Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 00:20:54 -0500
From: Dale E Wright <bwicub@hotmail.com>
Subject: "The Lottery Winner" Chapter 47

To Hi everyone...

In order to accommodate people who are asking me about notification lists,
I've finally created an YahooGroup (Gods, Yahoo is like the Borg!)  to do
so: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dale_writings

******

As always, Gabriella is my main cheerleader.  Mark has also been great.
I've even inspired him!  Check out his story "Blind Date", it's also here
in the Boyband section.

I'm a bit nervous--so if people could please e-mail me at
bwicub@hotmail.com--I'd really appreciate it. I love e-mail!!

My story is hosted on another website.  Here's it is:
http://railwayshoes.net/hosted

It's partway down the site, just look for "Lottery Winner".  There's lots
of other great stories there so check them out.

DISCLAIMER: The names of the people are fictional (well, except for the
members of the group).  This is a fictional story that came right out of my
own mind. I have no knowledge if any member of N Sync are gay or whatever.
That being said, please enjoy the story and remember-- write me!!!
(Especially write me if you're a member of the group! GRIN)

Thanks guys and gals,  Hope you like it.

Dale


--THE LOTTERY WINNER...Ch 47--


"CODE BLUE TO ICU!! CODE BLUE TO ICU!!  "Crash team to room 3-C STAT! Crash
team to 3-C stat!"

When he heard the room number, Mark took off at a run.  He'd just left
Dale's room no more than ten minutes ago to get a bite to eat and stretch
his legs.  What the hell had happened?  He skidded around the corner as he
ran, sending an orderly who was carrying towels flying backwards.

Finally he got to the room, but he couldn't get in.  There was a cart in
the way, and a team of seven people was working on Dale.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

"Sir, wait outside please."  The nurse slammed the door shut.  Mark stood
there wringing his hands, when Dale's doctor came out the door.

"I'm sorry to tell you this.  But he's gone."

Mark screamed... and sat up in bed.

"Jesus Christ!"  He flopped back down onto the bed.  His dog Kiwi woke up
and came over to see what was wrong.  Mark scratched his ears for a few
minutes, then Kiwi went over to the rug and fell back to sleep.  Mark
glared at him because it was so easy.  With a snort of disgust, he pulled
himself out of bed and went to take a shower.  He began waking up, and
realized that he was incredibly horny for some reason.  He called up an
image of Lance from the shower after the concert, and kept that as he
soaped himself up and began playing himself.

Just as the image of Lance was going to sink to his knees in front of Mark,
the phone started ringing.

"Shit.  Oh fuck it, the machine can get it."

He started washing his hair when he heard Lance's coming out of the
answering machine.  "Mark?  Are you there?  Mark, come on and pick up the
phone."

The phone started ringing again after he'd finished the hair and was
washing his body.  Again he heard Lance's voice coming from the machine.
"Mark?  I know you're there.  You're jeep is in front of your building.
Come on, pick up the phone."

Mark was getting dressed when his doorbell rang.  He began giggling as he
went to answer it.  He didn't even look as he opened it.  Just called out a
"HI LANCE" as he swung it open and turned away.  He turned back when he
heard the door close and stopped in his tracks.

It wasn't Lance.

"Chris.  What're you doing here?  Where's the rest of the group?"

Chris didn't say anything for a second.  He just stood there staring at
Mark.  Finally he walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Mark, we gotta talk."

"Um.  K."  Mark slowly edged over to his recliner, and perched on it.

Chris spent a few minutes looking around at the various pictures Mark had
up on the walls.  Finally he cleared his throat.  "Look, I want to
apologize for last night."

Mark sat back.  "For which part?  For telling me to fuck off or just being
a prick?"

Chris tensed up and snapped at him.  "Well what would you have done if you
were me?"

