THE CRUISE

2 hours later all 5 girls stood on the side of the ship waving goodbye to no one in particular on the dock. They'd all met at the 2 rooms they were sharing. It was a big hugging party that lasted for about an hour. Surely their deck mates weren't going to like them after the first day. Katrina already knew she loved the girls, but meeting them in person reinforced that. They all were crazy and cool. She'd decided that their motto for that trip would be crazy sexy cool. "Mindy you would not believe what I watched last night at home?"

"Let me guess could it be Titanic." The girls both laughed. Mindy knew, she had called her that night and let her know that. As they all stood outside acting crazy waving calling out to no one in particular it dawned on Katrina that she hadn't told them the big news.

"Goodbye Bubba's" Suzi and Celly called together before they collapsed in a heap.

"Chica huddle" Katrina called and they looked at her like she was crazy.

"Um, Katrina...No." Suzi said laughing

"Seriously I've got some interesting news that you, in particular, will want to hear" They all came over.

"Don't kill me, don't even ask me how I just neglected to tell you all this, I suppose the prospect of actually meeting my chica sisters just threw this little bit of information back into my brain, but anyway....I ran into a certain somebody getting on the exact same cruise as us. You would not believe it if I told you."

Suzi looked at her "Who is it Kat, Donnie?" She asked laughing.

"Well, yeah."

"Whatever Kat, don't even go there."

"Serious Suzi, he's on here. I talked to him."

The shrieks could be heard all the way to the back of the liner where Jordan, Miguel Donnie and Joe stood.

"Remember when that would be girls screaming for us!" Jordan reminisced.

"Yeah, and remember that was usually followed by about 100 girls running after us too." Joe said.

"And me trying to keep those 100 girls at bay." Miguel said "I think I probably had the hardest job out of all of you. My body hardly stood the pressure of all those girls running over it on their way to you. I was more of a speed bump than anything"

"Yeah right Miguel, with all the play you got. You should be thanking us." Jordan.

"Thank this." He said to Jordan holding up his middle finger.

Donnie was sitting there laughing at them all. "Sounds like fuckin old times"

"Yeah old times...where are Jon and Danny, as always they're pulling the disappearing act." Joe looked around and found them already sitting at the pool with cocktails. "We haven't even pulled off the dock yet and they're vacationing." Joe was standing at the end of the ship looking out over the water, the wind whipping through his soft curls. Jordan had already changed into a pair of khakis and a white shirt. Donnie with a fresh new hair cut sported jeans and a button down shirt. Miguel was wearing his fubu shirt and black pants. People walked by looking at them, they were a handsome bunch.

"I'm happy for them, but I love doing my own thing out of the limelight you know." Jon was saying to Danny as they drank their drinks.

"Me too, but you know, sometimes I miss it all. I still get noticed in Florida but hey, it's all good. Now I get to watch the same thing happening to that Backstreet Boys group." They both laughed "More power too them."

"They're good, I've hung out with them a few times. Me and Kevin are good friends." He looked around.

Ooh the women, the women." He feigned a heart attack as he looked around. Some women were already in their bikinis walking around.

"Ask me why I came on this ship again?" Danny said staring at a lady walking by with barely nothing on. "Forget it, don't bother me, I'm studying." They both laughed again.

"Let's go find him now! No waiting, come on." Suzi pulled Katrina on.

"Wait...He could be anywhere, anyway I'm sure we'll bump into him. It's a small ship on a big ocean. He can't get away from us. And when we find him, we'll be sure to 'accidentally' push him into a small room where you'll be hiding and, darnit, the room locks from the outside and we can't find the key, so shoot, what to do what to do?"

"You wouldn't!" Suzi gasped. "Oooh, you would! I love you girl! But I don't want to wait until we accidentally bump into him...I want him now and don't try to talk me out of it."

"He may be with a girl, he said 'we'."

"Fuck the girl, I just want to see and meet the man, is that too much to ask on my first trip to Cali.?"

Celly broke in "Well, I'm not going Donnie hunting in this. If we're going stalking I need to change into my stalk outfit" The girls broke out laughing "Stalk outfit" Kasey asked?

"Yeah. My 'get the hell outta my way, I'm on a mission and no one in hell's going to stop me from getting what I want' outfit."

"Oooh," Mindy said knowningly "THAT outfit" she busted out laughing.

"I'm imagining the outfit and you are not wearing anything like THAT to get to my Donnie." Suzi retorted!

"And we're standing here because?...let's go." This time she pulled Kasey who was still laughing hysterically.

