mary said, "See you guys in a little while. And let us know if anything changes."

"Okay, we'll see you later." Tina said.

"I'm worried about Alex," Tina said after Alex and Mary left.

"So am I, but I'm a little more worried about Nick," Mel said sarcastically.

"Don't start. Look, Alex and Nick are best friends, you weren't in the room when Nick took one look at him and started screaming. Alex tried to calm him down, but he couldn't. That hurt Alex, I know, I could see it in his eyes."

"We all could," Mark said. "But Alex will be alright when Nick gets better. He's a smart guy, he knows he didn't do anything. And he knows how Nick feels about him. He knows that Nick's not himself right now."

"I guess you're right, I guess the only thing we can do now is help Nick get better. And if that means Alex needs to keep his distance for a little while, I guess thats what he'll have to do then." Tina said sadly.

The ride back to the hotel started out silent for Alex and Mary. Each was in their own world wondering what would happen.

'I can't believe he did that,' Alex thought. 'How could he think I was that asshole that attacked him. I would never do something like that to my best friend and brother.'

A single tear made it's way down Alex's face as he thought these things.

"It's not really Nick in there Alex," Mary's voice brought him back to reality. She had seen the tear and needed to say something to try to make things a little better. She, like everyone at the hospital, could see that Alex was deeply hurt by Nick's reaction. "He's afraid. Hell, you want proof it's not Nick?"

Alex looked over at Mary, as if to say 'sure.'

"How many words did Nick say this morning?" She asked Alex.

"None." He answered.

"And when was the last time that the Nick you and I know could keep his mouth shut for that long of a time?" She said giggling.

Alex cracked a smile when he thought about it. She was right, you couldn't get Nick to shut up most of the time. That definitely wasn't Nick in there. But when would they get the Nick they knew back, and a better question would they ever get that Nick back.

The rest of the cab ride was silent, each rider got lost in their own thoughts.

Mary and Alex got to their floor.

"Do you want me to help you tell the others?" Mary asked.

"No, I'll be okay, you go call Phil and see what they want to do about this." Alex answered.

"Okay, but if you need me, I'll be in my room. I'll head over when I finished with the calls."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few. And thanks, for at least trying to make me laugh."

"No problem. He will be okay, you know, it'll just take some time."

"I know." Alex said as he hugged Mary. "Thanks."

"See ya." Mary said walking into her room.

Alex went to Lance's room. He figure that even if the other guys weren't up yet, Lance would be. He knocked on the door.

"It's open, come in!" Came from the other side.

Alex opened the door to find all of the guys there eating breakfast.

"Hi guys, how are you this morning?" Alex asked.

"Hey Alex, where have you guys been? We thought you ditched us or sumthin'" Chris asked.

"No, we didn't ditch you, um... There's something I have to tell you guys."

"Where's everyone else?" Lance asked.

"That's what I have to talk to you guys about."

"Okay, shoot." JC said, sitting down, then added, "Did you eat yet this morning, you can grab some breakfast if you want."

"Um, no thanks, I'm not really hungry."

"What did you need to talk to us about?" Lance said bring everyone back on track.

"Well, um.. I'm not really sure how to say this, okay wel - "<> <> <<RI Alex's cell phone rang.

"Hello?... What's up Mark?... No, not yet, I was just about to... WHAT!... Okay, okay, I just can't believe that!... I can't believe even he would sink that low!... I knew I hated him... Well, I guess I was wrong, he should have done a lot worse that day... Alright, I'll tell them now. Should I tell them everything?... You know EVERYTHING... Okay, well, I don't want to either, but I don't really see how we can avoid it now, they might as well know... alright, let me know if you find out anything else... alright, bye."

"Who was that?" JC asked.

"Mark."

"What did he need to tell you, it sounded serious?"

"He just needed to update me on the thing I need to tell you about. I have a lot more to tell you than I thought I did. So I'm just going to start from the beginning, and please don't interrupt me, or else I'm not sure I'll be able to get everything out, okay?" The guys noticed that Alex was being very serious so they just nodded, not wanting to say anything that would interrupt him.

"Alright, first off the top, I guess you need to know that Nick is gay." Alex didn't see anyone even flinch at the news. Either Nick had already told them, which is what he had hoped because he hated telling other people's business like he was about to, or they were just okay with the news.

This news excited Lance, 'I might have a chance with him!' he thought. He could barely contain himself, but he knew that what Alex was about to tell them was serious, so he stayed composed.

"A few of months ago, Nick went out with this guy, Jim."

"He was the guy at the restaurant when you guys first joined the tour right?" JC asked.

"Yes, he was, but please, don't interrupt me."

JC put on an apologetic face, and let Alex continue.

"They were pretty serious for a while, that is until Nick found out that Jim was cheating on him. That's one thing that Nick won't tolerate in a relationship. So he confronted Jim about it, Jim admitted to it, and Nick dropped him like the bad habit he is. We all knew Jim and Nick were going out and although we tried to be supportive, we couldn't stand Jim, there was just something about him that none of us liked. But Nick didn't see it, well, didn't see it until he broke it off. Then he saw it, hell, a blind man could've seen it from a mile away at that point.

