*Disclaimer - I do not own any of the members of 'N Sync (nor would I ever really want to) they belong to their respective owners. I do, however, own all fictional characters such as Mike, Devon, Dawn, Rachel, Ashley and Carli. Plagiarism. No. Thanks.

All of her defenses were waning away into nothing, her walls slowly crumbling down with each passing second. If only he would remain this way. She glared as his sleeping form on the only bed in the room. He had passed out shortly after they had been locked up together. She sat in a chair, part of her wishing she could brush back the lock of hair that was now resting on his forehead, the other part wondered with dismay how much hair goop he used to keep it up the way he did. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She was clearly becoming punchy because of the late hour and no sleep.

"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow." Mike sang softly to herself with a roll of her eyes. She was half tempted to find a metal cup and bang it against the door, demanding for her one phone call. She climbed to her feet with a sigh and looked out the window. It was close to four am and there were no signs that she was going to be let out of her temporary prison cell anytime soon. The phone rang shrilly, causing JC to jump into a sitting position. He sighed rubbing his face and reached for the phone.

"Hello?" he mumbled sleepily. After a moment he flopped back on the bed with a perturbed look on his face.

"Yes, this is JC from 'N Sync…..no I was sleeping…..I'm not sure if we can do…..I can find out but…..it's four in the morning no one is up……we were all sorta sleeping……no, Justin isn't looking for a wife, but if he were I'd give him your name….no, Lance and Kathy aren't dating…..neither are Joe and Kathy…..um…we'll be in town for a week or two……I don't really have the time to go out with you, I'm sorr…..maybe next time? I'll see what I can put together….," JC closed his eyes, shoulders sagging visibly. Mike sighed with a sympathetic smile as she walked over to him and held out her hand. JC immediately relinquished hold of the phone.

"Hello? Who's this?" Mike demanded in a sweet voice. "Angel, hi. This is Mike, JC's best friend. You see, I have a slight problem. I'm staying in the room next door and your phone call not only woke both me and JC up, it woke up everyone else in the room on the other side of him. He doesn't mind talking with fans, but please remember that this is the only time he gets to sleep and calling at this hour is rude. Okay? Thanks. Buh-bye." JC smiled his gratitude as she hung the phone up and strode back over to the chair. "Thanks. I've never been able to tell people not to call."

"You've always been a softie when it comes to women. Just not the women closest to you." Mike mumbled leaning back in the chair, eyes closed.

"What's that mean?" JC inquired with a yawn.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." She replied with a hint of annoyance.

"Tell me. I'm up anyway." JC shrugged.

"Fine if you're up, you won't mind giving the bed up so I can finally get some sleep." Mike snapped jumping to her feet.

"You haven't slept yet?" JC demanded with a raised eyebrow.

"No, genius, I haven't." Mike sighed waiting patiently for JC to relinquish hold on the bed.

"We could have shared the bed." he sighed.

"No, we couldn't have." she snorted with a shake of her head as he stood up.

"Nothing would have happened." he told her with sincerity. Mike pretended not to hear him as she crawled under the blankets and closed her eyes for a long awaited nap.

JC sighed, rubbing his itchy, bloodshot eyes from the chair Mike had vacated nearly two hours ago. He shook his head with a rueful smile. She was definitely a handful for anyone to handle, but at the moment, she looked like an angel. Part of him wondered how one woman could be so strong, and the other part wondered with dismay how she could look so sweet and innocent and be such a tigress in attitude and nature. JC shook his head to clear his thoughts and paced the room idly. It was six in the morning, no one would be up yet.

He gazed out the window at the waking city with an almost retrospect frame of mind, reminiscing about the past. He and Mike had always been close, but somehow a black hole had come between them, sucking up all the things they had in common and replacing them with people they barely knew. It wasn't that they had changed too much, because they were still the same people, but circumstances had changed. Feelings and thoughts had changed. Nothing had been the same since that fateful day at the airport when she had kissed him.

Looking back on it now, he should have seen it, but then hindsight was always twenty-twenty and there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it now. All he could do was try and clear things up and get some sort of friendship or relationship back with Mike. He shook his head as he watched a car drive by.

"Why do you look like you've lost your best friend?" a sleepy voice inquired from the bed.

