Prologue

( January 2004 )

JC stood watching Abby as she left the dance floor holding David’s hand.  They met up with the other three guys, grabbed some things off the table and then made their way back through the crowd towards the entrance.  Panic and confusion shot through him.

His eyes then locked with hers as she looked back at him one last time from the door.  He stared at her trying to figure out what to do.  He was frozen in place.  He wanted to run after her.  To stop her.  But he couldn’t’ move.  He could see the hurt and sadness in her eyes.  She looked at him as if she wanted to say something, and then turned her back to him and walked out the door.

JC tossed in his bed and switched sides, snuggling deeper into his pillow.

They pulled up in front JC‘s house and his heart sank and fear set in.  “Abby’s car isn’t here!” he said worriedly jumping out of the truck and rushing towards his house.

JC quickly unlocked the door and rushed into the house.  “Abby?  Abby?  ABBY, WHERE ARE YOU?” he yelled as he ran through the house looking in every room downstairs.  He ran up the stairs and down the hall to her room.  He burst through the bedroom door.  “Abby, are you here?” He flipped on the bedroom light and came to a dead stop.  Looking around the room he saw that pretty much all of Abby’s belongings were gone.  The room was in disarray, he could tell her things had been gathered quickly.  “She’s really gone.” he thought to himself.

JC again tossed and turned in the hotel bed he was sleeping in, as his dream of flashbacks continued.

He was sitting on a bench in the mall watching the people as they walked by.  Then something caught his eye a couple stores down from the one Dallas was in.  He squinted his eyes trying to be able to see the girl a little more clearly.  She looked very familiar.  When she turned her head to look back over her shoulder it was then that he knew exactly who she was.  It was Abby’s friend Mahogany.

JC jumped up off the bench and began to make his way over to where she was.  He stopped however when Abby came walking out of the store pushing a stroller.  He stood frozen in place studying her.  She was smiling at something Mahogany had said.  He looked down at the stroller but he really couldn’t see anything from where he was.

He was still just staring at her when Abby laughed again at something her friend had said and then turned her head slightly.  It was then that she noticed JC standing there.  The smile slowly faded from her face and she stared at him.  JC took a deep breath and proceeded to walk over to her.

“Hey, Abby.” he smiled slightly at her and then looked at Mahogany.  “Mahogany, right?”

She smiled at him and nodded.  “Yeah, that’s right.”

JC turned his attention back to Abby.  “How have you been?”

“Good.  And you?” she smiled as warmly as she could.  JC could tell she was shocked to see him.

“I’m good.  Just out here promoting my album.”

“Yeah, I bought it when it was released in October.  You did an amazing job.”

“Thanks.” he smiled.  It made him feel good to know that she had bought his album.  He only hoped that she knew she was the inspiration for a lot of the songs.

Abby was about to say something else to him when a tall blonde man approached them and began talking to Abby, completely oblivious to JC standing there.  “Abigail, the manager said the walker we wanted for Kylie should be in within the next couple weeks and he’ll call us when it comes in.”

Abby looked up at him and smiled.  “Good.  That’s the one I really wanted.  I mean she doesn’t need it right now, but it’s better to be prepared.”

“Well, like I said he’ll call when it’s in.” he said then noticing JC.  “Oh, sorry I didn’t even see you standing there.  I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Oh, no it’s quite alright.” JC waved him off.

“Abigail?  Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” the man asked.

“Yeah, sorry.” she smiled.  “Um…Tommy this is my old friend, JC.  JC, this is my husband Tommy.”

JC stared at her in shock.  Her husband?  She was married?  But he was pulled from his shock when Tommy spoke to him.  “ It’s nice to finally meet you man.  I’ve heard a lot about you.” Tommy smiled as he shook JC’s hand.

JC just smiled warmly back.  “Nice to meet you too.”  He could only imagine the things he had heard about him.  He couldn’t help but wish that Tommy hadn’t heard a thing about him.  He knew that most of it had to be bad things.

Mahogany spoke up at that point.  “Hey, Tommy.  You wanna go with me and Kylie down to the toy store?  I seen this adorable little bear there a couple weeks ago I wanted to get her.” she smiled. JC looked down at the small child in the stroller.  She was a cute little girl.  Lots of brown hair, with big eyes just like Abby.

“Sure.” Tommy smiled.  “We’ll be down at the toy store when you’re done, hun.” he said leaning in and kissing Abby on her cheek, then taking the stroller from her hands and began pushing it down the mall hallway with Mahogany at his side.

JC watched them walk away and then looked back at Abby.  “Soooo….you’re married, huh?” he said glancing down at her left hand to see her wedding ring.

“Yeah.” she nodded.

“How long?” he asked looking back up at her.

“A little over a year now.”

“And the baby?  She’s yours?” he asked.

“Yeah.  That’s my daughter, Kylie.”

JC nodded his head and sighed.  He could not believe this was happening.  His heart was literally breaking at the information he had just received. “She’s beautiful.” he said softly.

“Thanks.” Abby replied.  “So, how are the guys doing?  I heard you’re all working on a new album.”

“The guys are good.  Chris is dating some new girl.  Hasn’t been going on for very long and I’ve only met her once so I can’t really tell you much about that.  Lance, is working on a couple different projects and a movie.  Justin, is just being Justin.  And Joey and Kelly just found out they’re expecting.”

“Oh, really.  That’s great.  Please tell them congratulations for me.  And tell the others I said hello.” Abby smiled brightly at that news.

“I will.” JC said as he continued to star at her.

“Well, JC it was nice seeing you again, but I should probably go catch up with Tommy and Mahogany.  We’ve got some other places we need to go.”

“Oh, sure, right.  I understand.  It was really good seeing you again too.” he leaned in to hug her.

Abby tensed at his touch and that shattered his heart even more.  He leaned back and looked down at her.  “Is there a number we can contact you at.  I know Justin and Joey would really like to talk to you.”

Abby shook her head.  “I don’t think that’s such a great idea, JC.  I’m sorry, but I have a new life now.  You understand right?” she looked him in the eyes.

He understood.  She was telling him she didn’t want anything to do with him.  And that meant his friends as well.  “Of course.  Yeah.” he nodded solemnly.

“Ok, well I gotta go.  Please tell the guys and Kelly hello for me.” she paused.  “And take care of yourself, JC.  And good luck with the tour and everything.” she smiled and then turned and walked away from him.

JC’s eyes flew open and he sat up in bed.  He looked around the room trying to remember where he was.  It was a hotel room.  He then remembered that he was in Seattle, Washington, nearing the end of his tour.  It had been four months since JC had ran into Abby in Las Vegas.  And he had been having the same dream every night since.  Reliving the moments that were embedded in his thoughts for over the last year and a half.

She was never far from his mind.  He thought about her every day.  There always seemed to be something someone would say, or something he would see that would remind him of her.  And of what a fool he had been.  Of the one lie that had tore them apart.  The lie that he didn’t love her the same way.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 1

( May 2004 )

JC was back in Orlando with the rest of the guys of Nsync.  They were working on their fourth album.  It was pretty much complete with the exception of a few minor touch ups here and there that needed to be made.

It had been hard but in between JC’s tour dates he had stopped into different recording studies along the road to record his remaining portions of the album.  But now all the guys were again once back together from their various personal projects to complete their album so that it could be sent to production and then released.

Seeing as all the guys had been extremely busy over the last few months with their own projects, they hadn’t really gotten to see each other that much.  Or talk that much either.  So they were hanging out in the studio catching up as their producers reviewed the material and would then let them each know when they needed to make a change or fix something.

Justin was in the booth at the moment redoing one of his parts that the producer thought could have been done a little stronger and the other four men were sitting around talking about what they had been up to and different things of that sort.

Chris was talking about his trip back home to Pennsylvania to visit some family members he had made recently, and stated that he had seen a girl there that he could have sworn was Abby or her twin.

That of course reminded JC that he hadn’t mentioned to any of the guys when he had spoken to them that he had ran into Abby in Vegas when he was there a few months back.

“I mean I swear I thought she was Abby.  I scared the poor woman to death I know I did.  I ran up and just hugged her and was like “Abby, I haven’t seen you in forever!  How, have you been.” and then the girl looks at me and is like “Who are you?”  I felt SO stupid!  I apologized and explained and she was real nice about it, but I swear she looked JUST LIKE Abby!” Chris exclaimed.

Lance chuckled at the story.  “I wish I would have been there to see that.”

“It’s really funny now.  But at the time I was mortified.  I felt so dumb.” Chris said looking over at JC noticing his silence.  “Oh, C I’m sorry.  I wasn’t thinking.  I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

“No, Chris it’s ok.  Actually, I forgot to mention to you guys, but I ran into Abby in January out in Vegas.”

“You seen Abby?” Lance questioned.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Chris added.

“Did you talk to her?” Joey asked hesitantly.

“Well, I ran into her at the mall after I had done one of those autograph signings.  Dallas was with me.  I talked to her.  She’s…” he paused.

“She’s what?” Chris asked confused.

“Abby’s married.  And she’s got a baby.” JC finally spit out.

“She’s WHAT?” Lance asked unbelievingly.

“You saw, Kylie?” Joey asked and realized very quickly that he had REALLY stuck his foot in his mouth when JC’s eyes shot up to meet his in disbelief.

“You knew about Kylie?” JC questioned.  “How did you know about Kylie?  I thought she didn’t talk to any of us?”

Joey looked down at his hands.  He knew JC was gonna be mad.  He couldn’t really blame him, but then he had made a promise to Abby and she was his friend too, so he wasn’t going to go against one friend for another.  “Yeah, I knew.  I mean not because Abby contacted me or anything.  Me and Kelly were out in Vegas.  You know last October, a lil’ while before your album was released.  We ran into her then.  She had the baby with her and well you can guess the rest from there.  Her and Kelly keep in touch.”

“I cannot believe that you’ve known where she is and how to reach her since last October and you didn’t tell me!” JC said angrily standing up.  “I told her you and Kellie were expecting.  She didn’t act like she knew!”

“So that’s why she called Kellie congratulating her.  I wondered how she found out before Kellie told her.” Joey said aloud to himself.

“Joey!” JC growled.

“C, she made me promise not to tell anyone.  Not you, Justin, Chris OR Lance!  I promised.  She’s my friend too, I couldn’t go against her like that.  You wouldn’t want me to do that to you!” Joey defended.

“This is different, Joey!  You know I’m in love with her!  You know I’ve been miserable since she left!  Why would you keep that from me?  You know she’s married now!  And she’s got a kid with some guy!  That should be ME!” JC yelled.  “I should be her husband!  I should be the father of her children!”

Joey grew defensive.  “Yeah, well maybe you should have thought about that before you did what you did.  All you had to do JC, was tell her that you loved her!  All you had to do was get over your pride, or whatever the hell it was that was holding you back that whole time, and tell her that you loved her.  Then maybe you would be in that position!  But you have NO ONE to blame for that but YOURSELF!”

“OK, guys.  Let’s calm down here!” Lance tried to intervene.

“Your right, Joey.” JC said calming down.  “I should have told her.  And this is all my fault.  But you could have told me.  You could have at least told me that she was happy.  And that she was ok.”

“C, I would have.  But she asked me not to.  Abby’s been through a lot.  You know this first hand.  I was not going to complicate her life by going back and telling you things.  I know you, JC.  You would have pestered the shit out of me until I gave in and told you where she was.  But what would you have done?  She’s already married.  She has a family.  You DO NOT need to get mixed up in that.  You need to just let it go and be happy for her.”

“I wouldn’t have done anything stupid, Joey.  You act like I would have walked up in there and tried to tear her marriage apart.  You know me better than that.  I don’t do things like that.” JC defended.

Joey laughed.  “Except when Abby’s involved.  You’re unpredictable when it comes to her.  You always have been.  I can’t believe I didn’t see that whole thing sooner!  The way you was with her.  The way she was with you.  And the whole time I was totally oblivious!  I’ve never seen you act that way about any girl.  So how could I be sure what you would or wouldn’t do.” he paused in thought.  “But it doesn’t matter now.  It’s over with.  She’s happy.  She’s safe.  She’s doing good.  And she’s moved on.  Now you know.  So now it’s time for you to move on.”

JC sighed.  “If only it were that easy, Joe.”
 

Abby turned around in the passenger seat of Mahogany’s car so she could reach out to sooth a crying Kylie.  “We’re almost home baby.  Mama’s sorry she forgot your bag.  We’ll be there soon!”

Kylie seemed to understand her words, or it was just the soothing sound of her mothers voice because she instantly calmed down and settled back into her car seat looking around.  Abby turned back around in her seat and refastened her seatbelt letting out a long sigh.

“Is everything ok, Abby?  I mean you’ve been kind of out of it lately?  I mean are things going ok between you and Tommy?” Mahogany asked glancing over at her friend with concern.

She had been worried about Abby lately.  She seemed to be struggling with day to day things.  She knew she was under a lot of pressure.  Even though Kylie was now a year old, it was still all rather new to Abby to be mother.  She had to take care of Kylie, work full time, and take care of the household things as well.  But even on top of that Mahogany knew there was something else wrong.

“Why would you ask that?  I forgot her bag.  Not a big deal.  You know how forgetful I’ve been these days.”  Abby answered not looking away from the window she was staring out of.

“Exactly.  You didn’t used to be so forgetful.  But over the last few months you seem to be…well preoccupied by something.”

“Of coarse I am.  I’ve got a lot of responsibilities now.  I’m a mother.  It does that to you.” Abby said still staring out the window.

“Well, if you’re sure.  I just wanted to make sure that everything with Tommy was still going ok.” Mahogany said as she turned off the freeway to make her way to Abby’s apartment.

“M, things are fine with Tommy.  How could they not be?” she finally looked at her friend incredulously.

“Well, you know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” Abby nodded and went to look back off out the window, however her attention was diverted from the passing scenery of the neighborhood they had to drive through to get to her apartment when she heard the all too familiar opening chords, followed by the voice and words that seemed to haunt her.

Clear my eyes it's the morning after
Did I fall in love, or did I find disaster?
Take a second just to breathe
I pick my heart up off my sleeve, yea

There she goes and I know she knows
By the way she eased out on her tippy toes
Skip the breakfast, tea for two
We made no plans to rendeavous, yea

Abby stared at the radio in the car.  It was as if she was momentarily in a trance at hearing his voice again.  And singing that song.  A song that she knew the meaning behind all too well.

Someone for everyone but no one for me
(No one for me)
Constantly searching for the love I need to

Build my world around, around
I'll be the lonely one until I find someone
The one I build my world around, around
So bring the arms of love until I find the one
The one I build my world...

Lazy days, I'm in a hazy phase
Of watching countless ways in which my life goes crazy
Foolishness to blame
Still it pains me all the same, yea

Empty faces with empty gazes
In a race of change I'm losing faith in my pace
Trying to keep my feet before I fall

I'm on this endless road with nothing to see
(Nothing to see)
Constantly searching for the love I need to.....

The music was suddenly cut off when Abby reached out and switched off the radio.  Mahogany looked at her skeptically.  “What’d ya do that for?”

“I just don’t feel like listening to that right now.” she sighed.

“Why?” Mahogany persisted.

“I just don’t.  Ok?” Abby rolled her eyes and looked back off out the window and seen that they were approaching her apartment.

“Could it be because that song hits a lil’ too close to home?” Mahogany gave her a knowing look.

“It doesn’t matter.  We’re here now, so we wouldn’t have heard the rest anyways.” Abby said as they pulled into the parking space directly in front of her front door.

Abby quickly jumped out of the front seat to avoid any further conversation regarding the song and why she didn’t want to listen to it.  She gathered Kylie and her things from the back seat and made her way towards the front door of her apartment.

Mahogany followed close behind carrying Kylie’s car seat.  “Do you need me to take you anywhere else?” she asked.

“No, the rest of the stuff can wait until Tommy gets home.  I appreciate you taking me though.  Sorry, we had to cut our day short because of my forgetfulness.” Abby said referring to the tantrum Kylie had thrown at the store when she didn’t have her blanky.  Abby had gone off and left her bag at the house that had all of her toys and her blanky in it.

“It’s not a problem.  When does your car get out of the shop?  Will you need me to give you a ride to work tomorrow and drop Kylie off at daycare?” Mahogany asked setting the car seat down inside the door.

“We’re supposed to go pick my car up tonight.  So I should be good, but thank you.  I do appreciate you playing chauffer to me and my kid the last couple of days.” she smirked.

“I’ll play chauffer whenever ya need me to.” Mahogany smiled.  “Well, I’m gonna go.  Me and Robbie got plans tonight and I need to go home and get ready.”

“OK, I’ll talk to you later.  Tell Rob I said, hey.”

“Will do.  Call me if ya need me.  Bye!” Mahogany called as she walked out the front door, closing it behind her.

Abby got Kylie settled on the floor with her toys and blanky, and then haphazardly threw herself onto the large sofa.  She laid there staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

She was fiercely peeved with herself, because for the last couple of months since she had ran into JC at the mall in January, she couldn’t get him out of her mind.  And it seemed like there was always something there to remind her.  One of his songs.  His picture on a magazine or newspaper cover.  He was everywhere and she couldn’t escape him.  Which meant she also couldn’t escape the heartache that still lingered in her heart.

