Disclaimer: This story, though maybe not in this chapter but in subsequent chapters, will have celebrities in it. I have no knowledge of their sexuality and this is not intended to imply their sexuality. This is all from my own mind.
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss Whedon. Copyright 20th Century Fox.
Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics and Warner Bros.
X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox.
The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice.
Star Wars and all related concepts created by or based on the universe created by George Lucas. Copyright 20th Century Fox, LucasFilms Ltd. and Lucas Books/Ballantine Books.
I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered.
This story has taken on a life of its own. From its inception a year ago, I had only thought it would last ten chapters maximum. As you can see, it has grown tremendously. Mostly due to readers emailing me and telling me they've enjoyed it or have received help due to certain issues addressed. I've enjoyed writing this story but it would not have been written without men and women reading it and telling me they've enjoyed it. I do hope that you continue to enjoy each new chapter as our hero lives and grows.
I have received many emails from people who have enjoyed it and some from those who do not. I would enjoy hearing from you. Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks.
authorjames2002@yahoo.com
I also have several online messenger services. Some of you know them, however, in the recent weeks I've changed my screen name. If you want to chat with me in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you my screen name.
Author's Note: The Boy Band Story Awards is coming up. If any of you would like to nominate my story for anything, I believe the nominations begin October 1st. I got into writing because I wanted to create these characters and tell their stories. I didn't expect the story to grow like it has. If I didn't have readers, it probably would not have lasted as long as it has. Thank you for your support.
I will be posting twice a week starting next Monday since Fall classes are resuming. Chapter 17 Step Toward Life
I awoke late in the morning and found Lance with his hand on my stomach. It was quite comforting to know he was here beside me. To feel his touch again...I couldn't control the tears that began to flow. Since returning to the U.S. my life has finally started to turn out right. I lost my family, my best friend Matt, and the topper was that I thought I lost my soul mate Lance. Even redeeming my name in Jessica's eyes turned out to be not-quite right. My reunion with Lance turned out not quite right when I nearly killed Paul for abusing Lance. Had I been more active in coming together with Lance, he would not have gone through this abuse. And no matter what anyone says, I would have felt much better had I shocked the bastard in the swimming pool. He had no right, none whatsoever, to harm Lance. Any sentence he gets will be too light in my eyes.
Feeling the pressure in my bladder, I knew I had better use the bathroom soon. As I stirred to get up, Lance woke quickly. "No!" he said as he sat up a little.
"No, what?" I asked in a soothing voice.
Lance looked at me and blinked his eyes. "For a minute, I thought I was going to lose you."
"I was just going to the bathroom."
Lance nodded and lay back down. I leaned over and kissed him 'good morning'. Then I got up and went to the bathroom. After washing my hands, I came back out to find Lance sitting up in bed.
"I can't wait to tell the guys," Lance said with a grin. "They will be so happy to see you alive."
"It will be good to see them, too," I said. I crawled back into bed and Lance and I snuggled. "What do you have to do today?"
"Nothing. I'm not going in to the studio. They will just have to take the day off."
"What if they call?"
"Then I will tell them the truth. My heart has begun beating again. I want to enjoy the day with you. Besides, it's not like they can fire me."
I smiled at Lance and rested my head on his chest. Listening to his heartbeat was so soothing.
"I never want this to end," he stated.
"Eventually it will. We will eventually need showers."
"Not this, although it would be nice if we could stay here together and smell good forever. What I meant was waking up beside you. I never want that to end."
"One day will come when we won't be together for a couple of nights. You will have to tour. I will have my own things to take care of."
"Maybe, one day I will be comfortable with it," Lance replied. "But not for, say, a thousand years."
I smiled at him and looked up into his eyes. He looked into my eyes and our souls met. I leaned up and we kissed. Soon the lip smacking turned into one long kiss. Then the phone rang.
"Damn," Lance muttered as he pulled away to answer it. "Hello...Oh, hi, JC. Yeah, I know what day it is...No, let me look at the time...it's ten thirty, so...Oh, well, have someone with me...No, of course not Paul! How could you think that after what I told you yesterday? No, it is someone else."
I looked up at Lance and his mouth was upturned into a mischievous grin.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you...Can I bring him into the studio?...Great! We'll be there in a half hour! Bye!"
Lance hung up the phone. "Let's shower!"
"I thought you weren't going into the studio today," I stated.
"I want to show everyone you're back!"
I couldn't help myself. My lips went from ear to ear. Lance seemed so happy. He was happy, happy that I had returned to him.
I climbed out of the bed and he and I showered together. We did a lot of caressing and kissing, obviously. But then we got out and dried each other off. We dressed rather quickly and headed out in his car.
