*Disclaimer - I do not own any of the members of 'N Sync (as much as we love 'em, we wouldn't want the responsibility of keeping them entertained) they belong to their respective owners. I do, however, own all fictional characters such as Mike, Ashley, Devon, Rachel, and Carli (whom I was written to and asked to add into a story somewhere...you know who you are.. I hope you like it *s*). Plagiarism is still a no no folks.. and I would appreciate if you didn't take my writings. Thank you kindly. *tipping non existent cowboy hat* On with the show.....

**Author's note: Flashbacks will again be most of this part of the story. Can't be helped. I like writing them too much. Also, all songs (if I actually use them this time) belong to their creators and not to me, and appear courtesy of those who are more talented than I. Also, there are some major references to the color pink (sorry in advance to all the Justin fan-atics... but it had to be done.).

"You would never have known it, but Ashley was born almost two months premature. She was such a small baby, but what a fighter." Mr. King smiled shaking his head. "We were able to take her home after only three weeks, when the normal standing was a couple of months."

Joe nodded listening to the man who was his girlfriend's father. Mr. King had been telling all sorts of stories for the past two and a half hours. Mrs. King was in with Ashley at the moment. Mr. Costeo was in with Mike, and Mrs. Costeo was in with Devon.

"She was such a beautiful baby. And boy, did she have a set of lungs on her. She proved it when she became the school's choir leader. Beautiful voice. I never understood why she stopped singing." Mr. King shook his head, swiping at the tears the had filled his aged eyes.

"She's going to be fine, Mr. King." Joe told the older man. He nodded with a sigh and a sad smile.

"She wants to be a doctor. She's known this her whole life. After I had the heart attack when she was a little girl, she's thought that doctors were the best people in the world. After all, they fixed her daddy and gave him back to her." Mr. King laughed softly as he shook his head. "You best treat her the way she should be treated."

"Mr. King, I love your daughter. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her." Joe told him softly with a smile.

"Good. She deserves the best. In everything." Mr. King nodded firmly as he got to his feet. He walked to his daughter's room to see how she was doing and stood behind his wife, who was sitting in a chair next to the bed, and rested his hands on her shoulders. He leaned down and kissed the top of his wife's head and she broke down into tears.

"My baby, my poor Ashley." she wept, for she could do nothing else. If she could take her daughter's pain for her, she would. Mrs. King would gladly trade places with her daughter if she thought it would do any good. She loved her daughter so much, and it killed her inside to see her lying in that bed, not moving, as still as death. Her skin was so pale, her breathing so slow. A bandage was covering a cut on her hairline and she had a few cracked ribs and a concussion. The doctor said that she had hit her head pretty hard on the windshield of the car, but there was really nothing to worry about.

"Its all right Abby, she'll make it." Mr. King whispered in her ear. She nodded, her eyes closed tightly.

Mr. King walked over to his daughter and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, then turned to look out the window. The sun glinted off the snow on the ground and in the trees, making everything blinding and bright. He smiled when he thought of how his daughter used to yell and scream, rant and rave when he used to drive in the snow because the roads were generally bad in New York. Nothing but slush most of the time, if they got snow that year. He walked over to his daughter's bed and sat down on the edge.

"Ashley, you gonna wake up for your dad? Come on sweetheart, open those beautiful brown eyes." Mr. King whispered softly, taking her limp hand in his. "I love you, baby girl."

Mr. Costeo sat quietly in a chair next to the bed his daughter was lying in. His daughter. Growing up she had always been daddy's little girl. Mike had always wanted to help him tinker under the hood of the family's station wagon, she had also wanted to learn how to play baseball and basketball and football. Even in high school she was really athletic. With ten brothers, she had learned how to defend herself, and loved beating and being beat upon by her brothers. Patience, Constance and Blake were his wife's daughters, very feminine and lady like. But Mike, she was his little girl.

Mr. Costeo got to his feet and sat down on the edge of her bed then took her hand. He began saying the words to a song that described their relationship so well, his voice cracking with the emotions that were coursing through him and tears filled his eyes.

He brought his daughter's hand to his lips as tears dropped down his cheeks un-noticed.

Mr. Costeo smiled sadly as he brushed a lock of hair out of his daughters face, then cupped her cheek with his palm.

Mr. Costeo swiped the tears off his cheeks as a nurse came in to take Michaela's vitals and check to see if everything was okay. He climbed to his feet slowly and walked out into the hall only to meet up with his crying wife.

"Um, we have some news everyone." Mrs. Costeo said as she walked over to the make shift waiting room. She looked over at Chris and her eyes filled with tears again.

"What? What's wrong?" Chris demanded getting to his feet.

