"Jc," she gaged, "I can't breath. I'm sorry I guess I just got dizzy or something." Jc let her go, but held onto her hand tightly. He was giving her a look like what happened?

"Don't do that sugar chica. My heart can't take it." Chris said.

"Your rather old heart right?" Ali smirked.

"Yeah! We have our sassy Ali back," joked Joey.

"Ha, very funny there Joey!" Chris said. Chris punched his arm playfully.

"I don't remember what happened. I just talked to Justin and then I don't know." Adolescent tears started forming in her eyes soon to grow to spill over her eyes into waterfalls of pain and emotion. The tears should be of joy not sorrow. But Justin had pierced her heart once again and this time she didn't know why. The guys took her down stairs into the kitchen because they said she was too thin. "I'm not too thin! What are you talking about?" Ali whined.

"Come on. We're going out to dinner so you can eat something." Jc demanded. Instead of fighting him she got dressed to go. "Let's just go to a diner ok?" Jc suggested, but everyone was hungry so they didn't care where they went.

Everyone else ordered their food and when it came time to Ali she said, "I just want some chicken fingers please." Jc glared at her thinking it wasn't enough but he didn't say anything. When the food came it came by the tray full. The once spacious table was now covered in food from french fries to salads. They eat with cheerful conversation among all of them. Mostly everyone talked about what they did in the two months.

"Alright here you go ma'am." Chris paid the waitress and left. They heard a little shrike of joy come from their table. "I guess she saw the tip and the autographed napkin." Chris smiled.

"That was really sweet of you Chris." Ali said. Her arm was linked with Joey's.

"Come ladies let's go home," Justin yelled from outside.

"Oh very cute Justy!" Chris said back with a feminine voice.

"Hey you know I hate that name!" Justin screamed as he chanced after Chris who was running up and down the street.

"Justy, Justy, Justy," Chris yelled over his shoulder. Justin finally caught him and dragged him to the car giving him a noggie while doing it. "Ok, I give I give!" Everyone got into the car and Jc drove them home. Ali fell into a deep sleep on Lance's shoulder. Instead of disturbing her Lance carried her into her room and left her to sleep.

"It's so good to be back here." Joey said happily from the kitchen.

"This is our home away from home. But even though I'm so happy to be here, I'm really worried about Ali." Jc said.

"What do you mean?" Lance asked.

"Well, she fainted and she looks extremely thin." Jc explained.

"Yes I guess so. But maybe she just lost some weight." Joey argued.

"No, I think while we're here we really have to look after her." Jc said. He wasn't asking though, he was telling. While they were talking in the kitchen the phone rang. Lance picked up.

"Hullo?"

"Lance? Oh my god is that you? What are you doing there now. I thought you guys weren't coming back till tomorrow." Kate screamed. All of the others could hear her voice.

"Baby, calm down. We decided to come here early. How are you? Why aren't you here sweetie?" Lance asked in the voice that made Katie's knees weak.

"Actually I'm calling from the airport I decided to come back early too. Can you come get me?" Lance took down directions and where she was and left.

"Joey and I are going to go hang out in one of the rooms. Did you guys see them! Ali did a lot of work. They're so cool!" Chris gushed as Joey and him went down stairs.

"Good, now I have you alone. What the hell went on with you two? What did you guys say?" Jc had corned him and wasn't about to let him go until he was satisfied with the information he received.

"Ok, well we made little conversation and then she gave me a hug. Then she umm said she wanted to be my friend and I, I said," Justin trailed off.

"You said no didn't you?" Jc asked upset.

"Yea I said no. How can I be her friend when I still love her so much and I still don't understand what happened?" Justin's voice cracked as he said it.

"I don't know what to do man. But if you're not her friend then why be here? By not being her friend you're eliminating any possible chance of finding out what's wrong." Jc explained calmly.

"Yes, I guess you're right. Thanks Jc." Justin gave Jc that "manly" hug (* ya know the half hand shake half hug thingy *) and went to his room. He hadn't told Ali how much he loved his new room and thought that was a great idea to get a conversation going.

~*~*~ The following morning ~*~*~

It was about 10 am when the guys actually woke up. Jc went into Justin's room. "Did Lance and Katie ever get home last night?" Justin just shrugged and rolled over. As Jc walked down stairs he smelt some bacon and eggs so he called everyone into the kitchen.

"Oh thank you so much! Real food!" Joey was giddy. He sat down at the table with everyone.

"I hope you all like it. I made your favorites." Ali put down all the food. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"Aren't you going to eat with us?" Jc asked.

"I uh, I already ate. You guys slept in! Jc ya later!" Ali smiled.

"Cute real cute," Jc said laughing.

"I know I am!" With that Ali went upstairs to shower. It took the boys at least an hour to finish all the food she had made. But they didn't mind one bit. It was as if they were starving for months. The only explanation was that eating Ali's cooking was so familiar that it felt really good to be doing it again. "Are you guys done yet?" Ali was ruffling her wet hair with a towel. "Oh, thanks for doing to dishes. You didn't have too. Hey wait a sec, where is Lance I didn't even notice he wasn't here." Ali had a terribly confused look on her dripping face.

"He went to pick up Katie last night and the two of them never came home." Justin explained.

Ali's face that was just smiling brightly was now distorted into a frightened look. "Ali don't worry I bet it was just so late they stayed in the car or something," Jc said trying to calm her down.

"No, that just doesn't make any sense. They would have called." Just as Ali finished her sentence the phone rang. She raced to pick it up. "Hello?"

"Oh, hi Ali. Is Jc there?" It was Lance on the other end. His voice sounded distant so he was obviously on a cell phone.

"Yes, here." Ali pushed the phone into Jc's hand and went into the other room. Chris followed her.

Ali could hear Jc saying ‘ok' to Lance, but she didn't hear anything else. "Hi Chris," she said as he sat down next to her.

"Sugar chica, are you ok?" He asked as he pulled her closer to him.

"No, I don't think so Chris. My heart hurts. It really does and I'm so scared. I just don't know what to do any more." Ali sobbed into his chest. "God, look at me. All I have been doing is crying," saying that only made her cry harder.

"It's ok. We're here for you. All five of us ok? We won't have to say good bye for a lot longer." Chris stroked her hair and just let her cry. He knew she just had to get it out. They just sat there for about half an hour. Chris soothing Ali and Ali soaking Chris's shirt. "You ok now sugar chica?" Ali nodded wearily and sat up. As she did the door opened and she ran to greet it.