Cody and Cindy sat quietly next to each other on the lime green cushioned seats at a small table for two inside of the Frozen Yogurt store. The sibling pair watched in innocent confusion as the two adults in charge of them argued out of ear shot outside of the glass doors.

They sat with their small hands in their laps, not even paying the slightest attention to the cup of coconut yogurt behind them. "I need to talk to JC. Stay here, don't move, order whatever you want," were the exact instructions Katrina had given them just a couple minutes earlier.

Though, the kids seemed more intent on finding out what was causing the veins in their aunt's neck to look more prominent that usual as shoppers passed by, giving JC a strange look.

"Aunt Kat looks mad, Cindy," the ever so observant seven year old told his sister. Katrina, however, didn't seem intent on making eye contact or acknowledging anyone else around her besides the almost red faced man in front of her.

"Kat, calm down, would you?" JC hissed at her, covering his eyes with his sunglasses. "People are beginning to stare!"

"How could you do that to me?" Katrina drilled, her voice almost high. "Why would you do that to me?"

"I thought I was doing you a favour," JC tried to explain, and Katrina scoffed.

"JC," she began, her anger abruptly turning into a short, red, frustrated laugh. She shook her head at him in disbelief, her frown quickly reappearing. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about this. You invaded my privacy!"

JC folded his arms. "Look, I only deleted it because I thought I'd be helping you out with all the shit you had on your plate this week. You told me you didn't even plan on seeing the guy anyways."

"You made me think he wasn't interested when in fact, he really did call me," Katrina frowned. "You were in my house and tampered with a voicemail that had absolutely nothing to do with you, Jace. Even with your busy schedule, the dumb blondes you've fucked and the flat chest brunettes you've dated, I've never even done anything close to this to you."

"Can we please, please, please talk about this in the car, Katrina?" JC asked lowly, taking her by the arm as casually as possible. The very last thing he needed right now is for some journalist to walk by and sell a story to a magazine with the headline, ‘JC Chasez Gets Called out by Mystery Woman While on a Date at The Grove.'

Katrina, on the other hand, whose green eyes blared into JC's black, Aviator sunglasses, pulled away from him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it mattered!" He cried out, exasperated. "But you found out, you saw the guy, and you got your date. We don't have to talk about it anymore."

"Why are you avoiding the fact that you did something wrong here?"

JC opened his mouth to say something but she continued.

"We're like best friends. I can't believe you lied to me like this."

"I didn't lie to you," he muttered. "I don't lie to you."

"You hid this from me. You almost jeopardized my chance for a date with someone new and you thought you were doing me a favour?" She gave him a face of disbelief. "Are you fucking me right now?"

"Can we seriously get out of here and talk about this at home like adults?" JC asked her firmly. "You're blowing this out of proportion, Kat, Jesus. You got the guy either way."

"I'm leaving, Jace," Katrina told him, turning away. She peered through the glass to see Cody and Cindy still staring at them, unaware of what was going on. She signalled to them and the curious youngsters immediately hopped off their seats.

"Finally," JC sighed. "We can talk in car."

"No," Katrina said, looking directly at him. "I'm not getting in that car with you."

JC opened his mouth, a bit taken aback, but he had to bite his tongue.

"Are we leaving now, Aunt Kat?" Cindy asked.

"Yea, hun, we're leaving in a bit," Katrina told her, lifting her and balancing her on her hip. Cody stayed close to her side, not saying anything, but simply absorbing the tenseness of the atmosphere around him.

"I kinda have to take you home, Katrina," JC said, forcing a smile that Katrina's half stolid- half scowl expression toward him contrasted.

How could he smile when, for the first time, he'd made her this upset?

"I'm calling a cab," she murmured, pulling her cell phone out of her back pocket with her free hand. "Go ahead. I'll get home eventually."

"Think about Cody and Cindy, Kat," JC urged her. "Let me take you home."

If looks could kill, JC would have probably buried in the Earth, but he stood his ground. Unsurprisingly, so did Katrina.

"Go, JC," she told him, seriously. "Go."

"Don't do this."

"I'm not doing anything," she told him, casually. She began to dial a number. "I didn't do anything. And I don't want to talk about anything either."

