Chapter 24

"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please." Waiting until the noise died down before continuing, Jason watched as the five members of N Sync took their seats.

"I'd like to start by thanking everyone for attending today. We'll be starting in just a few moments. I will again apologize for Miss Michael's absence here today, but it was unavoidable. She will, however, be joining us in a phone conference, so you will be able to, hopefully, have all your questions answered. To get you started I'll give you a little information on the tour and then we can go ahead with the questions. As most of you know, the Walt Disney Companies and MTV are sponsoring the tour. It will consist of 59 dates, covering 41 cities and will last approximately twelve weeks. There will be one permanent opening act, that being Ron Irizarry and six other opening acts that will each play two weeks of the tour. They are in no particular order, Mandy Moore, LFO, Westlife, BBMak, Sisqo, and Aaliyah. Sisqo will be opening the first two weeks with us, followed by LFO, BBMak, Mandy Moore, Aaliyah, and we'll end with Westlife." Shuffling the papers on the podium, he scanned the, some, thirty odd reporters seated in front of him.

"The final show will be held at Disney's Wide World of Sports Baseball Arena, which has a seating capacity of approximately 12,000 when using an Endstage Setup. It will be shown live on ABC, with taped footage from the tour being shown between songs. That footage will be taped, starting today in various places, including backstage, the buses, meet & greets, and in some cases at hotels. Both MTV and ABC will have camera crews here, with MTV showing different footage throughout the tour, on shows like TRL and during All Access week. Every effort will be made to insure that the artist's privacy is not compromised in any way." Looking through his notes, Jason stacked everything into a neat pile, then smiled at the assembled group. "I think that covers everything, now onto the questions. Caity are you with us?"

"HI, Jason. HI, guys."

A chorus of hellos filled the room before Jason, again, addressed the reporters. "If you could say your name and then who you are addressing your question to, that would be helpful." Pointing his finger at a young woman in the center of the room, he indicated she should go ahead.

"Hi, I'm Michelle Williams from US magazine. I have a question for Caitlyn. How do you feel about sharing top billing on this tour with N Sync?"

"Why would that bother me?"

"Well, you've been around for awhile now, have paid your dues so to speak, it doesn't bother you at all to be sharing the lead spot with an act that's only on it's second release?"

"No, it doesn't bother me at all." Rolling her eyes at Sandy, she wrote on a piece of paper, If these are the kinds of questions they're going to ask, I should have skipped the conference.

"Thank you."

Eyeing the tall, dark skinned man who stood up next, JC sighed when he posed his question. "My name is Thomas Seawell, and I'd like to pose the same question to the guys that Michelle just asked of Caitlyn. With your recent record breaking sales, do you resent the fact that you have to share top billing with Caitlyn?"

"Yeah, we hate her." Chris piped in, laughter following his comment. "Seriously," he said when the room quieted, "Touring together wasn't something we were told we had to do, it was something we all wanted to do."

"Exactly." His deep voice claiming everyone's attention, Lance appeared completely relaxed as he continued. "When we were presented with the idea it was as a group, Caity included. None of us ever questioned whether one or the other would get top billing. It was a joint tour and that's how it's been right from the get go."

Patiently waiting for the next person to come forward, Lance leaned in close to JC. "How long do you think it will be before they ask about Cait and Joey?"

"Not long." Returning his attention to the gentleman who was now standing, he waited for the next question.

"Who decided on which of you would perform first, the stage set up and opening acts?"

Raising his hand to indicate he would take this question, JC leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table in front of him. " We all decided that we would alternate nights and Cait volunteered to come out first for tonight's show. As for the stage set up, we at first requested it be a T-shape, Cait agreed to that, but after we talked some more about it with our manager we came up with the stage set up we have now. Cait had some concerns, but we worked them out." Fiddling with the water glass in front of him, he paused for a moment before continuing. "As for the opening acts, we had worked with Ron before and wanted to again, so he became our first pick. Caity chose Westlife, LFO and BBMak. We rounded out our choices with Sisqo and Aaliyah. That was it, I think that covers all your questions."

The next several questions were directed at Cait, how did she feel about the general age of N Syncs fans, was she worried about being accepted by them, and so on.

