Darcie sighed and stretched as she sat up on the bed. She and JC had gone back to his room some time after three and spent the rest of the night watching old black and white movies and gorging themselves on the chips and popcorn that JC snuck out of the banquet room. They had been in the middle of Breakfast at Tiffany’s when Darcie must have drifted off, snuggled against JC’s side.

She glanced around the room when she realized that he wasn’t beside her and found him sitting in a chair that was facing the window. She pushed the blanket aside and climbed to her feet, slowly walking over to him. She watched him for a few moments, taking in the way the morning sun was hitting his profile. She rolled her eyes at the romantic thoughts that were swarming her brain.

JC jumped when Darcie slid her arms around his shoulders, but he picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Good morning.”

Darcie smiled and kissed his cheek, “Good morning yourself, what time is it?”

“A little after nine.” JC laughed at the face she made, “You can go back to sleep for a few more hours, I doubt they have any food set out for us since everyone was partying pretty late.”

“Oh I’m sure the ones who called it an early night are up and getting ready for their flights.” She told him.

JC sighed and slouched down in his seat, his head falling back to rest against her stomach as she stroked his hair, “I forgot that everyone is leaving today.”

“Well not everyone.” Darcie told him, “Apparently Lance managed to get us all a flight that leaves tomorrow so that the five of you and me and Ami could have some more together time.”

“But it won’t be together time.” JC muttered.

“Don’t sound so bitter, we still get to be with each other without the fans and work looming over your head.” Darcie giggled.

“Yeah but I will have three very nosey band mates and one over protective big brother type watching my every move.” JC told her, “Not to mention Ami.”

“Ami’s harmless!” Darcie exclaimed.

“You say that now, but I heard her tearing Joey a new one for hitting on that poor server last night. It’s always the quiet ones that you need to be afraid of, and I have a feeling that Ami would be like a damn Pit bull.”

“I never knew you were such a pussy.” Darcie teased him.

“You’re just saying that because you don’t have to face the wrath of Ami.”

“Oh believe me, I’ve had to sit through an Ami lecture, the key is not to let anything surprise you or catch you off guard, that’s when she’ll attack.”

“Thanks for that piece of advice.” JC said, “Come on, get dressed and let’s go see if we can dig up some food around this place.”

~ * ~

Darcie entered the conference room that they had been eating all their meals in while they were in Cancun. The guys were sitting on one end of the table, all of them cradling their heads or with their heads down, plates of food in front of them that their mothers had no doubt insisted they eat. Ami was beside Justin, her head resting on his back while he lazily pushed a strawberry around his plate.

She shook her head as she slipped a bagel into the toaster and smiled at Lance’s mom as she came up beside her.

“You look better then those five.” Diane drawled, smirking as her son moaned and dropped his head to the table.

“That’s because I wasn’t drinking until the wee hours of the morning.” Darcie laughed, “I quit after my second glass of Champagne since I originally didn’t want to fly home with a hang over. Of course they carried on with their drinking once Lance announced he got the seven of us a flight out tomorrow.”

“It actually surprises me that Ami is as bad as them, she doesn’t seem like a drinker.”

“She’s not, but when she goes, she goes hard.” Darcie laughed as Karen Chasez joined them.

“Have you seen my son this morning?” She asked, “I’m beginning to wonder if he drank himself into a coma.”

Darcie giggled and grabbed her bagel as the toaster popped, “He’s out side talking on his cell phone. He left with me last night and we just watched some movies in his room.”

Karen rolled her eyes, “The boy needs to learn to leave that electronic leash behind and actually take a vacation.”

“I assume that we’re speaking about me?” JC said as he strolled into the room, “Well don’t you guys look like you’re ready to face the day?”

Justin groaned and grabbed his head, “Go to hell JC, that’s all I have to say to you.”

“Justin.” Lynn threatened from the other end of the table.

“Sorry mama.”

Darcie laughed as Ami rolled her eyes and sat up, “Good morning sunshine.”

“Since my mom can’t yell at me, go to hell Darcie.”

JC laughed and wrapped his arm around Darcie’s shoulders, “It’s not her fault you decided that drinking that much rum was a good idea.” He teased before dropping a kiss on Darcie’s lips.

Darcie blushed as she became aware of every set of eyes in the room. Diane and Karen were standing next to them with their jaws dropped as she heard a chair fall behind her.

Darcie yelped as Ami grabbed her arm and pulled her away from JC, “You, me, girl talk, now!”

“Okay, ow, don’t pull so hard!” Darcie pleaded, “And you thought you were the one that was going to be facing the Wrath of Ami.”

Ami rolled her eyes, “Oh, he’ll be next on my list.”

