NOTE: “Matthew Hammond” has been changed to “Patrick Hammond”. I didn’t want any confusion between this Matt and the Matt that JC’s girlf was cheating on him with in “Turn”. Got it? It hasn’t been corrected in previous chapters yet but will soon.

“New guy, eh?” Kat laughed, extending her hand.

“That’s me,” Pat replied with a bashful smile.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Kat smiled politely, as the five guys looked on incredulously.

Patrick Hammond isn’t bashful. Patrick Hammond doesn’t blush. Damn, hasn’t he ever met a girl before?

“I’m sure you did,” he laughed. “Don’t believe a word of it.”

“Right, well, us and Kat— we were all kind of… us and Kat. And in order for us to remain us and Kat, you’d kinda of have to be somewhere that’s away,” Chris shooed.

“Alright, I know when I’m not wanted,” Pat chuckled lightly.

Patrick Hammond doesn’t chuckle. Patrick Hammond has an evil, demonic-type cackle. Something’s fishy.

“Oh and JC,” Pat added nonchalantly, “when you get a sec, I just want to go over what happened at the meeting tonight. No biggie.”

“Sure thing, Pat,” JC nodded skeptically.

Patrick Hammond doesn’t do “nonchalant”. Patrick Hammond couldn’t find “nonchalant” with two hands and a flashlight.

“Nice to finally meet you, Kat. I’m sure we’ll being seeing each other again soon,” Pat smiled, ducking out the door.

“Okay, now that seemed like a perfectly normal human being. What have you guys been complaining about?” Kat asked, clearly as confused as the guys were with the way Pat had acted.

“You don’t understand, Kat,” Justin began, slinging an arm over her shoulders and leading her toward the couch, “you didn’t just meet Patrick Hammond. I don’t know what pod that guy came out of, but that wasn’t Patrick Hammond.”

“Seriously,” JC agreed. “That was like Close Encounters of the Yuppie Kind.”

“Maybe his powers of darkness are restrained in mixed-company,” Chris offered wryly. “Kat must be his Kryptonite.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Lance shook his head with a rueful grin, “but I think Chris may have a point.”

“Well that settles it,” Joey said plopping down next to Kat, effectively dislodging Justin’s arm from its perch and replacing it with his own. “We’re keeping her. Are your exorcism services available for large-scale pop tours?”

“I’d just like to point out at this point, that I’m the only one in this room with a shrink,” Kat sighed. “I think we should all take a few moments of silence to ponder that irony.”

“Well she certainly talks like she’s in college,” Chris smirked. “Or should I say ‘converses?’ Tell me Kat, what was your SAT verbal score?”

“730, thank you very much,” Kat said tossing his smirk back at him.

“Ouch, Chris. Wasn’t yours in, like, the low—”

“We’re not talking about me,” Chris cut Justin off, throwing a pillow at the younger man for emphasis. “730, Miss McBride? We were under the impression you were jock.”

“I am,” Kat laughed. “Just not a dumb one. Besides, I didn’t tell you my math score. It wasn’t pretty.”

“That’s what I forgot!” JC interjected. “How’d your game go Thursday?”

“Scoreless tie,” Kat answered dejectedly.

“I thought you said you guys had Dartmouth sewn up?”

“Well, we had an injury, a red card, and a power forward who can’t seem to get out of bed anymore in the mornings for her team runs and was benched. Guess which one was me.”

“Well at least your sleeping better now, right?”

“Well there’s sleep and then there’s a scholarship contract. My old non-sleep system was keeping the money in the bank.”

“Don’t sweat it Kat,” Justin said. “You just have to get into a groove. But don’t ask any of us for help cus our sleep patterns are probably way more screwed up than yours.”

“Maybe I should ask Patty-boy. I’m sure he gets a great night’s sleep after he chains you guys up in the basement for the night,” Kat smirked.

“Shhhhh,” Chris hushed her dramatically. “The walls have ears. You don’t want to give him any ideas.”

“Oh, Joe,” Kat blurted out, remembering the original thought she’d walked into the room with. “Have you talked to Ethan since you got into town?”

“Not yet,” Joey shook his head. “Thanks for reminding me though.”

“I mentioned to him that you guys would be up here at some point and he was quite adamant about having a little get-together while you guys are up this way.”

“Oh, allow me to translate the Ethan-speak,” Joey chuckled. “‘Little get-together’ is more like monstrously huge, ill-fated blowout that will have no plan to speak of and will undoubtedly be vetoed by Pat before it starts.”

“Whatcha doing?”

“Something you all will be cursing me for in about a week, I’m sure,” Kat chuckled to herself, preoccupied by Lance’s laptop screen. Lance, Joey, and Chris had long since gone out to a movie, leaving Kat and JC to their own devices and Justin to annoy them.

