Justin Timberlake leaned against the door of the nursery and watched his girlfriend paint, her swollen belly showing every day of her seven month pregnancy. He watched as Melissa wiped the sweat from her forehead and stepped back to look at her work, one hand going to the small of her back, the other going the her stomach.  

"What do you think Mr. Pop Star?" Melissa asked without turning around. 

"How did you know I was there?" Justin asked, pushing away from the door frame.  

"Because you've been staring at me like a creep for the past twenty minutes and you keep sighing like a woman." Melissa teased, "I think Trace is right, I do wear the pants in this relationship."  

Justin laughed and put his arms around her, resting his hands against her belly, "Speaking of wearing pants, aren't those mine?"  

"They most certainly are." Melissa said, tugging at the waist of said jogging pants, "And if you ever go golfing and leave me to paint again I'll be sure I'm wearing them when I go into labour."  

Justin made a face, "That's disgusting."  

"That's the miracle of childbirth." Melissa giggled as the baby kicked against Justin's hand, "Your daughter is saying hello."  

"You mean my son." Justin playfully argued.  

They had decided that they were going to let the sex of the baby be a surprise. They settled on names that would work for both sexes, painted their nursery a neutral green with Winnie the Pooh decorations and had bought clothes for either sex. Of course Justin had noticed that Melissa was buying more girl clothes and she kept calling the baby 'she'.  

"What makes you so sure we're having a boy?" Melissa teased, "Aside from wishful thinking."  

"You've got all your weight in the front; mom said that means you're having a boy." Justin said.  

"That's an old wives tale Justin." Melissa laughed.  

"Hey old wives tales are facts!" Justin exclaimed.  

"Really, cause I don't remember standing on my head to get pregnant." She said, elbowing him playfully.  

"That's 'cause I have super swimmers."  

"I am not going there." Melissa laughed, "Think you're man enough to put together the rocking chair?"  

"Of course!"  

"On second thought, maybe I should do it, Joey told me about Brianna's crib."  

"Hey, that was all Chris's fault, not mine."  

"Sure it was baby," Melissa said patting his arm, "just follow the damn instructions."  

Justin shot out of bed at the first feeling of the tremors that were rocking their house. He quickly ran around to Melissa's side to help her up, her now nine month swollen stomach limiting her movements.  

"I feel like a damn upside down turtle." She hissed as Justin managed to get her out of the bed.  

"It's alright sweetie." Justin said, rubbing her back as he moved her to the doorway.  

"Would you slow down, I can only shuffle so - ow!"  

Justin froze, "What's wrong?"  

"The baby just kicked, she doesn't like her mama being tugged..." Melissa's sentence was cut off as she gasped and doubled over.  

"Baby we got to get in the doorway."  

"The quake has stopped Justin." Melissa gasped.  

"What's wrong?"  

"It's probably just false labour."   

"Are you sure?"  

"No."  

"What makes you unsure?"  

"The fact that my water just broke." Melissa muttered.  

"I'll call an ambulance!"  

Melissa rolled her eyes, "You really think after a quake like that there's going to be any available?"  

"It doesn't hurt to try." Justin insisted as he dialled. "Why the hell is the line busy?"  

"Told you."  

"What should we do, should we try driving?"   

Melissa bit her lip, "What if there’s a problem with the roads?"  

"Okay, I'll call Doctor McCarthy."  

"Justin she's a veterinarian."  

"It's the same basic idea!"  Melissa crossed her arms over her chest trying to look as menacing as she could when it felt like her body was being torn in two. "Go next door and get Noah."  

"He's a cop."  

"And he's delivered babies before!" Melissa yelled at him as another wave of pain hit her. "Now Justin!"  

She watched Justin run from the room and moved as slowly as possible back to the bed, cursing her luck. She stripped off her pants and underwear, wanting to be free of the damp cloth and paled as she spotted the dark red color of blood.   

"Oh Jesus."  

"Justin, trust me, I know what I'm doing." Came Noah's voice, "If I can deliver triplets on the side of the freeway and a baby boy while being bombed, I think I can handle Melissa and your baby."  

"Should I go boil some water or something?"  

"Sure, if it will make you feel better, and grab me some clean clothes too." Noah told him, closing the door in Justin's face. "The boy can sing in front of thousands of screaming women but have his girlfriend go into labour and he's like a damn chicken with it's head cut off."  

"Noah, is there supposed to be blood?" Melissa asked, her voice shaking.  

