Jerry grinned and nodded his head. Laura laughed lightly, "Yeah.  He's got to be kidding."

The smile faded from Jerry's face. "I don't joke when it comes to business, Ms. Charles...I put up my job and my reputation to get this deal. Neither of you are going to screw me over just because, for whatever reason, you can't get along anymore. You better get over it now. I mean, I have all week...Do you?"

JC and Laura suddenly realized that Jerry wasn't joking. JC brought his hands to his head and ran his fingers through his hair trying to think. Laura went over to the door and tried her hardest to pull it open.

"It's no use, Laura. The door is controlled by this remote." Jerry pointed out. "I'm going to let you out of there as soon as I leave this room. There is a bathroom right through those doors. The fridge is fully stocked along with that cabinet. Microwave works perfectly, cause I just had a burrito before you two arrived.  There are also blankets and pillows in the bathroom for the both of you to rest on if you get tired from all the work I know you are going to be doing."

JC rolled his eyes and lifted up his middle finger to Jerry. "Now that isn't the reaction I expected from a professional such as yourself, Mr. Chasez."

"People are going to be looking for us, you know." JC yelled.

"Already been taken care of...Look kids, I would love to stay and chat, but I am on a pretty tight schedule. Have fun...I'll be back on Sunday to see how you kids are doing." He said sarcastically as he went to leave the room.

Jerry punched in a bunch of numbers on a key pad by the door and then proceeded to leave. JC and Laura heard and instant click. JC turned the knob on the door and found it unlocked. He ran over to the other door to catch up to Jerry but noticed the studio door now locked. JC could see Jerry smiling through the glass. Jerry put up his two index fingers at them and winked before turning around and walking away.

They both silently paced the room for almost two hours trying to figure out how to get out of the windowless studio. Both took turns trying to punch in the right sequence by the door, but it was no use. They were stuck there...Together.

After sitting in complete silence for another hour, JC decided enough was enough. "You think we should start working as opposed to just sitting here and sulking?"

Laura looked up at him from the opposite couch and said, "What's the point, JC? It's just going to turn to shit. I'm not even going to waste my time. You can if you want to, but I could care less at this point."

"Come on...Let's just get this done so we can get the hell out of here, Laura." he said trying not to start a fight. "I don't want to be here just as much as you, but we might as well use the time to get this shit done so we won't have to worry about it ever again."

Laura didn't want to admit that JC was right. She just reached down and grabbed her bag and began to take out her sheet music. Her cell phone dropped out onto the floor. She quickly grabbed it and stood up and started to dial Justin's number. JC just sat back and silently watched her struggle to get a signal. He folded his hands across his chest and continued to watch her curse as she walked around the entire room with the phone. In her frustration she threw it across the room onto the couch.

"Are you done?" JC asked.

Laura nodded and placed her hand on her forehead.

"You can't get a signal in here. If you were outside this room, maybe. I figured you, of all people, would know that…Especially after all the times you used to tell me I needed to get a phone installed in my home studio because there is no cell reception down there." he joked.

Laura couldn't help but smirk at her own stupidity. JC smiled when he saw her start to loosen up. The rest of the evening was filled with petty little arguments about song re-writes, melodies, and lyrics. Both were determined to show the other one up.

Laura decided to take a small break from working and walked over to the fridge to get a bottle of water. JC glanced over and spotted few bottles of Coke and politely asked her to hand him one before he went back to humming and writing down lyrics. JC soon felt something cold on his shoulder. "Thanks." he said as he grabbed the bottle. He was about to open it until he noticed it was water. "I asked for a Coke."

"I know. But you get too hyper and there's nowhere for you to go and work off your energy." Laura stated as she sat down next to him at the small table.

Clearly agitated, JC looked over at Laura and said, "I didn't ask for water. I asked you for a Coke. Why didn't you just give me what I asked for?"

Laura stopped in mid-sip when she heard what JC had just said to her. He went back to writing something down and was stunned by a splash of cold water hitting his shirt. "Oh no you didn't!"

"Oh yes I did. I'm not your slave. If you want a Coke then go get it yourself."

JC shook his head from side to side, "Oh no...That's ok...Water seems great right about now." he stated as he opened up the bottle and took a small sip.