( Lyrics: Build My World / By: JC Chasez )
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 2

“So this whole time Joey has known where, Abby was and he didn’t tell any of us?” Justin questioned.  He and JC were at a local restaurant getting something to eat after finishing up in the studio that day.

“Basically, yeah.” JC said taking another bite out of his sandwich.

Justin shook his head.  “I thought she didn’t want to talk to any of us?  That’s what she told me that one day I managed to get her on the phone.  After a month and a half of calling her mind you.  She told me that it was too painful for her to talk or see any of us because we only reminded her of you.  Why has she then been talking to, Joey?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.  I mean Joey said that Abby and Kellie keep in touch.  He didn’t really go into any details about any conversations he’s had with her.  Just that he and Kellie ran into her out in Vegas last October when they were out there.  And she had the baby with her.  And I guess Kellie and Abby have been keeping in touch since then.  I don’t really know.  All I do know is that I’m extremely upset he never said anything.  I don’t care if he promised her or not.  The least he could have done was said that he saw her and she was doing good.”

“Would you really have left it at that, though?” Justin questioned.

JC glared at him.  He was sick of all the assumptions his friends kept making about him when it came to Abby.  “YES!” he snapped.

Justin held his hands in the air.  “Hey, I was just askin’.  You don’t gotta get all defensive on me.”

“Well, I’m just sick of everyone assuming shit about me!”

“JC, you brought that upon yourself.  Look at the way you acted after she left.  I mean what are we supposed to think.  You claim for months on end that you don’t care about her like that, and then in like a split second you change your mind.  Then you go on this all out search for her and shit.  I mean I think you went WAY overboard with going out to Indiana looking for her.  Did you really think that she was going to make it that easy for you?”

“I wasn’t really thinking at the time.  All I knew was that I had fucked up royally and I wanted to bring her back.  That’s ALL I was thinking about.”

Justin looked at JC seriously.  “Why did you let it get that far in the first place?  Why wasn’t you just honest with her from the beginning?  It woulda saved you both a shit load of heartache.”

“I can’t explain it, J.  I mean it’s like I always knew she was special to me.  But I didn’t really understand how she was special until she walked away from me that night.  I knew I loved her.  I never denied that I loved her, just the way I loved her.  But I think I just wasn’t ready to admit it to myself.  After everything that happened with Bobbie, I just wanted some time to be free.  Ya know?  I guess I just kinda assumed that she would always be there.  That I had time to figure everything out.  Had time to have some time to myself.  But I was SO wrong.” he said looking down at his food.

“I knew you was in love with her.  I guess that’s why I was so hard on you.  I was trying to make you see it and admit it.  To bad you’re so damn stubborn!” he smirked.

“Well, if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black!” JC snorted.

“HUH?” Justin gave him a puzzled look.

“Never mind.  I just meant that you’re one to talk.  You’re as stubborn as they come!”

“That I am!  I openly admit that I’m stubborn, but I also know when to draw the line and admit defeat.  And you, my friend went WAY over that line with Abby.”

“Don’t I know it.” he paused.  “If I had only handled things differently.” JC sighed.

“Yeah, if only.” Justin agreed.
 

Abby was sitting on the sofa in her living room staring off into space.  Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.  Thoughts she was trying to forget.  And thoughts she was still trying to make sense out of after all the time that had passed.  Of course those thoughts revolved around JC and the friendship she had once shared with him.

She remembered all of the good times they shared together.  Their time spent developing the pictures from Challenge for the Children in her darkroom.  The way he seemed so eager to learn about her passion.  A soft smiled appeared on her face as she recalled telling him he was like a kid in a candy store or something.

They had so many wonderful memories together.  So many good times.  Even when things were horrible in her life after Mark had died, she still had wonderful memories of JC and the rock he proved to be for her during that time.  But along with all of those good memories she also held the bad ones.  Which in a sense weren’t really bad memories for her.  Just painful ones.

Remembering the times they had been together.  When their friendship had hit some kind of new level.  How amazing she had felt being in his arms.  How gentle and caring he always was.  The way he knew her and how to be with her.  Everything about it was perfect.  Well, everything except for that minor detail of how he had reacted to the situations.  And how he had proclaimed only friendship to her.

To that very day she was still confused about him and his true feelings.  Somewhere in her heart she knew that he loved her more than a friend.  She knew there’s no way he could have been the way he was without there being more.  But she would never understand why he denied it as profusely as he had.

And to only add to her already confused state of mind when it came to him, she now had his album and some very sensitive songs that she could only wonder about.  Some of the situations and things that were spoke of and said in his music hit a little to close to home for her.  She got the distinct feeling that perhaps they were about her.

But if that were the case it only meant that he had felt the same way the whole time.  That he had lied to her.  The thoughts were all so confusing in her head that she couldn’t make heads nor tails out of them.  She found herself even more angry with him thinking that he had been lying to her the whole time.  Yet another part of her was telling her it was stupid to be angry because she already knew.  It just didn’t make any sense.

And then there was her run in with him in January at the mall.  The way he looked at her.  She could have sworn she seen longing in his eyes.  Which made her relieved and utterly terrified at the same time.

Relieved to know that he wanted her.  That he missed her.  That he cared and loved her and wanted her back in his life.

And terrified because she knew that she had a new life.  She had moved on.  Some might say it all happened rather quickly.  And in all honesty it had. But she knew that JC had more power over her than any man she had ever known.  And that scared her.  It terrified her.  Because she had a new life.  A family.  And she knew if he made his presence known around her she wouldn’t be able to deal with the feelings that would surely follow.

It was hard enough to block him out of her mind and heart when he wasn’t around, let alone him showing up in her life again.  Being around her.  Being near.  Near enough for her to touch.  And if she had assumed correctly about the songs on his album then that meant he wanted her.  And that he felt the same way.  She knew there was no way she would be able to push him away.  So where would that leave her and her new family?  She hoped she would never have to find an answer to that question.

She was startled from her thoughts when Tommy sat down next to her and placed a concerned hand on her shoulder.  “Abby, are you ok?” he asked looking her over.

“I’m fine, Tommy.  I was just thinking about some things is all.” she gave him a tight smile.

“You’ve been acting really strange lately.” Tommy pointed out.  “Is there something you need to tell me?  Or something you need to talk about?  Anything I can do to help?”

Abby smiled.  Tommy was a  sweet guy.  Always so caring and always wanting to help in some way.  She wished he could help her with the issues she held bottled up inside.  He had helped her in so many ways since they had come together.  But she knew this was one thing he would not be able to help her with.

“No, everything’s fine.  Like I said I was just thinking.  Work was crazy today.  Just rehashing it in my head.” she lied.

“Oh, well ok.   But if you change your mind and you want to talk about it.  You know I’m here.” he gave her a knowing look as he got up from the sofa and disappeared down the hallway.

Abby watched his retreating back until she could no longer see him.  “Why does my life always have to be so damn complicated?” she asked herself aloud.

She looked down at her daughter as she laid sleeping amongst her toys.  She had played so hard she had fallen asleep with one of her many blocks in her tiny hand.  Abby stared at her silently and just watched her sleep.  She was the most precious thing she’d ever laid eyes on in her life.  She knew this would make a particularly good picture, but she was too wrapped up in the moment of just watching the serenity of her daughters peaceful slumber to move from her spot to get her camera.

She couldn’t help but wish that she always felt as peaceful as she did at that moment just watching Kylie.  But unfortunately that wasn’t the case.  Her mind would always find a way to stir things up.  She really wished there was an off switch for her thoughts.  That would have come in handy several times.  Especially over the last couple of years.  Or more specifically since she had met the infamous JC Chasez.
 
 
 
 

Chapter 3

“Come on, Joe.  Just tell me!” JC pleaded.

“We’ve had this SAME conversation for the last two days.  And the answer is still NO!” Joey growled.  “Give up already!  I’m not tellin’ ya!”

“But you have to tell me!  I already know she’s in Vegas.  Why can’t you just give me her damn phone number and address?  I know you know what they are, so that lie isn’t going to work!”

“What did I tell ya last week?” Joey asked looking around to the other guys that were sitting there helplessly watching the ordeal.  “Didn’t I say he was gonna do this?” he continued.

“So he wants to see her, what’s the big deal?” Chris defended.  He was not about to deny the fact that he wanted JC to get with Abby.  He missed Abby and had thought she was a very sweet girl.  And he could see first hand how much JC loved her.  And if JC wanted to go see her, he thought Joey should tell him how to go about it.  Who cared if she was married and had a child.  He knew Abby still loved JC.  She had to.

“Chris, you are NOT helping me here.” Joey growled.

“Who said I was trying to help you?” Chris questioned.

“See!  Even Chris thinks it’s a good idea!” JC stated.

“Oh, yeah.  And I’m supposed to think that’s a good thing.” Joey shook his head.

“Joe, just tell him already.  He’s been at you for the last two days and personally I’m sick of hearing it.  And I wouldn’t mind knowing where she is either so I can go out there and give her a nice big piece of my mind.  She can call you but she can’t call me!  What kind of shit is that?” Justin pouted.

“If I give him her address and phone number, SHE WILL KILL ME!  What part of that do you guys NOT understand?  I promised her!  Would you want me to give up your info to people if they continuously nagged at me for days on end?  You’d be super pissed if I did that to you!”

“This is different and you know it, Joey.” Lance conceded.

“Oh, God!  Not you too!” Joey threw his hands up in the air and began to make is way out of the room they were sitting in.

JC was on his feet and standing in the doorway before Joey could even get there.  “Just tell me, Joe.  You know you want to.  I need to talk to her.  I’m not going to try to break up her marriage or whatever it is that you THINK I’m gonna do.  I just wanna see her.  Talk to her.  She was my friend before any of that crazy shit between us started happening.  I miss her.  I want to see her.  I want our friendship back!  Why can’t you understand that?” JC continued to plead.

Joey let out a long sigh and looked up towards the heavens for strength.  “I understand what you are saying, but if I give you that information and she finds out I gave it to you, then she’s gonna be pissed at me.  She’s my friend too and I don’t want that.  Not to mention the fact that Kelly would absolutely murder me!  You cannot put me in that position, JC.  You cannot ask me to do that.”

“Joey, please.  I’m begging you here man.  I need to see her.  PLEASE!  I swear I won't tell her you gave it to me.”

“Oh, and if you just magically show up at her house or call her she’s going to KNOW I gave it to you.  There’s no other way for you to get it, C!  She’s not stupid.  You know that!”

“So I’ll wait until she goes out somewhere to approach her.  Make it seem like I’m just running into her again.  Where does she work?  I can just show up there?  Come on man you gotta help me out here.  I just want to talk to her.  I don’t like the way things were left between us.  I wanna make peace.  You are the ONLY person that can help me do that.  Just tell me, Joe.”

Joey stood there for a moment staring off into his friends blue eyes.  He could see the desperation there.  He could see the yearning.  He felt for his friend, he really did.  He knew how much JC loved Abby.  That was all to apparent by the way he had been acting over the last year and a half.  And even more so by the way he was begging and pleading with him over the last couple of days.

He wouldn’t admit it to anyone else.  Or to JC even, but he had purposefully planted those thoughts of JC bothering him for the information as to where Abby lived and how to reach her.  He had intentionally said those things to JC to give him the idea to do it.  The only reason he was holding out was so that it would appear he didn’t want to give him the information.  He knew he had to give in sooner or later, or his plan would fall to pieces.  So he surmised this was as good a time as any.  Especially, when he was staring at complete desperation in his friends eyes.

“Fine!” Joey finally stated.  “Call me later tonight and I’ll give you her info, I don’t have it with me.  And I swear JC, if you tell her that you got it from me I will personally kill you with my own two hands.  You got me?”

“Loud and clear!” JC smirked.

“Wipe that smirk off your face before I change my mind.”

JC quickly sobered up.  “Sorry.”

“Yeah, I bet you are.” Joey snorted before walking around JC and leaving.
 

( 1 week later )

JC sat in his hotel room lost in thought.  Trying to plan out how he was going to approach Abby.  Joey had given him her phone number, her address, and the info on where she worked.  But JC didn’t want to just call her, because well that would be too obvious.  And he didn’t want to show up at her job either, because chances were she wouldn’t be able to talk to him.  And that’s what he wanted.  He desperately wanted to just talk to her.

He wanted to try to some way make amends for everything he had put her through.  He knew she had her own life now, but he honestly wanted her back as a friend.  If he couldn’t have her as anything more, he at least wanted her friendship.  He had never lied to her or anyone before about how much her friendship had meant to him.

So he sat there going over several different ideas in his head on how he could approach her.  Nothing he was coming up with seemed to work.  He had a strong urge to just show up at her doorstep, but knew that wouldn’t go over very well either.  And again it would be obvious that Joey had told him where to find her.

The last option he found himself left with after literally hours of sitting there just thinking about it, was to just go to her apartment and wait on her to leave.  That way he could follow her somewhere out in public where he could then approach her and make it look as though he was just in town and it had been a mere coincidence.

He decided he would put it off until the following day since it would be a Saturday.  He knew from what Joey had told him that she was working Monday through Friday at one of the local casinos taking photographs of the guests and so forth.  That disturbed him.

Mainly because before she left California.  Before she left him.  She was really starting to branch out on her own.  She had a ton of clients and was making really good money just doing freelance photo shoots and things of that sort.  So to know that she had resorted to working for someone else, when she could be working for herself, it really bothered him.

He settled into his room, deciding to spend the rest of the day relaxing and figuring out exactly what he was going to say to her when he got the chance.  Not to mention doing his fair share of praying that when she seen him approaching her that she would not turn and walk the other way.
 

JC had literally been sitting in the parking lot of Abby’s apartment complex for three hours.  He hadn’t seen any signs of her or anyone else coming or going from her apartment.  And he was beginning to give up hope of that particular plan working out.

Finally he noticed her the front door opening.  He slouched down in his seat a bit, not that he really thought anyone would be looking for him to be sitting there.  And he was after all sitting across the parking lot, not even remotely close enough for her to make out that it was him if even if she did notice someone sitting in the SUV.  But he slouched all the same.  He was new to this whole stake out thing he had going on.

He watched as the door opened partially and then no one came out.  But then finally after a long moment the door opened the rest of the way and Abby came walking out of the apartment carrying a small pink and white bag with her.  He assumed it was the baby’s bag.

Immediately following her out was Tommy carry the small child.  JC inwardly groaned at seeing him.  If they went out together it would make it very hard for JC to approach her.  He didn’t know anything about the man.  And he didn’t want to get into an altercation with him either.  He just wanted to talk to Abby.  And if he tagged along on her little outing then that would definitely complicate things for him.

JC watched as Tommy placed the little girl in the backseat of the Cavalier he assumed to be Abby’s.  After he had secured the child, he leaned back out of the car and shut the door turning to Abby.  He would have given ANYTHING for some form of super hearing powers or some kind of a device so he could hear what they were talking about, but unfortunately he had none of those things so he resorted to reading their body language.

He found comfort in the fact that they didn’t seem to be a real touchy feely couple.  At least not out in public.  Of course that was more for his own selfish reasons there.  But he was thoroughly pleased with their interaction, as he watched Abby climb into the car after their conversation ended and Tommy shut her door then made his way back towards the apartment.  He didn’t even hug her goodbye.  Let alone kiss her.  Again JC was glad for that, because he wasn’t sure if he could have sat there and watched that take place.

JC waited for Abby to back out of her space and head for the exit before he started his car and began to follow her.  He didn’t want to get to close for fear she would notice him, and he didn’t want to get to far behind for fear he would lose her.

He followed her for about a half hour.  She stopped at a gas station to put gas in her car, and then from there she headed for a local shopping center.  He parked a row over from her and quite a few spaces down so she wouldn't see him, and waited on her to get out of her car.

Once she had grabbed a nearby shopping cart and had the child all strapped in, she proceeded to head for the store.  It was then that JC finally exited his vehicle and leisurely began to follow her from a good distance back.

On his way into the store he grabbed a shopping cart himself, and began to throw small things in it as he followed her throughout the store.  He needed to give the appearance that he too was there shopping.

JC followed her to the children’s department and while she was over there looking at things and picking up things he assumed she needed for Kylie, he submerged himself in the men’s department across the isle from where she was at.

Once she left the children’s department JC continued to follow her as she made her way over to the women’s department.  He was mentally running several different ideas through his head about what he was going to say when he finally decided to take the notion to approach her.

He was really getting nervous about the whole thing.  Abby was one of those people that was hard to predict.  You never knew how she was going to react to things and that’s what worried him.  He didn’t want her to run away from him.  He just wanted to talk to her.

JC faltered a bit when he seen her make her way into the lingerie section.  Now this was something he could not stand by and watch.  He could NOT stand there and watch her buy lingerie she was going to wear for her husband.  That right there brought upon a ton of thoughts he did not want to have, let alone think about.  He decided in that moment, that this was it.  This was the moment he had been waiting for it was now or never.

He slowly began to approach her, but the closer he got the more nervous he became.  He was suddenly beginning to second guess himself for choosing this particular department to approach her in.  Yup, he was chickening out.

He paused for a moment when he noticed her moving towards the isle.  Now she was literally standing on the edge of the isle with her cart parked right there only a few feet in front of him, while she continued to look through a rack of lingerie.

