JC's still unconscious

"Jace?" Chris called out softly, slapping his unconscious friend on the cheeks. They had picked him up from off the floor and rested him on the bed against the headboard.  "C'mon Jace, wake up man."

Joey and Lance stood closely around the bed biting their nails, Lance clutching the phone in case they would have to call an ambulance while Justin leaned against the wall silently looking on as though he were about to pass out. He had turned pale and his eyes were wide. Chris was the only one who had contained himself enough to try slapping and shaking their blue eyed friend back to a state on consciousness.

Shaking his shoulders and pressing his index and middle fingers against the side of his neck to make sure he still had a pulse, Chris slapped him hard against the face, a red mark remaining on the skin.

"Chris!" Joey cried out.

"Wake up Jace!" Chris continued, ignoring Joey.

They heard soft groaning, and JC slowly brought his arm up to his cheek to rub where Chris had slapped him, still not opening his eyes.

Justin sprang to life, practically jumping into the bed next to where JC was slumped.

"C! Get up man, say something!"

JC groaned as he opened his eyes slowly, looking up at the four faces staring down at him with concerned looks on them. He frowned.

"What's up?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head where he had hit when he had collapsed.

The four other members heaved a big sigh of relief as they all took a seat on the bed, JC enclosed by them.

"Thank God," Lance remarked, hitting his leg.

"What the fuck happened to you just now?!" Justin yelled out.

"What'd you mean?"

"You fucking blacked out on the floor! What the hell happened!?"

"Justin, calm down man," Joey advised the younger member seeing how much he was startling JC who was still struggling to sit up.

"No I will not clam down! My best friend just fucking collapsed on the floor and you want me to calm down!?" He turned back to look at JC who had a sick look on his face. "What happened to you?"

JC shook his head.

"Do you need us to call a doctor JC?" Chris offered, waving a hand in front his face to get his attention back from Justin.

JC shook his head.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, holding up three fingers in front of his face.

JC rolled his eyes, batting the hand away. "How long was I out?"

"About three minutes," Lance answered. "Dude, you okay? You dropped the phone and everything. What happened?"

JC rubbed his face, then his head immediately popped up and his eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of his head. He started breathing hard, muttering ‘Oh God' to himself. He gulped, grabbing the phone out of Lance's hand checking his recent calls.

Scanning the screen, he saw the familiar number. The words of their conversation instantly came flooding back in to his mind, and he remembered why he had even collapsed in the first place.

"Fuck, it wasn't a dream." He said to himself, leaving the rest of his friends looking around at each other.

Still keeping his eyes on JC, Chris spoke to Lance. "Lansten call the doctor now, I think he's going crazy. Jace, you hit your head pretty hard didn't you?"

JC, still breathing heavily, shook his head immediately. "No! I'm okay. I don't need a doctor."

"Then talk to us? What's got you like this?" Justin pleaded. His eyes travelled back to the phone in JC's lap. "Did someone call and say something? What happened?"

JC started trembling, silently contemplating in his mind whether or not he should even open his mouth and spread the not necessarily good news.

"JC?" Chris asked softly.

"Sh-sh-sh-she's pregnant," he whispered, feeling every ounce of energy leave his body just stuttering out the sentence.

Is friends looked at him oddly, raising their eyebrows.

"What'd you mean JC?" Joey asked slowly.

JC looked at them helplessly. "Allison told me she's pregnant," he repeated, not any louder than before.

Soft gasps sounded and JC's eye brimmed with tears that threatened to fall.

"JC are you sure that's what she said?" Chris asked seriously. "You had to have heard wrong."

JC shook his head, not making eye contact with any of them. "I'm telling you, I heard right."

"Oh my God," Justin mumbled, slowly getting off the bed. "JC how could this happen? Man, how could you do this? To her, to yourself, to *NSYNC! Do you know how bad this is going to look for our image!? I mean, I could just see it on the tabloids now, ‘Boy bander goes on tour with pregnant ex girlfriend'. What are our fans going to think?! The record label! Your family! What's going to happen JC?"

