Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 13:53:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Lulupower Subject: nsa 33 No strings attached, written by lulupower Legal disclaimer: This story is purely fictionnal and it doesn't mean to imply anything about the sexuality of any of the celebrities mentionned in it -- nor about their health! Also, if you're not 18 or if you're offended by homosexual topics, please leave now. Author's note: Hey y'all. As you can see, I re-wrote this part. I had to, since I recieved countless e-mails about JC having aids and his '4 to six months before he died' not being possible. SO, the chapter is exactly the same, I just changed the words AIDS for 'uncurable unknown disease'. Okay? Thanks to all of you who wrote to me and told me I was wrong. Sorry 'bout that! Don't forget to e-mail me about this new version and, again, I'm deeply sorry if I offended anyone in any way with last chapter. -> lulupowerstories@yahoo.com Go read these: - My surprise romance, by Gabriella Morrisson (*the* best story *ever*!) - Brian and me, by DLS (the serie is over! I can't believe it!!!) - French kiss me, by Fallen Angel (good story...when will we be able to read the next chapter?) - Lance in Shining armour (it's an old one, but it's goooooood!) - In synchronicity, by Will (Anyone heard of Will? Is he dead?) - Brian and Justin, by JM - Lance's search, by an author whom I can't remember the name. :) - ... Okay, on with the show now! **********CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE********** They were leaving the next day. At, least, they thought they were, until the phone rang. Lance ran for it, since JC was in the shower. "Hello?" he said into the phone, a little out of breath. "Hi, may I speak to Mr Chasez please?" a woman's voice asked. "Um, he's in the shower right now, may I help you?" Lance asked politely. "Yeah, maybe you can. While Joshua was in the hospital a few days ago, we ran all sorts of tests on him, and we detected some kind of virus. We need him to come to the hospital and see his doctor to pass a few tests again. Do you think he could come by this afternoon? It will only take a few minutes, half an hour top." the woman said. "Uh, yeah, sure... Do you know what kind of virus it is?" Lance asked worriedly. "No, that's why we need to run a few more tests on him. We'll be expecting you at two, is that okay with you?" she asked. "Yeah, we'll be there. Thank you." he said, then he hung up. "Who was on the phone, baby?" he heard JC yell from the bathroom. "The hospital. While you were there, they found out you had some kind of virus in you, and they need to run a few tests on you this afternoon. We have to be there at two, and the lady said it wouldn't take long." Lance replied. "'Kay." JC said simply. Three hours later, Lance and JC were at the hospital, in the doctor's office. "Um, Joshua, do you take any kind of drugs?" the doctor asked. JC frowned. "No. Never did." JC answered truthfully. "Have you had more than one sexual partner in your life?" the doctor asked. "Uh, yeah, two." JC said, frowning even more. "Did you always wear a condom?" the doctor asked. "Uh, no. I wore it with the other guy, but I've stopped doing so with Lance...Why?" JC asked, confused. The docotr was frowning. "Well at first we thought you had AIDS. But it can't be that. I...I'm confused, Joshua, we know you have a disease, but we don't know what it is." the doctor said. "There has to be some kind of mistake somewhere..." Lance said, panic showing though his voice. "No...The chances are very slim. We can run a few more tests on you if you'd like, but it's obviously something unknown. And...I'm sorry to tell you that, but it's uncurable." The doctor said. JC's face went white as a ghost, and Lance's eyes grew wide. "How long do I have?" JC asked. "We, umm...we can't know for sure" JC cut him off. "How long do I have?" he asked angrily. "Four to six months." the doctor said apologetically. JC got up and looked at Lance. "Let's get out of here. Is there anything else doc?" JC asked. "No. We'll order some medication for you, and we'll call you when we get it." the doctor said, getting up too. JC walked out of the doctor's office. "Josh, wait!" Lance called, following JC. JC went on walking for a little while, then he stopped dead in his tracks, spun on his heels and threw himself in Lance's arms, sobbing loudly. "Shhhh, Josh...you'll be fine." Lance said, crying too. "No I won't. I have *four* months