"They can't be that bad, Claire." Emily insisted with a chuckle.

            "Yes they can.  They're hideous!" Claire replied as she held the phone to her ear and grimaced at her reflection in the mirror, inspecting the mess of brackets and wires that had been attached to her teeth this morning.  "This is horrible!  We're starting high school next week and I've got a mouth full of metal!  The only thing I can say is: good thing pictures were taken last week when we were registering."

            "Come on!" Emily replied, sighing at her friend's dramatics.  "It's not that bad.  If you don't make a big deal out of it...it won't be a big deal.  Trust me." Emily told her.  "I betcha nobody's even going to notice."

            "We'll see." Claire said, flopping back onto her bed.  She was convinced her life was over and nobody was going to persuade her otherwise.  Fourteen was a critical age and starting high school with a mouth full of metal wasn't going to help her social life any.

            "Claire?" Rachel asked, knocking on the door to her bedroom.

            "Yeah, Mom?"  She asked as Rachel opened her door.  "Hold on, Em." She said, putting the phone against her chest.

            "You ready to go?" Rachel asked.

            "Yeah." Claire replied, getting up from the bed.  "Hey, Em, I gotta go."

            "Dance?" Emily asked.

            "Always." Claire replied.  "We're getting ready for the competition next month."

            "'Kay.  Call me later." Emily replied.

            "I will.  Bye." Claire hung up the phone and grabbed her dance bag from the floor by the closet and followed her mother downstairs.  Rachel walked around JC-who was sitting at the counter looking over the contracts he'd just had drawn up for a new artist he was signing to his label-trailing her hand across his back.  She leaned down and kissed him as she grabbed her purse and keys from the counter.

            "We'll be back." She told him.  "I'll pick something up for dinner on the way home." 

            "Okay." He replied, looking up at her.  "Where's Kyle?" He asked.

            "He's over at Mike's house." Rachel told him, drawing her hair up and securing it in a ponytail holder.  "He knows to be home by six." 

            "Hey." He said swiveling around on the stool he was sitting on as Claire walked past him. "Hold on.  Open up." He requested, putting his hands on her shoulders.  "Let's see ‘em."

            "No.  They're hideous." Claire responded with a pout.

            "I'm paying good money for these things." He informed her.  "I think I'm entitled to see what exactly it is I'm paying for."

            "Dad!" Claire grumbled with a condescending roll of her eyes.

            "Open up."  He said.  Claire sighed heavily then glared at him as she opened her mouth and showed him the braces.  "Ooh, you're right." He grimaced.  "They are hideous."

            "Joshua!" Rachel exclaimed in shock as Claire pulled back and stormed out of the kitchen.  "That was good." Rachel told him as she put her hands on her hips.  "Real smooth."

            "What?" He asked, putting his hands up as he stepped towards her.

            "She's very self conscious right now and she doesn't need you," she said, poking her finger into his chest, "Saying things like that right now."

            "Honey, I was kidding." He defended himself.

            "She's fourteen, Jace." Rachel reminded him.  "It doesn't matter if you were kidding.  Do you even remember what it was like to be fourteen?"

            "Of course I do.  Come on." He said.  "Cut me some slack."

            "No." Rachel shook her head.  "You're in trouble, Joshua Scott.  You need to apologize to her."

~*~

            "Hey."

            Claire looked up as Scott walked across her front yard that evening. "Hey." She said.  She'd been sitting with her knees drawn up in front of her as she sat on the porch steps, leaning against the railing.  As he approached her Claire looked down at her hands in her lap.

            "So..." He drawled.

            "So...what?" She asked, still not looking at him.

            "Are they really that bad?" He asked.  "Emily said I should brace myself." He said.

            Claire looked up at him, fighting not to smile at his lame joke, but as she looked into his teasing blue eyes she couldn't help it.  "That was really lame, Scotty." She told him with a chuckle.

            "Yeah, but it made you smile." He replied, nudging her with his shoulder.  "Come on Curlz, it can't be that bad, can it?"

            "Curls?" She asked, looking at him in confusion.  "What in the world?" She laughed.

            "It's your new nickname." He told her.  "I just came up with it."

            "Why?" She asked.

