"Sorry we are late," Lance said as he pushed opened the door to JC's room. "Would have been here sooner but..."

"Oh my God, I'm gonna marry her." Chris proclaimed as he walked in to hospital room carrying a plastic bag.

"They came with me to Decadence," Lance filled Rachel and JC in. "They both made a complete and total fool of themselves vying for Melissa's attention."

"She had them eating from the palm of her hand," Michael laughed as he sat another plastic bag on the table. "She sent the biggest slice of strawberry pie just for you."

"That's not the only place I'd eat it from," Joey said with a grin. "Why have you been hiding her from me?"

"She was waiting to introduce her to me," Chris said as he sat his bag down. "Come here, you." He scooped Rachel up in a crushing hug. "Of course if you want to go back to Florida with me..."

Rachel laughed as she hugged Chris. The last time she had seen him was last August in New York. The group had joined Justin at the VMAs where he had been receiving a special award. They had joined Justin on stage for a small reunion performance. "Sorry Chris."

"Of course," Chris sighed and rolled his eyes, the grin still on his face as he moved to JC's side. "How you doing man?"

"Feel like I could run a marathon."

"You couldn't run a marathon before this," Joey laughed as he moved to JC's other side. "But I'll sign you up for the Disney marathon in January. We can run it together."

"The fuck you will."

"Even full of holes and misses pieces, you'd probably beat his fat ass," Chris chuckled. "Here I thought Timberlake attracted the crazies. Thanks for ruining it for all us single guys, by the way. All the ladies are going to be waiting for us to take a bullet for them..."

"Since when do you date ladies?" JC grinned.

Chris laughed. "I suppose I should start huh? Find a Mrs. Kirkpatrick."

"She'd have to be a saint to put up with you," Lance teased as he pulled the cartons of Chinese foods from the bag.

"What are Melissa's religious views?"

Rachel laughed. "Judging from the fact that her bakery indulges in half of the seven deadly sins..."

"My kind of girl," Chris grinned. "Can I get her number?"

"She'd chew you up and spit you out."

"Please stop," Chris put his hand over his heart. "You're making me fall more and more in love with her."

"You need to get laid."

"I was trying!"

"We were coming to see JC."

"He's not going anywhere!" Chris turned away from Lance to look at JC. "Right? You don't plan on dying now, do you?"

JC shook his head. "Not planning on it."

"Well it sucks for you that she lives here in California and you don't." Joey grinned. "But I do."

"Minor details." Chris said, brushing him off.

"Has the doctor given any updates?" Lance asked his sister while Chris and Joey argued.

"He was here right before you guys came," Rachel took a bite of the pork fried rice Lance had gotten her. "He's really pleased. Said tomorrow they'll remove the catheter in the morning and start getting him up. He'll be on a liquid diet. He might be able to be moved to a regular room on Sunday."

"That's great news!" Lance said with a huge grin.

"They're talking about being able to go home in a week."

"Holy shit! That's awesome!"

"Any linger effects from his missing pieces?"

Rachel stared at JC who was talking and laughing with Joey and Chris. She looked back at Lance. "There's a laundry list of complications that could happen, but he'll be in the hospital being monitored incase any arise. He could be prone to infections without his spleen but he won't need to take antibiotics every day.  In a couple of weeks, if he's not in the hospital, he'll have to go get vaccinations to fight against pneumonia, meningitis, a few others."

"Oh, poor C," Lance grimaced thinking of the vaccinations. It was well known by everyone that JC was afraid of needles.

"If he travels out of the country, he'll need to take antibiotics with him just in case."

"What about your trip to Europe?" Michael asked. "That was October right?"

Rachel nodded. "I don't know. He's looking to at least six weeks of recovery."

"Who's going to Europe?" Joey asked, interrupting their conversation. He reached in Lance's container and grabbed a shrimp from his fried rice.

"Get your own food man. You ordered enough." Lance glared at him, holding his food out of reach.

"I didn't order shrimp." Joey shrugged and grabbed the container of beef lo mein. "Who's going to Europe? Is that where you're going for your honeymoon?"

"That's where JC and Rachel are going. Laid up in the hospital and he was still able to get a birthday present. Meanwhile my sister can't even get me one."

"I told you," Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's at the house."

"No it's not." JC spoke up listening to the conversation.

