Author's Chapter Notes:

JC has a little Q&A, and him and Ellie try to do a little wedding planning.

Be good and I'll get you another update soon.

Chapter 14 - Question and Answers.

Friendspace Video Q&A transcript: taken from 'Top 13 Fan Questions'
jcfanganza.fake Dated: July 25th, 2005
[JC sits in front of a desk with a computer and an electronic keyboard. He is wearing a grey v-neck and jeans]

JC: Hey. [waves hand] Um, so some really big stuff has been going down, and you guys have kind of been wanting some clear answers, so I thought it might be a good idea to ask you guys if you had anything you would like to know. Um...[reads sheet of paper] I know I said I was going to answer maybe ten or so questions, but you guys had a lot of questions, man. [laughs] There definitely are some that stick out, some that a lot of you asked. So... [looks back down at paper] I'm probably going to answer around maybe twelve or thirteen.

JC: So question one: AussieJCFan86 asks, 'I saw you in Sydney back in March. I was wondering if there was any fun or memorable experiences you had during your tour earlier this year?' Well, I was dumped over the phone whilst naked in Tokyo. [laughs] Nah, I'm just kidding. I just kind of remember it being really nice, not only getting to see all of you guys but also the weather, really the city in general was really nice.

[JC shifts his weight in the chair, looks back down at paper.]

JC: Question number two: Tally asks, 'Do you still love the smell of freshly washed laundry?' [looks directly into camera with a confused look] Um...Doesn't everyone? [shrugs and laughs.]

Southern female voice offscreen: What?

[JC looks off camera to screen left.] JC: I used to hide in the laundry when I was a kid.

Southern female voice: Stop being so adorable.

JC: No, you stop being so adorable. [Makes the cutest face EVER! Looks back down at paper.] What are we up to?

Southern female voice: Number three.

JC: OK, number three. This one came up a few times, 'Did you have a good 4th of July?' Yeah, I spent it down in Baton Rouge with some friends. Someone I know down there does a big shindig every year and I kind of just ended up there.

Southern female voice: You mean my dad and Grandma Jean?

JC: Yeah.

Southern female voice: OK. [It is revealed that the Southern female voice is a girl named Ellie.]

JC: Ellie here wants you to know that I spent the 4th down South with her family.

Ellie: I don't mean that.

[JC gets out of his seat and pulls Ellie into shot. She is wearing a yellow tank top and denim shorts, hair in a very messy bun.]

JC: Say hi to the audience.

Ellie: [waves] Hi. [immediately walks off camera.]
[JC settles back down into his seat.]

JC: OK, question four: Huskymommy9 asks, 'Do you have any pets?' Ellie has a cat named Linus...I don't really have any of my own though.

JC: Question five is a little more interesting. Latisha412 asks, 'Are you writing anything right now? If so, out of all of the instruments you write on, what instrument are you mostly composing on right now?' Um, I am working on some ideas, but I'm kind of writing more lyrics right now. I mean, now I'm back in L.A., I can lay down more instrumental stuff, but I'm actually coming up with ideas through lyrics and such.

This leads to question six. Trust me, this one came up a lot. 'Do you have any plans to release new music?' Not right now. Maybe in the next year or so, but I haven't got anything ready to put out there yet.

Question seven: I got a lot of questions asking why I left Jive and what my plans are in terms of a recording deal. The truth is that I left Jive because I didn't feel like they were the best label for me anymore. [pauses in thought, rubs chin] A lot of weird things went down, and they just kept on giving me the shitty end of the stick, pardon my language. When you establish a relationship with a label, fair or not, you expect a certain level of support. Unfortunately, I wasn't given that, plain and simple. You expect certain business relationships to have a level of neutrality and frankly Jive didn't demonstrate that. As a musician, your relationship with your label is kind of like your relationship with your family. If it's toxic or difficult, due to, say conflict of interest or poor treatment, it will crush you, blocking your ability to grow and create properly. [Pauses] I don't know. I just feel that it was time to move on. [shrugs] As for finding a new deal, I'm kind of just weighing up my options right now.

