JC arrived bright and early at the studio Monday morning. When he walked in, he could hear laughter coming from down the hallway.

"Ha, Ha! That's when he told her to kiss his crusty ass, Jimmy!"

JC turned the corner and was surprised too see an unusually happy, Laura Charles, sitting on a swivel chair in front of the mixing board. "Hello everyone." he said looking straight at her.

"Hey, JC." Laura grinned uncontrollably.

JC turned around and looked back and out the door to make sure she wasn't grinning at someone else. "Am I in the wrong place?" he questioned.

"My sediments exactly," a voice called out from behind the left side of the room. JC looked over and noticed Hallie sitting on the couch eating a pretzel.

"Hi, Hallie."

"MmmHmmm." she nodded.

"How are you?" he asked, focusing on her stomach.

"We're fine...Anxious to get to work so we can go back home and relax." she smiled rubbing her stomach.

"We're going to get started as soon as Jerry gets here to drop off a few things. Let me go and double check on something so that there aren't any hold ups when we're ready."

After Jim left, JC looked toward Laura again and said, "Not that I'm not ecstatic to you in good spirits, but why the sudden change of attitude towards me?"

"Hormones." Hallie interjected. "One minute she's an angel, then the next...Lucifer."

"Oh hush, Hal." Laura laughed.

JC sat down next to her and started adjusting audio levels.

"Ahhh! Shit!" Laura winced in pain. JC and Hallie rushed towards her. "What's wrong?" they both called out in unison.

Laura put both her hands up to shield herself, "Damn, you guys. The baby is only kicking. See." Laura took JC's hand and placed it on her stomach. He couldn't feel anything at first, but moved his hand back quickly when he felt something poke at his palm. He watched the two women laugh at his jolt backwards and made his way back over to feel the baby kicking again.  "God, this is amazing." he smiled.

Laura watched how happy he looked as he felt his child pushing his or her feet up against her abdomen. The pain didn't seem so strong once she saw the joy on her ex's face. He looked up at her and she could see his eyes were glistening more than they usually did. 'Is he about to cry?' she thought to herself. As she opened her mouth to speak, Jerry walked in, "Okay ladies and gents. Let's get to wor....kkkk..." Jerry stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Laura's stomach. He was speechless. He looked down at JC who's hand was still in place over her gut.  "Whoa!"

"Hey Jerry. How the hell are ya?" Laura gleamed.

"The better question would be how the hell are you, Laura?"  he smiled, leaning down to give her a hug.

"I'm doing good."

"JC didn't tell me that you were...With child. I would have postponed this whole thing for a later date..."

"Well it wasn't really his place to tell you anything." she said as she used JC's shoulder as a brace to get up from the chair.  JC wanted to protest but felt Laura arm dig into his shoulder even more.

Jerry looked over at JC and said, "Well, I just assumed that-"

"Well you assumed wrong." Laura interrupted.

Jim could feel the tension beginning to build in the room and decided to step in, "Okay people, let's get to work. I'm only blessed with Laura's presence for a short time today and I need to get as much as possible from her before she jets out of here. Jerry handed Jim some documents as well as a box. His cell phone rang and he answered it. As he was talking to his secretary he leaned down and hugged Laura lightly, "Congratulations, Sweetie. You're going to be an incredible mother."

Laura smiled and kissed his cheek and said thank you.

"The camera crew are here and right down the hall, so they should be in here momentarily. I've given them strict instructions, so there's nothing to worry about. I get all the tapes when they are finished and I will be overseeing all the editing."

JC and Laura nodded to him and yelled goodbye as he headed out the door. He lingered in the hall and watched the two of them before grabbing his phone and making some important calls.

"Okay, today is mostly a brainstorming session of sorts. Hopefully we will be able to lay down the first track, but I don't want to push things. Especially since the song isn't complete. I wanted to give the two of you time to bounce ideas off each other as far as the lyrics go. I need to sit over here and play around with these melodies to perfect what we already have so far.

It was just like old times. JC and Laura dove straight into work. Hallie sat back and watched the two of them. When they were working together, it seemed as though nothing could come between them. It was all about the music for them. If only they could feel that way about each other again.

"…Hmmm...Where did I leave off at?" Laura asked herself out loud.

She then started humming the melody and softly sang to herself, "...And tell me how year after year, your sure your heart will fall apart...Each time you hearrrr his name..."

JC eased in, singing the chorus that he had written for the song. Laura smiled to herself as she read along.  "I knowwww, the way I feel for you...It's now or never. The more I love the more that I'm afraid. That in your eyes, I may not see forever..."

JC looked towards her as they both sang "Forever."

Laura nodded with a smile of recognition. She hadn't worked on the song in so long it had almost seemed foreign to her when they were initially going over everything, but the memories were all coming back to her like an overflowing sink.

JC leaned over and pointed out where he had started to complete the song. "If we can be the best of lovers. Yet be the best of friends. If we can try with everyday to make it better...as it grows. With any luck then I suppose...The Music...Never ends." he sang softly.

