~two~

"Uh, guys?....Ow!" Renee shrieked as she passed her hand through Lance's line of sight and pretended to be burnt by an invisible laser.

"Ok, guys, I'm not in the mood to carry on a conversation with myself right now, so I think I'll just eat my hair," she stretched her newly-cut, newly-dyed, red hair as close to her mouth as it could go. She'd been hoping to get at least a half a smile out of one of them, but it hadn't worked. Finally, she gave up and walked out of the room, announcing, "Okay, I'm going outside. Mel's here, and I wanna kick the ball around some."

A few seconds after Renee left, Justin unclenched his jaw long enough to say, "Geez, Lansten, you're pissing everyone off today."

"Y'know what, man? Screw you," Lance countered.

"Yes, she would."

"Not after she got to know you better."

"Oh, she'll know me inside and out."

"You're sick, you know that? You knew how much I liked her when we were out on the jet-ski."

"I saw her first!"

"Tough shit! I have more in common with her."

"Y'know what? I don't have to sit here and deal with this. I can simply go outside, talk to Renee, and make it clear to you and everyone else in this house that she likes me," as Justin got up from his chair, a figure appeared in the doorway. Renee, who had been listening from the hall, stood there, arms folded, lips set in a straight line, and eyes narrowed. Justin fell in his chair.

"Am I a trophy? A medal? What the hell is this all about? Obviously, neither one of you is who I thought you were!" Renee turned on her heel and stalked out the door.

"Now look what you've done!" Lance exploded at Justin.

"What I've done?!"

"You heard me. I'm going to see if I can't fix things," Lance got up and headed for the door.

"Oh, no you're not," Justin shook his head.

"And just how are you going to stop me?"

"Like this," Justin threw a hard punch at Lance's face. Lance stumbled back and Justin broke past him toward the door.

"Oh, no you don't," Lance put his foot out, tripping Justin and causing him to hit his nose on the step that led out of the room.

Justin sat up and glared at Lance, lifting his hand to his nose. When he pulled his hand away and looked down, he saw blood, which infuriated him. Jumping to his feet, Justin started throwing punch after punch at Lance's head. Lance retaliated each one. Soon the two blondes were wrestling on the floor, bleeding, punching, kicking, rolling all over the place. Lance had gained the easy advantage, being a skilled horseback rider. He straddled Justin's stomach, beating the living hell out of Justin's face. He managed to stay upright while Justin tried to roll away. Now Justin began panicking as he realized he was being defeated. Lance was mad, and Justin was seeing a violent side of him that nobody had ever seen before. Justin was scared, and he was going to be man enough to admit it.

"Help!" he screamed. "Help me!"

"Oh, you're taking this baby of the group status to a whole new level, I see," Lance sneered as he slammed Justin's head repeatedly to the ground.

Just as Justin started to black out, Joey and JC barreled into the room, followed by Chris, Melissa, and a wide-eyed Renee.

"Holy shit!" Joey cried as he jumped to pry Lance away from the semi-conscious Justin. "Damn, Lance, what's wrong with you?"

"Justin? Justin? Hey, little bro, wake up," JC patted Justin's face. "Oh my God, Lance, what did you do?"

"I did nothing," Lance said defiantly.

"And that's why you two have blood everywhere, and Joey had to hold you back," Chris retorted.

"You don't know anything about what happened. You don't know shit!" Lance was losing his cool again, his usually calm expression was replaced by an angry scowl. Justin always got special treatment.

"Maybe they don't know, but I do," Renee stepped forward and looked Lance in the eye. "What right did you have to fight over me? Shouldn't it be my decision?"

"Renee, I'm sorry, so sorry," Lance's face immediately softened. "I didn't mean to--"

"It doesn't matter what you meant. Justin's hurt. Maybe you should think about these things," Renee fled from the room, punching things all along the way.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Joey asked Melissa.

"Nah, she'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Well, at least someone's okay," JC muttered, still tapping Justin's face, trying to wake him up. "I can't get this kid to open his eyes."

"You see what you did?" Joey snapped at Lance. "I told you that you could've just talked this over. But nooo, you had to be a moron."