Katrina was all ready for a mission, she hadn't had one in a long time. She just hoped that Donnie wouldn't get mad at her for telling. "Oh well if he does" she thought "he'd better be prepared for Hurricane Suzi."

~~~~

Once they got to the room Celly got serious. "Okay here's a map to the whole ship. We're here. I say two of us go check out the restaurants, two of us stake out at the pool area..." she continued on.

"OMG she is SO serious about this." Katrina said to Kasey. "You'd think she's done this before."

"I'm wondering Kat, believe me, I'm wondering."

"...so Katrina you take the restaurant with Kasey and we'll all report back here in, oh about 2 hours and regroup."

Chrissy spoke up. "I thought this was supposed to be a vacation Celly."

"I'll relax when we've spotted the eagle...so to speak." They all looked at her like she was crazy.

"Why are you all still standing here...go!" They all ran out afraid to feel the wrath of Celly.

Celly and Mindy took off in one direction while Suzi and Chrissy took off in another.

"What are we doing?" Kasey asked Katrina.

"The hell if I know let's just go cruising." They took off down the hallway.

Joe walked through the restaurant on his way to the gift shop. He figured he'd buy early so he wouldn't be stuck there with everyone the last day of the trip. He was humming "Stay the Same" to himself as he walked by the two girls looking the other way.

Suzi and Chrissy stood in the restaurant looking around inconspicuously. "The Donnie radar is NOT on" Suzi said frowning. They turned around just in time to see the back of Joe's head walking away. "No Donnie here, damn damn damn damn damn" Suzi stamped her foot. C'mon. They headed past the gift stores. As they hurried past Chrissy suddenly stop.

"OMG Joe!"

Suzi stopped. "What?" She turned to where Chrissy was standing. "Donnie AND Joe? No way. This is something that would not happen to me."

"Well it's happening and I'm going to have a fit so let's go in there and talk to him." Chrissy pulled her in.

"Joe? Joe McIntyre.?"

He turned around. "Yes."

"Wow it is you. Sorry for sounding all fannish but, Hey!" Chrissy extended her hand. "It's very nice to meet you. Are you going on the cruise?" Suzi hit her when she finished.

"Well if I wasn't I'd have to now, wouldn't I." Joe laughed at her.

"Sorry, sorry, not thinking at all. Well we decided to come in and say hi and all that before we never see you again." Suzi was just in awe, no freakin way he was standing in front of them.

"Well it's only a ship, I'm sure we'll meet again." He shook Chrissy's hand.

"Cool then" she said pulling Suzi away "We're on our way to, um the pool."

"Well I hope you have fun then, see you later."

~~~~~

Katrina and Kasey were sitting in a small restaurant eating. They were both hungry being they hadn't eaten since earlier that day. "I wonder if Donnie's ran into any of the girls yet?" Kasey said.

"Well if we see him running, screaming past us we know he has." They both laughed.

Miguel sat near talking on his cell. "I told you Florence this is the first, the last, the only time I am answering this phone when you call. In fact, I'm not taking the phone anywhere with me for the next 7 days. I'm giving you permission to deal with whatever comes up okay."

Katrina stopped eating and looked up. "You know, that voice." She listened again.

"Hanging up Flo, have fun, I'm going on my vacation now v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n."

"It sounds so familiar, like..." she tried to place where she'd heard the voice before.

"See ya" He hung up.

Katrina turned around slowly "Miguel?"

They turned around slowly and Kasey freaked.

"OMG It's..."

Katrina hit her as Miguel looked up.

"...A rat!" She jumped on top of the table. "This big rat just ran under our table the size of my foot."

Katrina tried not to crack up at Kasey but this was hilarious. "Oh my Gawd. It ran over my foot, I'm going to be sick." She timidly got down off the table as Miguel hurried over.

"A rat? Where." He was standing directly behind Kasey.

"It ran..." she pointed "over there into the wall, oh, I'm going to faint" and she fell back directly into Miguels arms and winked at Katrina. Oh she was definitely getting the Academy Award for that performance. Katrina had to turn around so no one would see her face. She was laughing so hard.

"Ms? Wake up are you alright?" Miguel laid her on the floor.

Kasey fluttered her eyes open and looked around. "You idiot, you laid me on the floor with that rat." She climbed up and played the diva. "I'll be fine." She breathed in a hard breath. Katrina coughed back a laugh. "Kasey, you alright chica."

Miguel came up. "Are you okay, seriously?" The look of concern made Kasey want to crack up laughing.

