Los Angeles : 12:30 AM Monday - After NSA Release Party

"Where're you going?" Liz frowned as she tied her white robe together. She walked into the bedroom of their hotel room for the night only to find JC putting on his shirt and heading for the door. "I thought you wanted to take a shower."

JC smiled. "I know, but Johnny wants me and the guys to meet him in his room."

"Wait, it's after midnight so-"

"-He probably has the first day sales by now," JC finished for her with a sigh. "I think that's what he wants to talk to us about. It can't be anything else."

She nodded in understanding and walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Are you nervous?"

"Little bit," JC admitted.

"Wanna tell me why?"

"The way people responded to Bye Bye Bye was great but how many people actually took time out of their day to go out and give the album a chance is a different story. I don't want something that we spent the last year working on to be a flop."

"Regardless of how many people got the album and enjoyed it, you guys know that you worked hard and you did an amazing job no matter what. If people can't see that, then screw them."

"You do realize that if that is the case, and if the album is a flop, we're basically out of a job."

"You're not going to be out of a job Joshua," Liz rolled her eyes.

"If it wasn't for the lawsuit and all that, people wouldn't have-"

"Trust your fans," Liz told him firmly. "It's going to be okay. If the sales are a little under what you guys expected then that's okay too. Just give it a little time."

"Okay," JC sighed. "You're right... Kind of."

"I am... And Emma got almost everyone she knows back in Orlando to buy the album so *NSYNC already has a solid amount of sales just in that little circle."

JC laughed. "Well, that's good to know. I'll be back in a few minutes baby."

"It'll be okay."

"Yea, I know. Promise me one more thing though."

"What's that?"

"Don't start that shower without me," he mumbled into her ear. He let one arm travel down her back and squeezed her ass through the robe. "I'm gonna finish what we started before we left earlier."

She grinned, a chill running up and down her spine at the feel of JC's hot breath and low voice. "I'll be waiting."

*~*

45 minutes later

"I could have taken a shower and a nap before he'd get back," Liz muttered to herself.

She was still in her robe and she sat at the table in their hotel room building a tower of cards. She had spent the past almost half hour trying to keep each card balanced on the other while the first ten minutes was spent randomly walking around and waiting for JC to come back to their room.

She knew he was with his manager so she didn't find it appropriate to call him or to go check on him. Instead, she'd wait it out and entertain herself. She wasn't supposed to start her shower alone. Therefore, she wasn't ‘allowed' to entertain herself in the mood she was in so she was reduced to playing with a set of cards.

"Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall," she murmured to herself as she carefully and lightly placed the final card at the very top of the tower. "Victory!" she grinned when the card balanced.

She took a few moments to enjoy her moment before she heard the door open and close quietly. Liz turned around in her chair just in time to see a quiet and slightly pinked faced JC walk in with one hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"You finally came back," she smiled, getting up and walking over to him.

"Mm?" He looked up at her and smiled. "Oh, yea. Hey."

"Is everything okay? What'd Johnny say? Did he have the numbers? I was going to call but I didn't want to interrupt anything."

"Yea, we were just talking, really. About the album and what not..."

"You look like you've been crying," Liz pointed out, looking at his eyes.

JC chuckled, shaking his head and wiping his eyes. "I wasn't crying."

"Liar."

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"I had a tear in my eye. I didn't cry."

"Then tell me why you had a tear in your eye," Liz urged. "How were things?"

"It uh... exceeded our expectations, that's for sure."

"So it did good?" she grinned, getting excited.

"Really good."

"How good?"

"One million."

"Is that the prediction? One million by the end of the week or-"

JC laughed, shaking his head at her. "No, Lizzie. We sold one million. In one day."

Liz raised her eyebrows and gripped his arms. "What'd you mean one million in one day?"

"I mean that No Strings Attached just sold one million albums in its first day of release. Lizzie we sold one million albums in one day! Can you believe that?!"

