Title: Black Eyes, Blue Tears 11/? Author: Stephanie M Summary: AJ discovers the truth behind Lance and JC's intense relationship. Feedback: This is not my normal type of story; I would love to hear what everyone thinks. Disclaimer: This is entirely fiction i.e. not true. I don't know Nsync or the Backstreet Boys. The story is the result of a warped mind. Warnings: JC bashing-sorry if that upsets anyone. Discussion of abuse. Status: WIP
Part 11
"We've got him," Detective Harris said into the phone with a smile.
AJ grinned at Lance, "Do you think he'll get bail?"
The detective said quickly, "No. Why don't you and Lance get out of that neighbourhood now? JC isn't going anywhere."
"I'll consider it. Thanks," AJ said ending the call.
"You think he'll come after me?" Lance asked AJ worried for the other man more than for himself.
AJ promised, "He's not going to get the chance. Want to go back to the hotel with the others?"
"That would be nice. Can I still room with you?"
"Of course. If you need me for anything just tell me," AJ said seriously.
Grabbing the bag from the floor AJ smiled over at Lance knowing that finally the healing could begin now that JC was out the way. His grin widened as Lance hugged him; it was the first time Lance had initiated such intimate contact.
"Come on, angel. I can't wait to surprise the guys!" AJ said with a smile.
Lance bit his lip, "Ya think the press are there?"
"Don't worry. We'll be okay." AJ said as the pair walked outside downstairs.
Lance handed in the key to the woman at the desk, giving her a wide smile. The woman just stared at him in shock; unable to believe this was the same man scared man she had seen the day before.
Lance looked at the sea of fans with a groan, not wanting to face them after everything that had happened. He wordlessly took the fake nose stud AJ passed him grinning. The fans would have a hard time spotting them now that they looked the complete opposite of their images.
Lance was wearing all leather with a studded choker with two fake eyebrow rings and one stud in his nose, he looked more like a punk star than a boyband member. AJ, wearing a charcoal grey suit with a white shirt and blue tie looked like the perfect businessman.
"Ready to face the hordes?" AJ asked with a grin.
Lance smiled, "Ready as I'll ever be."
The pair turned the corner of the street, grinning when the fans nervously moved out of their way seeing only a dangerous man instead of the charming, gentle bass singer. Holding the door open for the younger man, AJ breathed a sigh as relief as they entered safety. ******* "I won't be a sec," AJ said before he walked over to the desk and asked the receptionist, "Any messages for AJ McLean?"
The woman smiled at him cheerfully, "Mr Richardson said he'll see you and your guest tonight. Mr Fatone said to tell you everything is taken care of. Have a nice day!"
"Thanks," AJ said walking over to where Lance was waiting with the bag.
Lance let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding as the elevator doors closed in front of him. The only people in the compartment were him and AJ, something the green-eyed man was thankful for. He didn't think he could handle a lot of people, all he wanted to do was sleep.
The new tour manager snarled when the pair got off the elevator, "You turned up then! Who's this?"
AJ just rolled his eyes, "This is my one of my best friends, Lance Bass. He is going to stay with me for a while. Can you make sure we're not disturbed?"
"Fine, but you're not to disappear without telling me in future!" The man replied walking down the corridor in a huff.
Lance smirked, "Charming man (!)"
"He's a ray of sunshine in the dark world of show business," AJ said wryly opening the door of his room, motioning for Lance to go in first.
The room was exactly like every other hotel Lance had been in but that didn't matter to him. Hotels were normal now; he failed to be impressed by them. He quickly lay down on the bed, the emotional roller coaster if the last two days finally catching up with him. It was difficult to believe that he had only told AJ the truth two days ago, and that JC was already in jail. He just hoped that they would be able to send JC away for a while. ******* The man looked directly at the camera as he said, "This is Kurt Loder with a shocking MTV News. JC Chasez has been arrested on multiple counts of rape and grievous bodily harm after Lance Bass filed the charge. This is seen by some to explain Lance Bass' sudden disappearance two days ago. It is believed that Bass could be in a safehouse by the Chicago PD."
Diane Bass stared at the television in a mix of shock, disgust and rage. How could this have happened to her baby, how long had it been happening? Why didn't she see anything? More importantly why didn't Lance tell her about it? She quickly called her son's mobile only to be told that the cell phone she was calling was switched off. Was her son avoiding her or was he really in hiding? ******* At the same time Lance was laying asleep in AJ's arms, the Backstreet boy was softly humming content to just hold Lance knowing the other man was safe. He froze as Lance started screaming desperately fighting with an unseen foe.
