Mandy stood there while Katy helped Brandi into the house and Chris took a seat back on the log.  He was already feeling better, having not gotten the full force of the mace.  It looked as if Mandy would be heading to the store by herself, it wasn’t like she could take one of the guys with her, it was still a sticky situation and they had been lucky that no one had noticed JC while he was in town.  She sighed and turned back to the guys for a minute, the hundred dollar bill still clutched in her hand.  Mandy wasn’t used to taking money from people, it wasn’t like Justin really needed it.

“So you guys really don’t care what I get you to drink?” Mandy questioned out loud.  They guys shrugged but still tossed out a few suggestions for her any way.  Then they watched Mandy disappear around the side of the house.  Lance waited until he heard the car door shut before turning to the other guys again.  There was a sober mood between the 4 of them now that the excitement had died down.

“So Joey what are you going to tell Kelly?” Lance asked.  Joey looked up at him a little confused; the question seemed to come from nowhere.  He hadn’t really thought about it, he didn’t really want to admit it but he hadn’t really thought about her.

“Kelly and I are…” Joey paused and took a deep breath.  Joey diverted his eyes to the ground for a minute; he hadn’t wanted to say anything earlier because it kind of gave him a reason not to pursue Mandy, not to put his heart out there again.  It was the real reason why Joey had been at the club with Chris the night they had been abducted, instead of home with Kelly and the girls, where he should have been.  “We are having issues.  I’ve been staying with Chris for a while.  So she probably doesn’t even know that I am missing.”

The guys were silent, Chris felt guilty since he had known all along.  But it was Joey’s choice on whether or not he told the others.  He kind of thought Joey’s actions in the club that night would have tipped off Mandy but she was a sweet girl and she only thought the best of Joey despite his drunken actions that night.  The saddest part of all of this was that he may have been missing out on his chance to be with Mandy and to get to know her a little better.

“How long is a while?” Justin asked.  It rolled off his tongue a little harsher than he intended since he was still trying to calm himself down after going off on Brandi.  

“I am sorry Joe and that’s none of our business Justin.” Lance sighed, eyeing his other friend as if to put the pop star back into his place.  Lance felt like a clueless jerk right now.  Justin just folded his arms and sank back onto the grass.  Lance was right as usual but Justin didn’t like being treated the he was still the child of the group. 

“It’s alright, I should have told you guys sooner, you are all like my brothers but no one knew, accept Chris of course.  We were kind of keeping it out of the media until we were sure it was over.  I haven’t completely given up.” Joey explained.  The other guys hung their heads; they felt just as guilty for not asking Joey sooner about his family.  They had just assumed that everything was fine.

“We do need to think about what we are going to tell our families.  I know that I have had appearances that I have missed.” Justin admitted thinking back to the packed schedule he usually kept.  His PR guy was going to kill him when they got back.  He couldn’t just say that he had forgotten since that wasn’t in Justin nature to be so careless.

“We’ll think of something.  Worst case we can just lie and say we needed a vacation or a break.  I mean we may not be a group any more but we have all been doing other things and we have been at this for a long time, you know it wouldn’t be that unheard of.” Lance offered.  He had thought about using the song as an excuse but it was the product of the girls’ hard work, selling it kind of felt wrong.

“Not to change the subject or anything, but do you think tonight is really about the video?  I can’t help but think that they might be up to something.  Maybe I am just being paranoid.” Chris said, looking down at his hands as he spoke, he didn’t want to believe that Brandi and the girls were up to no good, but they always seemed to have something up their sleeves. 

“Come on there are 5 of us and only 4 of them, if we all keep our eyes open what can they possibly do to us?  There is no way they can trick all of us at once, can they?” Lance questioned but even he had to admit that the girls were pretty smart.

Back inside the house, Brandi stood there for a minute with the rag still pressed to her face..  Katy watched her for a while from her place on the other side of the kitchen.  It wasn’t like Brandi to be so careless.  Brandi was always the level headed one in the group; the one Katy relied on the most to help direct her.  This act was not at all like the Brandi that she knew.