JC swallowed. The thoughts Justin had just brought up hadn't popped into his mind yet and now he was sure they weren't going to leave.

"JC," Chris said shaking his head. "I don't even know how to react to you right now man."

JC looked at him and felt his chest tighten seeing the disappointed looks on his friends' faces.

"You can't tell anyone," he said softly. "Please..."

"JC, what're you going to do?" Lance asked. "What'd Allison say?"

"I have to go see her when we get back to Orlando. I have to fix this, there's got to be something I could do."

"I think you've already done your job," Joey pointed out softly. "You ‘sperm'anated her, there's nothing much more for you to do..."

"Oh my God," JC rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm so stupid!"

His friends nodded silently to themselves but gave him apologetic looks. Usually, JC would have expected them to freak out, curse him, slap him, hell he already knew Justin wanted to kill him but they were trying to keep their cool. More drama was the last thing this guy needed at this point.

"Tell Johnny book a new flight, at the earliest time possible for in the morning or tonight even. I need to get back to Orlando and straighten this out."

Joey nodded, but neither member budged. They all just sat around JC, trying to come to terms with the situation. There was silence until Lance spoke up.

"Uh, Jace?"

JC's only response was looking up and him and gulping.

Lance was going to regret making this move but he did it anyways. "Liz was uh, trying to call you a few minutes ago, when we were trying to wake you up...  You were already out when the call was coming through."

"Oh my God... Lizzie," Justin said softly, realizing what was going to have to go down between her and JC.

They all looked at JC whose hand was holding his stomach and looked like he was about to pass out right there and then.

"JC?" Chris asked, observing his friend who pushed him off the side of the bed and scrambled to get off the mattress.

"Man, are you okay?" Joey called out to him, watching as JC bolted out the door and they heard another door down the corridor slam loudly.

"Looks like Allison isn't the only one with the morning sickness," Justin muttered.

Johnny's Office- Sunday

"Oh man," Johnny sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as his brain attempted to soak up the information that had just been given to him. "Are you for real?"

JC nodded, looking down at his hands that were entwined together as he leaned forward on the couch. His red baseball cap was the closest thing to any part of his face that Johnny could see.

The man sighed, taking a seat in the office chair behind the desk and studied the other members that sat uncomfortably on the other chairs in the room.

"Has he talked to her yet?" Johnny asked the guys.

Justin shook his head. "He's going to see her when we're done here... Or at least, that's the plan anyways.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

"Just you, JC, us, Allison and whoever else Allison has told," Joey put in.

JC's head shot up. "You think she's told people?"

"Okay, okay, let's not jump to conclusions here boys," he cleared his throat. "JC, are you sure this girl isn't just playing you?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so... We had sex and I don't even think I used a condom."

"Dammit," Johnny mumbled. He looked at the other four guys. "Does Liz know?" he mouthed.

They cringed and all shook their heads slowly.

"What's going to happen here?" JC asked, obviously not noticing the silent message that was passed.

The other members looked at Johnny intently, eager to hear his response.

"Well... Have you thought about whether or not you're going to now have a relationship with this girl or if you're going to be active in the kid's life or if you're going to just ‘take care' of this whole thing?"

"I don't want a relationship with her," JC said through gritted teeth. "And well, I want to be a part of the baby's life... I don't want her to ‘take care' of it, I mean, it's my baby, I've got to take responsibility for my actions. I can't let a kid I created suffer through life without a dad just ‘cause I'm scared..."

Johnny nodded, understanding where JC was coming from. "JC," he started gently. "If any of this gets into the media and you go on with it, it's practically career suicide."

JC looked over to his friends who just followed the conversation wordlessly. He couldn't let the careers of four other guys suffer for his actions. They had gotten so far already. Their name was finally getting out. Their album went gold. They were, according to Johnny, almost at the end of the lawsuit and things were looking up. The new album plans were already even in the works. He couldn't let all that just go down the drain. He had to think about the guys, his friends. If he let their name fall to pieces they'd never forgive him, and quite frankly, he'd never forgive himself.

