The next morning, Mikayla woke up to find Justin’s side of the bed empty.  She’d slept in, though after the night they had, she got roughly the usual amount of sleep.  She smelled coffee, knowing Justin was downstairs.  She wrapped her robe around her before heading downstairs.

“Hey, I was just coming up to check on you.  Breakfast should be ready in about 5 minutes,” he smiled before wrapping his arms around her.  “Good morning, beautiful,” he said, kissing her gently.

“Last night was incredible,” she sighed.

‘YOU are incredible,” he replied, pulling her tighter against him, nuzzling her neck.  “I never thought the swing could be used for something so tender.  It does help though as the pregnancy goes on.  Jesus, he’ll be here in like 6 weeks…”

“Yeah, I’m starting to panic.  Ok, maybe panic isn’t the right word, but realizing we’ll have a baby in the house again.”

“We have everything we need for him, don’t we?” Justin asked.  “I mean, I know I know we need plenty of diapers and wipes, you’ve got new bottles for him so we can feed him.”

“I think we’re ready. Jackie will be a huge help, my mom will be here.”

“My mom is flying out for a bit.  I know she did this with the twins, but Silas is hers.  You know what I mean.”

“I do.  It still feels crazy though.  We’re gonna have a newborn around again.  It’s gonna be exhausting.”

“We’ll have plenty of help, you could pretty much sleep unless he’s hungry and you need to feed him.  Even then we’ll do what we can to let you sleep, especially the first week or so.  They send you home so quickly after having a baby, you really do need more time to recover.  That much became obvious after having the twins. Even without breastfeeding, we both were tired.  I know the twins will want to help, then with JC taking the twins for a bit, that’ll help too.”

“I’m not sure how long I want them to stay with him.  Let’s leave that up to them.  If they like being at his new place and can come over to see Silas for small bursts, that could work.  I want them to bond, but at the same time, trying to wrangle them while dealing with a newborn is gonna be a lot.  At least when they were babies you guys let me sleep.  With the twins around, I won’t get that option.”

“You will. Jackie will be back living with us, she’ll help a lot with the twins, keeping them busy, keeping them quiet.  Our room is soundproof, so that kinda goes both ways.  You can just sleep in there, even if Silas is in the bassinet next to the bed and not his crib, you’ll be able to sleep with relatively few interruptions.  That’s assuming he’s an easy baby.  I hope he is, for our sake.”

The kitchen timer dinged, Justin going to the oven.  Mikayla watched as he pulled two trays out of the oven.  “I found a recipe for a cinnamon roll bread pudding type thing, and then I thought I’d try making a quiche.”

“Justin Timberlake, jack of all trades.  You dominate just about everything; from music and dancing to the bedroom and the kitchen…” Mikayla laughed.

“Those last two I’ve got some stiff competition with you,” he growled.

“I bet the competition is stiff right now, isn’t it?”

“Getting there, but we need to eat.  And last night wasn’t about dominating, hasn’t been for a bit.  It feels nice that we’ve been able to slow down again.”

“This wasn’t what you were planning on talking to me about this morning, was it?”

Justin dished up their plates, sitting down with Mikayla at their kitchenette table.  “No, it isn’t.  Let’s have breakfast, talk about details, then I can show you more exact ideas on my laptop once we finish eating…”

…

“Justin, I had a dream about this.  Seriously, what you just showed me, I saw it in my dream.  This is really gonna happen?” she asked excitedly.

“I mean, he needs to agree to it, but yeah, if that’s what you want.  I guess the question is when.  The house won’t be ready for a while; which, if he agrees to do this, gives us time to get things set up.”

“I’m surprised you thought about this, are ok with it.”

“It’s purely symbolic, not legal in any way.  It makes sense though, and hopefully can avoid more issues with jealousy if it's a more even playing field. I’m afraid to know what all happened while I was gone.  I saw certain things were moved.”

“You really wanna know?”

“No.  What you two do is your business.  Unless I’m part of it, I don’t wanna know.”

“What if you’re my safeword?” she laughed.

“That’s… just… awkward.  Could you imagine being someone’s safeword?”

“I mean, all safewords are meant to be awkward, aren’t they?  I mean, who expects to have someone yell out ‘pineapple’?”

“The goal is to NOT shout the word, but yeah,” Justin laughed.  “It lets you know but also can make you laugh to ease that tension of something being too much.  How did we get on this topic?”

“Joking that you’re my safeword with him…”

“Right. Yeah, I don’t need to know what you do unless I’m in the room and part of it.”

“You’re really becoming more ok with that?” Mikayla asked. 

