AN: Hay ya'll! Sorry for the wait... This chapter had problems being written but I got through it. LOL Thanks SO much to everyone who left feedback. It all means the world to me. Thanks bunches! ;) PS: Does ANYONE know an address for either the Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC fan mail? Just plain normal snail mail? You think it would be all over the place but I can't freaking find one. I mean I can find out what underwear the guys wear but I can't find an address to write them. Go figure. Standard disclaimers apply. =) *********************** Crossing Enemy Lines: Chapter Eight ********************** PDM or Pre Destruction Meetings was a term created by Chris which was surprising in itself since it almost made sense. A PDM was called every time *NSYNC faced a major group decision or problem. The thing most precious about the group to the guys wasn't the music, fans, or money, but the bond they had all formed with each other over the years. They were willing and ready to do almost anything to protect that relationship. Pre Destruction Meetings were the fail safe, the safety net, that was supposed to make everything better and so that the five extraordinary men could work and live together without throttling each other. They had only been called a handful of times over the long years... Before accepting Lance into the group, during the legal battle with Lou the Fat and Greedy Bastard, in reaction to AJ's entrance into drug rehab and how it affected the music scene, when Kelly became pregnant with Joey's child, and most recently, a joint one that dealt with the issues that accompanied Lance blasting off into space and Justin making a solo album. And now she was calling one. Had called one. Because even though she wasn't a part of the band *NSYNC, Laina Marie Ayala and her brother were a part of the *NSYNC family. She couldn't leave things the way they were. Laina answered the doorbell nervously and smiled at a relieved looking JC. "Hay sweetie," he murmured as she rushed forward and hugged him tightly. "So you were hiding at Lance's the whole time huh?" She nodded mutely and released him half shyly. JC smiled and touched her chin with soft fingertips, making her look up into his blue, honest eyes. "This is a good idea Laina. We need to work things out before they get anymore out of hand." She nodded again because she seemed to have lost all coherent ability to speak before motioning him inside. Joey was second and a little more vocal in his joy at their reunion. He whooped as she cracked the door open before rushing in, picking her up, and swinging her around in his arms, a charming grin splitting his face in two. "I MISSED you baby girl!" Laina managed a nervous laugh as he set her down with a thump. "I had no idea you had a house key to Lance's house. What's up with that? Huh?" He nudged her with a wink and she snorted. "Pervert." The grin grew as he replied impishly. "Always! Woah, JC got here first. What's up with that?" JC scowled at Joey from his seat on the couch where he was scrawling in his ever present journal. He made a rude suggestive gesture and Joey laughed before joining him. That left three. Chris came next. They stared at each other when Laina opened the door and she hated the awkwardness between them. Hated that her beautiful, beautiful Chris was avoiding looking her fully in the face, as if afraid. "Come on in," Laina said softly. He nodded and ducked in the foyer. She wanted desperately to say something, anything, to mend the rift, the awful distance between them, but she again lost ability to speak as Justin's car pulled to a stop in the front and he, along with Trace, climbed out. "Hay," her brother said as he stood before her on the front steps. "Hay," Laina replied weakly. She glanced at Justin. It was funny, you couldn't see the hand print anymore but in her mind it was still there, livid, angry, accusing and bitter. He met her startled gaze for a moment and she looked quickly away. "Let's get started..." They took it as an invitation to enter and brushed past her without another word. Oh yeah, this was gonna be fun. ************************************************************************************ They sat together in the living room, all staring soberly at each other, before Chris broke the awkward silence with a yelled 'group hug!'. Everyone laughed quietly, relieved, as they all got up and dive bombed their founder and group clown before making a pile of failing limbs and amused faces. When everyone settled back down it was with a much more relaxed atmosphere. "Thanks Chris," Laina said with a small smile for him. "We needed that, all of us." She sat straighter in her chair and clasped her slender hands together, staring at them for a long moment before looking up and speaking again. "I called everyone here today for a PDM because things have gotten out of control. There's been so much going on and I know all of you except for maybe Joey don't know more than half the story... So I'm gonna start and we're not leaving this damn house until everything is okay with us, right?" Five grave men nodded and Lain let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. "All right then... First things first, I've become friends with the Backstreet Boys over the last couple of months. I met them basically through chance and rotten luck," JC chuckled and she shot him a dirty look, "and I didn't intend on it. BUT, they're all really good guys over all and I've gotten to be close to them. You guys are like brothers, and well, Trace is, but they're my friends. Period, end of story. I don't care what kind of protective crap you want to pull or what kind of rivalry the boy bands really have going I'm not going to be a part of it. I am a friend of Backstreet and *NSYNC and nothing and no one, not even you guys will change it. "Now, I agree it might have been a bad idea not to tell you guys but its over and done