"Is he here? Do you see him?"

Kara rolled her eyes as she led her sister up the steps to the VIP section.

"I don't know Marz. He'll probably up here in one of booths, not down there with the clubbies."

Maritza tugged on the hem of her super short black dress as she climbed the last of the steps. Her attire was short, backless, and sure to make any man --including Justin-- crumble. Once at the top Kara spotted a booth in the corner, but her forward motion was stopped when he sister grabbed her hand.

"There he is," she whispered, staring off across the room.

Kara rolled her eyes at the glazed over look on her sisters face. When she followed her sisters stare she noticed Justin as well, heading towards them with a drink and a smile.

"Hi."

"Hey!" She replied excited.

"Carly," he nodded to Kara.

"Kara, actually."

He wasn't paying any attention to her. He was focused on Marz lowcut cleavage.

"You made it." He leaned in to give Marz a hug.

"Yes, barely. The paparazzi is crazy out there."

"I know." He shook his head as he downed his drink. "Leaches. Do you two have a table?"

"Actually-," Kara began, motioning towards the still open on in the corner.

"No," Marz interupted. "They're all taken. I guess it's the penalty for being late."

"Well, you're welcome to come join me. There's plenty of room."

Marz accepted the invitation, and Justin's arm before following him over to the booth near the private bar. Kara shook her head, following relunctantly. She'd give anything to not have to sit and watch these two make googly eyes at each other all night. An hour later and Justin and Marz had themselves holed up in the corner discussing the meaning of life and orientation of cosmopolitan martinis. Kara was leaning against the bar, stirring a watermelon margarita. A man, about 25 or so with a brown beard and cap pulled low over his eyes moved up next to her, ordering a Corona.

"You must have come here with her. You've been watching her like a hawk all night."

Kara glanced at him before briefly returning her eyes to her sister. She'd seen him before, he'd been hovering over Justin's dressing room at the concert.

"I'm just making sure she doesn't get drunk and end of up on top of that table. I don't trust your friend there to try and stop her."

The man turned and leaned his back against the bar, eyeing the couple as well.

"You're right about that. Justin is never one to turn down a good show."

Kara smirked. The likelyhood of that happening in her presence was slim to none.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the morally compromised sidekick."

"Hi, I'm the lowly assistant to celebrity royalty."

"Nice to meet you."

"And you. So, what makes you so morally compromised?"

"Every morning I wake up and have this unrelenting urge to tell him he's an asshole. But he's my best friend, so I don't."

"Funny. You'd think that because he's your best friend, that you'd have no problem telling him he's an asshole."

"Hence the morally compromised."

"In that case we're all morally compromised."

"Speaking of your celebrity royalty?"

"The one and only. My sister."

"I could tell."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, same smile, same hair."

"You can't just all minorities by their hair."

"Who said anything about minorities? I just meant the ringlets."

Before Kara could smile or reply she heard her sister hollaring her name from across the room. She was halfway down the stairs with Justin, apparently they were leaving.

"And that's my cue. I've got to run morally compromised, but I'm sure I'll see you around."

"I'm sure. Oh and Kara," she paused a few feet away to turn and look at him. "The name is Trace."

Kara nodded, "Hi Trace."

"Kara! Come on, we're gonna miss the valet!"

"See ya, Trace."

Kara was fingering the keys on the keyboard in the studio that she and Marz were at. Marz was working on some tracks for her new album and was taking a break at the moment to go to Starbucks and get some coffee. Kara was kind of shocked when her sister offered to do it, but then again Marz was acting different since her and Justin started dating three weeks earlier. Her sister was more tolerable and nice, and Kara didn't want to think about her sister's sex life, but if that was all she needed to loosen up she would have recommended someone to her earlier. A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she began playing the chords to Marz' current single 'Love to Burn'. The song that was released to the radio was an upbeat, pop song but the song that Kara wrote was a bluesy jazz tune, or at least the melody was. That was something she had a knack at. She was more than a personal assistant to her sister, she was also a producer. Kara would come up with melodies, and sometimes even lyrics to go to them, and Marz would sing them. They'd been doing that for years. They used to sing together when they were younger, Marz was even discovered like that; they were performing together at a local talent show, and won, but the agent only wanted her. He said that Marz was what the music was looking for, someone with the voice and the look, and apparently Kara had the voice but she was nowhere near the look…and that she'd never be. Whatever; screw them and their 'look'. She slowed down the chords and began softly singing the lyrics.