Listening to her answer the questions, hearing her laugh, JC longed to see her. It was hard listening to her voice, knowing she was only an hour away, but he couldn't reach her. He wanted, more than anything, to breach the gap he had created with his recent attitude. Bored when the questions turn to their record breaking sales for "No Strings Attached", they'd answered these same questions, easily a hundred times, he drifted off into his own little world, only snapping out of his reverie when he heard the next question asked of Caity.

"How do you think it will effect the tour now that you and Joey have developed a more personal relationship?"

Brian, who had been sitting quietly to this point, spoke before Caity can answer. "I believe, that it was specifically stated, that the focus of this press conference was to be on the tour and not on everyone's personal lives."

"I'm aware of that, but this story has been everywhere in the last week with no comment from either camp. You had to know we were going to ask."

On the bus, listening to Brian and the reporter banter back and forth Caity took a fortifying breath. "Excuse me." Lifting her voice when she got nowhere, Caity tried for their attention. "I think I'd like to address the question Brian. It's time."

"First," she began, "let me just say, that our remaining silent on this issue this past week, was in no way an acknowledgement on either Joey's or my part that we did indeed have a more personal relationship. We figured that no matter what we said, people were going to believe what they wanted to, so we kept silent."

Hearing her drawn in a shaky breath, JC wished that he could be there with her right now. Mentally sending her his support, he waited for her to continue.

"That said, I'll answer your question. I don't think the tour is going to be effected by Joey's and my relationship at all, because Joey and I don't have a "more personal" relationship, as you've termed it. He and I share the same exact relationship I share with all the guys. One of friendship, nothing more."

"Can you explain the pictures then? I mean, you have to admit, they do make it look like there's a whole lot more than friendship going on."

Justin, already aggravated with the direction that the questions have turned snapped. "Pictures can be made to look any way you want them to, as we've all learned over the last couple of days. Those pictures are nothing more than two friends hanging out. I mean, half of them were taken while we were all there, yet they made them look like it's an intimate moment between Joey and Cait." Reaching over to a stack of pictures in front of Joey, he held one up. "This one, of them looking in the jewelry store window, was when we were in L.A. I'm standing right behind Joey, only you can't see me in that picture. If you look closely at it, JC's hand is on Caity's left shoulder."

Taking the pictures out of Justin's hand, Chris held another up for the reporters to see. "This one," he said, indicating a picture of he and Cait riding a Jet Ski, "was taken on the same day as the one of Cait and Joe, except that it was taken by Steve, Joey's brother. We were all hanging out at Johnny's house that day and I think Cait rode on the ski's with all of us." Passing the pictures back to Joey, as they had planned, Chris smiled at the reporters frantic scribbling.

"My brother Steve, for any of you that didn't know, is our Videographer. He also takes a lot of still pictures of us when we're hanging out and stuff. These were taken the same day as the one that showed up on the net of Cait and I playing basketball." Handing the pictures to Jason, so that he can hold them up for everyone to see, Joey slid the remainder over to Lance.

Waiting until the murmurs had died down, Lance addressed the room. "As you can see, those are of all of us playing basketball on the same day as Joe and Cait's picture. How do I know it's the same day, you're wondering? Well if you look at what we're wearing you can see that Joey and Cait have the same clothing on as in the ones published. And, before one of you says that we could have just had them wear the same things for Steve to take these pictures, I'd like you to look at the bottom where you can clearly see the date that the camera imprinted on the film. I believe it says April 11^th on them. So there is no way we could have made them up to look like anything."

Directing his attention to the man standing in front of him, Lance laughed when the reporter commented. "You seem to have all the answers before we even have the questions, but if I could ask this? Why would all of these rumors about Joey and Cait have come up if there wasn't anything to them."

"I think I can answer that." Not wanting to have, what he was about to say come out wrong, JC took a moment to gather his thoughts. "With all that's been going on with the, ah, five of us lately, we've been in the press a…um…a lot." Smiling when someone in the audience mumbled "No kidding" JC relaxed a bit. "I think it was inevitable, with all of us being together all the time, that something like this was going to come up. I mean the scrutiny on us alone had been unbelievable. Then you add a "star"," He used his hands to make quote marks in the air, "Of Cait's caliber to the mix and there was bound to be even more scrutiny. I think it was almost a given that there would be rumors. Joey just happened to be the one they picked."

