I spent the rest of the night watching Lance try to talk Justin into going to the hospital. Justin would have none of it. Kept telling us he didn't deserve to be happy and that he was a fake. He was very adamant that he was a fake and that the only part of his life was what he put into his body.

Lance tried to no avail to get him to eat something. Justin wasn't going to allow anyone to tell him what he should or shouldn't eat. After a couple of hours Justin had worn himself out and fell asleep.

Lance tried to work himself out from under Justin but I laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Stay there, baby. He needs you."

"I want to sleep with you though Josh. I don't wanna stay here."

"Lance, he needs us. I'm not going anywhere at the moment. I'm gonna lay right here, next to him and hope he feels like eating something when he wakes up. If not I'm gonna get Lonnie and drag his ass to the nearest hospital. This has gone on too long and I'm not gonna let my best friend die without a fight. I can't, I love him too much to let that happen."

"I understand Josh and I agree with you but how can we make him go to the hospital? He's an adult, we can't force him, he'll hate us if we do."

"At this point I don't care. I can't let him kill himself."

Justin rolled over just as I finished this statement and both of us stopped and just looked at him. We both had tears in our eyes as we silently agreed that no matter what we would see to it that Justin would get to the hospital in the morning.

An hour later that decision was taken out of our hands when Justin stopped breathing. I was lying behind Lance who was lying behind Justin when we both heard a strangled gasp and then nothing.

Lance noticed first, since his arm was over Justin. He sat up and yelled, "Get up Josh, call 911. He's not breathing."

I jumped out of the bed, grabbed the phone and was dialing before I could even stand up straight. My mind went numb, Lance had rolled Justin to his back and was busy trying to find a heartbeat.

I got the ambulance on it's way and then called Joey's room. Told him to get Chris and Lonnie and get his ass over here as quickly as possible. I didn't tell him what was happening, just to get to Justin's room as soon as possible. When I got off the phone with him I raced around the room trying to get stuff together and get some semblance of clothing on. After that I went to see how Lance was doing with Justin.

"How bad is it, Lance?"

"He's 'puff' got 'puff' a 'puff' heartbeat 'puff' but 'puff' not 'puff' breathing. 'puff'"

"Here, let me do that. You go get dressed, the ambulance is on the way and I know you're gonna want to go with him."

"Yes, 'puff'. I 'puff' do 'puff'. Ready, 'puff' one 'puff' two 'puff' three 'puff'." Lance moved quickly out of the way and I immediately moved in to take his place. There was a knock at the door, which I knew would be Joey, it was way too soon for the ambulance. Joey, Chris and Lonnie all walk into the room and panic immediately sets in.

"Jayce? What's going on? What's wrong with Justin?" Joey demands.

"Have you called the ambulance?" Lonnie asks.

Lance comes in from the bathroom, fully dressed, "Yes, we've called the ambulance, and Jayce is giving mouth to mouth right now because Justin isn't breathing. Anything else you want to know? Or are you gonna help out?"

"What you want us to do?" Chris asks, uncharacteristically calm.

Another knock on the door signaled the arrival of the ambulance and it's crew. Lance answered showing them in and giving them all the details while they came in. I didn't stop what I was doing until one of them put a hand on my shoulder and stated, "I've got it from here."

I watched helplessly while they did all the standard prep to move him to the ambulance and then on to the hospital. I was so afraid but I couldn't show it because Lance was clinging to me like there was no hope left whatsoever. Lance was crying so hard that he could barely stand. I was starting to think that maybe there was still a small part of Lance that hadn't given up on a relationship between him and Justin. As I watched them roll Justin's frail body out of the room, I felt a deep pain in my heart.

One of the men from the ambulance turned around and asked if any of us wanted to ride with him and Lance turned to me, tears streaming down his face, "Go," I said. "The guys and I will be there as soon as we can."

Joey walked up behind me and said, "Come on Jayce, time to go."

Lonnie had gotten a van and we all piled in. The ride to the hospital was incredibly silent. None of us said a word. I kept thinking about how bad Justin had looked, he looked like a skeleton with skin. I just kept thinking there was something I had missed. Some sign, some kind of signal. We finally arrived at the hospital, found someone to show us where Lance was waiting. Lance was sitting with his head in his hands crying. I went over, put a hand on his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek.

"He's still in there. They came out a few minutes ago and asked me a bunch of questions that I couldn't answer. You should have come with him. You know more about his situation."

"But you needed to be with him. You love him so much Lance, it's so obvious." I stated, a tear running down my cheek.

"Josh, I love him but there is no one on this earth that could ever replace you. You are my life. I couldn't live without you. Please don't…."

"Shh, Lance don't. I know you love me. I know you would never cheat on me or leave me, but I can also see the love you have for him. I can understand that love and I will never ever deny it."

"But…."

"Lance. He needs to know that we all love him. If your love is what he needs to get through this, then I'm not about to stand in the way of that. I love him way to much to let my pride get in the way of his health."

"Josh, I'll never love anyone as much as I love you."

