Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 03:25:29 +0800
From: Dane Javier <blue_gray_sky@hotmail.com>
Subject: Mad Season Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Don't know them. Remember! Everything written here is fiction.

Author's Notes: As most of the world knows, tragedy struck New York,
Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania during those hours when people were going
to work on Tuesday. I would like to ask those people who are crass,
arrogant, and insensitive enough to stop and please consider the pain that
most of these people are going through. I have 2 New Yorker friends and I'm
really mad at them right now for being so heartless about this whole
situation. Just because you weren't there doesn't mean that your friends,
family, and acquaintances could have been affected. All I'm asking is that
you be sensitive and support those who are affected by all this. Remember
that it could be you there.

Pray for the souls of the victims and help their families and friends who
are in need of comfort.

Anyway, I chose "Fields of Gold" by Sting and "Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell
for my chapter's songs. I had a random pick and these beauties were chosen.
Hey to Shaun, Zarah, Josh, Ashley W., Jose, Sam, Joanne, Penny, and Alex.

Lastly, Remember to email with your reactions so far, violent or otherwise.

Peace and Nacho Cheese,
Dane

PS. I'm so fucking glad that the Lady Marmalade girls won best video. ;)

Mad Season by Dane
Chapter 12

Sober

	The next few days were a myriad of things for James. He was in sadness that
there was no change in the condition of his Mom. As well as Howie, Nick, and
AJ had to leave soon to finish the last three weeks of their tour. Somehow,
Christina's management was able to get her as the BSB's support act for the
tour, much to Howie's delight, so she'll be leaving with them. All four of
them plan on coming back the week before Christmas to spend time with James
and the rest of NSYNC. Ryan was never around, so James never really got a
chance to talk to him. Chris and Dani were still in LA finishing all their
meetings and will be heading out to the Big Apple in a couple more days;
that made James happy. JC and Justin were now on a creative overdrive and
spent their time writing stuff for a new album. Spending time with them led
only led to being ignored edgewise due to their intense obliviousness to
anyone else. But what hurt was the fact that he hasn't seen Joey since the
presscon.

	James was alone for the first time in the 2 weeks since everyone came
crashing back in his life. The hospital chair that he was sitting on made
his butt numb from sitting as he watched the comatose body of his mother. He
sighed loudly, watching the routine check-up of the nurse that constantly
hit on him whenever he was around and waiting patiently for someone for
someone to bring over some stuff from his apartment. For once, he was glad
that his family was out of here and in decent beds sleeping.

	A knock at the door brought James out of his revelry and he saw that AJ and
Nick arrived with the stuff that he asked for. He thanked the both of them
as they placed down one duffel bag of clothes and a guitar case in a closet
and sat down on the other chairs.

	"How are you holding up, Lance?" asked Nick with concern written on his
face.

	"It's somewhat good, if at all emotionally tiring. One thing for sure
though, I will never touch Jack Daniels ever again," James joked as he saw
AJ winced and laughed at the same time.

	"I feel you brother. JD can be a son of a bitch when it can be," said AJ
with his raspy voice. "That did me in for rehab. Shit, I'm glad I'm able to
control myself now."

	"At least, you're all better," Lance commented. "Thanks for bringing my
stuff over here. I would've asked any of my guys to do it for me but they
are all inconspicuously absent." He paused for a moment. "Fuck! I miss
Joey."

	"Yeah, come to think of it, I haven't seem the Phat-One in two days. The
only thing that I've noticed to make sure that he's alive is the snoring
that I hear from his room when I'm there during the afternoons," said Nick.

	"Well, at least my lughead is alive. I wonder why he isn't showing himself
to me."

	"Maybe it was something you did," offered AJ.

	"I don't know. I really don't think I've done anything except running out
on everybody. I've already apologized for that so I don't know what's his
problem is with me. He's avoiding me like the plague and I'm not sure of why
the hell is he doing that. Ever since I told him that we should slow down a
bit and that I should live in my apartment, I haven't seen him nor spoken
with him."

	Frustrated by everything, Lance got out his guitar, tuned it, and continued
to talk to the two Backstreet Boys. Their conversation varied from the right
kind of alcohol to drink on certain occasions to growing up in the industry
to Broadway musicals. Every so often, they would play "name that song" with
an endless arsenal of show tunes. An endless love of musicals seems to be a
common bond between the three. All three promised each other to watch "Rent"
when they were back in town. Their music brought the attention of the head
of pediatrics and asked them if they could go to the children's ward to give
them a show. They waited until Howie and Christina came back from their
lunch date to leave for the children's floor.

