"You could have given me a warning!"

"I've been a little busy Mel," Rachel said. She sat at a table in the cafeteria, tucked in the back so not to be bothered. A banana, yogurt, and a cup of coffee sat in front of her. That morning JC had able to have eat breakfast. Toast and some fruit and apple juice. Afterward Anita had come in and unhooked the IV. He no longer needed the fluids given to him via the IV. The IV catheter was left in his arm as a precaution. In case something happened, it was all ready to go and they wouldn't waste precious time trying to find a vein. The tubing had been disconnected. Medication would be given orally now.

With the IV being unhooked, the catheter was also able to be removed. While she wanted to stay in the room with him, Rachel could sense that JC didn't want her in the room. He wouldn't come out and ask her to leave, but she could see it in his face. With a smile, she had kissed him lightly and told him she was going to the cafeteria to make a few phone calls. The relief had been evident on his face.

Before Melissa had called, she had called Lance and given him a list of items to pick up from the house. With JC being forced to get up and be mobile, he was going to need more than just a gown. Her list included underwear, sweatpants, and a zip up hoodie. The wounds on his chest and abdomen would still need to be checked but she included a shirt just in case JC wanted to try putting one on. She didn't think he would. The gown would provide cover or he could slip on the zip up hoodie by itself.

"Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Lance Bass walked in to my bakery!"

"That sounds like the beginning of a joke," Rachel giggled as she shouldered her phone and peeled her banana.

"I could barely remember my name! I nearly whimpered when Joey told me hello. Then Chris..." Melissa gave a dreamy sigh that had Rachel laughing.  

"You should have heard them when they got to the hospital. There was so much drooling going on I was googling how to buy an ark."

"Really? Tell me more..."

Rachel laughed. "Joey and Chris were about ready to throw down and have a duel."

"And I'm the fair maiden. God Rachel... I've seen a lot of celebrities in my place but those two," she groaned. "They stole my words. I sounded like an idiot."

"Trust me Mel, they were just as infatuated with you. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them - or both - won't darken your door again."

"I gotta choose! How am I supposed to choose!"

"Which one butters your biscuit more?"

"They can both butter my biscuit." Melissa drawled. "Maybe I should put that on the menu?"

"What? You?"

Melissa laughed. "Mel's Biscuits. There's a crowd drawer."

"I know at least two men it would draw."

"Enough about my love life," Melissa changed the subject. Just thinking about Joey and Chris made her blush. "I want to talk about yours."

"You're gonna have to tell Brad Pitt I'm off the market."

Melissa rolled her eyes. "You've been off the market for the last ten years you just never admitted it to yourself. Does this mean you and JC finally admitted what everyone has known for years?"

"I love him Mel."

Melissa smiled. "I know."

"He loves me."

"I know."

"God it's been such a whirlwind month." Rachel ran her fingers through her hair free from the pony tail.

"When everything has calmed down, you're gonna have to come over and explain to me what happened. Starting with how you ended up in Mississippi."

"My stupid heart."

Melissa hummed knowingly. "Sometimes I'd like to drop kick that organ."

"Yours or mine?"

"Usually yours for not seeing what was right in front of you."

"I almost lost the chance to tell him," Rachel's voice cracked as tears filled her eyes.

"But you didn't. God had to pull out the big guns in this case. The Big Guy was about have his palm sewn to his forehead as many times as he had his head in his hand when it came to you and JC missing every single message."

"What messages?"

"Well let's see, you live with him. That might have been okay for about a year or two, but 10 years later... it's your house. Even when he had girlfriends living there. You never had a relationship stick in those 10 years. JC either. He constantly drug you on vacations even when his girlfriend at the time was coming with. You guys cuddle on the couch while watching TV. You get in to tickle wars. You can have conversations without words. You laugh at all of his stupid jokes. Most of them aren't even funny. You..."

"Okay okay, I get the point." Rachel said, cutting her off. "I'm blind as a bat."

"Look on the bright side. He's just as blind. You guys are perfect for each other!"

Rachel laughed. "Yeah."