[JC turns around in his chair, bends down, picks up paper.]

JC: Question eight: 'Why are you spending so much time in New York?' I kind of just needed the change of scenery.

Question nine: 'Are you planning on moving to New York?' For the time being, yes. I like it there. I'm still kind of in that transitional period, but it's cool.

JC: Question ten: 'What was the last thing you cooked?' I made some toast this morning. Does that count? [laughs]

Ellie: No.

JC: I don't remember the last thing I cooked.

Ellie: You ruined those pancakes back in May.

[JC puts the paper on his lap, glares off camera.]

Ellie: Fine, I'll shut up.

JC: Question eleven: 'Any sure fire cold remedies?' Tea and bed rest. Um...

Question twelve: 'What are you currently reading?' The new Harry Potter.

Question thirteen: 'Are you currently single?'

[JC turns his chairs towards camera left.] JC: Do you want to come tell them, or should I?

Ellie: It was your idea.

[JC gets out of his seat and pulls Ellie back into frame. He sits back down with her on his lap.]

JC: So...um, as I said before, this is Ellie. [They look into each other's eyes.] Um...we're engaged.

Male voice yells from behind the camera: WHAT? AND WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING ON TELLING EVERYONE ELSE? Fuck this shit. [Man (editor: Carlos, JC's personal assistant) walks in front of camera and turns it off.]

Sunday, July 24th, 2005.
JC followed Carlos up the stairs and into the kitchen. "Hey man, come on." He found Carlos gathering his things off the kitchen counter.
"Don't you 'hey man' me." Carlos stabbed his finger at JC's chest. "I've stuck by you through so much...I just...I don't fucking know, I'm just so pissed right now." Carlos ran his fingers through his hair and turned around. "Did she put you up to this?"
"No. I asked her. Everything's my fault," JC said jokingly.
"Are you joking? If this is some kind of fucking prank..."
"It's not, OK? It's just funny ‘cause you like everything to be in order and neat and you hate surprises. You're freaking out as much as I thought you would. We were going to tell you as soon as we could, but you've been visiting your family in Arizona for the last few weeks, and I didn't want to ruin your vacation by giving you something else to stress over."
Carlos lightly punched JC in a brotherly manner. "Fucking turd."
"Ow." JC reciprocated. "Buttwipe."
"When are you going to tell the others?"
"Soon."

Carlos leaned against the counter. "What if..."
"What?"
"Well, what if, you know." Carlos gestured his head to his right. "The 'cuddle buddies' thing."
"You know that she's not like that."
"You don't know that, man."
"I don't think anyone could fake being as emotionally sensitive as she is. They'd constantly burn out."
"I don't know...What if she's not the right one? What if she's not worth it?"
JC grabbed Carlos by the shoulders. "Look, man. I love her. I mean it."
"But..."
"Carlos...I love her. She's worth it. She's completely worth it. Even if it all blows up in my face, right now, what she means to me right now is worth it."

JC went back down the stairs after Carlos had left for the day. He found Ellie crying in the seat he had left her in. "You OK?"
"Oh my God, sorry. I just..." She wiped the tears from her eyes.
"What's wrong?" He leaned on the desk.
"I just..."
"You're getting sick of every reaction being a negative reaction?"
"Well...yeah."
"That's just Carlos. He never takes surprises well. When we start telling more people, then we'll start getting more positive reactions. You're parents were ecstatic when I asked them."
"No, they just want to see me married."
He knelt down beside her. "Not to the wrong man, I don't think. They wouldn't be so happy if they didn't like me."
She sniffed. "OK, you're probably right."
He wrapped his arm around her. "Anyway, we know that they have their reservations. They just trust that you're not going to fuck things up like my parents think I'm going to." He lightly kissed her on the top of her head and stood up. "We're finished for the day. Do you still want to take that drive down the coast? There's somewhere I want to show you."