"No, I can't!" she laughed, throwing her arms around him and letting him lift her off the floor. JC held her up against him and she rested her arms on his shoulders.

He grinned and she returned the smile with a long, deep kiss.

"A million in a day is phenomenal Josh!" she whispered to him excitedly. "That's amazing! How'd you feel right now?"

"I feel like I can't breathe," he chuckled. "When Johnny told us the numbers, I just couldn't believe it. None of us could. It wasn't what we expected at all."

"I am so proud of you guys!" She kissed him again. "I'm proud of you. I told you that you could trust your fans. They love you guys and look what happened. I think you just made history."

"I don't even think I can go to sleep now."

"Who said we were going to be spending the night sleeping in the first place? We still have a shower to take."

"Am I getting lucky tonight?"

Liz giggled. "You've gotten lucky every night for the past week."

"What about tonight?"

"I think luck's been on your good side tonight."

"Is that so?"

"Yea, it has. I'm proud of you. I think you deserve a little reward."

"Mhmmm." JC adjusted his arms and hiked her up a little more and started walking toward the bathroom.

"I wanna make you feel good tonight," Liz whispered into his ear. "Especially tonight. It's well earned."

"Yea? How're you planning to do that?" he smirked.

"Get this robe off of me and you'll find out."

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

2 and a half months later - New York City : Challenge For The Children Game

"Lizzie!" JC called out, quickly walking into the hotel room with his duffel bag on his shoulder. "Babe, we gotta go!"

He saw no sign of her in the bedroom and he sighed, impatient. JC was about to call out her name again before he heard a tap running. Speed walking toward the bathroom, he pushed the door open without knocking.

"Babe, we have to - You're not even dressed yet?!" JC stared at her, still wrapped in her towel but she wasn't completely naked underneath since JC could see her black bra straps. "The game starts in less than an hour and a half! Liz, we got to go!"

"I know, I know," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead. "I heard you. Just gimme a minute."

"What's taking you so long anyways? Just put on your jeans and your Knights t shirt. You can finish do your make up when we get there. Everything else we need is downstairs in the bus."

"Look, I'm not feeling too good, okay? If you're just going to stand there and hurry me up, then just go downstairs and tell everyone I'll be there in five minutes."

"Fine. But only five minutes. We're behind schedule."

"Okay," she mumbled.

JC was about to leave the bathroom and let her change but when he realized that her both arms just rested far apart on the sink and she didn't move, he walked further in and put a hand on her back.

"Hey," he started. "Are you okay?"

 "I just told you that I wasn't feeling well. What more of an answer do you need?"

"What's going on then? I know you woke up a little nauseous but I thought eating breakfast helped."

"Breakfast just ended up in that toilet in liquid form," she muttered, reaching for the bottle of mouthwash.

"Food poisoning from that sea food dinner last night?" JC suggested.

She shrugged.

JC raised his eyebrows. "What? You think it's something else?"

Liz sighed and shook her head. "N-No, no, I think it's just some bug I caught."

"Well you've had that bug since we got here a few days ago. Want me to tell Johnny to send a doctor over when we get there?"

"No, I'll just... Shake it off." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'll be downstairs in a couple minutes."

"That's my girl," JC grinned, kissing her forehead. "You'll be fine, don't worry. Just shake it off."

"Okay."

JC left the bathroom, but Liz could hear voices that were just outside.

"Is she okay?"

"Oh, yea, she's fine," she heard JC say. "Just running a little late. Try to get her to hurry up if you can."

A few moments later, Liz heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called out weakly, already feeling the nausea taking its second toll for the morning.

"Hey hun," Lynn said brightly, opening the door and peering in. She was dressed in her blue Daze jersey and her curly, dirty blonde hair was tied back in a bun. "I was doing a headcount downstairs and I was missing you and JC."

"Yea, I know, I'm sorry. I just woke up a little under the weather this morning. I'll be right there."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yea, I'm alright," she mumbled.

