"Okay, Chris. Now when you stand up, your ankle’s going to be weak. Do these exercises," Dr. Warren said, handing Chris a sheet of paper. "Give it a few weeks and you’ll be dancing again."

"Don’t bet on it." Chris said good-naturedly. "In a few weeks, I’ll be walking again, but not dancing." "I’m sorry that you had to have that cast on for longer than expected. Your bones just weren’t healing that quickly." "It’s not like she minded it," AJ said. "She had us all waiting on her hand and foot." He pretended to duck when Chris picked up her bag and threatened to throw it. "Watch it," she said, with a note of warning in her voice.

Dr. Warren shook his head. "If you have any trouble, like swelling or pain, just wrap it up in the Ace bandage, elevate it, and take some Advil. Any other problems, just come on it. You can go, but take it easy." He left the room, leaving the two of them alone.
"Thanks so much," Chris said, reaching out for AJ as she slid off the table. She gingerly put her right foot down. "Whoa-oa! Look! I’m standing again."
"Yeah, but can you walk?" AJ asked, putting his arm around her waist to support her.
"Well, let’s just try it and find out." She slowly stepped out with her foot and then the other. "Yep. I think I can."
"Good. Then I can leave," AJ said, moving towards the door.
"No! I still need you!" Chris cried, thinking he was really going to leave her.
"Baby, you have no idea," he said, coming back and pulling her into his arms.

Slowly Chris and AJ walked out of the hospital and to the car. Every time Chris stepped on her right foot, she grimaced, and AJ couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was his fault she had gotten into this mess.
When they got to the car, AJ stopped. "How’s your foot?"
"Weak, but okay, I guess. Why?"
"Feel like driving?"
Chris started to laugh. "I don’t think so. I’m not worthy enough to drive that convertible. Besides, I think I need to take it slow."
AJ opened the passenger door for her. "No problem. I understand completely." Then he moved around to the other side, got in, and pulled out of the parking lot.

"I can’t believe it’s August already," Chris said. "Summer went by so fast."
"And soon we’ll be heading out on tour again. After we put last minute touches on the album."
"It’s a good thing we’ve had the summer to spend together."
"Why do you say that?" AJ asked, glancing at her.
"Well, you guys will be off in another country for about another year. I’ll be working. We’ll all be too busy to hold up a serious relationship," Chris said, looking at her hands.
"You weren’t planning on going to college then?"
"Now with my condition. I’d be too scared."

AJ turned on his turn-signal and got off at their exit. He pulled into the gas station and parked. "What, really, is wrong with you? It’s been bugging me for months." He shifted to face her. "I see you sneaking medicine when you think no one’s looking. I keep worrying that you’re going to faint again. I love you so much," AJ said, " and I need to know what’s wrong."

Chris sighed. "This isn’t really the best place to talk. Why don’t we just go home?"
"Because I need to know."
"I’ll tell you there. When I’m ready."
"And when are you going to be ready?" AJ asked softly.
"When I can figure out the easiest way to tell you," Chris replied, lowering her head and blinking back tears.
"But you’ll tell me before we leave on Friday?"
"Before you and the other guys leave..." Chris began.
"Wait!" AJ interrupted. "Before the guys and me and you leave."
"Before the guys and you and," Chris paused. "Me? What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly that. Come with me. With us. Travel the world. That way we don’t need to break up, and we can still be together," AJ said excitedly. He saw Chris’s face light up.
She threw herself across the seat and into his arms. "I will! I will!" she cried happily. "We’ll be together forever!" Or as long as forever allows.

"Alright, alright," AJ laughed. Her enthusiasm was contagious. "Let’s go home and tell the guys that you’re coming with us." He gently pushed her back to her seat, and started the car. Chris leaned back and turned her face up to the sun with a huge smile on her face as AJ drove onto the highway.

"This is going to be great," she said over the wind. "I’ve never been out of Orlando." Except for that one treatment in Maryland.
"You’ll love it. Being on the road is tough. There’s lots of early mornings and late nights and days that seem to last forever," AJ said. "But the places you’ll see and the people you’ll meet are so incredible. It’s definitely nothing like you’ve ever seen before."

"I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you." Chris turned to look at him, watching him drive. He wasn’t devastatingly handsome, but instead incredibly sexy. His raspy voice, his dark eyes, his fabulous backside. Chris even loved his tattoos; they added to his sex appeal.

AJ’s sense of style was far beyond her imagination. But he could probably continue to wear a pair of baggy blue jeans and a white tank top and still look great. His hair was brown now. "I’m not going to dye it until the tour." Impulsively, Chris reached over and ran her fingers through it.

AJ reached up and grabbed her hand, kissing it gently. Then he squeezed it and smiled at her. A few moments later, he pulled into the driveway.

