26 year old Justin Timberlake was known world-wide. He was a busy man. Ultra-celebrity, celebrated performer, and the most eligible bachelor in the world. Most woman wanted him, and most men wanted to be him. He was on top of the world, and he wasn't relenquishing the throne he had worked so hard to be given.

Flashbulbs exploded and people started screaming the second he exited the double glass doors.

Mr. Timberlake! Is it true that Hugh Hefner wants you to take over the mansion when he passes?"

I wish. Justin thought to himself as he walked through the crowd gathered outside his hotel surrounded by his team of bodyguards.

"Mr. Timberlake! Mr. Timberlake! How do feel about the allegations that you and Cameron broke up because of Britney?"

"Mr. Timberlake! Are you going to star in an adult film?"

"Mr. Timberlake! Please just one picture for US Weekly!"

"Mr. Timberlake! What do you think about the rumors stating you are homosexual?"

"Are you kidding me?" the infamous Justin Timberlake stopped walking and glared at the paparazzo who had assulted him with the comment on his sexuality. "I am very much attracted to women thank you." He commented snidely and continued on his path from the hotel to the limo waiting to take him to the airport.

From somewhere in the mass of screaming girls and questioning reporters a man in a dark blue suit called out his name. "Mr. Timberlake! Mr. Timberlake! Just one moment please." He called out but gave an exasperated sigh when he too was ignored like the papparazzi surrounding him. He stuffed a large manilla envelope back into the breifcase he was carrying and pushed his way out of the crowd and hailed a taxi off the New York City street.

"JFK Airport please." He said to the cab driver. 'Hopefully I'll catch him there.' The man had hope. It definatly wasn't easy to catch an international pop star on a world tour. Mark J. Sulley had been following Justin Timberlake around the states for the last month as he completed the dates on his FutureSex/LoveShow world tour. It was now nearing Mid-February and this was slowly becoming a desperate situation.

The papers he protected in his breifcase were very important. Mark Sulley had tried every means possible to deliver them to their intended recipient but after many failed attempts to contact Mr. Timberlake through his managment company and agent he had resorted to what basically amounted to stalking.

Unfortunatly, when your job was to tell someone they had a child waiting at a placement home in Los Angeles, and serve them with papers that made them the sole surviving parent there was little else you could do but find the person and complete your task. There was a little girl's life in his hands.

Yes Justin Timberlake's privleged life was certainly about to change, and there was little he could do to prevent it.

How can you prevent the unpredictable?

As the taxi pulled up in front of JFK airport and stopped just behind the black stretch limo that Justin was in, Mark Sulley handed the driver way too much cash and quickly exited the cab. He walked up to the side of the unguarded limo and knocked on the glass window. For a second it seemed as though nothing was going to happen and he started to think he was too late but then suddenly the door opened and a tall large black man stepped out.

"Can I help you?" He asked sternly, making sure the door to the limo was shut before he stood in front of it.

"Yes. Is Justin Timberlake in that limosine?" Mr. Sulley asked, knowing full well that the man wouldn't volunteer that information with just one question.

"I'm afraid I'm not qualified to give you that information." he replied.

Sulley popped open his briefcase and pulled out the summons with Justin's name on it. He held it up and motioned for the man to take it. He looked it over breifly, snatched it from Sulley's hands, looked it over more carefully, and then handed it back to him. "Who are you?"

"My name is Mark Sulley, I'm a lawyer from Illinois and I was chosen to represent Miss Riley Grant, and carry out the instructions left in her mother's will regarding her care. I have been trying to get in touch with Mr. Timberlake for the last month to inform him of..." Sulley trailed off, not wanting to reveal too much information to a man he wasn't sure he could trust with confidential information. "I need to speak with Mr. Timberlake. Can you help me do that?"

The man nodded and then opened up the door to the limo. "JT?"

"Yeah?" Sulley heard Justin's voice reply.

"There's someone out here who needs to talk to you. Can I let him in?"

"It's a him? Man Mike , I've got a headache, I just wanna go home. Can you just tell him I'm in a hurry?"

"Naw man, I really think this is important."

"Uh damn. Okay whatever."

"Go ahead." The man named Mike stepped aside and allowed Sulley to climb into the car and found himself suddenly face to face with Justin Timberlake.

"Yo Mike? How much time we got?" Justin asked.

"You're good, the plane won't leave without you." Mike answered and then shut the door.

Mark Sulley held out his hand "Mr. Timberlake. You're a difficult man to get in touch with. I've been tracking you down for over a month. My name is Mark Sulley."

"Justin" Justin replied unnecessarily and shook the hand offered to him.

"Mr. Timberlake. I am in a difficult situation." Sulley began earning himself a confused look from Justin. "Let me introduce myself, I am a family affairs lawyer from Illinois. I largely deal with divorce, annulments, and also prenuptual agreements."

"Okay, what does this have to do with me? I'm not married... or engaged for that matter." Justin rolled his eyes and began to mess around with his sidekick sending a text messege and virtually ignoring what Mr. Sulley was talking to him about.

"Well in rare cases I am also called in to resolve custody arrangements when there are children involved. Do you ever recall meeting a woman named Julie Grant?"

Justin absentmindedly shook his head no and continued to type onto his phone.

"Ms. Grant recently was in a fatal car crash and we have reason to believe that you Mr. Timberlake are the father of her 3 year old daughter Riley."

Sulley's last statement caught Justin off-guard and it managed to drag him away from his urgent text messaging and make him an active part of the conversation. "Excuse me, what?"

Sulley had expected some sort of disbelief as a reaction, in fact that was usually the case with these types of cases. He took out a photo of the little girl in question and handed it to Justin who took it and looked at it as if it would burn him and then handed it back to Sulley. "Mr. Timberlake, we request your willing participation in a paternity test before we proceed any further."

"Pa... pat... paternity? Why...how...do you know I am the father?" Justin stuttered out, still lost in disbelief.

"We won't know for sure until you take the paternity test, but in Julie's will she left sole physical and legal custody of Riley to her biological father and she claimed that is you. Normally we would have placed the child with her grandparents or another blood relative instead of the halfway house but unfortunatly there is no such person to place her with. We had no choice but to track you down as quickly as possible. Now I understand you have a few days before your next scheduled tour date, are you on your way back to L.A.?"

"Yes. Yes." Justin nodded.

"Okay. well we have a few options. You could agree to take the test, we could allow Riley to be placed in your custody until the results are returned, in which case if you are not her father she will be placed in a foster home until she is adopted."

"If I am the father?"

"Why don't we just get the test done first and then we'll worry about that."

Justin just nodded and swallowed loudly.

"Here's my card." Sulley spoke again handing Justin his business card, "Would you be able to meet me, and Riley of course at my office tomorrow around noon?"

Justin again nodded.

"Well I know you have a plane to catch and I have to book a flight myself so I will see you tomorrow afternoon and I will also arrange someone to be there to administer the test. It's not a very invasive procedure. I know we have special circumstances and I will be sure that everything is kept confidential so you don't need to worry about that. But Mr. Timberlake?"

"Yea?" Justin asked, looking up from his hands to Mr. Sulley.

"I'd advise you to start thinking about what you would do if the girl is your daughter. Things will start to move very quickly, especially with your lifestyle." Mark climbed out of the limo and thanked the bodyguard and then headed into the airport.

Mike climbed back into the limo himself. "Jay, dude, we need to get going the plane won't wait forever."

"Yea, man I know." Justin replied. "Dude, did you know what that guy had to say? I might have a kid."

"A kid?"

"Yea man. A daughter. Some woman died and said her daughter is my daughter."

"Some woman?"

"Yea man. Julie Grant, I think is her name. Do you remember her?"

"Do I remember her? Man you're the one that had to have slept with her why would I remember?"

"Mike come'on man. You know how it is."

"Damn Jay seriously? I don't know. Is that the woman from the club tour, the one you met in that po-dunk town in like Iowa? Or Illinois?"

"Illinois." Justin replied, he reached for his carry on bag and scooted towards the door of the limo. "Let's just go, I can't deal with this now. I just need to get to my first class seat and order a damn drink."

Mike shook his head with a sigh but dutifully followed his ward through the crowded airport and rushed through boarding procedures. By the time the plane was taking off Justin was already downing a drink and relaxing away his worries on the way home to Florida. However he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that his life was about to change forever.

"Hell Mike. What am I going to do man?" He said suddenly after an hour of internalizing his fears.

"Right now? Or in general?"

"Damn Mike, be real here. Seriously I might have a kid man. A kid. I'm too young to be a dad."

"You're too young to have sex?" Mike asked.

"Naw man, I'm too young to have a kid."

"If you're old enough to have sex then apparently you're old enough to have a kid, seeings as that's how you get there. Dude, don't do the crime if ya can't do the time."

"Man that's not helping." Justin rubbed his eyes with his fists and sat up straighter in the seat.

"Sorry man, but you're on your own. There's nothing I can say that's gonna change any of this. Just take the test and worry about it from there."

Justin nodded and then returned to his semi-relaxed position for the rest of the flight. By time time the plane touched down at LAX he had pushed the thoughts from his mind and was now more worried about finding a girl to spend the night with. Just another way to get this disaster off his mind.

The morning came too quickly as Justin unwrapped himself from the arms of some nameless blonde who lay naked in his bed. He groaned when he read the bright green digits on his alarm clock telling him it was already quarter to eleven.

"Hey Baby, I gotta get up, and you gotta get out." He nudged the woman off of him, allowing her to place a few aimless kisses on his bare chest and neck before he was out of her reach and off of the bed. "I gotta shower, so I'll see you later."

"You don't want me to stick around. I could make you some breakfast?" the pretty girl tried her best to find a way to stick around, but she'd been here before and knew how he acted afterwards. He would tell her no, to get going, and not call her again for a few weeks, until he had another free night and no one to spend it with.

He didn't really even notice the fact that he was naked, what did he care she'd already slept with him, he had nothing to hide. He was 'Justin Timberlake', and she... well she was nobody. He shook his head and muttered a no and then headed into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him.

He turned on the water, full blast and once it was warm enough, stepped inside letting the hot water beat against the muscles in his back. His hair was buzzed too short to really worry about so the purpose of the shower was really just to wake himself up and get the girl to leave. After washing away the dried sweat, and the traces of that girl's red lipstick, that he had acquired from the previous night's activities he shut off the water and climbed out of the shower, drying off his body quickly and wrapping the towel around his waist. He leaned over the sink and brushed his teeth and he noticed a bite mark on his shoulder and half smiled. He even impressed himself sometimes.

When he left the bathroom to go get dressed, a heavy steam cloud followed him through the door. As he expected the girl had left, but in her wake there was a note taped to his headboard with her number "in case he lost it" telling him to "call her sometime soon." He chuckled to himself and crumpled up the note, throwing it in the direction of the bathroom, planning on bringing it to the garbage there later.

Justin then picked out a pair of black boxer-briefs, and jeans and dressed his bottom half. He sprayed himself with cologne and grabbed a t-shirt out of a dresser drawer. He took the shirt and a pair of socks with him downstairs to the kitchen and fixed himself a bowl of cereal. He turned on the television in the kitchen and sat at the island while he wolfed down the cereal as quickly as he could. Finally he dropped the empty bowl in the sink and took a swig of milk right from the carton.

Then he looked at the clock again. It was already 11:45 and he knew he was going to be late so he picked up his cell phone from the counter and pulled the business card out of his wallet. After making the phone call to tell Sulley that he'd be late, he pulled the shirt over his head, put on his socks and shoes and shoved his wallet in his pocket. As he headed to his garage he grabbed his car keys off the counter and locked the door. Then he got into his black BMW roadster and pulled out of the drive.

After only getting lost once he pulled into the parking lot of the Sulley's office and parked the car. He turned off the engine and with a heavy sigh he leaned his forehead against the stearing wheel and checked the time from the clock on the dashboard. It was now 12:34. Knowing that he was late enough already, and also knowing that his life as he knew it was quite possibly over he debated on starting up the car again and just driving away.

But overall the guilt he would feel if the child was his and he'd abandoned her won out and he slowly got out of the car and with every step he felt more and more nauseous. His ever attentive bodyguard Mike, was waiting for him inside and it made Justin a little more at ease to see the friendly face. He sat in the chair next to Mike, and breathed a sigh of relief thinking that maybe he had time to calm down a little bit but much to his dismay a woman in a gray suit appeared before him and asked him to follow her to Mr. Sulley's office.

The office was relatively bare, with very few trinkets and only a couple photos in frames on the wall. There was a bookshelf in the corner with the usual legal journals and pamphlets filling the shelves. There was a desk in the dead center of the room and sitting behind it was the man Justin had come to know as Mark Sulley.

"Well hello Mr. Timberlake, I trust you found us alright?" Sulley stood up and walked around the desk to shake his hand. "Please, have a seat."

Nervously Justin sat in one of the two chairs that were in front of the desk. Mike looked at Justin, who was silently praying for him to stay there but Mike knew that this was something Justin had to do on his own. With downcast eyes, and avoiding Justin's stare Mike nodded a hello to Mr. Sulley and then left the room.

"Well then let's get this started shall we?" Mr. Sulley said, pulling a binder out of his desk drawer and opening it up to what appeared to be Julie's will. "In her will, as you can clearly see, Julie Grant left sole legal and physical custody her daughter, Riley Grant, to you, Justin R. Timberlake, but only after a test confirms that you are in fact the father of Riley. A paternity test is simple, we just take a cotton swab and wipe the inside of your cheek, as we have already done with Riley, and we just compare the DNA and if it's a match, then it's a match." he spoke matter of factly.

"Um, how much, I mean, how close of a match is required to, to make it official?" Justin stammered.

"Sometimes as low as 66% but it's usually either 99.9% or under 100% so let's just complete the test and then see where we are. Okay?"

Justin swallowed loudly and nodded as Mr. Sulley pushed a button on his phone and asked his secretary to have a woman named Heather come in. Heather entered the room and sat down in the chair next to Justin. Mark explained that Heather was here to administer the test and with another deep breath Justin opened his mouth and let Heather rub the inside of his cheek with an extra long cotton swab. She zipped it in a ziplock bag and then said goodbye and left the room.

"See, that wasn't so hard. Now we just have to wait."

"How long?" Justin asked.

"We should have the results in a couple days. We've put a rush on this because of the situation. Now, would you like to meet Riley?"

"I can? I mean... she's here?"

"Yes she certainly is, we've been entertaining her in one of the other offices until after you arrived because we weren't sure if you would want to meet her, but I can have Ellie bring her in. She doesn't know anything really about this, she's only three so until we're sure, you'll just be Justin okay?"

Again Justin just nodded but his palms were beginning to sweat as he rubbed them together and stood up to follow Sulley to the other office.

"No, no." He said as he waved his hands, and stood up. "You sit tight and we'll bring her here." Sulley left the room and for a few seconds Justin felt as though the silence of the room, and the walls, were closing in on him. He took a few deep breaths but it was all a lost cause because the second he heard the door start to open again his heart rate sped up again and he was just as nervous as he was a few minutes before.

Then he saw her.

Sulley came back into the room, with a little blond girl in his arms. Her curls framed her tiny face, but Justin could see dark blue eyes much like his own reflected back at him and he knew instantly that the test was just a formality. Even he couldn't deny that this little girl looked like him.

"Riley, I want you to meet a friend of mine, his name is Justin."

"Hi Jussin." The child said timidly. Justin nearly melted at the sound of the girl saying his name.

"H... hi." he replied. "What do you have there?" He asked, motioning to the teddy bear she held in her arms.

"It's mine." she answered and held it tighter in her arms. Sulley put her on the ground and she immediately went over to one of the chairs and climbed onto it.

"Riley, sweetie, he knows it's yours, but I think he was asking what it's name was." Sulley knelt down on the ground near the chair and looked at Riley's face. She nodded and smiled her little girl smile.

Meanwhile Justin was in complete awe of the little girl. Still trying to understand where the need to protect and care for her that had suddenly come over him, came from.

"Is Randy. You wanna see?" Suddenly Riley was standing right in front of him, holding the bear up to him waiting for him to take it. He hesitantly knelt down and took the bear from her hands.

"Oh he's cute." Justin said.

Riley reached for her bear back and then went back to Sulley, who picked her up and walked back to where Justin was now standing.

"Well I don't want to keep you for too much longer, I'm sure you have things to do. If you would like to see her again, this is the address to the home she is staying in. I will call you as soon as I get the results."

"Okay." Justin nodded, "Can I... can I hold her?" he asked nervously.

"Sure." Sulley replied with a smile. "Riley can you give Justin a hug goodbye? He has to go, but maybe you'll see him soon okay?" Riley nodded and held out her arms so that Justin could take her. He lifted her into his arms and immediately felt at ease when her little arms curled around his neck. His eyes closed and he inhaled deeply, trying to remember what she smelled like, and what it felt like to have her hug him.

