Mikayla sat in the nursery, gently swaying in the rocker, her laptop on her lap.  She was browsing Buy Buy Baby and Amazon for final pieces of the nursery.  She was browsing baby clothes, forgetting how cute the outfits were.  She was so lost in her “research” that she didn’t notice Justin enter the room.

“You know Silas is a boy, right?” he chuckled.  “I mean, if he wants to wear girl clothes later, that’s fine, but…”

“I was just looking at clothes and I guess I fell down a rabbit hole.  Remember how cute Barb looked in her little outfits?  Now she just looks so grown up.  I miss my baby girl…”

“They can’t stay little forever, but I know the feeling.  Silas will have some cute outfits.”  Justin walked over to the dresser, pulling out an outfit.  “See, he’s gonna rock this outfit.”  Justin had picked out a medium gray long sleeve, footed onesie that said ‘mama’s boy’.  “I say he wears this home from the hospital.”

“I was actually thinking of this one…” Mikayla opened her Amazon cart and clicked on an outfit.  It had gray sweatpants, a white onesie that said ‘new to the crew’ with an arrow going through it, and a black beanie that said ‘little man’.  

Justin’s smile widened.  “I like it.  Whatever mama says goes.  What’s that?” he asked, pointing to a small picture in her cart.

“It’s a blanket.  He’s our rainbow baby, but it’s shades of blue.  It ties into the rest of the nursery pretty well.”

Barb came into the room.  “Mommy, we’re going to Daddy’s tonight, right?  It’s Friday…”

“Yeah.  You’re staying the whole weekend with him.  I know he was here for a week, but he wanted Mommy and Daddy to have some time together.”

“You’re staying for movie night, though, right?”

“Yeah, baby.  He gave me an address to go to though, not sure what that’s about…” Justin sighed.  

“Can we go NOW?” Barb begged, clearly ready to go.

Mikayla checked the time.  “Yeah, it’s close enough. We’ll let him know we’re heading over.”

“YAY! Joshy, get your backpack!” Barb called as she ran down the hall.

“For someone that hated the idea of him being her dad, she’s taken to him really well since then.”

“Well, I guess it’s cuz I told her she’s kind of his favorite.  Well, not those words exactly, but that he wanted a girl.”

“Did he?  I know I’d wanted a girl, so when Barb came along, that was perfect.  She’s princesses and rainbows and unicorns, but will also play Legos and Spiderman with the best of them.  I know what I’m getting her for her fifth birthday, a copy of the first appearance of Ghost Spider, a female Spiderman.  It’s Gwen Stacy in an alternate dimension.”

“She’s gonna love that,” Mikayla smiled.  “Let’s go before they come back and hijack our car keys.  See why we’re meeting him at this address.”

They got in the car, heading away from JC’s.  Mikayla was curious, to say the least.  They were heading to more housing, so it wasn’t like they were meeting at a restaurant or anything instead.  She was even more confused when it led to a cul de sac.  They passed a few more houses before it dead ended in a driveway leading to a large wooden gate and a keypad. Justin put in a code and went down a driveway that led to a 3 level house. 

They got out of the car, ringing the doorbell.  JC opened the door, ushering them inside.  They looked around, things feeling familiar, yet very different.

“Why are we here?” Mikayla wondered.  “Better yet, why is your STUFF here?”

“This is my new house.  I’d been secretly looking for a new place, something a little more kids friendly.  It’s a little bit closer to your place.”

“C, you loved that house, you’d lived there forever…” Justin sighed. 

“I wanna have a place I can have the kids enjoy a bit more.  It has a pool, and I’m not in danger of mudslides and stuff like the other house.  I have a lot of memories there with Kayla, but it’s time for something new with my family.”

“When did you have time to do all this?” Mikayla asked.  We were at the house for your birthday and everything was still there…”

“I quietly bought it before we went on vacation, getting the room for the twins painted the same as in the old house, then getting THAT room back to white… Everything moved between my birthday and while I was at the house with you guys.  The last few days have been moving things around to how I want them.  The movers did a great job packing and unpacking everything for the most part.  They get their own rooms now, I have space for my studio and a small gym.  My room isn’t as spacious, but who NEEDS a two story bedroom?  It’s got a great backyard, I’m really excited about this. Why does it feel like you aren’t?”