with. And for the record I am not screwing AJ McLean. His fiancee is much prettier than I am for one, but the more important point is that you all should know me well enough to know I would NEVER mess with a taken man. "I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to Justin." Laina puased, almost timid, and looked directly into Justin's surprised eyes. "I'm sorry Curly," she said softly. "You were out of line and acting like an asshole but I had NO right to lay a hand on you in anger and I apologize deeply for that." She swallowed as she stared into his hard unreadable gaze and nearly wept with relief when his gaze softened and he nodded. "Apology accepted..." Laina risked cracking a tired grin. "Okay, next item of business... Me and Chris had a small make out session a while back. Nothing serious happened and dweeb head ran out on me before we could talk or do, ahem, other stuff." Chris was a lovely shade of red at this point, Joey was shaking his head, and JC, Justin and Trace were, well, staring at her with disbelieving eyes. Laina bit her lower lip. "Umm... I know I promised to be good but it just happened and its not going to happen ever again... nope, nope." Chris looked up miserably. "I second that. No more make out sessions. Scout's honor..." "You were never a Boy Scout," a strangely calm Trace pointed out. Calm but with a frighteningly angry stare that made the older man's blood run cold. Laina rolled her eyes. "Down Trace. We've come clean and we aren't going to do anything any more. No killing Chris." "And you expect us to believe that?" JC demanded. "You've wanted Chris for years!" Laina blushed scarlet as Chris's head shot up. "Excuse me?" he stammered. Everyone ignored him in favor of her. "Well um, I kinda met someone so yeah... No more Chris fixation." "Thanks God!" JC hit Joey and Justin and Trace's glares narrowed. "WHO?" Justin asked in the same calm Trace voice that portended doom. Shit. Laina counted to ten slowly in her head before meeting the impatient stares of her almost brothers and well, real brother. "Okay," she expelled with a sigh, "I'll tell but first off I'm gonna say something to all of you. I've lived my entire freaking life by what you guys want. First Trace, then Justin, and now the rest of you. It was okay when I was a kid and I love knowing that you all love me enough to care that much but some of this has got to stop. "I'm an adult in every sense of the word and while I respect the fact that you guys want to watch out for me I won't let you run my life or choose my friends or scare off potential boyfriends. You're all great role models and I'd like to think that I've picked up some wonderful life lessons from you all. "But even if I do make some mistakes they're mine to make. So I'm going to tell you who I'm dating instead of hiding it from you like I hid being friends with Backstreet because I'm going to trust that you're all mature enough or at least mature enough to pretend not to meddle." She stopped her lecture and took a deep breath before screwing her hazel eyes shut. This wasn't going to be pretty. "Howie Dorough." Five jaws hit the floor before the next yelling match ensued. *************************************************************************************** He sat next to her on the porch and they were quiet for a long moment, their feet swinging in companionable silence as they looked into the deepening darkness. Trace was inside, speaking with Chris, and Joey and JC had gone home about an hour ago. "So," Justin finally said, "what would you say if I told you I was falling in love with you?" Laina raised her sable brows and stared seriously up at one of her closest friends, blue meeting somber blue. Her mouth curled into a tight smile, the first true one she had managed since she had opened Lance's front door to admit JC hours earlier. "That you have about three seconds to run before I beat your ass down. Idiot." He laughed weakly and nodded, looking up into at the moon and blinking away suspicious tears. She didn't say anything though and gave him time to collect himself, her own gaze back to her toes. They were very interesting toes. Blue nail polish and all. He finally cleared his throat and continued, voice softer. "So, you like really like Howie?" Laina's eyes darted to his profile for a moment before she answered simply. "Yes, very much." "And he treats you right?" She nodded solemnly. "Like a princess." "Good," Justin said fiercely, "you deserve it." They sat together as another silence descended. He sighed. "Are, are we okay baby girl?" One of Laina's hands snaked out and grabbed Justin's before he could react and pull them away. "We're always okay Justin. You're my JuJu, my big brother, and nothing, no one, will EVER change that, all right?" He stared at her and she could see the tears right there, below the surface of his sapphire eyes. He freed a hand that reached up and cupped one cheek. She leaned into the touch and the promise of friendship and warmth behind the gesture. And suddenly she was wrapped tightly in his arms, his head buried against her neck and in her hair as if she would vanish. As if she could. "Even if I act like an ass?" Justin asked, voice still troubled. Laina burrowed deeper into the safety of his arms and kissed one stubbly cheek platonically. "We're always gonna be okay Justin, even if it involves a fist fight first, we'll always be okay." "Good," he whispered, "cause I can't live without you Laina Marie." She sighed. "You'll never have to Curly. You'll never have to. Even if I do get frictional with Howie..." "Oh yuck, yuck, yuck!" The sigh turned into a devilish smirk. Sometimes Justin was just too easy to mess with... and best of all she was okay or working on getting to an okay place with Trace and Justin and JC and Joey and Chris and Lance, well she still had to call Lance back and keep him from killing Chris. But she could do that tomorrow.