Lance in Califonia (M/M, Celeb)

**Disclaimer: This story is mature audiences only. That means you must be of legal age in your jurisdiction to read this story. If you are in the United States that means it is going to be 18, but 21 in certain areas. In addition, I do not know any of the famous people listed in this story. I have not a clue what their sexuality is. No events mentioned in this story are real; they are just the fantasy of the lead character. All comments can be sent to Hotmail**

"Lance, Lance, are you listening to me? James," Josh yelled. "Why do I even try anymore?" Josh walked back toward the front door to leave.

"Wait, Josh, I'm sorry. I never should have done that show without you guys. I made a fool of myself and ruined all of our careers," James said almost sobbing. "Just don't leave yet. I know I need to talk to someone, and you have always been there to let me spout. Help me…please."

Josh turned around and sat by James on the couch. His friend needed him; he knew James needed to talk to someone. He came here to do that, but why didn't he feel comfortable around him anymore. He knew that James was gay, but that never bothered him before, so why did it seem different.

"I should have listened to you guys about Walid. He was all wrong for me," James told Josh. "I should have known when he tried to control me so much. I hope Hayden can handle him; I sure couldn't."

"I know you wanted to be like Justin and be able to find someone so easy," Josh said trying to be caring. "I wish it was that easy, but what Justin and Tyler had was a deep connection that lead them to each other. You'll find your somebody!"

"I hope I find him soon," James said knowing that the odds were against him for the moment. In this state, he couldn't find his way to the bathroom half the time.

Thousands of miles away from Orlando, a boy is sitting on his front porch. He doesn't know it, but his former online boyfriend is flying down from Salem to see him. He looks up at his house and sighs. He's going to be 18 next week, but it could just never happen for all he cared at the moment. The summer has left him depressed once again. Chris never had much luck making friends at school, so the summers dragged by every year as all the kids in the area hang out at the mall or the movies while Chris stays home all day watching TV.

"I wish you would go somewhere sometimes," Chris' mom tells him. "You never seem to do anything with your friends."

"I have no friends," Chris replies. "You never seemed to notice. I don't talk to anyone on the phone, I don't go to people's houses, and I am quite satisfied with that right now!"

"Honey, I don't think you are. You are always depressed; you never smile anymore. You need to find a girlfriend to kick your spirits up."

"Mom, we need to talk. I know you say that because you think I want to hear that, but I don't. We both know that you have thought I was gay for a few years now. I know you don't have a problem with it except you know that it would cause me many problems. I don't want to hide it anymore. I am gay. Any friends I had turned their backs on me years ago."

"I'm sorry; I should have said something three years ago. It has come between us repeatedly. I just don't know how to help you anymore. I'm scared you're going to end up being hurt or killed. Ever since they said that Justin Timberlake and his lover were killed because the driver was aiming for them, I have really been scared for you. Promise me you'll be careful."

"I will"

"Good, now let's get some dinner."

"Tyler, you know that you don't have to do this. We have twenty other people trying as well, but as you well know they are not married and don't have someone with them everyday making them feel better."

"I know, Doctor, I also know that this is an important one for me to do. I've done almost all the others, and I'm the one who would be able to show if this one has any ill effects in combination with the rest of the 'scripts."

The Swiss doctor stood there for a moment before he began to speak again. "You are right about that, and it's a big risk that I see I'm not going to talk you out of. You will start tomorrow…thank you."

"I should be thanking you for allowing me to be here"

Jared's plane landed about 7pm and he pulled out the address Chris gave him so they could write letters to each other. "Take me to this address, please." A cab pulls up in front of Chris's house, and Jared gets out. He knocks on the door and Chris's mother answers it.

"Can I help you?"

"I think so, is Chris home?"

"He's in his room, but I don't think I know you. Did you go to school together?"

"No, I'm from Salem, OR. Chris and I have been writing letters for a few months and I came down to surprise him."

"I know who you are now. Get lost! You hurt my son, and I think you need to leave."

"I understand that, but I was wrong to break it off. I wanted to try things out with someone local, and I didn't want to have to think I was cheating on your son."

"I don't think you do understand. I want you off my property now."

"I see. I'm sorry to have bothered you. I should have known he would have turned you against me. I begged him for a week to take me back, and I figured if I came down he'd know I really did love him."

"Yes, you should have known, but I don't think it would help. Good Evening!" Chris's mother shut the door and set the alarm. She knew Chris would have taken him back because of all the depression.

The next morning found James at his friends' grave again crying. He didn't even notice the bouquet of fresh flowers on the far right side, almost behind the tall marker. "Why? What did you two do that warranted death? I miss you guys so much; I wish I could be with you again. This time not waste any time with either of you." James got up and walked over to a bench to sit and collect himself. Before he could get up, he saw Joey coming towards him.

