Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 17:23:09 -0400
From: Writer Boy <writerboy69@hotmail.com>
Subject: jc's hitchhiker - part 108

Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:

1) If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or
you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You
shouldn't be here.

2) I don't know any of the celebrities in this story, and this story in no
way is meant to imply anything about their sexualities, personalities, or
anything else.  This is a work of pure fiction.

Questions and commentary can be sent to "writerboy69@hotmail.com". I enjoy
constructive criticism, praise, and rational discussion. I do not enjoy
flames, and will not tolerate them.

Back to the story in progress.

***Jack***

"No!" I screamed, sitting bolt upright in bed. My heart was throbbing, the
bed spinning, and I felt arms wrapping around me from behind as I tried to
get my bearings, covering my face with my hands, willing everything to slow
down.

"Jack, shhhhh, Jack," Josh soothed, holding me, sliding me back to rest
against him. I felt his chest against my back, and his arms circled me,
cradling me, as he rested his head on my shoulder, his face next to
mine. "It's ok, Jack. Whatever it was, it's ok."

"I'm ok," I whispered, holding my hands over his. Already my breathing was
slowing down, and the dream was clearing out of my head. I was safe, here
with Josh.  "I'm ok, Josh."

"Are you sure?" he asked, rocking back and forth a little. The room was
completely dark, but I didn't want to look at the clock, knowing I would
feel guilty for waking him. Even though they weren't working tomorrow,
while Wade reworked the show, Josh needed rest. They were shooting a video
next week, and I didn't want him looking tired. "Do you need to tell me? Do
you need to let it out? Was it Basil again?"

"No," I answered, feeling my eyes tear. "No, it was worse. Everything's all
tangled up in my head, Josh, all mixed together. I dreamed that there was a
fire, Josh, here at the house.  You were here, and you, you were trapped,
and my mother was here, not Evelyn, but my other mother, and I couldn't get
inside. I couldn't get to either of you, and you, you."

My voice dissolved, my breath catching in my chest, and I felt Josh's arms
squeeze even tighter around my chest as he rocked back and forth. I felt
his head brushing mine as he shook it back and forth, and there were
goosebumps on his arms.

"Jack, no, no," Josh said, as much to himself as it was to me. "It was just
a dream, Jack, just a bad dream. I'm here, Jack. I'm here, and I'm ok."

"You're all I have, Josh," I whispered. "You're all I have. You're my whole
family, and I, in my dream, I lost you. I lost you, and I was all alone."

"You're not alone, Jack," Josh whispered, pulling me gently back down onto
the bed. He was stroking my hair now, brushing it back from my forehead,
and I turned in the loop of his arms so that I was facing him. He might
have been concerned about me, because I'd had yet another nightmare, but I
could see that the dream had scared him, too. I could tell by the way he
was looking at me, as if trying again to memorize every detail of my face,
as much of it as he could see in the dark room. "We're family, Jack, me and
you. And you have the guys, and you have my family. And maybe, maybe
someday, you'll even have something with Evelyn, and Jack, senior, and
Brett. Until then, though, there's you and me. You're my husband, and I
love you, and as long as we have that, neither one of us is ever alone."

"I love you, Josh," I whispered, amazed at the way he always knew exactly
the right thing to say to me. "I love you so much."

"Do you think you can fall back to sleep, now?" Josh asked. He grinned, and
I caught a little flash off of his teeth. "Maybe a blowjob to help?"

"Not necessary," I said, chuckling. "Please, Josh, please just hold me."

"Whatever you want, babe," he sighed, pulling me closer, and laying my head
on his chest.

I slid back toward sleep, my last thoughts about how soft his skin was, and
how maybe I should go to group therapy with Justin and Lance, since we were
all having bad dreams.  What were the odds that three out of six of us had
gone through such traumatic experiences? It bordered on the ludicrous, but
I drifted off before I could think any more about it. I woke up much later,
shielding my eyes with my arm as I felt Josh licking my face. I turned my
head the other way, but he followed me, his tongue crawling rapidly all
over my lips.

"Josh, stop!" I said, laughing. I opened my eyes, and it wasn't Josh.

A tiny puppy stood on the bed next to my head, wagging his tail feverishly.
When I opened my eyes, staring into his brown ones, he lunged forward,
licking all over my face again, and I realized that the wet tongue sliding
over my lips a minute ago had been the dog's. He was a little shorthaired
dog, tan with black on his ears and feet, but I couldn't tell the
breed. Maybe he was a mutt. I picked him up as I sat up in bed, holding him
to my chest as he licked whatever he could reach.