Laura went back to reading over the sheet music JC had placed in her pile. A loud scream bellowed from her lips when she felt the icy cold water flowing down through her hair and across her face. Laura jumped up from her chair trying to keep the water from getting all over her clothes.  "Ahhh!! Oh my God...I can't believe you just did that!" she yelled.

JC couldn't stop laughing. Laura looked over at the table and saw her half-full bottle of water sitting on the edge. JC noticed where her gaze was pointed and lunged forward to grab it before she did. The two of them struggled to get the bottle from one another. Laura started to shake it up and down and it squirted all over the both of them. They wrestled their way to the floor and he finally got the upper hand. He straddled Laura and pinned her arms down to the floor and grinned as he said, "Now what you gonna do?"

Laura continued to struggle to break free. "Come on now. You know you can't get away from me." JC laughed.

They both had been smiling at one another, but the smiles soon faded from their lips and the room suddenly grew quiet.  Laura looked away from JC. "Can you please let me up?" she asked.

JC quickly got up and put out his hand to help her off the floor. She ignored his gesture and got up on her own and walked into the bathroom. JC didn't know why he had said what he said.

Laura soon walked out of the bathroom with two towels and handed him one before she walked over to the table to clean up the mess they had made. "Let's get back to work, Josh." she said quietly as she placed the towel on the chair and sat down. He noticed she was soaked and shivering. He took his sweater off the couch and handed it to her before finding his place next to her to continue writing.

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

"Geeze, what time is it?" Laura yawned as she looked around for a clock.

JC looked down at his watch.  "It's 5am."

"You want to wrap it up and get some sleep? Start fresh when we both aren't so exhausted?" she asked.

"Sounds good."

Laura got up and stretched before walking into the bathroom to get the blankets and pillows. As she was coming out she didn't notice JC right in front of her and bumped into him.  A shiver ran down her back when she felt his hand touch her shoulder to brace her.  He apologized and walked passed her into the bathroom, gently shutting the door behind him.  Laura walked over and laid out blankets and pillows on both couches. He came out and noticed she had made up a place for a him to sleep. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that."

"I know." she said as she looked up at him. She noticed he only had on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. She suddenly felt very nervous. "Umm...If you want my pillow it's right there." she pointed out as she breezed past him to go into the bathroom. JC grabbed the extra pillow and went and turned out most of the lights. He then got comfortable on the couch. Laura slowly opened up the door to see what he was doing. When she noticed that his head was not facing her, she turned off the light and quickly walked over to the other couch. JC noticed his sweater was the only thing she had on. His cock began to stir as he watched her. "My clothes got soaked from earlier. I hung them in the bathroom to dry." she explained.

He nodded and laid back on the couch. Laura leaned over and turned off the last light before lying down herself. Five minutes later, the silence was broken when she asked, "What made you want to get together with me?"

JC was puzzled by her question.  "Well why did you want to get with me, Laura?"

"I asked you first."

JC was silent as he tried to come up with right words. Laura burst out and said, "Because I feel as though I were just a replacement or fill-in for you. A temporary thing until Rachel came crawling back to you."

"Why would you ever think that?" JC asked as he let his head rest in his hand.

"I mean just look around. It's like you and I never existed. Everything seems to be back to the way it used to be as far as your life is concerned. You look very happy."

"Well I am." he replied.

Not expecting his reply to be so frank, Laura sat there feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her.   She had wanted him to tell her how miserable he was without her. She wanted him to tell her that he couldn't stop thinking about her. She wanted him to tell her he was nothing without her. She wanted him to feel just a small portion of what she felt the day he walked out on her.

"I guess that's all that should matter then. I'm glad you've found happiness again." she muttered as she turned around to face the back of the couch.

JC turned onto his back and placed his arm behind his head as he looked towards the ceiling.

 "Did you sign the papers yet?" she asked lowly.

JC's eyes drifted towards her and then back to the ceiling. "No."

"What's stopping you?"

"Been really busy with other things."

Laura rolled her eyes. "I see."

"How's life with Justin treatin' ya?" he asked.

Laura turned over and looked towards him as asked, "Life with Justin?"

"Yeah. You two have become very close since...You know."