"Shush, its okay. No one is here, just me - Alex. I'll take care of you!" AJ whispered into the singer's ear not touching Lance in case he made the situation worse.
Crying Lance shouted, "No! Stop! Let me go! Stop, please!"
There was a crash as Chris and Nick kicked the door off its hinges, running into the room in a mix of fear and anger alarmed by Lance's cries. AJ jumped up ready to defend Lance with his life.
Looking at the distraught bass singer, Chris menacingly approached AJ snarling, "What did you do to him?"
AJ said quickly, "Nothing. He's having a nightmare; he has a lot of them. Back off and let me take care of him."
"Alex, where are you? JC let Alex go, please!" Lance whimpered as he reached out to find only air where AJ had been laying.
Pulling out of Chris' grip AJ knelt down on the bed next to Lance and gently touched the blonde's hair saying soothingly, "I'm here, Lance. JC is not going to get the chance to hurt you again! I promise, baby."
Nick looked at AJ in anger unable to believe AJ was putting pressure on Lance by broadcasting his feelings about the suffering man. Lance didn't need anything else right now. Nick knew how protective and caring AJ was so it didn't make sense for the dark haired man to be so uncaring of Lance's pain.
"Alex, what's wrong?" Lance asked opening his eyes to find AJ watching him with unspent tears in his eyes.
AJ answered with a grin, "Nothing. Do you want to get up, sweetheart?"
Lance's eyes widened as he saw the two men staring at him and AJ on the bed, "I guess. Er...what are Nick and Chris doing in our room? JC isn't after us, is he?"
"No. He is still locked up. We just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out with us?" Chris said quickly not wanting to alarm his friend.
Lance just arched his eyebrows at them, having noticed the broken door. There was more to the situation than Chris was saying, Lance let it go for now knowing that AJ would tell him if he asked.
"That would be nice. Come on, Alex." Lance said pulling AJ up from the bed, not letting go of the other man's hand.
As the four walked down the corridor Chris said, "We're all meeting up in Justin's room."
"You're back!" Howie exclaimed as he and Brian got off the elevator and headed towards the singers.
AJ answered with a grin, "Yeah." His grip on Lance's hand tightened when the man quickly moved so that he was pasted against the Backstreet Boy's chest, one hand clutching onto AJ's shirt.
Seeing the reaction they had on Lance, the others froze giving the pair space. They didn't want to scare Lance, they had only intended on welcoming him back. AJ simply allowed Lance to hold onto him, he wanted to hug the younger man but was worried it could upset Lance.
Smiling up at AJ Lance opened the door of Justin's room and letting Brian and Howie walk in. Hearing Chris bicker with Nick just in front of them Lance and AJ smiled at each other.
"What the fuck?!" Howie shouted in shock as he walked in to find Justin and Kevin in bed together, naked.
Chris snarled, "How could you take advantage of him like this, Kevin!"
"How could you do this to Kristen?" Brian asked angrily.
The shouting and anger caused Lance to desperately search for someplace to hide. He was operating purely on instinct, the instinct that anger and shouting normally led to pain for him.
Spying the bathroom, Lance ran inside locking the door behind him as hard leaned lessons returned to his memory. *Keep down. Keep quiet...make as small a target as possible, * Lance kept repeating his mantra mentally as he crouched against the sink where he had a clear view of the door.
AJ snarled at the room, "Shut up, you stupid Fucks!"
The five stared at him in shock wondering what had made AJ so angrily, seeing that Lance was nowhere to be found they started panicking. Where had Lance disappeared to and why?
Moving outside the bathroom door AJ said soothingly, "Lance, baby? It's Alex, can you let me in?"
His voice echoing in the now silent room Lance said shakily, "N--No. They are gonna hurt me. I haven't done anything wrong, have I? I tried to be good, honest! Why are they angry with me?"
"They're not angry at you and no one is going to hurt you. Can you let me in, sweetheart?" AJ pleaded ignoring the other people in the room.
"Okay, just you." Lance said before opening the door and pulling AJ inside the bathroom. ******* "I feel like shit," Chris said to the room at large looking at the floor.
Howie just nodded unable to believe that they had scared the bass singer so much. Lance had sounded terrified because of them, he had read all about being careful with someone who had been abused but had failed at the first hurdle.
"Did you hear what Lance said?" Justin asked pulling on a robe and getting out of bed.
Brian nodded guiltily, "Yeah. He thinks we are going to hurt him. You think we should talk to him?"
Nick shook his head, "Lance's not going to let us near him for a while. AJ is the only one he feels safe with; it will be a while before Lance can relax around us. It is to be expected given what he has endured. He spent the last five years getting hurt if he did or said something wrong, or without permission. He needs to learn how to feel safe around us, to trust us again."
