Part One

    Natalie Dawson shifted in her seat as she looked out of her airplane window. It was the morning after Christmas, and it had already been a hectic day. And it was only just beginning.
    Natalie was awaken by her 2 year-old neice at six 'o clock in the morning. She was bouncing on the bed yelling, "Wake up, Nat, wake up!"
    She loved the little thing to death, but she was not the most wonderful person to be around in the morning. Then again, the sound of her neice in the morning was a lot better then the alarm buzzing in her ear. So she gave up and crawled out of bed.
    She had almost missed her flight, because she practically fell back asleep in the shower. And she had to tear up the house searching for her plane ticket, which she finally found just as her neice was about to use it as coloring paper.
    When she finally boarded the plane, she was stuck next to an oversized man that obviously ate something bad at breakfast. Natlie swore under her breath as she shifted to the window. She was this close to using that barf bag and it had nothing to do with air sickness.
    When she saw Orlando into view, she nearly jumped up on the seat and started singing. This morning had been hell, and all she wanted to do was go to Orlando, kick some ass on this job interview, and make her seven 'o clock flight back to Little Rock. She bounced her leg and bit her fingernails as she the plan started decending. She was very nervous about this interview for Disney, she wanted it very badly.
    When the plane touched ground, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Come on, Nat, don't freak out. You're gonna knock 'em dead! With that, she exited the plane with her head held high. She had her purse clutched to her side and her folder which held her reseme tucked snuggly against.
    She hopped in a empty taxi and gave the driver directions, before she leaned back in her seat. She looked out the window and enjoyed the view. She imagined a life here, and what it would be like to live in Orlando for a few years. It was a hell of a lot different then Little Rock, she thought with a slight smile. She loved Arkansas, she always has and always will. She was born there and she grew up there. But she wanted something different for a change, she wanted something challenging and something exciting.
    Excitement started to build inside her and she smiled as she pulled out her discman in her purse. She put the headphones and smiled when NSYNC filled her ears. She pulled out the CD cover and stared at the glossy picture of the men dressed in black hanging on strings. She giggled like a teenager just thinking that she was in the same hometown as NSYNC. She was almost 23 and nothing made her more happy then listening to those men sing or watching them perform. They were amazing to her.
    She opened the cover and flipped through the pages, but stopped when she got to Joey. She always stopped and stared at Joey a tad longer than everyone else. It was the eyes that drew her in. They were the color of chocolate brown and they seemed to burn right through her when she looked at him. Even though it was a picture, she could still see the passion in his eyes.
    "Get a hold of yourself," she mumbled to herself and then closed the cover.
    "Did you say something?" the driver asked.
    "What?" she said as she lifted her headphones off her ear.
    "Did you say something," he repeated.
    "Oh, no I was just talking to myself, sorry," she said and then covered her ears again and closed her eyes.
    She turned her music up and she couldn't hear anything but NSYNC. She didn't even hear the driver yelling at her to hold on and her eye's flew open when the sound of scrapping metal filled her ears.

    She didn't know where she was. She could hear a small steady beep in the distance and someone's footsteps echoing on the floor. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't just yet. Her body felt heavy, as if millions of weights were pulling her down. Her head felt like it had been beaten with a sledge hammer and it now throbbing so hard that her teeth vibrated. She tried to lift her arm, but it wouldn't even budge. She tried to open her eyes one more time, and managed to peek one open.
    Her vision was blurry and she couldn't see anything but a figure. A tall figure, she thought. A man, who's back was to her. She blinked a few times, but the vision still wasn't clear. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth. She didn't hear anything come out of her mouth, but she must have said something because the man turned toward her.
    He ran to her side. "Can you hear me?" the male voice said.
    His voice sounded familiar, she thought as she managed to open her eyes again. She couldn't make out his face quit yet, but the smell of him was so alluring she almost sighed of pleasure.
    "You're gonna be okay," he said again as he ran his fingers over her cheek. They felt warm and comforting against her cold skin that she managed to turn her head into his warmth.
