The new intercom made doubly sure that Chris knew who he was letting in, but he still felt a chill when he heard it go off. Even right now, when he'd been expecting it to.

The house was still bare, even though he'd bought new furniture and filled in the stripped spaces and tried to make it feel normal again. He felt the emptiness all the time, especially when he was going through the front hall to the door, passing the places which had held the most touches of Dani before she'd left.

He tried to give Justin a smile as he opened his front door.

"Hey," Justin said, smiling more tentatively than normal and tugging on his necktie. "You all packed for home? Taking off tomorrow, right?"

Considering they'd all gotten together at Lance's the night before to exchange gifts, they had to be rhetorical questions. Even Justin's memory wasn't that bad.

So Chris just nodded in return and backed away from the door to let him pass. "What's the noose for? Brit talk you into a formal night on the town or something?" He glanced at the clock. "Or day on the town? Probably best you aren't seen together in broad daylight, you know, and I'm not just talking about the state of Brit's make-up ... "

Justin rolled his eyes at him and shrugged out of his suit jacket, tossing it on a bench in the hall. "I had to meet with the lawyers today. About the lawsuit." He exhaled shakily, and hugged himself a little. "God, Chris. The whole thing is just ... it's just so absurd. I'd be laughing if it didn't make me so sad, and angry, you know?"

Chris sighed and tugged him into a rocking, growling hug. "You know it'll get settled, and sometime soon," he promised him. "She's a kid. Kids can't keep their lies straight. Everything go okay, today?"

He let go slowly when Justin didn't answer, didn't even really move to hug him back except to pat him awkwardly on the shoulderblade. "Well," he said haltingly. "Not ... I mean. We heard her deposition today. And ... " Justin closed his eyes and backed up to lean against the wall. "So, like, legally, I'm not supposed to talk to you about this, even though y'all are co-defendants, but I just had to know, but ... I don't know, either way this is a bad thing and I don't know which way is worse ... "

"Justin, what are you talking about?" asked Chris, just staring at him as he stumbled his way through whatever he was trying to say. "You've been hanging around lawyers too much today. Just say what you're trying to say."

"She said you told her to say it," Justin blurted out, then winced. "That you had ... talked to her earlier, about ... about taking me down a notch or two." He stumbled over the words. "And that ... that saying something about JC would make me really mad, and wouldn't that be a funny joke to play?" He bit his lip, his chin wobbling a little, and looked almost as young as the girl in question right then. "And I couldn't believe you'd say something like that, about me. I didn't want to believe it. But, Chris ... if you didn't, then that means ... "

"Fuck!" said Chris, the sound echoing off the walls. "Justin, I never even saw the girl, I swear. I wouldn't pull something stupid like that -- if I wanted to play a prank I'd do it to you myself. And trust me, there'd be no lawyers involved." They didn't voice what that meant, but they both knew. "Oh hell, Justin. I'm sorry."

Justin nodded, and sniffed a little, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "No, no. I know. I knew it when she said it. But ... I knew how upset you'd be when I told you." He looked down. "Chris, that was a while ago. And halfway across the country. That's ... kind of scary."

"It's not just 'kind of' scary," muttered Chris, unable to meet Justin's eyes anyway. "How long's he been doing this? And ... God, what else has he done? This wasn't ... just fuck." The sharp word echoed again, causing both of them to jump a little.

"Chris," Justin said meekly, hugging himself tighter. "I'm sorry. Are you ... mad I told you?"

"There's only one person I'm mad at," said Chris, but he couldn't even force a smile for him. "And it's definitely not you, kid. I thought ... I hoped maybe he was gone. He'd messed up my life and he was gone. But I guess, it just couldn't be that easy."

Justin sighed guiltily anyway. "But, so this was a while ago. Maybe he is gone. You haven't heard from him since what happened to Dani, so maybe ... ?"

"I thought he was gone," said Chris, "because I thought he'd gotten what he wanted. He messed up my relationship with Dani -- ruined it -- and left me miserable. But now? That thing with the girl ... it's messing up your life way more than mine, Justin. Messing with the group. So now I'm back to square one, not knowing what his game is. What else is gonna pop up from the past, now, huh? I fathered a child somewhere in Kansas, maybe?"

"Oh," Justin exhaled quietly, shivering. Chris felt bad for frightening him more than he already was, but hell, he was scared too. "I'm sure not, Chris," he said bravely. "'Cause DNA testing, and all. And don't worry about the lawsuit thing. It's no big deal, she's just trying to get attention. What's the worst that can happen? A couple people think I'm ... I'm a conceited jerk?" He laughed weakly. "Like they don't anyway. So if Chaz is trying to, I dunno, mess up the group, he's coming up with some dumb ways to do it."

Not so dumb, though, Chris figured, watching Justin try to rationalize it, try to avoid personalizing it, and still be so obviously hurt by it.

"Maybe," he said, though, just as weakly. He reached out to ruffle Justin's curls. "You are a conceited jerk, but we love you anyway. Everything else go okay, at the meeting?" He could stew about Chaz on his own -- and he would -- but he didn't need to be giving Justin anything more to worry about than he already had.

Justin gave him a shy smile, then batted his hands away. "Someday you're not gonna get to do that anymore," he complained. "But yeah, otherwise, the meeting went fine. I guess. I hope. I kinda ... tuned out, there, after hearing her talk." He shrugged, looking like he had no idea what to say next, whether normal conversation was encouraged or even allowed. "So, um. How's your day been?"

Chris just stared at him for a moment and didn't even know how to answer the question. His day had been a bunch of nothing. He'd finished the last of his Christmas shopping, already shipped a bunch of things to his mother's. Mostly he'd been wandering around his house, lost.

"Just getting ready to see the family," he said, though. "All those girls ... if I call and say the words, "The dog barks at midnight," please come save me. I mean it."

Justin laughed happily, obviously relieved to hear Chris tell a joke, just as obviously not realizing how forced it had been. "Okay, got it. 'The crow flies at dawn.' I'll be there."

Justin's laughter even relieved Chris a little. "If you show up, my sisters won't even notice if I skip town for a while, you heartbreaker, you." It didn't even come out bitterly, even given all that had happened. Yes, he was going to sit and brood about Chaz, and about Dani, and about the future ... but at least he wasn't going to bring Justin down with him.