"I WOULD HAVE TALKED TO YOU LIKE A GODDAMN PERSON!"  Mark sat back down
after standing to scream.  "I wouldn't have flown off the handle at you
Chris.  I'm coming into this partway through the show.  I didn't even know
that you and Lance were a thing.  Hell, I didn't even figure out you were
gay until just recently."

"Now Chris.  You want to yell some more or do you want to talk like
adults?"

Chris sat silent for a minute, then tilted his head back and let out a
bloodcurdling scream.  It went on for nearly a minute and a half.  Finally
he tapered it off, and sat there looking at Mark.  After a few seconds of
scowling he smiled and then winked at Mark.

"Okay, I feel better now."

Mark rolled his eyes.  "You're such a numnut."

Chris looked down at his hands, and then looked into Mark's eyes.  "Please
don't take him from me."

"Him?  Who him Chris?  Richard Simmons?"

"Mark, no more jokes.  I'm here to ask you to please don't take Lance from
me."

"Who in the hell are you to be asking that?"  Chris and Mark both looked
over at the door where the voice came from.  Standing there with his hands
on his hips, was Lance.

"How dare you ask someone that Christopher!  You don't own me dammit!"
Lance stormed over to Chris and grabbed his shoulders.  He began shaking
Chris as he asked the question again.

"Lance stop it!"  Mark had jumped out of the chair and grabbed Lance from
behind.  Lance was practically throwing himself at Chris.  Mark had never
seen anyone this mad.  Finally he tossed Lance onto the chair.

"Jesus Christ Lance would you chill the fuck out!  He had his reasons to
ask that question of me... if anyone has something to explain it's you with
this reaction.  What gives?"

"Let him go Mark."

"WHAT?"  Mark couldn't believe what Chris had just said.

"You heard me.  Let him go."

Mark took a couple of steps back, and watched as the two band mates stared
at each other.  "Okay you two, no bloodshed please... I want to get my
deposit back on this place."

After a few minutes of no one saying anything, Mark excused himself.  "I'm
going to start boxing some stuff up for the move."  He went to the kitchen
and began boxing up the pots and pans that he didn't use on a daily basis.
He finished two boxes of kitchen stuff, and was going to start boxing up
some of his towels and stuff when he decided to check on Chris and Lance
since he hadn't heard any noise from the front room of the apartment in a
bit.

He peeked in, and saw Chris and Lance sitting facing each other on the
couch, holding hands.  Their heads were lightly touching, and Chris' other
hand was massaging the back of Lance's neck.

"Perfect.  Just perfect."  Mark went back to packing.  A few minutes after
he started, he began whistling.

Meanwhile, in a room across town...

"I know what I'm doing."  Dale's fingers tapped out a beat as the lab
technician drew more blood out of his arm.  "Jesus lady, aren't you done
with all the tests?  I feel like I've gotten pricked more than a sailor on
shore leave."

The phlebotomist just smiled at Dale, and walked away.  He glared after her
for a few minutes, and then laughter from the other corner of the room
pulled his gaze back.

"What're you laughing at mom?"

"You.  I'm glad you're back on track.  You really scared me."  She grabbed
Dale's hand and gave it a quick squeeze.  "So kiddo, you excited to be
going home?"

"Eh, I guess."

"What is it Dale?"

Before he could answer there was a knock at the door and it opened.  Joey
came in quietly; he didn't say anything until he'd closed the door behind
him.  "Hi guys.  Wanted to stop in and see how things are."

Dale caught himself staring at Joey.  Something was so familiar...
Suddenly he was remembering a kiss.  For some reason it upset him.

He was still staring at Joey while he made small talk with Christine.
Finally Joey noticed that Dale was staring.  "So Dale, what's up?"

Dale almost didn't say anything.  Finally he blurted out.  "We knew each
other.  I can't shake the feeling that we knew each other."

Joey smiled and sat down by Dale's mom.  "Yeah, we knew each other.  What
do you remember about me Dale?"  He sounded hopeful as he asked the
question.