Chris stepped carefully out of the car, and with AJ’s support, made it to the front door. Just as she put the key in the lock, the door opened and a familiar face peeked out.
"Oh, my God!" Chris cried. "Kat! You’re back!"
Kat gave Chris a hug. "Wow! You look great!"
"Thank you! So do you!" Chris said, remembering AJ still had his hand on the small of her back. "When’d you get in?"
"Just a few minutes ago. Where’ve you been?"
"Can I sit down first? Then I’ll tell you all about it." Kat moved aside as Chris and AJ made their way to the living room.

"Hey there, AJ," Kat said.
"Hey, Kat! Long time no see."
"Yeah, I know."
"Want something to drink?"
"Lemonade, please."
"Okay. Chris?"
Chris smiled. "Iced tea, please, Alex." AJ left the room and Kat came over to sit by Chris on the couch.
"I can’t believe you’re home already!" Chris exclaimed, giving Kat another hug. "You have to tell me all about camp."
"After you tell me what all you did. Was it lonely without me?"
Chris blushed. "Not really. Although I did have some disasters."
Kat smiled. "What’d you do? Drown?"
"Yes. Well, almost. And I broke my ankle in the process. I just got the cast off today."

"Oh, my God!" Kat said, shocked. "I was only joking. I didn’t think it would have actually happened! I’m so sorry!"
"Please don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault."
"But you were supposed to dance! Now you can’t."
"I’m not too worried about it," Chris said as AJ came in with their drinks. "I’ve got something better planned."
"What’s that?" AJ asked, handing Chris her iced tea. She took a sip and raised one eyebrow slyly. Kat burst out laughing.
"You look so funny when you do that! It’s like you’re a sex fiend or something."

AJ looked at Kat with an innocent expression on his face. "She is. Just last night we took a drive and she yanked the steering wheel out of my hand and drove us into a ditch and then she--"

Chris put down her iced tea and jumped off the couch, reaching her hand out to cover his mouth. "Shh!" she said in a stage whisper. "We don’t want everyone to know what happened at the corner of Meyers and--"

"Alright alright alright!" Kat cried, covering her ears. "Stop right there! I don’t want to hear any more!"
AJ smiled. " I guess I’ll let you two catch up. I’ve got stuff to do."
"Okay," Chris said as he left the room.
"I didn’t know you two were going out! That is so cool!" Kat exclaimed.
"Yeah, it is," Chris said, sitting back down. "And we don’t even need to lose this relationship when they go to finish their album or go on tour."
"Why’s that? You going with them?"
"Uh huh," she nodded.
"No way! Wow! You are, like the luckiest girl around!" Kat couldn’t contain her excitement. "You get to go to all their show for free! You get to go and do everything! You are so lucky!"
Chris’s mood changed noticeably. "There is no such thing as luck."

Seeing Chris’s mood change, Kat calmed herself. Then the realization of her statement sunk in, and Kat’s eyes widened. "I’m so sorry. I forgot. You just seem so much healthier now. What are you going to do if you get sick?"

Chris shrugged. "I honestly don’t know, especially since Kevin’s the only one who does know."

"You haven’t told your boyfriend yet?" Kat asked. Chris shook her head. "Oh, Chris. That’s one of the first things you should have told him!"

"I know that, Kat," Chris said softly. "But how do you tell someone you love that you’re dying?"
"You’re not dying. You’ve been in remission for years," Kat protested. She took Chris’s hand. "How can you say something like that and jinx yourself?"
"Because I have this awful feeling that it’s going to come back. Leukemia is so unpredictable."
"But you have to tell him. You don’t want to wait too long and have him get hurt."
"I know, I know. I just need to find the right words and the right time." The two girls sat in silence for a few moments, the Chris changed the subject. "So, uh, what’d you do at camp?"
Kat launched right into a detailed description of her two-and-a-half months at theater camp. Chris leaned back against the couch, letting her talk. Even though they were friends, Chris didn’t feel like listening. She had other things on her mind.

"Are they still in there talking?" AJ asked Kevin in the kitchen. Kevin leaned back in his chair and looked into the living room.
"I think they’re done now. Chris is standing at the door," Kevin said relaying moment to moment. "Now she’s laughing....waving goodbye...closing the door. Yep. I think they’re done now."
AJ sighed. "Good. Now I can have some time alone with her."
Kevin laughed. "Bone, you just spent the whole morning with her! Give her a little break, why don’t ya?"
"Because I don’t believe in breaks," AJ responded simply. Chris came into the kitchen and put two glasses in the sink, then sat down in a chair beside AJ.
"Have a good visit?" Kevin asked.

