*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 (which I sincerely hope are themselves). I do, however, own all fictional characters such as Rachel, Mike, Ashley, Devon and Carli. Plagiarism is a big NO. Thanks.

The Only Gift

You're Going Where?!

Rachel paced around her room as she packed a small suitcase. She had no idea what to bring on a mini vacation to Orlando, especially in the middle of winter. The stereo was cranked, playing a mix of her favorite CD's. She hadn't talked to Lance in nearly two days, but that had been because he was in Germany and as much as she liked to, she couldn't afford to call him when he was that far away. She groaned throwing her hands into the air with frustration. She had never been to Orlando, so she had no clue whatsoever if it would even be warm there. She flopped down on her bed and covered her face with a pillow to muffle her high pitched scream of agony. What the hell was she going to bring?

"Rach, what's going on?" her best friend inquired loudly over the music as she walked in, carrying a very heavy book bag.

"I'm having a crisis. I don't know what to wear!" Rachel screeched as she bounded up to pace the room again.

"You never know what to wear." Monica mumbled with a shake of her head.

"But this is different." Rachel cried out, searching through her closet, discarding clothing everywhere.

"How is this different than your normal morning crisis?" Monica raised an eyebrow as she sat down on her bed.

"Because, I'm not wearing the clothing here." Rachel sighed as if she were explaining to Hiroshima Bomb to a three year old.

"Okay, I give. Where will you be wearing the clothing?" Monica shook her head, searching through her book bag for her calculus text book.

"Orlando." her best friend answered simply, tossing a sweater over her shoulder in disgust.

"You're going where?!" Monica sat up straight, a look of panic on her face.

"I'm going to Orlando. We've covered this already." Rachel mumbled as she pulled out one of her older brother's Fubu jerseys.

"Why are you going to Orlando?" Monica inquired, flipping open her text book.

Because I've been invited to go. Why do you think?" Rachel demanded as she packed the jersey into her bag.

"Oh, silly me. Could there be any other reason? Monica inquired, slapping her own forehead playfully. Rachel just rolled her eyes heavenward with a shake of her head.

"Are you going to see Lance?" Monica pulled out her notebook to make some notes for an exam that was coming up within the week or two.

"Oh my God. You know, I never really thought about that! Lance lives in Orlando, he called me and asked me to come see him, and I'm just too out there to realize the full implications of his request. I should go see him to talk this out!" Rachel exclaimed teasingly as she tossed a pillow at her best friend.

"Sure, fine. Be that way. See how I care." Monica shrugged her shoulders. Rachel definitely knew how to push her buttons sometimes, but all in all, when it came to friends, Rachel was the best kind to have. No matter what, she could always make you laugh, especially with her flair for theatrics.

"Where's your roommate, anyway?" Monica made a face as she sprawled out on the empty bed.

"Spending the week at her boyfriend's apartment. One of those things I guess." Rachel shrugged as she stuffed another article of clothing into her bag.

"How long are you going to be gone?"

Rachel shrugged and thought for a minute. "About a week is my guess. I won't know. It is Spring Break after all, so we have two weeks parole."

Just then the phone rang bringing laughter to Rachel's lips. It had to be her mother. She leaned over and picked the phone up.

"Cracker Factory, head crumb speaking."

"That was interesting. Never heard the phone answered in quite that manor."

"Oh really? You should hear some of the others I've heard in my lifetime."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Like what?"

"Oh, lets see. There's 'Happy Harry's Whore House, you pay we lay.', and there's 'Fire Pit, Satan speaking.', and my all time favorite 'Never-Never Land, Tinkerbelle speaking.'. There's dozens out there."

"Yeah, I think Mike uses a couple of those every once in a while."

"On the phone for less that five minutes and already you bring up another girl. Should I be worried?"

"Nah, you know me. The giant flirt of the group. I love 'em then I leave 'em."

"Yeah, that's sounds like you, all right."

"Hey now."

"Hey is for horses, better for cows. If you don't believe me, ask a cow."

