In order to accommodate all the people who are asking me, about when the next chapter comes out, I've created a Yahoo Group (Gods, Yahoo is like the Borg!): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mark_writings

This is the page of the group, If you would like to be notified when a new chapter gets posted please go join my group. {smile} I'll try and make sure there's fun stuff along with this.

Ok, three things -

First, whoever is lurking on nifty putting my email addy into spambots -- stop it! Nifty is for enjoying stories not for finding emails. Besides, I just hit the delete button when I see them so you might as well not bother.

Second,

Dale, Cory and the rest of you, thanks for all you that have written me, all the email I've gotten has been so positive. And it is the inspiration that keeps me writing! I hope I can keep things interesting for you. Oh and Dale, I promise I will work in your suggestion into the story line! Just give me some time to develop it! ;-)

Third,

Since everyone else is doing it. Here are a few stories I liked and would recommend in no particular order.

Lance in Shining Armor

The Lottery Winner

My Surprise Romance

Maze of Moments

Lance, JC and the Astral Fan

Lance's Search

Jamie's Romance

Josh and Justin

Lance and Michael

From the last chapter:

"Let's go where we can have some privacy," Lance said as he guided me into his bedroom.

It was a large bedroom, much larger than the one in my apartment. A large king sized bed was up against one wall; there was a spacious sitting area on the other side of the room and a large armoire in front of the bed. Lance had let go of my arm and walked over to the armoire, opening it to reveal a large TV.

"You said you thought we'd have dinner and a movie, still up for that movie?"

"Sure."

He tossed me the remote. "You pick something and I'll get us some snacks and drinks."

He walked back out of the room, heading to the kitchen. I turned on the TV and started flipping through the pay-per-view channels seeing what's available. I settled on Scream 3. I hadn't seen that one before.

"So what movie?" Lanced wandered back into the room.

"Scream 3. I haven't seen it"

"Ooh, that’s cool. Here, I got some sodas and ice cream."

"Butter Pecan or Mint Chocolate Chip?"

"Butter Pecan, how'd you know?"

"Cause those are my two favorites." I smiled.

Lance laughed, "Butter Pecan, is my fav." He handed me a bowl and spoon and hopped up on the bed. "Care to join me up here?"

I smiled and hopped up next to him on top of the bed and we cuddled up, eating ice cream and watching the movie. "Mmmm, that was good." As I finished my ice cream and cuddled closer to him. Lance wrapped his arms around me and we continued to watch the movie. How the movie ended I don't know, I ended up falling asleep in Lance's arms.

Now Chapter Three

As the movie ended, Lance looked over t o see me sleeping next to him. He smiled and removed the empty bowls from the bed. As he returned he sat on the edge of the bed and just watched me sleep, smiled as he could see my chest rise and fall as I breathed. After a while, Lance climbed up behind me and just cuddled up to me and fell asleep.

Lance was the first to wake up in the morning. He got up and wandered into the bathroom to shower and clean up. After he got out of the shower, Lance peeked out into the bedroom to see that I was still asleep. He went back in to brush his teeth and finish up.

*******

Out in the living room that Lance and Joey were sharing, the rest of the group had assembled for breakfast.

"Come on Joey, we know Lance went out last night. Where'd he go?" Chris was asking.

"Screw where, I wanna know who he went with." JC chimed in.

"I can't say, I promised him. He said he would tell you, just give him time."

Justin got up from the couch and started walking towards Lance's room. "Lets go get him to tell us."

Joey started to run to Justin, but it was too late. "J, wait, no!"

Justin opened the door to the bedroom and walked in. He saw someone sleeping on the bed so he ran over and jumped on it. Much to his surprise, it wasn't Lance lying there in the bed. He jumped up. "Who the fuck are you?"

Grabbing my leg he started to drag me out of the bed. "JC, get Lonnie, some freak is in here!"

I awoke with a jolt on my leg. Thinking it was Lance being a playful; I kept my eyes closed and growled "Babe, lemme sleep some more."

Justin heard this and got even more pissed. He yanked at my leg again, pulling me out of the bed faster.

Lance heard a racket and started to wander out into the bedroom. He stopped in horror to see Justin there pulling me out of the bed. He yelled, "What the fuck are you doing J?" and started to storm over to Justin.

Just as Lance reached Justin, Justin had managed to drag me off the side of the bed, and I fell onto the floor, my head banged on the floor and everything went black.

Lance grabbed Justin by the shirt and pushed him up against the wall. "Leave my boyfriend the fuck alone!"

"Wha…..What???"

"You heard me! Leave my boyfriend alone!"

By this time the rest of the group was standing at the door.

"Umm, Lance……" Joey pointed to where I lay passed out on the floor.