"Jim just wouldn't go away. He kept coming around, even though Nick made it clear he didn't want to see Jim anymore. Nick loved Jim, don't get me wrong, but Nick just wouldn't allow himself to be hurt like he had in a prior relationship when he just looked the other way. Jim would bother Nick at all hours of the day and night. He would come to Nick's work, he would stop by his apartment. If he didn't find him at home, he'd go over to Nick's friends apartments. The man was, for lack of a better word, psycho.

"Nick changed his phone number several times. He moved twice. He just wanted to get away from Jim. Finally, Jim broke in to Nick's apartment one night when Nick was out. He trashed the place. But Nick came home in the middle of it and called the police. They got into a huge fight before the police got there. Neither won that fight - both of them ended up in the hospital for a few days.

"Nick pressed charges for breaking and entering. The police told both Jim and Nick that they couldn't press charges for assault, but I still don't know why. Nick never told me why, but I think it's because Nick had made a lot friends at the police department, so they pulled some strings for him. Besides, the breaking and entering was plenty to put Jim away for a little while at least.

"It turned out not to be long enough. He was only in jail for about a month, then he got out on parole. And then he started harassing Nick again. This time, Nick got a restraining order on him and that worked. I think because his lawyer told him that if he didn't pay attention to the restraining order, he be back in jail for the rest of his sentence. But we didn't really care why, just that he was gone.

"Last we had heard about Jim was that he moved, but we didn't know to where. Well, apparently he moved to Phoenix.

"When Nick saw him the other night, he just about flipped. He wanted to walk right up to him and knock him out. As you probably could've guessed by now, I stopped him on his first attempt. That was when we went to the bathroom. When I saw the look on his face, I turned around to see who he was looking at and I saw Jim - I knew Nick would do something he'd regret if I didn't stop him.

"But then Jim tapped Nick on the shoulder. Nick couldn't help himself when he saw that little smirk Jim always wore. So they went out to the lobby of the restaurant and exchanged some words. Nick did succeed in knocking Jim out on his second attempt - I found that out in the limo." Alex paused to let that part of his story sink in. After a couple of silent moments,

"Is that it?" Justin asked a bit confused as to what the fuss was about.

"No, <> unfortunately, it's not. <>

"Last night, Nick was really drunk. When he got back to his room, he crashed. Apparently, he didn't know there was someone else in the room "

"What do you mean there was someone in his room?" Joey asked.

"Exactly that, someone got into his room, then after Nick passed out, he... um, well, from what I heard, he tied Nick's hands and feet and, he..." by now Alex had tears running down his face as he continued to tell last night's events, "he raped him. The motherfucker raped Nick," he said getting angry.

"What?!" was the guys' reaction.

"After he was finished, he left Nick tied to the bed and walked down the hall." Alex said, regaining some composure. "Mark happened to walk out of his room, and the guy started running down the hall. He ran right into Gary, with Mark right behind him. Mark and Gary were able to get him under control and called for hotel security and the police. Then Mark and Gary went down the hall looking for anything he did. They got to Tina's room, and Tina was fine. I was with her, so the next room was empty. Then they tried Nick's room and didn't get an answer. After the second try, they let themselves in to find Nick unconscious, bleeding, and tied spreadeagle on the bed. They called for an ambulance, and untied him. He's in the hospital now."

"How is he?" Lance asked.

"Well, I'm not really sure," Alex said, new tears forming as he remembered what had happened in the hospital. "The doctor said he was going to be okay physically. But, when I went to visit him this morning, he was practically comatose. He didn't say anything to any of us, although the police did get him to talk somehow. He just stared at whoever was speaking, like he was listening, but not really hearing, or something.

"That call I got from Mark a little while ago? He said he talked to the police. The guy, his name was Eddy, he told the cops everything, including that he was hired to rape Nick."

"By Jim?!" JC said.

Alex nodded. "There are a couple of other things I need to tell you. First is that when Mel tried to touch him this morning, he pulled away, so when he gets here, which the doctor said may be as early as later today, just keep that in mind. Also, and this is directed mostly to you and I, Lance, when he saw me this morning he freaked out. The guy that attacked him had blond spiked hair like ours, and, according to the cops, that's all Nick really saw of him. So we might want to wear hats around him for the next little while, to make him feel as comfortable as possible."

"Okay, if you think it will help, that's fine by me," Lance said. Of course his hopes were dashed by this turn of events. Lance wanted to help Nick get passed this and move on, because at the very least Nick was a friend. But how was he supposed to help Nick if he couldn't even be around Nick without causing anxiety? This really troubled Lance.

"Can we go see him in the hospital?" JC asked.

"They are letting people see him in small groups so you should be able to." Alex responded. "There is one last thing, about the concert tonight -"

Lance interrupted, "-He's not performing, that's fine. We wouldn't expect him to after what happened."

"Good, I didn't really expect you guys to have a problem with it, but I did want to let you know."

"Well, we're all dressed, so we better get going to the hospital now. We have to be back for rehearsal by 1:00," Justin said.

"Let me go see if Mary's finished yet, she'll want to come with us."

They collected Mary, then got a limo to take them to the hospital. Mary had talked to Phil. He was very understanding and actually more concerned with Nick's health than that night's performance.

When they got to the hospital, the 'N Syncers followed Alex and Mary to Nick's room. Mel and Mark were in with Nick, leaving Geena and Tina outside the door.

"How is he?" Alex asked skipping the formalities, and hoping for the best.

"He getting better, he started talking to us. He's still really jumpy, but that's to be expected." Tina answered hugging Alex.