"So how is he doing? I know what I've read on the net, but I don't believe half of it."

"He's doing really good," Rachel said smiling as she explained his prognosis and what was happening today and the plan for the rest of the week.

"I can't believe they are talking about sending him home already. I mean just last week, he... I mean..." Melissa sighed. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know how close it came to him never returning home."

"I could slap myself. I didn't mean to bring that up. God I'm an idiot. This is why I don't deal with people."

"Your whole business is dealing with people. It's alright. I'm okay. I just have to work through this guilt I'm carrying around about Mississippi."

"Drop kick that guilt out of here." Melissa said firmly. "What happened happened and you can't change it. Put it behind you and move forward with JC."

"It sounds easy. But what I did..."

"Rachel... you probably had a very good reason at the time for doing what you did. Don't let the guilt consume you. You're back in LA. JC's going to make a full recovery with you by his side every step of the way. There so much ahead for you two. Marriage. Babies. You two are going to make such beautiful babies. I can't wait to get my hands on them."

Rachel smiled at the thought. Brown haired blue eyed babies. The image warmed her heart and she wanted to reach out, grab on and hold on tight. "Thanks Mel. As a thank you, I'm gonna send Joey and Chris over there to pick up another slice of strawberry pie."

Melissa squeaked. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"It was gonna be a dry shampoo day!"

Rachel laughed. "What's your point?"

"If they are gonna come, I can't just put in dry shampoo! I need to wash my hair! Oh God, what am I gonna wear? Shit... I can't talk right now. I gotta figure out what I'm going to wear!"

The phone went dead in Rachel's ear and she chuckled. Grabbing her trash from the table she pushed up from the table. Turning around she yelped seeing a man right behind her. Behind him was another man holding up a phone.

"Ms. Bass, can you give us an update on JC's condition?"

"No comment," Rachel said as she tried to duck around him but he blocked her.

"Can you confirm that the bullet was meant for you?"

"I said no comment."

"Did you know about Matthew Morrison's alleged affair with Addison Wright?"

The man continued asking her questions as she was able to duck around him. Keeping her head down, she quickly made her way from the cafeteria. There was no one to help her. Hospital security was not near the cafeteria. ICU was up on the fourth floor. There was no way she was taking the elevator and trapping herself with a tabloid reporter.

"Addison Wright is claiming to be in a relationship with JC Chasez. She alleges that you have been trying to come between them. Can I get a comment on that?"

"What?" Rachel said turning to look at the man before she shook her head. She turned away and moved faster; the questions still came. Passing the elevator she came to the door for the stairs. Throwing the door open she started running up the stairs. They were close on her heels.

"Is it true that Addison acted in self defense? Were you trying to attack her?"

The questions kept coming. Each worse than the previous. Her eyes were blurry with tears. She held on to the railing as she forced herself to continue up the steps. The last flight was upon her. She could see the door to the floor in front of her. All she had to do was get to the other side and there would be a security guard. If she made if there, she would be safe.

A hand reached out to halt her movements. Between her hurried movements and blurry vision, she missed the step and stumbled. She went down hard. Her knee jammed into the step and her teeth snapped together as her chin made contact with another step. Not expecting her to fall, the reporter stumbled and fell on top of her. Her head glanced off the step again.

It left her stunned for a moment. Rachel grabbed her chin in pain and felt wet substance. Looking at her hand, she paled seeing the blood. She kicked her feet, trying to get the man off her. When she was free, she crawled up the remaining steps and stumbled to the door.

"Ms. Bass!" The security guard, Tim, shouted in surprised when he saw her stumble through the door and fall to her knees. He quickly skirted his desk, calling for a nurse as he reached her side. "Are you okay?"

"Fell on the stairs," she said, taking in deep breaths. Her heart was beating fast. She was certain it was going to beat out of her chest. "Reporter chasing me."

"Reporter?" Tim's face closed down and he clenched his jaw. "Where?"

"Stairwell. He tripped me up."

A couple nurses reached them, and Tim let them take care of Rachel and he disappeared into the stairwell, calling for help on his radio.