Justin laughed again, and was distracted enough to pull Chris into the hug he'd shunned earlier. "Love you, man. Come back soon, ok? Brit and I'll be back from Louisiana." He let go and grabbed his jacket, scrubbing a hand through his hair quickly, then smirking. "But make sure you say hi to those lovely Eustice and Kirkpatrick ladies for me before you do, yeah? Especially your ma."

"Always do," promised Chris with a wink. "But I don't greet 'em like you greet 'em. We aren't that kind of family. Take care of yourself, all right? And Merry Christmas, bah humbug and all that."

"You too, man," Justin nodded, turning back around for another hug, lifting Chris off the ground so his feet dangled in the air -- the kind of thing Chris hated, but tolerated, because he loved the kid.

"Get out of here," said Chris, patting his ass. "Go spend some time with your woman. " It did come out bitter that time, but Justin either didn't notice or didn't want to pursue it, because he just gave Chris that dazzling Timberlake smile and headed out the door.

Chris handed one of the mugs in his hand to his mother, and the other to Molly, then settled back down on the floor with Taylor as she continued to divide up the piles of presents.

"Two more for you, Chris," she said, magnanimous because her pile was easily the largest in the room. "But mom's got a million."

"No, no, that's my pile there," said Chris, pointing at Taylor's pile. "Isn't it?" He gave her a pout, then pressed her nose as she giggled at him. "But I'm always the one that gets the presents wrapped in that really cool Santa paper. It has to be mine."

"Nice try, Chris," his mother chuckled, but even she couldn't resist peeking through the tags on some of the smaller, distinctly jewelry-box-shaped packages. "You know those are the ones from Santa, and I suspect your name was buried somewhere on the 'naughty' list, if I know you at all."

"Santa gives the naughty kids naughty gifts," Chris pointed out, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "They'll be exactly what I've always wanted, I'm sure of it." He gave Taylor a wink when she giggled again and put another present in his pile, shaking it curiously against her ear before she did.

"You missed some, Taylor," Emily said, pointing at four matching gifts, wrapped in a delicate silver paper and partially hidden under the treeskirt. "Who are those from?"

Chris followed his sister carefully with his eyes as she handed them out, knowing his brow was furrowed a little. There were only a handful of presents under that tree that he hadn't put there, and even when he'd gotten up early that morning to add the ones from Santa, he hadn't seen those.

"Oh," Molly breathed, looking at the tag and then sheepishly at Chris.

"Ha!" he said triumphantly. "They're all for me, aren't they? One from each of the guys. Probably napkin holders again ... I should start a collection."

"They're from Dani," his mother said quietly, when none of his sisters even tried to reply. "For the girls. She sent the package here last week; wanted to make sure it got here in time."

"Oh," said Chris, just as quietly. He looked down and nodded his head. "Well, not napkin holders then. She has far better taste than that." He looked up again, and forced a smile even though he knew they could all see through it anyway. "Anyone need another drink?"

"Chris ... " Molly started, fiddling with the bow, and suddenly Chris wasn't entirely sure he could handle their pity right then.

"That was really nice of her," Kate pointed out quietly.

"Yes, it was," said Chris, pushing himself almost too quickly to his feet. "She's an awfully nice person, and she always liked you girls." He made a point of looking in his cup. "Well, I'm all out," he lied. "If no one else needs anything ... ? I'll just be in here." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the kitchen, then turned and left the room.

He rested his forehead against the fridge and wasn't surprised when he felt his mother wrap her arms around him from behind, less than a minute later. "Maybe I didn't handle that well," she murmured. "I should have warned you?"

"I'm okay," he murmured back, when he knew he clearly wasn't. "Um ... yeah, warn me next time. It was nice of her to send things for the girls, though. Nice to know she's still thinking of them, even if we aren't ... " He closed his eyes. "I just hope she's doing okay."

Beverly sighed. "I've been talking to her," she admitted. "I just ... I didn't say, yet, because I wanted you to enjoy today without maybe thinking about it. More than I know you already are, since she was supposed to be here." She hugged him a little tighter, warm against his back. "She wasn't just thinking of the girls. Your gift from her is in my room. I thought ... you might want a little privacy, when you opened it."

"Oh," said Chris, his voice still soft. Soft like few people ever heard. "I didn't realize." He didn't comment on her talking to Dani, but he knew his mom knew he was thinking about it. She could always read him like that.

"Oh, baby," she whispered, then turned him around in her arms and gave him a hug only a mother could give. "She misses you," she murmured into his hair. "Very much, I think."

"I miss her, too," he said, which was nothing anyone didn't know. "Did she ... do you know what happened? Is she okay, mom?"

"She's doing better," she admitted, which, Chris noted, didn't answer either question. "I think that if you tried to call her, she'd like to hear from you. It just ... was a little too much, before. She had ... a lot of questions. About Chaz. But, well -- at least she believes he exists. Now."

"So she didn't believe me," said Chris, nodding his head a little. He still hadn't turned around, and his head rocked against the fridge. "That ... shouldn't surprise me. It probably sounded pretty outlandish, when I told her."

"Honey, it would sound crazy on a good day," his mother said softly. "But considering that she'd just been ... well, had just gone through something that was going to make her leave you ... of course, it would be hard for her to accept. In a lot of ways, I'm sure she wishes it had been you after all."

"But it was me that she was talking to," he said. "That should have mattered, right? That it was me?" He sighed again, shaking his own head. "But it didn't. Because of him."

"He scared her," his mother acknowledged, matter-of-factly. "And ... he hurt her. With your face. And no, it's not fair, but ... she's a strong girl. It could have been a lot worse."

"Why did he have to come back?" said Chris, knowing how childish he sounded and thankful he was with his mom, who would let him. "We were just fine without him, wherever he was. We were better off when he was gone."

Beverly sighed again, stroking his neck gently. He wasn't even sure she was going to answer for quite some time. "I think ... he's very much aware of that," she said uncomfortably.

"Yeah," agreed Chris. It wasn't like he didn't know that much, now. "But doesn't he know? That he could have come back, any time? Come back to his family?"

"Honey." Beverly's tone was awkward. "Remember how things were, when he left. How tough everything was. He probably thought ... I'm sure he thought he had a better chance to support himself, even at fifteen, than he would being here. In a family with four other kids, and a stepfather that made things worse rather than better most of the time."

