Chapter 14: JC

"I can't believe that rumor of Alex being that kid I played with in the "Merry Christmas" video was even started. How could that be possible? They don't even look alike," I say to my friends as we head back to our rooms, escorted by our bodyguards.

"Yeah, well you know how the press loves gossip. It's incredible that the same press can be so kind and loving about an incident of rape to a celebrity as well. They are so two-faced. I'm waiting for their reaction when Danielle and I get married in a year," Lance says.

"All hell will break loose among the fans, you know that right?" Chris asks.

"I know. Oh well, I want to be happy and Danielle is the only one that can do that for me."

"Right on man! JC, are you and Kate ever going to travel down that aisle together into the future?" Joey asks.

"What do you mean?" I question.

"Like, are you two ever going to get hitched? You and she really do make a great couple and with you helping her care for Alex, it's like you are already a family. Why not make it official?"

"Wouldn't it harm the group's status?"

"JC, you of all people should know that fans should love us for our work and nothing else. Sure it will ruin the fantasy for some of our younger fans but they already know about you and Kate and haven't been fazed yet. But hey, it's your call after all," Justin says.

"It would be nice. Thanks for the suggestion boys," I say, letting the possibilities roam around in my head.

"Wait a minute! If JC and Lance both get married, it will probably encourage Justin to go that way with Britney and if Joey finds his Super Woman, I'll be left alone! That is so not fair!" Chris exclaims.

"Well, you will have Busta!" Joey kids, earning a slap on the head from Chris.

"Come on now! Everyone will find happiness in the future, no matter in what form, right?" I ask the guys.

"Yeah!" they all exclaim.

I take out my key from my pocket as we round the corner to our rooms but stop dead in my tracks as I see the sight waiting for me. Crap!

"Dude, what the hell happened here?" Chris asks, nearing the banged in door.

"Where are Kate and Alex?" I ask, rushing into the room before anyone could stop me. "Kate? Alex? Where are you guys?" I look at the bunks and in the bathroom and find myself sinking down onto the bed as I realize that the worst thing possible has happened tonight.

"JC, where are they?" Lance asks.

"I don't know but I have a bad feeling that the jerk who raped her is responsible. Why else would she vanish without a trace?" I ask, placing my head in my hands. I take in the bed across from where I am sitting and see blood on the sheets. "Guys, we have to find her. She or Alex is hurt. There's blood on the sheets."

"JC, calm down. We are on a cruise ship. He isn't going anywhere," Justin says, restraining me as I try to get up.

"I don't care! He can easily get off if he wants to."

"He's got a point Justin," Joey says.

One of the bodyguards who is thinking clearer than I am picks up the phone and calls security on board while the others talk on their different walkie-talkies to people who I am assuming could help here.

After pacing around for twenty minutes, trapped in a room that just gives me bigger bad feelings the longer I stay in it, the security and police arrive with a search party assembled. "Okay. Right now the only thing we can do is search. We all have to split up and then meet up when we comb every inch of this ship. Some stay here but don't touch the bed where the blood is. This will be our home base. If we want to find them, we need to start now. Everyone ready?" the head officer asks.

We all nod our heads and split into the groups according to what he instructs. Lance joins me in the group I am in and all together, we start searching the floor and then go into a deserted stairwell. I see a little bit of red dots here and there and start panicking when they become somewhat bigger. "Does anyone else see red dots on the floor or is it just me?"

Lance looks closer to the ground and says, "JC, you aren't. It looks like blood. Could it be from Kate or Alex though?"

"I hope not!" I say, quickening the pace and following the dots. Suddenly, I hear a muted thump echo throughout the stairs. "What was that?"

An officer places a finger over his mouth to silence me and pulls out a gun as he leads us down the stairs further. Alex! Oh God, what happened to him? I rush over to him and see that his wrists are sort of chaffed from trying to get out of the rope that held him tied together. I quickly untie him and hug him to me as he starts crying even harder into my shoulder.

"Mommy... Bad man... Hurt... Mommy... Scared," he sobs as I try to soothe him.

"Is this the little boy?" an officer asks.

"Yes. This is Alex. Where is Kate though?" I wonder.

"Well, the people down here will find her if she is down here. The trail of dots you were following stop here as well. Maybe we should start searching upstairs. Do you want to leave Alex with three of the officers and continue the search with us or stay with him?"

"I think I better go with you. Alex should be okay."

"Good. Let's get going."

