WildHearts19

Lance rolled his wheelchair, which Josh had literally *forced* him to use, up to a clearing in the stands. Breathing heavily when he finally reached his spot, Lance sat up and silently cursed his overprotective fiancee.

'Josh!' whined Lance. 'I can walk, did you not see me? Are you blind all of a sudden? I don't need this stupid wheelchair anymore!'

'Lance, stop being so stubborn,' chuckled Josh, earning a glare from Lance. 'I don't want you straining yourself and overworking your muscles too much. It's not good for them.'

Lance sighed, slumping in his seat. There was still an hour until the show was supposed to begin, but all ready people were starting to file in. Looking around for Josh or Joey to keep him entertained, Lance rolled his eyes when he saw Bobbie off to his left, posing for pictures from a local newspaper crew.

"Bobbie! Bobbie!" one man yelled. "Turn this way please."

Bobbie grinned and did as she was told.

"How about a picture with you on the horse?"

Bobbie scowled, but hid it quickly.

"No, no," she said, "that's okay." Pushing Toby out of her way, she batted her eyelashes at the camera. "Just take pictures from this angle. It's my good side."

Lance rolled his eyes. "How can you tell?" he mumbled.

Seeing Lance sitting off to the side, a large man with a camera sighed and waddled up to him.

"Son? Hey sonny!" he said. "Would you mind moving? You're in the shot."

Lance bit back a rude remark, knowing that it was just the pain pills that were making him agitated. He sighed and nodded, slowly rolling over to the far side of the bleachers and waiting patiently for the show to begin.

~*~
Josh adjusted his jacket, looking around the crowded arena for Lance. Seeing him by the edge, he grinned and jogged over there.

"Hey," he said, squatting down beside the younger man, "how are ya?"

Lance rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Pretty much the same as I was five minutes ago Josh," he laughed. Smiling, he ran a finger down Josh's face, tracing the curve of his cheek.

Josh grabbed his hand, kissing the tip of his finger and setting the hand back down in Lance's lap.

"I guess I have to go introduce the show now," he said with a heavy sigh. "Duty calls, love. Are you going to be okay?"

'I hope so,' thought Lance. He smiled, and said out loud, "I'll be fine Josh. No need to worry."

Josh smiled and kissed his cheek quickly before scampering off. Lance watched him go with a smile. Taking a deep breath, he watched Josh step up onto the platform and introduce Britney.

MEANWHILE...

Bobbie sat in front of the mirror in her dressing room, fixing her cowboy hat perfectly on top of her hair.

'There,' she thought, 'perfect!'

Blowing a kiss and then winking at her reflection, Bobbie giggled and got up, exiting her trailer and heading for the arena. When she was only a few feet out the door, she saw Joey running up to her.

"Bobbie!" he said cheerfully, grabbing onto her arm, "I'm so glad I caught you just now! I need to speak with you quickly."

"But Joey I-"

"Great! Just this way..."

Leading her back up the steps of her trailer, Joey gave Bobbie a quick little shove through the door, shutting it and snapping the padlock on the door behind her. She banged on the door loudly, causing the entire trailer to rock slightly.

"Joey! JOEY!" she screeched. "Let me out of here this instant! JOEY!"

Joey chuckled, tucking the key safely away in his pocket and heading for the arena.

"I'm sorry Bobbie," he sang cheerfully, "no one is here to take your call. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you ... not."

~*~
Lance watched as Britney gave her final bows to the audience. Taking a shaky breath, he stood up slowly, taking off the coat he had been wearing and revealing a plaid shirt underneath. He grabbed his boots Joey had brought him earlier, and slipped them on. Grabbing his cowboy hat, Lance jogged down the steps, careful to make sure Josh didn't see him, and headed for the gate.

Stepping onto the platform with a smile, Josh grabbed the microphone and grinned.

"And that there was Miss Britney and Princess! Give 'em a big hand folks!" He chuckled when Britney blushed, and then continued. "And now we have our feature attraction, the only female bronco rider this side of the Mississippi, Miss Bobbie riding..."

A loud whiny caught his attention, and Josh glanced over at the gate in time to catch Lance climbing up the fence.

"Oh God," he said, not caring that the mic was still on, "Lance!" he yelled. "Lance, get off the horse!"

Lance ignored him, climbing up the gate and starting to get on Toby's back. His foot slipped on one of the bars, and he stumbled forward onto the horse, earning a collective gasp and loud whispers coming from the audience. Wade, who had rushed up behind Josh, was red in the face.

"What the fuck is he doing?" he hissed. "These people did not come all this way to see some crippled kid kill himself!"

Josh dropped the mic, and started sprinting. By then, Lance was all ready sitting up on Toby and gripping his legs tightly. He took a deep breath, and nodded at Joey. Seeing Lance's move, Joey opened the gate, blowing the whistle with his other hand. Josh fell to his knees in front of the gate, watching with pure shock and terror as Toby bolted out of the gate with Lance on his back. He gripped the nearest bar tightly, praying to every God he could think of for Lance to be okay.

Lance gripped his legs around Toby's waist with every ounce of strength he had, and he found that thinking of Josh helped ease the pain quite a bit. His eyes were open, but his mind was far away. It was back on the farm with his mother, watching as she yelled at him for cutting his hair. He watched himself walk to school, watched him get made fun of by Justin Timberlake, and watched himself break the fence while riding Toby. He saw himself get suspended, and saw his mother give his horse away. He saw himself run away, meet Joey and spit on his finger. He saw himself meet Chris and Josh for the first time, and watched himself fall in love. He saw it all, all over again, while hundreds of people watched him ride.

Joey grabbed Josh's arm, looking down at his watch.

"Oh shit," he whispered. "Josh, I think he's going to beat the record..."

Josh held his breath, still just praying for Lance's safety. In the distance, he could hear Joey's voice.

"Five ... four ... three ... two ... one! He did it! HE DID IT!" screamed Joey, jumping up and down in place. "Lance broke the bronco riding record!"

Lance felt his grip slipping around Toby, felt himself growing tired, so he let go, allowing his body to slide off and easily land on his feet. He stumbled backwards slightly, but sprinted for the side of the ring. Only then did he realize that the entire audience was on their feet, clapping. Immediately he was in Josh's arms, and he coughed, trying to squirm his way out.

"Josh stop!" laughed Joey. "You're going to choke the kid."

Josh released him with a quick "Oh shit," tipping his chin up and checking for bloodshot eyes. Lance rolled his eyes and slapped his hands away. When they were no longer touching, Lance grinned, jumping onto Josh and wrapping his legs around his waist. Josh laughed, hugging Lance's waist with his arms and resting his hands on the younger man's tailbone. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear people clapping and cheering, Wade gushing excitedly, and Britney squealing, but at the moment all he was focused on was the tired, albeit very happy voice in his left ear.

"I did it Josh," whispered Lance, "I really did it."

Josh hugged him tighter, burying his face in the crook of Lance's neck and kissing the warm skin there.

"You sure as hell did," he whispered softly. "I am so proud of you Lance. *So* proud."

Lance squeezed his legs tighter around JC's waist, saying so much more in that one gesture than words ever could.