*Disclaimer - I do not own any of the members of 'N Sync, nor would I ever really want to. They belong to their respective owners. I do, however, own all fictional characters such as Mike, Devon, Ashley, Carli, and Rachel. Plagiarism is against the law. Thank you.

It had been two long weeks since the accident. Two long weeks filled with anxiety, pain, heartache, fear, stress and a dozen other emotions that just had no name at all. It had been a rough fourteen days for everyone involved, but as in each case of darkness, the light was beginning to shine. More brightly now than it had in the past few days.

Ashley was fine and was now able to move about the hospital on her feet, though it was only with the support of Joe's arm. She wasn't quite strong enough to make it on her own quite yet. She only suffered some minor injuries that were now healing nicely, or so the doctor kept telling her.

Devon's problems with her legs turned out to be for naught. She could feel them and move them at her will, which pleased her family, friends and fiancé to no content. She still didn't have the strength to walk on her own and either made use of a pair of crutches or a wheelchair to get around in the hospital. She was also going just a bit insane trying to plan a wedding in the confines of her small hospital room.

Mike's injuries were healing quickly, though she remained in constant pain. The doctors told her that she would probably suffer from some of the pain for some time, but it wasn't serious at all. Things would return to normal as soon as he body got over the shock it took from the car accident. The doctor that had taken over her case had been surprised that she hadn't sustained more serious injuries, being that she had been the driver.

JC and Justin sat in the waiting room. Most of the parents had returned to their homes after receiving news that their daughters would be alright, so the two were alone being that Joe was with Ashley; Chris was with Devon; and Rachel and Lance were at the hotel catching up on some well deserved sleep. Justin leaned back with a smile.

"I'll be glad when I never have to come here again." he commented as he closed his eyes.

"I hear that." JC laughed with a shake of his head as a pretty young blond walked over to them, a look of trepidation on her face.

"I was worried for a while there." Justin sighed as he opened his eyes again.

"We all were, but the ladies are going home today so there's nothing left to worry about." JC replied as he climbed to his feet. "I'm going to go see what's taking Mike so long."

"Hi." Carli smiled cautiously as JC walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

"Hi." Justin returned giving her the same caustic smile.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad your friends are going to be alright." she told him, her voice quivering slightly as she stood far enough away from him to make herself comfortable.

"Thanks." he replied and rubbed his face tiredly. He felt like he could sleep for three weeks straight. Carli nodded, becoming all to aware that Justin had only needed comfort and he was grief stricken when he had kissed her. He only needed something to tell him he was still alive. Didn't you go through the same thing? She shook her head and turned to walk away but stopped short.

"Take care, Justin." she mumbled loud enough for him to hear before she rushed down the hall towards the stairwell. After the door closed behind her, she sat on one of the stairs and covered her face with her hands in a vain attempt to calm her rampaging emotions. She hadn't realized how attached she had become to the young man, and him treating her as indifferently as he had moments earlier, broke her abused, fragile heart. She had suffered so much heartache in the last year that her heart wasn't strong enough to take the smallest infraction.

Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head with frustration. This was crazy. You know that people do and say things they don't mean when they're confused. You did it too, so why are you so surprised that he did it? He's only human too. She sighed pulling out a tissue to wipe away the tears that had found their way down her cheeks and took a deep breath. She had to calm herself down before she left the hospital for the morning. She had an appointment to donate blood at the Red Cross in two hours and she wanted to put a little something in her stomach before she delivered on her vow.

After her sister had died during a blood transfusion, Carli had made a vow to donate blood every six weeks. Her mother thought it was great and was so proud of her, she signed the needed paper work without much of a hassle. Though Carli hated the sight of blood, donating some of hers always made her feel as if she could help at least one person, which in turn made her feel useful. She took a deep breath, her eyes tightly squeezed shut, and tried to bring her breathing back to normal. She never thought she could become so involved with caring for another person in just two short weeks.

Carli rested her hand on the wall and sighed heavily. I might as well get on with it. She slowly climbed to her feet and took each stair downward one at a time, in no real hurry to leave the save haven of the stairwell. Finally she made it to the lobby and stepped out into the cool morning air. She gazed around the parking lot for her car, wishing that there had been something more she could have said to Justin. She dug into her pocket and pulled out her key ring as she walked to the car.

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" someone inquired from behind her as she inserted the key into the lock.

"I didn't think you wanted to talk to me." Carli shrugged as she unlocked the door and pulled it open.

"Carli, hold up a second." Justin sighed grabbing her arm. Carli's shoulders sagged slightly as she turned to face him.

"What can I do for you this morning?" she inquired with a forced light tone.

"I just wanted to apologize for being distant for the past few days." he stated softly.

"It's okay. You needed comfort and I was there to give it. I know that kiss meant nothing, so don't worry about it." Carli shrugged with a smile.

"It did mean something, at least to me." Justin sighed stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets.

"You don't mean that. It was one of those things that happen when people are overly upset about something. It happens more often than you think." she explained gently, not wanting to have her heart broken yet again.

"That's not true and you know it." he shook his head, raking a hand through his curly hair.

"Yes it is." she whispered closing her eyes. "You needed comfort from a stranger you'd most likely never see again, who would judge you for the things you think you've done. I was the stranger that just happened by and the right time. It would have been anyone, but I was the only one there. Don't make this out into something it's not."

"That's the biggest load of crap I've heard come out of that beautiful little mouth of yours." Justin snorted loudly.

"It's not crap." she shook her head, eyes shooting fire at him.

"Oh no? I may not have wanted that to happen, but it did and I'm not sorry it did happen. But that's just me. I thought you might have felt the same way because nothing that intense is one sided." he stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Okay, so I felt something. What does that prove? Absolutely nothing because you're leaving this afternoon. You have to get back to the life you left behind when this tragedy happened." Carli tossed a hand into the air.

"Just because I have to leave doesn't mean that I want the contact with you to end." Justin shook his head, not sure of what he was trying to get at.

"Then what do you want from me, Justin?" Carli sighed leaning back against the car.

"I don't know. That's the one question I'm totally unprepared to answer. All I do know is that there's something going on here that's just a mere scratch on the surface and I want to find out what it is." he shrugged tossing a hand into the air.

"All right, so I'll give you my number and we'll talk." she replied with a small smile.

"You're damn right we'll talk. You're definitely one person I would like to get to know better." he laughed with sincerity.

"You better get back up to your friends." Carli murmured as she wrote her number down an a napkin that she pulled out of the glove compartment.

"Take care, sweet Carli, and I'll talk to you soon." Justin smiled, taking her hand and giving it a soft kiss.

"You bet your ass you are." Carli laughed.

© 1997 hells_fiction@hotmail.com

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page