	"They're all feeling a bit low because most of them either are going to
have surgery or are still recovering from it. They need something to lift
them up," said the kindly doctor who supervises the ward and led them to a
large room full of restless and bored children.

	The three of them felt a sudden kind of pity for the kids who were all
either lounging around with their crutches and slings or were hooked up to
some contraption for their ailments. The moment that their presence was
known, a small crowd gathered around the three and soon questions about
"What is it like being famous" and requests for autographs came from all
sides.

	"Okay, everyone! Settle down!" admonished Lance as the able kids gathered
around the trio and the disabled ones were wheeled in closer to them. "Now,
I want to ask you kids something. What do you guys want to be when you grow
up?"

	A mousy haired boy shouted, "I want to be like you guys", and the room
exploded with laughter. A girl in pajamas said she wanted to be a ballerina.
Boys and girls gave their dreams out excitedly and more.

	AJ shushed them after a while and said, "We are all going to sing for you
guys this afternoon and we'll take any requests as long as long as we can
sing it."

	"First off, we are going to sing one favorite song of mine which was sung
to me by Dad when I was a little younger than you guys but I still want to
hear it every now and again. It's by a folk singer named Joni Mitchell, if
you heard of her; she used to be heard a lot by your parents. This song is
called "The Circle Game". Nick, you start off this one," ordered Lance and
Nick prepared himself for his cue as Lance played the notes of the song.


Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when you're older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
>From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him,
Take your time, it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
>From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
>From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

	The three of them finished with the last chorus to a room full of clapping
children. They never heard such a thing in their short lives. A babble
erupted and the boys were soon engulfed with song requests from their
albums. By the end of their stay, they sang to awful renditions of "Pop", "I
Want It That Way", "Bye, Bye, Bye", and "The Call". Surprisingly, it was the
slower songs like "Shape of My Heart" and "This I Promise You" that garnered
the most from the young crowd. After a few encores, the trio left, with much
disappointment from the kids. With an afternoon well spent, the three made
their way back to the private room of Lance's Mom.

	"Yep, what a wonderful afternoon," thought Lance with a smile on his face.

Back at the Hotel...

	Ryan knew something was bugging Joey since the day after the press
conference. For the pass five nights, Joey has been dragging him to clubs
and bars all over the city and staying out until the sun was way past the
horizon. Somehow, he managed to wake up, despite having just slept 3 hours
since coming back to the hotel.

	Groaning in pain, he checked if anyone was in the suite. He found a note
addressed to him. He winced at approaching the sunlight he needed to read
the note.

Ry,
Me and Just went to the studio to write up some tracks. Chris called to say
that he's arriving tonight with Dani. They managed to end their business
trip short. Lance is at St. Mercy's along with the rest of the guys. You and
Joey have the fort. Call us if anything happens.
JC

P.S. I hope you and Joey have an explanation of your actions for the past
few of nights.

	Exhaling a loud sigh, Ryan went for the phone to order some late lunch, and
importantly, the brew of the gods, Coffee. Ryan waited for room service
while watching some episodes of the Powerpuff Girls. He almost went back to
sleep when the food and coffee arrived. First downing the aspirin he asked
for, he then took his meal and contemplated over the events that happened
since the call about Lance's mom. Ryan came to his decision calmly, but
reluctantly.

	"People need to know about this," Ryan thought as he sipped his coffee,
then disdainfully made a face. "Aggh! If this is a world class hotel, then
why do their coffee tastes like crap?"

	After a painfully slow shower and deciding what to wear to the hospital,
which was agonizing due to his hangover, Ryan made his way to St. Mercy's.
God in heaven being merciful, Ryan made it with minimal fuss and traffic. He
winced when the crowd of fans outside screamed and chatted while doing their
vigil, in hope of meeting their favorite boyband member. He soon arrived at
the room; however, Lance wasn't around, only Howie, Christina, and Lance's
indisposed mother. He took in the eerie silence of the room and decided to
rest up a bit before talking to Lance and slouched down on one of the chairs
in the room. He only slept for an hour when Lance, Nick, and AJ arrived from
the children's ward. He woke you to the voice of Nick, which sounded more
like a sonic boom.

	"Ryan! Dude! Finally we get to see that ugly mug of yours," Nick shouted,
waking not only Ryan, but Howie and Christina as well.