Laura found herself in that all too familiar state of euphoria she felt anytime she was with him. She'd find herself having to shake out of a daze when he would look over to ask her something...Even after everything that had happened, the man still had a hold on her heart so strong that if he were to ask her right then and there to come back, she wouldn't think twice. Before the week was through, she would find the offer more appealing with each day. 

She was very self conscious when the crew came in to tape. She didn't want them to catch anything that would reveal her thoughts and feelings towards JC, but with her hormones taking her on an emotional roller coaster every other day, she couldn't help herself.

At the end of the day when they were walking through the parking lot to leave, JC pulled Laura to the side to talk to her. Knowing that leaving them alone together would only stir up more trouble, Hallie did everything she could to be a thorn in his side.  But she saw that look in Laura's eyes and knew it was no use.  She stormed off and went to get the car instead.

With her arm draped under his, she walked with him over to his car. He unhooked their arms and leaned back against his car before taking both her hands in his and saying, "I don't want to bring this whole creative mode that we have going here, to an end with bad vibes, or arguments. I just want to get an idea of when we'll be able to talk more about the baby and what's going to happen when he or she is born."

Laura could see the deep concern in his eyes and placed her hand on his cheek lightly, while moving his other hand to her stomach. "If you want to be apart of the baby's life when its born, then great. I just don't want her to grow up with broken promises of you coming to visit, or feeling left out because she might not be as close to you as Nikki...since he lives with you. For right now, I just want to focus on getting this recording stuff out of the way. Once that is done, then we'll sit down and talk about future plans as far as this baby is concerned."

"Her? She?"

Laura noticed the gleam in his eyes and had to clarify. "No." She smiled. "Just wishful thinking on my part."

JC brushed Laura's hair out of her face and let his hand fall slightly behind her ear as he moved her hair away from her earrings.  Instead of protesting or moving away, Laura closed her eyes and lingered in his touch.  "You have this glow this about you.' he smiled.

"Yeah?" she asked, opening her eyes slightly as she looked towards him.

"Yeah." he said as he stood up straight, bringing his lips inches away from hers.  "You seem really happy."

"I am." she smiled looking up into his eyes.  "I've come to realize that even if I can't have you." she looked down and adjusted his necklace so that it was straight. "I'll always have a part of you with me."

Hallie pulled up behind JC's car and beeped the horn just as JC was leaning his head down towards Laura's face.  They both looked up, startled.  Hallie motioned for Laura to come on.

"You gotta get rid of your guard dog"  JC smiled.

"No way…She keeps me outta trouble." Laura chuckled.

As she moved to walk to the car, JC grabbed her hand and pulled her back over towards him.  "I'm serious about what I said earlier…"  He placed his hands on both sides of her belly once more and said, "Please don't push me out of our baby's life."

She looked up at him and said, "I'm just trying to look out for the baby's best interest here, JC. I'm not trying to be spiteful, hateful or conniving. No matter what you may think, I don't have that capability." She slowly removed his hand away from her stomach and patted it gently before turning around to walk away. "...Although, at times, I wish I did."

Midway, Laura turned around to finish her thought, but was startled again by the car horn. Hallie put both her hands up to her friend. Laura glared at Hallie and made her way around to the passenger side of the car.

"Why?" he called after her.

Laura opened up the passenger side door and looked over the top of the door and said. "Because if I did...I wouldn't have such a hard time not loving you."

JC stood there momentarily stunned by her words. He watched as she got into the car and dashed over to the car and asked, "Where are you staying?"

Laura didn't want the week to be ruined by surprise visits, so she decided to give an answer that wouldn't be too revealing. "I'm staying with friends."

Hallie wasn't going to let them hold up the rest of her afternoon. She threw the car into gear and darted down the street. It was then and only then that JC noticed the car they were in looked very similar to one that Justin owned.

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

"I was about to hurl from watching how she was acting towards him, Justin. For the past three days that we've been here, they've been acting as though nothing had happened...All buddy, buddy again and shit. It was sickening!" Hallie vented.

Justin just laid silently on the couch listening to her. He and Laura were both opposite one another on the long beige leather sofa. Justin was rubbing her ankles and feet while she read US Weekly. Her ankles had been swelling up pretty badly and the only thing that seemed to help were foot and ankle rubs.

"...And JC is sitting there grinning from ear to ear, like the dumbass he is."

"Hey!" Justin scolded.

"I know he's your boy and all, but he's got some serious issues. You know it. You just don't want to admit it." Hallie teased as she flipped through the channels.

Justin was about to speak when Laura started to talk, "I'm just trying to make good out of a bad situation. We have to work together till this song is fully recorded and edited to its fullest potential. It's a beautiful song and I don't want to go into the studio and have it turn to shit because I can't get along with...with..."

"Just your baby daddy?" Hallie sang.

Justin couldn't help but snicker.

"Well yeah...That too. Just because I am not reacting in the way that you want me to doesn't mean that I don't feel a certain way about this entire situation. And since he is the father of my unborn child, I have to find some way to get along with him."