Over the next two hours, they drove south with the top down. Ellie watched the sun go down as the car sped past the ocean. "This is so beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen it go down without anything in the way before. At least, nothing for a long time."
"You haven't seen it go down over the Gulf of Mexico?"
"I probably have. I just don't remember it." She turned to face him. "Where are we going, anyway?"
"There's a place down here I think you'd like."
"It's getting rather late. We've already been on the road for a couple of hours already. Are you sure you'd be OK driving back? I would, but fear I'd get us lost."
He made a little smile. "Do you want to know a secret? I've packed an overnight bag for the two of us. It's in the trunk."
"No! You didn't!...Oh God, another hotel."
"Nah, this place is different. It's a golf resort."
"Um...baby. Do I need to remind you that neither of us play golf?"
"I know. It's not just a golf resort. Well, it's mostly known for it's course, but it holds other events as well."
"Are we going there for something? Some event or something?"
"Just to have a look around. That's all."

A buzzing came from the centre console. "Who's that?"
Ellie picked up JC's phone and checked the message. "Lance wants to know if we want to come over for dinner tomorrow night."
"Do you want to?"
"Sure." Ellie tapped out a response message. "Are you sure you're OK with me checking your phone?"
"I'm driving. It's just one message."

After checking in, the two of them walked down a gravel path through the golf course. They came to a stop at the rotunda by the third green: a large white dome situated on six roman columns.
"What do you think?" JC wrapped an arm around one of the columns. "Most of the trees around here are magnolias and willows."
Ellie leaned back on the cast iron fence around the base. "It's nice."
"You don't like it?"
"I like it. It's just that gazebos or whatever are a dime a dozen in the South. Everyone who has an ornamental garden seems to have one."
"Oh, OK." JC pressed his thumbs into the iron bar Ellie was sitting on. "I just thought it was nice, being next to the water and stuff."
Ellie looked behind her to see the kidney-shaped water hazard stretching out over the one hundred square feet in front of them. She finally caught on to his idea. "Oh, shit! You're suggesting this as a venue."
"Nah, it's OK. You obviously have other ideas."
She thought for a moment. "Is it this particular place, or are you just suggesting the look of it? ‘Cause there's like fifty places I can suggest in Baton Rouge that look the exact same way."
"I don't know."
"What's wrong?"
He let out a long sigh. "You just keep stressing about the planning, and I thought if I at least made a suggestion, you would ease up a bit."
"You really have your heart set on the gazebo, don't you?"
"OK, firstly, it's a rotunda. It's round, not octagonal. Secondly...oh, God, I feel like I might be alienating my family if we get married in your hometown. They already feel removed from the situation. I don't want to cause more friction by...I don't know."
"And what about my family? Your parents have other kids, my parents only have me. I already feel like I'm letting them down by not wanting a big wedding with the full congregation present, let alone even nursing the idea that I might want to get married somewhere other than home."
"But that's just it," he snapped at her. "That's your home. What about my home?"
"Well, what about New York or D.C.?"
"What about fucking here?!"
"I'M NOT GETTING MARRIED ON A FUCKING GOLF COURSE!" She tried to calm her breathing as she returned to her normal tone. "If you can find me a place with..." She made a circular motion with her hands. "All of this shit in L.A. that isn't on a golf course, I'd be fine with getting married here if that is really what you want. But, not right here. It's pretty, it's probably a lot more pretty in April, too, but...I don't want to get married somewhere..." She tried to find the right words. "With so little history or character or something. You know that it was probably built especially so people could get married here. It's no different than one of those chapels in Vegas."
"Well, do you have any better ideas?"
"I don't know."
JC grunted in disgust and started back to the room. "Just fuck it. Fuck this. Fuck everything."
Ellie let out a long exhale as she watched him. "Motherfucker."