Chris rolled her eyes. "It was fine, I guess. She certainly had a great time at camp. I really wish I had had a summer."
"You did. You spent it here with us."
"Yeah, but I wanted to actually do something, you know?"
"What did you guys talk about?" AJ asked.
"Well, Kat talked mostly about her summer since nothing really happened here. But I honestly couldn’t tell you what all she did because I kinda tuned out. Not the thing a best friend should do, but," she shrugged. "Sometimes it just happens."
Kevin nodded. "I do that a lot."
"But you remember it all somehow," AJ said. "And you bring it up at the most inopportune times, too."
"No, AJ," Chris said. "That’s your job."
"Hey!"
"It’s true," Kevin agreed.

AJ pretended to be hurt. "Hey! Don’t all gang up on me! What can I do? I’m helpless!"
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Bone. Must you always be so dramatic?"
"It got me the girl, didn’t it?"
Chris blushed. "Okay, then," she said, changing the subject. "What are the big plans for tonight?"
"What time is it?" Kevin asked.
"About three," she replied, looking at the clock above his head.
"Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe go into the studio and go over some parts for a bit. Or else I’ll start packing. We leave on Friday."

AJ spoke up. "That brings up a point, Kevin. I wanted to ask you something." "What’s that?"
"I wanted to know if I could, well, if we could, I mean if Chris could-"
"He wanted to know if he can bring me on the tour with you guys like a piece of luggage because Brian’s bringing Emily," Chris finished.
"Not like luggage," AJ protested. "Property maybe, but not luggage." Chris hit him on the arm. "Ow!"
"Serves you right," she said smugly. He reached over and started to tickle her. "Ah! Stop! Stop! That’s not funny!" she cried. AJ stopped and leaned over to give her a quick kiss.
"Alright you two," Kevin said. "Chris, what do you think?"

Chris waited until she was back under control before she answered. "I think it would be neat, especially since I don’t have any other plans for the next couple of months. Besides, I wouldn’t be alone in this house again. I’m finally old enough to go with you."
"That’s true," Kevin said thoughtfully. "But do you think that you could handle not being able to spend as much time together, even though we’ll all be together?"
"As long as I can see you in person, I’ll be okay."
"Aww," AJ said teasingly. "She wants to see us in person."
Chris shot him a look. "Actually, I just want to go for the free tickets."
"That hurt."

"Will you two cut it out? I can’t see how you guys can be going out if you’re bickering all the time. Maybe you shouldn’t come," Kevin said.
"See what you started?" Chris told AJ, who opened his mouth in protest. Kevin cut in before AJ could say anything.
"Besides, it’s not for me to make the decision. I’d have to call the managers and stuff. There’s a lot I’d have to go through to get permission."
"Don’t you have a say in anything?" Chris asked.
"I get to say that I’d like to bring another body on the bus. That’s all I get to say."
"Well, if it’s going to be that big of a deal," she began.
"No, no, no. It’s not a big deal. It’s just time consuming. I’ll get started right away." Kevin stood up and took the cordless phone off the wall, and began to dial as he walked upstairs.
"Thanks, Kev," AJ called after him. "So, what do you want to do?"
Chris shrugged. "I dunno. What do you want to do?"
"Let’s not go there."
"Okay, then suggest something. But not that," she added, noticing the look in AJ’s eyes.
"Alright. I respect your decision. How about a movie?"
"A movie? It’s three o’ clock in the afternoon!"
"I meant we could watch a video."
"Nah, I’m not in a video mood."
"Wanna go running or something like that?"
"We could..."

AJ paused a moment before he asked the next question. "How about you tell me what’s wrong with you?" Chris drew in a quick breath. She knew it was bound to come up sooner or later, but she had been wishing for the latter. She stood up.
"Where are you going?" AJ asked.
"Outside on the patio. If you want me to tell you, then you’d better come, too."

The two of them walked out to the stone patio and sat down on two lounge chairs. After Chris had sat down, AJ got up and sat next to her. He picked up her hands and held them.
"I want you to know that it doesn’t matter how bad it is, I don’t care. I still love you."
Chris sighed, inwardly. It’s impossible for him to love me. It hasn’t been enough time.
"Thank you, Alex. This is going to be hard for me to say. Only Kevin knows this."
"Take your time," AJ said. "We have time."
Chris took a deep breath. "Alex, I have leukemia. I almost died a few years ago."

AJ gasped. He hadn’t expected anything like this. If she had said she was psycho or something, well, he’d be able to deal with it. At least that could be somewhat cured.
"I say almost," Chris continued, "because if I had not been discovered by my guardian angel, I would have most likely died. It was a miracle that he had found me when and where he did. But I’m getting ahead of myself."
"That’s okay," AJ said, under control once again. "I promise not to interrupt."