"He could support himself just fine, right," said Chris. "But what about us? You worked so hard to keep us going. He could've helped." Chris hadn't let himself think about this in a long time, not until Chaz had shown up in his life again. And now he found he still had the same questions as he'd had the day his brother had disappeared. "Did he just not care about any of us that much?"

Chris knew those were hard questions and he couldn't even expect her to answer him, but he really just wanted -- needed -- some insight. And nobody could know his brother better than their mother.

"It was always hard to predict what Chaz would care about," she said. "The two of you were always so different, that way. You'd telegraph everything and he'd hide it all. He was so excited when Molly was born; I know that. Excited about having a sister. But then ... " she looked uncomfortable again. "That changed, too."

"Mom, don't tell me he hated Molly. Don't tell me he hated any of them. They are the sweetest, most precious girls in the world." He gave her a brave smile that he didn't feel, and hugged her this time. "Next to you, of course. Who will always be my favorite."

She laughed quietly. "Thank you, sweetie. And ... that's not what I'm saying. I don't think he ever hated her, just ... I think it was hard for him, that even when he was trying, he still came out second-best. After you."

"But he didn't," said Chris. His jaw clenched involuntarily as he finally let those memories of his brother come back. "However he felt about that, it was all in his head. Always in his head."

"I know that, and you know that, but an awkward young pre-teen boy isn't going to know that. He saw what he thought he was supposed to see, for whatever reason." She hugged him close. "I love you. I don't know any better than you what he's doing back, what he's trying to accomplish, but I do know that he's not a happy person, and he obviously thinks that if he isn't, you shouldn't be either. So don't let him win."

"He's going through my life and destroying everything that has any value to me," snapped Chris, feeling awkward himself now, even though he hadn't been that matching pre-teen boy in a very long time. "How am I supposed to not let him win this? He wants me unhappy? Fine. I am. He can go away again now."

Beverly sighed, so forlornly that Chris felt even guiltier at snapping at her. "What happened with Dani was awful," she admitted. "But you don't know that you won't fix things. And he's not going to destroy our family. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but he has even less of a chance to ruin your relationship with the guys. Unless you pull away. This is your choice, Christopher."

"If he'd stopped at Dani ... that would be easier to deal with," admitted Chris. "It is awful and so wrong and ... I still almost can't believe it. But we could have moved on and dealt with it. But he didn't stop at her and I don't know where he's going to stop, and I don't know how to make him stop."

"Well," she said, pulling back from him finally and fixing her hair, "Letting him see he's getting to you certainly isn't the way. And making our Christmas morning be all about him isn't the way either. So come on. Buck up. Forget about him for now."

Chris knew she was right, but he also knew the uneasiness wasn't just going to go away, no matter how much all of them wanted it to. "Got something a little bit stronger to go in this coffee?" he asked, just a little bit meekly. He would go on, and he wouldn't mention it again that morning, but he was going to need a little help.

She sighed again, but reached in the back of a cabinet. "I don't want this to become a habit," she warned, handing him a bottle of schnapps. "I mean it. And if I hear that you let it ... " she trailed off, letting the threat dangle in the time-honored tradition of whatever the kid imagining as punishment being ten times worse than what the parent could come up with.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek, a real smile finally coming to his face again. It was an indescribable comfort, to have someone who would always treat him like her child. "I promise it won't," he told her, and meant it.

Chris ignored the intercom the first time it buzzed, staring at the newspaper in his lap and chewing on his lip. When it started buzzing in something that sounded vaguely like Morse code, though, he finally got irritated enough to get up out of his seat and punch the button.

"Halt, who goes there?"

"You are such a dork," came Joey's voice, tinny through the connection. "Let me in or I'm gonna sit on your head."

"If I don't let you in, how you gonna do that, huh?" Chris taunted him. "Gonna sit in my driveway until I come out? Drawing little hearts in your notebook with "Mrs. Joey Kirkpatrick" in them?"

"Dork," Joey repeated, laughing, then pressed insistently on the buzzer again. "Let. Me. In. C'mon, man. It's, like, cold and drizzly and shit out here. Don't make me invade your privacy and actually try and figure out which of these keys goes to your house."

"Fine, fine," said Chris, unlocking the door for him. "Far be it for me to have you make any actual effort or anything."

Joey glared at him, as much as Joey ever glared, as he walked into the room stripping off his jacket. "Dude, I go to effort. I go to effort. You try having a six-months-pregnant ex-girlfriend, whose mood swings are nevertheless not as scary as those of your boyfriend, and talk to me about effort." He froze when he realized that talking about ex-girlfriends might be slightly painful memories for Chris. "Or ... not. On second thought, don't try it. So. What's new, pussycat? Missed you, New Year's."

"Been busy," muttered Chris, folding the newspaper wrong and shoving the lumpy bundle aside. "You know me. Plans for world domination. It's really coming together, too -- that subliminals idea of yours? Brilliant."

"You know me, evil genius behind the dumb facade," Joey played along. "Seriously. You doing okay? No real drama? Heart attacks, strokes, fainting spells? Amnesia?" He sat back on the sofa, stretching his arms along the back. "Oh, man, speaking of New Year's ... you hear that thing, about Lance? About how drunk he was and all? Me and Jace heard it down here, and that's usually the kind of thing publicity can nip in the bud."

Chris let out a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh, and even he wasn't sure which one he meant it to be. "Many, many times," he said. "Chaz has gone and turned our sweet Lancey into a lush, looks like. Not that Lance didn't have that one coming, but still. The guy has my genes in him, you'd think he could be a little more creative."

Joey stared at him. "What? What the hell does that have to do with Chaz?"

"Speaking of the dumb facade," said Chris. "Who else do you think is spreading this stuff? What, do we have another evil fiend who has it in for us or something?"

Laughing nervously, Joey pretended to relax back into the pillows. "Dude, we have shit spread about us all the time. This isn't any different, just ... I was kinda surprised it got as far as it did. Slow news week, maybe. Stop being so freakin' paranoid ... I thought you hadn't heard from Chaz since that note."

"You don't call this hearing from him?" said Chris, tossing Joey the rumpled paper. "It's not like he needs to show up at my front door to let me know he's out there, anymore. Check out that story there. Uncreative, but destructive."