"Be good Alex, okay? I'm going to go find Mommy," I say to Alex, handing him over to one of the officers. "Don't be scared. I'll be right back."

I see his little head nod in agreement before running up the stairs to catch up with the others. When we reach the balcony levels, we split up into smaller groups. There are no signs of Kate or the guy who could have possibly taken her at all. We are about to give up when I hear a feminine scream echo through the night, followed by a splash. Oh God! Kate! Before I could jump over the rail to quickly get to her, two of the officers pull me back.

"Sir, if you do that, you will probably be killed. We are getting the boat ready to go and have dispatched for the group down below to start looking for the culprit who pushed her over. Please just try to keep yourself safe before doing anything drastic, okay?"

I nod my head okay and silently take a seat on the boat as it starts getting lowered towards the water. I can't help but look over the side to see any signs of her. I spot the body and let the others know where she is. I help train the flashlight on her while the boat continues to be lowered. I shove the light into one of the officer's hands when we are about three flights above the water and am about to just jump in when I realize that there's something in the water. What the hell is it? Before I could blink an eye, it surfaces and takes away the body with it.

"Shark!" an officer yells, halting our descent as I yell, "Kate!"

I collapse on the bottom of the boat and just let go of all my reserve as I start to bawl. How could this have happened? Not Kate... Not a shark of all things! WHY?!?

When we get back up, I barely make it out of the boat before Justin and Chris rush over to me to give me big hugs of comfort.

"We're so sorry JC," Justin says.

"Yeah. Maybe, that wasn't her out there though," Chris suggests.

"I wish. I want to die," I mutter.

"No you don't. Come here and sit down for a minute. You need to get your sanity back here."

"Excuse us you three. Does this guy look familiar at all?" an officer asks, pulling my attention to where he is standing with a muscular, white male.

"No, why would he?" I ask.

"Because he is the one that pushed the female into the water."

"What?"

"Look! I'm telling you... She was my fiancé and we just got into a fight. I didn't mean to push her over the edge," the guy claims.

"Right. We are going to lock you up in a room under guard until we get to shore to think out your story. Are you sure you don't know a Kate?"

"Of course not!"

"Off with you," the officer says, handing him over to two others who take him out of sight.

"Could it be that the woman down there wasn't Kate?" Justin asks.

"It is possible. Don't give up hope. We have ordered the boat not to dock and to stop right here. People will be constantly on the lookout for the body if it resurfaces. Meanwhile, we should still keep looking. Whatever happens, keep the little boy in your view at all time. If this really is the guy that has raped the young woman twice before, he probably will come back for him."

"I better get back to Alex. Thank you officer. I will be with him for the rest of the trip, no matter what," I say, heading away from him and towards my room to go find Alex. Justin has to help support me though, because I'm such a mess. When I reach the room, Alex runs into my open arms and I hold him to me as I try to calm him. Justin leads me to his room and has me tuck Alex into his bed to sleep as I sat in a chair across from the bed and just watch him sleep fitfully. What really happened?

"JC, the officers say that they got the story of what happened to Alex out of him while we were gone. Apparently, the jerk yanked Alex out of bed where he and Kate were sleeping while he tied Kate up and apparently hit her a few times then carried her while he dragged Alex along. Eventually, he tired of him and just tied him up to leave him in that corner where you found him. He also said that the man was black and really tall. He also said that the guy claimed to be his dad. Maybe it is the same guy," Lance says, entering the room with Chris and Joey in tow.

"Could be. JC, that just means that Kate wasn't the one down in the water that got eaten by that shark," Chris says.

"Then where is she? I really want to find her soon because I have this bad feeling that if we don't, something worse is going to happen to her. If that happens, what will come of Alex?" I ask.

"Don't worry. We'll try our best to help find her. Get some rest though buddy. We will all take shifts watching him and searching. You though, need to rest otherwise you could get hurt yourself," Joey says.

"I can't. I have to find her."

"We have the whole boat looking for this guy. Don't worry, he will be caught."

"I hope you are right. I just hope you are right."

I lie down next to Alex and close my eyes, trying to make the evil visions of Kate being killed somewhere vanish from my mind. Eventually, I fall asleep and wake up only to find that Alex is hungry and missing his mom. Lance, Chris, and I take him to the restaurant on the top balcony level and have him sit as we get the food and leave him with Danielle, who meets us there. When we get back, we sit back down and wait for Danielle and Alex to come back from the restroom, which is where Danielle told Lance she would be with Alex. After fifteen minutes, there is absolutely no sign of either one. I get worried and head towards the men's restroom to find it completely empty. Then I hear a scream coming from across the way that sends shivers down my spine. I dart out of the restroom into the one across the way, entering it and totally forgetting that it is the women's bathroom.