            He shrugged.  "Claire Chasez just sounds so formal.  Not that there's anything wrong with that." He quickly assured her.  "I like your name.  I just...thought you needed something lighter.  I like it.  Curlz."  He said it again then nodded.  "It fits you.  But you have to spell it with a ‘z'." He informed her.

            "You are so weird." She said, shaking her head as she chuckled again.  "This sucks, Scott." She said.

            "What does?" He asked.

            "This." She opened her mouth and showed him her braces.  "Everyone's going to make fun of me next week."

            "No they're not." He replied. "Everybody gets braces."

            "You didn't." She said.

            "Not yet." He replied with a grin.

            "Do you want to know what the worst part is?"

            "What?" He asked.

            "I can't have popcorn or eat caramels." She informed him.  "I'm going to die." She leaned her head down, resting it against her knees.

            "No you're not." He laughed.

            "We'll see." She grumbled.

            "Hey," he nudged her again with his shoulder.

            "What?" She looked at him.

            "What if I promise to take you to the movies and buy you a big bag of caramels and a giant tub of popcorn the day you get those things off?" He asked. 

            "Promise?" She asked, a smile spreading across her face.

            "Promise."  He told her.  "The biggest bag I can find."

            "I'm gonna hold you to that." She pointed a finger at him.  He just smiled.  "So, what's high school like?" She asked him, leaning back on her hands.  He mimicked her, leaning back on his hands as well.

            "What do you want to know?" He asked.

            She looked over at him.  "I have Mueller for English.  How is she?"

            "I don't know." He replied.  "I never had her."  He leaned forward again and hung his arms over his knees.  "The one you have to watch out for is Lincoln.  She's a, uh..." he looked over at her.  "Well, let's just say you won't like her very much."  Claire laughed.  They sat outside talking for the next hour.  Scott kept her laughing and made her forget all about her fears of starting high school.

            "Alright, you two." Rachel said, opening the front door and leaning against the doorframe.  Claire sighed as she looked over at Scott.  "It's getting kind of late and you've got dance practice early in the morning." She said to Claire.

            "Five more minutes?" Claire begged.

            "Claire..."

            "I've gotta go." Scott said standing as Rachel went back inside.  "I'll see you later, Claire." He said, holding his hand out to her and helping her to stand.

            "Alright." She hugged him then walked the few steps to the door.  "Hey, Scott?" She turned back around and called after him.

            "Yeah?" He turned around.

            "Don't forget your promise." She said, smiling.

            "I won't.  Good night, Curlz." He smiled then continued walking across the yard.

            "Night." She called after him with a smile.  She was thankful she had Scott in her life.  He always seemed to know when she needed him and was always able to make her laugh and forget her problems for a little while.

            "Curls?" Rachel questioned as she walked inside and shut the door. 

            Claire shrugged.  "Apparently it's my new nickname." She said as she walked away.  "But it's spelled with a ‘z', not an ‘s'."  She stopped as she walked past the mirror hanging in the entry way.  Standing back and looking at herself she took in her appearance.  She'd been lucky and had gotten the best of both her parents.  Her mother's blonde hair, pert nose and long legs combined with the curls, blue eyes and cheekbones she'd gotten from her father.  She wasn't ashamed to admit she thought she was pretty good looking...until she smiled.  Claire sighed.  Two years.  She reminded herself.  That's what the orthodontist said.  Two years.  That's not so bad.  She tried to reassure herself as she turned and continued walking towards the stairs.

            "Claire?"

            She stopped when she heard her dad call from the front room.  "Yeah?" She said, not moving.  His comment earlier-though she knew he had said it in jest-still stung.  She folded her arms across her chest and waited to see if he would say anything else.  

            "You got a second?" He asked.

            She sighed as she turned and walked back to the front room.  "What?" She asked leaning against the wall, looking at him as he sat on the couch several photo albums spread out around him.

            "Come here." He said with a smile as he patted the couch next to him.

            "Dad, I've got practice early in the morning." She said.

            "I know, but...I want to show you something." He said.  "Come on." He coaxed her with a grin.  "You know you want to."

            With a roll of her eyes she pushed away from the wall and went to sit next to him.  "What?" She asked.