I've seen you falling in and out of things
Your heart heats up
Your heart gets cold
Lights up and yearns again
What's your story?
I don't want a flash of glory
Then the crash
The "what was that?"
And why'd I fall so fast?

Justin swirled his keyring around one of his index fingers as he made his way towards studio 3, the studio that his girlfriend was recording in today. He hadn't seen her in a few days due to a promotional event in New York and wanted to surprise her. He missed her; missed her laugh, her smile, missed holding her and kissing her. He'd finally found someone who shared the same passions he did. Finally found someone as loving and caring as him. And she was in the music business!!! But don't let him get started on her music. This girl was a musical genius; the way the words from her angelic voice flowed so seamlessly with the beautiful melodies. He'd always admired her as an artist, but now he was admiring her as so much more. He couldn't help but smile as he approached the door to the studio. He knocked softly twice before he realized that someone was in there singing. He recognized his girlfriend's song and eased the door open expecting to see her, but shocked when he saw her sister, Kara sitting in front of the keyboard and singing her heart out.

Slow down
We've got time
I need to know
That you're all mine
Have you got love to burn?
Kisses for days
Don't you wanna grab onto something real
And never let it get away?
I don't have love burn
Time to waste
Cause I waited far too long
For the spark to become a flame
And if it comes true
I only have love to burn for you

He listened intently in silence; he didn't know Kara could sing so well and he wanted her to finish, just in case she didn't like singing in front of audiences.

I can live without you
I'm happy by myself
But you get to me
You make me feel like there is no one else
Whatcha doin?
Leavin' hearts in ruin
Can't you see
For us to be
That just won't fly with me
Slow down
Let's get it right
Make it last
Let's start tonight

Why didn't Marz release this version instead of the pop one? This version sounded ten times better. Justin didn't know if it was the style of the song or if it was the singer but this version was by far his favorite.

Let's see it through
Cause I was sure you feel this way for me
It's gotta be
Much more than anything we say
For love to ever last
I need to know it's not just touch and go
That you are here to stay
Here to stay
That you are here to stay
Have you got love to burn?
Kisses for day
Tonight we won't let anything
Get in our way

Kara played a few final notes before closing her eyes and ending the song. Justin couldn't help but applaud causing her to jump out of shock and turn around to see who was in the room with her.

"Justin! You scared the shit out of me! What are you doing here?"

"I was droppin' by to surprise Marz. I just got back from NYC and wanted to see my girl," he said the last part of his statement with a smile on his face.

"Oh. She's at Starbucks, but she'll be back in a bit. You can have a seat if you want."

"Alright," he said, sitting down on the nearby couch, "Where's her producer?"

"You're looking at her."

"Huh?"

"I'm producing the track she's working on today. I wrote it so I might as well produce it, who else knows it better than me?" Kara said with a smile.

"So you sing, write, and produce? And not only do you sing, but you sing well. I didn't know you had a voice like that." Kara could feel the heat rising to her face.

"Thanks."

"I mean it. Why don't you have a deal? You and Marz could've been singing together, like Aly & A.J. but better," he said with a laugh. His laughter was infectious and Kara couldn't help but join in.

"Hey! I like their music!" she exclaimed with a smile.

"I do too, but I like ya'll better." Kara couldn't help but stare at his eyes while he was talking. She didn't know what it was about them, but they were so captivating.

"But you never answered my question. Why don't you have a deal. You have talent, girl."

"I don't know, I just never pictured myself as an artist. I sorta like staying behind the scenes," she lied. She couldn't tell him the real reasons, she couldn't tell anyone. Her problems and insecurities were just that, her own.