"Okay, I can buy that, but isn't it a little unusual, how close you've all become. I mean, do you develop this close of a relationship with everyone you tour with?"

"No, of course not," Cait answered, "but I think, right from the beginning, we all just clicked. We were all fans of each other's music and we wanted to work together. We made an effort to get to know one another right from the beginning. I mean Justin called me a few days after we met, ya know saying, hey let's get together, then Joe called. I had all the guys, along with Mari over for dinner, and it went on from there."

"Why do you think, you all "clicked" so well with one another?"

Opening his mouth to answer, JC was cut off by Justin. "We just did," he said, eyeing the older female reporter as if she were just a tad dense. "I don't think we had to have a special reason. I mean we liked each other, you know what I'm saying? We just clicked."

"Well said Curly." Shaking his head at Justin, Chris put it differently. "Personally, I was a little cautious at first about meeting Cait. Sometimes when you have a person who has had as much success as she has, they're not always; umm what do I want to say here. Okay they're not always as nice as they could be. But Cait wasn't like that at all, she reminded me very much of us. That made it easy to want to get to know her better."

"And," Joey added picking up where Chris left off; "This tour was a collaboration right from the beginning. It wasn't a headliner/opening act type of thing. That meant we would be working more closely together than you normally do."

"Can I just get one more comment on this from Caitlyn, before we move on?" Michelle Williams asked, waiting for Brian's nod of approval before she continued. "Caity, I was just wondering if you agreed with JC's reasoning as to why this whole thing with Joey came about?"

"Um, yeah somewhat, but I also believe it had a lot to do with my revealing to Matt Lauer that I had a boyfriend. Whomever is responsible for these pictures obviously picked up on that and decided to use it to his advantage to sell the story to the press."

Murmuring "Thank You" Michelle returned to her seat.

"Hi Caitlyn, its Sean Burrows from Elle, how are you?"

Hearing her voice Caity smiled happily at Joel and Sandy. "Hey Sean, I'm doing good thanks. How about you?"

"Good, good. Listen, I hate to do this to you, but I kind of have to. Could you tell us now that you've brought him up, how your boyfriend is reacting to all of this publicity about you and Joey?"

Staying silent at that moment was hard for JC, he wanted to stand up and tell them that he hadn't been reacting as well as he should, but he was going to work on that from now on. Moodiness aside, he would tell her, I know in my heart that there is nothing going on between Joey and Cait. He would also tell her that despite his recent actions, he wanted to support Caity in this one hundred percent, but he couldn't. All he could do was sit back quietly, acting as if this question meant no more to him than any other that had been asked that day.

Anger, he would tell her, was what he was feeling the most, about keeping this relationship a secret. Anger at the press for taking every part of his life and turning it into a three-ring circus. Anger at his management team for insisting that, even now, with all their success, they having a personal life would somehow hurt them. Anger at the very small number of fans whose overreaction to any of them having a girlfriend was what made it impossible for him to tell everyone that he was the man in Caity's life. But most of all he was angry at himself, for not being strong enough to buck everyone of them, and do what his heart was telling him to, stand up and say why don't you ask me that instead of Cait, I'm her boyfriend.

"I think unless you're up to explaining, why you're glaring at her like that, it would be best if you changed your expression and fast." Nonchalantly stretching his arms out to the sides, Lance squeezed JC's shoulder in support. He knew how hard this was for him. "It will all be over soon C. Try and hang in there."

Grateful for Lance's distraction, others had been beginning to notice his hostility towards Sean, JC sipped from his water glass, listening to Caity's response.

"Ahh, that's a pretty personal question Sean, one I'm not sure I really want to answer."

"You've publicly admitted to having a boyfriend, why is talking about him too personal?"

"It's not talking about him that I'm finding too personal, it's talking about his reaction to all of this. I mean it's tough enough dealing with my career and all that comes with it, without him picking up a magazine or newspaper and seeing his most personal feelings talked about by someone who's supposed to guard them. So, I think all I'm going to say, in response to your question, is that we're both doing fine. Let's leave it at that, shall we."