"Oh, thanks, I thought you were supposed to be my friend," Lance growled.

"We are your friends, that's why we're upset. This isn't like you," Chris sighed.

"Well, maybe you guys just haven't seen the real me yet." Lance stalked off to his room and Chris followed him to make sure he was okay.

"Now what do we do?" Melissa asked JC.

"I'm not sure. He's not waking up, but he flinches when I hit him hard enough, so he's gotta be somewhat conscious," JC said. "What does that mean?" he looked up at Joey, who only shrugged.

"The only thing I can think of right now is call his mom, but she won't be home til later, and we don't know where she is," he said.

"Your mom is home, right?" JC asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Go get her," JC said firmly. "Take Renee with you."

"Okay. Um, don't move him, I don't think we're supposed to," Joey turned to go. "But try to wake him up, and keep him awake." He ran to get his keys and flew out the door, where he found Renee examining an ant crawling on her hand. She jumped at the sight of Joey.

"Is he awake?"

"No, but I'm going to get my mom. Do you want to go with me?"

"Alright."

Joey and Renee jumped into his car, which he had halfway down the street before the engine fully turned over.

"Y'know, Lance does like you," Joey told Renee after a minute.

"Sure has an interesting way of showing it," she answered drily.

"Yeah, well, we've all felt his way at one time."

"What do you mean?"

"It's always been a world of 'Justin wants, Justin gets'. He just kind of gets under your skin. Lance probably tried to talk to him about you and Justin wouldn't give. He thought he had, like, claims on you or something. He just gets all possessive over something when it's not even his. It's not always a bad thing; it got him here. But, he thought you were his, and basically that left Lance without a chance."

"I don't know," Renee sighed. "I just hope Justin will be alright."

"We'll just tell him you like Lance better. That would wake him up."

They got to Phyllis Fatone's house shortly. Joey opened his door just as his mother bolted from the house.

"JC called me, told me what's going on, let's go, I'll take my car, we'll probably need a lot of cars, don't need an ambulance, take him ourselves, see ya back there," Phyllis said in her New York accent as she breezed by. Like Joey, she had pulled her own car out of the driveway around Joey's Acura and started down the street before Joey even had a chance to get back in his own car.

"That's my mom," he said.

"Justin, you need to wake up, right now," JC urged.

"Wake up Justin!" Melissa demanded.

"Justin Randall Timberlake! You're gonna miss the bus!" Chris tried.

"Dude, I'm sorry, get your ass off the floor," Lance insisted.

"Mmph," came the lifeless reply.

"Come on, Jus. We're serious. Wake up."

"This is not having any effect on him at all."

"We definitely have to get him to a hospital."

"Guys, I'm so sorry."

"Lance, stop apologizing already. We know you're sorry. Besides, one of us was bound to beat the shit out of him one day."

"Where'd Mel go?"

"I'm taking a piss! Is that okay with you?" the voice carried from the bathroom.

"Hmm, well, as long as she's gone, JC, the next time you want to pace, pick a room with floors that don't squeak," Chris suggested. "I was up since three this morning."

"Did you tell Mel about your dream? I hope you know," Lance laughed a little, "that you are a loud dreamer."

JC blushed, which caused laughter to erupt from both Lance and Chris.

"I thought it took a lot to make you blush," Chris managed to say.

"From what I heard of his dream, he did take a lot!" Lance cracked.

Melissa returned before Lance and Chris could compose themselves. The sight of her just made them laugh harder.

"What's so funny?" she asked warily.

"Remember how I told you I had a sweet dream about you last night?" JC said.

"Yeah."

"Well, it wasn't like an innocent kind of sweet."

"Oh, I see," Melissa's cheeks became a light pink. "And they find this funny?" she raised an eyebrow and gestured toward Chris and Lance.

"Um, yeah, well, you know I talk in my sleep, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Well, I guess, apparently, I moan too."

Chris and Lance heard this, which only made them laugh even harder at the serious tone in which JC spoke.

"Shut up guys," JC said as he watched Melissa's eyebrows arch higher and higher.

"Well," she said after a minute, "I hope it was good for you."

"Oh, it definitely was."