"One of the doctors told me that there was severe damage done to Devon's legs. There's about a twenty-five percent chance that she'll never walk again." Mrs. Costeo answered with a whisper. Chris sat down, stunned. JC rested his hand on Chris's shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Only twenty-five percent chance? That means that she has a seventy-five percent chance of getting up and walking out of here." JC stated confidently.

"This is true." Mrs. Costeo confirmed nodding. Chris blocked everything out as his mind rejected the information that had just been delivered to it. No. I won't accept that. She'll walk again. When she wakes up and gets better, she and I are walking out of this hospital together. Chris rested his head in his hands. He knew she would hate living the rest of her life in a wheel chair and would fight it every step of the way. She loved running around and doing things that required the use of her legs too much to give up without a fight.

Chris looked up at everyone with tears in his eyes. "She'll walk again. I'll make sure of it."

Mrs. Costeo walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug, and amazingly enough, Chris let her hold him as if he were a child. He closed his eyes and savored the comfort a mother, if not his own, could give him in his time of need.

Chris squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop his rampaging thoughts. He sighed softly and pulled away from Mrs. Costeo with a sad smile.

"I'm gonna go see her." he stated as he climbed to his feet. Mrs. Costeo nodded taking his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before he walked down the hall. He stopped in the doorway to Devon's room and just stood there, looking at the woman he loved, lying motionless in the bed. Chris walked inside and sat down in the chair that had been pulled up to the bed, then took her hand in his and brought it briefly to his lips. He sighed and looked down at her pale face with a look of despair.

"Okay, confessional time, Dev. I know you can hear me, and I know you're not gonna play possum forever, so I want to get a few things cleared off my chest before you can actually talk me out of saying them." Chris sighed rubbing his face with his hands.

"I love you, that's obvious and plain to see because I tell you that all the time. What I don't tell you all the time is that you are the single most important person in my life. Besides family, but you know how that is. Anyway, my train of thought was just derailed for a moment. I guess what I'm trying to say is, your it for me. There won't be anymore women, anymore looking for the 'right' one because you're her." Chris stated as he stood up and walked over to the window.

"You complete me in a way that I never thought possible in a person. I've found that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to be my wife. I want to grow old with you. I want to have kids with you. I want to be able to go to bed with you every night and wake up the next morning with you in my arms. I need you and I want you, no one else but you." Chris shook his head.

"First you have to ask my uncle for my hand, then you have to come back a propose properly." a weak voice stated with amusement. Chris spun around with a look of astonishment on his face.

"Wow, that was fast." he laughed as he walked over to the bed. "Welcome back to the land of the living. How do you feel?" He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"I feel like hell and I probably look the part too." Devon smiled as she shifted so she could sit up. "God, my legs hurt like the devil himself."

"What happened last night?" Chris questioned sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"It's only been one night? Why does it feel like I've been out for days, weeks, months?" she inquired shaking her head then groaned at the movement. "Remind me not to do that again."

"Don't do that again." Chris grinned.

"Smart ass." Devon laughed then groaned again. "Okay, last night. Mike was driving. I know that much, but I was sitting in the back so I didn't see much of what happened. It was snowing pretty hard, and she kept griping about not being able to see any more than a foot in front of the car. We were only about a half an hour from the hotel, so we had just decided to turn around and wait for you guys to come back to the hotel. That's when the car came out of nowhere. It must have slid on the other side of the highway and gone into the wrong lane because he was heading straight for us. If Mike hadn't of swerved, we would have had a head on collision and all three of us and the other people in the second car would be dead right now. When Mike swerved, we hit a patch of black ice. She did everything he dad had told her, turn into the spin, don't hit the break, but we still rolled a couple of times. The last thing I remember is seeing a tree coming right for us, then total blackness." Devon shrugged with a sigh. Chris closed his eyes as she reached up and rested her hand on his cheek.

"You look about as bad as I feel." she stated softly. "How are Ashley and Mike doing?"

"They haven't woken up yet. But as far as we know, they're doing just fine." Chris whispered covering her hand with his own.

"Chris, come here." Devon whispered pulling him down to her. He shifted so he was laying beside her, his head resting on her chest. He closed his eyes as her arms circled him, holding him tightly to her. She kissed the top of his head then rested her lips in his hair, her eyes closed against the tears that she wanted to cry, but didn't.

"I love you Devon." Chris stated holding her as she held him.

"I love you too, Chris." she replied with a whisper. Both fell into an exhausted sleep just as a nurse walked in to check her vitals.

Joe sighed getting to his feet as Mr. and Mrs. King walked over to the ragged looking group of people.

"How is she?" he questioned softly, for Justin, Lance and Rachel were sound asleep in their chair and couch.

"She hasn't woken up yet." Mr. King answered with a shake of his head as he sat down in one of the empty chairs.