“Oddly enough, yeah. I’m still part of things, so it’s hot to see your reactions to my contributions.  Do I wish it was just us? Yeah. But being included in his times with you, including him in mine, it’s felt right the few times it’s happened. And it’s all been with you in mind, making it something special, hot, whatever.  It’s not about either of us, just how we can work together to make this incredible for you.  I guess that’s why the other feels like a natural step forward.”

“Do you have a time frame in mind for that?  When are you planning on your next album being out?  I know that’s the next big thing going on.”

“The album won’t be for a couple years. Between writing, all of it, I’m not in a rush. 20/20 was more the exception than the rule. Even if I had it ready today, they’d wait at least 6 months to a year.  They don’t want to push it because even though I’m a big name, I’m not what they wanna push. At the same time, they can’t just let me release it  whenever I want to. Everywhere has politics. I mean, you were there when everything hit with JC.  That album was finished, ready to go, and they kept pushing it back farther and farther until he had enough and was done.”

“So when are you thinking for this?”

“Two possible dates.  The weekend before you birthday, or the weekend of our anniversary, the first one.  I feel like both kinda work. Honestly, if I had my choice, I’d do the one in June, and celebrate them just with us, cuz you know the anniversary we use for the public was the big one in Italy.  So it’ll mean something to us that the world will have no clue about.”

“I like that. Celebrating as a family, which I’m trying to figure out how to explain this that my family would understand.  We’re lucky that the people that know are open minded enough to accept it.  But my family, I don’t know…”

“If they don’t, they don’t.  I think they might understand part of it, but not other parts.  It’s none of their business, really.  If they don’t want to support it, they don’t have to come.  It won’t change much, not really.”

“I hope you’re right.  I wasn’t surprised that your mom was open minded, even though she doesn’t know for sure, she just has the idea in her head.  I definitely wasn’t about to confirm it in front of a group of people, family or not, out in public, though…”

“Yeah, Mom is great like that.  But yeah, I could see how your family might be a little more closed off to it.”

“Especially my sister.  I love her, but she can be really judgmental.  The things I’ve heard her say about her friends, let alone what she’d think of me as a sister.  I doubt she’d keep the kids from me, but I don’t think she’d understand the dynamic and why it is the way it is.  She’d be all for co parenting, but not this more open relationship.”

“We have some time.  I know the timeline seems a little scary given all of this, but I think it’ll be surprising how quickly it all comes together.”

“That’s assuming he agrees to this.”

“You really think he won’t?” Justin asked. “This is going to eat at you until we see him tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“I’ll try not to.  I just need to distract myself.”

“I can think of lots of ways to distract you.  You can start looking at ideas for it, or we can have more one on one time, if you catch my drift…”

“I definitely catch your drift.  Not gonna lie, a repeat of last night would be a great distraction.  I’d like to start looking online on Pinterest and things for ideas, but it would still be hanging there in the back of my mind, putting the cart before the horse.”

“He’ll be on board with this, I know he will,” Justin said softly, kissing her neck as he scooped her up into his arms.

…

They sat, Mikayla smiling to herself as they seemed a little out of place.  They chose a place they don’t normally go to, Justin admittedly a bit worried that fans would approach him.  At the same time, that’s what they wanted, to be seen. Not in anything fancy, but by the world itself.  It felt right, in a way, to let things out like this.  Mikayla sipped her lemonade as they waited for JC and the twins to arrive.

“Mommy!” Barb shouted, running free of JC’s hand to the railing of the outdoor seating area.  She wanted to climb over, but also knew her parents would likely take away the option of dessert for the day.

“Hey,” JC sighed, approaching the railing. “Sorry we’re a little late.  Someone wanted to get dressed by themselves, and took a bit before finally letting me help…”

“Oh, we get it,” Mikayla smiled.  “Come on around and have a seat.”

JC and the twins walked through the opening of the outdoor seating, the grownups all hugging each other before sitting down at the table.  JC looked at the menu.  “California Pizza Kitchen, huh?  You guys come here a lot?”

“No, but it had a decent kids menu and seemed like it could be public enough, especially sitting outside…” Mikayla answered. 

They ordered their food, the rest of lunch being driven by the twins. The conversation was either led by one of them, or they were asked certain questions. Stories were told about their weekend with JC, things reminding them of stories from school or something that has happened a while back.  It was completely centered on the twins, laughing and sharing memories together.

The twins were excited when they got to have ice cream sundaes, Mikayla saying it was to celebrate their first week back at school. 

They went to their cars, the twins opting for a little more time with JC before going home with Justin and Mikayla.  They began driving towards a park they had discovered while out and about near JC’s old house a while back.  There was plenty of parking, and the park was wide open, lots of space for the twins to play and run around.

They parked, JC parking behind them. “Daddy, is the soccer ball in the trunk?” Barb called to Justin as they headed towards each other.