He quickly decided the lingerie department was NOT the place to approach her and began to walk past her.  He figured he would move on down the isle and wait for her to go to a different department.  But as he began to pass the cart, where Kylie was sitting happily playing with one of her toys she looked up at him and laughed then throwing her toy towards him, where it bounced off of his arm and fell to the floor.

JC froze.  Abby had her back to him but apparently she had caught what the child had done out of the corner of her eye as she quickly fumbled to place what she was looking at back on the rack to turn around.  Thinking quickly JC bent over to pick up the offending toy from the floor.

Abby was completely mortified that her child had just thrown something at someone and began to apologize over and over again.  “Oh my God!  I am SO sorry about that.  I have no clue what has gotten in to her….” she stopped speaking when JC stood back up and outstretched his hand to give the child back her toy.

“It’s ok.” he smiled warmly at her.

“JC?”
 
 
 

Chapter 4

Abby stood staring at JC blankly for a moment.  Of all people to turn around and have right there, it just had to be him.  She didn’t know what to say.  What to do.  So all she did was stand there.

“Hey, Abby.” he continued to smile at her.

Abby came out of her stupor.  “Wha…What are you doing here?” she stuttered.

JC chuckled a bit.  It was now time for him to put on the act of his life.  He nodded towards his shopping cart, then looked back at her.  “What’s it look like I’m doing?  I’m shopping.  What are YOU doing here?” he joked.

Abby smiled at his playfulness.  She missed that.  Hell, she missed him period.  “Shopping.”

“I see that.” he smiled.

“Ok, so it was a stupid question.  Sorry.” she rolled her eyes at him.

JC was feeling rather at ease so far with their interaction.  She was actually joking with him and she didn’t act as if she was going to run away from him.  Or like she was going to freak out on him and make a scene.  That gave him a little bit of courage.

“Sooooo…..shopping for lingerie?” he eyed her.  That was probably the stupidest question he could have asked but he couldn’t help himself.

Abby looked back at the rack behind her and her cheeks blushed profusely.  She was obviously embarrassed he had caught her looking at such intimate things.  She shrugged and finally answered his question.  “Not for me.  For Mahogany.  She’s getting married in a little over a month and I’m throwing her a Bridal Shower.  I wanted to get her something for the honeymoon.” she smiled.

Relief washed over JC’s body.  It wasn’t for her, it was for Mahogany.  He suddenly wanted to drop to his knees and thank the lord above.  “Oh.” he paused.  “Um…she marrying that Robbie guy?”

“Yeah, she’s marrying Rob.” Abby smiled.  “He’s a great guy.”

“Well, please tell her I said congratulations.”

“I will.” Abby smiled and then looked at him oddly as if it had just struck her. “What are YOU doing in the lingerie department?”

JC froze up for a brief second.  He had momentarily forgotten where he really was and he quickly looked around for some kind of an excuse as to where he was coming from.  He eyed the shoe department up the isle a little way, in the direction he had been heading and decided to use that.  “I was headed for the shoe department.”

“Shoe department?” Abby continued to eye him skeptically.

“Yeah.  I wanted to get a pair of flip flops.  I must have left my other pair at the last hotel I was staying in, because I can’t find them anywhere.” he lied.

“Oh.” she said with a little nod, then looked back up at him.  “So what are you doing in Vegas?”

Now came the excuse he had been working on over and over again in his hotel room the whole day before.  “Do you know who George Maloof is?”

“Yeah, he owns the Palms.  Everyone knows who he is.”

“Well, he’s a friend of mine and he’s got this thing going on and invited me and Lance out for it.  So here I am.  Although, Lance couldn’t make it.  He had some other stuff to do.”

“Well, aren’t you kinda off the beaten path.  I mean we’re not anywhere near the strip or near the Palms.  Why’d you drive all the way out here to go shopping for flip flops?”

“Well, hello Abby.  I didn’t want to get mobbed.  So I asked the clerk at the hotel and she gave me directions to this place.  Said it’s not as loaded with tourists and stuff.” he shrugged trying to play off his lie.

“Yeah, this area out here isn’t as busy as downtown.” she surmised.  “Well, I better get going.  I have some other places I need to go and I’ve got plans later on tonight.  It was nice seeing you again.” she stated and began to walk away.

“Abby, wait!” JC panicked.  This was NOT the way things were supposed to go.

She turned and looked at him.  “Yeah?”

“Do you think we could go get a bite to eat or some coffee or something?” he asked timidly.

“I don’t know, JC.  Like I said I’ve got a lot to do today.”  She wanted to spend more time with him, but she knew that wouldn’t be a good thing.  At least not for her.  It would only make the craziness that had been storming around in her head for the last few months since she seen him the last time even worse.

“Come on.  Just a quick cup of coffee or something.  I just wanna catch up with you.  Talk a bit.  Please?” he begged.

“Ok, fine.  But it’ll have to be quick.  I have a lot to do.” she gave in.  Partially from his pleading but more because she just really wanted to be near him.

“Great!” he smiled.  “I’m gonna run over grab those shoes and then when you’re done we can check out.”

“I’m done actually, so I’ll just follow you.”

“You’re not gonna get that thing?” he questioned nodding towards the rack of lingerie.

“I’ll pick her up something later.”

“OK, let’s go.” JC beamed.  He was overwhelmingly happy that she had agreed to have a cup of coffee with him.  Things were going great as far as he was concerned.

They made their way to the shoe department.  JC quickly picking out a pair of flip flops to cover his story and then they both made their way to the front of the department store to check out.

When they got outside JC told Abby he would follow her to the little coffee shop she had told him about while they were standing in the checkout line.  So they both loaded up in their vehicles and made their way a few blocks down the street to a quaint coffee shop.

Once inside they found a small table in the back of the nearly vacant shop and were seated.  Abby settled Kylie into a high chair and placed a few of her small toys on the table in front of her to occupy her while she and JC had their little talk or catch up or whatever he wanted to call it.

The waitress came and took their order and then left them to retrieve the coffee and pastries they had ordered.  She returned a few moments later, just as Abby and JC were starting to talk about what they had been up to.

When the waitress left them alone again, JC looked over at Kylie who was happily playing with her toys.  “She’s getting big.  How old is she now?” he asked.

Abby smiled as he looked at her daughter.  “She just turned one last month.”

“Oh, really.  April, huh?  What day?” he asked.

“April fourth.” Abby said still watching her daughter.

“She looks a lot like you.  Her hair and everything.” JC stated while still watching the child.

Abby stared at Kylie and then looked up at JC.  “Yeah, I guess she does.”

“I guess she got her blue eyes from Tommy.  They definitely have your shape though.” JC said still studying the child.

Abby was becoming very uncomfortable with the way he was studying Kylie, so she decided to change the subject.  “So how are the guys?”

He switched his attention for Kylie to Abby.  “They’re good.  Getting ready for the new album release.  We just finished it up last week, so it’s been sent to production now.”

“That’s good.  I’ll have to buy it when it comes out.” she stated taking a sip of her steaming coffee.

“You don’t have to buy it.  If you want I can have a copy sent to you before it’s even released.” he offered.

Abby smiled at him.  “That’s ok.  I’ll do my part for the record sales and buy it like all the other fans do when it comes out.”

“Well, if you change your mind just let me know.” he shrugged.

They settled into a fairly basic conversation.  JC telling her about some of the songs he and Justin had written for the new album.  And that even Chris and Lance had contributed to some of the writings on this album.  He was telling her how it was going to be a lot different than the things they had done in the past.

He went on to ask Abby about where she was working and how she was liking that.  Mildly questioning her about why she had given up her freelance work.  She explained that with Kylie she just didn’t have a lot of time for that kind of work.  So she was just doing this until Kylie got a little older.

They had been sitting in the coffee shop talking for almost an hour when JC decided that enough chit chat had ensued and it was time for him to bring up what he really wanted to talk to her about.  How things had ended.

“You know Abby, I just want to apologize for how everything ended up.” he said out of nowhere and Abby looked up at him with surprised eyes.

“It’s ok JC, you don’t need to apologize.” she said hoping he would leave it at that.  WRONG.

“No, I really do.  I screwed up big time and I’m really sorry.  I know I really hurt you and…”

Abby cut him off.  That was the last thing she wanted to talk about.  She was suddenly realizing that having coffee with him was a VERY bad idea.  “Just stop, JC.  I don’t really want to talk about that.”

“But I want to apologize.” he protested.

“You’ve apologized.  Now leave it at that, please.”

“Abby…” he sighed.  “I can’t leave it at that.  I know I screwed up.  I really hurt you, and I feel horrible about that.  I wish I could go back in time and make everything right.”

“But you can’t.  So just drop it!” she said growing frustrated.

“I can’t drop it, Abby.  I don’t want to leave things the way they are.  I want you back in my life.  I can’t deal with the way you left me.”

“The way I left you?  You make it sound like we were in a relationship or something.”

“Well, we were.  We had a friendship.  Friendship is a relationship.” he paused.  “And we kinda had more.”

Abby looked at him in disbelief.  “OK, I gotta go.  I knew this was a bad idea.” she said as she started to get up from the table.

JC quickly reached across the table and grabbed her hand.  “No, sit down.  I’m sorry!  I just felt the need to express to you that I’m sorry about the way things ended.  I wish things were different.  I want you back in my life.  I miss you.”

Abby looked around the small coffee shop.  She noticed their waitress whom was standing behind the counter was eyeing her oddly, so she sat back down with a slight huff.  “You should have thought about those things before, JC.” she said softly.

“I didn’t tell you to leave, Abby.  I never wanted you to leave.  You don’t honestly think that’s what I wanted do you?” he questioned, gripping her hand tighter when she tried to pull it away.

“You KNOW why I left, JC!” she glared at him.

“Honestly, I don’t.  I mean I know you were upset with me and you were hurting.  But we had worked through all of that before.  Things could be so different now if you would have stayed.  The things you said to me that night really made me realize a few things…”

She cut him off.  “Yeah, well you should have spoke up then when I gave you the chance.  But instead you sat there and told me…” she stopped.  “You know what I’m not even gonna get into this with you.  It’s over.  It’s done.  It’s in the past.  I have a new life now and all of that stuff from back then doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter that I love you?  That I’m IN love with you? You bought my album.  You told me that.  If you’ve listened to that album then you know how I feel.”

“Yeah, well you decided to vocalize those feelings a little too late didn’t you?  I’m married for God sakes!  What do you want me to do, JC?  Do you want me to just give everything up I have now, and run to you?  I can’t do that!” she said angrily.

JC looked at her for a moment.  He was growing frustrated with how things were going.  And then she had to go and bring up her marriage.  He couldn’t understand how she could move on so quickly with someone else if she was SO in love with him, the way she had claimed to be.  “About that.” he said.

Abby sighed inwardly to herself.  She could tell by his tone she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.  She really didn’t need this right now.  “What about it?”

“How

Chapter 11

“JC, are you sure this is a good idea?” Joey asked as they entered the hospital, making their way towards the elevator.

“Yeah.  Why wouldn’t it be?” JC answered stopping in front of the elevator and helping Kylie press the button.  “That’s it.  Just push right there.” he told her.  He knew what Joey was referring to but he was trying really hard to ignore him.

“C, you know what Tommy said yesterday.  This is going to start an all out war.  Calling Mahogany and telling her you’d come pick Abby up.  Going against his wishes like that.  Do you really want to start something you can’t finish?” Joey persisted.

JC’s head shot up and he looked at Joey.  “What makes you think I can’t finish it?”

Joey shook his head in disbelief.  “You are aware that if Abby actually leaves with us, this is going to cause problems with her and Tommy.  And not only that, it’s only gonna piss him off that much more.”

“He’ll get over it.” JC shrugged walking into the elevator when the doors opened.

Joey followed JC in, leaning against the far side of the elevator.  He watched his friend, studying him.  “You’re doing this on purpose.” he blurted out.  “You want to cause problems between them, don’t you?”

JC looked over at Joey innocently.  “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Aw, come on, C!  Don’t play me like that.  I’m not stupid.  It’s very evident what your doing.  I just hope you thought this all the way through.  Not only are you putting Abby in a bad position but you’re also putting Kylie in one as well.  They live with the guy.  Kylie lives with them!  Do you think it’s gonna be healthy for her to hear them fighting all the time?”

“If they’re as in love and happy as they’ve said they are then they won't have anything to fight about.” JC shrugged.  He didn’t want to admit to Joey that he hadn’t thought about how this would effect Kylie.  That idea had never really crossed his mind.  And now that it had he was starting to rethink his little plan.

“Whatever!” Joey grumbled thoroughly annoyed with JC’s attitude about the whole thing.  He walked off the elevator as soon as the doors opened and began making his way to Abby’s room.  JC following a short distance behind him.

When they got to Abby’s room, she was sitting on the hospital bed fully dressed watching the TV.  Joey walked through the door and cleared his throat.

Abby looked at them questioningly.  “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re here to pick you up.” JC said cheerfully, walking over to the bed and handing Kylie over to her.

“Uh…I thought Mahogany was going to pick me up?”

“I called her and told her not to worry about it, that me and Joe would do it.  She had a photo shoot this morning anyways and said she woulda been rushing around, so it all works out for the best.  Besides, I knew you would want to see Kylie, and we woulda had to bring her to your place later anyways, so what’s the difference?”

Abby looked at him skeptically.  She knew if she allowed Joey and JC to take her home that Tommy would flip out about it, but he did have a point as far as the whole Kylie thing went.  And Mahogany was already gone doing her thing.  She honestly didn’t really see what the big deal was anyways, and as it stood now she really didn’t have a choice either.  “Ok, whatever.” she finally said turning her attention to Kylie.

JC grinned.  “Good.  So what are we waiting for?  You ready to go?”
 

The group made their way into Abby’s apartment.  JC carrying Kylie, Joey carrying Abby’s bag for her.  Abby sat her keys down on top of the coffee table and looked around the room.  It was a mess.  Beer cans sitting all over the place.  She couldn’t believe it.

She looked up at Joey and JC and noticed the looks on their faces as they looked around the room.  “Uh….sorry about the mess.  Tommy apparently doesn’t know how to pick up after himself.  It doesn’t normally look like this.” she blushed, rushing to grab the beer cans and throw them away.

Joey stopped her. “Abby, you’re in no shape to be cleaning up this mess.  Don’t worry about it.  Trust me when I say I’ve seen much worse.  You just sit down and relax, and I’ll pick this up for you.”

“Ya know…it was really nice of him to have a party while his wife was in the hospital.  Cause that’s really what it looks like went down here.” JC said looking around.

Joey turned and gave JC a dirty look.  “Would you shut up!” he muttered.

“What?” JC questioned.  “It’s the truth.  His wife’s in the hospital and he’s back her holding it down by having a party and leaving one hell of a mess for her to clean up when she comes home.  That’s not a very caring thing to do, if you ask me.”

“Nobody asked you.” Joey glared.

“Ok, guys that’s enough.” Abby interrupted them.

Joey turned and looked at her.  “You’ll have to excuse him.  He seems to have misplaced his brain today.”

Abby chuckled at Joey’s comment.  She’d never seen those two bicker at each other the way they were and it was more than amusing to her.

Joey went about picking up all the beer cans and although Joey fought her on it, Abby helped him.  And while they were doing that, JC had laid Kylie down on a blanket he had spread out on the floor, and was looking around Abby’s living room.  His eyes drifted to all of the photographs that were displayed around the room.  Tons of pictures of Kylie from a newborn to current.  JC had no doubts that Abby would have a lot of photographs of their daughter, with her being a photographer and all.

His eyes settled on a picture of Abby and Tommy.  Their wedding day.  Abby was wearing a beautiful white wedding gown, Tommy in the basic black tux.  JC fought the temptation he felt to hurl the picture across the room, and instead continued to study it.

He had seen many photographs from weddings.  His parents, family members, and friends that were married.  And the couples always looked so happy and in love, but he just didn’t see that in this picture.  They stood, Abby’s hand in Tommy’s before the pastor, however there was no smile on Abby’s face.  No adoration.  The only emotion JC could interpret from Abby’s face was one of fear or unhappiness.  He told himself this was yet another sign that Abby was not meant to be with Tommy.

JC turned away from the picture when Abby sat down on the sofa with a sigh.  “You ok?” he asked.

Abby looked up at him with a faint smile.  “Just tired is all.  My arms throbbing, but I don’t want to take any of my pain pills because Tommy won't be home for around another five hours and I don’t wanna pass out while I’m here all alone with Kylie.”

JC nodded in understanding and made his way to set beside her on the sofa.  “Actually, I had an idea.  Feel free to tell me no, but…well…um…” he stuttered nervously.

Abby studied him.  “Spit it out JC.” she chuckled.

“Well, I was thinking that maybe I could keep Kylie for a few more days.” he said waiting on her to flip out and tell him no, but that didn’t happen.

“You want to keep her for a few more days?” she questioned.

“Yeah.  Well, see your not really going to be able to take care of her real well with your cast.  And you’re still healing from the car accident so you really should rest for a few more days before taking on the chore of looking after a small child.   And well I’d like to spend some more time with her.”