"Hi guys, let me go get M & M, and then you guys can go in, but the doctors are only letting in two visitors at a time." Geena said, opening the door. A couple of seconds later Geena, and M & M came out.

"Hey guys, good to see you," Mark said, "Alex, Nick said he wants to see you, alone."

"You think that's a good idea after this morning and all?" Alex asked.

"I think that if he wants to see you then you should get your ass in there, that's what I think."

"Alright, Alright, but if he goes ballistic, it's not my fault." Alex said opening the door.

"Nick?" A voice came from the door.

"Come on in, Alex," I said.

"How are you?" He asked.

"As well as can be expected, I guess. Um, why are you wearing a hat?"

"Oh, um, no reason, just kinda felt like wearing one today," he lied.

"Could you take it off? You look kinda silly in it."

"Um, I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Is this about what happened earlier?"

He looked up at me a little shocked.

"Look, Alex, I was WAY out of it earlier, they really needed to turn down the dosage on my medication," I said laughing a little. "Mark told me about what I did. I don't know why I reacted the way I did, I don't remember it, and I know you wouldn't do that to me. So, if you're wearing the hat because you really want to wear the hat, keep it on, but if you're wearing the hat because you think I'll go nuts seeing your hair, I won't, and you can take it off."

He looked a little unsure at first, but then reached up and took the hat off. I contemplated screaming, just to see his reaction, but I decided that doing so would be way too cruel, even for me. Instead, I held out my arms in a signal I wanted a hug. He hesitantly came up to me and pulled me into a very loose hug.

"I won't break, you know." I said chuckling.

"I'm sorry," he said tightening his grip a little. I could tell he was crying.

"What's wrong?"

"I just feel so bad that I wasn't there when you needed me."

"Alex, are you sure you're not gay?" He pulled away chuckling and wiping his tears away.

"Shut up, jerk off."

"That's better. Look, what happened to me is in no way your fault."

"I know, but the last time Jim hurt you, I told you that I would never let him do it again. And well..."

"Well, nothing, Jim's an asshole, and he's going away for a long time this time. And you still did nothing wrong." This seemed to satisfy him a little, so he moved on to another topic.

"The guys are here."

"'N Sync?"

"Who else would I call 'the guys?'"

"Well, send 'em in!"

Joey and Chris came in first. They were a little hesitant, and I could tell that they had been told I was emotionally unstable (which I was, but I was putting on an Oscar winning performance) and they should baby me, or something similar. That's not what I wanted, I wanted them to be them - eternally happy Joey, and mentally unstable Chris.

"Guys, what did they tell you out there about me?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Joey asked.

"I mean did they say, don't touch him, cause he'll get upset and if he needs to be changed, fresh diapers are in the closet?" I asked.

They both just looked at me funny.

"Look, I'm doing okay, and I don't want to see serous Chris and reserved Joey, I want to see just Chris and Joey. Do you guys think they can come out to play?"

"They'll have to ask their mom's first." Chris responded.

"Mark!" I yelled surprising Chris and Joey.

I heard the door open and Mark walked in and looked at me.

"Can Joey and Chris come out to play?" I asked in my most child-like voice.

"Huh?" Mark asked while Chris and Joey just about fell to the floor laughing.

"Thanks, Mark, you can go back outside now." I said, proud of myself.

"Um, okay?" Mark said as he left the room.

"She said yes." I sai to the guys.

"Well, technically she said 'Huh?'" Chris said.

"Yes, but then she said, 'Um, okay,' that's a yes in my book," I said.

"I guess we can then," Joey said.

We talked a little more, leaving all the serious stuff to be discussed some other time. After a little while they said that they should get going, cause the other guys wanted to come in too.

Justin and JC were my next victims um, visitors - did I say victims? Ha, Ha, I meant visitors.

"Hi, Nick," JC said hesitantly.

"Hey, Nick," Justin chimed in.

"HI GUYS!" I said loudly, making them jump a little. "SORRY, AM I TALKING TOO LOUDLY? IT'S THE MEDICATION, THE DOCTORS SAID IT MAY MAKE ME TALK LOUDLY." This, of course, was a lie, but they were thoroughly confused, and just looked at each other. I giggled a little causing them to look back at me. "What? You're the idiots who think a medication can make someone talk loudly!" I said still giggling. They caught on.

"No, we were just surprised, that's all. We were trying to figure out how to modify your escape plan to account for all the yelling." JC said.

"I was thinking about maybe building a large radio around your bed, so that the nurses wouldn't suspect anything," Justin added seriously.

"A large radio? Justin, has that bleach finally reached your brain?" I asked causing JC and I to laugh. Justin just shook his head.

"Well, what would you have come up with after an intro like JC's?!"

"Good point. JC, what the hell kind of comeback was that?" I asked turning to JC.

"It was the first thing I could think of." he defended.

"Neither of you are very good at thinking on your feet, remind me of that the next time I feel the need to pummel someone in a match of wits." I said. They just looked at me. "Need I say more?" I added.

"Anyway, " Justin said changing the subject, "you feeling okay?"

"I'm good, a little sore, but okay."

Our conversation continued for a little while longer until they decided that Mary and Lance should probably get some visiting time too, so they left.

Lance and Mary walked in.

"He-" Mary started.

