"Baby," he whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed and shaking her shoulder gently. "Lizzie, wake up."

She groaned softly.

JC chuckled. "Baby, I got to go."

She turned over slowly to lay on her back and opened her eyes halfway to look at him.

He smiled at her. "Baby, I got to go, alright?"

She frowned, sitting up slowly. "What time is it?"

JC looked down at his digital watch. "Almost 4AM."

"I thought you weren't supposed to leave until 8,"

"I messed up the schedule a little. Turns out we're supposed to be in New York by 8,"

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I wish you would have woken me up and told me earlier instead of waking me up the minute you're about to leave."

"You were already when I found out," he pressed his lips to her forehead. "Sorry about that."

"I'm gonna miss you..."

"Just a few more weeks promoting the single and then I'll be home for a coupla days when we drop the record. But I'm going to miss you too baby. I wish I could bring you with me every single time but you know how crazy it is out there with us and you've got work and a whole wedding to plan," he winked at her.

She smiled at the last part of the sentence and nodded. "I know."

"So we're both going to be busy for a while."

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Call me if you can when you get to New York, okay? Just so I can know you're alright."

"I will," JC promised. "Don't forget to call Emma and tell her to pick you up here before work in the morning alright? And don't for get to-"

"-Close all the windows, turn off the lights, activate the security cameras outside, lock the gate and keep all the doors closed when I leave. I got it."

"I love you," he grinned, pressing his lips to hers.

"Love you too,"

He looked down at his phone in his left hand that was now vibrating and lighting up. Liz could read the name ‘Johnny W' appear across the small screen.

"Okay, I really got to go now. Johnny's outside with the car."

"Where're your bags?"

"Downstairs."

"Okay," she sighed. "I'll see you soon?"

"5 weeks," he smiled at her, leaning over her to kiss her on the lips. "I stored the date on your phone. Go back to sleep."

"Good luck with the single babe,"

"Thanks," he said, walking over to the door. "Bye bye bye," he grinned.

She giggled. "Bye Josh,"

He blew her a kiss and she caught it, holding the hand to her heart as she watched him leave the room. She sighed.

"I hate this part," she mumbled, falling back onto the bed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

4 weeks later

"You know," Emma started, scrolling through a web page on her computer. "This song came out only a week ago and it's already hit 200 different radio stations worldwide."

Liz grinned, turning in her chair to face her friend. "Impressive. You know all the words to it, don't you?"

"It's catchy! Baby, bye bye bye," Emma sang.

Liz laughed. "If you like that, then you better pick up their album when it drops in a few weeks."

"Have you heard it yet?"

"I heard a couple beats and Josh was talking to me about their song titles but I haven't heard the full album yet. They're pretty nervous about it."

"Nervous about what? The album release?"

Liz shrugged. "Kind of, yea. After that whole lawsuit, they're worried about whether or not people are still interested enough to actually go out and buy the record."

"What's their aim for the album sales?"

"I think they're hoping to get a million sold within the first week or the first couple weeks. We'll see how that goes."

"In that case, I will be sure to pick my copy. Do you know how weird it is to be looking at this stuff online and seeing Josh's face, knowing he's your fiancé? It's incredible."

"It's a little strange but I think I've gotten used to it. I'm just happy he's this successful in what he's doing."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yea, yea, yea. He's a celebrity now."

"He's just Josh..."

"You talked to him lately? He's been gone for a while now."

Liz leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Actually, the last time I talked to him was four days ago on Saturday morning. We didn't get a lot of time to talk though. His schedule's too crazy."

"What about the wedding?"

"I'm working on that," Liz giggled.

"I am so coming with you when you go dress shopping."

"Don't worry, you are. Maybe we can drag Justin or Chris along just for the heck of it."

"The two of them would wreak havoc in the store. Can you picture it? Justin and Chris sitting fidgety in firm cushioned chairs sipping on tea or something in somewhere completely quiet... Just watching you try on dresses patiently."

Li giggled at the though. "They'd probably go crazy in there. Would be funny if we got them to try on some dresses though."

"Have you started thinking about your honeymoon yet?"

"Maybe," she blushed.

"When you get back, you better give me all the details."

"Of my honeymoon?"

"Heck yea. It's JC Chasez you're going to be having sex with. I need to know what he's like in the sac!"

"You're disgusting," she laughed.

Emma grinned. "Don't pretend that you've never imagined how long his thing is."

"I don't have to imagine," Liz mumbled.

"Wait, what?!"

"Moving ON from this subject, we haven't even decided where we want to go yet so all of this is just my imagination taking its toll. Actually, we haven't decided anything regarding the wedding yet."

"Nothing?"

"We've brought it up a few times but we haven't had time to sit together and actually plan anything."

"Are you okay with that?" Emma asked.

Liz shrugged. "He'll be back late Friday night going into Saturday morning so he told me to set up any plans that I wanted to get done so that we could spend the day checking out the different venues we're considering and then we're going to pass by and check out some florists and then Josh says he knows a couple caterers that we can hire. There's so much freakin' stuff for me to do."

"You gotta set a damn date before you book anything else."