Lynn scanned Liz's pale face and wasn't convinced.

"What's wrong?"

Liz shook her head. "Nothing. I just... Stomach problems."

"Have you been throwing up?"

"Just a couple times."

"Since you woke up?"

She nodded.

Lynn walked up closer to her and placed one hand on her abdomen and another on her back. "Are you feeling like yourself?"

"I feel like I want to throw up and crawl back into my bed with a bucket nearby."

"How long have you been sick like this?"

"A few days now, I guess."

Before Lynn could ask another question, she watched as Liz immediately pulled away and turned around. She fell to her knees and had her hands on either side of the toilet with her head almost all the way inside.

Snapping into ‘mother mode', Lynn immediately held her hair back with one hand and rubbed Liz's back with the other as she started throwing up.

"Shit," Liz muttered, her head still sort of hanging inside. She waited a few seconds to see if anything else would come up before she pulled back slowly and kneeled on the tiles. "I really don't like this."

"Just take a second to compose yourself hun," Lynn told her gently. "Hold on."

She got up and reached for a hand towel from the counter next to the sink and filled a glass with water.

"Just take a sip," Lynn directed, handing Liz the glass. She accepted with a shaky hand and nodded.

"I'm making the guys so late."

"I'll take care of that in a minute. First, I need to take care of you."

Liz looked at the woman who had become almost like a second mother to her while *NSYNC was on the road for the past couple months. "Don't say it," she said softly.

"I'm a mom Lizzie. You're not my daughter but my maternal instincts are telling me something that I think you already know."

"I know."

The room was silent for a few seconds before Lynn spoke up. "JC doesn't have a clue, does he?"

Liz shook her head. "No," she said softly. "I haven't told him anything."

"How long have you known about this?"

"I took six tests yesterday. They all came back positive."

Lynn smiled. "So I'm right."

"I-I think so."

"Here, lemme help you up."

Liz held on to Lynn's hands as the older woman slowly helped her to her feet.

Once she was balanced, Lynn smiled and hugged her. Liz hugged back, burying her face in Lynn's neck.

"Congratulations sweetheart."

Liz shook her head.

"What?"

Liz lifted her head and Lynn noticed tears in her eyes.

"I wanna be happy but with everything going on with *NSYNC, I can't help but feel mad at myself for not being more careful. Their schedules are so jammed and then having something like this happen? Josh is going to hate me for doing this to him!"

"You husband is not going to hate you for this," Lynn told her firmly. "You're not doing anything to him. This is a blessing for the both of you!"

Liz shook her head. "I-It happened so soon.  I mean, we're just enjoying being married and we're practically still in our honeymoon phase. I didn't plan to just skip to the part where we'd start a family so quickly. Right now, me being on the road off of work and Jace working and we're both travelling together... We were just enjoying it being the two of us. We weren't planning on anything like this to happen."

"Sometimes, things just happen. Have you been using protection?"

"Birth control was our only protection," Liz muttered. "I'm thinking that I missed a few days when we were flying around from place to place and I just, forgot sometimes."

"You are going to have to tell him what's going on with you. Sit him down as soon as you can and tell him."

"I don't want to. Not now."

"And why is that?"

"He isn't ready for news like this. *NSYNC started touring only a month ago and if I give him this news now, he's going to flustered and he's going to be distracted. He's been working hard, all of the guys have been, but I can't give him this kind of news. This weekend is Challenge for The Children and then Monday night they're filming the HBO Special. He's having so much fun but then I know he's stressed with everything being so jammed and when there're so many things on his schedule. Lynn, I can't just spring this on him when he's already got so much on his plate."

"Yes, you can. You know why? Because you're his wife and this is something that the two of you did together. JC is a big boy. I've known him a long time and I know that he can take care of things, even if it does take him a little bit of time to get used to it. You need to tell him as soon as possible. Do it tonight, after the game or after the party. Don't wait for someone to notice that you've been acting strange and then tell JC before you get a chance to."