"Easy," a nurse said when Rachel tried to stand.

"I'm okay," Rachel told her, trying to brush off her hands. "I just need to get back to JC."

"Sweetie, you're bleeding," the nurse said patiently with years of experience deal with patients who didn't want to be treated. "We need to get you cleaned up. That gash in your chin looks like it might need stitches."

Rachel groaned.

"I know," the other nurse said, patting her knee which drew a hiss from Rachel. "Did you hurt your knee as well?"

"I fell on my knee. My chin hit the step. He fell on me and my head hit the step." Rachel explain.

"Alright, let's get you into a room and get you checked out."

As the nurses were helping Rachel stand, the ICU door opened and JC's doctor stepped out. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw her. "My word! What happened?" He rushed forward. While the nurses helped Rachel stay in a standing position, Dr. Williams reached out and gingerly tilted her chin up so he could see the wound. "What happened?"

"Reporter was chasing her and she fell on the steps," the nurse supplied.

Dr. Williams' mouth set in a firm line. "Come on, let's get her into ICU. No reporters can pop up there."

With the help of the two nurses, Rachel walked toward the doors that led to the ICU ward. Dr. Williams scanned his ID card and the doors clicked. He pulled one side open and allowed the three women to walk through. When he went through, he made sure the door latched.

"Oh my gosh!" Anita exclaimed rushing forward. "What on earth happened!"

"How's JC?" Rachel asked seeing her.

"He's fine," Anita brushed off her question. "I'm more concerned about you at the moment.

"Take her in to his room," Dr. Williams ordered. "Get her chin cleaned up. I'll be there in a minute."

Anita nodded at the doctor and led the nurses and Rachel down the hall to JC's room. She pushed the door opened and snapped on the rest of the lights.

"What's going on?" JC asked, shifting in bed. The bed was currently elevated so he was in a seated position. It had been awkward at first and a little painful, but he was settled in. It felt good to be in a seated position. His doctor had told him if all went well, he would be moved out of the ICU in the early afternoon.

"Just relax," Anita said calmly, putting the door stop down. She glanced around the room her eyes quickly taking stock before moving to the folded out bed.  She quickly cleared the items off the bed. When she was finished, she had just reached JC's side as Rachel came through the door.

"Rachel!" JC exclaimed. Anita placed a hand on JC's shoulder, halting his movements. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I'm okay, JC," Rachel met his eyes and sent him a small smile. She took a seat and allowed one of the nurses to help her lift her legs and place them on the bed.

"That doesn't look like okay to me," JC said. His fisted his hand in an attempt to stop himself from getting out of bed. Anita still stood near him as if she knew exactly what would happen the moment Rachel came through the door.

Rachel hissed when the nurse touched a gauze pad to her chin. "Am I going to need stitches?"

"Might be able to use glue," the nurse said as she continued cleaning up Rachel's chin.

"You said you hit your knee as well?" The other nurse said, holding up a white hospital blanket. "We'll slide your pants off so Dr. Williams can check it out."

"Your knee?" JC repeated. "What happened?"

"I fell in the stairwell," Rachel said as she toed off her shoes, grimacing at the twinge in her knee.

"You fell down the stairs."

"No," Rachel murmured a thank you to the nurse when she slid her shoe off. "Tripped up them." Without standing up, she was able to push the leggings down her hips and legs. The nurse held the blanket up, offering her some semblance of privacy. "I was in the cafeteria eating breakfast, making a few phone calls. I was leaving to come up here when I was nabbed by a reporter. He and his iPhone wielding friend chased me up the stairs. I was almost to the door where Tim, the security guard, sits but I was tripped. I fell on the stairs and the reporter tripped and fell on me. Tim went into the stairwell after them, but I don't know if he caught them."

"Anita, you got it from here?" The nurse asked once the blanket was situated over Rachel.

"Depends," Anita looked down at JC. "You gonna stay in bed?"

JC looked at Anita before looking back at Rachel. Everything was telling him to go to her but he sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I'll stay in bed."