"Thanks. I was diagnosed with a certain type of leukemia, but I won’t tell you the name because then I’d have to explain it, and I’d never get my story done. So, let me say that I was very very sick in junior high. That’s when I first got sick. I used to be really active in sports and stuff, but then one day I woke up and felt horrible. It didn’t come up on me that quickly, though; there had been signs. Like I had been getting bruises all over my body in places I never thought bruises could be. And slowly I began to get sick whenever I was around food. I couldn’t eat it, couldn’t even stand the smell. That’s probably why I can’t eat that much anymore still.
"Anyway, I remember one day I was walking down the hall, feeling like I had had the flu forever, when I finally collapsed. My books went flying everywhere, and almost everybody kept walking by. But this one guy, who was a senior, I was in eighth grade, he knelt down beside me and tried to wake me up. I remember hearing something, but it was all mumbled. It was like I was drugged. When I had my eyes open, everything was blurry. I could barely make out his face. I closed my eyes again.
"I woke up later in the hospital. The nurse had come in just as I opened my eyes, and she rushed over asking me if I was alright and did I feel any better. I kinda remember trying to shake my head, but she shushed me and told me the news." Chris took a deep breath, her eyes filling with remembrance. AJ squeezed her hands, urging her to continue.

"She said that if I hadn’t have been rushed to the hospital, I would have died. And I was only 14 years old! That’s a lot for a little kid to take. The nurse said that I’d have to be in the hospital for a while to make sure I wouldn’t relapse. She asked me if I knew I had leukemia. I told her that the doctor had said there was something wrong with me, but he didn’t say what. I was put on medication immediately and transferred to another doctor, a specialist.
"I remember that I recovered as well as could be expected. I had chemo treatments several times a week, and I was on such strong medication, it was amazing that I was still living. I missed the rest of my eighth grade and my freshman years, but that same guy who had helped me the first time, came by the hospital after school everyday to see how I was doing and to help me with my school work if I felt up to it. For the life of me, I can’t remember his name!
"Anyway, he started taking classes at the community college nearby, and tutored me after his classes. By that time I was at home, but still so sick I could barely get off the couch. But I was able to keep up with the rest of my class, and I was ready to go back to school my sophomore year, both physically and mentally. Even though I was still sick, I didn’t feel as bad, but I forced myself to continue on, despite the doctor’s warnings. I was determined to beat this thing and eventually I did, after another serious episode.
"I was running on the beach, feeling the best I had in months. I had to take a break because I was getting out of breath and extremely tired. But I didn’t stop running. I kept pushing on because I was almost near the parking lot. Once I got there, I could rest a bit and then go home. I don’t remember blacking out or falling. But I do remember that another angel came to help me.

"I could have sworn it was the first guy, the senior. But he was older. And I knew later that it wasn’t the first guy, because he didn’t live here anymore. This guy was so nice to me; he was so gentle and kind. He kept me alert and calm while he phoned the hospital. Then he picked me up, laid me in his backseat, and sped me to the hospital. I never saw him again after he got me in the emergency room. I assume he left after someone told him I was going to be okay. If I ever had the chance to meet him, I don’t know what I’d do. He saved my life."

AJ felt his heart skip a beat. He knew who that guy was, because he had heard about the incident through the record label. But he didn’t interrupt Chris. Instead, he nodded for her to continue.
"After that, I took it easy and home schooled myself, going my own pace and taking care of myself. I graduated on time at the top of my class, and I’ve been in remission for two years. I have routine checkups and chemo treatments that really wreak havoc on me, but as long as everything comes back good, then it’s worth it. I also am on medication for the rest of my life, but I can deal with that. I just didn’t want you to know because I didn’t want you thinking that I was going to die on you one day."
AJ pulled her close as she started to cry, and tried to soothe her. "It’s okay, Chris. It’s okay. Shh."
After a few minutes, her cries subsided, and she sat up straight, wiping her eyes on her shirt. "I’m sorry," she apologized. "I’ve never told anyone this before, except Kevin. And that was just a few months ago."
"Why didn’t you call anyone when you were in the hospital? I know Kevin would have jumped on the next plane to get here as soon as he could to be with you."

"That’s the whole reason I didn’t do anything. I knew how important Backstreet Boys were to him, and I didn’t want him to screw up because he was worried about me."
"That’s a poor excuse."
"But it’s the truth. Anyway," she said dismissively, "that’s what’s wrong with me."
"That’s not all."
"What do you mean?"

"You’re going out with me. And that should keep you cured forever." AJ stood up and took Chris’s hands, pulling her up. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, and began to sway with her. Chris rested her head on his chest as they danced to music only they could hear.
It’s all okay now. It’s going to be okay. He knows, and he’s not leaving. Did I do the right thing?