Dale thought about it for a bit.  "Nothing's coming to mind, but for some
reason I keep picturing a blond guy."  Dale perked up.  "Is my boyfriend
blond?"

"Blond?"  Joey sounded like he was going to cry, but Dale didn't notice.

"Yeah, blond.  For some reason I remember blond hair.  I don't know, I just
want to get the hell out of here."  Just as Dale said "I hate hospitals"
Joey said it at the same time.

Dale laughed.  "I take it you remember me saying that before?"

"Oh hell yeah."  Joey sat staring at Dale for a bit before speaking again.
"The guys and I are getting ready to take off on the bus to head back to
Orlando.  Do you think the docs would let you come back with us?  It'd give
you a chance to maybe remember some more stuff."

"Joey, can I talk to you for a minute outside?"  Dale's mom walked by and
grabbed Joey, dragging him out into the hall.  Dale sat there watching them
through the window in the door as they talked rather heatedly about
something.  Finally Joey came back in the room.

"Where'd mom go?"

"She's, um, going to ask the doctor if it's okay to have you go now.  I
mean, unless you want to stay here another couple of days before they
bother letting you go."

The cell phone by the bed started ringing.  Without even thinking Joey
reached for it and answered.  "Dale's phone.  Hang on just a second and
I'll get him."

Joey handed the phone to Dale.  "It's Mark."

"Hey Mark, where are you?  Really?  That's right, you almost all done?
How're you getting there anyway?  Okay, just curious.  Actually I think I'm
going to be riding back with the group of guys from the concert.  One of
them offered to let me come back on the bus with them.  I guess it makes
sense since I apparently know them and we live in the same city."

While Dale was talking to Mark, Joey's phone started ringing.  "Hello?"

"Joey, it's me."

"Lance!  What's up buddy?"

"Chris and I are going to be a bit late meeting up with the bus.  Make sure
everyone knows."

Joey sat down in the chair.  "Wait.  'Chris and I'?  So does this mean the
ice age is over?"

Lance giggled.  "I don't know.  We'll see.  Talk to you later."  He hung
up.
  Joey smiled at the phone and watched Dale.

"Mark, if I want to pay for your move I will.  Stop arguing with me dammit!
Give me twenty minutes to make a couple of calls and I'll call you back."
Dale disconnected the call and dialed another number.

"Larry?  It's Dale.  Yeah, yeah... I'm fine.  Look, I need to pay and get a
moving company to move someone from Phoenix to Orlando.  What's that?"
Dale realized Joey was staring at him, so he stuck out his tongue.  "Yeah,
to the house you have paperwork on.  Here's the person to contact and
arrange a pickup time in Phoenix..."  Dale rattled off Mark's name and
phone number, telling Larry to put a rush on it.  Dale disconnected that
call and called Mark back.

"Okay look.  My accountant is going to call you and finalize details.
You'll have a moving company show up and drive all your stuff there.  Call
U-Haul and cancel the truck.  Oh don't give me that shit!  You're my
friend, and you've been there for me a great deal lately, so think of this
as payback.  Fine whatever."

Dale disconnected the call from Mark, and sat back on the bed playing with
the phone.

"So, this is my cell phone?"  He started playing with the controls, and
called up the phone directory.  He spent a few minutes arrowing through the
listings.  He murmured the names as he went by them, smiling because he
remembered them and made the connections.

"Hey look.  You're in here.  At least, I think this is you."  Dale hit a
button to dial the 'Joey' that was listed.  Joey's cell phone started
ringing.  Dale giggled and hit end.  "Check it out Joey, I have all you
guys here."  Dale was so excited about looking through the list, and it was
infectious...  so Joey went over and sat next to Dale on the bed.

Suddenly Dale felt comfortable.  For the first time all day he felt at
ease.
  He turned and looked into Joey's face.  He'd never noticed before, but
Joey really had pretty eyes.

