Justin rolled over and looked at the glowing, red display on the alarm clock. Seeing that it was 2:00 in the morning, he cursed under his breath and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" he answered groggily. "What? Yeah, no, don't worry. I'll be right over."

He then hung up the phone and reached over to turn on the light that was sitting on his nightstand. He cringed as the bulb flickered on, simultaneously rubbing his eyes to wake himself up. He got out of bed and quickly put on a pair of jeans and a FuMan Skeeto t-shirt. Then, grabbing his keys, sunglasses, and a hat he headed out of the door.

When he got to Emilys house, Justin didn't go right up to the door. He turned the car off, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and sat for a moment before getting out of his SUV.

Just after he shut the car door, the porch light blinked on, basking him in the pale, yellow glow.

"Hey Justin, sorry to wake you up," a voice said as the door swung open.

"It's okay, Em. Where is he?" he asked.

"In his room," she informed him. "He was crying and said he wanted you to come over and that was the only way he'd go back to sleep."

"That's my boy." Justin said sarcastically, stepping in the door and walking to his son's bedroom.

"Daddy!" the two-year-old exclaimed.

"Hey, Danny. What's wrong, buddy?" Justin asked, sitting down on the bed.

"Bad dweam." he pouted.

"What was it about?"

"You go bye. No wuv me." Justin turned to look at Emily. She shrugged sleepily, and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length red hair.

"I love you more than anything, little man! Don't ever forget that, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

"Okay." Justin confirmed.

"Daddy, seep in my bedwoom?" Danny looked up at Justin with big, round, blue eyes.

"Ask your mom."

"Daddy seep in my bedwoom? Peeeeease?"

"Honey, your Daddy has to go home."

"Emily, its really no problem." Justin said.

Finally she agreed. "Fine, he can stay."

"I'll be right back, buddy." Justin stood up and motioned for Emily to follow him so they could talk.

Walking into the kitchen, Emily started the "conversation".

"Why are you doing this?!?" she demanded.

"Doing what?" Justin played it off as he opened the refrigerator to get something to eat.

"Ha! Justin, don't try pulling that innocent crap with me. I won't fall for that again!" she shot back, slamming the refrigerator door shut.

"What's really going on Em? What's wrong?" He could always see straight through her tough-girl attitude.

"I don't need this, Justin. I can't deal with it. Not now." She painfully fought back tears.

"Em, I need for us to talk. Give me that much. Please baby?" he calmly stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"Not tonight." She said, gently pushing him away her. And with that, she left the kitchen and went up to her own bedroom, locking the door behind her.

____________________________________________________




Emily woke up the next morning to the sound of Justin and Danny talking.

"Daddy come back." The boy whispered.

"It's not that simple, Danny. I wish it was, but it isn't."

Emily quickly realized that she didn't want Justin to say anything more to Danny on that particular subject, so she decided to make an appearance.

"Hey Danny? Could you go get dressed, sweetie?" she asked.

"O.K. Mommy!" he then wobbled to his room on his two, chubby legs.

"Morning, Em." Justin greeted her.

"When are you leaving?" She got straight to the point as she poured herself some coffee.

"You're blunt." He mumbled.

"Well Justin you don't live here! Plus I'm sure your little slut-of-the-week is wondering where you are!" she hissed, taking a sip. Justin defensively jumped to his feet.

"O.K., let's get this straight, her name is Katrina. She's the only person I've been with since you! Plus if you'd listen to the radio, you'd know that we aren't together anymore!"

"Well, isn't that a shame!" she sarcastically spat.

"Gawd, Emily, why won't you pay attention?"

"To what???"

Just then, Danny padded into the kitchen, crying.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Emily asked, pulling her son close.

"You scweam cuz I bad? Stop. I be good." The boy sniffed.

"Danny, buddy, you're not bad. We love you more than anything. It's not your fault." Justin told him.

"Why you 'eave, Daddy?" he asked.

For the second time in 24 hours, Justin looked to Emily for help in answering Danny's questions.

But Emily wasn't going to help him this time, either. Instead, she gave him a withering look and loaded the dishwasher.

____________________________________________________

"So then what happened?" Chris questioned curiously.

"I spent the night." Justin replied.

"Dude!" Joey yelled excitedly.

"No. I stayed in Danny's room."

"Dude." Joey disappointedly said.

"Sorry man. That really sucks." Chris apologized.

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. I'm the one that screwed up, not you." Justin said.