"Great!" Anita patted his shoulder and moved away from the bed. She looked over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes when she heard the rustle of bedding. JC had his hands raised in an innocent manner. "I mean it JC; stay put."

"Please don't get up," Rachel said softly as the other two nurses left the room to head back to their own ward. "I'm okay, really."

Inside JC was seething at the reporter for chasing her down, at the hospital for not making sure reporters steered clear, at himself for not being able to protect her, at his parents and Lance for not being here to make sure she wasn't alone, at her for going to the cafeteria alone. Most of his anger was ill placed, but he couldn't help how he felt. He silently watched as Dr. Williams came in and checked out the wound on Rachel's chin. Much to his dismay - and Rachel's - it needed stitches. Glue wasn't going to work.

"Am I going to have to go to the ER?"

Dr. Williams shook his head. "No. We're keeping you on this ward. It's heavily monitored. Considering this happened, depending on the situation going forward, while JC is well enough to be moved from the ICU, we might keep him on this floor because of its restricted access."

"It won't hinder his care will it?" Rachel asked.

"Not at all," Dr. Williams explained as he took the needle from the tray filled with a numbing agent. "A little sting. You'll feel warmth, but should be no pain," he explained as he inserted the needle into Rachel's skin to numb the surrounding area. "His care plan will remain the same, he'll just be roomed here."

"You'll get to stay with me a little longer," Anita smiled warmly. She took the needle from Dr. Williams and put it in the sharps bin that hung on the wall. "Bethany and I were sad to be losing you guys."

"Ugh," Rachel groaned as she felt the numbness begin to set in.

"Are you doing okay?" Anita asked immediately, poised to act quickly.

"Yeah." She gripped the blanket in a tight fist.

"This will probably only take three stitches," Dr. Williams said, ducking his head to look at the gash again. He lifted a square gauze piece and dabbed at the blood. "Four at the most. Just relax and I'll be done soon. It won't take very long."

JC saw the needle come out and had to turn his head away. He wished once again that he could reach her. He'd seen the grip she had on the blanket and wish he could take that hand in his. He was resigned to the fact that he had to wait until she was checked out. Once Dr. Williams and Anita left, he could go to her. He reached for his phone on the trey that Anita had rolled closer to him after he had gotten situated in bed. It was fully charged. The do not disturb had been turned on and when his screen lit up, he could see all the missed calls, voicemails, and messages. He ignored them all.

‘When are you getting here?' He tapped out the message to Lance.

‘I told Rachel we'd be there around lunch time. Have to swing by your place. She gave me a list of things to grab.'

‘Grab her a change of clothes.'

‘It's on the list. What's going on?'

‘Reporter chased her down. She fell in the stairwell. Busted her chin up. Doc is giving her stitches right now.'

A line of angry emojis came through and JC had to agree. ‘Are you fucking serious?'

‘They have her in here with me to make sure she's safe. Am I really that big of a news item right now?'

‘Uh yeah JC. It's kind of a big deal when a member of *NSYNC gets shot in his own home by a woman who had an affair with an actor on one of the top shows currently on TV.'

‘They know about that?'

‘Addison's talking to anyone who wants to listen. I've been fielding what I can. Thankfully Rachel's still ignoring her phone. I told Eric to earn the money you pay him and take care of shit. So his camp is handling everything.'

‘Maybe I should post something.'

‘Up to you. Probably won't stop reporters from trying to get in to the hospital though.'

‘Then Rachel can't go anywhere by herself.'

‘Surprised she even left your side.'

JC stewed while Dr. Williams finished the stitches on Rachel's chin. It ended up being four when he was done. After, he bared her knee and checked. There was minor swelling and bruising. Nothing an icepack and Ibuprofen wouldn't fix. Promising to check on her later when he made his rounds again, he bid them goodbye.

"I can get you a spare set of scrubs to change in to," Anita said as she cleaned up the trash left behind.

"It's okay. Lance is bringing me a change of clothes." Rachel replied and grabbed her leggings from where they were laid over the end of the worst bed in the world. A chair that converted into a small bed. She put her feet in the leggings and pulled them up her legs, grimacing when she moved her knee. Swinging her legs forward, she stood up; most of the weight on her other foot. She tossed the hospital blanket on the bed behind her, modesty forgotten, and pulled her leggings the rest of the way up.