"ALEX!" I yelled interrupting her. That startled them, they both were about to run out the door, when I said, "No, you guys stay, I just need to ask Alex something."

"Yes, Nick?" Alex said from the doorway.

"Are you responsible for this?" I said motioning towards Lance.

He laughed, "Yeah, I guess that's my fault." This, of course was beginning to disturb Lance, as he knew we were talking about him, but he had no idea what was wrong.

"Thank you, you can go now." I said.

"Be nice," he said as he closed the door.

"Hi lady, gent, what's up?" I said.

"Hi, Nick, it's good to see you're doing better," Mary said.

"Um, Hi," Lance said, still trying to figure out what was wrong with himself.

"Nice hat, Lance," I said.

"Um, thanks."

"Could you take it off?" I figure I'll see how far I can take this with this one.

"Um, well, I, um, I don't think that I should."

"Oh? Why not, haven't you fixed your hair yet today?"

"No, I did, but I..."

"You just don't think you should," I interrupted. "Could you take it off, for me?" I asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Well, normally I would, but, um," boy, this one wasn't too fast on his feet either, "well, I lost a bet, and so I have to wear the hat today." God, he was bad at lying.

"Oh. I see. Well, what if I said that I know that Alex told you to wear the hat because he thought that I would freak if I saw blond, spiked hair?"

"Oh. Well, are you sure you'll be okay?" He asked concerned. Bad liar, but oh so adorable.

"I'll be fine, I know it's you and you didn't and wouldn't do that to me." I said.

"Okay, I guess I can then," he said reaching up for his hat. He pulled it off and ran a hand through his hair. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist, I'm evil, what can I say.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I yelled. He looked up like he was about to lose control of his bowels, then quickly threw the hat back on. Mary jumped about a foot and a half in the air, and I heard Alex laughing from the other side of the door. I couldn't stay serious either, I broke down laughing at their reactions.

The door opened and Alex popped his head in, "I thought I told you to be nice!"

"I tried, but I couldn't resist." I replied still laughing. Then he closed the door. Lance was still standing there shocked, but Mary had gotten the joke and lightly giggled.

"Lance?" I said.

"Yeah," he said snapping out of it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, but I really needed a good laugh."

"It's okay, you scared the crap outta me though!" He said chuckling.

"Can I get a hug?" I asked flashing my puppy dog eyes.

"I guess," he said exasperated. He came over and right before he was about to hug me, I yanked off his hat, then proceeded to hug him. Like Alex before him, he hugged me very loosely.

"As I told Alex, I'm not gonna break! God, you two are like twins or something," I said. And he tightened his grip somewhat. Then we broke the hug, and to be fair to Mary, I motioned for her to give me a hug too.

We talked for a little while when the doctor came in to see me.

"Mr. Mason, I see you're doing better." Dr. What's-His-Name said. He told it to me once or twice, but I was still pretty out of it at the time, and I really didn't care what his name was. So he was just Dr. What's-His-Name.

"Yup." I said.

"Well, since you weren't hurt too bad physically, we're going to release you. However, you should setup an appointment with a psychologist to help you deal with your recent trauma."

"Okay, I'll do that."

"You can pick up your prescription when you sign the release forms, take it easy for the next few weeks. Your kidneys are slightly bruised and they will take longer to heal than the bruises you can see..." He finished his instructions and left to finish his rounds. He said a nurse would be around shortly with a wheelchair to roll me out. After the Doc left, Mark came in and handed me some clothes. I changed in the bathroom, and by the time I was finished, the nurse was here to spring me.

We got back to the hotel and decided to have lunch. The 'N Syncers were supposed to be at rehearsal, but they got out of it for a couple more hours. The question of to perform or not to perform had not been posed to me yet.

We decided on room service just because it was easier, and I really needed to take a shower. So, while everyone headed to Lance's room, I headed to mine to get my shower. I stopped outside the door and just stared at it for a little while. Then I turned around and walked down to Lance's room. I knocked as I opened the door. Everyone just kind of looked at me like 'aren't you getting a shower?'

"Um, can someone, um, come to my room with me?" I asked a little sheepishly.

"Sure, I'll go with you" Lance said.

"Okay, we'll be back," I said.

"Don't trash my room!" Lance said as he walked out the door.

We walked down to my room. And again, I stopped and looked at the door. He saw my hesitation and said, "You don't have to go in there if you don't want to, I can go grab anything you need while you wait out here and you can use my, or someone else's, shower." I looked at him. He was a great man, an adorable, great man, who couldn't lie worth shit. Did he have any faults? If only he were gay.

"Thanks, I'm not sure I can go in there." I smiled weakly.

"No problem, what do you need me to get?" he asked.

I told him what I needed, just my toiletries and another change of clothes - I didn't like the ones Mark brought me. He took my keycard, unlocked and opened the door, then disappeared behind it. He emerged a few minutes later with the things I had asked for and we headed back down to his room. I didn't want to use his room, because everyone was there, but we needed to get someone's keycard.

Alex gave us his keycard, because he didn't really use his room, he was staying in Tina's. Why management even bothered to get him a room is beyond me, they had been sharing a room now for as long as I can remember, but whatever, I wasn't paying for the extra room.