"Please just let me take you guys home," JC asked quietly, almost in a way to silently tell her that he wanted some more time to explain, but she wasn't having it.

"Why can't we go home with JC?" Cindy asked, innocently.

Everyone looked at Katrina who was about to click the green button on her phone to begin the call.

"JC didn't realize he had a lot of work to do this afternoon, so he needs to get to his studio,"- was her excuse.

There were a few moments of silence before JC gave into Katrina's ‘Leave. Now' stares.

"Well, um, since you're calling a cab, I guess I'll just, uh... Go," he nodded.

"Are you gonna come see us before we leave tomorrow, JC?" Cody asked, staring up at the older man.

"I'll try, man. Okay?" He leaned in to give Cindy a kiss on her cheek.

JC looked at Katrina, whose eyes were everywhere besides him.

"I'll see you soon, sweetie."

***

For the past four hours, Katrina found herself staring at a mix of multicoloured clothes unfolded in a hamper, the bald newscaster on her television, and the small screen of her Blackberry. She sat cross legged on her dark blue carpeted living room floor, her eyes fixated but her thoughts drifting.

She fumbled with the white sock in her hand as she heard for the nineteenth time the crashing of Jenga blocks followed by an eruption of giggles come from her guest room. At least childhood innocence was good for something.

Glancing over to her suddenly lit up phone, she rolled her eyes as yet another text message came through. All fifteen of them varied among ‘Can we talk now?', ‘KAT', ‘Did you get home okay?', ‘Call me back', and her personal favourite, ‘KATRINA PICK UP YOUR DAMN PHONE.'

Of course, she replied to none of the above, no matter how tempted she was to call him back and ‘cuss his ass out. She'd secured her date for Monday night, but that didn't relieve her anger over what he had done in the first place without telling her.

A ringtone besides Macarena burst through her phone, and Katrina was happy to answer.

"Hey, Sean," she smiled, throwing the sock into the overflowing hamper and muting the bald guy reporting the effects of climate change.

"Hey, Kat," a high, eager voice came over the other line. "It's both of us. How are you guys?" she asked anxiously.

Katrina chuckled at the tone of her sister in law. "Everything's fine with Cody and Cindy, Lindsay, don't worry. Everything's great. I miss you guys."

"We miss you too, sis," her brother told her. "Are the kids around?"

"They're playing with blocks in their room while I get their clothes sorted out to pack for tomorrow."

"Is JC there?" Lindsay asked her with a tease in her voice, and Katrina could her Sean groan in the background. Lindsay quickly shushed him with a, ‘Sh, I wanna hear this.'

"He's not here," Katrina sighed.

"Thank God," Sean said. "He's probably off gallivanting around town with an entourage of slutty women anyways."

"When you get a voice like his then you can start bashing him, kay?" his wife remarked, and Katrina couldn't help but smile at the short banter.

"Look, guys, I'm tired," she said truthfully. "Do you want me to get Cody and Cindy or not?"

"We'll be at your place to pick them up around five thirty tomorrow," Sean informed his sister. "Our plane gets in at four."

"Let's get back to hot stuff," Lindsay began. "Where is he tonight?"

"I don't know, Linds," Katrina murmured. "Home, I guess."

Just then, a beep came through her phone. A text message- ‘SmartieKat' was all it said from him.

Lindsay spoke again. "Will he be there when we come over tomorrow?"

"Nope."

"Why notttt?"

"Why do you wanna see JC so much?" Sean asked, slightly annoyed, partially curious.

"He's hot," his wife whispered back. "And Kat gets to have sex with him."

"Can I go now, guys?"

"Yes," Sean answered, but Lindsay quickly added in a, "No!"

"Aren't you concerned about the men in your sister's life?" she asked.

Katrina rolled her eyes, once and for all ready to get back to the boring four hours she had spent without any mentioning of JC that didn't include the voices in her head.

"I'll tell the kids you called, I need to go make dinner, I'll see you two tomorrow, go have your own sex."

Leaving her brother and sister in law in the middle of their own chat, Katrina hung up just in time to see another text come through.

There was only so much JC conversation she could take while she was in the state that she was in. She didn't need to be reminded of him any more than he already was in her life and in her head, and apparently, in her phone.

Can I come over?

She thought for a minute before sighing and texting back for the first and final time.