“Oh.  Well, I figured that you’d be going back to Cali.”

“I’m not going anywhere right now.  You need…” he stopped before he could finish that sentence.  He was about to tell her that she needed him there, but knew that wouldn’t go over well.  “You need to rest.  And we need to figure out how we’re going to arrange this whole thing with Kylie.” he covered.

“Well, you know I don’t object to you spending time with her.  And honestly I think it would be good if you continued to spend time with her so she gets to know you better.  It’s evident she’s already very comfortable with you.  I guess that would be ok.” she agreed.

“Really?  No arguments or fights?” JC asked surprised.  He was just positive she was going to fight him on his idea, he couldn’t believe she was giving in so easily.

“I think I kept her from you long enough JC.” Abby said looking down at her cast.  “I don’t want to keep her from you anymore.”

JC was about to tell her that he understood, when Joey walked back into the room.  “OK, that’s all done.  I even took the trash down to the dumpster for you.  Do you need anything else before we high tail it out of here?” he asked.

“Abby, said I could keep Kylie for a few days Joe.” JC informed him happily.

“That’s good.” Joey smiled.

Abby looked to Joe.  “So how long are you going to be in town?”

“Only a day or two more.  This trip really wasn’t planned.  JC called the night of your accident upset and wanted me to come out here for support.  But I gotta get back to Florida.  Got some things on my schedule this coming week.  And I miss my lil’ girl.” he grinned taking a seat in the recliner.

“So your not gonna be at the hotel with JC?” Abby questioned and JC’s ears perked up.

“Don’t tell me your not gonna let me take her if Joe’s not there.  That’s not fair.” he began to argue.

Abby looked at him amused.  “I wasn’t going to say that.  I was simply asking.  I think your doing a good job from what I’ve seen, and you gotta learn sometime.”

“You scared me there for a sec.” JC said settling back into the sofa.

Abby sighed and looked around the room, her eyes settling on her daughter playing happily on the floor.  “If you’re going to take her for a couple days I should probably put a bag together for you.”

Joey snorted.  “I don’t think the kid needs anything!”

Abby looked to JC for answers as to what Joey’s statement meant.  “I went shopping.” he shrugged.

“Yeah, and he bought the whole damn store too!”

“She has clothes, diapers, and all that stuff?” Abby questioned.

“Yeah, I got her a couple outfits, and diapers.” JC answered.

“And a traveling crib, car seat, toys, play pin, and a bunch of other stuff.” Joey added.

“Ok, so I went a little overboard.  WHATEVER.  I missed the first year of her life, I think I’m entitled to spoil her a little bit.” JC huffed crossing his arms over his chest , pouting at the way Joey was making fun of him.

Abby laughed at JC.  He looked so adorable sitting there pouting like a small boy.  She missed the pout.  He had always given her that pout.  She missed so many things about him, and about the time they spent together.  She sighed and shook her head, as if to rid herself of the memories that were beginning to fill her thoughts.  Those were things she needed to forget.  Especially, if she was going to make this whole situation work.

“Well, if you’re going to keep her for a few more days she’s going to need more clothes.  She goes through a couple outfit’s a day.” Abby said getting up from the sofa.

“Yeah, I noticed.” JC chuckled and got up to follow her.

Abby turned and looked at him.  “What are you doing?”

“I was gonna help you pack her bag.”

“I can get it myself, JC.” she said motioning for him to sit back down.

“Well, I wanna see her room.  Or am I not aloud to see my daughters room?”

Abby sighed.  “Of course you can see her room.  Come on.” she said and looked at Joey.  “Can you keep and eye on her a sec?”

“Sure, no problem.” Joey smiled getting up form the chair to lay on the floor next to Kylie as Abby and JC made their way upstairs.

JC followed Abby down the short hallway.  All the doors were shut, so he wasn’t sure what door went where.  He was hoping to catch a glimpse of Abby’s bedroom, although he wasn’t really sure why he would want to see the room and the bed that she shared with her husband, but something inside of him wanted to.

Abby walked to the end of the hallway and opened the door on the left walking into the room, JC following closely behind.  He stopped in the doorway and looked around the room decorated in a soft pink, with fluffy white clouds painted on the walls.  As his eyes scanned the room he took in Kylie's beautiful white crib and the stuffed animals that lined it.  When his eyes focused on the other side of the room he noticed a twin bed.

“Why do you have a twin bed in here?  She’s to little for that isn’t she?”

Abby looked back at JC and he could have sworn he saw a look of panic cross her face, but she quickly composed herself.  “Sometimes I sleep in here with her when she’s fussy.  It’s just easier to have an extra bed.  And it’s also for when we have guests over since we only have a two bedroom.”

“Oh, ok.” JC said, not totally believing her.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 12

JC continued to look around the room as Abby packed a small bag for Kylie.  He made his way over to the closet to look at all of Kylie’s little clothes that were hanging from miniature hangers.  He couldn’t help but smile at that site.  It was only yet another reminder of how small and fragile his daughter was.

He noticed some of Abby’s clothes also hanging in the closet as well.  “Do you still wear this stuff?” he asked shuffling through the clothing.

“Huh?” Abby asked not sure what he was talking about as she folded another sleeper and placed it in the bag.

“These clothes in here?  Do you still wear them?” he asked again.

Abby looked back over her shoulder and seen that he was looking through the closet.  She couldn’t remember JC being this nosey before, but it seemed he was just checking everything out this time around.  “Um…we ran out of closet space in the other closet so I store some of my stuff in here.” she shrugged.

JC nodded and turned around making his way over to the twin bed that Abby had the clothes laid out on and was individually folding them up.  So he picked up an article of clothing and mimicked her, folding the small outfit and then placing it in the bag.

“You know we do have some things we need to talk about.” he stated out of nowhere, although somehow Abby knew that he was going to bring this up sooner or later.

“Yeah, I know.” she responded staying focused on her task.

JC reached out and grabbed her hands to still the folding and packing process.  “Can you please look at me.  I would like to talk about this now, while we’re alone.”

Abby looked up at him warily.  “I was hoping we could actually wait a few days to have this discussion.”

“Why wait?  I think this is as good a time as any.  We really don’t need to put it off any longer.” he said motioning for her to sit down on the bed.

Abby sighed as she sat down on the bed.  “JC, I just done want to get into another argument with you.  I know this is all my fault and I know I messed up and I’m truly sorry and I know nothing I can do will make what I’ve done right.  But I just don’t want to fight about it.”

“Who said we were going to fight about anything?  I just wanted to know how you plan on sharing custody with me.  We don’t have to fight about this, Abby.  We can just agree that you’ll move back to California and then everything will be fine.” he said as if it were really that simple.

Abby laughed at him, thinking he was joking.  She could have sworn he was joking the way he had said it.  He made it out like it was the easiest and simplest thing in the world.  “Just move back to Cali, huh?” she chuckled.

JC smiled.  “Yeah.  You and Kylie can stay with me.  Or I can get you a place.  Whatever you want.”

Abby looked at him sharply, realizing he wasn’t joking.  He was serious.  “I can’t move back to California, JC.  Have you lost your mind?”

“Well, then how am I going to see her?  I need her close by so I can see her on a regular basis.” he retorted.

“Well, if you want to be close to her then I guess you’ll have to move out here, cause I can’t move to Cali.”

“Why not?  My house is in California.  You are more than welcome to stay there.  And you always said you didn’t want to live in Vegas anyways, so it’s a win, win situation.”

“But this IS where I’ve lived for almost the last two years, JC.  This is where my work is.  Where my family is.” Abby argued.

“Your family?” JC questioned, eyeing her.

“Yes, my family JC.  My husband and my daughter.”

“Why did you go and marry him when you knew you were having my baby?  Why did you do that, Abby?” JC asked softly totally switching the subject.  “Why didn’t you just come to me and tell me?”

Abby looked at him in shock for a moment.  She didn’t want to have this conversation again.  They had already had this conversation and it started an all out fight.  She didn’t like it when JC was angry at her and the last thing she wanted to do was fight with him.  They seemed to be getting along for the moment and she just wanted to keep it that way.  Was that really too much to ask?  Apparently so.

“JC, we’ve had this conversation already.  I told you why.” she sighed.

“Yeah, but it still doesn’t make sense to me, Abby.  I just don’t understand why you kept this from me.  I know what you say your reasons are, but it doesn’t make sense to me.  I just wish you’d tell me the truth.” JC said looking into her eyes.

“I did tell you the truth, JC.  I was scared and I didn’t want to be around you at the time.  You hurt me.  I couldn’t be around you like that, so I moved on.  Tommy was a good friend to me and when he found out I was pregnant, he offered to marry me and raise the baby with me.  I told you all of this already.  I wasn’t lying.”

“So you don’t love him?” JC questioned.

“YES!  Of course I love him.”

“But you just said…”

Abby cut him off.  “That doesn’t mean I don’t love him.”

JC was growing angry.  Just hearing her say that she loved Tommy was enough to make a fury build inside of him.  “How can you love someone that treats you the way he does?”

“How does he treat me, JC?” she retorted.

“He yells at you.  Trashes the house and leaves it that way for you to clean up when you get out of the hospital.  He doesn’t seem to be a very loving husband.  How can you love him?  He treats you horribly from what I’ve seen.  What is there to love?” JC demanded angrily.

Abby’s anger grew.  Who was he to question her?  Sure, he had a right to question her where Kylie was concerned, but this had nothing to do with Kylie.  He hadn’t even mentioned her name.  This was all about Abby and her love life, which was none of his business.  “I guess I just have a habit of loving people that treat me like shit.” she snapped back.

JC froze, knowing exactly what she meant by those words.  “Abby, I…”

“Just stop while you’re ahead, JC.” Abby said as she got up and stuffed the rest of Kylie’s clothing into the bag and zipped it closed.  “I think you should go now.  I don’t want to fight with you.  I’m tired.  I’m in pain.  And for Kylie’s sake I do not want to fight with you.”

JC stood up taking the bag from her.  “I didn’t mean to upset you.  It’s just hard for me to understand all of this.  It’s going to take time for me to adjust.”

“I understand that, JC.  But in the meantime you need to get used to the fact that I’m happily married to Tommy.  I cannot and will not move to California with you.  And if you want to see Kylie then you’ll have to figure that out on your own.  You have the right to ask me and talk to me about anything that pertains to Kylie, but you DO NOT have the right to question me about my life.  You lost that right a long time ago.” she said and then walked out of the room.

JC stood there for a moment thinking about all of the things that had just been said.  She was right.  He had treated her badly before, so who was he to judge how someone else was treating her.  But still he couldn’t quite allow that fact to sink into his head.  He loved Abby, and sure he had messed up, but he had seen the error of his ways.  All he wanted was the chance to make it right.  But it was all to obvious that this battle was only beginning and it wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought.  Especially, with Abby fighting him every step of the way.
 

“Honey, I’m home!” Tommy called out as he walked through the apartment door chuckling slightly.

When he received no response, he walked further into the apartment.  He spotted Abby sleeping quietly, stretched out on the sofa.  He walked over to the play pin that was setup in the corner of the room expecting to find Kylie dozing as well since it was so quiet, but when he got there and found it empty his brow scrunched up in confusion.

The thought then occurred to him that perhaps she was upstairs, so he quietly made his way through the living room back to the entry way and up the stairs to Kylie’s room.  He entered her room quietly and walked over to her crib only to find it empty as well.  Now he was really confused.

Tommy made his way back down stairs and kneeled down beside Abby, shaking her gently to wake her.  “Abby. Abby, wake up.”  When he saw her eyes flutter open as she stirred, he questioned her.  “Where’s Kylie?”

Abby blinked several times trying to focus on Tommy’s face.  She had taken her pain pills after JC and Joey left with Kylie earlier that afternoon and passed out on the sofa.  It appeared that the meds were still in her system as she was still feeling very groggy.

“She’s with JC.” Abby said softly and then tried to roll over to go back to sleep.

“WHAT?” Tommy shouted, whipping her back over to face him.  “Why the hell is she with him?  It thought he was going to drop her off this afternoon?”

“Ow…watch the arm!” Abby whined, as she jerked away from Tommy.  “Joey and JC picked me up from the hospital and JC asked if he could keep her a few more days since I still needed time to rest.  I didn’t see anything wrong with it, so I let him take her.”

“Have you fucking lost your mind?” Tommy yelled, throwing his hands into the air as he stood upright.

Abby slowly sat up on the sofa and looked at him.  “Would you stop yelling?  You’re acting crazy!  What’s gotten into you lately?”

"What’s gotten into me?  WHAT’S GOTTEN INTO ME?” his voice grew.  “You shipped my kid off with some other man, that’s what’s gotten into…” he stopped abruptly.  “Wait…did you just say they picked you up from the hospital?”

Abby sighed she knew that wasn’t going to go over well, but she also knew she couldn’t lie either because he would find out one way or another.  “Yes, JC and Joey picked me up.”

“I thought I made it clear to him yesterday that Mahogany was going to pick you up?  Where the hell was she?”

“She had a photo shoot this morning.  It was easier for Joey and JC to come pick me up.”

“He’s doing this shit on purpose.  I just know he is.  He’s trying to tear us apart!” Tommy yelled.

“Would you quit acting like a lunatic?!  What’s the big fucking deal?  Why are you acting like this?” Abby demanded her temper flaring.

Totally ignoring her Tommy continued his rant.  “I’m going over to that hotel right now and getting her.  I do NOT want him around Kylie!  This is going to stop.  And it’s going to stop here!” he said as he started to march off towards the front door.

Abby was on her feet quickly and going after him. She grabbed his arm and began to tug on him, trying to pull him away from the door.  “TOMMY NO!” she yelled.  “Stop this craziness.  She’s not yours, you can’t do that!”

Tommy jerked his arm away and shoved her, sending Abby to the floor.  She was so shocked that he had actually pushed her to the floor like that, she didn’t know what to do, and just sat there.  Tommy also froze.  He hadn't meant to push her to the floor like that.

He quickly rushed to her side.  “I’m sorry Abby.  I didn’t meant to do that.” he said, reaching out to her.

“Don’t fucking touch me!  You’re being a jackass Tommy and I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you but you need to get it together!” Abby yelled, scrambling off the floor and running up the stairs before he could see her break down into tears.

Tommy slowly moved over to the recliner and threw himself back into it.  Clutching his hand to his throbbing head, he was trying to make sense of his actions just moments before.  He was just so angry and determined.  He didn’t know what had come over him, but here lately it seemed to be creeping up inside of him more frequently.

All he knew was that everything had been perfect for him and Abby.  Until January that is.  After she had ran into JC at the mall that day things had slowly began to go down hill.  She had brought up telling JC about Kylie several times after that run in, and Tommy had repeatedly talked her out of it.  He knew that keeping the truth from JC about Kylie was tearing Abby apart inside, but he also knew that if she told him, then the perfect little life they had created would go down in flames.  And now he was seeing just how right he had been.
 
 
 
 

Chapter 13

Abby laid on the bed in Kylie’s room, staring off at the ceiling.  Her tears finally subsiding.  She was crying for so many reasons.  So many reasons, that she couldn’t keep track of them all anymore.  She wanted so badly for the whole mess to be over, but she knew it was only the beginning.  The beginning of her inner battle.  That was what worried her the most.

Tommy was right when he had said she still loved JC.  She knew it.  Tommy knew.  And Abby was pretty sure that even JC knew it.  But she had a different life now.  Maybe it wasn’t the life she had always dreamed of having but it was her life none the less.

She loved Tommy in his own special way.  He had always been good to her.  Been a good friend.  And he was an amazing father to Kylie, but he seemed to be changing and that scared her.

Abby could understand Tommy being upset about JC’s pending relationship with Kylie.  Tommy had been there since she was born.  He had taken care of her.  Looked after her, and JC’s sudden appearance was going to change all of that for Tommy.  But it wasn’t like he didn’t know.  It wasn’t like he had thought Kylie was really his daughter the whole time and he had just found out other wise. So although some of his actions were understandable, a lot of them still weren’t.  Case in point; him pushing her.

She sighed and closed her eyes.  She just wanted to sleep and forget about the madness that was surrounding her at the moment.  She was sure that things were going to get worse before they got better, and she needed to get back on her feet before that happened.  But she knew they were already off to a good start.
 

( Next day )

“I’ll be home right after work.” Tommy said as he moved around the kitchen stuffing documents into his briefcase that he needed to take to the office.

“Ok.” Abby said concentrating on the magazine she was reading as she ate her breakfast.

Tommy sighed and looked over at her.  She had hardly spoken to him since they had got up that morning.  He knew he had been out of line the night before but it annoyed him that she was acting this way about it.  He had apologized, what more did she what?

“Abigail?”  He said trying to get her attention.  When she only responded with a “what” without looking up at him he slammed his briefcase down on the table, causing her to jump.  “Abigail, look at me!” he demanded.

Abby looked up at him with startled eyes.  “What?” she questioned.

“I’m trying to talk to you and you’re ignoring me.  Quit acting like a baby and talk to me.”

“I was talking to you.  I answered you.  What more do you want?”

“Don’t play like you don’t know what I’m talking about!  You’re sitting there ignoring me.  You wouldn’t even look at me when I was talking to you.  I don’t want to play these games with you.  I told you I was sorry about last night.  I didn’t mean to push you, I was just pissed off.  But I apologized, that should be enough.”