"You think we should call a shrink or someone?" Brian asked worriedly.
Kevin said thoughtfully, "That's not our decision to make. It would probably be the best option but Lance needs to decide that himself. He needs to have control of his own life again."
"You know this is all your fault!" Brian said glaring at his cousin.
"Really (!) Me and Justin had planned to tell you about our relationship after we had gotten Lance away from JC."
Chris asked with a grin, "What is your relationship?"
Justin grinned widely, " That's easy, we're in love with each other. We have been for 17 months, JC knows about us. I was a little shocked JC didn't make me get info from Kevin about where Lance was."
"What about Kristen?" Howie asked suddenly.
Knowing what he had to say was going to shock his friends Kevin took a deep breath, "I was never involved with her. She offered to help me cover up my sexuality. We were both lonely and sure that we would never have someone, so we got married. I met Justin and everything clicked into place. Kristen and I are getting a divorce and she is getting the house. I don't need it, I have my home with Justin."
"How come you don't look shocked about this, Nick?" Chris said his eyes pinning the blonde in place.
Nick shrugged, "I knew about them, they're great together."
"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Brian asked feeling betrayed.
Nick grinned saying idly, "Not my place to tell you. Anyway, it is none of your business. Like the fact that I'm gay and engaged isn't any of your business."
"Engaged! To who?" Howie exclaimed in shock and amazement, he had always figured Nick couldn't keep anything secret obviously he was wrong.
Nick gave a mysterious smile, "The most wonderful guy on the planet."
"Now we've finished sharing our darkest secrets, can we get Lance out of there?" Chris said angrily. ******* "I really tried to be good! What have I done wrong?" Lance asked half crying.
AJ held his hand out in invitation as he said, "You haven't done anything wrong, they're just fucking idiots who don't think before doing anything."
Lance warily scooted closer to AJ, at the other man's reassuring smile he moved into AJ's arms. He sighed contentedly when AJ gently placed his arms around him, taking care not to irritate any of the wounds on Lance's back. He absently noticed that AJ was humming again; Lance had noticed that the older man did that whenever Lance was upset.
Lance asked curiosity finally getting the better of him, "What song is that you're humming?"
AJ answered with a grin, "Hmm? Oh, its called I'll Stand By You by the Pretenders."
"Could you sing it for me?" Lance asked nervously.
"Of course Sweetheart," AJ said with a grin.
Lance grinned, "You call me that a lot or baby or angel."
"Sorry. If you want or if it's making you uncomfortable, I'll stop."
Lance said shyly, "I like it. It feels like you really care about me, as if you really want to be with me, as if you don't see me as dirty."
AJ said seriously looking Lance in the eyes, "I do care about you. I want to be around you and you're not dirty. You're wonderful, brave, strong, caring and beautiful."
"Thanks. Can you sing that song for me?" Lance said a warm feeling in his stomach.
AJ just grinned and started singing his voice full of love as he tenderly looked at Lance trying to express just how he felt.
"OH, WHY YOU LOOK SO SAD? TEARS ARE IN YOUR EYES COME ON AND COME TO ME NOW DON'T BE ASHAMED TO CRY LET ME SEE YOU THROUGH 'CAUSE I'VE SEEN THE DARK SIDE TOO WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS ON YOU YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NOTHING YOU CONFESS COULD MAKE ME LOVE YOU LESS
I'LL STAND BY YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU WON'T LET NOBODY HURT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU SO IF YOU'RE MAD, GET MAD DON'T HOLD IT ALL INSIDE COME ON AND TALK TO ME NOW HEY, WHAT YOU GOT TO HIDE? I GET ANGRY TOO WELL I'M A LOT LIKE YOU WHEN YOU'RE STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS AND DON'T KNOW WHICH PATH TO CHOOSE LET ME COME ALONG 'CAUSE EVEN IF YOU'RE WRONG I'LL STAND BY YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU WON'T LET NOBODY HURT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU TAKE ME IN, INTO YOUR DARKEST HOUR AND I'LL NEVER DESERT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU AND WHEN... WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS ON YOU, BABY YOU'RE FEELING ALL ALONE YOU WON'T BE ON YOUR OWN I'LL STAND BY YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU WON'T LET NOBODY HURT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU TAKE ME IN, INTO YOUR DARKEST HOUR AND I'LL NEVER DESERT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU WON'T LET NOBODY HURT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU WON'T LET NOBODY HURT YOU I'LL STAND BY YOU
End Part 11