"Joey, I..."

Joey looked into Dale's eyes, and the world shrank down around them.  They
stared into each other for a few seconds, and then their faces began
inching together.  Dale finally found his voice just before they kissed.

"Could you scratch my back?  It itches..."

Joey smiled sadly, and began scratching.  "How's that?"

Dale groaned as the sensations hit his brain.  "Oh yeah, that's it.  Lower.
Lower.  A little over to the left.  Oh god yeah.  Oh that feels good
sweetie."

He stopped.  "Sweetie?  Why did I call you sweetie?"

Joey smiled gamely.  "You call everyone sweetie.  It's something we all
love about you."  Joey kept scratching, and a few minutes later Dale's mom
came in.  He felt the urge to explain to her.  "Dale's back was itching."

"Okay.  The doctors have okayed you leaving today.  He'll be in here
shortly to discharge you.  He's going to have some conditions for you to
follow though... and frankly I don't blame him."

"Oh it'll be okay Chris."  She looked at Joey as he continued.  "We'll keep
an eye on him, and we'll stop whenever he needs anything.  Don't worry, you
know we won't let anything happen to him."

There was something in Joey's voice that made Dale look at him.  Joey was
smiling and looking at Dale with a look that made Dale feel warm all over.

Wait a minute... could it be?  No, he can't be gay.

"Chris do you want to come with us?  I'm sure Deb won't mind."

She laughed.  "No way in hell.  The idea of riding on a bus from here to
Orlando does not appeal to me.  Even if I'm surrounded by cute young
men..."

"Yeah whatever you old lez, you'd be happy to do it if the band was the
GoGo's".  Joey's jaw dropped and he looked at Dale.

"OHMYGODDALE!  What did you just say to her?"  He looked at Chris fully
expecting her to come unglued.

She was looking at Dale with an arched eyebrow.  She kept it up for a few
seconds, and then began giggling.  She pulled Dale into a tight hug.

"Okay I lied.  NOW I know you're on the road to recovery."

The three of them sat and talked about random things for about an hour or
so before the doctor finally got around to them.  After a final exam, the
doctor gave Dale his discharge instructions.  He made Joey promise to keep
an eye on Dale and to find the nearest ER if something happened.  Joey was
grinning ear to ear as he got Dale ready to go.  Joey and Chris hugged,
then Chris gave her son a final hug.

"Call me every night kid.  Don't want to worry about you.  Now sit in the
wheelchair."

"Wheelchair?  No way in hell.  I can walk fine."

"Sit, or I'm telling the doctor you fainted again and he'll make you stay."
She smiled as she said it.

Dale gasped.  "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, try me.  Now, please do what I ask."

Dale glared at her for a minute, then let out a snort of disgust.  "Fine."
He plopped down into the wheelchair.  Chris let out a small cheer as she
pushed Dale out of the room and headed towards the front door.  It took her
a few minutes to realize that Joey wasn't right behind her, looking back
she saw him surrounded by a bunch of people signing autographs.  She could
tell his heart really wasn't in it.  Finally after a few minutes he broke
through the crowd, making apologies as he caught up with them.

"Sorry about that.  Occupational hazard I guess."

Dale's mom smiled at him.  "Bullshit Fatone.  You love it and you know it."

Joey laughed.  "You sound just like Dale when you do that."  He noticed
Dale looking over his shoulder at him.  Joey smiled at Dale and squeezed
his shoulder.  "It's going to be okay.  We're going home."


"Mark?  Mark are you in here?"  Lance came around the corner and saw Mark
quietly boxing up items from a closet in the bathroom.

"Hi Lance.  What's up?"  Mark didn't look at him, just kept packing stuff.

"Um.  Chris and I have to leave if we're going to make it back on time to
catch the bus.  Wouldn't want to get left behind."  He smiled as he said
it, but Mark wouldn't look at him, so it didn't work.