Darcie stumbled along behind Ami, even though she knew that she could easily over power her friend, she also knew it would be much worse for her if she struggled. She tripped over her own feet when Ami shoved her into the elevator and hit the button for their floor.

“I’ve never known you to be so feisty and handsy is Justin rubbing off on you?”

“You’re not as cute as you think you are.” Ami told her, “Move it or lose it sister.”

Darcie rolled her eyes and stepped out as the doors opened and allowed Ami to move past her towards the room they had been sharing. “I’m going to assume that you didn’t come back here last night either since you didn’t freak on me when I walked into the breakfast room.”

“For your information I woke up in bed with Lance.” Ami groaned and covered her face with her hands, “That so did not come out right.”

“Oh I think that came out perfect.” Darcie told her, “Tell me does the boy’s voice really sound like a porn when he’s turned on like we always thought?”

“Nothing happened, Justin passed out on the other bed and Lance and I just sat talking and we must have passed out.” Ami told her.

“Yeah right, tell me, should we be worshiping his mama’s feet?” Darcie egged her on.

“He’s gay Darcie.”

“I mean he’s from the south right, so I can just ima – wait, what?”

“He is gay.”

“Like happy gay or we sit on the same bench and take up bat right after each other gay.”

“Oh he definitely bats for the same team as us.” Ami told her, “We spent most of the night watching movies and discussing men.”

Darcie put a hand to her chest, “That is so damn heart breaking, wait how come he hasn’t told me yet?”

“He was going to tell both of us but you disappeared with JC.” Ami said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Speaking of which, what the hell was that all about this morning?”

“What are you talking about he always gives me hugs.”

Ami glared at her and leaned against the dresser, “Don’t play coy with me. He’s been cuddly with you since Christmas day, don’t think I missed that little ear kiss he gave you. Not to mention when Lance came in last night after we sent him to fetch you two he looked like he walked in on a porn.”

“Did you just say fetch?”

“Don’t change the subject.” Ami said, “Were you getting freaky out on the balcony, and if you were you better start sharing some details here.”

Darcie’s eyebrow arched playfully, “Living vicariously through me?”

“Always have.”

“Always will.”

Ami made a face, “God, I sure as hell hope not.”

Darcie giggled, “But to answer the million dollar question, yes JC and I are officially together, so time to jump on the Justin wagon and get crackin’ on that boy.”

“Go easy on him Aims, I do kinda like him in one piece.”

“Any mark I leave on the boy you can repay on Justin.”

“When he finally gets his head out of his ass and asks you out.” Darcie laughed, “Though you could go the women’s lib route and ask him out you know.”

“I like to think of myself as a traditional feminist.” Ami told her.

“That’s an oxymoron.”

“So is a thirty year old in a boy band.” Ami giggled.

“Oh leave Chris alone and go bug my boyfriend.”

Darcie groaned at the smirk that crossed over Ami’s face, “Oh this will definitely be one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life.”

Darcie shook her head as Ami moved through the door to their room, “I really need to get that girl laid.”

“I heard that!” Ami called through the door making Darcie giggle.

~ * ~

It took Darcie several hours to track down Lance and when she finally found him, he was lecturing JC. She decided to try again in an hour but then found him laughing with Chris and Joey while they played a video game. She didn’t want to talk to him about what Ami had told her, if she did that it would mean that he would lose some sense of normalcy; at least what little normalcy he had left.

After dinner, Darcie decided to go down to the beach to watch the sunset. JC was still being lectured by Chris so she left a note for him telling him where she would be if he wanted to join her later.

She spotted someone sitting on the beach and recognized Lance’s posture as he stared out over the ocean. She sat down next to him and nudged him with her shoulder. “Hey.”

Lance glanced at her and smiled softly, “Not with JC?”

“No, Chris is still lecturing him about not hurting me.” Darcie muttered.

“You can’t blame him; he’s always been protective of you.” Lance told her.

“I heard that you gave him quite an earful too.” She teased.

Lance chuckled, “Probably no where near as bad as the one he’s getting from Chris.”

“You know I am a big girl.” Darcie told him as she laid her head on his shoulder, “You guys can’t protect me from all of this. You can’t protect me from a broken heart.”

“That doesn’t mean that we can’t try.” Lance said, nuzzling her hair, “We all want what’s best for you. Just think of the hell you can put Justin through when he finally asks Ami out.”

“Speaking of Ami, she said that you wanted to talk to me last night.”

Lance shrugged and stared back out over the ocean, “It’s nothing important.”

“If it wasn’t anything important you wouldn’t have that look on your face.”

“What look?” He asked.

“The same look you got when you were worried about not getting the dance steps during your first tour and you stayed up all night trying to learn them. The same look you got when you were worried that the fans were going to see just how out of place you felt. It’s the look you get when ever you’re worried about something that you have absolutely no control over.”