“Oh, so you push me and then apologize and that’s supposed to make it all ok?  Sorry, it doesn’t work that way Tommy!” she said getting up from the table, shoving the chair in and moving towards the living room.

Tommy followed her.  “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do then?  Gravel at your feet?  What do you want me to do to make it up to you?”

“You can’t make it up to me!  So just leave it alone!”

“You’re being really stupid about this!” he growled heading for the front door to leave.

“Yeah, I guess I have no right to be upset about it.  I mean it’s nothing when your HUSBAND shoves you to the ground!  That’s NOTHING to be upset about.  I’m making a big deal out of nothing!” she yelled.

Tommy was halfway out the door when he heard her words.  He stopped and stormed back into the living room stopping right in front of her.  “What’s that supposed to mean?  Why’d you say it like that?”

“Say what like what?” she glared at him.

“You know what!  Why did you say husband like that?” he yelled.

“YOU KNOW WHY!” she yelled back.

Tommy reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders and began to shake her.  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Hey, hey, hey….what’s going on in here?” Joey questioned walking into the entryway.

Tommy froze, his hands still tightly grasping Abby’s shoulders.  He glared at her.  “This is all your fault.” he muttered to her so only she could hear, then turned around and seen not only Joey standing in the entry way, but JC was also standing beside him, Kylie securely tucked on his hip.  Both men were staring at him incredulously.

“Nothing’s going on.  I was just leaving.” he huffed shoving past them to leave, slamming the door on his way out.

Joey and JC watched him leave, and then turned back to look at Abby who was still standing in the same spot with a mixed look of fear and confusion written across her face.

“Care to explain what the hell that was about?” JC said, as he walked over to Kylie’s playpen and sat her down.

Abby tried quickly to compose herself.  “That was nothing.” she said running her good hand through her hair to push it back out of her face and walking towards the kitchen.  “We were just having an argument.”

“I’ll say.  We could hear you clear out in the parking lot!” Joey stated watching her closely.  He glanced over at JC and they shared a knowing look.

“Well, people get loud when they’re upset, Joey.” Abby said as she disappeared into the kitchen.  She needed to regain her composure.  She could not let them see her like this.  Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a believable explanation for what they had walked in on.  She just didn’t need this right now.

Joey followed her into the kitchen.  “Abbs, I know it’s none of my business but I don’t like what I seen when I walked through that door.  What the hell’s going on?” he asked with pleading concern filled eyes.

Abby sighed.  “You’re right Joey it’s none of your business.  It’s not what you think it was I can assure you of that.  We were just arguing about some stuff.  Not a big deal, so don’t get all worked up about it.”

“How can I not get worked up, when I walk through the door and see your husband of all people shaking and yelling at you?  Especially, when you just got out of the hospital!”

“He wasn’t shaking me.  I stumbled and he was trying to steady me.” Abby lied.  She didn’t know he’d actually seen that part.  She had assumed they’d only heard the argument.

“Don’t lie to me, Abby.  I know what I saw!” Joey eyed her.

“We both saw it.”

Abby looked from Joey to JC, who was leaning in the doorway to the kitchen.  “Look it’s not what you guys think so drop it ok.  You know me better than that.  You KNOW I would NOT tolerate a man hitting on me or anything like what you’re suggesting.”

“But you’ll let him shake you?” JC questioned.

“UGH!” Abby grunted as she threw her hands in the air and barged past JC into the living room.  She walked over to Kylie and picked her up and started chattering to her in a sweet motherly tone.  Trying her hardest to ignore the two men she knew were staring at her.  She could feel their eyes burning into her back.

“Abby, we’re not trying to be all up in your business but we’re concerned.  You can’t fault us for that.” Joey said quietly as he approached her from behind.

Abby closed her eyes and looked down at Kylie’s smiling face.  “There’s nothing to be concerned about, so please just drop it.” she said without looking at them.

Joey glanced at JC and he could see the anger in his eyes.  He had to admit that he was impressed JC was restraining himself as well as he was.  Hell, he was impressed that HE was restraining himself as well as he was.  When they had made it to the door and seen that it was partially opened and heard the yelling going on inside they decided to go on in.  Nothing had prepared them for the site they were greeted with.

Joey’s first instinct was to snatch Tommy up by his hair and ring his neck, and Joey was pretty positive JC was feeling the same way.  But he knew he would not get anywhere with Abby by pressing her.  He just had to trust in the fact that she was telling the truth and that this was a one time event.  He couldn’t imagine the stress she was under with everything going on.  Or the problems this whole thing must be causing between her and Tommy.  So it was somewhat understandable that they were fighting and arguing.  But that still did not give Tommy the right to put his hands on her.

Joey sighed.  “Fine, I’ll drop it.  But if I see him with his hands on you like that again, I swear to God you cannot hold me responsible for what I’ll do to the guy.  I mean it, Abby!”

“You don’t have to worry about that, because it won't happen again.  Just let it go.” she said, turning to look at them.

JC still stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, not saying a word at the moment.  Although she could tell from the look on his face that he was thoroughly upset and had a million things he wanted to add to the conversation, but wasn’t.  She said a silent thank you for that.  She didn’t need both of them on her back.

“Whatever you say, Abbs.  You just remember what I said.” Joey stated before walking off towards the kitchen to get himself something to drink.

Abby looked back at JC again.  He was still standing there just staring at her.  “Just spit it out and get it over with.  I can’t stand you staring at me like that.” she told him.

“It’s not my business, Abby.  But let me say this.  He pulls that shit when Kylie’s around, and we WILL have some major problems!”

“JC, he would never hurt Kylie.” Abby objected.

“Yeah, like I’m sure he would never hurt you, but he just did!  And I don’t appreciate that shit either.  But he’s your husband, and you told us not to worry about it, so I’ll leave it alone for now.  But I agree with Joey.  If I see him with his hands on you like that again.  Or if he so much as raises his voice to you while Kylie is in the same room, shit WILL hit the fan!  And I’m not joking.” JC stated firmly and then he too turned into the kitchen to get something to drink and to try to collect himself before he really just let it all go and blew up.

Abby sighed and looked down at Kylie again.  She was all smiles and giggles that morning.  She looked happier than Abby could ever remember seeing her.  Obviously her time with JC was going well.  At least she could take some comfort in that, seeing as nothing else was going right.

Abby sighed. “What a way to start the day.”
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 14

(2 weeks later)

Abby sat on the sofa watching JC play with Kylie on the floor.  Things seemed to be settling into a fairly normal routine.  JC was still keeping Kylie with him at his hotel at night, but during the day he would bring her over to Abby’s so that she could see her.

It was just easier for JC to keep her for a while, not only to forge a better bond with his daughter but also because Abby still had her arm in a cast and she was limited in the things she could do.  And quite honestly JC didn’t want Tommy doing those things for his daughter so he just chose to do things the way they had been.

A lot of the tension seemed to be settling down.  JC made sure that he was gone every day before Tommy got home, as to not get into another altercation with him.  He was still mentally reeling from what he and Joey had walked in on a couple weeks before.  So he knew it would be best if he just avoided the man, unsure of what he would do if he seen him.  OK, so he knew what he would do, that was the point in avoiding him.

JC and Abby were getting along a lot better as well.  They weren’t arguing and bickering over things, instead they were laughing and dotting over their daughter together.  JC couldn’t help but feel that, that was the way it was supposed to be.  It almost felt like they were a family.  Almost.  There was that unequivocal fact that Abby was married to another man, and he couldn’t have her the way he WANTED to have her.  But he hoped that in time that would change.  In fact he was counting on it.

JC had changed his mind set on how he was going to go about his whole plan to win her back.  Originally it had been to just cause as many problems as he could between Abby and Tommy so they would fall apart from each other, but after seeing the little incident that day, he changed his mind.  He was worried that by doing that he would be putting Abby in danger, no matter how much she protested that Tommy would never hurt her, something inside of JC told him she didn’t know what she was talking about.  So instead he decided he would just worm his way back in through her heart.

He knew she still loved him.  He could see it in her eyes whenever she looked him.  It really annoyed him that she was being so stubborn about her feelings and fighting it so hard.  If she would only give into the temptation he knew was there they would both be a lot happier.  But then he also knew that marriage was something that Abby took seriously.  And he was ALMOST upset with himself that he was purposefully trying to ruin her marriage.  If he thought she was really happy with Tommy he wouldn’t bother, because above everything else he wanted her to be happy.  And if Tommy was able to do that for her, then he would have just left it alone.  But JC knew that Tommy didn’t make her happy and he could and he was determined to do just that.

Smiling as he watched Kylie do her own little dance to a song that was playing on a TV commercial.  It was Kylie’s favorite, whenever it came on she always reacted to it.  JC looked up at Abby where she sat on the sofa, an adoring smile on her face as she watched her daughter.

“She really likes this commercial.” JC commented trying to initiate a conversation.

Abby looked over at him.  “Yeah, she really does.  It so funny to watch her when it comes on.” she said her eyes returning to Kylie as the commercial went off, but she continued to dance along as if it was still on.

JC sat up from his previously slouched position and continued to watch Abby.  He had been running over these thoughts the last few days in his head, trying to work up the courage to ask her.  He was really worried that she would say no, so he was hoping he would be able to talk her into it.  He knew he had to ask her now because time was running out and he had put it off for far too long already.

“I’m leaving the day after tomorrow to head back down to Orlando.  Johnny needs me there with the rest of the guys to go over some album details.” JC said suddenly out of no where.

Abby looked at him a little surprised.  JC could of sworn he seen a trace of disappointment pass quickly through her eyes before she pushed it aside and appeared to not be concerned about it.  “Ok.  So I take it that tonight will be the last night that you’ll be keeping Kylie then?”  Abby quickly scolded herself mentally for saying that.  It was a stupid statement.  Of course it would be the last night, he was leaving the day after.

“Well, actually.” JC paused giving her a hopeful look.  “I was gonna see if it would be ok if I took her with me to Florida.”

Abby went to protest but JC quickly continued.  “Wait…before you say no, hear me out.  All the guys want to see her.  And you know I told my Mom and Dad about her last week and well they’re in Orlando right now, so they were hoping I’d bring her with me so they could see her.  And Johnny wants to see her too.  You‘ve still got your cast so you really shouldn‘t be here alone with her during the day while Tommy is at work, so I think it would all work out.”

“JC…” Abby sighed.  The thought of her daughter being on the other end of the country and not getting to see her did not sit well with Abby.  It was hard enough when JC took her back to the hotel with him each night, let alone not being able to see her at all because she would be all the way in Florida with him.

“Come on, Abby.  Please.  You know I’ll take good care of her.  You don’t have to worry about anything.  You know I wouldn’t do anything to put her in harms way.  And…”

Abby cut him off.  “JC, it’s not that I think she wouldn’t be ok with you.  I trust you completely with Kylie.  You’re a very good father and I know you wouldn’t let anything happen to her.  But I’m off work for the next few weeks because of my arm.  And I honestly cannot imagine being here without her.  I’ll go crazy worrying about her if she goes with you.  Even though I know I don’t have anything to worry about, a mother still worries.  It’s only natural.  I just don’t think I can do that.  How long would she be gone?”

“A couple weeks.” JC said hesitantly.  He knew she wasn’t going to go for that.

“A couple weeks?”  Abby questioned.  “I don’t think I can do that JC.  I’m sorry but seriously I’ll go insane if I have to go a couple of weeks without seeing her.”

Hook, line and sinker JC thought.  “ So go with us.” he said.

Abby looked at him questioningly.  “Go with you?  Have you gone mad?”

“No.  Seriously, it would be cool.  You wouldn’t have to be without Kylie.  I would get to have my baby girl with me (and the woman I love, he thought) and the guys would get to see you too.  I know Justin for one is aching to get his hands on you.” JC smirked.

“I bet he is.” Abby rolled her eyes.  When Justin had found out about everything going on the previous week, she received a not so pleasant phone call from him.  Needless to say he wasn’t a happy camper and he didn’t even try to hide that fact in the least.

“Come on, Abby.  It’ll be fun.  When was the last time you went to Florida?”  JC pressed, he was determined to talk her into this.  He needed to get her away from Vegas.  Somewhere neutral so he could work his charm on her.

“When I was a teenager.  With my parents.”  Abby sighed.  The thought of getting away for a while was VERY appealing to her.  And the thought of getting to see the guys again was also appealing, she had really missed all of them and their corky ways.

“So see.  It’ll be fun.  We can take Kylie to the beach.  Disney World.  All those places when I’m not at WEG.  Kylie would love it.  And I’m sure you could use a nice little vacation.  So what do ya say?” he smiled perkily at her.

“JC…”  Abby sighed.  “It’s not that simple.  Are you forgetting that there is another person I need to consult on this?  I can’t just up and take off whenever I want to.  I’ll have to talk it over with Tommy and see what he says.”

JC rolled his eyes inwardly.  Like Tommy was going to agree to something like this.  It was already evident he was doing everything he could to keep Abby away from JC.  Any time they had made plans to take Kylie out somewhere on the weekend, Tommy had come up with a reason for why Abby couldn’t go.  He wondered if Tommy even knew that JC had been coming over during the day.  But that wasn’t a question to be asking at the moment.

“Fine.  You talk to him, but I honestly think it would be good for you to get away.  And Abby needs to meet her grandparents and her other uncles.  Joey, isn’t the only uncle ya know.” JC smirked.

“Yeah, I know.  And Justin’s not going to let me forget it either.” Abby said repeating one of the things Justin had told her while reaming her out on the phone the week before.
 

(later that night)

“You want to WHAT?” Tommy questioned.

“Go with JC to take Kylie down to Orlando for a week or two.  He has to go back and finish up the final stuff with their new album and his parents are down there and they really want to see Kylie.  He asked if he could just take her with him, but I don’t think I could go that long without seeing her.  So then he suggested I go.  All the guys want to see me and they really want to see Kylie.  Joey’s the only one that’s seen her.” Abby rattled off.

“You’re serious?” Tommy asked incredulously.  He could not believe she was even thinking about going to Florid with JC.  Well on second thought he could believe it.  What he couldn’t believe was that she had actually asked him if it was ok.  Of course it wasn’t ok.  He wasn’t stupid, he knew exactly what JC was up to.

“Yes, I’m serious.  I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t.”

“I don’t think so. I just don’t think that’s a good idea.  I think you should just send him packing that way me, you and Kylie can get back to our lives.”

“But I want to go, Tommy.  I haven’t seen the guys in so long, and I miss them.  And JC’s parents have the right to see their granddaughter.”  Abby defended.

“So tell them to come here then.” he retorted.

“Ugh!” Abby grunted.  She knew this was going to be a battle.  But this was one battle she was going to win.

Abby wanted to see the guys and she wanted to go.  And she was determined that regardless of what Tommy said she was going to do what she wanted.  “Well, ya know what.  I’m not going to do that.  The Chasez family are really sweet people, and they’ve never been anything but nice to me.  I’m not going to be a bitch about it just because you want to be an ass.  And I’m also not going to stay here just because you don’t like the idea of me going.  So just to let you know Tommy, when you come home tomorrow, I won't be here.  I’ll be on my way to Florida!”  Abby stated matter of factly, and then marched off into the other room to call JC and tell him to make the flight arrangements.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 15

“I still can’t believe Tommy actually agreed to this.” JC said as he settled into his seat in the private jet Johnny had chartered for them.

When Johnny found out that Abby was going to be traveling with JC for sure and that they were bringing Kylie along, he decided to get a private jet rather than have them fly commercial.  They needed to figure out how they were going to deal with this whole issue of JC having a child before they gave anyone the chance to find out about it by showing up on a public plane with their daughter in tow.

“Yeah.” Abby said quietly concentrating on her magazine.

JC studied her, something wasn’t right about this whole thing and her meek response told him everything he needed to know.  “He didn’t agree to this did he?” he questioned.

Abby looked up at him.  “Not exactly.  But it doesn’t matter.  He’ll get over it.” she said returning her attention to the magazine.

JC smiled to himself.  This was what he needed.  He needed these next two weeks with Abby to make her see where she really belonged.  And of course that was with him.  And the fact that she had so blatantly gone against Tommy’s wishes to go with him in the first place was a step in the right direction.
 

A few hours later their plane had landed and they had been greeted at the airport by Joey, Justin, Lance and Chris.  They sure were a sight for sore eyes as far as Abby was concerned.  It had been so long since she had seen any of them other than Joey in person that she couldn’t believe how much they had all changed.

The guys had all greeted Abby with bear hugs and kisses on the cheek.  And then immediately went to gush over Kylie, who JC was carrying proudly on her ever present spot on his hip.

Since Joey had already seen her he didn’t make as big of a fuss as the other guys did.  And boy did they make a fuss.  Justin was bouncing her all around, talking to her in a squeaky voice, which Kylie loved and laughed at.  Lance tickled her and made over how much she looked like Abby, but how she definitely had JC’s eyes.  And Chris was just insane.  He made up his own baby babble to talk to her and as they made their way through the airport people looked at him as if he was from another planet.