"The guys are going to be speechless at seeing you alive," Lance replied as we pulled into the parking deck.
"I can't wait to see them," I answered. And it was true. I couldn't wait to see them all again. I missed them almost as much as I missed Lance.
We climbed out of the car and a man wearing jeans and a leather jacket approached. "Excuse me," he said.
"Can I help you?" Lance asked.
"I need some help with my car over there. It won't start. Would either of you be able to take me to a gas station or call the triple A for me?"
The man kept inching closer and closer. I had a sense something was up so I moved closer to Lance and in between Lance and the stranger.
"I'm sorry," I answered right away. "We can't do anything for you. We will talk to Security inside and they would be happy to help you."
The man pulled out a switchblade and opened it up. "I don't think so," he replied. "Hand over your wallet."
"I don't have any money," I replied.
"You come in here in that car and have the nerve to tell me you don't have any money? That's a laugh! Where the hell have you been?"
I reached out and grabbed the wrist of the knife-wielding hand and twisted his arm around. He dropped to his knees in pain. I hit the pressure point on his hand and he immediately dropped the knife.
"Dead," I said in answer to his question. My elbow darted out and hit him in the face. He fell to the ground unconscious.
"Are you ready to go in?" I asked Lance.
He looked from me to the mugger back to me. "Y-y-yeah, I guess so."
"We'll let security know what happened. They can call the police."
Lance just nodded and we entered the basement level of the studio.
JC, Chris and Joey sat in the lounge wondering amongst their selves what was going on. Justin, however, had an idea but said nothing. He just listened to the other three bantering.
"Why is Lance so late?" Joey asked.
"And who would he be with?" Chris said. "After what he told us yesterday, I couldn't imagine him returning to Paul."
"Look at what he's gone through, though," JC interjected. "Paul has been putting Lance through hell for almost a month and we didn't recognize it.
"We can't really be blamed for not noticing," Justin added. "I mean, come on, he's been moping around ever since he heard about Eric. His attitude hasn't been a happy for a while."
The others nodded in agreement. Then the door opened up and Lance walked in.
"Hi, guys!" he greeted enthusiastically.
"Where the hell have you been?" JC asked.
"And who were you with?" Chris added.
"Oh...my...god," Joey whispered.
The others looked over at him and saw him looking at the doorway. They followed his gaze to the doorway and saw a disfigured me standing smiling back.
"Eric?" JC muttered. "Is that...you?"
I nodded. "Hi, JC. Hello, everyone."
The guys all jumped up and ran over to me. They came only so far and stopped, though. They didn't touch me.
"Is this...are you for real?" Chris asked.
"Yes, I'm very real."
I reached out and touched Chris's face. I did the same to Joey with my other hand. JC, however, surprised everyone by grabbing me into a hug.
"You're alive," he muttered in my ear. "Thank God, you're alive."
"It's good to see you, too, JC. And it is good to be alive."
JC released me and Lance came over taking my hand. Justin walked up to the rest of us.
"It's good to see you," he said as he gave me a hug.
"It's good to see you, too."
"We thought you were dead!" Joey said. "Sit down and talk to us."
We walked over to the couch and chairs and sat down. Lance sat to my left and JC sat next to him. Joey and Chris each commandeered a chair and Justin leaned up against the wall.
"What happened?" Chris asked. "Jessica told us a few weeks ago that you were dead. How can you be standing, or sitting now, in front of us alive?"
"It is a rather long and complicated story," I replied. "I ended up getting blown up by the being I was asked to help fight. But, thanks to my mutation, I survived, although it took my body two months to repair itself.
"Once I woke up, I had no idea who I was or where I was. It was one of NSYNC's songs that slowly brought my memory back. After that I was able to focus on what my goal in England was: help defeat the demon Macai.
"I joined together with some rather interesting and colorful characters and we finally defeated the demon. I was able to return here, only to see Lance involved with someone. Then I went home.
"That turned out to be rather interesting, and painful. My family rejected me because of my being a mutant. I met with someone who called himself the Punisher and he helped me deal with the Friends of Humanity.
"I then headed to California and to Jessica. With help from some friends, I was able to figure out who framed Batman for murder and clear my name. That happened two days ago, which was when I returned to Orlando."
"You were here for two days?" Lance asked. "And you didn't come by? I wish you had come to me. I needed you so much. I needed you to be alive."
I could see a tear form in his eye. I leaned in and kissed him. "I know. And I'm sorry for that." 'More than you will ever know,' I thought. "I thought that your life was finally returning to normal and you were happy with Paul. I didn't want to cause any more heartache in your life, not after I caused so much already.
"If I would have known Paul was hurting you, I would have come sooner."