I sense Lance and Chris have made it to the scene when I hear Lance say, "Oh God! Danielle!" before rushing over to an unconscious Danielle on the floor. "What the hell happened?"

"Looks like he has gotten the best of us again. Damn it!" I yell, hitting my fist against the wall.

"JC, calm down. We'll find him. Someone, get a doctor or something, plus security," Chris tells some people who are just standing there. They react quickly to his instructions and soon, security and doctors are in the bathroom, searching it and basically forming yet some more search groups.

After five hours of searching, I basically give up. "There is no way that we could possibly have missed them if they were on the ship. They had to have gone overboard," I mutter.

Apparently, Justin hears me and says, "Not necessarily. There is still the possibility that he is just moving them from room to room after it has been searched. I'm just glad that Danielle is okay."

"Same here. I just hope that Kate and Alex are."

"JC, doesn't that little boy look like Alex?"

I look up from where we are sitting on the deck chairs near the pool and see that Justin is right. "Alex!" I exclaim, running toward him. He grabs a hold of my neck and holds on tight as I run my free hand up and down his back. "Alex, what's wrong?"

"Mommy... Bad guy... Big room... I ran," he manages to get out between sobs.

"Justin! Get security and fast! I think Alex knows where Kate is because I think he was there."

"No need to, we are right here JC. Try to get Alex to give us a more coherent description and we will try to surround the floor so that he can't escape the area," an officer says.

"Okay. Alex, do you know what the room looked like or what floor you were on?"

He nods his head and says, "Nine. Big window of water, chair different from ours."

"Sounds like the suites. JC, stay here with Alex," the officer says, already dispatching his instructions.

"No. I need to go with you. Please let me."

"Okay, but you can't bring Alex. It isn't safe for him."

I nod my agreement and give Alex over to Justin and Chris to watch over very closely. I run with the officers as we head down to the ninth floor and walk as quietly as we can, trying each room. I begin to lose hope until we find a room with its door open. Everything seems fine except that there are thumping sounds coming from the bathroom. It looks like the front door has somehow gotten attached to the bathroom door with the chain that usually acts as the top sliding lock wrapped about the door handle of the bathroom door. One of the officers enters before me as we stare at the door, not knowing what to expect. There is also a chair that is blocking the bathroom door, preventing it to open. Could this have been done on purpose?

I notice that there is movement in one of the bunks and go past the officer to investigate, slowly going up one of the ladder's rungs. Kate! There she was, all bruised and bleeding but still alert, struggling to get free. She sees me and stops struggling, waiting for me to pull out the gag. "JC!" she exclaims.

"Shh... Who's in the bathroom?"

"The guy. Don't let him out. I think Alex trapped him in there."

"God he's smart. Okay, I'm going to get you down. Don't move," I instruct as I slip my arms under her and carry her down to the floor. The officers take note of what she has said and all gather around the door in preparation of getting the guy out of the bathroom. I see them count off five fingers and then undoing the chain and moving the chair at the same time, allowing the guy to fall out of the bathroom and into the arms of awaiting officers.

"What the hell? Crap, cops!" he exclaims, trying to escape.

Fortunately, the officers are faster and get a hold of him before anything could happen. "You mister, are under arrest and have a lot to answer for," an officer says.

"Kate! I don't care how long it takes but I will have you and our children. You will never be able to sleep soundly at night knowing I'm around!"

I feel Kate tremble in my arms and hug her closer to me. "Don't worry sweetheart. He can't hurt you anymore."

The guy is led out of the room and I carry Kate out of the room because she could hardly walk still bound like she was. I follow the two officers who are escorting the criminal away with Kate securely in my arms at a safe distance. When we reach the elevator though, the officers lose control of him and I stand paralyzed as I realize that he is running towards Kate and me with a gun pointing right at us. I turn around and drop to the ground with Kate under me, hoping that if he did shoot that he would just kill me. A shot goes off and I wait for the searing pain of a bullet to enter my body. It doesn't come. Instead, I hear a big thump and look up to see the man lying dead on the ground, totally motionless. "Is he dead?"

"I think so. Don't move," one of the officers says as he slowly approaches the guy to feel for a pulse while six others train their guns on the criminal. "Yes, he is. There is absolutely no pulse."