ahead of me. Four fucking months!" JC yelled, making Lance cry even harder. JC untangled himself from Lance's embrace and wiped his face. "Let's go home." he said, walking towards the exit. Lance wiped his face too, vain effort to stop the tears. He followed JC to his 4-Runner, and unlocked the doors. JC grabbed the keys from his hands and sat on the driver's side. "Jayce...I don't think you're in any shape to drive." Lance said softly. "Shut up. I think I'm old enough to know if I'm in shape to drive, thank you very much." JC said, starting up the car and driving off. When the speedometer hit 150 miles per hour, Lance grabbed the armrest and looked at JC with a little fear in his eyes. "Could you slow down a little? We're gonna have an accident if you don't." Lance pleaded. "I'm dying anyway." was JC's reply. "Goddammit Jayce! I don't have to die too you know!" Lance yelled. JC hit the brakes and slowed down to 75 miles per hour. "I'm sorry." he muttered. "It's okay. I'm sorry too." Lance said softly. "I don't want you to tell anyone." JC said sternly. Lance and him were sitting on their couch; Stacey and Tyler were in their bedroom, doing whatever they did when they went there once a day. "What? Are you insane?" Lance whispered with anger. "No I'm not. I don't want anyone to worry. So you're keeping your mouth shut and you won't tell *anything* to *anyone*, you hear me?" JC said. "What about the tour?" Lance asked quietly. JC sighed. "Listen, I...I'm going on tour with you guys for a few weeks, a month at the top, then we're going to say I'm sick again, which is not that much of a lie, and end the tour, or at least postpone it." JC said. Lance closed his eyes. "Fine. Whatever you want." Lance said, obviously fighting the tears that were threatening to leave his eyes. JC felt his heart break in two. "James...You have to understand. I'm not doing this to hide my disease or to ruin whatever little health I have left...I just wanna sing, I wanna perform, I wanna be with you on stage again a few times before I... Before it's too late." JC said. He placed a finger under Lance's chin and lifted it, forcing Lance to look at him in the eyes. "I love you, you know?" JC said softly, wrapping his arms around Lance's body and burying his face in Lance's neck. Lance returned the hug and held JC tightly. Soon, he felt his neck getting wet. He kissed the top of JC's head and held him tighter. "I love you too Jayce." he said softly. JC started sobbing. "Shhh, baby..." Lance said softly, rubbing JC's back with his left hand. "I don't wanna loose you..." JC said, his voice hoarse. "I don't wanna loose you either Jayce." ***** The next day, they left Orlando. The guys, Tyler, Stacey, the tour crew, everyone wondered why the hell both Lance and JC had puffy, red eyes when they arrived on the tour bus. Why, all of the sudden, JC had decided to perform with them again. But they all let it go. "Must be their therapy!" everyone always said. The first week, everything was fine. JC tripped over his own two feet, since he hadn't done a show in months, but besides that, everything went by smoothly. On the second week, JC started to be tired. Too tired. So he slept. But wasn't JC *always* sleeping anyway? On the fourth week, JC started vomitting every morning. And one time, during a show, he fainted backstage. Lance kept telling him it was time to stop, JC wouldn't listen to him. One morning, exactly five weeks after the beginning of the tour, Justin caught JC throwing up. He saw the blood in the corner of JC's mouth. He saw the pills on the counter. He wanted explanations. So JC told the guys about his disease. He made them promise not to tell anyone. The guys made him promise that that night was their last performance. "Hey Denver! What's up?" Lance yelled into his microphone. He was rewarded by thousands of screams. He smiled. "It was a pleasure for us to be here tonight. This was the last show we'll be doing for a while. We're all dead tired and we don't wanna get sick, like JC did last year, so we're gonna take a long break. I think we need it. We keep having to cancel tour dates, so we're just gonna cancel the whole tour and start back when we're all rested and healthy again." Lance said the last part with a little waver in his voice. He cleared his throat and went on. "So let's end things with a song that's very special to us, since it's the first song that we ever sang together as N'Sync. Guys?" Lance called, looking at the rest of the guys. Justin had