"It's good you got there when you did," Lance said. "Otherwise..."
I kissed him on the cheek and placed my arm around him.
"How did you know?" Chris asked.
"Know what?"
"Know that Lance was being treated like he was?"
"I told him," Justin said.
"You?" Lance asked. "How did you know Eric was alive?"
"I saw him the day before, as Batman."
"I stayed with Justin the other night, Lance," I interrupted. "I saw Justin at a club when I first came back. Several guys started a fight at the club and I showed up to stop them. Later, I met up with Justin and we talked. Since I didn't have much money to stay anywhere, Justin invited me to stay with him. I had only been there the one night since last night I was with you."
Lance turned to Justin. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't his call, Lance," I said in a calm voice. "Like I told you, I didn't want your life to be interrupted if it was going well. Justin knew that. When he found out things weren't going well for you, he came and told me immediately."
Lance nodded in agreement. "I can understand that, although I wish I would have known. Nothing can change that, though. Nothing."
"We can't change the past. If anything I've learned since returning to the United States, it is that we can't change the good or the bad done, we can't change the relationships we've developed, and we can't make other people think and feel what we want. We have to accept the past as it is and move forward with the knowledge we have.
"Had I known how things would have turned out, I would not have gotten on that plane to England. I would have stayed right here by your side, Lance. I don't ever want to leave you again."
"I don't ever want you to leave, either," Lance said and we gave each other a kiss on the lips and hugged.
The guys smiled at their best friend. He was happy again. For the first time in almost a month, Lance was happy. Lance had taken a major step toward his life again. And it all started simply because someone he loved and cared about was back in his life. It is amazing the affects one person can have on another.
I was feeling pretty good, too. My life had taken some tragic turns in the past. Things were now looking up. Batman's name was cleared of murder and I was with the man I loved. Nothing could change that. Nothing.
The rest of the day was spent with me watching the guys practice their dance moves and songs. They all seemed to have a new energy and I took joy in knowing part of it was because of me. Why I affected them in such a way, I could not tell. But I did. And it gave me great pleasure to know that I did.
After work, Lance invited the guys over for a barbecue in celebration of my return. They readily agreed and said they would buy the food. Lance and I turned home and spent some time in each other's arms.
"What was it like not knowing who you were?" Lance asked.
"Scary. I seemed so insignificant in the world. The world seemed so enormous and I was a grain of sand on a beach. I felt so alone and frightened."
"I can sort of relate. I felt so alone, too, even among the guys. I had this horrible secret and I couldn't tell anyone about it."
"Speaking of which, we should go to the hospital tonight or tomorrow and get you looked over. If Paul is going to be convicted of his crime, a medical report will make it more solid."
Lance nodded and he lay in my arms.
After a while, the doorbell rang. I got up and checked. It was JC, Chris, Joey, and Justin with the food. I opened the door and they all walked in. Lance stood up and stretched.
"What happened to you?" Chris said jokingly to Lance. "Your hair is all mussed."
"He fell asleep," I said after taking a big yawn.
"Do you guys want to do this some other time?" JC asked. "I mean, if you guys want some alone time, we can all understand."
"No," Lance answered. "It's all good. Let's go light the grill."
Lance and Joey went to the patio to light the grill. Chris, JC, Justin and I went into the kitchen to get plates and napkins and condiments. Once we were loaded up, we went out to the patio and Lance and Joey cooked the food while I told everyone the details of my encounter with Macai and the other people I met in England. They laughed at the funny parts, freaked at the scary parts, and seemed enthralled in the entire tale.
"If someone were to make it a movie," Chris said, "no one would believe it! It is too fantastic!"
"It was unreal," I replied. "And I lived it!"
"I think I saw the new Vampire Slayer a month ago. She's wearing a Bat-suit the same color your old one was."
"She seems to be doing a good job," JC replied. "I haven't heard much of any attacks going on."
"That's good," I responded.
When the food was finished, we ate, enjoyed each other's company and then the guys went home, leaving Lance and I alone.
As Lance and I cleaned up, he walked over and put his arms around me leaning his head against my back. "I'm so glad to have you back. I know I'm sounding like a broken record but it's true. I am glad to have you back."
"I'm glad to have you back, too. I've missed you so much."
The phone rang breaking our intimate moment. Lance went over and answered it as I finished putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and the leftover food away. When he hung up, he came back in.
"That was the police. They said I should go to the hospital now and get checked out. There isn't much time in getting a thorough and accurate examination from what Paul did to me."
"Then let's go. Do you want me to drive?"
Lance nodded. I grabbed the keys to the SUV and he and I went to the hospital so he could be examined.
To Be Continued...