"...See, now I know you have completely lost your mind!" Laura laughed.

"Oh come on! Why not? The two of you are best friends. I'm sure you can work together to write me some hits for this album." he begged.

"That's the thing, Jerry...We're best friends," She noted as she leaned over the desk and handed him back the legal documents. "I know him well enough to know that when it comes to us collaborating on something together...It WON'T work. JC is too uptight about his shit." Laura joked.

"At least think it over." Jerry pleaded as he stood up and walked around his desk and took a seat in the chair next to hers. "Talk to him about it. See what he thinks."

Laura's head fell back in laughter. "He despises you, Jerry! What makes you think that he will do it?  Even if he did decide to work with me on this album, JC would walk out the minute he discovered you were heading up this project."

"If you read that sweet ass contract, you will see that you both are getting a big chunk of change there along with SOLE production rights and freedoms." Jerry placed the two contracts in her lap. "And with BOTH of you on this album, it's sure to be a guaranteed Grammy contender. Just your names alone attached to this will make it an instant success!"

Laura looked down at the contract and her chuckling soon faded. "From a quick glance this does look like a sweet deal."

"And just look at all those zero's at the end there." Jerry pointed out vainly.

Laura looked over at him and rolled her eyes. "Oh puh-lease...You know none of that matters to either one of us. JC has more than enough money to keep him comfortable for the rest of his life and then some."

"Well he should donate his share to the charity of Jerry Emerson then." He joked.

Laura just laughed. "Okay. Okay...I'll talk to him, but I can't promise you anything." she said.

"Oh good. That's all I wanted." Jerry smiled as he grabbed her hand and kissed it. He quickly jumped up from the chair and rounded his desk to make a phone call.

Laura placed the two documents into her bag and was on the way out of Jerry's office when he called after her.  "Laura, I need your answer by tomorrow morning. So you both need to be here by 9am...At the latest."

"You know...You call me over here and beg me to do this project for you, because you were stupid enough to promise your bosses that you could deliver both me and JC on this album...And now you are giving me a time limit to work this miracle for you of all people?"

"I know you can do it...I have faith in you, sweetheart....Thanks.

Shut the door on your way out? MUAH!" he blew her a kiss right before speaking to the person on the other end of the line.

Laura just shook her head and smiled as she walked out of his office. "I'm starting to see why JC doesn't like him." she said to herself.

~~~~~~

"AWWW...Well hey there, Buddy!" she said excitedly to the puppy that came sliding across the hard wood floor to greet her as she walked in.

"Where is your daddy, huh? Where's JC?" She asked as she threw her bag onto the floor and dropped to her knees the pet the canine that was frantically jumping up to get her attention.

JC had found the tan colored Chow puppy when he was pulling out of his driveway one morning. Buddy was a newborn when JC found him.

The owner simply dumped the dog in a patch of bushes by JC's home. JC could see the puppy was struggling to breathe and had been badly hurt by other animals that must have came across him in the time that he was lying in the bushes. JC immediately rushed him to the vet and they soon found numerous problems with the puppy. The chances of survival were very slim.

JC would stop by the vet each day and would check up on him. The dog seemed to light up just a bit more when JC would walk over to him and say "Hey there little buddy" as he pet him. The name Buddy just stuck from there. Within a couple weeks, Buddy had a perfect recovery and was on his way to the humane society for adoption, until JC decided to adopt the pup himself.

"Let's go find your poppa." Laura said as she scooped up the puppy in her arms and walked down the hall to find JC. Buddy was frantically tilting his head back to lick her face as she lightly scratched his favorite spot behind his ears. As she rounded the corner she could hear music playing from the living room. She stopped in the doorway.

"There's your daddy." she whispered to the puppy before she gently put him back down on the floor.  She quietly walked up behind JC as he was playing and concentrating on the sheet music in front of him. She slowly draped her hands over his eyes. "Boo!"

"What's up, Laura?" JC responded as he continued to play without sight.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked as she sat down on the bench and leaned back to look at him.

"Buddy ran outta here like a bat out of hell." JC said as he took the pencil from behind his ear and scribbled something on the sheet music. "He only does that when you're here. You spoil him too much." JC said as he finally looked in her direction.

Laura just laughed. "I spoil him? What about that big ass bedroom you had decorated just for that dog? Buddy has his own castle up in that room. I don't even have a room and I am here just as much!" Laura joked.

"Why would you need a room?" JC asked and he stopped playing. "You don't like sleeping in my bed anymore?" JC smiled as he wrapped his arms around Laura's waist. She quickly unwrapped his hands and stood up.

"JC...Come on...Stop." Laura said as she went to sit on the nearby couch.

JC could sense some tension and quickly changed the subject. "So where were you all afternoon? You're usually here bugging me way earlier than this."

"Jerry wanted to meet with me about a proposition he had..." Laura cautiously paused trying to study his reaction before speaking any further. "...For the both of us."

JC sighed and shook his head, "No way...nuh uh. Not this cat."

"JC, you haven't even heard the proposition." she whined.

"I heard Jerry! I don't need to hear anything else!" JC yelled. He quickly stood up and walked out of the room. Buddy jumped up and followed behind him. Laura threw her hands up in the air and got off the couch the find him.