Epilogue

    "I can't believe this show is still around," Maggie said as she sat down on the couch.
    "How long has TRL been on the air?" James asked as he turned on the TV.
    "Since the early nineties," she said and then held up her arms. "Now give me my baby."
    James smiled as he carefully put her three month old daughter Georgia Riley into her great grandmother's arms. "Here's the bottle," he said as he handed it to her and then placed the towel over her shoulder. "I already checked to see if it was hot."
    "Okay," she said and then stuck the nipple into the greedy baby's mouth.
    "Oh it's back on," James said as he turned up the volume and they both paid attention to the TV.
    "Hi, welcome back to TRL, I'm you're host Michael Daly," the young man with black hair said as he saluted the TV.
    Maggie shook her head in disbelief. "That's Carson's grandson."
    "Who?"
    "Carson," she repeated. "The original TRL host. His son took over and now Michael took over a few years ago."
    "Ohh, cool," he said. "Sorry I never watched this show."
    "Oh, I did, I was obsessed with this show."
    "Today we have a special guest," Michael continued. "She's new in the music industry and her new single 'Early Years' has already been a huge success. And not only does she sing incredible, but she writes her own music. Please give a warm welcome to Bailey."
    The studio cheered as Bailey came out of the trap door and made her way through the smoke. She shook hands with the audience and smiled in the camera, before turning to walk to the window to wave at the fans outside. She hugged Michael and then the host tried to settle the crowd. "Okay, okay...settle people," he said and Bailey laughed. "How's it going?"
    "It's going good," she smiled. "It's weird to be on here, I grew up watching this show."
    "Well, that's good to hear. So when's the album coming out? 'Early Years' is great by the way. Very pretty ballad."
    "Aww, thanks. Well, the album is due sometime in July, I don't know the exact date yet."
    "Well, we'll be looking forward to that then," he said. "Now I'm gonna shift gears here for a second here. You're grandfather kind of pushed you into the business, right?"
    Bailey smiled. "Yep, my Papa C."
    “And tell the everyone who you're grandfather is."
    "His name is JC Chasez," she beamed. "And he stood in this spot many of times way back in the day."
    "He SURE did," Michael said and then turned his attention to the camera. "Now for those of you who don't know, JC Chasez was part of a HUGE group called NSYNC. I mean I remember my grandfather telling me about them, and they were incredible."
    "They were like the Kryptonics of today," Bailey put in and all the girls in the studio screamed.
    "Exactly," Michael laughed. "And we have him here today, so please put your hands together for JC Chasez."
    Bailey cheered as she watched her grandfather come through the smoke and playfully swiped it away. He smiled down at Bailey and hugged her, before shaking hands with Michael. "It's been like 40 years since I've been on this show and you guys still like to blind us with the smoke," he teased as he looked into the camera. "What's up with that?"
    Everyone in the audience laughed and Michael pulled him to the window, since it was a tradition to do. "See, back in the day the fans would have gone nuts, now they are going, who's the old guy?"
    Again the studio laughed. "No wait, Papa C, there's a lady with a sign that says. 'I love you JC."
    "What? Where?" he asked as he searched and then laughed when he saw two women who looked close to his age holding up a sign. "Oh, we have to invite them up."
    "Go ahead," he said and then pointed to them and told them to come up.
    The old women lifted their little arms in excitement as the security led them up. JC chuckled as they walked back over to the camera. "Now, JC... I got another surprise for you," Michael said.
    "Uh-oh, am I gonna like it?"
    "I don't know, but he was determined to come on the show to reunite with you," he said and then looked in the camera. "Guys, please welcome...the king...the ORIGINAL TRL host... MY grandfather... Mr. Carson Daly."
    The studio cheered as Carson slowly made his way through the isle. He stopped and pointed at JC with a grin and JC laughed and pointed at him as he met him halfway and gave him a hug. Carson introduced Bailey and gave her a kiss on the cheek and then hugged his grandson. "Okay," he finally said when the crowd was quiet. "Let me tell you about this guy over here and the group he was in. They were insane." JC clapped his hands and let out a laugh. "I've never met a group of guys that were as crazy as the NSYNC guys. The girls went NUTS over them. They broke millions of records. The last album they every put out had sold 3.4 million copies in its first week and 40 years later they still hold the record."
    The studio cheered and JC just smiled proudly. "Hopefully we can keep it that way," he said with a wink.
    "Wait... our JC fans are up... ladies come on up," he said.
    The two older women came up and hugged JC and then hugged Carson. "I can't stop shaking," the women with thick glasses said. "I LOVED him," she said into the mic. "I had millions of pictures of him on my wall."
    JC just laughed as he pulled the women to his side.
    "ONE more thing before we take a break," Michael said. "We dug up every video you guys ever did and you get to decide which video you want for us to play. And after we play it, we are re-releasing it in honor of you and the fans will be able to vote for it for three weeks."
    "Oh how cool," JC said in shock. "Wow... umm... I dunno which one should I pick ladies?"
    "Pop!" one of the ladies exclaimed cheerfully.
    JC chuckled. "Pop it is then," he said with a wink.
    "Okay," Michael said. "Here it is... playing for the first time in years, here's NSYNC's Pop!"
    They played the video and after it was done the audience cheered. "There it is... Pop... wasn't JC a hunk back then."
    "Aww jeez," JC said as he felt himself turn red.
    Michael laughed. "We gotta take a break, but we'll be back with the #1 video in the country. Thank you JC, Bailey and Carson for dropping by and here's a peek of what's on our show next week."
    As soon as they were off air, Michael shook their hands and walked off to one of the producers. JC hugged Bailey as they walked out. "You ready to go home?"
    She sighed. "As ever...I'm ready to see my family."
    He kissed the top of her head. "Me too."