Rather than going back to JC’s house first, they headed straight for the WEG compound.  They had a brief meeting scheduled for that afternoon and Johnny wanted to see Kylie, so it had been agreed that they would go there before anywhere else.

While the guys were in their meeting with Johnny going over everything they needed to take care of over the next week, Abby took Kylie out to the small playground area that was constructed behind the building.  Amongst all the other things that Johnny had on the premises.

Abby settled Kylie into a infant swing, and then gently pushed her.  Kylie was beside herself in joy as she laughed hysterically while her mother continued to push her, each time going a little higher in the air.

JC, Johnny and the rest of the guys watched the two from a window in the conference room they were seated in.  They’d already gone over their schedules for the following week and when the Abby/Kylie situation had been brought up by Johnny, JC’s eyes had reverted to the window lost in thought.  Everyone else’s eyes and thoughts following JC’s.

“So how are we going to handle this?” Johnny asked, breaking the silence that had settled over the room.

“I think that Abby should be present for that particular meeting.  She needs to have a say in this as well.” JC stated, still watching the girls outside.  Abby was now laughing right along with Kylie.  Her laughter was infectious.

“I have to agree with JC on this.” Joey stated.  “She definitely needs to have a say in this.  You guys all need to figure out how you’re going to announce this and what exactly you’re going to say.  That way there’s no room for questions later.”

Johnny looked at Joey and smirked.  “Got it all figured out huh?”

“Hey, I’ve been through this already.  Although, my situation was a lot easier considering me and Kelly were actually together.  And people knew about it from the beginning.  JC’s situation is more delicate.  Nobody knew about Abby.  And now here out of nowhere JC’s got a kid, with some girl nobody knew about and to top it off the girl he’s got a kid by is married to someone else.  I think you all should really think long and hard about how you want to lay this one out.  Because you KNOW there’s going to be a shit load of questions.”

“All that anyone needs to know is that Kylie is my daughter and Abby is her mother.  The rest they have no business to know.  In all honesty I don’t think they have the right to know any of it and I wouldn’t even be considering this press release if it wasn’t for the fact that I know that eventually word would get out, because I have no intentions of hiding my daughter.”

“But you know they’re going to ask questions.” Lance interjected.  “They’re  going to want to know why you’re announcing it now all of the sudden, when Kylie’s a year old.  You know they’re not going to settle for anything but the whole story JC.”

“Yeah, well they’ll get over it.  I’m not going to drag Abby and Kylie through the mud with this whole thing.  And besides that’s a very personal story and they don’t need to know anything about it.” JC huffed.

“We’ll figure it out.” Johnny said hoping to stop the blow up he could already see coming from JC.  He could tell JC was already getting agitated by the whole thing and the last thing they all needed was to be arguing over something they had no control over.  “Well, I think that does it for today.  You’re all free to go and I’ll see you in here bright and early Monday morning.” he smiled.

“Bright and early my foot!” Chris grumbled as he left the room and Johnny snickered.

JC and the guys made their way through the winding halls of the compound and exited out the back door of the building that would lead them out to the area where Abby and Kylie were still playing on the swings.

“Having fun?” JC asked, as he and the guys approached.

“She is.  My arm is getting tired.  She won't get out of the swing.” Abby shook her head.

“See that’s what you get for being handicapped.  If you had two good hands you coulda switched off.” Chris told her.

“Yeah, I chose to have a broken wrist Chris.” Abby sneered sarcastically at him.

“I know.  You always did like it rough.” he smirked

“And how would YOU know how I like it?” Abby questioned placing her hands on her hips glaring at him playfully.

Chris shrugged.  “JC, told me.” and then turned and strutted off laughing to himself.

JC’s eyes grew big as Abby turned to glare at him.  “I didn’t tell him shit!” he was quick to defend.

Justin laughed.  “You’re in for it now, C!” he said smacking JC on the back before walking off with a chuckling Joey and Lance.

Abby continued to stare him down.  “I swear to God, Abby.  I never told them anything about our private moments.  That’s personal.  You know how I feel about that stuff.” he raced to continue.

Abby tried hard not to crack a smile.  She could almost see a sweat breaking out on JC’s forehead as he tried to explain.  She didn’t believe Chris, she knew he was joking.  But it sure was fun to watch JC squirm.  Finally though, a grin cracked through and she smirked at him.  “I didn’t honestly believe him, JC.” she said as she started to walk off in the same direction the guys had already departed in.

“Funny!“ he grumbled and watched her retreating back.  “Hey, what about Kylie?” JC called after her.

“You see if you can get her out.  Since she’s Daddy’s Lil’ Girl.  She wouldn’t get out of the swing for me.  You can fight her.  I’m going inside to get something to drink.”

JC watched her until she disappeared into the building then turned his attention to a giggling Kylie in the swing.  “You just wanted Daddy to come play with ya, huh?” he smiled at her giving her another gentle push which only made her giggle louder.

JC chuckled at her.  Her laughter really was infectious.  It was almost as if they were actually communicating.  Like she understood what he said and knew exactly what she had been doing when she refused to get out of the swing for Abby.  “That’s what I thought baby girl.  It’ll be our little secret.” he said smiling as he continued to push her in the swing.

The next couple of weeks were going to be quite interesting.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 16

( Saturday - the following day )

Abby looked back through the side mirror on JC’s black Mercedes ML500 SUV.  She was watching as Joey and Kelly followed behind them.  They were on their way to Disney World.  They had decided the day before that they would take the kids to Disney together, as a little group outing.  An outing that only the parents could understand.  Besides Justin, Lance and Chris had other things planned for the day anyway.

When she was satisfied that they were still behind them, she turned her attention to the road before them.  JC was driving, and Kylie was happily fastened into her car seat, in the back seat.

Abby was thinking over the previous evening.  After they had finally left th

Chapter 21

“What do you mean you’re not married?  You’re not husband and wife?  I thought you said..” JC trailed off, completely shocked.  Of all the things he could have imagined this was not one of them.

“I know what I said.  But it was all a lie.  Me and Tommy were never really married, we were just pretending to be married.” she explained.

“Why would you pretend to be married to someone, Abby?  Was it so you would have an excuse to stay away from me?” he questioned somewhat angrily, his emotions getting the best of him.

“It had nothing to do with you, JC.  Nothing at all.” Abby defended.

“Then why the hell would you pretend to be married to someone?  Why did you not come to me and tell me about our daughter?  Why did you let this asshole raise my daughter for the first year of her life?  What the hell is going on, Abby?  You need to explain this to me, because I really don’t understand.” JC said as he got up and began pacing the room.

Abby sighed.  He wasn’t screaming at her which was a good sign, but he was upset.  Understandably so.  But she would have given anything at that moment to not have to go through the whole thing.

“Tommy’s gay.” Abby stated.

“Tommy’s what?” JC questioned in disbelief.

“Tommy, is a friend of Mark’s.  He and Mark used to date, and a couple months before Mark died, he and Tommy broke up because Tommy got this CEO job out in Vegas for the Venetian.”  she paused when JC came back over and sat down on the sofa beside her, giving Abby his full attention.

“Well, Tommy was never let’s say out of the closet.  His family didn’t and still doesn’t know that he’s gay.  His and Mark’s relationship was really kept between them and close friends.  No one in Tommy’s family knew about Mark, other than thinking he was just one of Tommy’s buddies.  But well they came to a mutual agreement when Tommy got the job, to just end things because neither of them wanted to deal with a long distance relationship.”

“OK, but what does that have with you?” JC asked.

“Well, after everything that happened with us.  You know when I left, I went back to Indy for a lil’ while.  Then came out to Vegas to stay with Mahogany after I found out I was pregnant.  I was freaking out, and I didn’t know what to do.  I was trying to determine how to tell you about the pregnancy.  I had every intention of telling you.  Well, me and Mo were out one day and we ran into Tommy.  He asked me to have lunch with him, so we could catch up because we hadn’t seen each other since he had left Cali.  We were good friends then.  He wasn’t just Mark’s boyfriend, he was a friend of mine.” she explained.

“Keep going.” JC coaxed when she paused and it seemed like she wasn’t going to go on any further.

“Well, we met for lunch a couple days later.  He told me about everything that was going on with him, and I told him about me.  You know we caught up.  No big deal.  We had always been good friends and didn’t have any problems talking to each other about our lives.  Well, then a few days later, he showed up at me and Mo’s apartment.  He said he had an idea.  He knew I was freaking out about the pregnancy and everything and so he had come up with the whole idea that we could get married, and he would raise the baby with me.  He had always been real good with kids, and wanted kids of his own, but you know that whole same sex orientation thing kinda gets in the way of all that.  And I guess he was worried that people around his office were going to find out about his personal life, so he thought that it would work for both of us.  We would get married, and I would play is happy dotting wife for all their business functions, and I would have a father for my baby and I wouldn’t have to face you.”

“And you agreed to that?  Because you didn’t want to face me?  You hated me that much?”

“JC, I never hated you.  I just couldn’t face you because I was humiliated.  I knew you cared about me as a friend, but you made it clear that night that it was only as a friend.  Or so you said then.  And I didn’t want to come back into your life and tell you I was pregnant and have to deal with that uneasiness.  I was SO in love with you JC.  I would have done ANYTHING for you.  My heart was broken and I couldn’t stand the thought of being around you and having to fight those feelings.  It was too stressful, and I didn’t need that on top of being pregnant.  So after a lot of consideration and talking about it with Mahogany, who by the way was totally against it, I finally came to the conclusion that it was for the best.  Tommy would have his make shift family.  You wouldn’t get any bad publicity for having children out of wedlock, and I wouldn’t have to face you.  A win, win for everyone.”

“Abby, how could that be a win, win?  I missed being by your side while you were pregnant.  I missed taking you to your appointments.  Being there for the ultrasound thingies.  I missed being there when she was born, and helping you.  I missed everything.  I would have been by your side one hundred percent.  I would have taken care of you.”

“I know you would have, JC.  Because that’s the kind of guy you are.  But don’t you understand.  I was in LOVE with you.  And you weren’t in love with me.  I couldn’t stand being around you while you were being all loving and supportive, AS A FRIEND.  I would have gone insane!”

“But Abby I was in love with you.  I still AM in love with you.  You know all of that!” JC protested.

“Yeah, now!  I didn’t know that then!” she defended.

JC sighed.  “OK, let’s not get into all of that right now.  You said that you agreed to marry him, but you just told me that you’re not married that it was pretend.  What’s that about?”

“Well, when I agreed with Tommy it was on the condition that we didn’t really get married.  I told him I would pretend.  That I would go along with whatever he told everyone, but that I couldn’t really marry him.  You know that’s something I take very seriously, we talked about that.  I couldn’t take those vows, if I didn’t really mean them in my heart.  Not for real.  I couldn’t marry someone I didn’t love.”

“What about your family?  I seen pictures at your house of your wedding, Abby.” JC protested remembering all of the wedding photographs he had wanted so badly to burn.

“We did have a wedding.  But it wasn’t real.  My family knew it was a hoax, I told my mom.  She of course was against it too, but she knew why I was doing it and after several attempts to talk me out of it, gave up and just went along with it.  The wedding was pretty much all just a show.  A big act we put on for Tommy’s family and co-workers.  It wasn’t even that big.  Just my parents and a few of my family members and friends, all of which knew it wasn’t real.  Most of the guests were Tommy’s family, and people he worked with.  It was all an act, JC.”

“So that’s why you were worried about the media finding out?  Because so many people you know, knew that it wasn’t real.  Were you worried that one of them would rat you out or something?” JC asked, trying to link all the pieces together so it would all make sense.

“NO.  I was worried because there’s no wedding certificate.  There’s no record of our marriage on file, because there was no marriage.  That’s why so far the media hasn’t been able to find out when me and Tommy were married.  It wouldn’t have taken them much longer to figure out that there really wasn’t a marriage.  I didn’t want you and the guys to find out that way.  Plus, I knew that little revelation would cause a whole slew of other unwanted problems.” Abby sighed.

JC sat there, not saying a word as everything that Abby had just told him sunk in.  She wasn’t really married.  She never had been.  She didn’t love Tommy.  And although he was upset about her lying about the whole thing, he was relieved.  Because more importantly, she didn’t love Tommy and she wasn’t married, which meant there was nothing keeping them apart.

JC looked up at Abby and smiled, which totally caught Abby off guard.  “Why are you smiling?” she warily asked.

“This is like the best thing I’ve heard all day.” he said.

“Huh?” Abby asked confused.

“Well, I mean besides all the shit about why you did it, and all, but still this is like the best news.” he smiled moving closer to her on the sofa and pulling her into his arms.  Hugging her tightly to his chest.

Abby was completely baffled by this turn of events.  She expected him to be angry.  Stomping around the room in a fury.  Or at least yelling at her or scolding her or something.  But for him to be hugging her and telling her it was the best news he had heard.  Now that threw her completely off.

“JC, you’re confusing me.  What are you talking about?” Abby said pulling away from his embrace.

“Abby, you’re not married.  You don’t love Tommy.” he said as if it should explain everything.

“Yeah, I know.  I just told you all of that.” she said rolling her eyes.

“Don’t you see?  You’re not married.  You don’t love him.  There’s nothing keeping us from being together!  We can be a family.  Me, you and Kylie.  We can be the family we should have been this whole time.  This is great.” JC said getting up and walking around the room in search of the phone, totally oblivious to the fact that it had been laying right next to him on the sofa.

“What are you doing?” Abby questioned.

“Looking for the phone.  I need to call the guys and tell them.  And I need to call Johnny, so he can issue a new press release and clear up this whole thing about you being married.  I need to…”

Abby cut him off. “Whoa, whoa, whoa….hold up, JC!”

“What?” he asked innocently.

“What do you mean you have to call them?  What are you planning to tell them?”

“I’m going to tell them what you just told me.  That we can be together.  Tommy’s out of the picture.”

“JC…” Abby sighed.

He stared at her, trying to figure out why she wasn’t as excited about the whole thing as he was.  “Abby, why aren’t you happy?  We can be together.  We can be a family.  There’s nothing stopping us now.” he paused in thought, studying her as her eyes were cast to her lap, fidgeting with her hands.  “Wait.  Abby, do you not want to be with me?” he asked moving to sit beside her.

“JC, I…”

“NO!” he interrupted her, deciding he needed to speak from his heart.  “Abby, for almost the last two years I’ve had to live without you in my life, because I didn’t know where you were.  Cause I swear to you if I had known where you were, I would have come and found you.  Then one day out of no where I run into you again, and for the briefest moment I thought all my prayers had been answered, only to have you tell me you’re married.  I had to deal with the fact that I had lost you forever because I was too stupid to admit my feelings when I had the chance.  Because I let the greatest thing that ever happened to me get away.  And all because I was a fool.  But I’m not going to let this opportunity pass me by.  Not this time!”

Abby tried to speak, to interrupt, but JC continued.  “I know you still love me, Abby.  I can see it in your eyes whenever you look at me.  And the other night when we went out you told me you loved me.  Granted you were drunk and passed out when you muttered those three vital words, but you said them none the less, and I know you meant them.  Just like I meant them that night when I said them to you.  I was stupid then, but I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.  I’m not going to let you get away this time.  I love you, Abby.  I love you with all of my heart!  And I love Kylie.  Our beautiful daughter.  And we’re going to be a family.  Just like we should be.  I don’t care what I have to do.”

Abby was near tears from his declarations.  No other words he would ever say would mean as much to her as the ones he was saying at that moment.  She had waited so long to hear him tell her he loved her, with such determination and feeling.  So long just to hear him say those three words.  But she was scared.

JC was staring at her and he noticed a tear trickle down her cheek.  “Abby, why are you crying?  I thought you would be happy to know that I love you.  That I want to be with you.”

“It’s not that I’m not happy to hear you say all of that JC, it’s just…things are different now.  They’re not the same as they used to be.  There are complications.” she shook her head and looked down at her lap.

“There were complications before.  There will ALWAYS be some kind of complication, Abby.  But like I just told you, I don’t care about any of that.  I’m not going to let you get away from me again.  I will follow you to the end of the earth.  I don’t care.  I love you, and I love Kylie and that’s all that matters to me.  Nothing else matters.  Not my music, not my job.  NOTHING!  Only you and Kylie.”

“That’s not true and you know it, JC.  Your music and your job are very important to you.  If you didn’t have your music you would go insane.  You thrive on it.”

“But if I can’t have you and Kylie to go along with it then I don’t want it.  I’d gladly give it all up for you and Kylie, in a heartbeat.” he paused.  “Abby, I never thought anyone would be more important to me than my music.  That thought never crossed my mind.  But there is something.  Two something’s.  You and Kylie.  And I can’t just ignore it and turn the other way.  I have to follow my heart this time.  And my heart is leading me to you.  Please tell me that you want to be with me, Abby.  That you love me as much as I love you.  That you want us to be a family.  That we will be a family.” JC pleaded.

Abby looked up and met JC’s eyes, as another tear rolled down her cheek.  JC gently whipping it away with his thumb.  “JC, I do love you.  I love you more than life itself.  And YES, I do want to be with you.  I want us to be a family, but…”

“There are no but’s.  You love me.  You want us to be a family, then by God we’re going to be.  There are NO but’s, Abby.  There’s just you, me and Kylie.  And that’s all that matters.” he said staring into her eyes.