"Bye-bye." she said and kissed his cheek.

When Sulley took her back and turned around to open the door Justin's hand lifted on it's own accord and his fingertips rested at the place where she had kissed him and he knew.

Knew without a doubt he knew that she was his daughter.

Daughter.

He had a daughter.

He, Justin Timberlake, was a father. And not just any father, a single father and only 26. Although it wasn't confirmed yet, there was no denying it.

He was someone's, "daddy" and the thought was so new and so unfamiliar to his mind that for a moment he felt as though he was going to pass out. Once he was back out in the waiting room he sank into one of the oversized chairs and held his hands to his face. "Oh my God." he muttered.

"That well huh?" Mike said as he took a seat next to Justin, who nodded but didn't speak.

"I saw her." Mike said, "Jay, I don't know if you wanna hear this but she looks..."

"Yeah I know." Justin inturrupted him. "She looks just like me."

Mike nodded, "Yeah."

"Damn man, I gotta tell the guys." he paused and then leaned forward almost looking like he was going to throw up. "I gotta tell my mom. Man, she's gonna kill me."

"Well... she can't. You've got a little girl to take care of." Mike chuckled but when Justin glared at him took the hint that he was in no mood for jokes.

"So... I guess... I guess I should... get to that then." Justin stood up, unsteady at first, and pulled his car keys out of his pocket. "I'll see you later Mike." With one last glance through the tiny window in the office door, he smiled as he focused on the top of Riley's head, familiar unruly curls catching his eye. He then took the last few steps to the door and left the building. In the car he pulled out his cell phone, calling JC first, asking if he was around and had some time within the next couple days to talk. After setting up a time to meet the next afternoon he took his time calling Lance, Joey, and Chris as asking them to meet with him too. Then he took a deep breath and dialed the digits to his mother's cell phone before he could stop himself.

He breathed a sigh of relief when her voice mail picked up and left a quick message asking his mom to come to his house later on that night and have dinner with him. Then he started the car and headed back home.

His house seemed so big and empty when he got there. It was quiet, and the silence allowed him to worry about all the things that were going to change in his life. He needed to clear out the guest room, and turn it into a bedroom for Riley. He was going to need to buy kid food, and kid-proof everything. He remembered all the things Joey went through when Brianna was born and his mind created a list of all the things he would need to buy, and all the things he would need to learn.

For the rest of his life, there was going to be someone whose well being would come before his own. He had never had to worry about that before. He was the center of his life, and now she would be.

"Good lord, I need to sit down." he said out loud.

He turned on the television and flipped through the channels a few times but nothing caught his interest. He was too preoccupied with how he would find a suitable babysitter to come on tour with him. Someone who wouldn't spend more time chasing after him, then taking care of Riley.

Then he realized, oh so suddenly, that he was already changing. Yesterday he wouldn't have thought twice about putting a parental block on certain television channels, but today, at this moment, he was already typing in a four digit code. He threw the control across the room onto another chair and stood up quickly, a look of horror on his face.

He heard his front door open and heard his mother's voice call out his name. He nearly ran in the direction of the sound and threw his arms around her in one of the most desperate, and needy hugs he had ever given.

"Justin Randall Timberlake what on earth is the matter?" She pushed him away roughly and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him an all too motherly glare. "Sit down and start talking. And don't give me that 'everything is alright' crap. I didn't give birth to you, raise you, and be there for you for 26 years to not know when something is wrong." She pointed back into the living room and he dragged his feet as he trudged back into the room and sat in one of the overstuffed chairs.

"Mom. You might want to sit down too." He said softly.

"What in the hell did you get yourself into?" she asked sitting down and leannd her elbows on her knees, staring at him intently.

"There's no easy way to say this. I... I had a lawyer contact me yesterday in New York, and he has an office out here, he flew down last night or this morning or something but anyway. I had to go meet him today."

"Get to the point." Lynn said sternly.

"He told me... he told me that..."

"Justin..." her voice warned him to get there faster.

"Mom... you're a grandmother." he rambled out quickly, and then turned his head wincing, and preparing for her to yell.

"What?" she asked.

"I have a daughter." He said after a moment of trying to decide whether she was angry, or just plain thought he was joking.

"Oh my God." she held a hand to her mouth and her eyes shut tightly.

"That's... not everything." He said. "The mother, died. And in the will, Riley... that's her name... Riley is supposed to be placed in my care."

"Riley..."

"Yeah. I had to take a paternity test and everything to prove that I am her father, but I met her today Mom. And she looks, just like me. There's no way that she isn't mine."

"I... can't believe this. Justin, how did this even happen?"

"Well Mom, you're a parent, I'm sure you know that. Don't make me go there. I love you, but I can't talk to you about that."

"I mean... didn't you use protection. I raised a smart boy. There are ways to not get pregnant."

"Mom, I know that. But, shit happens. It's not like I planned this. It's a nightmare. Johnny is not going to be happy, this is PR hell. But Mom, she is amazing. I was so scared, so scared to see her, but when I did. When I did it was like everything changed." Justin trailed off for a moment and even though Lynn was very angry she couldn't help but smile at the look in his eyes. It was a love only a parent could understand.

"Mom I've been sitting here thinking about child-proofing the house, and hiring a nanny."

Lynn chuckled at the thought. "So when can I meet this little angel?"

"Um... Mark, the lawyer, actually gave me the address at the halfway house that she is staying at until this is all resolved and told me I could go see her if I wanted to. As soon as the test results come back we have to set up a time for me to fill out some paperwork and I guess take her. But until it's official I'm not allowed to see her unsupervised. If you want we could go over there tomorrow?"

Lynn nodded immediately and without hesitation. "Of course."

"Oh shit. I have to meet the guys and tell them about all this at noon, can we go after that?"

"Of course. When do you have to be back on the tour?"

"I have to be in Buffalo on the 18th, so 9 days." He counted off in his head.

"Alright, so we have a lot to do and very little time to do it. I am going to sleep here tonight and I am going shopping tomorrow morning." she said and got up off the couch. "I really don't feel like cooking Justin, do you?" He shook his head no and Lynn nodded "I didn't think so. I'm going to order some chinese food."

"Sounds good. I am going to go take a shower and change. But Mom?"

"Yes dear?"

"Can... can I have a hug?" his voice sounded so small and hopeful to her ears and she took one look as his tired eyes and slumped shoulders and in seconds her arms wrapped around her son and she cradled him close to her as she felt his shoulders shake and a few tears seep through the fabric of her shirt. Her hand moved to the back of his head and she rubbed it as a way to sooth him.

"Baby, you'll make it through this. You're a daddy now, and you're gonna be great at it. Don't you worry. Momma will be here for as long as you need her."

The next morning Justin woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. He came down the stairs and smiled when he saw his mother at the stove making scrambled eggs.

"Good morning." he muttered as he collapsed onto one of the chairs at the table.

"Good morning sunshine. Breakfast?"

"Uh sure." he answered as she set a plate in front of him and he picked up the fork and began to eat. She fixed her own plate and sat across the table from him and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Now, is there any certain color sceme you want for that room up there? I'm going to take your credit card with me and go buy a new dresser, a child's bed, and few other things. Maybe a toy box too."

Justin's eyes widened and he nearly choked on his toast. "No... you can just do whatever I guess. Do you need me to come with you for any reason?"

"No dear, that would just cause problems and rumors... I guess they aren't rumors if they're true but you know."

"Okay, well I am going to go take a shower and then I have to drive over to the office and hopefully catch Johnny and tell him about all this. Then I have to meet the guys at 12. Hopefully I'll be back around 2 and then we can drive over to that house and see Riley, I'm gonna call the house on my way to meet the guys." Justin kissed his mother's cheek and then jogged up the stairs to his room. It was already 10:10 and he had no idea how long Johnny was going to take to yell at him so he had to get going.

Thankfully the meeting with Johnny didn't go over as horribly as Justin had expected it to. Yes he was in deep, the shit truly had hit the fan and it would take a lot of PR work to get the news out there, and not lose too many fans but that's what those people got paid for so Justin wasn't too worried. If he didn't lose fans after his Rolling Stone interviews from Amsterdam he sure as hell wasn't worried about the fans he could lose by having an illegitimate daughter that he didn't know about suddenly pop up. If anything people might feel sorry for him, after all there were three years he would never get back.

On the way to the restaurant to meet the others he pulled out the card with the address and phone number of the house and made the phone call. He told the woman that answered that he was Justin Timberlake, and that he wanted to come see his daughter and after giving her a little more information she told him it was alright to come and he said he would be there after 2.

Pulling into the parking lot of the local Chili's he got out of his car and walked over to JC's car. He saw Lance and Chris hanging out there too and found out that they were just waiting for Joey who'd called JC to say he'd be late because Brianna had an accident and he had to run home. Justin chuckled and wondered what he would do in that situation, and then realized that he would quite possibly soon be finding out.

"No bodyguards today Big Star?" Chris asked Justin as he jokingly punched him in the arm. Now that 'Nsync wasn't in the spotlight as much the others didn't really worry too much about crazy droves of fans following them but because Justin was solo now and still very popular he rarely went anywhere without at least Mike trailing behind.

"No. I'm really not supposed to be out here but something came up."

"Is that why we're all here?" Lance piped in and Justin nodded.

Just then Joey's SUV pulled into a parking spot next to JC and he jumped out, opened up the backseat and got Brianna out of her car seat and the five guys headed into the restaurant. They were seated promptly, with a giddy waitress who politely asked for some autographs and then headed off to get their drinks.

"So Curly, what's up?" Joey opened up the tiny box of crayons that the waitress had left for his daughter and turned his attention to the younger man.

"Damn... ok. I have some big news."

"Dude, we already know you and Cam broke up, the magazines and E! news told us." Chris joked but when Justin gave him a look he knew it wasn't that kind of news.

"I just found out that I... I have a kid." he spit out quickly and then braced himself for a reaction.

"What!" he heard four voices shout back at him.

"I have a daughter."

"Seriously?" JC asked.

"Seriously. She's 3 years old, and I guess it was some woman that I met up with on the Justified tour but I don't really remember. She looks just like me it's crazy. Her um, mom was in a car accident and she died, and this lawyer contacted me told me that I had to take a paternity test. Which I did yesterday. And once they get the results back I... she's mine."

For the rest of the lunch went smoothly with the five friends talking like they normally would. Justin could tell that his friends were trying their best to be supportive but he knew they thought he was in over his head. Hell he knew he was in deep. When the waitress brought over the check Justin took a look at his watch and stood up quickly.

"Damn, I gotta go pick up my mom and take her to see Riley." He tossed some money on the table and said goodbye to his friends.

"Aight man, let us know if you need anything." JC said.

"Yeah man, are you sure you're ready for this?" Joey asked, as he stood up and lifted Brianna into his arms. Justin leaned over and kissed Brianna's cheek and tickled her till she giggled, and he smiled at the sound.

"Hell no I'm not sure, but what choice do I have?"

As Justin drove home he sang along to the radio and was suprised to hear an old Aerosmith song on the local rock station.

"Pink! It's my new obsession! Pink! It's not even a question!" he belted out loudly as he thought about how very shortly there would probably be an excess of pink in his life with the new little girl running around in it. He pulled quickly into his driveway and beeped the horn and then waited for his mother to come out. When she did she was carrying, ironically, a pink teddy bear and her purse. Justin gave her a look and rolled his eyes as she climbed in and shut the door. He pulled a crumpled up peice of paper out of his pocket with the directions scrawlled on it and handed it to his mom.

"Read those to me as I drive." He turned down the radio as "American Girls" by the Counting Crows came through the speakers. "I hate that song," he explained, and after a few other turns he finally made a left turn onto a dead end street. The houses were nothing like the one he lived in but they were relatively in good shape. At the end of the road there was a large grey house with white shutters. Justin pulled into the driveway and with a heavy sigh turned off the engine and turned to his mom.

"You ready?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be." She gave him a reassuring smile and they bth got out of the car and walked up onto the porch. With a suddenly shaky hand Justin reached out and pushed the doorbell. They heard a dog bark inside, and the sound of little feet running towards the door. Inside a little girl's voice yelled out for permission to open the door and when the answer came back a 'yes' the door swung open and once again Justin was face to face with the child he'd come to accept as his.

"Hi Riley. Do you remember me?" Justin kneeled down to her level and looked her in the eyes. She nodded shyly, eyeing Lynn, and then stepped backwards and hid behind the legs of the older woman that had come up behind her.

"Well Mr. Timberlake. I'd heard a rumor that we might see you around here and I wasn't so sure but now that you're here in the flesh I guess it's true." The woman had grey curly hair and was wearing a deep blue blouse, with a long skirt and an apron that was covered in what looked like a mixture of flour and cookie dough. The same mixture was covering Riley's shorts, shirt, socks, and hands as well. "I am Ms. Thatcher, but you can call me Mary." She held out her hand for Justin to shake and he said 'hello' with a nervous smile and quickly introduced his mom.

"I just wanted to come see Riley and let my mom meet her. Is that okay?" He asked.

"Of course. Of course. Come on in. As you can see, we're baking cookies." She smiled and led them into the kitchen where Riley had long since retreated to and was letting the dog lick her fingertips.

"Riley Jayden Grant!" Mary reprimanded her, "Go wash your hands you have visitors, and don't let me catch you doing that again. Cookie dough isn't good for Scout."

"Sorry Ma'am." Riley replied in a soft voice and then ran from the room.

"I don't know if they told you, but Scout is her dog." Mary told Jusin and Lynn as she put on an oven mit and opened up the oven to take the cookies out.

"No... No they uh, didn't tell me that but... it's okay." Justin nodded and reached down to pat the old golden retriever on the head. It licked at his fingers and he rubbed them off on his pant leg and sat down at the table. His mother followed suit and pulled out a chair for herself just as Riley came running back into the room. Justin immediately stood back up and faced her.

"Hey Riley." Justin kneeled down and smiled when she came over to hug him.

"Hi." She said softly.

"I brought my mom with me to visit you today I wanted you to meet her is that okay?" Justin stood up, picking her up as he did so.

She nodded and he sat in the seat he had been sitting on, with her in his lap.

"I'm gonna let you alone, hollar if you need me." Mary waved at Justin and then left the kitchen.

The 2 hour visit went way to fast for Justin. It felt to him as though just when she warmed up to them it was already time for him to leave.

"I'm sorry Mr. Timberlake, but Riley has a dentist appointment that we couldn't get out of." Mary explained.

"Okay. That's... okay." he sighed. "Bye-bye Riley." Justin hugged her again and kissed the top of her head. She said goodbye to him and waved at Lynn after Justin put her down. Jusitn and Lynn said goodbye to Mary and then headed back to the car.

"Oh my God Justin." Lynn said after he had backed out of the driveway and was headed fown the road. "She looks so much like you it's scary."

"Yeah?" he asked with a half smile.

"Yeah baby, she's adorable." They were stopped at a stoplight and Lynn reached over and held his face still and kissed his cheek. "So when do you find out?"

"Hopefully some time tonight or tomorrow morning." He replied. He turned the radio up a little to sing along with the song on the radio as he headed home. He stopped at the gate and put in the code to unlock the doors and grabbed his mail on the way through. He pushed the button to open the garage and drove right into the open bay door. They headed inside and Justin's heart jumped when he saw the blinking light on his answering machine telling him he had 3 messeges. The first two were from a couple friends telling him they'd heard from one of the other guys about his daughter.

Then Sulley's voice came through the speakers. "Hello Justin I just wanted to tell you that we got the test results back and as we suspected you are the father of 3 year old Riley Jayden Grant. I am going to call Mary and let her know to expect you to come pick her up within the next few days but I need you to come back into the office and fill out some paperwork and go over some things with me. If you could give me a call back at 727-9656, we'll set up a time to meet. I'll be in the office until about 7pm tonight so if you can get back to me soon that would be great. Congratulation Mr. Timberlake, you are officially a parent." The message ended and Justin sat down on one of the bar stools and had to play it over again just to make himself believe it.

"Oh my God Mom, did you hear that?" Justin asked with a smile on his face.

"Yea dear. Well call him back it's only 5. Maybe you can go over there tonight and get this over and done with so you can go pick her up tomorrow."

"Uh yeah... yeah." Justin picked up the phone and quickly dialed the numbers. "Hello Sulley? Yeah it's Justin. I just got your messege and wondered if I could come over there tonight and get this paperwork done? No, yeah I understand. Okay I'll see you tomorrow morning then. Yup. 9am. Thanks. Bye." Justin hund up the phone and glanced at his mother. "He's meeting with another client at 5:30 so I can't go tonight but he said we can do everything quickly tomorrow morning and he'll go with me to pick up Riley. Hey? Did you get furniture and stuff for that room upstairs?" He asked, suddenly worried about the room upstairs that he intended to clear out for his daughter.