"Suspect caught and killed," another officer says over his walkie-talkie. "Victim found but needs medical attention."

I am about to get up when I feel Kate spasm beneath me. "Kate?"

"Pain..." she says before passing out.

"No!" I yell as her body becomes limp in my arms.

The next couple of hours happen in a blur for me because I was so worried about Kate while always being on the move until I end up in a hospital's lobby once again, with Alex sitting on my lap this time.

"JC, at least she was found," Chris tries to comfort me.

"But what if she dies now? Then it will all be for naught," I respond.

"Don't think like that! Think positively. She has a good chance of getting through this," Joey says.

"At what cost though? Memories of this whole trip will be tainted with this whole incident. Everything was so perfect! Why did it have to get all screwed up?" I ask, trying to hold back the tears of frustration I feel at the moment.

"Joshua Chasez?" a woman in a white coat inquires.

"That's me. What's her status Doctor?" I ask.

"Well, she is conscious and stable now. Lots of wounds from the ropes and the blows she received but no deep cuts or permanent injuries besides her memories. I have to sadly say though, that she lost the baby she was carrying. She received so much trauma from those beatings that her body just couldn't hold on to it any longer. I'm sorry Mr. Chasez."

"It wasn't mine."

"What do you mean?"

"That was the baby that the suspect had created in her when he raped her last January."

"Well, I guess that's good news then."

"Will she be able to have future children though?"

"As far as I see, yes. I think you should go in now with that little boy you are holding. She has been asking for the both of you."

"Thank you so much Doctor!" I say, giving each of my friends a hug before sprinting down the hall to her room with Alex in my arms. I slow down and quietly enter the room, trying to get over the feeling of déjà vu.

"JC! I'm so glad you're here now," she says from the bed where she is sitting up.

"I will always be here with you, forever. This little guy is anxious to see his mommy though," I say, placing Alex on her bed, from where he immediately crawls up to hug his mom. The two both have bandages on them where the rope has rubbed off their skin, making me feel terrible for being unhurt at the moment.

"There's my big hero! Thank you Alex for saving me on the ship. That was very courageous and admirable. How did you think of all of that to block the door?" Kate asks, kissing Alex's head.

"TV. I saw it on a show where a boy did that to someone who was mean to him, just like that man was to us," he says.

"Interesting how TV has saved us today," Kate says, hugging Alex to her. She looks up at me and smiles. "JC, come here."

"What?" I ask, complying with her wish.

"Thank you for being my other hero. Without you, I don't know if Alex would have even survived the past several hours. He really trusts you and cares about you. That's why he was able to talk to you so easily. He wouldn't have been able to do that to anyone else because no one else cares about him more than you, well with the exception of me."

"You have that right. Kate, I was wondering, maybe this is the wrong time but since I have pledged never to leave your sight, would you marry me so that we could start a family of our own?"

"What do you mean JC?"

"I mean, I love you and would love it if I could come home every night from work, whether it be touring or just recording, to you and Alex, and any other additions you and I create together."

"After all this, you really want to do that?"

"Kate, all of this has just made my love for you stronger. How do you feel though?"

"Like I am absolutely at a loss of words."

"Well?"

After a pause that keeps me from breathing out the breath I had just taken in, she nods her head and smiles. "Of course I'll marry you. I would love to see a family of our own and I love you too."

"Great!" I say, kissing her passionately, forgetting Alex is there.

"Mommy? What does that mean?" he asks, interrupting the kiss.

"It means that you will be getting little brothers and sisters in the future maybe."

"Little brothers and sisters?"

"Yep. That also means that JC will become your daddy."

"JC is my daddy? I like!"

I smile down at him and say, "I like that idea too. Are you sure you are ready for this though Kate? I'm not rushing you?"

"Not at all. In fact, I'm glad you did propose."

"Really?"

"Really. You are the best dad that I could hope Alex could have. Thank you for everything, from sticking by us through this whole ordeal to just loving both me and Alex unconditionally."

"It's not that hard, trust me."

"So are we going to live happily ever after?"

"If I have anything to do with it, yes!"

"Are you going to tell the others yet?"

"Too late, we already know," Justin says from the door, where he, Lance, Chris, Joey, and Danielle are all standing. "Congrats you two! We look forward to a peaceful ending after all of this adventure."

"If I have anything to do with it, this won't be an ending but a fresh beginning for all of us. Right Kate?" I ask as she smiles up at me and answers, "Definitely!"