"What are you gonna do, J?" JC spoke up.

"I don't know. I was gonna tell her how I feel, but it wasn't the right time. Not yet, anyways."

Suddenly, Wade's voice broke up the conversation. "C'mon, guys! Break's over!"

"Screw Wade!" Justin joked.

"Yeah, O.K." Wade said as a door burst open.

They all turned toward the sound, to see Melinda rushing over to Justin.

"What now, Chicken?" he asked.

"You have a phone call." She said, handing him his cell phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Justin." The voice said shakily.

"Emily? What's up? he was worried as he heard her fight back tears.

"My dad is sick. I have to fly out to L.A. to be with my family."

"I'm so sorry, Em."

"Yeah. So, I was wondering if you'd watch Danny while I'm gone. That is, unless you want to come with me." She sounded hopeful, yet sad.

"Umm, yeah sure. When are you leaving?"

"I really should go as soon as possible."

"O.K., well, let me go pack real quick and I'll be right over. Then we'll go to the airport and I'll see what I can work out with the airline."

"Alright. And Justin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No problem." Justin clicked his phone shut and slipped it into his pocket. He went to leave, but Melinda grabbed his shirt.

"Oooooh, no. Where are you going, Curly?" Melinda questioned.

"Emily's dad is sick. I'm going with her to Los Angeles." He stated.

"Not so fast, there, Bounce. We go on tour next, month." Wade reminded him.

"Justin you can't leave. Not now." Lance argued.

"Watch me." He said as he turned and went out the door.

Justin worked a deal with the ticket agent so that he, Emily, and Danny could get on a flight immediately in place of a cancellation.

"I really appreciate this, Justin." She said, strapping herself into a seat.

"Dont worry about it, Em."

"What about the tour?" she prodded. Justin heaved an uneasy sigh before replying.

"Oh yeah. The tour. Screw the tour."

"Like it's that easy!" Emily cackled. Justin grinned as he realized that he just might have another chance with Emily.

The plane began moving, and a female voice came over the speakers informing them of the restrictions for the 10 minutes during takeoff. Emily stared in amazement as Justin mouthed the woman's voice word for word.

"That is so sad that you know exactly how the script goes." she said.

"No it's not. What's sad is that I, along, with the other guys and a good percentage of the crew, know exactly how the "script" goes in English, French, German, and Spanish!" he replied.

Emily looked around at the other passengers, noting a few famous faces.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried, grabbing Justin's arm, "Is that Mary J. Blige?!?" Justin craned his neck to see who she was talking about. Sure enough, it was. They waved to each other before Justin turned back around.

"That's her, isnt it?!?" she whispered.

Justin chuckled softly.

"You used to be accustomed to seeing celebrities, remember?"

Emily looked down and shook her head.

"Justin, don't." she whispered.

"Don't what?" he snapped unexpectedly.

"DON'T, Justin." She glanced at their son and smiled so he wouldn't get upset. But he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he was busy trying to see who else was on the plane.

"Unco Dayce? Issink come?"

"They're still in Orlando, Danny. They didn't come on this plane with us."

"No Issink pwane?" he squeaked.

"They will next time, I promise."

"O.K., Daddy."

Hearing all this, Emily kissed the top of her son's head and gave Justin a warning glance.
____________________________________________________

As they were getting ready to get off the plane, Justin quickly slipped on a hat and sunglasses.

When they came to the exit of the terminal, they were immediately spotted by Emilys sisters- Alicia and Kayla, and her cousin Jennifer.

"Hi, sweetie." Alicia said, hugging her little sister.

"Emily, I'm so glad you came." Kayla told her.

"Yeah, um, you remember Justin, and of course, Danny."

"Hey, Justin." Alicia smiled.

"Hello, Alicia. You look beautiful as ever." He kissed her cheek and moved on to Kayla.

"Kayla." He kissed her, too as Jennifer squealed over Danny.

"He looks so much like his dad, doesn't he Emily?" she said.

"Yeah, he does." Emily agreed proudly.

"Look at those gorgeous curls!" Alicia exclaimed.

"Why, thank you." Justin joked. They all laughed and finally went to the car.





"So hows Dad?" Emily finally asked. The other three exchanged nervous glances before Kayla, being the oldest, answered.

"He's not well." The news caused Emily to burst into tears and Justin took advantage of the situation by pulling her close.

"No cwy, Mommy." Danny quietly begged.