"Yes I did. The store said they would drop it off either tomorrow or the next day. You might have to have her stay in your room for a night." Lynn replied. "Well my dear. I think it's time for me to get going. You have some settling down to do and perhaps some planning for this little girl. I will see you tomorrow baby okay?" Justin nodded reluctantly and gave his mother a hug and a kiss. "I love you." she said.

"Love you too." he replied and leaned agaisnt the door as he watched her leave.

He shut the door and leaned back against it. With a heavy sigh and a deep breath he stepped away from the door unsteadily and headed into the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and pulled out a beer, popped off the top and took a nice long swig. Then he headed up the stairs to start clearing out the guest bedroom that would soon become Riley's. He walked into the room and saw a collection of toys and some clothes that his mom must have picked out on her excursion. He began by moving out some of the big furniture into his office. That took the better part of two hours and when he was finished he was left in a big empty room with peach colored carpet and plain white walls. He shook his head and puled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the time. His eyes lit up and he dodged out of the room, ran down the stairs, out the door and drove off in his car in the direction of the nearest Home Depot. After a 20 minute purusal of the paint selection he opted for some light pink paint and also picked up a floral border and some other painting supplies. Then he headed back home.

He hooked a portable stereo up in the room and for the next four hours worked on painting the room and jamming out to some of his old cd's. Putting up the border proved to be a very difficult task but he finally managed to get it hung and he stepped back and folded his arms over his check to admire his hard work. "Who says celebrities are spoiled." he scoffed and turned on his heel and left the room.

By then it was nearing midnight. Justin shrugged off his paint stained clothes, stripped down to his boxers and crawled into his king sized bed. He lay on his back staring at the ceiling just thinking about the next day's activities for the next hour and a half before he finally fell asleep.

When the alarm rang at 7:30 the next morning Justin groaned and slammed his hand on the snooze button. The next eight minutes whipped by unusually fast but Justin got out of bed and went straight into the shower. He was in there for about 20 minutes and then got out and got dressed quickly. He jogged downstairs and inhaled a bowl of cereal and then headed off to the lawyers office.

"Well good morning Mr. Timberlake." Sulley greeted him when he walked into the office. "Let's get right down to business." He motioned to one of the chairs in front of the desk and he sat in his chair and immediatly pulled out a folder with a bunch of papers in it.

"This is the part of Ms. Grant's will that claims you as the sole surviving parent of Riley. I need you to initial this document just to prove you've seen it and then I also need you to sign and date this form that claims we discussed your options and that you concented to the paternitiy test and are going to assume responsibility for Riley." Justin nodded, but suddenly wondered if he should have asked his personal lawyer to have come with him.

"Now, are you going to want Riley's name changed to Timberlake?" Sulley looked up.

"Um. I didn't really think about it. I guess so." Justin finally nodded.

"Okay, then I need you to sign this form and that will make it official."

"It's that easy?"

"Sure is. Anyone can change their name. You could become 'Reginold R. Bakerman' or anything else really if you wanted to."

"Oh."

"Okay, last but not least I need you to initial everywhere you see this star symbol, and also sign at the end and this will officially give you sole legal and physical custody of Riley." Justin made the marks he was asked to, and then put down the pen.

"There you are Mr. Timberlake. She's yours." Sulley tucked the forms back into the folder and smiled. "Let's go pick her up. If you don't mind I'm going to drive my car so I will meet you there. Do you have a car seat?"

"Uh..." Justin thought for a moment. "Yeah my mom picked one up yesterday." He answered, realizing that she had thoughfully already hooked it up in his car.

"Great." Sulley lead the way out of the office and to the parking lot. "Just follow me." The two of them got into their respective cars and drove off towards the house.

They parked side by side in the driveway and got out of the car simultaneously. "Are you ready?" Sulley asked.

"As I'll ever be." Justin chuckled remembering what his mother had said yesterday.

The two men walked up the short staircase and onto the porch and Sulley reached out and rang the doorbell. Justin heard the somewhat familiar sound of the dog barking and Riley's footsteps coming to the door and then it opened and for the first time Justin was officially face to face with his daughter. Mrs. Thatcher was immediatly standing behind Riley ushering the men inside and shuting the door behind them.

"Hello, hello." She said cheerfully, "I assume we have good news?" she looked from Justin to Sulley and Sulley nodded silently.

"Wonderful." she clapped her hands together and then knelt down near Riley. "Hey Riley do you remember Justin?" she asked.

"Uh huh." Riley nodded.

"Well... Justin is your daddy." Justin breathed in a little more noticably when he heard the words and Mrs. Thatcher looked at him quickly with a reassuring smile.

"My daddy?" Riley looked confused at first.

"Yes. And he's here to take you home. You're gonna have your own room, and a big house and a family. Isn't that great?"

Overall she was probably too young to comprehend the turn of events but she was, for the most part, agreeable. "Can Scout come?" she looked up at Justin.

It took him a second to realize she was speaking to him and he immediately sunk to the ground. "Of course Scout can come, we can't leave him behind." Riley smiled and allowed Justin to pick her up. "Does she have any stuff?" Justin looked back and forth between Sulley and Mrs. Thatcher. The older woman nodded.

"We packed up a small duffel bag with her clothes and then there's a few toys and Scout."

Justin nodded quickly and watched as Mrs. Thatcher left the room momentarily and then returned with a black duffel bag and another canvas bag with a couple stuffed animals sticking out of the top. She attached a blue leash to Scout's collar and handed Justin the other end.

"Okay Riley, say goodbye to Mrs. Thatcher and Mr. Sulley, we're gonna go home."

"I am home."

Justin chuckled a bit "No Sweetie, your new home. My house."

"Oh." Riley reached out to give Mrs. Thatcher a hug and then waved at Sulley. Then Justin and Riley somewhat uneventfully verntured off into their new life as a family. Riley no longer an orphan and superstar Justin Timberlake, the world's most eligible bachelor, a single father.

It took Justin nearly 20 minutes to buckle Riley into her car seat, get Scout situated and load the bags into the back. No sooner had he pulled out of the driveway, he was on the phone with his mother.

"Yeah. I just picked her up, I have to go meet Johnny at the office and do a little interview with People magazine." Justin paused for a moment.

"No Mom, it's not going to be like Lance's 'I'm Gay' annoucement, I'm not going to have them print 'I'm a Dad!' on the front cover. It's just going to be a short interview and no pictures but I gotta do something." Another pause.

"Mom, don't worry. I'll meet you at the house later we gotta go shopping and get Riley some more clothes and I wanna do it before the article goes to print. There are already rumors because Star Magazine got a picture of me at the lawyer's office but I don't really want them to get a picture of Riley." Justin took a deep breath "Mom, I gotta go. I love you. Bye." He hung up the phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat.

"Jussin?" Justin heard the little voice call his name from the back of the car.

He breathed in and gulped "Call me daddy." he said before he could tell himself not to.

"Daddy?" she asked again and nothing could have prepared him for the sound of that word. He smiled.

"Yes Riley?"

"Who was that?"

"That was your Grandma. You met her yesterday do you remember?"

"My Gramma?"

"Uh huh." Justin glanced at Riley through the rear view mirror as he made a turn onto the road that led to the office complex where he had to meet his manager.

"Oh." Riley was silent for the rest of the short drive. Justin parked the car, rolled down the windows a bit so that Scout would have air and then he got both himself and Riley out of the car and headed into one of the big buildings with her on his hip. He wasn't too worried about someone getting a picture of them now, the compound had a gated entry that only let permitted people on site unless there was an appointment and the People Magazine staff had already been told they were not allowed to take any pictures of Riley so he had all his bases covered. He entered the main building and Stacy the secretary at the desk immediately smiled and stood up when she saw the two of them.

"Oh my gosh is this her?" she asked unnecessarily and plucked her out of Justin's arms. "Shes adorable. Hi Cutie." Stacy turned her attention to the little girl who seemed suddenly shy and reached out for Justin.

"Daddy!" she whined begging Justin to take her back and he gladly obliged.

"Oh my God." Stacy's hand covered her mouth when Riley called Justin 'Daddy.'

"I know." Justin chuckled and offered Stacy a giddy smile. It was a new feeling, but a good one. "I have to meet Johnny and the People people." he chuckled again at what he had said, "Where are they?"

"In conference room three." Stacy said, taking her seat at the desk and flipping through some files.

"Thanks." Justin waved goodbye to Stacy and headed down on of the halls to the room he was supposed to meet Johnny in. He peeked through the glass window to see that Johnny was already there with a man and a woman dressed in business suits and a couple notebooks, and a tape recorder in front of them. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath before he walked into the room.

Johnny and the others stood up the second he came into the room and Justin realized they had not been informed of the entire situation when their jaws noticably dropped. Johnny came closer to Justin.

"Riley?" He directed his question at the child in Justin's arms and she nodded shyly. "Justin she looks just like you." Johnny smiled and patted Justin's shoulder. "Let's get this started shall we." Justin pulled out a chair and sat down with Riley on his lap.

"It should be obvious now, why we have called you here, and why we asked that there be no camera crew." Johnny now directed his statements to the two reporters, who nodded in response. "We recently were informed that our Justin here is a father and in order to squash any immediate rumors we wanted to get this cleared up and out in the open the right way." Johnny sat down across the table from Justin who gave him a very confused look.

"Johnny they don't know anything about Riley at all?" Justin asked as Riley tugged at his shirt and whined that she had to 'go.'

"Just one second Riley." Justin said, not really knowing what she was trying to tell him. Johnny shook his head no in response to Justin's question.

"Justin I didn't tell them anything other then the fact that you had some important news and that they weren't allowed to bring a camera crew to the interview.

"Okay, well obviously the news is that I have a daughter. I just recently found this out myself, I had no idea of her until about a week ago. I don't want a big spectacular article written about this but I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to hide it either."

The male reporter was furiously scribbling on his notepad and the woman had immediately clicked on the tape recorder the second he'd started talking. "What would you like us to include in this article then?" She asked.

"The M-O-M was in a car accident and D-I-E-D so first of all that is why I suddenly have her in my life. Not that I am complaining, she's wonderful. She is 3 years old, her name is Riley and tha'ts really it."

"Is that all you have to share with us today Mr. Timberlake? Does this have anything to do with your break-up with Cameron?"

"First of all, I don't comment on my personal life, except in rare cases. Second of all, Cameron and I separated before I even knew Riley existed. This meeting is solely about my daughter thank you." Justin stood up and again situated Riley on his hip. "Johnny, can you just call me at home if you need anything else?"

"Sure, I'll give you a call later."

"Great." Justin said goodbye to the reporters and to Johnny, and then excused himself and left the office building. He got all the way to the car before Riley started acting up again.

"Daddy." She whined "Daddy, I have to go."

"What? Go where?" He asked her, clearly confused.

"I gotta go potty."

"Oh." Justin's mouth literally formed an 'O' and he whipped around and quickly headed back into the offices. He paused outside the bathroom doors, not quite knowing which door to take her in to. Ultimately it seemed a better idea to bring her into the mens room then for himself to go into the womens room, so he pushed open the door hoping to find it empty. He was in luck and went directly into the handicapped stall and locked the door. After that he was at a loss as to what to do next. He knew she obviously had to sit on the seat but he felt a little strange standing there. Not knowing what else to do he pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed his mothers cell phone.

"Mom, I have a problem." His eyes closed as she immediately went into mom freak out mode because she knew he had Riley.

"Mom!" He shouted after a moment. "She has to go and I don't know what to do." he paused again. "Go to the bathroom. Yes I'm serious." He defended his need for assistence when she chastized him for not being able to figure this out on his own. "I know I can't always call you for help. Okay. Thank you. Love you too, bye." He sighed and jammed the phone back into his pocket and then knelt down to where Riley was standing, staring up at him waiting for help.

"Okay Riley lets do this." He unsnapped her little jeans and pulled them down along with her pull-up and then awkwardly held her over the big tiolet. He made a mental note to buy a lot of pull-ups and a kid sized toilet as well because he did not want to be doing this 8 times a day.

"Okay Riley, you good?" she looked at him strangely but nodded. Justin then rearranged her clothes and helped her wash her hands. Then together they headed back to the car and after a relatively quick stop at the local grocery store they were headed home. Fortunatly Justin had the benefit of no one suspecting him as a father, or to be seen with a baby for that matter. Anyone who may have noticed him at the store passed him off as a look-a-like because of the child in his cart and the lack of bodyguards surrounding him. Why on earth would the Justin Timberlake be shopping in the middle of the day, without any protetion and with a child when he was supposed to be on a world tour?

When they got home he got Riley out of the car first and unlocked the house and then started lugging in the groceries. A half hour later he had all the groceries inside and put away. He was standing in his kitchen with a glass of water when he looked around and realized Riley was nowhere in sight.

Panic immediately overtook him. He quickly scanned the kitchen again, and then peeked into the garage. She wasn't there.

He looked outside in the backyard and then went outside to make sure she hadn't fallen into the pool or something. He check the side yards and the front yard also. When he was satisfied that she wasn't outside at all he went back into the house and checked the kitchen again.

"Riley!" he shouted. "Riley! Please don't hide from daddy!" It still felt weird to say that word and be referring to himself but now was not the time to be concerned with that. He checked the living room, the bathroom and what was now his office and even rechecked the kitchen again.

Then he climbed the stairs and looked down the long hallway of closed doors. He walked all the way to the end of the hallway and opened up the door to another bathroom but it was empty.

Next he checked his master suite, but both the bedroom and bathroom were clear.

The last room on this floor was the room that would soon be hers, but when he opened the door and saw that she wasn't there he completely panicked.

He again pulled out his trusty cell phone and called his mother. "Mom! I can't find her... Riley. I've checked every room in the house and she's no where." he rambled quickly.

"The closets?" he asked when his mother suggested checking in all the closets. She told him that when his parents first divorced and he had to move to a new house with her, he liked to hide in the closets as a way to protest. While still on the phone, he jogged back downstairs and immediately pulled open the door to the coat closet near the front door. Much to his relief, there, scrunched down in the corner of the closet clutching a teddy bear, was Riley, her eyes shut tight and tears on her cheeks.

"I found her Mom." He said into the phone "Thanks, bye." he hung up and put the phone in his pocket again. he quickly scooped up the crying child and she clung to him tightly, her little body shaking. Justin silently walked into the living room and sat down on the couch trying with all his might not to break down and cry himself.

He had never felt so angry, so scared, and then so relieved all at once. But he knew now was not the time to reprimand her for hiding.

"Riley." he said softly "Riley what's wrong?"

She shook her head and clung to him even tighter.

"You scared me so much." He said, "Please don't hide from me like that again, okay?" He kissed the top of her head and held on to her just as tightly and she was holding on to him. She nodded a little and finally her tears stopped falling. Trying just as much to calm himself as her he rocked back and forth, and hummed a tune that he created as he went and soon enough Riley was asleep in his arms. Justin smiled and carried her upstairs toward his room. Her bed wasn't there yet so he went into his room and put her on his bed, with a couple pillows on either side of her so that she wouldn't fall off and then he went back downstairs to make something for dinner.

The next two days flew by as both Justin and Riley adjusted and just got used to being around each other. Lynn avoided the house simply to give her son time to literally get used to being a single father on his own. She knew he wouldn't figure it out if she was there every step of the way.

However she did put an ad in the paper for the immediate hiring of a nanny to take care of Riley and travel with Justin on the road. He was still on a world wide tour after all. The ad ran for two days, and of course didn't say anything about Justin. There were only 5 girls who called in response to the ad and Lynn agreed to meet them all and help Justin find the right one that Friday. The timing was crutial because he had to be in New York on that Sunday for a show in Buffalo.

Friday rolled around way to soon and Lynn knew she had a long day ahead of her when the first girl walked into the house, and was completely star-struck because she'd figured out Lynn was Justin's mother. Lynn immediately turned her away and painstakingly got through the next three interviews as quickly as she could. They were down to the last interview and Lynn was getting very worried.

She'd already spoken to the girl on the phone though and out of all the girls who had called, she was by far the most qualified. Lynn looked at the clock, it was already 3:00 in the afternoon. The doorbell rang and Lynn sighed deeply hoping that this girl would be the one they were waiting for.

She opened the front door and saw a girl with dark brown curly hair and striking green eyes, staring at her with a smile. She was a relatively tall girl, thin, but not too skinny and she immediatly held out her hand.

"Lynn?" She asked.

"You must be Emma." Lynn smiled warmly, shook the hand that was offered to her and then stepped aside to let Emma inside.

"Emma Waldman, yes Ma'am I'm here to interview for the nanny job."

"Very good." Lynn nodded "It's very nice to meet you. We'll talk in the living room. Would you like a drink?" She asked as she led the younger girl into the living room.

"No but thank you." Emma shook her head and sat down next to Lynn on the couch.