The thought of telling her or anyone, what JC's reaction to all of this had been was enough to make Caity sick. It was no one's business but theirs how he, or either of them for that matter, were handling this whole thing. It wasn't enough that they had made her life a living hell for the past week, now they wanted her to bare her soul and tell them all about it. Well, she wasn't doing it, she'd had enough. "I'm sorry, but I'm done answering questions about my personal life for today, we need to move back to questions about the tour. Sean, did you have something that you wanted to ask about that or are you through?"

The strain in her voice pushed JC past the point of caring what the fallout would be if he admitted to being the man in Caity's life. Allowing her to deal with it on her own, was slowly driving him nuts. Not thinking he began to rise from his chair.

Lance's soft voice stopped him. "Don't do it, C. She wouldn't want you to do this, you know that." Looking JC in the eye, Lance confessed, "I called her, after I spoke with you today, the last thing she's looking for is for you to sacrifice what little privacy you have left." A slight turn of his head, to see if Sean was still looking through her notes, was his only indication he gave, that he knew he and JC were not alone in the room. "You need to take a step back, before you do something you'll both regret."

Responding was impossible, as Sean again spoke into the microphone. "Actually, I did. We've had a number of letters come in since we ran your interview in our April issue about you saying your next tour was going to be sexier. A good portion of them expressed concern that you were going to turn into and I quote, "One of those young women whose breasts are bigger than their brains, and don't have the sense to know that it's okay to wear something bigger than a Band-Aid." Her cheeks tinged pink by the time the laughter died down, Sean grinned sheepishly. "I thought maybe you'd like to address that issue."

"Wow!" Her normal good humor surfacing, Caity struggled not to giggle. The image of her wearing something the size of a Band-Aid would not leave her head. "A Band-Aid. Hmm, well, I don’t think any of the outfits I'll be wearing for the shows are quite that small, so I think she can relax a little bit about that." Thankful they can't see her, Caity stretched out full length on the couch, adjusting a pillow more comfortably behind her head. "I think, if I remember correctly, that I also went on to add that I didn't mean I was going to see how few articles of clothing I could wear without actually being naked, didn't I?

"Yeah, you did, but still we got a good deal of mail about it. It seems most people like the "air of innocence" you have, as one reader put it, and don't want to see you lose that. They definitely don't like the thought that you might turn into what another reader termed a "sexpot." The room erupted into laughter and it took several minutes before everyone settled down and they could continue.

"I wish whoever wrote that could see me now, they would never use that term again to describe me." Chin resting in her hand, she lay on her stomach, looking very much like a teenager. "I'm lying here on the bus wearing the female version of a wife beater, a pair of J…ahhh…um…my boyfriends pajama bottoms that I stole from him and bare feet. Definitely not sexpot clothes, that's for sure."

"Ah, I see. I don't think I'm allowed to comment on your boyfriend again so I'm going to let that pass." She did, however, make a note that though Caitlyn said Joey was not her boyfriend, his name did, indeed, begin with the letter J.

So, that's where those were JC thought, remembering his search for his favorite pajama bottoms before he had left for Mississippi. Caity had innocently stood by, claiming to have no idea where they could be, when she'd had them the whole time. Not that he minded, in fact, it was quite the opposite. The thought of Caity wearing them did strange things to his stomach. Things that were, in no way unpleasant. If he closed his eyes, he could picture her so clearly. It was like having her there next to him. He knew exactly what shirt she had been referring to, it was white, ribbed and clung to her lean torso like a second skin. Her, his, pajama bottoms were dark blue, and must be huge on her. She teased him all the time about being skinny, but he had nothing on her slender frame. Get her here soon God, please, get her here soon.

The press conference began winding down shortly after with only a few reporters left who had questions. One wanted to know about N Syncs song lineup for the show. A question they declined to answer wanting the fans to be the first to know.

Another wanted to know about Cait's knee, how she was progressing with that. She answered as best she could, but even she didn't know when it would be fully healed. Sighing in relief when the last reporter stepped up to the podium, they all groaned when he stated his question.

