"So how was working with him again?" Hallie asked.

Laura stood over the stove as she mixed the soup that was warming. "Both incredible and horrible at the same time. Justin thought he was clever by leaving us alone together. I, of course, ended up getting sick in front of him."

"You should have puked on him. I'm sure that would have made you feel a hell of a lot better!" Hallie laughed.

Laura smiled. "Yeah, I may have."

"Are you ever going to tell him?"

"I almost did after I left. I called the house and his answering machine...Oh excuse me...Their answering machine picked up. I got scared and hung up when I heard Rachel's voice on the recording...I know I have to tell him. I just don't know how."

Hallie was silent. Laura listened hard into the phone, "You still there, Hal?"

"Yeah...Maybe you shouldn't tell him, Laura."

"Why not?"

"Well I was going to tell you this as soon as I found out, but you had enough to worry about."

"Tell me what?" Laura asked as she sat down at the table and began to dip her spoon into the creamy soup.

"I talked to Joey the other day"

"Yeah?"

"He went ring shopping with JC."

Laura sat there frozen with the spoon at her mouth. She placed it down lightly and got up from the table, walking towards the balcony. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

She leaned across the railing and watched how the moonlight hit the water in the river. She took a deep sigh and said, "Well no matter what the circumstance, I have to tell him. I don't want to be guilty of the same crime twice."

"Well I know you are going to tell him...Question is, when?"

"Probably when I hang up with you. I'll give him a call and see where he is going to be next week or something. I want to tell him in person, but if it doesn't come to that, then I'll have to settle for the phone."

Laura and Hallie talked for another hour before they hung up. Laura sat back on her chair and watched the boats sailing by in the water as she thought of what she would say when she called. She finally grabbed the phone and started to dial JC's number.

"Hello?" a female voice answered.

"Hey. Is JC home?"

"No. May I take a message?"

"It's Laura, Rach."

"Oh...Hi. What do you need?"

"I needed to speak with JC about something."

"Well he's not here. I'll tell him you called though."

Laura tried to say thanks, but Rachel had already hung up the phone. Almost the same thing happened for nearly 2 more weeks. Laura would call and leave a message on the machine or with Laticia. She even sent him a letter asking that he contact her. It was sent back "Return To Sender."

"Did you try calling Justin to get in touch with him?" Hallie asked.

"No. I don't want him involved...And I don't want you telling Joey either." Laura demanded.

"You don't have to tell him anything...Just that you need to talk to JC." She suggested.

"Well obviously he has gotten my messages and my letters. He just doesn't care. Asking Justin would only make me look like more of an idiot than I already am...Plus I just want to keep this between JC and I. I don't want Justin being my messenger to get in touch with him. If I can't on my own, then I will just take as he doesn't want to speak to me."

Hallie kept brainstorming, "What about his cell phone? Did you try that one?"

"It's been disconnected."

"Well, what if I could get you the number."

"If it has to do with you asking one of four people, the answer is absolutely not." Laura knew her friend had the best of intentions, but she wanted to do this on her own for once. "Look, Hallie, I know you mean well and all, but I just need to deal with this in my own way. If he doesn't want to deal with me, then he won't have to."

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

"God, I love you." Rachel whispered as she kissed the side of JC's neck. He smiled at her and went back to reading his book.

"Did you want to have a small engagement party back at your old house in Philly while we are there?"

"Well I was thinking about it, but we don't have to. I can just invite everyone down when you're up to entertaining people."

"I don't mind...We can have two if you would like. A small one in you home town and then a bigger one back at the house with all our friends and family."

"That sounds nice too." she smiled deeply gazing down at the large diamond ring on her left ring finger.

When they reached the Philadelphia airport, Rachel used JC's cell phone to call her brother to get a ride to the house. As they waited in a nearby lounge JC found himself sitting at the bar watching Entertainment Tonight, while Rachel went to the ladies room.

"Well it seems that Christina Aguilera is going to be in for an incredible ride when her new album titled, Stripped, is released. One song in particular is receiving rave reviews from critics. It seems that working with the talented of Laura Charles is going to pay off yet again. Maria Menounos has our story..."

JC asked the bartender to turn the volume up just a tad so he could hear.

"The song is entitled 'Fighter' and it is set to be the women's anthem of the year as far as critics are concerned. Christina has teamed up once again with the talented, not to mention sexy songwriter and producer, Laura Charles."

JC smiled when he recognized the clips of Laura when she did the Pussycat Dolls show at the fundraiser. Christina then appeared on the screen sitting in a chair across from the camera's and spoke. "Well I actually had talked to her one day about wanting to do an empowering song, but when she came back with this...I was just floored. I almost didn't want to record it. Laura took me into the studio to check it out, and I was like 'wow' when she started belting it out. She has the whole package."

JC could hear the Maria Menounos' voice again talking about Laura. "Yes, not only is she absolutely cute as a button, can she write the most amazing songs, play the most soulful music you have ever heard, but she can also sing like an angel...So why doesn't this musician, songwriter and producer want to try her hand at performing?

"To tell you the truth, I've never really thought about it till recently. Writing and playing is what I've loved to do ever since I was a little girl....."

Rachel came out of the bathroom and slid onto the barstool next to JC. She noticed his gaze was pointed at the television. When she looked up to see what he was so interested in, she immediately recognized Laura's face. She called over to the bartender for a drink. JC looked over and saw her smiling at him. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. "What are they talking about?" she asked as she nodded towards the television.

"Nothing really. Just that song that we heard them playing in the studio a while back." he answered nonchalantly.

"Oh."

JC could feel the atmosphere beginning to become tense and he didn't want to ruin their time together. "I'm going to run and see what the gift shop has. I wanted to get Nikky a little something before we went back home."

"Something more besides the whole two big boxes of toys we had to ship out when we were in Hawaii these last few days?"

"Yeah." he cut back. They both laughed lightly before JC headed out of the lounge.

Rachel sat there and finished watching the segment.

".....To know that the words I write down on a piece of paper could help someone going through a bad time in their life, make her day a little brighter, or give him a reason to keep pushing on, or even be the cause of why a couple conceives their first baby...That's what I want to be remembered for...My words..my melodies. Not because that guy thought I was hot to look at onstage." she joked.

The scene changed back at the ET studios and Rachel looked at the large tv screen behind Maria Menounos of Laura hiding from the cameras and running into her hotel. "And speaking of babies...Rumor has it that Ms. Charles may be having a baby of her own soon enough. Insiders say they have noticed that Ms. Charles seems to have all the signs of a soon to be mother. Morning sickness, weight gain, and many say that they have noticed a small bulging out in her stomach. Every time we caught up with Ms. Charles she was running inside or wearing baggy clothing where no one could really tell for sure. Could this rumor be true? We'll be working on that story on more in the coming weeks."

"So that's why you keep calling..." Rachel mumbled to herself as she looked at Laura's photo on the tv screen.