"Now dear, we spoke on the phone and I have to let you know that you are by far the most qualified of the people who called and it seems that you have a lot of experience." Lynn paused. "You should know though, that I am holding these interviews for my son, he's a singer and needs someone to help him with his daughter."

"Oh. Is that why the ad said something about travelling?"

"Yes dear, he's actually in the middle of a tour now. Well, now he's home but he has to be in New York on Sunday, so we need someone as soon as possible. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. I just graduated from UCLA and I have a lot of loans to pay off. Basically, I really need a job and I don't mind travelling at all, in fact I would love it."

"Oh very good. To tell you the truth I like you. I think you'll fit in nice around here." Lynn smiled and patted Emma's hand.

"Wait, are you offering me the job? I havn't even met your son, or the little girl yet." Emma smiled but looked hesitant.

"Your concern for that fact makes me like you even more. But you are absolutely right. Would you like to meet them now?"

"Sure."

"Just one thing... privacy is a big thing for us. I told you my son was famous, I know you don't know what I mean yet, but you will. Confidentiality is a big part of this job, can you keep private information private?"

"I'm not sure I really understand."

"You will dear. Come with me."

Emma was very confused, and even slightly worried but she was a headstrong girl and desperately needed a job. She also had a strong desire to see as much of the world as she could. Overall this seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. As she followed Lynn through the house she looked around in amazment. Everything, and every room in the house was so shiny, so clean and expensive. The whole house looked almost unlived in. With the exception of a few kid related objects. There were a few toys scattered in the living room, some dishes near the sink and a half empty sippy cup on the counter. When Lynn opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water, Emma noticed that there was barely anything in it.

"Have a seat." Lynn motioned to the chairs at the table and set the bottle of water in front of Emma after she sat down. Emma smiled and watched Lynn walk out of the room and up the staircase in the hall to go get her son and granddaughter.

Justin and Riley were upstairs in Justin's room watching cartoons on television when Lynn knocked on the door and came into the room. "Hey baby, I think we've found our girl." She smiled and Justin sat up and turned off the television.

"Come on Riley, we're gonna go meet a new friend." Justin got off the bed and picked Riley up and she clung to him. Then the three of them went down the stairs towards the kitchen.

They paused in the hall and Justin peeked in and noticed the strange girl staring out the kitchen window and he wondered what she was thinking about. Her curly hair caught his eye and he took a few seconds to look her up and down. She was sitting down but he could tell that she was on the tall side, but still definatly shorter then him. She wasn't deathly skinny like most of the girls he was surrounded by on a daily basis in the Hollywood scene, but she was definitely good looking. She was toned and he immediately wondered if she'd played basketball in high school. He was just beginning to fantasize about kicking her butt on the court when he realized his mother was talking to him. he shook off the impending thoughts of maybe trying to hit on this girl and remembered that she was here to possibly be his daughter's nanny.

"Justin? Are you listening to me?" Lynn's voice filtered through his thoughts.

"Sorry." he mumbled and focused on his mother, who half smiled because she knew her son all too well.

"her name is Emma, she's very qualified and probably one of the sweetest girls I've interviewed today. I really like her. She's 23, just graduated from UCLA and doesn't have any problem with the traveling thing. She's a winner dear, she's the one." Lynn smiled "Come on."

Lynn came back into the kitchen with Justin and Riley just a few steps behind. Emma heard them come in and she breathed in and stood up, trying to prepare herself for the unimaginable. However, seeing Justin Timberlake holding a child on his hip was nowhere near something she expected.

"Oh my God." she said softly. Justin smiled and then exchanged worried glances with his mother. He held out his hand.

"Emma?" she nodded at his question but couldn't find her voice right away. She closed her eyes and let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding and then opened her eyes again.

"Hi." She smiled weakly and shook his hand quickly.

"I'm sorry. I just had no idea and you are by far the last person I expected to come down those stairs needing a nanny." She paused. "I need to sit down." She backstepped and sat down in the chair behind her.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Lynn asked and Emma shook her head no.

"No, no I'm just shocked thats all. I didn't know you had a child." she looked at Justin again and smiled.

"Yeah. Join the club." he sighed and pulled out the chair across from her to sit down. Lynn noticed her opportunity to leave and quickly said her goodbyes.

"It was nice to meet you Emma, I hope I'll be seeing you again soon." Lynn said goodbye to Emma. "Goodbye Sweetie." She leaned down and kissed Justin on the cheek. "Love you."

"Love you too." he replied.

"Goodbye Riley." Lynn plucked her out of Justin's arms and hugged her tightly before handing her back to Justin and kissing her cheek too. She reached for the sippy cup off the counter and put it on the table in front of Riley.

"Say goodbye to Gramma." Justin whispered in Riley's ear. Riley glanced at the stranger sitting across the table timidly and then softly whispered goodbye to Lynn. "Love you." Justin whispered to Riley again.

"Love you" Riley echoed a little louder as Lynn replied with an 'I love you too.' and then left.

The three of them headed back into the living room so that Riley could play with her toys and still be supervised while Justin talked to Emma a little more.

"What did you mean when you said 'join the club.'?" Emma asked after a few minutes of silence between them.

"Oh it's a long story. I didn't know I had Riley until about a week ago. It kinda sucks because I missed everything but... there's nothing I can do now." Justin sighed and waited for the look he knew was coming. He knew what it sounded like. Big time superstar sleeps around and gets someone pregnant. Whatever.

Emma just nodded though and smiled "She's cute. And she looks so much like you."

Justin brushed past his shock and looked at Riley with a half-smile. "Yeah." His half-smile turned into a whole smile when Riley looked up at him and then stood up and came over to him and tried to climb onto his lap. He reached down and pulled her up.

"Hi Daddy." Riley said, playing with the collar of his t-shirt.

"Hi baby." he replied and then kissed her forehead. Earning himself a soft smile out of Emma. "This is Emma." Justin looked at Emma, "She's going to hang out with us a lot and spend a lot ot time with you when Daddy has to work."

"Oh." Riley said. "Hi." she said very softly and looked at Emma cautiously.

"Hi Riley. What were you playing with down there?" Emma asked over-enthusiastically and smiled at Justin when Riley scrambled off his lap and waited for Emma to follow her to the blocks scattered on the floor.

Justin stood up and started walking toward the kitchen. It was nearing 5 and he was getting hungry. "I'll let you two get acquainted." He winked at Emma "I'm going to order a pizza if you want to stay for a while."

Emma thought for a moment. "Sure." she figured she might as well get used to just hanging out with him, she was about to spend every waking hour with him for months so she didn't see the harm in spending time with him now.

A few minutes later Justin came back into the living room and relaxed on his couch, he turned on the television and flipped through the channels before finally leaving it on MTV. "So, I think you've got the job." he chuckled and Emma laughed a little too. "We have to be in Buffalo on Sunday is that going to be a problem?"

"I don't think so. I don't have a plane ticket or anything though." Emma replied as she stacked some blocks and made a 'house.'

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it. You won't have to pay for anything, not hotel rooms, or plane tickets, or food unless you go out somewhere on your own. The only thing you need your own money for would be if you go out to a mall or somewhere that else that I don't go. I have a credit card with Jive that I charge to, and the tour director takes care of hotels and travel arrangements." Justin informed her.

"Oh." Emma said simply. She was slightly amazed at the lifestyle he led, not having to worry about anything. Not to mention being completely loaded and not having to think about the cost of anything.

"You're pretty much going to be with Riley all the time during the day and evening. I mean, I'll be there at night, and in the daytime but I have interviews with radio shows, television promos, appearences and that kind of shit so, you're going to need to be around a lot."

"Well... that's what you're paying me for right?" Emma laughed and the tower of blocks fell over making Riley giggle. Justin's attention diverted from Emma and he watched his daughter with a goofy smile.

"Speaking of that. Is $5,000 a week okay? I'm not really sure how much to pay you." his expression showed that he was completely confused.

"$5,000 a week? That's great." Emma answered. Considering she didn't have to pay for anything other then her own personal desires she figured that she was making out pretty well.

"Cool." Justin sighed. "Well, we won't be here at the house for very long but would you like a tour?" he asked as he stood up and reached down to pick up Riley.

"Sure. Is this your only house?" She asked.

"No." Justin shook his head. "I have a house in Memphis too." he answered and headed in the direction of the staircase, with Emma following behind him.

"Oh." Her eyes widened but she was quiet otherwise.

"Heh." Justin chuckled softly to himself. He tended not to realize that not everyone lived the way he did. Quickly he navigated them from room to room, with an overexcited Riley throwing in little comments every once in a while, and then showed her the sparsely decorated backyard, complete with a fenced in pool that was drained because it hadn't actually been used in months.

"Well I think I should probably get going. I have a lot of packing to do." Emma said, as they ended up back in the living room.

"Yeah. okay. Are you sure you don't want to wait for the pizza to get here? It should be any minute now." Justin put Riley back on the floor and she went back to playing with her toys.

"No. I'm not really hungry. Thanks though. And thank you for the job."

"Seriously? Thank you. It's such a short notice and a quick decision, I'm suprised that anyone showed up to be interviewed. But, if you just wanna come back here on Sunday morning we gotta get outa here by noon." Justin reached for a pen and a piece of paper off the coffee table and wrote down some numbers. "Here's my cell phone number, call me if you have any problems or questions." he handed her the peice of paper.

"Ok... hey, how much could I get for this on ebay?" she giggled and he looked worried at first but then laughed a little too.

"Don't even think about it." he replied waving a finger at her.

"I'll talk to you later Justin." Emma said, still laughing and was suprised when Justin wrapped his arms around her in a quick and friendly hug. After the initial shock, she hugged him back and then stepped away.

"Bye, Em." he said as he stepped back and folded his arms across his chest. "Riley, say goodbye to Emma." He called out to his daughter. Riley ran over as fast as her little legs could and wrapped her arms around Emma's legs.

"Bye bye Emmaaa" she said, dragging out the name in a way only a child could.

"Bye Riley, I'll see you soon." Emma crouched down and hugged her before saying goodbye to Justin again, and finally leaving the house and heading home to get ready for probably the biggest adventure she would ever set out on.

For everyone, Sunday morning came too quickly

At 6:30AM, the alarm clock next to Justin's bed clicked on, and the incessant beeping pulled him out of his dreams. Shockingly enough, those dreams had been about Emma. It wasn't sexual, or even romantic, they had simply been at a park with Riley playing on a swingset.

But, Justin didn't normally have dreams like that.

Justin didn't normally dream at all. He was usually far to exhausted from his daily activities, or far too involved with the currant woman sharing his bed to allow his subconscience to take him somewhere.

He absentmindedly clicked off the alarm and regretfully crawled out of bed. By his new routine he crossed the hall and checked on Riley. He smiled softly at her peacefully sleeping body, tucked under the Winnie-The-Pooh sheets and then went back across the hall, into his bathroom and got in the shower. Just as he was getting out of the shower he heard the doorbell ring and he quickly wrapped a towel around his trim waist and jogged downstairs. All the while wondering who could be at his door at quarter after 7 in the morning.

He yanked open the door and was shocked to find a suddenly wide eyed Emma, bags surrounding her, as she nervously stepped from foot to foot and tried not to focus on his bare, well-sculpted chest, and the water droplets that clung to his broad shoulders.

She was certainly not prepared for him to open the door in such a state of undress. She hadn't ever really been a fan of NSYNC, and not even a fan of his when he went solo either. She hadn't really paid any attention to him.

But, there he stood there in front of her, a half-smile and a confused expression on his face. There were water droplets rolling down his chest almost in slow motion and nothing but a white towel protecting his modesty. There was no doubt that he was physically attractive.

Justin tightly gripped the towel with one hand and pulled the door open wide. He knew she was staring at him and for the first time that he could remember in all his 26 years it made him nervous. He was confident, some would say cocky, and he knew most women appreciated his metabolically blessed form. But Emma's eyes that were rapidly skimming over him, that unnerved him.

He stepped back and gave her room to come inside. "You're here early." he said, but she didn't reply.

Emma couldn't initially speak. Her throat had turned against her and dried up making the formation of words impossible. She knew he was looking at her strangely now, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with her. After a few seconds that seemed like hours she cleared her throat and picked up one of her bags.

"I um..." her eyes darted back to his chest and expertly avoided his eyes. "I thought maybe I could help with Riley..." she stuttered softly. "Maybe."

"Yea... yea. Come in." Justin put some distence between them. "You can leave your bags in the foyer here. I'm going to go get dressed." Justin nodded unneccessarily and Emma nodded back. As if her eyes had a mind of their own, they followed him as he turned around and jogged back upstairs and out of sight.

"Oh my God." She mumbled to herself. "Snap the hell out of it." she shook her head and dragged her bags inside and then she went into the kitchen and sat on one of the stools at the island to wait for Justin. A few minutes later he came into the kitchen fully dressed in a pair of dark khaki cargos and a green t-shirt with a John Deere logo printed on the front. Emma smiled at the shirt.

"I find it hard to believe that you have ever mowed a lawn."

"Haha" Justin laughed. "I have... once."

"Uh huh." Emma laughed too.

"Alright...alright. So you wanna help out?"

"Uh... yes?" She giggled "What do I need to do?"

"Well really I'm packed and Riley is packed we just need to load the car, get something for breakfast and then get to the airport."

"Thats it?"

"Yea." Justin's head bobbed up and down as he nodded. "My crew and the busses are already in New York. They just need me there." He smiled and unconsciously winked. He was just so used to flirting with women that is kind of just happened naturally.

"Well I can make us all something to eat if you wanna load up your car." Emma offered.

"Oh sure make the man do the heavy lifting." He rolled his eyes but smiled. "No that sounds like a plan though. Riley is still sleeping do you mind getting her up and dressed?"

"Sure." Emma agreed.

"Thanks." Justin walked around her and her rubbed her shoulders on his way by and then left the kitchen.

Emma pushed her hands off the counter and stood up. She went up the stairs where Justin was sitting, putting on his sneakers. She got to Riley's room and pushed the door open slowly. She smiled when she saw the little girl curled up under the blankets with a teddy bear clutched in her arms. Slowly and quietly Emma crept accross the room and sat down on the side of the bed. She put her hand on one of Riley's shoulders and moved her lightly.

"Riley... Riley." she whispered. "Riley it's time to wake up."

Slowly Riley's eyes blinked open. "Daddy?" she was looking over Emma's shoulder.

"No Hunny, it's Emma. Remember me?"

"No Daddy!" Her little finger pointed at the door and Emma looked behind her to see Justin leaning against the door frame, a soft smile on his face. He snapped to attention and quickly crossed the floor to pick Riley up.

"Good morning my Little Girl." he grinned and kissed her forehead. Emma sighed softly and a small smile formed, there was no sight quite like the vision of a man and his daughter.

Riley arms wrapped tightly around Justin's neck and she triumpantly kissed his cheek. "G'mornin Daddy." She said.

"Did you say good morning to Emma?" Justin asked.

"G'mornin Emmmaa" Riley smiled brightly at Emma.

"Good morning Riley." Emma stood up in front of Justin and pinched Riley's cheeks playfully making her giggle and try to push Emma's hands away. Justin couldn't resist the smile that formed at the sound and he kissed Riley's forehead again.

"Can you go with Emma and get dressed? Daddy will be back in a couple minutes okay?"

Riley nodded and held out her arms so Emma could reach for her. Justin heard the phone ringing so he ran out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen to answer it while Emma helped Riley go to the bathroom and then get dressed. Then they headed downstairs and Emma heard Justin on the phone.

"Thanks again Mom for taking Scout. I know for sure that I won't be in L.A. until after I go to Europe. I gotta get a passport for Riley and prolly Emma too." Emma heard Justin say. She headed into the kitchen where Justin was leaning backwards against the island with a hand on his hip and the phone up to his ear.

"Yea Mom. Emma is already here, we are getting everything ready to go, are you coming over to say goodbye? Ok I'll see you in a little while. Love you too. Bye." He sighed roughly and hung up the phone.

"My mom is coming over to see us off. I'm gonna go load up the car, it's only eight but we should prolly leave about 10:30. The plane doesn't leave until 1 but sometimes things at the airport take a while and the People article ran this past week and the fans know I'm here."

Emma nodded as if she knew what he was talking about "Do they mob you or something?" she asked.

"Well... usually I have security so it's not that bad. But, I only have Mike so it's a little dangerous. I wanna get there early and get to the gate. With the new security restrictions the fans pretty much get stuck outside so if I get there early enough there won't be that many to deal with."

"Oh." Emma had already put Riley on the floor and she had taken off into the living room. "Okay, well what should I do about breakfast?"

"Um there are some eggs in the fridge and bread in the basket on the counter. I don't have a lot of food here cause I knew I wouldn't be here long. Whatever is left here my mom will take to her house. Eggs and toast are good enough for me and Riley, she doesn't eat much."

"Okay... that sounds good. Frying pan?"

"That drawer over there." Justin pointed in the direction of the oven. "Anything else?"