"I'm fine Mi" she caught herself "My breath is coming back." Katrina looked at Miguel and then she sniffed. Sure enough there was that smell which brought back so many memories. "Thanks so much."

"No problem. I'm always up to help a lady in distress. Miguel." He introduced himself.

"I'm Katrina and my fainting friend is."

"Kasey" Kasey said holding out her hand looking at him. He was even more handsome than the pictures she'd seen. If she stared at him too long she'd faint for real. Wait. He was on their cruise. This was too damn good to be true. The man himself was going to be on this ship with them, and there was nowhere he could go but in the water.

"Nice to meet you Katrina and Kasey. I hope nothing like this happens again while we're here." He said loudly so that the people behind the counter could hear. He wanted them to feel bad about the rat and Kasey felt bad about lying, what could she do though?

"Hey what are you doing for dinner tonight." He asked looking at Kasey.

"Having dinner with you of course." Kasey said.

"The boldness" Katrina thought as she looked at Kasey with approving eyes.

"If you'll do me the honor."

Wait a minute. What about me? Katrina thought? Hello I like you too. Invite me, Miguel, invite me. Miguel was looking directly at Kasey and Katrina was starting to get sick. "Maybe I should faint to get that much attention." Katrina thought to herself. Miguel and Kasey made a date at 8:00. He finally looked at Katrina "And you are invited too of course." He said and smiled at her.

"Its about damn time man" Katrina thought, but she just smiled and thanked him. They both watched him leave. "Perfection" Kasey said and sighed.

"You are so damn lucky you are my chica or I'd be pounding your brains out right about now. What was with that act girl. I almost lost it there. Fainting?" Katrina said as they walked off.

"Hey when in Rome, do. I'm in LA, just blending in."

"Hate to burst your bubble but you are now in the middle of the sea. So unless you're going to start swimming like Wanda the Mermaid I wouldn't be saying all that Rome stuff."

Kasey licked her tongue out at her as they walked away.

Celly and Mindy were fairing very well as they were following Danny down a corridor. "That can't be." Celly said moving closer.

"It is Celly it is. Look at that body." Danny was wearing a tank top and shorts and his body looked just as good as it did 5 years ago.

"Yeah true, but not on our trip." Celly slid against the wall as he turned the corner.

"Hello if Donnie's here, then yeah." They walked behind him as he got on the elevator. Celly looked at Mindy. "Come on" she ran up. "Hold the elevator, please." Mindy looked at her like she was crazy but followed anyway.

"Thanks Danny." Celly smiled at him.

"Oh, you know me?"

"How can a person not with a body like that."

Mindy stood there in awe.

Celly decided to be more daring "So you're here with Donnie? We saw him earlier."

"Yeah actually everyone is here."

Mindy almost lost it right there.

"I'm Celly and this is my partner in crime Mindy."

He said hi to them both and smiled. "You two planning on partying later on?"

"Not with you." She thought "Yeah, we'll probably be out sometime tonight "And if Joe's here you'd better get outta my way Danny" she added to herself.

The elevator doors opened.

"Maybe I"ll see you around."

"Yeah" She added as he walked away

"Okay so Joe's here! It's on baby! And I'll forgive him for letting me find out about it in an elevator with, ew, Danny." It was starting to hit her that her precious Joe was here.

"Be nice."

