"Do you need a kidney or part of my liver?" Rachel asked in lieu of hello after answering Lance's call. She had sent the first four to voicemail.

"Is that what it's gonna take to get you to answer my phone call?" Lance questioned. "What if it's too late? What if I needed you to answer my first phone call instead of the fifth? Time is of the essence when it comes to body parts."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "So you don't need a body part."

"Technically...no," Lance said slowly.

"What does that even mean?"

"It means our birthday party is Saturday and I'd like you to be there."

"Lance..."

"It's your party too. Half the people there are going to celebrate you. You want me to blow out the candles of the cake that says ‘Happy Birthday Lance and Rachel'. You know damn well the set up will have your name all over. You want me to walk around with a sharpie and just cross your name out?"

"Lance..."

"I called JC and told him it would be best if he didn't come," Lance cut in. "You know what he did? Nothing. He just said, ‘yeah' and hung up." It had taken him a long time to work up the courage to even call JC and tell him not to come. The entire time he felt like the world's biggest asshole for uninviting one of his best friends. If he wanted his sister to come, JC couldn't be there.

"Lance..."

"Come on," he interrupted his sister again. "I want to celebrate together... like we do every year. I bet you don't even have my birthday present." He teased.

"It's at the house," Rachel whispered.

"No!" Lance gasped. "You actually have my present already? I don't believe it."

"I just don't know."

"Please," he begged. "It's a Roarin' twenties theme. The theme you wanted. I promise JC won't be at the party. I promise you won't have to see him. You know he's flying out on Sunday anyway. If you're sure this is what you want to do, when he's gone, we'll go over and grab your things and move them to my place. You can use the time to figure out what you want to do."

"Alright," Rachel relented. "I'll look for tickets and see if I can fly out tomorrow."

*~*

Saturday donned and it was a much different day than JC had imagined. He hated the fact that they were flying out on Rachel's birthday leaving them unable to truly celebrate. So he had a small celebration planned for her birthday. He had planned to take her out for brunch at one of her favorite cafés in downtown Los Angeles. There was a movie playing Rachel had talked about wanting to see. He was gonna bite the bullet and take her to the rom com and he was gonna be on his best behavior and try to curb as many jokes and eye rolls as possible. Afterward, when they got back home, he had planned on giving her his present.

That's what was supposed to happen.

Today was much different though. There was no brunch in Los Angeles. There was no movie. There was no gift giving. There was not even a celebration. At least not for him. He had been uninvited to the party. JC hadn't thought it could get any worse. Then the phone call from Lance had come. JC thought the phone call was going to be something different. He thought Lance was going to offer him insight as to what was going on with Rachel. He hadn't expected Lance to ask him not to show up. What else could he do other than to agree? How could he go to a party when he wasn't welcomed?

JC pushed away from the window he's been staring out and moved toward his bedroom. Instead of getting ready for the party like he thought he'd be doing right now, he was getting ready for Jimmy and Addison to come over. Jimmy was supposed to be at the party, but had decided to back out in order to finish the songs. It was going to take everything he had, but he was going to shove Rachel to the back of his mind and finish the songs they were working on. He didn't want the unfinished songs hanging over his head when he left tomorrow. When he came back, he didn't want to have to deal with Addison.

Entering his bedroom, he saw his bags sitting next to his dresser. He spent the day packing everything he needed for New Orleans and subsequent tour. It was an early morning flight. He had planned it that way so he and Rachel could have time to go out and celebrate her birthday when they landed. That wouldn't be happening. Instead he planned to meet up with his cast mates when he landed for dinner and drinks. It wasn't what he wanted, but he apparently wasn't going to get what he wanted. He should be used to that by now.

The pink envelope laid on top of his dresser. He had removed it from its hiding place a few days ago and placed it in his room. It wasn't in jeopardy of being found by Rachel. She wasn't going to suddenly appear in his room.  He picked the envelope up and tapped it against the dresser. He didn't know when to give it to her. Should he even give it to her? How was he supposed to give it to her? Before he could change his mind, he walked from his room with the card in his hand and down the hall.

Rachel's room loomed in front of him. The door was closed and had been since Thursday when he had gone in and searched for information on where she could have been. Since then, the door had been closed and he hadn't stepped foot in it. Now he looked around at all of Rachel's things. The photos on the wall and stuck in the mirror of the vanity. The knick-knacks on the dresser and the vanity, some she had picked up on trips, some he had given her. Her make up laid spilled on the vanity, like she was coming back in a few minutes to sit down and apply it before the party. Her suitcases were still in the closet and JC knew even if Rachel had been there getting ready for the party, her suitcases would have still been in the closet unpacked. She would have been running around after the party trying to pack everything she needed for New Orleans. He would be laying on her bed, watching and laughing. Telling her she should have packed earlier like he had. Eventually, he would have helped her and together they would have gotten her packed and their things loaded into his car. Now though...