"Honey, why don't we go to the hotel and get some sleep. There's nothing more we can do here right now. We can come back later." Mr. King suggested to his wife. She nodded remaining silent. Mr. King helped her put on her coat, then slipped on his own, then he turned to Joe, lines of weary on his face.

"You should go talk to her." he stated before he and his wife left for the elevator and the hotel. Joe sighed nodding and looked around at his friends. JC's eyes were bloodshot and he needed to shave badly, but then he guessed he needed to clean himself up too. Lance looked happy with Rachel sleeping peacefully in his arms, and Justin looked uncomfortable in the chair he was dozing in. Maybe the three of them should go back to the hotel and wait everything out there for a while. He walked over to wake them up, but couldn't bring himself to do the actual deed. Instead he turned on his heel and walked down the hall to Ashley's room. He walked in and over to the bed. Joe leaned over and rested his lips on her forehead, kissing her gently before he sat down and took her hand in his own. He sat there just looking at her, her hand being held in both of his. She's so damn cold. Joe shook his head, closing his eyes.

Joe reached over and traced her jaw line softly with the tip of his finger and a sad smile. This was harder than he thought, just sitting here and waiting for Ashley to wake up.

A nurse walked in, disturbing his thoughts as she checked Ashley's vitals. He watched as she did her job then leave the room. The blinds were halfway open, letting in only a little sunlight, leaving a lot of things in shadows. Joe stood up and wandered over to look out the window. There were mountains in the distance, and they were beautiful to the eye. He sighed shaking his head as he walked back over to the chair and sat down.

Joe sighed resting his head on the mattress, eyes closed. Mind slowing to a stop as sleep was slowly claiming him.

"Hey sexy." a soft voice whispered. Joe looked up, afraid that he had imagined the voice he had just heard. Ashley smiled softly at him.

"You look like death warmed over." she stated, her eyes showing her pain and fatigue.

"I could say the same for you. Your parents are here." Joe told her with a slight smile.

"They are? So, I guess this was an all bulletins emergency, huh?" she question wincing in pain as she shifted to sit up.

"Yeah, well, car accidents can scare people like that." Joe snorted sarcastically.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic. You knew I wasn't going to die. I'm too damn stubborn." Ashley grinned as he leaned over to kiss her lips softly.

"I'm not being dramatic, just realistic. You could have died." Joe sighed sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Could have, but didn't." she reminded softly.

"I know, you just gave us all a scare." he shrugged as she rested her hand on his leg.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident. Hence why they call them car accidents." Joe laughed softly.

"Everyone's a comedian." Ashley replied dryly, shaking her head.

JC was down in the cafeteria trying to eat something like everyone had told him to do, so Justin took it upon himself to go see how Mike was doing. He walked down the hall and into her room, nervously glancing around. The room was dark, the blinds had been closed so that was the first thing he changed. Justin opened the blinds partially, to let some light in, then turned and looked at the room.

"I don't know about you, Mike, but this room is bare. You need some pictures or something. Maybe some flowers." Justin said, filling the silent room with his voice. He stood at the window, looking out over the parking lot to the mountains in the distance.

"It's weird how when these things happen, you start to think about things in retrospect. I mean, we all remember the good times and bad times when we're together and laughing, but it's different when a few of your friends are hurt. You know what I mean?" he questioned then laughed softly shaking his head. "You always knew what I was trying to say, even if it came out jumbled and confused."

Justin folded his arms across his chest as he leaned back against the window sill and looked at Mike's motionless figure. "We all had a lot of good times together. Lots of laughter, an equal amount of tears and a few episodes of yelling and screaming. I guess we are kind of a make shift family."

He turned back around to look out the window once again. "There's one thing you did to me that I'll never forget. I was so embarrassed at the time, but the more I think about it now, the funnier it is. Do you remember when you died my hair pink and it lasted for almost two weeks? I remember that well. I also remember the second half of that practical joke...." Justin laughed shaking his head.

"Now, since Justin was the last one to pull a prank it's now my turn. And you all are going to be witness to it, so grab your cameras and hold on tight. I thought for hours trying to come up with the perfect way to extract revenge and came up with the most brilliant idea, a prank that would end all pranks. Something that would never be able to be topped. It took me a few days to get everything in order and get certain people to agree, not to mention use all of my musical connections to make this thing happen. So without further explanation, I would like to introduce to you....." Mike yelled into the microphone as she dragged Justin over to a pink lawn chair which was covered by a pink deco umbrella, a pink plastic table held a pair of pink sun glasses, which Mike pushed onto Justin's face, and a pink lemonade in a tall pink glass. She pushed Justin down into the pink chair with a grin then she turned back to the audience.

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