"Where did you come from, baby?" I asked, grinning. He let out a little
yelp, his tail wagging so hard his whole back end was shaking. He had on a
little rhinestone studded black collar, and I knew just looking at it that
he was from Josh. I looked up and saw Josh smiling from the doorway of the
bedroom, his hair casually messy as he leaned, barefoot, in ripped jeans
and a t-shirt against the doorframe. "Josh?"

"He followed me home. Can we keep him?" Josh asked, grinning. "Do you like
him?"

"I love him, Josh, but what are we gonna do with him?" I asked. "Where's he
going to go when you and I are on the road?"

Josh walked over to the bed and sat down beside me. The puppy ran over to
his lap, and then began running back and forth between us as we both petted
him.

"I thought that, um, you could take him with you," Josh answered. "I
thought that for the nights when I wasn't there, you'd still have him. I
don't want you to be alone, Jack, and since I can't be with you, I thought
this was the next best thing. If you don't want him, I can take him back to
the pound."

"No, Josh," I said, leaning over to kiss him. "He's perfect. I love him,
and I love you.  Now come here."

I pressed my lips to Josh's mouth, holding his face in my hands. He kissed
me back with equal fervor, his tongue pushing into my mouth, fighting wetly
with my own.  I groaned, chewing on him, pulling him toward me as I started
to lay back down on the bed. His hands slid up my sides, running up and
down them, his palms brushing over my chest.  His fingers crawled up to my
nipples, thumbing them, and he pinched both lightly, tugging them away from
my chest. I groaned, clawing at his back, as my own hands slid down to tug
at his shirt. Josh moaned as well, grinding himself against me, pressing
his body to mine as he squashed me into the mattress. I was naked under the
sheet, and felt it rubbing against my hard cock as it throbbed, trapped
between our bodies. As I finally got a grip on Josh's shirt, tugging it up
toward his shoulder blades, a warm, furry head pressed itself between our
chins, licking, and we both froze.

"Shit," I said, snickering. "Great present, Josh."

"We might as well have had a kid," Josh said, laughing. He stood, picking
up the dog and carrying it like a football under his arm. "Why don't you go
get in the shower, and I'll take Junior here down to the backyard so he can
go to the bathroom, ok? Then we'll get ready for the barbecue."

"Yeah," I agreed, standing and flashing him my bare ass as I walked toward
the bathroom. "You know, that might be a good name for him."

"What?" Josh asked. "Barbecue?"

"Junior," I answered, turning on the shower. "After all, if you and I are a
family, he's our kid."

When I came downstairs, dressed casually in jeans and a shirt,
subconsciously matching Josh even though the honeymoon and two weeks of
matching outfits was over.  Josh had slipped on a pair of sandals, and he
left off taking food out of the refrigerator as he walked me to the corner
of the kitchen that now belonged to Junior, as we'd both started calling
the puppy. Josh had obviously given this a lot of thought, and not just
gone out and picked up a puppy this morning. He showed me the shot record,
explaining that Junior had been at the vet's for the past day or two. He
had purchased a little doggie crate, and one of those round beds like you
saw on television. There was a baby gate, so that we could section off that
part of the kitchen if we didn't want him underfoot, and, in typical Josh
fashion, about a hundred different dog toys overflowing from a plastic
basket.

"Josh, how long have you been planning this?" I asked, looking
around. There was puppy chow hidden in the pantry, and five different kinds
of dog treats. This puppy was going to be as spoiled as I was.

"Since before the wedding," he answered, hugging me, while Junior tugged
furiously at Josh's pant leg, growling.

"Where did you keep all of this stuff?" I asked. There wasn't a room in the
house that I hadn't been in.

"Joey's," Josh answered, smiling. "I didn't want you to find any of it. Of
course, I think now he's going to have to get a puppy for Bri, too, because
she's been running around the house with the dog toys for the past couple
of days."

We both laughed, and I kissed him again as we heard the doorbell. I pulled
away, smiling.

"I'll get it," I said. "You better get back to work in here."

"OK," Josh said, throwing the potatoes into the boiling water for the
potato salad. Josh had neat little index cards laid out all over the
kitchen next to groups of ingredients, and I had to laugh again, knowing
that they all thought I was the obsessive one.  He was just as bad. When I
pulled open the door I found Chad smiling on the doorstep.