A tense air had fallen over the suite as they laid in bed. He was in his usual position, reading, in a pair of pyjama pants. She was turned away from him in a simple white nightgown, watching the curtain ruffle in the night breeze. She let out a hopeless sigh. "I'm sorry about the rotunda thing. I should of treated your suggestion with more delicacy."
He closed his book, using his pointer finger as a makeshift bookmark. "It's OK. I got kind of pissed off because you seem to have all of these ideas of what you don't want, but you refuse to even suggest anything you do."
"Would you mind me asking why you suggested here?" She repositioned herself until she was sitting, facing him.
"Promise you won't laugh at me?"
She shook her head.
"When I was little, back when I was still with my mom, she used to take me to a park near her work." He placed the book next to him on the nightstand. "There was this old bandstand there, a wooden...I don't know, thing, painted white. I remember her taking me there on Christmas Eve one year after her shift. I suppose the Salvation Army was playing Christmas carols there or something. I guess, as a kid, I always thought that it had some kind of majesty to it, like that this is what castles must be like or something. I went back there in '98, to see if it was still there. Turns out it had burned down in '84 or something."
She shuffled up next to him. "Baby," she murmured.
"I came here a few years ago when a friend got married. I don't know why, but it kind of reminded me of that place back home. It was probably all the Christmas lights they put everywhere."
"I'm so sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have been such a bitch about it."
"It's OK, it's not your fault...unless you were, at some point, a six year old arsonist."
"You know I wouldn't do that!"
"I reckon you could," he commented in jest, "if someone pissed you off enough."
She gasped in a playful, Cajun tone. "Well, I'm just all offended now. I must tell Daddy at once to withdraw his permission for my hand." She snickered as she kissed him.

"Baby?" she asked after a pause. "Can I admit something to you? Promise you won't think it's selfish or anything."
"Why are you talking like Scarlett O'Hara?"
"'Cause I'm from fucking Louisiana, you shit. Once I get started in this dialect, it takes me a while to get out of it. Anyway speaking of Louisiana, I didn't want to suggest this because I knew that either you or your parents might have a problem with it." She reeled back into a sitting position. "I was thinking about what you said about the Mennonite weddings, how they're traditionally held at the bride's parents' house."
"OK..?" His eyes widened. "Oh...I'm guessing you want to take advantage of that specific tradition."
"Well, yeah."
"Do you want to come out and say it, or do you want me to say it for you?"
"Um...if you don't mind, I was thinking maybe we could have the ceremony down South, preferably at my parents' place. It gets really pretty in April right when everything comes into bloom. I can ask my mom if she has any photos to show you."
"How long have you wanted this?"
"I'm not sure, but possibly I might have always wanted this. It's my home."
"What about that beach wedding you got so shitty about not being able to have?"
"I don't know...I'm just not sure if I want that anymore. I'm not sure it would suit you either. Anyway, if you can change your mind about getting married, I can change my mind about wanting a beach wedding."
"I don't think it's the same thing. But if that's what you want, we'll look into it."

"Wait..." She got off the bed and started digging through her purse. "I don't know if it's bad luck to show you this, but everything's been so hectic, I keep forgetting about it." She got back on the bed and gave him a folded up magazine page.
"Oh...wow." He opened it to find an image of a brunette woman in a strapless bridal gown, an ivory dress with an a-line silhouette covered in lace.
"I tore it out of one of the wedding magazines at the dentist's office. I don't want to show Mom ‘cause she still thinks that I want to wear her dress and I'm scared to show Claire ‘cause I think she might get the wrong idea about me maybe trying to tell her to decide on a different dress. I know it's sounds stupid, but stranger things have happened." She stopped talking after she saw the gentle but surprised look on his face. "You don't think it's bad luck, do you?"
He traced a crease down the page, following the flow of the gown's skirt. "I'm getting married," he whispered.
"What?"
"It's just that...we're getting married. It feels so much more real now. This is actually happening. It's not just something that we're perhaps going to do one day. We're most likely definitely getting married."
"It's scary, huh?"
He pulled her close to him. "Yeah, but in a good way. I'm excited for this."
"You don't feel like you're only doing it because you have to?"
"Do you feel that way?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Why?" He intertwined his fingers with hers.
"I don't think I'm supposed to marry a boy like you. I'm supposed to marry an engineer or something who's from Lafayette and went to Louisiana State. Who drives an American truck and hates Alabama State and lives off of sweet tea and grits. Not some boy who's from up North who sings and dances for a living and drives a German car. Oh, well. That's the risk I took moving up to New York." She snuggled into him. "What kind of girl do you think you were supposed to marry?"
"Someone like Britney Spears, I suppose. A girl who's really cute and funny. I guess she would have to be very smart and have a job she's great at, that she loves. A girl next door who comes from a good family with good morals and the right beliefs."
"Wait...Britney's all that? Then why didn't you just marry her?"
"She's like my baby sister."
"Everyone's like your baby sister." She got up to face him.
"Not everyone."