“Does Lance know you’re playing with his toys?”

“Well, I asked if I could check my mail,” she started, “but I didn’t ask if I could sabotage all your ability to concentrate. I threw that in for free.”

Justin laughed at that. “It doesn’t look so tough.”

“Ha!” Kat scoffed. “I don’t care how much will power you think you have. This will destroy you, boy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Skooch over. Lemme try.”

“Okay,” Kat smirked, knowingly. She shifted over on the couch to allow Justin better access to the keyboard.

“So where’s Jace?” Justin started, already distracted and clicking away.

“He got a very important phone call.”

“Oh yeah? From who?”

“His mommy.”

“So was the reunion everything you’d thought it would be?”

“And more,” JC smiled.

“Ah, I can see that smile now,” Karen Chasez mused. “And when do I get to meet this one?”

“Mom, you say ‘this one’ like I’ve had so many,” JC laughed lightly.

“You know what I mean. Actually, I’m intrigued,” she continued. “From what you told me, she doesn’t seem anything like that other one. I thought all you testosterone carriers had a ‘type’.”

“Well, maybe I found out I needed a new type,” he told his mother somberly before pushing Jaclyn from his mind altogether. “Anyway, Kat is a type all her own. You’ll love her, mom. And I have no idea when you’ll get to meet her unless you guys can squeeze in a trip NYC while we’re up here.”

“Maybe I’ll squeeze in a trip NYC while you’re not up there,” Karen laughed. “That we can have a nice talk without you there to—”

“Referee?” JC finished incredulously. “Uh uh, no way. I will definitely be chaperoning you’re first meeting.”

“I thought you said I’d like her?” Karen replied innocently.

“You will like her. I’m afraid after two minutes you’ll absolutely adore her and start telling her stories I don’t want to her to hear,” JC laughed. He was certain his mother would love Kat but was not as sure about the timing at he was letting on. Karen was very apprehensive of what JC was getting into when she heard his story. The last thing she wanting was for her son to be taken advantage of, let alone have his heart broken again.

“As long as your happy,” she exhaled.

“I am,” JC smiled softly. “I’ve never felt like this before, mom. What I’m feeling right now is worth anything that might come my way.”

“What are you guys doing?”

Kat burst out laughing as soon as the question escaped JC’s lips. “Justin’s not available right now. If you like to leave a message, I’ll forward it to Snood rehab.”

“Excuse me?” JC chuckled, leaning over to see what Justin was so engrossed in.

“I downloaded Snood into your friend’s laptop. I know this may mean nothing to you now but what you’re witnessing with Timberlake, here, is only the beginning.”

“Wait a second,” JC said, eying the younger man who was mesmerized by the game in front of him. “Is this the thing you referred to as ‘Satan’s Game’?”

Kat grinned like a kid who’d been caught jumping on the bed. “Yeah. It’s all part of my dastardly plot to take over the lucrative boy band industry. See, I get you all hooked on Snood, it weakens your defenses and next thing you know, presto! I’m the Queen of Nsync. This will lead to the inevitable fall of 98 Degrees and the Baskstreet Boys, among others. I may even branch out into the Teen Diva scene. I’ll already have had Timberlake in my clutches so Britney shouldn’t put up much of a struggle. Christina, I could knock over by blowing on her so I’m too worried about her either.”

JC grinned at Kat as she talked. The wicked glint in her eyes combined with the look of childish mischief and sarcasm made her look undeniably adorable. “Sounds like you’ve thought this out pretty well, your majesty.”

“Oh yeah,” she smiled, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I’ve had three weeks to come up with it. I’d explain it better but I’d need some visual aids and dry-erase board. Maybe an overhead projector.”

“Well maybe you can explain it to me better in private,” JC winked.

“I think that might be arranged,” Kat winked back. “You don’t have a problem with that, right Justin?”

The grunt they received as an answer went unheard, as they were already in JC’s room before Justin noticed someone had said his name.

“Mother, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You can’t possibly understand what I’m going through. No one does.”

“You are obsessing about something that you can’t control,” the older woman pleaded with her daughter. “Let it go. Let him go. Please.”

“Mom, I’m not a child. I know what I’m doing. I don’t want him back,” Jaclyn said calmly, standing from her seat at the kitchen table and clearing the teacups from the table.

“Then what exactly are we talking about here?” Mrs. Nissel asked, standing as well and following her daughter to the sink.

“I just want to see how he’s doing. I’m worried about him. Now that Matt’s gone, I just need a little closure.” The lie was well delivered, but not well enough to fool Jaclyn’s mother.

“Jackie, I hate to see you hurting but this is one situation where you are just going to suck it up. You were wrong, baby. Move on. He probably has.”