"But if I tell him I'm pregnant then-"

"Then he will be ecstatic. A little shocked at first but once he gets over that, he's going to be so excited."

"You think?"

"Yes!" Lynn insisted. "Hunny, this is fantastic news for you both. You're both still a little young and yea, you are still in your honeymoon phase but you're both at the prime of your lives right now. Your priorities are just going to have to be adjusted a little."

"I hate birth control," Liz mumbled, slowly stepping toward the sink and opening the tap. She looked down at the small, open case that held her birth control pills and sighed. "99% effective my ass."

She washed off her hands and closed the tap. She picked up the small, plastic case and turned to look at Lynn. "I don't want Josh to find out yet."

"Lizzie, you're going to have to tell him soon."

"Soon, yes. But soon doesn't mean now."

"He has to know."

"And he will," Liz nodded. "Just... Not at this second and you can't tell him or anyone else either! He doesn't need to find out that there's a baby-"

"Where's there a baby?" a confused voice sounded from the doorway.

Liz and Lynn both spun around to see who had suddenly talked only to come face to face with Justin, who was walking further into the bathroom.

He frowned. "And why does it smell like throw up in here?"

"U-Uh," Liz stuttered. Obviously a little stunned from Justin's sudden appearance and invasion on her ‘private' conversation, her already cold and fidgety hands dropped the birth control pills onto the floor when her eyes met Justin's.

"Damn it," she mumbled, stooping down slowly to pick up the pills that had scattered. It wasn't until that her face suddenly paled and she dropped the medication she had already picked up in her hand that Justin knew something was wrong.  

"Lynn," Liz murmured, resting completely on her knees and putting a hand over her mouth.

Snapping back into her mom mode from before, Lynn grabbed the waste basket that was next to the sink and quickly handed it to Liz, who almost immediately started throwing up into it.

"Shit," Justin commented, looking away. "How did you get so-" He stopped mid sentence when the math started making sense in his head. His jaw dropped open when he looked at the pills on the floor and then to Liz who was hunched over, vomiting into the waste basket and being tended to by his mother.

"Mom," Justin started. "What's going on?"

Lynn looked at Liz who was just lifting her head weakly out of the throw up bucket and using the back of her hand to wipe the side of her mouth and then looked back at Justin.

She gave her son a small smile and nodded.

They blue eyed teenager's eyes bulged out and he took a second before breaking out into a grin. "Lizzie! You! You're the one having a baby? Seriously?!"

Liz's only response was a soft groan.

"She has morning sickness Justin," Lynn informed her son, rubbing Liz's back soothingly. "And quiet down a little."

"Don't tell Jace," Liz pleaded, looking at Justin weakly. "Just... You can't tell him."

"He doesn't know?!"

"No, he doesn't." Lynn gave him a stern look. "And you are not going to tell him either. This is something for him to find out through his wife and not his best friend."

"So he has no either that you're this ‘sick' right now?"

Liz shook her head.

"I swear, JC lives on another planet sometimes."

"J, if you tell him, I swear to God I will cut your balls off and put them in a blender."

"Damn, the hormones are already starting to act up!" Justin looked at his mother. "Do you see how I'm being threatened?!"

"This is not your situation so if you do tell JC this news, I give her full permission to cut your balls off."

"I'm not going to tell him, gosh."

"Thank you," Liz sighed.

"I'm going to be an uncle!" Justin grinned, but his face quickly turned serious. "Oh my God, that means you and JC are going to be parents."

"Lynn, c-can you help me get dressed for the game now? Josh is probably throwing a fit downstairs because I'm making you guys so late."

"Are you sure you're even up to going to the game?" Justin asked uncertainly. "You look pretty bad."

"I think Josh really wants me there and I don't want to let him down. I should be there to support him."