Chris immediately stopped laughing, but struggled to keep a straight face. "That is a visual I can live without, thank you very much," he said.

"Okay, now, let's be serious," Melissa said. "Justin's still out, Joe's not back with his mom yet, and here we have no idea what to do."

"Well, I think---" JC was interrupted by a groan at his feet. Justin made a feeble and very unsuccessful attempt to sit up.

"Hey, little bro," Chris said softly. "Don't try to sit up just yet. We're not sure if we're supposed to move ya. Here, have a pillow and lay back down."

"I hope you didn't move him," Phyllis Fatone burst into the room, taking charge, Renee and Joey trailing behind.

"No. He tried to sit up, but he really didn't get far, so we just gave him a pillow and laid him back down."

"Good," Phyllis knelt down by Justin and checked his pulse, and looked in his eyes.

"Oh, God," JC mumbled as he huddled against Melissa. "Here it comes.The moment of truth. He's brain damaged. He's brain dead. He's just plain dead."

"Shut up, JC. He's able to sit, sort of. He's not brain damaged. Just chill out," Melissa held out a supportive hand for JC to hold.

"We'll surely be taking a trip to the hospital," Phyllis said. "I think at worst, it may be a concussion. Nothing too bad. How 'bout you?" she turned to Lance. "Anything broken? Bleeding?"

"No, whatever little cuts I had stopped bleeding. Nothing other than that," he answered. "I guess I got a little carried away. I'm really sorry."

Renee, who had been hanging back, watched Lance intently. I guess he really is sorry. She said to herself.

"Okay, boys, one or two of you are going to have to help me carry him outside. We'll just drive him there, I'll call to let them know we're on our way," Phyllis announced. "Let's go."

JC clutched Melissa's hand as they all walked out to the cars; Phyllis, Chris and Joey all supporting Justin's weight, Renee holding his hand, Lance trailing behind. Squeezing everyone into cars proved to be a task. Renee refused to leave Justin, but Phyllis couldn't fit many people in her car. Finally they opted for Joe to sit with his mother in front, and Renee sat in back with Justin,his head in her lap. Lance and Chris went in the other car, and JC chose to be alone with Melissa in her car, where he could let his guard down and show how shaken up he really was. Phyllis sped off, breaking all road rules at once, in her hurry to get Justin to Orlando General.

When the others arrived, the doctors already had Justin in the ER, and Renee, Phyllis and Joe were in the waiting room, peeking through the windows.

"So what's the verdict?" Chris asked.

"Nothing yet. They've been in there for at least an hour," Renee replied shrilly.

"It's been like five minutes, Renee," Joe said calmly, putting a comforting arm around Renee's shoulders.

"Whatever. They should know something."

JC glanced in the ER to see for himself how Justin was doing. Just then the doctor was drawing a long needle, intending to give Justin some blood before stitching. At the sight of the needle, JC slumped into Melissa, who was unable to catch him so suddenly, and onto the floor.

"Oh my God!" Melissa screamed, almost as a reflex, and knelt by JC's side. "Hey," she whispered. "It's alright."

JC was slowly jarred awake, and when he looked up to see Melissa kneeling over him, he gave a sheepish grin. "Did you see how big that thing was?" he rasped.

Melissa only smiled and pulled him to his feet.

"Oh my Gawd, my baby! Where is he?" Lynn Harless, Justin's mother, bolted into the room.

"Lynn, calm down. He's in there, getting stitches," Chris tried to reassure his friend's mother before she landed herself in the ER with a coronary.

"STITCHES?! What does he need stitches for?"

"Um, the gash on the back of his head," Joey mumbled, knowing how freaked out Lynn was going to get.

"The what on the what of his what?"

"You heard me."

"Oh my Gawd. How did that happen?"

"Well, we got into a fight," Lance spoke up.

"That's the understatement of the century," Renee muttered.

"What are you talking about? Y'all never fight."

"Well, we did today."

"About what?"

Everyone cast a sidelong glance at Renee, who was watching Lynn, waiting for her reaction.

"That is so not like you boys. Are you okay, at least?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Justin had to get stitches and he had a concussion so mild it's no big deal."