"I knew I'd find you here. Come on, I'll take you home." Joey helped James up and they slowly headed for the car. Joey had grabbed card from the flowers, he had assumed that a fan had left them. He always put those in a book of all the cards they had received. The ride home was quiet, and Joey knew that something was still bothering him. "James, you know you can talk to me anytime. That goes for all of us. Well, maybe all but Chris, he's still mad that he didn't get a solo career."

"Yes, I know everyone cares that I get better. It's just hard to cope for me. It's almost like a part of me died that day with them."

"Apart of all of us died that day, and we know it hurt you most. You are such a loving person."

"Thanks Joe. It never sinks in that people care about me sometimes. I'm glad you guys are around, but can I have my steak knives back if I promise not to use them?"

"No"

"Okay, but I'm sending you a bill. They were not cheap knives."

"You do that James, you do that." They reached James's house and he went inside to take a nap.

"Okay, we have the IV fluids on a 125 push and I'm just now adding in the cocktail to the med line. It's going to sting for just a moment."

"Remember I'm here for you, and I'll see you in three hours…and that's a promise."

"Thank you. Justin, I love you." Tyler then fell asleep. The medication was the 10th experimental drug cocktail he had been given in the last month.

"I hate you. Why did you turn him away?"

"I understand that what you need is someone who truly loved you and Jared wasn't it. I'm sorry, but what I did was for the best."

"I know, but I miss having someone to write to. I need to have someone in this world love me for me, but isn't family."

"You will sweetheart. There is someone right now waiting for you, and you will find him."

Chris went back to his room and got online. His mom bought DSL so he wouldn't tie up the phone anymore. He went into his favorite chat room and noticed someone new. He knew everyone that used that room and new comers always seemed to mess up the flow of the room. Being curious, Chris looked up the screen name, but didn't find much. He got bold and ran a finger scan and it only came back as JLB, Orlando. "Damn, he's good." He got up the nerve and sent this guy a message. "Good afternoon, my name's Chris."

"Hey Chris, I'm James. So what's up?"

"I just wanted to welcome you to our chat room."

"Thanks cool, I heard from friends that this room is almost invite only in how close you all are, but I hope I can fit in."

"I think you'll be fine if you don't try to put anyone down. We are all either gay or bisexual guys, and we are very protective of each other."

"I like that; I'm gay too. I am new to it though. My two best friends died the day I was going to tell them. They were gay too."

"I'm so sorry. I hope you're doing all right. Did your friends take away your knives?"

"How'd you know that?"

"You just told me! It was a lucky guess."

"Creepy is more like it. So, I don't mean to sound forward…but where do you live?"

"On the West coast, San Diego, California…I love the sun."

"Cool, I'm down in Orlando"

"Lucky!"

"Why?"

"My favorite celebrities live down there."

"Who?"

"Well only one does now, but Lance Bass and Justin Timberlake. However, I like Lance better. He's so cute, and I think he was very brave to do Rosie alone."

"It was a nightmare for me...I mean it must have been a nightmare for him."

"Huh? Why would you say it was a nightmare for you?"

"Truth?"

"Yes"

"Don't tell anyone, but my real name is James, but my stage name is Lance. In addition, I knew Justin very well. We were like brothers."

"You're lying!"

"How can I prove it to you?"

"You can't, the only way is for me to really see you in person. I don't meet people I've met online anymore. Not even if you are famous."

"That is actually really smart, not good for me, but smart. I'll just have to send you a photo someday. Did you ever write to the group?"

"I did once, but didn't get anything back."

"I'm sorry, we get a lot of mail, and it takes time."

"Okay, sure. I understand. I have to go to bed now; it was nice talking with you."

"Good night, and I liked talking with you too."

"Tyler, how are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy still, but good. Did we have any side effects?"

"Not yet, everyone did well. We'll take a few days and then decide if it was a success."

"Okay...where's Justin?"

"I'm right here; I have been waiting to say that I love you too. You fell asleep before I could answer."

"I'm hungry, anyone have a steak lying around?" Everyone in the room laughed. "I'm serious, I'm really hungry."

James thought for a moment, and then he got up and pulled out the list of different names management kept about the fans that wrote them. There were only 15 guys named Chris that wrote from California. He looked and saw only one from San Diego. He had it, the place to send a picture.

The next morning James called up Johnny, *Nsync's manager, and requested to read the letter Chris wrote to them. "I'm thinking of going out there to get away from Orlando for a week or two. Thought it would be fun to surprise this guy. We don't have a lot of male fans that admit it openly." Johnny thought it sweet but warned him to be careful. James read the letter and almost started crying. This guy could write, and it pulled at his soul. This kid was so real sounding. He had to meet him; he had to.