"Hey!" he said, waving. "Are we ready to work?"

"Oh, shit!" I blurted. "We're not working today. I forgot to call
you. Chad, we're having the guys over for a barbecue."

"Oh, ok," Chad said, shrugging. He started to turn a little. "Should I come
tomorrow?"

"Stay and hang out," Josh said from behind me. I couldn't help but notice
the way that Chad's entire face lit up when he saw Josh. "You're going to
have to meet the guys anyway, if you're going to be working with Jack and
I."

"Thanks, JC!" Chad said excitedly, grinning. I had a sudden Jerry Springer
moment where I wanted to grab him and scream, "Bitch! Hands off my man!"

"Why don't you head back to the kitchen, and we'll put you to work?" I
said, hoping like hell that Junior had just crapped all over the
floor. Chad bounced away, and I heard squeals of delight coming from the
other end of the house when he found Junior. I closed the door and turned
to Josh.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked, his hands on my shoulders. I was still smiling,
but Josh could tell I was irritated.

"Josh, have you noticed that our assistant has, um, a little crush on you?"
I asked. "Don't look at me like that. Every time you walk into the room he
just stares at you, and when we're going through wedding stuff he's always
asking all these questions about you."

"Is my baby jealous?" Josh asked, hugging me. "He's just excited to be
working with famous people, Jack. He's harmless. Besides, even if he
wasn't, I love you.  Just you.  OK?"

"I know, baby," I said. "And I love you, too. I guess it could be what you
said. Maybe he is just fascinated with famous people."

I started to walk back toward the kitchen, but Josh had my arm, and tugged
me back.

"Jack, does it really bother you?" he asked. "Seriously?"

"No, Josh," I answered, shaking my head. "It's just, you know, I'm being
stupid. What time did you tell the guys to be here?"

"I told them to start showing up at eleven," he answered.

"Then we have an hour," I said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Let's
get to work."

The three of us bustled around the kitchen, making small talk and working
on salads and the meat, carefully avoiding stepping on Junior, who was
determined to eat anything we dropped on the floor. Josh was being
especially demonstrative, touching me or kissing me every time he went past
me, as if to reassure me and to show Chad that he was spoken for, and I
loved him for it, even if it was kind of unnecessary. When the doorbell
rang again, Josh was beating steaks with a hammer and Chad was threading
vegetables onto bamboo skewers, so I put the lettuce down and went to go
get it. Lance and Justin smiled at me from the doorstep, each of them
holding a white bakery box.

"Hey, guys!" I said, holding the door open. Lance hugged me tightly,
carefully balancing his bakery box, and I was surprised when Justin stepped
forward and hugged me, too.

"Hey, Jack," Justin whispered, holding me tightly. I looked over his
shoulder at Lance, who smiled and shrugged. Justin stepped back, holding
his box tightly. "We brought pie."

"Cool," I said, turning back toward the kitchen. Justin caught my arm.

"Can I, can I talk to you?" he asked. Lance waited as well. "And Josh?"

"Of course, Justin," I said, turning to call toward the kitchen. "Josh?"

Justin turned to Lance and leaned in, whispering something quietly to him
as he set his bakery box on top of Lance's. Lance nodded and patted Justin
on the arm before turning and walking toward the kitchen. Josh gave him a
quick hug as they passed, and then joined us in the living room. From the
kitchen I heard Chad shriek, "Oh my God! You're Lance Bass! Oh my God!" and
I smiled, deciding that Josh was right after all. Poor Lance, trapped in
the kitchen with our celebrity worshipping assistant. Josh stepped up next
to me, both of us waiting. Justin looked at his feet nervously, twisting
his hands.

"Justin?" I asked.

"Curly?" Josh added, as Justin took a deep breath. "Are you ok?"

"Do you need us for something?" I asked.

Justin swallowed, and sat down on the couch. Josh and I looked at each
other, hoping nothing else was wrong. Justin looked up at us, and seemed
very afraid. His eyes were huge, and his hands were actually shaking. Josh
and I sat down across from him, waiting, wondering what else we should do.

"This is, is really hard for me," Justin began, looking down again. He took
a deep breath, and tried again. "I need to, to tell you guys
something. I've been talking to, to my guy, and I should have, have told
you before, but I didn't."