Lance accompanied me to Alex's room, where I disappeared into the bathroom. He turned on the TV to pass the time. I emerged from the now very steamy bathroom about a half hour later wearing only my towel. I decided that I couldn't change in the bathroom 'cause I would never really be able to dry myself off with all the steam. Lance was not expected this. His jaw just dropped before he caught himself and became a little more composed.

Okay, so he was gay, or at least bi. But I really did not come out of the bathroom to give him a free show.

"Lance, um, can you turn around, while I get something on?"

"Yeah, sure." He said, blushing, as he turned away from me.

A couple of minutes later, I was dressed, so I went over to the bed and sat down next to Lance.

"All dressed?" He asked turning to face me.

"Yup. Lance, um, I really want to ask you something, but I don't want to offend you," I said.

"What is it?"

"Well, I think I already know the answer to this, but if I'm way off-base, please don't get mad, okay?"

"Sure, whatever it is, I promise I won't get mad."

"Okay," I paused a little to gather some courage, "are you, um, gay?"

"Would it be a problem if I was?"

"No, it wouldn't" then added in my mind, 'in fact it would be a problem if you weren't.'

"Well, then, yes, I am."

"Cool."

"Is there something you want to tell me?" He said prompting me to tell him I was gay, even though he already knew because Alex told them.

"Like what?" I decided to play dumb, and jumped up, well, stood up, off the bed and made my way to the not-so-steamy bathroom to fix my hair.

I started to gel up my hair when he appeared in the doorway. He leaned against the door frame and just looked at me.

"What?" I said.

"Is there something, anything, that you want to tell me about yourself?" He said raising his eyebrows.

"Not really, what do you want me to tell you?" I said looking at myself in the mirror while playing with my hair.

"Okay, how about this, are you gay?"

"Wow, now that's a really personal question there, Lance! I'm not sure I should tell you, you may go to the tabloids on me or something!" I said as I washed and dried my hands, then brushed by him through the doorway.

"WHAT?" He said half yelling, half laughing, "Wait a minute, I told you, you, like, have to tell me, or something!"

"Sorry, I don't know that rule," I said leaving Alex's room, and started heading back to Lance's.

"Where do you think you're going?!" He called after me while running to catch up.

"I'm going to your room, I'm starved and I need something to eat, why?"

"You're not allowed in my room!" He faked anger, but laughter was just under the surface.

"You wanna bet?"

"Don't you go in there!"

"Watch me!"

"Why you little..." Then he stood in front of his door like a human barricade. Like THAT was gonna stop me.

"Okay, you really wanna know if I'm gay?"

"Yes."

"Fine does this answer your question?" Then I gave him a big sloppy kiss on the mouth. After I pulled back I said, "I'm straight as an arrow."

"What?" he asked dazed.

"Can I go in now? I answered your question."

"Um, sure." His mind was still trying to process the new information I presented to him. I thought it was too cute for words. He opened the door and I walked in first, with a big grin on my face.

"What took you guys so long?" JC asked as we entered the room.

"Whoa, Nick? You guys didn't? Did you?" Alex asked, looking at my face.

"NO! God, how can you think that after what happened I could do that?!" I said.

"Well, I didn't think you would, but the look on your face is that 'I'm satisfied' look you always get after you get some. So then, why are you so happy?"

"I'm happy because I thoroughly confuse those around me, do I need a better reason than that?"

"Whatever."

"What's for lunch, I'm starved?" Lance was still a little confused, but I'd straighten him out later, so to speak.

"The menu's over there. We've already decided, we're just waiting for you guys to get back. Tell Geena what you want and she'll call the order down." Justin said.

I told Geena what I wanted, feeling a little sorry for her after I saw the list she had, but I was hungry, so I added a few more items to the list. Lance followed me, and a few minutes later, Geena was done placing the order. It would take about a half-hour to get there.

We talked and stuff while waiting for the food. God, we were a loud bunch, have I said that before? My goal was to completely confuse Lance, and I seemed to be succeeding. Of course once lunch got there, I would have some real fun with him.

True to their word, the food arrived about a half-hour later. Lance wheeled the cart in and signed for it. He passed out the food, then sat down at the little table I was sitting at. This arrangement was too perfect for words.

I set out my lunch in front of me, a burger and fries, with a hot dog on the side. Truth be told, I can't stand hot dogs, but it wasn't really my intention to eat it. So I started on my burger, and noticed that Lance kept glancing at from across the table. So I decided to eat the hot dog. I took it off of the bun. That got his undivided attention. I put it to my lips and kissed it, while trying not to laugh. He was just staring at me, well, my lips and the hot dog. I could tell he was getting a little excited by the way he was shifting around in his seat. I was really struggling not to bust out laughing now, but I had to continue. So I parted my lips, and sucked the tip of the hot dog in. It was a quick motion, and I could have sworn that Lance gasped a little. My boy was getting VERY excited over there. I swirled my tongue around the tip. Then I took a big old bite out of it, savagely ripping it in two. That really deflated him. Finally, I couldn't hold it in any longer, I put the hot dog back on it's bun and laughed at him. He came out of his trance and gave me an evil look. Of course, when everyone heard me laughing, they all looked in me for an explanation.

"Lance told a funny joke." I said. This turned everyone's attention to Lance, as I thought it would, who now had to come up with a joke, or a reason not to tell one.

"It wasn't that funny..." He said. God, how lame.

"Sure it was, it was hysterical, I think everyone would like to hear it!" I wasn't letting him off the hook that easily.