"No, I can figure it out." Emma smiled and waved him out of the room.

"Cool." Justin quickly scooted out of the room and Emma could hear the door to the garage open and he started pulling her bags through the hall and out into the garage to load them into the back of his black Escalade. A little while later Emma was waiting for the toaster to pop up the slices of bread she'd put in when she heard the front door opened and Lynn wandered into the kitchen.

"Well hello there Dearie, I see he's already gotcha cookin for him." Lynn patted Emma's cheek and smiled. "How're ya doing? Excited to see what tour life is like?"

"Hello Lynn." Emma smiled and pulled the toast out of the toaster and put in on a plate and then set that on the table. Then she went back to the scrambled eggs that were cooking on the stove. "I'm just trying to help out. But, I'm alright. I'm a little nervous, I don't really know what to expect I guess."

"Understandable." Lynn replied. "I remember when Justin was seventeen and the boys were just going out on their first headlining tour here in the states. They toured in Europe and opened for Janet but it was their first tour as a big group ya know. We were loading up the busses and getting ready to start out and he was so nervous. It was so cute." Lynn smiled at her memory just as Justin came into the kitchen to catch the tail end of her story.

"Mo-om." he whined. "Just what are you telling her?" He collapsed into a chair and stared up at his mother.

"Oh nothing bad Dear." Lynn answered.

Justin didn't have time to ask any more questions because all of a sudden they heard a bang and then Riley wailing from the living room. Justin got up and ran out of the room immediately followed by Lynn and Emma and was picking Riley up off the floor before the other two even realized that's where she was. He hugged her to him and whispered calming words as he tried to figure out what happened and also tried to get her to stop crying. "Riley... Sweetie... Riley what happened?" He sat down on the couch with Riley in his lap while Lynn and Emma watched from the doorway.

Riley sniffled and hugged Justin tighter.

"Riley did you fall?" He asked and she nodded against his shoulder. "Did you hit your head?" he asked and his hand reached up and rubbed the back of her head feeling for any bumps but she shook her head no.

"Did you hurt anything?" he asked and she nodded and moved one of her legs. Justin pulled up the bottem of her pant leg and saw a small bruise starting to form. He rubbed her knee where the bruise was and then kissed it softly. "Is that better?" he questioned softly and again she sniffled and nodded against his shoulder. He leaned back a little and kissed the top of her head and then stood up with her still in his arms. Lynn and Emma had long since ducked out of sight and went back into the kitchen, so Justin slowly made his way back in there and tried his best to ignore the tender smiles that both women were giving him. His cheeks pinkened with embarresment but he tried his best to ignore it and he sat down at the table and grabbed a piece of toast. He broke it in half and handed it to Riley who took a small bite and then put it on the table.

"oooook what?" He sighed and looked at his mother who was smiling at him.

"Nothing." Her smile grew.

"Mom." He whined.

"It's just sweet to see you like this. I never imagined what this would be like and it's strange but wonderful to me." She walked over to him and rubbed the top of his head and his eyes closed at the touch.

"Well stop." he chuckled and ducked his head out of her reach and then picked up the piece of toast and handed it back to Riley. She delicately plucked it from his fingers and took another small bite before putting it back down on the table again. "Riley, you have to eat some breakfast." He said and again handed the toast to her, she looked up at him but his eyes narrowed and a very fatherly look crossed his features. It didn't go unnoticed by Lynn and that silly smile reformed.

"Well Dears, you have a safe flight. I have some errands to run but I wanted to say goodbye." Lynn sighed and walked over to Emma and hugged her quickly. Emma was a little caught off-guard by how fast she had been welcomed into this family but she hid it well and returned the hug and then watched Lynn fight back a few tears as she said goodbye to her son and grand-daughter. "This just never gets easier." Lynn said as Justin hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek.

"I know Mom. I love you."

"Oh I love you too. I love you too Riley." Lynn said, kissing the little girl's cheek.

"Love you too Gramma." Riley said and then blew her a kiss.

"Bye Mom." Justin followed her to the front door and stood in the doorway until she had gotten into her car and drove away. Emma couldn't see him from where she was now sitting at the kitchen table but she heard him sniffle before he came back into the kitchen and she wondered if maybe he had let a few tears out but by the time he was sitting down accross the table from her he was smiling and focusing on getting Riley to eat something so she didn't bother to question him.

A couple hours later they were locking up the house and heading off to the airport.

Later on that day, the trio were seated in their first class seats as the American Airlines jet soared through the sky toward the Empire State. Riley had fallen asleep almost as soon as the plane had reached cruising altitude, and her head was cushioned against a pillow so that it wouldn't bump against the window. Justin was in the middle seat with Emma sitting on his left. They spent most of the flight talking, Emma was more then nervous and Justin was doing his best to answer her many questions.

Suddenly the plane experianced a bit of turbulance and in her shock Emma gripped tightly to Justin's hand. He was so accustomed to flying that it really didn't bother him anymore and he laughed when she freaked out. He put his other hand over hers and patted it lightly.

Her cheeks pinkened with embarrassment. "I'm sorry." She said and pulled her hand away.

"It's fine." Justin smiled and reached for her hand on his own when more turbulence hit and held it between his. "You just let go when your ready." He said and then with her hand still held between his own he leaned his head back against the chair and tried to fall asleep. However his mind was concentrating on memorizing the feel of her skin against his even though it probably wasn't a good idea.

Emma was a little uncomfortable holding his hand so soon enough she excused herself and went to the bathroom and by the time she returned it looked like he was sleeping so she sat down quietly and tried to sleep as well.

A half hour later the plane landed in Buffalo and Justin, Emma, Riley and Mike were escorted off the plane before the other passengers. They made their way to baggage claim where all of a sudden they were met with a chorus of 'Oh my God's!' as a group of younger girls caught sight of Justin. Fortunatly Justin's security team was there and the group wasn't too large so Mike and two other guards stayed with Justin while he signed a few autographs and the other guards took Emma and Riley to the car and grabbed the luggage.

20 minutes later just as Emma was beginning to worry Justin opened up the door to the black SUV that she was waiting in and climbed inside.

"What was that about?" Emma asked.

"What?" Justin replied.

"Why couldn't we wait for you?"

"Oh. I don't really want any pictures out there or Riley or you. It would just cause a lot of rumors and I don't really want to deal with that." He answered.

"Rumors? Like what?"

"Um... you know." He shrugged.

"No... I don't." Emma gave him a confused look.

Suddenly Justin became a little uncomfortable. "I don't comment often on my personal life, so usually if I'm seen with a woman, people start to talk."

"So."

"Well they're either going to say you're my girlfriend, or Riley's mom... or both."

"Oh." Now it was Emma's turn to be uncomfortable and the conversation was dropped as she turned and watched out the window as the car pulled into the parking lot of a Marriot hotel.

Mike got out of the car and went inside to check them in and when he returned he pulled open the door next to Justin and handed him the keys to the room. "It's the same one as usual. I'll be across the hall." Mike said and walked around the car to open the back door. "What bags do you need upstairs? Everything else is gonna go to the busses so take anything you'll need."

Justin nodded as he got out of the car and walked to Mike. "I need that one." He pointed "Hey Em, what bag do you need?"

Emma had already gotten out of the car and she was unbuckling Riley's carseat when Justin asked her the question. She got Riley out of the car and then walked over to stand in between the two men. "This one." She said and reached for the handle of the suitcase. Mike reached over her shoulder though and got to it before she could.

"I can do it." She said.

"Don't even worry about it. We'll have them brought up." Mike said and ushered her in the direction that Justin had already started walking in.

"You comin?" he asked.

"Uh... yea." She gave one last look at her luggage and then followed Justin into the hotel and to the elevator that would take them upstairs to their room.

"Do I have my own room?"

"Kind of."

"Huh?"

"It's all suites, so you have your own bedroom but it's like a little apartment. Sort of." Justin answered.

"Oh."

They exited the elevator and Justin led the way. He unlocked the door and then took Riley from Emma as he walked inside and looked around quickly before relaxing in front of the television with Riley on his lap.

It took Emma considerably longer to take in her surroundings. She was amazed by the sheer size of the hotel room... or rooms rather. There were two bedrooms that were off of a hall out of the main living room area. There was also a raised area that served as a dining room, with a table and four chairs. On the table there was a complimentary fruit basket, complete with a "thank for staying with us" note. The living room had a giant couch and two overstuffed chairs as well as a coffee table and an entertainment center. To top it all off there were sliding glass doors that led to a balcony.

"Aren't we only here for one night?" She asked as she walked into the room and sat in one of the chairs.

"Yea." Justin answered absentmindedly, he was focuses on the Shakira music video playing on the television. Emma rolled her eyes and got up to answer the door when a knock sounded. Mike was there with a luggage cart that had her and Justin's bags on it. He wheeled it into the room.

"Jay, be ready to go by 6 aight?" It was more of a statement then an actual question.

"Yea." Justin replied and waved a hand in Mike's direction but still concentrated on the woman dancing on the tv screen. Mike shook his head and smiled at Emma as he walked out of the room. After a while one of Justin's videos came on screen and he muted the tv and looked at Emma. "Have you ever been to one of my shows?"

"No." Emma answered and walked closer to him.

"Do you wanna come tonight?" he asked.

"I guess, but how can I?" She looked down and twirled a curl of Riley's hair between her fingers.

"I can have Mike watch her just for tonight so you can come." Justin shrugged.

"Well alright." Emma smiled and then looked at the clock. It was just after 4. She yawned. "I'm going to go take a nap, can you wake me up at 5:30?"

"Sure." Justin answered and un-muted the tv when his video was over.

"Thanks." Emma replied and then headed into one of the bedrooms and shut the door.

(February 18, 2007, 9:15 PM, HSBC Arena, Buffalo NY)

Justin could hear the screams of the hundreds of fans calling his name as they not so patiently waited for him to take the stage. He paced back and forth while the speakers began to blare the his intro. His dancers brushed passed him and ran up the stairs to the darkened stage, giving him a high-five or the occasional slap to the ass as they passed by.

He was pretty much locked in his own zone though. Concentrating on the fact that Emma was out in the audience, front row center, at the cat-walk on one end of the stage. He was used to the pre-show jitters that still frequented his brain, but this was different. Everyone else in the arena had paid to be there, they were fans and would love him if he was standing in a chicken suit staring at a wall.

But Emma barely even knew he existed, as a performer anyway.

He didn't have time to really concentrate on that now though, the stage manager stepped closer to him and ushered him to the platform that would raise him into the center of the stage and a minute later he was back in superstar Justin mode, working his sold-out crowd of thousands and impressing the hell out of all of them in the process.

Justin took his usual break when Timbaland took the stage, and he sent one of the bodyguards out to bring Emma backstage. She was brought to his dressing room where she cautiously pushed open the door and smiled when she saw him standing in front of a full length mirror trying to button the vest of his suit.

"So, what do you think so far?" Justin asked, looking at her through the mirror with a wink.

"It's great. I really liked that one song you did, on the piano, the slow one."

"What Goes Around?" he asked.

"Yea." She nodded.

"Cool." Justin replied "Anyway, I gotta finish gettin ready and get back out there so Rob will take ya back to your seat and to the hotel after, I prolly won't see ya til the mornin." Justin explained.

"Why?" Emma asked.

"Ummm." Justin's eyebrows furrowed and he avoided her gaze. "It takes a little while to wind down after the show and get everything together and there's a few things I gotta get done so you'll prolly be asleep by the time I get back." It wasn't exactly a lie, but what she didn't know couldn't hurt her. In reality Justin was meeting up with one of the dancers to 'wind down' with, and he knew for a fact that she was a wild one who would keep him busy for quite a while.

Emma looked at him skeptically, and raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She just nodded and turned around. "I'll see you in the morning then." Emma said and followed the man she now knew as Rob, back to her seat.

The lights dimmed again and Timbaland ended his set, and Justin took the stage as the crowd erupted in cheers when "LoveStoned" started to play. He moved around the stage as he sang and winded up dancing down the catwalk towards Emma. His dancers moved around him and then all but one headed toward the opposite end of the stage. Justin worked the crowd on the floor until he was standing right in front of Emma.

She rolled her eyes when he winked at her and smiled. It did make her feel slightly special but overall he was more focused on the dancer who was grinding against him as the lyrics talked about her going home with him tonight. He playfully smacked the girls ass as she walked away and she whipped around and blew him a kiss with a wink of her own.

Emma rolled her eyes again as the crowd around her screamed in reaction to the sexy coreography. None of them knew that he probably was 'going home' with that girl tonight, or at least going somewhere. Emma had only known Justin for a week but it already seemed as though he was a completely different person then he had been when she first met him at his house.

(February 19, 2007, 2:30 AM)

Mike sighed heavily and folded his arms across his chest as he relaxed into the couch on Justin's tour bus. All the other busses had left for Ohio after the show had ended, but Justin had insisted on keeping one bus behind for his "date." Of course it was his tour, so without question his bus had stayed behind and now Mike knew why. He increased the volume on the television when the music in the back got louder and he tried to focus on the movie playing, but all he really wanted to do was sleep.

An hour later he was almost literally carrying a drunk Justin through the hotel lobby and up to his room. The girl had been left on the tour bus, which was now on it's way to Columbus. Mike unlocked the hotel room door and, with Justin stumbling along beside him, he went into the empty bedroom and watched as Justin shrugged out of his shirt and jeans and crawl into the welcoming bed.

"See ya in the mornin' Jay. 10 Am." Mike sighed again and shook his head disapprovingly as Justin mumbled somthing un-intelligble in response, and rolled over to face the window.

"Right." Mike muttered to himself. Normally Justin was a pretty controlled guy. He was young and he knew how to have fun, yes, but when he was home he kept himself in check. but "tour Justin" was completely different. But of course Mike had been hired to gaurd Justin's body, not tell him what to do, or not do with it so he kept his mouth shut and only offered advice when he was asked. Which wasn't very often.

He shut the door to Justin's bedroom and then tried to be quiet but when he started down the hall, a door opened and a sleepy Emma looked at him strangely.

"Is he just getting in?" She asked, pointing at the other bedroom door.

Mike nodded "He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but yea."

"The meetings took that long?" she asked, her eyes widened.

"Meeting? Oh yea, it took a while."

Emma wasn't stupid. She had already suspected that Justin was with some girl and just too ashamed to come clean to her, this just confirmed it. She shook her head. "He got drunk and hooked up with a dancer didn't he?" she asked.

Mike didn't say anything but he really didn't have to.

"Yea. Okay." Emma rolled her eyes. "This is going to be a long 3 months." She said. "Poor Riley." She peeked back into her room where a portable crib was set up in the corner. "Anyway, goodnight Mike. I'll see you later." She waved a hand at Mike and disappeared into the bathroom before he could respond.

"Goodnight." he said, and let himself out of the suite to go to his own room and get some sleep.

Emma was relaxing on the couch around 9AM with Riley when she heard a loud beeping noise followed by an equally loud crash coming from Justin's room. Shortly after the door swung open and he trudged out looking completely run down.

"Daddy!"

Emma tried not to laugh when he noticably cringed at the high pitched squeal. Riley was already running towards him and he slowly bent down so he could pick her up when she reached him.

"Good morning Riley," he mumbled and walked over to sit down in one of the arm chairs. Riley scrambled off his lap and sat down on the floor, focusing intently on the cartoon characters moving about the screen. Justin shut his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the chair. His fingertips pinched the bridge of his nose and his face scrunched up.

"Long night?" Emma asked innocently "Were all those meetings tough to get through?" Her voice changed and Justin sensed her sarcastic tone.

Justin didn't answer, he just stood up and disappeared into his bedroom again, returning with a bottle of tylonol. He filled a cup with water, downed three of the little blue gelcaps and then sat back down in the chair.

"Justin, I don't know what you're trying to pull and I really don't care what you do with your free time... or who you do for that matter. But, I really think you should start concentrating less on yourself and more on Riley. She deserves her Daddy, not some hungover half-assed ghost of him." Emma tossed the remote on the couch and stood up quickly. "Spend some time with your daughter, I'm going to go shower." She said roughly and started to walk away.

"I'm not paying you to think," she heard Justin mutter sarcastically.

"That's okay, I'll do that for free." She shouted back and slammed the bathroom door behind her.

Justin groaned and held his head with his hands. Then a loud knock came at the door and he groaned again. He stood up slowly, and trudged to the door, tearing it open and ending up face to face with Mike. He rolled his shoulders and turned around to walk back to the chair, leaving the door wide open so Mike could come in.

"You're up." Mike said.

"Yeah well... someone set my alarm clock." He glared at Mike.

"Hey man, it wasn't me." Mike held up his hands and shook his head. Justin then redirected his glare toward the bathroom door. His stare hardened when he heard Emma singing, nearly screaming the lyrics to an old Alanis Morrisette song. Mike looked from the bathoom door and then at Justin and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Don't ask." Justin said.

