Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 19:08:47 +0000
From: Stephanie M
Subject: A Once In A Lifetime Love 1-2

Title: A Once In A Lifetime Love
Author Stephanie M
Disclaimer: This story is fiction and is not meant to imply anything about
the true sexuality of the celebrities mentioned.
Pairing: Lance/AJ
Status: WIP

Part 1

Lance looked over at his boyfriend of two years overjoyed at the fact that
they were spending their anniversary together, even if it was in secret. The
shivers gliding down his spine informed him that AJ was looking at him.

"What's wrong, love?" AJ asked, concerned at the sudden change in Lance's
mood.

"Just wishing that we could tell the others about us. I think we should do
soon, I'm sick of having to pretend around our friends." Lance replied.

"We'll tell them next week. At least we're together this year." AJ said, as
he squeezed Lance's hand gently.

"That's what I was thinking. We'll spend a couple of hours at 60:40 then we
go home for our own celebration." Lance said as he turned down a side
street.

"Look out, James!" AJ screamed as a car sped towards them, obviously out of
control.

There was a loud crash then the smell of petrol as the car overturned,
squashing the couple inside. Lance looked over at AJ relieved to see that he
was still alive before darkness overtook him.
*****
One Hour Later

"This is New York General speaking is there a Kevin Richardson there,
please?" A woman's voice said on the other end of the phone causing Kevin to
pale. Why were they calling was someone he loved hurt or even...dead?

"This is he. Why are you calling?" Kevin replied his voice shaking with
worry.

"You are down as an emergency contact number for a Mr Alex McLean. I'm
afraid that Mr McLean has been in an accident can you come down to the
hospital as soon as possible." The woman said her voice sincere.

"Yeah, I'll be there in ten minutes." Kevin replied as he hung up.

Jumping up from the bed, he quickly grabbed a cap and walked out of the room
towards Brian's room. Without knocking, he opened the door, unsurprised to
find the rest of the group inside.

"Guys we need to get to the hospital, AJ's been in an accident." said as
tears streamed down his face shocking the other members of his group who
rarely saw him cry.

"How is he?" Howie asked as the group stood ready to be there for their
brother.
******
As soon as the hospital came into view Kevin forced himself to return to
reality. The second the car stopped he opened the door and ran towards the
emergency department, the rest of the Backstreet Boys just a couple of
seconds behind.

"Hi, I got a phone call about AJ McLean it said he had been in an accident.
Can you tell me how he is?" AJ said to the receptionist just as his band
mates stopped behind him.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything, if you got to the waiting room, down
the corridor and take a left, a doctor will be along shortly." The woman
replied a sympathetic smile on her face as she saw the worry in his eyes.

"Hello are you here for Mr McLean?" The doctor asked in a calm voice.

"Yes we are. How is he?" Kevin said, eagerly.

"He'll be fine. It was touch and go for a couple of minutes, but he will be
fine after a couple of weeks resting. He has a five broken ribs, he was
stabbed in the stomach by some flying metal, but the surgery took care of
that injury. I'm afraid you can't see him yet." The doctor replied, as Nsync
burst through the door.

"Hi, we heard that Lance was in an accident. Is he alright?" Chris said,
speaking for the worried group.

"Oh yes, Mr Bass. He had several injuries, including a ruptured spleen. He
has a number of minor injuries including broken legs. The main cause for
concern is the fact that he still has not regained consciousness and he took
a great blow to the head. I advise all of you to get some rest they won't
wake up for a while." The doctor said shortly before leaving the room.

"Why are you guys here?" Justin asked curiosity in his voice.

"AJ was in an accident, it was probably the same one that Lance was involved
in." Kevin replied.
*******
Lance could feel something telling him to wake up but it felt so hard to
fight against the comfort of sleep. With a conscious effort, he groaned and
opened his eyes. The sight that greeted him was not what he expected.
Looking up at the face of an obviously concerned blue-eyed man Lance
swallowed twice before speaking.

"Who are you? Where is Alex? What have you done to him?...Alex, I need you.
Alex." Lance said half crying; noticing the look of confusion the man gave
him before there was a sharp pain in his arm.

"Why doesn't he remember me?" Justin Timberlake asked the doctor who was
checking Lance's pulse and pupils.

"My name is Elise Smith. He took a large blow to the head, so some memory
loss is expected. It is possible that he may have amnesia but we will not
know until we speak to him again. Do any of you know who this Alex is? It
would greatly help if she was here, the last thing we need is for Mr Bass to
be alarmed." The doctor replied, her voice calm but sympathetic.

"We don't know anyone called Alex. Was anyone in the car with him?" JC said,
speaking for the group who were still trying to accept everything.