"What do you mean it's not at the house?" Rachel asked, looking at JC.

"I took it to that place on Beverly Monday or something. I can't remember." JC still wasn't sure on the days yet. He wasn't even positive what the day was.

"What?" Rachel whispered. While she had been dodging her mother's questions, JC had been taking her birthday present for Lance to her favorite framing shop with no idea of knowing she hadn't planned on coming back.

"I'm assuming it's still there."

"Why would you do that?"

"I figured I'd take it so it would be finished before the party. Lance would have been shocked as shit to see his present finished on time."

"Unlike last year where you made me wait until June," Lance grinned. "One of these years, you'll actually give it to me on time."

"I don't recall getting a present from you." Rachel sent Lance a look.

"It's at the house. Though considering JC got you a two week vacation in Europe, I think I'm gonna have to get you something else."

"Two week vacation in Europe?" Chris repeated. "Damn," he whistled. "You gonna put him out of his misery yet? What's the man gotta do for you to see that he loves you?" His eyes narrowed when he saw the look Rachel sent JC. "What a minute..." he looked at Rachel then at JC, then back to Rachel. "Have you guys figured it out?"

JC laughed and reached for Rachel's hand when she moved next to him. "Yes."

"My God, it's a miracle!" Chris exclaimed. "Holy fucking shit! Wait! Who won the pool? Pull it up Joey." Joey was already on his phone tapping buttons. "When did you guys figure it out?"

"Let me see that," Rachel tried to snatch Joey's phone from his hand, but Chris blocked her.

"I can't hold her off forever!" Chris called as he stepped with Rachel not allowing her to get around him. He held his arms out as they danced, him warding her off.

"When did you guys figure it out?" Joey asked as he pulled up the spreadsheet for the month of April.

"Today." Lance supplied grinning. He looked over Joey's shoulder as he switched to the month of May. "Son of a bitch." He sighed seeing the name on the block.

"Did I win?" Chris asked turning around.

"No. Jimmy did."

*~*

"I'm exhausted." Rachel said as Chris, Joey, Lance, and Michael left.

"So am I and I just laid here." JC chuckled as he watched Rachel clean up the empty Chinese food containers. "I always forget how exhausting Chris can be." He could feel the fatigue settling in and knew it wouldn't be long before he fell asleep. "Hey, come here."

Rachel dropped the last of the containers into the trash wishing she had them remove the trash when they left. "Do you need something?" She asked, sitting down on the bed at his waist. "I probably should have told them it was a bad idea for them both to be here. They have been just as worried..."

"No, it's fine." JC took her hand in his, running his thumb over the back of her hand. "You know about the Europe trip? You got my card?"

Rachel nodded, looking down at their hands. "This morning. Lance saw it in my room and grabbed it. I can't believe you planned an entire vacation for us."

"Planned it for you. But I was hoping you'd want to take me."

"Who else would I want to go with?" Rachel asked, raising her head to look at him. "You're the only one I want to go with."

JC smiled and squeezed her hand at her words. "I wasn't so sure after everything..."

"Maybe we should talk," Rachel sighed. "I come out really really bad in this..."

"Hey..."

"Matt stopped by Lance's today. That's why I wasn't here when you woke up. Before I came back, I had to go to the police station and give my statement about what happened. I needed to go to the house and find your wallet..." She looked down at their hands again. His thumb continued to move back and forth across hers. "I couldn't even walk in the house. I just... I don't know. Couldn't go in. I sat on the bench trying to breathe... Lance had to go in." She paused, feeling a lump rise in her throat. "We made it all the way to the hospital before I realized I forgot my ID. We had to go back to Lance's and get it. Before we could leave, Matt showed up..."

JC squeezed Rachel's hand. "That voicemail on your phone? It was fake. Matt manipulated a conversation we had." There was pain as he thought about what his best friend had done. When Rachel raised his head and looked at him, he saw her eyes full of tears.

"I should have known that..."

"Rachel..."

"What kind of friend does that make me? I just heard you... heard you say... and immediately assumed it was the truth? After all our years of friendship, after everything we've been through together...but it hurt so much. I should have confronted you. I should have been waiting. I just ran... I didn't give you a chance to explain."