"Well, why don't you tell them?"

"Because you told it so well, I'd just ruin it!"

"Alright," he said giving me a nasty look, "Well, there was a priest, a..." he came up with some lame ass joke that isn't even worth typing. When he was finished, everyone just sorta stared at him, then turned to me.

"It was funny a minute ago..." I shrugged. Then everyone turned their attention back to whatever it was they were doing before Lance's lame attempt at a joke.

"God, Lance, you gotta get some better jokes, man!" I said to him once I was sure no one was paying attention to us.

"Whatever, you need to stop eating your hot dog."

"Why? I was enjoying my hot dog." I said innocently.

"I'm sure you were, Perv." He laughed.

The rest of lunch was rather uneventful - until the guys mentioned they had to get ready for rehearsal.

"When do we have to be at the venue?" I asked no one in particular. The 'N Syncers looked a little confused, or shocked, or something - I had trouble reading the exact emotion.

"Um," Lance started, then looked around for some help.

"Nick, you don't really want to perform tonight after what happened, do you?" Mary asked.

"Yes, why wouldn't I? I want to move on."

"Well, we figured that you wouldn't - you couldn't - after the way you were in the hospital this morning," she answered.

"I'm fine, I want to go on tonight."

"But..."

"But what? If I miss tonight's performance, Jim won. He succeeded in doing exactly what he wanted to - turning my world upside down again. I won't let him. I won't let him do that to me again. I'm performing tonight and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"But Nick, come on," Alex started, "Don't do this to yourself, take the night off, relax, there will be other performances."

"Yes, there will be other performances, but this performance won't ever happen again. I'm going on tonight, with or without you and your support."

"Well, we've already talked to Phil, he doesn't want you going on." Mary said almost inaudibly.

"What was that Mary?"

"I said," she said louder, "we already talked to Phil, he doesn't want you going on tonight."

"I don't believe you people! How could you? Without even talking to me about it first!" I said exasperated, then got up and left the room, slamming the door behind me. I was pissed. They had no right! I went down to my room and let myself in. Fear of being in that hotel room alone didn't even enter my mind. I immediately went to my suitcase and pulled out my planner, which had Phil's phone number in it.

I picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello, Sheila? It's Nick Mason, is Phil in?" I said once Sheila, Phil's secretary answered the phone.

"Just a minute Nick," she answered.

"Thanks."

"Hello, Nick, how are you feeling?" Phil asked concerned.

"I'd be better if I didn't have my manager pulling me out of performances." I said flatly.

"What? Nick, come on, you were in the hospital until, what, an hour ago? And you want me to make you do a performance?"

"No, I want you to LET me do a performance."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Nick."

"Why? I want to. No, I NEED to for my own sanity."

"Why is this performance so important to you?"

"Because I can't let him win Phil," I said as a few tears made their way down my face.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked concerned.

"I'm as well as can be expected, but please, don't make me sit this one out. I want to get back to my normal life as if nothing had happened."

"Is Mary there?"

"Not right here, no, but I can go get her if you need to speak to her."

"Can you? I'd like to ask her a few questions."

I went back to Lance's room and knocked. He answered the door.

"Is Mary still here, Lance?" I asked.

"Yeah, come on in."

"No, I need her down in my room for a sec."

"Oh, okay," then he turned to the room, "Mary? Nick needs to see you for a minute."

A couple of seconds late she appeared at the door.

"Phil wants to talk to you, he's on the phone in my room." I said.

"Okay, let's go," she said to me, then "I'll be right back," to the room.

We walked down the hall in silence. I produced my key and opened the door, again, not giving it a second thought. I think this surprised her a little. She made her way over to the phone.

"Hello?... Well, he says he wants to..., " I knew they were talking about me, so I just stared at Mary, I think it made her a little uncomfortable, but I could've cared less. "Do you think it's a good idea?... No, well, I don't know... The doc said he just couldn't dance and stuff for a while, but yes... I don't know how they'd feel about it, but I think they would be okay with it... Alright, that's what we'll do... Are you sure?... okay, I'll check in with you later... bye." and she hung up.

"Well?" I prompted.

She sighed, "He said that if you REALLY felt that you were up to it, you could perform tonight. BUT you have to take it easy, and you're not to go out after the show, you need your rest so you can heal properly."

"Thanks," I said hugging her.

"Don't thank me, it wasn't my decision."

"Whatever, we have to go rehearse, let's go get the crew."

We walked down the hall, back to Lance's room again, boy, we managed to spend a lot of time there!

"We're going on guys," I said happily.

"Are you sure?" Mark said.

"Look, you guys can support me in this decision, or drop dead. Now we have a rehearsal that we need to get to, so those who don't plan to drop dead, meet up in the lobby in ten minutes." With that I turned to leave again, back to my room to get changed. About mid-way down the hall, I remembered that I had to take it easy, which meant no dancing, "Oh well, no need for me to change," I said out loud to myself. I did a 180 and headed towards the elevators.

Everyone showed up in the lobby in roughly ten minutes, I guess no one really liked the idea of dropping dead. We went to rehearsal and ran through our set. I, of course, was forced to sit on the most uncomfortable stool that they could possibly find, so I decided I'd walk around a lot at the concert. My dancers were a little off at first, as it took them a little while to get used to doing the dances without the sixth. A couple dances had to be modified so much, that they just decided it'd be easier for one more dancer to sit out, to make the number even again.

