Chapter 68

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Chapter 68

Nikolas tried to grab onto Lance but Lance shook him off. He ran towards JC. JC turned around and saw him coming, and his eyes lit up. "Lance?" Before Lance could say a thing, he was enveloped in a huge hug.

"Josh," Lance said, his voice trembling with emotion. "What are you doing here? How did you--"

"Where are we?" JC asked. "Why are you in whi...Oh," he said, seeing Lance's wings. "You're dead...so what am I doing here? I'm not...I'm not DEAD, am I?" He looked around, looking like a dear caught in headlights. "I..." "Josh, how did you get here? What happened?" Lance asked, grabbing JC's hand.

JC wordlessly let himself be led along, glad he at least found Lance here...wherever they were. "Are we in Heaven?" he whispered.

"Yeah," Lance said softly. "How did you get here?" he asked again.

"I don't know," JC said, still looking around and blinking owlishly. "I just fell asleep and then..." he blinked. "I felt someone...you...and then I woke up here. Am I crazy? Am I..."

"You're not crazy, Josh," Lance said.

Suddenly JC's eyes widened. "I forgot about you," he said. "I told you I wouldn't and I forgot about you...I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, Lance, I love you so much, I couldn't--" he stopped when tears ran down his face and he impatiently rubbed them away. "I missed you...I missed you so much."

Lance stopped and hugged his crying boyfriend, savoring the feeling of having him in his arms once again. "Shh," he said. "You didn't have any control over that, you can't go against God," he said, smiling. "But you weren't supposed to remember, don't you see? You were supposed to forget about me and not remember until you died--" he stopped and put a finger against JC's lips. "You remembered before you got here, so you didn't remember because you died. If that made any sense at all. Not that I'm so sure you're dead...Nikolas!" he said, finally having gotten back. He started to let go of JC's hand, but JC had it in a death grip and looked at him with such wide, frightened eyes that he couldn't let go. Instead, he just shifted his hand a little and interlocked his fingers with JC's.

"James," Nikolas began, looking at their interlocked hands. "You still have to...well..."

"Have to what? Nikolas, why is he here?" Lance asked. "What is he doing here?" He looked up at JC, who at the moment looked a lot younger than his twenty-two years. "Not that I mind it, but, Nikolas, he's not dead, what is he DOING here?"

"I, uh..." Nikolas looked around. "You have to go now."

"I WHAT? Huh?" Lance asked.

"Don't you remember who wanted to talk to you?" Nikolas asked with a smile.

Lance frowned. "Oh yeah. What about Josh...Josh, do you want to come with me, or stay here?"

"James--"

"Josh?" Lance asked, interrupting Nikolas.

JC looked back and forth between the two and gripped Lance's hand tighter. "Uh..." he looked first at his lover, the one he hadn't seen for MUCH too long...then the guy he vaguely remembered as Nikolas, the older angel...the boss, maybe? He got the feeling that he wasn't supposed to go with Lance, but...better to be with someone familiar, right? Either way..."I'll...go with you, I guess..." he said, again tightening his hand against Lance's.

"All right then," Lance said softly, trying not to let his nervousness show. He started walking away, but stopped when he heard Nikolas' voice.

"James, you know you shouldn't--"

"Since when have I done what I was supposed to do?" Lance shot back. "He'll understand, I'm sure."

"Sure," Nikolas muttered. "What do I know? I've only been here for the past thousand years or so."

*****

"JC, wake UP! JC, please," Justin said. Suddenly, the phone rang. Chris answered it.

"WHAT?"

"Bad time?"

"Kind of," Chris snapped. "What do you want?" The others exchanged glances and looked up curiously. "Ken," Chris mouthed, rolling his eyes. Joey snorted. "Is there a reason you called, Ken?"

"What, you're not happy to hear from me?"

"No, not really," Chris said. "We're kind of busy right now. Where the hell are you, anyway?" He could hear someone tell Ken to hurry up, but he wasn't sure who it was.

"Wonder what he wants?" Joey muttered to Justin. Justin shrugged and shook JC again.

"VEGAS?!" Chris practically screeched. Joey and Justin winced. "Lou gave you money to go to VEGAS with Bimbo Barbie?"