"That was corny."

"No kidding, but it was the first thing that popped into my head."

"I'll forgive you just this once."

"You're so sweet."

"I know, don't let it get out."

"Wow, de ja vu in a big way."

"I know, huh?"

"So, how's Germany?"

"Beautiful but a bit lonely."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Next time you'll have to come with me."

"Did I just hear you right?"

"Yeah."

"I could have sworn you said you wanted me to go to Germany the next time you went."

"That's what I said, you're not hearing things."

"Heart failure."

"That's my routine."

"Well, I'm using it for a moment. Why do you want me to go to Germany with you?"

"I don't know. Why not?"

"Because I would die one of the most cruel and horrifying, not to mention painful, deaths by all of the teenyboppers in the world. After all, you're their Lancey-poo."

"Don't call me that, Drama Queen."

"Sorry. What's going on with you today?"

"Not a whole lot. Packing to go home and all."

"Really? And what kind of wardrobe are you bringing home with you?"

"The same thing I always wear, why?"

"Cause I don't know what to bring with me."

"Bring with you where?"

"To Orlando, you silly boy!"

"You're coming?"

"That's what I said."

"Very cool. Just bring jeans, t-shirts and a sweater or two. It gets kinda cool at night."

"Thank you. My dilemma is now over. You're a life saver."

"What flavor am I?"

"I don't know, grape?"

"I hate grape."

"Okay, orange."

"That would be Chris, not me."

"Cherry?"

"Not likely."

"Banana."

"I can deal with that, though I've never heard of a banana flavored Life Savor."

"It's in the tropical pack. They're really quite good. But my favorite will always ne cherry."

"My mistake."

"What?"

"Nothing. Long story. When are you getting to Orlando?"

"My flight leaves in the morning."

"I don't leave until the day after tomorrow."

"I know, that's why I'm leaving tomorrow. I kind of wanted to have a girls night out with Mike and the others."

"Oh, right. It would figure."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing, I'm just saying they're gonna fill your head with all the stupid things I've done in life."

"It can't be that bad. Everyone does stupid things."

"Don't bet on it. I know Mike and the girls. They'll have you laughing so hard over some of the things that I've done that you'll split your side."

"That's kinda gross."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Besides, Mike can't say anything to me that would change the light you stand in, do I wouldn't worry."

"That's what worries me."

"Always the smart ass."

"And don't you forget it."

"How could I? You remind me every time we talk."

"Oh, right. Anyway, I can't wait to see you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We're going to have some fun before you go back to classes."

"I hope so, cause I'm not taking this time off to do absolutely nothing and be bored."

"No kidding. Listen, I have to go. I'll see you in a couple of days."

"I'll be waiting with bells on."

"All right. Talk to you later."

"Yeah."

"Bye."

"Bye." Rachel sighed then hung up the phone. How two people could fall for each other from a few days in person and a hundred or so phone calls, she couldn't understand. Her heart constantly jumped into her throat whenever she thought of him or heard his voice on the other line. She shook her head with a rueful smile, and finished packing without really paying attention to what she was stuffing in the bag. Two days and Lance would be in Orlando with her. She couldn't wait.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rachel paced the airport baggage claim area, waiting for Lance, Joe, JC, Chris and Justin to make their appearance. She was nervous about seeing him again after the weeks that had passed. What if the mutual attraction changed when they saw each other again? She shook her head with a silent groan. This couldn't be happening, her mind was just coming up with all the possible outcomes of today, and was rejecting all the happy-ending ones.

"Rachel, calm down. You're pacing like a caged animal. Just relax, he'll be here soon enough." Mike called out from her seat on the window ledge with a smile.

"Nervous energy." Rachel shrugged with embarrassment.

"I'll say. Come on over here and sit. Pacing isn't going to calm you any." Mike replied, moving over to make room for another person. Rachel nodded as she walked over to her new friend and sat down.