"Whatever you say. I still think you should try it out. You could be just what this industry needs. There aren't that many---" Justin was cut off when Marz walked in the room exclaiming his name.

"Baby! Why didn't you tell me you were back already?" she asked, placing the Starbucks cups on a nearby table.

"I wanted to surprise you, sweetheart," Justin replied, enveloping her into a hug and kiss.

"Well that's exactly what you did. I didn't expect to see you until this weekend, baby," Marz said with the hugest grin on her face.

"I know, I thought I was coming back this weekend too, but we finished early and here I am." Marz made a squealing noise and hugged her boyfriend once more.

"What are you recording?"

"This ballad for my new album. Kara wrote it the other day and I fell in love with it, like I do with just about all of her work. I swear that girl is a musical genius," Marz said, smiling at her sister with adoration in her eyes. Kara smiled back while walking over to the table and grabbing her coffee.

"Yeah she is," Justin began, "when I walked in she was playing this bluesy version of that song that you have out as a single now. That song you did for that Reese Witherspoon chick flick. Why didn't you release that version?"

"I don't know; but I think I'm gonna put the jazzy version on my album. Are you gonna hang out while I record?"

"Yeah, I made sure that I had the entire day off to spend it with you," Justin answered, kissing his girlfriend's forehead sweetly. Marz grabbed her cup of tea and sat down next to Kara in front of the mixing board and Justin sat on the couch.

"Ok, so the backing track has a guitar strumming the chords along with the keyboard, but we're just gonna run through it with the keyboard before you go into the booth…unless you wanna hear the track."

"No, you can play the keyboard. I wanna make sure I got the lyrics right before we finalize anything; you know just in case we have to change the key or something."

"Gotcha," Kara replied, placing the lyrics on the keyboard stand, "Just remember that there's a four bar intro." She began playing the beginning chords and sang along softly with her sister.

And I don't know
This could break my heart or save me
Nothing's real
Until you let go completely
So here I go with all my thoughts I've been saving
So here I go with all my fears weighing on me

Three months and I'm still sober
Picked all my weeds but kept the flowers
But I know it's never really over

Marz placed a hand over one of her sister's, signaling for her to stop playing.

"I like it. Do you?"

"Yeah, this is definitely gonna be your next single," Kara replied with grin.

She watched Marz take another sip of her tea before grabbing the lyrics sheet and heading towards the recording booth. Kara began flipping switches on the mixing board, turning it on and getting the song cued up for Marz to record to. Marz did a mic test and Kara turned on the backing track. Justin couldn't help but smile when he saw the way the two were working with each other and how gifted Kara was. There were a lot of people who could make words rhyme, but not everyone could write a song…and not everyone could write songs like the ones she did. She was the full package and couldn't see it. She had the talent to pen lyrics, come up with beautiful melodies…something that'd been plaguing him recently, and she had a voice that could give you chills.

And I don't know
I could crash and burn but maybe
At the end of this road I might catch a glimpse of me
So I won't worry about my timing, I want to get it right
No comparing, second guessing, no not this time

Three months and I'm still breathing
Been a long road since those hands I left my tears in but I know
It's never really over, no

Kara leaned forward in the chair and adjusted knobs while her sister sang, humming the harmony in the process. That was the next part of the recording process; once they finished recording the main vocals it was time to go back and record the ad-libs and harmonies, and she usually joined her sis in the booth for those.

Three months and I'm still standing here
Three months and I'm getting better yeah
Three months and I still am

Three months and it's still harder now
Three months I've been living here without you now
Three months yeah, three months

Three months and I'm still breathing
Three months and I still remember it
Three months and I wake up

Three months and I'm still sober
Picked all my weeds but kept the flowers

Justin began a slow clap once Marz had finished recording her main vocals.

"I'm speechless. That song is…wow. That should definitely be your first single. I'd buy the album just for that."

"You'd buy it just for me," Marz said with a grin.