Understandably, it took a while for us to get through our set, so 'N Sync had less time to play with theirs. However, by the encouragement they were giving us "to take longer, we think you messed up there a little," we didn't think they minded at all.

After they finished, we had dinner at the venue, then it was time for me to go on. My and my dancers' performances weren't perfect, but we did okay, considering all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

After we were finished, we wished luck to 'N Sync, telling them we'd meet them back at the hotel, and went to our hotel to get cleaned up and changed.

This time, I wasn't so confident about going in my room by myself because I didn't have anything on my mind to distract me. I stood outside the door for a second, then said to myself, "This is silly, there's no one in there. Just go get your shower and be done with it!" After my little pep talk, I let myself into my room, turned on the light, and slowly entered. I looked around until I was satisfied that I was indeed by myself, then relaxed slightly. Then someone knocked on my door scaring the hell out of me.

"Yes," I said opening the door. It was Mary.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks, you wanna come in?"

"Sure," She said as I opened the door more to let her in. "Look, I wanted to apologize for earlier. We should have asked you how you felt about performing tonight, but we honestly thought we were doing the right thing."

"I know that, and I appreciate the concern, but I really needed to perform for me."

"I guess I can understand that."

"Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I go grab a shower, then we can head over to Mark's room."

"Okay."

I went into the bathroom, and took a relatively quick shower, got changed and headed out to find Mary watching some old TV show - I think it was the Mary Tyler Moore show, but I could have been mistaken.

"What kind of crap are you watching on my television?" I asked.

"Shut up, this here is good, quality TV!" she said laughing.

"If you say so... so are you ready to head to Marks?"

"Yup, let's go," she said as she turned off the TV.

We headed down to Mark's and hung out, waiting for 'N Sync to get back. A bunch of us wanted to go out again, myself included, but, Mary wouldn't let me. She could be so much like my mother at times - it was really starting to scare me. Out of the six of us, four - Mark, Mel, Geena, and Tina - were going. Alex said he didn't feel like it and Mary said she had something to do early in the morning, but I think she just wanted to make sure I didn't go out after they left. To be honest, I had thought about doing exactly that.

After a while, the 'N Syncers got back from the show. They were all pretty keyed up, so I figured they'd all be going out as well, especially since we didn't have anything to do tomorrow. After seeing who was going (and therefore, who wasn't) Lance decided he'd stick around to keep the losers (that's what we were called once we said we weren't going out - I protested my inclusion in that group, because I wanted to go out after all, but my pleas fell on deaf ears) company. I think he just wanted to be near me, for which you'll hear no complaints. We all encouraged him to go out, if he wanted to, but if he didn't, he would certainly be welcome. After a little discussion, he still decided to stay in, and off the other 8 went.

We really like Lance's room. I decided that after we ended up there yet again - Lance suggested it, maybe he likes to be on 'home turf.' I dunno. We decided to watch some movies, and get some dessert from room service. Everyone got a sundae of some kind or another (if you care, Lance and I got a Hot Fudge [no, we didn't share the same one...], Mary got a Strawberry, and Alex got a Blueberry). We decided to watch "There's Something About Mary." But I was sure to let our Mary know that the she didn't have that 'Something.' Hey, no one said I was particularly nice, in fact, if you scroll up a few pages, I believe the term 'evil' is used...

Anyway, we all got comfortable, Lance and I on his bed, Alex stretched out on the couch, and Mary took the spare bed (see, I told you she was missing that 'something,' three guys in the room, and she's all alone on the bed... ...granted, two out of the three guys were gay, and the third was in a relationship, but still!).

I made it about half way through the movie before falling asleep. After 'There's Something,' they decided that they weren't really tired yet, so they put on another movie - 'The Matrix.' At some point in that one, I had moved from 'my' half of the bed, over to Lance's and was snuggling up to him. This, of course, was not my fault, because after all, I was asleep.

"Um, Alex? Can I ask you a question?" Lance said.

"You just did," Alex responded.

"Shut up," Lance chuckled, "Nick is gay, right?"

"I already told you the answer to that, if you need confirmation, you'll need to ask him."

"I did, but he..."

"Wait, let me guess, he said he was 'Straight as an arrow,' right?"

"Yes, um, right after giving me a kiss."

"Was it a good kiss?"

"I guess, unexpected would be a better description though."

"And your still not certain?"

"Well, he did stay he was straight, some people are just, um, open."

"Have you noticed his flirting with you over the last few days?"

"Well, I guess..."

"Lance, either you have or you haven't."

"I just brushed it off as friendliness."

"My God, Lance, a blind man standing a mile away could've seen him flirting with you, but you didn't? He's right, you are gullible."

"I prefer the word 'Trusting,' thank you," Lance laughed, it had not been the first time he had been called gullible. "And he told you that?"

"No I think the exact word he used was 'Trusting.'" Alex said laughing. "Okay, let me explain the 'straight' comment for you, Lance. Nick's manager felt that he should keep his sexuality a secret, or at least try to, so he made it part of Nick's contract that he couldn't say the he was gay. This didn't sit very well with Nick since he was already out, in fact, he was discovered performing in a gay bar. So, Nick asked what he was supposed to tell people if they asked. Phil responded, 'say your straight as an arrow, anything, I don't care.' So that's what he says, he's straight as an arrow."