"We hang out. He keeps me company when I need it...And when I don't. I guess he feels bad for me or something. He's taking pity on me."

JC laughed aloud, "Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is. He's spending all this time with you because he feels sorry for you...Right. Just like how much pity Rick was placing on you when he was at your house all night before he left town a few weeks ago."

'Could he possibly be jealous?' Laura thought to herself. "What exactly are you trying to say, JC?" she asked as she turned her head to look at him.

"Nothing at all...Let's just get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." he stated as he turned his body away from her and closed his eyes.

The next day JC woke up feeling extremely good. He hadn't had a good nights sleep ever since Rachel and Nikolas moved in with him. He'd be up half the night tossing and turning because the baby would be crying. He knew it was a new situation for all of them and that the baby missed Jerry. He knew it would take some time getting used to, but he couldn't help but want to jump off the roof when he would be startled awake by the baby screaming at the top of his lungs. JC slowly sat up and stretched out his arms. He looked down at his watch and noticed it was 2 in the afternoon. He looked over at the other couch where Laura had been sleeping and saw she wasn't there. He scanned the room and spotted her at the keyboard with headphones on. He got up and walked over to her and pulled one earphone back. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

Laura stopped playing and took off the headphones. "You looked so peaceful, I just decided to let you sleep."

Even now after everything that happened, she still seemed to know how to warm his heart with the slightest of gestures.  "Oh...Thanks." he said as he walked by her to go to the bathroom.

JC stared at himself in the mirror and shook his head from side to side before turning on the water and washing his face. When he came back out he grabbed a bottle of soda from the fridge and some chips from the cabinet. They both immediately began working on finishing up the project.

The mood was a bit different from the night before. Neither of them really spoke to one another unless it was absolutely necessary. As the day progressed they seemed to be getting along more and more.  The petty arguments from the day before seemed to be non-existent. 

In between her work, Laura's head began to hurt.  She got up to go and find some aspirin in the bathroom. When she returned, JC asked her to hand him the last batch of papers out of his bag. She went over and sifted through his bag and took out the small stack of papers. She placed them down on the table.

"Can you find me all the sheet music for 'Slingshots'?"

Laura looked through and started pulling out music for the song. She suddenly stopped when she came across the divorce papers she had given JC a while back. He recognized the documents. "I forgot to take those out of there the day you gave them to me. You can just stuff them back in my bag." he said before looking back down at the keyboard.

Laura placed it on the table by itself and said, "No, I think I will leave it out so that you won't forget to take care of it before we leave, JC."

He sat that quietly and looked at her and finally said, "ok."

He then asked her if she could sing for him while he played the tune to make sure it sounded good before throwing it in their final stack.
 
Love me when nobody else can see
Touch my soul
Then treat me
Like a stranger
This is not the way I want to feel
Should have known
A love this strong
Would bring some danger
But if it's all in my head
I'll find a way to make it end
It's magic
And it's tragic
Slingshots
Whisper
My tear drops
An answer
What am I to you?
Slingshots
You forgot
My kisses
Don't miss this
What am I to you?.......

While JC listened to her sing the song, he could tell Laura didn't feel comfortable singing it. "Yeah. That's sounds good. I'm sure the rest of it is fine." he said as he stopped playing.

"You sure?" she asked before placing down the music.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to lay down for a while to get rid of this headache. All that's left is the last song."
Laura walked over and got underneath the blanket on the couch. I don't know what you want to do as far as that is concerned. I am out of inspiration.

JC bounced ideas off her and they both agreed that they didn't want to have to struggle all night long with a brand new song and lyrics.

"Whatever happened to that song we started a long time ago together?" he asked as he got up and grabbed her bag looking for the music
"
What song?" she asked with her eyes half open.

"Umm...What was it called...How do you keep the music playing?" JC leafed through her papers. "Ah, here it is."

"I'd rather not finish that one right now, JC. I think I would rather save it for something else if you don't mind."

"Uhh....Well it's half finished. We both have been writing it. Let's just use it so we can get done."

Laura got up from the couch and walked over to him and snatched the papers from his hand. "I said I would rather not, JC."

He backed off and let her have them.  He knew not to get in her way when she was that angry. Laura went over to place the music back in her bag but instead threw it in the trashcan and laid back down on the couch.