"Haven't I?" JC sighed, refusing to turn around to face her. "I mean, look at us little bird. We haven't been able to talk to each other in months, maybe longer. We've been fighting for what seems like an eternity and you won't even look me in the eye anymore. Haven't I lost my best friend?"

"I lost my best friend the second I fell in love with him. I know what it's like to know that he's right there, but you can't open your mouth in fear of exposing yourself and leaving yourself so wide open to rejection that it was scarier than anything else you've ever experienced. You may not have felt that way, and I guess I'll never know, but at least I can say I told him that I loved him. I'll never pass through life and wonder 'what if'." Mike sighed leaning back against the headboard of the bed. JC turned to face her, pain visible in his expression.

"I never meant to hurt you in any way. You have to believe me. I just didn't know what to do. I was confused. You were my best friend, the person I could say anything to and then suddenly, you were the person I wanted to fix everything for. I wanted to take away your pain and make you smile. I wanted to be the one to capture your heart, but I was too confused to know that's what I wanted to do." he explained, gesturing with his hands. Mike scooted over and patted the seat next to her.

"It's time we seriously talked."

He nodded as he walked over to the bed and sat down. "What is there to say?"

"Josh, look, I know this is going to be the hardest conversation we've ever had, but things need to be said." Mike replied, turning to face him.

"I know. I just don't want the black hole to separate us even more than we already are. I miss you Mike. I miss the late night conversations. The nights out on the town. The times when you would force me to have a good time because I just work too hard. The constant support. The smiles and laughter. The hugs and cuddlefests. I miss everything and I know there's nothing I can do or say to bring back the easiness of our friendship, so I don't want to say anything more." JC shrugged with a pained sigh.

"JC, look at me." Mike pleaded, grabbing his hand. JC's eyes met hers. "I will say right here and now that I miss you too. You were my rock and my white knight. You saved me from so much pain when things got rough. You're devotion to me as a friend never wavered and you were wonderful. You still are. But after a while I wanted different things from you, and I found myself getting jealous over your girlfriends. IT was wrong of me, but I couldn't help it at the time."

"Do you still love me?" JC inquired suddenly.

"I told you that months ago." Mike sighed with a shake of her head.

"Tell me again because I forgot." JC turned to face her.

"Yes, I still love you. I never stopped, nor do I think I ever will stop. Are you happy now?" Mike ground out, tossing a hand into the air.

"I'm halfway there. Now you ask me the same thing." JC demanded.

"You never loved me to begin with." she snorted with a shake of her head.

"Just ask the damn question and stop being difficult."

"Wow, versions of Josh I haven't seen in a while. Fine. Do you still love me?" Mike sighed to humor him.

"Yeah, I still love you. I have loved you for a long time." JC smiled with a nod of his head.

"What?" Mike demanded.

"I've loved you for a long time." he repeated.

"Well, why the hell didn't you tell me?" she practically shouted as she jumped to her feet.

"Didn't we cover this material before? I thought I explained that to you. Pay attention." JC snapped irritably.

"I was confused too, Josh, and yet I never neglected to tell you that I loved you." Mike tossed her hands into the air.

"No, but you were also the one getting married. Or have you conveniently forgotten that little pearl of information?" he shouted as he strode over to her.

"No I haven't forgotten! You were already married! You've been married to your music for years!" Mike countered, her voice rising in volume as she folded her arms across her chest.

"What about Germany?" he demanded, arms akimbo.

"What about Germany?" she snorted with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I told you that I wanted the complication!" JC yelled, his temper soaring with each passing second.

"And I told you that you didn't! Look at who your target audience is, for crying out loud!" Mike exploded.

"What does that have to do with anything? What would have changed if I had been dating you?" JC questioned loudly.

"It has to do with everything you hold near and dear to your heart. Young teenage girls, in a general consensus, are an extremely fickle species. I should know, I was one!" Mike shot back, tossing a hand into the air.

"And you're not anymore?" he demanded raising an eyebrow.

"I'll be the first to admit that I am fickle sometimes, but age does nasty things to some people, as does fame." she countered, turning her back on him.

"Fame hasn't changed me a bit." JC shook his head, his tone becoming colder.

"I never said that it did, Josh." Mike sighed. "But your life has changed, undeniably changed. Your personal life is scrutinized by every teenage girl that you influence with your music. The truth is, I can't compete with all that fame has to offer you. I can't compete with the fans' affection, I can't compete with the wild parties, the euphoria you feel after a really good show, the models that star in your videos, the guys, the music. I can't compete with any of that, and I know it. Somewhere I know that I will never be enough for someone like you, especially when you're one of the fastest rising stars in the world at the moment."