"Right." Mike nodded, "Well I just came to make sure you were up. We gotta go soon so get everything together man and I'll be back in a half hour." Justin nodded and Mike left him to get ready.

"Alright Riley, Daddy has to shower so can you come play in Daddy's room?" He stood up too quickly and suddenly felt a little dizzy. He sat back down again for a moment and then stood up again, very slowly. Riley was already trekking down the hallway with her stuffed dog under her arm. Justin turned on the TV in his room and then went into the bathroom, leaving the door open so he could hear Riley if something happened. He showered quickly and then got both himself and Riley dressed before packing everything up and getting ready to face Emma again.

By the time 10AM rolled around, Justin's headache was starting to fade away. The hot water of his shower, the amount of pain medication, and the familiarity of the feeling forced it to dull and drift away quickly. It probably wasn't a good thing that he was so used to the hangover that the whole feeling barely affected him anymore but he didn't care.

"Come on Riley. Let's go baby girl." Justin was standing near the door when he heard Mike knock and then use his security key to come inside. He pushed a luggage cart in and started to load up the bags. Justin leaned down and scooped Riley into his arms just as Emma came out of her room, her duffel bag weighing her down completely. Justin's eyebrows lifted and he immediately walked towards Emma.

"Here, give me that, and you take her." Justin said, already reaching for the strap of the bag and twisting so that Riley was in Emma's reach.

"Don't do me any favors... okay then." Emma trailed off when Justin ignored her completely and took the bag anyway. She cuddled Riley close to her. "Hey pretty girl. How are you doing?"

"I'm otay." Riley responded, her blue eyes watching her father's every move. Emma shook her head at the amazment in the child's eyes. If only she knew what her father was really like.

(One week later. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 11:45pm)

Emma felt the bus shift as someone climbed on. She tossed a casual glance at the door, waiting to see if whoever it was would be bothering her and when no one appeared after a minute or so she returned to the book that was open in her lap. Rapidly her eyes moved over the words as she concentrated on the story. Soon enough though her reading was inturrupted when Justin sauntered into the room and leaned against the doorframe. The strong scent of pot and alcohol clung to his clothing and wafted through the air, finally reaching Emma's nose and she coughed and glared at him. He was grinning at her, a stupid drunk look on his face. Thank God Riley was asleep, Emma thought, because her dad was about to get an earful and the words that would be said were definitely not for a child's ears.

"Jesus Crist Justin, didn't you just get off stage?!" Emma shouted and stood up, throwing her book on the couch.

Justin's grin faded and his eyes narrowed. "Yeah, so what!" He rambled back, his words tripping over themselves much the same way his feet were as he stumbled further into the room.

"You must be god damn gifted in order to produce an applause worthy show in this state," she scoffed and pushed him to the side when he stopped in front of her. He fell into the couch with a haphazard 'hey!' and Emma felt his fingers close around her wrist. She spun around, her eyes blazing fire as she thought about the little girl sleeping down the hall.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Justin shouted.

"Exactly what I said. You're completely plastered, and stoned too! And you just got off-stage. How the hell did you sing? You can barely talk!"

"Shut up!" Justin stammered. "So I had downed a couple drinks with Tim when I got off-stage. I'm not stoned."

"Yeah right." Emma yanked her arm from his grasp and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not! Some of the dancers lit up a joint in the dressing room, but I didn't hit it. I don't do that shit anymore."

"You're still drunk." Emma stated, even though this argument was slowly pulling him out of his stupor.

"I'm legal." Justin said, and as if to prove a point he reached over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a Corona. He locked his eyes with her as he reached for a bottle opener, popped off the top and took a long swig. "Want some?" His eyebrows raised and he held it out to her. Daring her to question him.

"Whatever Justin. I don't give two shits what you do on your time, but I swear to God, if you're fighting a hangover tomorrow and that little girl has to suffer you will regret it."

"Right." Justin scoffed.

"I mean it Justin. Tomorrow you have the day off and she has barely seen you at all for the last week. You owe her." Emma didn't give him any chance to reply. She stormed out of the room and he could hear her moving things around and finally crawling into her bunk to sleep.

He looked at the beer in his hand and then slowly stood up. He walked over to the tiny sink in the corner and poured it down the drain and then tossed the empty bottle into the garbage. Even though he wouldn't readily admit it, Emma's words had gotten to him. He left the room and stood in the hall lined on either side with bunk beds. He could see a light coming out from behind the curtain that closed off Emma's bunk. He moved through the hall and reached the end where his room was. He shut the door and leaned against it, watching his tiny daughter sleeping peacefully in the portable crib tucked next to his bed. He stripped down to his boxers and sat on the bed next to the crib. His hand reached over and he brushed a finger along Riley's cheek.

"I'm sorry baby girl, so sorry. I haven't been that great to you this past week have I?" he whispered.

Justin had sobered up considerably and he blinked and tucked a blanket around Riley and with a heavy sigh he pulled back the blankets of his bed and lay back against the pillows. He made a pact with himself as he stared at the ceiling that he would shape up and start being the man his mother raised him to be. 'If only she could see me now', he thought and continued to stare blankly above him. The headlights of other cars filtered through the curtains as the bus made its way to Georgia and it would be quite a while before Justin dozed off.

(3 months later. Paris, France)

"Oh my God, I can't believe that's the Effiel Tower!" Emma was in awe as she stared out of the hotel window. Justin chuckled and shook his head. Riley was taking a nap. It was nearing 4pm and the group had been in Paris for a total of 4 hours already and Emma was still caught up on that tiny fact.

"Are you laughing at me?" She turned around and glared a Justin, mock anger written on her face. "Just because you've been here a bajillion times and couldn't care less, doesn't mean I can't be excited." She told him off and continued to stare out the window.

"We'll the show isn't until next week, so hopefully by the time we leave you'll be over it." he laughed a little more and stood up from where he'd been sitting on the chair in her hotel room. "I'm going to go take a nap and relax. How about we go sight-seeing tomorrow. I'll show you all the sites." He smiled.

Emma adamently agreed and finally walked away from the window to turn on the television. "Okay. Are we set to go anywhere for dinner tonight or is it a room service night?"

"They didn't plan for anywhere today or tomorrow, but I can make arrangments for the rest of the week." Justin replied.

"Okay. Well I'll be around the rest of the night then if you need to go anywhere or whatever." she said.

"I'm in for the night, but maybe me and Riley will come have dinner with you later." he smiled and left her alone as she aimlessly flipped through the channels. Emma smiled to herself. He had done almost a complete 180 in the past 3 months. He stopped going out and getting drunk after shows, he spent every free minute he had with Riley and coincidentally with Emma as well and they had really become close. The only problem with that was, Emma was slowly but surely developing a school-girl crush on her boss. She giggled and mentally scolded herself for looking forward to spending the evening with him. The prospect of spending the next 8 days practically alone with Justin, in Paris of all places, was making her giddy.

An hour later she heard a quick knock on her door and she got up to answer it, smiling brightly when she saw Justin and Riley at the door and big bag of what appeared to be Chinese take-out in Justin's hand.

"Where in the he... heck did you find Chinese food in Paris?" Emma immediately asked.

Justin laughed to himself and walked into the room. "You can find anything here if you know where to look... or have 20 people you can pay to do it for you." he grinned at her and got comfortable in one of the armchairs. "Every major city is multi-cultural now." he stated matter-of-factly. "I originally thought of wining and dining you with french cuisine but I figured by the end of the next week here you'd have had enough so I ordered Chinese instead. You'll get France food tomorrow." he popped open a pint of sweet-and-sour chicken and set it in front of Riley. "Here you go Sweetie." he lovingly patted his hand over her blond curls as she dipped a piece of the chicken in the bright red sauce and took a big bite.

Emma smiled at Justin's actions and took a seat in the empty armchair. "So, what did you get me?"

"I got a bunch of stuff, 'cause I didn't know what you liked." He replied absentmindedly as he popped one of the fried chicken peices in his mouth. "There is some lo mein, a ton of this... stuff." he said, his mouth full. "and a couple egg rolls too."

"Yum." Emma sighed as she grabbed the pint of lo mein and dug in. "So what's on the agenda for tomorrow exactly?"

"Oh no no, I am not telling." Justin smiled. "you'll just have to wait and see." He winked at her and she turned her head away so he wouldn't see her blush. He caught it anyway, but to be honest that was a normal occurance, at least from most women, and he really thought nothing of it. He shook his head and reached for the remote to find something on television that wasn't in French.

"Oh my God I am exhausted!" Emma dropped her numourus bags on the floor of the hotel hallway next to her door. It was nearing 9:30 at night and Justin, Riley and herself were just returning from spending the day climbing the Effiel Tower, dining on French cuisine and exploring all that the Lourve had to offer.

Justin chuckled and shifted a sleeping Riley from one arm to the other. He smiled at the little girl and kissed the top of her head. Emma couldn't help but smile at the picture they made.

"Wait right here." He said softly to Emma and held up a finger with his free hand, his other arm cradeling Riley against him.

Justin unlocked his hotel room, dissappeared inside, assumably to put Riley in bed and then returned a few seconds later with a little plastic bag. He held it out to her and after she took it, he leaned against the wall with one shoulder, to watch her peek inside.

Inside the bag was a cheesy, touristy, Effiel Tower shot glass, but Emma smiled anyway.

"It's not much." Justin said, "but you've been such a big help with Riley, and I... don't know where to begin to thank you." he trailed off.

"It's great, thanks." Emma smiled and tucked it in her purse. "And you're paying me to help out with Riley, or have you forgotten that?" she giggled and he smiled.

"No. No. My bank statement reminds me of that every two weeks." he grinned.

"Shut up!" Emma playfully shoved his shoulder "Like you ever see your own bank statement." she said sarcastically.

"Yea, I know, that's what Trace is for." he held out his arms. "But thank you anyway." he wrapped his arms around her in what was supposed to be a friendly hug.

"You welcome." Emma hugged him back, tightening her arms around his neck, as his held on to her waist.

Neither of them moved.

Neither of them made a motion to move.

Justin pulled back a little and stared into her eyes, He was instantly lost, transfixed on her eyes, and unintentionally he leaned closer. Emma inhaled and her eyes closed in anticipation.

At the last second Riley's voice inturrupted the moment and both of them backed away from eachother in the blink of an eye.

"Daddy!" A scared questioning yell called to him. He glanced back at Emma, with an apologetic shrug and whispered a hurried "goodnight" before he jogged into his room.

Emma blinked, shook her head and scoffed at herself. She reached for her bags, unlocked her hotel room and went inside. All the while mentally screaming at herself for what she had almost let happen.

Justin was her boss. She worked for him.

She took care of his daughter. A daughter that he had produced with another woman somewhere down the line. Sure maybe that didn't matter now but she was already involved enough in their lives, she didn't need to worry about playing 'Mommy' to Riley as well as nanny.

Emma didn't really stop to realize though, that she already was doing exactly that.

Emma was already curled in bed reading when the phone next to bed rang about an hour later. She gave it a strange glance, silently wondering who could be calling her in France, before she reluctantly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Em, it's Jay." She recognized his voice almost instantly and couldn't help the small smile that formed.

"Hi."

"Hi." He repeated but said nothing else. They were both completely silent for a minute or so.

"Um Justin?" Emma finally asked.

"Yea?" he asked in reponse.

"You... called me." She said.

"Right." For some reason he was having an unbelieveably difficult time forming his words.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yea, everything is... fine."

"Okay..." her eyebrows furrowed and she could almost imagine him spralled out on his bed, rubbing his hand back and forth over his buzzed head trying to form a comprehendable sentence. "Well, did you have anything else to say?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Okay?"

"I'm sorry." He sputtered out after a moment.

"For?"

"Before."

"Huh?"

"In the hall."

"Oh."

"Okay?" He asked.

"Yea."

"Okay." he paused. "Goodnight then."

"Goodnight." Emma hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute.

What the hell?!

She was definitely confused. She giggled and shook her head simply because she could think of nothing else to do. With a happy sigh she put her book on the nightstand, turned off the light and soon enough was drifting off to dreamland.

"Daddy?"

A little voice broke into the haze of his dream and his eyes popped open, but shut instantly when the offensive morning light breaking through the curtains caught him off-guard. He grumbled somthing unintelligible and longed to return to his dream where things had just started getting good.

"Daddy, wake up! It's mornin'!"

"Good morning Riley." He held up his arms and groaned in pain when Riley jumped across the bed and collapsed into his side.

"Umphf." The air rushed out of his lungs.

"G'mornin Daddy. Are we gonna go see the big tower again today?"

"Not today Sweetie. You're going to spend the day with Emma today." He smiled at her name as his dream flashed in his mind. Where did that come from? He asked himself. It's been way to long. He tried to remember the last time he'd been with a woman.

"Daddy has to work." He finished explaining to his daughter and thought of the interviews he would have to sit through today.

Meeting with foriegn press was never fun for him. The translators and the questions that were way behind and always asking about old news. Press overseas didn't keep up quite as much with his life and he knew they were probably still bursting at the seams with questions about Riley. The States had probably gotten a hold of a picture of him and Emma and for once he was glad he wasn't anywhere near home.

"Oh." Riley was finally calming down. "Okay."

"Okay? You'll have fun." he glanced at the clock, it was 9am. He had to be ready to go by 10:30.

"Okay Riley, Daddy's got to take a shower, do you wanna watch cartoons here or go hang out with Emma?"

"Emmy! Emmy!" she chanted.

"Okay, lets go wake her up then." He thought about putting on a shirt, but knew he was just going to take it off when he showered anyway so he picked up Riley and headed towards the door. He knocked on Emma's door and after a few moments she opened it, still dressed in her pajamas.

"Good morning." she smiled.

"Hey." Justin smiled back and let a squirming Riley down and she went running into the room.

"Can you watch her today? I have some interviews and stuff."

"Of course. You don't even have to ask." she replied.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Hey Emma?" he said before he could change his mind.

"Yea?"

"Would you go to dinner with me tonight?"

"I eat dinner with you two every night." She giggled, causing him to smile.

"Well, yes. But tonight it would just be me and you. No Riley." He looked at the floor briefly and then looked back up at her. His dream flashed in his mind again and suddenly he was very nervous.

"Oh."

"So?"

"Sure. But why no Riley?"

"I don't know, I just haven't really had a night without her for such a long time I thought it would be nice to have an evening out. I'm pretty much alone except for the dancers if you're watching Riley and I... I'm done with that scene anyway. I just..." He began to trail off.

"Justin?" Emma's hand reached out and touched his arm and he looked up at her, his cheeks flushed.

"Yea?"

"I'd love to go to dinner with you." She smiled.

He smiled immediately and the pink faded from his face. "Great. I have reservations at a fantastic restaurant I know you'll love." He was full on grinning now, and Emma laughed. He reminded her of a little kid in a candy store. "It's kind of fancy, so dress semi-formal like, and I'll come get you around seven okay?"

"Okay."

For some reason the day seemed to drag. Justin had been sitting in the same room for hours, while members of the press came in, asked him questions and left giving him about 5 minutes before the next one would come in. He was bored,for obvious reasons. But suprisingly he was also anxious, and he couldn't quite figure out why.

Maybe it was because he had been sitting on his ass all day. It had litterally gone numb and lost feeling hours ago, and he was seriously beginning to worry that it had fallen off.

Maybe it was because he had barely eaten all day and his blood sugar was so low that he was on the verge of passing out.

Maybe it was because he had been asked the same questions over and over again all day and he just didn't want to say "My daughter's name is Riley" and hear it translated one more time.

Or maybe.

Just maybe.

It was because he had actually asked Emma out on a date.

Technically though he wasn't sure she thought it was a date.

Technically he hadn't really made it clear whether or not it was a date.

But then again, it would be just the two of them.

At a fancy restuarant.

In Paris.

Paris was the freakin' city of love. She had to know that this was a date.

In his mind, it was a date.

He was petrified.

Suddenly the minutes in this dragging endless day seemed to start moving fast. Too fast. Shit. He thought I have a date with Emma tonight.

The day wasn't much better for Emma either. For some reason Riley had decided about an hour and half after Justin left, that she desperately needed her Daddy and that not having him around meant the end of the world was coming.

She would be alright and calm for a little while, playing with one of her many toys or watching cartoons. But then all of a sudden some little thing would go wrong, she would drop something or the cartoon would end and she would burst into tears wanting her Daddy.

Emma's emotions were pretty much mirroring Riley's. Without the crying of course. She was pretty much going about her business of wasting time until the day was over, and making sure Riley stayed safe.

But the strange, nagging possibility that she had a date with Justin that evening kept creeping into her mind.

She finally decided that the main problem was that she didn't know whether Justin thought this was a date or not.

Was she allowed to date her boss?