Joey picked up the paper obediently, not bothering to hide the fact that he was just placating Chris. He scanned the blurb -- a short, smarmy piece on how Justin Timberlake had been seen at yet another club with yet another girl who wasn't Britney in his lap -- and his eyes narrowed, but that was it.

"So?" he said finally. "So J can't keep it in his pants; that's nothing new. None of this is anything new, Chris."

"And you don't think it's strange at all that all this stuff is hitting the papers now of all times? And all at once? Just think about it, Joey ... " Chris leveled a gaze at Joey and stood his ground. Only when Joey squirmed uncomfortably did he sit back, somewhat vindicated.

"I'm just saying, there's no proof," Joey protested, mumbling. "And you're gonna drive yourself crazy -- craziER -- if you go around thinking that every time it rains, Chaz is behind it."

"Wouldn't put it past him," Chris muttered, taking the paper back only to dump it aside again. "And I'm not crazy. How many times I gotta tell you? I'm just ... unique." He didn't need proof, to know that Chaz was behind these things. Chris was sure of it.

"Well, you're driving me crazy," Joey huffed. "I swear, I almost called Lance up today to make him trade ... mm, shit."

"Trade what?" asked Chris accusingly, eyeing him. Joey's face was way too easy to read. "You better be talking about baseball cards, Fatone ... "

Joey squirmed some more and then sighed. "We're just ... a little worried, about you, Chris. And just checking up on you, is all. What's wrong with that?"

"You have a schedule, to check up on me?" said Chris, genuinely incredulous. "Wow, way to make me feel like a chore, guys. I'm fine. I should be checking up on you, since you don't even seem to be taking this whole thing very seriously. Chaz. Is. Evil. That's all there is to it. He's an evil with my face. Hey, that would make a good comic book."

"Talk about taking something seriously," muttered Joey. "I -- we -- just want you back to normal. You really think we should be more worried about Chaz? Fine; we'll pay more attention. But you, on the other hand, are taking this too seriously. You need to lighten up. You need to call Dani. I know your mama told you to; Justin can't keep his mouth shut."

"Oh, come on, Joey, you know it's not that easy," said Chris, letting himself slip for a moment. "And you know I'd die to talk to her, but not when she doesn't want to hear from me. I won't make this any worse than it already is."

"You're a stubborn motherfucker, Kirkpatrick," Joey shook his head, standing up. "Just ... take care of yourself. And it's Jace's turn tomorrow, so be nice to him and don't make him sit on your porch for an hour. Or I'll kick your ass."

"JC likes my porch," protested Chris. "He appreciates the finer qualities of my porch, unlike some people who are sitting here and talking to me right now. So you can go back and report to them I'm fine, all right? And take me seriously on this, at least." He tapped the paper next to him. "We don't know what he's gonna pull next."

He'd finally called Dani, after his mom and Justin and Joey and even his dogs, it felt like, kept bugging him to. They'd only talked briefly, but it wasn't as painful as he'd feared; they'd even made plans to have dinner when she got back to town.

Which led them to where they were: sharing a piece of cheesecake in one of their favorite restaurants, and making it all too easy for Chris to forget about what had happened in the past two months. It was hard to believe that they were talking again and smiling and ... everything. A huge weight had been taken off him, and he knew that Dani -- no, that they -- were going to be okay.

"What are you thinking about?" Dani asked, the corners of her mouth curved up in a serene smile. "'Cause you sure weren't listening to me."

"That," he said, waving his fork around in the general direction of her face. "Your smile, and how much I've missed it. You're so beautiful."

She blinked, and the smile grew bigger. "Thank you," she said. "You always were a sweet-talker, when you wanted to be."

"And I always wanted to be, around you," he added sincerely. "So what did I miss, when I was spacing out on you?"

"Nothing," she laughed. "Nothing. I was just rambling about the Nordstrom sales. Being totally uninteresting, as usual." She took another small bite of the dessert. "So you talk. Tell me about how recording's going, how Joey and JC are doing, everything. I know you, and I know what you tell your mom is, like, the littlest amount you can get away with, so I'm out of the loop."

"Joey and JC can talk about nothing except, you know, what's coming," he said vaguely, gesturing with his fork again. "And I know I told Mom that. Recording's fine. Everyone else ... is fine. And you are not boring, not ever, and I've never ever never told you that you are."

Dani's smile turned into a grin, and her eyes sparkled. "Okay, okay," she said. "We're not here for you to woo me, Chris. I mean, I appreciate all the compliments but you ... you just don't have to."

"No one ever has to woo," said Chris, grinning back. "There are no woo laws and woo regulations. The woo police aren't gonna come and get me if I don't. So that must mean that I want to. God forbid I want to compliment a lovely women when she's smiling at me like that."

"Stop," she protested, actually giggling and dropping her eyes to her lap. "You're just ... incorrigible. How did I ever put up with you, again?"

"Kinda a lot like this," Chris reminded her. "Blushing and smiling and laughing and I think just generally feeling pretty good. Even when you were trying to convince yourself that I was loud and annoying and incorrigible. Can I finish this?" He gestured at the dessert, then took a big bite.

She nodded, biting her lip, smoothing her napkin in her lap. "Thank you for calling me," she said finally. "I ... wasn't sure if you were going to. And just because I didn't call ... doesn't mean I wasn't worried about you." She looked up, met his eyes. "The only time I've ever thought you were annoying was when you took, like, three days to ask me out."

Chris grinned at her. "I wasn't much used to asking pretty girls to go out with me," he said, giving her a wink that was nothing but friendly. "I had to try my approaches out on all the guys. I bet you never knew that I propositioned both Joey and JC the day before I met you, did you?"

"No, didn't know that," she laughed, playing along, then grabbed the bill before Chris could take it. "What happened? They too much man for you? Or was all that talk you gave me about experimentation just that -- talk?"

"My adventures in experimentation taught me that I like my women without penises," admitted Chris. He didn't fight her for the bill; he knew her better than that. "And JC and Joey's adventures in experimentation taught them that they like their penises attached to each other. So it all worked out in the end. Are you ready to ... ?" He angled his head toward the door.