"I'll have to ask the nurse, I've just come on duty I'm afraid. He's going
to be out for a while so why don't you go and get something to eat." Doctor
Smith said, her voice making it clear that it was an order not a suggestion.
******
Across the corridor the Backstreet Boys were looking at their friend in
shock, each one amazed at how frail and small AJ looked. This was not how
they saw their friend, how had this happened? Each one was blaming
themselves, thinking that they should have been with him or stopped him from
going out that night.

AJ slowly regained consciousness, the presence of his friends not
registering as he searched frantically for something or someone. Looking at
his chest, AJ burst into tears surprising his friends who rarely saw him
cry.

"What's wrong, AJ?" Kevin asked, keeping his voice as soothing as possible.

"It's not here, my necklace. I need it can you get it back, please?" AJ
asked his voice a mix of desperation and confusion.

"I'll have a look for it, don't worry we'll bring it back." Kevin said as he
searched the set of drawers not wanting AJ to get any more upset. With a cry
of triumph, Kevin lifted out a gold heart necklace with an inscription on
the back. Turning it over he found the words "A + J Forever. July 2000."
Kevin stared at the necklace in surprise, who was J and more importantly why
didn't AJ mention that he was seeing someone.

"Here's your necklace, I'll fasten it. Its beautiful, who gave it to you?"
Kevin asked ignoring the others staring at him and AJ in surprise wondering
why Kevin was asking about a necklace when AJ had just been in an accident.

"James gave it too me on our first anniversary. I gave him the exact same
necklace, weird huh? Where is he anyway? He's not hurt is he?" AJ asked his
voice changing from happy to alarmed when he realised that his boyfriend was
not there.

"We'll go and find him for you, why don't you go asleep and Howie will look
after you." Kevin said as he motioned for Brian and Nick to leave the room
before following.
*****
"I think we need to talk to Chris or JC." Kevin said an idea forming in his
mind, the pieces coming together.

"Why do we need to talk to them? We should be with AJ." Nick said anger in
his voice.

"We need to talk to them because I think that Lance is AJ's James." Kevin
replied, stopping suddenly when he noticed NSYNC walking down the corridor
towards them.

"Hi guys, how is AJ?" Chris asked remembering that AJ had been in an
accident.

"He'll be fine, can I ask you a question, Chris?" Kevin said, wondering if
they would think he was insane.

"Shoot but don't be long, Lance might need us." Chris replied.

"Is Lance's first name, James? Has he been asking for someone called Alex?"
Kevin said, seeing the confusion then shock in Chris' face.

"Yeah it is but everyone calls him Lance, apart from his mom." Chris said,
noticing the look of understanding in Kevin's eyes.

"I think he and AJ were in the car together but I'm not sure. Can I come and
see him with you?" Kevin said, wondering if he could confirm his suspicions.

"Sure but he might not remember you. He has forgotten us but remembers this
Alex, the doctor said it might be amnesia." Chris said.

At this point, the seven men walked down the corridor towards Lance's
private room. As only two visitors were allowed at a time Joey and Kevin
walked in together as the others waited outside.

"Hey Kevin. How's Alex? He's not seriously hurt is he?" Lance said as soon
as he spied Kevin approaching the bed.

"He's okay but he's asking for you." Kevin said with a small smile,
wondering if the pair was ever going to think about themselves.

"Tell him I'm alright and I'll see him as soon as they let me out of here."
Lance said groaning as pain flooded his body.

"We'll ask the nurse to give you something for the pain." Joey said seeing
Lance grimace in pain.

"Are you Kev's boyfriend?" Lance asked Joey, knowing there was something
familiar about the man.

Part 2

"No he's not my boyfriend, this is Joey a friend of yours." Kevin said,
letting out a mental sigh, so much for keeping his sexuality a secret.

"Are you sure about that? I don't know anyone called Joey." Lance said his
voice sure.

"I'm going to keep an eye on AJ. Try not to worry too much." Kevin said with
a smile as he left the room, pulling Joey with him.

"Can you go and get a doctor for Lance? I'll see if I can find a private
waiting room, it looks like we all need to talk." Kevin said to Joey,
knowing that the two groups needed to talk about their situation.

"Sure, we'll meet you at the waiting room then." Joey said with a small
smile, it looked like Kevin was more than a little upset at what Lance had
said.

Kevin walked down the corridor to AJ's room where the three healthy
Backstreet Boys were sitting around the bed with worried looks on their
faces, as they took in AJ's cuts and bruises.

"He's just gone back to sleep but he said that he wanted to speak to you
when you came in." Howie said, although he had no intention of waking their
fallen friend.

"I think you should wake him up, D." Kevin said, his tone making it clear
that it was an order not a suggestion.

Howie glared at him for a few seconds, unable to believe Kevin was acting so
callous when one of their best friends, their brother in everything but
blood was injured.