"I don't think that Hallie wants you to go around starting arguments or proclaiming that you will never speak to him again. I think she-"

"No. That's exactly what I want." Hallie interrupted.  "Why should she be all friendly with him? Pretending like he didn't break her heart, by dropping her for Rachel's slutty ass? He needs to know how it feels."

"I'm not trying to stick up for JC for what he did, nor am I trying to bash him either. I personally think that's this has been a lot for any one person to handle. He's confused. He's got this woman who he has dated for..." Justin tried to count in his head. "…Four Years...She cheats on him with his mortal enemy, begs him to forgive her while she is still slapping the skins with Jerry, then she runs off and marries the asshole and has a baby. That fucked him up royally. Then there was you." Justin looked toward Laura who wasn't really listening to either of them. She had heard the story before. "This angel who had come to save him from all that. Counseling him through his depression, pushing him to get on with his life...Then out of nowhere you guys are together? To compare years of love-"

Hallie was about to protest but Justin put his hand up to her, "Yes I do believe they both truly loved each other up till the last 6 months of the relationship...To compare years of a lasting relationship to Laura's...It wasn't even a year was it?" Justin looked to her for an answer but Laura didn't respond. "Especially when you take into consideration that the two of them were so secretive about it...Like it was only about the sex. Someone to warm the sheets at night. You mix Nikolas into it and I could see why he chose the path he did. Was it the right path? I don't think it was, but I am not in his shoes."

Laura nodded in agreement. Hallie rolled her eyes. Justin could see he wasn't winning any points. "Yo, seriously. I hate that bitch. That I agree with you on 100 percent. I think Rachel is low, manipulative, and deceitful. But I don't got to live with her. If Nikky wasn't in the equation, I don't think we'd be having this discussion. JC is a family man. Always has been. Always will be."

Hallie threw her hands up in the air and said, "Well what about Laura and her baby? They aren't family to him?"

"He made a choice before she was even pregnant. What's done is done. All we can do is live with it." Justin spat back.

Laura could see the two of them getting frustrated with one another and decided to jump in. "I'm very lucky to have a friend who would fight for me the way you do, Hal. But you just have to understand that it's not about how I feel anymore. I have to look out for this baby. And fighting with JC or deciding to never see or speak to him again would only harm our child. I don't want my child growing up, thinking that mommy hates daddy or vice versa."

Their debate was shortly interrupted by a call from Joey to Justin. He took the phone into the other room, while Hallie and Laura started up a movie. Minutes later, Justin walked back into the room with a worried look on his face.

"Something wrong?" Laura asked.

"Depends...JC is on his way over here. Joey is with him. He was calling to make sure I was home before they wasted the gas."

"It's cool." Laura smiled before attempting to get off the couch. Justin grabbed her hands and lightly pulled her to her feel. "We're going to bed so we won't be in your way."

"You don't have to go."

"No. No. It's your house. I don't want to disrupt your weekly routines. I was grateful enough that you offered for us to stay here instead of some unfamiliar hotel."

"Are you sure? You really don't have to go. You won't be intruding on anything. All we do is sit around and watch sports."

"I'm sure."

Hallie grabbed the movies they had rented and headed towards the back bedrooms with Laura. JC and Joey arrived 15 minutes later.

Justin noticed JC was curiously looking around the house. "Hey Joe. Did you bring the Corona's?" Justin asked, still watching JC through the corner of his eye. Joey lifted up two six packs and nodded. "Cool. Let's just try and keep it down a bit though. Laura and Hallie are in the back and I don't want to disturb them too much."

"Hallie and Laura are here?!" Joey asked excitedly.

"yeah. In back." Justin pointed behind himself. Joey shoved the beers into Justin's arms and bolted off to see them. JC followed Justin into the kitchen to grab some chips. Justin went through the cabinets, starting up idle conversation with his best friend. "You want the sour cream and onion dip or the salsa?" Justin asked.

"I knew it!  Why the fuck didn't you tell me she was staying with you?" JC asked starring Justin square in the eyes.

Justin shook his head and started to pour the chips into a large bowl. "Was I suppose to?" he asked.

"Hell yeah. I would have expected you to at least drop me a line to let me know." JC whispered loudly.

"Why? Jealous? It's none of your business where she stays or who she stays with."

"I didn't say it was any of my business. And I'm not jealous." JC defended.

"Well, you're sure as hell acting like it. I offered her the guest room...I actually insisted on it. She asked me not to tell you or anyone else that she was staying with me."

"I thought we were brothers?"

"We are. I would lie down in traffic for you, bro. But that doesn't make me any less her friend. She asked me to do her a favor and I did it." Justin pointed out.

JC thought about for a minute and apologized. "I'm sorry. I don't know where my head is at lately. I'd never ask you to betray her trust for mine."

Justin started to laugh mockingly.

"What?" JC asked.

"It's just funny that you would say that."

"Why?" JC asked, watching Justin grab up a couple bowls and round the corner towards the living room. "Because that is exactly what you expected Laura to do when she kept Rachel's secret."

JC was so stunned by what he said that he couldn't respond. He just stood there with his hands on the counter, looking down at the shiny marble counter top, thinking to himself.