Again she nodded, signing the credit card receipt with her simple signature, and smiling shyly when she caught Chris staring at her. "That's good," she said, and he had to think back a second to remember what they had been talking about. That was just like her: to not get ruffled at him being crude around her, not get offended, but not act like anything less than a lady either. "It was certainly lucky for me."

"Yeah, I ended up pretty happy with the result, too," he confessed to her, sure he wasn't telling her anything she didn't already know. "So did you want to ... ?" Walk. Talk. Something. Anything.

"Sure?" she smiled, standing up and grabbing her bag. "You have something in mind?" She didn't say it -- or obviously mean it -- provocatively, but Chris felt warm inside regardless.

"Well, I was hoping to keep talking," he said slowly as they walked side by side to the door. He didn't reach out to touch her, but it was oh, so tempting. "Or keep listening. Or both. We could ... walk? And talk. And at the same time, too, 'cause I've been practicing. You know, what with the singing and dancing thing."

She laughed again, and it amazed Chris how good it was to hear it, how good it felt to be able to make her do it. "You always were multi-talented," she mused, putting on her jacket. "A walk would be nice. You can tell me about the baby?"

"I can tell you just about anything you want to know about the baby," he said, just as soon as he was sure they were out of earshot of everyone again. "Or maybe not about the baby, but about all the things they're buying for the kid. I keep telling them it's gonna be happier playing with the boxes and chewing on the wrapping, but they never listen to me. Like I wouldn't know just exactly what a kid wants."

"You're so great, with kids," agreed Dani, looking up at the stars as they walked. "But that baby is going to be so spoiled ... I can't even imagine. And ... lucky."

And that was enough for Chris to feel just a little bit awkward, like he hadn't since near the beginning of their evening. "Dani ... is there something wrong? Something I don't know about, I mean?"

"What?" Dani blinked, looking over at him. "No. Not ... no. Nothing you don't know about." She shivered a little, then shook her head. "Why?"

"Just wanted to make sure," said Chris carefully. "Not telling each other stuff ... is kinda how things came to this in the first place. Well, no. It was me. Not telling something that I know now I could have. Should have. I just want to be careful, from now on."

Sighing heavily, Dani wrapped her arms around herself. And didn't protest that. "You had your reasons," she said finally, even if she sounded like she doubted they'd been good ones. "How are things going, um. With that."

"Not great," admitted Chris. "I don't know much more now than ... than the day I found out the bastard had come back. He's going after the guys, it looks like. Going after the group. And we haven't found anything yet that we can use to stop him." He looked up at her, saw how pale she was getting. "I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about this at all. Did Taylor tell you how much she liked the present you sent her? And the other girls, too, but no one gushes quite like Taylor gushes."

"She sent me a nice note," Dani agreed quietly, pulling her jacket tighter. "Chris? As ... hard as it is, to talk about it ... if we're going to even try to get past it ... " She trailed off, not really needing to finish the sentence. And Chris couldn't help but impressed she was the one to broach the subject first, and so candidly.

He paused, straightened her jacket awkwardly and resisted the urge to hold her. "Dani? What happened, with him? Are you ready to tell me about it now?" When she didn't answer right away, he reached out and brushed a lock of her hair away from her face. "Or do you want me to talk?"

She stiffened when his fingers dusted across her temple, but didn't exactly pull away. "Do you want to talk?" she countered. "I don't know how to do this."

"Okay," he said, and they started walking again, but more slowly this time. "Neither do I. But I'm willing to try." He bit back the joke his instincts were trying to get him to make, and looked at Dani with everything that he was feeling. "I don't know how to apologize enough. I feel like it was my fault."

"Oh, Chris," whispered Dani. "No. I mean ... it's still hard that you didn't ... tell me. About him. But what he did, pretending to be you ... " Her shivers were visible, but still she reached her hand out to touch his forearm hesitantly. "That's nothing you can apologize for."

"What did he ... ?" Chris began cautiously. Even the air between them right now felt tense. "Dani, I don't even know what to ask. I'm sorry."

"Don't," she winced as soon as he apologized. "Don't say that. There's stuff I have regrets about too, and I just ... I hate this happened. I hate that I believed him. I hate that I didn't believe you. I hate that we couldn't talk about what was going on before it was too late, and ... I hate so much that he touched me."

"So do I," said Chris, his guts clenching as she said that. "He had no right, and ... That's it. He had no right. Are you ... doing okay? About it? Mom won't say much ... I guess she figures it has to come from you."

"I'm alright," she said reluctantly, not meeting his eyes. "I actually ... couldn't tell your mom. Which is stupid, but I just ... I was mortified that I couldn't tell it wasn't you. And I can't even really take consolation in knowing I said no, because ... well, I said no. But I didn't make him stop."

"We're identical, Dani," he reminded her, stopping them again and looking her in the eye. "And not only that, but he's been going to a lot of trouble to imitate me. Even with the guys ... apparently they couldn't tell him from me, either." He did reach out to touch her this time. "Saying no should have been enough to make him stop, make any decent person stop. None of the blame for any of this -- any of it -- falls on you."

She closed her eyes tightly. "Thank you," she murmured. "But that's a little harder for me to convince myself of. Especially since ... well, it's my fault we're not together right now. Because I actually ... how, in a million years, could I ever think you'd treat me like that?"

"I ... I have to admit, I asked myself that a lot," said Chris, wincing at his own words, honest as they were. "But the answer is painfully easy, Dani. You believed it because you saw me do it. You weren't just listening to second-hand accounts from someone -- which I know you would have rejected. You had no reason to doubt what you saw with your own eyes."

"I still don't know which is worse," she said quietly, ducking her head. "But all I know is ... god, I miss you, Chris. You. And the way things were, before."

"I know," he said gently. "But not much as I do, Dani. I want us to have that back again." He used a finger to lift her chin again, so she could -- would have to -- look him in the eye, then leaned in to brush a kiss across her lips.

They were soft, and warm, and he ached a little more at how perfectly familiar it all was. Until she froze, and wrenched her mouth away.

"No," she choked, looking alarmingly close to tears. "Oh, I can't."

"Dani," he said, pulling away quickly and touching her cheek. "It's okay. It's me."

She jerked away again. "No," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I just ... when you touch me -- when you kiss me -- it just ... " Her face crumpled. "I can't. Oh, Chris."