Laura soon drifted off the sleep and JC took the opportunity to retrieve the music from the trash. He noticed a couple pages were missing and snuck over to her bag to find them. As he quietly leafed through her papers he came across a small photo. He picked it up and instantly smiled when he saw it. It was a picture of the both of them dancing together at her birthday party. Hallie had snapped the photo from across the room.  JC smiled one last time before placing it back where he found it. He folded up the music and placed it in his back pocket. He went back over to the keyboard and placed his headphones on and began to work on the final song.

Laura was awaken by the sounds of a soft melody playing. She could hear JC humming and lowly singing along. She couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to sound like a female for the first part of the chorus.
 
[Female Chorus:]
You're the reason
Why I found my way,
And you're the reason
Why I feel this way
(You're the reason)
And you're the reason
Why I have to sing,
I had to let you know
You're my everything

JC stopped singing and looked over at Laura who was trying to hold back her laughter.  "Well if you were awake helping me out, there wouldn't be anything to laugh at." he smiled.

Laura slowly stretched and walked over to him at the keyboard. She grabbed the notebook and had him start it over again. She sang the first part of the song. JC hadn't gotten any further than the chorus. Laura shook her head and grabbed a pencil and agan to write and sing as he continuously played the melody to help her come up with the words he couldn't.

[female:]
So many times I've been alone,
I didn't know what to do
I don't know where I'd be
If I didn't have, I didn't have you
You comfort me
Make me believe,
Give me the strength I need
Since you came into my life
It's been so heavenly, heavenly

[Female Repeat chorus]
You're the reason
Why I found my way,
And you're the reason
Why I feel this way
(You're the reason)
And you're the reason
Why I have to sing,
I had to let you know
You're my everything

He was completely stunned that she could come up with the right words so fast. He'd seen her work like this before, but for some reason it felt like the first time.  He was amazed that she knew where he wanted to go with the song. He sat there completely astonished at how in tune they really were with one another.  He'd missed having that connection with her…With another human being for that matter. The words suddenly came to JC's mind and he started to sing.  Laura struggled to write it all down. He couldn't help but look at her as the words flowed from his lips.

(Male:)
So many things
I wanna say to you,
I give my all to you
Just because
You came around
And gave me

Laura knew exactly where he was going and joined in simultaneously with him as he sang:

(Male & Female)
All your, All your love

[Male & Female:]
I would sacrifice
My very life,
All you have to do
Is say the word (Say the word)
And there would never be
No other, no other girl

They both simultaneously came in and sang the chorus together.

You're the reason
Why I found my way,
And you're the reason
Why I feel this way
(You're the reason)
And you're the reason
Why I have to sing,
I had to let you know
You're my everything

They both couldn't help but grin when it sounded so perfect as they hummed together. Laura jumped in with the bridge to the song and just let herself go.

Don't you know,
that you're my reason
Why I, Why I sing
Oh yeah...
No, I could never do anything
Without you... you, you...

JC and Laura slapped each others hand in recognition of the incredible job they had done…together. They stacked all their completed work in one pile on top of the desk and sat down on the couch giving sighs of relief that they were finally finished.

"What time is it?"

"Almost 10."

"You don't think Jerry would be stopping by anytime soon to check on us early do you?"

"Nope." JC quickly answered. He let his head fall to the back of the couch before cursing to himself.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." he shook his head. "I had just promised Nikky that I would take him to the petting zoo this weekend.  He is too little to understand anyway…But I just feel bad."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I didn't mean about this. I meant about keeping her secret from you."

JC put his hand up to stop her from continuing, "It's over with, Laura. It's been said already. We can just move on now."

Laura made herself get up from the couch. "No. It's not over yet." she stated as she picked up the divorce papers and grabbed a pen and brought them over to him. "It won't be over until you sign."

JC looked up at her and the papers. "Why don't we just wait till we get out of here to do this?"

"What's the difference in doing it now or later, JC?"

"Because I don't want to do this right now."

"All you have to do is sign you name. It's not that hard. You do it all the time for your fans."

"This isn't just me signing a stupid autograph, Laura. This is me giving uuu...."

"This is you what?" she asked. JC took a deep breath, stood up and walked passed her into the bathroom before slamming the door behind him.