JC laid across the bed as he watched Nikolas sleep. There were pillows on all four sides of the baby to keep him from rolling off onto the floor.

"What cha doin'?" Rachel asked as she leaned over the bed and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"Just spending a little more time with him before I head out of here to go to Chicago."

"You'll only be gone a few days...Right?"

"Yeah, but I just feel bad that I have to go." he said as he laid on his stomach and buried his head into the mattress.

Rachel climbed onto his back and started to give him a massage. She slowly leaned down towards his ear and whispered, "Why don't we use the quiet to our advantage?" Letting her tongue glide along his outer ear, Rachel said, "Let me give you something to want to rush home to."

With a grin on his face, JC reached back and ran his hands up Rachel's thighs. "I wish I could, but Justin should be here any second." he said as he tried to scoot out from under her. Rachel sat on her knees on the bed as she watched JC finish zipping up his bag. "Is it because you are going to see her?"

"See who?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

"No." JC shook his head. A car horn startled the both of them. "I told you earlier he would be here any minute." he said as he pointed out the window.

Rachel pouted out her lips at him. All JC could do was smile at her before picking up his bag and walking towards the bed where she and the baby were. He leaned down and placed his hand under her chin as he kissed her gently on the lips. "You have all my numbers right?"

"Yeah."

"He walked to the other side of the bed and brushed Nikolas hair back with his hand. He watched how peaceful he looked. Buddy was curled up in a ball close by. "Daddy loves you."

JC leaned down and kissed the baby on his forehead. "You take good care of Nikky now, Buddy. You're in charge while I am gone."

Buddy wagged his tail when JC pet him. JC went and opened the front door where Justin was waiting. He handed him his bag and turned around and looked towards Rachel once more. "You sure you are going to be okay."

"We'll be fine. Call us when you get into town."

JC hugged her tightly before kissing her once more on the cheek. "Okay." As they were pulling out of the driveway, JC noticed Rachel lingering in the doorway watching them and smiling. He grinned to himself as they drove off towards the airport.

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

"You and Rachel seem to be back to normal." Justin commented.

"Eh...Almost. Still a few things that need to be worked on, but other than that I would have to agree with you."

"So nothing is going to change once you see Laura then, huh?"

"No." JC replied never looking up from his magazine. Justin studied JC's face for some type of emotion. The stewardess walked by with bags of peanuts for them. He then looked down and started to leaf through the Sports Illustrated. "Hallie says she isn't doing too well these days."

"When did you talk to Hallie?"

"I didn't. Joey did."

"Oh..." JC paused momentarily before closing his magazine and looking towards Justin. "Did Hallie tell him what was wrong with Laura?"

"No. But it's not like you care or anything."

"I never said I didn't care."

"You're surely acting like it."

"How am I suppose to act? Especially since I'm finding out more and more each day about everything she was hiding from me for all that time."

Justin rolled his eyes and looked towards his friend. "And who is giving you this information? Rachel?"

JC nodded. "Rachel wanted to clear the air about everything so we could make a fresh start."

"I see." Justin said. "I can't believe my best friend is such a gullible prick."

"A what?"

Justin could see JC was angered by his last statement. "Look, I ain't got nothin but love for you, bro, but you really need to sit back and look at the big picture here."

"I see the big picture fine."

Justin couldn't help but laugh to himself. "Yeah...Okay. I hope you get your head out of your ass soon."

JC let out a long sigh as he shook his head and went back to reading his magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"She's not here yet?" JC asked one of the studio workers.

"No, sir."

"She's usually early." JC said to himself.

Justin walked over and sat down next to him. "Something wrong?"

"No. Laura just isn't here yet. I guess she is on her way." he said as he grabbed a small box that was about the same size as a cigarette case and pressed the button and began to speak. "Hey Michael. You might as well go ahead and start your vocal warm-ups. We're going to give Laura about 5 more minutes until we go ahead without her."

Michael nodded and proceeded to warm-up. JC started to go over things with another producer when he heard Justin yell, "Hey girl!" JC turned his head and noticed Laura walking in. She had on a slightly oversized black velour outfit and pair of dark sunglasses. Her hair was covered with a large silk scarf and a hat. "Hey." she said lowly as she went to place down her bag.

"You've been hanging out with Christina too much." Justin commented as he leaned down to hug her. He lifted her off the ground slightly and started to twirl around. "Justin, please put me down." Laura begged. Justin noticed the color had left her face. "Are you okay?"

Laura looked towards JC and could see him watching. "Yeah...I'm fine. I just have a stomach flu or something."

Justin backed away from her quickly to ensure he wouldn't be caught her in crossfire if she did decide to blow chunks. She walked passed JC who was leaning against the edge of the sound board with his arms folded. "I'm sorry I'm late. I haven't been feeling very well lately."

JC nodded and waited for her to get settled so they could start work. During the studio session JC noticed that Laura was very frustrated and seemed uncomfortable. Even Justin noticed that something was wrong. She was snapping at Michael Stewart anytime he made the simplest of mistakes. JC decided to try and put an end to it. "Hey Mike? Why don't you take a break." he said over the intercom. Michael nodded and took off his headphones and disappeared out of the room and down the hall.

"Could you guys excuse us please?" JC asked Justin and the other producer. Laura let her head fall into her hands knowing an argument was about to insue. He walked over and leaned back onto the sound board before leaning towards her and asking, "Do you need to go back to the hotel?"

"No...I'm fine."

"No...You're not." he mocked. "You've been lashing out at every little thing since you got her. I've never seen you act like this before."

"I was up all night and this morning sick. I'm just a bit cranky today."

"You should have called me. We could have rescheduled this for a later date."

"No. Jerry is on my case enough as it is about getting this recorded. I didn't want to delay it any longer...I have a slue of other projects I need to concentrate on after this is all over."

Laura grabbed her stomach and started to take short quick breaths as she winced in pain.

JC could tell there was something wrong. "You need something?"

Laura put her index finger up for him to wait. She continued to take shorts breaths and swallowed back her saliva a few times. "No, I'm okay" she said, giving a sigh of relief.

JC was about to say something when Laura got up and walked out of the studio down the hall towards the lounge to get a bottle of water. He sat down in the swivel chair and spun around slowly thinking to himself as he ran his fingers through his hair. A few moments later Justin, Michael and Laura walked back in together talking amongst themselves. He smiled to himself when he heard Laura apologizing a million times to Michael for her earlier behavior. After that, things seemed to be back to normal. Laura and JC worked together to get as much as they could done within the allotted studio time for the day, and they seemed to be flowing together creatively like they used to.

The next day was even better than the first. JC and Justin showed up to find Laura already hard at work. Justin wasn't with them much that day because he was working on his own material in nearby studio B, but they would all pop in on one another throughout. When Justin was done he went back to join JC. He found himself back in familiar territory when he heard JC hysterically laughing at something Laura had said. He sat back and smiled as he watched his best friend. He hadn't seen JC laugh like that in a long time.