"Concussion? Not a big deal? Lord, that ain't no big deal. I have to see him."

Lynn plowed through the doors to see her son, Renee hot on her trail. Justin was still groggy, but he knew enough to see his mother come through the door with his crush.

"Mom, Renee, hi," he said. "I'm fine, Mom, don't even say it."

"Okay, okay, I can see you're alright. You're conscious, you're speaking, and you're reading my mind," Lynn looked around. "Why were y'all fighting?"

Justin groaned as his mother took his hand. "It's a long story. A couple of guys, a territorial thing. you don't want to know. It's a mess."

"Lance apologized about a hundred times. I think he's sorry," Renee took his other hand.

"Well, then I guess I'm sorry too," Justin squeezed his mother's and Renee's hand as a nurse cleaned the area around the cut on his head. When that was complete, a doctor proceeded to sew his skin back together.

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, JC and Lance paced back and forth; Chris read a magazine; Joey flirted with an off-duty nurse, Melissa watched JC and Lance until she got dizzy; and Phyllis left to go to work.

"Guys?" Melissa spoke up. "Is it okay if we go home? I mean, I don't want to sound, like, heartless, but Justin's okay, his mother's here, and you know hospitals aren't exactly my favorite place to hang out after that whole thing with Michael."

"Oh, yeah," JC said sympathetically, flinching when he thought of what a wreck her life must've been like at that time.

"I'm not informed of this. What happened?" Lance asked.

"Dude, I don't think she really wants to talk about it," JC intervened.

"No, it's okay," Melissa held up a hand. "It's actually not a big deal now. But anyway, to sum up the whole thing, Michael took a really bad hit in a game, and he wound up being taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with having a very mild concussion and they sent him home. Y'know, weak-ass concussion, lay down for a few hours, you'll be fine. Well, they were wrong."

"It was worse?" Chris asked, interested.

"Yeah. A few games later, Michael gets hit again, a little tap that he shouldn't have even noticed. Well, it sure shook him up a little, and he was unconscious again, so we had to go to the hospital again-yay. It turns out the first concussion was actually a really bad one. So here he is, semi-conscious, drifting in and out for about three days. The he couldn't go back to hockey until he had a whole bunch of tests, then he was back in the hospital again 'cause he blacked out just skating. So, in conclusion, it was just a big mess. His career could've ended before it even really began. He's fine now, but it was a scary time for him, for me, for his family, for the team, for everyone. That's why I'm not too thrilled about hospitals, because they have doctors who don't know what the hell they're talking about, who misdiagnose things and screw up lives and it scares me."

JC crossed the room to console Melissa. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Melissa smiled, realizing that the topic had cleared up a few things in her mind. She made a mental note to discuss it with JC later.

"Jace?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"There's something I need to tell you. But it can wait till a little later."

"Okay. Did you want to go now?" JC asked. Melissa nodded.

"The five of you can fit in the Jeep, right?" JC inquired of the guys there, referring to Justin and Renee as well.

"Yeah. Renee and Justin might go with Lynn anyway."

"Oh, alright. See you later."

"See you," Chris said.

As Melissa and JC walked out to the car, JC let a cry escape. "Oh, Melissa I was so scared! When they said mild concussion, all I could think about was how long it took him to wake up, and all the blood, and then I remembered your thing with Michael, and everything."

"Oh, honey, but this is a whole different hospital," Melissa reached out and stroked JC's arm. "Justin's definitely okay. No question. I shouldn't have even brought that up."

"If you say so. I'm still worried though."

"You're so intense, Jace."

"I know."

Melissa sighed and watched the scenery pass on the way home.

"Y'know, it was really nice of your mother's friend to let you stay at her house while she's gone," JC looked out the window and up at the pale pink beach house.

"Yeah, it's a really great house. And with us here, we're keeping it clean, and kind of house-sitting, so it works out for us both."

"So..no one's home?" JC asked as Melissa slid her key into the lock.

"That would explain why the house is locked up, would it not?" Melissa looked out the corner of her eye at JC, who was watching her.

"So, we'd be alone, wouldn't we?" JC wiggled his eyebrows at Melissa. She screamed and darted through the door as JC grabbed for her waist.