Abby shivered under his intense gaze.  All of his love and emotion was right there in his eyes for her to see.  She had always been able to pretty much know what JC was feeling by looking into his eyes, and right then.  Right there.  She could see all of the love that JC possessed for her and their daughter.  It was something she never thought she would see returned, but it was.  He loved her.  He wanted to be with her.  To be a family.

“I’m scared, JC.” she whispered.

“Why are you scared, Abby?  We’re together, there’s nothing to be scared of anymore.” he said, gently caressing her cheek, as he stared into her eyes.

“Tommy.  He’s going to be so angry, and I don’t know what he’s going to do.”

“You let me deal with him.  Don’t you worry about him.  I won't let him hurt you or Kylie.  I won't let him near you two.  EVER.”  he whispered, his eyes drifting over her face.  Studying her eyes, and then her nose, and finally her lips.

Abby was completely silent.  Lost in his gaze.  It was the most intense thing she had ever felt in her life.  None of the moments she had ever shared with him in the past could compare to this one.  None!

“I love you, Abby.  I love you SO much.” he whispered as he slowly began to lean in towards her lips.

Abby knew what was coming.  She knew he was going to kiss her.  And that was ok by her.  With a slight smile she looked into JC’s eyes.  “I love you too, JC.” she whispered back.

JC smiled at her briefly, before his lips met hers.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 22

JC’s hand slid around to the back of Abby’s neck, his fingers tangling in her long hair.  Abby’s hands slowly linked around JC’s neck as the kiss grew from soft and timid, to intense and overwhelming.

It had been so long since she had kissed him.  And NEVER had it ever been like this.  She thought the times before had been amazing, but there were no words to describe how this kiss felt.  To know that he was kissing her because he wanted to kiss her.  Because he loved her.  There were no ulterior motives.  No alcohol.  No jealousy.  No, this was not a lust driven kiss.  This was a pure and emotion filled kiss.  Something she had NEVER experienced with him before.  Something she never THOUGHT she would experience with him.  It was simply amazing.

As the intensity grew, the kiss became somewhat desperate.  They couldn’t get enough of each other.  It was as if they thought something was going to tear them apart and they would never have this opportunity again.

JC slowly began to lean Abby back on the sofa, hovering above her.  Their lips not parting for a second.  Their hands were clinging to each other, holding on for dear life, after all the time they had lost.

Finally JC’s lips broke from Abby’s only to venture down her jaw, to her neck.  He kissed his way down her neck to her collar bone, and then back up her neck to her ear where he whispered.  “I’ve waned to kiss you like this since I seen you in that mall in January.”

Abby closed her eyes.  She was in heaven.  It was almost like a dream, having him that close to her.  Kissing her.  Loving her.  If he never stopped kissing her it would be too soon.

And then there was Kylie.  Their moment of heaven between each other was disturbed by her cries from upstairs.  JC groaned and sat up, pulling Abby up with him.   “She’s got perfect timing.” JC grumbled.

Abby wanted to laugh.  The look of complete and utter annoyance on his face was too funny.  “I guess that’s her way of preventing us from doing something we shouldn’t.” Abby smirked as she got up to head upstairs to get Kylie.

“What do you mean doing something we shouldn’t?” JC called from the sofa, smiling at her.  Abby only gave him a knowing look in return, which JC could only laugh at.  He knew exactly what she meant, and she was right.  He had no doubt in his mind that if Kylie hadn’t of disturbed them, things would be getting very heated at that moment.  And even though he really wanted that, he knew that it was too soon.  He wanted their first time together as a couple to be special.  Something it never was before.

“I’m gonna go get her.” Abby said as she started up the stairs.

“OK, I’m gonna call the guys.” JC replied, digging the phone out from between the cushions of the sofa.

“Maybe you should wait on that, JC.” Abby said, but it was too late.  As soon as Abby disappeared up the stairwell, JC was on the phone.  Dialing away.
 

( Saturday Evening )

Abby stood before the full length mirror in the room she and Kylie had been staying in since they had arrived in Florida.  She was examining the black silk dress she was wearing.  It was one of the many gifts JC had surprised her with that early afternoon.

When she had gotten up that morning and went downstairs with Kylie to get them both some breakfast she found a note on the kitchen counter from JC stating that he had a couple of errands to run and he would be back in a couple hours.

Abby didn’t think anything of it because she knew he had a lot going on and he was a busy guy, so she just went about her morning routine.  Getting Kylie and herself something to eat, then giving Kylie a bath and getting her dressed before placing her in her crib in the room so she could retreat to a nice relaxing shower.

She had spent the whole morning thinking about the previous day.  How JC had defended her to Tommy.  How he had confessed his feelings to her, and she to him.  And how everything was SO different now.

It brought a smile to her face, to think about the way that JC acted around her.  The way they  had spent the remainder of the evening the night before, just sitting around on the sofa watching television and playing with Kylie.

JC had of course called the guys to share the good news with them, and they were all really surprised it had happened so quickly.  JC had told her that Chris said he knew it would happen eventually.  That they wouldn’t be able to fight their feelings forever.  And the fact that Abby wasn’t really married was just a true sign that they were supposed to be together.  Which of course made JC extremely happy to hear.

In all, the guys were completely supportive.  A bit shocked by the enlightening news that Abby was not really married and why she had said she was.  But all the same they were all overjoyed and extremely happy that the two had been able to work things out.  They had decided to leave the rest of the details as far as press releases or any official business regarding the matter until Monday to deal with.  Johnny said they should just take the weekend to themselves and enjoy their time together before anymore madness could hit.  And that’s what they had planned to do.

Abby had it in her head they would just spend the weekend at JC’s house being a family.  Just being together and enjoying each other’s company.  That was until his surprise when he arrived home that afternoon from his “errands”.

It turned out JC had spent the morning setting up a series of “top secret” plans, as he told Abby.  When he came home, he came bearing gifts.  A large bouquet of red roses.  And a large white box with a red ribbon rapped around it.

In that box was where Abby had found the dress that she was now wearing.  She had no clue how he knew her size, only guessing he either somehow called Mahogany to find out or he had snooped in her closet.  In a way it made her a little uncomfortable because she was still overly sensitive about her size, but she couldn’t be too upset.  He had picked out probably the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her life.  And the way the silk felt against her skin was just incredible.

After she had opened her gift, JC had revealed some of his plans to her.  Only the parts that she had to know, the rest he refused to divulge any information on.  Basically he had set up a nice calm evening for them.  Abby knew by the dress that they were going somewhere, but she didn’t know where.  He had also arranged for his parents to take Kylie for the evening as well, so that he and Abby could have some time alone together.

Which brought her to where she was now.  Standing in front of that mirror admiring the beautiful dress JC had bought.  A dress she had no doubts was VERY expensive.  That in itself made her nervous.  She’d never worn anything quite like that before and she was terrified she would somehow ruin it.  But she was pushing aside any negative thoughts.  It was going to be an incredible evening.  They were going to have a great time.

The Chasez’s had picked Kylie up, just a little over and hour before and now she was ready to go.  JC said their reservations for dinner were for 8:00 and it was now 7:10.  It was show time.

Taking one last look over herself.  At the way the dress appropriately hugged her curves in all the right places.  At her long hair that she had pulled up into a French twist with a few tendrils framing her face.  And her lightly applied makeup.  She took a deep breath, smiled at her self and exited the room to head downstairs where JC was to be waiting on her.

JC heard Abby on the stairs and got up from the sofa and turned around.  His breath caught in his chest when his eyes landed on her as she descended the stairs.  “Abby, you look amazing.” he said in a hushed voice.  He was finding it hard to speak at all.

Abby smiled at him.  “Thank you.  This dress is amazing, JC.  You must have spent a small fortune on it and I’m not too happy about that thought.”

“Hush.  You’re worth every penny, so I don’t even want to hear it.” he said walking around to meet her at the bottom of the stairs.

Abby didn’t respond to his statement.  She wasn’t used to people telling her things like that, but she could get used to it.  And really fast.  It made her feel so incredible to know that someone thought that much of her.  Especially since that someone was JC.  And at the moment she couldn’t particularly tear her eyes away from him.  He was staring at her, as she was him.  He was dressed in a nice black suit, with a white shirt, and black tie.  He looked amazing.

“You look really handsome, JC.” Abby finally spoke.

“Not as amazing as you.” he whispered back as he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss at the corner of her lips.  He smiled at her as he pulled away.  “You ready for our date?” he asked.

Abby’s smile only grew at hearing those words.  “Never been more ready for anything in my entire life.”

“Great, let’s go then.” JC said offering her his arm.  And with that he lead her out of the house and out to his car, where he opened the door for her and shut it after she got in before going around to the driver’s side and climbing in.  And they were off.
 

The evening JC had planned for them was nothing short of amazing.  They had gone to one of the nicest restaurants in the city of Orlando.  A swanky little place downtown, that you definitely had to be someone important to get in to.

They had an incredible dinner there, and while they ate they talked about everything under the sun.  From what a good time they were both having, to what they had to look forward to come Monday.  But none of those worries fazed either of the two.  They were just so happy to be within each others company, spending time like that together.

After their dinner they then ended up at a nice little Jazz club that JC had told Abby he frequented when he was in town.  He knew that she shared his love for Jazz music, and it was a quaint little club, that was very intimate and peaceful.  They didn’t have to worry about being interrupted, it was almost as if they were the only two people in the whole place.

They spent the rest of their evening at the club either sitting holding hands in their small booth in a dark corner, lit mostly by candle light just listening to the music, or on the small wooden dance floor, dancing with each other.

Abby could not get over how romantic the whole evening had been.  It was like something out of a fairy tale for her.  It was what she had always dreamed of.  And JC was fulfilling that dream and so many more.

They arrived back at the house shortly after midnight.  Both were tired, but JC was not done with his special evening just yet.  He had one more thing he wanted to do, to top the night off.  He lead Abby into the family room and had her take a seat on the sofa, as he then made his way around the room lighting a few candles and then dimming the lights.

He picked up the remote to the stereo system off of the table and made his way back over to Abby, stopping briefly to pull one of the roses he had brought her earlier that day from the vase that had been place in on the coffee table.  He broke the stem down so that it was short and walked up to her, standing in front of her.  “Abby, I just have one more small request.”

She smiled at him.  “And what would that be?”

“I’d like it very much if you would dance with me.  But not to just any song.  But to a song that makes me think of you.  A song that I think can express to you how much I’ve missed you, and how much I love you in a way I can’t really do it with words.”

“I’d love to.” she smiled.

JC extended his hand to her, to help her up from the sofa and then lead her to the center of the room where he then placed the rose in her hair above her ear, and whispered.  “Just listen to the words, Abby.” before he clicked the remote and tossed it back across the room to the sofa, and took Abby into his arms as the slow beat of the music streamed through the stereo system.

It’s been so long since I touched your face
It’s been so long since I had a taste
It’s been so long since I had you here with me, yeah
It’s been so long since our yesterdays
It’s been so long since you went away
It’s been so long
I never thought I’d ever seen you again

So that’s why
Never gonna let you go
That’s why
Feel it’s time I let you know
That’s why
Baby girl don’t tell me no
Why don’t we try our love again
That’s why
You're the one that I should be with
That’s why
Miss you more than a little bit
That’s why
Think I’ve had about enough of this
Why don’t we try our love again

It’s been so long, it’s been quite a while
It’s been so long, since I seen that smile
It’s been so long, since I held you close to me, yeah
It’s been so long, so much has changed
It’s been so long, girl I’ll take the blame
It’s been so long
But I knew someday I’d see you again

So that’s why
Never gonna let you go
That’s why
Feel it’s time I let you know
That’s why
Baby girl don’t tell me no
Why don’t we try our love again
That’s why
You're the one that I should be with
That’s why
Miss you more than a little bit
That’s why
Think I’ve had about enough of this
Why don’t we try our love again

I used to have you here with me
I think about you constantly
And I just had to let you know
Can’t remember why I let you go
But here we got us a second chance
The essence of a true romance
And we don’t have to be alone
It’s time for you to come on home

So that’s why
Never gonna let you go
That’s why
Feel it’s time I let you know
That’s why
Baby girl don’t tell me no
Why don’t we try our love again
That’s why
You're the one that I should be with
That’s why
Miss you more than a little bit
That’s why
Think I’ve had about enough of this
Why don’t we try our love again

As the fading notes played out from the song, JC looked down into Abby‘s eyes.  “Can we try our love again?” he asked.

( Try Our Love Again ~ Brian McKnight )
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 23

Abby smiled at JC as a tear slowly trickled down her cheek.  “Nothing would make me happier.” she whispered.

“Me either.” JC whispered back as he leaned in and kissed Abby tenderly.

Their swaying motion soon came to a stop as JC deepened the kiss, pulling Abby tightly against his body.  It was like the song said, he was never going let her ago.  Not now that he had her.  He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Abby laced her fingers through the curls at the base of JC’s neck pulling him closer to her.  She was so caught up in the emotions and feelings that were shooting through her body.  It was so captivating, nothing outside of her and JC existed at the moment.  And that’s just the way she liked it.

JC pulled back slowly from the kiss.  Gently nibbling on her lower lip, and placing butterfly kisses on the sides of her mouth, her cheek, her nose, her temple, as he did so.  “I love you, Abby.  I love you SO much!  Can I please make love to you?  And I mean REALLY make love to you.” JC said almost breathlessly.

Abby looked into JC’s eyes.  She could see the love and the yearning there.  And she could not deny the feelings she saw reflected in JC’s eyes, because she was feeling the exact same things he was.  There was nothing she wanted more in the world at that moment than for him to make love to her.  “Yes, JC.  I want us to make love.”

JC smiled and leaned down again to bestow another tender kiss upon her lips, he then pulled back and took her hand and lead her towards the stairs.  He lead her up the stairs, still holding her hand gently in his, and then down the hallway to his room.

They entered his room together, still hand in hand, JC shutting the door behind them.  He left her just inside the doorway, telling her to wait there for a moment while he rushed swiftly around the room, lighting more candles.  Then removing his suit jacket and his tie and laid them neatly across a chair in the corner of his room.

He then came back to Abby, standing before her.  “I want this to be special.” he told her softly.

Abby smiled at him.  “It’s already been the most incredible evening of my life, JC.  You couldn’t possibly make it anymore magical than it already has been.”

“We’ll see about that.” he smirked, and Abby couldn’t help but laugh at the sexual undertones of that statement.  “You think that’s funny?” he asked.

Abby just smiled at him, there was no way she could respond to that.

“Well, then I guess I’ll just have to prove it.” JC whispered as he leaned down and kissed her softly.

Abby’s hands slid up and around JC’s neck as his slid around her waist pulling her closer to him.  Slowly they moved towards the bed, their lips not parting for a second as the intensity grew, but the romantic tenderness never faltered once.

JC stopped their motion a couple feet from the side of the bed.  Moving his lips from Abby’s, trailing butterfly kisses and gently nibbling and licking his way down her neck to her shoulder.  Abby shivered at the electricity that was pulsating through her body from the things his mouth was doing to her skin.

JC slowly slid the spaghetti strap on her right shoulder over until it slid down on her arm, kissing the place where it once laid, then kissing his way around the base of her neck and collar bone over to her other shoulder, repeating the same action as he had with the other shoulder.

Once the straps were no longer in place it only took a gentle tug on his behalf, and the beautiful piece of black silk was a pool at Abby’s feet, leaving her clad in her black lacy panties and her strapless lacy black bra.

JC took that moment to admire her, which left Abby feeling rather self conscious and she raised her arms and crossed them over her stomach to try to hide herself from him.  JC’s eyes raised to hers and he smiled at her, gently pulling her hands away.  “Abby, you are so beautiful.  You don’t need to hide from me.  I appreciate everything you have to offer me.”

“It’s just....” Abby started to protest, but JC silenced her with his lips.

Kissing her again, his tongue slipping between her parted lips, dancing with hers.  He wrapped his arms around her once more, running his hand slowly up and down her practically bare back.

Abby’s hands played with the curls at the base of his neck momentarily before, sliding around to his chest, as she slowly began to work her way down his shirt, undoing the buttons.  After she finished with the buttons JC brought his arms back to his side to allow her to slip it off of his shoulders, the shirt falling to the floor.

Abby ran her hands over the hard muscles of JC’s chest, pulling her lips away from his to explore down his neck, and down his chest to his lower stomach just above the waistband of his slacks.  Her fingers diligently undoing his belt, and then the button of his pants, and on to the zipper, then pushing them down over his hips.  The slacks pooling at his feet.  JC kicked off his shoes, stepped out of the slacks and slung them off to the side, with his foot.

Abby then started kissing her way back up his stomach, over his chest, to his neck, gradually to his ear, taking it into her mouth, sucking gently on it.  JC quivered at her warm breath on his ear, he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.  He had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted her at that moment.  She was driving him crazy.

He slid his hands up her back to the base of her neck, wanting to tangle his fingers in her hair.  He loved her long hair, it was so erotic and sexy.  Pulling at the pins that held her hair in tact, he quickly loosened her hair as their lips found their way back to each other, the intensity of this kiss, stronger than anything they had ever shared before.