"Yeah.  It'd really suck to stay here wouldn't it."  Mark sounded very
bitter as he said it.  "Shit Lance.  I didn't mean that to come across like
it sounded."  He stretched then turned around to look at the singer.  He
tried putting a grin on his face.  "So, you and Chris are talking.  I take
it this is a good thing?  It must be because you look like a schoolgirl
who's talking to her first crush."

Mark sidestepped the playful punch that Lance threw at his stomach.

"Who you calling schoolgirl mister?"  Lance tried growling as he said it,
but it didn't work.  The tension in the room was broken, and the two men
hugged.

"Just be careful Lance.  I'll be in Orlando in about a week if you need me.
Have to get ready to work at the new job."

"You never even told me what you were going to do.  Where are you going to
work?"  They sat in the bathroom, Mark on the closed lid of the toilet and
Lance on the side of the tub... just talking like friends talk.  When Mark
tried sounding all important about working at Universal Lance shot him full
of holes, pointing out that Joey used to work there.

"If Joey worked there, then anyone can do it."  Lance stuck his tongue out
at Mark.  They were laughing when there was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Lance?  We should really get going."  Lance smiled and went to Chris,
taking him in his arms.  Planting a quick kiss on his lips, he smiled as
Chris tensed a bit seeing Mark.

"Don't worry baby.  Mark's happy for us."  Chris smiled at Mark.  "I'll go
get my coat.  Lance squeezed by Chris, leaving Mark and him standing in
silence.

"Well Mark.  I guess I'll see you in Orlando."

"Chris?"  Chris looked up at Mark.  "If you hurt him I'll kill you."  Mark
then pulled him into a quick hug.  Once he released Chris, he went back to
packing.  When he heard the door of the apartment close, he sat on the
toilet and cried.  Kiwi heard him, and softly padded his way into the room.
After a few seconds of staring at Mark, Kiwi rested his head on Mark's leg.


"Where in the hell are they?"

"I told you Jimmy, Lance called me and said they may be late.  They'll be
here.  What're you in a hurry for it's not like we're going to the next
stop on the tour."  Joey was tossing a baseball in the air and catching it.
He kept sneaking glances at Dale, who was leaning against the bus talking
to JC.  Joey missed the ball on his last throw and it almost hit him in the
face.

"SHIT!"

JC and Justin started laughing at him.  Dale glared at them then asked if
Joey was okay.  "Yeah I'm fine.  Just being blond."  Joey smiled at Justin
to take the sting from the comment, and then went back to tossing the ball.

Twenty minutes later Chris and Lance came running around the corner to
where the bus was sitting.  They both began profusely apologizing, but the
road manager Jimmy wasn't too concerned with listening.  He grumbled at
them and shoved everyone onto the bus.

Joey had shown Dale around the bus when they first got there, so Dale
already knew where the bunks were.  "Joey, I'm feeling a bit tired.  Does
it matter which bunk I use to nap in?"

"Yeah, come on and I'll show you."  Dale followed Joey back to where the
bunks were.  After Joey pointed out which one to use he stood there
watching Dale as he slid into the bunk and began falling asleep.

"What're you staring at Joey?"

Joey grinned.  "Nothing Dale."

"Something is familiar about this.  I wish I could remem..."  Dale fell
asleep.

Joey stayed there for a while, just watching Dale sleep.  He noticed some
hair had fallen down on his face, so Joey reached down and lightly pushed
it away.

"I miss you Dale. I miss you and I need you.  There, I said it.  I know
it's not easy to be with me.  But you make it look so easy I never gave it
much thought.  You never complain or bitch about things... you spoiled me."

Joey felt tears start to run down his cheeks.  "If this works out, then
things will change."  Joey left and headed back to the front of the bus.
The other guys noticed he'd been crying, but didn't say anything.  Lance
and Chris were sitting on the sofa talking.  Joey went and sat between
them.  They didn't say anything, just hugged him from each side.