A week later Jerry and Rachel finally returned from Philadelphia. Laura made an appointment to go and see him alone without JC. When she arrived at his office she noticed that Jerry seemed sad and was oddly quiet. He looked like he hadn't shaved in almost a week and didn't seem to care that his shirt didn't match his suit.

"How you doing, Jerry?" she asked as she walked over to the chair.

Jerry stood up slowly to greet her and motioned for her to take a seat as he said, "I'm doing just about as well as you are, Laura."

"What do you mean?" she asked. Laura didn't know if Jerry knew what had happened or not.

"I'm stressed out. I'm sure she has told you by now. Rachel left me. She took Nikolas with her. She told me that he wasn't my son." he said lowly as he moved papers around on his desk to keep from showing any emotion.

"I haven't spoken to her...I'm sorry, Jerry."

"It's not your fault. I'm sure if you knew, you would have never told me anyway...Seeing that you and her are like sisters."

"More like enemies now." she said under her breath as she looked down.

"What did you say?"

Laura didn't know she had said it so loudly. "Ummm...I asked what are you going to do now?"

"I'll just sit and hope that she will come to her senses and return to me before I have to get a lawyer involved."

Laura didn't want to discuss it any further. She knew that if he were to keep talking about it, she would tell him everything. "Well I hope everything works out with that, Jer."

"Well I know you didn't come in here to listen to me talk about my personal problems...What's up? Got us some music to listen to yet?"

"Yes and no."

"Huh?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is Mr. Emerson in his office? I brought over some samples for him to listen to for the album."

"Yes, he is here, Mr. Chasez. But he's in a meeting right now. Do you mind waiting a few moments?"

"No problem." JC went and sat down on the couch and started to read a magazine. Fifteen minutes later the door opened. He lifted his eyes from a book and could see Laura walking out. She saw him and stopped in her tracks.  They shared a brief glance.  She opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head before turning and heading towards the elevators. JC's eyes followed her. He stared at her back until he was interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Mr. Chasez? Jerry will see you now."

JC cleared his throat and took a deep breath before entering the office. "Look Jerry, before you say anything. I know that there is a great deal going on with Rachel, the baby, and this album. We are both unknowing parties in this and I don't want it to become a vicious battle between us. Business is business and I want to be professional about this and keep the two separate. I brought over my half of the music to let you take a look at." JC stood there waiting for a response.

Jerry was very calm as he sat up in his chair and folded his hands on his desk. "There's no need, JC. Laura is walking out on the project."

"What? Why?"

"She would only tell me that it was too much for her to deal with right now. But don't worry. You're off the hook."

"Off the hook for what?" he asked.

"The lawsuit"

JC's heart started to beat faster. "Lawsuit?"

Jerry nodded and said, "Yes. The one the company is going to slap her with for breach of contract."

"Yeah, I figured you would do something like that." JC said as he brought his hands up and ran them through his hair trying to think.

"Look! It isn't me who is going to do it. The company is going to as soon as they find out. I tried everything I could to get her to stay on. She doesn't seem to care that she is going to be sued for millions of dollars."

JC sat on the edge of the couch and tapped his leg trying to come up with an idea. "There is no way to get around this?"

"Not unless she changes her mind within the next 24 hours. I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 10am about this album. She read and signed the contract. If I walk in there and tell them that she backed out, they will sue her. Plain and simple."

"Give me until tomorrow. I'll see what I can do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laura laid on the couch cuddled up under a blanket as she watched television. She could hear the door bell ringing, but continued to ignore it. After the 5th ring Laura was pissed off enough to want to find out who it was and tell them off. Wearing a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms and a white sports bra, she walked up to the door and opened it. She didn't see anyone there. As she stuck her head out the door she saw Buddy running towards her. She knelt down to grab the dog.

"Buddy, no!" a voice yelled.

Laura stood up with the dog in her arms and she pet him.

"I'm sorry about that." JC said as he walked up and reached his hand out for the dog. Laura handed Buddy to him.

Not happy at all to see him, she crossed her arms and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I was walking Buddy and he kept pulling me towards your house. He wanted to see you."

"Oh." Laura stood in the doorway waiting on JC to leave. Both stood silently. "Did you need anything else, JC?"

JC was about to speak, but Laura cut him off at the pass. "That reminds me. I have to give you something." She motioned for him to come inside. He stood in the hallway and waited for her to return. She came back dragging a large box across the floor. She pushed it towards the door and stood up trying to catch her breath. "All that stuff is yours. There are CD's, clothes, sheet music, some of the Buddys' toys, audio equipement, etc. If I find anything else I will just mail it to you."

"Laura."

She looked around seeing if she had missed anything. "Yes JC?"

You don't have to do that." he stated as he followed her over to the piano where she was sifting through music.

"I don't?" she asked looking up from the open piano stool.

"No..." He paused. "You can just place them by my backdoor if you find anything else."

Laura was disappointed with his answer. "Back door...Right."

"Listen, I really came over here to talk to you about this project." he said as he walked into the living room towards her.

"Then you're wasting your time. I'm not doing it anymore." she said as she walked around the room picking up things trying to look busy.

"If you don't they will sue you and win."

"You won't be involved so what do you care?"

"Dammit, Laura!!" he yelled. She stopped and turned around in shock at his anger. He took a long sigh as he sat down on the couch "Laura...I care."

A part of Laura wanted to argue with him and another part of her just wanted him to leave her alone. She leaned against the wall on the other side of the room and watched him as he let his elbows rest on his thighs before leaning down and playing with a snow globe that was sitting on the coffee table. "Laura, what's going on between us has nothing to do with this project. I would have hoped that you would have been professional about it."

"That's what I am trying to be, JC. I can't work with you. I can't be in the same room with you and not think about us. I can't sit there and not remember the way your skin feels up against mine, the way your mouth feels on my lips, the way your touch sends me someplace I have never been before. And I also can't sit there and think about how cold your eyes were the night you walked out on me. I can't think about how you don't trust or love me anymore."

JC could see the tears forming in her eyes and could hear her emotions catching in her throat. "Look...Let's not go there right now. You can't tell me that you are just going to walk out on the deal that fast, Laura?" She pushed herself off the wall and walked towards the stereo and said, "Why not? You walked out on me that fast. Why can't I do the same?"

"Those are two totally different things, Laura, and you know it."

"Do I? I don't see how they are different. I can't do it anymore. I can't deal. I'm not going to sit there and have you in the same mess, so I did what I had to do." She grabbed her notebook and sat on the opposite couch. She pointed the remote at the stereo and threw it aside. Music began to softly play through the speakers.

"This is your dream, Laura. This is what you have wanted for a very long time. I don't care what is going on between you and I. I wouldn't let anyone stand in the way of my dreams." JC watched her as she began to write. He got up and walked over and sat next to her on the couch. Laura backed away slightly.  "You shouldn't let me or anyone else make you not want to fulfill that dream. We can come up with a plan if need be, but I don't think that giving up is what you want to do."

Laura wanted to smack him, and shake him until he understood, but she knew JC would continue until he won the battle. In her heart she knew he was right.

"Think about it for a few hours. You only have until 9am tomorrow to change your mind Bab--...Before you are faced with a huge mess."  He watched her on the couch as she pet Buddy. The dog continuously tried to climb up her chest to lick her face. JC sat back and watched her hugging the dog.

"He really misses you." JC said as he stared at Laura.

She looked up from the dog and locked eyes with him. "I really miss him too." she said as she tried to choke back the tears.