"Dani, no ... " said Chris softly, with muted desperation. "No, we can make this work, I know we can. Please!"

"I thought, with enough time ... " she murmured, her face wet. "It's not enough. You touch me, and I feel him, and ... how can we make that work?" She scrubbed at her eyes and started backing away. "I'm sorry. So sorry."

"But ... " he began helplessly, stretching his arm out to her but no longer able to reach her. "But I love you. And I want to try; I'm me, not him. And ... and I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, and Chris thought it was should be raining, or something -- wasn't that how scenes like this always went in the movies? "But I just can't."

And there was the taxi, waiting like it was scripted. He stood frozen as she stepped close, too quickly for him to react, and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. "Goodbye," she breathed, her mouth lingering against his skin, and that was it. She was gone.

Chris watched her go for a long moment, speechless like he almost never was. It wasn't supposed to end like this, they were supposed to get back together. Get back together and things would start going right again. If this couldn't go right for him, what next?

After a few more moments he realized that he was standing there waiting for her to turn around, to come back, and that wasn't going to happen. He forced himself to turn around again, to walk back to where he'd parked and get into his car. He rested his arms on the steering wheel and his head on his arms and just sat there for a long moment, trying to make sense of it all.

But he couldn't -- maybe because there was no sense to be made, or maybe because he was just too messed up right then to find it. Whatever the case, the only thing he wanted to do was get home and turn off all the lights and hide from the rest of the world. He started the car and pulled out of the lot.

He didn't even bother to turn on the radio, so when his cell phone rang it was an abrupt, shrill noise that broke the appropriately miserable silence in the car. He almost didn't answer it, except that one of the tighter security measures was making sure that the people that needed to reach him, could.

He just didn't expect it to be JC, at ten at night in the middle of the week. "Dude, where are you?" he asked, in a strangely emotionless voice, when Chris picked up. "I'm sitting in your driveway; thought you'd be home."

"You're sitting in my driveway?" Chris repeated, and all he could wonder was why. "I guess I mocked the wrong guy for that. Just don't steal the lawn ornaments, okay? I know they'll fetch a lot on E-bay, but I'm kinda partial to them." The words came out hollow and bitter, though, and he knew that JC would probably pick that up all too easily. "I'm on my way home. Saw Dani."

"How far out?" JC asked distractedly. Then: "Oh, wait, what? You saw Dani? How'd it go?" Even given how flighty JC could be, he didn't seem as ... interested in the answer as Chris would have expected.

"Hell on earth," said Chris, stopping that conversation right there. At least for the moment. "I'll be home in 15 minutes maybe? JC what are you doing on my driveway?"

"Something ... happened," JC mumbled and, as Chris anticipated, didn't even follow up on Dani. "Um, it's not good. And I thought I should tell you, like, in person."

"What?" said Chris, the implications of that hitting him like a board to the back of the head. He really shouldn't have been having this conversation while driving. "Is someone hurt? What happened? What did he do now?" A few seconds later it occurred to him that what JC was talking about might have nothing to do with Chaz, but his first instinct had been that it did. And that shook him more than a little.

Especially when JC confirmed it by answering Chris's question so automatically. "You know how ... you know how you told Joey you thought he was behind all those leaks?" Chris nodded, even though JC couldn't see him. "Well ... there was another one. Leak, I mean. And ... unless you're, like, out to bite the hand that feeds you, we pretty much have proof it was him this time."

"What was it?" asked Chris, barely remembering to stop at a red light. "Oh man, JC, what happened? And is everyone okay?" He knew how frantic he was coming across, and that it would do nothing to calm JC's nerves which sounded frazzled enough to begin with, but it wasn't a choice. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," JC sniffled. "Yeah, everyone's okay, just ... " He sighed heavily, reluctantly. "It's the baby. He leaked the baby news, Chris. And now, like, all these places know Kelly's pregnant, and she started getting all these calls ... Joey's over there right now ... "

"Oh no," said Chris softly. "Oh no, JC. I can't believe ... well, of course I can believe it. It's just the kind of thing he would do. And there are so many ways he could have found out about the baby if he could get near us ... Kelly's really showing now. Oh JC ... I'm sorry. I feel awful." And he did, even more awful now than what he was feeling before.

"It's not your fault," JC replied dully. "But Chris ... that's just it. I mean, the reason I needed to talk to you. 'Cause the way he found out ... " He paused, obviously trying to find the right words. "It's really pretty creepy."

"Wait, you know how he found out?" Chris did run the light this time, but thankfully there was no one around. "How do you know how he found out, JC? What aren't you telling me?"

"When the reporters started calling, they were asking about the baby girl," replied JC in a strangled voice. "A baby girl, Chris. And ... as far as I knew, only me, and Kel, and Joe knew that."

"You're having a girl?" exclaimed Chris, excited for that brief moment. "That's ... not the point. I know. And you didn't tell anyone else that it's a girl?"

"I didn't," JC said pointedly. "And ... when we talked about it, Kelly said she didn't. But Joe ... " JC sighed again heavily, made a grunting sound. "This is why I wanted to do this in person. Joey admitted that he'd ... told someone. Sort of. He said ... he said that he felt so bad about how upset you'd been, and he knew the news would cheer you up ... so he called you. A couple days ago. And ... left you a voicemail about it."

"He ... what?" repeated Chris. "JC, I never got a voicemail from Joey about the baby. And you know I've been checking it religiously." He took a corner too fast and almost dropped the phone. "Okay ... I'm four blocks away now, I'll be right there, okay? Shoot, JC, how did this happen?"

"I don't know," JC mumbled solemnly. "But that's the only thing we can think of. Joey knows he left it on your phone; he says he remembers your cracked-out outgoing message. And he thought it was weird you'd never mentioned it to him after, but you've been so ... " He trailed off uncomfortably. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to hear that Chaz is still around ... "

"I already knew," muttered Chris. "I already knew, even if no one else believed me." And he wasn't any closer to figuring out how to deal with him, but he just got more and more determined that there had to be something. If it meant trouble for the group if he did, that hardly mattered to him anymore -- Chaz was doing that well enough already.

Chris saw JC scramble off the hood of his Jeep when he pulled up, and they both shut off their phones. "Hey," JC said awkwardly, his hands stuck in his pockets. "Oh, man ... you don't look good."

