JC laid in bed before immediately getting up the next day. He thought about how much his life had changed in just two months. Had someone told him six months ago he'd have a girlfriend on the other side of the country, much less become more or less a surrogate father, he would have told them they were crazy. None of this had been expected. He hadn't even liked coffee all that much before meeting James. But she could make simple things, like coffee, into something wonderful. She was wonderful. All of it was. He looked over at the empty spot next to him in bed. James had left for work earlier and he'd felt her lips against his before she went out the door, but had rolled over and gone back to sleep. Being with her in every way was like nothing he'd experienced before. She wasn't just in it for a good time or to be pleased. She loved him and with every kiss and every touch, he knew it had never felt like this with anyone else.  He'd told his mother on the phone the night before that he'd met the one and his mother had been overjoyed. He'd hesitated about mentioning Sutton, but when he said that his new girlfriend also had a five-year-old, it was as if the news was the icing on the cake. JC had thought about the process of adopting her. Obviously, he couldn't do it until he and James were married, but why not at least look into his options now?  He would talk to Lane about it soon. Having a lawyer around was good but having one that practically was family was even better. And then there was the matter of looking for a house before all of that. It excited him to think about sharing a home with James and Sutton that was all their own. He finally decided he was letting his brain go into overload and thought it best to go downstairs.

He looked at the clock and wondered if Chad and Sutton were yet awake, but figured since it was nearing 9:00, they were in their morning routine of cereal and the Disney Channel. He rolled out of bed and went downstairs finding Sutton on the couch in her pajamas glued to the television and Chad walking out of the kitchen with two bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios. When he plopped down next to Sutton, she grinned at him and crawled in his lap as Chad placed the bowl of cereal in her little hands. 

"Don't spill," Chad said as he went over to the love seat and sat.

"I won't," Sutton replied, snuggling into JC and loudly slurping up her cereal. 

Chad looked at the scene across from him and smiled to himself as JC made sure Sutton didn't get cereal and milk all over the couch. He would have never in a million years before guessed that his cousin and his best friend would end up like they were. If he had, he would've saved James the heartache of being with Clay. Then again, without Clay, there wouldn't have been Sutton and Chad, like James and now JC, couldn't imagine life without that little girl in it. His heart ached a little inside to think that in a few months, they'd all be living in another house, but he shook that feeling from him quickly. He'd known that James couldn't stay here with him forever and that eventually she would have to move on. But he'd gotten so used to having her and Sutton around that he knew coming home to an empty house was going to be hard those first few weeks. Of course there was Lane and they'd both discussed moving in together, but Lane also enjoyed his bungalow down the road and as much as he loved Chad, Chad knew Lane liked his privacy. 

"Deep in thought over there?" JC broke Chad's thought process.

"Huh? Yeah, sorry. Just in a daze," Chad took a bite of his cereal and leaned against the couch. "Sorry. How was the conversation with Aunt Karen last night?"

"Who's Aunt Karen?" Sutton wanted to know, looking up at JC.

"My mom. She's coming to visit in a few weeks and you get to meet her," JC smiled down at Sutton, then looked over at Chad. "It was good. She was excited to hear about everything going on. Meeting James and Sutton." He squeezed Sutton and kissed the top of her head. "I told her you had found someone you really liked and she was excited for you."

Chad snorted and shook his head, "Wish she could pass that onto my father." Chad's father had still not met Lane and it didn't look like it was going to happen anytime in the near future.

"He'll come around," JC tried to be assuring to his cousin, but he had often wondered how his own father, Roy, could be so accepting and different from Chad's father, even though they were blood brothers. He gently took Sutton off his lap and stood. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast myself. Sutton, wanna go see Mommy in a little while?"

"Yay!" came Sutton's wholehearted reply, as she forgot about the cereal bowl she was holding and milk went flying everywhere. 

"And this is why I have a leather couch," Chad chuckled, standing to go clean up the mess.

"This is the most boring town in the world!" Kaylie was whining later that day, as she and James were restocking coffee in the front of the shop.  

"Why do you say that?" James smiled knowingly at her, as she placed the last of a Brewster's Blend package on the top shelf. She came down the step ladder and began to fold it up and went to place it in the supply closet by the bathroom. 

"There is nothing to do. Seriously, James, nothing!" Kaylie sighed. "You can only hang out in the Walmart parking lot so much every night after work. And I'm not allowed to drive to Savannah or Jacksonville by myself and Madison's mom won't let her do that either. What did you do when you were a teenager here?"

James thought back nearly seventeen years ago and wanted to tell Kaylie that if she thought it was bad now, she should consider herself lucky that she wasn't a teenager back when James was. The town had boasted Morrie's, a Walmart, and a Lowe's. Most of her high school peers had thrown party after party, but James hadn't been into partying until college and so she'd opted for hanging out at Chad's, thinking of new campaign strategies for running on Student Council every year.

"Not much, I guess," James answered. "They have that new movie theater near Walmart. What about movies?"

"They show five movies and none of them look good," Kaylie told her. "My dad keeps saying he'll take us to Jekyll Island but that hasn't happened yet."

"And there's a few concerts in Jacksonville but they're all so expensive," Madison piped up. "And then there's the Fourth of July parade but after that there's just nothing to do."

"You could always go to a Big'un Lester concert at Ruby's," James teased them and they both rolled their eyes and laughed at her suggestion.

"He thinks he's so talented. I bet if he was in a real talent show like American Idol he'd get the hint!" Kaylie walked back around to the counter where Madison was and they both began to discuss what they were going to do that night since all of their friends had decided Walmart was the place to be.