That afternoon, James boarded a plane to San Diego. He knew the time away from home would help him get his life back together. The flight seemed longer then it was. He was use to having his four best friends playing jokes and talking. He landed in the evening and found a hotel to stay in. He had to fight to be able to actually pay for the room. The manager was very insistent, but in the end, James won out.

About a mile away, Chris was online looking for the new guy, but he wasn't on. "Poser, I knew he was lying. Those types never learn that you can't lie online without someone knowing about the truth." Chris signed off and went to bed.

"Can I help you," Chris's mother asked the stranger on her porch.

"Maybe, I'm looking for a Christopher Lane."

"What business do you have?"

"Well ma'am he wrote me a fan letter about a year back and I wanted to answer it personally. My name is James, but most people know me by my stage name, Lance."

"Lance, Lance, oh my god. You're Lance Bass!"

"In the flesh! I know it sounds a little weird I'd be answering his letter in person, but I needed an excuse to get out of Orlando and your son's letter touched me."

"Please come in, can I get you anything before I wake Chris?"

"No, I'll be fine, but I would like to wake him if I could."

"I think he'd like that Lance."

"Please, call me James. Lance is just my stage name and for the public. James is for my family and friends."

"Very well James, my name's Cheree. Chris's room is upstairs on the left."

James quietly walked up the stairs and opened the only door on the left. There he saw Chris asleep half covered by a blanket. James walked over to the side of the bed to whisper. "Wake up sleepy head." Nothing. Then he had an idea. He began to sing.

"Can this be true, darling can this be real? How can I put in to words what I feel?"

Chris rolled over and began to listen. "I never thought that love could feel like this, then you changed my world with just one kiss. How can it be? That right here with me, there's an angel; it's a miricle."

"That was beautiful," Chris said as he sat up.

"I thought it might be fun to wake you with my voice. Do you believe me now?"

"How could I not? But how did you find me?"

"Management keeps a record of fan letters, so I looked up the list and found you are the only guy named Chris in San Diego to write to us. I also read the letter too."

"You did?"

"I did, it was very touching. Thank you for the kind words."

"I can't believe you're actually here. So, why are you here?"

"Well, first I was bored, second I wanted to prove to you I was me, and third…well after I read the letter, I sort of, um, err, fell in love you, I think."

"Huh? Me?"

"Yes, you. You made me feel 200% percent better. I don't want to kill myself anymore, I just want to move on and find my true love. You up to the challenge of seeing if you're the one?"

Chris stared at James for a few minutes. He couldn't speak; something in his mind told him to ponder. After about 5 minutes, "Yes! I'd love to." Chris jumped up and hugged James. They feel back down on the bed and they just stared at each other for what seemed like forever. When Chris's mother came up to check on them, she saw them lying there smiling and they were oblivious of her standing there.

"Excuse me," she finally interrupted. "Do you two need to be alone?"

"Um, mom?" Chris started to stutter. "No we'll behave."

"Then what is going on?"

"Well ma'am, I came here to thank Chris for his letter while I was on a little vacation from Florida. I saw him and I felt something for him. It's my fault; maybe I should leave."

"Well James, I don't agree. I haven't seen my son this happy for a while. You should stay. Just remember that you should lock the door if it goes beyond the 'stare at each other' stage. And please, ma'am is my mother's name."

Both boys blush and then laugh. "I don't think we'll be doing that sort of thing to soon."

"Okay then, I'll leave you two alone to get to know each other."

Cheree turned around and walked out leaving the two lovebirds alone. As she went down stairs, she heard the two of them laughing again.

"You're mom's cool, I don't think mine would have ever been so blunt and not offended."

"She's the best!"

"I'm jealous"

"Jealous of me? Why, when I should be jealous of you. You got to go around the world with the second hottest guy on Earth."

"I'll tell you why. You have the most understanding mom; she is firm, but she is so nice about it."

"I never really thought about it that way. I guess I am really lucky."

"I still have the second best moms in the world."

"Moms?"

"Well my mom is great, and all the rest of the families have adopted everyone in, especially Justin's mom."

"Oh, okay. So you really just came to California for me?"

James blushed, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Well I guess I know so much about you, but you don't really know that much about me, so what all do you want to know?"

Back in Orlando, things were a little rough….

"I don't care if he told you not to tell us, we demand to know where exactly he went!" Josh looked at John, making sure he knew that he wasn't going to back down.