"And I look better than I feel," snorted Chris. "You look like you've just been run over. You holding up okay? All of you?"

JC sighed, and scrubbed a hand through his hair. "No, I don't know. I just ... need Joey, as dumb as that sounds, but so does Kelly, and it's been forever since him having to choose between us has been an issue, and I just ... " He took a deep breath. "This isn't fair. We didn't do anything."

Chris winced. "None of this is fair," he agreed. "To anyone. But ... to bring the baby into it ... " He sighed and pulled JC into a brotherly hug. "Well, I'm no Joey, but I'll have to do until you feel okay about going over there with them. Even though he told me to keep my mitts off you. Come in for a drink? Or just to watch me drink?"

"He said that?"

"Yeah, he said that," snorted Chris as he let them in the front door. "Like I'd want your scrawny ass."

JC smiled tentatively. "Um. Yeah, I can come in for a bit, as long as I leave my phone on. In case they try to call, and all."

"Have you called them? To check up and all? I'm sure Joey would want to hear from you. You can reassure him I'm keeping my hands to myself."

"Hey," JC protested, but at least he looked slightly cheered up, after only a few intentionally-dropped confirmations of how much Joey cared about him. "I'll call in a little while. Kelly was really upset, and ... I don't want to make things worse."

"It still like that?" asked Chris quietly, locking the door and leading them into the kitchen, flipping on every one of the lights as he went. "Well, once the baby comes you guys won't be able to worry about anything else. Trust me, to hear my mom talk about it you'd think kids were alien invaders or something. So what can I get you?"

Laughing self-consciously, JC crawled up onto a barstool. "Mmm, just a beer," he murmured. "And thanks, Chris. You're right, it'll be ... different when the baby comes. Um ... want to tell me about Dani, now?"

"No," said Chris, grabbing the beer and slamming it down in front of JC. "You gonna make me anyway?" Beer required the least amount of effort, so he grabbed one for himself. "Have you talked to security yet about the baby leak? They can probably at least keep people from hassling Kelly."

"Um, yeah. I called them," JC replied softly, flinching away from Chris. "They said ... they said you needed to get a new phone number. Again." He didn't try to bring Dani back up, and Chris took small satisfaction in that.

"Yeah, well, big surprise there," said Chris, taking his cell phone back out of his pocket and tossing it carelessly on the table. They both stared at it for a moment. "I wonder what else he got," said Chris finally, "if he could get into my voicemail."

"I don't know," JC admitted, taking a hesitant sip of his drink. "I'm sorry ... I really didn't want to have to tell you. And Joey's ... well, beating himself up about it, basically. Like it's his fault, somehow. This is kinda a mess, Chris."

"Kinda?" Chris mocked dismally. "Everything right now is just one big ol' mess. But hey, you tell that lug of a boyfriend of yours that nothing is his fault. At all. I won't say ever, though, cause sometimes what's going on is his fault. But not this."

JC smiled gratefully at Chris, then stood up, only two sips gone from his beer. "I will," he said. "Look, if you're okay with everything ... I mean, don't need to talk about it more, or anything ... I'm gonna head on home. So I don't miss him, when he gets in."

Chris just nodded, still working on his own beer. He figured he'd help himself to JC's, too, once he was gone. "Be careful," he said, quite seriously, looking pointedly at the cell phone again. "None of us knows where he's going with this. And ... I'm sorry. I really am."

"It's okay," replied JC quietly. "It was gonna come out sooner or later, it just ... would have been better, on our terms, I think." He squeezed the back of Chris's neck and grabbed his coat. "So start thinking of girl names, 'kay?"

Chris managed a smile at that, imagining having a little girl underfoot. It was so much better than anything else he could have been imagining right then. And would, unfortunately, start imagining, just about as soon as JC left.

"And shopping for girly pink things, too," Chris added. "And barrettes and dolls and I think I'll get her a drum kit, too. My mom says every parent should experience the joys of having a child with a drum."

"Gosh," JC barked out a laugh. "You better think twice about that, if you want to be part of a singing group where all five guys are still sane a year from now." Still chuckling, he tugged on one of Chris's dreads on his way into the hall. "Don't make me insist on screening your gifts, now."

"You'd never find the time to screen all the gifts I'm gonna be giving that kid," said Chris with an emphatic shake of his head. "And you're gonna have FuMan gear spilling out of your drawers. You know it." If JC was gonna let him focus on that one bright spot of the current situation, he was going to let him.

"We'll discuss it," JC relented, laughing again. "Okay, seriously going now. I'll see you in the studio tomorrow, man."

Chris groaned. "Right, right," he said. "That whole work thing. Life goes on, and all that. You guys gonna bring Kelly with you ... ?"

It was the wrong thing to ask; any improvement in JC's mood seemed to disappear. "No," he sighed. "She's ... management's 'suggested' that she not be out in public until this dies down a little, or some crap. I dunno. Joe's mom'll go stay with her."

"I was worried about her being alone," Chris admitted quietly. "You guys take care of her, she's a sweet girl. And I know you know that, even with the ... complications, between you."

"I know." JC yanked on his coat a little more vigorously than was necessary. "You got everything you need, here, man?"

"JC," said Chris, speaking carefully again. "I ... can never tell you guys just how sorry I am, that all this stuff is happening."

"I know, Chris," JC replied tensely. "But nobody's blaming you, okay? And the thing is ... all the stuff that's going around about us now, the stuff he's leaking? it's not like he's making it up out of thin air. We have to take some responsibility. But just ... " He sighed, and hit the doorframe lightly. "I gotta go."

"I'm blaming me," said Chris, but not loud enough for JC to hear.

Justin poked his head inside the door to the dark room Chris was -- if he was being honest with himself -- hiding in, calling out his name like he'd been doing it in every room on the floor. And maybe he had. Chris wouldn't have responded, either, if Justin hadn't turned to someone standing out of Chris's sight and said "where the fuck is he," like he really cared.

"Were you always this loud?" asked Chris, just audibly, causing Justin to jerk his head back into the room again. "C'mon, Timberlake, we aren't on stage here. Use your inside voice."