"So he likes me?"

"Why are you asking me? He's laying practically on top of you, why don't you ask him?"

"Because I don't think I'd be able to wake him up," Lance laughed.

A little while later, the others came back from partying. Chris and Joey ran in yelling something or other, but Lance shushed them, because I was sleeping.

"Please, he wouldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant!" Mary laughed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Lance laughed. However, Chris and Joey had woken me up, but, being the devious person that I am, I kept my eyes closed, and tried to keep my breathing slow and regular, as not to alert anyone to that fact. Actually, I had been a little surprised when they woke me up - not that they were yelling, that was always expected from them - but that I was laying on something warm, soft, but hard at the same time, and I was rising up and down slightly. It wasn't until he spoke and I heard his deep voice reverberating through his chest into my ear that I figured out exactly what I was laying on. It was very hard to keep the smile off my face after my realization.

"How was your night?" Alex asked, sitting up on the couch, so at least a couple of them could sit down.

"It was good, we didn't get recognized, so we had fun," Justin said then he noticed Lance and me on the bed. "How's the happy couple?"

"We're not a couple," Lance said. I almost flinched at how harshly he said that, but I managed to keep myself under control.

"Why not? You guys look cute together," Justin replied. Again the smile wanted to come.

"Lance doesn't think Nick's gay," Alex enlightened everyone. That almost made me laugh out loud.

"What?" Mark laughed, "Trust me, he's gay."

"Lance have you been paying any attention over the past couple of days?" JC asked.

"That's what I asked him," Alex laughed. These guys were making my job of pretending to be asleep very difficult.

"Just shut up, alright!? Fine he's gay, and yes I like him, okay? But we're still not a couple, happy?" Lance said. I couldn't help it, a small smile did make it to my lips when I heard that.

"Touchy, Touchy," was Chris' reply.

"No! Don't touchy, touchy! At least not while I'm in the room!" Joey laughed. I couldn't help it. I placed the hand that was on Lance's chest, down on his groin, then moaned a little. THAT got everyone's attention. I think Lance was figuring out that I was awake, plus he wasn't too upset with the recent turn of events, so he played along by not saying anything.

"All of y'all shut up!" Lance said trying not to laugh.

"Wait a minute!" JC said turning to Joey. Then he added with a laugh, "Joey, tell Nick not to start taking his clothes off!" This got a laugh out of everyone but Lance.

"Oh no you don't!"

"Come on, Scoop, he's a hottie! I wouldn't mind a piece of that!"

"You keep your damn hands off of him!" Laugh laughed, but there was a tone of seriousness in his voice.

"Lance, JC's right, if I were gay, I'd do him," Justin said. This kind of caught everyone - including me - by surprise.

"Got that right!" Mark said. Most of the guys chimed in after that and it was really beginning to freak me out. I decided to not play asleep anymore.

"Well, thank you for thinking that I'm 'doable,'" I laughed, surprising everyone, "but after last night, I've had enough of being 'done.' I wanna find someone who can make love to me." I said the last part while glancing at Lance. They all fell silent, some embarrassed that I had heard them, some uncomfortable with the reference I made.

"We're sorry, Nick, we didn't mean anything by what we said," JC said honestly.

"Don't worry about it, I was just kidding around. By the way, I may be a heavy sleeper, but not THAT heavy a sleeper!" We all laughed then decided to change the subject.

"What'cha'watchin'?" Mel asked.

"'The Matrix'" Alex responded.

"Cool! This movie kicks ass!" Chris said.

"How long's it been on?" JC asked.

"About an hour and a half." Alex said.

With that the conversation ended, and everybody made themselves comfortable to watch the rest of the movie: Tina wound up on Alex's lap, next to Chris and Joey on the couch; Justin and Geena joined Mary on her bed; JC joined Lance and I on Lance's bed; and M & M found a spot on a blanket on the floor to cuddle.

We all started watching the movie again. I decided that I was comfortable where I was, so I didn't move. Lance didn't seem to mind. I was out again less than five minutes later.

The movie ended and everyone, except me because I was still asleep, got up to go back to their rooms.

Before leaving, Alex turned around and asked, "Lance, are you sure you guys will be alright? We can get him back to his room if you want."

"We'll be fine. I won't do anything to him."

"I know that, that's not what I meant. I guess I meant that are you sure you're comfortable with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I like him, you all but told me he likes me, plus he didn't get off of me when he woke up, so I'll take that as a good sign." Lance chuckled.

"Alright, see ya in the morning."

"Night. Would you mind hitting the light on you way out, I'm kinda pinned down over here."

"Sure." He said as he flipped off the light and left the room.

Lance did his best to wiggle down from his half-sitting position so he was lying down, then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

++++++++++++++++++

To be continued...

Author's Note: "The city that never sleeps" is New York, and the "City of lights" is Paris (I think),"Open 24/7" is Las Vegas (at least that's how they advertise, I think "Sin City" refers to it as well, but I'm not certain), for those of you who needed to know.

Apology: I sorry about the crappy way to end this part, but I didn't really foresee a better place to end it coming up anytime soon. Plus I wanted to get something out before y'all forgot about me. :) And, hey, despite the crappy ending, it's still 25 pages, so chill!

E-mail me if you liked it or didn't or whatever! Writermurf@hotmail.com Till next time...