"Did Rachel call here by any chance?" Laura asked as she popped her head in the door.

"No...Why?" JC pulled up his laptop's audio program and plugged in the keyboard.

"I was hoping to see her today or tomorrow." Laura walked over and kissed JC on his cheek while he shuffled through sheet music.

Laura looked at her watch and noticed it was 5pm. She quickly looked through the drawers. "Laticia stocked up the fridge for the week. She told me to tell you that she will see you tomorrow. Which reminds me...Do have to do anything tomorrow?"

"Hmmm...Let's see." JC said as he began to play a little tune and started to sing his schedule to her, "I have to go into the studioooo...To work on a few tunes...Then I have to go to Johnny...Cause ya know he's a loooonnn."

"Okay...That was corny." she laughed.

"Yeah...I know, but I knew it would turn you on."

Laura plucked him on the arm as she leafed through more papers.

"No, but seriously. Me and the guys have to go into the studio for a bit, then over to Johnny's for a meeting. Then my mom wants me to come and pick up some more magazines and phone numbers to bring to you...And then I have to help my dad around the house with a few things. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I had hoped that we could sit down with Rachel and tell her what is going on...with us..."

"Are you sure you are ready to do that?"

Laura stopped moving the papers around and turned to look at JC. "If you are not ready than we can wait. I just don't want to wait too long. I want her to hear it from us as opposed to hearing it from a reporter on TMZ."

"I was just checking, Laura. There's no reason to get an attitude about it."

She wanted to argue, but knew it would be pointless. "I didn't have an attitude. Whenever you are ready to tell her, let me know." she said as she went to leave the room.

"Hey!" he called after her. Laura looked towards him. "...I'm ready. Just let me know when, so I can make the time to be here with you."

"Fine." she huffed. JC could hear her stomping across the hardwood floors and out the door. He spun around in his chair and tossed his pencil across the room. "Women!" he said loudly to himself.

~~~

JC looked up from the piano and noticed that it was almost 9. He shut everything down and came across some of Laura's sheet music sitting at the top of a stack of papers she had been looking through earlier. He shook his head and smiled as he grabbed it and went upstairs into the main part of the house. He grabbed the cordless on his way to the kitchen and dialed her number. The phone rang 5 times before he gave up and started to dial her cell phone. He was puzzled when it went straight to voicemail, but figured she was somewhere with bad a signal.

"Hey baby, it's me. I think I found what you were looking for when you were here earlier. Your sheet music for that song we had been working on a while ago. How do you keep the music playing? Well that's the first line of what you have here. I just wanted to let you know...See you later."

JC finished making himself a sandwich and put the phone back on the cradle. He accidentally hit the answering machine button.

"You have 3 messages." the mechanical voice uttered. The first message was something short from Justin about their studio session the next morning. The second message wasn't very clear and it sounded as if the person was cut off as they began to speak. The third message was from Laura. She sounded hysterical as she cried into the phone.

"Someone called me earlier about my mother. She's in the hospital. My phone kept cutting out and I don't know what is wrong so I am leaving on the first flight out to see about her. Please call me as soon as you get this. It's about 7:30 right now. "

JC put down his sandwich and rushed to the phone to call her again. Just as he was reaching out, it rang. He jumped at the sound and quickly picked it up. "Hello?"

"JC? Did you get my message?" Laura asked. He could hear her sniffling in the background.

"I just heard it a second ago. I was about to call you again. Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." she answered lowly.

"Where are you?"

"Philadelphia International Airport. I just got off the plane a few minutes ago."

"Any word about your mother?"

"None. I am going to check out the hospital near her house. I think the woman that called me said she was a nurse...I just..."

JC sat down on the edge of the couch and could hear Laura struggling to speak past her tears. He hated the fact that he wasn't there to comfort her.

"...I just...I don't know what do to...I need to go and get this rental car, though."

"Laura."

"Yeah?" she said as she got up off the chair and wiped her eyes.

"I am going to call and get the first flight out tonight to be with you and then I'm going to call Justin and have him let everyone else know I won't be in the studio tomorrow."

"No, JC...You don't have to do that."

"Yes...I do." he demanded.

Laura was silent. She didn't know what to say.

"I will take your silence as your admitted defeat in the argument that we were about to have."

Laura chuckled through her tears as she wiped her eyes. He smiled as he closed his eyes and tried to picture her in his head.

"Could you pack me some clothes? I was in such a rush that I didn't bring anything with me except my purse."

"Yeah. Of course."

"Also, in my night stand by my bed there is a small purple book. It's my journal. I usually write lyrics in it...Could you bring that too?"

"Purple notebook...Got it."

"And JC?" she called out.

"Yes?"

There was a long pause. "Thank you."

"There's no need for that...You better hurry and get the car. I need to hurry along here myself. Leave your phone on. I'm going to need directions when I get into town."

They both said their goodbye's and JC rushed to pack a bag. He called Laticia and told her he was going to be out of town for a few days and that there was no need to come to work. He called Justin and left him a message about what had happened. JC jogged through his backyard and over to Laura's and packed her bag, grabbed her notebook, and made sure both houses were secure before finally jumping into a cab. On the way to the airport, he smacked himself in the head and dialed another number.

"Mom? Sorry to wake you so late."

"JC? What's wrong?"

"I need you to go over to my house tomorrow and get Buddy and take him home with you for a few days."

"Why, are you going away?"

"Yeah. Something happened to Laura's mother. I am taking the next flight out to go up there and be with her."

His mother sat upright in her bed with the phone up to her ear, "What happened?"

"She doesn't know yet."

"Whoa, whoa whoa...Wait. She doesn't know yet?" she asked as she turned on the light. Mr. Chasez turned over to see what was wrong.

"No. There was a bad connection when the person called."

"Well, it could be something minor like a twisted her ankle. You're dropping important dates and meetings to rush up there for something that could just end up to be nothing at all?"

"What is your problem, Mother?!" he yelled.