"How much blood is there?"  

"I don't know."  

"Okay, lay back and I'll take a look." Noah said, "Does Justin know that I was a field medic?"  

"No, why?"  

"He keeps asking if he should phone some doctor."  

Melissa rolled her eyes, "Idiot keeps wanting to call Doctor McCarthy."  

"Isn't she a vet?"  

"That she is."  

Noah shook his head, "That idiot, look I'm going to get Justin to go get Mary, he might feel better since she's an RN."  

Justin paced around outside the door. Mary had kicked him out of the room when they realized that he was irritating Melissa more then he was helping her. He had actually been grateful for the chance to leave and he briefly wondered how Joey had managed to be with Kelly when she was delivering. He was still perfectly able to hear every curse word that came out of Melissa's mouth and had when he had laughed; Melissa threatened every portion of his anatomy with pain and suffering.  

He stopped pacing as the cry of the baby rang out and he quickly rushed into the room as Mary placed the baby on Melissa's stomach and began cleaning it off. "You've got a little girl."  

Melissa smiled at Justin, "Told you so."  

Justin kissed her and looked down at the baby, "Whatever, she's beautiful."  

"Melissa?" Mary asked suddenly, moving back up to the head of the bed, "Melissa, can you hear me?"  

Justin looked at Melissa and saw that she was pale and she was slumped to the side. "What's going on?"  

"Justin, I need you to take the baby and leave the room and call an ambulance so that we can get them to the hospital to have them checked over." Noah told him.  

Justin nodded weakly and scooped the baby up, carrying her outside into the hallway. He bounced her soothingly as he dialled the number and struggled against his own tears as he gave the operator their address.  

"It's okay Jordan; your mama is going to be fine."  

Justin balanced Jordan in his arm and shook hands with Melissa's father as he walked away. He turned and saw the blue eyes of JC Chasez staring back at him and let his best friend pull him into a hug.  

"I'm so sorry J."  

"Thanks for coming JC." Justin said softly.  

"I wouldn't be your friend if I didn't, is that my niece?"  

"Yep, this is Jordan McKenzie Timberlake."  

"McKenzie? I thought it was going to be Madison." JC asked.  

"Actually I wanted to name her Jordan Melissa, but Fuzzy here wouldn't let me." Melissa said, coming up beside them.  

"Hey Miss, I'm sorry about the other baby."  

Melissa shrugged, "It's kind of hard to mourn when I didn't even know it was there in the first place. I mean, my heart is still aching because it was my baby, but at the same time, I've got Jordan and she's healthy as they come."  

JC nodded, "That must have been pretty scary though."  

"I wouldn't do that to the poor kid, she'd never have a date if I wasn't around." Melissa said. "Here, give me the baby, go say good bye to your son."  

Justin nodded and handed her the now sleeping infant. JC squeezed his shoulder before Justin moved away to the tiny grave marker with the lamb on top. He traced his finger over the scroll writing that spelt out his son’s name. Melissa had carried the infant to term, which surprised the doctors since it was almost unheard of.   

"You know that it just means it wasn't meant to be yet, right?" Melissa asked from behind him.  

"Miss, am I selfish or uncaring?"  

"What are you talking about J?"  

"In a way I'm glad, because Jordan gets to have her mom, and I won't be alone." Justin said, "I feel like I'm not as sad as I should be because I'm so relieved that you're okay."  

Melissa pulled him up and hugged him tightly, "No Justin, it's just the way that you're mourning."  

Justin held her tightly to him before realizing his daughter wasn't with her, "Where's Jordan?"  

"I gave her to JC."  

"What?!" Justin exclaimed, grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him, "He can't deal with babies! What if he drops her or something?"  

"Justin, he's perfectly fine with her!"  

"No, he might drop her, or bump into someone or..." He trailed off as he spotted JC sitting in a chair with three women standing around him.  

"Or, he'll be using her to pick up women." Melissa said, giggling as the Chasez smirk crossed his face.  

"He's picking up women at a funeral, that's just sick."  

"I think it's amusing as hell." Melissa laughed.  

Justin dropped Melissa's hand and stomped over to JC, snatching his daughter back, "You are not going to use my baby girl as a pick up tool!"  

Melissa rolled her eyes and moved to take the now crying baby from Justin, "Don't worry, I promise by the time your sixteen you'll have a little brother that he'll be focusing all his energy on so you'll be allowed to date."    

Oh now feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.