"I just don't know if this whole meeting him at the airport thing was a good idea. Maybe I should have just waited at the hotel for him to call when he got home." Rachel sighed with a shake of her head.

"Believe me, he'll love that you're here. He missed you an awful lot after you two went your separate ways. He'll be happy to see you. Don't worry so much." Mike admonished softly, resting her hand on top of Rachel's. Rachel nodded, still unconvinced.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Lance, hey Lance. Wake up. We've landed." a familiar voice called him out of the purely exotic dream he had been having. He had been on a beach somewhere, near a waterfall, with Rachel and they had been talking while sitting in front of a fire. He sighed and reluctantly opened his eyes to find Chris leaning over him.

"Wake up Sleeping Beauty. It's time to exit the plane." Chris grinned using an authoritative tone of voice.

"I'm up. I'm up. Man, Chris. Morning breath. Get outta my face." Lance groaned loudly, making a face as he pushed Chris away.

"And your breath smells like Certs?" Chris laughed as he grabbed his laptop computer and his carry on bag from the overhead compartment.

"Speaking of Certs, I know I have some around here." Lance mumbled rummaging through his backpack. He found the item in question and pulled the pack out with a triumphant smile. He took one out for himself and popped it into his mouth.

"Cert?" Lance inquired, raising an eyebrow at Chris. Chris tossed a glare in his general direction and snatched one from the pack.

"Thanks." he mumbled. "By the way. It's your turn to wake the others."

"No, my turn was right before Justin's, who was right before you." Lance shook his head as he zipped up his backpack again.

"Then whose turn is it?" Chris made a face.

"Joe's." Lance answered simply.

"Fine. Then you wake Joe up and tell him that he has to wake the others. It's his turn." Chris smiled with a shrug.

"That makes no sense at all. I'll just get everyone up. Yeesh." Lance shook his head with a smile then walked off to wake the three remaining members from their dozes. JC and Justin were the heaviest sleepers so he tried to rouse them first.

"Justin, get up man. It's time to go. We're home." Lance called out loudly, trying to shake his friend awake. Justin grumbled and opened one eye to peer at him.

"Fine. I'm awake. Now leave me alone." Justin snapped, batting his hand away.

"I love you too, Sunshine." Lance grinned then moved on to his next victim, JC.

"JC. Earth to JC. Come in JC. We've landed and made contact, they're friendly." Lance cupped his mouth to amplify his words. JC jolted awake with a start and glared up at Lance, who just smiled down at him.

"What are you talking about? Made contact. Get outta here." JC laughed giving Lance a playful shove.

"Okay, I'm going." Lance sighed holding up his hands in front of him as he walked off to wake Joe. Joe was sleeping in a window seat. Lance shook his head.

"Hey Joe! That stewardess is giving you the eye!" Lance whispered loudly. Joe's eyes opened instantly and he groaned at the light.

"That was so far from funny, Lance." Joe mumbled with a shake of his head.

"Whatever, it was your turn to make sure everyone was up when the plane landed. My revenge so to speak." Lance shrugged then walked back to where he had stored his carryon luggage. After standing in a line that moved at a snail's pace, they finally made it out into the terminal. Lance rubbed his face tiredly as he followed the others down the long snaking corridor through the airport to the luggage claim area. He shifted the bag he was carrying on his shoulder and sighed as he glanced around for his luggage. He had brought too much stuff back with him from Germany for his friends and family.

"Don't look now, but I think you have a visitor." Justin whispered giving Lance a nudge. He sighed and closed his eyes, praying with all his sanity that it wasn't an overzealous fan. He could handle a quiet one right bout now, but if someone screamed in his face, he'd be liable to scream right back. Lance opened his eyes and turned to see a smiling Rachel.

"Aren't you Lance Bass from that group 'N Sync?" she squealed softly, jumping up and down for joy.

"That I am." Lance nodded with a soft laugh.

"Can I have your autograph? I just love you guys." Rachel replied in a breathy voice, a facetious smile spreading her lips.