Lance slammed Justin up against the wall one more time. "What the fuck did you do to him?" He dropped Justin and ran over to me. Picking me up and laying me on the bed he could feel I was still breathing. "Get a doc in here, NOW!!!!!!"

Just as Joey started to run out of the casita, he bumped into Lonnie.

"Everything ok in there Joey?"

"Justin grabbed Mark and tossed him on the floor, now he's unconscious and Lance is extremely upset."

"Ok, calm down, we'll get some paramedics here." Lonnie started talking into his 2-way radio. After a few seconds, he looked back at Joey. "They'll be here in less than five."

Joey walked back in with Lonnie following behind him. Justin had moved back into the living room and was sitting on the couch with a blank look on his face. Chris and JC were standing in the bedroom, just watching as Lance held me in his arms and was crying.

Joey wandered to the bed and sat behind Lance and squeezed him on the shoulder. "Medics will be here shortly, he'll be ok."

"I can't loose him Joey, I just found him, I love him."

"I know guy, don't worry, he'll be with you for a long time."

After a while, the paramedics arrived, Joey explained to them what happened. They examined me and brought me to with some smelling salts.

"He'll be ok. Just a little bump on the head. Just let him rest a little and keep the ice pack on his head for a while longer."

Lance sobbed a thank you as Lonnie escorted the medics out, having them sign some papers about not talking about what they saw.

I laid there with Lance sitting next to me. I could see the tears on his face. I reached up and wiped them off. "Hey, you don't have to cry, I'm ok. Was just a bump on the head, you heard them." I sat up and gave him a soft kiss. He nodded, smiled and then hugged me. While in the hug, I saw Joey sitting behind Lance. "What happened?" I asked.

Chris walked over from where he had been standing the whole time. "Justin walked in and saw you on the bed. I guess he thought you were some obsessed fan that somehow got in here and he yanked you out of the bed. When you landed on the floor you banged your head and blacked out. I guess he just overreacted. Sorry about that."

I nodded my head. "It's ok, I guess I can understand why he thought that."

"No it's not." Lance sobbed. "He hurt you."

"He was protecting you, he didn't know who I was."

Lance just sat there holding me.

JC cleared his throat. "Lance, is there something you'd like to tell us now?"

I pulled back from Lance. "I'll be back, nature calls. You go talk to your friends."

I slid to the side of the bed, stood up and felt a little lightheaded. I was about to fall back down, when Joey caught me. "Here Mark, let me help you." He looked over to JC, "I already know." Joey then helped me over to the bathroom.

When we got into the bathroom, Joey closed the door and stared at it while I took care of my business. When I was done, "You can look now." And I started to fix my morning hair. "Thanks for your help Joey. Sorry I caused so much trouble."

"Hey, its not your fault, Justin can be hot tempered at times." He was silent for a few more minutes. "Mark, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How do you feel about Lance?"

"Huh?"

"Well while you were out, Lance said a few things, it's obvious that he's falling for you and I don't want to see him get hurt."

I looked at Joey through the reflection in the mirror, and I could see the worry in his eyes. I turned around so I could speak to him face to face. "Joey, I know we only went out once, but I really think I care for him. Its funny, last night after dinner when we sat along the lake and talked, I felt so comfortable with him, like we've known each other all our lives. I really think I could share my life with him."

Joey looked into my eyes. "You're falling for him too?"

I nodded, "I haven't felt this way about anyone else before. I can't understand it."

*********

Back in the bedroom, Lance had watched as Joey helped me into the bathroom and saw him close the door. He looked back to see both JC and Chris standing at the end of the bed.

"Lance……" Chris sat down next to him.

Lance began to sob.

Chris grabbed him and hugged him. "Its ok, this probably isn't the way you wanted to tell us. I understand. Do you love him?"

Lance pulled back and looked at Chris.

"Do you love him?" Chris asked again.

"Yea, I think so, yes." Lance nodded as he started to sob again.

"Then I'm happy for you. Lance, you're still my friend and I'm here for you, nothing will ever change that."

"That goes double for me." JC stated as he walked over towards the two of them. "You love him and Joey seems to not have any problems with him, so he must be alright." He reached out his arm and gave Lance a comforting squeeze on the shoulder.

Lance looked over at JC. "Thanks guys, I really needed that."

There was a sound at the door, Lance looked over and saw Justin standing there. Justin and Lance looked at each other for what seemed like a few minutes, and then Justin turned around and left.

"Justin……" Lance started to go after him, but Chris grabbed him.

"Lance, let him be."

"But…."

"Give him some time. This all kinda just exploded in our laps after all, and it was a bit of a shock. He'll come around."