“I’m sure he has,” Jaclyn spat bitterly, betraying herself.

“So that’s what this is about,” Mrs. Nissel said, her brow wrinkling in concern. “Jaclyn Elizabeth, promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

“Mother, I wish you’d have a little more faith in me,” Jaclyn smiled, innocently. “I promise I won’t do anything that you’ll be ashamed of.” Can’t be ashamed if you don’t know. “So, have you talked to Karen lately?”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t even look that woman in the eye anymore.”

“Oh, I was just wondering where JC is right now. You think he’s in Orlando?”

“Jaclyn, what did you just promise me?”

“Mom, it’s not what you think. I just want to talk to him. I mean we were friends before we were anything else. I’m sure enough time has gone by that we can talk like normal people.”

Jaclyn Elizabeth Nissel had no idea when she became so accustomed to lying. It had to have been before she started lying to JC about Matt. JC would have spotted an amateur deception a mile away. As sick as it sounded, even to her, she began to pride herself on how well she could deceive him. He was good but she was better. It became a sort of war game in her mind. The only thing was, at the end she couldn’t tell who was the winner. She hated the look of betrayal and hurt on his face when she’d stumbled into her apartment that night with Matt to find JC in her living room. The weird part was that while she felt bad when he got hurt, she was proud of herself every time she successfully pulled off a lie. She never did find out how he knew that night. That irked her more than anything. What had she missed? What did she do wrong? Where had she slipped?

She convinced herself for a few months after that she was happy with Matt. But after a while she knew all she was doing was lying to herself this time. Old habits were hard to break. She wasn’t about to break up with him, though. Anything was better than being alone- or worse: JC knowing she was alone. Too bad for her, it didn’t take Matt long to become wary of trusting her. If she could lie to JC for so long, how could he know she wasn’t pulling the same game on him?

Deception had become so central to Jaclyn’s personality, she figured she might as well live up to her potential. She didn’t particularly want JC back but snatching him away from whomever he was allegedly seeing would make her the undisputed winner of the game she’d started so long ago. She wouldn’t be alone anymore, either. She did miss the perks and her fingers were looking a little bare.

She was beautiful when she slept. Her long dark locks were splayed across the pillow behind her, her body curled into a ball on her side. She wore t-shirt of his as well as a pair of drawstring pajama bottoms. If anything, the ridiculous enormity of the clothing on her made the moment that much more endearing. Her breath was deep and even and a slight smile playing on her delicate, full lips.

JC was by no means oversexed, but it had taken quite a bit of self control on his part to reign in his emotions before things went too far the night before. Pulling away from those lips had been the single most trying moment in memorable history for him. It was clear that neither of them were ready for a step that could change everything when their relationship was so new. But last night, they were both so starved for contact that things could have easily gone too far too fast. He didn’t know whether to congratulate or kick himself.

A tiny sliver of sunlight was beginning to shine through a crack in the heavy hotel curtains. JC wanted nothing more than to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Technically he could. He had made sure that he’d have two full days to spend with Kat before they had to get down to business. The only kink in that plan was that one sliver of light that would be in his eyes in a matter of minutes. In order to fix the curtains, he’d run the risk of waking her. She was far too adorable for that. Not to mention the fact that he really was in no mood to move. On the other hand, there were certain advantages to waking Kat.

“What are you doing?”

Kat’s scratchy voice pulled him out of his quandary. “Watching you sleep,” he answered, pressing a kiss into the back of her shoulder. “Or so I thought.”

“Hmmmm,” she moaned sleepily as JC made his way up the curve of her neck. “How long have you been up?”

“Not long,” JC mumbled in between kisses. “You look way better in that shirt than I do.”

“That could probably be said of anything,” she kidded, trying to keep her senses in check as JC’s warm lips sparked all her nerve endings to life.

“Probably,” he agreed with a gruff chuckle.

By now his right arm had snaked around her waist and his fingers were toying with the hem of her (his) shirt. With his face buried in the crook of her neck, still pressing soft, barely-there kisses into her neck, she felt truly at home. It had been a long time for her and from what he told her, for him as well. She wondered how long a feeling of such contentment could last for them.

Kat was programmed throughout her life to never except anything good to last. No happiness, no loved one, no sense of home or family, no peace ever managed to stay with her for long- if she could find any to begin with. But at that moment, wrapped in JC’s arms, all she cared about was the present. For the first time in her life, she refused to let her past keep her from enjoying the happiness she was feeling in that moment. Of course that was until a very unpleasant thought occurred to her.

“Oh shit!” she cried, shooting straight up, eliciting a moan from JC as he hit the mattress.

“What?” he groaned into one of the many pillows that lay scattered around the head of the bed.

