Adah stared at the white envelope she had just received in the mail.  The paternity test results were now in and for some reason Adah was nervous.  There was no other man it could be, but for some reason she was scared that the name on the test wouldn’t be Justin Timberlake.  Or course, she was scared knowing that it was his name on the test results, too.

She opened the enveloped, scanning the page and finding the words that confirmed what she’s known for six and a half months.  The father of her baby was Justin Timberlake. 

Letting out a puff of air, she put the results back into the original envelope and then sealed them into an envelope with the address Trace had given her.  She stuck a few stamps on the letter and shoved it into her purse, knowing she had to send it.  She had heard nothing from Justin since the disastrous dinner three weeks ago.  Trace had called a few times to check up on her and apologize, but it wasn’t quite enough.  She knew that Justin had reasons to doubt her and she also knew that there was no relationship between the two of them, but she still couldn’t get over how much it had hurt to know he’d been lying. 

She was glad she could finally prove what she’d been telling him all along.  Now she could focus on preparing for the baby and get her mind off of Justin Timberlake.

Adah grabbed her keys and threw on her sunglasses, preparing to take the envelope to the post office and run a few more errands.  She locked the door and turned to walk down the hallway but was stopped by a large box and a pair of hands.

“Hello?”  She pressed herself against the hall, hoping to avoid colliding with the box and whoever owned those hands.

“Oh!”  A startled voice came from the other side of the cardboard, and the box fell to the floor with a loud thud.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”  Adah found herself looking into the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen.  The face that went with them wasn’t terrible to look at, either.  “I’m Adah, I live in 223.”

“Hey, sorry about that.  I’m Brennan.  I just moved into 224.”  He pointed to the door across from Adah’s.  “I guess I’m you’re new neighbor.”

“I guess so.”  She smiled at him, completely mesmerized by his stare and the gorgeous smile he was flashing her.  “Can I help you with that?  At least get the door for you?”  She pointed to the box and Brennan seemed to remember why he was standing in the hallway.

“Oh, yeah, that’d be great.”  He tossed Adah a set of keys and she gladly opened the door, stepping inside so he could pass with the box.  “Thanks so much, Adah.  It’s nice to finally meet someone my age around here.” 

“Yeah, I think my roommates and I were the only ones under 50 until you.”  She smiled and he flashed another grin. She wasn’t sure if the sudden heat was from the blushing or the pregnancy.

As if he could read her thoughts, Brennan’s gaze dropped to her stomach and he suddenly realized that she was pregnancy.  “Do you live with your…boyfriend?”  His glance moved over her left hand, noting the absence of a ring.

“Actually I don’t.  I live with my two best friends.”  She felt nervous and she couldn’t help but rub small circles over her protruding belly.  “I don’t have a boyfriend.  This…” she glanced at her stomach, “This was a surprise.”

Brennan seemed almost relieved to hear this news and Adah felt herself blush again.  Of course she knew that it would be a terrible idea to start crushing on the neighbor while she was in this situation with the baby and Justin, but dammit if her hormones weren’t raging all the time now.  And she couldn’t help the question she asked next, “Will your girlfriend be moving in, too?”

Brennan smiled, “No, I’m single too.”  She shuffled his feet, giving her belly another awkward glance.  “Thanks for your help with the box.  Maybe you can come over for dinner sometime as a thank you.”

“I’d really like that.”  She felt herself blushing again.  “Can I help you with any more boxes?”

“Nah, I think I’ve carried up all I’ve got for now.  I just need to go grab my mutt before he tares my upholstery apart.”

“Dog?”  Adah’s ears perked up at the mention of a dog.  She was a sucker for them.

“Yeah, I have a yellow lab.  He’s just turned two and he’s the biggest pain in my ass, but I love him.”

“Labs are great dogs.  He must be a blast to have around.”  She felt herself really starting to relax again and Adah wished that she could stand here and talk to Brennan longer, but she needed to get the letter in the mail and she had some other things she needed to do.  “I should get going, though.  I’ve got some things to take care of.”  She thought for a second, going with her gut feeling.  “Will you be around later?”

“Yeah, I should be.”

“Would you like to come over for dinner?  I was planning on grilling out tonight and I’m sure my roomies would love to meet you.  They’re great people.  You could bring your dog, too.”