He slowly slid the strap of her nightie down her shoulder. He pushed her hair back and traced the curve of her shoulder. He pulled the lace trim on the front down in an attempt to expose her breast.
"Oh, God." Ellie pulled the other strap down and pulled the front down enough to flash her nipples. "Sometimes I'm really amazed that we've fucked when you sometimes seem to struggle to get passed third base."
He slid his hand into the nightie, cupping her breast, and kissed her. "If I get to third base, I get to touch, not just see."
She groped him through his pants. "That's third base. Third base is hand on crotch, second base...wait?"
"Second base is boob seeing, third base is boob touching."
"What the fuck did they teach you at Disney?"
"First base is kissing-"
"First base is hand holding, second base is kissing. Third base is when I touch your junk."
"Well, girls are different. First base is kissing, second base is when you...no, it's...second is her either letting you see them, or touching them over over clothing. Third base is when you get to touch her underneath her bra."
"Then that would make home when you get to touch her junk. Home's supposed to be sex."
"No, going all the way is sex."
"Yeah, and going all the way is home." She placed the folded up magazine page on top of his book on the nightstand. "This all sounds very high school."
"Yeah, I've got quite the hard-on."
She laughed. "You can say 'erection.'"

She slid her hand underneath his waistband, softly running her fingers along the shaft of his cock. "Well, since you've got such a hard-on, what do you want me to do about it?"
"What would you usually do in this situation?"
"Well..." She pulled down his waistband and wrapped her fingers around his cock, running them up and down his length. "Depending on whether or not we're likely to get caught, I could either give you a hand job..." She leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "...Or I could be a little naughtier and suck your cock."

She sat up and bundled her hair behind her head. She leaned down and took him into her mouth. They moaned in unison as she deep-throated him. He softly pulled her hair away from her face, licking his lips as he watched her take as much as she could of him.
"What if I can guarantee we won't get caught?"
She slowly withdrew him from her mouth, sliding her hands up and down his wet cock. "I'll let you fuck me."

He repositioned himself until he was behind her, guiding her forward. He lifted her nightgown up, pulling her light pink panties down to reveal her ass and pussy. He took his throbbing cock and ran the tip along her, spreading her wetness. With a quick push, he was inside of her. She let off a cry as he fucked her. Their hands met as they both reached down underneath her, and she placed her hand on top of his as he pleasured her. She collapsed into the mattress, letting out a long whimper as his momentum quickened, his force hardening. "Baby."

She came as he did, shuddering as he rammed a few final thrusts into her, his cum dripping out of her as he withdrew. She collapsed completely onto the bed, her breathing laboured as he settled down beside her. "Fuck." She pulled her panties up from around her knees and cuddled into him, running her fingers through his chest hair. "You're all sweaty."
He pushed her hair away from her face. "I love you when you're like this. You're so fucking sexy sometimes. You smell amazing."
She took in a deep breath. "I don't think that's just me. I think that's a combination of the two of us."
"Kiss me."

She leaned up to grant his request, trying to kiss him as hard as she could in between breaths. She smiled as he drew away from her lips, a flush of hot air coming between them. She lightly kissed him again before she snuggled down into his chest. "This might be my favourite place in the whole world."
"What? Here?"
"No, you. Just laying here like this with you. I wish we could sleep like this."