It's not like this was an on record job. She wasn't hired through an agency, and her time wasn't on any books. There were no rules or stipulations for this kind of a situation.

She was excited and a little scared at the same time.

If tonight was a date, and it went well. How far would this go?

Mike arrived a little after five that afternoon to pick Riley up and bring her to the office building that Justin was still trapped in answering questions. Justin had sent him, figuring Emma might need some time to get ready.

For once Emma was glad to not have to take care of Riley. Usually she enjoyed having the little girl around.

She showered quicker then she ever had before and turned on the television to watch the news while she rumaged through her clothes to find something suitable to wear. Even though she didn't understand anything that was being said, and she was pretty sure there wouldn't be anything about the States on Paris local news, it still made her feel a little better because she was attempting to say up on current events.

She was having an unbelieveably difficult time finding something to wear.

Finally she was fed up with her options and after checking the time,to find she still had about an hour, she threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and rushed across the street to a cute boutique that she had passed by the day earlier, when she was out sight-seeing with Justin and Riley.

She was in Paris for God's sake, she could definatly blow some money on a fancy dress if she wanted to, when else would she get the chance.

Suprisingly enough she found a fantastic dress the second she walked in the store. It was a deep blue color, that reached just past her knees. The bottom was cut irregular and when she spun in a circle it flowered out around her. It was a halter top, that was bejeweled around the deep V-cut neckline. She had to admit that not only did she feel hot in the dress, but she looked hot too.

It wasn't that she was trying to look sexy, but hey it couldn't hurt. She did start to second guess her decision but after checking the time and knowing that she still had to do her hair and make-up and that she only had about a half hour before Justin would be picking her up, she didn't think she had any other option.

Exactly thirty minutes later she was just putting the finishing touches on her make-up when she heard a soft knock at her door. She was proud of herself for getting ready on time. She slipped her feet into her shoes and walked over to the door. With a deep breath she smiled and pulled it open to see Justin standing there with a nervous smile on his face.

His eyes were wide as they traveled the length of her body, taking in the way that that gorgeous blue dress fit her. Finally his eyes met hers and he stuttereed before forming a word.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." She replied.

"You ready?" He cleared his throat, and held out his arm for her to take.

"Yes."

"Great." he replied and stepped further into the hall so that she could follow him. They were silent as they walked to the elevators, until finally the confusion raging through Emma's mind got the best of her.

"Justin?"

"Yea?" He turned to look at her.

"I hope this doesn't sound stupid, but, I'm a little confused. Is this a date?"

She made sure to avoid his eyes as she waited for an answer.

"Um. Honestly?" He chuckled and rubbed his buzzed head anxiously. "I havn't really decided that myself."

"Okay?"

"Why don't we just see how this goes, and figure it out from there."

Emma nodded and smiled. "Okay."

Justin grinned and pushed the button to call for the elevator.

Suddenly they both felt a little more at ease knowing that niether of them were going into this with expectations and they realized they could simply enjoy a child-free evening together.

"Oh my God Justin, this place is amazing." Emma's eyes were wide open as she took in the scenery of the restaurant. She gazed up at the candlelit chandeliers, the golden light illuminating the cream colored tablecothes that covered the tiny tables built for two.

Justin was holding her hand in his own and patted the top of her hand with his other as he laughed a little.

She looked at him and the light, or her sheer excitement he wasn't sure which made her eyes sparkle like the stars twinkling in the moonliight.

They were suddenly caught in a moment, standing there in the foyer of the bistro staring into eachothers eyes. Justin's hand brushed hair away from her face and his palm rested against her cheek. Her hand came up to hold onto his wrist and keep his hand there as she leaned into it and her eyes closed. He started to lean closer when the maitre dee approached them, his french accent thick as he tried to force out english words.

"Meestier Timberlake, your tabal iz reddy." he cleared his throat and politely looked away from them. Justin sighed noticably and collected her hand in his again, following after the man. He remained standing until after she had been seated and then took his own seat accross from her.

A short moment later a waiter approached the table with a bottle of wine and poured it immediately into their glasses and introduced himself. He stayed only briefly to mention the chef specialties and then left them to look over the menu.

"Do you know French?" Emma whispered her question to Justin accross the table.

"Not at all." He looked up and winked at her with a laugh. "I do however know that 'poulet' is chicken so I think I am going for that thing the waiter mentioned."

"I think I'll do the same." She closed her menu and set it on the table, then she reached for her glass of wine.

The waiter seemingly noticed they had set their menu's down and was next to their table within seconds, setting down a plate with various cheeses and breads. He took their order, Justin trying his best to speak French but he only recieved a bored and almost annoyed look in response.

The two were left alone again.

"Thank you for dinner Justin." Emma smiled.

"Thank you for coming." he returned the smile. "You are certainly more beautiful then Mike."

She blushed and reached for her wine again.

"Better company too." Justin grinned triumphantly over having made her blush and took a sip from his own glass. He then clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his fists, watching Emma's every move.

Emma sipped her drink and willed the redness in her cheeks to go away and as she set down her glass she noticed his intent gaze.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" He grinned and it was almost completely blocked from view by his hands.

"You're staring at me." She replied.

"I'm sorry but, you are sitting accross the table from me and you are my date. You know the French are horribly snooty people and that would be a silly silly thing to lose fans over." He had softened his words and leaned over the table, she'd had to lean closerto hear him and he took advantage of that and kept his voice low. "How would you feel, ruinin my career all because you didn't want me to look at you?" He grinned and this time his hands were on the table and she could see it fully.

She leaned back and playfully glared at him. "Oh hush." she folded her arms over her chest and he started to laugh.

He was suddenly caught in a belly-buster of a laugh, it must have been nerves, but it was so loud and hearty that other people in the restaurant were turning to look at them.

"Justin, Jay!" Emma leaned closer to him. "People are staring."

Then, just as suddenly he stopped laughing and looked at her. "So..." he paused. "It's not just me staring at you that makes you nervous, its anyone?" Way to bring down the ego Em, I was starting to think this was going somewhere." He motioned between the two of them as he baited her.

She opened her mouth to say something but then didn't. He was fishing for compliments and that she was sure of. She smiled slyly. "I guess you'll never really know."

His eyes widened and he grinned that adorable grin of his again. "Keeping me on my toes huh?"

"Someone has to."

"A toast to that." He chuckled and raised his glass, refusing to pull his arm down until she clicked her's against his and took a sip. He winked at her over his glass.

Soon enough the nervousemess on either party drifted away as their food arrived and they melted into comfortable conversation.

"I'll bet you've stared out your window at that tower every night havn't you?" Justin asked Emma. They were walking side by side, trailed by Mike a few feet back. He'd left them alone during dinner but the sidewalks and streets were a different story.

"Not at all." Emma replied.

"Yea right." Justin rolled his eyes and laughed knowing she was lieing and finally mounted the courage to reach for her hand.

She felt his hand slide down her forearm and close around hers and it felt strangely comfortable. She wound her fingers inbetween his and walked a little closer. They were simply letting their feet carry them and slowly but surely they were coming closer to that sparkling tower.

"You wanna go up?" Justin asked her as they neared the entrance to the elevators and stairs.

"Can we?" She asked.

"I think I can pull some strings." He winked again and reluctantly had to let go of her hand to go talk to one of the guards at the entrance. Technically the tower was closed but after a few minutes of convesation they were allowed to go up.

"Well then." Emma was besides herself when she realized the kind of connections he really had. She also noticed that Mike had again stayed behind to give them time alone.

"I'll bet you take all the girls up here." Emma joked as they leaned aginst the railing side by side and stared out over the city. She didn't really allow him to answer though. He just shook his head with a smile anyway. "This is beautiful."

Justin glanced at her, the lights making the outline of her face barely visible as she stared out into the night sky. "Yea." he replied softly. Some of her hair moved with the wind and he wanted so badly to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.

His dreamy tone caught her attention and she turned and looked at him, looking at her.

"I was talking about the city." She replied softly.

"I... wasn't." The urge overtook him and he boldly reached out and traced his fingertips along her forehead and cheek, finally pushing away that hair and leaving his palm their against the side of her face.

"I..." Emma began to say something but Justin's other hand reached up and he pushed his forefinger against her lips.

"Shh."

That hand slowly moved to her other cheek and for a moment the noises and lights of the city faded away. His thumbs moved back and forth across her lips and his eyes were burning fire as they concentrated on the path that his thumbs were trailing.

His gaze moved up, back to meet her eyes and his hands reached for hers and pulled her arms up around his neck, tickleing her skin as they reached then for her waist and held her steady as he stepped closer.

One of his hands stayed at her waist and the other cradled her cheek in it's palm again and then those minutes of quiet contemplation and frustrating silence ended.

"Emma..." Justin whispered. His question unvocalized but understood all the same, and she nodded in response.

Both pairs of eyes shut and in a split second his lips covered hers. Both of them swore they heard fireworks in the distence, but there were none. Her hands moved from his neck and pushed against the back of his head, there was no hair their for her fingertips to bury into. Stupid buzz cut.

She kissed him back with everyting inside her. This night had been pure magic and any dreams that would come that night would just be a dissappointment.

In his mind he was thinking slightly the same thing. His dream the other night hadn't come close to the actual feeling of holding her in his arms this way but at the same time he was wondering what parts of his dream would come true and which wouldn't. He had hope but he knew the reality. Hope would only go so far.

A few minutes later, when they couldn't breathe without gasping and they were dizzy from that sensation, they broke apart from eachother and were again side by side leaning against the railing.

"I think..." Emma said slowly. "I think we need to get back to the hotel. It's getting late."

Justin looked at her confused, that was certainly not what he was thinking. "Um... yea, okay." He turned and followed her back to the elevator. He didn't say much the whole ride down, or back to the hotel, but he was relieved when she reached for his hand as they got out of the car and headed inside.

"Tonight was wonderful Justin." Emma said when they stopped in front of her door. "Thank you for dinner, and the walk. It was perfect."

"Thank you for coming with me." He replied and lifted her hand to his lips for a brief kiss.

She nodded. "Did we ever figure out whether this was a date or not?" She asked with a smile.

"I know what I think, but what about you?"

"I guess you'll never know." She winked and this time he was left momentarily speechless.

"Keeping me on my toes huh?" He recovered quickly and grinned, stepping closer to her and lifting a hand to her cheek.

"Someone has to." she closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her again and he gladly obliged.

"Goodnight Emma." He whisped and kissed her one last time.

"Goodnight." she smiled softly and then dissappeared into her room.

Emma and their wonderful evening were the only things that filtered through Justin's dreams that night, and she was the first thing that entered his conscious the next morning as he showered and got ready for the day.

"Daddy?" Riley was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed while he was getting dressed.

"What Princess?"

"Why didn't I stay with Emmy last night?"

"Emma and Daddy went to dinner last night, so she was with me."

"Oh." Riley was satisfied with that answer it seemed. "Am I gonna be with Emmy today?"

"Yup, you sure are." He was buckleing his belt when he heard a knock at the door. "Is that okay?"

"Yea, I like Emmy. Is she my new Mommy?"

Justin stopped midway to the door and looked at Riley. "No no Riley, Emma is just... just Daddy's friend, she's not your Mommy." he answered. "Hold on a second Riley... come here." He walked back to the bed and picked her up, and they walked towards the door.

Justin adjusted Riley on his hip and looked out the peephole. It was Emma, already dressed and ready to pick up Riley, and he didn't even have a shirt on. 'oh well' he thought, and with a shrug of his shoulders he opened the door and smiled.

"Good morning." he said.

Emma opened her mouth to speak but got caught looking him over before she could form a word. 'Damn him'

"G'Mornin Emmy" Riley broke the silence and reached out to her. She recovered quickly and ignored Justin's cocky grin, however she couldn't ignore the warmth of his skin when her hand brushed his chest in it's pursuit to pull Riley form his arms.

"Good Morning Riley. How are you today?"

"good... and Daddy says you're not my Mommy just his friend." Riley had inadvertantly drawn out the last word simply because that was the way Justin had done it. His shoulders shrugged and he strongly resisted the urge to slap himself in the forehead. Emma looked right at him, wide eyed and clearly confused, possibly even angry but he couldn't tell. Either way she quickly turned her attention back to Riley, who was waiting for her to say something.

"Well you're Daddy is right, I'm not your Mommy Riley."

"Ur Daddy's friend."

"Riley... Riley, Daddy's begging you to stop saying that. Or Emma might not be Daddy's friend anymore." Justin's face was beet red, something Emma had never seen before. He reached for his daughter and then put her on the floor. "Why don't you go watch Spongebob Okay, so Daddy can talk to Emma."

"O tay." Riley ran off and climbed onto the bed to watch the television.

"I'm sorry about that." Justin said softly to Emma, who was standing there with her arms folded across her chest waiting for some kin of explanation. Even though Riley had know idea what she was saying, Emma didn't like the way the word made it sound like she was Justin's call girl.

"She woke up this morning and was asking me why she didn't stay with you last night and I told her we were together, and then she was asking if you were... her new Mommy and I guess I stressed the word unneccessarily." He rambled on until Emma reached up and pushed her finger against his lips.

"It's okay." She said, and he slowly smiled at her.

"So, how are you this morning Emma?" Justin walked over to his bag and as slowly as he possibly could, pulled a t-shirt over his head, all the while that evil grin on his face.

Emma stared past him at Riley laughing at the cartoon, basically just looking anywhere but at him. "I'm fine." she replied.

"Good." Justin walked back and stood directly in front of her. "I should get going, Mike's gonna be banging on this door any second, but first..." he paused, wrapped his arms around Emma and then kissed her forehead, "I had to do that." he smiled and then stepped around her. "I'll see you later Emma. Riley! Come give Daddy a hug." He kneeled on the floor and watched Riley scramble off the bed and run full speed towards him. He held his arms out and she crashed into him and he stood, hugging her.

"Gimmie a kiss." He puckered up his lips and she gave him a peck and then she set her back on the ground and she shouted g'bye and ran back to the bed. Then he turned and looked at Emma. "What about you?"

"Get real." She laughed a little and pushed him back when he stepped closer, however, he was much stronger then her and got close anyway, again enveloping her in his arms and staring at her expectantly. She looked back at Riley to make sure she wasn't looking and then very quickly she leaned up and kissed Justin's waiting lips.

"Now it's a good day." He smiled. "See ya." He winked at her and then finally was out the door.

"Whats got you so smiley." Mike was on his way down the hallway and was soon at Justin's side as they headed to the elevators and inevitably to a sound check.

"Nuthin, why?" Justin tactfully ignored Mike's knowing glance.

"Oh I don't know, you're up and out here on time for one. Not to mention I was with you on your date with Emma last night."

"Technically that wasn't a date."

"Right. Uh huh, whatever you say. Because the Effiel Tower, and Paris aren't romantic at all." Mike replied sarcastically.

"uh, right."

"Get off it Jay, it was a date, did you kiss her?"

"Yeess."

"It was a date."

"Remember what I told you about guarding my body and not telling me how to use it?"

"Hey man don't get all snippy with me, I'm just lookin out for ya. Theres more riding on this then just your life, you've got Riley to worry about."

"Don't you think I know that!" Justin was getting a little angry now. "I'm not just fuckin' around here."

"Okay Jay."

"Dude it's not like I hooked up with her and didn't call her back, we just kissed a few times and for God's sakes I saw her this morning too, and I kissed her then, do I have to tell you everything?"

Nothin more was said, Justin was on the verge of seething as it was and Mike felt like he had made his point.

Emma and Riley spent the day exploring a little more of the city and were able to meet up with Justin for dinner. They were sitting in his dressing room eating pizza and watching cartoons. They were usually the only thing that Riley would sit still for.

"So how come you don't have us come for dinner more often?" Emma took a sip of her soda and looked at Justin who was chewing an enormous bite of pepperoni pizza. He held up a finger and swallowed.

"I don't know, never really thought about it I 'spose." he glanced at Riley and told her to eat her dinner, then looked back at Emma and lowered his voice a little. "And, I have my own selfish reasons." He winked and then took another bite of his pizza. Emma blushed and then pretended to watch the television. Justin laughed lightly with a shake of his head. Oh how he loved to make her blush.

"Jay, ya gotta start getting ready." Mike popped his head into the room and after speaking with Justin he smiled and said hello to Emma and the left.

"It's only 6 o'clock." Emma looked at Justin confused look.

"Yea, but I have to be ready by the time Pink goes on, and sometimes they have stuff to touch up with wardrobe and hair and make-up."

"You have no hair!" Emma laughed. Justin ran a hand over his buzzed head.

"Yea, yea, yea, but they always put stuff on my face, I don't really know why, only the dancers get that close but I just do what they tell me to." He stood up and picked up Riley.

"Take orders well huh?" Emma smiled evilly and a million dirty thoughts ran through Justin's mind.

"Depends." he winked again and then kissed Riley's cheek before handing her to Emma.