"Alex, AJ come on wake up. Kevin's here." Howie said as he gently shook the
sleeping man.

AJ opened his eyes, wondering what everyone was doing in his room. The he
remembered everything, but foremost in his mind was the fact that Lance
wasn't with him. Was his James hurt and no was going to tell him?

"Calm down, AJ. I've just seen James." Kevin said quickly, seeing AJ was
about to start worrying.

Kevin ignored the questioning looks from the rest of his friends as he
pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down. He knew that now he had
admitted that he had seen Lance, AJ would bombard him with questions.

"How is he? Where is he? Why won't anyone tell me anything?" AJ asked
quickly, his voice rising with every word.

"He's a little banged up but he should be okay. He took a blow to the head
so his memory is a little scrambled. He remembers you though and said that
I'm to tell you to stop worrying and that he'll see you as soon as they let
him." Kevin said, not wanting to go into Lance's injuries or the fact that
Lance seemed to have forgotten his family and friends.

"Thanks, Kev. Can you tell him that I love him and I'll try to stop
worrying?" AJ said as he returned to sleep, relaxing now that he knew his
boyfriend was well.

Kevin walked outside; waiting for the other three healthy Backstreet Boys to
join him he wondered just how he could explain everything. He didn't really
want to reveal everything he had found out until they met with Nsync.

"Just what was all that about?" Nick asked angrily as he glared at Kevin.

"I'll tell you as soon as we meet up with Nsync, it concerns them as much as
us." Kevin said before walking down the corridor, giving the other three no
option but to follow him if they wanted to know what was happening.
*********
"Why are we here when Lance needs us?" Chris asked in confusion, he would
have thought that Joey would want to stay with the younger man.

"We need to talk to Kevin about Lance. It won't take long and Lance is out
cold." Joey said as he paced around the waiting room.

"Whatever he has to say doesn't matter, Lance is hurt." Justin snarled.

The creek of the door opening caused Nsync to look at the door in dread, was
someone coming to tell them Lance was worse? They let out a breath they
hadn't even known they were holding when the four healthy Backstreet Boys
strolled in worry on their faces.

"Why doesn't everyone sit down and then we can get started?" Kevin
suggested, as he saw the rage burning in Justin's eyes, clearly the others
didn't want to be there.

The eight sat down in silence, too worried about their friends to bother
with idle gossip, Kevin looked from face to face wondering just how he was
going to explain everything without someone losing their temper.

"Everyone knows that Lance and AJ were in an accident, I've talked to them
and it appears that they were in the same car when the accident occurred."
Kevin said looking at the others to see how they were taking everything so
far.

"I didn't think Lance even talked to AJ." JC said half to himself.

"From what AJ and Lance have told me it seems that the pair know each other
quite well, in fact..." Kevin said, but before he could continue there was a
loud knocking on the door, seconds before it opened.

"Have any of you seen Mr McLean?" Dr Elise Smith asked as she looked at the
eight men.

"Yeah about ten, fifteen minutes ago in his room. Why what's happened?"
Howie said a feeling of dread coming over him.

"He's disappeared from the room, given your status its possible that someone
might have moved him." She replied before leaving the room a worried look on
her face.

"Come on, I think I have an idea where he is!" Kevin said inspiration
hitting suddenly.

The other seven didn't question, knowing that AJ could be in the clutches of
a crazed fan or lying alone injured somewhere. Kevin walked quickly through
the corridors, stopping outside Lance's room. The eight stared in shock at
the picture before them.
******
Inside the small hospital room, AJ was running his hands through Lance's
hair, crying. As they watched, Lance awoke and arched into the touch. Lance
gently touched AJ's face, pulling the other man towards him and placed a
gentle kiss on the older man's cheek.

"What's going on?" Nick asked aloud in shock.

"I would have thought that was obvious." Chris said, amusement in his voice.
Apparently they had missed a lot about their friends-how had they missed it?
He was about to say something else but stopped as AJ's voice flowed out into
the corridor.

"I thought you were dead, James." AJ said, close to tears.

"You should know you'll never get rid of me that easy. I love you, Alex. I'm
sorry I scared you." Lance replied, his voice serious.

"Only you would say sorry for getting in a car crash. God, I love you so
much, James." AJ said as gently kissed the back of Lance's hand.

"You can do better than that." Lance said in mock seriousness.

The pair kissed passionately, reassuring each other that they were okay and
that they were together. As they kissed, Lance looped his arms around AJ's
neck, pulling the other man down towards the bed. Breaking the kiss, Lance
patted the side of the bed and waited for AJ to join him. AJ got into the
bed, gently moving his arm across Lance's waist. The pair fell asleep,
instantly unaware of their eight friends watching them in a mix of confusion
and amazement.