"Hey," JC tugged on Rachel's hand. When she leaned forward he dropped her hand and threaded his hand through her hair. Using that hand, he pulled her down. When she was close enough, he raised his other hand to her face. He couldn't wait to be able to fully sit up in bed. He couldn't wait until he would be able to pull her into his arms. "Don't blame yourself. I should have tried harder to figure out what was wrong."

"It's not your fault. You were innocent in all this. If I had just mentioned the voicemail just once..." Rachel pulled away and stood up. "If I just said something, you wouldn't have gotten shot and almost died. What if you would have died? What if you had died that day and I spent the last two weeks angry with you. That would have been the last memories I had of you. Angry with you over something you didn't even do."

"But I didn't die," JC said, his heart breaking. "Rachel don't do this. I didn't die. I'm right here."

"I know," Rachel looked at him with tears in her eyes. "But I can still see you laying on the ground bleeding. I thought you were going to die. And there was nothing I could do. I kept begging you to hold on. I kept trying to stop the bleeding. And you're telling me you love me..." She wiped the tears on her cheeks with her fingers.

"Please come here," JC pleaded, lifting his hand in her direction. He wished he could climb from the bed and go to her.  He grabbed the remote for his bed and pressed the button that would raise his head. He hadn't been able to raise it much before he felt the twinge from the incisions on his chest and abdomen.

"Hey," Rachel moved back to his side. She placed one hand over his on the bed and the other on his forehead. "Easy. You're being held together with glue and thread."

"Then please stay with me." JC grabbed her hand, holding it tightly, hoping that would keep her next to him. "I'm not going to apologize for protecting you. I'll do it again. I'll do it every time no matter the outcome if it means keeping you safe."

"I hope you never have to do it again." Rachel whispered as she trailed her fingers down his cheek over the stubble from a couple days growth. She leaned down and kissed him.

"Lay with me." JC whispered.

"I don't think..." Rachel looked down at JC, her eyes flickering over his body where the hidden wounds lay. "Not a good idea. I don't want to accidentally bump an incision.""

"Please?" JC pleaded. He let go of Rachel's hand. He put that hand on the bed he pressed down using the strength that he had to try and move to his right to allow Rachel to have more room on his left side. His left arm was free of wires while his right still had the IV. The doctors told him tomorrow they would likely unhook the IV, leaving the needle in his arm just in case.

"What are... stop." Rachel placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to stop his movements. "Are you trying to hurt yourself more?"

"Then lay with me," JC repeated. He lifted his left arm, holding it out to his side, offering up the space.

"Only if you promise to tell me if you start hurting." Rachel toed off her shoes and sat down on the bed. Gingerly she brought her feet up and laid down, her head cradled on his shoulder. She kept her arm on her side instead of wrapping it across his waist.

"Relax," JC said with a chuckle bringing his arm up to rest his hand on her hip. He let his head rest against hers. "I'm not gonna break."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't." He pressed a kiss to her head, a smile on his lips feeling her shift closer to him. Her left arm come across his body, low on his waist below the surgical incision. Her leg came to rest against his leg with her ankle crossing his. He tightened his arm around her, grimacing when there was pressure against the chest tube incision.

"JC..."

"No," JC held tight, not allowing her to move. If she wanted to break the hold, she could easily get away. He didn't have the strength. He was thankful she made no move to move away. "It's alright." He kissed her head when he felt her relax into him. His eyes closed and he couldn't wait to be able to hold her like this outside of the hospital when he was healed. Then she could snuggle into his side and drape all over him.  His fingers moved back and forth over her hip. With the pulse ox gone from his right index finger, he moved his arm to reach her fingers.  He held them lightly. "When I get out of here, we'll celebrate your birthday."

"You getting out of here is celebration enough."

"You didn't even get to enjoy your party did you?"

Rachel shook her head. "The party never happened. Lance and I spent the rest of the day and into the early morning hours in the waiting room. I didn't want to go anyway."

JC had planned a lot of the party details along with Lisa, Lance's personal assistant. The event was a lot of fun each year. Their friends always looked forward to it. "Next year's party will be better. We can keep the same theme or come up with something different. What?" He asked when he heard her chuckle.

"Anita said we should talk to you. That it would help. Your dad said I needed to start an argument. That you wouldn't pass up the opportunity. So I told you for my birthday party next year, we'd make it a Star Wars theme..."

