"You didn’t get a chance to explain everything to him?" Hallie asked as she pet her friends head. Laura laid on her friends lap and looked towards the window.

"No...He was trying to bolt out the door. I don't know what the hell she told him. He kept acting as if he was told that Nikolas was his son...But Rachel told me she wasn't sure."

"Speaking of the devil...Has Satin talked to you yet?"

"No. She is still in Philly on some TV & radio interviews. I guess she used the trip to her careers' advantage."

"Do you think she knows about the wedding?"

"I don't know. And at this point I could care less."

The telephone began to ring. Hallie reached over and answered the phone.

"Hello? No she isn't available right now, may I take a message?"

Laura sat up and looked at Hallie as she continued to speak. "Yes...uh huh...Okay...Yep...I'll let her know. Thanks."

"Who was it?" Laura asked as Hallie hung up the phone.

"Jerry's secretary. She was calling to let you know they need to see some of the songs you and JC have written so far. They want to get an idea of what direction the album is going in...It's for the marketing team? I'm sorry, I don't know anything about all this music shit."

Laura chuckled as she sat up and stretched her muscles. "You got it right."

"Speaking of Jerry and this whole other side that you have to think about…What are you going to do about this deal?"

Laura stopped in mid stretch and picked up a magazine. "I don’t know what I want to do just yet."

Laura grabbed the remote and turned on the stereo. "There is so much on my mind. I just can’t deal with that right now."

"You are gong to have to soon, sweetie. But tonight lets just not think about it. Let’s go out…Show me around town. I’m only here a few more days. Lets hit a movie or something…Get our minds off of things.  Let's go to the bar and get fucked up!"

Laura didn’t really feel like going anywhere, but agreed.

"Good now hurry and get dressed so we can go. And take two showers…You’re my girl and all, but quite frankly…You stink." she joked.

Laura threw the magazine at her as she got up and walked out of the room to change.

Three days later Hallie had Laura drive her to the airport. She helped Hallie with her bags and gave her a long hug goodbye. Hallie handed her a note and told her not to read it till she got home. Laura agreed and thanked her. She hugged her one last time before getting in her car and heading back home. As she pulled up into her driveway she noticed a car there. As she walked up to her front door she saw JC’s mom standing outside. "Mrs. Chasez?"

JC's mom grabbed her chest in fright and yelled, "Oh good Lord, Laura! You startled me."

"My apologies." She said as she pulled out her keys. "What can I do for you?"

Laura never smiled at her. She hardly even looked at her. JC's mom found it strange but shrugged it off and continued to speak. "I came over to drop off a few books with cake ideas. I was trying to put them in your mailbox."

Laura stopped turning the lock on the front door and slowly turned around to face Mrs. Chasez. "JC didn’t tell you?"

"Tell me what, Dear?"

"We’re no longer together, Mrs. Chasez."

Karen was confused. "What?" She let her arm drop down to her side and said, "Oh Lord, I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t talked to or seen, JC. I assumed that he was still in Philadelphia with you."

"We’ve been back for a while. I haven’t spoken to him in over a week." she said as she crossed her arms.

Mrs. Chasez wanted to ask what happened but could see that Laura didn’t look like she wanted to talk. "Laura, are you sure this just isn’t a temporary thing? JC really cares for you and I know you feel the same."

Laura rolled her eyes and said, "Well, you of all people should know why. He said you were right about him not loving me?" Tears began to fill Laura’s eyes as she turned the knob.

"Laura, I didn’t-" His mom tried to defend herself but was soon cut off.

"Mrs. Chasez, please. I have always thought of you as the type of mother that I had always wished for myself when I was younger…I don’t want to say anything to you that I will regret later on, because I still consider you to more of a mother to me than mine ever was...So if you don’t mind, I will just have to tell you to talk to you son about everything. Goodnight."

 Laura slowly closed the door and let the tears stream down her face. Mrs. Chasez stood outside the door still in shock. She turned around and got into her car and headed for JC’s.

DING DONG…DING DONG…DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG

"What the fuck?!" JC yelled to himself as he kicked the covers off his body and got up to answer the door. "What do you want?!" he yelled as he opened the door. His eyes adjusted to the light and he noticed his mother standing there staring at him.  "Oh…Sorry, Mom. I didn’t know it was you. I thought you were one of the guys."

She nodded at him as she adjusted her purse on her arm. "Are you going to stand in the doorway with your boxers and undershirt on and talk to me or are you going to invite me in?"

"Sorry." He said as he moved to the side to let her pass.

"You okay, Ma? You look a little pale." JC asked as he felt his mother's forehead.

She pushed his hand away. "When did you get back from Philadelphia?"

"Last week or so. Why?" he said as he walked towards the kitchen. She followed behind him. "You didn’t call me."

"I’ve been really busy…With the album and stuff." he paused.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep. Have a deadline to make." he said as he grabbed some juice out of the fridge and asked her if she wanted any.

She shook her head and went on with her investigation. "How’s Laura doing? I wanted to give her these catering books with wedding cake ideas in them."

JC stopped pouring juice and turned around to see the books. "Oh...Well, you can leave them here if you want. I’ll give them to her."

"Well I was going to take them over there myself. I wanted to talk to her about her dress too."

"I’m sure she is probably too busy to look at it tonight mom." He said.

"Oh yeah?" she asked as she sat down at the table. JC sat across from his mother at the table. "Yeah. We're working hard on this thing."

"Right…" she nodded. "What other lies are you going to spout off at me next, Joshua? I just went over there to give them to her and she told me that you two were not together anymore."

"She did?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Mrs. Chasez smacked his hand. "Yes!! When were you going to tell me? What the hell happened!?"

JC grabbed his hand and tried to rub away the pain. "Look now! She kept a very big secret from me!"

"What kind of secret?"

JC stopped rubbing his hand and looked down towards the floor. "I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say it was big enough to make me reconsider our future together. So there is no need for you to tell me that you told me so. I already know."

His mother reached over to grab his hand and squeezed it.  JC sat down at the table and let his head fall into his hands. His mother walked over to him and rubbed his back gently. "You are a grown man now.  I need to learn to stop meddling and let you live your life."  Mrs. Chasez ruffled his hair and pushed it back gently. "Well you still never told me what happened to her mother...Is she okay?"

"Broken leg...But the woman was treacherous, Mom!" JC went on to explain the events that

occurred with Laura's mother. Mrs. Chasez sat there in silence when he was done.

"You okay, Ma?"

"Yeah...It's just something that Laura said to me before she went into the house today. I never knew she had to grow up like that. She stood there and said I was more of a mother to her than her own mother was. I didn't understand it till just now. I feel so bad." she said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Don't."

"Well I do. I don't care what she may have done to you. She has never hurt me. What is going on between the two of you is your business." She sat there thinking about what she just said and chuckled.  "I'm a complete hypocrite."

"Oh mom, if you only knew."

"Well considering the fact that you won't tell me, I will stick with what I just said." His mother leaned up and hugged him. "Whatever it is...You will get through it." she said as she rubbed his back.

JC hugged his mother tightly before walking her to the door. As he walked down the hallway back to his bedroom he glanced out the window towards Laura's backyard. Just as he was looking he could see Laura upstairs on her balcony shaking out a small rug. He watched her closely and wondered what she was thinking. As if on cue she stopped and looked down towards the part of the house JC was standing in. He quickly jumped back as she continued to look.

'That's strange. She can't see me through the tinted glass here.' he thought to himself. JC shrugged off the thought and headed to his room to sleep the rest of the afternoon away.