"Are you sure?" Lynn asked.

Liz nodded. "Yea, I'll be okay...  Just make sure I have some kind of paper bag with me or make sure there's a bathroom nearby in case I need to throw up again."

"Justin, go downstairs and tell JC and Johnny that you guys can go ahead. I'll take one of the other cars with Liz and we'll be there in about a half an hour."

"What am I supposed to say to them about you guys taking another car?"

"Just say that Lizzie wasn't feeling good and wanted to rest a little before she left. We'll get there eventually."

"Fine," he sighed, turning around to leave. "I'll see you guys there."

"Justin, wait!" Liz started, calling out and looking at him.

"What?"

"Promise me you won't mention any of this to JC. Promise me you're not going to tell him anything. Please?"

"I promise I won't tell," Justin nodded.

"Thank you."

*~*~*~*~*~

20 minutes into the game

"Where'd she go now?" JC asked, breathing heavily as he opened his Gatorade bottle. He stood beside Justin and Chris who were using hand towels to get some sweat off of their necks and foreheads. "I just saw her sitting with Lynn a couple minutes ago!"

"I don't know dude," Chris shrugged, turning his head to look back at the court where Joey and Lance were still playing.

"J?"

Justin looked up. "What?"

"Did you see her go anywhere? She was with your mom."

"I don't know where she is. She probably went to get something to drink or whatever."

JC sighed, searching the crowds of cheering people in the stands and then back to the court. He took a sip of the beverage before closing the bottle and resting it on his seat.

"Time to get back out there," he told Justin and Chris who just took their seats on the courtside bench.

JC ran back onto the court, more screams from the audience sounding. Chris turned to Justin who was intently watching the game.

"Where do you think she is?"

"Who?" Justin asked, not moving his eyes' focus.

"Lizzie and your mom. This is like, the second time for the game that they've disappeared for no reason. I think it's starting to worry JC."

"I'm sure they're fine, Chris. They're around here somewhere. JC can go look for her later."

"And your mom."

"What?"

"Your mom is over there," Chris pointed over to the end of the bench, near the exit. He could see Lynn trying to get their attention by waving. "She's trying to talk to you."

Justin turned to look at where Chris was pointing and raised his eyebrows at his mom. "What?" he mouthed.

"Come here!" she mouthed back, using her index finger to make a ‘Come' motion.

Justin rolled his eyes, looking at the game then back to his mother.

Lynn glared at her son and put her hands on her hips. The look she gave Justin was enough to get him to sigh and get up from where he was sitting next to Chris and run over to where she was.

"What'd you want?!" Justin asked, exasperated, when Lynn had leaded them away from the exit and a little distance away from where the game was taking place.

"Watch your tone," Lynn responded. "I needed to tell you that I'm leaving with Lizzie to go back to the hotel."

"You're leaving? What for?"

"She really isn't feeling too good and she can't stay in this kind of environment. It's too loud and she needs to throw up every now and then so I'm taking her back to the hotel."

"She's that bad?"

Lynn shrugged. "She's in the bathroom. Morning sickness taking its toll is all. She'll be alright."

"What am I supposed to tell JC? He's been asking about where she was."

"She's with me, she's sick, and she went back to the hotel. Don't make it complicated."

"What about the after party? Are you still coming to that?"

"Yea, if I get her taken care of and see how she's doing, I'll make it to the after party. She, however, should just spend the rest of the day trying to relax. This has been a good few weeks of hectic travelling and her condition now and that upset stomach, I think she should take it easy before we fly out to New York tomorrow night."

"Fine," Justin sighed. "I'll tell JC to call her when he gets off the court. I'll see you later."

"I'll call you after the game sweetie," Lynn kissed her son on the cheek. "Good luck."

Justin watched as she turned and disappeared around a corner before he looked to return to the court. Upon turning around, he almost collided with Chris, whose arms were folded and looked suspicious.

"What the- Dude!"