I seriously don't want to see you.

***

"JC?" the blonde haired man in the khakis stood over his brother lying on the black leather couch. "Dude!" he kicked the side of the couch.

JC's eyes popped open, startled and a tad frightened from the sudden face staring down at him.

"Tyler, fuck," he groaned, closing his eyes and attempting to roll over on his side, but he almost rolled over the edge. "Where am I?" JC asked, becoming more awake.

"Your couch."

"Shit," JC murmured, sitting up.

"What'd you do last night?"

"Nothing."

Tyler laughed. "Yea, right."

"Seriously, Ty."

"So how'd you end up on the couch?" his brother questioned.

"I think I was waiting for Kat to call me back."

Tyler took a seat on the edge of JC's coffee table, taking a sip of the Starbucks coffee in hand. "What for?"

"No reason," JC replied, shaking his head. He checked the screen of his phone only to be greeted by the one line she had messaged back. He threw the phone to the side and leaned back, rubbing his forehead.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing, Tyler."

"So why do you look like Kat ran you over with a bus or something?"

"She's mad at me," JC explained. "I was hoping she'd talk to me last night but no luck."

"What'd you do? Did you get back together with Chelsea or something?"

"'Course not," JC snorted. "We're broken up for good."

"So what's the deal with you and Kat?" Tyler asked. "I'm just gonna assume that you did something wrong."

"Why me?" JC frowned, obviously offended. "I'm your brother."

"Exactly, so I've known you long enough to know you get yourself into stupid shit with girls. And, well, Kat's awesome."

"A new guy she met left a voicemail for her at her apartment and I deleted it when I heard it," JC mumbled as he got up. "She found out yesterday when she saw the guy again."

Tyler couldn't help but chuckle as he took another swallow of his drink. "You're so stupid, JC."

"Well, fuck you too, bro."

"You know you're in the wrong here, doing something like that to her, so I don't feel the need to point out how much of a jackass you already know you are."

JC eyed him. "Why are you even in my house this early?"

Tyler gave him his You-Have-Got-To-Be-Kidding look. "It's two thirty in the afternoon. Plus, I figured I may as well come see what you were doing for the day but it doesn't look like anything eventful."

"I think I'll just go over to her apartment and see if she'll let me see Cody and Cindy before they leave."

"Friends of you guys?"

JC chuckled, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it off. "Nah, her niece and nephew that I hung out with all week. They're sweet little kids."

"That's what you've been doing?"

"Pretty much," JC nodded. "They're leaving tonight, I think. I should probably stop by and get Katrina to hear me out."

"That doesn't sound like a good idea, man," Tyler told his brother. "I know you probably wanna say goodbye to those kids or whatever, but face it, Kat's gonna not going to let you stick around. Have you apologized to her?"

"Not exactly," JC muttered. "Look, I deleted the message with her interest at heart, okay? Honestly, I thought she had too much stuff to do than focus on dating."

"Or maybe you just started to enjoy the company of people besides your submissive ex girlfriend that you got defensive when it seemed like someone was about to take away some more of her time that would have been spent with you."

JC stared at his brother who had a slight smirk on his rosy face. "Don't go all ‘psychologist' on me, Ty. Keep that for your clients."

"I'm just saying that, one, you were stupid for doing what you did; Two, that you need to apologize to her before saying anything else to her, and three..." Tyler thought for a second as his older brother stared at him expectantly. "Well, I don't know what number three could be besides the fact that you're a jack."

"Do I go over to her place or not?"

"Message her and see if she wants you over there."

"I asked her last night," JC sighed. "She said she doesn't want to see me. She said she seriously doesn't want to see me."

"Then leave her alone, JC. You messed up. Now it's her turn to block you out."

****

"Are you okay, Aunt Kat?" Cody asked his aunt with a smile. He took a seat next to her on the couch were she was stuffing the final pieces of fresh laundry into each of the two knapsacks in front of her feet.  "You look like Cindy when mom doesn't let her play with her make up."

Katrina laughed whole heartedly as she zipped the blue knapsack and leaned back to sink into the cushions behind her. "I had a great time with you guys this week, you know that?"

"I did too."

Katrina smiled, softly sighing afterward. "I guess I'm just really going to miss you guys."