tears in his eyes. Chris was looking at the floor. Joey was crying freely. JC...Lance couldn't see what JC looked like, his vision blurred with his own tears. Lance held out his hand and grabbed JC's, pulling him into a hug. Soon, the other guys joined in. They stayed like that for a few seconds, then Justin wiped his eyes and cleared his throat. "Let's do it guys." he said. He sang everyone's note, gave the cue, and they started singing. She was my once in a lifetime Happy ending come true Oh, I guess I should have told her I thought she knew She said I took her for granted That's the last thing I would do Oh, I'll never understand it I thought she knew I thought she knew my world revolved around her My love light burned for her alone But she couldn't see the flame Only myself to blame I should have known I should have known A heart full of words left unspoken Now that we're through I'd sell my soul to have this silence broken Oh, I thought she knew (I thought she knew) I thought she knew my world revolved around her My love light burned for her alone But she couldn't see the flame Only myself to blame I should have known I should have known She was my once in a lifetime Happy ending come true I guess I should have told her But I thought she knew (I thought she knew) I thought she knew (I thought she knew) I thought she knew (I thought she knew) Oh, I thought that she knew The lyrics of the song had no meaning to them. It was the song in itself that caused them all to be crying by the end of the song. The fans didn't seem to notice anything unusual when they saw N'Sync leave the stage. They didn't seem to notice how Lance held JC's hand like a life jacket. ***** Stacey and Tyler were sent to the Chasez home without any explanantion. Karen and Roy Chasez thought it was because they were tired. Stacey and Tyler thought it was because they needed their privacy. One night, a few days after they came back home, JC and Lance were lying on their bed. It was something they did very often, since JC was too tired to do anything else than watch TV, play piano, and sleep. JC's head was on Lance's bare chest, and Lance's arms were wrapped protectively around JC, as if he wanted to prevent him from going anywhere. "Lance? You asleep?" JC whispered. "No...I was just thinking. Is there something wrong?" he asked, immediately switching into 'nurse Lance' mode. "Nah, I'm fine. Would you mind if we got married a month earlier?" JC asked. "Um...If we got married a month earlier, we'd get married on saturday, which is in three days." Lance pointed out. "Would you have a problem with that?" JC asked. "No...We just don't have anything prepared. You wouldn't mind having a small, tiny wedding?" Lance asked. "Nope. We'd only invite the guys and Tyler, since he's my best man. Would *you* mind?" JC asked. "Nope. As long as you're the one I marry, I'll be fine." Lance said with a smile. "Let's do it then. We'll fly to Hawa on friday, okay?" JC asked. "Sure. May I ask why you want all that?" Lance asked lightly. "I don't wanna wait. I've got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that if we wait until June, it'll be too late." JC said. "Don't say that Jayce. The doctor said four months, and it's been like a month and a half." Lance said. "Who do you trust the most, James? Me, or a doctor who doesn't know a damn thing about me?" JC asked. Lance sighed. "I'm sorry." Lance whispered. "You've got nothing to be sorry about, baby." JC said, kissing Lance's chest. The next morning, Lance called the guys to let them know about the change of plans. "Why are you guys doing this so fast? Did something happen to JC?" Justin asked when Lance called him. "No...He's still going downhill, of course, but he's still in pretty good shape. He just wants to do it now." Lance said. "Okay then. I'll be there." Justin said. "Ummm, Just?...Will you be my best man?" Lance asked shyly. "Oh my God! Sure, of course! It'll be an honor for me, Lance." Justin said. "Thanks Just. I'll call you back later to tell you all the details for the flight on friday, okay?" Lance said. "Okay, talk to ya later." Justin said, hanging up. Lance hung up too, slowly, and leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes and let a few tears roll down his cheeks. He, too, had a feeling that by the time June arrived, he'd be alone. **********TO BE CONTINUED********** There you go! :) I started to write the next chapter, so it should be ready in a few days, maybe two weeks. See y'all later!