JC shook his head with a small smile. "You are competition for all of that. Mike, you would make all those times better. All the good times would be even more euphoric with you at my side. And the bad times would be more bearable with you to be able to talk with. I would love knowing that I have someone to come home to. I know it sounds like a cliche, but it's true."

"You do have someone to come home to. Your family." Mike stated with finality.

"That's different and you know it." he sighed, shoulders sagging visibly. Mike turned to face him, a look of trepidation on her face.

"What do you want from me?" she cried out, tears filling her tired eyes.

"Nothing you haven't already given to me. Your love." JC shrugged. Mike closed her eyes, silently asking for the strength she would need to say what she had to say.

"You already have it. Now, what are you going to do about it?" she whispered. JC smiled as he gazed at the slightly trembling Mike. The one woman who could drive him crazy and keep him sane. The one woman he had ever shared his dreams with. The one woman he would gladly give up all the future model girlfriends for. The one woman who could make anyplace home. The one woman who had his heart so tightly in her grasp.

JC rested his fingers under her chin and brought her head up, so he could look into the endless depth of her green eyes. He kissed first her forehead, then each eyelid, each cheek then finally her lips. Her hands came up to rest on his biceps as she fell so deeply in love with him again that it scared her.

"Well, the woke us up with their fighting, and kept us up from the past hour and a half. Now it's quiet. What do you suppose they're doing?" Chris sighed tiredly, rubbing his face with his hands.

"You think all is forgiven and they're actually hugging or something?" Justin inquired making a face as he pressed his ear to the closed door.

"They could be faking something like that, and they're intelligent enough to pull something like that off." Lance reminded, falling back against the headboard.

"But Mike wouldn't allow him to do anything, talk to him. Nothing, and you expect her to go along with a plan to confuse us? I don't buy it." Joe shook his head as he opened a magazine to flip through.

"Mike would do anything to get outta that room." Chris snorted with a smile.

"I can buy that, but not being nice to JC. I mean, the guy put her through hell." Joe shook his head.

"And she didn't do the same to him?" Justin inquired making a face. Joe nodded in agreement.

"Well, open the door and peek, dye boy." Lance sighed raking a hand through his short hair.

"No way. I don't want anything that could be considered a flying projectile coming at my head." Justin snorted with a firm shake of his head.

"You are such a wuss, get outta my way." Chris laughed giving his younger friend a playful shove. Justin moved out of the way and leaned back against the wall, arms folded across his broad chest and a smile on his face. Chris took pains opening the door as quietly as he could and peeked inside. He smiled to himself when he took in the sight of the pair kissing, most willingly to his eyes. He pulled back and shut the door quickly.

"Well?" Joe inquired raising an eyebrow.

"They're still fighting. They're having a staring contest at the moment." Chris chuckled to himself, knowing full well that the couple would want some time alone to catch up on lost time.

"You've got to be kidding me." Lance groaned. "They've been in there for almost twenty hours."

"Obviously it hasn't been enough time yet." Chris countered as a knock sounded at the door. He reached over and pulled it open and saw a glowering Mike.

"Are you going to let us out now? I know you peeked in on us." she stated was JC came up behind her and wrapped an arm loosely about her waist.

"Still fighting, huh?" Justin laughed as Chris moved aside to let the new couple in.

"Are you two done fighting or what?" Lance inquired with a yawn.

"Well, we're done fighting for now. Who's to know when this relationship will lead to another fight." Mike grinned glancing over at JC.

"With the way you two are, I'd say the next fight will happen with in the next hour or so." Chris teased as he took a seat in an empty chair.

"I hear that." JC laughed as he pulled Mike into his arms.

"We will not." Mike shook her head with a grin.

"Dear, as much as we've been through and with your temper, we will most definitely be fighting soon." JC commented with a nod.

"My temper? What about your temper?" Mike demanded turning to face him.

"What about my temper?" JC inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yours is just as bad as mine." she replied folding her arms across her chest.

"Oh come on Mike, yours is a lot worse than mine." JC countered with a shake of his head.

"Someone lock them back in that room. This is going to be one hell of a ride for them and us." Chris sighed.

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