"JC?" Johnny asked again.

"What if the media doesn't find out?" he asked, hopeful. "Then that way *NSYNC could still be public but no one will ever know."

"JC, you're going to be deprived a lot of privacy as this group keeps getting more and more famous. Unless Allison absolutely agrees to keep this thing on the down-low and doesn't reveal to anyone in the business you're the father of this kid, I can't guarantee you guys that fans are going to think the same way as they did when you first came out with the first record."

"What does that mean?" Chris asked.

"It means that it's known that JC is going to have a kid with Allison," Justin explained. "*NSYNC is going to have to take a backseat in his life."

JC turned to face his friends. "Guys, I'd never let anything come in the way of us as a group or our chances as a group, and I promise you that I'm not going to let this jeopardize all that we've worked for, okay? I'll make it right..."

"JC, don't make a promise you can't keep man," Joey told him.

"I just don't want you guys to be mad at me more than I already know you are," he said softly.

Justin let out a sigh while Lance squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. 

"We're not completely mad at you JC..." Chris confessed. "We're more like disappointed, annoyed, let down, upset-"

"He gets it Chris," Johnny said firmly.

Rolling his eyes, the eldest member continued. "Point is Jace, we're not mad at you. We're upset over the circumstances by which the situation is playing out and we're mad at you for not being more responsible, but it's not like we're never going to forgive and block you out like you mean nothing to this group. We want to help. You're out best friend and if there's any way that we can support you through this, we will."

"We don't hate you C," Justin said softly.

"Thanks guys," JC nodded, smiling for the first time since the night before.

"JC, the most I can tell you right now is to go talk to Allison, and we can figure things out from there, alright?" Johnny instructed. "But I wouldn't consider this topic one you'd printed want on the cover of magazines, so keep all this as far away from the tabloids as possible. For now at least..."

JC nodded, standing.

"Can I uh, leave now?" he asked softly. "I want to go over there so she and I could talk things over. You know, the baby and publicity and all that."

Johnny nodded. "Go ahead guys," he said looking at the other members who now stood as well. He turned back to JC. "Good luck Jace. And well, uh... Congratulations?"

JC cringed. "Yea uh... Thanks, I guess." He mumbled. 

"C'mon C," Justin said, walking past him and pulling on his jacket out the door. "Let's get you to your baby mama,"

Chris chuckled. "There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear."

JC frowned. "It's not funny man!"

"I didn't say that it was!"

"What'd you even want us to call her C?" Lance asked. "What'd we supposed to refer to her as? The woman carrying your child? Or your ex girlfriend that left you for another guy but is now knocked up after a one night stand with you?"

Opening the door to exit the office and out to their car, JC shook his head. "What you refer to her as is the least of my problems right now," he muttered. "Call her what you will, but she's the mother of my baby... Not that I'm proud of it."

"You got the address she sent you?" Chris asked, getting into driver's seat as JC slid in next to him.

"Yea, right here," he replied, waving a piece of white paper in his hand. "Put it in the GPS,"

Following the directions from the female voice sounding throughout the car, the guys pulled up in front of a two story home that had a red convertible parked in the open garage.

All five guys peered out the windows curiously.

"She did good for herself," Lance noted.

"Either that or she's living off of some fucker," Chris muttered.

JC gulped, his body not able to gather up enough energy to get out of the car.

"Jace, you alright man?" Justin asked, putting a hand on JC's shoulder from the backseat.

JC nodded, still looking toward the white front door just few away from him. "Yea, I'm o-okay. I mean, everything from this point on is going to determine how my life is going to play out so I guess there's no point in being scared right?"

"Dude, that's the exact reason your ass should be scared!" Chris cried out.

Slapping Chris' arm, Joey spoke up. "You want us to go in with you or something C?"