"I know you guys have all been asked before to comment," He started, indicating the five men, "As to how you see each other, so I won't ask you to do that again. What I would like to ask, is if you five guys could tell us a little about Caitlyn, and then have her tell us a little bit of what she's learnt about the five of you."

Chris's opinion of that request was clear when he dropped his head to the table and groaned. "Please don't make me do that, please."

Justin rolled his eyes, "Chris tends to be a tad melodramatic, just try to ignore him." Then he proceeded to yelp when Chris tugged sharply at his curls. "Damn Chris, how many times do I have to tell you not to mess with the fro." Glaring, he smoothed a hand over his curly head. "As you can see, Chris has the attitude of a two year old and the mentality to match."

Cait didn't have to be there to predict what would happen after Joey began to add his two cents to Justin's comment. Chris would bounce back quickly with his own retort. Then Lance would say something about all of them growing up, while JC would wait until they were all arguing heatedly to look at the reporters with a ''see what I have to put up with look'' before jumping into the fray.

"Excuse me children, but I think most of these good people would like to go home some time today, so if we could get on with it." She could just picture them; Chris would stick his tongue out at Justin, who would be pouting because someone else had gotten the last word in. Joey would be mimicking Lance, still trying to get a rise out of him, and JC would, depending on his mood, be either helping Joey or taking sides with Lance.

"I think I'd like to start if you guys don't mind." That got their attention. "Joey first, seeing that most of you think we're dating anyway. I know most people tag him as being this gigantic flirt, and he is, but, and this is a big but." She was going to have some fun with this. "No, Joey, I don't mean your butt is big so stop looking at it." Rowdy laughter followed her comment as his band mates teased Joey mercilessly. "Joey isn't just a flirt. Yes he likes the ladies, yes he enjoys going out to clubs, and he can at times drive you nuts with his clumsiness, but he's got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. And he's got a great voice too, which I think any number of people overlook in their quest to make him the "party boy" of the group."

"Now for Chris. Again I'll say that yes, while Chris can be kooky, and at times I'd like to tie him to a chair, he's not like that all the time. I think out of all the guys that he's the one who's most often underestimated as far as talent goes. And he's also very smart."

"See Froboy, she does like me more than you." Chris joked, unable to resist teasing his young friend.

"Be nice Chris." Cait scolded. "Since he brought him up let me tell you about Justin. He is, by far, the most put together nineteen-year-old I've ever met. And he can do moves with his hips that I'd be afraid to try." She had to mention that, it was something she loved to tease him about, and she couldn't let the opportunity, to do so now, pass by. "I think Justin and I knew we were going to be great friends about a minute after we met. We share a lot of common ground as far as our careers go, but we also share that we each wanted the siblings we didn't get. He always wanted a sister; I always wanted a little brother. Justin's my little brother."

"Damn I was wrong she likes him more," Chris sobbed against Joey's shoulder.

"You had to say that he wasn't always kooky didn't you Cait, you just had to say it." Joey patted Chris none to gently on the head, then wrinkled his nose at the gel now covering his hand. "Tell him you love him too so he'll stop, please."

"Aww Chris, I love you too baby, you know that." God she would love to be there right now, the look on some of the reporters' faces must be priceless.

Waving his hand in response, Chris screeched when Joey smacks him on the back of the head. "She can't see you dummy, remember?"

"Damn Joey, that hurt. Cait, Joey hit me."

Lord, she missed them. "Joey, don't hit Chris."

"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry."

"Behave now, you guys, so I can finish. Where was I?"

"Singing cutie pie's praises. OW! Justin that was my ear."

"Oh yeah, that's right, I was about to tell you my "observations" about Lance. First he's not in the least bit shy, so don't let him fool you there."

"C-a-I-t-y, you're not supposed to be telling them that."

"Sorry, but you're not." Snapping the shade up that covered the window, she waved at the startled gentleman leaning against the hood of his car until Joel hurried over to close it again. Mouthing "Are you crazy?" he admonished her to leave it closed.

"Lance is sweet." She had to laugh at his groan. "I knew you were going to hate that Scoop sorry, but it's true. He's very charming, but don't let that angel face fool you, he's the biggest prankster I've ever met."