"No." JC said, cutting her off.

"What? I didn't even tell you what I'd do."

"You don't need to. I already know."

"No you don't."

"You'll show up as someone from Star Trek then argue with me all night how it's the same thing."

"So maybe you do know." Rachel giggled lightly.

"Did you spend the whole time trying to push my buttons?"

"No," Rachel shook her head. "But you do have a lot of them."

"You created most of them."

Rachel didn't even bother to argue the point. "I talked about other things... memories"

"Like what?"

"You taking me to see Mamma Mia."

JC smiled at the memory. That had been the birth of Rachel's love for Broadway. They had seen so many shows together since then. "That was a fun time." The group had just come off their final tour, Celebrity, when he'd taken her to New York. He hadn't even given serious thought to a solo attempt. It had been a late birthday present. Lance had been going through medical testing - even having heart surgery - before he would head to Russia to train to become a cosmonaut for his ill fated attempt to go to the International Space Station that November. Lance leaving had left Rachel all alone in their house in Orlando. The trip to New York for the show had been his attempt to make her feel better with Lance gone.

It had been those summer months where he and Rachel had gotten closer together. Lance leaving had been the foundation their close friendship started on. Lance had even commented on their newfound closeness when they flew to Houston to see him at Johnson's Space Center. When Lance returned to stateside permanently a month later, their relationship hadn't been affected.

"Then there was that time you drug me skiing in 2006." Rachel continued, letting her eyes drift close. She moved her hand from his and put it back across his waist where she let it rest so she could move her fingers back in forth in short caressing strokes.

"You've gotten a lot better at skiing since then." It had been the perfect get away at the right time surrounded by the right people. He had high expectations for his solo record and couldn't wait to start touring. 2004 and 2005 had been filled with crazy highs and some of the lowest of lows for him. 2005 had ended with him breaking up with Eva Longoria whom he had dated since 2003 after he had found out she had been cheating on him. A few of his friends had put together a ski trip to Colorado for January of 2006. Eva was suppose to go with him. Not wanting to be the odd man out while everyone else was paired up, he had dragged Rachel along.

"I would hope so. I couldn't get any worse," Rachel said dryly.

"That trip was probably when I first recognized my feelings for you." JC confessed.

"What?" Rachel lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him. His eyes opened at the movement. "How? I was a major pain in the ass."

"You are always a major pain in the ass." He brought his left hand up to the back of her head and pushed her back down to his shoulder. "That day was the best day of the whole trip."

"Better than when Tyler found that karaoke bar?" She laughed when JC groaned.

"We agreed to never speak of that night."

"But it was the best rendition of ‘Baby Got Back' I have ever heard." She giggled and squirmed when JC's fingers dug in to her side. "If only our phones back then had the capabilities they do now."

"Thank God they didn't." Thankfully there were no videos from his performance. It took months for the teasing and jokes to die down. When they had returned home, Rachel's ringtone for the next week had been ‘Baby Got Back' until he had chased her down. Even now, all these years later, jokes still pop up. "We walked through town, going through all the shops. You wouldn't let me buy you anything no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even pay for your rental skates."

"I didn't need you buy me things. I don't need you to buy me things. That's not why we are friends."

"I know," JC pressed another kiss to the top of her head. "Doesn't mean I don't want to. We spent hours in the skating rink. We closed it down. We made so many laps around with you holding on to me for dear life."

"If I was going down, I was bringing you with me." She laughed.

"You did bring me with you!" Rachel had gotten braver the longer they skated without her having an issue. Then she attempted to do some type of movement. Struggling to regain her balance she reached for him causing them both to fall to the ice in a tangled mess. They spent a good ten minutes laying on the ice laughing. When they gathered themselves, she tucked her arm back through his and they continued making laps. "As we were going back to the car, drinking the hot chocolate you graciously let me buy for you, I realized I had a better time with you in those few hours than I had the whole time I was with Eva."

Rachel tilted her head up allowing him to kiss her. When the kiss broke, she carefully pushed herself up from the bed and put her feet to the floor.

"What are you doing?" JC asked as she moved away from the bed. He was unable to stop her. He watched as she grabbed the drawing pad from the bed tray, flipping through the pages. He tried not to think of some of the drawings on the pages that his mom had showed him as proof that Rachel had been fine and not injured like he thought when he woke up.