The seven year old leaned over and pecked a kiss on his aunt's cheek. "We'll miss you too. You let us have chocolate chip cookies at midnight."

Katrina gave her nephew a playful warning look. "Those are our little secrets from this trip, got it?"

The young boy nodded with a grin, high fiving his aunt.

"Good," she said.

Katrina's focus shifted over to the door way where her niece walked into the living room. Her small hands cradled the relaxed kitten and her ponytails that were tied on each side of her head and complimented with pink ribbon hung glumly over her shoulders when her head bowed.

"What's wrong, Cin?"Katrina asked, concerned.

"I don't wanna leave Kitty," the young girl sniffled, moving to stand in front of her brother who was trying to hide his laughter.

"Aw, Pixel's gonna be okay," Katrina comforted her. "I'll bet he's gonna miss you but I'll take care of him."

"At least you still have JC here, Aunt Kat," Cody pointed out optimistically. He grinned brightly. "And JC's a lot of fun, so you won't miss us too much."

"Where's JC?" Cindy asked.

"He's working, still," Katrina lied. "He got really busy."

Cody frowned. "Well, can you tell him that he should visit us? And that if we come back to visit soon, that I wanna play new piano songs for him?"

Katrina nodded with a smile, running her hand over the top of the child's brown haired head down to the back of his neck. "I'll tell him if I can."

There were a few more minutes of light conversation and giggles before a buzzer sounded through the apartment. The digital clock on her wrist read 5:44PM. She almost got a little sadder than she already was when the four eyes in front of her suddenly lit up.

"Mom and dad are here!" Cody cheered, scrambling off the couch, and his sister immediately followed as they both ran off to answer the door.

Following the energy bunnies to the entrance, the two adults in under the frame were immediately tackled when Katrina unlocked the door.

Excited and much anticipated kisses and hugs were exchanged before Cindy was scooped up by the slender, toned woman in the navy blue blazer and skinny jeans and Cody was lifted into the air by the dark, brown haired man in the white shirt and dress shoes.

Katrina simply leaned against the wall and grinned at the reunion before her. There was that childhood innocence thing again. She couldn't remember the last time she'd ever gotten that excited over seeing someone, ever.

"Kat!" the woman cried out, happily, entering the apartment and enveloping her sister in law in a one armed hug with her daughter still on her hip. "Are you okay?"

"Great," Katrina smiled, inhaling the combination of TRESemmé shampoo and Chanel perfume. "How was the rest of the convention?"

"Memorable," her brother answered, kissing her cheek after he set Cody back down. "It finished earlier than we expected so we got a little extra time in the hotel room before leaving to catch our flight."

The sparkle of shame in his eye was R rated, and Katrina simply chuckled.

"Did you guys have a good time?" Lindsay asked, looking down at her son as her daughter rested her head on her mother's shoulder. "Was it fun staying with Aunt Kat for a week?"

"It was awesome!" Cody beamed, and the adults smiled.

"We should bring you guys back here whenever we leave for business, then," Sean suggested, and Katrina nodded.

"We really did have a wonderful time, the three of us."

"And JC," Cindy reminded her aunt.

"And, well, yea, and JC."

"Is he here?" Lindsay mouthed.

And Katrina shook her head. Almost as if he had read his mother's lips, Cody spoke up.

"Too bad he had to work," he pouted.

"Do you guys have your stuff ready?" Sean asked, checking his own watch. "Grandma wants us to stop by her place on the ride home so we got to get going."

"I'll be back," Cody nodded, scampering off to collect his belongings. Cindy wasn't far behind, this giving the older ones a brief chance at conversation.

"I'm really gonna miss those kids, guys," Katrina sighed. "I didn't realize how much closer I'd get to ‘em over a span of just a week."

"Thank you for being so great with them while we were gone," her brother told her. "At least we know we can count on you. Mom's getting older, you see..."

"I know."

"Thank JC for entertaining them for us too, alright?" Lindsay told her. "And if you want to give him the number to the house to call the kids, then please do."

Her husband rolled his green eyes. "I hate how much of fan she is of his sometimes."

"I doubt I'll even get around to giving him the number in the first place so you don't have to worry about that, Sean," Katrina assured him with a smile. "I'm kinda, just... Avoiding dealing with him right now."