Taking her time, she thought about what she wanted to say about JC. How could she possibly talk about him, without her feelings coming through? She had to, because too not, would give it away. You can do this Caity, talk about his talent, talk about his genuine love of music or how he really believes it when he says you should respect everyone, but talk about something. "Okay so last, but in no way least, JC. To be honest he's probably the one I spend the most time with. He's very much a "what you see is what you get" type of person." Okay, Caity, so far so good, now keep going. I wish I could say what I want to say, that he's my best friend, that he's the piece of the puzzle I always felt was missing. What would he do, I wonder, if I said those things, I haven't even told him yet what I'm feeling. He'd be floored. They all would, but lord would it feel good to finally get it out. "What I mean by that, is when JC says in an interview, that it's important to have respect for everyone he means it. He's consistent, so you don't have to worry about where you stand with him, you know. And he's got an amazing gift in his voice, one of the best things about all of this has been being able to sing with him, with all of them actually." Yes! You did it, now say goodbye. "Okay, I'm done, now it's their turn." She laughed peeking out the front curtain of the bus. "I can't wait to see what they have to say about me."

"I want to go first, I want to go first." Chris had been sitting for way too long. Bouncing his leg up and down so fast, it was a blur, he whooped when the reporter indicated him with a nod. Thoughtfully leaning forward, he looked as if he was about to say something very deep. So, when he said simply, "She's great," then leaned back in his chair, Justin lost it.

Dragging Chris out of his chair by the collar of his shirt, he apologized. "Excuse me while I go kill Chris. I'll be right back." Pulling Chris to the back of the room amidst laughter, he pretended to wrestle him to the ground. Brushing his hands off, he moved behind Joey's seat. "You sit next to him." He ordered shoving Joe out of his chair. Justin quickly took his place, then grinned sweetly at the audience. "I think I'll go next."

Not wanting to miss what he said, Caity settled onto the couch, holding onto her aching stomach. "I think what Caity said about her and I pretty much covers it. We did hit it off right away. I feel like I've known her forever, instead of only for, I guess, like three months now. I love ya, Caity. Uhm…can you please make that bus move and get here, cause Chris is driving me crazy."

"My turn." Beating Chris, who clearly thought he was next, Lance was the picture of relaxation. His arm hooked on the back of his chair, he appeared to be hanging out with friends. "I want to know how I can be sweet and a prankster at the same time?"

"Sweet my foot, I was gonna go next, you stole my turn." Pouting, Chris slumped down on his spine.

"As I was saying." Eyebrows raised, crooked smile in place, Lance continued. "Caity, I think, is a little bit like all of us. She can be just as kooky as Chris when she sets her mind to it, she likes to flirt, like Joey, and is very good at it, may I add." Her growl could be heard through the phone line. "Music wise, she's a lot like JC. She always has her guitar with her, or she's writing, or in the studio fiddling with something. She and Justin are forever doing something with their hair."

"Oh, you are so going to get it PooFoo," and "Hey!" were the simultaneous reactions to his comment.

"They are forever interrupting people as well," he added. "Seriously, she's great just like Chris so eloquently put it. I've learnt a lot about the business from Cait, and she's so easy going it's fun just to hang out with her." Shrugging he looked down the line. "Who's next?"

His hand clamped firmly over Chris' mouth, Joey took his turn. "When I first met Cait I had, what I would say, was a typical twenty-three year old guy reaction."

"A typical Joey reaction, you mean." Chris could be heard mumbling.

Chuckling he agreed, "Okay, a typical Joey reaction. I was attracted to her, and don't get me wrong I still think she's a beautiful lady, but I want it to be understood that in no way have I ever acted on that attraction. I know we said we weren't going to talk about this particular subject again, but I really feel that I need to address it. After all, they're writing about me, too. Is that okay with you Cait?" Joey could feel the stares of the other four on him, but he didn't care. If JC couldn't stand with Cait on this because of their circumstances, he would.