"Vegas?" Justin mouthed.

"Why are you calling me then?" Chris asked. "Uh huh. You're kidding. Damn that's funny." He paused and a wide grin crept across his face. "Are you SERIOUS, man?" Then it dropped. "You got thrown into JAIL? WHAT?" He stopped again. "What do you mean, you tried to break open the slot machine? I don't care if you were drunk...that's a stupid thing to do, you jackass...Where's your Barbie now?" Suddenly Chris started laughing. "That's funny, Ken. Oh, it's not? Sorry...um...excuse me?" He waited and gave the other guys a look of disbelief. "Run that by me again, please."

"What is it?" Joey asked.

Chris held up a finger and mouthed, "Listen to this..." He waited for Ken to finish talking. "Okay, so let me see. You got into a fight with all of us. Insulted my GIRLFRIEND. Skipped town on LOU'S money...money that he REFUSES to give to us for things we need...take the Plastic Queen with you to friggin' Las Vegas and go gambling in like, every casino there. Okay. So then, tonight, you get drunk, right?" he paused, then continued. "I don't care about how much time you have, I want to get this right. You get drunk and try to steal money from the slot machines? Dude, how screwed up ARE you?" He stopped. "Uh huh...and now you want one of US, here in ORLANDO to post bail for you? Nice try." He stopped and raised an eyebrow. "NO I'm not going to fly out there! What the hell? Where did Barbie Girl go? Uh huh. Well, Ken, if this had happened a few weeks ago, then I'd drop everything. But right now, I'm a little, oh, I don't know, pissed off at you or something? And we've kind of got a problem with JC right now, so-- YES, JC is more important to me than you, you crackhead! Go to sleep or call Lou. Man, I have NO sympathy for you right now. Bye."

"Harsh?" Justin asked.

"You didn't hear the way he was talking to me," Chris said flatly. "Now back to JC. Is he breathing?"

"Yeah, he's breathing," Justin said. "He just won't wake up."

"Um..." Chris paused and chewed on a finger. "Let's just...let him sleep and if...if anything goes wrong, we'll do something then. Cause, I mean...he's..." he stopped and shook his head. "We all know that he can get into pretty deep sleeps, so..."

Justin bit his lower lip and looked at his friend. "Yeah," he said. "Let's just let him...sleep."

*****

"Lance? Where are we going?" JC asked timidly, not letting go of Lance's hand.

Lance's wings twitched a little. "Well...we're going to talk to...um...Well...I'M going to talk to God. You should probably let me do the talking."

JC stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait," he said. "I knew we were going SOMEWHERE and um...but...talking to GOD? I don't know--"

Lance stopped and looked at JC patiently. "Josh, if you want to go back and wait with Nikolas, I'll understand completely. You don't have to come with me."

JC looked at the direction they were headed and then back to where they had come from. Then he looked at Lance once more. Oh, how he'd missed seeing those eyes, the smile...he loved this man. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about him. He looked into the eyes he loved so much and nodded. "I'll go with you," he said.

Lance smiled and reached up to kiss him lightly on the lips. "I missed doing that," he said.

JC nodded in response and they kept going, JC thinking about how much he'd missed kissing too. "Lance?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"What am I doing here?" he asked. "I don't FEEL dead."

"I know you don't, and I can't answer that, baby. But...He probably knows...so I'll ask Him when we get there, okay?" JC nodded. "You scared?" he asked.

"No," JC said, shaking his head. "Uh uh."

Lance had to chuckle at how cute JC was being. He loved it when he got like this, unsure of something and acting like a little kid. Of course, he also acted like a child when he was drunk, but that was a different story. They soon reached the Lord's Chambers and Lance cautiously walked in, JC behind him and still holding his hand tightly. Lance stopped just inside the door and didn't say a thing.

"Come inside, children," they heard a reassuring voice say. Lance and JC walked closer. "James," He said.

"Yes, Sir," Lance said with a small bow. "That's me. And I--"

"You brought Joshua with you," He said. "I know. But could you tell me why? I only asked for you, James."