    JC squinted his eyes as he tried to make out anything through the bright light. He didn't know what was going on, but he kept moving his legs. His footsteps echoed as if he was in a tunnel and then realized he really was in one. It was a circular tunnel and as he walked further into he saw shadow figures towards the end of the tunnel.
    He smiled. "It's them," he whispered as he quickened his pace which led into a trot. The figures started to get bigger and so that made him start to run.
    One of the shadows started to come closer and JC smiled when he recognized Chris' goofy grin. "C MAN!" he exclaimed and wrapped him his arms around him and playfully spun him in a circle.
    JC laughed as he finally put him down and the shadows surrounded him as their faces appeared. "See, told you we'd be here waiting for you," Lance said as he gave his friend a hug. The guys were hugging him ruffling his head, but they slowly moved out of the way when Riley walked through. JC's breath caught at the sight of her, she looked like she was 22 again and she had a smile on her face. "We've been waiting for you," she said as she walked up to him.
    JC grinned and then flung wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her slightly against him as he held his wife in his arms. "I've missed you so much."
    "I've missed you, too," she said as he set her back down.
    JC wanted to cry with happiness but no tears would form. Riley smiled knowing he was confused. "There's no tears in heaven, JC," she explained. "You will never experience anymore pain or any more heartache. You're here with the people you love... forever."
    He smiled at her and then at everyone else. "So what do I have to do to look young again, since I still look like on old fart."
    Everyone laughed and Riley smiled up at him. "Easy baby, just close your eyes," she said softly and he did. "Now think of the time in your life where you were most happy."
    JC thought of the times he spent on the road with the guys, the laughter they shared, the music they made. He thought of the times he spent in the studio making music, the times he's spent with Riley when they first got together. He felt a slight tingle and felt a breeze brush his skin. "Open your eyes," he heard Riley said.
    JC did and looked to see everyone grinning at him. He looked down to see that he was young again. He felt a sense of peace. "It's great to be a part of the gang again," he finally said.
    Joey came up to him. "You'll love it here," he said as put an arm around him.
    "Dude, the food here taste like heaven... no pun intended," he said which caused JC to laugh. "You can eat and eat all you want and you never get full."
    JC chuckled as they all made their way into the light. "But Joey, you still got the belly?"
    He shrugged. "Hey, I was instructed to think of the happy times in my life and this is what I got."
    The gang laughed at Joey's antics and one by one they disappeared through the light. JC paused at the edge and looked back at the tunnel. Riley noticed this and turned to him. "What's wrong?"
    He sighed. "I feel bad for leaving them... for leaving Maggie."
    Riley smiled sadly up at him and turned her towards him. "I know. I felt the same way, but her time will come and until then James and Bailey will take care of her." She leaned up and kissed him softly. It felt like a whisper. "When it is her time... we'll be here waiting for her."
    JC looked back down at the tunnel one more time and said a silent goodbye to Maggie, James, Bailey, and his great granddaughter.
    "Come on," she said as she gave his hand a tug. "Someone wants to meet you."
    JC looked at her. "Who?"
    Riley smiled as he led him through the light. "Your daughter... Georgia Ann," she said and then the light closed behind them and the tunnel was gone.

The End