"I'll be right back with the Ibuprofen." Anita told Rachel once she was assured the woman was okay.

"I'm just gonna..." she pointed to the small bathroom off JC's room and shuffled her way to it, feeling JC's eyes on her the entire time.

"Before I can..." Anita's voice trailed off when she returned to the room. Rachel wasn't there. "Where is she?"

"Still in the bathroom." JC said, his teeth grinding together as he clenched his jaw again. He was giving her another minute to come out before he climbed out of the bed and went to her.

"Oh dear," Anita said and dropped the papers down on the trey next to JC.

"What are these?" JC asked reaching for them.

"She needs to be admitted to the hospital before I can give her the medicine. It's no different than if she would have come in to the emergency room." Anita explained before knocking on the bathroom door. "Rachel? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Rachel wiped the tears and splashed water on her face one more. Using paper towels she dabbed her face. Balling up the soiled t-shirt, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. With her shirt soiled from when the blood dripped off her chin, she took it off. Now she just wore the black zip up hoodie, zipped up.

"Let me help you," Anita wrapped an arm around her waist and helped her walk toward the bed. "Uh huh," she tutted when Rachel tried to change course toward the folded out chair. "Over here next to JC."

JC slowly scooted over to give Rachel more room. He was tutted himself when he reached out trying to help. He dropped his arms and waited while Rachel sat on the bed and Anita helped her bring her legs up. Once she was situated, he wrapped his arm around her. He pressed a kiss into her hair.

"Now," Anita said and turned away. She grabbed the hospital blanket and covered Rachel's lower half. Then she grabbed the tray and wheeled it over to sit over Rachel's lap. "I need you to fill these out for me really quick. I will put them in the system. I can get you some medicine, then I'll get you discharged."

"Okay," Rachel said and grabbed the pen that Anita had laid on the papers.

"Are you okay?" JC asked softly when Anita left to go get an ice pack. He watched as Rachel filled out the forms, her handwriting shaky as a tremor worked through her hand. "Hey," he placed his hand on top of hers, stilling her movements. "Come here." He pulled her to his side. His hand went into her hair and guided her head to his shoulder. He wished he could wrapped her tightly in his arms, but he wasn't able to twist his body. He lifted his other hand brushing his fingers against her cheek.

"I should have been paying more attention."

"It's not your fault." JC told her.

"I ran up eight flights of stairs. I guess I should have taken the elevator."

"Then he could have trapped you in there."

"All I could think about was getting back up here. I knew Tim would take care of them. Once I got through the ICU doors, I would be in the clear. I almost made it. Then he tripped me right before I got to the top of the stairs. I lost my balance and went down. It happened so fast, I couldn't catch myself."

"It's okay," JC whispered, resting his head on hers. "It might be better to just stay here. At least for a couple days. Lance told me I'm apparently big news at the moment."

"I haven't been paying attention," Rachel admitted. "Maybe I should, I just... I've just been so worried about you."

"I know. I'll post an update myself, maybe that will get people to back off." He dropped the hand from her face and tapped the papers. "Fill this out so they can give you something for the pain. I can fill it out if you need me."

"I got it," Rachel sent him a smile and started filling out the forms again. Anita came back with an icepack and put it on her knee, wrapping an ace bandage around it to keep it from falling off.

"I'll be back with the Ibuprofen," Anita said once the forms were finished. "Then you can get some rest before visitors show up." She took the forms and left the room, quickly entering all the information into the system. When it was in, she paged the doctor to inform him he could order the medication. When everything was done, she was able to take the medicine back to Rachel and give it to her. "Now, just relax. Once the numbness wears off, it's gonna hurt. Have Lance bring you Ibuprofen."

"Thank you," JC told Anita as Rachel lay back. He pushed the button and lowered the bed back a little as Anita once again left the room, turning off half the lights in the process. "Lay here take a nap."

"I'm supposed to be taking care of you."