He delicately ran his fingers along her arm. "You know, I really do love you. I was scared before, that we were just saying it because we felt like we had to. Not that I didn't mean it. But now I feel like we really do love each other. I'm not scared that we're not going to make it. At least not as much."
"That's the endorphins talking."
"No, I really think we can make it."
"Tell me that with a straight face next time we're in an argument, and I'll believe you."
His tone took on a somber weight. "You don't believe me?"
She traced a spiral in the hair on his abdomen. "It's not that. It's just that we're in that post-coital glow. Next time you're frustrated at me or whatever, you might think differently."
"Do you think that I might one day become angry enough at you that I'd dump you?"
"Maybe."
"You know I won't do that, right?"
She looked up at him. "I'm not sure. You've just come, you probably feel like you could take on a train right now and win." She curled her legs up over his, changing the subject. "When is Carlos supposed to post that video?"
"It's supposed to go live at midnight."
"Do you still think it will?"
"Maybe, he does have the keys to my house." He softly took her hand into his. "Do you want to get something to eat?"
"Yeah."

Monday, July 25th, 2005.
Maurice started his morning the way he always did. He woke up three minutes before Craig's 6:00am alarm, pushed Linus off of his chest, and kissed his husband awake just as the alarm sounded.
"Morning, beautiful." He got out of bed and had his morning shower, dressing as Craig finally reluctantly got up and got dressed for his morning run. He fed the cats and made his coffee and a bagel with low-fat cream cheese and sat at his computer to check his emails and the morning headlines.

"JC Chasez announces engagement."
Peephole Magazine, Online Edition. Posted: July 25th, 2005.
Former *NSYNC hunk JC Chasez announced his engagement to journalist Elizabeth Argyle this morning in a video on his Friendspace page. Peephole can exclusively confirm that the two met on the video shoot for his two-time Grammy-winning single, 'Dear Goodbye.'

Ellie, as she prefers to be called, hails from Baton Rouge and has a degree in journalism from the Louisiana State University. She is the daughter of Emily Argyle, a thoroughbred breeder who's famous in her own right in the racing world as the owner of Oklahoma Ray, runner up in 1997's Kentucky Derby, and sire of Green Fields, last year's winner of the Louisiana Classic. Her father John is a Vietnam veteran awarded the Distinguished Service Cross after saving three company mates from a truck accident.

No further details are known about the engagement or impending wedding at this time. The two lovebirds and their cat, Linus, share time between Los Angeles and New York, where they are in the process of purchasing a 1.5 million dollar penthouse.

Maurice choked on his coffee as he saw the headline. He clicked the article and scanned the copy. He rushed to the window and opened it, relieved to find Craig stretching at the end of the block.
"CRAIG, CRAIG!"
Craig looked up at him. "WHAT!?"
"THEY'RE ENGAGED! OUR BABY GIRL'S GETTING MARRIED!"
"WHAT?! WHO?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?!"
"ELLIE AND JOSH! THEY'RE ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED!"
"WAIT?! ELLIE?! OUR ELLIE?!"
"YEAH!"
Craig stood still for a moment in shock with his hands covering his mouth. He started jumping and let out a long and joyous scream. "I'LL BE UP RIGHT AWAY!"