"Sure thing sugar. What would you like me to sign?" he inquired, playing along with her little game.

"I don't know." she laughed with a shake of her head.

"All right then, would you settle for just a hug?" he raised an eyebrow. She nodded eagerly and held her arms out. He immediately pulled her into a bear hug.

"How are you?" Lance questioned softly in her ear.

"Trying to get used to the time difference, which you'll be doing for quite some time." she answered as they pulled away from each other.

"Yeah, jetlag is a bitch sometimes, but believe it or not, I'm used to it." Lance shrugged as a buzzer sounded loudly, signaling that the luggage would be put onto the conveyor belt soon.

"So, you gonna head to bed when you get home?" Rachel smiled, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

"Nah. I thought we might go do something. Maybe go out to eat, show you some of the town." Lance shrugged with a grin.

"We could do that." She nodded in agreement as suitcases started circling around the carousel. Lance gave her a sideways glance as he watched for his luggage.

"Man, you think with all the times we've traveled, we'd remember that our luggage is always the last off the plane." JC grumbled tiredly with a shake of his head as he stepped over to the pair.

"Hey JC. How was the flight?" Rachel smiled brightly at him.

"Long, but the movie was decent." JC nodded with a lopsided grin.

"How would you know? You slept through all but the first five minutes." Chris laughed, joining the trio.

"You would know Chris. Your eyes were drooping just about as badly as mine were." JC snorted clapping the older man on the back.

"But I have an excuse." Chris shot back with an indifferent shrug.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Lance laughed as he grabbed one of his two suitcases off the carousel.

"Age, my man. Age." Chris answered with a sly grin.

"I should have known." Lance shook his head, eye rolling heavenward. Rachel laughed softly with a shake of her head.

"You guys are too much. One of these days I'm gonna get you all to sit still for a couple of hours so I can sketch you." she ran her fingers through her hair tiredly.

"Good luck. Chris is the original poster boy for A.D.D." JC snorted giving Chris a playful shove.

"JC, there's a van leaving as soon as we do, be under it." Chris retorted with an innocent smile.

"I'll meet you there, how about that?" JC grinned with a shake of his head before turning to Rachel again. "Did you come out here all on your own?"

"No, Mike should be around here somewhere. She had to go powder her nose." Rachel shrugged glancing around.

"Great. Maybe she'll be back by this time next year." JC mumbled with a sigh.

"Only if you're lucky and you believe in the Easter bunny." Rachel gave him a sweet grin. He shook his head with amusement as he grabbed his last bag off the carousel. Lance folded his arms across his chest, his eyelids drooping with each passing minute.

"You should go sit down." Rachel whispered in his ear, startling him enough to open his eyes.

"Nah, it shouldn't be much longer now." he shook his head as Chris and JC headed for the door with their luggage.

"You know, that's exactly what that guy over there said. And he's been here for six hours." Rachel teased with a smile.

"Very funny." Lance grinned with a nod as he leaned back against the wall. Rachel shrugged her shoulders and looked around for something interesting to watch.

"Finally." Lance mumbled grabbing his bags off the carousel. "You ready?"

"I've been ready since the day I was born. Let's blow this joint." Rachel replied as the pair headed for the parking lot. A van was waiting for him near the pick up line. Joe and Chris were talking with Mike while JC signed an autograph for a fan. Justin had already climbed into the van and had promptly fallen asleep again.

"We were beginning to wonder if you had fallen in." Chris grinned at Lance who shoved his bags into the back of the van.

"I was beginning to think a crazed fan had stolen my bags." Lance countered with a shake of his head. Rachel giggled, a hand covering her mouth.

"And what are you laughing at?" Lance smiled at the girl, taking a menacing step forward.

"Lance, any intelligent person, or person that has had a lot of sleep, would see that she's laughing at you dear." Mike grinned reaching over to give the man a hug.

"Thanks Mike. What would we do without you?" Lance retorted with a hint of sarcasm.

"Have a peaceful and quiet existence?" Mike laughed as she leaned back against the van.