JC shook his head. "Nah, I'm cool. Just uh, wait out here alright. I'll be in there for a few minutes, a half hour tops.  I just want to sort all this out with her so play with the GPS, prank call someone, sing, do anything but do not leave me here!"

"Yea, yea, we're right here," Chris said, turning off the engine and the rest of guys leaning back against the seats. "But we're hungry so we're going to lunch after this."

"If I live that long," JC muttered, opening the car door and getting out.

"Good luck Jace!"

He quickly made his way up the cemented drive way and knocked on the door. He stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and rocked back and forth on his heels while he waited for the door to be answered.

He heard a faint, ‘Who is it?' come from on the inside.

"JC," he called out weakly.

The door opened, and Allison stood in sweats, her hair in a slick ponytail as she held a bottle of water in one hand and the door handle in the other.

"Hey Jace,"

"Hi," he said softly.

"Come on in," she said, stepping away from the entrance.

He nodded.

She closed the door behind him and they stood there for a silent second before he spoke.

"H-How're you doing?" he stammered.

She shrugged, screwing the cap back onto the water bottle before answering. "I've been better. I didn't plan for my days to be spent either throwing up or having to restrict to myself to how many drinks I can have."

His eyes were wide. "You still drink!?"

She looked at him blankly.

"You can hurt our baby!"

She smiled at him, not because she was happy she could hurt the baby but because he had said ‘their' baby.

"I'll stop," she promised.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Is there somewhere we can sit down and talk about this whole thing?"

"Kitchen," she replied, signaling for him to follow her into the orange painted room. Gesturing for him to take a seat at the wooden breakfast table, she headed over to the counter to pick up a long but small box.

"What's that?" JC asked uncertainly, taking a seat.

She joined him at the table, taking a seat next to him. Opening the box, he watched intently as she pulled out a fairly thin white stick that reminded JC of what a thermometer looked like.

"This is the pregnancy test," she explained, placing the stick in front of him. "There're two lines on it, which proves I'm pregnant."

JC looked at the tool blankly, using a single finger to push it back to her.

"Have you seen a doctor yet?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, not yet. I took the test a couple days ago."

He sighed. "I can't believe we're going through this."

She took his hand in hers and smiled. "We created a baby, aren't you happy?"

He pulled away from her. "No Allison, I'm not happy! Do you know how fucking messed up this whole thing is?"

She raised her eyebrows.

"Look, I didn't come over here to fight with you Allison," he continued. "I just came over here to take my fair share of the responsibility and for us to figure out how this is going to work out between us." He took a deep breath. "I'm willing to pay for child support or whatever you need but I do not want this getting out into the media."

"You're ashamed of this?" she pressed.

"Well it's not the first thing on my list of ‘Top Ten Things I'm Proud Of'!"

"Well, you tell me. What'd you want to do? Want me to take care of this?"

"Abortion!? God no!"

"Was just an idea, chill..."

"Okay look, let's get real here. With me being in *NSYNC, my focus is going to stray every once in a while but despite the way I feel about you, I want to let you know that I'm more than willing to pick up my slack in reference to the baby and I'll be more than happy to get you or buy anything he or she'll need."

"That's sweet JC, thank you."

"I want to be a part of his or her life, just not be public. I don't want my, your, or his/her face on the cover of those gossip magazines. It could really affect the group Allison, and I just can't let that happen."

She nodded. "Fine,"

He looked at her. Why was she agreeing with him so much without encouraging much argument like JC had known and expected her to do?

"Is there anything you need me to do Allison?" he asked gently. "Take you to the doctor, go get any types of foods you need or stuff like that? I'm kind of new at this..."

She laughed. "JC, I'm fine for now. If I need anything I will be sure to let you know but for now,-" she took his hand in hers once again. "-You and I are going to have a tie between us for the rest of our lives."

JC gulped, looking down at her still fairly flat stomach through the top she wore.

"I won't sell this story to anyone in the media, don't worry."

"Thank you," he mumbled, feeling her release his hand.

"So, we going to do this? The next seven months or so?"