"I'd buy a thousand copies for you…and a thousand more if the rest of your songs sound like that baby."

"Give her the credit, not me," Marz said, pointing over towards her sister, "she wrote those lyrics and came up with that beautiful melody." Kara lowered her head and toyed with the knobs on the mixing board.

"Don't get shy now girl," Justin began, "You know you have talent…talent that I could use right now."

"What's wrong baby?" Marz asked, looking up at him with concern on her face.

"Nothing. I'm just kinda stuck right now."

"Huh?"

"I'm sort of on a deadline for this next album, Jive apparently has a budget for me now, and I'm supposed to have a 'rough draft' on Johnny's desk in three weeks."

"How many songs do you have now?" Marz asked.

"Five. And I need at least 12 good tracks."

"You don't have any unreleased ones? Any collaborations that you could put on there?"

"Three of those five are collabs," he replied dryly.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Who are you working with?"

"Pharell and Timbaland on those songs that are actually new…but I'm trying to change things up a little bit ya know? I want this album to be different from the other two."

"Yeah, are you looking for more ballads? I mean, it's just my opinion, but I loved your vocals on 'Another Song', 'Until the End of Time', and 'Take it From Here'. An album full of mid-tempos and ballads would be a drastic change from your other two."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking," Justin agreed.

"Of course you'd have to have you two or three club bangers, but that could be some collabs; like the one you did with 50 Cent."

"Yeah, I see what you mean. And I wouldn't mind doing an album like that if I didn't have this block. I just need someone to bounce ideas off of, but Tim and Pharell don't really do ballads ya know?"

"Well Kara does. Why don't you two work together?"

Is this girl seriously giving me to him like I'm her property or something? If looks could kill Marz would've been dead from the glare Kara was giving her just then.

"I don't know, you two seem like ya'll are really busy. I don't want to disrupt your recording schedule."

"What schedule? We're just messing around in here. I just like to record songs while they're still fresh in our brains," Marz replied.

"Well if it's ok with Kara then I don't mind."

"I ---."

"Of course she's ok with it. She has nothing better to do!" Marz said with a laugh, cutting off her sister. Both Justin and Marz looked at Kara and she didn't know what else to do but grin and bear it…which is what she did.

"Sure."

"Great! Well then it's settled. You can borrow Kara for the next couple of weeks so that you can finish up your album!" Marz said with a huge grin before kissing her boyfriend square on the lips, "I can't wait to hear what you two come up with. Are you excited Kara?"

"Very," she replied, trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice. She couldn't believe that her sister had just loaned her out to someone…like she was some kind of toy doll or something. Marz had done some pretty stupid and shady things in her life, but this topped the cake. She never thought about other people when she did things, only herself, only how it would affect her.

You'd think that I'd used to this by now. Kara picked up her coffee cup and finished off the lukewarm beverage before throwing her cup in the garbage can. She walked over towards her purse and tried her best to ignore the couple as they practically made out on the couch. Grabbing her phone out of her brown Coach tote she scrolled to her text messages and composed a new one.

Looks like we're gonna be seeing more of each other.

Kara scrolled through her address book until she found the entry 'MC' and sent the message to the number she had saved under that name. It didn't take long for her phone to start ringing, indicating that she had a new text message.

What? Are you having my baby?

Kara quickly hit the 'Reply' button.

You wish Trace. I'm gonna be helping your best friend with his new album.

She hit 'Send'. She smiled when she thought about his initial response. The two of them had grown closer over these past few weeks, often hanging out while Justin and Marz did their 'couple' thing. It was during those times that they figured that they enjoyed a lot of the same things and became friends. She'd even saved him in her phone as 'MC' as in 'morally compromised' and he'd saved her in his as 'LA' for 'lowly assistant'…it was sort of an inside joke for them. Kara was brought back to reality when her phone went off again.

Huh? I'm confused...

So am i babe…so am I.

Kara sent off that last text message and placed her phone back in her purse.

These next few weeks were gonna be very interesting.