Lance and JC walked through the woods, Lance tightly gripping JC's hand. JC looked at Lance and watched the emotions flicker across his boyfriend's face.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah," Lance said, swallowing. He looked around. "We're almost there. You can go back, if you want."
JC shook his head. "I told you I was coming and I'm not going to leave now. Besides, I don't want you to be alone now..."
Lance smiled. "Thanks Josh," he said softly, ducking under a branch and holding it up for JC to cross under. "That wasn't there before," he commented.
"It's been a while," JC reminded him.
"True," Lance conceded. "A long while." They walked in silence for a bit before Lance pushed aside some branches and revealed a large clearing.
"Here we are," he said.
"It's pretty," JC told him.
Lance nodded in agreement. "Yeah."
"You...lived here?"
Lance nodded again and swallowed. "Yeah."
"Where--"
"You wanna see the tree?"
"Do you?" JC countered.
Lance looked out over the clearing and he pulled JC along with him while he walked around. They stood in the middle and Lance's gaze swept across the grass and the hill. They walked towards the edge of it and Lance swallowed. There was a path, covered in fallen leaves. "It might not even be here," Lance said. Hopefully? JC couldn't tell. "Might be dead," he added.
"Okay," JC said, following Lance, because he didn't know what else he could say.
Lance nodded and finally stopped walking. There was a dead, fallen tree surrounded by big, healthy green ones. "It's dead," he announced, his voice a mixture of surprise and wonder.
"This is it?" JC asked. It was a big tree. The holes in it made him feel sick.
"Yeah," Lance said thickly, swallowing hard. He sat down on it and invited JC next to him.
JC sat down and could almost feel the symbolism of the tree. "You okay?" he asked softly.
Lance shrugged. "I died on this tree, Josh. You can't know how that feels."
"No, but I know that it's dead. I know that every tree around it is living but this one. And I know that it should have decayed some, but hasn't."
"It's dead," Lance repeated. "And so is the person tied to it." He kicked at some leaves on the ground.
"No," JC said, shaking his head vehemently. "No." He paused. "The old you may be dead, Lance. But you know what? The old you didn't have me. Your death, your past, is a part of you just like I am. Separate halves, remember? You're so strong, Lance, and I love you so much. This tree...it represents your past to you. Well, the tree is dead, Lance. And so is that part of your past. The part before there was us."
Lance smiled softly with a sigh. "You're right," he said, taking JC's offered hand and standing up. He kicked at the fallen tree with his toe. "You're right." He suddenly remembered something. "I wonder if it's still here."
"What?" JC asked.
"Wait." He rummaged around the brush near the base of the fallen tree. "Where is it-- There." He pushed away all the leaves. There was a small, round stone sticking slightly out of the ground. He pointed to it.
JC walked over. "JLB," he read. "Who-- who did that?"
"My sister, I think," Lance said thoughtfully. "Watch out." JC backed up as Lance started rolling the tree a little until four words were visible.
JC read them too. "Rest in peace, James." He looked at Lance, who collapsed heavily to the ground. "Lance, I--" He stopped when he heard Lance's soft sobs. "Oh, Lance..."
"I...Josh, I can't...I don't..."
JC dropped to the ground beside Lance and pulled him into his lap. "Shhh, you're okay, baby..."
"Josh, I don't--"
JC rubbed Lance's back in slow circles with his hand and wrapped the other tightly around the blond's body. "Hey," he said. "It's all right. I'm here."
Lance twisted in JC's arms and pressed his face into his boyfriend's chest. "I'm sorry, I just...don't...I had to see, had to..."
"It's okay," JC said softly. "I understand."
"How could you understand?" Lance cried, hitting a fist into JC's chest. "You don't.
You couldn't possibly...you don't know what I'm feeling right now. You couldn't-- You couldn't know, and--"
JC tensed a little, but knew Lance didn't really mean it. "I know," he said, his own tears slipping down his face. "But if I were you I'd do the same thing."
"I--" Lance began again, then stopped. "I'm sorry, Josh," he said. "I don't mean...I don't mean to..."
"I know," JC said softly. "I know."
"I just...I'm so glad you're here," Lance said, moving his head up and into JC's neck. "I'm so glad you came here with me."
*****
"Whaddya think they're doing right now?" Justin asked, tossing a piece of popcorn into his mouth.
Joey leaned back in his seat. "Well, considering the fact that they're both nocturnal, I'd say they're up in Lance's house. Watching a movie." He used air quotes for the last part.
"Right," Chris said. "Watching."
"I think we should surprise 'em with something," Justin said absently. "You two are gonna be here all night, thanks for inviting yourselves over, by the way, and I'm bored as hell, so we might as well like, plan a party."
"An 'us' party," Joey affirmed.
"Sure," Chris said. "I'll bring the music, and--"
"Oh, great," Justin groaned.
"Shut your trap, little boy," Chris said. "Joey can bring food, and Justin...well, you can...well it's your house, so you can clean up when everybody leaves."
"Really?! Could I?! Thanks so much!" Justin said, clapping his hands.
"You're welcome," Chris said generously. "Just remember me when you're writing your will. So. About this party."
*****
"I'm glad you had me come with you," JC said that night. "It means a lot."
"It means a lot that you wanted to come," Lance said quietly, staring at the TV screen but not really seeing it.
There was a silence before JC cleared his throat. "There's still...there's still so much we don't know about you, isn't there? You know? It's almost like...every day we learn something new about your past..."
Lance shifted a little and smiled. "A hundred years is a long time, Josh," he said. "I don't know if you'll ever know everything there is to know about me. Some things...there are some things you probably still don't want to know. That I don't want you to have to know. But, you know, that's okay, cause like you said...all that's the past."
JC smiled and leaned his head against Lance's chest. "And now it's just us."
"Just us," Lance echoed. "And the other guys when we get back."
Lance's chest rumbled when he spoke and JC felt a shiver go down his spine. "The three stooges."
"And," Lance said, his voice a little louder, "Nikolas, who is inevitably spying on us right about now, so on your way out, O Subtle One, it would be great if you could turn out the light. Thanks."
The light went out obediently and Lance laughed. "How'd you know he was here?" JC asked.
"Intuition," Lance said. "I could just tell."
JC laughed. "Talk some more," he said.
"About what?"
"I don't care," JC said. "Other angels. Heaven. Other people before Joey. Something you haven't told me, or something you have. I don't care. I just like hearing you talk." Lance laughed, a deep rumbling sound, and JC sighed. "And feeling it, too," he said.
Lance smiled and threaded his hand through JC's. "Well," he began, "There was this one guy, before Joey, who was exactly like Chris, only..."
*****
"Are they picking us up from the airport?"
"Nope," JC said. "They were supposed to, or at least one of them was, but I guess they said something about being recognized or whatever. Justin wants us to go over to his house and hang out there for a while, for whatever reason."
"The other two gonna be there?" Lance asked, sleepily laying his head on JC's shoulder.
JC smiled; glad they were in an otherwise empty first class. "I think so. Justin was pretty vague when I talked to him, which makes me worried about what they're planning."
"They're always planning something," Lance said. "If they weren't, they wouldn't be them."