"I know, but he needs our love so much right now Lance. He's killing himself because he doesn't think anyone truly loves him. He thinks we all love Justin Timberlake the popstar, not Justin, the scared little boy that we all knew and loved with our every fiber."

"When did you get smart on me? You're supposed to be the bumbling fool."

"Nah, that's just the act for the fans and press."

"Baby, I love you so much."

"I love you too Lance but we need to concentrate our love on Justin now for a while."

"You got it baby." Lance stated.

The doctor came down the hallway, "Do any of you know how long this young man has been in this condition?"

I took a deep breath and explained everything that I had witnessed. The doctor just sat there and took it all in. When I was done talking he got up and said, "He's gonna need all of you before this is all over." With that he left. Lance turned and looked at me, "Baby, you ok?"

"Yeah, just really worried."

"I know. So am I."

As we approached the room the doctor said, "Which one of you is Lance?"

"I am," He stated. "Why?"

"He's been asking for you. He wants to see you before any of the others."

Lance turned and gave me a weak smile. I smiled back and gave him a slight nod. "Go, he needs you."

"Give me ten minutes and then you guys come on in, ok?"

"Ok." Joey answered, "now go."

We waited the ten minutes and then Joey and Chris decided that I should go in first and make sure everything was going smoothly. I walked in to a terrifying site. Justin had tubes and all kinds of machines hooked up to him. Lance looked up to me and said, "I don't think he's up to a big crowd right now."

I nodded, turned around, and told Joey, Chris and Lonnie that perhaps it would be better if we waited a while. They all agreed when the doctor approached us and asked who we were. The doctor explained that Justin would be fine but they wanted to keep him in the hospital for a few days before they would let him go. There were some tests and things they wanted to do before they let him out, plus they had to get some nourishment in him.

Three days later we were still sitting in the waiting room waiting for the doctors to release Justin. Once again it had been pushed back and it was my duty to inform Lance that Justin wasn't leaving the hospital today. He had to stay for a couple more days at least.

The room was bright, and smelled like disinfectant. You know the smell every hospital has. I watched as the frail boy, not a man anymore, lay in the bed. The sheet's as white as the walls and the floor.

Lance was sitting at his side, holding his hand. If only we could have gotten to him sooner. At least we got to him, before he seriously did any damage. I mean, he's caused enough, but I wish I could have helped sooner, then now. Maybe now he wouldn't be here.

He looks so fragil, laying there, so thin. I saw it before, why couldn't Lance see it. I watched as my lover sat next to my best friend, holding his limp hand. I know Lance feels bad. You could see it in his crystal green orbs. You could see that he was going to do everything in his power to help the boy laying in the bed. I loved him for it. He was my rock and I know, I'm confident, that he will do everything to help.

I slowly made my way into the room and over to the bed, laying a comforting hand on Lance's shoulder. Causing him to look up with me, giving me a weak smile, before turning back to the bed.

"When he gets out, we aren't letting him out of our sights. We'll move him into our house and help him get better." His voice was laced with tears, his orbs, rimmed with red from crying so much.

"Lance." My voice was low and gentle.

"No. You were right. I should have listened. I should have pushed my insecurities aside, and opened my eyes. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

My heart broke when he turned his watery gaze up to me. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him close, as I ran a comforting hand through the back of his hair. "Everything's going to be ok Lance. We'll move him in with us. We'll help him through this."

I pulled away and wiped the tears from his angelic face, before placing a gentle kiss to his lips. "We'll get through this. As long as we stick together, we can help pull him back up."

He nodded before turning back to the bed, taking the limp hand back into his. I watched as he pressed his lips to the back of the hand, and just held it there. Tears still streaming down his face. He looked younger then his 22 years also. Knees pulled up to his chest, as he wears a sweatshirt that swallows him. Tears continue to stream down his rosy cheeks. His hair messy on top of his head, like he normally wears it, but this time not being styled to wear it that way, but from sitting exactly where he is for the last 72 hours.

I pulled a chair up next to his, and sat down, pulling one of his hands away from the bed, and lacing it with my own. Bringing it to my own lips. "He's going to be ok baby. The doctor's just want to get him hydrated and some nutrition into his system, then we can take him home."

"I know."

I squeezed his hand and turned back to the bed, to be met with a weak gaze of dull blue. I gave a weak smile. "Hey Justin."

He just blinked up at us. Which is understandable, since he had a tube running down his throat. "Lance and I were just talking about when you got out of here. We'd like you to move in with us for a little while. Would you like that?"

He blinked again, before giving a very very small nod.

"We're going to get through this Justy. Together."

Just as I stated this Joey, Chris and Lonnie entered.

"Hey, Just. How you feeling?" Chris quipped.

Joey smacked him in the back of the head, "Idiot. Like he's going to answer with that thing down his throat."

"Well, like I knew that was down there, geesh."

I looked from the two class clowns to Justin. There was a small smile on his face, which caused a slight warming in my heart. (If only we could keep that smile on his face.)