"I know, it's just getting time to do it all. You're helping but I just want him back home already. Just so that he can help me out with all this and missing him while he's away isn't helping my focus. Especially when I'm hearing his voice all over the radio and seeing his face all over MTV."

"I'm sure he misses you just as much Lizzie. But, I hope you know you have to get used to this, if you haven't already."

"I sound pathetic don't I?"

Emma laughed. "That's what you get for falling in love with a popstar."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Friday evening

"Are you sure you don't want to come out and have some fun with me tonight?" Emma offered, folding her arms across her chest and standing at the foot of Liz's bed. "You aren't a married old lady yet."

Liz giggled, shaking her head. She was in bed, propped up against the headboard with her laptop on her lap. "I'm fine here, go have fun."

"What're you even planning to do here by yourself?"

"Wait for my MIA fiancé to call me back," she sighed, picking up her phone to check the screen and resting it back down beside her. "For now I'm looking up places online for open areas here in Orlando that are big enough to hold at least two hundred and fifty guests. I tried calling Josh earlier but all my calls kept going to voicemail. He's supposed to fly in around three AM but he hasn't gotten back to me for the past few days."

"You know, I'd help you with the planning but I do this all day, six days out of the week so I'm happy for the free time I get when we're home. You're focusing on this thing 24/7. I don't know how you're maintaining your sanity."

Liz shrugged.

"Say what, when I get home, if I'm sober enough, I'll help you out with some of the stuff you want to get done. We can put together a portfolio or something of the little details you want to include."

"That'd be nice Em," Liz smiled at her friend. "Thanks."

Emma nodded. "You sure he's going to call?"

"I hope he does. He's the only reason I've been staying excited over all the planning. Just knowing that in a few hours he'll be here and we can start doing this together, that's what keeps me going. If he didn't make me feel the way I do, then I wouldn't have gone out and booked a full Saturday of stuff for us to do."

"Well in that case, I hope you guys have a great day. You need me to drive you over to his house or anything when his flight gets in?"

"No, I think he's picking me up either on his way home from the airport or tomorrow morning. One of the two."

"Alright, well, call me if you need anything. I might get some food after dancing so if you're craving anything, message me okay?"

"Yea, okay. Go have fun. I'll see you later. Don't forget to lock the front door on your way out."

"Have a good night Lizzie," Emma called out to her on her way out the bedroom.

"Yea, see ya," she replied, then sighed. "It'd be a good night if he'd just call me back already."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

1:13 AM

The vibrations rippling through the mattress was enough to wake her out of the sleep she had drifted off into an hour earlier. With the laptop still on, resting beside her and the lights off, Liz opened her eyes wide enough to look around for her phone under the sheets.

She winced, the bright light basically blinding her as she held up the cell.

A text from Josh.

She brushed some of the hair from out of her face and read the message.

Hey babe. I know you're probably expecting me to come home later today. Turns out, the single's doing well for us to take a break now. I won't be back for a while longer. I'm not sure. I'm sorry I can't come home. The plans changed. You know how it is. You understand right? I miss you and I love you. Have a good day.

She frowned, sitting up and rereading the message. She immediately came out of her inbox and speed dialed #2.

"Hello?" he answered with a sigh.

"Josh?" she asked, frowning.

"Liz?"

"Yea, hey, it's me."

She could practically hear him smile through the phone.

"Hey, baby, it's great to finally hear your voice after these last few days."

"Yea, you too. You haven't been picking up my calls."

"Ah, I know, I know. I just don't get the time to pick up the phone and talk to you when I'm out here. I'm doing something 99% of the time and the other 1% is split between trying to get some sleep and trying to remember what city we're in. It's wild out here."

"Where are you?"

"Tennessee, I think. In some hotel. We spent all day doing interviews, a meet and greet an we sang Bye Bye Bye six times for six different small, fan events we went to. We're loving the response though."

"I bet you are," she murmured.

"Did you get my message?" he asked, but Liz had to take a moment to understand what he was saying because he yawned while speaking.

"Yea, I did. Why didn't you call instead?"

"I figured you'd be asleep by now."

"I was trying to wait up for your call to say you were back in Orlando."

"Oh, sorry about that, but the guys and I didn't think it was smart to just disappear back home when things have been going so well here."

"So, you voluntarily made the decision to be on the road longer than you initially planned to?"

"Well, yea. It would have been stupid to leave, don't you think?"

"You think texting your fiancé at after one o'clock in the morning to say that you made a last minute decision to not come home without considering that she had a full day of business planned for the both of you?"

"The wedding plans?"

"Yes, Josh, the wedding plans."

"Sorry babe, I guess I forgot about that. But we can do that some other time, can't we? Or you can do the stuff with Emma or something and fill me in."

"Whatever Jace," she mumbled. "I just thought that maybe we could just do-"

She was cut short when she heard yelling in the background. "Yo, Jace, get out here man!"

"Gimme a sec!" she heard JC yell back.

"Man, Johnny wants us to-"

"I'm coming, hold on!"

He resumed his conversation with Liz. He spoke hurriedly. "Babe, I got to go alright? I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay, but Josh, I-" She was once again cut off mid-sentence, this reason being the ending of their call. She sighed and looked down at the phone. "I miss you..."