    She blinked a couple of more times and tried her best to concentrate on the man leaning down on her. Her eyebrows crinkled as she concentrated on his face and slowly began to realize that she knew this man. Those eyes were staring at her just a few minutes ago, those same brown eyes. But this time it was face to face. "J..Joey?"
    "I am so sorry," he said as the tears started to come. "I...I wasn't paying attention...I wasn't...no..no...don't go back under, please."
    "Joey," she whispered as she closed her eyes and slipped back under.
    Joey cursed softly as he bowed his head as he shut his eyes. If anything happened to her, he didn't know what he would do. He would never forgive himself for killing someone just by being careless.
    "Any sign?" the doctor asked as he walked in the door.
    Joey lifted his head. "Yeah, she woke up for a second."
    The doctor bent over her and lifted her eyelids as he examined them with a pen light. "That's a good sign," he said as he clicked off the light and stuck it in his pocket.
    "Do you think she'll be okay?" Joey asked hopefully.
    "She's a fighter," he said. "She hit her head pretty hard, but I think she'll pull through."
    He let out a shaky sigh of releif. "Is her family on the way?"
    He nodded. "Yes," he said as he examined her chart. "The whole gang is on their way. They're real close it seems like."
    He just nodded. He wasn't looking too foward to meeting them. 'Hi, I'm Joey, the one that put your daughter in a coma.' He covered his hands over his face and walked back to the window to look out. The accident kept going over and over in his mind. He was talking on his cell phone. He was talking to a girl he met the other night and was too busy flirting to pay attention to the damn road. He reached down to grab a CD from the floor of his car and when he looked up he was running a red light.
    He shut his eyes as the sound of the brakes screeching and the metal colliding echoed through his mind. He took a deep breath. "How's the cabdriver," he finally said to the doctor.
    "Fine," he said. "Just checked out actually, just a spranged wrist. He was lucky to have a seatbelt."
    "Was she not wearing her seatbelt," he asked.
    He shook his head. "The cab didn't have seatbelts in the back. The driver wants your info, the guy's gonna probably sue you or something, he's a jerk."
    "I don't care," he said. "I'll give him money if that's what he wants, I just want....what's her name?"
    "Uhh, Dawson," he said. "Natalie Dawson."
    "Joey?"
    Joey turned around to see JC opening the door. "Hey," he said. "You made it."
    "Are you okay," he said as he gave him a brotherly hug. "I got here as soon as I could."
    "I'm fine," he said.
    JC let out a shaky breath. He had never been so scared when Joey called him telling him to come to the hospital. "You gave me a scare, Joey," he said and then patted his back. "I'm just glad your okay."
    He just nodded and looked at the bed. "There she is."
    JC looked at the girl in the bed and her heart dropped. "She's so pale," he said as he walked to her.
    "You should have seen her earlier," he said as he sat in the chair next to her bed. "She was as white as the sheets."
    "What happened?"
    He rested his head against the back of his chair. "I was being careless," he said. "What else is new?"
    JC's heart went out to him. He felt responsible for this girl, and he didn't blame him. If he was Joey he would too. "Listen, Joey you look beat. Why don't I take you home and...."
    "I'm not leaving," he said.
    "Joey, you're not helping by...."
    "I'm not leaving her, C," he said as he looked at him. "Her family is on the way, and I need to face them."
    He nodded. "Then I'll stay with you."
    He shook his head. "No, you go back home with your family. Where you belong."
    "Joey, I...."
    "Go," he insisted. "We don't get to spend a lot of time with our families, so go home. I'll call you when I know. Make sure you run this by with the rest of the guys. I couldn't get a hold of them."
    "I will," he said. "At least let me go and get you something to eat."
    He sighed. "I'd appreciate that, JC, thanks."
    "I'll be back soon," he said and walked towards the door. He stopped at the door and turned. "She'll be okay, Joey. Don't worry."
    "I hope so," he said and then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She had to be okay.
    "You know what might help?" the doctor asked.
    Joey looked at him. "What?"
    "Talk to her," he said. "Let her hear your voice."
    He looked at Natalie. "She doesn't know me."