"Justin, you can tell us now," Josh said quietly.

"Whatever it is, we want to help you," I said, squeezing Josh's
hand. "We're here for you, Justin."

"I know," Justin said. "And that's, that's what I need to talk to you
about.  I've been thinking, thinking a lot, and I never told you
something. I never told you thank you."

Justin looked up at us again, and tears were streaming down his face now,
but he looked ok otherwise. His eyes were wide, but not shadowed, not red.

"I never told you guys thank you for everything," Justin said. "I never
thanked you for being my friend, and for being here for me, and for
forgiving me. Jack, I almost took Josh away from you, not, not just once,
but twice, and you still forgave me. And Josh, I, I wasn't a good friend to
you. I played games with you, and I, I hurt you, and you still forgave me,
too. When I was hurt, you were there for me, you held onto me, and when I
was in the, in the hospital, you stayed, you stayed the whole time, and I
never said thank you, and you still forgave me anyway."

"Justin, you don't have to thank us for that," Josh said, sitting down on
one side of him.

"We love you, Justin," I said, sitting down on the other side. Justin took
both our hands, looking back and forth between us.

"I know, but you don't, you don't have to," Justin said. "I know you'd,
you'd forgive anyone, but you forgave me. Me. You're my friends, and you
still love me.  You forgave me, and you always have, and I just wanted to
say thank you."

"You're welcome, Justin," I said, reaching for the tissues. I blotted
lightly at his face.  "You're welcome."

"It's ok, Justin," Josh said, folding Justin against him. "Just let it out,
ok?"

"I'm ok," Justin sighed. "I'm ok."

The three of us sat like that for a few more minutes, Josh and I both
holding onto Justin, comforting him. It was such a surprise to see him
reaching out that we both wanted to make sure he felt safe, and
reassured. I was afraid that we would say something to drive him into his
shell again, to make him cling to Lance and block us all out, and I think
Josh was, too. In the kitchen I could hear Lance and Chad working on the
food, Chad keeping up a steady stream of babble as Lance interjected here
and there, his lower pitch easy to pick out among Chad's squealing, almost
girlish chatter. Justin was pretty much calmed down, but still holding mine
and Josh's hands, when Junior came trotting out of the kitchen and nudged
his leg, whimpering. Justin looked down, his eyes lighting up.

"A puppy!" he said, reaching down to pet him. Junior nuzzled against his
hand, dancing happily back and forth. Justin looked up at me, his face
split wide in a grin, a real smile, the first one we had seen from him in
weeks. "Can I, can I hold him?"

"Of course," I said, fighting the urge to scream, "Hell yes, if it makes
you smile," as I scooped Junior up and handed him to Justin. Over Justin's
shoulder I could see Josh smiling, too. Justin took Junior carefully,
hugging him tightly with one hand while petting him with the other.

"You're a cute little puppy, yes you are, yes you are," Justin said,
holding his face down so Junior could lick it while Justin giggled. "Where
did he come from?"

"The pound," Josh answered, surprising us both. I had thought Josh was
joking earlier when he said he'd take Junior back to the pound if I didn't
want him. I figured that Josh, being Josh, would have ordered Junior from
some celebrity pet breeder, not picked him up at the shelter. Maybe I was
finally starting to rub off on him.

"Josh got him for me," I said, petting Junior on the head as Justin
continued to hold him tightly. Junior was loving the attention. "Do you
want to play with him? He has some toys in the kitchen."

"It's ok?" Justin asked, and Josh and I both nodded. "Yes, yes, please."

As we stood, Justin nuzzling Junior's head with his own, the doorbell rang
again.

"I'll get it," Josh said, kissing me on the cheek.

As I walked Justin to the kitchen I heard Josh greeting Chris and Vlada at
the door, and smiled again. It was turning out to be a great day after
all. In the kitchen, Lance and Chad both looked up from their counters as
we entered, Lance's eyes ticking over Justin appraisingly while Chad's just
bulged again.

"Lance, Josh and Jack got a puppy and it likes me and," Justin gushed,
hurrying toward Lance. He skidded to a stop when he saw Chad. "Who, who are
you?"

"Justin, it's ok," I said quickly. "That's Chad. He's mine and Josh's
assistant, and he's ok."

"You're safe, Justin," Lance said, hurrying across the room to him. Justin
clutched Junior to his chest, eyeing Chad carefully, waiting. "I've been
talking to him, and he's ok. I promise, Justin."