"Mindy...I am."

~~~~

Back at the room Suzi, Katrina, Kasey and Chrissy were screaming and crying that Joe and Miguel were on the ship. "Wait till you guys see Miguel, I almost lost it right then and there the man is so fine."

"Was that before or after you fainted." Katrina snuck in.

"You fainted? Because of Miguel? I don't know if any man is that fine...except maybe Donnie, who I have yet to see." Suzi was laughing as she lay on the bed.

Katrina told them the fainting story and pretty soon Suzi and Chrissy had tears in their eyes.

"You did not! Kasey I love you!"

Katrina stood over her with the table centerpiece in their room. "And the award for most impromptu acting performance, by an amateur goes to Kasey!"

Kasey bowed and accepted her 'award' "Thank you all, I'd first like to thank all my wonderful chicas for which this all would not have been possible if not for our getting together for this time. I'd like to thank all the New Kids for the effort in always looking so damn presentable and making us drool. And I'd like to accept this for my leading man Miguel who has the nicest....everything. And I can't wait for our sequel." She fell on the bed laughing.

Celly and Mindy busted in "You'll never guess."

"Hmm, Joe and Miguel are here along with Donnie." Suzi said with a big grin on her face.

"Try Joe, Miguel...Miguel? Anyhoo, Danny, Jordan AND Jon." They're all here! Not kidding you, they are all here."

"Jon? Jonathan Knight is on this ship with me and I haven't seen him yet!" Katrina stood up heading for the door. "What are we doing in this room."

"Calm down Chica, calm, we'll get him." Suzi yelled "After we find Donnie and the rest." This was too good to be true all five of them were here.

Kasey stood up. "I don't know about you all but" she looked at her watch "Kat and I need to get ready for our date with Miguel"

"You freaking witches, I can't believe you're eating with him." Chrissy was envious, but she was happy for the two. She knew how much they worshipped Miguel.

"Yeah let's get ready for dinner and maybe we'll get a glance or something of someone."

The suitcases were open and it was a full on fashion show as the girls all clamored to get ready with 2 bathrooms between them.

A few hours later the girls emerged looking like a very elegant bunch. They knew their first dinner was a formal affair. Sparkles, short dresses and elegant hairstyles were on the girls. They all walked to the dining room looking every which way just in case the guys were in view. "Okay we're going to go meet Miguel, you guys just watch where we go and hopefully I'll get some additional information" Kasey said

"You'd better report to the bathroom in" Suzi looked at her watch "thirty minutes or we'll come and embarrass you."

"Yeah I will because I know you would Suzi." Kasey and Katrina went inside the dining room. Miguel was standing by the stairs. "Wow this reminds me of..."

"Dont EVEN say it." Katrina growled. "I've had my fix of Titanic already and I don't want to think about what happened on the third day."

Kasey laughed as they both snuck up behind Miguel.

"Hey." Kasey said appeared on one side, Katrina on the other. They put their hands through his arms.

"Hey girls, you two are looking quite beautiful." He smiled and happily escorted the women to the dining room.

"Look at them, who has the bigger smile, Katrina, Kasey or Miguel." Celly said.

"Damn he is damn fine. Damn." Suzi said "I think I'm going to faint."

"Hell's no, no one is fainting around here but me when Joe's around."

"Can we say Hot!" Chrissy stared at Miguel. "I lied, I want him."

"Yeah tell that to Kat and Kasey and see your head rolling down the aisle."

"Um, guys, look at where they are heading." Mindy was staring at the table that was directly in front of them. The table where five guys sat. "It's them."

Their eyes followed the table and each pair sat on their favorite guy. "Oh man, this is just too much. Let me off this ship so I can get back to TEXAS where nothing ever happens for me. This is definitely an overload. The man upstairs must have decided to play this sick joke on me... 'Never let her meet them, and then pile them on at her when she least expects it'. I hope you're happy" She said looking up "Now it's time for you to watch the comedy of what is my life!"

"Shh, people are looking Suzi and I will not hesitate to say I don't know you." Mindy said as she looked over.

Kat and Kasey's eyes got big as they headed towards the table in front of them. There sat Donnie, Joe, Jordan, Danny and Jonathan. They looked at each other behind Miguel's back

"Oh Shit" Kasey mouth.

"Ladies, I'd like you to meet my traveling partners. He introduced them all around, Katrina's gaze falling on Jonathan. Okay well it never left Jon in the first place.

"Katrina? Isn't it." Donnie said smiling "We've met."

"Hey Donnie."

"You know each other?" Miguel Looked at them both.

"A small meeting on the way aboard." Katrina said.

The gentlemen all stood up as the girls sat down. "Nice to meet you two." Jonathan said. Jordan just stared and Jonathan had to check him again.

"So what brings you here, on the ship."

"Not much, just thought we'd relive the Titanic moments." Kasey joked

"Oh Gawd no" Katrina thought to herself "Must kill Kasey after this night"

"Funny." Joe said.

"No not. We're here just to vacation with our chicas. Our good friends."

"Oh and you left them to come have dinner with Miguel. That's not nice." Joe spoke up.

Kasey looked at Joe "Well hell, wouldn't you?" She looked at Miguel.

"But seriously they understood."

"Where are they? Are they eating now." The prospect of more women intrigued Jordan.

"Yeah actually, they're over..."Katrina looked for them "there." She pointed to the table of girls who were staring. Quickly they all looked either down or the other way.

Jordan Joe and Donnie looked at each other and started scooting towards each other "Well invite them over, the more the merrier."

"You serious?" Katrina asked. This was perfect.

Donnie nodded "yeah go ahead and bring them over."

Katrina got up and walked over, told them they were being invited and all of a sudden she was standing there alone as the girls hurried to the table.

Feedback? Katrina 99