“I forgot to call Jordan yesterday. She has no idea where I am. Knowing her, she’s already filed a missing persons report.” Kat said climbing out of bed.

“So give her a call,” JC shrugged. “The phone is on the bed stand. Come back to bed.”

“No, I have my cell,” Kat shook her head. She was now on the floor searching her bag for her phone. “I don’t want to run up your bill. These places cost a fortune.”

JC chuckled under his breath, searching for a way to say what he was going to say without sounding conceited. “I think we can handle it, Kat.”

“Well, I’m just realizing that I have nothing here,” Kat said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “No toothbrush, nothing.”

“I can just call down to the desk and have ‘em bring some stuff up from the gift shop,” JC offered, sitting up.

Kat laughed, noticing the disheveled state of her boyfriend’s hair. “How about I run down to the gift shop, which I can do while on my cell with Jordan and you can hop in the shower and tame that mop on the top of your head.”

“Tell me what you really think,” JC laughed, running a hand through his messy locks.

Kat stood up with purpose and grabbed her bag. “Do you have one of those little plastic thingies so I can get back in the room?”

“You going like that?” JC raised his eyebrows, regarding the clothes that were falling off her body.

“Well…” she started, putting her bag down on the bed. She gripped the hem of the t-shirt and pulled it into a tail at the small of her back before knotting it. She bent over and rolled up the legs of her pants until they were at the point where she wouldn’t trip. Putting the final touches on the ensemble, she used the hair tie that perpetually resided on her wrist and pulled her wavy hair into a messy knot on the top of her head. “How about this?”

“If it’s possible, you look more ridiculous,” he laughed.

“Well, I’m just running downstairs for a sec and if anyone happens to see me and care what I look like, I’ll just tell them I’m Nsync’s Friday night girl and I forgot my bag for the night,” she winked taking the key-card from the dresser and picking up her bag again.

JC watched Kat move through the door and close it behind her before he fell back flat onto the bed.

“Hello? Kat?” a hectic voice answered on the other end.

“Hey, yeah it’s me.”

“You are grounded young lady,” Jordan said, her tone suggesting anything but the sarcasm her comment implied.

“I’m sorry I forgot to call,” Kat said as she strode down the hallway towards the elevators.

“Oh, you’re going to be sorry. I was going nuts. Where the hell have you been? Why did you turn off your cell?”

“Jeeze Mom,” Kat smirked as she hit the down button. “If you’ll calm down for a sec, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay,” Jordan conceded, impatiently. Kat could almost see her roommate standing in the middle of the room they shared, the phone balanced between her ear and shoulder, arms crossed over her chest, hip cocked to the right, tapping one foot. It was the stance she always took when she shifted into mommy-mode. Kat really didn’t mind. It wasn’t like her own mother ever went into mommy-mode. It was refreshing.

“JC’s here. He came and surprised me at the hospital yesterday morning. I stopped by the room to get changed but you weren’t there. I was kinda rushed and excited and I forgot to leave a note. I turned off my cell because I didn’t want to be interrupted and it didn’t occur to me to call until I woke up ten minutes ago.”

Kat could hear her let out a defeated sigh. “You are so lucky it was something big, Kit-Kat. So you’re coming home now, right? You have to take your meds, remember?”

“Yeah, I know, Jordan,” Kat said getting onto the elevator and punching the button for the ground floor. “I did manage to remember to grab the bottle on my way out. I’m set, really, so don’t worry. I don’t know what time I’ll be home but it probably won’t be until late tonight.”

“Okay, well have fun. Give him a big wet kiss for me. I’m going to go next door. Lisa’s giving Erin oxygen so I’m going to go tell them your alive.”

“Wow, you know it really warms my heart to know you guys care about me that much,” Kat said sincerely.

“You sound surprised,” Jordan laughed. “Plus I think you borrowed my shoes and I’d really appreciate you leaving an itinerary next time so I know that my babies are safe and where they are at all times.”

“If it’s possible, I’m feeling the love even more,” Kat quipped dryly.

“Ok, so I’ll talk to you later, I guess.”

“Alright,” Kat said stepping off the elevator and looking around for a sign pointing toward to Gift Shop.

“Oh, Kat? One more thing,” Jordan said, a hint of the familiar mischief that usually permeated her tone coming through.

“Yeah?”

“You had sex with him, didn’t you?”

“Goodbye, Jordan.”

“What?”

“Goodbye, Jordan.”

“Oh, come on!”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Fine, spoil sport. Bye.

“Bye,” Kat said stifling a chuckle and tucking her cell back into her bag. By now, she’d found the Gift Shop and began browsing around for the section for absent-minded travelers. She’d just found the rack of toothbrushes when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

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