As Abby’s hair fell free of it’s restraint, JC ran his fingers through the long back strands of it, then pulling out the rose that was still tangled in the hair above her ear.  He pulled away from their kiss, staring into her eyes.  “I love you, Abby.” he said softly.

“I love you too, JC.’ she replied as JC slowly ran the petals of the rose down the side of her face, down her neck, over her voluptuous breasts, and down over her stomach.  Taking his eyes away from hers to watch the rose, as it traveled down her body.

Abby closed her eyes and tilted her head back, overcome with the sensations he was creating within her.  Never did she know that a flower could be so sensual and erotic.

JC continued his path downward, running the flower over her pelvic bone and down her upper, inner thigh, a soft moan escaping Abby’s lips.  JC smiled, and slowly brought the flower back up her body, the same way it had gone down.  Running it up her neck and over her lips, looking back into her eyes.

Their eyes locked on each other and at that moment JC lost all restraint.  He couldn’t wait any longer.  The yearning and need he saw in her eyes, that he knew was reflected in his own, did him in.  His lips crashed upon hers, pulling her tightly against his body, the rose forgotten, falling to the floor.

JC moved them towards the bed, slowly and gently laying Abby back onto it, allowing her to scoot towards the middle before he climbed on the bed beside her, his upper body hovering above her.

Kissing down her neck, over her collar bone to the valley between her breasts, his hands exploring her body, as Abby was running her fingers through his hair, in pure pleasure from the sensations running through her at his warm mouth upon her skin.

JC found the front clasp to Abby’s bra, making quick use of his fingers with one snap it was open and fell away.  Abby arched her back slightly so JC could pull the lacy material away, tossing it over his shoulder.  Focusing all of his attention on her ample breasts.

Caressing and massaging one with one hand, while caressing the other with his mouth.  Abby moaned and arched her back, trying to get closer to him.  Her body was on overload and she didn’t know how much more she could take.  Her fingers digging into JC’s hair, pulling him closer and closer with each swipe of his tongue across her nipple.  JC grinned against her breast.  Her reactions to what he was doing to her was only causing the fire inside of him to grow.  He loved that he had this effect on her.

After a few minutes of delectable attention to the one breast, JC switched to the other, driving Abby completely over the edge.  She pulled JC’s face towards her, their lips crashing together in a fury.  Abby gripping JC to her, her nails digging into his back.  JC using one hand to massage her breast, pinching, and twisting her nipple between his fingers, as his other hand gripped to her hip, as he grinded into her.

“God…Abby…I…need…you.” JC muttered between kisses.

“I…need you…too.” Abby mutter back between kisses as well.

With that JC trailed kisses, gentle biting, and sensual licks down her body.  Gripping the waistband of her lacy black panties between his fingers, he pulled them down over her hips, as Abby lifted her lower body to allow the shedding of the garment.

Abby then sat up and assisted JC in shedding his boxer briefs, twirling them on her finger as she smirked at him before tossing them somewhere across the room.

JC laughed at her playfulness.  “Naughty girl.” he murmured as he buried his face in her neck.  Attacking her flesh with his tongue, as he laid her back onto the pillow slowly.

Abby moaned, he was torturing her and she didn’t want to wait any longer, she needed him.  “JC….please.” she pleaded in his ear.

He stopped his attack on her neck, hovering above her, staring down into her eyes.  He didn’t know why but he felt like he needed that reassurance.  He never wanted to hurt her again, like he had before.

When she smiled at him and whispered she loved him, he smiled back down at her, whispering he loved her too, then leaning down for a quick soft kiss, before moving his body to be completely on top of hers.  As their naked flesh met against each other, they both quivered at the sensations.

JC continued to stare into Abby’s eyes as he positioned himself above her, gently stroking her center momentarily before beginning to push himself into her.  Stopping momentarily, allowing her body to adjust to him and to savor in the feeling of her silky walls as they surrounded him so intimately.

Abby’s eyes began to close from the pleasure of just feeling him.  “Abby baby, look at me.” JC whispered to get her attention.  He wanted to watch her.  He wanted them to not only communicate their love through their love making, but he wanted her to look into his eyes and see how what they were doing was effecting him.  What it meant to him.

They locked eyes again, communicating through unspoken words as JC slowly began to move within her.  They stared into each others eyes for a few moments as JC picked up his rhythm, Abby meeting him all the way, grinding her hips into his.

JC leaned down and kissed her softly, leaning back up to look into her eyes as he continued to grind into her.  But as things picked up he couldn’t hold out any longer, he needed to feel his lips on hers.  Leaning back in, he kissed her again.  This kiss growing intense and strong within their passion.  Abby’s hands snaking around to JC’s back, the rough fibers of her cast scratching at his side, but it only urged him on.

Breathless from their kissing JC buried his face in her neck.  Breathing heavily as their pace became faster and faster with each passing minute.  Touching.  Grabbing.  Abby’s nails nipping at his shoulders.  Every little thing causing the fire within the both of them to grow.

When Abby’s moaning grew louder, JC picked up the pace even more.  It was one of the many things he remembered from their previous times together.  The way her body reacted to him.  The way he pleased her.  The sultry sounds coming from deep within her throat urged him to work harder, deeper, and faster.

He gripped at her hips, pulling her tighter against him.  Sliding one hand up her body to cup her breast, massaging it, caressing it.  Moving his lips back to hers he attacked them to drown out some of her cries of pleasure.  He wasn’t worried about anyone hearing because they were the only ones there, but her cries were pushing him over the edge a little more quickly than he would have liked.

As both of their bodies began to tense up, approaching their release, they clutched to each other.  Holding on tighter.  JC once again buried his face in Abby’s neck, kissing, sucking and grunting.  Abby moaning from the pleasure he was rendering to her body, sinking her nails into his back.

“I love you, Abby.  I love you so fucking much.” JC grunted into her neck.

But all Abby could mutter back was a “Mmmmmm…love you.”

JC knew they were both close, he could tell by the way her walls were tensing around him, creating a tighter glove, which only drew him closer to the edge.  Abby’s moans and grunts picked up, as did JC’s.  And before long they were both calling out in pleasure at their release.  JC had attacked Abby’s lips again, kissing her through the wild frenzy that was rushing through their bodies, biting at her lips as she continued to moan as her orgasm racked over her, and he continued to pump in and out of her until he was spent.  Collapsing on top of Abby, JC buried his face in her neck.  Both trying to catch their breath.

After regaining his breath JC slowly kissed his way back up Abby’s neck, and over to her mouth.  Tenderly kissing her as he pulled out of her and carefully rolled his lower body off of her, his upper body still hovering above her as they kissed.

“I love you.” Abby said softly, as JC pulled away from their kiss to look into her eyes.

“I love you, too.” he replied before leaning down and kissing the tip of her nose.  He laid down beside her on the bed, pulling her body against his.

Abby cuddled against him, her head on his chest, her arm slung over his stomach.

“Every time should be like that.” Abby said quietly, as she traced small circles on his chest.

“Every time from now on WILL be like that Abby, or even better.” JC said squeezing her to him.

“I hope you’re right.” she said a little unsure.  She knew how her luck with things went, and even though she didn’t want to think that because she could tell that JC really loved her, it would always be a fear in the back of her mind.

“I KNOW I’m right, Abby.  I love you, and nothing is going to change that.  I promise you that.” he said kissing the top of her head.

Abby sighed.  “I love you so much JC.  So much.”

“I‘ll never get tired of hearing you say that.” he said rubbing his hand up and down her arm.  “And now we’re going to be a family, Abby.  Me, you, and Kylie.  We’re going to be a family.” he told her.

“Yeah.” Abby said wistfully, almost dozing off, until JC began to move under her.  “What are you doing?” she questioned.

“Getting something.” he told her, as he reached over to the nightstand and opened the drawer pulling out a small jeweler’s box.

He closed the drawer and sat up partially in the bed, leaning against the headboard.  “Abby, look at me.” he told her.

Abby rolled over to her stomach resting her chin on his stomach and looking up at him questioningly.  “What’s wrong?” she asked, worried, thinking he was having second thoughts.

“Nothings wrong, baby.  In fact everything is as it should be.  It’s perfect.  Which is why I want to give this to you.  When I said I wanted us to be a family, I was serious.  I want us to be a family.  I love you and Kylie with all of my heart, and I lost you once and I’m NEVER going to let that happen again.  Just like the song said earlier, I’m never gonna let you go.  And that’s why I’m making this promise to you.  One day you will be my wife.  Abby, I love you will you marry me?”

Abby looked up at him, setting up quickly, pulling the sheet up to her chest staring at the box in his hand that he had flipped open.  She couldn’t even speak.  She didn’t know what to say.  He was asking her to marry him.  She looked back and forth from the familiar ring to JC.  Utterly speechless.

JC could see the shock and confusion in her eyes, so he chose to go ahead and explain himself.  “I don’t mean right now, Abbs.  I know we just got together and we have a lot of things to work out with everything, but one day I want us to get married.  And as you can see this is not a typical engagement ring.  This is a promise ring.”

“Is that?” she started to question.

“Yes.  It’s the ring you was admiring that day when we went shopping for my sister.  I went back and bought it for you that day after I dropped you off.  When I seen you staring in that case and looking down at something and then you admitted it was that ring, I knew you had to have it.  I never got around to giving it to you then.  And I had every intention on giving it to you, but something always held me back.  Of course it wasn’t meant to be a promise ring then, but it is now.  Because it’s a symbol of the things we’ve been through and overcome.” he paused for a moment looking into her eyes.  “So what do you say, Abby?  Will you marry me?  One day?” he smiled.

Abby looked into his eyes and smiled as tears of happiness started to roll down her cheeks.  “Of course, JC.  Of course I’ll marry you.  One day.” she giggled.

JC chuckled and took the ring out of the box and slid it on her ring finger.  “I love you, Abby.”

“I love you too, JC.”
 
 
 
 

Chapter 24

( Following Friday Afternoon )

It had been an interesting week for the new couple.  As planned they had gone to the WEG Compound that Monday morning to discus how they were going to handle things.  They all came to the agreement that they weren’t going to announce anything since the last press release had been so vague, they really didn’t see any reason to give out more information than any of them deemed necessary.  The press and public would figure it out on their own, and they would deal with the questions when they arose.  They just wanted to bask in their new found situation, and leave the outsiders where they belonged.  Outside.

But of course their short lived glory of that decision was just that, short lived.  Since Monday afternoon several photographs of JC and Abby’s night out Saturday evening surfaced and were plastered everywhere.  Gossip columns, TV, the internet.  And as the week progressed, so did the circulation of the pictures and all the talk.

Abby pretty much left JC to answer all the questions that were dealt their way.  They agreed that JC was used to dealing with that sort of thing and would be able to deflect more questions than Abby would.  Plus, Abby just didn’t feel like dealing with them anyways.  But that was ok with JC.  Taking care of the issues made him feel good.  He was taking care of Abby, and he liked the way that made him feel.

Things between the two of them were going great.  That Sunday morning they had woken up in each others arms, and had just laid in bed together for hours talking, snuggling, making love several more times.  It seemed like they were trying to catch up for all the time they had missed.  But neither one of them had a problem with that.  After all making up for things always did seem to be one of the funnest activates.

The rest of the guys were of course giving them a hard time.  Teasing them at how touchy feely they were with each other now.  How JC hovered over Abby all the time.  They were all fairly positive that there were some insecurities there and some apprehension on JC‘s part.  Fear that something would happen and rip Abby and Kylie away from him again, so he was sticking close to them both.  And Abby didn’t seem to mind, so it was all good in paradise.

JC’s parents when given the news were happy to say the least.  They had always adored Abby since the first time they had met her.  Granted they were confused when they found out that Abby and JC shared a child, and that they weren’t together.  Even more confused when they found out that Abby was supposedly married and hadn’t told JC about Kylie.  But after getting the whole story about their relationship from both JC and Abby they seemed to understand.  And they were just happy that two had worked out their differences and were finally together.

Mrs. Chasez had announced that she knew when JC had brought Abby to Chicago with him that they were more than just friends.  Even if her son was too stupid to realize it at the time.  She had seen the way he watched over her.  The jealousy in his eyes when Tyler was joking and flirting with Abby.  And JC wasn’t known for bringing girls back home with him unless there was some kind of a relationship going on.  Sure, they had met other friends of JC’s.  Male and Female, but he had never brought any female friends to the house like he had Abby, so she knew there was something there.

Outside of all the press and explaining they had done with family and friends, their week had been fairly normal.  They spent the rest of their time at JC’s house playing with Kylie, and acting as any family would.  Just enjoying each others company.  Watching TV.  Eating dinner together.  Just being.

And neither JC, nor Abby had ever been happier.  They both found it odd how things could change so quickly.   Go from something so confusing to something so glorious, but neither of them were going to fight it either.  It felt too good, an they were too happy and there was no where else either of them wanted to be.

Friday had finally rolled around though and Abby was excited.  JC had rented a beach front cottage for them down in Naples Florida, so they could go away for the weekend and have some peace and quiet.  Get away from all the hounding that had been going on all week in Orlando.

JC had some final meetings that morning to finish up all the details on Nsync’s latest album set to be released in a few weeks and this was really going to be the last weekend that any of the guys would have to themselves before a ton of promoting ensued.

So Abby was at the house alone with Kylie.  She was packing up the things she thought they would need.  And doing some cleaning around the house.  Not that it was dirty, but she was just bored and needed something to do.  Cleaning seemed to do the trick and help ease her anxiety about leaving.  Not a bad anxiety, but an anxious one.  She couldn’t wait.

Abby had just finished loading the dishwasher and turning it on when the doorbell rang.  Expecting that it would be Tyler, as he was supposed to be dropping off a copy of the video from the day his parents and himself had taken Kylie to Animal Kingdom, Abby headed for the door.

She was happy and smiling when she answered the door.  “It’s about damn time…” she trailed off when her eyes landed on the man standing before her.

“Expecting someone?” Tommy asked, and Abby could see the anger in his eyes.  So much anger in fact that it sent cold chills down her spine.

“Tommy?  What are you doing here?” she questioned, trying to make her voice sound firm and authoritive.  Something she was not feeling at the moment.  The look in his eyes was something she had never seen before and it scared her.

“What the hell do you think I’m doing here?” he snapped, pushing past her and walking into the house.

Abby froze not sure what to do.  Kylie was upstairs in her room asleep, and she was thankful for that, but she had no idea how she was going to handle Tommy.  She had never seen him like that before.

Turning to look at him she shut the door, trying to appear calm and at ease.  In the calmest voice she could muster she asked,  “Tommy, I’m not sure but maybe you could explain this to me.  In a calmer fashion.  There’s no reason to be so upset.”

“No reason to be upset?  NO REASON TO BE UPSET?!” he yelled and Abby flinched at his tone.  “You’re fucking with him now.  Did you think I wouldn’t see the photographs of the two of you together?  They’re all over the place.  Magazines, Newspapers, TV!  What the hell is going on?  You promised me!  I told you not to say anything to him, but you did it anyways.  What the HELL were you thinking, Abigail?!”

Abby watched as Tommy yelled and ranted, and marched through the hallway that lead into the living room looking around.  She was hesitant to follow him at first, but her instinct kicked in and she knew that she had to distract him.  Do whatever she could to protect herself and her child.  She had never seen him like this before.  Never.  And it was really terrifying her.

She knew that he had warned her not to tell JC the truth.  And JC had told her that Tommy had said that she and Kylie would be coming back to Vegas, even if he had to come get them himself, and she assumed that’s what he was there to do.  But there was a problem with his little plan, she was not going.  At least not willingly.  And if he wanted to fight her on it, then he would get one hell of a fight.

Abby followed him into the living room and watched as he stormed around the room looking things over.  The first place he headed was for the playpen that was setup off to the side of the room.  When he didn’t find what he was looking for there, he turned and stormed towards Abby.

“Where the hell is she?” he barked.

Thinking fast Abby lied through her teeth and prayed that Kylie wouldn’t wake up and make any noise.  “She’s with JC’s parents.  They kept her last night.”

“She’s not here?” he questioned.

“No.  Me and JC had plans last night so they offered to keep her.  I gotta go pick her up later today.”

“You call them right now and tell them you’re coming to get her!  RIGHT NOW!” he yelled.

Abby jumped when he yelled.  This was not good and she had to find some way to get around it.  “Tommy, I’m not coming back to Vegas with you.  I figured you would have kinda known that based on everything that you’re yelling at me about.” she tried changing the focus off of Kylie.

“YES YOU ARE!” he snarled.  “You’re my wife!  And we’re going to go BACK to Vegas and reaffirm that and clear up any problems at my job.  You know what this could cost me.  And I’m not going to let all the hard work I’ve put into this go down the drain because you want to play house with some pop star.  Now get your ass on the phone and call his parents.  We’re going to get Kylie and that’s final!” he demanded grabbing the phone from it’s base and shoving it into Abby’s hands.

“I can’t just call them and tell them I’m coming to get her to leave JC high and dry and go back to Vegas with you.” Abby protested.

“You’re a smart girl, Abby.  You seem to be good at lying.  Look at all the lies you had convinced JC of up until recently.  So get your ass on that phone and work your talents.”

“I’m not doing this.  I won't!  I love JC and I’m happy with JC.  We’re