"Well," Lance said nervously, "I uh, well..." He coughed and started again. "I know you only asked for me, but...Just when I found out that I was supposed to come here, I saw Josh just...appear and...I didn't...I didn't know why he was here. So I went to go see him, and I didn't really want to just...leave him alone, because...it's a little weird coming here the first time -- no offense, of course -- but..."

"None taken," God said.

"But I remember I didn't really have...um, well...the best circumstances...getting here and...well...settled in, so I didn't really...didn't want to leave him alone--"

"We all know how much trouble you had settling in, James," He said gravely. JC glanced at Lance curiously but didn't say anything.

"Um, yeah...but, if you could tell me one thing, please? Why...why is he here? I mean..."

"What makes you think he's not dead, James?" He asked, a touch of amusement in His voice.

Lance looked around and swallowed again. "Well," he began, "I don't-- Well, it didn't feel like it was his time, and--" he stopped, suddenly thinking of something. "He's not wearing all white!" he said triumphantly

There was a laugh. "That's certainly true. But you are right, it's not his time yet. But he is the reason you're here right now."

JC looked at Lance in surprise. He didn't know that...he hadn't wanted to cause any problems or anything..."Because of...the memories?" Lance guessed.

"Yes," came the reply. "It's actually a good thing you decided to bring Joshua along. You two...there is a reason he remembered, a reason no one was completely sure of...Now we know."

"Sir?"

"Soulmates," God said. "You two are soulmates...halves of each other...you complete each other."

"Soulmates?" Lance asked, eyes wide. "Halves...are you--" He stopped. "Wow...but then..."

JC broke in. "With all due respect, Sir?"

"Yes, Joshua?"

"Why were we separated so many times, then?" he asked. "I mean...Lance lived in the 1800s, if I remember correctly. And then when...when we fell in love...he was taken away again..."

God chuckled. "Interesting point, Joshua. In fact, there's something else I need to talk to you about."

"Me?!" JC asked, eyes wide.

"Yes. In private...James?"

Lance looked like he wanted to protest, but wisely thought better of it. "Yes, Father," he said, letting go of JC's hand and leaving the room. JC looked after him with wide blue eyes before turning back around.