"Dude," Justin grinned, before obviously remembering he was worried and was supposed to be upset. "Where have you been? We've only got, like, half an hour before we gotta be on ... c'mon, I gotta go tell Mike I found you ... "

"Not ready," mumbled Chris, crumpling the piece of paper in his hand. He knew he needed to go talk to Mike -- and badly -- but he wasn't at all sure he was ready for that yet. "You guys go on without me. They'll never notice."

Justin laughed the way he always did when he didn't get something, but figured it had to be a joke. "Your twelve fans'll notice," he protested, flipping on the light presumptively. "What are you even doing in here with the light off? Or do I not want to know?"

"You don't want to know," said Chris, his fist tightening around the paper. "But you probably need to. Where's Mike? Where are the guys?"

"Um, out there," Justin replied, eyes wide, as he gestured behind himself. "The green room. Chris ... did something happen?" He crossed the room quickly, tugged on the corner of the paper. "What's that?"

"Guess," said Chris, forcing himself to uncurl his fist. "Got another one. Makes the last one look like a love note. Go ahead and read it, if you want, but you might want to wait until after the show." Unless Chaz called in, he suddenly realized, and the color drained from his face. But that wasn't really Chaz's style.

Justin let go of the paper quickly, like it was liable to bite him, and looked up at Chris with a scared frown. "Shit," he breathed. "It's not the baby again, is it? Just tell me, Chris. I don't want to read it."

"It's not the baby," said Chris, letting out the bitter bark of a laugh that had been building up inside him. "No, it's not the baby again, Justin, it's her daddies."

"What?" Any color that was left in Justin's face drained and he edged away. Not that Chris could blame him, if he looked half as crazed as he felt right then. "What about them? They haven't done anything ... they're like monks ever since they found out about Kelly being pregnant ... "

"Since when do we have to do anything to attract Chaz's attention?" he snapped. "Did the baby do anything? No. He just ... says he's going to out them. And not in the classy Advocate way either. In the dirty tabloid way. In a big, big way." He looked up at Justin, tried to get back in control of himself, of the situation. "He's not even asking for anything. He just ... resents me that much, that he's willing to tear down everything I have. We have."

"Oh, shit," Justin cried, and Chris had to wonder if he'd gotten so used to Joey and JC being together that he'd forgotten just how damaging it could be if that was leaked. "Oh, no. No. Chris, he can't! Are you sure he didn't ask for anything? That there's not something we can give him, to make him not do this?" He grabbed for the note in panicked desperation.

Chris let him have it, knowing there was nothing. He'd already read it a hundred times himself. "I think," he said finally, "that there's probably only one thing that he really wants, and that's for him and me to be on equal ground again. And if he can't have what I have ... then he wants me to have what he has."

"Which is nothing?!?" Justin cried. "Well, fuck him! Just fuck him. That's just ... that's the most insane thing I've ever heard. I don't care. That's fucking crazy. He can't do this."

"He is doing this," snapped Chris, struggling to keep the words from sounding as furious and terrified and confused as he felt, all things he knew would upset Justin even more. "And if you know how to stop him from doing it, go ahead and tell me. I'm all ears."

Justin had no answer, though, or at least not right away. Chris was pretty sure he would come up with more than a few shortly, none of which they could carry out. Either Chaz destroyed him, or Chris destroyed himself.

"I don't know how," Justin admitted finally, his voice small. "Maybe Mike ... or the police ... " He trailed off, because he knew as well as Chris did there was nothing Mike could do either, and telling the police ... wasn't an option. Not anymore.

"And we have to go on live television in about twenty minutes," Chris added unnecessarily. Like they didn't already have enough to deal with. "He's winning, Justin, and I don't know what the fuck to do about it."

"We have to tell JC. And Joey," Justin said, biting his nails, pulling his knees to his chest. "Just in case."

"Of course we do," said Chris, reining in his impatience as best he could. "We have to tell everyone involved. As if I haven't already put them through enough. But not until after. I'll tell Mike and them before we go on but ... let's not make this interview a total disaster."

Nodding mutely, Justin looked scared to death ... but out of all of them, Chris had the most confidence in Justin's game face. They'd get through this, answer all of Mr. King's questions charmingly -- if not honestly -- and then figure out a way to tell their best friends just how much more trouble they might be in.

"Um, Chris?" Justin spoke up tentatively, and Chris was certain that he didn't want to hear whatever Justin was going to say next any more than he wanted another note from his brother. "Are you ... I mean, did you think he might ask you about Dani? 'Cause, um ... me, the guys ... maybe we need to know what happened. So we can help ... steer the questions, or whatever."

"He doesn't have any reason to ask about Dani," said Chris immediately, then realized with a sinking heart a moment later that that answer was probably too hasty. And they didn't get through years of interviews like this without being prepared for anything that could be asked. "We broke up. I don't think anyone needs to get into any more detail than that."

"You haven't talked to anybody about it, though, Chris," Justin protested, looking just as worried as before but for an entirely different reason. A reason that was entirely none of his business, Chris told himself. "Except for C, that night, for like two seconds," Justin went on. "We're worried about you. And plus ... you just don't look happy. He's gonna ask."

"I can look happy," said Chris, putting on a smile that bared all his teeth. "See? And there's nothing to talk about. She's gone I'm not getting her back. End of story, close the book."

Justin winced but continued, in that annoying, youthful, self-centered-and-used-to-getting-what-he-wants way he had. "But why? You still love her, right? And I know she loves you, man."

"Justin," said Chris, in a voice he was pretty sure he hadn't used with Justin in a very long time. "Drop it, all right? You don't want to know." Which, he realized a moment later, was the exact wrong thing to say to him."

"Fine," Justin snapped back. "Fine; excuse me for caring. Remind me not to bother next time." But he stood up slowly enough that Chris knew Justin expected him to stop him; someone always did when he threatened a tantrum.

"Not now, Justin," he said, which he was sure wasn't quite what Justin was angling for, but would probably do without either of them losing face. "I'm not going to get into this with only a few minutes left before we go on. Yes, deflect anything you can if she comes up, you don't need to know the hows and whys to do that, and you know it."

"Fine," Justin repeated, sniffing. But he held his hand out to help Chris to his feet, then just looked sad and scared again. "I just ... I hope that's all we have to deflect. You know?"

Chris had to close his eyes for a moment so he didn't have to look at the expression on Justin's face. "I know," he said. "Trust me, I know."