            "I was just thinking." He said, turning a few pages in the album on his lap.  He stopped on one in particular and set the book in her lap.  "If I could go on stage in front of millions of people looking like that every night," he pointed to several pictures that had been taken of him back when he'd been performing in N SYNC.  "Then I know you'll be able to survive having braces."

            Claire couldn't help giggling at the pictures he showed her.  "I can't believe that's you!" She exclaimed.  "And Uncle Justin!" She giggled.  "You guys really wore that?"

            "Unfortunately, yes." He chuckled as he put his arm around her and looked down at the album with her.

            "Why?" She asked, looking up at him.

            "Because we thought it looked cool." He told her and she giggled again.  "Your mom thought I was pretty hot." He said.

            "I don't know why." She teased him and he laughed.

            "I'm sorry." He said, putting his other arm around her.  "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings earlier."

            "I know." She said.

            "I was just trying to lighten the somber mood you were in-make you smile."

            "I know, Dad."

            "Am I forgiven?" He asked.

            "Yeah." She nodded.  "I love you, Dad."  She said, putting her arms around him.

            "I love you too, Claire." He said, kissing the side of her head as he held her tightly.  "Very much."

            JC watched as Claire stood, after a couple more minutes of looking through pictures with him, and left the room.  He hadn't seen some of the pictures in this book in years and looking at them now made him laugh at himself and at how ridiculous he'd been.  "What in the world was I thinking?" He asked out loud.

            "I often asked myself the same question." Rachel said, startling him as she draped her arms around his neck from behind and kissed his cheek.  He chuckled as he placed one of his hands over hers where they rested against his chest.  "Like that one." She said pointing at one picture in particular.  "What the hell?" She asked laughing.

            "It was the fashion back then." He said.

            "Yeah..." Rachel drawled, laughing.  "You just keep telling yourself that." She said, kissing his cheek again. 

            "Let's talk about something else." He said as he shut the book and pushed it off his lap.  He took hold of her hand and drew her around the couch then pulled her down onto his lap.

            "What do you want to talk about?" She asked, cocking her head to the side as she put her arms around his neck.

            "About whether or not I'm still in trouble." He answered, leaning forward as he began kissing up her neck slowly.  "You're not going to make me sleep out here on the couch tonight, are you?" He asked.

            "Hmmm..." She hummed, "I don't know..." She trailed off.

            "I was kind of hoping we could...you know..." His hand slipped beneath her shirt and Rachel giggled as he drew her closer-whispering exactly what he wanted to do to her.

            "Well, in that case." She said placing a warm kiss to his lips.  "Just promise me one thing." She said pulling back and looking at him. 

            "Anything." He said.

            "Promise me you'll think about what you say before you actually say it." She said, running her fingers through his graying hair.  "Claire's very impressionable right now, Joshua-one tiny thing can rock her whole little world.  You have to be careful. You obviously don't know what it's like to be a fourteen year old girl."

            "No, thank heavens." He said with an exaggerated shudder.  Rachel laughed and playfully hit his chest.  "I promise." He said as he leaned forward and kissed her.  "I'll think about what I say before I say it."

            "Thank you."  Rachel said, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him.  She sat there for a moment, just enjoying the feeling of being able to hold him close.  She loved having his strong arms wrapped around her and being able to hear the steady beat of his heart against her ear.  She closed her eyes and listened to that reassuring rhythm for a moment.  "You're a good dad, you know that?"

            "Really?" He asked, pulling back and looking down at her.

            "Really." She said sitting up and looking up at him.  She placed a hand to his face as their eyes met and held on to each other's.   

            "That's funny." He said with a chuckle, his blue eyes searching hers.  "I feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing most of the time." He admitted.

            "You're doing great." She assured him with a smile.  Drawing him down she kissed him, her lips lingering against his for a long moment.  "The kids are lucky to have you as their father and so am I." She told him, kissing him softly once more. 

            "Thanks." He said, tightening his arms around her. 

            "You're welcome."  Rachel said once more settling her head against his chest.  Finding one of his hands she laced her fingers with his as he began rubbing her back with his other hand.  "So, tell me about this new act you're signing."