One morning you can wake up and find your whole life has changed.  Cliché as it may have sounded; it was one of those kinds of scenarios.  Typical.  One morning and everything was different.  He’d woken up alright.  And boy was life different. 

     But it hadn’t started out like that.  He hadn’t found the compromising situation he’d woken up into too surprising…at first.  Massive hangover.  He’d had plenty of those.  And the woman he found nestled in bed beside him?  Ditto.  It wasn’t an everyday occurrence, but it wasn’t unfamiliar.  All signs had declared that Monday morning, when his eyes had opened to take in his surroundings, that it was the typical too much partying, one night stand day after.  But in reality it was anything but typical. 

     Sure, it was the worst hangover he’d ever had, and that was saying a lot considering he’d had many to compare to in his short existence on this earth.  But as horrible as he felt that morning, that he could deal with.  His hangover was easily fixable.  All he needed was a strong cup of coffee, dry toast, and two aspirin, and he’d be out of his misery.  In a couple of hours it would most likely be slept off, and would become a distant memory on the flight out of town.  Quick fix. 

     It was the second thing.  The second part of his rude awakening that was the problem.  The dilemma wasn’t on how he could handle it.  He knew that part.  He’d done this before, other times.  This girl, like the other girls, would be out of his hotel room, and out of his life with a small kiss goodbye, some short words, and a promise to call sometime.  Just like his hangover, she would become another distant memory.  And as cocky as it sounded, even amidst a hangover he figured that he could probably still handle it.  It was the small twist however, that he was not prepared for. 

     It wasn’t the fact that the woman lying next to him was Aliesa Montaine, current pop goddess.  Sure, it threw him for a second, but he still could deal.  Because in the end, popstar or not, she was still a girl, and she was still a one nightstand.  Not that he could remember much about it, unfortunately.  And in effect that was the problem right there.  He was wrong.  This wasn’t the typical one night stand.  She wasn’t just any girl.  That morning, he found after much deliberation and incoherent rambling, he had also woken up to the new Mrs. Joshua Chasez.   And there was no way in hell that he was prepared for that. 

     He had a wife.  He was a husband.  He had a new piece of jewelry attached to his finger.  He was married.  Married?  Him?   And not just married, married to her?  Of course the situation wasn’t totally abnormal.  People got married all the time.  And it was a fact that lots of people were married in Las Vegas.  Difference was that they were 1) willing and 2) in love or at least thought they were.  He was neither.  And there was also that small detail about how he had no recollection of how he had gotten to this point in time in the first place.   Oh that was perfectly normal.  It was a typical scenario all right.  One that could have been a plotline on some whacked out made for television movie of the week, but not his life, definitely not his life. 

     It was a hollowness that couldn’t be described in words.  Shock.  No.  Shocked and still in shock.  He felt numb.  And she wasn’t helping any.  In fact she was making it worse.   The woman was hysterical.  It didn’t help the headache that was pounding away, reminding him exactly how he had got himself here.  And it didn’t help the fact that he was in deep shit. 

      So if you were JC Chasez and you had woken up beside Aliesa Montaine unwillingly married what exactly do you do?  You get away.  You walk out the door to get a grasp.  You do it because maybe, maybe you were hallucinating.  Going crazy.  Maybe you were asleep and this was all a dream.  Maybe this was a really bad prank someone was pulling on you.  And right when you get to the point where you’ve convinced yourself, and that you’re almost certain, you head back into that hotel room to go on with your life only to realize that you’re not going crazy.  This is not a joke.  This is not a dream.  You’ve still got a girl in your room.  She’s still feeling the effects of the alcohol, still completely hungover, less hysterical, but still hung-over.  Those rings are still on your fingers, a marriage certificate is still on the floor, and you’re still trying very hard to believe that this could not be happening to you.  Even though it is. 

“Fuck.”

Want to make it better?

Why the hell not.

Add in a knock on the door.

And it’s obviously not room service. 

“WHAT IS THIS?”

Nope.  It is definitely not room service.  Management.  Just peachy.

“Shannon.  Hi.”

Before JC could protest the action, his publicist had pushed the door wide open and brushed by him, waving a paper briskly back and forth in the air.  He couldn’t do anything but follow her into the room.   “So what’s up?” 

“What’s up?”  Shannon waved furiously at him.  “What’s up?” 

JC swallowed nervously.  This had to be bad.  The woman was repeating words and standing there with an expression that hindered on a mix of calm and about ready to beat him with a stick.  It was an odd and surprisingly frightening combination.  “You tell me,” JC began slowly.

“MARRIED!” Shannon ranted still waving furiously at him.  She shoved a paper in front of his face, pointing repeatedly at a section.  “THIS MORNING!” 

JC paled at the mention.  “Oh that…”  Comprehension dawning in a post alcohol induced frenzy. 

Shannon cut him off.  “Oh that? OH THAT? YES THAT!”  She dropped the paper in his hands.  “MARRIED!  And not just married!  Aliesa Montaine!  In Las freaking Vegas?  Hours ago!  No warning!  To Aliesa!  My Aliesa!  The Aliesa!  What in the hell were you two thinking!  No.  Don’t answer that. I don’t even want to know!  You know why because whatever it was it was completely irrational!”

“Shannon,” JC interrupted. 

But Shannon paid no heed.  She continued.  “Why did I not see this coming?  I mean I knew you two would get along but I didn’t think you’d get along THAT well—”

“Shannon,” JC cut-in again.  And like the first time was ignored.

“How am I supposed to explain this one?  There is no spin on this one!”

JC stuck out an arm, breaking in on his publicist’s tirade for the third time.  This time he was the one waving that paper back and forth at her.  “Shannon calm down and stop yelling.  I’m kinda hungover if you didn’t notice and you’re not helping.”

Shannon was livid.  “Calm down?  Calm down?  Have you not been listening to me at all?”  Her hands smacked against her side in aggravation.

“Will you let me explain?”

Shannon’s face got somber.  “You’re not married?”

JC blinked, his jaw dropped and then opened back up again   “Well...”

“You are married?”

“Shannon.”  JC looked at her pointedly.  “It’s not what you think.”

“You’re not married?”

JC shook his head.

“You are?”

JC shook his head again. 

“Chasez, its pretty simple you are or you aren’t.”

JC cringed, running his fingers through his hair briskly, trying to see if he could get out of this one. 

“Well?”  Shannon asked expectantly.

His mouth opened, but it wasn’t his voice that answered.

“Unfortunately we are.”

The moment could only have been described as perfect timing…or not so perfect timing.

She was the last person he needed to see standing there.  And apparently she was to Shannon too.  But it didn’t matter.  She’d decided it was time to make her presence known.  She’d heard enough in the bedroom.

“Al?”

The girl in question smiled meekly and waved, before letting out a groan and clutching the side of her head.   “Surprise?”

“Okay that’s it.”  Shannon lifted a hand to her hip. “You two are going to sit down right now and tell me what in the hell is going on around here,” she demanded.  “And if it’s what I think it is, we’re going to figure out how in the hell we’re going to fix it.” 

JC silently banged his still aching head against the wall.  Like he’d thought before.  He was in deep shit.

Two
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