Challenge - JIVE, as in the record company

"Jive talking, not gonna hear any more of that, Jive talking," the short, dark haired man sang as he mopped his kitchen floor.

"Critter, why are you singing Bee Gees? Having flashbacks to the Grammy's? Or, maybe you're channeling Lance. Want to sing with them, too?"

"Lance is still alive."

"So, in other words, he's "Stayin' Alive".

"For your information, Mr. Fatone, it's because we'll soon be free of all of Jive's 'talking"," Chris, aka "Critter", explained.

His tall, Italian husband pulled him into his arms. "I love you."

"I love you more, Joe-bear." They kissed deeply, for a bit, before stepping back. "Has anyone heard from Ju?"

"C says he left Hawaii during the night, and should be here soon. And, boy is he pissed."

"Not at us, I hope."

"No," Joey said with a smile. "It seems that Senorita Diaz's double dipping, shall we say, with a certain record company president, has come to light. You convinced him, then?"

"I sent them all the info I came up with. It's up to them to make their own decisions. I'm ready to brief them, as soon as they get here."

The bigger man leaned down and kissed his husband's neck. "The lovebirds should be here soon."

"What are we?"

"A loving, married couple."

"See, darlin', I told you Joey thinks we should get married."

The blond who spoke walked into the dining room, holding the hand of his tall, beautiful, brunet boyfriend.

"Lance, JC, where's Ju?"

"Here! I'm giving up females!!"

"Awww, another one for our side," Joey joked.

"It could happen. So, what's the plan?"

"As I told you with all the paperwork I sent you, all the delays with our album, JC's album, and promoting an immediate second album for Justin, is Jive's way of telling us they only want to back Ju."

"Dude, I was so pissed when I read in the media and in those papers you sent me, that I wanted to do a second album right away. That is so not true, and I was really and truely pissed. Sure I wanted to try flying solo, but not at the cost of JC's or anyone in NSYNC's career, collectively or seperately. I couldn't face Nick Carter for the longest time, and he would deny knowing me in interviews, he was so angry. Then, I find out that they would have done to me what they did to Nick, if Nick's album had taken off..."

The young man stood and stormed off. The others sat and waited, knowing once he cooled off, he'd be back. He never used to be like this, and they desperately wanted their old friend back.

About seven minutes later, he walked back in and took his seat again. "Sorry."

"No problem. The gist of all of this is that Joey and I are leaving Jive. They informed us this morning that they want to put a hold on our cd's, too. Besides," Chris said in a small voice, "Barry ordered Joey and me to break up or leave the group and Jive."

"HE WHAT??!!" the other three shouted in anger.

"So, we are," Joey put in. "Leaving Jive, not the group."

"Damn straight you're not!!" Justin agreed forcefully, before giggling helplessly.

When JC joined in, Lance said, "We can say the word straight, you know, without cracking up every time."

Calming himself, JC asked, "Where would we go?"

"And, how would we get away from them?" Lance wanted to know.

"We?"

"Of course "we"," Justin told him. "Otherwise we wouldn't be NSYNC."

"Well, we figured that between Lance Bass Productions, Tenn-man Productions and Chasez music, we have a solid basis to start our own company."

"And, we have been working at starting up our own record company," Joey added.

"That's great!"

"Yeah. With Scoop's business savvy, we should be up and running in about a month. I already contacted a place who'll print up JC's and Joey cds, so their singles could be out by the fourteenth, the cds out on time, by the twenty-eighth."

"I like it," Justin agreed. "How do we do all this?"

"We have a meeting with Jive late tomorrow morning, but, earlier, we have to be at the courthouse. We're dropping Jive before we meet with them. Johhny's still with us and will be there at both places."

"Then, let's get busy. We have a lot to do."

The next morning, their trip to the courthouse was totally successful, so they headed over to Jive. As they got on the elevator, Johnny told them they'd be going to conference room, "C".

"Both Clive and Barry will be here," he added.

"Good. Our research showed us that Barry is the one behind all of this."

"I want his ass!" Justin demanded.

"It's all yours, I have my own," JC remarked with a smile to calm down the young man.

Once everyone was seated around the table, Clive Davis, CEO and owner of Jive spoke. "We're here, Chris. What did you people want?"

"We're leaving Jive," Justin told him. "We've had trouble with Barry Weiss, your president and we want out."

Barry looked at him, and smirked. "Well, they can go anytime, but not you Justin. We need you, not them. Besides, you don't want Chasez eclipsing you, do you?"

"YOU STINKING BAS..."

Joey and JC jumped to their feet and pulled the young man into their arms. "It's okay. We love you, and we know it's not true," JC said comfortingly.

Clive was livid, also. "I told you not to try and divide them. Look what you accomplished!"

"What are you talking about? They can't leave, so I can say what I want."

"Actually, Barry, we went to court this morning, and were let out of our contracts. We proved all your conviving to the satisfaction of the court, and they cancelled them," Chris explained.

"As of ten o'clock this morning, we were free and clear of Jive," Joey continued. "And, more importantly, we're free of you."

"The only thing we have left to hash out is the money, and our lawyers are talking with yours about that issue as we speak," Justin added with a smirk of his own. "By the way, I hope you and Cameron have a great life together, but remember, if she cheated on me, what's to stop her from cheating on you?"

"We warned you, Clive, not to hire Barry, but you did anyway," Chris took over again. "So now, you lose."

With that NSYNC and Johnny exited the room and headed outside.

They could all be heard singing, "We don't need any more of that Jive talking."

~~~~~~The End~~~~~~