"Liz has morning sickness?"

"Have you been standing here all this time?"

"I wasn't out of ear shot if that's what you're asking."

"It wasn't but why aren't you out there?"

"I wanted to see if you were in trouble from your mommy."

"Well I'm not!" Justin sighed. "How much did you hear and what do you know?"

"I know Liz has morning sickness and Lynn is taking her back to the hotel. Other than that, there isn't much more that I need to know, is there?"

"Well... Not exactly."

"I can't believe she's pregnant and she and JC only told you! What happened to the rest of us!?"

"Actually," Justin rocked back and forth slowly on his heels. "JC doesn't exactly know about this."

Chris raised his eyebrows. "He doesn't?"

"She didn't tell him. Hell, my mom knew and the only way I found out was when I walked in on her throwing up in the bathroom."

"Damn..." Chris shook his head. "A baby? JC and Lizzie? Really?"

"I know right!"

"Does Emma know?"

"I'm not sure. Probably..."

"And JC really doesn't know?

"And it's going to stay that way until he hears it himself. So you better not open your mouth in front of him Kirkpatrick!"

"Chill out Timbershit. I'm not going to tell him."

Justin shook his head as he punched Chris on the arm and walked back to where the game was playing.

Chris stood there for a moment to absorb the new information and thought silently to himself. "I won't tell... JC."

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

"Yell-o?" Lance answered his cell phone. He leaned back on the leather seats in the limo beside Joey who had his eyes closed and his arms folded on his chest.

"Finally! One of you guys picked up your freakin' phones!"

"Well nice to hear from you too Emma."

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Hey, Lance."

"What's up with you? Sounding feisty..."

Joey's eyes opened when he heard the word ‘feisty' and Lance rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Is JC or Liz with you? Is Chris there?"

"Nah, we're on our way back to the hotel before the CFTC after party. JC and Chris are in the other limo but Liz is at the hotel. She wasn't feeling too good so she left early. Why? What's the problem?"

"Ugh! I am going to kill you guys! Specifically Liz! Just because I'm not there, does that mean I'm always the last one to find things like this out?!"

Lance frowned, sitting up in his seat. "What're you even talking about?"

"You know, I'm actually considering flying out there tomorrow just so I can be mad at you guys in person! I mean, you-"

"What's going on?" Joey whispered, hearing Emma's loud voice through the speakers of Lance's phone.

"I have no idea," Lance whispered back.

"Put it on speaker."

Lance clicked the ‘On Speaker' button and Joey interrupted Emma's rant.

"Woman! Calm down! What're you so worked up for? What'd we do?"

"Is that Joey?" she asked.

"Yea," Lance replied. "You're on speaker. Now, what's up with you?"

"I can't believe none of you guys told me Lizzie found out she was pregnant and I'm the last one to know! Do I mean nothing to you people? God!"

Lance and Joey exchanged confused and shocked looks before replying.

"Emma, we have no idea what you're even talking about," Joey said. "What'd you mean Lizzie's pregnant? She's just a little sick. That's doesn't mean she's pregnant!"

"Chris texted me saying that Liz had morning sickness today and asked me if I knew about it which I obviously didn't because none of you guys told me!"

"But we don't know anything about any of that!" Lance said, a headache quickly developing. "And how the hell would Chris know about any of this?"

"And why wouldn't JC tell us?!" Joey added in. "We're their closest friends!"

"Emma, are you sure the text said Lizzie has morning sickness? Our Lizzie?"

Emma nodded to herself. "Yes, our Lizzie. I only know one Lizzie! I just assumed you knew did seeing that Chris knew about it."

"I wonder if Justin knows..." Joey thought aloud.

"I don't know if he does. And you're sure neither of you knew about this?" Emma asked cautiously.

"We really didn't," Lance assured her. "But we do now... And this is... Big."

*~*~*~*~

"How'd the game go?" Liz asked softly , sitting up in the bed when JC bounced into the room.