"Definitely. But it would be so boring." Joe nodded giving her a playful shove.

"Well, I'm glad you think so, Joe." Mike rolled her eyes as JC walked over to them.

"Ah, the prodigal son returns." Chris stated as he pulled out the hackysack he had stuffed into his jeans pocket. He tossed the hack into the air to start the game.

"What are we doing tonight?" Chris inquired as JC hit the hack three times then passed it on to Lance.

"I don't know. I thought we'd do our own thing tonight." Lance shrugged as Mike joined in the game.

"Okay, um, how do you play this?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Never played hack before?" Mike inquired as she hit the hack five times before passing it on to Joe.

"Never." Rachel agreed.

"Okay, it's simple really." Mike smiled over at the younger woman. "Stuff your hands into your pockets because if you touch the hack with your hands you get free whacks with the thing, and let me tell you, it hurts like a bitch. The object of the game is to get a full hack. A full hack is when everyone standing in the circle hits the hack at least once. You can use your knees, feet, shoulders, arms and head to keep the hack going. You can also do things like the breast stall, or any other kind of stall imaginable."

"Breast stall?" Rachel made a face.

"Breast stall coming at ya Mike!" Chris laughed, startling Mike. Out of reflex she leaned back and caught the hack on her chest.

"Oh. Breast stall." Rachel laughed joining the circle. After a while she began to get the hang of it, though they still hadn't gotten a full hack going yet.

"Have we decided what we're going to do tonight?" JC inquired making a face.

"I don't think so." Chris shook his head, concentrating on what he was doing.

"When you swim in the sea and an eel bites your knee, that's a Moray." Mike sang softly to herself and Rachel burst out laughing.

"You've read the Callhoun series also?" she inquired. Mike nodded with a grin.

"A New Zealander man with an all over tan, that's a Marui." Mike sang another line softly, much to the amusement of the others.

"I can't believe she's desecrating a wonderful Mob love song like that." Joe shook his head.

"When King Kong has gone flat rent the flick Vampire Bat, that's some more Wray." Rachel sang loudly, startling Lance who gave her the strangest look.

"My new ray gun it tries to put out both your eyes, that's a Moe ray." Mike laughed with a shake of her head.

"I can't remember any more of them." Rachel stated suddenly.

"That's okay. Neither can I." Mike replied with a shrug.

"Sit on my....and tell me that you love me." Rachel mumbled to herself. Mike stopped hacking and turned to Rachel with a shocked smile.

"You know Montey?" she demanded with laughter.

"But of course." Rachel nodded.

"Oh God, Crunchy Frog." Mike burst into hysterics. Rachel nodded, tears coming to her eyes.

"Crunchy Frog, don't you take the bones out of them first?" Rachel demanded in a really bad English accent.

"If we took the bones out of them they wouldn't be crunchy now, would they?" Mike retorted with an equally bad English accent.

"Spring Surprise." Rachel commented, holding her sides.

"Now where's the pleasure in that? Someone puts a nice chocy in their mouth they don't want to get their cheek pierced!" Mike laughed, leaning back against the van.

"Okay, I think they've lost it." Lance commented with a nod.

"You are the Messiah!" Rachel cried out.

"I'm not the Messiah!" Mike shook her head.

"You are the Messiah!"

"I'm not the Messiah!"

"Only the Messiah would say he's not the Messiah!"

"All right, I am the Messiah!"

"I told you, you were the Messiah!"

Lance shook his head with a look of shock. "What is going on?"

"You've never seen Montey Python?" Mike spun around to face Lance, who only shook his head, like most of the other members.

"There you go. That's what we're doing tonight. We're renting the Montey Python movies and you guys will be intensely thankful that we did." Rachel nodded as the driver of the van honked the horn. Chris and Joe piled into the van while Lance, Rachel, JC and Mike walked over to her car. Tonight was going to be an interesting night to say the least.

© 1997 hells_fiction@hotmail.com


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