Some of the things they'd printed about her had been unfair. He's gotten used to, as much as it was possible to get used to, them thinking he was a player. It was kind of funny, in a weird sort of way, and as long as the people who were the closest to him, his friends, his family, knew the truth, they could print whatever they wanted. It had stopped bothering him awhile ago, but it bothered Cait, and he'd seen how JC had been this last week. It was time to put it to rest, so when Cait quietly gave her okay, he proceeded. "I think we all expected the stories about her and I to blow over after the first one or two of them. I mean, nothing was going on so why wouldn't they, right? Well, we were, obviously, wrong. We all know they didn't stop, but it's time that they did. So let me say, once and for all, and for the very last time, there is absolutely, positively nothing of a romantic nature happening between Caitlyn Michaels and I. She has a boyfriend, but it's not me. It's never been me, and it never will be me. I really hope that's clear enough for all of you assembled here, because I really don't want to ever have to say it again." An explosion of flashes followed his terse statement. Everyone wanted to capture the seriousness of Joey's expression.

"Can I have my turn now?" Chris whined. He knew his part, and played it well. "I didn't know Joey could string that many words together, without tripping over them." He joked. "I'm so proud." Anticipating that Joe will retaliate physically, he was waiting for the cuff on his neck. Ducking, seconds before it connected, he watched Joey lurch against the table when his hand contacted nothing but air. "See what I mean, he's such a klutz." The room was now full of laughter, exactly as he'd planned. "I have to say pretty much what I did before, she's great. I will fess up though and tell you that I wasn't so sure she was going to be before we met. For some reason, I had an image of her in my head that was not all that nice. Thankfully, she's not half the diva I thought she was going to be, so it's been cool having her hang out with us." His job done he relaxed, that was until someone threw him a curve.

"Chris, can you tell us if this whole press thing with Joey and Cait, has affected your relationship with Mari Perez in any way?"

His look clearly said, "okay this guy is stupid but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and answer." Chris pulled absently at his ear before saying. "I don't think I quite get, why, Joey and Cait being in the news would affect us."

"Well, the two of you have, in recent months, been more publicly open about your dating. There had been some press about the two of you in that time, but that was effectively stopped when this story broke. So, did that make things easier on the two of you, or did it not matter either way?"

"It didn't matter either way." Leaning his body forward, he looked down to where JC was sitting. "Your turn, C."

He could feel Lance's eyes burning a hole in the side of his head. No need to worry Lance, he thought, I'm not going to spill the beans. He had wondered, while Caity was talking about him, what she was feeling, now he knew. Fear, that you would say too much. Uncertainty, over even what that was. Was saying that she was, as Joey had said, beautiful make it seem as if he were overly attracted to her, or would it just be stating what everyone already knew. All you had to do was look at her to see that. Should he just say she was a nice person, he liked hanging out with her, we have fun together and leave it at that. Or, would Caity hear that, and with things as they currently were between them, take it the wrong way. Maybe he should just look at his watch, go "Oh wow look at the time," and boogie on out of here. Then, he wouldn't have to say anything, but that was the chicken's way out. He had already been a chicken once today, he wasn't going to be again.

"Like Cait said earlier, she and I probably spend the most time together, out of all of us. We really got along well, right from the beginning. I consider her one of my best friends. I had always had a great respect for her talent, and being able to meet her, get to know her better has meant a lot to me." Those were three of the hardest sentences he'd ever said. What did she think when she heard that, did she know that she was not just one of his best friends, but his true best friend. Listening to Jason wrap things up, he hoped that when she got the voice message he'd sent her earlier, she'd understand why he'd been acting the way he has and forgive him for his moodiness.

"You've got mail!"

The cheery, disembodied voice on her computers voice message system made Cait smile. It was, at least, a different voice from Joel's', Sandy's' or Matt, her bus drivers. The four of them have definitely had enough of each other at this point. It was one thing to be on a moving bus with the same people for 17 hours, it was another entirely, when that bus had been at a dead standstill for the last seven of them. If they didn't get her off of here soon she was going to go stark raving mad.

Scanning quickly through her list of messages, she knew it was bad, she'd actually been happy to hear Brian's voice when he'd called a short while ago. He was trying to work out a plan with the State Police to get her off the bus and to the arena safely. The truck that had overturned had been carrying aviation fuel and they were still trying to clean up the mess some 8 hours after it had crashed. Apparently, the spill was larger than they had first thought, so they could not let any cars go through for fear the friction and heat from them would cause an explosion.