“It’s just a shock, we had no idea you were even looking into a new place.  This is such a big house!” Mikayla said. 

“Six bedrooms, seven bathrooms. Come see the backyard. It was the selling point.”  He led them through the house, modern fixtures and an open floor plan made everything flow together. The living room opened to the backyard. It was spacious, stretching the length of the house.  There was an outdoor kitchen with a seating area and a fire pit.  There was a small grass area with lounge chairs and a permanent screen for movies. There were more lounge chairs and an infinity pool along the edge of the yard.

“What’s on the other side of the pool? It just drops off…” Mikayla wondered. 

“It’s all over the garage and my studio. The garage had been a game room and the gym, but I changed things around. The pool table came with the house, I guess they didn’t want to move it long distance or something. So I moved it to the main floor in the living room. I love the look of the kitchen, the dark marble, but the backyard won me over. Movie nights out here. Camping out on the grass during the summer, or snuggling up by the fire pit in the winter. It has wireless speakers so we can put them wherever we want to sit.”

“Can we do movie night here from now on?” Barb asked.  “This is AWESOME!  Wait, did you say we get our own rooms here?!”

“I sure did. I basically made them like the ones at my old house, just with more room and a couple new things.  We still have time before the pizzas get here, go take a look,” JC smiled.  The twins ran off to see their rooms, knowing roughly what to expect, but excited to see what was new.

“It’s a great place, C.  Really.  I feel we need to redo ours a bit now.  Feels very on par though, trying to keep up with you.  I’ve always wanted to be like you, C, and now here we are.  I’d never have believed this the first day we met on set.  That you’d be one of my best friends, doing all that we did, then let alone having a family together. An actual blood related family.  In October, our kids will be half siblings.  It’s kind of everything I ever wanted for myself.  I entertained myself and others cuz I had no siblings, not even step siblings.  By the time I finally got half siblings, I was way older, off traveling the world.  At least the twins will have a chance to grow up with Silas, and he’ll get to have a brother and sister.  I’m glad for where life has led us, I couldn’t really ask for more.”

“A little *NSYNC reunion wouldn’t hurt,” Mikayla smiled.  The two gave her a look.

“That’s what the VMA performance was. Us together, one last time,” Justin said.

“That wasn’t long enough.  There’s still chemistry between you guys, you can’t deny how it all felt at his birthday party.  I felt like a fly on the wall, seeing you guys back then.  You really haven’t changed that much, just gotten older, hopefully wiser.  The fandom exploded over seeing you guys together from that Instagram post.  You’re still friends, why not do something together?”

“I’ve got Trolls, I wanna do another album…”

“I know 4 guys that would probably love to help…” Mikayla encouraged.

“It’s not the right time,” JC added. “I’m happy with where I’m at, what I’m doing.  Doing an album, or at least doing a tour, would take both of us away from the kids.”

“Ok, change of subject then.  I wanna do something to show the media, the world, that there doesn’t need to be drama involved in our situation.  Maybe something with the 5 of us having lunch or something together, letting the world see how you two interact with each other, with the kids.  I dunno.  I feel like it might correct some of what’s happened.  I’d say seeing the three of us out somewhere, but that might lead to scandal.  So maybe the 5 of us doing something out in the public eye, or since apparently I’m supposed to not do anything until Silas is born, the 4 of you do something, let them see you guys co parent.  Just something I’ve thought about recently, and now that you’re both with me to address it…”

“Sure, why not?” Justin said.  “What have we got to lose?  If nothing else, hopefully this means JC can take his own kids out places.  This is a great house, but being able to take them to the zoo, even out for ice cream…”

“When were you thinking?  You guys have your weekend together this weekend…”

“We can make time to do this,” Justin said.  “Let’s do brunch, take the kids to a park or something.  I know we’ve kinda shielded them from the world, but mainly cuz Joshy just looked so much like you, C.  We didn't want you to find out by seeing pictures of him and being like ‘why does your son look like me?’  Now that everything is out in the open, I think they can handle a little bit of being seen.  It’s not like it used to be, people crushing each other just for a glimpse of us.  I’m ok with doing this tomorrow.  It lets us have time together while also being a full family.  What do you think, playground or the zoo?”