    "She knows your voice," he assured him and then walked over and pulled out the discman that was in a box with her possessions. "This was beside her when the ambulance found her."
    "So?" he asked as he took the discman.
    "Open it," he ordered.
    Joey opened the discman and his heart turned when he saw their CD inside. He looked backed at the doctor. "She...She was listening to this when it happened?"
    He nodded. "Yes, she was," he said and then walked to the door. "Think about it, Joey. It might help her."
    Joey watched the man step out, before his eyes shifted to natalie. Her hair was covered with a bandage, so he had no idea what color her hair was. And when her eyes had opened breifly, he noticed that her crystal blue eyes were the color of the sky. He hesitated at first, but then he reached and touched her cheek softly with his fingers. Her skin was soft, almost like touching a rose petal.
    He swallowed hard. "Um...Natalie?" She continued to breathe in and out. "I don't know if you can hear me but.....the doctor said it might help. I'm Joey but....I'm guessing you already knew that." He cleared his throat and shifted. "So I see your a fan," he said with a soft smile, but the smile didn't last long. "Ironic that a member of your favorite band puts you in a hospital." He cursed at that and then collapsed his head against the back of the chair. "I don't know what else to say, Natalie, other than I am sorry. It should be me in the hospital bed, not you."
    He leaned up in his chair and carefuly placed his hand in her limp one. "Please be okay, Natalie. Please." He then lifted her hand and kissed it before placing it back on the bed, but still didn't let her go.
    Since he couldn't think of anything else to say, he started humming softly to the cords of This I Promise You. He filled in with words when he got to the chorus and kept singing to her as he looked out the window. He stopped singing, when she felt her hand grip his.
    He turned toward her. "Natalie, can you hear me?" he asked softly. "Natalie, please open you're eyes.....there you go," he said when her eyelids fluttered open. "You're okay. You're going to be okay."
    "Joey?" she managed to say. Her voice seemed nonexistence and her head was still pounding.
    "Yes, it's me," he said with a smile.
    She thought she dreamed him. She thought that those brown eyes looking down at her was only a dream. Maybe she really was still dreaming? she thought. If that was the case she didn't want to wake up anytime soon.
    She licked her dry lips, before trying to speak again. "Where am I?" she asked with her voice hoarse.
    "You're at the hospital," Joey said softly. "Let me go get the doc....."
    "No," she mangaed to say when he was leaving her. "Don't leave me, I'm scared. Please don't...."
    "Okay, okay," he said as he stayed by her side. "I won't leave you."
    She closed her eyes for a second and then opened them back up. "Am I dreaming or are you really Joey Fatone," she said with the corner of her mouth tilted up.
    He smiled. She was already getting better, he thought. "The one and only," he teased.
    "So let me guess," she said so softly Joey had to lean in to hear her. "My sister heard about my accident and somehow managed to get a hold of you, because she knows how much I love you, am I right?"
    He gave her a sad smile. "I wish that was the case, Natalie," he said as he grabbed her limp hand and clutched it in his. "But the reason I'm here is because I'm responsible for putting you here."
    Her eyes widened for the first time she woke up. "You're....You're the one that hit us?"
    He nodded as tears started to simmer in his eyes. "I am," he finally said. "I'm so sorry, Natalie. I wasn't paying attention and I......"
    "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
    He stopped talking and stared down at her in shock. "What?"
    "Did you get hurt?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
    He couldn't believe she was asking him this, he thought as he stood up suddenly and started to stalk the room. SHE was asking HIM if he was okay, when SHE was the one that had been unconcious in a hospital bed.
    "Joey, what's the....."
    "I wish I wasn't okay," he said all of the sudden. "Why are you asking me this? I should be in that bed, not you."
    She shook her head. "NO one should be in this bed."
    "That's right," he said as he went back to her. "None of this would have happened if I wasn't so careless."
    "It was an accident," she said quietly as she felt her eyelids getting heavy. "You didn't.....mean to hurt....anyone."
    "Natalie, I...."
    "I'm tired," she managed to say as her lids closed over her blue eyes.
    He sighed. "Go back to sleep," he said as he sat next to her bed. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Part Two