He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "Discretely, yea. I'm not going to just leave you hanging here."

"Good," she nodded.

"Allison we're not going to have a relationship besides the fact we're having a kid together, you know that right?"

"Because you're still ‘oh so in love' with this girlfriend of yours?

He swallowed, looking away. "Actually yes, because I'm still in love with her even if she still hates me after finding out what you and I did that night."

"So I take it she is unaware of our present situation?"

JC nodded. "If you bring this up around anyone I'll never forgive you Allison." He warned. Even though there's a lot more things I still don't forgive you for.

She shrugged. "Fine, but when she finds out I'm pregnant, I don't think she's going to take you back sweatheart."

"Don't call me that," he told her, getting up from the table and running a hand through his hair. "You and I are nothing more than friends Allison. Besides this baby, there's nothing more we can ever be. And if you bring this up around anyone else, you'll regret it."

She folded her arms across her chest and nodded. "We'll see about that Chasez." She thought silently.

Sunday night- Liz & Emma's house

She sighed, resting the suitcase at the side of the door and taking a second to run a hand through her hair. She was home, finally. After packing her things and staying one more night in the city, she didn't bother to show up for work that Sunday morning. Instead, she spent the day as a free day in New York and by evening time, she managed to get a cab to take her to the airport and she called Lana. After much ‘thank you for the great opportunity', she made her choice to return home. That is, after learning her flight had been delayed so she had two hours free to spend in an airport walking around, munching on pretzels and fighting the urge to pick up her phone and call someone. Although, she didn't really have anyone to call...

Emma didn't know Liz left New York, and JC had never gotten back to her after missing her call so she figured he was avoiding her.

Closing the door, she wandered through the darkness to where she remembered the kitchen was but she tripped over what felt like cardboard boxes and landed face first on the wooden floor making a loud thud and letting out a scream.

"Shit," she muttered. She then looked up when she heard loud footsteps racing down the stairs and into the room. The slim figure held the cordless phone in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.

Both girls let out screams before Emma hurriedly flicked on the light switch, breathing heavily.

"What the fuck is going on?"Emma yelled, clutching the phone to her chest. She quickly recognized who the person sitting on the floor was and she noticed her boxes of napkins and paper plates were knocked over. "Liz?"

"Well hello to you to," Liz mumbled, rubbing her ankle then managing to stand up. "Why'd you keep those boxes there?"

Shaking her head, Emma pulled her friend in for a hug. "What're you doing here?" she asked, squeezing tightly and smiling as she felt Liz hug back.

Slowly pulling away, Liz shrugged. "I quit to project. I wanted to come home."

"Lizzie, what I said to you on the phone, that was just me PMSing or something, I don't know. But I'm really sorry for not listening to you and understanding that your relationship with Josh is your relationship and I shouldn't have meddled. I just thought that,-" She stopped momentarily to take a breath then continued. "-You guys were so perfect for each other I didn't want you to lose each other over this and I'm sorry for not having more patience when all you needed at that time was for me to be a friend and I didn't act like one. I didn't mean to hang up on you or anything like that I was just mad at, I don't know... I just, I'm sorry okay?"

Liz smiled, hugging her friend as she stopped talking.

"And I'm sorry for pulling you down into the misery zone with me when all you were trying to do was help me out in the first place."

"That's okay, don't worry. I know how hurt you must have been and I guess I made things sort of worse."

Liz shook her head. "You didn't, don't worry. You actually helped me realize that my life in New York sucked way more than it does here. At least here I can come home to people who cheer me up and I'm in my own house where I'm my own boss."

"So we're cool then?" Emma giggled.

"Forever and always," she grinned.

"Speaking of forever and always, did you talk to Josh at all?"

"I tried calling him," she admitted softly. "But he didn't pick up. I think he's ignoring me or something. I guess he really thinks I don't love him anymore."

"But you do love him?"

"Of course I do,"

"Then here," Emma said, handing her the phone she had been holding. "Call him,"