"OK," Justin said quietly. I had my hand on his shoulder, and I could feel
him shaking again. I gave myself a mental smack for not thinking to tell
Justin that there was a stranger here. He had seemed so strong in the
living room, before, but it was clear that he still wasn't ok. He reached
out a trembling hand toward Chad. "I'm Justin, and I, it's very nice to, to
meet you."

"Oh my God!" Chad burst, shaking Justin's hand. "I'm such a fan, such a big
fan of yours. I'll never wash my hand again."

"You'd better wash it before you touch any of the food," I said, leading
Justin away from Chad to the corner, where all of the dog toys were. Chad
blushed a deep scarlet, and Lance giggled. I sat Justin down on the floor,
where he set Junior down again, and began playing tug of war with him,
making little growling noises each time the puppy did. "Are you ok here,
Justin?"

"Yeah, we're good," he said, still tugging. Maybe there was something to
pet therapy.  Figuring that Justin would be comfortable in the kitchen with
Lance to keep an eye on him, I went looking for Josh, Chris, and Vlada, and
found the three of them in the music room.

"Who ees zees?" Vlada asked, standing in front of the wall case.

"You moved our awards around," Chris said.

"I moved them for Jack," Josh said. "That's his shelf, now, for, um."

"That's my birth mother," I said, stepping up behind Josh. I wrapped my
arms around him and kissed the back of his neck. "Her name was Nancy."

Josh had a case built into the wall where he kept his awards. Every time
the band won something, they were actually each given one, so they all had
a case like this somewhere in their house. The other day, when I was in the
shower, Josh had cleared one of the shelves in his case, jamming the awards
closer together on the other shelves, and had set up a shelf for me. The
framed picture of Nancy was there, along with the little bear and the
scrapbook. The letter was there, in the envelope, along with everything in
the envelope Evelyn had given me. I wasn't sure if I wanted those on
display, since they were personal, so I had left them in their envelopes,
reasoning that at least in the case they would be protected.

"You found her?" Chris asked.

"She's, um, she's no longer with us," I said, kissing Vlada hello on both
cheeks as she did the same to me. "But she wanted to be."

"Jack, I'm sorry," Chris said, patting me on the shoulder.

"It's ok, Chris," I smiled. "I went to get answers, and I have them now.
Someday I'll give you the whole story, but, for now, I'm ok with it."

"We should get to the kitchen before this melts," Josh said, holding up the
bag of ice cream that Chris and Vlada had brought. I took his hand and we
began to walk, Chris and Vlada following us. I heard Chris snickering.

"You two are so domestic married couple now," Chris said, and I heard Vlada
smack his arm.

"Be kviet," she said, but I could hear her smiling.

"You know, doing couple stuff, hanging out with your married couple
friends," Chris continued. Josh and I both turned back, staring
questioningly at him. "Well, you know, I read in one of the papers that you
two were doing Karaoke with Kevin Richardson.  Making new friends?"

"We ran into him at the airport, and then we hung out," Josh said,
shrugging. "That's all."

"And we're going to dinner with him and his wife next week," I added. Chris
looked a little uncertain. "What, Chris?"

"It's just, you know, are you sure that's a good idea?" Chris asked
finally.  Beside him, Vlada frowned. "He's a Backstreet Boy, you guys. He's
friends with the other two assholes."

Josh sighed, and I decided I'd be the one to explain.

"Chris, he's a nice guy," I said. "He's not like them, and really, he
doesn't even like them that much. He knows something happened with them and
us, and he feels bad about it, but the three of us decided to be friends
outside of that. I know you're concerned, because we had the same thoughts,
but we can't judge him based on who he works with."

"He doesn't just work with them," Chris said. "And you're not outside of
this. The three of you can't just decide to be friends. How do you think
Justin and Lance are going to feel when they find out you're hanging out
with him?"

"We'll talk to them about it," Josh said. "We won't hurt either one of
them, Chris. You know that."

"I know," he said. "I just wanted to make sure you'd thought of it."

"Thanks, big brother," I said, following Josh to the kitchen. It was nice
that Chris was always watching out for us, but I wished that maybe, just
once, he could actually come right out and say it. He always had this way
of kind of dancing toward things that made you spill everything, leaving
you to wonder in the end how much he'd actually known to begin with. As
Josh was introducing everyone to Chad I heard the bell. "My turn. Go turn
the grill on, Josh, please."