He was moving quickly around the room, dropping his duffel bag on the floor, grabbing his towel and trying to locate his clothes for the party all at the same time. JC didn't even hear her the first time she called out to him.

"Jace?" she called out, this time a little louder.

JC's head snapped up and he looked at her on the bed. He grinned, walking over to her quickly and taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Hey!" he kissed her forehead. "I didn't realize you were awake. How're you feeling?"

"My stomach's still a little queasy," she sighed. "Sorry I left. I couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to throw up every two seconds."

"That's okay. The Knights won though. I wish you had been there to see it."

"Well congratulations. I'm sorry I missed it."

"You gonna come to the after party? You already missed the game."

"Actually baby, I don't think I'm up for that either. If I go, I'm probably going to need to carry around a bucket or a pillow to rest my head on or something. And then there's going to be alcohol and a lot of food that's probably gonna make me sick and it won't be any fun for me."

"You're going t stay here by yourself? Even Lynn is going!"

"Go have fun. I'm cool here. I'll read a book or google ways on how to settle an unsettled stomach or something like that."

JC looked at her hesitantly before sighing in defeat and got up from the bed. "Alright, well, we leave in fifteen minutes. I'm going to take a quick shower."

Liz nodded as JC disappeared into the bathroom and it wasn't long before she head the shower start running.

She turned on her side to face the open door of the bathroom and started thinking to herself. Was now the right time to tell him? He knew she was sick. He knew she didn't want to be around alcohol or a lot of food that would make her nauseous. She had fifteen minutes of alone time with him before he left...

Maybe she should strike up a conversation that would-

"Hey, Jace?" she yelled, her heart rate speeding up slightly. She smiled to herself as she moved her own hand under her shirt and gently over her stomach. She wasn't showing yet but she could feel a small bump.

"What?" he yelled back.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"What about?"

Liz got up and slowly moved toward the bathroom and entered. She went to stand by the sink and folded her arms, leaning back. She could see his naked body faintly through the foggy, glass shower door.

"I uh... I wanted to get your opinions on some things... You know, about CFTC."

"You didn't miss much. It was an amazing first time but you'll see it again next year."

"I know but, I wanted to talk to you about the people there."

"What're you getting to Liz?" JC asked.

"Well, were there a lot of kids there?"

"Yea, I guess. More families than anything though. It varied from little kids to grown adults."

"Okay, well, that family part. Did you talk to any of them?"

"I signed a few autographs and took some pictures but yea, I talked to a lot of ‘em. Especially the kids with special needs that came out. They and their parents were amazing."

"Good to know... Were there any babies?"

"Babies? A few, yea."

"Did you hold any of them?"

"Uh, no... I smiled and made funny faces for a couple of them with the families we met but I didn't hold any."

"Oh, well, what about-"

She saw the shower had turned off and JC opened the door halfway and reached out his arm to grab his towel that hung from the door. He wrapped it around himself and stepped out of the shower.

"Babe, I know you want to talk but it doesn't sound like you're going anywhere with this. I really need to get dressed, okay? I don't want to be late meeting the guys downstairs like I did this morning. If you want to talk, can we do it later when I come back?"

Liz looked at him, a little surprised but JC just took another towel and dried his hair with it, not exactly looking at her.

"If you want, come help me get something to wear to this thing. We can talk later."

Liz swallowed the slight ball of hurt that had formed in her throat and lifted her head and forced a smile. "Okay..."

JC looked at her and smiled. "Cool."

He left the room and Liz just stood there, instantly regretting trying to even start off telling him. It seemed like bad timing at its finest. 

Liz sighed, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear and walking out to where JC was throwing random shirts onto the bed.

She'd listen to her instincts and tell him another time. For now, she'd stay put and let him go for that night. She'd tell him on her own timing and he'd have some fun. After all... The only people that knew were herself, Justin and Lynn.

Right?...