	"Damnit Nick! Can't you be any louder?" Ryan cried miserably while
clutching his head in pain. Howie and Christina didn't reprimand Nick, only
assaulted him with whatever object that was handy at the time. AJ and Lance
backed away when a bedpan and a stuffed toy hurtled across the short
distance between the couple and Nick's face.

	"Ouch! That hurts!"

	"You deserved that, Brat," Howie said with a stern voice. Since it didn't
come from Kevin, everyone started to laugh, but Howie just scowled. "Fuck
you, guys!"

	Christina cuddled up to her boyfriend and tried to pacify his ego. "Poor
baby, no one takes you seriously." The rest of us continued to snigger and
Howie just flipped us off.

	After a few minutes of calming down, Lance turned to Ryan. "Dude, where
have you been hiding this past week? It was almost as if you fell off the
face of the earth or something like that."

	"I've been with Joey the past five nights and I think he needs help."

	Everyone sat up a little straighter at that. "What's up with him? Is he in
trouble?" asked Lance with tense agitation.

	Ryan sat down and told everyone about the nights of barhopping, endless
partying, going to clubs, and wild misadventures that almost got they
arrested. He told they of the mindless conversations that he and Joey would
while he was in his inebriated state, of all the babble he said due to
alcohol. When he caught Joey take some pills the night before at some club,
he decided to confront him. Joey brushed him off and said he was just trying
it out. He knew he had to something to help Joey.

	After the initial shock wore off, Lance started to get angry and stalked
out of the room. Everyone looked at each other than rushed to follow him. AJ
and Ryan were the only ones who were able to catch up with Lance in the
elevator.

	"What's with you, guy? Are you going to march into the hotel and do
something to Joey?" asked AJ, clutching his chest heavily.

	"Yeah, I'm going to pound some sense into that boyfriend of mine!" said
Lance plainly with a face of contorting anger.

	The elevator stopped at the ground level, and not even the small crowd
outside could stop Lance from hailing a cab. AJ and Ryan managed to get
themselves in the cab with Lance in the lead. AJ looked back and saw that
Nick, Howie, and Christina weren't that lucky, and got instantly mauled by
the fans.

	The ride back to the hotel was tense, as they were impatient for the
inevitable. Ryan wasn't so sure of himself now that he told Lance everything
that's been happening. AJ was trying to figure out how to pacify things if
anything got out of hand. Lance was just fuming with boiling rage. The cab
stopped and Lance was the first one out, leaving the other two to pay for
the quick ride. Near the elevators, Lance kept on pressing the "Up" bottom
and both of his friends finally caught up with him. Suddenly, he lost
patience and bolted up the stairs, leaving AJ and Ryan flabbergasted.

	"I'll follow him. You wait for the elevator and try to intercept him before
he rushes into Joey's room and do something he'll regret," AJ told Ryan, and
then bounded up the stairwell to follow Lance. After about twelve floors, AJ
had to gasp out. "Lance! Slow Down! You're killing me!" Lance said nothing
as he continued to go up the stairs, so AJ had no choice but to go after the
livid Mississippian.

	10 floors later, Lance shoved the fire exit door that led to the floor
where everyone was staying. AJ staggered behind him, breathing like air was
scarce and feeling like his legs were heavy with lead. Ryan emerged from the
elevators and helped AJ moved towards the NSYNC suite. Lance pounded on the
door of Joey's room once he discovered that the door was locked. Without any
pretense of patience, Lance kicked the door near the handle and it flew open
as it broke. AJ and Ryan backed off when that happened. Scanning the dark
hotel room, the curtains were closed and the lights were off, the bass
singer found no trace of his missing boyfriend. Sighing quietly to himself,
all the anger he felt dissipated, as if an anticlimax just occurred. He
waited another 10 minutes, still no Joey. Lance sighed in disappointment. He
was about to leave when he heard softly agonizing moans coming from the
bathroom.

	Outside the room, AJ, with his pants down, was placing some liniment that
he got from Justin's bathroom on his sore leg muscles while Ryan looked
through the cabinets and found some peanuts to eat. Out of the blue, Lance
shouted from the room "AJ! Ryan! GET IN HERE! QUICK!".

	In their surprise, Ryan jumped and the can of peanuts popped out and
cascaded all around. AJ tripped rushing into the room, due to his pants.
Both managed to bungle into the room and found Lance holding on to an
unconscious Joey.