	Inner Reflection \| home back to Sent From Above Chapter 68 Nikolas tried to grab onto Lance but Lance shook him off. He ran towards JC. JC turned around and saw him coming, and his eyes lit up. "Lance?" Before Lance could say a thing, he was enveloped in a huge hug. "Josh," Lance said, his voice trembling with emotion. "What are you doing here? How did you--" "Where are we?" JC asked. "Why are you in whi...Oh," he said, seeing Lance's wings. "You're dead...so what am I doing here? I'm not...I'm not DEAD, am I?" He looked around, looking like a dear caught in headlights. "I..." "Josh, how did you get here? What happened?" Lance asked, grabbing JC's hand. JC wordlessly let himself be led along, glad he at least found Lance here...wherever they were. "Are we in Heaven?" he whispered. "Yeah," Lance said softly. "How did you get here?" he asked again. "I don't know," JC said, still looking around and blinking owlishly. "I just fell asleep and then..." he blinked. "I felt someone...you...and then I woke up here. Am I crazy? Am I..." "You're not crazy, Josh," Lance said. Suddenly JC's eyes widened. "I forgot about you," he said. "I told you I wouldn't and I forgot about you...I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, Lance, I love you so much, I couldn't--" he stopped when tears ran down his face and he impatiently rubbed them away. "I missed you...I missed you so much." Lance stopped and hugged his crying boyfriend, savoring the feeling of having him in his arms once again. "Shh," he said. "You didn't have any control over that, you can't go against God," he said, smiling. "But you weren't supposed to remember, don't you see? You were supposed to forget about me and not remember until you died--" he stopped and put a finger against JC's lips. "You remembered before you got here, so you didn't remember because you died. If that made any sense at all. Not that I'm so sure you're dead...Nikolas!" he said, finally having gotten back. He started to let go of JC's hand, but JC had it in a death grip and looked at him with such wide, frightened eyes that he couldn't let go. Instead, he just shifted his hand a little and interlocked his fingers with JC's. "James," Nikolas began, looking at their interlocked hands. "You still have to...well..." "Have to what? Nikolas, why is he here?" Lance asked. "What is he doing here?" He looked up at JC, who at the moment looked a lot younger than his twenty-two years. "Not that I mind it, but, Nikolas, he's not dead, what is he DOING here?" "I, uh..." Nikolas looked around. "You have to go now." "I WHAT? Huh?" Lance asked. "Don't you remember who wanted to talk to you?" Nikolas asked with a smile. Lance frowned. "Oh yeah. What about Josh...Josh, do you want to come with me, or stay here?" "James--" "Josh?" Lance asked, interrupting Nikolas. JC looked back and forth between the two and gripped Lance's hand tighter. "Uh..." he looked first at his lover, the one he hadn't seen for MUCH too long...then the guy he vaguely remembered as Nikolas, the older angel...the boss, maybe? He got the feeling that he wasn't supposed to go with Lance, but...better to be with someone familiar, right? Either way..."I'll...go with you, I guess..." he said, again tightening his hand against Lance's. "All right then," Lance said softly, trying not to let his nervousness show. He started walking away, but stopped when he heard Nikolas' voice. "James, you know you shouldn't--" "Since when have I done what I was supposed to do?" Lance shot back. "He'll understand, I'm sure." "Sure," Nikolas muttered. "What do I know? I've only been here for the past thousand years or so." *** "JC, wake UP! JC, please," Justin said. Suddenly, the phone rang. Chris answered it. "WHAT?" "Bad time?" "Kind of," Chris snapped. "What do you want?" The others exchanged glances and looked up curiously. "Ken," Chris mouthed, rolling his eyes. Joey snorted. "Is there a reason you called, Ken?" "What, you're not happy to hear from me?" "No, not really," Chris said. "We're kind of busy right now. Where the hell are you, anyway?" He could hear someone tell Ken to hurry up, but he wasn't sure who it was. "Wonder what he wants?" Joey muttered to Justin. Justin shrugged and shook JC again. "VEGAS?!" Chris practically screeched. Joey and Justin winced. "Lou gave you money to go to VEGAS with Bimbo Barbie?" "Vegas?" Justin mouthed. "Why are you calling me then?" Chris asked. "Uh huh. You're kidding. Damn that's funny." He paused and a wide grin crept across his face. "Are you SERIOUS, man?" Then it dropped. "You got thrown into JAIL? WHAT?" He stopped again. "What do you mean, you tried to break open the slot machine? I don't care if you were drunk...that's a stupid thing to do, you jackass...Where's your Barbie now?" Suddenly Chris started laughing. "That's funny, Ken. Oh, it's not? Sorry...um...excuse me?" He waited and gave the other guys a look of disbelief. "Run that by me again, please." "What is it?" Joey asked. Chris held up a finger and mouthed, "Listen to this..." He waited for Ken to finish talking. "Okay, so let me see. You got into a fight with all of us. Insulted my GIRLFRIEND. Skipped town on LOU'S money...money that he REFUSES to give to us for things we need...take the Plastic Queen with you to friggin' Las Vegas and go gambling in like, every casino there. Okay. So then, tonight, you get drunk, right?" he paused, then continued. "I don't care about how much time you have, I want to get this right. You get drunk and try to steal money from the slot