They'd even closed off the other side of the road directly in the area of the spill so that traffic on the highway to their left was minimal. Occasionally you would see a car coming from an exit ramp a few feet away, but they were few and far between. People were avoiding this area like the plague, not that Cait could blame them. She'd gladly give up a few of her gold records to be able to get off this bus. That however, was not going to be possible.

A good number of people had started to realize that the tour bus might actually have someone famous on it and more than one person had approached Joel, asking questions, the few times he had taken Chewie out for a walk. He had given strict orders, forbidding either Cait or Sandy, from setting foot off the bus. The concert was four hours away, she had a fan club get together scheduled in two hours, and there was a crowd of people beginning to gather at the door of her bus. Brian better come up with something quick, or they were going to be in trouble. He had promised her it would only be a matter of time now. It would be easier for the police to find a way to get her to the arena than it would be for them to spare the men they would need, to protect her and the bus if it came to that. She prayed it didn't come to that.

Her brow marred by a frown, she stopped at a voice message from JC, sent early this morning. Tempted to delete it, without opening it, she paced from the table where she had been sitting to the front of the bus and back again. Damn him, he could find the time to email her, but he couldn't pick up the phone and call. She knew her cell phone was working, hadn't she checked it a million times? How could he have not called? Didn't he know she was going crazy, sitting here on this bus, wondering what was going through that stubborn head of his? God, if he were here she'd…she'd…sighing when she realized that she'd most likely grab a hold of him and never let go, she sat back down, opened the message.

Hey baby. I know you must be wondering why I haven't called. She heard the uncertainty in his voice, could imagine his expressive face, the way his hands would move from side to side when he was trying to say something, but couldn't make it come out the way he wanted. His deep blue eyes would be troubled, and pleading, looking for her to understand what he couldn't or wouldn't say. I guess I'm back to being Josh the Chicken. I know I didn't want to hear the disappointment again that I heard in your voice last night. The rustling sound she heard told her that he had recorded his message while still in bed at the hotel this morning. I'm sorry, Caity. I know it seems like I'm saying that to you a lot lately, but it's true. I do believe in you, I hope you know that. I'm not reacting to this whole thing with Joey well, I know that, but I do trust you. I know your heart is with me, or at least I hope it is. Anyway, I know you've heard that before too, but it's true, and I am sorry. I think we need to talk when you get here to the arena, or maybe you can wait for us to finish the show tonight and we can go to Little Rock on the same bus. There are some things I need to tell you. Caity I…. Damn it, someone's at the door. Hold on.

He had carried the phone with him, she could hear his feet padding across the floor and his muttered comment that "this better be good." She also, clearly heard him tell Justin that, yes, he was up; no, he did not want to go down to breakfast and yes, he was busy. Couldn't Justin see that he was holding a phone in his hand? Cait smiled when she heard Justin complain, "And they say that I'm grumpy in the morning." She heard JC say goodbye, close the door, and pad back to the bed. Sorry about that. His sounded tired. Again, her mind flooded with an image of him sitting on the edge of the bed. For someone who was such a great writer, he always had trouble voicing what he needed to say. Especially, she knew, when it was most important. Oh yeah, if he were here, she would definitely be in his arms right now. They both needed that.

He was pacing, she could tell by the sound of his movements. Oh Josh, you should have called me. She reached behind her for the picture she'd placed there yesterday, looked down into his smiling face. Lance had taken this picture of the two of them one day when they'd all been at rehearsals. It was a good shot of the two of them, and you could clearly see, the happiness shining in both their eyes. It had been taken, just days, before this whole thing with Joey had begun. He hadn't smiled like that since.

So, I guess I'll play it now. I want you to know, that I will do everything I can, to make it so that you can answer yes to these. Please don't give up on me, Caity. I need you in my life. Here it is. Bye. He must have placed the phone right up to the speaker, because within moments she could hear the music and then Justin's voice on the song they'd recorded for the McDonald's CD, Are You Going To Be There.

Some time later, long after the song had ended, Sandy found her asleep, clutching his picture to her chest. She was smiling.

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