“Maybe the zoo?  I haven’t actually been, so this could be fun to take the twins for my first time going,” JC offered.

“Can you handle a day at the zoo?  I guess we didn't think of that,” Justin said, lookingat Mikayla.

“Let’s do the zoo when I’m not supposed to be off my feet.  Maybe we can meet for lunch somewhere, then go to a park?  Maybe Sunday, so it maybe looks like a custody shift type thing?  They don’t need to know we have an open agreement.”

“In more ways than one,” Justin smirked.  “Sounds like a plan, That does let us have our weekend alone and then get the kids back for school on Monday.  You ok with that, C?”

“Yeah.  I’m excited that I’ll get to take them out, even by myself after this.  I understood, of course, but if this really lets us have freedom to be family out in the open…  I just need to be careful that I’m not too cozy with Kayla when it’s the 4 of us.  Last thing we need is for this to go from us working together as co parents to if she’s sparking an old flame.”

“Yeah, we’ll probably never be able to go out, just the three of us.  Not that things work like that all the time, thought maybe for her birthday.  It lets you spend time with her without it looking like sneaking around.  She sits between us.  I can hold her hand and kiss her, you can play footsies or something under the cover of the table…”

“We’ll see.  It would need to be an occasion that makes sense for the three of us to be out together.  Somewhere fancy for her birthday, maybe something lowkey and casual just because?  I’d be fine with you two on one side of the table and me on the other, like you’re eating with a best friend and she’s friendly with her ex and the father of her kids.  Hopefully not give anything away to what we have going on privately…”

“I’m open to another night soon,” Mikayla encouraged.

“With our luck it would induce labor,” JC chuckled.

“So we’ll save that for a plan B if he comes late,” Mikayla laughed.

“Is it weird I’m getting more ok with that part of this?” Justin asked.  

“That’s enough for now.  The kids will be back any minute now,” Mikayla warned with a giggle.  

“The pizzas should be here soon anyway.  There’s storage under the coffee table on the grass, well, astro turf.  I’ve got blankets in the drawers, there’s pillows on the chairs and couches…”

“Making it more party friendly, C.  It’s a great space.  Plenty of parking…”

“Yeah, 6 car garage, then the driveway once you get past the gate… Nothing big, but still great for the kids and us to hang out.  It’ll let me do things I couldn’t at my old place.  I’m excited, it’s perfect for this stage of my life.”

They went inside and waited for the pizzas to arrive, wrangling the kids to the backyard once it was time to get started.  JC had had a couple days to figure out how the projector and everything worked, getting the movie going with relative ease.  

They stretched out on the couches on the lawn area, grabbing blankets as night set in.  The twins didn't fall asleep during the movie, the threesome putting the twins to bed after the movie finished.  Mikayla was both in awe of the effort he’d put into the bedrooms, but also not surprised that he was doing his best to be an amazing dad.  

“I’ll see you Sunday, just text me when and where,” JC said, giving Justin a quick hug before stepping towards Mikayla.  His arms wrapped around her, his lips pressing against her cheek, lingering for a moment.  He leaned in close.  “I enjoyed my time with you lately, wifey, but now it’s time to be with your husband.”  He squeezed her one last time before letting her go. 

Justin and Mikayla walked to their car, starting the drive home.  He took her hand in his, his eyes focused on the road.

Now is as good a time as any to bring this up, she thought.  “I’ve been thinking…”

“About?”

“This is gonna sound weird, but I want more with JC…”

“Are you leaving me?” he asked flatly, almost as if he knew the answer, not afraid she would say yes.

“No.  After this last week while you were gone, I got a glimpse of how things could have been.  I won’t lie, Justin, it felt really nice.”

“That makes sense.”

“I’m not sure how to go about it, though.  Between the kids, being legally married to you, having Silas…”

“What if I told you this exact thought came up on my flight home, and I’d already done a little research?”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  We’ll talk about it tomorrow.  Once we get home, I know what I want to do…”