Joey, Kelly, and Bri were waiting on the doorstep. Bri darted forward,
wrapping her arms around my knees as Joey and Kelly laughed.

"Unca Jackie!" Bri squealed. I bent down, grinning at her.

"Bri, if you go find your Uncle Justin in the kitchen, right now, he has a
surprise you can play with," I said, pointing. She took off through the
house, pigtails flying behind her, and I heard excited squealing from the
kitchen when she saw Junior.

"Great, Jack," Joey said, grinning, as he helped me up. "You and JC and
trying to force me to buy her one, aren't you?"

"Every kid needs a puppy," I said, giggling.

"You're just as bad as the rest of these guys," Kelly said, shaking her
head as she walked past me into the house, carrying a pan of brownies.

"I'll take that as a compliment," I called after her, laughing, as I helped
Joey with the cooler.

As the afternoon progressed we drifted back and forth between the kitchen
and the patio, keeping the doors open. I gave Justin and Bri a short
lecture about keeping Junior from going too far into the backyard, and then
let them have a good time playing with the dog.  Justin cringed away when
Joey came close, and the two of them didn't speak, but Joey seemed to
understand, and gave Justin a wide berth. Lance watched the whole thing
from the counter, where he and Chad were deep in a conversation about some
show that they both watched on television. They seemed to be getting along
pretty well, although I wasn't sure either of them realized it. Chris,
Vlada, Kelly, and Josh were discussing about ten things at once while Joey
and I grilled the meat. Joey watched carefully, forcing me to prove that I
had paid attention during his lecture the day Josh and I had bought a grill
out in L.A.

Chad and I brought out citronella candles from under the sink as Kelly gave
Bri another lecture about not touching them or getting too close to them as
we all settled in for lunch.  Josh and I shared a lounge chair, eating and
feeding each other, while Chris and Vlada sat side by side on the other
one. Joey stayed back by the grill, and Kelly sat hear him, but not too
close, complaining about the heat. Justin, Lance, and Chad sat together at
the table, and we all just talked about little things and hung out. I
hadn't seen too much of the guys since Josh and I came back, and it was
nice to just hang out again.

"So, guys, what brought this on?" Joey asked.

"Well, we were just thinking that it would be nice to get together while we
had a down day," Josh said. "I mean, we're all here for the rehearsals and
then the tour, but Kelly and Bri are in town, too, and I thought it might
be our last time all together before Vlada goes out to work again, and Jack
goes on the road."

"Huh?" Lance asked, and I realized everyone was looking at me.

"Oh, sorry," I said sheepishly, blushing a little. "I, um, I found a job,
kind of, to keep me busy when you guys go on the road. Chad and I thought
of it while we were going through the mail. Thanks, Chad, by the way."

"You're welcome," Chad said, surprised as everyone turned to him.

"What is this job, exactly?" Kelly asked.

"Public speaking," I answered. "Before I, um, got myself kidnapped, I did
some speaking for a few groups in California, and since I've been back we
keep getting requests in the mail for me to come to this place or that
place. I talked to Josh, and we're setting me up with an agent. I'm going
to go on a speaking tour while you guys are out on your tour."

"What are you going to talk about?" Chris asked.

"About us?" Justin asked, his voice shaking a little.

"No, no, Justin, of course not," I said quickly, reassuring him. Lance
patted him on the arm. "I'm going to talk about, you know, gay rights and
stuff, and my own experiences.  Mostly I'll be speaking at high schools and
college campuses, since that's where the requests are coming from."

"Are they paying you?" Lance asked.

"Expenses," I answered. "And a minor fee, which is really cheap compared to
what a lot of speakers are charging."

"But you can charge more than that," Lance said, thinking, as always, of
business.

"But I don't want to," I said, shrugging.

"Cool," Chris said, shrugging.

And just like that we were back to chatting and hanging out. I looked
around the table, settling back against Josh, and realized that I didn't
really need to go anywhere to find a family. Josh was right. My family, the
people who loved me and cared about me, was right here, literally, in my
own back yard. Josh sighed against me.

"What are you thinking about?" he whispered.

"How I got you, my pretty, and our little dog, too," I answered, smirking.

"You're such a weirdo," he teased, kissing my cheek.

"Yeah, but you love me for it," I said, pressing my back against his chest.

"Yeah, I do."

***

End Season Six.