machines? Dude, how screwed up ARE you?" He stopped. "Uh huh...and now you want one of US, here in ORLANDO to post bail for you? Nice try." He stopped and raised an eyebrow. "NO I'm not going to fly out there! What the hell? Where did Barbie Girl go? Uh huh. Well, Ken, if this had happened a few weeks ago, then I'd drop everything. But right now, I'm a little, oh, I don't know, pissed off at you or something? And we've kind of got a problem with JC right now, so-- YES, JC is more important to me than you, you crackhead! Go to sleep or call Lou. Man, I have NO sympathy for you right now. Bye." "Harsh?" Justin asked. "You didn't hear the way he was talking to me," Chris said flatly. "Now back to JC. Is he breathing?" "Yeah, he's breathing," Justin said. "He just won't wake up." "Um..." Chris paused and chewed on a finger. "Let's just...let him sleep and if...if anything goes wrong, we'll do something then. Cause, I mean...he's..." he stopped and shook his head. "We all know that he can get into pretty deep sleeps, so..." Justin bit his lower lip and looked at his friend. "Yeah," he said. "Let's just let him...sleep." *** "Lance? Where are we going?" JC asked timidly, not letting go of Lance's hand. Lance's wings twitched a little. "Well...we're going to talk to...um...Well...I'M going to talk to God. You should probably let me do the talking." JC stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait," he said. "I knew we were going SOMEWHERE and um...but...talking to GOD? I don't know--" Lance stopped and looked at JC patiently. "Josh, if you want to go back and wait with Nikolas, I'll understand completely. You don't have to come with me." JC looked at the direction they were headed and then back to where they had come from. Then he looked at Lance once more. Oh, how he'd missed seeing those eyes, the smile...he loved this man. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about him. He looked into the eyes he loved so much and nodded. "I'll go with you," he said. Lance smiled and reached up to kiss him lightly on the lips. "I missed doing that," he said. JC nodded in response and they kept going, JC thinking about how much he'd missed kissing too. "Lance?" he asked quietly. "Hmm?" "What am I doing here?" he asked. "I don't FEEL dead." "I know you don't, and I can't answer that, baby. But...He probably knows...so I'll ask Him when we get there, okay?" JC nodded. "You scared?" he asked. "No," JC said, shaking his head. "Uh uh." Lance had to chuckle at how cute JC was being. He loved it when he got like this, unsure of something and acting like a little kid. Of course, he also acted like a child when he was drunk, but that was a different story. They soon reached the Lord's Chambers and Lance cautiously walked in, JC behind him and still holding his hand tightly. Lance stopped just inside the door and didn't say a thing. "Come inside, children," they heard a reassuring voice say. Lance and JC walked closer. "James," He said. "Yes, Sir," Lance said with a small bow. "That's me. And I--" "You brought Joshua with you," He said. "I know. But could you tell me why? I only asked for you, James." "Well," Lance said nervously, "I uh, well..." He coughed and started again. "I know you only asked for me, but...Just when I found out that I was supposed to come here, I saw Josh just...appear and...I didn't...I didn't know why he was here. So I went to go see him, and I didn't really want to just...leave him alone, because...it's a little weird coming here the first time -- no offense, of course -- but..." "None taken," God said. "But I remember I didn't really have...um, well...the best circumstances...getting here and...well...settled in, so I didn't really...didn't want to leave him alone--" "We all know how much trouble you had settling in, James," He said gravely. JC glanced at Lance curiously but didn't say anything. "Um, yeah...but, if you could tell me one thing, please? Why...why is he here? I mean..." "What makes you think he's not dead, James?" He asked, a touch of amusement in His voice. Lance looked around and swallowed again. "Well," he began, "I don't-- Well, it didn't feel like it was his time, and--" he stopped, suddenly thinking of something. "He's not wearing all white!" he said triumphantly There was a laugh. "That's certainly true. But you are right, it's not his time yet. But he is the reason you're here right now." JC looked at Lance in surprise. He didn't know that...he hadn't wanted to cause any problems or anything..."Because of...the memories?" Lance guessed. "Yes," came the reply. "It's actually a good thing you decided to bring Joshua along. You two...there is a reason he remembered, a reason no one was completely sure of...Now we know." "Sir?" "Soulmates," God said. "You two are soulmates...halves of each other...you complete each other." "Soulmates?" Lance asked, eyes wide. "Halves...are you--" He stopped. "Wow...but then..." JC broke in. "With all due respect, Sir?" "Yes, Joshua?" "Why were we separated so many times, then?" he asked. "I mean...Lance lived in the 1800s, if I remember correctly. And then when...when we fell in love...he was taken away again..." God chuckled. "Interesting point, Joshua. In fact, there's something else I need to talk to you about." "Me?!" JC asked, eyes wide. "Yes. In private...James?" Lance looked like he wanted to protest, but wisely thought better of it. "Yes, Father," he said, letting go of JC's hand and leaving the room. JC looked after him with wide blue eyes before turning back around.