Brennan seemed to think for a moment before flashing another one of those amazing smiles.  “Yeah, I’d like that.”  He motioned Adah to the door, “I’ll walk you downstairs.”

Adah felt the butterflies well up in her stomach as his hand gently touched the small of her back as they walked down the stairs.  This time she knew that these butterflies had nothing to do with the baby.  It was probably silly of her to be getting her hopes up, but she was extremely attracted to this man and she was hoping he might feel the same of her.  Of course, it made things really complicated that she was pregnant with another man’s baby, but that couldn’t really be helped.  Brennan seemed nice enough and he hadn’t seemed to weirded out by the pregnancy, so she hoped that they could at least become friends.

“What time should I show up?”  Brennan’s voice broke her thoughts as they reached the door leading to the outside.

“Oh, we usually eat around 7 o’clock, but you can show up at anytime.  We usually just hang out and have some wine or whatever before we put the food on the grill.”

“Sounds good.  I’ll be there.”

“Good.”  Adah waved as she turned toward her car, giddy with the thought that she’d get to see more of this man later on.  She stepped into her car and watched as he turned toward a jeep and greeted a very exuberant Lab, and while his back was to her she took some time to admire the view.  He was wearing some very nice jeans that accented his very nice ass.

Yep.  Must be the pregnancy hormones.

~*~

Trace tapped the envelope against his knee, trying to decide what he wanted to do. 

It was an envelope from Adah and he was sure that it was the paternity tests, but he wasn’t sure if he should open it or not.  Part of him was sure that she was telling the truth, but there was another part that needed to see the proof.  It wasn’t that that was bothering him, though, it was what he should do with that proof once he had it that was the problem.

Justin had been a royal pain in his ass lately.  Ever since the dinner where he made everyone look like an ass, including Adah, Trace hadn’t been very happy with his best friend.  Justin refused to talk about what was going on, and he was avoiding talking to anyone about the baby situation.  Trace thought that he was being childish and irresponsible with the whole thing and he’s said so to Justin on a few occasions.

Going with his gut, he tore open the manila envelope and dumped the contents out, removing the papers from the other envelope that was inside.  He took a minute to read through them, his eyes digesting the information he found there.

Here it was.  Justin Timberlake was going to be a father.

Trace sat back against the couch, contemplating his next move.  He really wanted to march downstairs and interrupt Justin’s dinner to throw this information in his face.  The man had been such a prick lately, he deserved to be taken down a few notches.  He also deserved to be outted for all the lying he’d been doing lately.  Because he had told Gina that Trace’s “girlfriend” was pregnant, Trace had started to field questions from Lynn and his own mother about why he hadn’t said anything before and where was this new girl?  

It was making things really, really complicated and Trace hated that he’d been put into this situation.

Knowing that he was probably making a huge mistake, Trace decided to do it anyway.  Justin needed to start living with the consequences of his actions.

It only took a few minutes for the elevator to take Trace downstairs.  Justin was in one of the hotel’s restaurants eating with Gina, Lynn and Paul.  Now was the best time to reveal all of the singer’s dirty secrets, and it was giving Trace a sick sense of satisfaction to be the one to do it.

The hostess gladly led Trace to the table in the back where he spotted Justin and everyone else enjoying their meals. 

This was probably going to cause a riot.

“Hey Trace, I thought you couldn’t join us tonight?”  Lynn stood and kissed him on the cheek, motioning to a chair so he would sit with them.

“I can’t, I just had something I needed to give to Justin.”  At the mention of his name, Justin looked up at Trace with a questioning glance.

“What’s up, man?”  He spotted the envelope in Trace’s had and his eyes widened.

“I just have the paternity results from Adah’s test.”  Trace threw the papers down onto the table, his anger taking over slightly.  “Congrats, man.  You’re having a baby.”

The shock and silence that settled over the table was palpable as everyone absorbed what Trace had just declared.  

But then everything erupted at once.

Questions flew around the table and it was difficult to figure out who was asking what.  Justin’s angry eyes locked on to Trace’s and the two men stared in silence, ignoring the questions and shouts from the rest of the table.

“How could you?”  Was Justin’s only question, his voice laced with anger and hurt.

“I didn’t.” Trace replied.  “You did.  And there’s the proof, right there.”