At around 3:20am, Ellie's phone rang throughout the suite. "Oh, God," she murmured as she stirred awake. "Baby, can you get that?"
JC got out of bed and ran into the table. "Shit." He picked up her phone from next to her purse. "It's Maurice."
"You can answer it."
JC groaned as he flipped it open.
Maurice's voice came over the speaker, followed by Craig screaming, "She picked up!" JC pulled the phone away from his ear and threw it on the bed. Ellie picked it up and tried to quiet the two on the other end.
"Shhhh-shh. We know, we know." She looked up at JC with a wide grin on her face.
"How long...did he just...when?"
"The first of this month."
"Holy shit! Why didn't you tell us?"
"We just wanted to let everyone know gradually. It's not our fault you two didn't pick up on it sooner."
"What on Earth do you mean?"
"I've been wearing the ring to work everyday since I came back from Orlando. You didn't even mention it."
JC crawled back into bed with Ellie. She recounted the story of how JC had given her the ring as a birthday present, then proposed four days afterwards.
For the first time since answering, the other line was quiet. "Uh...OK? Anyhoo, when's the wedding?"
She teared up as she finally told someone their plans. "We're hoping for a spring wedding. Hopefully April the 13th, most likely down in Baton Rouge at my folks' place."
"Oooh, a spring Southern wedding. How lovely!"
JC chuckled. "I was not expecting Maurice to be fawning over the idea."
"Look, Ellie. We need to go, but we are so happy for the two of you."
"How's Linus doing?"
"He's wonderful. He cannot wait for his mommy to get back home."
"OK...bye."
"Bye bye, tell Josh we love him, OK?"
"OK, bye."
"Bye bye...bye."
"Congratulations!" Craig yelled as Maurice hung up. Ellie flipped the phone closed.
"Craig and Maurice want me to tell you that they love you."
"Did he just do the 'bye bye bye' thing again?"
"Yeah." She snuggled down next to him under the covers.
"You really want to have the wedding at your folks' place, don't you?"
"No, I don't care where we get married. I just want to marry you."
"You know that's a lie. If that's really what you want, we'll do it that way."
"With your rotunda/Christmas lights idea though. Get this, we string up all of these lights around the clearing by the tractor shed. We get married during the sunset. Then at nightfall, we turn on all of the lights and have the reception."
"How does that include a rotunda?"
"If it's doable, maybe Daddy and Pa can build something back there. It's the only place I can think of where Mama doesn't graze the horses." She watched as he started to drift back off to sleep. "We'll talk over it another time."

Later that morning, Ellie rung her hair out as she emerged from the surf on the resort's private beach. She adjusted her white, crocheted bikini and went to sit next to JC as he finished a call. "You know, I'm really starting to see the charm of this place now. Who was that?"
JC tucked the phone back into his shorts, pulling his black and white striped polo shirt down his waist. "That was Adam. He says that the real estate lawyer called him to say that the owners are ready to close ahead of schedule on the 3rd of August."
"Cool. Are you sure you don't want to go swimming?" She wrapped a towel around her waist and sat down next to him.
"Nah, I'm fine. Anyway, I think there might be a paparazzo up on that cliff." He gestured up behind her, making sure not to make it look like he was aware of the photographer's position.
She turned to look. "He might just be a sightseer."
"Would a sightseer have a camera that big?"
"They might be a birdwatcher." She turned around and shrugged.
"You know, I'm suddenly glad we didn't choose this place."

That night Ellie and JC walked down the laneway leading to Lance's house. "Smart, getting a taxi." Ellie motioned to the cab pulling up just outside Lance's gate.
"I know, the parking here's horrible...wait." They stopped and watched the petite blond woman get out of the cab in a hot pink dress carrying a white box.
"Is Autumn friends with Lance?"
"They're friendly, but he's never invited her to dinner before."
They followed behind Autumn just enough to stay hidden, catching the gate, then the front door as she entered the house. They watched in the shadows as the lights came on in the dining room and Isaac jumped out and yelled, "SURPRISE!"
"Too soon, it's just me and the cake."
Isaac started to go back into position as JC emerged into the light. "OK, who the fuck told Lance?"
With that, Lance slammed into JC's chest as he took him into a bear hug. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist throwing the two of you a surprise engagement party. I'm just so happy for you."
JC pushed a now crying Lance away from him. "How long were you planning this?"
"Since yesterday, I needed to give Joey and Chris enough time to fly in from Florida."
"Yeah, we even got you a banner." Chris pointed up at the bare wall above the bar. "Joey, where's the 'Congratulations' banner?"
Joey turned around on the spot, bending down. "It's on the floor."
"You had one job, Joey!"
Justin lightly touched Ellie's shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry for all of that shit before."
"If you don't take your hands off me, I'm going to punch you so hard that beak of yours is going to protrude from the back of your head."
"OK, got it."

Chapter End Notes:
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Story Tags: daddyjc marriedjc jc solojc