He sighed and walked in to the room. He stared at the card in his hand at her name scrawled across the front before he laid it down on the vanity. He figured at some point while he was gone for the summer, she would return and find it. Turning around he stared at the room, his heart heavy. He was leaving tomorrow until mid August. When he returned, he was certain the room would be empty. Just like his heart.

As JC pulled the door to Rachel's room shut he heard the front door closing. He frowned. He was only expecting Jimmy and Addison. Very rarely did Jimmy walk into his house when he had Addison in tow. He moved slowly down the hall and down the stairs. When he got to the bottom step, his heart caught seeing Rachel coming toward him.

"Rachel..."

"JC..." Rachel froze seeing JC staring at her. Her heart lodged in her throat and all she could do was stare. There was about a week's worth of facial hair on his face like he hadn't shaved since she left. She was certain he lost weight. The sweat pants he wore hung more than they usually did. She swallowed roughly.

"I...I didn't know you were coming." JC finally said.

"I need my costume for the party," Rachel said softly. "I'll only be a few minutes." Her heart had stopped when she realized the costume she planned to wear for the party was hanging in her room at JC's. Lance had offered to get it for her, but she told him she could do it. The whole way over she hoped that JC wasn't home. She could slip in, grab it, and be gone with him being none-the-wiser.

"Can we talk?" JC asked when she moved around him and made her way toward the stairs.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rachel said softly.

"Rachel-" JC started but was cut off when the doorbell rang.

"You better get that," Rachel said and ran up the stairs.

"Damnit," JC breathed and moved toward the door. He swung it open seeing Matt on the other side. "Now isn't a good time."

"I know, but there's something I got to tell you," Matt said and walked in to JC's house without an invite.

"Can't it wait?" JC sighed and closed the door. He glanced toward the stairs, hearing Rachel moving around.

"No. You leave tomorrow. I need to tell you this. It can't wait."

"Matt, you don't understand. Rachel is-"

"You don't understand JC," Matt interrupted. "I know what's going on with Rachel and it's my fault. I didn't know this would happen."

"What are you talking about?" JC asked finally turning his attention to Matt. "What's going on with her and how is it your fault?"

"You remember that night we went out to dinner because you were hiding from Rachel?"

"I wasn't hiding from her."

"You remember what we talked about?"

JC nodded, his heart hammering. That was the night he finally told someone about his feelings for Rachel.

"I was recording it-"

"What? Why?" JC asked confused. If Matt recorded that conversation... He paled. If Matt recorded the conversation and Rachel heard. "You let her hear it? Is that what happened? You told her about my feelings for her?" Was that why Rachel left? She knew about his feelings for her and didn't feel the same way. The pain was back in his heart and he couldn't stop himself from rubbing his chest against the pain.

"No," Matt shook his head. "I didn't tell her that you love her. I manipulated the audio..."

"You what?" JC whispered, staring at Matt. "What did you do?"

"I manipulated the conversation. I moved phrases around making it seem like you loved Addison and were going to ask her out, while making it seem like you hated Rachel and couldn't wait for her to be gone. I left it as a voicemail on her phone."

JC couldn't comprehend was Matt was telling him. He shook his head. "You did what?"

"When I asked you about Addison? I moved the audio around to make it look like you were talking about Rachel instead."

JC opened and shut his mouth a few times, trying to form words. "What in the world made you do this? What possessed you to do this? Do you have any idea what you've done?" He remembered the words he had used when he talked about Addison. To think Rachel thought he was talking about her...

Matt nodded. He looked thrashed. "I fucked up JC. I fucked up. I got drunk and slept with Addison. She was gonna tell Renee unless I helped her."

"Help her do what?"

"Get Rachel out of the picture so she could make a move on you."

"I can't fucking believe it," JC felt his temper build and boil over. "Did you really think that Rachel leaving would make me just jump into bed with someone?"

"I didn't know she would leave, JC. I thought she would be waiting and confront you about it. Once you heard it, you'd know it was a fake and you'd know how the conversation went. I thought it would backfire on her. I didn't know Rachel would leave. I didn't know..."