James suddenly began to think. There were several small town events throughout the summer, but most pertained to families with small children or the senior citizens of the town. The Ballet School offered Dance Camp in July but that was only for elementary kids and younger. She wondered what she could offer with Brewster's. It was a popular hangout with the teenagers in the afternoon and sometimes the evening, but it needed more than that. She didn't want her place to be a teenage-only sort of hangout, but certainly she could provide an event that would give Kaylie and Madison and Hunter and their friends something to do. And then it hit her. She could have JC judge a real talent show!

"Girls, what if Brewster's hosted a Talent Show in a few weeks? And Josh judged it?" James looked at them, awaiting their response. Kaylie immediately grabbed Madison's arm and squealed.

"OMG! JC Chasez would judge?! I couldn't do anything because I'd definitely throw up from nerves!" she responded.

"Kaylie, it's Josh," Madison rolled her eyes. "We know him now. He's cool. I'd be all for it, James," Madison told her and then looked down at her pocked, pulling out her phone. She smiled coyly and James figured it was probably Hunter, who apparently had wasted no time in asking Madison out on a date. 

"I'll talk to him when I get home," James said, as she picked up an empty coffee mug from one of the tables. "He's been looking for something to do lately. I bet this will get him excited."

"Or you could talk to him now," Madison spoke up. James looked over to see the door opening and JC and Sutton walking inside. Sutton immediately bounded over to her mother and JC followed behind her. James picked up her daughter and hugged her tightly.

"I love it when you two surprise me," she looked at JC, who quickly kissed her lips, hoping not to draw attention from a gawking Kaylie, who still was clearly star struck. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something-"

"Josh!" Kaylie suddenly interrupted, "Josh, James wants to tell you something so awesome!" She was immediately shushed by Madison. "What? It's not like he's not gonna know in a few minutes anyway!" Madison rolled her eyes for the upteenth time that day at her friend.

Josh looked down at James and raised an eyebrow, "What's up?"

"Well," James cleared her throat and put Sutton down. "I was thinking about putting on a coffee house type of a talent show this summer. And you'd be the judge. We'd come up with prizes and all of that, but I wanted to ask you first what you thought about it. It would give you something to do and it would also give these kids around here something to do instead of hanging out at Walmart all the time."

JC looked over at Kaylie and Madison, who were both trying not to stare. Naturally, Madison was doing a better job of it than Kaylie, whose eyes were glued to JC, waiting for his response. He looked back at James. "That sounds awesome," he grinned at her and heard a small shriek of glee come from behind the counter and knew who it belonged to without having to turn around again. "I'd be all for it, baby."

"I wanna do a talent show!" Sutton spoke up. "What do I do in it?" 

James and JC had to stifle a laugh and then JC answered, "You could dance, baby girl. You could all show us how well you do ballet!"

"Or we could get the whole ballet school to put on something. Kind of like entertainment in the middle of the show," James suggested, "Of course, we'd need a bigger venue than here. If we even have that many people sign up for it."

"Are you kidding?" Kaylie came from behind the counter and considered herself a part of this conversation now. "When people see that JC Chasez is judging, you might get responses from all over Georgia!"

"Thanks, Kaylie, but I think we'll just keep it contained for residents of Grayson this year," James told her. 

"We can start making flyers tonight," JC said. "Pick a date and get these two-" he gestured towards Madison and Kaylie, "-to get the world out to their friends." He looked over at that minute to see Kaylie with her phone out typing furiously and knew she was sending a mass text to the entire high school. "That is if her phone doesn't blow up first," he muttered to James and they shared a laugh together.

He looked at her seriously and gently pulled her towards him. "Thanks, baby. I know you want me to be busy and enjoy myself. And trust me, I'm enjoying myself, but having something on the side like this is going to be great. Who knows, it could turn into an annual thing."

"Maybe," James shrugged, wondering if it would even be a hit with the residents of Grayson at all.

Lane had come over for dinner as usual that evening and while James and Sutton were upstairs, JC mentioned his thoughts on adopting Sutton to both him and Chad. "So is it easy?" he asked Lane, as the three men sat around the back porch drinking beer. "I mean, obviously, it would be a while because we haven't talked marriage or at least I haven't talked about it to her, but I know I want Sutton to have my last name and be her father."

"You have to get her biological father's consent," Lane replied. "If he's still alive and you are able to contact him, he has to sign papers stating he's giving over his legal rights."

"What if he's a douche bag and disappeared and doesn't give a damn?" Chad spoke up, "Because when he found out she was pregnant, I don't think it was pretty."

Lane cleared his throat, "Well, you at least need to try and see if you can find him. If he's deceased or even imprisoned it might be easier. But if he's alive and well, he needs to know. If he's as terrible as you say, it probably won't be a big deal."

Chad turned to JC, "You're going to have to tell James. Because if you're serious about all this, you're going to have to start the process of finding out where the asswipe went. An early grave would be great." Chad was not hiding at all the fact that he loathed Clay. "Also, if you find him, you'd better go with James when she meets him. I don't trust him not to try and manipulate something with her." He finished off his beer and then spoke again, "But really, Josh, you probably should wait until y'all get finished putting together this talent show. Your brains don't need to be preoccupied with legal shit-no offense, honey-and you haven't even talked to her about marriage and you know how she is about all that. One day at a time with her."

"Yeah, I know," JC played with the beer bottle opener next to him. In his mind, he had pictured telling James he wanted to marry her in some sort of romantic setting. In his mind, she'd been ecstatic and told him she'd thought about the same thing. In reality, he knew that Chad was right. It had to be one thing and one day at a time with her, until he could convince her otherwise that he was the real deal.