"I'll see you later Jay." Emma rolled her eyes and started to leave but he caught her arm and quickly kissed her cheek.

"You gonna wait up?"

"maaaaybe. Should I?"

"Maaaybe." He replied and kissed Riley again, "you'll just have to do it and find out."

"And on that note. I'm gonna go. Say goodnight to Daddy, Riley, you'll see him in the morning."

"Bye Daddy!" Riley called out as Justin was heading towards the bathroom.

"Goodnight my girls." He said hoping Emma would catch the 's' on the end of 'girl.'

"Goodnight Jay." Emma nodded at him and left with Riley.

The show was over earlier then usual that night and when Justin got back to the hotel he found Emma and Riley both asleep on the couch, the television softly echoing thorugh the room. He was faced with a dilemma.

Riley was no problem, he could put her in her crib and she wouldn't even notice. Emma was another story, he could let her sleep there on the couch and she would wake up with probably a horrible neck problem and be miserable all day. He had the day off and he definately didn't want that. He could wake her up and be selfish with some of her time, he did want to spend time with her, or...

He made his decision. He took care of Riley just like he had planned and then pulled back the covers of his own bed. God he was tired.

He padded quietly back over to the couch where Emma was still sleeping and he turned off the television. Thankfully she had already kicked off her shoes. He moved as slowly and fluidly as his tired muscles could work, and he lifted her off the couch and waited for her to adjust to this new position before he carried her to the bed and tucked her under the covers. 'It was so much easier with Riley.' he thought, not that Emma weighed much but he hadn't had a woman in his arms in so long, as least not this way.

The light beside the couch was casting just enough into the room so that he could see Emma relax back into sleep. He leaned over her and thought for a moment before kissing her forehead. He was falling so hard for this girl and that feeling was very strange for him.

Justin turned around and shrugged off his shirt and then ducked into the bathroom to strip to his boxers and brush his teeth.

Then he took a pillow off the bed and another blanket out of the closet and made himself a bed on the couch. He supposed he could have easily found her key and gotten her to her own room, or even made Mike do it, but having her close to him, in the same room while he slept put him at a strange ease. He drifted off to sleep in no time, his dreams filled with this quasi-family that he was erecting with the relationship between himself and Emma and he couldn't have been more happy.

(2 weeks later, June 8, 2007. London, England)

"So what now?" Emma and Justin were seated side by side on their first class flight back to the states. The last tourdate for the European tour had been the previous night and now they had about 2 months to relax before going back out on the second leg of the North American tour. He hadn't neccessarily wanted to do a second leg of the tour in the States but the tour was going so well and all the shows were selling out so quickly that it just made sense to keep it going.

Besides, it meant spending a lot more time with Emma and to be completely honest he was really enjoying this. They would have dinner together every night, Emma, Riley and himself like their own little family. His two girls would go back to the hotel and when he got done with "work" Emma was always there waiting for him and they would watch television, or just talk. Sometimes she would spend the night with him, but with Riley in the crib next to the bed it wasn't like they were getting it on, he just liked having her close to him.

And she wasn't protesting. However, the impending 2 month break of pretty much being around eachother 24/7 was looming over her like a big gray cloud. She was excited and nervous and worried and estatic all at once. If that was possible. Things were going to change, they were going to get more complicated and more serious and she wasn't sure if they were ready for it.

"What do you mean?" Justin asked and checked on Riley who was sound asleep in the window seat.

"I mean, should I... find my own apartment? You're going to be around, you don't really need me until you go back on tour."

"Emma. Theres no point in you finding an apartment for two months, I have plenty of room for you at my house, your stuff is already there and..." Justin paused and touched her cheek tenderly, "I definatly need you around." He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her.

"Well then..." Emma laughed lightly and then settled back in her seat, closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep. She smiled though when she felt Justin's fingers intertwine with her own and heard him settle down in his seat and get comfortable.

A few hours and two plane changes later, at approximately 1am California time the plane touched down at LAX and a very exhuasted set of four were standing at baggage claim waiting for their luggage. Riley was peacefully asleep in Justin's arms. Mike was standing directly next to him and Emma was half asleep on one of the benches. They hadn't had much sleep at all in the past 24 hours and the long day was getting to them all. Mike made sure that the 3 of them made it to Justin's limo safely and then found his own car in the parking lot to head home. There was no need for him to escort Justin home, he wasn't stopping anywhere along the way.

"I'll see ya Mike." Justin mumbled a goodbye and climbed into the limo with Emma and Riley. They were taken back to his home and crashed immediately. Justin tucked Riley carefully into her bed in her room and met up with Emma in the hallway. She was standing midway between Justin's bedroom and hers, not knowing quite where to go. They'd shared a bed before at the hotels but Riley was in the room too and there was no awkward tension or pressure.

Justin smiled softly as he neared her, and reached for her hand. Without a word he pulled her with him into his room and shut the door. He took off his shirt and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt of his and handed them to Emma, pushing her towards his bathroom. She changed and when she came back out he had changed into a pair of sweatpants himself and was already laying in his bed he waved her over and held up the blankets so she could climb in next to him. She did so, and then he shut off the light on the nightstand, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck before relaxing on his pillow.

"Goodnight Em." He whispered.

"Goodnight." she smiled and closed her eyes, sleep overtaking their exhausted bodies immediately.

"Where's my little Riley Munchkin?" Lynn unlocked the front door to the house and let herself in, immediately calling out for her granddaughter.

"Hey mom." Justin came jogging down the stairs with a coffee cup in his hand, it was about 10:30 in the morning and he was still wearing his sweatpants, and was shirtless but he had brought up a cup of coffee to Emma who was watching television in their room with Riley.

The three of them had been home for about a week but Lynn had been in Florida and she hadn't been able to come out to L.A. until now.

"Hey Riley! Gramma's here!" Justin yelled back up to the second floor and soon he heard her little footsteps coming in his direction. Within seconds Riley was scrambling down the stairs and leaping into her Grandmothers arms getting smothered in kisses.

Once Riley was safely back on the floor Justin wandered over and hugged his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek then followed her into his kitchen where she began to shuffle through cupboards and without being asked or even being told where anything was she went right to making chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. He took a seat on one of the stools at the island and Riley was jumping around excitedly and pulling at Lynn's pant leg wanting to help.

"Mom, you don't have to do that."

"I know, but I'm going to anyway. You're so skinny, do you ever eat?"

"He eats more then Mike." Emma suddenly stepped into the room, she was wearing a tank top and a pair of Justin's boxers but she was also wearing a bathrobe that was cinched at her waist. Justin hadn't really told Lynn that the two of them were dating but she knew anyway. Justin reached out a hand to Emma and pulled her towards the stool next to him. Once she had sat down and set her coffee cup on the counter she locked her fingers with his where his hand was resting on her thigh.

"So I see you've settled in nicely around here. How are you doing dear?" Lynn smiled at Emma.

"I'm good, how are you Mrs. Harless?" Justin smiled at her overly polite nature. Emma had obviously met Lynn before but this was the first time she had been around her since her and Justin's relationship had become more then professional. She was a little nervous at what Lynn might think of her. For all she knew, Lynn thought she was sexing it up with her son and that was as far from the truth as possible. They had been rather intimate with eachother since returning to his home and not having Riley in their bedroom every night but they hadn't actually gone that far yet.

"I'm wonderful, even better now that I know my son is being taken care of. Call me Lynn dear not Mrs. Harless." She scoffed, winked at Justin who smiled back and lifted Riley up to sit on his lap.

"Justin hun, why don't you take this lady out for dinner tonight, and I'll take this little munckin to my house. I havn't seen her in ages."

Justin was a little taken aback by his mothers suggestion but instantly agreed, he'd been wanting to have another night with just Emma but that was impossible when they were on tour and he didn't like leaving her with strangers. "That sounds great Mom. Hey Riley? Do you wanna go spend the night with Gramma?" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright then, thats settled. Now lets have some breakfast hmm?" Lynn was flipping pancakes on the griddle and plopping them onto plates within minutes.

"Yum!" Riley smiled as she took a big bite. "Yum yum yum!"

Justin spent most of the day by himself, Lynn was usually fond of kidnapping Justin's new girlfriends for day dates as a way of casually letting him know if she approved or not and so she'd invited Emma to come out shopping with her and they of course took Riley so Justin spent the day hanging out around the house watching television and pretty much being bored out of his mind.

Touring did get a little draining but he was a self-proclaimed workaholic and hated not having something to do or somewhere to be for the most part. Not to mention he hated being alone especially now when all he wanted to do was spend time with Emma. He was slowly but surely figuring out just how important she was to him and he was coming to the conclusion that she was a necessity in his life now. He hadn't said those three words yet but they were consistently on the tip of his tongue. 'Tonight might just be the night.'

Lynn dropped off Emma at about four that afternoon and took Riley with her to her house, leaving Justin and Emma to have their evening together, however they couldn't for the life of them decide what to do.

"Do you want to go out to dinner?" Justin asked her. They were in the kitchen, he was sitting on a stool at the island and she was leaning against the counter.

"Not particularly, I mean if you want to we can, it's just that Mike would have to come and people always bug you and thats never fun."

"Yea. Okay, how about we rent a movie and order a pizza? Or chinese?"

"Pizza sounds good. When is your mom bringing Riley back?"

"Not til tomorrow afternoon I think. I have to call her... in the morning."

"Okay." Emma smiled nervously, they were alone all night. That excited, nervous, anxious feeling was back.

"Okay, I'm gonna order the pizza and we'll just find a movie on pay per view... I've been wanting to see Blood Diamond have you seen that?"

"Nope."

"Aight, is that okay?"

"Sure, Leo is hot!" Emma laughed as Justin rolled his eyes.

"Next time I see him..." Justin delivered an idle threat and picked up the phone to call for a pizza.

They chatted and munched on their pizza through the entire movie, not really paying attention to most of it. When it ended Justin clicked off the television and looked down at Emma cuddled in his arms.

"Ready for bed?" He asked, glancing at the clock seeing that it was around 10.

"Kind of..." Emma pulled back out of his arms and stared at his lips for a few seconds before kissing him.

"We're alone you know." She said softly, with a playfully evil smile.

"yeeesss." Justin smiled back.

"Thats never happened before."

"No." Justin was still grinning, wondering if she was suggesting what he thought she was suggesting.

"I'm not ready to go to sleep, buuut..." Emma trailed off and stood up, walking towards the stairs.

Justin looked at her curiously and when she winked he smiled even brighter and quickly stood up to follow her towards his room.

They got to his room and he immediately picked her up in his arms and began kissing her as he walked towards the bed. They fell onto it, and her hands pulled off his shirt and she began kissing his neck.

"Emma, I... I think I'm in love with you." He wasn't sure if that was the best time to say that, but it just kind of happened.

She stopped what she was doing and looked into his eyes. "What?"

"I love you." He repeated.

"I... love you too." It had taken a minute for the words to settle into her brain and when they did, her heartrate sped up and she smiled, she truely loved him too. She loved him, she loved Riley and she couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather be, or anyone she would rather be with.

No other words were needed, Justin leaned down and captured her lips with his and for the first time in a long time he felt truely whole.

(6 Weeks later, August 15, 2007. New York City)

The tour had started again without any problems and of course Emma was traveling with Justin, not specifically as Riley's nanny and she wasn't still being paid but she was there non-the-less.

"So how was the show?" Emma was relaxing on the couch in the hotel room watching television when Justin got in around 1 am. He smiled immediatly and dropped his bag on the floor. He crossed the room quickly and collapsed onto the couch next to her. His hand reached for hers blindly and he found it without a problem, then kissed the top of it before he started talking.

"Oh you know, the usual." he sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the back of the couch. "I only had one girl flash me tonight."

"People flash you?" Emma looked at him and his eyes popped open when she yanked on his hand.

"Ha ha, yea. All the time, you've been to the shows." He replied.

"I've been to one show and I definately was not paying attention to the audience." She said.

He laughed and smiled wickedly. "Too busy checkin' me out, huh?"

"You mean too busy watching you get it on with slutty dancers."

"Whatev... you were watching and apparently you were jealous." He chuckled and returned to his previously more comfortable position leaning against the back of the couch.

"Anyway some girl flashed you?"

"Yea. This girl in the VIP box. At least I think it was intentional but she wasn't wearing much of a dress and she had definatly had a few too many if you know what I mean. Anyway, totally pulled the top of her dress down and a couple of the security guards got a hell of a show. I mean... WOW."

He made a few obscene motions with his hands and exaggerrated for Emma's benefit. "Anyway, other then that, the show went smoothly. Got another one tomorrow night."

"Yea, I know." Emma shifted and cuddled up close to him and he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. He lifted up her left hand and admired the sparkling diamond on her ring finger before kissing it affectionately.

"Didja show that off today?" He smiled.

"No, no, no, the novelties worn off a bit you know. I assume once the tabloids find out you'll be mobbed and I'm going to have to hear about it and I'm not in a hurry to get to that any faster."

"You're so mean." He laughed. "I actually have to be on TRL tomorrow, and I think I might just annouce it there."

"Really? Annoucing that Mr. SexyBack is off the market on a MTV. Your fans are going to go crazy."

"I gotta do it some time, the sooner the better, it's not like I want to hide it. I love you, I want to be married to you and I want the whole world to know how happy I am."

"Well how could I argue with that." Emma giggled and moved around so that she was sitting on his lap, she wrapped her arms around his neck and stared into his eyes, completely tranzfixed on the magical deep blue orbs sparkling back at her. "Just so you know Mr. Timberlake, I love you too." She smiled.

"God it's great to hear you say that." He whispered softly before his hands slid up to her cheeks and he leaned in to kiss her passionately.

He could barely believe that just a six months ago he had no idea that Riley or Emma existed. But now, he couldn't even imagine his life without either of them.

His girls, his angels, his saving grace. He was happy at last.

When I started writing this, I didn't really plan on turning it into a series. I just wanted to do a story that wasn't necessarily a romance, but developed a different part of the Justin I have in my head haha.

So, I wanted to put him in a difficult situation, and it seemed that, with him being a celebrity there are endless opportunities for him to participate in some taboo acts, such as a one night stand.

I always had the notion that, this Justin, would be the cocky ass that one of my friends percieves him to be. So I suppose that, intially this story was an attempt to first embrace her notion and then try to change it through the changes Justin goes through.

And I mentioned before, this wasn't intended to really focus on a budding romance, even though it does have a developing relationship between Justin and Emma throughout it.

And now, on to my favorite moments.

I really like a line that Mike has, when he's in the car with Justin in the beginning, about not doing the crime, if you can't do the time. I think that can apply to a lot of things and it one of those little lessons that my grandfather taught me, that's always in the back of my head when I'm in some interesting situations.

Another classic moment, is when Justin calls Lynn to ask her what to do when Riley says she has to go potty. I just find it so funny and I can actually imagine him doing that. And then later in that chapter when she's hiding in a closet, he calls Lynn for help again. He relies a lot on other people throughout the beginning of this story and that starts to change once Emma gets her hands (and words) on him.

I have to say, one of my favoritie parts of this story is that I was able to incorporate some of my own little moments and experiances. I have two neices, who are three and many of the things that happen with Riley, I've actually dealt with. They aren't my children, but it is a strange sort of feeling, knowing that you are responsible for this little person. Theres one in particular where Riley is picking at her toast, and Justin just keeps giving it back to her... one of my neices is just like that... she's a little smartass too, way to well with words for being only 3.

I like the fact that just when you start to think Justin has changed, he's back on tour and does a complete turnaround. Until Emma tells him off anyway.

The whole Paris experiance was so fun to write. its kind of a quick transition, a 3 month jump but it gets you from the tense atmosphere, to the part where Justin and Emma start to fall. I love the silly phone conversation after the almost kiss. And then they have their non-date date. And the kiss on the effiel tower, how amazing would that be?!

You get to see, how Justin's changed from being a jackass who just wants to get some from whoever... to genuinely romantic, sweeping Emma off her feet. And they establish that running joke/banter that they have with the "keeping me on my toes." something I ended up carrying through the other stories.

Then the next morning comes and Justin deals with Rileys "is Emma my new mommy" question. Something that is very real for a lot of blended families, when the single parents start dating.

Eventually, in the process of things, they end up becoming this unofficial family. Justin finds 'just what he needed' in Riley and Emma.

Thank you's for this are quick.

I first thank the band The Cars, for giving me the titles for the whole series, and The Fray too, for releasing the song "Chasing Cars" that fit in with the fact that the three stories are named about Cars songs.

I thank JT, for being at my mercy, personality wise, for this story.

I thank Kerri, for making me want to change her mind about the almight Justin freakin Timberlake. I know she like the character that I make him out to be.

I thank my neices, Emma and Kylie, even though they'll never read it. They gave me little moments, and were the combined inspiration for Riley.

I thank Paris, for being the 'most romantic city in the world.'