"Instead of fessing up to your wife that you cheated on her, you thought it would be okay to mess with my relationship with Rachel? If it saved your marriage it would be okay? Do you even know what this has done to me? Did you even care? Jesus Matt, I've been at a complete loss over here. You know what she means to me. I spent five days piss drunk, floundering unable to cope. This whole time...this whole time you knew what was wrong. This whole time you could have confessed and I could have fixed this."

"JC I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" JC yelled. "You're sorry! What does that get me, huh? You think sorry is just going to magically make this all go away? You think Rachel's going to just magically forgive me? You think she'll be able to trust me again?"

"What did you do?"

JC and Matt whirled around at the voice. Addison stood in the door way with Jimmy.

"We heard the yelling," Jimmy explained. "I didn't know what was going on."

"What did you do?" Addison ground out, glaring at Matt.

"I told." Matt said, meeting Addison's eyes. "I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take the lies and seeing my friend like this."

"Do you have any idea what you've done!"

Matt nodded. "I've made peace with what this might do to me. But I can't do this to my friends. They don't deserve this."

"You have ruined everything!"

"What is going on down here?" Rachel came down the stairs. "What's with all the yelling?" She stared at the group of people, seeing JC, Jimmy, Matt, and... she swallowed roughly, Addison. "You know... I don't want to know. I'm just gonna grab my things and I'll be gone."

"Rachel, wait," JC lunged for her and grabbed her hand, stopping her from retreating.

"JC..." Rachel stared at his hand where it clasped around her wrist. "Please don't..."

"No, I know what's going on. You can't leave," JC said quickly. He tried to meet her eyes, but she kept them thwarted.

"You don't need to explain, JC," Rachel whispered. "It's fine. I'll be fine."

"You don't understand." He turned pleading eyes to Matt. He needed to fix this. "Tell her. Tell her what you told me."

"Rachel," Matt started. "I know about the voicemail." His words caused Rachel to turn around. "I know about it, because I sent it."

"You sent it?" Rachel repeated, her voice soft. "Why... why would you do that to me?"

"I had no choice..."

"Shut up Matt," Addison growled.

"I'm confused." Jimmy said, looking at everyone. "What voicemail?"

"Rachel I recorded the conversation that voicemail came from...."

"No," Addison said and reached in to her purse withdrawing the gun. She had it for protection. Never thought she'd have to use it in instances like this. Everything was falling apart around her. Her dream of being married to JC was unraveling. Her dream of getting that group back together and writing a song for them that would propel her in to being a top writer was disappearing.

"Oh my God," Rachel gasped seeing the gun come out. Her gasped caused everyone to look at Addison.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy yelled, his eyes wide. "Put the gun away!"

"What the fuck Addison?" Matt's eyes widened as he turned to face Addison.

"I told you to keep your mouth shut." Addison leveled the gun at Matt. "All you had to do was keep your mouth shut. You did your part. I wasn't gonna tell Renee. You just had to keep your mouth shut and let me do my thing. You couldn't just keep your mouth shut."

"Addison, come on now," JC said, taking a step forward. "You don't want to do this." His heart was beating wildly. It was four on one but they were still outnumbered. The gun could go off at any moment. Someone could get shot and die. A movement to his left caught his attention and he paled. Rachel. He couldn't jeopardize Rachel.

"Put the gun away," Jimmy said slowly, raising his hands slowly in an innocent manner. "We can talk about this."

"No we can't," Addison said, taking a step away, pointing the gun at Jimmy. "There is nothing to talk about. It's all ruined."

"No it's not," JC said, his hands raised as well.

Addison laughed. "Like you're gonna give me a chance now. You never even gave me a chance before. She was always right here in the way. She was everywhere. You would never give me a chance as long as she was in the picture."

JC felt his heart fill with dread at Addison's words. For the first time, he wished Rachel had stayed gone so she wouldn't be here at this moment.

"You couldn't stay gone could you?" Addison said, her eyes finding Rachel. "All you had to do was leave and stay gone. I knew as soon as you heard the voicemail, you'd run. I knew you wouldn't be able to handle it. I could see your feelings as plain as day on your face. But you couldn't could you? Here you are again. In the way."

"Addison," Rachel gulped.

"No!" Addison shouted, swinging her gun to point at Rachel. "You have been in the way from the very beginning. I should have done it this way first. You would have been gone and I wouldn't have to worry about you popping up." Tears were streaming down her face. Her hands shook as she held the gun toward Rachel.

"No!" JC eyes widened and he moved at the exact moment Addison pulled the trigger.