"Why?" her sister in law frowned, and Katrina shrugged it off.

"He just does things that get to me sometimes and this one thing he did I just... I don't know. Didn't want to deal with."

"You're always with him, though.  Everyone knows that. You won't stay away from him for long."

"For as long as possible, is what I'm hoping. I've got other things on my mind, anyways."

"The less you see that guy, the better," Sean agreed. "I support this."

"You don't count, babe," Lindsay said. "Non JC fans don't count."

"I met someone new, though," Katrina informed them with a smile. "Worthy enough to go on a date with, even."

"Really?" Lindsay asked, her brown eyes brightening. "That's great! Who is he?"

"He's a vet," Katrina said proudly, and Sean smiled. "He's the head doctor over at the Aquarium."

"Good for you, sis," he nodded, approvingly. "That's great. Now, he sounds stable."

"JC's stable too, remember that," his wife reminded him. "But about your date, that's great! When is it?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Does JC know about it?"

"Yea," she mumbled. "But I'm not thinking about him this week."

*****

Her first night in over a week had been a success. No late night calls, no sudden text messages, no banging on her door, and no one to tend to besides herself when she woke up. She had spoken to her niece and nephew the night before a while before heading to bed and laying out her outfit for the occasion that would supposedly lift her spirits from everything at 7:30PM sharp.

 Ironically enough, a day that had started off in the brightest light spiralled downhill from the minute she stepped into her store to the minute she got in her car and left the restaurant that Monday evening.

 It was only the beginning of the week, but if there was ever a time in history where she felt like she'd just been hit by a bus transporting five hundred tonnes of cement, it would be now. If there was ever a time where she felt like twenty little kids with baseball bats had each taken a swing at her like she was a birthday piñata, it would be now.

And despite the fifteen hour shifts she occasionally took up, and the fact that she preferably would have loved coming home to an empty, cold, and dark apartment where she could lounge around as she pleased, Katrina couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips when she opened the door to her apartment that night.

Securing the latch behind her, she dropped her leather clutch onto the built in corridor table and hung her keys onto the wall. Pulling her hair out from the high, slicked back pony tail it had been in for the past two hours, a small percent of her headache of the night eased.

Of course she wouldn't blame the short and tight, dark, green, low cut dress she had on that made her body ache, or the five inch, open toe heels that she just wanted to fling out the window and replace with her soft, rabbit bedroom slippers.

She also had a feeling the pint of chocolate chip ice cream that was stocked in her fridge would come out to play as soon as she peeled the clothes off her body.

"Pix?" she called out weakly, flipping on the light to her living room, but there was no sign of the small animal. Entering her kitchen, her gaze dropped down to the side of the fridge where the kitten took her time, slurping the milk from her bowl.

Stooping down as best as she could in the clothes she wore, Katrina let her hair fall past her face as she stroked the kitten's back. "Hey, girl. Who left this for you?"

Her attention then slowly shifted over to the person sitting at the kitchen table that she hadn't even noticed up until just now.

JC sat, leaning forward with his elbows rested on his knees.

He'd been sitting there for a cool twenty five minutes, his eyes examining every inch of the room and every speck of the tile as though he's never seen any of it before, simply trying to prepare sentences that would make sense when she eventually confronted him.

"Hey," was all he said.

Katrina stroked Pixel's fur one final time before attempting to stand and either not rip the back of her dress or lose the balance in her shoes.

"Hi."

JC quickly got up, suddenly losing his train of thought but quickly finding his words. "You look... great. You look really, really great."

Katrina simply continued to stare at him tiredly.

JC stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his black jeans. "How are you?"

"What'd you want, JC?" she asked him softly, shaking her head. "I told you I didn't want to see you."

"I know, but I hadn't seen you since Saturday. I know it's a bad idea coming over here but-"

"What'd you want, JC?" Katrina asked, yet again.

He shrugged, bringing one hand up to rub the back of his neck. "I guess I just wanted to talk to you tonight."

"You know I had my date tonight."

He nodded, looking down at his white sneakers. "I know." He lifted his head shortly after and nodded toward her. "You do look great, though. I'll bet Ethan was happy with that. How'd it go?"

"He stood me up."