“It’s just nerves about the…”

“If you try and blame this on the album I will kick your southern ass all the way back to Mississippi.”

“She’s already told you hasn’t she?” Lance sighed.

Darcie wrapped her arms around his arm and snuggled closer to him, “Ami can’t keep anything from me, but I want to hear you say the words.”

“I’m gay.”

“Alright, and?”

“What do you mean ‘and’?”

Darcie shrugged and looked up at him through her lashes, “And what were you so worried about?”

“That’s it?” Lance asked, sitting back from her, “You aren’t disgusted with me?”

“Your mom yelled at Chris for two hours when she saw that article.” Lance laughed.

“I have the newspaper clipping in my scrapbook, and Chris managed to get a copy of the picture for me.”

“You should have told me.”

“What was I going to say, ‘No Lance, don’t kiss me in front of all these photographers, I’ve never been kissed before’?” Darcie giggled, “I’d rather flub my way through a kiss then admit that in front of reporters any day.”

“Did you know that JC almost pounded my face into the carpet for doing it?” Lance laughed, “I told him that they kept egging me on, telling me to give you just one little kiss and I figured, what could it hurt. I meant to kiss your cheek, but you turned your head at the last minute.

“When we got to the hotel, after I came up from the room you and Justin were sharing he hauled me inside his room and threw me around. He asked me what I was thinking. For the longest time I thought that he was pissed off because I had broken the ‘No Girlfriend’ rule that Lou had put on the band. We had to appear single and ready to mingle at all times.”

“I remember that.” Darcie sighed, snuggling against him once more, “Chris was pissed off because he had to hide that one girl and pretend like they weren’t dating. They broke up not long after if I remember correctly.”

Lance nodded and leaned his head against hers, “JC kept going on and on about how I shouldn’t have done that and all I could think of was that he was going to get the other guys to kick me out of the group. I mean the other four had a connection, I was the outsider.”

“I remember that, you avoided JC like the plague for two weeks.” Darcie whispered, “I finally threatened to beat his ass in if he didn’t apologize to you.”

“He was so shocked that you said that, I remember he tried to say that he hadn’t done anything and you told him that he was full of shit because I wouldn’t be acting like a spooked horse if he hadn’t.”

“The guys teased me for weeks for saying that.” Darcie giggled, “Chris told me that I wasn’t allowed to spend alone time with you anymore because I was becoming ‘too southern’.”

Lance chuckled, “It’s kinda funny now that I look back on it.”

“Why?”

“Because, he wasn’t mad at me for breaking that stupid rule, he was mad at me for kissing you.” Lance said, looking down at her, “He was crazy about you even then, even if he didn’t want to admit it.”

Darcie smiled before pulling away to look at him seriously, "I just have four questions for you."
 
"That's a pretty specific number."
 
"I'm a specific kind of girl." Darcie giggled, "Chris?"
 
Lance laughed, "Ami asked the exact same thing. He's cute in that 'I wanna pinch his cheeks' kind of way."
 
"Joey?"
 
"Cute in that loveable goofball way."

"Justin?"
 
"Yummy."
 
Darcie giggled, "JC?"
 
"I'd totally tap that."
 
Darcie laughed and hugged Lance tightly, "Look at it this way, now you can man watch with me and Ami!"
 
Lance smiled and hugged her back, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. "Sounds good."

“Hey now, don’t be making moves on my woman.” JC said as he plopped down on the sand beside them.

Lance smirked and tightened his hold on Darcie when JC reached for her, “Finally escape Chris?”

“I made a break for it when he went to use the bathroom.” JC muttered, pulling on Darcie’s arm. “Hand her over boy.”

“Not my fault you’re not man enough for her JC.” Lance teased.

Darcie smiled sadly up at Lance, thinking about how it was like watching a character in a play. She felt sad for Lance because he felt like he had to pretend with the guys. She knew what he knew, if word got out that he was gay, millions of teenage hearts would be broken, and while she fully believed that the majority of their fans would get over it and still buy their music, they would still stand in line for hours to get concert tickets and receive autographs. But for Lance he would be in a very lonely place, shunned by his peers and possibly by his superiors. Lance being true to himself meant losing one of the most important things in his life, his music.

“You’re serious all of a sudden.” JC said, finally managing to work her free of Lance’s grasp.

“Just thinking of the road that’s ahead of you guys.” Darcie said softly, wiping at the tears that formed in her eyes, “There’s so many rough patches ahead.”

Lance reached down and squeezed her hand as JC pressed his lips to her temple, “We’ll be okay Darc.” Lance said.

“As long as we have you, Ami, our families and each other, we’ll have everything that we need.”