JC quickly turned his head towards the doorway. "Yes Laticia?"

"I'm leaving now. Is there anything else you need before I go?"

"No. Thank you." JC responded. He watched her disappear down the hallway and turned back

around to find Laura standing up and putting her bag over her shoulder.

"You leavin' too?" JC asked.

"Yeah. I need to drop this by the lawyers office before he closes."

"You can't do that tomorrow morning?"

"No, Jerry wants them by 9am so I want to get these to Mr. Shapiro so he can be extremely thorough with this before we sign it."

JC sighed. "Jerry must have promised the world to his bosses and tomorrow is D-Day for him, huh?"

"Yep." Laura smiled. JC stood up and walked her to the back door.

"Call me later when you get home?" he asked as he held onto the door frame and leaned out towards her.

"Why don't I just walk through our attached backyards, open the sliding glass door you always seem to leave unlocked and come and steal some ice cream like I usually do late at night?" Laura smiled as she poked him in the stomach.  JC's smile grew as Laura leaned up to hug him. She then bent down and patted Buddy on the top of his head and said she would see them later.

"Bring back some vanilla ice cream on your way. I think you ate the last bit I had in the freezer." he said as he leaned out the door towards her smiling face.

A voice from behind soon startled them both.  "There you are man! I was looking for you in your studio."

"Justin, how the fuck did you get in my house! You scared the shit out of me!" JC exclaimed.

"Laticia let me in on her way out." Justin said as he went and stood next to him in the doorway. "Hey, girl."

"Hey Justin. I gotta get going before I'm late. I'll see you both later. Bye." she said quickly before walking away.

JC lifted his hand up to call after her but changed his mind and returned back into the house with Justin.

"How's she doing?" Justin asked as JC sat next to him on the couch.

"She's fine."

"Shit, I know she's fine. I watched her as she walked away. I asked you how she was doing." Justin joked.

JC punched him in the arm. "That's my friend. Have a little respect."

JC plopped down on the couch next to his friend and turned on the tv.  "Please, JC...Don't tell me you never thought about it, because I remember those times when all 5 of us used to talk about that shit." JC just smiled and thought quietly to himself as they watched the basketball game.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Just breathe, JC. Don't get your panties in a wad." Laura said as she fanned him off with the contracts she was holding.

"I don't want to be here! You conveniently left out the part that I had to come with you to drop these off and sign them!" He whispered angrily through clenched teeth.

"Shhhh....Awww you look so cute when that vein pops out of your neck like that." Laura joked.

JC tried his best to keep his angry face on but cracked a tiny smile the more Laura grinned at him.  "You know I am gonna tear that--" JC started, before he was interrupted by the slamming of the door.

"Hey guys!" Jerry said as he walked into the office. "Sorry I'm late. I got hung up in a meeting this morning. Its nice to see you, JC." 

"Yeah, Jerry. When was the last time we saw each other?" JC said as he looked towards the ceiling thinking. "Oh yes, it must have been when you stabb--"

Laura quickly interrupted JC before he had time to finish his sentence, "Soooo...Jerry...JC and I talked about it and I had my lawyer look over the contracts and we decided that we will do it."

"Oh that's great! For a minute there I thought you guys were going to leave me high and dry." Jerry nervously smiled as he sat back in his chair. "All you two have to do now is sign on the dotted line then."

"Okay" Laura said as she grabbed two pens and handed one to JC who was glaring at Jerry. Laura shoved the pen in JC's had to get his attention.

"Its basically like signing your lives over to me for the next 5 months...Isn't it JC?" Jerry said sarcastically as he folded his hands across the desk.

JC quickly stood up and threw the pen and contract at Jerry and stormed out of the office.

"Jerry, what the fuck, man?!" Laura yelled.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me! Get him back in here and I will apologize." Jerry pleaded.

Laura ran out the office and down the hall towards the elevators after JC. "JC! Please, come on. Jerry is sorry."

"You know damn well where he was going when he said that!" JC whispered loudly as he pushed the button over and over again waiting on the elevator.

"JC please. Who the hell cares what he says? This will be our baby...Not his. He can't claim rights to any of this. Please JC." she said as she grabbed his arm and made him face her. "Do it for me? I want this project. And you know you want it too. If you don't go in on this with me, I won't be able to get the same benefits. Please?" Laura begged.

JC stood there for a moment and finally gave in. "Fine!"

As they both came back into the office, Jerry quickly stood up and walked over and apologized to JC. He extended his hand out to shake JC's, but JC brushed past him. He walked over to the desk signed the contract and shoved it hard against Jerry's chest. "Laura will clue me in on the details of this meeting later. Good day."

Jerry and Laura stood and watched as JC disappeared from the office and then looked at each other before finally sitting down and talking further.