“Lemme check,” Justin replied, opening the trunk of the Escalade. Sure enough, there was a soccer ball in the netted area in the trunk, Justin grabbing it and holding it up for her to see. Barb’s face lit up, eager to play on the grass.  Justin tossed the ball onto the grass, Barb running towards it to kick it around.

“Is she doing lessons or anything?” JC asked.  “Jesus, is that something she can even do, because of you?”

“Can my daughter join a sports league?” Justin asked incredulously. “Why not?”

“Well, wouldn’t you worry about her safety, or yours, going to her games?”

“If she wants to, I won’t stop her.  This is LA, I’m sure tons of other celebrity kids are in sports leagues, dance classes… I get what you mean, and I’m sorry I kinda snapped at you at first. Yeah, if she wants to, why not?  I know we’ve got stuff in our backyards for it, but it’s just been something fun to play and build their motor skills,” Justin said.

The two men joined the twins playing with the ball, Mikayla smiling at how much fun they were all having. Mikayla found a spot under the shade of a tree to put her lawn chair so she could sit and relax while Justin and JC played with the kids and did the hard stuff, if anything came up.

She looked around, seeing people noticing the four of them together, but people keeping their distance. She saw a couple of moms around her age looking at them, pointing in obvious discussion of the situation.

Mikayla bravely walked up to the two women.  “What’s the gossip, ladies? Am I missing something good?”

“It’s Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, together playing with their kids. I haven’t seen Justin out with the kids much, and didn’t JC just find out he’s their dad? I can only imagine how THAT went down…” one woman said.

“It’s cute though, them getting along, at least for the sake of the kids.  You think they’re that nice to each other away from the kids? I mean, Justin kinda stole JC’s girl…”

“It’s genuine,” Mikayla smiled, ignoring the last part of the comment.  “They’ve been friends for so long, they get along so well, even without the kids around, I’m sure.”

“I tell ya, she’s one lucky woman, having had both of them.  I wonder if one’s better than the other…”

Mikayla wasn’t about to answer that, not that she could really say.  They were both incredible; as lovers, but also as dads and partners.  She stood there, watching her family playing and just enjoying themselves, enjoying not being recognized in relation to either of them.  

That is, until Barb looked up, saw Mikayla, and smiled.  “Mommy, come play!” she yelled, running towards her across the grass.  The woman next to Mikayla gasped, their jaws dropping as Barb ran over and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the rest of their family.

Mikayla looked back, smiling at the women, giving them a wink, the women still standing there in disbelief of what they just saw, who they had been talking to and about.

“Do I wanna know?” Justin asked, kissing Mikayla on the cheek.

“Just getting some gossip, causing a stir.  You know, the usual,” she laughed quietly. “People are noticing how well you’re getting along, with the kids and with each other.  I’m pretty sure those women over there would die if I kissed you and then kissed JC, but I’m afraid we can’t risk exposing that part of everything. While this is helping us, the other might just ruin it again.”

“That’s my wife, the PR master,” Justin smiled, wrapping his arms around her.  “You guys wanna play on the playground for a bit, let us grownups sit for a while?” he asked the twins.

They eagerly nodded, going over to the playground area.  It was surrounded by large stone covered pillars that supported fencing to avoid children running off into traffic.  They opened the entry gate, the twins taking off to play while the three of them sat on a bench, Mikayla between the two of them.  She leaned her head on Justin’s shoulder, her fingers locking between his.

The twins raced each other to the two different slides on the play structure, seeing who could get down to the bottom the fastest.  Their plans went awry as they had to wait their turns, but still making it a competition once one got to the front while the other had to wait, the other shouting “no fair” as their sibling went down the slide.  They repeated this over and over again before stopping to begin a game of tag between the two of them.

“Hey guys, you ready to go home?” Justin called as the ran past, the twins stopping to think.

“Let’s go home and have dinner, you have school in the morning,” Mikayla reminded them.

The twins agreed to go, begging if JC could take them home.  “It’s not like I live that far away,” JC said.  “Is that ok?”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” Mikayla smiled, hoping something like this would happen, so she would have a moment with him away from prying eyes.

They got back to the house, JC coming in for goodbye hugs and kisses from the twins.  The twins went off to their rooms after saying goodbye to JC, JC turning to head towards the door.

“Actually, could you sit down for a second?” Mikayla asked, gesturing toward the couch.  JC nodded, the three of them sitting down.

“What’s up?” JC asked.  “We’ve been together all day, what do you-”

“I’ve been thinking a lot since you were here last week, and Justin and I got to talking… He’d been thinking about this too, oddly enough…”  Justin put his left hand in Mikayla’s, Mikayla pulling his wedding band off his finger.  JC looked on in confusion.

“Whats going on?  Are you two…”

She held the ring in her hand, putting her hand in JC’s.  “Josh, will you marry me?”