	"Can one of you please dial 911?" said Lance in desperation. After a moment
of shock, Ryan snapped to it and rushed to the bedside table. AJ bent down
and started to ask questions while pulling up his pants. Taking Joey away
from Lance's agitated grasp, he did some basic first aid.

	"I heard moaning coming from here and found him like this." He started to
weep, hoping that this wasn't happening.

	"Pulse is steady. Breathing is shallow. The smell of vomit. Clammy skin."
AJ looked at Lance with a stoic face but his eyes clearly showed fear in
them. "I think he has Alcohol Poisoning. We'll let the EMT guys diagnose him
and see, okay buddy?" Lance just nodded.

	Soon, the paramedics came and quickly examined Joey. They came to the same
conclusion as AJ and wheeled him out of the hotel to the waiting ambulance.
Lance rode with them back to St. Mercy's while Ryan and AJ took a taxi. Both
of them split the people who needed to be called, finishing just in time as
the cab parked in front of the emergency room. Nick was waiting for them;
beside him was an unconscious Lance.

	"They have to sedate him. They'll be pumping Joey's stomach as soon as JC
or one of his family members arrive to answer some questions." As Nick said
this, Lance huddled closer to Nick's body, so Nick gave him a comforting hug
to help in the pain.

	Janine came rushing in, with JC and Justin right on her tail. She talked to
the doctor, while a nurse wrote down the information. Ryan and AJ filled in
the necessary blanks in Joey's history and then the doctors proceed to
pumping his stomach.

In Diane's room...

	Howie and Christina were ordered to stay by AJ and to await for any news
from them. The young couple shared to chair where they were sitting and
snuggled closer because of the cold atmosphere in the room. Diane stayed
still in her coma, but a doctor came by just minutes before to say that she
would be awake any moment now. The long day was finally winding down to the
evening and the only news they heard so far was that Joey was still having
his stomach pumped. The rest of the Bass family won't be here until later so
the couple was charged to watch over Diane while the rest of the gang were
downstairs tending to Joey.

	"Hon, can you sing me something? If just to break the monotony of the
place?" asked Christina. She was resting her head on Howie's shoulder while
he embraced her tiny waist.

	"Sure, what do you want to hear?"

	"I don't know. Anything. Anything you can think of."

	Howie thought of a moment and then smiled at the piece he chose. He hugged
her closer and started to sing "Fields of Gold" by Sting.


You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold

So she took her love
For to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold

See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold

I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We'll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold


	"That was beautiful," said a weak voice.

	Howie and Christina whipped up their heads and saw that Diane was awake.
They rushed to either side and smiled weakly at the newly-awaken woman.

	"How do you feel, Mrs. Bass?" asked Howie.

	"Thirsty. Can one of you get me a glass of water?" she requested hoarsely.
Christina went to the table and poured some water into a glass. She gave it
to Diane and she in returned thanked the singer.

	"Where am I?"

	"You're in St. Mercy's Hospital in Manhattan. You were in a car accident
about a week ago and you slipped into a shallow coma."

	"Is my family here? Are they here?". The agitation was clear in her voice.

	"Yes, but most of them are at the hotel getting ready to come here."

	"Most?"

	The couple looked at each other, not really sure if telling her that Lance
was in the ER such a good idea. Their silent debate was interrupted by
Diane's "Ahem" and both of them took a leap of faith and told her.

	"Diane, Lance is here too," Christina said slowly, hoping to gage a good
reaction.

	The Bass matriarch frowned a bit. "I want to see him. I need to talk to
him."

	"Are you sure that's a good idea, Diane?" asked Howie.

	"I need to see my son. Now, both of you find him and I'll just be here
waiting."

	The couple went out reluctantly and followed her orders. They went down to
the ER and saw the rest of the gang spread out in the waiting area. JC
perked up when he saw them.

	"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

	Howie looked at the figure of Lance, who was groggily waking up at that
moment. "Diane just woke up. She wants to see Lance," he said hesitantly.

	At that, Lance sprang from his sluggishness and sprinted towards the
elevator. AJ and Ryan groaned as all of them, except Janine who decided to
stay, followed their friend to his mother's room.  "Here we go again," the
both of them thought.

	Lance made his swift way to Diane's room, but stopped short of five steps
away from the door. He doesn't know what's going to happen, so he steeled
himself, hoping that history won't repeat itself.

TBC...

	Remember to write your comments and suggestions, if any at all. If
you want to read my other stuff, there "Love, Words, and Intentions" and
"Eventually". Damn myself for my shameless self-promotion. Anyway, Later
Days.