“What is going on B, you don’t seem quite like yourself lately.” Katy stated.  Brandi lowered her towel and glared at Katy for a minute, her eye were red and irritated but it didn’t faze Katy.  It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen that look before.  She knew in her heart the Brandi wasn’t mad at her, she hadn’t done anything to her, at least not that she knew of.  Katy watched as the hateful glare faded and Brandi’s head fell back into her towel as she wept slightly.  Katy wanted to warn her about crying, it would only irritate the burning and make it hurt more, but maybe Brandi was already in a lot of pain.

Katy started to approach her friend but paused when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.  For a minute she had almost forgotten that there were other people still in the house.  She remained where she was as Kim and JC rounded the corner.  Her eyes fixed on the floor so as not to give anything away.  Kim stopped when she saw Brandi crying and then shot JC a look that said it all.  Without saying a word JC kissed Kim on the forehead and then headed out the back door, Kim flashed him a grateful smile as he closed the door behind him.  He knew the girls would need a minute alone and it really wasn’t any of his business but he did wonder if Chris knew why Brandi was crying.

They all stood in silence for a few seconds; just the sound of Brandi’s sobs could be heard as the other two thought about how to proceed.  When it was apparent that JC wasn’t returning Katy finally spoke up. 

“If something it bothering you, you know you can talk about it to us.  Sometimes just hearing yourself say something out loud is enough to make you feel better.” Katy offered.  Brandi lowered the towel again and took a deep breath.  For once Katy’s stupid idea maybe just what she needed.

“I am afraid Chris may have Stockholm syndrome.” Brandi sighed.  Blurting it out like that didn’t make her feel as good as she had hoped it would. 

“Chris is sick?” Kim asked out loud.  Brandi shook her head; at least Chris wasn’t sick in the way that Kim was thinking.  It wasn’t like he was dying or anything.

“Stockholm syndrome is a psychology term; it’s used to describe people that develop unexplained feelings for their captures.  But Brandi I don’t think Chris has that.  He has a perfectly good explanation for the way he feels, your freaking hot!” Katy explained.  She smiled but Brandi didn’t seem amused.

“Doesn’t he have a psychology degree or something; wouldn’t he know if he had that?” Kim asked. 

            Brandi glared at them again, this time she just looked more annoyed than anything, did Kim really think Chris would know if he had it.  That just wouldn’t make any sense.  Brandi ran her hands through her hair.  There was no way she could know for sure if he had it or not so now her mind was made up.

            “I am going with you tonight.” Brandi firmly stated.  Kim looked shocked but Katy just shook her head.  “I will never know if his feelings for me are true.  I have to go, I can’t stand not knowing.”

            “So wait a minute this Stockholm stuff in serious.  It’s like a real thing?” Kim questioned.  Her mind was racing now, what if JC had it too.  Was what they had just did real, did he really love her?  Kim’s eyes began to water a little and her bottom lip quivered.  Katy groaned, secretly cursing Brandi in her head, but on the plus side at least it was all out in the open now.  For now it looked liked the girls were once again a united front. 

            First Katy grabbed Kim by the arms and forced Kim to look at her.  It broke her heart to see Kim so torn up.  But sleeping with JC hadn’t been a mistake, it was a wonderful experience that Kim would have with her the rest of her life and that was just the way Kim was going to have to look at it.  Katy voiced her opinion and Kim seemed to take it in stride.  Katy knew that they would probably have to have another talk with Kim about JC, when it came to guys Kim was kind of unsure of some things but for now Kim seemed at peace.  Then Katy turned to Brandi.

            “I have a plan for later, as you probably all ready know the party is just a cover.  I am not going to tell you what it is but you’ll know it when you see it.  When that happens we make our move and we get the hell out of dodge before anything else can go wrong.” Katy stated.  The two girls just nodded, it was best that they didn’t know what Katy’s plan was.  They just hoped that no one would get hurt, at least not physically any way.  Emotionally they would all be scared for sure.