"You wanted me to draw a happy picture of us," Rachel flipped the pages along the spiral ring, tucking them on the bottom until she find the one she was looking for. She turned the pad around and held it out for JC to see. Rachel had drawn the day JC had just been talking about. They were side by side, her arm tucked through his, toboggans on their heads, scarves around their necks, heavy ski jackets on their bodies, skates on their feet, and huge grins on their faces.

JC smiled as he took the pad from Rachel and stared at the photo. "I want this."

"You want it?" Rachel repeated confused.

"Yes. I want to hang it up at the house."

"Okay. I'll redo it on a canvas..."

JC shook his head. "No. I want this one."

"JC... it's not even that good." Rachel protested. "I didn't add anything into the background. I rushed through the sketch sitting here. I can do it on the canvas and add the stores in the background, other skaters. Do it in color."

"No." He shook his head again. "This one. Exactly like it is."

"Okay, if you say so." She took the pad back from JC and flipped it closed before putting it back on the trey.

"I do. Now," he held his arm back out toward her. "Come back up here."

"You should get some sleep."

"I will." He wiggled his fingers until she grasped his hand again. "Come on," he pleaded and grinned when Rachel gave in, climbing back up onto the bed. She laid back at his side, her head on his shoulder. Her arm went back across his waist, below his incision. Instead of resting his hand at her hip, he bent his arm up to run his fingers through her hair. "I like the jacket."

"Lance grabbed it for me. Said he thought it would be comforting. He's such a girl sometimes."

"Is it working?" JC whispered, his eyes falling close.

"It was," Rachel said softly as she relaxed. "But this is much better."

Bethany opened the door at midnight needing to get vitals. She paused inside the door at the scene in front of her. A soft smile graced her lips seeing Rachel curled at JC's side; JC's head resting against hers. She could hardly believe it when Anita told her these two hadn't been in a relationship during shift change. That had certainly changed today. She was going to miss JC's family when he was moved out of ICU, but she was happy he was getting better. Tomorrow would be rough for him. Anita's job was to get him up and walking, often. It was going to be tough for JC, but getting him vertical would help him heal faster.

She hated to disturb the scene in front of her, but she couldn't skip the vitals. Going to JC's free side, she reached out and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. His eyes blinked open and she smiled softly seeing the confusion. "It's Bethany," she whispered. "I'm your night shift nurse," she explained again. She had introduced herself when she came on shift and had been in and out of the room plenty of times. Night vital signs usually brought confusion for her patients having been woken up. "I'm gonna check your vitals."

JC shifted his head away from Rachel's and nodded. During sleep, she had brought her arm from across his waist and tucked it against her chest. He frowned slightly wondering if she was cold. All she had on was a pair of yoga pants, a white t-shirt, and his black zip up hoodie.

"You okay?" Bethany whispered as she swiped the thermometer across his forehead, noting his temperature. She wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his right arm, careful of the IV tubing. Usually she'd take his blood pressure on his left arm, but it was otherwise occupied. The last thing she wanted to do was disturb the woman sleeping. She had been happy to learn Rachel had been persuaded to leave yesterday and rest. "Are you in any pain?"

"Not so much pain. Just discomfort."

Bethany nodded, writing the blood pressure reading down. "Just gonna check your wounds. Then I'll be all done." She slowly pulled the blanket down, the movement hindered by Rachel laying on one side. She had to angle it down and push them back across his body in order to reveal the spot where the chest tube had been. The gown JC wore had the opening to the front to allow them to better check his wounds and still provide some measure of privacy. She checked the wounds for swelling, puffiness, redness, and discharge. "It's looking real good, JC. Healing nicely." She pulled the gown close and pulled the blankets back up, settling them across his chest. She fixed the tubing and untangled the control button, putting it back within his reach. "Remember, you just press this button and you'll dispense more pain medication. You don't have to worry about overdosing. It will only allow you to give yourself so much. Can I get you anything?"

"An extra blanket?"

"You got it," Bethany smiled and fetched another blanket from the linen closet. When she returned she laid it over Rachel. "Anything else?"

JC shook his head.

"Get some rest. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

Bethany flipped off the lights as she left. JC shifted his left arm, trying not to disturb Rachel. He situated himself the best he could and kissed the top of her head before falling back asleep.