"We'll take care of each other."

*~*

Lance tried to get his anger under wraps as he showed his ID to Tim back on his post after the morning excitement.

"I'm really sorry what happened to Ms. Bass this morning," Tim said as he handed Lance back his ID. "I didn't hear anything in the stairwell until she came bursting through the doors. Nearly gave me a heart attack with the blood of her face."

"I'm just happy you were able to catch them before they got away."

"Thank your sister for that," Tim started chuckling. "She apparently kicked one in a not so good place if you know what I mean. He was curled up on the stairs, clutching himself. Tears in his eyes."

"Wish I could seen it," Lance said. The chuckle that broke free did nothing to quell his anger.

"You don't have to worry though," Tim said, his lips falling into a straight line as he grew serious. "No one can get to her through those doors."

"Appreciate it," Lance said. He nodded at Tim as he walked to the doors, unlocked at the press of a button at the guard's desk. He met Anita before he made it to JC's room.

"You look like you could spit nails."

"I just had a lovely talk with the head of security and the administrator plus a whole slew of people..."

Anita winced. "I'd rather get a root canal. I know it doesn't make what happened right, but Rachel is okay. In a week the stitches will be removed. Should be minimal scarring. Dr. Williams is excellent with a needle. She was lucky he just happened to be on the floor." She watched as Lance nodded. She knew it wasn't any consolation. The incident shouldn't have happened at all. "Just make sure in all this, JC doesn't push his own injuries aside."

"Easier said than done," Lance said and said goodbye to Anita. Opening the door to JC's room, he saw JC and Rachel sharing the hospital bed. JC's color had started to come back. He was no longer ghostly pale. He actually looked half human. Lance was glad. The paleness of JC's face made him look close to death. Now it actually looked like he was going to make it. Rachel's head rested on his shoulder. A blanket was pulled up to her waist. Her arm held her phone sideways. JC's eyes looked up when he entered, but his sister's didn't. "What are you watching?"

JC rolled his eyes. "Steel Magnolias."

Lance laughed and felt some of the anger fade. "How did she talk you in to that?" It was then Rachel shifted her head on JC's shoulder. The movement caused Lance to get a look at her face and he realized that Rachel didn't have to do much talking to get JC to agree to watch the movie. Her face spoke wonders. "Jesus," he whispered seeing the bruise blossoming from not only her chin, but her temple as well.

"Most people fall down stairs. I fall up them." Rachel tried to smile, but it felt like a grimace with the numbing medication still lingering.

"You had help." Lance dropped the bag on the folded out chair. "Hey, take it easy," he said when he turned around and saw Rachel sitting up. The phone had been silenced and placed on the trey, face down. He eyed the wrap on her knee.

"I'm fine." Rachel started unwrapping her knee. The ice pack was no longer cold. It had served its purpose. "Did you bring what I asked?"

Lance nodded. He wanted to make her lay back in bed, but he knew the efforts would have been futile. He fisted his hands and watched as she limped to the bag and dug through it for the items she wanted before disappearing into the bathroom. When the door clicked shut, he looked back at JC, seeing him shifting in bed, trying to sit up and swing his legs over the side. "Whoa whoa whoa!" He went to his friend's side, putting his hands on his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"I'm allowed to get up. I've been up multiple times today."

"Should you be doing it without someone here?" Lance let go of JC, but kept his hands near just in case.

"You're here."

Lance groaned. "And if you fall flat on your face what am I supposed to do?"

JC sent Lance a look. "Catch me before I fall flat on my face." He piled the blanket on his waist. His gown hung open, showing his chest and the angry incisions left behind. "What did she tell you to bring?"

"Sweat pants, zip up hoodie, t-shirts," Lance named off the rest of the items.

"Bring me the sweat pants." JC reached for the pants when Lance handed them to him. He grimaced at the movement.

"Should you be doing this?" Lance questioned concerned. "Let me get Anita..." The look JC sent him stopped him from moving. "Then at least wait for Rachel... or not." He said when JC sent him another look.

"The first time she sees me naked is not going to be like this."