The bathroom door opened right about then and Joey and I walked out. Lance ran over and grabbed me into a huge bear hug. "Are you ok?" He whispered into my ear.

"Yea, just a dull headache, I'll be fine."

Lance pulled back just enough to kiss me. After the kiss he grabbed my hand and walked me over to the bed. "Chris, JC. This is Mark."

Chris and JC stood up. Chris came over first and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. Sorry about what Justin did."

JC then came to shake my hand after Chris. "No hard feelings?"

"Naw, you guys were just looking out for Lance. I'm just glad he's got such protective friends."

Just then my stomach let out a loud growl. JC laughed, "Damn, you sound worse than Joey! I didn't think that was possible!"

"Hey!!!" Joey cried as he threw a pillow at JC.

JC ducked and let the pillow sail into Chris.

Hey! JC said it, not me!" Chris complained. He then looked at me. "Come on out into the main room, we got some food from room service."

"Thanks. Sound good." Lance and I walked into the living room as the others followed. Behind me, Chris and JC looked at Joey who nodded giving them a silent look that said everything will be ok.

Breakfast was enjoyable, once I started eating, my headache seem to go away, but the back of my head was still a little tender. We all ate while Chris and JC asked about what I did and all, they seemed to be really cool with all that happened earlier. I could tell they really cared about Lance and they seemed to like me enough. I was worried about how Justin would be with Lance. But the others assured me that he'll come to.

"So what are you doing today?" I asked Lance.

"Well in about an hour we have a few interviews to do, then a sound check and meet and greet. Then back to get ready for the concert tonight."

"You're coming to the show, right?" Chris asked.

"Yea, you have to come!" As Lance wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the nape of my neck.

I chuckled, remembering how Lance was last night when he asked me to go to the concert.

"Yea, Lance already invited me. I have to work till 9pm but Lance said you guys had some opening acts so I should be able to get there just as you're taking the stage. Gee, this'll be my first boy band concert, I best wear ear plugs to tone down the screams of all the girls who for some reason love y'all." I chuckled, and then all of a sudden pillows came flying at me from out of the middle of no where.

We sat around for about another 30 minutes just chatting, talking about all sorts of things. Then Chris got up and started to head for the door.

"Time to start getting ready for the day, It was nice meeting you Mark, and I'm sorry for what all happened this morning."

I stood up and shook Chris's hand. "Its ok, just think that it didn't happen. I know I'm letting it just fade in the past."

Chris smiled as he shook my hand.

JC walked over to me and to my surprise, he hugged me. "Was nice to meet you, see ya at the concert." With that he finished the hug and walked out. I looked at Lance and he had a big smile on his face.

"They really seem to like you."

"What's not to like? I have the best boyfriend in the world after all." As I walked over to Lance and wrapped my arms around him. He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. I felt his tongue probe my lips, I opened my mouth and let his tongue enter as mine started to work its way into his mouth. We held each other in the embrace as your tongues eagerly explored each other's mouth.

Joey cleared his throat and waited for us to stop. After a few seconds of no response, he walked over and tapped Lance on the shoulder. "Ummm, guys….."

Lance sighed as we broke our kiss. "Yea, I know, time to get ready."

I looked at Joey, "Thanks for all your help today."

"No problem. See ya at the show." He hugged the two of us and walked into his bedroom.

I was still in Lance's arms as he walked me to the door. "I'm really going to miss you today. I won't be able to see you till after the concert." He began to pout.

"Well then, this kiss I'm gonna give you better be good enough to last till then." I then planted my lips firmly on his. After a few minutes we broke apart panting for air.

"Wow." Panted Lance. "I love you."

I smiled, "You know, I never thought I would say this to someone after the first date, I love you too Lance." And I kissed him again. "See you tonight cutie."

With that I walked out of his casita. Outside waiting for me was Lonnie.

"So Chris tells me you're coming to the concert late tonight."

"Yea, I have to work till 9pm tonight. Lance said that wouldn't be a problem."

"No, it shouldn't be, just let me give you directions on where to park, you'll be able to pick up your tickets and passes when you park. You know where the Bank One Ballpark is, right?"

"Yea, love going to the Diamondbacks games, great ballpark."

"Ok, cool, here's a map to get to the VIP entrance, you're name is already on the list, just tell the guard at the gate that you're on the list and they'll take care of you." He handed me a piece of paper with the map on it.

"Thanks. Oh, sorry if I caused any problems this morning."

"Don't worry about, Justin can be a little hot blooded at times, but the rest of the guys seem to like you and I can see that Lance really cares for you."

I smiled as the valet arrived with my Jeep. After tipping him I thanked Lonnie again and started to head home.