"Josh, I think James can handle himself for a little while. He told me he'd call and give me all the details for his return by Friday morning."

"I just worry about him; he's not stable emotionally yet. I won't see him get hurt again, I don't know if he'd survive it."

Cheree knocked on Chris' door, but heard no answer. "I'm coming in and you'd better be dressed you two!" She opened the door to find them both asleep on the bed. Chris was under the sheet and James on top of the sheet holding Chris in a spooning position. All Cheree could do was smile and leave them be for a little while longer.

"Are you sure? This is for real…remission"

"Yes, the last test shown normal white cell counts, and they are normal!"

"Doctor, does this mean that he is cured, or will it come back?"

"Justin, we cannot say cured, but will are willing to label it as remission. We will be doing more tests, a lot more tests. But I'd say that within two months Tyler can leave."

"So Justin, ready to make that phone call yet?"

"Yeah, I think it is almost time for that call."

"James, where are you? What do you mean you think you found your true love? No, I'm not saying that it isn't possible. Well when are you going to be back? I understand, and yes, I'll tell the others. We miss you James. Talk to you later."

"Well, what did he have to say?"

"Guys, he fell in love again." Joey replied. " I don't know why but it does seem to soon, but some how not impossible. He said he's buying a condominium out there and is going to run Freelance from there for a while. He wants us to visit as soon as the place is ready."

The three men sat talking the rest of the afternoon. What to get him as a housewarming gift, how to handle the new boyfriend, and mostly they worried about there dear friend. "Think we should remind him about the foundation? He is the one that is supposed to be running the thing."

"So what's it like running a foundation?" Chris was asking Lance. "I thought that was a great think for Justin and Tyler to do."

"Huh, oh yeah. I guess I forgot about it. However, it's set up so I don't do much. I'm not the president, just the credited founder."

"So, how much control do you have?"

"Well, I have 15%, JC has 2%, Chris has 2%, and Joey only got 1%. Then, 60% was given to a group of investors and the rest is available publicly."

"That sounds cool, but what does the foundation really do?"

"Well we offer support and counseling to gay, lesbian, and transgender teens. From homework help to grief counseling, we also offer similar services to parents and friends of these teens so they can have a support structure around them."

Joey, Chris, James are sitting in his condo after the housewarming party. "Are you sure you are okay with this?"

"Yes, I'm not upset at all. I tried to remember he was younger then I was and not to expect anything serious."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. We promised that nothing would stop us from being friends."

"Hey James, what's this envelope?"

"Chris, what envelope?"

"The on that says 'Urgent Message Enclosed' and addressed the board of the foundation."

"Don't know, I guess I never saw it. Open it!"

Dear Sirs,

In the many things that your foundation provides for is a secret expenditure that has made a increadable discovery. On the day of June 26th a representative from our clinic will arrive to present out research to you and then to the share holders.

Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Frazier, PhD, DO, DMS

"That's tomorrow!"

"Did everyone on the board get one?"

"I hope so"

"Are you ready to do this? I knew it's been a year since we disappeared. You've been in bed for most of that time."

"I'll be fine. No, I'll be better then fine...I'll be excellent!"

The full board was gathered in the tiny room waiting for someone to show up. "Lance, are you sure this wasn't a joke?" James just laid his head in his hands.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen," Tyler almost screamed to get everyone's attention. "Can we get started?"

"Tyler???" Lance just sat there with his jaw on the table.

"Before I get in to that I would like to say that the clinic I represent has made the second biggest discovery in a long time. The biggest was the HIV virus, and the second is the treatment of said virus." The board started clamoring immediately. "Please, let me explain. I will take questions when I'm done."

Three hours later, Tyler had just finished answering every possible question there was. Yet one seemed to be missing. Everyone was happy he was alive and in remission, but no one remembered that Justin wasn't there. Tyler thought about that as everyone got up to leave.

"Wait, Tyler...I need to ask a personal question."

"He's fine James, we were never hurt. The accident was setup so that the test could be done in secret and the funding traced back only to this foundation. Before you ask, yes we did everything to the letter of the law so that when we came back, we were free of any wrong doing."

"I, I..." James started crying.

"I know, I wanted to call you so many times. First when you did Rosie by yourself, and then when you broke up with the guy in San Diego. I'm sorry."

"Can you get my limo? I need to go home and show you off to the guys."

"Justin is already there, but they don't know that I'm here. They will know about the clinic but he is going to tell them I'm still there for another week."

They both smiled. They headed down to the lobby and waited for the limo to pull around.

**This is the end of part two, I welcome any and all comments at the email address listed in the preface. I already have the rest of the story done, but if the reaction is good, I might continue the story, or write a new one. Thanks for reading my story!**