Emily smiled as she buried her face in Justin's shoulder, his muscled arms tightly yet gently holding her.

"Mommy cwy?" the little boy questioned sadly.

"Danny, your Mommy is sad right now." Justin's answer seemed to be sufficient for his son, as the matter was then dropped.

____________________________________________________

By then, they had reached Emily's childhood home, and they all stepped out of the car. Emily stared at the large home, noting how ever-slightly it had changed.

They all walked inside, Emily and Justin leaving Danny with the girls so that the two could look around. They went upstairs to find that her old room was exactly the same as it had been when Emily and Justin got married.

When you walked in the door, to your left was her dresser. Laid across it was a piece of red silk material. Atop the fabric was a picture of Emily and Justin from a year ago, just before the divorce.

All of the walls were covered in posters. So much so, that you'd never know that underneath it all was a pale, pink color. There were NKOTB posters, BSB posters, Savage Garden posters, BBMak posters, and most of all *NSYNC posters.

The queen-sized bed was set against a far wall. On top of the mattress was a quilt her grandmother had made. Sitting in the middle of her pillows, was a stuffed bear. The bear was brown with bright, blue eyes and a cute cartoon smile.

"Wow." Emily breathed. "It's just like I remember."

They put their bags in the room and rejoined the others in the living room, before leaving for the hospital.

"Alright. Mom, Eric, Alex, Aunt Tina, Uncle Louis, and Tony are all at the hospital with Dad." Alicia informed them as she clicked her cell phone shut.

"We better get going, then." Jennifer decided.

They piled into the car without saying a word. They all had different thing running through their minds.

Justin was worried about Emily's dad as well as his relationship w/ her, Emily was worried about her dad, and the other three girls were also worried about Jerry, although, their curiosity as to why Justin came was prevalent in their thoughts.

Alicia led the way to room 309, which was where her father was staying. As they neared the room, they could hear laughter and chattering.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked her brother, Eric, who was standing in the doorway.

"Dad seems to be doing better."

"Obviously."

"Unco Ewic!" Danny yelled, releasing himself from his dad's arms as he ran to him.

"Hey, Danny! How's my favorite nephew?"

Danny giggled with delight as Eric held him tightly while tickling his chubby stomach. Most of the others finally went into the room.

Eric looked up to see Emily and Justin standing nearby. Emily avoided eye contact with her oldest brother, opting instead to smooth out the soft, pink sweater she had put on.

(FLASHBACK)

"He's a player, Emily!" Eric yelled

"No he's not! You don't know him!" Emily retorted.

"He's a celebrity! He can have anyone he wants!"

"He wants me!"

"For how long? How long is he gonna stay with you before he tells you goodbye?"

"You didn't care before I told you we were engaged!"

"Because I figured he'd ditch you before it went that far!"

By that point, Emily had heard enough and she angrily slapped her brother across the face before storming out of the house.

(END FLASHBACK)

Out of courtesy, Justin shook Eric's hand politely.

"Eric." he calmly said.

"Justin."

"Danny," Emily finally interrupted. "do you wanna go see Paw Paw and Gran?"

"Yeah!" Danny agreed happily, grabbing his mom's hand. Emily then took Justin's hand in her own and pulled him into the room behind her. Justin looked down at their intertwined fingers and took a sharp breath. He couldn't remember the last time he and Emily had held hands.

"Hey, Em." Alex rushed over to his big sister and hugged her tightly.

"Alex, I have missed you so much." She whispered in his ear.

"Me too." He answered.

Emily then went around the room with Danny, the two of them hugging her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her cousin.

"Justin, my boy, is that you?" Emily's father called hopefully.

"Hello, Jerry." Justin said in response. He shook the man's hand and then bent down to hug Emily's mother.

"How are you, Elizabeth?"

"I'm great, now that everyone is here." She answered as Danny crawled up into her lap.

"Justin," Emily's cousin Tony began, "What have you been up to lately?"

"Well, we're about to go on tour to promote our upcoming album, Celebrity. I'm also thinking about a solo project and maybe a couple of duets with Brian McKnight."

"Wow. It's great that your little 'boy band' has been so successful." Eric said, his voice dripping with hostility.

Justin glanced over his shoulder at Eric before changing the subject.

"So Tony, how's that internet company of yours coming?" The room then listened intently as he explained a technicality they had found in their contract. But all the while Tony was talking, Justin couldn't help but think about what Eric had said.